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Buffyfic-digest         Sunday, March 8 1998         Volume 02 : Number 053



In this issue:

       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (2/7)
       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (3/7)
       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (4/7)
       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (5/7)
       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (6/7)
       BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (7/7)

See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic
or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:49:55 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (2/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 2
************************************

The jolt of electricity that went through Buffy's hand as she caught the
wooden stake was enough to make her almost drop it again. But it didn't
leave her hand. On the contrary, it seemed to fit perfectly there, nestling
into her palm as if it had been made for her.

"Cool," Willow observed, watching Buffy making quick swipes through the air.
"You--you look good with that thing."

With a last flourish, Buffy tucked the stake into the back of her pants.
"Gotta see if Giles will give it to me."

Willow nodded furiously.

"Might as well. It was just sitting there. Bet he doesn't even know it was
there."

"But--you're gonna ask him anyway."

"Sure. Right." Buffy had no idea why her friend was wigging on her over a
dusty old stake Giles probably didn't even know was there. Sometimes Willow
spazzed over nothing.

"OK, chicas, you can come out of the closet." Xander characteristically
grinned and wagged 16 oz. bottles of soda at them. He seemed to realize what
he had said and swallowed the grin. "I mean--the storeroom. Uh--wanna Coke?"

Buffy snagged the Diet Coke from his hand and brushed past him. "Thanks,
Xander. Hope you didn't break your leg hurrying to get back here."

Giles looked up from his book, saw that it was just the juveniles bickering
again, and returned to his reading. He had actually begun smiling again,
especially after he and Jenny had made something of a peace between them.
Buffy still couldn't forgive him for that.

"I hurried over as fast as I could, Your Highness," Xander told her.
"Wouldn't want to miss the cobwebs and stuff." He pulled a long gray strand
from Buffy's hair.

"Ew. That does it." Buffy dumped the pile of books they had accumulated from
the storeroom into Xander's arms. "I'm going home and washing my hair. You
people are crazy."

She stomped out of the library, throwing the doors wide, and simply exiting
the school building.

This time Giles looked up from his book and stared at the wildly swinging
doors in bewilderment. Usually the teenagers thrived on their bickering
sessions, going on for hours just sniping at each other. He had learned that
this was the way they related to one another. And judging from the way
Xander and Cordelia usually argued, they really related.

But the bickering usually didn't end like this. Not with Buffy storming out
with little or no cause.

Xander looked at them, a little embarrassed that he had made Buffy leave.
"Uh--what was that?" he asked.

Willow shrugged and pulled on the straps of her coveralls. "She was all
right a minute ago. I think--she's probably still depressed about--you
know."

Giles shook his head and returned to his book. Mood swings. Why did Slayers
always have to be teenagers?

***

By the time Buffy left the library, it was already starting to get dark. She
didn't know why she had stormed out like that. She just got so frustrated
sometimes. Why should Xander be so happy all the time when her life was in a
shambles? How could the world go on when she felt like her life had ended?

She felt the stake at the small of her back, slightly stretching the band of
her pants. She needed to work out her frustrations, and tonight was a good
night to do that. She felt like killing something, making something pay. Why
not a vampire? Vampires were good.

She lucked out and found two, just lounging there in the shadows of an
abandoned house. Anywhere else it would have been a crackhouse, but in
Sunnydale it had more serious vermin.

Vampires didn't seem to be smart enough to attack her all at once. Instead
they split their strength, one going after her full force while the other
looked for an opening to get his turn. That was fine by her. By the time she
had impaled the first one against the rusted metal gate, she was ready for
the second. A solid punch to the vampire's twisted face spun him around, and
a roundhouse kick to the head with her thick, platform shoes laid him low,
blood oozing from his broken nose.

Aw, and she was just starting to have fun.

But he wasn't out for the count. He growled at her low in his throat, his
demon eyes shining in the dim moonlight. He bared his fangs at her and
charged, getting a lucky shot and dodging under her defenses. His pointed
teeth actually grazed her throat before she could whip out the stake at her
back. Grabbing the demon by the throat with one hand, she plunged the stake
through his heart with the other.

Buffy was used to having vampires turn to dust under her hands. This one,
however, seemed to writhe in agony for several long seconds. She pushed the
stake in deeper and twisted it against bone, which finally disintegrated to
dust.

The act oddly satisfied her. She wanted them to pay, pay for what they had
done to her. She hadn't chosen this life. THEY had inflicted it on her.

The other vampire lay over the short metal fence, its sharp rusted points
still strong enough to punch through his undead flesh. Buffy raised the
stake high and looked into the demons eyes as she killed it. She saw the
creature's pain, its death agonies as it finally surrendered its unlife. It
fell to dust under her feet, and she ground her boots into the dirt it made.

She brought the strange stake up to eye level so that she could gaze at it.
The brass handle glimmered in the moonlight, and the stake seemed almost
beautiful in its craggy perfection. She hadn't felt this good in a long
time. It felt like she was doing something for a change. Making a
difference.

Living again.

***

"Are you sure you can handle the store by yourself?" Micki Foster asked for
the tenth time--that day.

"Sure," Johnny assured her with more confidence than Micki thought
warranted. "How hard can it be to sell this stuff. It sells itself,
remember?"

"He'll be fine," Jack Marshak assured her. "And we'll be checking in every
day." The leader of the group at Curious Goods was a friendly man in his
robust fifties, hair balding and gray, with a portliness that had probably
been with him his entire life. He eyed Johnny as if to say, *humor her,* and
hefted his suitcase. "Johnny knows what to do."

Micki sighed and picked up her own suitcase and purse. She knew she could
trust Johnny, but she wasn't entirely certain he could handle their special
type of weirdness on his own. "Just don't try to take on anything by
yourself. We're only going to be gone for a few days while we figure out
where Hyrman's wife put this stake. Call us if there's ANYTHING out of the
ordinary."

"I have Mrs. Hyrman's number right here." He waved a piece of paper at her.
"Stop worrying and enjoy Texas."

Micki frowned at him as if to say, *yeah, right,* but gave him a quick hug
and toted her suitcase out the narrow door.

Jack lingered and told the young man, "Ask for me." Jack patted Johnny on
the arm, put on his tweed hat, and followed Micki out the door.

Johnny laughed and shook his head at those two. They thought they held the
fate of the world in their hands. They were more responsible than anyone he
had ever hung out with. Which wasn't surprising considering the kind of
people Johnny had hung out with before coming to work--and do other
things--at Curious Goods.

 Kicking back on the stool at the counter, Johnny put his feet up and closed
his eyes, grateful for the quietude. *Wonder if Jack's going to wear that
hat in the Texas heat,* Johnny thought.

************************************
END Part 2
************************************



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:50:24 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (3/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 3
************************************

The halls of Sunnydale High School were always crowded early in the morning.
As sleepy as most of the kids looked at this time of day, they definitely
felt the urge to mingle.

Which irritated Giles no end as he searched for one sleepy teenager in
particular. Why did they all have to look the same?

At last a familiar blonde head appear, and Giles chased after it through the
crowd. He finally got her attention and smiled at her somber features.
"Buffy! Have you been all right?"

Buffy looked at him, puzzled, and nodded. "Sure. I'm fine."

Giles removed his glasses and glanced around. "But--but you weren't in class
yesterday. I thought maybe the hunt--"

"The hunt's going fine, Giles," she said, a little impatiently, he noticed.
"Just chill a little bit. That's what I was doing yesterday. You know, save
the world, sacred duty, all that stuff."

"But your schoolwork--"

"Is it more important than killing vampires? I don't think so. I even found
a few of their daytime hidey-holes yesterday." Buffy pushed wisps of hair
away from her face and looked intently at Giles. "That is what I'm supposed
to be doing, isn't it?"

Giles was at a loss in the face of such intensity. Had Buffy thrown herself
so deeply into her work that it was now becoming an obsession? "I just
thought that school was something of a break for you. A--a chance to be with
your friends."

"Well, I have more important things to do than be with my friends, don't I?"
Buffy was actually angry at him now. "My first duty is to protect the world
from vampires. I don't think the world will be too concerned if I make a C
on my geometry test."

"But your mother will," Giles said, bewildered by Buffy's suddenly hostile
attitude. When had Buffy decided that killing vampires was more important
than her own life?

Buffy rolled her eyes in frustration and stomped off. "Whatever."

Giles watched her disappear into the flood of teenagers filling the hall. He
almost didn't hear when the morning bell rang to go to class. He never would
understand his ward. He only hoped that lack of understanding wouldn't
permanently harm the person he was trying to protect.

***

What did Giles want from her? She was finally taking her job seriously, like
he wanted, and it STILL wasn't good enough for him. What did he want, blood?
Sometimes she felt like vampires weren't the only ones sucking her life
away. Giles, her mom, even her friends all wanted her to be the perfect
little Buffy. Slayer, daughter, friend, schoolgirl, fill in the blank here.
She just wished her life wouldn't be molded for her, like she had to fit
what THEY wanted her to be.

Her vampire hunts had grown longer and longer with the enchanted stake in
her hand. She knew by now that it was no regular stake. It made her feel
strong and confident and actually made the vampires suffer for their crimes.
At last they were getting a little of what they had been giving out. How
many victims had they toyed with, made them scream for mercy before they
sucked the life out of them? Now she was hearing their screams and liking it
a little too much.

Buffy plopped herself down in her desk for math class. *The hunts WERE
getting overboard,* she admitted to herself. Maybe Giles did have a point
there. And Buffy didn't want to tell him that the stake she had found in the
storeroom had actually led her to those secret vampire caches during
daylight hours. She would limit herself to nighttime hunts.

But how could a weapon that helped her kill demons be anything but kick-ass
good?

The teacher began handing back their geometry tests and she winced at the
grade. No C here. Mr. Karper looked at her with that teacher look that said
the entire story:
I'm-so-disappointed-in-you-you-have-so-much-potential-you-could-do-better.

She crumpled the paper into her backpack and stared at the desk in front of
her, her cheeks hot. She would only go out at night now, and maybe get a
little math homework done.

But she felt the stake in her purse like a second heart beating. And waited
for the night.

***

Micki and Jack arrived at the Austin airport right on schedule. They picked
up their car at the Advantage counter, along with a map of the city, and set
out for Mrs. Hyrman's house. It was perched high in the hills of Austin, in
the many rich neighborhoods that took advantage of the gorgeous Hill Country
scenery.

"Did she sound upset to you?" Micki asked as she zoomed the car up yet
another hill.

Jack  nodded sadly, taking in the view from the window. "I could barely get
a coherent sentence out of her. She's still terribly disoriented, and
Hyrman's been dead for almost six months now. At least she agreed to meet
with us. I'm hoping we can get something more sensible from her in person."

After the horror story Jack had told her on the plane ride in from Chicago,
Micki could tell why. From the newspaper reports Jack had dug up, and the
criminal court cases, they pieced together the story of John Hyrman and the
murders he had committed. Apparently Hyrman had been a quiet professor of
Gothic literature at the University of Texas. He had studied and taught all
the classics, including Bram Stoker's *Dracula.* Hyrman had been
passionately interested in the work, not to a fault and certainly not to
murder in the beginning. He had begun collecting vampire memorabilia,
anything he could find, according to his wife's testimony. No mention of THE
stake was made, but he had had several around the house, and a stake was
thought to be his murder weapon of choice. At least that's what the gaping
hole in his victim's chest looked like. But no wood fragments were found in
the wound by the crime lab.

His obsession had eventually taken a turn toward psychoses as he came to
believe that he was von Helsing, or someone like him, a hunter of Nosferatu
and the savior of mankind.

The only problem was that his victims weren't vampires. Jack had told her
that vampires--yes, they were real--turned to dust once they were killed.
Hyrman's victims were all too solid, and he had left a trail of them
wherever he went. Too many were college students he came across. People
began to notice, and eventually he was killed as someone (an armed someone)
came upon him staking another victim.

Jack seemed to think that Hyrman's change from interest to obsession came
from Lewis Vendredi's intervention. The papers said that Hyrman had been an
avid collector of occult--and especially vampire--memorabilia. Logic said
that Hyrman had finally found the ultimate collectible from Lewis Vendredi's
Curious Goods, in the days when the shop was more known for the evil it put
into the world, than the evil it took out.

So the stake had changed Hyrman, made him into a raving maniac who thought
he was put on earth to kill vampires. It tricked him into seeing vampires
where there were none, to kill innocent people and add to Vendredi's
collection of taken souls. These items could twist a person, given just the
smallest in. They spoke to the weakest part of the soul and caused an evil
so insidious it went unnoticed until it was too late. Their only hope was
that the stake was still in Hyrman's estate. If it fell into the wrong hands
or was lost in a police evidence vault, the entire killing spree could be
repeated until they finally tracked down the cursed item.

Their meeting with Mrs. Hyrman would tell them that. As a collectible, the
stake was less likely to be thrown away as worthless. It would probably be
sold for its value, and that at least was traceable. Sometimes their search
for cursed items took them weeks to track down, hopping from one plane to
the other following leads. Micki would enjoy the travel if it didn't usually
come to a gruesome end. Too often they found their cursed items AFTER it had
been used again.

Micki hoped that Mrs. Hyrman would help them find this thing, before it
killed any more innocent victims. That was always the hardest part of their
job for her--seeing the people they had been too late to save.

************************************
END part 3
************************************



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:09 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (4/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 4
************************************

"Thanks for the help, Will," Buffy said into the telephone, cradling it
against her shoulder. "I owe ya. See you tomorrow."

Buffy hung up and tapped her pencil against her lips. Satisfied, she slammed
the geometry book shut. "Math all done. Time for work."

The stake lay in the drawer by her nightstand. She had stopped carrying it
with her on all but her night hunts. Its power was a little frightening, the
feeling it gave her a little too heady. But when she clutched it in her
hand, she couldn't resist the triumph she felt.

Out the window and down to the cemetery. Her nightly routine. The cemetery
had gotten a little slow, especially since she had been killing nonstop for
more than a week now. The word was bound to get out. So this time it was the
Bronze. Vampires liked nothing better than to follow kids home from their
nightly adventures. That's why Angel had always walked her home--

The heartache took her unawares. Angel. She wondered if it would ever go
away. The heartache was her shadow nowadays, coming upon her when she least
expected it. She tucked it away and carried on.

The Bronze wasn't really kickin' on a Wednesday night, but the vampires were
waiting, as she knew they would be. This time it was four of them, ambushing
her in a dark alley between two warehouses. The fight was furious, the odds
against her, but she was invincible. They couldn't touch her. She kicked and
punched and stabbed like a wild animal, grinding each vampire into dust with
the stake.

Buffy exhaled as the last one disintegrated. A hand touched her shoulder,
and she whirled to face her next attacker, the stake upraised and ready to
take another life.

The stake almost plunged into another heart before it registered who her
attacker was. His surprise was almost as great at hers, and his eyes widened
as the stake grew closer.

"Angel," dribbled the word from her lips.

She tried to pull back her punch, get the stake away from Angel. She wasn't
ready to deal with this yet. Not Angel, even an evil Angel. Not now. But she
knew the stake was unstoppable during a fight. It knew its prey. It wouldn't
stop in time. No. No!

The stake flew at Angel's unprotected chest, and they were both powerless to
stop it. But it twisted in her hand at the last minute, as if it had a mind
of its own. She hit Angel firmly in the chest with the handle, the business
end safely away.

But he staggered back as if she had punctured his heart. He fell to the
ground, a blue glow hanging where she hit him and then sinking in.

Buffy ran to him, not knowing what had happened. She wasn't ready, not to
give up hope on ever getting her Angel back. This might be a demon in her
lover's body, but while that body lived, so did her hope of getting him back
one day.

"Angel! Angel!" she screamed in his face as it lost all trace of the
vampire's deformity.

Angel opened his eyes and focused on the woman above him. They lit with
wonder and smiled at her. "Buffy." A weak hand cupped her cheek. "It's
you--" Then the eyes clouded over and filled with confused tears. "I..."

Buffy pulled back but looked into those eyes again. Could it be? It sounded
like... She looked deeper, into his soul. Angelus wasn't a good faker. He
had pretended to be Angel after the change, but the moment she looked,
really looked, she could tell the difference. The eyes of a demon didn't
look back at her now. They were the eyes of a man who loved her.

"Angel." She cried into his chest for a moment, holding him to her. It felt
like so long she had wanted to do this, to hold her love in her arms again.
"How?" she gasped out.

He sat up, still weak from what had happened to him. "I don't know, Buffy."
She could see the agony in his eyes as he realized what he had done, once
again. "I remember it all. But--but I couldn't do anything. I was trapped,
just watching the horrible--" A shudder ran through his body. "The things I
did to you, what I said--" He turned away from her, shrinking from her touch
as if he might corrupt her by being too close.

But Buffy wouldn't let him. She held him tight, as if she would never let
him go again. "That wasn't you, Angel. It wasn't your fault." The tears ran
down her face, but she wouldn't look away from him." I love you, Angel. I
know that you could never do those things."

It was Angel's turn to sob helplessly against her. "I can't go through this
again. Kill me, Buffy. Stop this now. Don't let me kill again."

But she couldn't, not now, not even when he had been evil. How could she
tell him that? So she quietly held him, as she had wanted to do since she
had discovered that his soul had been stolen. "Everything will be fine,
Angel. I promise." *I couldn't live if it wasn't,* she added to herself.

But the reunion was short-lived. Angel gasped and began screaming. "No,
Buffy, he's coming back. Go! Leave! I--I can't control it."

Angel writhed on the ground. She wouldn't leave him. Not ever again. No,
this wasn't happening! She took the stake handle and thumped him on the
chest with it as he convulsed. It felt dead now in her hand.

Just then a gang of vampires approached, come to back up Angelus. She looked
from a tortured Angel to the gang, unwilling to leave her love in peril. How
could she abandon him now when he needed her so much? She couldn't explain
what had happened, didn't need to. This was Angel.

But then she looked into his eyes as they flicked opened and his features
calmed. Something had changed. The demon was back. She would face the mouth
of hell itself with Angel by her side. But this wasn't Angel.

Confused, dazed, she couldn't deal with a horde of vampires AND an Angel
that wanted her dead.

Scrabbling to her feet, Buffy grabbed the stake and ran.

***

This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. How could she lose Angel for a second
time? Angelus was a poor actor; it had to be real. She had held Angel in her
arms for those brief moments, and it wasn't enough. It would never be
enough.

She had no tears left. She was empty of everything.

Buffy was almost afraid to touch the stake now. Whatever had happened--it
had to be the stake. It had hit him square in the chest and restored Angel
to her. But then it had done nothing. It hadn't "spoken" to her since she
had released the blue glow on Angel.

Maybe that was it... She had released its power. Power which came from...

Killing vampires. It had to be. All those deaths she had taken from evil.
Maybe it had stored up the power to do good.

She wished she could ask Giles. But then she would have to admit to him--and
to Willow--that she had taken the stake without mentioning it. And Giles
might even make her give it back--say it was dangerous or something.

And looking into her Angel's eyes again, she knew she could never do that.

************************************
END Part 4
************************************



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:27 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (5/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 5
************************************

Mrs. Hyrman greeted them at the door with a hesitant gesture. She had dark
circles under her eyes, and from the smell of alcohol on her, her new
courage was not self-made.

"Come in, Mr. Marshak," she said listlessly. "I--I'll try to answer your
questions." Jack could tell that she had been interrogated before,
endlessly, and didn't have much strength for more questions.

"We just have a few questions," Jack reassured her. "About an item in your
husband's collection. It was sold from our store, and we do need to get it
back."

The old woman, aged by her tragedy, nodded to herself, gathering what real
courage remained. "I can try to tell you what I know. But most of it was
sold at auction. The rest of it I got rid of."

"Do you think we could see the auction list?" Micki asked. She tried to be
delicate, but sometimes it was hard when the quest was as urgent as theirs.

The woman nodded and left to search out the documentation.

"How collectible do you think this stake is?" Micki asked Jack.

The man shook his head. "The Manifest describes it as having a carved case.
Hopefully that gave someone the clue that it was valuable and it wasn't just
thrown away."

Mrs. Hyrman returned shortly and gave the auction list to Jack.

"The item we're looking for isn't on this list," Jack told her after
scanning it. "We're looking for a stake with a brass handle that came in a
carved gold-leaf box. Do you remember seeing anything like that?"

A shudder seemed to run through the woman's body. "I remember. I didn't
put--those kinds of items on the auction. I didn't want those kinds of
people to show up. I sent it to someone my husband knew and trusted. I found
his name in John's planner. Rupert Giles. He--he used to be a museum
curator."

"Do you have his address?" Micki asked quietly.

On the verge of tears, Mrs. Hyrman nodded again and went to get it for them.

***

Buffy skipped school again that day. She didn't talk to her mother as she
left the house at the crack of dawn. She had one thing on her mind. If this
thing could cure Angel, really cure him, she would kill every vampire in
this world to get him back. She would do anything it took to have him touch
her even one more time, to see that love shine in his eyes.

It was almost mechanical. The stake led her to vampire after vampire. She
didn't even torture them. Stab and move on. She broke locks to abandoned
buildings, muscled herself into crypts, even found her way into storm
drains. As the day wore on, she could feel the power thrumming in the stake
and into her body. Tonight she would do it. She would get Angel back.

***

Giles picked up the phone as it rang. Very few people called the library; it
was usually one of his group of special students, so he kept it close by.
Willow and Xander looked up from a busy cram session before school--and the
first-period English test.

"Giles here."

He listened for several second before he said, "Yes, I do remember receiving
the box from Mrs. Hyrman some time ago. But there wasn't anything of value
that I remember--"

He was silent again. "A stake? I don't remember--"

"Buffy found it," Willow piped up.

"Just a moment," Giles put his hand over the receiver. "Buffy found a
stake?"

Willow nodded emphatically. "While we were cleaning out the storeroom
looking for books. I--I thought she told you about it..."

Giles' serious expression worried her. If Buffy was in trouble because she
hadn't mentioned it...

"You'd better take the first flight in," Giles told the person on the phone.
"I think--a friend--has it."

***

Giles pulled Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz out of class, using the excuse
that the library club had a field trip that day, he had found out about an
exciting exhibit at the last minute, and so on. Giles was a terrible actor,
but the other teachers knew he was boringly responsible and honest. Just a
little weird and excitable sometimes.

"We have to find Buffy," Giles told them as they mobilized. "She's in
terrible danger."

"We've heard THAT before," Xander said.

"And--and it's very true this time," Giles said so seriously that even
Xander began worrying. "She's gotten herself mixed up in something that
could--I really don't know what it could do to her."

Cordelia clapped her hands together to break the mood. "OK, fine, I have my
car, Oz has his van, and Giles--Giles has the tweedmobile. Let's go."

"I have to meet someone at the airport," Giles told them. "They know more
about this thing than we do. If you find her, don't let her do anything. And
keep an eye out for a stake with a brass handle."

"Ew, brass," Cordelia frowned, grabbing Xander by the hand and pulling him
along.

Willow rolled her eyes and stomped off, Oz hurriedly following.

***

Buffy was running out of vampires, or at least the ones within easy reach.
She jogged in the direction the stake pointed her, careful to keep out of
sight lest anyone she knew--or the Sunnydale truant patrol--found her.

It would be dark soon, and that's when her real hunt would begin. Power
thrummed in her brain and made her almost giddy with excitement. She was an
unstoppable force.

In the back of her mind, the voice of a mad vampire babbled. They knew she
was coming for them.

***

Their flight was on schedule, and Jack and Micki met Rupert Giles at the
taxi stand. They shook hands briefly.

"You might as well talk as we ride," Giles told them, sizing up the two as
he let them into his car. "I have to find Buffy. She's the Slayer. She may
be using the stake."

Jack was instantly worried. "The Slayer has it?"

Giles nodded as he pulled away from the curb. "You know about Slayers?"

"Of course," Jack said. "And you must be her Watcher. A Slayer with a cursed
object could be--" Jack was at a loss for the magnitude of the situation.

"Yes...quite." Giles said as he sped away.

************************************
END Part 5
************************************



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:51:44 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (6/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 6
************************************

Drusilla clutched her head. "The bad girl comes. Make it go away!"

Angel paced in a small circle like a caged animal. "She's killed the rest.
There's nowhere to hide. She'll find us." His plans to make the Slayer mad
had failed. And now he was being hunted by something more abhorrent to him
than simple death. It was becoming that human again, becoming weak and
sentimental and FEELING...

Spike sat in his wheelchair, knowing that there was nothing he could do.
Their cronies had turned up dead or had fled. They were the last three
waiting for the Slayer. And she would come. While Dru and Angel worked
themselves into a frenzy, he faced his fate with equanimity. But a lot could
happen between now and death.

"Looking for me?" called a sensuous voice atop the landing.

They knew she would come, that no locked doors would dissuade her. Her power
as a Slayer had increased ten-fold.

Drusilla screamed her grating scream and threw herself at the girl
descending the stairs. Buffy whipped out the stake and planted it in
Drusilla's chest. The scream as Dru slowly died brought tears to Spike's
eyes. Her body turned stiff and brittle like a mummy and slowly crumbled
away.

Spooked, Angel tried to run. But Buffy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck
and threw him to the floor, hard. Next she caught sight of Spike and smiled.
"So nice to see you, Spike. Are you ready to pay for all your little
crimes?"

He held perfectly still, clutching the armrests of his wheelchair until they
crumpled under his hands.

"Ah, I see you are. Say hi to Drusilla for me." She stabbed hard with the
stake and it slid easily into his body. He didn't let out a sound as he
bored into her eyes with his. Buffy watched him die and dusted off her hands
when he was through.

"Your turn, Angel. But you'll like this." Already the stake glowed blue with
power.

Approaching Angel, she tenderly knelt at his side and took his head in her
hands. "I love you so much, Angel. I want to be with you always. I can't
live without you." She kissed his face, which was peaceful in
unconsciousness. The stake was poised over his chest, handle first.

Right on cue, Giles burst through the door with the rest straggling in
behind him. And there were two others Buffy didn't recognize. What was Giles
doing here? Had he followed her?

"Buffy, it's not real. You have to stop this," Giles told her.

Buffy shook her head, confused. "What's not? I found the answer, Giles."

Giles knelt close to her, almost afraid to come too close. "But it's not the
answer, Buffy. It's a trick. A trick to get you to do--to do--awful
things...in the name of your love for Angel."

"No, it's real," Buffy said, her angry eyes raking over the ones standing
there looking at her. "I can make Angel good again. I can cure him." She
looked from Angel to the others, torn.

"It's not a cure," a woman with red hair told her, coming forward. "We look
for these items. They're cursed. They make people kill and hurt other
people. It's just an illusion, Buffy."

"I've killed vampires," Buffy ground out angrily. "It's why I was put on
this earth. I kill the evil ones. That makes me good. And anything that can
bring Angel back to life has got to be good too." Before they could move to
stop her, Buffy breathed in and struck Angel with the flat of the stake.

His body spasmed and the glow sank into him. Moments passed. Then his eyes
flicked open and he buried his head in her shoulder. "Not--again, Buffy.
Don't do this," he gasped

"You see," she said challengingly. "I saved him."

The redhead nodded. "But how many are you going to have to kill every time
he needs to be saved?" The woman's clear eyes slowly began to glow, their
kindness snarling into hatred.

Buffy's face stilled. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

The woman shook her head, confused. "What?" Her mouth sighed open to reveal
pointed fangs.

Buffy stood, carefully placing a weak Angel on the floor. "You're a vampire
and you're trying to trick me." She brought the stake up. The people ranged
around her suddenly transformed into vampires in front of her eyes, their
faces deformed with head ridges, fangs, and glowing eyes. "You're just
trying to get me to give up so that you can kill me. I'm the Slayer. I don't
give up."

"Buffy, we're not vampires," Willow said, her face horribly twisted. "We're
your friends. Best buds, remember?" She tried to come closer, but Buffy
raised the stake at her.

"I don't know who you are."

Xander couldn't keep silent. "Buffy, listen, you're tripping. It's us. Come
on." The vampire snapped his fingers and pulled a cross out of his pocket.
He licked it and stuck it to his forehead. "Vampires can't do that." He
pulled out a vial marked with a black cross. He doused himself from head to
toe. "Or that." He searched his pockets. "Anyone got any garlic?"

But he had made his point. Buffy pulled back, confused but not convinced.
The stake quivered in her hand, begging her to stake the monsters in front
of her. It pulsed with power again and urged her on. Kill them. It's your
job. Save Angel.

But Angel was saved. Wasn't he?

He lay on the floor, the light of sanity in his eyes again. "Buffy, they're
your friends," he said weakly, gasping. "You can't kill them, not for me.
Don't--don't sell your soul for me." He screamed as the pain hit him. His
face was changing again, turning into a vampire. No, not again. Not her
Angel!

She looked from those in front of her to Angel. She wanted him, wanted him
like nothing in her life. If she killed them, Angel would live, perhaps
forever this time. And if they WERE her friends...

Angel grasped at her leg. "No, Buffy, don't--don't put another mark on my
soul."

It hit her like a slap in the face. Her friends. Was she really
contemplating killing her friends without even knowing if they were really
vampires?

She threw the stake away like it was a giant cockroach in her hand. It
clattered on the stone floor and rolled away. The old guy took a
handkerchief and carefully rolled it up and put it in his pocket.

"Guys..." Buffy swallowed hard at what she had almost done.

Giles and the woman patted her on the back and helped her away. They weren't
vampires anymore, never had been, Buffy realized.

"Uh, guys," Oz said, gesturing vaguely behind them.

Angel had disappeared.

Just as well, Buffy realized. She didn't think she had the strength to deal
with him right now. It hurt too much to face her failure.

************************************
END Part 6
************************************



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:53:18 -0600
From: "Michelle" <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (7/7)

TITLE:  Curious Goods
AUTHOR:  Michelle Benoit Walker ([e-mail])
SUMMARY:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The
Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get
the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved
in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to
do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two
horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually.
RATING:  R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires.

NEWS FLASH: If you want to check out Friday the 13th: The Series, there's
going to be a marathon Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel! It's a great show.

TIME PERIOD:  After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered.
THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills.
FEEDBACK:  Yes, please.
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask first.
DISCLAIMER:  The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the
13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun.

************************************
CURIOUS GOODS

Part 7
************************************

"So you guys, like, fight evil and save the world too?" Xander asked Micki,
obviously so in love that he couldn't get a good sarcastic remark in if he
tried. He was obviously too dazed to notice the killer glares Cordelia was
giving him.

"Something like that," Micki said, humoring the boy. "We look for cursed
object and have a tendency to run into those who want to use them for evil."
Her eyes skipped to Buffy, who stood looking out the library window. "Not
that that's the case here. Sometimes innocents get caught up in it too." She
smiled at Xander and went over to Buffy. The two had a lot in common.

"Giles tells me you've been through a lot," Micki said quietly so they
couldn't be overheard.

"You could say that," the girl said.

Micki nodded. "So have we. It's not always easy to keep up your spirits and
think of the good you do. Sometimes you just want to be a little selfish.
It's all right. It's human."

"But a Slayer can't be selfish."

"A human can and will." Micki turned Buffy to face her. "Evil can just creep
in when you're not looking. This object helped you kill vampires so that it
could eventually convince you to do evil. But you were smarter than that."

Buffy smirked slightly. "Score one for the good guys. Guess I won't have to
go out on patrol for a while."

Micki knew that Buffy was trying to make jokes so she wouldn't have to face
the truth. Maybe it took a stronger truth. "You know, I died once because of
this little crusade. But I had friends there to bring me back. They're there
to bring you back."

Buffy looked at the woman but didn't mention her own brush with death. She
hesitantly glanced over at her friends.

"They're worried about you," Micki said.

"I know," Buffy said, smiling a little at last. "I don't know what I'd do
without them."

Micki took her arm. "Then come on. No sense making them worry anymore."

Buffy stopped her. "Can I ask you a question? How can Jack make tweed look
so comfortable when Giles makes it look like it could rip your skin off?"

Micki suppressed a laugh. "Guess you need to meet Jack. He's one of a kind."

He was. And so was Giles, she guessed, party-poopedness and all. And that
kind was caring. She could see it in both of them, making them save the
world instead of shrugging it off as someone else's job. The two older men
talked animatedly, like two sides of the same coin. Micki and she did have a
lot in common. Not to mention Micki was drop-dead gorgeous and didn't mind
admitting her faults. There were worse things to be.

"OK, who wants to compare adventures first?" Xander quipped, eyeing Micki as
they rejoined the group. "Let me tell you about this giant underground
insect that laid eggs and we had to take care of them as social studies
projects..."

************************************
END Part 7
************************************

END OF STORY




- -

------------------------------

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