Unknown Factors (Book One)

Ch.52: I wanna suck the blood from their veins

    I woke to the sound of Buffy's alarm clock going off and groaned as I got up and prepared for the day. I didn't really want to, but I did anyway since I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. Knowing the bathroom would be chaos with the girls, I simply got ready in my room and just brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink.

  At the Magic Box, Buffy borrowed one of my sketchbooks, and we just doodled most of the day together until Pops took us to the backroom to train. When night fell, we went out and patrolled, walking through the gravestones and keeping an eye out for demons. Sighing, I looked at Buffy, and she was looking at me.

  "~Every single night, the same arrangement, we go out and fight the fight.~" She sang.

  "~Still I always feel the strange estrangement.~" I also began to sing.

  "~Nothing here is real.~" Buffy looked at the vampire that jumped out in front of us.

  "~Nothing here is right.~" I added.

  "~I've been making shows of trading blows, just hoping no one knows that I've been going through the motions.~" The Slayer blocked the bloodsucker's strikes and tossed him behind us. "~Walking through the part.~"

  "~Nothing seems to penetrate my....heart.~" I sang while staking the vampire with the piece of wood I held with my tail.

  "~I was always brave and kind of righteous. Now I find I'm wavering.~" The Slayer continued as we kept walking. We then saw a bunch of vampires dealing with a ram-looking demon. "~Crawl out of your grave, you find this fight just doesn't mean a thing.~"

  "~She ain't got that swing.~" A vampire said after Buffy punched him. He then elbowed her in the face, and she fell back.

  "~Thanks for noticing.~" Buffy sang as I helped her to her feet.

  "~They do pretty well with fiends from Hell, but lately we can tell that they're just going through the motions.~" The demons sang as Buffy grabbed the sword sticking out of the ground.

  "~Going through the motions.~" I took out the vampires while Buffy stabbed the ram demon with the sword.

  "~Faking it somehow~." After Buffy pulled out the sword, we walked away.

  "~They're not even half the girls they- Ow.~" The demon died as Buffy carried the sword with her.

  "~Will we stay this way forever? Sleepwalk through our life's endeavor?~" The Slayer and I sang as I cut through the ropes with my claws that were holding a human male to a tree.

  "~How can I repay you?~" The tall man asked.

  "~Whatever.~" We turned away as Buffy tossed the sword.

  "~We don't want to be~ going through the motions, losing all our drive. We can't even see if this is really me, and we just wanna be....~" Buffy and I staked a couple of vamps that came at us on either side. "~Alive~!~" We both raised our hands out as the dusted bloodsuckers floated off in the breeze. Clearing my throat, I glanced at Buffy, and we just awkwardly looked at each other.

  What the Hell just happened?

~

  "Good morning, you two." Pops said as the Slayer and I walked into the Magic Box.

  "Oh, hey. Did Dawn get off to school all right?" Willow asked as she and Tara were at the shelf full of candles.

  "What? Oh, uh, yeah, I think so." Buffy told them. Walking towards the table, we saw Xander playing with his donuts.