Fight Your Own Demon: Fight Your Own Demon
by AKA Becker
She cried all night not believing that it could possibly be true, but it was. He was gone, and he was never coming back. And it was all her fault. At least that's what she kept thinking. She knew that she could never have known what was going to happen. She knew that she couldn't even have been warned about it. Now, with Ms. Calendar gone too, Angel was truly dead. And she kept thinking that it was all her fault, too. And she knew that, in this case, she was right. Now it was time for her to do her duty. Time to slay the devil himself. Time to slay Angelus.

Buffy got out of bed and dressed and got ready for school. Her mom dropped her off early enough for her to go to the library to talk to Giles for a while. As she neared the school doors, Willow's bus pulled up, so she waited for her friend to come join her. She knew waiting for Xander in the morning was a random task at best so they headed straight for the library.

The two girls entered the library. "Giles? I need to talk to you." Buffy called out.

Giles popped out of his office with an old book in his hands. "What did you want to talk about? Oh, hello, Willow."

"Hi, Giles," Willow answered.

"Angel," said Buffy.

"Oh, yes, I should have guessed. Oh, Xander and Cordelia are around here somewhere. They headed into the stacks." Giles mentioned, with a hand gesture in that direction.

"Gees, aren't there laws against that?" Willow said exasperatedly.

"On far too many levels," Buffy replied.

"Laws against what?" Giles said, looking somewhat confused.

"Well, them." Willow replied.

"Oh, I chalk it up to the Hellmouth at work," Giles grinned. He turned to face Buffy. "Now what did you want to talk about in regards to Angel? Have you seen him around?"

"No I haven't seen him. That's what I want to talk about. What would be the best way to get him? I'm ready now. I know I can stake him."

"Now you're talking," Xander said as he came out from the stacks with Cordelia close behind. "Giles, anything we can do to help her, let me know."

"Xander, are you wearing lipstick?" Willow asked.

"No, why?" He and Cordelia frantically look at each other searching for signs of their smooching on each others faces, but there isn't a trace.

"Never mind, it must have been the lighting," Willow smirked, and Buffy tried to smother a laugh.

"To answer your question, after the fire, we don't know where to look. The sewers are too dangerous for you to search through with Angel, Spike and Druscilla on the loose. He doesn't follow the feeding patterns of most of the other vampires who will go to the easiest spot to find prey. He kills as mush for sport as he does for food. Most likely, he will find you before you find him." Giles explained.

"Or find one of you." Buffy added.

"Yes, or one of us." Giles replied. "He will try to get at you anyway he can. Hurting you bit by bit, slowly making his way towards his mark."

"So if there is one good thing about him trying to kill everyone else, then, that would be that you would be last, so you have more time to get him first." Cordelia said.

"Actually, she has a point," spoke Giles.

"So until he gets staked, we are pretty much permanent bait," Xander said. "That is what you're getting at, right?"

Giles began to speak, "Well..."

"So, what do we do?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not sure. We continue to patrol, and see if we can turn up any clues as to their new lair. Once we find that out, we can see what we can do about it, but right now, all we can do is continue as we have up to now. But none of you should be alone at night, and all of you should carry a cross, and some holy water. I will patrol with Buffy. Xander can watch out for Cordelia," Giles told them.

"What about Willow?" Xander asked.

"Hey, she's got Oz." Cordelia almost snapped.

"Yeah, I've got Oz," Willow responded, smiling at Xander?s displeasure with that remark.

"Well, I'm worried about everyone else. Like my mom and every other living person in Sunnydale. We've got to stop him, and soon." Buffy said.

Then the first bell rang, time for the students to head to homeroom.


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=47