Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.
Andrew frowned, the first week of school was interesting, ‘That field trip today will be interesting,’ He thought as he walked to his library, pulled out one of his books and began to read it. Buffy was interesting; she was strong from what he had seen.
“Ah yes, the Master told me about this,” he said to himself as he flipped through the pages and found it.
‘The Slayer: a champion made by the hand of man to defend the people from the demons the vampires and other dark creatures. A Slayer is a woman, no one can tell how the essence calls a new girl; some believe its destiny, others random.’
Andrew smiled and began to read more about the Slayer, he heard the Master’s tales of the Slayers he had killed and he wondered vaguely, ‘Could Buffy be a Slayer?’ The small group she had with her would say no because Slayers were alone, save for their Watchers.
Lindsey walked in and watched him read, frowned at the books Andrew was reading eagerly but he shrugged, ‘Oh well, he’s allowed to delve into his own books.’
As Andrew read the book he made a face at the legends of the Slayer; Vinodinas the Slaughtermaster had killed twenty three slayers. He frowned, ‘Who names themselves that?’ And made a face at the description of the last slayer Vinodinas killed and the very graphic description of the Watcher’s heads he had collected.
‘Weird,’ Andrew frowned, ‘Nothing about them of course, other than the demons who killed them were hailed as gods amongst their clans, revered usually,’ Though Andrew noted that Vinodinas was killed by his own clan for daring to impregnate the chieftain’s daughter.
Andrew got up and left the library and got ready for bed, it had been a week since he encountered Angelus or Angel as the vampire called himself and the vampire he knew was in the shadows in the Bronze, watching life pass him by.
He vaguely wondered what kind of game Angel was playing with her?
‘Eh,’ he thought as he fell asleep, ‘No matter, it’s not my problem, I’ll only make it my problem if Angelus confronted me like he did a week ago.’
The next morning Lindsey saw Andrew enter the kitchen and said, “Hey, you need to get ready for the field trip today, right?”
Andrew shrugged and said, “I could probably skip it today, it is only for the Zoo, right?”
“Might be fun,” Lindsey said, “Right? And we want you to act more human, right? Not like the boy who spent ten or so year’s underground, learning dark arts and prophecies?”
“I suppose,” Andrew said as he packed his lunch and sighed, he hated bologna sandwiches, especially since he had lived with vampires who told him what it smelled like.
Andrew looked at the talisman and mused over its purpose, the Star of Aurelius he supposed was valuable monetarily wise because black diamonds were rare he supposed and ever since he had worn it the rubies around the diamond were glowing dimly.
He frowned, ‘None of my books has anything on the Star’s properties,’ he thought as he walked out, hiding the necklace.
At the Zoo Xander waved him down and said, “Room for one more?”
Before Andrew could sit down Cordelia said, “Sit with me Andrew, let’s talk about something.”
Andrew sighed as he sat down and Cordelia began to rattle on and on about meeting him at the Bronze and insisting that they’d have a fun time.
“Umm, yeah, sure,” Andrew said clearly uncomfortable but he’d be nice, ‘Maybe she was nicer outside of school.’
At the Zoo Andrew walked off by himself and frowned, ‘Was this a date with Cordelia?’ He hoped not, he liked girls but not in that way.
His thoughts was broken by Buffy, Willow and Xander finding him and Buffy said, “So, you and Cordelia?”
“No,” Andrew said, “She made the date, I’m not sure if I was even asked if I wanted to go on a date at all, all I know is that I don’t like women in that way.”
Buffy chuckled and said, “Do you want to walk with us?”
Andrew nodded and followed them around while Xander explained how happy he was that they had time off from school and Willow liked the animals, the cute animals.
As they walked Xander looked at Andrew and said, “You agree with me that time off from school is fun, right?”
“Yes,” Andrew said with a nod, “Time off is fun.”
“Not the roaring agreement I’d have hoped for,” Xander said, “But yeah, he agrees with me.”
Andrew looked up as someone suddenly started taunting Buffy over something stupid and Andrew said, “You were expelled from your old school?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said ignoring the group who walked off and try to torment another kid and Xander followed them to scare them off.
“Wait?” Buffy said, “You didn’t know? Wow, that’s amazing, I thought Cordelia informed everyone?”
“Perhaps she did,” Andrew said, “I simply don’t care.”
Buffy smiled when she saw the young man run off and Andrew said, “Wasn’t that the guy that Xander went to rescue?”
She frowned and said, “I hope so.”
Andrew decided that he’d go look for Xander, when he saw the group walk out followed by Xander Andrew froze, something was up as Xander was walking with an confidence he hadn’t seen a few minutes ago, sure Xander had a confidant stride but there was now a predatory aura to Xander’s eyes, he knew because he had seen fledging vampires with the same look in their eyes and the aura was the same.
Xander smirked and said, “Hey Andrew, something wrong?”
“No,” Andrew said, looking Xander in the eyes, “Why?”
“Nothing,” Xander said, “But I do believe it’s time for us to go back to the bus.”
As they walked back Andrew noticed something odd; Xander was sniffing the air, he sniffed the air and didn’t smell anything bad but there was something wrong.
On the bus Xander sat near the bullies and Andrew was even more confused, something was wrong with Xander; he was acting very odd and looking around and in fact the bullies were acting oddly as well.
After the bus stopped Andrew walked home and saw Lindsey working on their new computer and said, “So how much was this?”
“A lot of money Andrew,” Lindsey said, “But its top of the line, now come on, I’ll teach you how to use it myself.”
“Thanks,” Andrew said, “But apparently I have a date tonight, not that I agreed to it of course and nor do I see it as a date.”
Lindsey grinned and said, “Need some advice?”
“No, because I don’t intend for it to go further than one drink,” Andrew said as he walked upstairs.
Andrew walked upstairs, looked at his clothes and sighed as he pulled on a dark violet silk shirt and blue jeans then he walked downstairs.
Lindsey smirked and said, “Looks like you want it to go further.”
“No,” Andrew said, “Someone, I believe his name was Larry, told me that I should dress well when going out.”
Lindsey nodded and said, “Yeah, I suppose so but be careful, alright?”
As Andrew walked to the Bronze he frowned, why was he even doing this? He had been going to the school for two weeks but there was nothing that he felt really connected to, he liked some of the kids in the school but other than that, nothing.
Andrew walked into the Bronze, he looked around and didn’t see Cordelia, he smiled happily, maybe she got into trouble or was busy with someone else.
“Hey Andrew,” Buffy said, “You’re here, huh? And you look good, like one of those preppy kids in the magazines.”
Andrew smiled and said, “Thank you.”
As he sat down Andrew talked to Buffy and Willow, he suddenly looked around and said, “Where’s Xander? He was acting odd after the trip, or is that normal for him?”
“No,” Willow said, “He was acting odd, distant but he’s not distant really, he’s really, umm, close.”
“And he’s here,” Xander said as he sat down next to Andrew, he looked at Andrew and said, “Fancy clothes, I like.”
Andrew shrugged and looked around when he suddenly froze, ‘Momma? She’s here?’ He saw her for a minute but when he got up to talk to her she was gone just as quickly.
Xander growled, “Andrew, I paid you a compliment.”
“Oh, of course, thanks,” Andrew said, ignoring Xander as he scanned the Bronze and got up to look for her.
“Hey,” Xander said, “Let’s talk.”
Andrew frowned as he looked around but he couldn’t see her anymore, he sat down and his mood went dark and his face fell. Andrew looked at Xander and the others and said, in an icy voice, “Excuse me, I’m going home.”
Xander’s eyes flashed green for a moment and he said, “Andrew, you should relax.”
Andrew walked off and Xander grabbed Andrew’s shoulder.
Andrew said, “Leave me be,” He shrugged off Xander’s hand and left the Bronze. Andrew’s mood darkened considerably and he walked home, unaware of the shadow following him home.
When he got home Andrew walked past Lindsey, who looked confused at the dark look on his charge’s face and said, “Hey sport, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Andrew growled, “Nothing at all, I’m not going to school tomorrow, I’m not in the mood.”
Lindsey frowned and said, “It doesn’t work like that but what’s going on?”
Andrew looked at Lindsey and said, “I saw my momma at the Bronze and I couldn’t find her when she ran off.”
Lindsey frowned and said, “Okay, so what happens now?”
“Nothing,” Andrew said dejectedly, “I guess she was keeping an eye on me or something like that.”
Andrew walked upstairs to his room, opened the door and sat down, frowning deeply as he buried himself into one of his books, ignoring the shadow in the tree that watched him intently.
As he read his book Andrew sighed, his dark mood was lifting as he realized that momma couldn’t approach him or anything.
After an hour of reading the book Andrew walked over and shut off the lights, Andrew suddenly thought he saw a figure in the old tree outside but shook his head and thought that it was his imagination, perhaps it was just his shock over seeing his momma again or maybe he was going nuts.
The shadow moved closely, watching Andrew’s home. As the man slipped into the shadows he thought, ‘Tomorrow.’
Andrew crawled into bed and thought to himself, ‘Momma,’ he sighed, he missed her so much, he missed her stories and hell, he missed going to sleep in the morning and waking up in the evening but she did this for him, so he would have a choice in life.
Downstairs Lindsey sighed, ‘Moody, raised by vampires and a teenager, that was a wonderful combination,’ He vaguely wondered why the Senior Partners were so interested in the boy but he knew they had an angle with him; they wanted him firmly on their side but for now they were neutral but, when he was old enough, they charged him to tempt Andrew to their side in whichever way they could though perhaps they should, for his sake, get a normal life off the Hellmouth, he’d look into it tomorrow.
TBC
Please rate and review
Who do you think is the shadow that was following Andrew?
Do you want more interactions between Hyena!Xander and Andrew?
If Andrew decides to move where should he go?