MORE THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH

General Disclaimer – I am not Joss Whedon or Dick Wolf so I do not own any of the established characters here nor do I make any claims to.

This fic has some adult themes and language, hence the higher rating (just to be sure).

In terms of timelines, it takes place some time in Season 2 of Buffy, after The Dark Age but before Angelus turns evil and late Season 1/early Season 2 of Law and Order: SVU. I know they don't overlap but I'm sure someone can fanwank an explanation or, alternatively rely on the parallel world one.

This chapter is a bit Law and Order: SVU heavy but I promise to rectify that in the next one where the positions will be reversed.

Hope you enjoy. Oh – constructive criticism always welcome.

Prologue

"Hey, G-man, where's the Apocalypse this time?" Xander Harris plonked himself down at the table, carefully licking the sugar from the do-nut he had just finished off his fingers.

Giles looked up from the parchment he had been reading when the gang entered the library, "New York, apparently." He replied.

The Slayer and her friends digested this.

"Just once, would it hurt to answer in the negative when I ask a question like that?" Xander complained.

"How do you know?" Willow Rosenberg asked, practically.

Giles indicated the paper.

"This," he said. "It's a communication from the Watchers' Council. After twenty-five years study, one of our researcher's has finally managed to translate part of the Palastina prophesy ..."

Noticing the confused expressions of his audience, he went on to explain, "Palastina was a seventeenth century seer. In his day he was as widely known and respected as Nostradamus, and probably still would be if he hadn't written his prophesies in an obscure form of Babylonian cuneiform … anyway, Alastair has finally had a break through and just in time. According to his translation, a demon known as Temporus will attempt to turn back time and return the Earth to the Age of the Demons. This is the quote,

'In the closing years of the second millennium, in the city of Amsterdam, far in the west, Temporus, great among the demons of old, shall sacrifice six male and six female virgins and, using the power of these innocents, shall open a portal. Chaos shall fall upon the world and the Old Ones return to rule.'

Cordelia Chase carefully smoothed her skirt before sitting down. "So, what's this got to do with New York?" she asked. "Everyone knows that Amsterdam is in Europe." Reacting to the startled glances of the others, she looked round. "Like I don't know my geography?" she said, "it's where diamonds come from."

"Ah! Cordelia Chase's geography of conspicuous consumption." Xander observed, almost admiringly.

"New York was originally called New Amsterdam." Oz observed quietly.

Giles nodded. "Quite." He confirmed. "And, as Palastina was living in Paris at the time he made the prophesy, which is to the west of the original Amsterdam, New Amsterdam, or New York, must be the location where this is going to happen."

"What do the Council want us to do?" Buffy asked.

"Go to New York and stop it."

The Slayer shrugged, "I'm totally down with that," she said, "but I think Mom and Principal Snyder might object."

Giles looked thoughtful. "Yes, we need a cover story."

The library was silent as they looked at each other, then Willow made an excited noise and put up her hand, waving it in the air.

"I've got it!" she cried, diving into her school bag and coming up with a creased leaflet. "National Schools Information Technology Month; it's sponsored by Columbia University. It's kind of like summer school. High Schools across the country can send ten of their top students to take classes from their faculty and the tuition is free, all the students have to pay for is board and lodging."

Buffy grinned "You and Oz might make the grade, Will, but the rest of us," her lips quirked down, "Not IT guys."

Giles took off his glasses and played with them, his eyes distant as he thought. "Leave that to me." He decided. "The Council has resources we can utilise in situations like this."

The conspirators grinned at each other in excitement, then Willow began to look worried. She turned to Giles. "The course doesn't start until summer vac. That's only a month away but how can we be sure that he hasn't already started his evil plan?"

"I'm certain we'll hear if he starts, Willow." Giles voice had a harsh tinge to it and his eyes glinted like agates. It was an expression the gang rarely saw but one Ethan Rayne would have recognised. "According to Alastair's translations, the victims must be sacrificed in a certain way, one I am sure will garner significant publicity."

And he told them what that was.

"Ew!" responded Cordelia once he was finished.

Tuesday, August 24th

Elliot Stabler flashed his badge at the Uniform guarding the crime scene and ducked under the tape followed by his partner.

"So, what you got for us?" he asked Cioniella, the detective in charge.

The elderly, balding man jerked his thumb towards the back of the alley. "I've been in the job twenty-five years and I've never seen anything like it. This is one sick son-of-a-bitch. As soon as I saw what he'd done I knew this was one for you guys!"

The two SVU detectives gave him a quizzical look before following him to where Melinda Warner, the Medical Examiner was already examining the sprawled body of the vic, partially hidden behind a dumpster.

She looked up from her work and gave a terse report of her findings so far. "Victim is an adolescent male Caucasian; he appears healthy and well nourished. I'll have to do a full autopsy to determine cause of death but my preliminary findings place time of death at between 11pm and 2am last night."

Olivia glanced at her watch, "So, he's been dead for no longer than twelve hours." She observed. She turned to Detective Cioniella, "What makes you think this was a sex crime?"

Warner moved away slightly to allow them a clearer view of the body which was naked from the waist down. The shirt it still wore was rucked up, exposing the genital area which was a bloody mess.

"The bastard took his package as a souvenir!" Elliot noted; his disgust evident in his voice.

"And that's not all." Warner said, pointing towards the top of the body. Elliot and Olivia moved to get a clearer look and saw with horror that the top of the boy's head had been removed at the hairline.

"He also took his brain."

Olivia and Elliott looked at each other in shock. While they had had previous experience of perps castrating their victims, this was unprecedented in their experience, a whole new level of degeneracy.

"The genitalia were excised by a sharp instrument but probably not a scalpel," Warner continued, clinically, "while the cranium was removed by something with a serrated edge, most likely a saw. All the signs indicate that he was alive, at least when the perp started to castrate him." She looked around. "There's not enough blood here for this to be the crime scene so I'm guessing this is a dump site. I've asked for the area to be searched, however, just in case the err…missing pieces have been discarded.

"We've checked every inch of this alley, gone through every dumpster – nothing." Interrupted Cioniella.

Olivia Benson pulled herself together with an effort. Somewhere in New York City someone was anxiously waiting, probably worried about the whereabouts of this young man who had been murdered by a monster. She had to focus so she could give the family the justice they deserved.

"Was there any identification on the body?" she asked.

Detective Cioniella shook his head.

"He may be a tourist, or someone who's recently been to California." Warner said. "The shirt is fairly new and the label reads Trojan Sportswear, Sunnydale, California."

Elliot looked down at the body of the young man whose life had been cut short in such a horrifying way, "Welcome to New York, tourist capital of the world." He said, dark humour covering his anger and disgust.

Detectives Odafin (Fin) Tutuola and John Munch walked down the corridor of the hotel.

"Midtown and mid-price." Munch observed, looking around him at the clean but basic décor.

His partner grunted. "'Bout what you'd expect for a school group." He replied. "Parents don't want their kids staying in some fleapit but School Board budgets can't run to the Waldorf Astoria either."

They came to a stop in front of one of the doors and Munch raised his fist to knock, stopping as the sound of voices filtered through the thin partition.

"Typical of Clark to just wander off like that. Here we are in New York, shopping capital of the world and we're expected to stay cooped up in this excuse of a hotel until he decides to come back. Really, some people have no consideration for others!" a female voice complained.

"Yeah, you'd know all about consideration for others, Cordelia." A young sounding male voice replied.

"He could be lost or hurt." A different female voice, throatier than the first added.

"Oh, plee-aase!" the first voice responded. "He probably just went to a gig. I don't see why we all have to stay here until he comes back. After all, if anything has happened to him, Giles and Ms Calendar are the ones in charge. It's their responsibility."

"Stop this bickering, all of you!" an older sounding male snapped, his clipped English accent contrasting with the Californian drawl of the other speakers.

Fin and Munch glanced at each other before Munch finished the action the voices had postponed and knocked on the door.

"Buffy, see who that is please." An authoritive female voice requested. Probably the previously referred to Ms Calendar the two detectives surmised.

"I bet it's that lamebrain, Clark, forgetting his key!" the original speaker mutteredas the door was opened by an attractive, worried looking, girl of about sixteen.

Munch and Fin smiled reassuringly at her as they flashed their badges.

"Hi," Fin began, "we're detectives with the NYPD and we'd like to speak to a Mr. Rupert Giles."

A slim man who could have been anything between mid-thirties to mid-forties in age came up to stand behind the young girl.

"I'm Giles." He said in the precise English accent they had previously heard.

Fin looked the man over, taking in his carelessly brushed, slightly too long hair, his dark, rimmed spectacles and his unfashionable tweed clothing and his heart sank. It would be difficult enough to explain to this unworldly looking scholar that his missing charge had been murdered; it would be even harder for him to grasp how the boy had been mutilated.

'Unless, he's the perp!' he reminded himself firmly. 'He wouldn't be the first sicko bastard not to look the part.'

"We'd like to speak to you, Mr Giles." Much said. He glanced towards the small group of teenagers who were looking at them with interest. "Alone, please."

"Yes, of course." Mr. Giles looked round. "My bedroom's this way. We should have privacy there."

He led the way across the common area of the suite but the detectives did not miss the meaningful glance he shared with the other adult in the room, a woman they assumed to be Ms Calendar and, surprisingly, with the petite girl who had opened the door to them.

"So what have you got for us?" Olivia looked at the M.E. as she finished writing up her notes; her glance moving on to rest on the mortal remains of their victim, now decently covered by a white cloth.

Warner looked up. "Still no clear cause of death. No other wounds or puncture marks on the body. Could have been blood loss from having his manhood cut off but he was young and fit so he should have been able to survive that. He certainly died once his brain was removed. I've sent samples of his stomach contents and hair to toxicology to check for poison but it'll take a while for them to process the results. I was also able to remove some trace from under his fingernails and shirt. No DNA, just dirt. I sent that to the lab as well to see if they could get a line of where it might have come from."

"So you got nothing?" Elliot said.

"I didn't say that." She replied. She went over to the body and lifted the sheet. "See that?" she pointed to two small designs standing red and raw on the inside of the boy's thighs. "They're fresh, done just prior to death."

Elliot bent down to study them. "Gang tats?" he asked.

The M.E. shook her head. "Those aren't tattoos." She said. "He was branded with a hot iron."

Olivia covered her mouth in a reflex gesture. "The perp, branded him, castrated him, then removed his brain?" She clarified.

Warner nodded. "I'm guessing that's the order in which it happened." She confirmed.

Elliot was staring at the designs, "They look vaguely familiar." He said.

"They would be if you know any classical Greek." The M.E. replied. "That's the Greek symbol of Omega the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Here's a photo." She offered a print, which Elliot took from her.

"So, our perp is sick and well educated." Olivia remarked.

Elliot's cell rang and he answered it. He listened, then said. "OK, give us a few moments." He turned to the others, "That was Fin, he and Munch are with the teacher who made the Missing Persons report. He's here to formally identify the body."

"I'll get it moved to the TV monitor." Warner said.

Elliot held out his hand to stop her. "Don't bother. He's asked to directly view the body. He told Munch he doesn't trust modern technology."

The doors of the room swung open and Fin and Munch marched in accompanied by a stranger.

Fin turned towards him. "Are you ready Mr. Giles?" he asked.

The man nodded and Dr. Warner gently removed the sheet from the corpse's face.

The four detectives studied the man and saw him flinch slightly when he saw the gap where the scull case should have been but he was otherwise unaffected by the presence of such violent death.

"Yes," he said, in the well modulated tones of the well-educated English person. "That is Clark Motson, our missing student."

"Thank you for your time, sir. We'll have someone drive you back to your hotel." Fin said.

"Yes. Thank you." Mr. Giles replied. He paused. "You said his genitalia had also been removed?" he asked.

Munch nodded. "Yes, but we'd be grateful if you'd keep that to yourself for the time being."

"Of course." The Englishman replied.

On a hunch, Elliot held out the photo Warner had given him. "Do you recognise this symbol, Mr. Giles?" he asked.

The Englishman studied it for a long moment and the detectives had the strong feeling he was carefully considering how he should answer.

"Yes," he finally said. "It's the Greek symbol Omega. Why do you ask? Does it have some relevance to poor Clark's death?"

Olivia paused. "It has come up during our enquiries." She temporised.

Darkness had fallen but the entire SVU were still in the bullpen.

Munch put down the phone. "So this guy Giles," he said, "Graduated Oxford University, had a good job in the British Museum, then suddenly gave it all up to move to Sunnydale, California to become a high school librarian. He must have powerful friends; he got his Green Card in record time."

"Scandal?" asked Captain Cragen.

Munch rubbed his nose. "If there was, nobody's talking but there are some gaps in his record. He appears to have dropped out of college and disappeared off the face of the earth for almost a year, then returned to finish his studies as if nothing had happened."

"He wouldn't be the first well-connected sick sadist we've collared." Elliot noted.

"You like him for this?" Cragen asked again.

"When he was identifying the body, his reactions were off, Cap. He was almost clinical. Plus he recognised the Omega symbol"

"British stiff upper lip?"

Olivia took up the dialogue "When El showed him the photo it was like he was considering whether or not to lie."

"And the way he dresses and acts. It's like some stereotyped absent-minded professor from a 1950's British movie. Like he's playing a part." Elliot took over again.

"When we went to see him earlier, there were some vibes there with the other teacher and at least some of the students." Fin put in. "Elliot's right, he's off, that whole group is off. Only I can't put my finger on how."

"You think it may be a cult thing?" Cragen questioned.

His detectives shrugged.

"OK. In the absence of any other viable suspects, lets look into this guy's background some more. Munch, get back on the phone and try to contact the Oxford police. They may have records that aren't on the national database. Also see if there's anyone at the British consulate willing to help dig up more background on him. And let's not forget the others in this group. As far as we know, they're the only people in this city who knew the victim. The rest of you find out what you can about them.

TBC.