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by Theory Queen
Chapter 1: Harris
Xander Harris took off his headphones
and turned off the radio. In the relative quiet, he could hear his parents
fighting downstairs. The shrill tones of his mother's voice echoed in his
head, and he could hear his father's lethargic, rumbling attempts to defend
himself. Xander closed his eyes, but opened them again at the sound of
glass breaking downstairs. "I gotta get out of here," he muttered.
A few minutes later, Xander was
walking wearily down the street. His shoulders were hunched in grief, his
head down and his hands in pockets. He scuffed along absently kicking a
stone. It had only been three weeks since Jesse had died, since seventy-five
of his classmates had been murdered in the Bronze, by... vampires? Everyone
in the town was talking about it, but he still found it hard to believe.
Evil creatures from beyond the grave, reigning in Sunnydale, of all places
-- he shook his head. He still found it easier to think about vampires
than to remember that his best friend was dead.
He thought of seeing if Willow
had eaten yet. Maybe they could go out for pizza and distract each other
from the pain of losing their friend. His feet began moving, almost of
their own accord, toward her house.
"Losers," Cordelia Chase always
called their little group, and maybe she was right. None of them had many
friends but each other. On the other hand, he reflected, the fact they
had few friends meant that none of the seventy-five students killed were
close to any of them except for Jesse. Xander knocked on Willow's sliding
door, a special knock he had developed when he was first old enough to
walk to her house alone.
It slid open. "Hi, Xander," Willow
said. She wore brown corduroys and a dark blue shirt, and Xander nodded
grimly to himself. He hadn't felt like wearing bright colors yet, either.
"Hey, Will. Came over to see
if you feel like pizza," he said.
"Um, sure, but I just want to
finish up with my homework first. Can I meet you there?"
"I'll wait," Xander said, sitting
on her bed. She looked questioningly at him. He explained uncomfortably,
"I don't think we should walk alone at night anymore."
Willow nodded. It was the first
time either of them had mentioned the horror, even obliquely, since Xander
had sobbed in her arms at Jesse's gravesite. "Xander, what's happening
to this town?" she asked softly. "There've always been weird things going
on here, but nothing like this before."
He just shook his head. "I wish
I knew, Will. I just wish we could have things back the way they were."
They both sat silent for a moment, then Xander stirred to life. "Hey, finish
up your homework. I'm not going to let this whacky town keep me from my
pizza!"
His attempt to lighten the mood
didn't quite fall flat, but Willow was graceful enough to accept it. She
smiled and turned back to the computer. Typing rapidly, she finished her
essay in a few minutes, and printed it out. "There. Let's go."
The walk to the only pizzaria
in town was uneventful, as was the meal. They talked about school, family,
inconsequential topics. Neither one mentioned Jesse or the mass killing,
and for a while things seemed almost normal.
Leaving the restaurant, though,
was another story. Walking together up the street, he got a sense that
they were being followed. He chanced a look back and sure enough, three
men were walking purposefully toward them. One of them was massive, but
the other two weren't small. They passed under a streetlight and Xander
saw their faces. "Willow, run!" He yelled, shoving her ahead of him. He
accidently shoved her too hard, and she went down.
That seemed to be the vampires'
cue to attack. The big one grabbed Xander, while the other two picked up
the fallen redhead. Xander punched the big one, but only succeeded in hurting
his hand. He looked up into the toothy smile of the man. "I - I don't suppose
you're afraid of garlic?" he asked weakly, remembering the pizza they'd
eaten. The man grinned, and Xander relaxed for an instant.
"I used to love Italian," the
man said. He punched Xander in the face, and the boy folded. "But lately
I've taken to junk food," the man said as he bent to drink. Xander began
to struggle.
The other two were holding Willow
up but not actually hurting her. They enjoyed the smell of fear too much
to get blood involved just yet. "It's like foreplay," one of them remarked
to the other. "You know, just to get the heart rate up, the blood racing..."
His voice trailed off, and he looked directly at Willow and snarled.
She let out a shriek of terror,
and her other assailant nodded knowingly. "I always like the screamers,"
he said appreciatively. He bent to drink.
With no warning whatsoever, a
man came hurtling out of the darkness straight at the big vampire, knocking
him into the other two and interrupting their meal as well. Rolling to
his feet, he attacked the two smaller ones at the same time. Xander came
to assist and they were actually holding their own, until the big one got
into the fray as well. Xander went down, and Willow screamed his name.
Their rescuer looked up at her and said, "Run! It's too late for him!"
Xander's last conscious thought
was hoping Willow followed that advice, and wishing he'd known how short
life could be. Things could have been different between them.
Then everything was black.
He awoke to see Jesse's face
smiling down at him. "Oh my god," he muttered. "Jesse? I thought you were
dead! Wait, are you dead? Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?" His eyes darted
around wildly, searching for some clue as to where he was.
"Hey, man! 'Bout time you woke
up! Most of us rise in an hour or so, but not you. No, no, you have to
wait until the next night. The others were just going to kill you, but
I talked them into letting you join us. Wait till you meet the others!"
Jesse looked unchanged, his grin eternal.
"Others..?" Xander said weakly.
He felt odd, particularly at hearing Jesse's explanation of things. He
felt as if he should be upset or angry, but he wasn't. He swung his legs
over the side of the couch, stood up, and looked around.
There were several vampires milling
about, but only one or two looked at him. One of them was the large man
he had fought earlier, and the man smiled as he looked at Xander.
"Welcome to your new life, boy,"
he rumbled. "I hope you do better in this one than in the last."
Xander whispered to Jesse, "That
was an insult, right? I'm hanging out with my dead friend and his vampire
pals, and I'm being insulted by a monster."
"That's right," Jesse grinned.
"Except Luke was being nice 'cause you're new."
Xander nodded, pretending he
understood. "Ah. Good, just making sure I'm up with all of it." A sudden
thought struck him and he gasped at the horror of it. He grabbed his friend's
sleeve. "Jesse, am I a vampire?" he asked in a panic.
"Oh, this one's quick, Master,"
Luke laughed as an ancient vampire dressed in black entered the room.
Xander glared at Luke, then at
the ancient vampire. "Who are you?"
Luke grabbed Xander by the scruff
of the neck and forced him to his knees. "He is your master, boy, and you
won't ever be impolite to him again!"
The Master waved a hand and Luke
let Xander up. "What have we here?" He asked mildly.
"He's my friend, Master," said
Jesse. "We grew up together."
"And does this friend of yours
have any other friends, Jesse? We are recruiting, you know," the Master
chided gently, seeming disappointed by the fact that Xander was alone.
Xander protested loudly, "Hey,
I'll have you know I have tons of friends! Lots and lots of them."
"Good," said the Master, smiling
at the new boy with his fangs. He turned to Luke. "Feed him, teach him,
and let him go recruit all his friends." He left the room.
"Congratulations, boy," said
Luke, ungraciously acquiescing to the Master's will. "You've been promoted
to recruiting sergeant. Now I just hope you really do have all those friends,
or..." He purposely left the sentence hanging. Luke gestured, and two other
vampires brought out a young girl, around eleven years old. He turned to
Jesse. "You, boy, do you have the wit to make sure your friend here knows
how to survive?"
"Yes, I'll take care of him,
Luke." Jesse said.
"Good," Luke said. He pointed
to the girl. "Now, eat!" he ordered Xander, then turned on his heel and
left the room.
"I do not like that guy," Xander
muttered to himself. "And what does he mean, 'eat!'?"
Jesse sighed, and hoped this
wouldn't take as long as he was afraid it might. He showed Xander how to
eat, then explained how to avoid sunlight, how to make a kill, and most
importantly, how to recruit others. "You suck their blood, and then they
have to suck yours. It's not like in the movies, though. It's messier."
"Doesn't it hurt?" was Xander's
only concern as he prepared to enter the world as a newly-made vampire.
Jesse rolled his eyes and opened
the door, shoving Xander out through it. "Just come back with a fledgling,
or Luke will have your head." he called as Xander turned the corner.
Xander again walked down the
street with shoulders hunched. His mind got distracted by little things
that he had never noticed before, like the painted lines in the street
being higher than the rest of the pavement -- he could feel it through
his sneakers. He heard a car engine roaring and prepared to dodge out of
the way, but then realized that the car was several blocks away. There
was a tiny clattering noise that he couldn't place, but after listening
carefully, kneeling down, and putting his ear to the sidewalk, he realized
he could hear the ants walking around. Wow, he thought, I should tell Willow
about this! She's really into science.
Thoughts of Willow reminded him
of the last time he saw her, running away from the fight with Luke jogging
steadily after her. He remembered his thoughts of her as he was dying,
and suddenly wanted to tell her. Pity that it took death to make him realize
how he felt about her, but if she could get past that -- or better yet,
if she didn't know! -- maybe he still had a chance with her. He resolved
to tell her tonight, and to pretend that nothing had happened. With thoughts
of Willow in his mind, he started jogging eagerly toward her house.
Outside of the circle of light
cast by the street lamp, a pair of dark eyes watched Xander's progress.
The dark figure waited a few minutes, then began following him.
