Chapter One
"Dad, something's coming...Bippy the Wizard told me so."
"What do you mean by 'something', Fruitbat?"
"Bippy didn't know. Just that it was old and very scary."
"See what else he knows."
"Sure dad."
I hate bus rides, but it was the fastest way to get out of Sunnydale on my limited budget. As I sat staring at the road going past I knew that the Council would send the new girl to there to make sure the Hellmouth was secure. I mean, I had let everybody down because of personal feelings...the world had almost ended, good people...nice people had died, my mom hated me and thought I was insane. She'd ordered me out of the house. I was a complete failure as a person and a Slayer, so I just left and hopped on the first bus heading north to Seattle.
We had passed San Francisco hours ago and then Sacramento and now we had zigged back to the coast and I stared at the ocean as we went up the Pacific Coast Highway. Towns passed, the exit to Nebula City, Woodglen...Pacific City. The bus shuddered and then pulled over in front of someplace called Mayhem Burger. It looked like an old style drive-in restaurant with roller skating carhops in cute outfits.
"Folks, we have a flat," the bus driver said. "It'll be a while till we can get it fixed...maybe three or four hours. So get out and stretch your legs if you want."
I got up and stood outside in the afternoon sun and looked around. Then I checked my wallet with its tiny amount of cash. I was hungry anyway, so I sighed and walked over to the drive-in.
"Monster Mayhem with cheese and fries?" I asked the man at the register.
"Sure thing, hon," he said as he took my money. I glanced around and saw a 'We're Hiring!' sign, 'Must know how to skate!'. I smiled at that and sat at one of the tables looking out over the river that cut through the town and flowed to the Pacific. It was quiet here. Peaceful and anonymous. I looked back over at the sign...If I got a partial refund on my ticket I'd have some more cash and nobody would ever look for me here, even if they cared.
I got up and walked back to the bus to get my stuff and talk to the driver. Then I walked back to the man at the register.
Mr. Sawyer, the owner, hired me immediately once he saw my balance on skates and my pasted on smile. I could still fake looking happy at least no matter how dark and dead inside I felt. Angel was gone and I was the one who had sent him to hell...my stupidity had gotten Kendra and Jenny killed and almost had destroyed the world. Here I could be 'Annie Calendar', Mr. Sawyer wasn't going to let a lack of ID stop him from hiring me under the table. I had a clean room in the Nite-Nite Motel and plenty of time to work on my skating and my brooding. Angel had had almost a hundred years of practice at it, I needed to step up my game to catch up.
When I wasn't working, I was sitting on the cliff edge looking out over the Pacific and the waves crashing on the beach eighty feet below. Occasionally I'd see whales swimming past or a shark fin, seals, sea lions, otters...My world had gone from fashion to food service and I still felt edgy. I stayed in at night, I didn't want the Slayer part of me to be tempted by anything, and as long as the sun was up it stayed subdued. At night I had the dreams of course, and sleeping pills wouldn't work on me, so I started running and exercising as hard as possible to wear myself out. Getting back to my room just before sundown and collapsing in an exhausted heap. The dreams still came though.
They were of black steel skeleton looking things and a group of people standing in a circle chanting; a girl not much younger than me trick or treating and a scarecrow in a witchy pointy hat. I'd wake up with the stake I kept under my pillow clutched in my hand and ready to fight.
I had been here for two months and the dreams had gotten stronger. When I got ready for work in the morning I could still see flashes. Something was coming, but this time I wasn't going to be able to do anything. How could I? I had failed before so now I was just going to be only a bystander...
"Hey, Annie!"
"Detective Goodis!" I skated over with a nice fake smile glued on. "How are you today? Hi, Detective Willeford!"
"Hey, Annie."
"We're fine, could we get our usual?"
"Sure thing!" I said brightly and dropped the order off with Maxie the cook.
"Annie!" I heard Mr. Sawyer calling me so I skated over to him.
"What's up?"
"Fran left and I need somebody to pick up the evening shift. Lacey thinks you'd be great. The tips are better too."
I was all ready to say "No, thank you" and "Sure, when do I start" came out instead. Somehow I managed to keep my fake smile up.
"Great. We'll put you on a split shift today. After you finish with the Detectives, head on home and be back here at five...Okay?"
"Of course Mr. Sawyer."
I skated back and picked up the orders and delivered them. When they had finished I collected their trays and dropping them off punched out and unlaced my skates. before putting on my comfy tennis shoes.
"Annie! You're going to be working nights?" Leslie, one of the other day car hops, asked.
"I guess so."
"That's good money, just be careful. Sometimes this town gets creepy at night."
"I should be okay," I said. "I grew up in LA."
"Ooo the big city," she laughed. "Yeah, I think you'll be fine then."
Leaving work, I walked over to the cliffs and my favorite ocean watching spot. Sighing, I looked at the water. I was being manipulated, I knew it to my very core. Giles had told me once that Slayers were chosen for a reason and they always were where they needed to be. Obviously whatever chose us needed me to be here in Pacific Heights. At least I had had a peaceful summer to work on my brooding.
Lacey, Mr. Sawyer's daughter and the night manager, was behind the register when I got there at five. She was on skates as she usually helped car hop during the rushes from what I'd heard.
"Hi, Annie. You ready to work?"
"Any big changes from day shift?"
She shook her head, "It just can be a lot busier, especially after the drive-in lets out." She meant the big movie screen just down the road. "We're open till one AM, but you worked from nine to one this afternoon so you can take off at nine if you want."
"'Kay, guess I'd better get my skates on."
"Oh...Annie, some of the late patrons are kind of...strange. Don't let that throw you off."
"Strange?"
"They look kind of different. Don't worry about it."
"Uh okay."
It was a lot busier than day-shift and I understood why Mr. Sawyer wanted somebody to replace Fran; otherwise, Lacey, Roxie, and Janine would have been swamped. It was pushing nine thirty and Lacey stopped me, "You can go now you know?"
I shook my head, "The movie's about to let out," I pointed at the big screen where we could see the credits starting to roll. "I'm not going to leave you stacked up like that. That would so be of the rude."
She smiled in relief, "Thank you sooo much."
That rush came and went and it was close to eleven at night when I saw a small figure sit down at one of the picnic benches. I skated over, "Hi!"
"You're new."
I froze for a second then recovered. This was the girl in the dreams, "New to the night shift. I'm Annie, can I take your order?"
"Hi Annie, I'm Eve...Uh, I'd like a chicken sandwich for here and three more to go?" she had a plastic trick or treat pumpkin filled with toys sitting in front of her. She was about my height with black hair streaked with white at the front. It wasn't bleaching streaking either, it was natural. Her pupils were more vertical than horizontal and her ears might have been slightly pointed.
"Coming up!" I said brightly then my nose twitched. I smelled a corpse...an old one, nearby. "Do you want a drink or some fries with that?"
"A cola please, and cheese fries."
"Sure thing," I skated off and dropped off her order at the kitchen, then delivered another order to a car. The drive-in was pretty quiet, and Roxie and Janine had already left as they had started their shift at three. It was down to Ron in the kitchen, Lacey at the register, and me. I skated back to Eve with her drink, "The sandwiches and fries will be up in a minute."
"Thanks."
"Cool toys," I said indicating the bucket.
"They think so," she replied. "They also say you're not what you seem."
"Well, that's rude."
Eve nodded, "You just can't keep them from being bad little toys."
I nodded sagely as if I understood what she was saying.
She pulled one out that looked like a little wizard, "Bippy told me you were coming months ago."
"So what did he say?"
"That you were old and really scary?"
"Old? And do I really look that scary?"
Eve shrugged, "Do I?"
I nodded carefully, "I'm not scary to everybody...Only to things that deserve it."
She looked at the doll she was holding, "Bippy agrees with you."
I saw Ron waving and skated off to get her meal. When I got back she was standing up, "I have to go. I'll see you soon Annie."
"You too, Eve."
I punched out and started my walk back to my room. The night was clear and, with a half-moon up in the sky, I had plenty of light to see by as I walked down Vinge Street. I felt something in the air; a not very happy presence, so I continued my stroll and saw a flicker in the shadows out of the corner of my eye. I had a stake and a pair of blades in my pack. and casually opened it to pull out my lip gloss. The presence was moving closer like a soundless wraith. I stopped and took my time with using the tube, making sure the gloss was perfectly applied, as I felt the prickling of an attack getting ready to come. Then came that release of tension and I had my blades out and the pack was on the ground.
It was at least seven feet tall and was a skeleton made of black metal with long white hair coming from its skull-like head. It carried a long staff with a half circular blade at either end and stood there in what seemed like surprise, as the blade that should have decapitated me had whizzed over my head when I had ducked.
"You snooze, you lose buddy..." I said with a smile on the outside, but on the inside I was worried. I had never seen or heard of anything like this, and if it was made of metal could I even hurt it?
It swung again. It was terrifyingly fast, but I was faster and hands-free cartwheeled over this strike. The blade cut through the asphalt in a clean and perfect slice...like it wasn't even there. I was behind it now, and with a leg-sweep had it on the ground. It tried to get up and I ax-kicked it in the back of the head. No damage of course, but it was about as strong as an experienced vamp. Stronger than me at least. I dove out of the way as it leaped to its feet. and swung that blady-staff at me. I parried it by striking against the staff bits. I saw what the blade did to asphalt and stone after all.
It swung again just like I wanted it to do, and I dropped my blades and grabbed the staff with both hands while throwing myself down and backward in a sacrifice throw it didn't let go which meant it was sailing over my head and slamming into the ground on its back. The shock caused it to let go and now I had the staff.
I rolled quickly to my feet to see it standing up. Even though it had no facial expressions I just knew it was pissed off.
"I think I'll be keeping this...in payment for the nail I chipped you understand?"
It looked like it wanted to charge me, but it was not sure.
"Ah, I get it...I'm doing the bet-age that this can hurt you?" I said waggling the staff. "And you weren't expecting to run into somebody like me."
There was another presence behind me..."And then you go and call some buddies..." I sighed while turning to get all of them in view. Yeah, but these two new ones had long spears through. I was out of practice, outnumbered and outmuscled. This was not looking good.
"Hi Annie! Can me and the Gunwitch help?"
I turned and saw Eve standing there with the scarecrow from my dreams. She looked up at him, said something in a rough guttural language, and the thing drew a pair of pistols.
I smiled and faced down the three metal skeletons, "I really am with the hoping so. Let's get this party started..."
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