Title: A Fair Fight

Author: Jeanny

Rating: G

Spoilers: None (Story takes place during Season 1 between NKABOTFD and The Pack)

Distribution: I don't mind, just credit me and let me know where it's going.

Feedback: Please! jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Summary: The Slayerettes patrol the carnival and run into a few surprises.

Disclaimer: I own nothing (no, really) and none of these characters are mine. I'm merely borrowing them, and making no money, only fun.

Dedication: For K-Dog, Char, and OBC, because they asked for it. They've asked for other things, too, and they'll get them eventually. They're getting this first :)

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"I can't believe that Giles let you have the night off to come with us, I mean, after the trouble with Owen...I mean, I thought he was against things like, you know, fun, at night," Willow gushed to Buffy, her eyes wide as she took in the sights of the St. Blaise Catholic Church carnival.

"Fun unlike your normal nighttime entertainment, as in without pointy objects," amended Xander from Buffy's other side. The three friends were strolling through past booths and rides among throngs of other Sunnydale residents.

"Actually, it's not exactly a without pointy objects kind of fun night, guys," Buffy looked slightly guilty as she corrected her friends. "It’s not actually a night off at all. Giles thought that the carnival offered prime feeding opportunities...and I don't think he meant for Xander." Buffy shook her head as Xander moved away from them to stop at another concession stand. She looked back at Willow. "How can he eat that...well, to call it junk food is insulting to junk food? I mean, this is where grease goes when it dies if it‘s been good grease all its life."

"It's pretty incredible, huh?" Willow sighed. Buffy looked at the lovesick look on her friend's face and shook her head smiling. Xander came back with a corn dog in each hand and grinned at them both.

"So this is an official Slayerette outing, Buff? We should keep our eyes open for suspicious characters, other than the carnies, who are always kind of shifty looking. Carnies wouldn't be demons, right?" Xander suddenly looked a bit nervous.

"Naw, Giles would have mentioned that, Xan. And maybe there won't have to be any slaying at all, I mean, there aren't necessarily any vamps here."

"And...and maybe Angel will be around. Somewhere, waiting to be bumped into," Buffy smiled at her friend, ignoring Xander's scowl, but shook her head.

"Angel doesn't strike me as the church carnival type. And anyway, I just want to have a good time with my two bestest buds. This is probably the best patrol I'm going to have until they start supplying the cemeteries with Ferris wheels."

"Did you want to...ride...the Ferris wheel, that is?" Now it was Willow's turn to be a bit panicky.

"Willow hates the Ferris wheel, ever since that time we were in seventh grade and she got stuck riding with Larry and he wouldn't let her get off until after she puked all over him. Remember, Will?" Willow blushed and gave Buffy a sheepish look as Xander finished one of his corn dogs in blissful oblivion.

"It wasn't so much the Larry part or the going up part as the coming down. And the round and round was...not so good either. But...you two can go." Buffy caught her friend's quickly smothered look of dismay when Xander linked his arm into Buffy's, bobbing his head enthusiastically.

"Sure, Buffy, you and I should take a ride on the wheel. From the top you can see the whole carnival. Great for easy vampire spottage." Xander was trying hard to be casual, but Buffy could see the romantic longing in his eyes. Rather than unlink her arm, Buffy linked her other arm through a downcast Willow's while she gently shook her head at him.

"Might be able to spot them, Xan, but since I haven't added flying to my list of superpowers, it would probably do me less good than good. And that means unnecessary risk of early morning librarian wrath. I think we should stick to ground-based fun and games tonight." Xander quickly squelched his own disappointment as Willow beamed at her friend. Buffy sighed. Managing their little triangle was difficult at times, and she really wished that Xander would get a clue where Willow was concerned.

"Okay, to find amusement at the fair but on the fairground...want to hit the midway?" Buffy was about to say yes to Xander's question when subtle pressure applied by Willow made her look at her friend. She was giving her head a small but emphatic shake. Buffy raised her eyebrow inquiringly. Obviously there was a story here she'd need to pry out of the redhead later.

"Um, no," Buffy responded, thinking fast for a plausible excuse, "not the midway, because, because the midway is the most well-lit place in the carnival, so probably the least happening place for vamps to hang. If I were a vampire at a carnival, I'd want to find a dining spot that's kind of dark, kind of like..." Buffy stopped as she looked up at something that fit the bill too eerily well. Willow and Xander exchanged glances behind her back.

"The Spook House?" Willow asked, a note of incredulity in her voice.

"Buffy, the St. Blaise Spook House is the most famously unscary thing in Sunnydale. I've had pillow fights that incited more terror." As if to punctuate Xander's statement, a paunchy priest wrapped in a few Ace bandages that were supposed to simulate a mummy costume came up to them, his arms outstretched, managing somehow to groan with a Spanish accent. Xander watched him with an incredulous expression while Willow and Buffy gave him bemused smiles. After a few moments he moved on to attempt to frighten another group of teenagers, who responded with obscenities.

"I see your point," Buffy answered dryly.

"It's even more absurd on the inside. The ladies from the carnival committee make the decorations. No one's ever had the heart to tell them that gingham? Not the scariest material ever." Buffy was chuckling at Willow's comment when they heard the sound of some teenage girls shrieking and giggling near the door to the parish hall, now designated as the Spook House entrance. Buffy started moving towards the sound, her two friends right behind.

"That might be something," Buffy said, although she doubted it herself.

"Didn't sound like they were really scared," Xander responded. Buffy was doing her best not to notice he was still munching on that now cold snack.

"They could be pretending. Ooh, it was probably Father Malloy, he's the cute priest," Willow offered. The other two stopped in their tracks and gave her a look. She blushed and shrugged. "Locker room talk with the Catholic girls. Doesn't make me any less Jewish."

"Still," Buffy said, cutting off Xander with a glare before he could make any form of comment, "I should check it out. There could be real trouble here...and how cute is this priest?"

"Like Baldwin brother cute, according to Alicia Sanchez," Willow giggled, then sighed dreamily.

"Alec or Stephen? Or Billy?"

"That's enough, girls! I mean, this could be big hairy danger we're facing here, and I think we should all get into big hairy danger-facing mode." Willow and Buffy smiled at each other, then Buffy struggled to put on a more serious expression for Xander.

"Right, Xander. You guys should...oh my God!" Buffy came to an abrupt halt and pointed. Two middle aged men dressed in polyester Dracula capes were approaching a couple of mocking Sunnydale teens. The girl gave a little unconvincing scream, using the slight excuse to snuggle closer to her boyfriend.

"Oh, now that's just sad," Willow shook her head.

"Note to future self: Never grease back a combover," Xander added. Buffy shook her head, still disbelieving her eyes as she began walking forward.

"They're vampires."

"Only by the loosest definition of the term..." Xander began to protest.

"No, I mean they're really vampires!" Buffy grabbed her stake and broke into a run as each man grabbed a teenager and dragged them off behind the parish hall, their now real frightened screams echoing back to be lost in the other carnival sounds. "You guys stay there!" Buffy yelled back to her friends. Xander and Willow looked at each other for a moment, then took off running behind the Slayer.

Buffy was closing in fast on the two vampires, who were burdened by the struggling teens. She lost sight of them briefly as they dashed behind some trees at the back of the church property. Without hesitation she plunged into the wooded area after them...and found herself looking into the eyes of the eight other vampires, most of whom were also feeding off young carnival patrons there.

"They're coming to us now?" one of the younger vampires asked no one in particular. "Hardly seems sporting." Buffy knew she was in trouble, but nodded at them with bravado.

"Funny, that's just what I was thinking." She leapt into the air, executing a tuck in the air and landing behind the two vampires at the furthest edge of the circle, quickly staking them both. All the others reacted by dropping their victims and moving in to get her. The wounded who were still in good enough shape to move ran screaming from the area. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you guys...” she offered as she parried the blows of the first two to reach her. She reached out, grabbed their heads and knocked them together, stunning both vamps. “...stay away from carnival food? It’s really bad for you.” She used a tree as a pole to put her full weight behind a two footed kick that took down two of the other vamps, but couldn’t get in close enough to stake them before more were upon her.

Willow and Xander’s pursuit of Buffy had been slowed when Xander had been sidetracked by the sight of some tables with boxes of what looked to be junk on the side of the parish hall. Willow grabbed his arm, panting but desperate to keep going.

"C'mon, Xander!" Willow cried as Xander seemed transfixed by the boxes.

"What is this stuff?"

"White Elephant Bazaar after the Spook House, remember?" Xander saw some familiar objects on top of one of the boxes, and quickly grabbed some things from inside. "Xander, that's stealing!"

"I'll pay later, let's go!" he answered, taking off again with Willow close at his heels. When they reached the area behind the hall, they saw the two teens they had seen earlier followed by some people moving a lot more sluggishly hightailing it out of the woods. "Those don't look like happy campers, I think it's time to put my Boy Scout training into action!" Willow gulped as Xander shoved one of the objects he had fished out of the box into her hand. She looked down at the crucifix and nodded as they headed towards the trees.

"Xander, you were never a Boy Scout!"

"Don't ruin the moment with the facts, Will."

The Slayer, in the meantime, was managing to hold her own in the fight but had only managed to stake one more of the vamps. She was definitely beginning to tire. The four vampires she had taken down earlier were beginning to stir, moaning and shaking their heads, and she knew that soon she'd have to take on all seven at once. Things were starting to look pretty grim. She heard a rustle to her left, but couldn't afford to be distracted by what was happening over there. She saw that the vampire furthest to her left wasn't so astute, however. Quickly landing kicks to the midsections of the other two that drove them back, she staked the inquisitive vampire. She would have said something witty about curiosity killing or some such if she’d had the breath at that moment.

Then Buffy heard the other four vampires hiss and sneaked a quick peak to see what was going on. She was surprised and somewhat relieved to see that the noise from before had seemingly been Xander and Willow arriving. Her friends were now each keeping two vampires at bay, Xander with a small cross, Willow with a larger crucifix. Their presence gave her hope, then fear for their safety sent a much needed rush of adrenaline to her tired limbs. The rejuvenated slayer made quick work of the two vampires she was facing, then moved to help Willow, shoving the girl behind her as she launched herself at the next two. Xander, in the meantime, had figured out that he had stake of a sort, and was feinting with it with his right hand while keeping the cross held firmly in his left. The vampires he was facing were the ones they had seen by the Spook House, and they seemed to be quite anxious as they saw their brethren falling around them. Finally one of them shoved his companion towards Xander and into his improvised stake. Xander coughed in surprise as he dusted the vamp, then yelled to Buffy, now fighting the one other vampire remaining. This one had been the shortest and slightest of all of them, but somehow he was proving awfully hard to bring down.

"Buffy, Spook House vamp's getting away!" This moment of diverted attention was enough to allow the vampire to kick the stake out of Buffy's hand and out of sight. The small vampire sent Buffy flying with a surprisingly powerful backhand, then hissed as Willow stepped in front of her friend with her crucifix high again. Buffy quickly sprung to her feet.

"Xander, no weapons!" she shouted back. Xander came running over to Willow, tossing Buffy his makeshift stake as he ran.

"Here, Buff, get him! I'll take care of this guy!" Buffy was merely a blur as she took off running. Xander grabbed onto Willow as he reached her, as much to steady himself as for her safety. He held out his cross alongside her crucifix. She looked at him wild-eyed.

“You’ll take care of this guy? How are you going to take care of this guy?” Xander looked at her and tried to grin, his brain working frantically.

“I’ll...I’m gonna...I’m sure I’ll think of somethi-OOF!” Despite the pain, the vampire had managed to grab the cross quickly from Xander’s hand and throw it into the woods. He picked up the boy and tossed him a good ten feet as well. Xander flew through the air, landing hard enough to knock the wind from him. The figure of the vampire loomed over him. *He seems much taller now, for some reason,* Xander thought dazedly as the vampire grabbed him by his shirt, pulling his head down towards his neck...and showering him with dust. Xander fell back and looked up at Willow’s scared face.

“Are you okay? Did he...” Willow whispered, her voice trembling. Xander pulled himself up onto his elbows, managing a breath and shaking his head.

“No...no...how did you...?” Willow unsteadily held up a sharp stick.

“Woods. Trees. Branches. Wooden things,” she answered simply. She dropped the small branch as she was suddenly shaking too hard to hold it, and Xander quickly got to his knees to catch her as her own knees gave way. He held her in a comforting hug, then both struggled to their feet as they heard someone approaching. Willow sighed in relief as Buffy came marching up to them.

“Did you get Count Wishful Thinking?” Xander called to her. Buffy merely nodded, a look of mild disgust adding to the distortion of her features in the moonlight.

“Xan, please tell me what you threw me was not what I-”

“It was. You owe me a corn dog, missy.” Buffy shuddered as the three wandered tiredly from the wooded area and started back towards the carnival lights.

“That is just so gross...you couldn’t give a girl a warning?”

“I think I’ve had enough carnival fun,” Willow offered in a tone that said she’d actually had more than enough. “Do we have to have more carnival fun?”

“Hey, it was wooden, it was a stick, I though it was kinda creative, slaying-wise,” Xander shot back at Buffy defensively.

“I vote with Willow, no more fun. I need to go home and wash my hands till Sunday.” The three bypassed the music and lights and began to head down the street instead.

“Well, it’s not like there was much we-HEY!” Xander gave Buffy an insulted look as the hand-washing comment penetrated his still foggy brain. Ignoring him, Buffy shoved her hands into Willow’s face.

“My hands smell like corn dog, don’t they? Do they smell like corn dog?” Willow gave Buffy’s hands a good sniff, then looked at her friend dolefully. Suddenly Xander snorted, and then the three all began to laugh together. The sound filled the night as they made their way home.