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Part 3
Willow finally arrived at the apartment complex just a couple of miles from campus. She pulled her car into her parking space, turned it off, got out and ran for her apartment door, not even bothering to lock the car door. When she got to her apartment she fumbled with her keys, nervously trying to work the lock. The door burst open and a slender hand reached out and grabbed her, pulling her in the apartment and slamming the door. Willow was confronted by a very angry Buffy Summers.
“Willow, where have you been! Giles and I have both told you not to be out by yourself after dark.” As Buffy continued her tirade, Willow looked at her friend and roommate. Buffy looked like the same diminutive, blond teenager she had gone to high school with, but she was different. She was slimmer, if that was possible, and harder. The mischief and the laughter had left her eyes. Willow understood her friend’s concern but she had to tell Buffy about what she had seen tonight. She tried to break into Buffy’s ranting with “But…” or “Uh…” but Buffy had a full head of steam and she had to wait until Buffy stopped to take a breath.
When Buffy opened her mouth to start again, Willow broke in. “Buffy, I saw Xander tonight!”
Buffy stared agape at her friend. Her anger renewed itself and she burst out, “What kind of sick joke is that Willow?!”
Willow, her emotions starting to get the better of her and her voice rising, defended herself. “It’s not a joke Buffy! Do you actually think I would joke about something like this?” When Buffy remained silent, she continued. “I was on my way from the library to the parking lot when I was almost attacked by a vampire.”
Buffy started to argue again but Willow put on her resolve face, raised her hand to silence her friend and continued. “I was almost attacked when this thing comes flying past me and tackles the vampire. They fought, or rather this thing beat up on the vampire and then dusted it. It walked back over to me to help me up when all of a sudden it staggers away from me into the light. And it was Xander. At least I think it was Xander. It looked like Xander but his face was scarred and painted and the way he fought the vampire was unreal. He didn’t just kill the vampire Buffy. He took it apart piece by piece. It was gruesome. If I hadn’t been in shock I wouldn’t have watched. And he kept yelling at the vampire but I couldn’t make out what he said. And when I called his name he ran away.” Finished with her story, Willow finally took a deep breath.
Buffy stared at Willow, amazed at what she was hearing. She looked down at the floor with a pensive look on her face, trying to decide what to do. When she looked up again, her expression hardened and she stomped off to her room. She came back out with her coat in one hand and grabbed Willow’s arm with the other, leading toward the door.
“Where are we going?” Willow asked, surprised.
“To the cemetery. I need some answers,” Buffy replied. As they stepped outside Buffy looked up at the rain falling on them. “Rain? This is southern California. It’s not supposed to rain,” she grumped. With a frown to match the stormy skies above she continued stalking toward the VW with Willow in tow. When they got to the car she opened the driver’s side door and deposited Willow behind the wheel. Then she went around and got in on the other side.
“Do you think this is a good idea, Buffy?” Willow asked as she started the car.
“Just drive, Willow,” Buffy whispered as they pulled out of the parking lot. They continued in silence lost in their own thoughts during the drive across town. The road to the cemetery was one they knew all too well, knowing too many of the people who had been buried there the past few years. It was just a couple of weeks ago that they had left flowers on Xander’s grave. Now they had to go there again with a growing dread that something was terribly wrong.
Willow pulled up in front of the entrance to the cemetery and she and Buffy looked at each other. They finally got out of the car and walked down the path to Xander’s grave. Before they reached it they knew that something was wrong. They could see from a distance that the ground was disturbed. They walked up and looked at the hole leading down to the shattered casket. Buffy squatted down on her haunches and grabbed a handful of dirt.
Willow was the first to break their silence with a tremulous voice. “He can’t be a vampire Buffy. It’s been a whole year since he died. A vampire has to rise within a few days to feed. And, and he didn’t attack me when he had the chance.”
“I know, Willow,” Buffy answered quietly. Throwing the dirt in the hole and wiping her hands on her pants she felt more tired than she thought possible. “But what am I supposed to think. I’m the slayer and everything about this screams vampire. And weirder things have happened here on the Hellmouth.”
Willow immediately rose to Xander’s defense, a hint of hope beginning to enter her thoughts. “That’s right. Weirder things have happened. This could be one of those un-vampire weird type of things. Although that’s not always a good thing, is it?” she asked as doubt started to creep back into her thoughts. Not allowing herself to dwell on that she quickly added, “We have to go tell Giles. Maybe he can figure this out.”
Buffy gave a quick snort of a laugh and said, “Yeah, when things get wiggy, turn to the walking encyclopedia of weirdness. We better hurry. It’s getting late and I’m getting wet. I hate being wet. Bad things happen when I get wet.” She stood up straight and started walking toward the car, Willow just a step behind.
They returned to the car, got in and proceeded to drive to Giles’s place. They rode in silence again, the swish of the windshield wipers punctuating the silence. One friend thought of arguments in defense of Xander and the other dreaded the consequences if the worst case was true. The rain beating against the windshield of the VW only added to the dread they felt. They both prayed that Giles would have the answers.
As Willow parked the car in front of Giles’s house they saw that the lights were on in his study and the living room. They walked up to his door and Buffy knocked. When Giles answered the door, they knew he had been reading something because his glasses were down on the end of his nose. When Giles saw who it was he pushed his glasses back up and said, “Buffy, Willow, come in out of the rain. I think I need to talk to you both.”
They stepped in and looked at the living room. On the coffee table in front of the chair he had obviously been sitting in was a stack of books. Some of the books were about medieval Wallachian legends and ancient Celtic myths. One book was about native North American animistic religions. Buffy and Willow took all this in and when they heard the front door close they turned to face Giles. Buffy opened her mouth to speak but Willow blurted out, “Giles, Xander’s back from the dead.”
“Yes, I know,” Giles replied nonplussed.
The two women, their brows furrowed in confusion, looked at each other and then back at Giles. They said simultaneously, “You do?!”
Giles cleared his throat and then said, “Yes, he, umm, came for a visit earlier this evening.”
“And he didn’t bite you?” Buffy asked. Giles shook his head no. “Then he’s not a vampire,” she said with the relief sounding clearly in her voice.
“He is definitely not a vampire,” he replied.
“Then where is he? We need to talk to him,” Buffy exclaimed.
“He, umm, left,” Giles answered.
“What? And you let him go?!! How could you?” Buffy said, her voicing rising with the frustration she felt.
“I don’t think I could have stopped him, Buffy, at least not the way he is now,” Giles replied in defense.
Willow watched this exchange between the Slayer and her watcher with a growing feeling of unease. She finally broke into the argument with, “If he isn’t a vampire, Giles, what is he?”
Giles looked at the young, red headed woman tenderly, realizing that she had voiced the worry and concern that all of them felt at the moment. He pointed to the pile of books and said, “I have been trying to deduce that answer since he left. Xander asked me the same question. After some investigation I believe I have an idea what he has become. Do you know what a crow is?”
“Yeah,” Buffy replied sarcastically, “it’s a big, black bird that makes loud annoying noises and hangs around corn fields. Giles, we didn’t come here for an ornithology lesson."
The watcher looked at his slayer patiently for a moment. “Yes, Buffy, a crow is all of those things, but in many ancient cultures the crow was a creator, provider and protector. It was also believed that the crow carried souls between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Sometimes, if an injustice was committed, if a soul carried a sadness so heavy it could not bear it, then the crow might bring the soul back to restore balance. To seek vengeance.”
While Giles was talking, Buffy had walked over and sat on the couch across from his chair. After her watcher finished his explanation she replied wearily, “Oh great. After all this time our lives have gone from a B-grade horror movie to a comic book about an undead avenger. What next?” She leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes.
Willow sat down by the Slayer. She began telling the watcher about how she met Xander that evening and the expedition to the cemetery to visit his grave. Giles listened quietly and only commented when Willow mentioned she was out by herself. When she finished her story she added, “I saw a crow tonight fly after Xander when he disappeared.”
“Yes, that would make sense.” Giles said. “There was a crow with him here during his visit. I would presume from his actions with the bird that it is a guide of some sort while he is here, although he did not seem at all happy about it.”
Willow asked the question she had wanted to ask all evening but was afraid to. “He is still our Xander, isn’t he Giles?”
Giles sighed and rubbed his temples. “Dammit,” he thought to himself, “why won’t this headache go away?” After a moment, he answered. “I don’t know Willow. He looked like Xander and he sounded like Xander. But you have to remember he was murdered. When he was here talking to me there was so much anger and anguish coming from him it was almost palpable. I’m not even sure he is sane at this point.”
Willow listened with her eyes closed and fought back the tear that wanted to fall. She had fought the sadness for so long, but she was so tired. Too much had happened and now this. Was there so little justice in the world that the dead had to come back to avenge themselves?
Giles saw the weariness in the two women and decided that they had all done enough for the day. He looked up at the clock and was surprised at how much time had passed this evening. “Why don’t you two go home and get some rest,” he suggested. “There is no use in patrolling tonight. It is late and judging by the weather I do not think that either side in this battle will be out hunting tonight.”
Buffy and Willow opened their eyes and looked at each other. They
nodded in agreement and got to their feet. Giles saw them to the
door and watched them get in the little VW and drive away. Then he
closed the door, locked it, turned out the light and made his way down
the hall to his bedroom. As he took off his tie, he wished for sleep
that he doubted he would get that night.