From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (Buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Buffyfic-digest V2 #53 Reply-To: buffyfic@xmission.com Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Buffyfic-digest Sunday, March 8 1998 Volume 02 : Number 053 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (2/7) BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (3/7) BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (4/7) BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (5/7) BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (6/7) BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (7/7) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:49:55 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (2/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 2 ************************************ The jolt of electricity that went through Buffy's hand as she caught the wooden stake was enough to make her almost drop it again. But it didn't leave her hand. On the contrary, it seemed to fit perfectly there, nestling into her palm as if it had been made for her. "Cool," Willow observed, watching Buffy making quick swipes through the air. "You--you look good with that thing." With a last flourish, Buffy tucked the stake into the back of her pants. "Gotta see if Giles will give it to me." Willow nodded furiously. "Might as well. It was just sitting there. Bet he doesn't even know it was there." "But--you're gonna ask him anyway." "Sure. Right." Buffy had no idea why her friend was wigging on her over a dusty old stake Giles probably didn't even know was there. Sometimes Willow spazzed over nothing. "OK, chicas, you can come out of the closet." Xander characteristically grinned and wagged 16 oz. bottles of soda at them. He seemed to realize what he had said and swallowed the grin. "I mean--the storeroom. Uh--wanna Coke?" Buffy snagged the Diet Coke from his hand and brushed past him. "Thanks, Xander. Hope you didn't break your leg hurrying to get back here." Giles looked up from his book, saw that it was just the juveniles bickering again, and returned to his reading. He had actually begun smiling again, especially after he and Jenny had made something of a peace between them. Buffy still couldn't forgive him for that. "I hurried over as fast as I could, Your Highness," Xander told her. "Wouldn't want to miss the cobwebs and stuff." He pulled a long gray strand from Buffy's hair. "Ew. That does it." Buffy dumped the pile of books they had accumulated from the storeroom into Xander's arms. "I'm going home and washing my hair. You people are crazy." She stomped out of the library, throwing the doors wide, and simply exiting the school building. This time Giles looked up from his book and stared at the wildly swinging doors in bewilderment. Usually the teenagers thrived on their bickering sessions, going on for hours just sniping at each other. He had learned that this was the way they related to one another. And judging from the way Xander and Cordelia usually argued, they really related. But the bickering usually didn't end like this. Not with Buffy storming out with little or no cause. Xander looked at them, a little embarrassed that he had made Buffy leave. "Uh--what was that?" he asked. Willow shrugged and pulled on the straps of her coveralls. "She was all right a minute ago. I think--she's probably still depressed about--you know." Giles shook his head and returned to his book. Mood swings. Why did Slayers always have to be teenagers? *** By the time Buffy left the library, it was already starting to get dark. She didn't know why she had stormed out like that. She just got so frustrated sometimes. Why should Xander be so happy all the time when her life was in a shambles? How could the world go on when she felt like her life had ended? She felt the stake at the small of her back, slightly stretching the band of her pants. She needed to work out her frustrations, and tonight was a good night to do that. She felt like killing something, making something pay. Why not a vampire? Vampires were good. She lucked out and found two, just lounging there in the shadows of an abandoned house. Anywhere else it would have been a crackhouse, but in Sunnydale it had more serious vermin. Vampires didn't seem to be smart enough to attack her all at once. Instead they split their strength, one going after her full force while the other looked for an opening to get his turn. That was fine by her. By the time she had impaled the first one against the rusted metal gate, she was ready for the second. A solid punch to the vampire's twisted face spun him around, and a roundhouse kick to the head with her thick, platform shoes laid him low, blood oozing from his broken nose. Aw, and she was just starting to have fun. But he wasn't out for the count. He growled at her low in his throat, his demon eyes shining in the dim moonlight. He bared his fangs at her and charged, getting a lucky shot and dodging under her defenses. His pointed teeth actually grazed her throat before she could whip out the stake at her back. Grabbing the demon by the throat with one hand, she plunged the stake through his heart with the other. Buffy was used to having vampires turn to dust under her hands. This one, however, seemed to writhe in agony for several long seconds. She pushed the stake in deeper and twisted it against bone, which finally disintegrated to dust. The act oddly satisfied her. She wanted them to pay, pay for what they had done to her. She hadn't chosen this life. THEY had inflicted it on her. The other vampire lay over the short metal fence, its sharp rusted points still strong enough to punch through his undead flesh. Buffy raised the stake high and looked into the demons eyes as she killed it. She saw the creature's pain, its death agonies as it finally surrendered its unlife. It fell to dust under her feet, and she ground her boots into the dirt it made. She brought the strange stake up to eye level so that she could gaze at it. The brass handle glimmered in the moonlight, and the stake seemed almost beautiful in its craggy perfection. She hadn't felt this good in a long time. It felt like she was doing something for a change. Making a difference. Living again. *** "Are you sure you can handle the store by yourself?" Micki Foster asked for the tenth time--that day. "Sure," Johnny assured her with more confidence than Micki thought warranted. "How hard can it be to sell this stuff. It sells itself, remember?" "He'll be fine," Jack Marshak assured her. "And we'll be checking in every day." The leader of the group at Curious Goods was a friendly man in his robust fifties, hair balding and gray, with a portliness that had probably been with him his entire life. He eyed Johnny as if to say, *humor her,* and hefted his suitcase. "Johnny knows what to do." Micki sighed and picked up her own suitcase and purse. She knew she could trust Johnny, but she wasn't entirely certain he could handle their special type of weirdness on his own. "Just don't try to take on anything by yourself. We're only going to be gone for a few days while we figure out where Hyrman's wife put this stake. Call us if there's ANYTHING out of the ordinary." "I have Mrs. Hyrman's number right here." He waved a piece of paper at her. "Stop worrying and enjoy Texas." Micki frowned at him as if to say, *yeah, right,* but gave him a quick hug and toted her suitcase out the narrow door. Jack lingered and told the young man, "Ask for me." Jack patted Johnny on the arm, put on his tweed hat, and followed Micki out the door. Johnny laughed and shook his head at those two. They thought they held the fate of the world in their hands. They were more responsible than anyone he had ever hung out with. Which wasn't surprising considering the kind of people Johnny had hung out with before coming to work--and do other things--at Curious Goods. Kicking back on the stool at the counter, Johnny put his feet up and closed his eyes, grateful for the quietude. *Wonder if Jack's going to wear that hat in the Texas heat,* Johnny thought. ************************************ END Part 2 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:50:24 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (3/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 3 ************************************ The halls of Sunnydale High School were always crowded early in the morning. As sleepy as most of the kids looked at this time of day, they definitely felt the urge to mingle. Which irritated Giles no end as he searched for one sleepy teenager in particular. Why did they all have to look the same? At last a familiar blonde head appear, and Giles chased after it through the crowd. He finally got her attention and smiled at her somber features. "Buffy! Have you been all right?" Buffy looked at him, puzzled, and nodded. "Sure. I'm fine." Giles removed his glasses and glanced around. "But--but you weren't in class yesterday. I thought maybe the hunt--" "The hunt's going fine, Giles," she said, a little impatiently, he noticed. "Just chill a little bit. That's what I was doing yesterday. You know, save the world, sacred duty, all that stuff." "But your schoolwork--" "Is it more important than killing vampires? I don't think so. I even found a few of their daytime hidey-holes yesterday." Buffy pushed wisps of hair away from her face and looked intently at Giles. "That is what I'm supposed to be doing, isn't it?" Giles was at a loss in the face of such intensity. Had Buffy thrown herself so deeply into her work that it was now becoming an obsession? "I just thought that school was something of a break for you. A--a chance to be with your friends." "Well, I have more important things to do than be with my friends, don't I?" Buffy was actually angry at him now. "My first duty is to protect the world from vampires. I don't think the world will be too concerned if I make a C on my geometry test." "But your mother will," Giles said, bewildered by Buffy's suddenly hostile attitude. When had Buffy decided that killing vampires was more important than her own life? Buffy rolled her eyes in frustration and stomped off. "Whatever." Giles watched her disappear into the flood of teenagers filling the hall. He almost didn't hear when the morning bell rang to go to class. He never would understand his ward. He only hoped that lack of understanding wouldn't permanently harm the person he was trying to protect. *** What did Giles want from her? She was finally taking her job seriously, like he wanted, and it STILL wasn't good enough for him. What did he want, blood? Sometimes she felt like vampires weren't the only ones sucking her life away. Giles, her mom, even her friends all wanted her to be the perfect little Buffy. Slayer, daughter, friend, schoolgirl, fill in the blank here. She just wished her life wouldn't be molded for her, like she had to fit what THEY wanted her to be. Her vampire hunts had grown longer and longer with the enchanted stake in her hand. She knew by now that it was no regular stake. It made her feel strong and confident and actually made the vampires suffer for their crimes. At last they were getting a little of what they had been giving out. How many victims had they toyed with, made them scream for mercy before they sucked the life out of them? Now she was hearing their screams and liking it a little too much. Buffy plopped herself down in her desk for math class. *The hunts WERE getting overboard,* she admitted to herself. Maybe Giles did have a point there. And Buffy didn't want to tell him that the stake she had found in the storeroom had actually led her to those secret vampire caches during daylight hours. She would limit herself to nighttime hunts. But how could a weapon that helped her kill demons be anything but kick-ass good? The teacher began handing back their geometry tests and she winced at the grade. No C here. Mr. Karper looked at her with that teacher look that said the entire story: I'm-so-disappointed-in-you-you-have-so-much-potential-you-could-do-better. She crumpled the paper into her backpack and stared at the desk in front of her, her cheeks hot. She would only go out at night now, and maybe get a little math homework done. But she felt the stake in her purse like a second heart beating. And waited for the night. *** Micki and Jack arrived at the Austin airport right on schedule. They picked up their car at the Advantage counter, along with a map of the city, and set out for Mrs. Hyrman's house. It was perched high in the hills of Austin, in the many rich neighborhoods that took advantage of the gorgeous Hill Country scenery. "Did she sound upset to you?" Micki asked as she zoomed the car up yet another hill. Jack nodded sadly, taking in the view from the window. "I could barely get a coherent sentence out of her. She's still terribly disoriented, and Hyrman's been dead for almost six months now. At least she agreed to meet with us. I'm hoping we can get something more sensible from her in person." After the horror story Jack had told her on the plane ride in from Chicago, Micki could tell why. From the newspaper reports Jack had dug up, and the criminal court cases, they pieced together the story of John Hyrman and the murders he had committed. Apparently Hyrman had been a quiet professor of Gothic literature at the University of Texas. He had studied and taught all the classics, including Bram Stoker's *Dracula.* Hyrman had been passionately interested in the work, not to a fault and certainly not to murder in the beginning. He had begun collecting vampire memorabilia, anything he could find, according to his wife's testimony. No mention of THE stake was made, but he had had several around the house, and a stake was thought to be his murder weapon of choice. At least that's what the gaping hole in his victim's chest looked like. But no wood fragments were found in the wound by the crime lab. His obsession had eventually taken a turn toward psychoses as he came to believe that he was von Helsing, or someone like him, a hunter of Nosferatu and the savior of mankind. The only problem was that his victims weren't vampires. Jack had told her that vampires--yes, they were real--turned to dust once they were killed. Hyrman's victims were all too solid, and he had left a trail of them wherever he went. Too many were college students he came across. People began to notice, and eventually he was killed as someone (an armed someone) came upon him staking another victim. Jack seemed to think that Hyrman's change from interest to obsession came from Lewis Vendredi's intervention. The papers said that Hyrman had been an avid collector of occult--and especially vampire--memorabilia. Logic said that Hyrman had finally found the ultimate collectible from Lewis Vendredi's Curious Goods, in the days when the shop was more known for the evil it put into the world, than the evil it took out. So the stake had changed Hyrman, made him into a raving maniac who thought he was put on earth to kill vampires. It tricked him into seeing vampires where there were none, to kill innocent people and add to Vendredi's collection of taken souls. These items could twist a person, given just the smallest in. They spoke to the weakest part of the soul and caused an evil so insidious it went unnoticed until it was too late. Their only hope was that the stake was still in Hyrman's estate. If it fell into the wrong hands or was lost in a police evidence vault, the entire killing spree could be repeated until they finally tracked down the cursed item. Their meeting with Mrs. Hyrman would tell them that. As a collectible, the stake was less likely to be thrown away as worthless. It would probably be sold for its value, and that at least was traceable. Sometimes their search for cursed items took them weeks to track down, hopping from one plane to the other following leads. Micki would enjoy the travel if it didn't usually come to a gruesome end. Too often they found their cursed items AFTER it had been used again. Micki hoped that Mrs. Hyrman would help them find this thing, before it killed any more innocent victims. That was always the hardest part of their job for her--seeing the people they had been too late to save. ************************************ END part 3 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:09 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (4/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 4 ************************************ "Thanks for the help, Will," Buffy said into the telephone, cradling it against her shoulder. "I owe ya. See you tomorrow." Buffy hung up and tapped her pencil against her lips. Satisfied, she slammed the geometry book shut. "Math all done. Time for work." The stake lay in the drawer by her nightstand. She had stopped carrying it with her on all but her night hunts. Its power was a little frightening, the feeling it gave her a little too heady. But when she clutched it in her hand, she couldn't resist the triumph she felt. Out the window and down to the cemetery. Her nightly routine. The cemetery had gotten a little slow, especially since she had been killing nonstop for more than a week now. The word was bound to get out. So this time it was the Bronze. Vampires liked nothing better than to follow kids home from their nightly adventures. That's why Angel had always walked her home-- The heartache took her unawares. Angel. She wondered if it would ever go away. The heartache was her shadow nowadays, coming upon her when she least expected it. She tucked it away and carried on. The Bronze wasn't really kickin' on a Wednesday night, but the vampires were waiting, as she knew they would be. This time it was four of them, ambushing her in a dark alley between two warehouses. The fight was furious, the odds against her, but she was invincible. They couldn't touch her. She kicked and punched and stabbed like a wild animal, grinding each vampire into dust with the stake. Buffy exhaled as the last one disintegrated. A hand touched her shoulder, and she whirled to face her next attacker, the stake upraised and ready to take another life. The stake almost plunged into another heart before it registered who her attacker was. His surprise was almost as great at hers, and his eyes widened as the stake grew closer. "Angel," dribbled the word from her lips. She tried to pull back her punch, get the stake away from Angel. She wasn't ready to deal with this yet. Not Angel, even an evil Angel. Not now. But she knew the stake was unstoppable during a fight. It knew its prey. It wouldn't stop in time. No. No! The stake flew at Angel's unprotected chest, and they were both powerless to stop it. But it twisted in her hand at the last minute, as if it had a mind of its own. She hit Angel firmly in the chest with the handle, the business end safely away. But he staggered back as if she had punctured his heart. He fell to the ground, a blue glow hanging where she hit him and then sinking in. Buffy ran to him, not knowing what had happened. She wasn't ready, not to give up hope on ever getting her Angel back. This might be a demon in her lover's body, but while that body lived, so did her hope of getting him back one day. "Angel! Angel!" she screamed in his face as it lost all trace of the vampire's deformity. Angel opened his eyes and focused on the woman above him. They lit with wonder and smiled at her. "Buffy." A weak hand cupped her cheek. "It's you--" Then the eyes clouded over and filled with confused tears. "I..." Buffy pulled back but looked into those eyes again. Could it be? It sounded like... She looked deeper, into his soul. Angelus wasn't a good faker. He had pretended to be Angel after the change, but the moment she looked, really looked, she could tell the difference. The eyes of a demon didn't look back at her now. They were the eyes of a man who loved her. "Angel." She cried into his chest for a moment, holding him to her. It felt like so long she had wanted to do this, to hold her love in her arms again. "How?" she gasped out. He sat up, still weak from what had happened to him. "I don't know, Buffy." She could see the agony in his eyes as he realized what he had done, once again. "I remember it all. But--but I couldn't do anything. I was trapped, just watching the horrible--" A shudder ran through his body. "The things I did to you, what I said--" He turned away from her, shrinking from her touch as if he might corrupt her by being too close. But Buffy wouldn't let him. She held him tight, as if she would never let him go again. "That wasn't you, Angel. It wasn't your fault." The tears ran down her face, but she wouldn't look away from him." I love you, Angel. I know that you could never do those things." It was Angel's turn to sob helplessly against her. "I can't go through this again. Kill me, Buffy. Stop this now. Don't let me kill again." But she couldn't, not now, not even when he had been evil. How could she tell him that? So she quietly held him, as she had wanted to do since she had discovered that his soul had been stolen. "Everything will be fine, Angel. I promise." *I couldn't live if it wasn't,* she added to herself. But the reunion was short-lived. Angel gasped and began screaming. "No, Buffy, he's coming back. Go! Leave! I--I can't control it." Angel writhed on the ground. She wouldn't leave him. Not ever again. No, this wasn't happening! She took the stake handle and thumped him on the chest with it as he convulsed. It felt dead now in her hand. Just then a gang of vampires approached, come to back up Angelus. She looked from a tortured Angel to the gang, unwilling to leave her love in peril. How could she abandon him now when he needed her so much? She couldn't explain what had happened, didn't need to. This was Angel. But then she looked into his eyes as they flicked opened and his features calmed. Something had changed. The demon was back. She would face the mouth of hell itself with Angel by her side. But this wasn't Angel. Confused, dazed, she couldn't deal with a horde of vampires AND an Angel that wanted her dead. Scrabbling to her feet, Buffy grabbed the stake and ran. *** This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. How could she lose Angel for a second time? Angelus was a poor actor; it had to be real. She had held Angel in her arms for those brief moments, and it wasn't enough. It would never be enough. She had no tears left. She was empty of everything. Buffy was almost afraid to touch the stake now. Whatever had happened--it had to be the stake. It had hit him square in the chest and restored Angel to her. But then it had done nothing. It hadn't "spoken" to her since she had released the blue glow on Angel. Maybe that was it... She had released its power. Power which came from... Killing vampires. It had to be. All those deaths she had taken from evil. Maybe it had stored up the power to do good. She wished she could ask Giles. But then she would have to admit to him--and to Willow--that she had taken the stake without mentioning it. And Giles might even make her give it back--say it was dangerous or something. And looking into her Angel's eyes again, she knew she could never do that. ************************************ END Part 4 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:27 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (5/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 5 ************************************ Mrs. Hyrman greeted them at the door with a hesitant gesture. She had dark circles under her eyes, and from the smell of alcohol on her, her new courage was not self-made. "Come in, Mr. Marshak," she said listlessly. "I--I'll try to answer your questions." Jack could tell that she had been interrogated before, endlessly, and didn't have much strength for more questions. "We just have a few questions," Jack reassured her. "About an item in your husband's collection. It was sold from our store, and we do need to get it back." The old woman, aged by her tragedy, nodded to herself, gathering what real courage remained. "I can try to tell you what I know. But most of it was sold at auction. The rest of it I got rid of." "Do you think we could see the auction list?" Micki asked. She tried to be delicate, but sometimes it was hard when the quest was as urgent as theirs. The woman nodded and left to search out the documentation. "How collectible do you think this stake is?" Micki asked Jack. The man shook his head. "The Manifest describes it as having a carved case. Hopefully that gave someone the clue that it was valuable and it wasn't just thrown away." Mrs. Hyrman returned shortly and gave the auction list to Jack. "The item we're looking for isn't on this list," Jack told her after scanning it. "We're looking for a stake with a brass handle that came in a carved gold-leaf box. Do you remember seeing anything like that?" A shudder seemed to run through the woman's body. "I remember. I didn't put--those kinds of items on the auction. I didn't want those kinds of people to show up. I sent it to someone my husband knew and trusted. I found his name in John's planner. Rupert Giles. He--he used to be a museum curator." "Do you have his address?" Micki asked quietly. On the verge of tears, Mrs. Hyrman nodded again and went to get it for them. *** Buffy skipped school again that day. She didn't talk to her mother as she left the house at the crack of dawn. She had one thing on her mind. If this thing could cure Angel, really cure him, she would kill every vampire in this world to get him back. She would do anything it took to have him touch her even one more time, to see that love shine in his eyes. It was almost mechanical. The stake led her to vampire after vampire. She didn't even torture them. Stab and move on. She broke locks to abandoned buildings, muscled herself into crypts, even found her way into storm drains. As the day wore on, she could feel the power thrumming in the stake and into her body. Tonight she would do it. She would get Angel back. *** Giles picked up the phone as it rang. Very few people called the library; it was usually one of his group of special students, so he kept it close by. Willow and Xander looked up from a busy cram session before school--and the first-period English test. "Giles here." He listened for several second before he said, "Yes, I do remember receiving the box from Mrs. Hyrman some time ago. But there wasn't anything of value that I remember--" He was silent again. "A stake? I don't remember--" "Buffy found it," Willow piped up. "Just a moment," Giles put his hand over the receiver. "Buffy found a stake?" Willow nodded emphatically. "While we were cleaning out the storeroom looking for books. I--I thought she told you about it..." Giles' serious expression worried her. If Buffy was in trouble because she hadn't mentioned it... "You'd better take the first flight in," Giles told the person on the phone. "I think--a friend--has it." *** Giles pulled Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz out of class, using the excuse that the library club had a field trip that day, he had found out about an exciting exhibit at the last minute, and so on. Giles was a terrible actor, but the other teachers knew he was boringly responsible and honest. Just a little weird and excitable sometimes. "We have to find Buffy," Giles told them as they mobilized. "She's in terrible danger." "We've heard THAT before," Xander said. "And--and it's very true this time," Giles said so seriously that even Xander began worrying. "She's gotten herself mixed up in something that could--I really don't know what it could do to her." Cordelia clapped her hands together to break the mood. "OK, fine, I have my car, Oz has his van, and Giles--Giles has the tweedmobile. Let's go." "I have to meet someone at the airport," Giles told them. "They know more about this thing than we do. If you find her, don't let her do anything. And keep an eye out for a stake with a brass handle." "Ew, brass," Cordelia frowned, grabbing Xander by the hand and pulling him along. Willow rolled her eyes and stomped off, Oz hurriedly following. *** Buffy was running out of vampires, or at least the ones within easy reach. She jogged in the direction the stake pointed her, careful to keep out of sight lest anyone she knew--or the Sunnydale truant patrol--found her. It would be dark soon, and that's when her real hunt would begin. Power thrummed in her brain and made her almost giddy with excitement. She was an unstoppable force. In the back of her mind, the voice of a mad vampire babbled. They knew she was coming for them. *** Their flight was on schedule, and Jack and Micki met Rupert Giles at the taxi stand. They shook hands briefly. "You might as well talk as we ride," Giles told them, sizing up the two as he let them into his car. "I have to find Buffy. She's the Slayer. She may be using the stake." Jack was instantly worried. "The Slayer has it?" Giles nodded as he pulled away from the curb. "You know about Slayers?" "Of course," Jack said. "And you must be her Watcher. A Slayer with a cursed object could be--" Jack was at a loss for the magnitude of the situation. "Yes...quite." Giles said as he sped away. ************************************ END Part 5 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:44 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (6/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 6 ************************************ Drusilla clutched her head. "The bad girl comes. Make it go away!" Angel paced in a small circle like a caged animal. "She's killed the rest. There's nowhere to hide. She'll find us." His plans to make the Slayer mad had failed. And now he was being hunted by something more abhorrent to him than simple death. It was becoming that human again, becoming weak and sentimental and FEELING... Spike sat in his wheelchair, knowing that there was nothing he could do. Their cronies had turned up dead or had fled. They were the last three waiting for the Slayer. And she would come. While Dru and Angel worked themselves into a frenzy, he faced his fate with equanimity. But a lot could happen between now and death. "Looking for me?" called a sensuous voice atop the landing. They knew she would come, that no locked doors would dissuade her. Her power as a Slayer had increased ten-fold. Drusilla screamed her grating scream and threw herself at the girl descending the stairs. Buffy whipped out the stake and planted it in Drusilla's chest. The scream as Dru slowly died brought tears to Spike's eyes. Her body turned stiff and brittle like a mummy and slowly crumbled away. Spooked, Angel tried to run. But Buffy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him to the floor, hard. Next she caught sight of Spike and smiled. "So nice to see you, Spike. Are you ready to pay for all your little crimes?" He held perfectly still, clutching the armrests of his wheelchair until they crumpled under his hands. "Ah, I see you are. Say hi to Drusilla for me." She stabbed hard with the stake and it slid easily into his body. He didn't let out a sound as he bored into her eyes with his. Buffy watched him die and dusted off her hands when he was through. "Your turn, Angel. But you'll like this." Already the stake glowed blue with power. Approaching Angel, she tenderly knelt at his side and took his head in her hands. "I love you so much, Angel. I want to be with you always. I can't live without you." She kissed his face, which was peaceful in unconsciousness. The stake was poised over his chest, handle first. Right on cue, Giles burst through the door with the rest straggling in behind him. And there were two others Buffy didn't recognize. What was Giles doing here? Had he followed her? "Buffy, it's not real. You have to stop this," Giles told her. Buffy shook her head, confused. "What's not? I found the answer, Giles." Giles knelt close to her, almost afraid to come too close. "But it's not the answer, Buffy. It's a trick. A trick to get you to do--to do--awful things...in the name of your love for Angel." "No, it's real," Buffy said, her angry eyes raking over the ones standing there looking at her. "I can make Angel good again. I can cure him." She looked from Angel to the others, torn. "It's not a cure," a woman with red hair told her, coming forward. "We look for these items. They're cursed. They make people kill and hurt other people. It's just an illusion, Buffy." "I've killed vampires," Buffy ground out angrily. "It's why I was put on this earth. I kill the evil ones. That makes me good. And anything that can bring Angel back to life has got to be good too." Before they could move to stop her, Buffy breathed in and struck Angel with the flat of the stake. His body spasmed and the glow sank into him. Moments passed. Then his eyes flicked open and he buried his head in her shoulder. "Not--again, Buffy. Don't do this," he gasped "You see," she said challengingly. "I saved him." The redhead nodded. "But how many are you going to have to kill every time he needs to be saved?" The woman's clear eyes slowly began to glow, their kindness snarling into hatred. Buffy's face stilled. "You're one of them, aren't you?" The woman shook her head, confused. "What?" Her mouth sighed open to reveal pointed fangs. Buffy stood, carefully placing a weak Angel on the floor. "You're a vampire and you're trying to trick me." She brought the stake up. The people ranged around her suddenly transformed into vampires in front of her eyes, their faces deformed with head ridges, fangs, and glowing eyes. "You're just trying to get me to give up so that you can kill me. I'm the Slayer. I don't give up." "Buffy, we're not vampires," Willow said, her face horribly twisted. "We're your friends. Best buds, remember?" She tried to come closer, but Buffy raised the stake at her. "I don't know who you are." Xander couldn't keep silent. "Buffy, listen, you're tripping. It's us. Come on." The vampire snapped his fingers and pulled a cross out of his pocket. He licked it and stuck it to his forehead. "Vampires can't do that." He pulled out a vial marked with a black cross. He doused himself from head to toe. "Or that." He searched his pockets. "Anyone got any garlic?" But he had made his point. Buffy pulled back, confused but not convinced. The stake quivered in her hand, begging her to stake the monsters in front of her. It pulsed with power again and urged her on. Kill them. It's your job. Save Angel. But Angel was saved. Wasn't he? He lay on the floor, the light of sanity in his eyes again. "Buffy, they're your friends," he said weakly, gasping. "You can't kill them, not for me. Don't--don't sell your soul for me." He screamed as the pain hit him. His face was changing again, turning into a vampire. No, not again. Not her Angel! She looked from those in front of her to Angel. She wanted him, wanted him like nothing in her life. If she killed them, Angel would live, perhaps forever this time. And if they WERE her friends... Angel grasped at her leg. "No, Buffy, don't--don't put another mark on my soul." It hit her like a slap in the face. Her friends. Was she really contemplating killing her friends without even knowing if they were really vampires? She threw the stake away like it was a giant cockroach in her hand. It clattered on the stone floor and rolled away. The old guy took a handkerchief and carefully rolled it up and put it in his pocket. "Guys..." Buffy swallowed hard at what she had almost done. Giles and the woman patted her on the back and helped her away. They weren't vampires anymore, never had been, Buffy realized. "Uh, guys," Oz said, gesturing vaguely behind them. Angel had disappeared. Just as well, Buffy realized. She didn't think she had the strength to deal with him right now. It hurt too much to face her failure. ************************************ END Part 6 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:53:18 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (7/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. NEWS FLASH: If you want to check out Friday the 13th: The Series, there's going to be a marathon Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel! It's a great show. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 7 ************************************ "So you guys, like, fight evil and save the world too?" Xander asked Micki, obviously so in love that he couldn't get a good sarcastic remark in if he tried. He was obviously too dazed to notice the killer glares Cordelia was giving him. "Something like that," Micki said, humoring the boy. "We look for cursed object and have a tendency to run into those who want to use them for evil." Her eyes skipped to Buffy, who stood looking out the library window. "Not that that's the case here. Sometimes innocents get caught up in it too." She smiled at Xander and went over to Buffy. The two had a lot in common. "Giles tells me you've been through a lot," Micki said quietly so they couldn't be overheard. "You could say that," the girl said. Micki nodded. "So have we. It's not always easy to keep up your spirits and think of the good you do. Sometimes you just want to be a little selfish. It's all right. It's human." "But a Slayer can't be selfish." "A human can and will." Micki turned Buffy to face her. "Evil can just creep in when you're not looking. This object helped you kill vampires so that it could eventually convince you to do evil. But you were smarter than that." Buffy smirked slightly. "Score one for the good guys. Guess I won't have to go out on patrol for a while." Micki knew that Buffy was trying to make jokes so she wouldn't have to face the truth. Maybe it took a stronger truth. "You know, I died once because of this little crusade. But I had friends there to bring me back. They're there to bring you back." Buffy looked at the woman but didn't mention her own brush with death. She hesitantly glanced over at her friends. "They're worried about you," Micki said. "I know," Buffy said, smiling a little at last. "I don't know what I'd do without them." Micki took her arm. "Then come on. No sense making them worry anymore." Buffy stopped her. "Can I ask you a question? How can Jack make tweed look so comfortable when Giles makes it look like it could rip your skin off?" Micki suppressed a laugh. "Guess you need to meet Jack. He's one of a kind." He was. And so was Giles, she guessed, party-poopedness and all. And that kind was caring. She could see it in both of them, making them save the world instead of shrugging it off as someone else's job. The two older men talked animatedly, like two sides of the same coin. Micki and she did have a lot in common. Not to mention Micki was drop-dead gorgeous and didn't mind admitting her faults. There were worse things to be. "OK, who wants to compare adventures first?" Xander quipped, eyeing Micki as they rejoined the group. "Let me tell you about this giant underground insect that laid eggs and we had to take care of them as social studies projects..." ************************************ END Part 7 ************************************ END OF STORY - - ------------------------------ End of Buffyfic-digest V2 #53 ***************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffyfic to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. Back issues of this digest can be found at: ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/buffyfic/archive/ Dalton Spence has also provided an index of the buffyfic archive at: http://www.hwcn.org/~ag775/BUFFYFIC.HTM For help, contact Jill Kirby (jtkirby@mcs.com) or sah (romana@mindspring.com)