Hunter & Hunted II

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The Next Day

Alexander LaVelle Harris was not feeling his best.

Honestly, no, that was putting it mildly.

Very mildly.

In more accurate terms, he could only say he felt like someone had refried a bucket of shit in dirty rat-infested oil from the Doublemeat Palace, mixed the result of that with fresh sewage and then left that concoction to sit in the sun to get all nice and warm. And then force-fed it to me, he thought, his stomach churning at the mere idea. Yum yum, gimme some.

So, yeah… not his best.

Not by a long shot.

He'd been weird since after the zoo yesterday, his memories of what he'd done after rescuing Lance seeming oddly faded out, like someone had taken an eraser to his mental chalkboard and just went to town slamming that eraser into said chalkboard. Might explain the pounding in my head.

It's like he blinked and, all of a sudden, school was over, and he found himself jumping from the hyena enclosure to the Rosen Queen; Sam's over-decorated office, to be exact.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

"-iking the booklet?"

Xander blinked, the action slightly slower than he felt was normal.

He raised his head, the movement feeling like it took far more effort than it reasonably should have. "Huh, you say something, boss?" His voice sounded distant to his own ears, like he was speaking from the bottom of a well.

The red-headed boy in a suit, Samuel Lucius Ash VI, raised a hand to his head as he quirked an eyebrow in Xander's direction, brushing some of his dreadlocks back behind his ear with casual grace. "I've been saying something for the last five minutes..." he drawled, his voice carrying a hint of amusement. "...hm."

Turning from where he stood at the far end of the room, Samuel put his hands behind his back and shifted to properly look at Xander, his piercing blue eyes seeming to see right through the young Devil. "But what I asked was... how are you liking the booklet?"

Xander blinked again, his eyes much more responsive this time. "O-oh, yeah. Love it. Tons of good info," he stammered, trying to sound more enthusiastic than he felt.

"You sure about that?" Samuel probed lightly, head tilting slightly to the side as he studied Xander's face.

Xander nodded, perhaps a bit too vigorously. "Y-yeah, yeah," he assured him, though the sudden motion made him wince, a sharp pain lancing through his skull. The room took a gentle spin, and he gripped the edge of his chair to steady himself, his knuckles turning white. Whoa there, cowboy. Let's not go for a ride just yet.

"Alright then," Sam nodded in return, seeming to accept Xander's answer for now. He strode across the room with a fluid grace, his expensive-looking shoes clicking softly on the hardwood floor. He leaned up against his even more expensive-looking wooden desk, crossing his ankles in a casual pose that somehow still managed to look regal. "Any questions about some of the stuff written there or..."

Xander shook his head quickly, the young devil wincing at the action as the room seemed to sway again. "Yeah, y-yeah, just not right now..." he managed to get out.

After a pause, during which Sam scrutinized him more intently, his blue eyes boring into Xander like laser beams, the demon finally spoke. "...Alright. Well... I just wanted to let you know that the three Corpses you sent to me are doing a rather good job. For teenagers, they're taking to things rather quickly. Although, I suppose that's expected."

Xander blinked, confusion clear on his face as he tried to process Sam's words. "The who?"

Sam raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "The… Corps-"

After a moment, he let out a slight laugh, shaking his head. "Different terminology, I see. What you term as Vampires... I would consider closer to a Corpse Tier Undead, a Revenant really, if slightly shittier overall, despite their agility. Two steps past a zombie, with one more step to the right. "

The Devil shook his head again, the look on his face conveying complete disdain, as if he had just stepped in something unpleasant. "Really, no magic or true ability among the general species. Even the Nosferat need half a century to really do anything worth noticing. For the rest, just bloodsucking and a dead body? A waste of the term."

Xander blinked, nodding slowly as he tried to wrap his mind around what was just explained to him. "...huh." So vampires are just shitty zombies? Good to know, I guess.

"Honestly, I might have to see what I can do to fix that," the demon mused to himself for a moment, hand on his chin. "They're not bad kids, honestly."

The moment passed and Sam's attention turned back to him, his expression growing serious again. "Yeah, there's something wrong with this picture. No follow-up, no joke, not even an attempt to cut me off with some inane question..."

The Fiend demon let out a sigh, shrugging his suit jacket off his shoulders and laying it over his chair, leaving him in only a black vest that hugged his lean frame. He stared at Xander, his eyes intense and searching. "What's going on with you?"

Xander wasn't even sure how to answer that. He felt like his brain was wrapped in cotton, his thoughts sluggish and muddled. "I... dunno, I just feel... weird," was all he could muster.

"Hm." Sam raised an eyebrow, before swiping up with one finger. Translucent red screens popped up in front of him, hovering in the air like holograms. His eyes trailed through each one as he looked between them and Xander, his expression unreadable.

Xander wasn't even sure what was supposed to be on them as they looked entirely blank from behind, at least from where he stood. More devil magic, I guess, he thought, too tired to even be impressed anymore.

"Yeah... go get some rest," Sam finally announced, dismissing the screens with a wave of his hand. They vanished as quickly as they had appeared, leaving no trace of their existence. "We'll talk tomorrow."

"...okay."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Only he couldn't.

Get some rest, that is.

He had avoided Willow and Buffy as much as he could all day, not wanting them to catch whatever it was he had. I thought being a demon meant I couldn't get sick.

Staying at home wasn't an option either; Tony's yelling was loud enough when Xander seemed to be dragging his feet leaving the house this morning, his dad's voice grating on his already frayed nerves. He didn't think his brain could take an extended session if he decided to skip school for being sick.

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Expecting his mom to do anything was out of the question, either. She simply asked him if he was okay and then drifted away, a bottle in hand. He'd almost been getting his hopes up, too, at least when it came to her. She'd been acting better every time she came home from her trips to see her friends.

Skipping P.E. by staying in the bathroom the whole time had been a g-Satansend?...a satansend, but knowing he was missing out on getting to play dodgeball was almost as bad as being sick. A chance to nail Kyle in the face and I was stuck in the john like a loser, he thought bitterly. Story of my life.

The teenager shook his head again, quickly regretting the action as the world tilted on its axis, his vision blurring at the edges. His legs felt like jelly, and he stumbled slightly as he made his way to the library door, his hand reaching out to steady himself on the doorframe, the wood cool against his clammy skin.

Pushing it open with more force than necessary, Xander barreled through, his voice ringing out in the quiet space. "G-Man!" he yelled, his voice hoarse but demanding all the same, echoing off the high ceilings. "Mr. G, I'm a student in need! A very sick, very miserable student!"

His Royal Tweedness rushed out from the library's cage, urgent and confused, his glasses slightly askew on his face. The man had been cataloging, Xander figured, because he was carrying a clipboard and one of those little cards from the card catalog with him as he moved from place to place, his tweed jacket flapping behind him. "Xander, what are you-" The man froze, eyes wide behind his glasses as he spotted the boy leaning heavily on the stairs, his face pale and slick with sweat. "Xander, what's wrong with you?"

"I…" Xander stumbled forward, his legs giving out as he slumped into a seat at a study table, the hard wooden chair feeling like a blessing after the trek from the bathroom. "I really wish I knew, Giles," he managed to get out, his voice strained and thin.

"I appreciate that you think so highly of me, but a medical degree is not one I possess," the man said, stepping forward with a clearly worried look on his face, his brow furrowed in concern. "The school has a nurse for a reason, Xander."

Xander let out a grunting laugh, the sound more of a wheeze than anything else. "Y-yeah, I don't think Ruthie's gonna help with this one," he said, shaking his head and immediately regretting it as the room spun.

Giles frowned, clearly confused, his head tilting slightly to the side. "What? Why do you say that?"

The teenager laughed again, the sound bordering on hysterical. "J-just… just a h-hunch," he managed to get out between chuckles, his shoulders shaking with a humor that he didn't really feel. "I've just been like this all day, but I've been feeling kinda weird since I helped Lance yesterday."

"Lance?"

"Kind of a wimpy guy," Xander answered, barely able to keep his head up and straight as he leaned from side to side. "These mean kids were bullying him by the hyena cage at the zoo. Maybe some kind of airborne animal disease, you think?"

"Well," the Watcher adjusted his glasses, crossing the room to stand in front of Xander, his eyes scanning the boy's face for any clues as to his condition, "did you sleep last night? Perhaps this is simply a case of exhaustion."

Xander laughed again, the sound coming out high-pitched and manic, grating on his own ears. "Sleep?"

He shook his head, the motion making the world blur at the edges. Last night had been a sleepless haze, more tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling than any time spent in snoozeland. Warm milk hadn't helped in the slightest and neither had cookies, although the latter had been more of a treat for him than anything else. Probably shoulda laid off the sugar, in hindsight.

Really, the only thing that had seemed to ease his nausea was the bacon he had for breakfast and that thing was barely cooked, still glistening with grease. "No, no sleep," he confirmed, voice flat. "Sleep is for the weak, G-Man. And I am... I am anything but weak," he joked.

The man frowned, rolling his eyes at what he viewed as Xander's carelessness, exasperation clear by the droop of his shoulders. "Of all the ri—"

Then Willow and Buffy charged into the library, both clearly upset and looking varying degrees of panicked, footsteps loud in the quiet space. Their sudden entrance jolted Xander from his feverish daze, his head snapping up from the table. What now? he thought, his mind still foggy. Can't a guy get some peace and quiet around here?

Giles turned his head, his attention diverted by the sudden commotion. "Girls, wha—"

"Principal Flutie!" Willow shouted, interrupting the librarian for a second time, her voice high-pitched and frantic.

"What about him?" Giles asked, the older man tilting his head slightly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Dead!" Buffy answered, her voice flat and matter-of-fact, as if she couldn't quite believe it herself. After a moment, the blonde shook her head, her expression grim. "I mean, he's dead. Like, really dead."

Eyes widened behind a pair of glasses as the librarian's mouth fell open in raw shock. "My word, how?" He looked between the two girls, waiting for some kind of explanation.

"Eaten!" Willow answered, looking frantic as her hands fluttered nervously at her sides. "Ate him up! Like he was a big ol' principal-shaped cheeseburger!"

"Not like vampire eaten, either," Buffy added, the blond letting out a slight shudder. "More of an animal attack."

Willow looked green. "Left a real mess behind, too."

"And also Herbert," Buffy added, rushing down the steps with Willow right behind her. "They found what was left of him in the office too."

"Herbert?" Giles questioned again, looking thoroughly bewildered. "Is that a janitor... a student?"

"The piglet," Willow responded as she sank into a chair, her hands still twisting in her lap. "The school's new mascot," she continued as Giles continued looking confused. "Something ate the both of them! It was awful, Giles. Blood everywhere, and... and pieces..." She trailed off, looking even more green around the gills.

"Someone," Buffy corrected, her jaw set in a hard line.

"Someone?" the librarian asked again at Buffy's odd correction, the man a font of queries at the moment.

"Word in the school is. a pack of wild dogs somehow got into his office, but I'm leaning more towards someone," She shot Giles a careful look, the Slayer's blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Or a pack of someones."

Willow gasped, her own green eyes wide and terrified. "Kyle's gang, you think?" She asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Buffy nodded, face grim with the seriousness of an expert. "They've been acting weird since yesterday. After Xander got Lance out of the hyena exhibit, they didn't even make it on the bus back to school and today…" She let herself trail off.

"Hyenas, you say?" Giles blinked, the librarian seeming to realize something, his eyes widening behind his glasses. "Xander was just saying something about hy—"

The Watcher turned around, his words cutting off abruptly as he spotted the boy in question fast asleep, twitching fitfully as his head laid quietly on the table, a sheen of sweat on the young man's brow.

"Xander?"