A dangerous sorcerer named Felix Faust has come to Sunnydale, intent on raising an ancient demon to subjugate all of humankind. To succeed, he must perform a powerful curse to displace his enemies, transporting them from one time and place and exch...
Xander put up a trembling hand to hold the monster at bay. The monster that looked like his best friend, Jesse, who had been killed by vampires last year. "Jesse," he gasped. "Stay away."
Jesse spread his hands with a look of innocence. "Is that any way to greet your old buddy?" he asked.
Xander shook his head. "You're not Jesse," he insisted. "Jesse's dead."
Jesse cocked his head at Xander, offering a tolerant grin. "Sure I'm dead. That's no reason we can't still be friends." He continued to approach.
Xander took a step back. "I said, 'Stay back!'"
"What're you gonna do, man? Kill me again?" Jesse asked. "Here, I'll make it easy for you." He bent down to the floor beneath the lockers, where a hammer and wooden stake happened to be lying against the wall. He handed them to Xander. "Hammer. Stake." He opened his shirt. "Do me."
Xander quivered, feeling sweat start to trickle on his forehead. "I can't do that."
Jesse closed his shirt, relaxing. "Of course not. You know why?"
Xander swallowed. "... Because you were my best friend."
"That's right. And because if you did kill me here now, then you would be all alone."
Xander tried to calm himself. "Look, just don't hurt me, okay?"
Jesse shrugged. "Why would I? Way I see it, you and I've got a lot of catching up to do." He put his arm around Xander and started walking him down the hall. "Why don't you come over to our side, man? We've got cookies."
Xander laughed nervously. "Yeah. That's funny."
"And power," Jesse added. "Anything we want, we take. Money. Chicks. Respect. No one tells us what to do, and no one denies us what we want. How'd you like to be on top for a change, Xander, and stay on top? Join up with me, and you'll never be scared of anything again."
Xander continued to walk with Jesse, thinking carefully. He licked his lips. "You know ... that's a really tempting offer. In fact, you don't know how tempting it is. There's only one problem." He ducked under Jesse's arm and stepped aside, turning to face him directly. "You're a vampire. And I don't hang with vampires."
Jesse's face instantly turned feral, ridges creasing his forehead. He opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs as he leaned toward Xander's neck.
The hammer was already raised. Xander drove the stake into Jesse's heart with one swift strike.
Jesse screamed, his mouth still gaping wide as his body turned to dust and crumbled before Xander's eyes.
Xander stared at the pile of ashes at his feet. He knew it wasn't Jesse. Not even the vampire version of Jesse, since Xander was surely trapped in the Scarecrow's weird nightmare, where Jesse could appear again at random, as if he had never left.
Still. It felt like he had just killed his best friend. Again.
The same way Buffy would soon have to kill Angel.
"Okay, Buff," he said aloud. "I kinda get it."
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