Imagine: The List
Fic posted by members of Vo's Imaginings YahooGroup


"You are not the Knight."

"I am the Knight," he said dryly. He pulled out his Sunnydale ID. "See?" The demon shrieked and lunged at him. Xander kicked him back into the windows. "Really? That's what you try?" One of the other ones tried to stab him so he backhanded him into Steve. Steve was frozen thanks to the demon's slime. Xander got the other two and stopped the last one by landing on his back. "So, why did you want me?" he asked him. "Guys, relax, you're going to be fine. The green one has a paralyzing slime. It'll wear off after about an hour." He looked down. "So, what was the big idea?"

"You will pay for stopping our glorious return," the snaked being said.

"Well, fuck you and Wolfram and Hart too," he said dryly, reaching over to grab Danny's phone. "Princess, he's fine, just frozen by a demon slime. I'll have him call when he can move but he's fine. Just stuck in place." He hung up and looked at the demon again. "See, you worried his daughter too." The demon snorted. Xander hit him. "Do it again."

"You will not stop us, Knight."

"The fuck I won't. Do you see me giving in?" Something touched his ankle and it screamed in pain. "Yeah, not normal. Hmm. Sunnydale, bitches." He grinned. "Anything else you want that you're not going to get?" The demon was trying to get free. "No, I don't think so." He slugged the guy, knocking him back into the floor. "Any other desires or something you want to share with the group?" The demon spit at him but Xander punched him again. More officers rushed in. "The green demon has a paralyzing slime. These ones are all being overtaken by some hostile symbiots. Move the PD people but remember they're paralyzed. They can't hurt me and I'll figure out how to unsnake them in a minute."

"Who are you?" one of them demanded.

Xander glanced back. "Harris. I'm a demon hunter." They groaned. "I only go after the deadly ones. These ones chose to show up here and attack due to the their little snakes. And if you see one, stomp it before it takes you over too." One of them got stomped. Xander looked down. "So? Anything you want to share?" The demon struggled. "Yup, keep it up." His snake sloshed out and Xander stabbed it through the neck. "Not going to work and they can save you after you got snaked. O'Neill's people can."

"Are the people snaked too?" one of them demanded.

"Not that I've seen. This is actually an O'Neill thing. Those are gou'ald. Their doctor is probably handling the huge problem on their base where more of these made it through but maybe not. Not sure."

"How did they get here?" another officer asked.

"No clue, I was out of my body warning someone about these things and woke up when one tried to attack me." He looked at the snake then looked around. "My phone's somewhere. Pretty basic non-android." It got handed over. He called someone. "Hey, Doctor Lam. I know you're busy but we had some demons here snaked that attacked the PD. A few are dead snakes. A few aren't. And one's got the special gold tattoo on his shoulder. Yeah, that sort only on his collarbone. I'm here with McGarrett at his office. Where they attacked. Thanks, ma'am." He hung up. "She's hella busy but she'll try to get here to see if she can free them in a few minutes." He looked up. "If not, I'll ask one of the local healers if they can do it." That got a nod. "I only go after the ones causing problems, people. Sorry they did this here."

"Why would they want you?"

"Because when I was sick originally I was out of my body for almost two years and I meddled some by getting things handled before they got started. Everyone from the law firm that did the LA invasion to the NID to some others has a price on my head. Which sucks greatly but you do what you gotta do sometimes." Another demon appeared. "Hold it, people. That's a healer. Healer Ericks, they have gou'ald."

"I heard and told the great Doctor that I would help our own people since she has many that have to be cleaned of an infestation." She looked. "Kill that one," she ordered with a point. They killed the snake crawling for Steve and Danny. "Thank you."

"Can anyone talk to the snakes?" Xander asked, not moving.

"Not that I'm aware of. I will ask soon. You did good not killing them."

"Some of their snakes fled," he admitted. "This one's as well."

"That's fine. Let me get to them." Xander moved and helped her kneel. "You are quite polite, Knight."

"I try. You deserve it." He pulled the others over for her. He dropped the green one. "His slime paralyzed the people."

"That is easily worn out," she said, concentrating. She held out a hand and he grabbed it, letting her suck from his energy. "You are still weak."

"Then pull the hellmouth taint, Healer," he said quietly. "I still glow with it." She nodded, pulling at that source. She healed the demons and made sure they wouldn't die. The warrior with them wasn't going to be easily healed. She tested it. "That gou'ald larva is older. Very advanced. Nearly ready to graduate to full adult status." She knocked him out. "We will take them back to O'Neill for their doctor to work on as he's half-human." She stood up with Xander's help, looking at him. "Go sit down." He sat down and stared at her. She looked at the officers. "Most of these are peaceful but those two," she said with a point. "Are part of a group that is trying to take over humanity again."

"One of them mentioned Wolfram and Hart," Xander said. "They started by telling me I wasn't me and then they hated me even more than they did originally."

"Wolfram and Hart hate you for stopping their invasion." She looked at the officers, crossing her arms over her chest and putting her hands up her sleeves. "Are we taking them back to the local demon council instead of your jail?"

"We can talk about that," one of the new officers said. "Can you fix the officers?"

"It has to wear out and will take about an hour total," she said. "There's no way to dissolve it. We must protect them until they can do so on their own. We have much respect for these ones. They have promised to help us when one attacks our groups."

Another officer nodded. "I agree. You're not supposed to be taken out for no reason, ma'am. There's many of us who would help. Not all," he admitted at the dirty look he got.

"Many of us would help," Xander agreed. "I just can't arrest someone for it." The healer patted him on the head. "Ow. Headache." She looked at his eyes. "I'm fine, Healer. Really."

"You are still weak and healing."

"I know. But sometimes you gotta do it."

She snorted but looked amused. "You are a willful child who needs a good mate."

"Willow tried that," he said dryly. "I don't have one. The PTB made sure I wasn't linked because I did CPR that once." She winced. "So I'll have a lot of fun test driving potential mates." He grinned. "Once I'm more healthy. I don't have the stamina for it anymore. Anya proved that." She walked off giggling. He looked at the officers. "I'm here, guys. We had to go talk to the local demon council earlier about a few threats."

"Why?" the sneering officer demanded. "What is that important?"

"The human guy who's about to sacrifice at least ten kids by Summer solstice." That officer shuddered. "He's trying to turn into a really large demon. That's a step on the way." A phone rang. He looked. "That's his daughter it looks like." He picked it up and walked in there. "Hey, Princess, it's still Xander. Yeah, the officers got here. Your dad's able to blink but not talk or move yet. Let me put the phone next to his ear. Maybe he can groan." He put the phone up to Danny's ear. He groaned at something she said and his eyes looked amused. He groaned again and she hung up. Xander put the phone into Danny's pocket. "There. She's safe again." He walked off, going back to his seat. "I'll sit here. Steve drove me down because he thinks I shouldn't drive."

"Why?" one asked. "Suspended license? DUI?"

"I'm waiting on medical clearance. I'm getting over my second brain tumor." An officer shuddered. "Yeah but not my doing. Really not my doing." His own phone rang. "It's Xander," he answered. "Doctor Lam. Yes, the healer did. We still have the warrior guy here. There's some officers here. One of the demons that attacked here has paralytic slime. Sure, you can use me as a marker. There's a clear space... let me go outside then." He walked off with the phone and an officer following him. "Okay, I'm on the lawn next to the station. Wide open, no hills, no steps for at least three hundred feet." She appeared and he hung up. "Hey, Doc." He grinned. "They're inside."

"Thank you, Mr. Harris. How are you feeling?"

"Still tired. The healer said I'm still tired feeling too." He led her back in there with the officer following. "Here we go, Doc."

"Thank you. Sit so we can get a statement." He sat down. "Did you talk to Sheppard?"

"Yup, sure did. Because some of your base was snaked and so was the Secretary of the Navy when Steve was talking to him." She turned to stare at him. "I don't know how long. The healer wasn't sure if any of them knew how to talk to the snakes."

"That would be interesting to find out." Xander got up to look at her neck. "It's not. It's a fake, Xander."

"Okay. It was wiggling."

"It's a jelly." She plucked the fake worm tail off. "See?" He grinned. "You're goofy."

"I am, Steve bought me a few hamburgers because I really wanted meat. I'm so tired of veggies." She laughed. "Seriously! It's been veggies and a few bunnies I've trapped for the last six months. A man's gotta have meat."

"I know. Go sit." He did that. She got to work on the demons. They were mostly fine. The one warrior was still tied up. Xander pulled out his phone and looked at something. "Problems?"

"I'm checking the gossip site that told me about the snake epidemic."

"Somewhere there was a queen who laid them," she said.

Xander nodded, looking at the information then at the officer next to him. It was the demon hating one but it'd help he guessed. Xander also called Daniel Jackson's phone. He was on base, not snaked according to the website, and was working on things. "Hey, it's me." He smiled. "Yeah, so's the one here. We had five demon warriors with snakes, three of them being peaceful ones and two that were part of a group that's trying to pay me back for minimizing the invasion. Plus one later level larva in a gold tattooed guy.

"No, not forehead, shoulder. And now we have Doctor Lam here." She looked up. "Reporting, Doc." He listened. "They wanted to take me out because Wolfram and Hart has a few prices on my head." He got comfortable. "One debated I was myself but then they attacked. One had paralyzing slime and got the officers I'm with. Yeah, we're okay but one of them is Navy and talked to his Secretary...yeah, that guy, and he was snaked too by the gossip site that told me about you guys' problem today.

"Yeah, she's safe and we've killed all the snakes that came out. The healer's asking if anyone can talk to them." Doctor Lam tried to attack Danny and Xander pointed. They grabbed her and tied her to a chair. "And she's got it too. Thanks, Daniel. Yup, that's where I am. They sent her by a beam thingy. I met her outside. Sure. Thanks." He hung up. "Doctor Jackson will be here in a minute to check her out." Daniel walked in with another few doctors. "Hi." He grinned and waved. "Is the big brained one okay? They were trying to hit him with citrus stuff."

"He warned us all after he set off the tone that drove them to shriek and flee."

"Steve," he said with a point. "Was talking to the Secretary of the Navy about the NID people and he was snaked too."

"Your friend Steve?"

"No, the SecNav," Xander quipped. "They're just starting to come around from the paralyzing snot."

"Do we know anything about that?" one of the nurses asked. Xander pointed so she took samples. "Can it be used on anyone?"

"And anything. I tip darts in it after I've cooked it down a bit so it's more sticky. It helped when I was too weak to do more than fire on things."

Daniel patted him on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, Xander."

"I know. We had the thing removed by magic." Daniel smiled but shook his head. He went to answer the phone. "Hey, Princess. He's almost moving." He put the phone next to Danny's ear again. This time the moaning was a bit more vocal and Danny managed to twitch his hand. Xander moved the arm so he could hold his own phone. "He's nearly back. He can move a hand." He went back to his seat. Steve slumped as the paralytic released him most of the way. "It can make you dizzy," he called.

Steve blinked at him. "Yes it does." He sighed and made himself move. "I'm fine." A nurse came in to check him over. "I'm okay."

"We need to make sure a larva didn't decide to adopt you," she said with a smile. "They usually pick pretty, strong people." He smiled but let her. "It looks like you're nearly fully released so you should be fine within an hour but don't drive unless you have to."

"I can hike home," Xander told him.

"It's twenty miles," Steve told him.

"I know that. I did it before."

"No," Steve said firmly. "We'll make sure you get home." He looked at Danny's phone, taking it and calling her back. "Hey, Grace, it's Steve. Danny's about halfway out of it. I'm fully out of it. He's fine. Neither of us got snaked. Xander, why did he have to call her?"

"Her link to him was glowing very brightly. I figured it was a problem."

He smiled. "Thanks. Grace, was something going on before he called?" He listened. "Oh, that's nice that you nearly got hit by another car. Then I'm glad he called you so you made your mother pulled over. Is she all right too?" He smiled at Danny. "She's fine too, Danny." He listened. "That's fine. We can do that. Sure, come to the house, we'll make dinner on the grill. Being frozen did make me hungry. Sure, you be safe. See you in about an hour, Grace." He hung up.

"I can get myself home, Steve."

"I can drive, Xander."

"Not if you're dizzy," the other doctor said, staring at him. "I don't care that you are a SEAL by the patch. No driving if you're dizzy. That makes you a hazard on the road, Commander."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "I'm fine. He's actually out by where I live anyway."

"Then let him drive you."

"He's not allowed to drive due to recent cancer treatments. His doctor had him suspended."

She grimaced. "Cab?"

"Twenty miles," Steve said.

"I can walk," Xander reminded him. "I have plenty of times."

"Excuse me?" Steve demanded.

"I had to get more tea and a few other things. Once I even got a chicken."

"A live one?" Steve asked. "You'd have eggs."

"I don't have anywhere for the chicken to run around and couldn't afford chicken food."

"They eat bugs."

"So does the mole thingy that keeps trying to get into my emergency shelter under the carrots. It'd starve. Which wouldn't be good eats."

Steve stared at him. "We'll talk about it while I take you home." Kono moaned and winced as she started to sit down. Steve moved to help her. "Calm down, Kono. It's all right." He put her into a chair. "Just rest until you can finish moving." She barely nodded. He got Danny into a chair, making the guy stare up at him. "You out?" Danny barely shook his head. "Okay. Grace is fine, they're coming for dinner at my house." Danny nodded. "Just rest for now."

Xander leaned in and grinned. "At least it wouldn't relax your butt muscles, Danny. That would be bad."

Danny snorted but let himself finish relaxing. Chin was sitting down as soon as he was relaxing. Danny pointed so Steve went to check on Xander. He blinked at Kono, who blinked back. Chin was at the moaning in pain stage so that helped. He could finally move and walked out there, patting Xander on the head, making him wince. "Why are you sore?" he asked.

"Have been for a while."

"Uh-huh." He sat down in his seat out there, getting comfortable. "Thanks for protecting my baby girl and making her not panic."

"Panicking never helps and girls shouldn't have to panic unless they want to do dangerous things like being firefighters."

"She might do that," he admitted.

"Grace isn't that sort," Steve said. "She's more the making a good difference by teaching maybe."

"I could like that," Danny agreed. He watched the SGC people fuss. "He gonna live? And the nice doctor sort that helped the kid?"

"She should be fine," the other doctor said with a smile. "Commander, he said that you were talking with someone else who was snaked?"

"I was talking to the Secretary of the Navy about the NID people."

"We hate them," the doctor agreed. "We can go find the ones in DC." He nodded, relaxing again. "I don't know why they'd send a gou'ald after Mr. Harris."

Xander grinned. "Because I meddled. The ascended ones can't do anything about me telling people things because I wasn't ascended. The other higher powers hate me for helping out before the cancer stuff. And the gou'ald probably have a few demon ties. They know I'd tell if another apocalypse battle is started."

"They do have demon ties?"

"From what I've heard, yes," Xander admitted.

"Huh. Interesting. I'll have to look into that." She got back to Doctor Lam's care. She finally got the gou'ald to release her and they gathered it into a sealing jar as soon as it was out of her body. The other warrior was swearing at them until Xander got up to glare at him. "Don't worry. He's whiny like a toddler." Xander grinned and headed for the bathroom. Steve followed, keeping him from leaving. The doctor was amused but she knew a lot of people like those two.

Danny patted Steve on the arm. "He's like a younger, less tough version of you."

"Hey!" they both complained.

Steve glared at him then at Danny. "He doesn't have any tattoos."

"Only the little star for aiming radiation at me," Xander quipped. "I hate needles. They already scarred me horribly in some areas, I don't want them to add pictures to the scars."

Steve scowled. "How did you get those other scars on your chest and back?"

"Between hunting, my life, and a few choice Xander dates?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm shocked I'm not more scarred."

"We can and will arrest people for torture," one of the other officers noted.

Xander shook his head, grimacing. "I kicked his ass in front of his people and made him whiny. It lost him status and respect from his arms dealing buddies. And got me a nicer date who helped baby some of the injuries he gave me."

"Were you already out here when that happened?" Danny demanded, staring at the younger guy. "Because, yeah, that won't work. That's our fun, Xander. You can't take our fun."

"You guys have plenty to have fun with. I needed to handle that myself or they'd think I'm weak."

"You could barely walk and hunted down something in the park that was eating kids having sex out there," Steve said, staring him down. "That's not weak."

"According to them it was," he quipped then shrugged. "They run on a different scale, Steve."

"Fine. We're still talking about this on the way home. I can drop you off on the way to dinner."

"You still have to talk to the boss guy," Xander said. He stood up. "I can get home. Really."

Steve grabbed his arm and put him back into the seat. "You'd get lost. You're only a few miles out of the way anyway." Danny walked off smirking about that. "Doctor, is there any restriction about caffeine or alcohol tonight?"

"I have no idea about demon slimes, Commander." They both looked at Xander.

"I don't drink and I never had a problem but you know I'm not normal. I have no idea who to ask either."

The doctor nodded. "We can test it later. For tonight, be careful and have one of you drink anything and let it settle in for an hour before the others do. That way they'd tell you if they get extra dizzy or any other side effects."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. He looked at the other officers. "Thank you for the help."

"Are we taking any of them to the jail?" one of them asked.

Steve looked. "A few were unwilling victims. The other two..." Xander pointed. "Yes, those two, we can take them or ask the local demon council if they'd rather handle them. I'm not sure if we have judges who will actually charge demons."

"We can ask, sir, and hand them over to the local demon council," one decided. They gathered those two and took them off. Xander called someone to get the victims to the council's hospital. The warrior went with the SGC people.

Steve popped his neck and grabbed his hat, taking Xander with him.

Chin and Kono locked up and followed to go to dinner at Steve's. They smiled at Xander buying a few burgers off that same cart to bring home. He was a goofy young guy, who just happened to be very Steve like in some ways. Though they hadn't seen Steve with a sword yet. Xander clearly had one and growled when someone demanded to know why he had one on his back. Steve glared and that officer stomped off.

Steve looked at Xander once they were on the road. "I'd like to have your threat file as well, Xander. It could lead to busting some people I don't want on my island."

"Then who would I get weapons for battles from?"

Steve grimaced. "That's a good point. Not a great one however. You can get them from the military. They're going to keep stepping in."

"Yeah into big things. Half of what I've had to handle with higher weapons weren't big things that they'd consider important, Steve." He shifted to look at him. He got a flash and held his head. "Pull over." Steve did. Xander heaved and got out to puke on the bit of grass in front of the bank they were parked beside. Xander pointed. Steve pulled in and parked. The out of control car slammed into a light pole behind them. Xander heaved a few more times and straightened up while help got there. "I saw us both in the ER and a doctor looking at my record and sneering." He accepted the bottle of water to rinse and spit then drink. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. That was very helpful. I'd hate to be in the ER tonight." He got Xander into the car again since the local officers for that area had it. One waved him off. Xander was resting against the door of the car, eyes closed. "You good?"

"Just a headache. I'm used to them."

"Okay. If you're sure. Want dinner?" Xander shook his head. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go nap."

"All right." He took him home, making sure he and his burgers made it inside. Then Steve decided to check the safe areas for stored people. The one in the garden had a trapped mole that disappeared as soon as the trap door was opened. The one in the house got a long look over again. Xander pointed so he found the guy in the bathroom and pulled him out to have him arrested. Then he got to go to dinner. He walked into his house. "Let me change," he said.

"What kept you?" Danny asked.

"Xander had a spot vision about us being hit by a car with an asleep driver. Then I had to wait while someone came to get the guy out of Xander's bathroom." Danny moaned, shaking his head as he headed back to the deck. Steve went up to change out of his uniform and came down in better clothes. Grace hugged him, getting one back and a grin. "You had a lot less interesting of a day than we did."

"I heard. Who was that guy who called me a princess?"

"Xander? He's a demon hunter. He's pretty young, only twenty-three, but he's had a lot of experiences."

"Then I don't mind that name calling."

"He didn't know your name, Grace."

"Oh. Okay. That's reasonable I guess." She let him go and went back to helping make a salad. Steve went to check the grill, helping Danny add meat. "One of his friends was over."

"I heard." He looked at him. "You good?"

"He had a real vision of us being in the ER because of a driver that was out behind the wheel."

"That's good but I guess it sucks for his head."

"Yeah, he had a headache."

"He's probably used to them with everything his head's been through. He said it hurt earlier to touch."

"I have no idea why." They shared a look. Danny grinned because he'd talk to the guy the next day. "Get his threat file? I asked and he made a claim of he might need them for later weapons."

"He can ask us and we'd let him bum."

"If we're allowed," Steve agreed. "That could be a sticking point."

"True." He hummed as he laid out chicken. "Yeah, we can work that out. I want the one that tortured him gone anyway. Just in case it decides to like us."

"Agreed." They shared another look and got back to making dinner.

"Hey, Kono, can you set the goofy young one up with someone nice?"

"Yeah, I've been asking around," she said. "It could do the guy good to get someone nice."

"It'd be better than most of his, who're all dangerous," Steve agreed. "And a fired vengeance demon." He shook his head quickly. The team had run into Anya complaining that she only got two orgasms the night before. Danny had realized who she was and decided Xander must have been the man when he was healthy if he had put up with her and doing a full time, hard job all day.

***

Xander came at Steve's summons, finding him at a shave ice stand of all places. He sat down and looked at the plate pushed toward him. "What's that?"

"Shrimp. They're good for you," Steve said.

Xander hesitated before picking one up. "I nearly turned into a merman. I'm pretty sure we'd eat shrimp instead of anything but I kinda don't eat fishy type things anymore." Steve stared at him so he nibbled on one and nothing happened. "Thank you for lunch, Steve. Huge demon problem?" Steve pointed behind them at the one humping the tree. Xander looked and sighed but went to talk to it. "Hey." The demon blinked at him when he patted it on the back. "You realize you're drunk in public?" It grunted. "I know, you're really drunk. It's like spring break at your college probably, but you're freaking out the normals." He waved a hand. "They're gonna make you a porn star soon. Do you want your parents to find that on the internet?"

The demon sighed and got off his tree/girlfriend. "Fine, human."

Xander grinned. "I'm Xander." The demon stared, mouth open, then let out a squeal and hugged him. "I like you too, dude. And your friendly tree nymph friend too." He grinned and waved at her. "At least do it after dark, okay?" The demon nodded. Xander patted him again. "Steve's trying to get me to eat shrimp. You go recover and it'll be okay." The demon let him go and lumbered off to his motel. "Sorry, Miss Nymphly one, but it's daytime and his family might find that on the internet. That's probably not what a parent wants to see their son online for." She giggled and hid. Xander went back to the table. "It's spring break for the local demon college."

"How local?"

"Small island near here somewhere. I've never been invited so I have no idea. He was just tipsy and celebrating his break with the nymph."

Steve looked then at Xander. "I've never seen a tree nymph before." Xander grinned. "Eat, Xander. You could use the protein and I'm sure it won't bother your former fish taint." Xander nodded, eating slowly but he did eat. Steve smiled at the rather large guy in the shave iced stand who had called him. "Xander, this is Kamekoa. This is Xander. His duty's hunting the evil ones of demons."

"Hi," Xander said with a smile and a wave. He ate another shrimp, then looked at the piece he hadn't bitten off. "What's that?"

"Seasoning," Steve said dryly. "I know you're on pretty bland food still."

"Yeah, sometimes that sucks but at least I can have salt again."

"You sick, Brah?" Kamekoa asked as he came over.

"Thankfully we managed to remove the second brain tumor." The big guy shuddered. "Yeah. But it's gone now and I'm healing. And today I don't have to eat veggies. Because that's all I have in the house."

"Figured," Steve said dryly. "You call the insurance people this week?"

"I call every Wednesday to get sighed at," he said dryly. He shot Steve a look. "It'd be nice but it's still listed as open and in decision making." He ate another bite. "I really want to send something nibbly after the head of the insurance company some days."

"That'd be mean and probably upset others' claims that have to be decided," Steve reminded him.

"Which is why I haven't yet. That and they'd turn it down automatically." He ate another bite and looked. "That's not spice."

"That was some sauce," Steve said patiently. "Korean sauce actually."

"Really spicy. I'm not up to that yet." He ate another one without it, letting Steve have those back with a grin for him. "You can eat spicy stuff for me."

"Sure, I can do that. Shrimp's a healthy protein."

"It is," Xander agreed. "Or so the doctor told me once upon a time." He ate another bite. He gagged and looked. "That was major magic." He grabbed Steve's arm. "Rosenburg's clone," he said with a point. "She's another magic addict and working on addicting others." She was stomping his way. "And I don't have a gun on me."

"I do," Steve said. "And a few knives." He stared at her, pulling out his badge to hold up. "Yes, Miss? Do you have a problem?"

"He's a profanity to magic!" she said with a point.

"I don't use magic so probably not," Xander said. She hissed at him. "Grow the fuck up, Gwenny. You're a mannerless, talentless, ignorant little bitch that even Willow's better than. True women of the goddess aren't bitchy like you." She threw a spell at him and he instinctively blocked it. "Yay, hellmouth taint." He got up and grabbed her by the arm, hauling her off. "Let me see if I can call the Coven on you."

"No, she's ours, Xander." Steve stood up. "She assaulted you, in front of an officer. That means she gets to go to jail and you don't even have to make out a statement. Finish my lunch for me." He took the young woman to walk off.

Xander sat down to eat, shrugging some at the staring going on. "Not my fault she's a wannabe airhead who can only use black magic poorly." He ate another bite. He went over to the stand. "How much for some ice water?"

"Dollar, brah." Xander paid and took it back to finish Steve's lunch for him. He made a note to Steve's phone about the kid. He got a longer one back from Chin. That was interesting and a good reason why Steve was nagging the boy. Yeah, a few good meals would help him grow stronger. He saw the kid gag again and start to look around. Then he suddenly got up and ran off to pounce someone into the ground and beat them to death. He called. "Chin, man, the kid just pounced some guy to beat him to death. Yeah, here!" He hung up and went to look. "You need help, kid?"

"Nah, this black magic user isn't that tough," Xander said as he punched him again. "Just don't get too close. He could hit you with a spell too." Magic came out and Xander blocked it then hit the guy again, knocking him out. Officers were coming over. "Don't!" Xander ordered, holding up a hand. "He's got spells on him that're set to go off. He's a black magic user and he's trying to do something stupid. He sent his protege earlier and she got arrested."

"McGarrett got her," Kamekoa said with a point toward the parking lot. "She was a cranky little girl."

"She's twenty and still acts like she's eight," Xander said. He looked over the marks. "Can someone grab me my ankle knife please? It's silver and I have to cancel some of these marks and if I let him go the spell will go off." The officer handed it over and Xander carefully cut through a few of the diagrams in certain places. He stared, using the knife to trace another one. "Where's the ending of that one?" He grimaced and cut the guy's shirt off, finding it on his side. He carefully cut that one without nudging the other lines around it and near it. "There, he should be disarmed for the spells in holding but there's no telling what he can do when he wakes up." He stood up with help from the officer, wiping the knife off on his pants then putting it back into the holster. "Sorry," he said to the staring officers. "I'm a hunter."

"Like demons?"

"The ones causing problems, yeah. Otherwise, peaceful is all good."

"So he's...."

Xander pulled out his phone to look up something. "This is him and his apprentice is linked at the bottom. Gwenny's a dumb little bratling."

The officers read it over, one wincing. "So this mention that he was coming here to summon something?"

"Yeah, half of those are summoning, the other half were control and gathering energy from chaos output. So we'd probably see something huge appear, people freak out, then he'd get to gather the energy." Xander looked around. "Usually his other girlfriend would be here." The guy was sobbing while holding his face. "Where's the other dumb bitch you usually screw up and around on?" The guy was rolling around crying now. "Oh, great. Was this to draw power to resurrect her?" He nodded, still sobbing. "It won't work. If Rosenburg couldn't get it to work for Buffy I doubt you will." The guy blinked at him. "And if you start off the first evil prophecy you're going first. Before any of those potential slayers." The guy was still crying. Xander rubbed his face and sighed, looking at the officers. "I'm going to go finish my ice water if that's all right."

"You were fighting."

"Yeah, beating him would mean I wouldn't have to deal with a huge problem with a sword," Xander said dryly. "Which did you want?" The guy was chanting through the sobs. "Sure, you summon someone," Xander told him. "Or something." A small demon appeared and Xander winced. "Damn, you had to call something that high."

"It's a kid," the other officer said.

Xander looked at him. "The highest of high ones are. Or appear to be. It means others don't want to take them out." He looked at the normal guy. "Go. Before it gets you." He nodded, hurrying off. "So, Great One Who Will Be My Annoyance Today. I'm not up to date on the current roster of which body you stole. Which one are we going to address when we ask you to kindly leave these islands?"

"I'm Rose," she said, staring at him. "You're Harris."

"I am."

"Hmm. A worthy object to worship me."

Xander snorted. "If Anyanka couldn't make me worship her when she had me doing oral sex for hours, you aren't getting any at all either," he said sarcastically. "Any other wants today before you go home?" A female squealed and rushed over. He looked. "Oh, it's you. I was hoping it wasn't a parent of a missing kid that she stole the body of."

"Great High One Rose," Anya said as she knelt beside her. "You are most welcome here."

"Um, no," Xander reminded her. "This isn't Sunnydale. The normals outweigh those who ignore it, and we don't need a major demon incursion on this ground, Anya." She glared at him. "She has to go before I have to find a sword. Or the PD has to find a lot of body bags. You know her sort take bodies and use them for fun."

"She's a demon, duh!" Anya shot back. "Of course she does." Xander pointed at the officers. "They can flee in fear. She might like that."

Xander looked at the officers. "I used to date her." They both shuddered. "It's going to get really nasty. Can you take the grieving, whiny thing there before she decides to make him a mess? Preferably where she can't get other victims at the same time?"

"We can take him to our cruiser," one of them agreed, hauling him up and walking him off reading him his rights. The other one followed to get out of the way while texting his church. Once the sorcerer was in the car the other one called his priest too. They had to be warned.

Xander was calling the local demon council. "It's Harris. The whiny, grieving sorcerer Percator summoned a higher demon named Rose. Fair warning, she's looking amused at Anya fawning over her. I'm hoping we don't have a mess in the making." He hung up.

"She worships me as is proper, human," the childlike thing sneered.

Xander looked down at her. "Watch me kick you. Anya!" he snapped, making her move. "Thank you! You have more sense than that, right?" The demon tried to pull her back. "I doubt you'd give in to her sexual demands so just let her go. I don't want to deal with this," he sighed. "I really don't." The demon creature summoned more. Xander sighed. "Anya, summon my sword in the truck please?" he asked quietly. She looked, backing away slowly. "Anya!" he snapped. "Sword? Maybe?" She ran off but brought it to him. "Thanks. Now shoo." He kissed her on the cheek. "You still aren't my heir, but you can have the veggies in my garden if you want." She snorted, taking a proper kiss before running away again to get the normals out of the way.

"Are you done?" the head demon sneered.

Xander stared at her. "I can still kick you."

"You wouldn't dare."

Xander kicked her, punting her a few feet. "Really? You think?" The demons roared and came at him. He managed a few but he was still rebuilding his strength and stamina.

"Ha! The Knight isn't so strong now."

Xander took off his hellmouth shielding necklace, making the demons all purr. "Really? You so sure of that? I may have been sick but that won't stop me this time either. Didn't during the invasion."

"Get him, my minions." She pointed. The demons rushed again. A few officers showed up to shoot at them. "How dare you!" she shouted, manifesting as her true form. Xander shot her, killing her. Anya rushed over to remove her and do something arcane over her body. Half the demons fled while she did that. Xander got most of the rest and got a few good claws to the arms and chest too. One really nasty one to his stomach that may have poison on it. Then Xander backhanded the last demon, knocking him down. He stabbed it in the chest, panting hard as he beheaded it. He leaned on his sword, wobbling some. Anya finished and the demon's body dissolved. "Did that help?"

"Yes," she said. "It means she can't come back to try you again." She stood up, carefully coming over. "You growling?"

"No. I'm really fucking exhausted though. Can you drive me home?"

She looked at him. "ER?"

"Med kit at the house with an anti-toxin and a few anti-poisons just in case."

"That's fine then." He let her help him to the truck and inside while she got the keys from him and walked around to drive. The sword got tossed into the back, where it was eating through the aluminum truck bed. She could help him solve that later. She got him into a shower and found his med kit for him then went to call some friends to tell them that Xander had taken out a Higher. That was huge news and there might be a bounty on her, which Xander could use to fix his truck, and buy real Xander food since they didn't really like vegetables. It was like feeding Tigger vegetables, it just didn't work for their bodies. Xander came out bandaging himself. "Did you take the anti-toxin?"

"Yeah, both that and an anti-poison." He flopped down on his old couch. "Anyone good swear at me for that yet? Or locals?"

"I haven't heard from any locals." She found his phone and looked. "Someone's mad that you didn't have them help." She handed him his phone and walked off. "I'm going back to my boyfriend before they decide to retaliate against you. I bragged to others so if you get a reward you can buy more Xander food."

"Thanks, Ahn," he said, smiling at her back. He found his axe under the couch and looked at it, nodding at the sharp edges. He'd be okay if something showed up to retaliate.

***

The governor, who had been briefed by someone, stepped out in front of the press. "I've found out what happened earlier," she announced. "The demon hunter we have who retired here was eating peacefully after asking a drunk, young demon playing with a tree nymph to go sleep it off. Apparently it's his college's version of spring break and the hunter was nice enough to send him to just sleep it off. He's known not to harm anything peaceful according to the local demon council." She cleared her throat.

"Unfortunately right afterwards two users of black magic, part of a well known coven of problems, showed up. The first was arrested by an officer eating where our local hunter was. Then her male counterpart showed up with pre-set spells on him to summon a few demons so he could raise power from the fear it would bring." She cleared her throat again.

"Which is when that hunter beat him severely for trying that and being here. That sorcerer summoned the higher, child looking, demon. According to the local council's sources, most higher demons appear as if they're children. Usually ones they've taken the form of after taking them. Unfortunately there are people who will sacrifice their children for gains, people." She shifted her stance. "I'm sure we all saw what happened afterward when that demon who appeared to be a child summoned some of her minions."

A reporter raised her hand, getting nodded at. "So the child wasn't a child."

"No. It was a higher level demon named Rose. Apparently she was over...acquisitions to put it bluntly. The local demon council went into lockdown and called all their members to make sure they were safely away from the area. We apparently don't have a warrior clan group here as their guards or anything like that. I have asked if that was something they might do to protect their own peoples and they're considering it."

"Who is that hunter?"

"I have been asked not to let out his name because it will bring people who want to take him out to make their own names," the governor stated. "We'd all hate that I'm sure."

"He was at the invasion in LA," one said.

"I believe so, yes," she agreed. "I've only seen film of it. I was here when it happened and in a meeting with the base's officers to see if we needed to do an evacuation in case it spread."

"Looking back, wasn't the head of 5-0 there as well, ma'am?"

"I believe he was, yes."

"Why did that hunter retire?" another reporter asked.

"I'm told he had some health issues. I didn't ask what kind." They all nodded.

"If he hadn't beat that sorcerer, we'd just have a few larger, scary looking demons?"

"There's no telling what he would have summoned and if they were just scary looking or potentially harmful as well," the governor said. "By the marks they found on his body that the hunter had to cut to cancel, they would have called anything above a certain size and ability." An aide came out with a note. "Oh, I'm being corrected. The local demon council took the marks to a gray sorcerer who lives and works on the islands, who is presently protecting some areas from a group of...does that say chaos sorcerers?" she demanded, looking at her aide.

"Apparently there's a group of young ones who want to cause a bit of havoc and he's presently working on stopping them from doing things like opening a bit of a portal to open more magic in the area, ma'am."

"Oh, charming!" She looked at the reporters. "From what that one sorcerer said, he would have called beings who could use higher magic and would have taken out people." They nodded, making notes on that. "As for that other chaos group, I do hope someone like 5-0 has a lot of fun arresting them before they manage that." Her phone rang in her aide's pocket, making him look at it. "An update?"

"They know about that problem, the Commander said they're looking at the group itself, and half the problem isn't them, it's one's twin's sister that wants to open a hellmouth locally. She was going to take over their spell and use it for her own gains. Our hunter and the Commander are both aware and working on stopping them all before we all have a headache, ma'am." He handed her the phone.

She read it before handing it back. "We're aware of problems and are handling them," she told them. A few smiled. "I do wish I had been briefed on that earlier but I'll be getting one by tonight I'm sure." The phone rang again. "And this one says?"

"He emailed it to you a minute ago," he reported. "Including on one being who they do not know the identity of but who is doing something horrifying sometimes soon. He had a briefing sheet for you but we don't know *who* but what." He looked up. "I'll go print that for you, ma'am."

"If it's something that a bit of attention can help with, we'll gladly share," the governor said as she followed her aide to her office. "That was not good timing."

He pointed. "The other is on a person who's doing an ascension rite and film from one that happened during a graduation ceremony."

She sat down to watch it, wincing at what she saw. "We don't know who," she read. "We've heard rumors. We have warned...he needs to sacrifice infants within a few months." Her aide winced. "But they have warned and I was the last to know. They were going to tell us when they had a name and more proof than rumors." She leaned back. "Charming. I wonder what else they're not telling us." He handed over her phone. She waved it off and sent an email. "Well, that explains the health issues." She winced. "That poor man." She kept reading the full file they had, frowning at some. "You know our sorcerer?"

He smiled. "You could say that, ma'am, but I'm very light gray, not even medium gray. I'm one of three on the islands and we're all native to here."

"Really?" she asked dryly.

"Yes, it's why that bullet missed you last year, ma'am." She slumped, staring at him. "I don't use it at work or I'd have better minions I don't have to argue with." She smirked at him. "Really, I would. I'd also have less shedding hair and always pressed clothes. The only ones who use it for such menial purposes usually have issues like addictions, which that witch that showed up first did. The sorcerer is on a watch list of 'take out upon sight' the last I knew."

"Which Mr. Harris did. Is he all right?"

"He got injured. He treated it at home."

"I'd hate hospitals too if I had his health history."

"That's one reason but the rest we're not sure of beyond Sunnydale's taint." She looked confused so he pulled up information hellmouths. "There's one of these there, and this is what that one sorcerer's twin wants to create here. The boys wanted to create a smaller one as a sink, and it's annoying us all trying to stop them. She wants a full blown one to prove herself a true chaos sorcerer because she gets hardly any respect since she's female and fluffy. She likes pink, fluffy clothes."

"Cheerleader?"

"No, they wouldn't accept her. She claimed she was too pretty for their squad, ma'am."

"Oh, one of *them*." She read, shaking her head. "That seems nasty. Would it have long lasting effects on him?"

"Beyond the fact that he has to wear certain things that block the energy coming out of him before he gets eaten for it?" he quipped. "He said he got radiation sickness the first time he left town."

"If they do that here, I'm going to let it eat them and then see who can close it."

"They'd probably have to close it, ma'am. Most of them form naturally. I'm hoping if they try this one they can close it again." She whined, shaking her head with a moan. "The higher beings over the slayers sent Harris out here to rest, heal, and protect us because they're busy taking out any hunters they can find. The Powers That Be want *balance* in humanity." She stared at him. He nodded. "It's fairly well known and Harris makes sure that we win."

"Does he have a counter-balance?"

"No. And don't tempt them to create one, ma'am. It'd be a horror upon the world. Xander has warped a prophecy just by being somewhere once. Him being there stopped the possessed warrior from calling on a higher power to release them, as the higher beings who possessed him wanted him to. It beat a whole run, most of a book, of prophecies because the possessing spirit knew that Harris would block him and stop him if he found him trying it. The world can't handle a bad omen chaos source as powerful as he is."

She nodded once. "Is he fully settled safely out here?"

"He's got a small farm. He's lived on his vegetables more than a few times since he was too weak to work. He was moaning sexually at a burger a few weeks back when McGarrett bought him one. That was the day we had Gou'ald invade 5-0's office." She shook her head quickly and went to find something for her headache. He grinned. "I really should put up a shrine to him," he told himself. "He is a force of chaos and even Janus favors him. I'm sure Ethan might have one." He went to email Ethan to see if he had one yet or not. The proper ratio of pictures to offerings was important.

***

Xander woke up to knocking and groaned. "I should remember not to sleep on the couch," he muttered. "Who is it?" he called when he couldn't get up. "If I know you and like you and you're not here to cause me hell, you can come in."

Danny walked in. "I came to make sure you don't need an ER, kid."

"I fixed all that already."

"What?" Danny demanded.

"I've been doing my own stitches since before I hit puberty, Danny." Danny stared at him like he was weird. "Our local hospital killed people. A lot."

"No, not allowed out here."

"I'm fine. I took the anti-toxin I needed and the anti-poison just in case."

"Uh-huh. Do you think you might need stitches?"

"I did those."

"Bullshit. You can't do your own back's." Xander sat up with a grunt and lifted his shirt to show him. "You're worse than Steve is!"

"Maybe it's something all of us end up doing."

"Yeah! Not likely. He might have different reasons but really?"

Xander nodded. "I did them all. I'm fine. Thank you for checking on me," he said with a grin. "It was really nice of you to come nag me like my friends used to before they thought I was normal."

Danny stared at him. "You aren't normal, Xander."

"I'd hug you for that but I can't get up off the couch. I hate this couch." Danny helped him up and gave him a shove toward the bedroom. "I can hang out here so I'm not jumped by something else."

"Go rest. I'll sit a cruiser nearby."

"That would get them hurt or they'd ignore it."

"We're not like Sunnydale's PD, Xander. We don't ignore shit. Especially not like yours did. By the way, got your file from them. They're absurdly stupid. They had you creating bombs while you were in a coma. I pointed that out and got told you were still in town."

"Yeah, they're stupid. Then again they said that people got eaten by barbeque forks." He grimaced.

Danny pointed. "Go rest. I can hang here for a few." Xander huffed but went to go rest with his battle axe as a teddy bear. It was cute of him but sometimes the guy really did remind him of a more happy, vocal version of McGarrett. When Steve showed up, Danny waved him to sneak over and Steve grinned, taking a picture before going to check around the house for unwelcome visitors. He brought in a bunny that had clearly been caught in some sort of snapping trap device. That went into the sink with some ice for the kid to deal with.

***

Kono relieved them at about eight, with coffee. "He okay?"

"He did his own stitches, took some form of anti-toxin and anti-poison," Danny told her.

Steve looked at him, then shook his head. "In the field is one thing."

"Yeah, I thought it sounded familiar," Danny taunted. "You hate to go get them too." He sipped his coffee, making Kono try to hide her grin at them arguing again. "Let him sleep. He's cuddling with his axe."

She looked in there and took a picture then came back to the living room. "I'll show that to anyone I want to set him up with." Xander came out, giving them a weird look. "We're making sure no one retaliates," she told him.

He nodded, grunting some and scratching at an itchy spot on his stomach. "Like the yahoos who burnt my farm?"

"Exactly," Steve agreed. "We're going to let Kono watch you for a few hours."

"She can do real stuff. I don't need guarded. It could be days before they find their balls and come after me. Last time it was a few days." He scratched again.

"Let's look at that cut," Danny ordered, standing up.

Xander looked down then at him. "That's an old scar, not a new future scar." He still looked so confused.

"We can still check them," Steve agreed, standing up to help Danny.

"I don't have many more bandages left. I haven't gotten to stock in years, guys."

"So?" Danny asked. "We don't have to fully change them unless they're grody." He walked the boy into the bedroom to make him let him check the injuries. Steve helped by pulling the thin t-shirt off him. "That's a lot of bandages. Are you sure you shouldn't be in the ER?"

"Not like they can do more than stitch me," Xander said with a slight shrug. "I don't respond well to antibiotics."

"Why?" Steve asked.

"Don't know. Never have. I kind of remember being in the hospital in Sunnydale for it. That's why I didn't get any when my appendix came out. I didn't get pain killers because they knew my mother would sell them on me," he finished sarcastically.

Danny stared at him. "Your parents show up out here, you introduce us, Xander. I'd like to teach them what *real* parents are like." Xander gave him that same confused look again. "Gloves?" he asked Steve, who found them sets. "Okay, let's start with the itchy one." He carefully peeled up the tape and looked at the injury. "Stitches look good, kid. You do a nice job. Still don't see how you did the ones on your back by yourself." He pressed gently. No blood. "Looks a bit red. Got anything like neosporin?" Xander nodded, going to get it from his kit. Danny looked. "Out of date."

"It's got holy water mixed into it."

"Okay, we can try it for now. You can get more later." He smoothed the gel over it and noticed a tiny little dot. "What is that?" He looked. "You missed one."

"It's tiny."

"It's got stuff in it."

"Black stuff?"

"No. Looks yellowish." Xander went to look at it in the bathroom, coming out drinking something. "What's that?"

"For the poison I didn't know one had. That's a general anti-poison."

"I didn't know you could buy those."

"They're potions made by certain peoples," Xander said with a shrug, then winced and held his arm. "That sucks."

"Yeah, it can," Danny agreed. He pulled him back to look at things. "Will you at least go see one of the local healers to make sure that potion will work on those?"

"If I must but I can't afford it, Danny."

"Yay! I'm sure they can bill you."

"No they won't. They're worse than seeing a specialist can be." Steve and Danny both gave him funny looks. "When I originally had insurance, they fought a lot about me going to an oncologist until we faxed in copies of my scans with the brain tumor circled. Then they apologized when the nurse demanded it." He rolled his eyes. "And they still complained and made me pay a huge co-pay."

"We can figure that out. There's state level insurance," Steve said.

"I don't qualify. Since I'm considered in remission I'm not eligible. It covered *most* of the most recent sets of treatments but not everything."

"That sucks but maybe the new healthcare stuff will have something for you."

"Which I'd have to be working to get," Xander quipped.

"That poison could knock you back into really bad health and then you're screwed for good," Danny said. "Like anything that's a long-term illness, it can slowly eat at you."

Xander looked down, pressing to get some of the puss out to sniff. "It's not the eat cells sort."

"Go wash that off," Steve ordered. Xander sighed but went to clean that out. "Is it running like it broke open?"

"That anti-poison makes it come out of a sore. Like opening a cyst does."

"Gross," Steve muttered, shaking his head. "Find out which one we'd take him to," he said quietly. Danny went to ask Kono to call to find that out. She came in with an address. He nodded and they took Xander there even though they had to drag him to the truck. It had easier cleaned seats than the camaro did. He had to come back for his wallet and phone but Kono handed them over with a grin before they took him off again.

Danny walked Xander into the healer's office, smiling at the receptionist. "He's taken three different potions to cover one tiny injury that's got puss-y stuff. The other stuff looks a bit red but normalish for stitches."

The receptionist looked at Xander. "Which potions?"

"The anti-toxin for the blue, furry one's claws and fur. The anti-poison for the red thing's claws and beak and feathers. Then I just took the stuff for the yellow, non-cell eating puss about thirty ago." He lifted his shirt to show her. "I didn't think I needed to do more than rinse this one out but they freaked out because it started to itch."

She looked then nodded. "That could use cleaned out and we can also probably get you a prescription for an antibiotic, Xander." She smiled.

"They don't work on me, or so I was told."

"We can check. The healer can check." She got him signed in and he filled out the forms without comment. That was nice of him. He even had a copy of his medical files now on a keychain USB device.

The healer came in reading them on a tablet then looked up at him. "You're very lucky that spell worked well."

"Anya and I did it from the astral plane so we could physically see the tumor itself. It was nasty."

"Yes it was. The oncology files have pictures." She went back over his file. "Mermaid taint?" She looked up. "Why?"

"Swim coach wanted to win *really* hard. I went onto the team to see why some had changed into people-eating swamp creature looking things."

She grimaced. "They do look like that, yes." She paged up then sighed, looking at him. "Did they do any testing on you while you were down?"

"I blacked out completely for about two weeks in there, and I'm not sure if it was meds or not. I was still out of my body but totally blacked out and woke up laying on my back on the astral plane."

"That might explain how you got malaria."

"I had malaria?" he asked, looking confused. She showed him. "Yeah, that's when I blacked out. Huh. Maybe someone paid that hospital enough to forget it had ethics. Thankfully it wasn't the NID assholes who tried to get samples of my brain."

"They are foul," she agreed. She put down the tablet. "All right, let's start with the puss leaking area." He took off his shirt and pointed. "Hmm, that anti-poison was a bit out of date but still mostly effective," she said after pressing and checking it over. "Not too bad, Xander." She smiled up at him. "You rinsed it?"

"With saline. I didn't have anything fully sterile. My kit's all old. I haven't upped it since right before the invasion. I'm out of bandages too," he sighed.

"We can see what we can do about that." She checked the other things. "Not bad. A bit infected looking but we can do that. You said you don't do antibiotics?"

"My parents told me I don't react well and they don't do anything for me when I get them. I didn't think it was like why Sunnydale wouldn't give me pain killers when I got my appendix out because of them."

She flipped back through his file, shaking her head. "You were prescribed them more than once. Apparently once she pretended to give you some and you had pneumonia for a few days."

"Was I four?" Xander asked. She nodded. "That's when I remember being told they didn't work on me. I had three days in the hospital and she complained the whole time."

"I would've batted her on the head," the healer muttered. "It appears that the meds they gave you did work when you got them." She looked up at him. "You were prescribed them a few other times but no indication of them being filled." He sighed but nodded. "We'll try some mild ones. Even if they don't work fully the worst they'll do is maybe make you a bit nauseous."

"Please. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Let me check the stitches on your back. How did you do those?"

"Mirror and some pliers," he said, shifting to let her see them.

"Not a bad job. Bit uneven but at that angle it'd be hard to judge."

"Do other guys like him do the same thing?" Danny asked.

"Yup," the healer said, cracking Xander up. "Rosenburg does too. She learned from her mother's textbooks."

"Me too," Xander agreed. "And then from a few other books in the main library when I was bored one weekend. It had nice pictures." He looked at her. "Needles?"

"I know you probably hate them by now but just one shot and then some pills?"

"I'm keeping food down again so I can probably do that," Xander agreed.

"Good. We were worried we were going to miss our favorite chaos pin-up." He blushed, ducking his head down. "By the way, brilliant idea to move Rosenburg out of her body until she could fix herself. Very handy and safer for everyone since she was going to cause a lot more problems." Xander's phone rang, making him flinch. "You should've turned that off."

"I forgot since I never get calls. I usually startle myself when I get one." He looked then hit 'ignore'. "It was Buffy calling to nag." He turned it off and put it back into his jeans pocket.

"Well, she used to nag you muchly from what the rumors said."

Xander looked back at her. "She never visited me, even when her mom was two floors down."

"Hmm. Sometimes that can happen but it's never good for a friendship." She patted him on the arm. "Let me get that one needle and some bandages." She walked off to get those from her supply closet. She came back to find Xander having a vision. "When did those start?"

"First tumor," he muttered. He lifted his head, taking a deep breath. "Someone's going to kill Pacia and going to blame me. I'm not touching him, nor do I want to touch him, and I have no reason to touch him."

The healer leaned back into the hall. "Someone call the betting parlor to tell Pacia Harris just had a vision that he'd be blamed for his death when he had nothing to do with it."

"I can do that," her nurse called back, picking up the phone. They had seen weirder things than visions.

Xander smiled and let her stick him then replace all the bandages. He took his prescription and got walked out by Danny, who was guiding him up the hallway. Xander paused to sign the promissary note to pay the fee, not quite wincing at how high it was. Thankfully his antibiotic was on the four dollar generic prescription plan at the local pharmacy chain.

***

A demon walked up to Chin that afternoon. "Detective?" she said quietly, not looking up at his face. His chest was far enough up for her to look.

"Yes, miss?" he asked, looking at her. She wasn't that much shorter than he was. "Is there a problem, someone bothering you?"

"No. We have heard information on the foulness that is someone doing an ascension rite," she said quietly, glancing up. "We know the Hunter would like to stop them sooner and so would those of us who are parents."

He smiled. "I'd like to get him before I have to help the parents get him back for it. Do you know who it is?"

"We have heard the sorcerer on the private island is but if not, he would surely know who is. He will not talk to us and probably not the Hunter, but your pack leader may well make him speak if he is persuasive."

"I'll gladly pass that on. Thank you for telling us."

"You are welcome." She flashed a tiny smile. "Is your female packmate single? A few of our pack think she is admirable."

"She is but she's not looking for anything meaningful, no matter how often all of our cousins, aunts, and uncles push for her to find someone more than fun for a night." She giggled and ran off. He called Steve. "Who is the Sorcerer on the private island? He knows or is the person doing the ascension rite as I was just told. He may not want to talk to Xander, but might tell my pack leader if he's persuasive enough."

Steve asked Xander, who told him who it was. And that he wouldn't even let him near them just in case because other hunters were prejudice bitches. And might not let Steve but they thought Danny was the pack alpha because he got people to behave. Chin smiled at that part of the talk. "The nice young one thought that Kono was admirable. I should, because maybe they'd be nice together. As long as they liked to surf she might be really happy," he said, grinning at her as she walked over.

"Have to be great enough surfers to beat me and make me hot," Kono said. She heard some giggling and looked behind her at the girls following her. "Ladies," she said with a smile and a nod.

"How did you learn to be like a slayer only smarter?" one asked then giggled.

"My cousins taught me how to fight back because half of them were pouncing bullies," she said, smiling at them. "Learning how to protect yourself is a good thing and it can help in other areas. I've had a few dates I had to fight my way out of. Then the boys I used to go out with when I was surfing on the circuit taught me more."

"We don't much deal with water outside of paddling in the pack's pool, but that does look exciting."

"You need to be able to swim pretty well," she warned. "But there's plenty of places that give lessons if you wanted to learn. Then just find your inner strength and live in it daily. Because no one can ever be as good as you are your things. Each woman is a goddess in her own right in her own way." They giggled again and one patted her then they ran off. She looked at Chin. "They're adorable young girls."

"They are. One of them told me about the ascending one, they think. And asked if you were single. I told them we've been pushing for you to have someone for longer than one night."

"If they can't last a whole night, why would I want to put up with them for longer?" she quipped. "And they have to treat me like a lady, whenever I feel like being one." She smirked at her cousin. "It'll be fine." Steve and Danny said something. She leaned closer to hear it. "We think he's the pack matron too, brah." Danny was spluttering and Chin hung up before it somehow came through the phone. She grinned at her cousin, who smiled back. "We can handle that."

"They can do that. It's protocol stuff so Danny should know." They walked off together. "They forced the kid to the healer earlier."

"I was there then. It's a good thing. He had some poison left in one of the tiny cuts." She felt something and moved them out of the way. The witch that landed huffed. "It's not like you're a house," she said impatiently.

The girl frowned. "What?"

"You nearly landed on us."

"That's why the spell made you move. I can't pick more than a general area. Sorry?" She shrugged. "I'm supposed to be making nice with a sorcerer out here to be his apprentice."

"We know there's some but I don't know any personally," Kono said. "Is he supposed to meet you here?"

"He said to appear here and then to find him."

"Okay, well...." She pointed. "Ask the governor's aide over there." She smiled at the young one. "I'd button up the shirt though." She straightened herself out with a squeak and smoothed down her hair too on the way over to ask him. Kono and Chin went to get dinner with some of the family. It'd save their sanity. They hoped.

TBC...
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