Day 22


Buffy burst into Giles’ apartment closely followed by Spike which caused Giles and Xander to scramble for weapons.

“Relax, guys, we’ve called a truce.” Buffy told them.

“But, Buffy!” Xander protested. “That’s Spike! You do remember Spike right? Came to town to kill you a few years back, kidnapped me and Willow with the whole broken bottle in the face?”

“And he also helped me with Acathla and how did you get in here anyway?” she asked the vampire.

“Dunno, luv. Might have somethin’ to do with this.”

He held up his ring bearing hand.

“Good Lord,” Giles exclaimed. “The Gem of Amara.”

“Yep. You know, it’s amazing what they leave lyin’ around crypts these days.”

Buffy smacked him.

“Spike, knock it off. Giles, we had a run in with that thing I’ve been dreaming about. It took Parker.”

“And left us a bit of a prezzie,” Spike added, pulling a throwing star from his pocket and dropping it on the coffee table, then claimed a chair and made himself comfortable. Buffy sat down on the couch as Giles picked up the star, studying it intently.

“Hand crafted,” he muttered, mostly to himself. “Superb craftsmanship…”

“It’s got a tooth on it,” Buffy said, making an ‘eew’ face. Giles turned the weapon over, nearly dropping it as the aforementioned molar came into view.

“Fascinating.”

“Have you found anything on this thing yet?” the Slayer asked.

“Hmm? Oh, not as of yet, no. I’m afraid we really don’t have much to go on…Whom are you calling?” he asked as his Slayer reached for the phone.

“Angel. He’s like super old, he might have heard of this thing.”

She ignored Spike’s snicker at the ‘super old’ comment and waited for her ex to pick up the phone.


“Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless, how may we help…”

“Cordelia?”

“Buffy?” the brunette asked sneaking a peek at Angel’s closed office door.

“Yeah, can I talk to Angel for a minute? It’s important.”

“Um…sure. Hang on.”


“I’m on hold,” Buffy informed the men.

“Cordy put you on hold?” Xander asked.

“It’s what she jus’ said, innit?” Spike asked, irritated.

Buffy shot him a dirty look.

“What? Alcohol doesn’t go as far with vamps as it does with you lot.”

“Alcohol?” Giles asked.

“You went drinking with Spike?” Xander demanded.

Buffy got a deer in the headlights look.

“Um…I plead the fifth?”

She was saved from further interrogation when Angel picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Angel,” she greeted cheerfully.

“Buffy?”

“Yeah. Look, we’ve got a little problem over here and I was wondering if you could lend a hand?”

“Buffy, I don’t…”

“I’ve been having this dream for awhile and this voice keeps saying that every 23rd fall for 23 days it gets to eat and people are disappearing and Giles can’t find it in his books and…”

“Buffy, I understand that you want to see me but making up stories isn’t the way. We can’t be together. Goodbye.”

“Making up? What? Hello?”

She stared at the phone.

“He hung up on me!”

“He what?” Xander asked.

“That jackass hung up on me!”

“Peaches always was a bit slow on the uptake,” Spike stated.

Buffy scowled at the receiver again then hung it up.

“You know what? If he wants to be Mr. Brood-My-Life-Away that’s fine. We’ve got Willow.”

The Slayer looked around.

“Where is Willow? Is she in the bathroom?”

“Willow isn’t here,” Giles said, leafing through a book, throwing star in hand. “That infernal machine of hers exploded or …”

“Her hard drive crashed,” Xander translated. “She went back to the dorms to see if she could borrow someone else’s computer.”

Buffy jumped to her feet.

“She went alone?”

“Oz is with her.”

Buffy headed toward the door anyway.

“It’s not that I don’t trust Oz. I’ll just feel better if I’m with them.”

“Yes, by all means,” Giles agreed. “You should be out looking for this creature. Send Willow and Oz over here when you’ve found them.”

“Will do Watcher,” Spike said and saluted the two before following Buffy out onto the sidewalk.

“Buffy,” a voice called.

The blonde in question turned to see Anya coming up to her. She’d exchanged pleasantries with her in high school and knew that the girl had, up until last year, been a Vengeance Demon.

“Anya right?”

Anya nodded.

“You’re a friend of Xander’s correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know where I can find him? I need to speak with him about some vigorous and satisfying sex we had earlier.”

Buffy just stared at the other woman; ‘Xander’ and ‘sex’ refusing to merge into a cohesive thought in her brain.

“Whelp’s at the Watcher’s,” Spike supplied helpfully, pointing the way.

“Oh, thank you,” Anya said and entered Giles’ apartment without knocking.

“Boy's gonna have his hands full with that one.”


“Xander?” Anya called as she entered the flat and smiled when she spotted him. “The man Buffy was with said that you were in here and we need to finish our talk.”

“Friend of yours?” Giles asked the young man.

“Um…kind of.”

Anya smiled at Giles and extended a hand.

“Hello. I’m Anya. I need to borrow Xander and finish a conversation about some sex we had earlier,” she said, ignoring how Giles’ eyes bugged out and the choking noise Xander made, then caught sight of the star.

“Oh, a Creeper.”

She picked up the star and began examining it as Giles struggled to form a coherent sentence.

“You, ah, you know what made this?” he finally asked.

“Of course,” she said then recited a painfully familiar verse. “Every 23rd fall for 23 days it gets to eat, right?”

Giles nodded.

“That’s a Creeper. So Xander, about earlier. I thought that the sex would help me get over you but…”

“Um…Anya,” Giles interrupted.

“Yes?” She turned to him.

“Could you possibly tell us more about this, ah, Creeper creature? It is imperative that we learn as much as possible about it.”

She looked torn.

“After that you may speak with Xander,” the Watcher concluded with a meaningful glare at the boy.

“But Giles,” Xander protested.

“If you were man enough to sleep with her then you should be man enough to speak with her about it,” he said in a commanding tone he rarely used with the Scooby’s and Xander slumped in his chair.

“Yes,, sir.”

Giles turned his gaze back to Anya and smiled.

“If you would, please, dear.”

She smiled back and began.



“You know? I’m thinking about writing a very strong-worded letter to that computer guy,” Willow ranted. “He says that nothing can hurt this with that program installed on it and what does it do? It fries…”

Oz listened with half an ear as his girlfriend vented, the other half of his attention focused on their surroundings. Most of the people who disappeared had gone missing on campus and there was a weird vibe in the air that set his teeth on edge. Suddenly he grabbed Willow’s arm and stopped; something wasn’t right. Willow looked at her boyfriend, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air.

“What’s wrong?”

“We need to get back to Giles’,” Oz said. “Now.”

He started toward his van at a fast walk, pulling the Wicca with him, then rounded a row of bushes and stopped again. An old man was walking toward them, his long tattered coat swirling in the breeze, stringy white hair falling from beneath a wide brimmed hat that concealed his face in shadows. The young wolf growled softly; he didn’t like this guy at all. The man paused at the sound, cocked his head to one side like an inquisitive bird, and then smiled, revealing sharp, not-in-any-way-human teeth.

“Oz?” Willow asked from behind him. The wolf could smell her fear but she hid it well and pulled a stake from her bag, pressing it into his hand. Oz closed his fist around the weapon. It was better than nothing but he doubted that it would do much good.

The man started forward again and Oz backed up, Willow did the same.

“Van?” she asked.

He nodded.

“On three.”

He flung the stake end over end and shouted “Three!” as it buried itself in the things chest. It let out an inhuman cry and gripped the wood protruding from its torso as the witch and werewolf took off running. The Creeper flung the stick away before giving chase.


“That’s Oz’s van,” Buffy said, pointing to the vehicle. “And…what?”

Spike was frowning.

“You *do* know this boy’s a werewolf, right?”

“How’d you know that?”

He tapped the side of his nose and Buffy wrinkled her own.

“Okay, first of all eew and secondly…what now?”

His entire demeanor had shifted from almost-normal-guy to predator in a split second.

“It’s here.”


Willow ran, her legs and lungs burning, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest; she wanted to stop, needed to rest, but knew she couldn’t. The parking lot was only a few hundred yards away and Oz was a few feet behind her…and the creature was right in front of her. Willow skidded to a halt and fell back, landing on the grass and letting out a scream. Oz was in front of her in a flash then a dark blur collided with the creature, both hitting the ground as someone called her name.

“Willow!”

“Buffy?”

The Slayer was by her friend’s side in an instant, helping her to her feet. Oz joined them, taking his girlfriends other hand.

“What is that thing?” Willow asked.

“It’s what I’ve been dreaming about,” Buffy explained. “I ran into Spike and he decided to help me fight it.”

Willow’s eyes went huge.

“Spike!?” she squeaked. “Evil with the whole broken bottle in my face Spike?”

“Um…yeah?”

The vampire in question was trading vicious blows with the Creeper, a gleefully savage grin on his face. He managed to get his hands on its head and gave it a vicious twist before the creature rounded on him with a brutal punch which sent the vampire several feet past the small group. Spike stood and made a show of dusting himself off then there was a spray of something wet and warm followed by a startled grunt from behind the girls. They turned and met Oz’s startled gaze a split second before the Creeper tore his heart from his chest.