The Potentials were in the front room, draped over furniture and floor
and trying hard to look alert and interested. Kennedy had just brought
them back from a ten mile run and was critiquing their performance.
“If a vamp were after you would you stop to tie your shoe lace, Molly?”
“N-no, but if I tripped, I might -”
“Shut up, and since youâre so fond of shoes, you can clean everyoneâs
muddy trainers. Use Viâs toothbrush as she seems to think that demons
let you take a time out to drink water in a fight.”
“I was getting dehydrated! Itâs hot out there! The humidity -”
Kennedyâs mouth opened again but sheâd lost her audience. Spike and
Xander were standing in the doorway, their faces shocked and concerned.
“Whatâs the matter? Why are you interrupting my debriefing session?”
Kennedy demanded, her foot tapping impatiently.
Xander was holding a piece of paper. He clenched it in his fist, biting
his lip. “Itâs Buffy,” he said. “She asked Willow to - to -”
“Oh, for Godâs sake!” interrupted Spike. “Weâll be here all day.
Slayerâs had enough. Canât take all the yapping and the danger. Sheâs
nagged Red into doing a spell to take away her power and sheâs left
town. Buggered off to her dad in Spain and taken Dawn with her.”
A hum of voices rose as the Potentials began to discuss this, their
voices getting shrill with excitement.
“Quiet!” yelled Kennedy. “Xander, Willow never said anything about this
to me.”
The look he gave her was cool. “Buffy and she go way back. Buffy knows
all the Willow shaped buttons to press, even better than you do.” His
words hung in the air and there was a stifled giggle from someone in
the corner. “Willowâs never forgiven herself for pulling Buffy out of
heaven. Buffy played on that, used it to push her into doing the spell.”
“Girlâs got what she always wanted,” muttered Spike. “Sheâs normal and
sheâs well out of all this. Wish her luck.” He looked as if his heart
was broken.
Kennedy snorted with contempt. “I canât believe youâre all missing the
point of this. The Slayerâs powers are up for grabs. One of us is going
to be the next Slayer.”
“Itâs pretty much an instant transfer,” Xander said carefully. “It
would have happened an hour ago maybe, when you were out running. Did
any of you feel anything?”
Silence and faces fell, feet were shuffled and then Andrew stepped
forward, his face glowing. “I did! Oh, I really did. It was like an
orgasm but well, the sort youâd get when there was someone else
involved, except I donât really know - but I can imagine it! I felt hot
and glowy and there was this sticky feeling but that might have been
because I dropped my toast and it had honey on it -”
“âHoneyâ?” said Rona. “You had honey? I thought weâd run out! I had to
make do with low-fat spread!”
Andrew looked shifty. “It was my own jar,” he whined. “I need to keep a
balance in my blood sugars or I get mean and sort of testy.”
“Oh, so if Jonathan had offered you a candy bar, youâd have spared
him?” Rona said.
Andrewâs eyes filled with tears. “I didnât mean to do it! I wish I
hadnât. Iâve atoned and itâs not fair to make me remember it over and
over and -”
“What is all this crap?” Kennedy demanded. “Andrew, youâre male. You
canât possibly be the Slayer.”
He stiffened, glaring at her from reddened eyes. “Maybe itâs time for a
change! And Iâm deeply in touch with my feminine side. And think about
how I was drawn to this gathering of Potentials. It was meant to be.”
“Easy way to tell,” said Spike. “Heâs the only one who thinks he felt
something so he gets to prove it. Come on then; have at me and see if
you can take me down.”
Andrewâs eyes widened and he squeaked with excitement. “Can I really?
But suppose I hurt you? Iâd never forgive myself.”
“A Slayer who doesnât want to hurt vampires. Yeah, thatâll work,”
sniffed Kennedy.
“Hey. Soul now, remember?” said Spike coldly.
Kennedy stalked over to him, her nose inches from his. “As far as Iâm
concerned, it doesnât change a thing.” She poked him just where a stake
would do the most damage and smirked. “Oops, did I touch a tender spot?”
While sheâd been talking, Xander and the Potentials had cleared a space
and were sitting around the improvised arena, eagerly waiting the
battle. Spike brushed past Kennedy and stood facing Andrew. Rolling his
head, he morphed into game face. Andrew shrieked in fear and then
seemed to gather strength from a mysterious source. Leaping at Spike,
he knocked him to the floor and punched him in the face. Spike growled
and flung Andrew away, watching as the boyâs body bounced on the sofa.
Andrew rolled off and came back fighting, screaming out a battle cry as
he launched a kick to Spikeâs kneecap that had the vampire writhing in
agony on the floor. Andrew whipped out an ornately carved stake and
landed heavily on Spike, pinning him to the ground. With a theatrical
flourish, he held the stake to his heart.
“And so the vampyr perishes!” he declaimed, waving the stake in the air
as Spikeâs features changed back to human.
“You can get off me anytime - Slayer,” said Spike.
Kennedy shook her head, her face anguished. “No way. Andrew canât be
the next Slayer. He just canât be. It should have been me! Iâm the best
trained, Iâm a Scooby -” Spike and Xanderâs eyes met, identical
expressions of derision on their face - “and I know I can take any of
you in a fight!”
In two swift steps, Spike was by her side, her arm twisted up her back,
his fangs digging into her neck just enough to hurt.
“Ooh, thatâs what he did to me!” squealed Vi. “Heâs so fast!”
Kennedy pushed Spike away, her lips trembling, but worse was to come.
“Kennedy,” said Andrew, in calm, measured tone. “I couldnât help
noticing that you came back from the run totally like not sweaty. Why
was that?”
“Because she borrowed Dawnâs bike!” blurted out Molly. “She said it
would allow her to watch the stragglers but it was just to make it easy
for her! It has twenty one gears!”
Andrew nodded slowly. “I thought as much. Kennedy,” he said, his voice
ringing with the knowledge that his words were only right and fair,
“drop and give me twenty and then go and do that run. And to prove that
you are worthy, bring me back three jelly donuts and if any of them
have teeth marks, youâll be on kitchen clean up for the next week.”
“But Iâm the Slayerâs second in command,” she protested, her eyes
darting around the room, looking for support and finding none.
“You were,” he said arching a supercilious eyebrow. “But I
think
youâll find that position is now filled by another.”
“Who?” she demanded with one last flicker of defiance.
“Buffy did not leave us entirely,” he said solemnly. Whirling around,
he pointed to the silent onlooker, watching impassively from the
mantlepiece.
“A pig? A stuffed pig is your second in command?”
“You have a problem with that?” said Andrew, glaring menacingly at
Kennedy as he twirled the stake in his fingers, miraculously not
dropping it.
“Uh, no... sir.”
“Then why arenât I listening to you show me that you can count to
twenty?”
As Kennedy began to suffer, Xander and Spike slipped away to the
kitchen to bond over beer. Andrew joined them soon after, a wide smile
on his face.
“I feel so evil,” he confessed. “But it was fun. Is that very wrong of
me?”
“Nah,” said Xander. “But I want to know what she did to get you mad.”
Andrewâs lips thinned. “She said -” He closed his eyes in horror but
ploughed on bravely. “She said that the Daleks would only scare a three
year old.”
Xander and Spike looked horrified too.
“Iâm a vampire,” Spike said firmly, “and they bloody terrify me. Itâs
the way they move.”
Xander nodded, with a shudder, and Andrew beamed at them happily.
“When will the girls be back, then?” asked Spike, tipping back his
bottle and draining it.
Xander shrugged. “They went on a mammoth shopping trip with that money
Anya and Giles got from the insurance company who covered the Magic
Box. Theyâll shop till the mall closes and then theyâll want ice cream.”
Spikeâs eyes flickered to the page a day calendar on the wall as he
went to the fridge for another beer. It needed updating. Grinning
happily, he tore off the one labelled March 31.
“Best make the most of it then,” he said. “Do you think Kidney Bean
does laundry? Iâve got some T shirts that are getting a bit ripe.”
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