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Seven Deadly Sins by BuffyMeetsSpike
 
Of Greed and Envy
 
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Disclaimer: All the characters are Joss Whedon’s.
 
Author’s Note: Spuffiness will occur, but we have a bit of a journey to take to get there…
 
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Chapter 2: Of Greed and Envy
 
Saturday morning was usually a day for Xander and Anya to sleep in, and for them to ‘start their weekend off with an orgasm’ as she put it. But today, both of them were up early. Xander’s boss had offered the guys overtime to make up some lost time on a big project, and he always felt he needed the money. Unlike Willow, I don’t have rich parents who pay all my bills, Xander grumbled to himself as he hauled himself out of bed.
 
Anya, on her part, has been lying awake for at least a half an hour before the alarm went off. Her brain had been racing with facts and figures, wondering how she and Xander could increase their savings. I need to make sure he always takes lunch, so he doesn’t have to buy it. But not too much, or we’ll have to go shopping more. I’ll have to make him coffee too – that three dollars a day at the coffee truck is going to add up if we’re not careful! She rolled over as Xander got up, and watched him start toward the bathroom. “Xander, honey?” she said.
 
Xander turned back toward her, still sleepy. “Yeah, Ahn?”
 
“Make sure you don’t use too much hot water. That costs money, you know.”
 
“Um, okay…” replied Xander, slightly puzzled. He continued making his way blearily to the shower. Anya got up and packed Xander a healthy, if slightly skimpy, lunch and started the coffee. Her head was buzzing with all sorts of plans for the Magic Box. I wonder if we still have some of those books of curses in the basement. I know Giles wasn’t too keen on selling them to just anyone, but we could charge loads for those. And those Hands of Glory. I’m sure we could make a lot on those too – they’re perfect for making enemies miserable. Revenge always sells better. She heard the shower turn off and looked at the time. Xander had taken 15 minutes in the shower. She wondered if he could get it down to ten. She’d have to get a timer or something to keep him honest.
 
“I packed you a lunch and made you some coffee for your thermos,” she told him as he got dressed.
 
“Thanks, Anya,” he said, kissing her. He admired her backside appreciatively as she made her way to the shower. How does she keep so fit? I am always fighting the love handles, and she never seems to work out at all, but still keeps her figure. Totally unfair. He pulled his shirt over his head and made his way out to the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. He felt vaguely dissatisfied as he looked around the apartment. It seemed so small, all of a sudden. Here he was, 21 years old, and all he had was this little apartment to show for it. His supervisor, now, that guy had it made. He was 25, had his own house already, was married, wife expecting their first kid. I’m never going to have all that. I don’t see that he’s any smarter or better at his job than me. It’s all just dumb luck. He scowled as he continued to attack his cereal. He finished just as Anya emerged, dressed and ready to go.
 
“Where are you going this early?” he asked? Anya usually worked later on Saturday by arrangement with Giles.
 
“I want to go in and see what sort of things might be sitting in the basement that we might have overlooked,” she explained. “We need to get rid of excess inventory if we want to boost our profits.”
 
“Anya, aren’t you getting a little carried away with your whole capitalism thing?” asked Xander. He was used to his girlfriend’s quirks, but she seemed like she was in profit overdrive this morning.
 
“I just think that the Magic Box isn’t performing up to its full potential,” she explained. “With just a little extra work, I feel like that store could be a gold mine.” I don’t know what he’s so concerned about. Shopkeepers are supposed to worry about their business, right?
 
“You do remember that it’s technically Giles’ store, right?” Xander said as he put on his coat.
 
“Yes, yes,” said Anya, getting her things together as well. “But I think my valuable ideas will show Giles that I could be a true partner in this business! And as a partner, I should be entitled to a bigger share of the profits!”
 
“Just… don’t go overboard, ok?” Xander asked, as they headed out the door.
 
“Ok, ok,” Anya responded. They headed down to Xander’s car. As Xander was getting in, he paused to look as a red Corvette driven by a smarmy looking tanned beach boy-type passed by. His eyes automatically tracked the sports car, practically drooling. “Um, Xander? Work?” said Anya from inside the car.
 
Xander tore his eyes away from the Corvette and got in. As he started the car, he muttered, “Why do guys like that always have cars like that? Do they do anything? Those rich frat boy types lie around on the beach and do jack shit all day, and somehow money just falls into their laps, while I build their stupid little condos and get paid squat, and drive this piece of junk.” He finished his tirade by pounding his fist into the door.
 
“Xander, this car is perfectly fine, and it’s only a couple of years old. Besides, you don’t even know that guy. He could be a doctor or something.”
 
“Oh, I know the type. My high school was full of them. Spoiled little rich kids with rich daddies who got them everything their heart desired.” Xander seethed with the memory of always being at the low end of the social totem pole at Sunnydale high. Would have been nice to have parents who weren’t drunken sots.
 
They had reached the Magic Box and Xander stopped to let Anya out. “Try not to let these things get to you, Xander,” said Anya. “And after I make my first million, I promise I’ll buy you a red Corvette of your very own.”
 
“Thanks,” said Xander, kissing her goodbye. Anya waved then strode purposefully into the store, unlocking it with her key. The store didn’t open until ten o’clock on Saturday, giving her an hour to see what she could do to improve things. She went down to the basement and found the box with the books of curses. 100 Curses for Daily Use. These will sell like hotcakes! She set the pricing gun to $50.00 and priced all ten copies, bringing them upstairs and arranging them on a shelf near the door. She went back to the basement to see what else there was. There were a large number of candles that happened to look a lot like the enchanted ones that had done so well yesterday. She priced them and put them upstairs, in and among the rest of the enchanted ones. Not sure if these are enchanted or what, but I’m sure no one will notice. Then she started looking around the store. She marked the price up on several talismans and magic gems, figuring that the people who really needed these things for their spells would be willing to pay for them.
 
She was still on her pricing binge when Giles came in at 9:45. He was surprised to see Anya there so early on a Saturday. “Anya? What are you doing here?” he asked.
 
“Oh, good morning, Giles,” said Anya, brightly. “I had some ideas for boosting our profitability, and I really wanted to come in and try them out.”
 
“I see,” said Giles, who didn’t actually see what she was getting at. He noticed the books of curses on the shelf and said, “Anya, aren’t these those books we decided not to put out?”
 
“I think we should reconsider that, Giles,” said Anya. “After all, they would be very popular.”
 
“Yes, but I thought we had discussed the fact that they could be dangerous in the wrong hands.” Giles said firmly.
 
Anya sighed. Giles was eating into all her juicy profits! She got the books off the shelf and grudgingly stacked them behind the counter. “I’ll take them back downstairs later on,” she said. If I don’t find a way to sell them first.
 
Giles frowned thoughtfully. It was always so hard to tell when Anya was acting oddly, since ‘normal’ for her was still pretty odd. But they had had a long discussion about these books a couple weeks prior. In fact it was Anya, with her vengeance demon background, who had suggested that some of these curses could be misused by vengeful types. So why was she so eager to sell them all of a sudden? And for fifty dollars each? They were hardly worth more than thirty.
 
“Giles?” Anya spoke up.
 
“Yes, Anya?”
 
“I was thinking – we could really diversify our product lines if we had more space. We could make a lot more money if we increased our book selection, for example.”
 
“And where do you propose we get this extra space from?” Giles wondered.
 
“Well, Buffy only uses the training room maybe four times a week. Does she really need that space?”
 
“Anya!” said Giles sharply. “The Slayer needs to continually train to stay ahead of the forces of darkness, and right now with Glory on the loose she needs to train more than ever. Do you honestly think that I would want to jeopardize her calling so we could make more money as a bookstore?”
 
Anya was taken aback. “I just think we need to consider the future. I mean, hell gods come and hell gods go, but we always need to eat and pay bills.”
 
Giles took off his glasses and pinched his nose. “Anya,” he said, trying to muster reserves of patience. “The store does quite well enough to pay all our bills. There’s no need for us to get greedy.”
 
Anya could see she was losing this particular battle. “Ok, Giles. Sorry if I got carried away.” She busied herself straightening up the counter while Giles went in the back office. A few minutes later the doorbell jingled as the first customer of the day came in. Anya brightened and said, “May I help you? We have some excellent deals on talismans today!”
 
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Xander arrived at work, grabbed his lunch and his thermos of coffee, and joined his co-workers gathered in front of the site office. A couple of the guys greeted him, and they all stood around, drinking coffee and finishing donuts. Xander realized looking around that he was never going to be as strong as some of these guys. He looked at Dave, a six foot five tank with a shaved head, black skin, and muscles that were large enough to probably need their own apartment. I could work out every day for five hours and never get muscles that big. How does he do it?
 
Dave noticed Xander staring at him and said, “What’s up Harris? See something you like?” He mockingly put his hand on his hip and preened. The guys all laughed uproariously.
 
Xander faked a laugh to hide his complete embarrassment. “Just a case of the early morning stares. You just happened to be in the line of fire.”
 
“Well, ok, but your girlfriend may want to know that you’re shopping around,” Dave laughed. The others joined in, as did Xander, but he found his stomach turning sour with repressed jealousy. The other guys can joke about this stuff without even batting an eyelash. Why do I always feel like my face is beet red? If they knew half the shit I’ve seen with the Scoobies they’d wet their pants. That thought pleased him for a moment, but then another thought followed on its heels. Well, if they knew half the stuff Buffy has gone after. Face it Harris, you’ll always be a fifth wheel. Can’t fight, can’t cast spells, no good at research. All you can do is go for donuts.
 
“Hey Harris, are you with us this morning, or not?” barked Tom, his supervisor.
 
Xander realized that the morning meeting had started and he was off to the side, staring into space. He shook himself and sheepishly joined the crowd. A wag in the back said, “Better not put Harris on heavy machinery detail today.” Once again the crowd had a laugh at his expense.
 
“Ok, let’s get to work,” Tom said. He handed out assignments, and Xander found himself working on putting up drywall in the interior of the new condos. He started near the door, and went into his usual routine. But by the third piece of drywall, he found himself getting annoyed. He started complaining about it to Greg, who was working near him.
 
“Doesn’t this bother you?” he asked.
 
“Huh?” said Greg, who was a burly tanned type in charge of sealing the drywall seams after Xander put the panels up.
 
“This,” said Xander, pausing in his hammering. “We work in this heat, for low wages, putting up walls so that some developer can get rich selling condos to yuppie scum.” He started hammering again, harder than usual.
 
Greg responded, “What the hell, Harris? We get paid just fine. And who gives a ripe fuck what happens when we’re done? Not like you live in a cardboard box. Get over it.”
 
“I’m just saying,” Xander continued. “We’re going to put in marble sinks and cherry counters so some rich assholes can have their wine and cheese parties here. Pisses me off.” In irritation, he swung the hammer just a little too hard and missed, putting a hole in the drywall.
 
“What the fuck, Harris?” Tom, the supervisor, had chosen that moment to come up behind him. “Pay attention to what you’re doing! You need to take that sheet down and replace it. And if you waste any more of that it’s coming out of your paycheck.”
 
Xander mumbled an apology and started ripping down the wrecked drywall. He stole a glance at Tom as the supervisor conferred with another worker. Who do you think you are, you petty little dictator? I could be just as good a supervisor as you. Better, even. How did you manage to get the job? Isn’t your dad a friend of the owner or something? You didn’t do anything to deserve it. Xander seethed and swore under his breath as he yanked off the last of the drywall and started over.
 
Xander was on his break later when his cell phone rang. It was Buffy. “Greetings, Buffster,” Xander said as he heard her greeting. “What can I do for you?”
 
“Can you stop by on the way home from work? I accidentally pulled the towel rack off the wall and was wondering if you could fix it for us.”
 
“Don’t know your own strength?” Xander teased. Typical. Only needs me for brute force caveman stuff. Just once it would be nice to contribute something real.
 
“Can you fix it or not?”
 
Buffy sounded pissed off. “Um, sure Buffy, don’t get all bent out of shape,” Xander replied. Well I guess if you have supernatural powers you get to order everyone around. Must be nice.
 
“Sorry, Xander, I’m just really on edge today.”
 
“No worries. I’ll stop by later.” He hung up and called Anya.
 
“Magic Box, where today we’ve got tons of bargains for you!” came Anya’s chipper voice through the phone.
 
“Hey Ahn, it’s me,” he said. “I gotta stop at Buffy’s and fix something after work, but then I’ll come pick you up.”
 
“Maybe you should start charging her for all these repairs. It seems like something is always broken around her place. You could probably do pretty well just with Slayer related repairs alone.”
 
“Anya, she’s my best friend. I can’t charge my friend to help her out.” Xander replied. Sometimes he wished that Anya had never discovered the concept of capitalism.
 
“Well, fine, but I can only raise prices so much around here, so you’d better think of ways to maximize your take home pay somehow if we’re ever going to get that house.”
 
“Oookay then,” said Xander. He noticed that his supervisor was pointing at his watch, indicating that break time was over. “I have to go Anya. See you later.”
 
“Harris, do you intend to do any actual work today?” Tom snapped.
 
“Coming,” Xander said, scrambling to his feet and grabbing his tool belt. “Just had to touch base with Anya about something.”
 
“She’s got you whipped, eh Harris?” laughed Tom.
 
Xander gave a tight lipped smile and got back to work. Tom’s wife was a nice, normal brunette, all around American wife and soon-to-be mother. Xander remembered the barbecue at Tom’s house a couple months back. His wife had been so normal. So self assured, chatting pleasantly with her guests about this and that. He had to spend the whole time covering for Anya’s odd statements, or shushing her, or whispering instructions on how to behave. It was bad enough when he was with the Scoobies, but at least they were used to Anya’s weird behavior. But in social situations in the real world, Anya stuck out like a sore thumb. Maybe he’d be happier if he had a nice normal girlfriend instead of a former demon…
 
Xander shook himself. What the hell am I thinking? I love Anya. What the hell was that all about? He hefted another sheet of drywall, and tried his best to clear his mind and focus on the work at hand.
 
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Anya was feeling pretty pleased with herself. She had already done much better for a Saturday morning than Giles usually did. She was practically pouncing on customers, and she had cleverly steered several of them toward the items she had marked up. She had even sold several of the hopefully-enchanted-but-not-quite-sure candles.
 
In the early afternoon, Buffy came striding in. Giles came out from the office to greet her and follow her into the training room. As they went into the back, a customer came in. She was a thin, black haired, goth-looking type in a leather jacket. “Can I help you?” asked Anya brightly.
 
“Yeah,” answered the girl in a surly manner. “My asshole boyfriend cheated on me and I want to get back at him. Do you have any books with ideas on how to curse his sorry cheating ass?”
 
Anya looked over at the training room, and saw that Giles was occupied. “Keep your voice down,” she said conspiratorially to the customer. She bent down and got one of the books of curses from behind the counter. “I’m not really supposed to sell these, but they should be pretty useful for what you want. Fifty dollars.”
 
“Sold!” said the girl, handing over her credit card. She started flipping through the book with interest. “Oh yeah. Perfect. The bastard will wish he was never born when I get through with him.”
 
Anya rang up the sale, and watched as the girl signed the slip. “Take care now. And try not to do too many at once – might mess things up a bit.”
 
“Right. Thanks,” said the girl as she left, plotting revenge.
 
Suddenly, there was a huge bang from the training room. Alarmed, Anya poked her head in the door, to see a small rain of plaster dust coming down from where the punching bag used to hang. “Oops,” said the Slayer. Anya quickly returned to the cash register. A thousand years of being a demon made her still a little leery of tangling with a Slayer in a bad mood. I sure hope Giles doesn’t expect to pay for that out of my profits. I mean our profits, she added, slightly ashamed. She really did need to remember that it was technically Giles’ store.
 
Buffy left a few minutes later, and Giles came out, polishing his glasses. “Buffy seems a bit… agitated today. Did anything happen last night?”
 
Anya frowned and shook her head. “No. We did some research and ordered pizza. Nothing unusual at all.”
 
“Hmm,” said Giles thoughtfully. “At any rate, how are things going today? Sorry to have left you out here to manage everything by yourself. I just wanted to get caught up on some of the bills.”
 
“I’ve been making lots of sales,” bubbled Anya. “I raised the prices on some of the talismans but then put a sign next to them that said ‘Sale’ and people snapped them up!”
 
“Um, quite,” Giles responded. “However, in the future, I would appreciate it if you discussed these things with me first. I don’t want to drive away our regular customers by raising the prices too much.”
 
“I just think this place could really be a gold mine if we put just a little more thought into managing our inventory,” Anya stated. “I mean, think about it. We’re the only magic shop in a town with a hellmouth! There’s got to be tons of pent up need for magical protection and stuff like that. With better advertising, we could really increase our clientele!”
 
“Anya!” Giles cut in. “I appreciate what you say, but you know as well as I that some magic is very dangerous to the unschooled. We can’t just start marketing magical fixes to every Tom, Dick, and Harry off the street. The consequences could be unimaginable!”
 
“Okay, okay, I get it,” pouted Anya. She grabbed a duster and started cleaning the displays, trying to rearrange things so that they looked more appealing. Maybe we could have an ‘anti-Valentine’s’ sale for people who hate their exes. We could call it St. Vengeance Day. There’s always a market for Vengeance. She sighed – sometimes she missed that life. She loved Xander, but there was a certain satisfaction in having some guy who richly deserved it develop boils on his penis on your say-so. But it really didn’t pay much, now that I think about it.
 
Giles had taken a few books back into his office, still working diligently on the Glory problem in every spare moment. Anya spent the remaining hour or so waiting on a few scattered customers. She managed to surreptitiously sell another book of curses to a rather cranky old lady who had ‘noisy college kids’ living next to her. She had complained about the price, but Anya held firm, and in the end the woman’s desire to curse her neighbors won out over her desire to pay less for the privilege. At last, five o’clock came and Giles flipped the ‘closed’ sign. Anya would have cheerfully stayed open another hour or so, but she decided that she shouldn’t push Giles too far, too soon. He’d have to be eased into the idea of actually making some real money off this place.
 
Xander came in while Anya was sweeping the floor. “Hey, babe,” he said, kissing her.
 
“Hi, honey,” she replied. “How was your day?”
 
“Ok, I guess,” muttered Xander. “Getting tired of Tom and Dave and their superior attitude.”
 
Anya looked at him quizzically. Xander generally got along fine with his co-workers. “I thought you liked those guys?”
 
“I dunno. Just having a crappy day, I guess,” he said, shrugging. "But at least I fixed Buffy's towel rack, so I'm still good for something."
 
Anya was too excited to notice Xander's glum tone. “Well, I made tons of sales today. The store had one of its best days ever. If we keep this up, we’ll be rolling in dough before long.”
 
Yippee for you, thought Xander, annoyed at Anya's easy success. “Are you ready to go?”
 
Anya really wanted to stay and price some more things, but she recognized the impatience in Xander’s voice. “Ok, let me get my purse. Bye Giles!” she called out.
 
“Will you be in tomorrow?” asked Giles. They were only open noon until five on Sunday, and often Anya didn’t come in, which suited Giles just fine. Anya could wear on one’s nerves sometimes.
 
“Oh, definitely!” said Anya. “I want to see if there are any more things in the basement we’ve been overlooking.”
 
“Quite,” said Giles doubtfully. “I guess I’ll see you then.” Xander and Anya waved and left. Giles frowned to himself. I should probably get here a little early tomorrow. Not sure what she’s on about, but it bears watching. He checked over the receipts Anya had totaled. His eyes widened a bit – she had had an amazing day in terms of sales. But then he noticed that the stack of books that they had removed from the shelves seemed slightly shorter. I told her not to sell those! What was she thinking? He leaned against the counter, polishing his glasses and wondering what could possibly be going on.
 
TBC
 
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