Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Unnatural Selection by Mel Odom.pdf - Buffy the vampire slayler - martiness

/* /*]]*/

Scanned by Highroller.

Proofed more or less by Highroller.

Made prettier by use of EBook Design Group Stylesheet.

Chapter One

A short, muffled bump echoed inside the Campbells' big Victorian-style house and drew Willow

Rosenberg's attention immediately from the medieval text in her lap. She looked around the living room.

Other people's houses and the noises that go with them… on the next Lifestyles of the Weird and

Eerie.

She felt bad immediately because the Campbells were good people. They couldn't help it if their house

made strange noises and she was getting creeped out while baby-sitting. And they couldn't help it if her

life had taken a turn for the weird side of life that made every shadow suspicious.

She'd automatically reached for the bookbag at her feet rather than the cordless phone on the couch

beside her. Experience had taught her the wooden stake in the bookbag might keep her alive against

things that went bump in the night longer than dialing 911 would.

In Sunnydale, situated over the Hellmouth that allowed nearly any nightmarish thing to take shape, the

police often couldn't help—or didn't.

The large picture window across the room overlooked the Campbells' flower gardens and greenhouse.

Usually, like now, the backyard resembled a jungle. Luminescent pale yellow and white moon-flowers as

big as her hand reflected the brightness of the waning moon.

Did something move out there ? Willow peered through the glass, and through her own reflection

painted on the glass by the glow of the lamp on the end table next to the couch. And if it did, would I

see it ?

And would it see me?

The flowers and the trees rippled in the gentle wind. All the movement seemed natural.

Willow let out a short sigh of relief. She let go the wooden stake. Just get a grip. You're tired and it's

been a long time since you've been in this house .

You're just creeping yourself out because you've got a friend with a really strange job.

The living room was large, filled with overstuffed furniture from the 1940s Willow remembered from past

times when she'd baby-sat for the Campbells. Even the entertainment center and console television were

rendered in the baroque style of the time. A Discovery Channel presentation on the Amazon jungle she'd

seen before was on the television, but she kept it on for company.

To be on the safe side, she went upstairs to check on the baby. The happy clown face night-light

revealed him in a soft glow. Tad Campbell was eight months old, with curly blond hair and big green

eyes. When he was awake. He was still sleeping now, one tiny fist pressed to his mouth.

Now that's a Kodak moment.

Willow went back downstairs and opened her book again. The page she was on showed drawings of

medieval torture devices and intense narrative descriptions of their use. Not exactly light bedtime

reading , she thought lifting her diet soda from the coaster on the end table and taking a sip. She almost

choked when she heard the short, muffled bump repeated. This time she was certain it came from

upstairs, not outside.

Don't wig yet , she told herself. That could have been a cat or a branch, or something else .

Her mind seemed to really lock on the something else possibility. The more she thought about it, the

bigger the something got. Evil things do tend to grow… when they have a supply of victims . She put

the book down and stood, listening intently.

She flicked the toggle on the intercom system, bringing up the baby's room. It was set to automatically

come on whenever the baby made noise. So far, Tad had slept all night. She heard nothing.

Flicking the toggle off and knowing she was too weirded to calmly sit by without hearing the sound of

someone else's voice, she went upstairs and checked on the baby again. Still sleeping.

Back downstairs, she grabbed the cordless phone and dialed Buffy's number. C'mon, c'mon, be there.

Every little vampire's back in its grave for the evening, right ? She paced the living room as she

waited.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hello," Willow gasped, recognizing the voice. "Mrs. Summers, it's Willow. I was calling for Buffy."

"I'm sorry. Buffy's not here at the moment."

No! She has to be. Okay, deep breath. Do the calm thing . "When do you expect her back?"

"She didn't say."

The way Buffy's mom said that let Willow know Buffy was out doing Slayer things, things Mrs. Summers

was aware of but sometimes couldn't acknowledge outright. Like maybe Buffy was going to run into

the one vampire that was too fast for the Slayer and not come home at all. At least, not without

really bad skin, big teeth, and a whole new drink of choice . Willow felt guilty about not going with

Buffy that night, but she knew Buffy still did a lot of solo runs against the vamps.

"Willow, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Really." The last thing Willow wanted was for Buffy's mom to flip out and tell Buffy that

something might be wrong with her. It wouldn't be good for Buffy to show up at the Campbells' house

after staking the latest fangers only to find out Willow was imagining things. "I was just… calling to… uh,

ask her when she wanted to… get together for the tutoring she asked about." That was believable. Buffy

sometimes struggled with her grades because of her extracurricular activities.

"I'll tell her you called."

"No. That's okay. Thanks Mrs. Summers, but I'll just talk to her tomorrow." Like tomorrow's not going

to be too late . Willow said good-bye and broke the connection. She still felt creeped out and didn't

want to sit down.

My spider senses are tingling, Xander would say.

She glanced at the clock on the VCR. It was 9:28 p.m. The Campbells wouldn't be home for another

hour and a half. Every bad teen slasher/baby-sitter movie Xander had ever talked her into seeing flashed

through her head.

She decided to call Oz. He always made her feel calm. He was just that kind of a guy, in spite of being a

part-time werewolf. He was rehearsing with his band tonight, but she knew he'd talk to her.

The bump sounded again while the phone rang.

Buffy Summers moved surefootedly through the darkness constantly scanning the forest around her. Her

Slayer senses were more acute than a normal person's, but not paying attention was not paying attention.

In her work, not paying attention could get her killed. She was quiet as a whisper gliding through a

mausoleum.

Her companion wasn't nearly so silent. Rupert Giles was a librarian and her Watcher. Though his training

was specialized so he could in turn train her, he hadn't been born with the special physical attributes of

the Slayer. He stepped on yet another branch that cracked loud enough to wake the dead.

Or the undead in this case , Buffy thought, glancing back at him long enough to make sure it was a

misstep and not an attack.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Walking around in this darkness is beastly."

"Yeah, well you're going to see how beastly it can get if you don't tread a little lighter there, Pathfinder."

"Ah." Giles was complimented despite the present mission. "I see you've been doing American literature

studies. But I didn't know they were covering James Fenimore Cooper's tales of Natty Bumppo."

"Extra credit, Giles," Buffy replied, sighing. I've learned to live for extra credit . "I kind of tanked the

last Lit test." She was dressed for the night, wearing black leggings, boots, and a stylish crocheted shirt

over a black crop top. Her backpack held the gear she'd packed for the patrol.

"I thought you studied for that test."

"I did," Buffy said, "but that was also during the week those rockabilly vampires from Tennessee came to

Sunnydale tracking down Elvis memorabilia." Definitely not a restful week .

"Right." In the shadow of a nearby tree, only Giles's blue pinstriped shirt and gold-rimmed glasses were

visible.

"They killed three people before I found them." Buffy ducked under the lowest branches of the oak tree,

following the game trail she'd discovered. "It's kind of hard balancing the Slaying thing and getting study

time."

"I didn't mean to sound like I was taking you to task for your grades."

Giles is tired too , Buffy realized. "Look, it's no sweat. The extra work I'm doing is pulling my grade

back up from that test." Slowly .

"Let me know if I can help. James Fenimore Cooper told rather a rousing tale."

Rousing ? Buffy thought with a smile, but she continued along the game trail. Out from under the trees in

the moonlight, the trail was almost visible to the normal naked eye. "Thanks, Giles, but for now it's just

me and Cliff."

Giles stumbled over a loose branch. "Cliff?"

"Buy a clue, Giles," Buffy said. "Cliff as in Cliff Notes. I read the book; I read the study guide; I do the

paper. Extra credit."

"I see. You've been busy lately."

"I'm always busy, Giles. It just seems more so lately." He doesn't notice because he's been doing the

Watcher gig a lot longer than I've been a Slayer . Movement attracted her attention to her left, but she

didn't break her stride. The night was filled with hunters. She was merely one of them. Only the best

survive, though .

"Have you had any luck finding out why the vampires seem to be so interested in this park?" Giles asked.

He'd come along to offer another perspective on the recurring problem.

"No, and I haven't exactly figured out how to handle the Gordy/Willow situation about the Spring

Blow-Out coming up this weekend either." Staking vampires is easy compared to that, and maybe

less dangerous .

Movement flashed again to the left. Low to the ground and definitely bigger than a breadbox . Bury

tracked it but kept moving. Sometimes in order to hunt best, a hunter had to pretend to be hunted. Giles

taught me that. Or was it Angel ?

"I wasn't aware there was a situation other than the presence of the vampires."

"Hello? How do you miss these things? Cordy's organizing the Blow-Out and Willow's against the sale of

the park to the land developers. Big conflict of interest. Huge, even. Haven't you noticed the tension?"

"No," Giles said honestly.

"Both of them want my help, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"What do you want to do?"

"I'd like to go to the Spring Blow-Out," Buffy said. "But if Willow gets her way we probably won't have

it. Either way spending my school break staking vampires here in Weatherly Park didn't show up

anywhere on my wish list."

"No. I suppose it didn't."

Most of Buffy's attention was on the movement to the left. There's more than one of them moving in

the trees. This is about to get really interesting . Despite the fear that thrilled around inside her, she still

felt a little excited. She slid her hand into her backpack and gripped the crossbow stock. Come on, boys

…

Buffy moved ahead again, more slowly. She felt their eyes on her now. Even without her beefed-up

Slayer senses and skills she'd have felt them. They stared with the same intensity of sixth-grade boys

who'd just noticed girls were different. Crimson eyes glinted in the darkness as they closed in. She

grabbed the front of Giles's jacket in one hand and jerked him to one side just as the lead vampire

leaped.

She twisted and rolled, barely avoiding the rush from the second one. Its fetid breath pushed against her

cheek and its talons raked her hair. Coming to her feet, she brought the crossbow to her shoulder and

fired.

The bolt crossed the twelve-foot distance and split the vampire's dead heart. The creature threw its head

back and screamed defiantly. But it was wasted effort. The wooden shaft piercing its heart reduced it to

an explosion of ashes in seconds.

Buffy didn't have time to celebrate her victory, though. The other vampires rushed at them from the trees.

She grabbed Giles by the arm and shoved him ahead of her.

"Run!" she ordered.

The vampire pack howled at their heels.

"Hi. May I speak to Oz, please?" Willow gripped the phone tightly. She listened intently for the bump to

repeat.

At the other end of the connection she heard a rumble of voices, someone picking deliberate notes on a

guitar, the rat-a-tat-tat of snare drums, and music playing in the background. The band always rehearsed

casually.

Willow checked the intercom to the baby's room again. She heard nothing. At least Tad's sleeping

through this .

"Hey," Oz said into the phone.

"How's practice going?" Willow asked. Man, just one word, one syllable from Oz and I'm already

getting a whole new perspective on things . Now that she actually had Oz on the phone she felt better.

She also felt calling him about a couple of bumps was maybe a little flaky.

"Good," Oz said minimalist as always. "So what's up?"

He always knows when to listen . Willow paced the living room. Why doesn't the bump sound now?

So I can say. See, that's what's freaking me out . "I guess I'm a little nervous."

"About baby-sitting? You told me you'd baby-sat for the Campbells before."

"Sure. A couple years ago when Bobby was small." The older Campbell boy was at a sleepover tonight.

"Is Tad that much different?"

Willow smiled. Oz always had a good memory. She knew most guys let whatever a girl told them slip

right through their heads. Even though Xander usually remembered everything, he didn't always listen as

attentively as Oz did. "No. In fact I've only changed him once. He's been asleep all evening."

"Did you get the chance to talk to Mr. Campbell?"

"No." Actually, getting asked to watch Tad Campbell when the regular baby-sitter called in sick had

gotten Willow's spirits up. She'd really wanted the chance to lobby Mr. Campbell against the proposed

zoning changes that would allow Gallivan Industries to tear down Weatherly Park. It's something Cordy

would do if she had the opportunity . "He was in a big hurry tonight."

"Don't give up on it," Oz encouraged.

"I won't. Weatherly Park has a lot of memories for me and other kids. I don't want to see the park torn

down. Even to make room for a new amusement park. Those you can get anywhere, but Weatherly Park

is one of a kind."

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Unnatural Selection by Mel Odom.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: