|
|
by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: Don't own Buffy the vampire Slayer or the characters of any of the Slayerettes. (Probably a good thing too.)
Celia looked at him without much reaction, but she suffered herself to be led onto the dance floor. As they started to dance, she said, "Well, is there anything else you want to say to me?"
Giles bent over to whisper in her ear. "Young Mister Hardcastle believes that the Brotherhood of the Bat is already here, but we can't seem to reliably identify either them or any of their support fighters. Would your empathy be able to make the distinction between frustrated, angst-ridden teenagers, and hardened vampire criminals?"
Celia drew back a little to get a good look at Giles, total surprise and a trace of approval evident in her face. A tiny bit more loudly, Giles continued, "I apologize if I inadvertently offended you by not telling you of our operation here. Quite simply, I'm not used to having you here. I trust and respect your powers and your training, but it may take a while before I learn to remember that you're in town."
Celia smiled brightly at him, and then turned more serious to answer his question. "The empathy is a nice thought, but I'm afraid it may be a little impractical. This..." she gestured around vaguely, "this building, this room is simply overflowing with emotion. I'm receiving a lot of interesting things, but it would be almost impossible to trace them down to their sources. I have a nebulous idea of which of the emotions I'm getting are from you, because you're so close and because I know what your emotions feel like, as it were. But tracking down vampires by their hatred... that'll be quite a long shot."
"I was afraid of that," Giles murmured back. "Still, I thought it would be good to ask."
"I am very glad you asked," Celia confirmed, the trace of that smile beginning to play on her face again.
(At a table for two across the club.)
Willow sat Xander firmly down, and took the other seat herself. "C'mon, don't you wanna dance?" Xander was saying.
"No," Willow replied. "Well, I mean, I'd love to dance, but I think that's too much pressure right now. Let's just sit here, have some refreshments, try to chill out and take the pressure off. Okay?"
"Okay, I could go for a cup of coffee..." Xander started.
"No coffee!" Willow cried. Catching herself, she continued in a calmer voice, "At least, not for me, and not for you unless you really think it would help you relax more. Somehow I'm not convinced of that. This is what we're trying to do here, we're trying to relax," she said, somewhat excitably.
"Okay sure," Xander agreed. As if on cue, a waiter stepped up to their table. "Oh, man," Xander stammered. "What... what helps me relax? Uh... uh... I'll just have a caffeine free Coke."
"Make that two," Willow told the waiter, who nodded and stepped away. The two of them sat in awkward silence for about a minute, and then more.
"So... how about them vampires?" Xander tried desperately.
"Yeah, they're bad," Willow replied. "Except for Angel, I guess..." Willow winced as an angry tick twitched Xander's cheek. "Oh, oh sorry, forget I mentioned a- anybody," Willow apologized desperately. "Drinks! Oh, thank goodness, our drinks are on their way."
Their waiter moved his way smoothly through the crowd, placed a tall glass full of dark liquid in front of each of them, and whispered "special occasion." He briefly held one finger up to his lip and then made his way away.
"Oh, boy am I thirsty," Xander said, grabbing the drink and taking a large gulp.
Willow took her own drink and had a healthy mouthful, but there seemed to be something a little off about it. She took another test sip. Hmm. "Xander, does this drink taste funny to you? There's something I'm not used to - but then I don't drink it caffeine free that often." Her drink was moved over to his side and Xander took a drink.
"Hmm. Yeah, it's not any different from mine, but there's something that's not quite usual about it." Xander took another drink. "I can't quite put my finger on it either."
Willow retrieved her glass and drank from it again. "Hmm... there's something... oh boy. Xander, I think it's alcohol."
"What? You're saying that the waiter messed up our orders and gave us booze by mistake?" Xander said. "Fat chance of that happening."
Willow took another drink. "Well, what else is it??"
Xander tried his again. "Maybe. Oh, oh." Xander slapped his forehead with the heel of his hand. "I... I was talking about needing something to relax when the waiter took our orders. Maybe he just slipped something to us for the fun of it."
"Hmm," Willow considered that. "Well, we probably shouldn't give them back or complain or anything - we might get the poor guy in trouble, and he was only trying to do us a favor, really." She took another mouthful of the drink. "It's kinda weird. Like it tickles your mouth and your throat."
"Yeah, that'sh it," Xander agreed.
(Once again, across the club...)
"Come on, babe," Jonny said, grabbing Faith by the hand. "We'd better search the dance floor again." He led her out and put his arms around her.
Faith giggled. "Well, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do," she said in a throaty voice. She brought her hands to the small of Jonny's back as they started to dance.
"So, what have you been up to this past year?" Faith whispered towards Jonny's ear. "Just more of the same?"
"Hey, you know how it is, babe," Jonny murmured back. "There's always more vamps out there somewhere - the open road and another place to be. It's what I do."
"And are there girls waiting for you in any of those other places?"
Jonny chuckled. "Not so far as I know. I've made a few friends here and there, you know, but none that I've ever made promises to."
"I'm glad." Faith leaned forward and pressed her lips towards his. The kiss was quiet and deep as a forest pool, and both of them were in shock by the time it finished.
The music changed to another song, and a nervous voice rang out from nearby. "Ahem, ex.. excuse me?" Faith and Jonny turned to see the pudgy-looking Batman. "I, uh, I b-believe that I have a traditional d--dance with you, C-c-catwoman?"
"Can't it wait?" Faith muttered in an aggrieved tone.
"No, you, uh," Jonny tried without success to wipe the faint trace of a smile from his face. "You kids dance, and I'll keep looking." He said that with a significant glance at Faith. "I'll see you in a few."
Faith groaned as Batman led her closer to the center of the dance floor.
Click here to go to the fanfic discussion board.
Go back to Tales of the Scooby Gang.
Or click here to return to the Destinies Lost homepage.
|
|
|
|
