"Maybe we're not ready for this step."
"We can't get any more ready. Not be nervous. Just relax and let
your instincts guide you."
"I can't help being nervous. It's well, you know?"
"Your first time? Yeah, I know. I was nervous my first time too.
But I learned, if you just let yourself relax and go with your
senses, it'll come to you."
There was a brief silence, interrupted by a nervous sigh.
"What if it won't, you know, get up?"
"Don't worry. It'll get up. It has to, kind of it's purpose in
life."
"But what if it doesn't get up tonight?"
"It's doubtful that it won't get up. It has to. Eventually, it'll
get hungry."
Harry gulped audibly, turning to fix his companion, one Xander
Harris, a frightened look.
"It's hungry? As in, it wants my blood?"
Xander nodded.
"Your blood, my blood, as long as it's blood, they don't
discriminate," the young man shrugged. "Unless, you know, it's a
hippy. Most vamps won't eat hippies."
"Why not?" Harry asked, leaning forward to look more closely at the
fresh grave in front of him.
"Don't know," Xander confessed. "But Deadboy says it's because they
can't guarantee the hippies were ever clean."
"Deadboy?" Harry repeated, eyebrows arched. Xander shot a grin his
direction.
"My loving nickname for Buffy's undead boy toy," the man
revealed. "Don't tell her that you heard me say that, because she
gets touchy about it. Even more than Deadboy, which is kind of funny
since you figured that he would have more reason to be offended."
"You know that it's probably not a good idea to call a vampire names,
right?" Harry needled him, sending him a wry grin. Xander just
shrugged this off.
"It's okay because Buffy and Wills would do some serious damage to
him if he tried anything on me. My femmes are all kinds of attached
to me. Good thing, because it keeps me alive in spite of my ill
sense of humour."
Harry laughed, easing back a bit on his heels. He didn't know quite
what to say to that, deciding to let it slide. Xander seemed quite
content to be the way he was, regardless of the fact it was probably
going to get him killed one of these days. Especially considering
where the young man lived.
His eyes flew back to the grave in front of him, wondering if the
fledging underneath was even awake yet. He reverted his eyes
quickly, not wanting to dwell on the vampire sleeping below for too
long. It was his first time out on patrol since he and Willow had
arrived in Sunnydale, and his nerves were pretty shot. So far, he
had met only one vampire, Angel the souled one, and even though
Willow assured Harry that he was a good vampire, it had still been
very frightening.
"You know, if you stay this tense, you're likely to end up on the
wrong side of our dead friend's fangs."
He shook his head, sending a worried look up at Xander.
"Can't help it," he muttered. Xander nodded, sinking down onto the
grass beside the Boy-Who-Lived, stake clasped firmly in one hand
while there was a cross in the other.
"First time can be rough," the Sunnydale native assented. "My first
time, well, I pretty much hid and let Buffy do all the work. But in
my defense, at least there wasn't any unmanly screaming. That would
come later in my Slayerette experience."
Harry chuckled, marveled at how at ease Xander could be in a
graveyard. Willow was that way too, cool and collected as she calmly
got ready for the fight against undead demons. It was a side to his
friend that he hadn't known existed before. It was interesting, and
definitely something he would have to tell Hermione and Ron about.
That is, if he could pry Ron off Willow long enough to tell him the
next time they all met up. Which wasn't going to be easy if the
letters from Ginny were any indication. Ron was very anxiously
waiting the return of his girlfriend, driving everyone in the Burrow
mad with his obsession of it.
"Perhaps we're at the wrong grave," Harry finally suggested, more to
just break the silence than anything else. Xander grinned and shook
his head.
"Right one," he confirmed. "Just taking his sweet time. You're
going to have to cut him so slack. I'm told this whole process of
waking up in your own coffin is quite disorienting."
"Angel?" Harry guessed. Xander nodded, sitting up straighter as
voices floated over to them. He grinned, yanking Harry to his feet
so they could greet the newly arrived Willow and Buffy.
"Hey boys!" the Slayer chirped happily. "Any action yet?"
"He's still sleeping," Harry offered with a shrug, noting the new
tear in her shirt. "But you met yours, I presume?"
Buffy nodded, bouncing on her feet a bit.
"Totally dusted," she squealed before sobering. "Sorry, on a bit of
leftover Slay drive."
"Perfectly understandable," Willow interjected. "Though I'm thinking
you were just toying with that last one. You could have finished him
off way sooner."
"Hey, look, I don't tell you how to be a witch, don't tell me how to
be a Slayer," Buffy retorted, the smile on her face undermining the
harshness of her words. "Besides, I need to have some fun, don't I?"
"Your idea of fun is quite interesting," Harry mumbled. Buffy just
grinned, switching her gaze to the grave the boys had been watching
earlier.
"Well, you're about to get a taste of my fun."
He turned, eyes watching in morbid fascination as the dirt began to
shift. He strained his ears, picking the muffled sounds of grunts or
possibly growls. Suddenly, a hand shoots out of the ground, grasping
at the earth around it in order to pull the body up and out of the
grave.
Harry felt Willow's hand on his arm, but he brushed it away. His
eyes were on the vampire, and he wasn't giving up this opportunity
for the life of him. He clenched his hand, secure in the stake
there. Buffy had whittled him one earlier that day, declaring it to
be his patrol stake from now on. Quirky lot they all were, but he
liked them nonetheless.
The creature sprang forth from the grave, face set in ridges and
fangs as it snarled at its audience. Harry felt Buffy push him aside
before delivering a mighty kick to the vampire's face. It's head
snapped back, stunning the creature and allowing Buffy to land more
punches to it.
He watched with bated breath, unable to look away from the battle
before him. Buffy tossed him a quick grin before landing a vicious
punch on the vampire's jaw. It fell to the floor and ceased to move
for a few minutes.
"Now Harry!"
He didn't need any more prodding. He leapt forward, driving the
stake straight into the heart of the creature before him. It cried
out and then fell away into ashes.
Harry straightened, breathing heavy but face glowing nonetheless.
"Um Buff?" came Xander's voice. "Wasn't that incredibly dangerous
for Harry?"
The Slayer shrugged, a sheepish smile on her face.
"I promised he could stake at least one tonight," the blonde
confessed, throwing a look Harry's way. "Don't tell Giles."
Willow huffed, shaking her head at both of them.
"You expect us to lie to Giles?" the redhead demanded incredulously.
"Not lie," Harry interjected. "Just don't volunteer the
information. Besides, its not like I wasn't prepared."
He shifted his jacket, showing Willow he had his wand in the inner
pocket, ready to go lest something should have gone wrong with the
slaying. The redhead pursed her lips, and then grinned.
"I know," she revealed. "It's just, be careful Harry. Extra
careful. Mrs. Weasley will have my head if I let anything happen to
you."
"Please!" Buffy protested, hand on her chest. "I am the Slayer. I
wouldn't have let any harm come to him. That vamp was beyond beat up
before I let Harry anywhere near him."
"Well, let's not argue," Xander broke in. "After all, what's done is
done. And we're all okay, and Harry's first patrol yielded his first
staking. We should celebrate. Celebrate in a Bronze-like
atmosphere."
"I'm all for that," Buffy grinned, skipping over to link arms with
Xander. "Lead the way Xand."
Harry smiled himself, offering his elbow to Willow as well before
following the other two out of the cemetary. He felt incredibly
alive, it was beyond description. He didn't know why everyone was so
down on the Hellmouth back home.
He kind of liked it here.