A Gargoyle Named Bob: Part 1
by Jared Cantrell
I do not own characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor do I intend and infringement. Please do not sue. I did create the characters of Eric, Max, Blake, and Bob. I respectfully request that you do not use them as they are my own creative property.
Part One
The sounds of fighting were intense. One of the vampires grunted as Buffy belted him in the stomach, doubling him over. Another vampire came from behind her but she was already pivoting her body,launching into a roundhouse kick that sent the newcomer to the ground.
'Just another quiet night in the park,' Buffy happily thought to herself. The waning moon had just risen over the treetops to cast a blue glow over the ground and mixed eerily with the orange sodium glow of the nearby street lights.
It had been almost a week since her ill fated trip into Sunnydale's netherworld and she was happy to get back to fighting vampires. One quick stake through the heart and get out the dust buster. No messy dismemberments like with zombies, or near-death fights with hordes of demon dogs for this Slayer. She much preferred the blood suckering types. It seemed no matter how much you beat on them, they always came back looking for more. You could get your fill of pounding flesh, and when finished, simply stake them. But Buffy still had not gotten her fill.
The first vampire got to his feet and came at her again, this time joined by a third vampire who jumped out of the bushes screaming what was obviously meant to be a fearsome war cry, but came out sounding like a girly shriek.
"Hey," Buffy yelled at the latest addition to the fight. "You're breaking up our little threesome here! Take a hike!" With that, she drew a stake and threw it at him as he charged her. It pierced his heart and a second later he burst into ashes spraying his friend with his remains.
"That was my best friend!" the other one yelled at her in dismay.
"Hate to break up such a beautiful friendship. Why don't you join him?" She produced another stake from her jacket and started to slowly move forward. By this time, the second vampire had recovered and was coming at her from the left.
"Wow," Buffy smiled at him ferally. "You're ready again, Tiger? That was quick." She tensed for their charge and already had half a dozen plans in mind depending on exactly how they approached her. When they stopped suddenly, she was puzzled.
The two vampires both cocked their heads to one side as if listening, then looked beyond Buffy's left shoulder at something. Their faces took on a stricken look. They glanced quickly at eachother, hesitated for a moment, then turned tail and ran. Buffy's puzzlement quickly gave way to annoyance.
"Hey! Comeback! I didn't finish killing you guys yet! Where are you going?!"
She turned around in the direction the vampires had been looking and tried to listen. Through the trees she could hear a dog barking and a man calling after it. From the sounds it seemed that the dog was running in this direction and barking frantically at something.
"Max!" she heard the man cry out, exasperated. "If I get killed out here, who do you think is going to buy your food?! Max?!" A large german shepherd burst out of the trees in front of Buffy, halting its mad dash but still barking madly in the direction the vampires had run. The dog quieted after a few moments and turned to regard her. It sat down on its hind legs and cocked its head to one side, its liquid brown eyes staring at her.
From behind the dog an out of breath young man came into the clearing, stopping to catch his breath near the watching dog. The man apparently did not notice her while she stood there, stake in hand, with a puzzled look on her face.
"If you think-(pant pant)-you're gettin any doggy treats tonight -(pant pant)-you've got another thing-Yaahhh!" the man startled in fright when he saw Buffy standing before him.
"Geez, lady. You just about gave me a heart attack!"
Buffy looked at the dog then back at the man. He was young, no more than twenty, and a bit on the cute side in her opinion. He was dressed in jeans and a light wind breaker to protect him from the slight winter chill. He definitely wasn't a vampire, she could tell that much about him. He bore none of the small nuances a vampire would exude, and as she concentrated carefully, he didn't register as a supernatural threat to her Slayer-senses.
"What are you doing here after dark?" she asked him. "Don't you know it's dangerous? You could get killed out here." He looked at her in astonishment then shook his head and grinned.
"If you haven't noticed, I'm the guy with the german shepherd. You're the petite sixteen year-old girl in a mini skirt. What are you doing out here?"
"I'm _seventeen_ thank you very much. And I can take care of myself."
"Okay, okay. I'm sure you probably can..." He paused for a moment as if unsure whether or not he should just leave or say something more. He finally sighed in resignation "By the way, I'm Eric. And this is little runaway here is Max."
"Max, huh?" Buffy knelt down and held out her hand to the sitting dog. At the sound of his name, Max rose off his haunches and padded over to her. He sniffed her hand for a moment then sat back down and held out his own to shake.
"Oh, well aren't you smart? Yes you are!" Buffy gleefully shook the outstretched paw.
"He must really like you," Eric smiled. "He doesn't shake hands with just anyone. Hell, he won't even shake my hand."
"Oh, you're just a sweety!" Buffy giggled as Max began to lick her face prolifically. "Does he know any thing else. Have you taught him any other tricks?"
"Teach Max? Max teaches me. Alright. Come on, Boy! Leave the poor girl alone. We gotta get going. Come on!" He patted his leg in summons but the german shepherd only stopped licking her face long enough to glance over at his master. He then turned back to Buffy and began to lick her some more.
"I think he likes me." She hugged the dog close to her then stood up. "I'm Buffy. You live around here or something?" The man grew hesitant at her question, and the slight grin he had worn since happening upon her, vanished. "Um, kind of. But I'm not going back there anytime soon. Not for a couple hours anyway."
"Family troubles, huh?"
"Uh, yeah. Something like that. C'mon Max. Its time to go." Max whined in protest and looked plaintively at him. The dog then looked up at Buffy and whined again. Buffy reached down and rubbed his head.
"Well, where ya going now?" Buffy asked Eric nonchalantly. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and she didn't want him running around near the vampires hunting grounds with only a dog to protect him. The dog's first instinct would probably be to try and lick any attackers to death.
"I-uh-I don't know. I'm kind of new in town. Me and Max were just wandering around when he took off into the park at full tilt."
Buffy looked at him for a moment and came to a decision. She was not about to go chasing off into the dark after the vampires and into any traps they might have set. They had pulled that trick one time too many for her tastes. Besides, the guy seemed okay, and he was a little on the cute side. Not that she was picking up on him. She certainly wasn't doing that. She was simply sticking close to him to make sure he got home okay without being used as a late night snack.
"Um, why don't you come with me to the Bronze," she heard herself asking him. "It'll still be open for another few hours, and that's where most of the Sunnydale youth hangs out. If you're new in town, I could introduce you to some friends of mine."
Eric's smile reappeared at her offer.
"I-I'd like that."
"Not that I have that many, but..."
Max's tongue lolled out and his tail began to wag.
* * *
"What the hell happened to the house?" Blake asked his hulking partner.
Blake and the eight foot tall trenchcoat-garbed monstrosity next to him looked out at the crater where the mansion on Bannion road had stood. It was a perfectly circular hole. A pool of muddy water stood at the bottom, reflecting the past-full moon. Between the faint moonlight and the meager beam of his flashlight, it was hard for Blake to make out much of anything, but it was fairly easy to tell that the house was gone.
Near the street, it was readily apparent where the power crews had repaired the power lines that had once ran into the mansion.
"I'd love to hear how they explained this one."
"Grrrrrr."
"My thoughts exactly. The boss told us to stay away from Sunnydale. Said the place wouldn't be here after last Saturday. Something must have happened"
"Grrrr. Grrrr," his giant partner growled at him from within its coat. It wore a wide brimmed hat with horns protruding from the top and the eyes glowed red from under the hat.
"How am I supposed to know? But whatever happened, something killed him, and I guess we're not going to get any rest until we find out who and repay the favor." Blake sighed and switched off the flashlight. "Let's go."
They started back towards their van parked off the side of the road.
"Grrr?"
"I figured we'd ask the local vampires about it. They probably have some information about what happened. I mean, a powerful megalomaniacal sorcerer and his house don't just vanish without someone hearing about it."
"Grrrr."
"I don't like them either, but they're the best source of information we've got in these parts. We've got to find out who killed the boss."
"Grrr!"
"No, I'm driving! You don't have a license!"
* * *
Eric and Buffy walked down the dimly lit street passing beneath the orange glow of the street lights. They kept a comfortable distance from each other, but as they talked it slowly began to lessen. Buffy was laughing lightly at his jokes and he was grinning widely at her witty responses. Max ran ahead of them chasing elusive rabbits and just as quickly ran back to have his neck ruffled by Buffy or his master.
"So you said you were new here," Buffy quizzed him after her latest bout of laughter had passed. "Where'd you move from?"
His smile faded a bit at her question and he hesitated some before answering.
"Well, Max and I just got into town today. We've-uh, spent the last few hours cleaning up my parents old house over past Sycamore. I-I'm not really new here. I've just been gone for about six years or so."
"You used to live here? Well, where are your parents?"
"They-uh-they died six years ago. Car wreck while we were on Christmas vacation up at my Grandparents house in Sacramento."
"I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have asked. I saw you weren't comfortable when ever your family came up. I should have taken a hint."
"No, no," he tried to assure her. "It was six years ago after all. It's just... seeing the place again, going through their things, it brought up some old memories. That's why I went out walking with Max tonight. Just to get out of the there."
"I take it you aren't in school then," she asked him resignedly.
"No, I graduated last summer. And I take it from the look on your face that you still are in school. I thought you looked a little young." He looked over at her. "Senior?" he asked her hopefully.
"Junior."
"Ohhhh," he grimaced as if he had just been shot. "Ah well. Win some, lose some."
"So," Buffy continued, trying to hide her embarrassment. "You lived with your Grandparents for the last couple of years?"
"Well, my Grandfather really. When my mom and dad died, my Grandmother took it kind of hard. She died a few months after I came to live with them. My Grandpa raised me after that. We were happy. We got by."
"'Were?'"
"My Grandfather died last month. I had to cut my second semester at UCLA short to deal with all the arrangements, put his estate in order... say good-bye. He was a good man. I really loved him."
"I'm sorry. So you're pretty much alone now?"
He turned away from her but she could see him fighting back the tears. He tried to answer nonchalantly but his voice was husky when he spoke.
"Yeah, pretty much. Well, I got Max anyway."
At the sound of his name, Max came running back from the bushes up ahead and trotted up next to his master, looking up at him with liquid brown eyes. He whined quietly and began to lick Eric's hand.
"Yeah, just Max and me now. *sigh* I was going through my grandparents papers and I found that they had never gotten around to selling my parents old house. Didn't have anything better to do so I packed up some things and decided to take a look at the place. Imagine my surprise when I found the place almost completely untouched. I guess my Grandpa never really had the heart to come down and clean it all out. So I spent the whole day dusting the place off, cleaning it up, making it liveable.
"I think I might just stay around here for awhile. Between my parents life insurance and my grandfather's, I've got enough money to get by on for quite awhile. Besides, I miss Sunnydale. I've got a lot of good memories of this place. It was always so quiet and peaceful."
Buffy stifled her laughter at his comment.
"Yeah, that's Sunnydale to a tee! Quiet and peaceful. Oh, we're here." They stopped in front of the Bronze, the light from the open door shining out on to the street. Buffy suddenly looked down at Max.
"But I don't think they're going to let him in. I wasn't even thinking about that. We could get some coffee to go or something?"
"Don't worry about it. Max can take care of himself. You hear me Max? Don't go anywhere. We'll be out in awhile. I mean it! Don't go chasing off after anything." Satisfied, he turned to Buffy. "Come on." Eric gently took her arm and began to lead her inside.
"You're just going to leave him outside?"
"I took him to college with me. He waited outside my classes everyday. Besides, like I said, he can take care of himself."
The band was playing, and kids were gyrating on the dance floor. It was packed, as it usually was on a Friday night. After they got a soda and some coffee, Buffy peered through the crowd until she spotted Willow and Xander at a table. She started to guide Eric towards them.
"I feel a little out of place here. I mean I'm only eighteen but-" "Relax! This is where everyone under twenty hangs out. You don't stick out at all. Willow, Xander! I want to introduce you guys to someone. This is Eric. We-"
"Willow? Xander?" Eric asked in astonishment.
"Eric?!" They both cried in unison when they turned and saw him. Willow leaped out of her seat and rushed over to wrap him in a tight hug.
"Eric! What are you-? Where have you-? Oh, it's been so long!"
"Eric," Xander walked over to them smiling. "Eric the Red! Man, how ya been?"
"You guys know eachother?" Buffy asked, surprised.
"Of course we know Eric!" Xander told her. "We all used to live in the same neighborhood. We'd always walk to school together. Man! We haven't seen you since, well since-"
"Yeah," Eric smiled lightly at Xander and shook his hand. "It's been awhile. This is great running into you guys again! Where's Jesse at? He still hanging around with you guys?"
Willow and Xander looked at each other as they silently decided who got to tell him the bad news. Willow apparently lost.
"Um-Jesse, well he, he died last year. Or at least he-"
"What Willow is trying to say," Xander stepped into to help. "Is that Jesse disappeared. It's been over a year now. It's like he just sort of vanished in a big poof of smoke." Buffy smiled ironically at Xander's phrasing of the situation. Jesse had been turned into a vampire soon after her arrival at Sunnydale and Xander had been forced to slay him to save Cordelia. Neither Xander or Willow spoke of him very often, but Buffy got the impression that the three of them had been pretty inseparable since they were kids. Now Buffy had become the third part of their threesome, and she found herself wondering where Eric had fit into their little group.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Eric told them solemnly.
Buffy could see the initial joviality of their reunion quickly fading after the revelation of Jesse's demise.
"So, what's this about 'Eric the Red?'" she smiled at them, trying to lighten up the mood. "There's gotta be a story behind that."
Xander rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “You're gonna love this story, Buffy!"
Eric sighed, shaking his head.
"Oh, Xander. That was such a long time ago. Do you really have to retell it?"
"But it was so great! Remember, Willow?"
"I mostly remember the school principal dragging poor Eric off and all the bruises he had. I think I blocked everything else out."
"Okay. Get this! We're all in the first grade. Eric here is a third grader. We're just getting to school one morning when some huge eighth-grader stops us and starts shaking us down for lunch money. The guy is roughing up Jesse and me, and Willow is starting to cry-"
"Hey, Xander. If I was crying, so were you!"
Xander looked at her sheepishly and quickly changed his story.
"Okay, Willow wasn't crying. Eric comes up behind us, tells the eighth-grader to take off. Doesn't say he's gonna tell, doesn't say he's gonna get a teacher, just tells him to leave right now, or he's gonna be sorry. Guy starts laughing at him. He stops when he hears ol' Max start to growl."
"Oh, I'd forgotten about Max! I loved him! He was such a sweet dog!" Willow gleefully remembered him.
"Yeah, yeah," Xander tried to continue his story. "Max always followed him to school. But Eric tells Max to stay. 'Go home, Max,' he told him. 'This is my fight.' So Max turned around and headed back for home. Eighth-grader's happy that he's not gonna get used as a chew toy but he just ignores Eric. He grabs Willow's little 'Hello Kitty' purse and starts to head for the junior high."
Eric was trying to stop Xander from continuing but he could not be pursuaded.
"I'm just getting to the best part! Little Eric tackles the big bad eighth-grader and the biggest fight you ever saw ensued. Eric just went ballistic on him! But the other guy was bigger and could hit a lot harder. Eric's face was starting to look like hamburger. We all heard poor Max whining from further down the street, but Eric yelled at him to stay back!"
Eric put his head in his hands at Xander's heroic retelling of the story. Buffy smiled and rested her hand on his arm. His skin was warm to the touch and her own skin still tingled where he had touched her as they entered the Bronze.
"So, finally Eric kicks the guy in the crotch. Guy drops to his knees, but Eric doesn't stop there. He punches him the neck! Then proceeds to pummel him until the principal drags Eric off and takes him to the office."
"They suspended me for a week," Eric raised his head from his hands.
"So after that, we called him 'Eric the Red.' Well, Willow started calling him that. Jesse and I didn't know what it was a reference to. We just thought it sounded cool."
"I see you and Willow are here together," Eric asked him, after Xander had finished the story. "You guys an item now?"
Silence descended over the table again as the two looked back and forth between eachother. He had obviously hit a sore point. But Willow quickly smiled and pointed up at the band on stage.
"Uh, no. My boyfriend is the bass player with the hair. His name is Oz!" she told him proudly.
"And I'm dating Cordelia," Xander sadly pronounced. Eric coughed and sputtered on his soda and reached for a napkin to wipe off the soda bubbles that were coming out of his nose.
"Cordelia? Man, I didn't think you guys would ever get over that whole crayon incident in kindergarten."
"So what are you doing here now? What made you come back to Sunnydale after all this time?" Willow asked him.
Eric recounted what he had told Buffy and how they had met in the park. Willow was sympathetic.
"Yeah. The last time we saw you was when you left for Christmas vacation. Hey! You said you still have Max?!" "Well, of course I still have Max."
"But you've had him ever since I can remember. He'd be like over fifteen or sixteen by now. Probably older."
"Hmmm," Eric stopped as if just realizing it. "Yeah, I guess you're right. He's still as chipper as ever though. He's right outside the door there. I'm sure he remembers you."
"Oh goody! I'm going to go see him! I'll be right back."
Xander watched her as she hurried out the door.
"What is it with her and dogs?"
"Xander!" Buffy chided him.
This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=7445