The Hart of L.A.

Talia jumped awake with a scream she couldn’t hold back. She stumbled out of the bed, and quickly looked around to scan her surroundings. She was in fact at Xander’s house, who was looking at her with fear in his eyes. A dream? How could something that felt so real, only be a dream? She was so relieved at seeing Xander standing in front of her alive that she flung herself into his arms. Xander didn’t say anything. He just enveloped her into his strong embrace. Once he did this, though, she couldn’t stop the convulsing shivers that overtook her. She was shaking so badly, that she made them tumble to the ground. Still, she refused to let go of Xander. Just knowing that he was safe, was making her cry uncontrollably. When she was finally under some sort of control, she released her death grip on Xander’s shoulders. When he felt that she could answer any questions that he had, he brought her some tea, and sat her down at the kitchen table. She looked at him with love in her eyes, and that’s when Xander started asking questions.

"Okay, do you want to talk about what just happened in there? If you don’t, that’s fine, I think I can wait." She smiled tentatively t him.

" No, it’s okay, I need to talk about it. I just had the worst dream of my entire life, and it felt so real. We were in my apartment, and not yours. I got out of bed, and found you in the kitchen dead. It was so real, I even tried to do CPR on you. Then this Jackoral Demon came out of nowhere, and I saw my own death. I mean, I actually saw myself die. My neck was still hurting when I woke up."

Xander didn’t know what to say. How do you tell a person, who just a terrifying experience, that the dreams came with the job? He remembered Buffy always saying how she hated the prophetic dreams. He sighed, because he knew she was going to be upset that noone ever told her about the dreams.

" I understand, sweetie. That’s what Buffy called a prophetic dream. Now, it may not come true, because some of hers didn’t come true. The main thing I remember her saying is how her dreams always felt real to her. I’m sorry that the first time it’s happened to you, it was so bad." She stared open-mouthed at him.

"Xander, I don’t wanna stay at my apartment anymore. Could I stay with you until we kill this Demon? I know it sounds stupid, but I don’t even wanna go into my apartment to get my stuff." Xander smiled at her.

" Of course, it’s okay. I’ll go to your apartment, and get your cat and your clothes." That didn’t work for her either, because she stopped him in mid sentence.

" NO! I don’t even want you to go in there! I found you, and you’re not going in my apartment. We can ask Gunn to go get the stuff." Xander scowled at that prospect.

" Oh, so we’re going to ask your ex-boyfriend to go and get your clothes? I don’t think so. I’ll get Buffy to go and get it for you, maybe Angel will go with her." This seemed to appease her, so she settled back down.

" Okay, that would be okay, I guess." Xander nodded his head.

" Alright then, let’s get you a bath, and something to eat. I’ll give Buffy a call later, okay?" They started up towards the bathroom, when she turned.

" Xander, I just want you know that I care deeply for you, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Please promise me you won’t go in that apartment? Please?" Xander had planned on going to get it himself anyway, but he looked in her eyes, and saw she was about to cry. She looked so worried about him, that he just couldn’t bring himself to doing it.

" Okay, Tay. I promise I won’t go in there. By the way, how did you know I was going to?" She didn’t say anything to him, just smiled at him.

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Faith jumped awake in her own bed, sweating profusely. She quickly jumped out of the bed, and ran into the bathroom. She turned the faucet on and splashed some water on her face. She looked at her neck and noticed a red ring around it. Geeze! Good thing that it was only a dream. Wow, she hadn’t had a dream like that in a long time. She couldn’t overcome the convulsions that overtook her, and she had to lift the lid on her toilet before she vomited on her floor. When she finished in her bathroom, she went back to plop back down on her bed. She had to call Buffy about that one, but she’d do it later, she didn’t think she could move right now. She couldn’t get over how realistic that was. She looked around her apartment, and realized she had to get out for awhile. She was going to go and visit Wesley about this dream of hers. She didn’t care what time it was, she had to speak to him. It took a lot for something to freak her out like this, which gave her more reason to go and speak to Wesley. She grabbed her jacket, and made her way to her car.

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Buffy jerked herself awake in her room. She quickly looked around saw that she was in her own apartment, with Angel nowhere to be found. She jumped out of bed and ran into the living room, only to see him on lying on the couch. She couldn’t help herself, she walked over to his side, and poked him. He didn’t respond to her right away, so she poked him again. He finally shook his head and looked at her through squinted eyes.

" Buffy? What are you doing, and why are you poking me?" She couldn’t say anything, she just flung herself on him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and refused to let go. He eventually disentangled himself from her embrace.

" Buffy, you look scared, and your shivering. Do you want to tell me what the problem is? Are you okay? Did something happen?" She finally shook her head so she would be able to speak.

" I had a really bad dream, and you died. We were fighting for what seemed like an hour, and it finally threw you on top of a broken chair, and I saw you die. I then killed the thing, but you were still dead. I don’t like dreams where you die, Angel." He sighed, and gently pulled her back into his embrace.

" I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what had happened. I’m here, Buffy. I’m not dead, well you know, not any more so than I am now." Buffy grinned at him for his statement.

" It’s not funny, I saw you die. I have bruises all over my arms from where the fight took place. Now normally, I can flail and get one or two, but not a whole bunch of them." He looked down at her arms, and sure enough, there were bruises all over them. That wasn’t like any prophetic dream she’d ever had before.

" Buffy, do you remember what kind of Demon it was? The one in your dream, could you describe it?" Buffy shivered just thinking about it.

" Um, it was huge, with horns on his head, but none on his body. He had blood shot eyes, and razor sharp fangs. He’s a black, leathery type skin, with scales all over him. He had some kind of symbol on his forehead, I don’t know what it was. Is that helpful?" Angel nodded.

" Yeah, what you described is a Jackoral Demon, but they’re usually not that strong. They also don’t attack groups, they only do solo jobs, because of their lack of strength." Buffy was shaking her head before he even finished his sentence.

" That couldn’t have been it then, because this thing was so strong. It took me a long time to kill it. Even then it still stumbled around for awhile." Angel sighed.

" You do realize that it was just a dream? Okay fine, how did you kill it?" She glared at him.

" I grabbed a kitchen knife and shoved in his skull, he wobbled then fell down." Angel frowned at her statement.

" That doesn’t make sense at all. The Demon you described is the Jackoral, there’s no mistaking it, but the only way to kill it is to stab it in the back, chop it’s head off, or stab under it’s arms. That’s it’s only weak spots, everywhere else you can’t penetrate." Buffy sighed.

" I think I need to talk to Giles. I don’t think I want to wait either, so if you don’t mind taking me? It’s still dark out, so they’re shouldn’t be a problem."

Angel nodded his agreement, because he thought they should talk to Giles as well. He didn’t know what it meant that the Jackoral Buffy was talking about could be killed by stabbing in the head. Maybe it was a good thing, but it was more than likely a bad thing.