Sunnydale Wholesale Beauty Supply, Chapter 30
	
	
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.

"So, Angelus been playin' with his food, again?" Brooks asked. He pulled
her to her feet, which were numb from cold. "Fuckin' front door, wide open,
I smell someone else here with him---"

"You know the story, so why ask me?" Sunny asked, stumbling, Brooks' hand
hard on her upper arm as he dragged her down the sidewalk. She felt like
her heart was banging her ribs. The bite. Angelus' bite. He'd know.

She felt like she had been unfaithful---to both the vampires---and holy fuck
what would it have been like to still be in high school in Atlanta, where she'd
just have to worry about living boys?

Brooks closed the front door, with care, and Sunny did not tell him that Jack was
not home. He stood there, hands in his hoodie pockets, watching her as she
wiped off her feet. "So you're back---what happened to the whole get out of town
stuff?" she asked.

"Haven't really been that far up the coast," he said, frowning. He pulled one hand
out of his pocket and put her truck keys on the counter. "Brought your truck back."

Her heart was still hammering.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked. "Why did he leave you in the alley? If he got
you out there, why did he leave you?"

"Heard the Slayer coming," she said.

"And you still don't care," Brooks said. He looked older---more filled out. He turned and
went into Jack's office.

By the time Sunny came out of her staring fit, and followed him, Brooks was pulling open
the bottom drawer and getting the bourbon out. "Don't suppose you need
calming down, tonight," he said. "You're used to Angelus, now. Pals." He took
a swig of the bourbon.

"He won't kill me," Sunny said. "In fact, he won't bi--"

Brooks was right in her face. "Don't fucking tell me he won't bite you! Don't
you stand there and fucking lie to me. He's bitten you."

Sunny backed against the sofa and sat.

"See, there's blood coming down your leg," Brooks said in a frighteningly quiet
voice. He bent over her, bottle in one fist, and flipped up the side of her skirt with
the other.

There was a thin trickle, three inches long, from the bite on the inside of her thigh.

Sunny couldn't say anything----shit, there wasn't anything to say, and she
was just grateful that this wasn't happening outside of the protective spell in the
shop, because Brooks looked ready to bite her, himself.

He crashed on his knees between her feet, and put his--warmish---hand on
her thigh. "Sunny," he said. "Why did you let him?"

She shook her head. "Weird things happened---and you left, Brooks. "
You left me and I couldn't resist.

"I'm back, then." And Brooks bent his head and licked the line of blood.

It probably would have been better if Jack hadn't decided to see what was
going on in his office, at just that moment. Because the touch of Brooks' tongue
on the inside of her thigh made her close her eyes, and Brooks' guard was
sufficiently down for Jack to come in and get him pinned to the floor. He was
aiming a stake when Sunny leapt off the couch and grabbed his arm.

"No!" Sunny screamed. "He didn't do it! He didn't do it!" She pulled at Jack's
arm with all of her strength.

"So I wasn't just seeing a vampire bite your leg," Jack grunted, his knees in
Brooks' stomach.

"Good to see you, too, Jack," Brooks said, prying Jack's fingers
from his neck.

"It's Angelus' bite," Sunny panted.

"Take a good look, it's not mine. You know what mine looks like, God damn it,
Jack, hers is a fucking messy scar." Brooks took advantage of Jack's slackened
hold to roll away, and get to his feet. "I'm not exactly thrilled, either."

Sunny felt a great billowing swell of rage. "Well, what's the difference between
you and him, huh? What's the difference between one vampire and the other?
What's the difference between cutting the hair of demons---"

"Shut up!" Jack said, getting to his feet. "That's my point. That's why you're going
to spend senior year in India, and hopefully, college somewhere else, because
you're too young to draw the line. I should never have let you live here. I should
never have let you in the shop."

Brooks recovered the bourbon bottle, from where it lay dribbling its contents into
the floorboards. "So she'd been better as vampire bait? Or with that bitch and
her rapist boyfriend?" He drained the bottle. "I shouldn't have gone."

"You might as well leave," Jack said. "Sunny's grounded for the rest of the school
year. Until she leaves for India. Neither you nor any other vampire is getting
near her."

"I'm right here," Sunny said, her voice shaking. "I'm right here."

Jack turned. "Yeah. And I'm going to make sure you stay right here. Go upstairs."
He was standing at his desk, and he looked down. "Here's your report."

Sunny grabbed it and, brushing past Brooks, fled.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.