Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies and Demon Goo


The three new acquaintances were stopped in their tracks by a small girl with long light brown hair and a stake in one hand running toward them full speed. She kept looking behind her, and as she came closer they finally understood why.

“Xander!” she yelled, colliding with him and almost knocking him down as the large green demon followed closely behind.

Maria backed up a few steps, managing to catch an out of breath Willow as Xander pushed her out of the way and punched the demon in what was probably its face.

“Ow!” he yelled as his fist bounced off the demon’s thick outer shell. “Probably not the smartest idea.”

He quickly recovered, grabbing a stake from his back pocket and dodging as the demon took a swing.

As Maria pulled some kleenex out of her bag and tried to stop the bleeding on Willow’s scalp, Michael finally snapped out of his stupor. Giving off a slight growl, he ran at the demon, grabbing its arm just as it was about to hit Xander in the chest.

“Thanks man,” Xander said, ramming his stake into the demon’s stomach, the only soft spot it seemed to have on its body.

“No problem,” Michael replied, dropping the demon’s limp body.

The two teens barely had time to blink before the demon’s body exploded, covering them in rancid smelling green goo. They looked at each other in shock as giggles erupted from the girls, who had been far enough away to avoid any damage.

“Oh that’s just fucking great,” Michael said, tossing a glare at Maria, who was now bent over, tears falling down her face as she laughed hysterically.

Willow wasn’t faring much better. She also had tears streaming down her cheeks, which only got worse when Xander grabbed her kleenex and tried to wipe the goo off his face. He only managed to make the kleenex stick to his forehead.

Michael looked over at Xander, who was now trying to peel pieces of tissue from his face, and couldn’t help the snort of laughter that came out.

Xander, just shook his head, continuing his attempts at getting a little cleaner.

After a minute, the laughter had died down, and everyone turned to look as a small blonde girl ran toward them, followed by an older man in a suit, who was wheezing and holding his side.

“Oh thank goodness you guys are okay!” Buffy shouted, grabbing Willow and inspecting her head wound.

Willow pointed behind Buffy, and the laughter started all over again as the slayer got her first glimpse of a goo covered Xander. Goo that was quickly hardening and making Xander and Michael extremely uncomfortable.

“Fascinating,” Giles muttered, in between deep breaths.

He reached out and touched the substance dripping off of Michael’s chin briefly before Michael swatted his hand away and took a step back.

“Terribly sorry,” Giles said, noticing for the first time that there were two new people in the group. “Er, perhaps we should head to the library and try to get some more research done.”

Xander and Willow shrugged, while Michael and Maria looked around warily and Buffy just rolled her eyes.

“Come on Xander, New Guy, you can use the locker room showers to get cleaned up,” Buffy said, slinging an arm around Willow and leading the group off toward the high school.

Maria glanced at Michael, who shook his head and indicated for them to tag along for the time being. Maria just nodded her agreement, confused as to the whole situation, but willing to wait it out for a while and see what the deal was with these people, and, most importantly, why Michael was being so agreeable.

*****

“So, why are you two in Sunnydale?” Willow asked Maria as they took seats at the large table in the middle of the library.

Maria glanced around at the group. “Um, just, you know, taking a vacation. My car broke down a few miles outside of town.”

“Oh, like a romantic vacation? With just the two of you getting away from it all and getting closer together to strengthen your relationship and I’m totally embarrassing. Sorry.” Willow ended her statement with a sheepish smile that made Maria grin back at her.

“Yeah,” Maria replied, “totally romantic. But, you know, Michael is totally like that. He’s always buying me flowers and stuff.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Maria jumped slightly at the accusatory tone from the subject of her conversation as he walked into the library, still wet from his shower and wearing Sunnydale High School gym clothes. Xander trailed close behind, wearing an identical outfit and drying his hair with a towel.

“Oh come on sweetie,” Maria replied, a saccharine grin on her face, “don’t deny our love.”

Michael looked alarmed for a moment, until she gave him a slightly desperate look and a nod of her head. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, you found me out,” he muttered, as Maria suppressed the urge to giggle.

Willow bounced a little in her seat as she watched the two, her face getting a dreamy expression.

With an exaggerated clearing of his throat, Giles emerged from his office, holding a large rolled up piece of paper and a wooden pointer.

“Oh Giles, please don’t!” Buffy shouted, covering her hands with her face. “Can’t we do the short version?”

Giles placed his supplies onto a chair, looking around for his easel to set up the display. “What might that be?” he asked, leaning down to search under the table.

Buffy smirked and turned to Michael, who was plopping into a seat next to Maria.

“Vampires are real. We fight them. I’m the slayer, which means I have crazy strength and skills, so I can kick undead ass. Don’t tell anyone. It’s sort of like a secret identity.”

She turned and raised an eyebrow at Giles, who removed his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth from his pocket. “Well, that lacked a certain...”

“Long-windedness?”

“Eloquence.”

“Whatever.”

“So you guys are like a crime fighting team or something?” Maria asked. “Isn’t that kind of cartoony?”

“Well, they took that well.” Xander commented from his spot by the counter.

“Um, yeah,” Willow said, giving the newest additions to the group a curious look.

“Yeah, well, where we’re from weirdness is sort of a common occurrence.” Maria said, wincing a moment later as Michael kicked her in the leg.

“Where is that?”

Maria looked over at Michael, who glared at her before answering.

“Roswell.”

*******

“Maria told her mom she went camping,” Liz said, dropping into a booth that Max and Isabel were occupying.

“So?” Isabel replied, taking a sip of her cherry coke and glancing around the restaurant with a bored expression.

“So that’s our code,” Liz replied.

Max looked at her for a moment, suddenly becoming very nervous. “Code for what?”

“Code for when we have to disappear for..you know..” Liz looked around quickly, “for alien stuff,” she added, in a loud whisper.

Isabel looked at Max in confusion for a moment, until they both came to the same unwelcome conclusion.

“Michael!”