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He saw Anya’s face as she was smiling and laughing. He saw the smile die and the life drain from her eyes. The knife was coming and he could not get out of the way. Everything turned blood red. Black wings came to take him away.
Xander sat up in the bed, startled awake by his nightmare. The crow, which had been sitting on his chest, stood on his lap and looked up at him disapprovingly. “Blasted bird, why didn’t you tell me I could still dream. Teach me to try to get some rest in this world.”
“Is that the way you talk to all of your fine feathered friends?” he heard a familiar voice ask.
Xander looked over at the entrance to Willow’s room and saw Buffy standing there. “Just the ones that act like they know everything and don’t want to tell me,” he replied. “Where’s Willow?”
“She’s in the living room. We’ve been taking turns watching you,” Buffy answered.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“About an hour,” she said. “You know you don’t breathe. Gives me the wiggins.”
“You ought to try it from my end. It didn’t bother you much with Angel though,” he replied.
“Yeah, but he was dead when I met him, you weren’t,” she said.
“Ouch. You go straight to the heart of the matter don’t you?” he jested.
A small grin worked its way onto Buffy’s face. “I’m the Slayer. It’s my job.”
The bird hopped off of Xander’s lap and stood in the middle of the bed. Xander swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. “You better call Giles and have him come over,” he said.
“He’s already here. Willow called him about an hour after you went to sleep. We’ve been waiting a while for you to wake up. It’s almost dark again,” she replied.
Xander reached down to the crow with one hand. The black bird hopped on his hand and Xander lifted it up to his shoulder where the bird perched itself. They both looked at the Slayer. “Well, since all the usual suspects are gathered I guess we better discuss our plans for the evening,” he said as he walked past her into the living room.
Willow was seated and Giles was standing at the window watching the evening approach as the sun went down. Xander walked over to stand beside Giles and Buffy sat beside Willow. “I know where Thanatos is,” Xander said.
Buffy was the first to speak. “Where? I’ve been looking for year now. How did you find him.”
“He’s in warehouse 13 in the industrial park,” Xander began. “You didn’t find him because he never stayed in one place. Giles you were right about him being an organizer.” Giles nodded in agreement thinking of his assessment of Thanatos. Then Xander’s expression became cold and his voice went flat. “And it’s amazing what you can get a vampire to tell you when you show him the light of day.”
The room was quiet as everyone contemplated what Xander had said. Giles broke the silence and asked, “Why didn’t you just go and destroy him while it was daylight? You obviously seem capable of doing such.”
“I don’t think I get to hang around long after I finish killing Thanatos,” Xander replied. He looked at Willow and continued barely louder than a whisper, “ And I had to find something out.” Willow looked back at him with a small, sad smile.
“So what’s the plan, Xand-man?” Buffy asked.
“I go straight for Thanatos and you all come along for a little extra slayage. I’m right when I think that I won’t be able to stop you from coming?” Xander asked. Buffy and Willow both nodded.
Giles broke in. “That’s your plan Xander? To simply barge in the front door? He has at least twenty vampires working for him. Do you have a death wish?”
“After last night he only has sixteen left and one of them has a bum arm,” Xander answered nonchalantly. “And I’m already dead.”
Giles cleared his throat and looked back out the window. “Quite right. Sorry.”
“Well, let’s go,” Buffy said. Willow and Buffy got up and went to their rooms to get their coats and to load up on stakes. As Giles turned away from the window Xander grabbed his arm to stop him. “You’ll watch their backs, won’t you?” Xander asked.
The watcher met the dead young man’s eyes and nodded. An understanding passed between them. “I always will, Xander. Shall we carry on with this forlorn hope?”
Xander dropped his hand and they both walked to the front door to join Buffy and Willow. Giles held the door as the other three exited and then closed it behind them. They walked out toward the parking lot and all hell broke loose.
Four vampires charged them from the darkness, two to the right and two to the left. Buffy quickly took care of the two on the right, kicking and knocking one down and then staking the other as it lunged for her. She then staked the one on the ground before it could get up.
The crow took off and Xander charged the two vampires on the left and tackled both of them at once. While Xander pummeled one of them the other got up to attack Xander, but Giles came up behind it and thrust a stake into its back and turned it to dust. Xander held down the vampire he had been beating with one hand on its neck while he gestured with the other hand to Giles for a stake. Giles placed one in his hand and Xander immediately drove it into the vampire’s heart.
No one noticed the fifth vampire coming out of the shadows until it spoke. “Slayer! Thanatos sends his regards.” The vampire pulled out the knife that Thanatos used to kill Xander and threw it. At Willow.
Xander was a dark blur as he reacted. He was up and on his feet and lunging toward Willow before the knife had barely left the vampire’s hand. Putting himself in front of her, he reached out to catch the knife. And all of a sudden the timing he had counted on was gone. The knife went past his hand and into his left shoulder all the way to the hilt. Xander sneered at the vampire as he reached up and pulled out the knife. Then the wave of pain hit him. “Oh, no,” he said as he dropped to his knees.
Buffy was on the vampire before it could turn and run. She kicked its feet out from under it and had a stake in its heart by the time it hit the ground and exploded into dust with a howl. She turned back toward her friends and saw Giles and Willow standing around a kneeling Xander. Confused and concerned, she walked over to the group and asked, “Hey, what’s up with our undead avenger?”
Xander looked up, clenching his jaw to fight back the pain. Giles was ripping off part of Xander’s torn t-shirt to use as padding while Willow tied the bandage in place with a long strip of leather off of Xander’s ripped jacket. Xander glared at the crow sitting on the top of Giles’s old Citroen and explained. “Mr. Spirit Guide over there told me if I strayed from my path of vengeance it couldn’t help me. I didn’t know he meant I wasn’t supposed to say goodbye or save my friend’s life.” He grimaced as Willow tied the knot down tight. “Oww!” he said.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“So what do we do now?” Giles asked.
Xander kept glaring at the black bird for a moment before he spoke. “A slight change in plans. I guess we can’t just go barging in the front door. We’ll have to hit them from two sides at once. I’ll go in first to start the fireworks and then you guys bust in while they’re distracted. I’m still going straight for Thanatos.”
“That does not sound like much of an improvement Xander,” Giles admonished.
Before Xander could reply Buffy broke in and said, “How will we know when to come in?”
Xander stood up and tucked the knife behind his belt. He swung his left arm to make sure it would work. Grimacing but satisfied he replied, “Oh, you’ll know.” Then he started walking. “I think we better split up here.” He looked meaningfully at Giles’s old Citroen. “I think I can make it faster on foot.”
“Humph. It’s a classic,” protested Giles.
“So are you Giles,” Xander said with a grin as he took off running with the crow flying ahead leading him.
His three friends watched him disappear in the night. As they got in Giles’s car Buffy actually smiled and asked, “Was he always that annoying?”
“Yes,” Willow answered, “and we loved him anyway.”
With that parting comment Giles started his car and they drove off.