"'Your one-stop spot to shop for all your occult needs.'" Tara read the ad in the phone book for the Magic Box. "Catchy."
"Think so?" Pops asked while drinking some coffee.
"Uh-huh, in a hard-to-read sort of way, but I think it's great." Tara walked to the back shelf behind the counter while Pops leaned over the book.
"Oh." The bell on the front door jingled as Willow, Anya, and Xander walked in.
"I'm just saying, I think it's rude" Xander said.
"I wouldn't call it rude." Willow replied, and I looked up from the books I was returning to a shelf.
"Rude-ish. Rude-esque. Whatever you want to call it. When a person makes a 'destroy all vampires' date, it's simple courtesy to wait for your co-destroyers. Am I right, Giles?" Xander asked and Pops looked up,
"I'm almost certain you're not, but to be fair, I wasn't listening."
"Oh, the new phone book's in with Mr. Giles's ad." Tara came up to the counter as Anya walked past, and the guys gathered around.
"Oh, nice." Willow smiled.
"Yay! Am I mentioned?" Anya slid to a stop as she looked. Smiling, I set down the stack of books on the table and walked over to where they were.
"Not as such." Pops told her.
"Oh."
"So, what's this about vampires and 'co-destroyers'?" I asked.
"Okay, we were supposed to hook up with Riley this morning....to take on a nest o' vamps holed up in a tomb. So we get there, and guess what? Tell him, Will." Xander gestured at Giles.
"Tomb go boom." Willow made a face.
"Yep, Captain America blowed it up real good. All by his lone wolf lonesome." Xander leaned a hand on the counter.
"Hmm, rather reckless of him." Pops nodded.
"I'd say very rather." Xander put his other hand on his hip.
"All that aside, I should think you'd be pleased to avoid the confrontation." Pops took a drink of his coffee.
"That's what I've been saying. I mean, I for one, didn't want to start my day with a slaughter." There was a pause as Anya's face lit up. "Which really just goes to show how much I've grown." She smiled.
"Hooray for Anya!" Raising my hand, she high-fived me.
"Yes, um, in any event, uh, since you're all here, Tara, Aud, and I could use your help researching Buffy's mysterious woman." Pops walked toward the table. Picking up the stack of books I had set down, I went to finish putting them back up. There were enough books on the table as it was.
"Oh, yeah. This has been fruitful- trying to look up something you never saw and don't know the name of." Xander said as everyone followed Giles to the table to sit down.
"Just do what I do- flip through the pages and look busy." Anya told the man.
"It'd be nice if we knew where she was, where she's hiding out." Willow shrugged.
"No doubt lurking around some sewer or condemned church or rat-infested warehouse. You know, the usual haunts." Xander suggested.
"I don't think so." I spoke up while placing the last book on the shelf. "From Buffy's description of her, she doesn't seem like the normal 'dark and dank' dweller."
YOU ARE READING
Unknown Factors (Book One)
Fanfiction[18+; Use an age indicator in YOUR BIO to confirm you're 18+ if you want to follow/comment or you'll be blocked for safety purposes] Despite Giles's efforts to let his adoptive daughter have a happy life, he couldn't quite stop the Watchers Council...
