Part 2
~Chapter 3~
"Giles!" Angel yelled as he and the others entered the library.
"Giles!" Jessie repeated.
"Yes? Jessie,what are you doing here? You're supposed to be patrolling!"
the watcher snapped at her, looking up from behind the counter.
"Duty calls," Xander told him.
"Yeah. I staked a weird vamp. He left behind this freaky necklace. It hurts
when Buffy and I touch it. What's the deal?" Jessie told him as Angel set the
necklaces on the counter for Giles to inspect.
"It appears to be a perfectly normal necklace. This pendent is quite queer,
though." The slayers looked at each other and picked up the jewlery. The sizzling
sound was heard and they held up their hands. They were bubbling and smoking, identical
to what happens when a vampire holds a cross.
"Ew! Do you have to show it to us?" Cordelia asked,cringing.
"Cordy, this is serious," Willow told her. "This is why we came to
see you." She turned to Giles, the familiar worry in her eyes. "What's
with these?"
"I will have to look it up. We may have to pull yet another all nighter,"
Giles replied, getting the first aid kit out again and handing it to Angel.
"We'll get the snacks," Xander said, leading Cordelia out the door.
"We? What's this we??? I don't get snacks!" The others rolled their eyes
as the slayers began bandaging their hands. Xander and Cordelia reappeared several
seconds later, closig the doors tightly behind them.
"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.
"Them!" Cordelia pointed out the windows, and the group saw a small, defenseless
figure being ganged up on by others around him.
"Here we go again," Jessie sighed, opening the doors and walking out. "Hey!
Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"
The milling figures turned to face the library occupants. There were three, each
looking like Xander, Willow and Cordelia. If they were vampires and vamped-out. Cordelia
screamed loudly and ducked back into the library.
"What the bloody hell?" Giles asked. Vamp Xander smirked at them and charged,
shoving Willow through the doors.
"Wanna play?" Jessie taunted Vamp Cordy. "Let's go,bitch." Cordy
ran at her and they were up against the lockers beside the library. "Come on!
Bring it on!" Cordy hit Jessie hard in the jaw and rammed her head against a
lock. "Ow! You're stronger than the real Cordelia, you know?" The slayer
looked to her friends and saw that several more vampires had come through the door
at the end of the hall, and were surrounding them. Xander and Willow, who had gotten
away from Xander's twin, were holding off the hacker's copy, while Angel and Buffy
were keeping the opposing vampires off. Vamp Xander had Giles and Cordelia cornered
in the library with nothing to keep him at bay.
Jessie looked back in time to see Cordy's fist come at her. She ducked swiftly and
got behind the demon with the arm in grasp. She pulled up steadily and yanked, forcing
the vampiress down.
"Hurts, huh?"
"Not as much as this will," called a voice from the slayer's left. She
looked to see a sharp blade come in contact with her cheek. Thrown off courdination,
Jessie stumbled back into Angel and looked to see her attacker. Identical to her,
only the 'person' had the features of a vampire.
"What the hell are these?!" Xander demanded, holding a cross in front of
Vamp Willow. She doubled back and met Buffy's stake, exploding.
"I don't know. Angel, look out!" Buffy yelled to him. Angel spun around
and saw a knife coming at him, wielded by Jessie's attacker. He spun quickly and
the blade met his opponent's neck, reducing him to dust.
"That was meant for you, betrayer," Knife-Girl hissed.
"And this is meant for you," Jessie replied. She hit with a mean spin kick,
knocking the blade welding vampiress into the library. Vamp Xander looked up and
saw the identical girls rush in, blocking and hitting. He stopped advancing on Giles
and watched the slayer trip her twin and grab the knife from her.
"Ooh.Fast little-" he exploded into dust before he could finish. Cordelia
lowered her shoe, the heel which she'd used to kill her boyfriend's vampiric wannabe.
"Not so tough now, huh? Ooh, another necklace!"
Jessie pushed her twin back out the door and the vampire stumbled over. Jessie grabbed
the crossbow off the countertop and ran out. She didn't see any other vampires.
Only piles of ash and the assorted fighters. "Where-" The knife was
ripped from her hand, cutting a gash into her bandaged hand, and she felt the blade
brush her neck.
"One move, and this'll be in your back," hissed her voice, or one identical
to it.
"Hey...icky!" Cordelia called. Vamp Jessie spun around and was met by
a blast of water. Holy Water. She screamed deafiningly and stumbled back into Vamp
Cordy.
"This isn't over!" V-Cordy hissed. She and the other vampiress turned
and ran off down the hall, each jumping over a downed garbage can.
Someone groaned and stood up. The original attackee. "Wha-what was that?"
The person stumbled over and leaned against Willow for support.
"Zac?!" Jessie yelled. He looked up and was met hard by Jessie's fist,
knocking him out again.
~Chapter 4~
"Jessie,I don't think that was called for," Giles told her, picking the
boy up.
"He's stalking me! I swear it!" Jessie turned back into the library and
went to tend her bleeding cheek as Buffy helped her watcher carry Zac in.
"Is everyone alright?" Angel asked, looking between the humans.
"Why am I always the one getting picked on?" Jessie asked, putting a bandaid
on.
"Because all the vamps know you'll be the slayer some day?" Cordelia asked.
Jessie just looked at her.
"How's...whats-his-face?" Xander inquired, eyeing the reviving boy. Zac
coughed loudly and shook his head, then looked around.
"My head!"
"That's not all that's going to hurt if you don't tell us why you came here!"
Jessie threatened.
"I went over to your place. Your aunt said you'd either be at the Bronze or
here. We were supposed to start our report, remember?" Jessie stuttered and
blushed.
"Oh.Yeah..." she cleared her throat and laughed nervously, then stopped
when she saw the others eyeing her. "What?"
"Do you know what could of happened by coming here, Zachary?" Giles asked.
"No. What, I've had gotten eaten by those freaks out there?" he laughed
shortly, but realized that no one else was laughing. "You're going to tell
me those guys really eat other people? Are they like vampires or something?"
"Vampires? No! Ha-ha-ha!" Willow said."They're...It's a joke! Smile,
you're on Candid Camera! See? In the clock there's a hidden camera, and we're all
on TV! Smile!"
"Will, you took it too far," Xander told her.
"So they were vampires?"
"No! They were just punk gang members! On PCP. And with novelty Halloween
fangs," Buffy tried to lie,but couldn't. "We really suck at lying, don't
we?"
"We? Nope. You? Yep," Jessie replied, shaking her head at her cousin.
"Are you saying I can't lie?"
"You know that painting in the back of my closet? Let's just say I did a pretty
damn good job of hiding my slayer stuff from Aunt Joyce." The others looked
at her, as if saying 'You idiot! Not with Zac!' "Oops!"
"Slayer stuff? Those guys were vampires! And...you guys...kill them?"
"I know it maybe a little hard to grasp at first, Zachary-"
"Not really. It only took Will and me about...a day to be convinced that there
are things that go bump in the night and they're impersonated on Halloween,"
Xander pointed out.
"So there are real vampires? Cool! What's it like having to kill them?"
Zac asked, leaning closer.
"We don't kill them all. Dead-Boy, show him!" Buffy punched Xander hard
in the arm, ending any further comments from him for the time being.
"Thank you, Buffy. Now, the task at hand is to find out why these vampires
are looking exactly like us," Giles said, shooting a look to the boy.
"Don't forget the necklaces. We found two more after we dusted...Xander. And
me. Well,our 'twins'," Willow said, holding up yet another pendent, as well
as the one Cordelia picked up.
"These guys are like jewelry shops!" Cordelia proclaimed. "If we
each stake one, we can all have necklaces like these! Well, except Buffy and Jessie.
You think because they're slayers, that's why they burn them?"
"Cordy, ever tried being tactful?" Xander asked his girlfriend.
"She may be on to something. I've heard of this...'race' of vampires, assassins,
that can steal the souls and use the souls to take the form of the original person.
But the person had to be dead," Angel explained, picking a necklace up.
"I do remember hearing something of them in the Journals of Robert McCarthie...The
Morphers they were called. This race is extremely powerful, yet can not hold their
own form," Giles remembered. "They go around, killing, feeding, stealing
peoples souls."
"Yeah, but we're not dead," Xander pointed out. "How come they were
like us?"
"They all have different abilities. Some are immune to sunlight, some steal
the souls from living humans. Some can even steal other vampire's forms. Only a
select few, though. The others kill and go around tormenting their intended victim
usually till he or she kills him or herself or is driven insane," Angel said
quietly.
"Yeah. But who would want to call on these assassins?" Willow asked.
The room was silent before Jessie and Buffy replied in unsion, "Spike."
~Chapter 5~
"Why doesn't he just send more from the Order of Taraka?" Cordelia inquired.
"Only so many Tarakans will fight a foe. If the foe has help or is unbeatable,
they'll give up. Often they don't, because they keep coming, but sometimes they
back away," Giles replied.
"So there's all these shape-shifting vampire assassins out there wandering around
looking like all of you?" Zac tried to sort out the information.
"We killed...one who hadn't taken a form, that was the one who attacked you
earlier, Angel's, Xander's, and Willow'," Jessie told him.
"Now there's still two out there we know about, and who knows how many more,"
Cordelia said.
"Makes ya feel safe, huh Zac?" Xander quipped.
"But, why do the necklaces burn?" Buffy asked of the watcher.
"Acid. The necklaces are saturated in an acid that only affects a slayer's
skin. It helps them tell who is a real threat in their mission," Angel replied.
"And you couldn't have told us before?" Jessie asked.
"I just remembered. I haven't read about them since...just after I..."
Angel trailed off, unable to say it.
"After what?" Zac asked.
"After he was bit."
"Xander!" Willow scolded.
"What? I'm right, right Dead-Boy?" Angel just looked at Xander with a
deep pain in his eyes. "See?"
"It appears I'm going to be up again reading through my diaries. You all may
want to head home, it's been a trying night."
"Wow. We're getting sent home actually before 12!" Xander quipped again.
"Possibly Buffy, you, Jessie and Angel could make another sweep of the town,
maybe...try to find a little more information on these assassins, why they're here,"
Giles continued, ignoring Xander.
"We know why they're here, Giles," Angel told him.
"Spike still wants to kill us," Buffy added.
"Me, actually. He won't stop till I'm dead," Jessie corrected.
"Why's this Spike guy after you?" Zac asked. Jessie started to comment,
but Cordelia cut her off.
"When she was little she flung a bottle of Holy Water into his eye, then...about
3-4 months ago they almost killed his psycho girlfriend."
"Cordelia, can't you ever let anyone talk for themselves?" Buffy asked
her.
"Well, she was doing that sighing thing she always does when she doesn't want
to talk about stuff! She did it before when she told us about Freddy!" Jessie
shot her a sad look and stood up.
"I'm...going to go patrolling again. I'll be back home before 3." Then
she turned, grabbed the crossbow back off the counter and walked out. The library
was silent as her footsteps echoed out, before Xander spoke.
"So, I guess welcome to the Scooby Gang Zac!"
On to Part 3