BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
"TIME AFTER TIME"
PROLOGUE
It had been nearly three months since the titanic battle with the ancient lich Zaragos, and things were slowly returning to normal for Buffy and her friends. All the damage done to the fortress had been repaired, those lost in the battle had been laid to rest, and – at Buffy's insistence – Xander and the mystics were working on improving their defenses, to prevent another such attack.
Willow and Buffy continued to explore their new relationship as well, though Buffy insisted on keeping it a secret from everyone else… much to Willow's chagrin. She knew Xander and Dawn had to suspect something, and Giles… well, he pretty much knew already, after the conversation they'd all had before.
"Are you embarrassed or something?" Willow asked. She and Buffy were patrolling a nearby cemetery in the dark of night, waiting for a new vampire to rise from its grave. Though she had long since recovered from her injuries, Buffy was still trying to prove her fighting skills had returned to normal as well.
"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed in a hurt voice. Regretting the outburst, she softened her tone. "Of course I'm not. It's just…"
"It's just what, Buffy? Are you worried everyone's going to start treating us differently?"
"No," Buffy replied softly. "I mean, I didn't treat you any differently when you told me about Tara, did I?" Willow arched an eyebrow.
"No… but you did freak out a little."
"I did not!"
"Buffy, you said my name three times in a single sentence! You freaked!" Buffy hung her head.
"Okay… maybe just a little. I just never expected…" Buffy's cheeks colored when she realized what she was about to say. "Okay, shutting up now." Willow laughed and gently rested her head on Buffy's shoulder.
"You were there for me when I needed you the most, Buffy. It was the most difficult thing I think I've ever done… and you helped me through it." Buffy smiled sadly.
"You were happy, Will. For the first time since Oz left, you were happy. That was all I needed to know." Willow blinked away a tear.
"You are NOT going to get out of this by making me cry again!" she said stubbornly, but she still smiled.
"I love you," Buffy said simply. "You know I do."
"I love you too," Willow replied, "and I want to be able to share that with our friends. I want them to be happy with us."
"I want that too," Buffy said hesitantly. "You don't know how much. I'm just afraid, Will."
"Afraid of what?" Willow repeated. Buffy swallowed. Before she could answer, the newly-risen vampire they had been waiting for erupted from the grave Buffy had been sitting on. Caught off guard, Buffy fell back, and the stake she had been holding slipped from her hand. Pulling himself free from the ground, the vampire bared his teeth and leapt at Buffy. He was stopped in mid-jump by a shimmering wave of energy.
"Sorry fangs, can't let you do that," Willow quipped. Her spell held the vampire fast while Buffy retrieved her stake and quickly dispatched him with a vicious stab to the heart.
"I could've taken him, you know," Buffy muttered.
"You're welcome," Willow replied with a grin. "Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer my girlfriend without the puncture wounds to the neck, thank you."
"That's the first time you've called me that," Buffy whispered.
"Well… you are, aren't you? My girlfriend, I mean."
"As long as you'll have me," Buffy replied with a warm smile. "I just thought you might not be ready for all that, after everything that happened with Kennedy…" Willow winced.
"Kennedy and I weren't exactly on the best of terms to begin with," she replied, not eager to remember their last conversation. "Besides, now that the one and only Buffy Summers is finally mine, I want the whole world to know she's off-limits!" Buffy grinned.
"Relax," she said. "I promise, no lips shall touch mine except Willow-lips."
"Good," Willow replied with a smile of her own. "We weren't finished talking though..." She was interrupted by another vampire that suddenly leapt at them from behind. It threw a surprised Buffy to the ground, its hands wrapping around her neck. As she struggled with it, two more vampires tore their way out of the muddy ground on either side of her.
"When did this become a team sport?!" Buffy snapped.
"Hang on, Buffy!" Willow called out.
"I got it," Buffy muttered irritably. She snapped her head back, butting the vampire in his face, and he immediately let get with a roar of pain. Grabbing one of his arms, Buffy flipped over, slamming him down onto his back. The stake flashed in her hand, and the vampire disappeared in a cloud of foul-smelling dust.
The other two vampires closed in on her, trying to catch Buffy in a pincer attack, but they couldn't match the Slayer's speed. Driving her elbow into the gut of one of the foul creatures, she spun around and nailed the other with a spinning high kick. Her stake flashed again, and the vampire was dust the moment it touched the ground. The sole remaining vampire, having seen its brethren so easily dispatched, apparently lost its courage and took off running. Buffy shook her head, disappointed.
"They never learn," she muttered. She hurled her stake at the retreating vampire's back and it struck home, dusting the creature in mid-stride.
"Remind me to never to make you mad," Willow joked. Buffy grinned.
"Don't worry, I don't stake witches. Well, not the gorgeous, red-headed kind named Willow Rosenberg anyway." Willow blushed.
"Stop that," she said, sounding embarrassed.
"Stop what?" Buffy asked innocently.
"Calling me gorgeous… that's one thing I'm definitely not."
"I beg to differ, Willow-mine." She gently kissed Willow on the forehead and pulled her into a hug.
"You are still not getting out of this discussion," Willow teasingly reminded her.
"Wait."
"Buffy!"
"I'm serious, Will… what's this?" She knelt and picked up something small and green that glittered on the ground at their feet. Though irritated at Buffy's continued refusal to talk, Willow couldn't deny her curiousity.
"Did one of the vamps drop that?"
"I think so," Buffy replied, "but what is it?"
"Looks like some kind of gemstone… an emerald, maybe?" She gingerly reached out to touch it. The moment her finger grazed the smooth surface of the gem, she felt something dark and terrible surge through her. She jerked her hand back like it had been burnt, her eyes suddenly a fearsome black.
"Will!"
"I'm okay…" Willow managed, drawing a deep breath. She closed her eyes, reaching inward to calm herself, and when she opened her eyes they were normal again.
"What happened?!"
"That's no ordinary gem, Buffy. It's filled with dark magic… like I've never felt before. It almost overwhelmed me." Buffy swallowed. Willow was the most powerful witch on Earth; what kind of power could possibly overwhelm her so suddenly?
"Why isn't it doing anything to me?" Buffy asked fearfully.
"You don't have the same connection to magic as I do," Willow responded. "Even with our bond."
"So why would a vamp be carrying around something like that?" Willow shook her head.
"I don't know… but I think we'd better find out."
As Buffy and Willow left the cemetery together, they failed to notice a pair of inhuman yellow eyes watching them from the shadows nearby. Unwilling to risk himself against the powers of the Slayer and the Sorceress, the vampire instead silently watched them leave, paying careful attention to the glittering gem they were taking with them. Then, with a low growl, he faded back into the darkness.
Later, in the moldering ruins of an ancient crypt, the vampire dropped to its knees before another. Cloaked in shadows, his master sat before him in tall-backed chair, reading a very old book. The yellowed pages crinkled with age in his hands as he slowly turned them. After a long moment, he slowly raised his eyes to his groveling servant.
"Well?" he asked, in a cruel voice with a strong English accent.
"We… failed, master."
"FAILED?!" the master roared. The vampire cringed.
"It wasn't our fault, master! It was the Slayer!" he wailed. "She has the gem now!"
"I see," the master replied, sounding eerily calm. "Perhaps I expected too much of you… entrusted you with too much responsibility!" He stood, angrily tossing the book he had been reading aside. He was clad head to toe in jet black leather, yellow eyes gleaming behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. A ring with a blood-red stone glittered on one of his fingers.
"Master, I…"
"Silence! You know I do not tolerate failure!"
"Please, master!" the vampire whimpered, trying desperately to back away. "Give me another chance!"
"Now why I should do that? So you can fail me again?" A withered, claw-like hand shot out to grab the vampire by his throat, lifting him off the ground.
"I… I won't… fail you again… master…!" the vampire gasped out against his master's choking grip.
"No, you won't," the master agreed coldly. Something sharp and metallic flashed in his other hand, and the hapless vampire's head tumbled from his shoulders. The headless body instantly crumbled to dust. The master paused to wipe some of the dust off his clothes, a look of disgust on his face.
"Impossible to get good help in this wretched world," he complained. "I suppose I'll just have to take care of the Slayer myself."
Buffy and Willow were nearly back to the fortress by then. Walking near the loch, hand in hand, the two were still talking about the mysterious gem they had found.
"You sure you've got that thing?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded.
"As long as I don't make any physical contact with it, I'm fine," she replied. "Besides, it's safer this way. No danger to either of us." Willow had used her magic to encase the gem in a protective sphere of light, which hovered just above her outstretched hand.
"Just be careful, Will. No more black and veiny stuff, okay?" Willow smiled.
"Why Miss Summers, I do believe you're worried about me," she teased. Buffy gently squeezed the hand holding hers.
"Get used to it, Miss Rosenberg. I just found you, I'm not gonna lose you."
"I love you, Buffy; I'm not going anywhere."
"I love you, too," Buffy said quietly. "Just… old habits, y'know?"
"Buffy…"
"So," Buffy interrupted her, "Any more thoughts on the stone from hell?"
"You know I'm not going to let you get out of this forever," Willow said, sounding annoyed. "We need to talk."
"I know. I'm just… not ready yet, okay?" Willow sighed.
"All right… for now."
"So, about the stone?" Buffy asked again. Willow shook her head, trying to hide her smile. You drive me crazy sometimes, Buffy… good thing I love you so damn much.
"I don't know what it is any more than you do, Buffy. I don't recall ever reading about a stone like this in any of my books, either. One thing's for sure, though… the vamp who had this thing wasn't using it himself."
"What makes you say that?"
"As powerful as this stone is, there's no way your garden-variety suck-head could possibly control it."
"Then he must've been trying to deliver it to someone who could," Buffy said.
"Could be," Willow agreed. "I'm not sure I want to meet that someone though. The kind of power this gem has, in the wrong hands, could be… bad. Really, really bad."
"Like, summon a major demon bad?"
"More like 'end of the world' bad." Buffy grimaced.
"I think I'm sorry I asked." Suddenly, without warning, something dark and powerful slammed into Buffy and Willow, sending them sprawling.
"Now what?!" Buffy snapped, quickly getting to her feet again.
"You have something that belongs to me, Slayer," a sinister voice replied. "I've come to reclaim it." A dark figure appeared before her, his long leather jacket rustling in the breeze. Shadows hid most of his features, but she could see moonlight glinting off his gold-rimmed glasses.
"Nice fashion choice," Buffy quipped. "I've never met a near-sighted vampire before."
"Joke while you can," the dark man replied. In a blur of speed, he leapt forward, catching Buffy with a quick, vicious punch to her face. She recovered quickly though, and dodged away from his attempt at a follow-up.
"Get behind me, Will," she whispered. "Whatever you do, protect that stone."
"You cannot stop me," the dark man threatened, noticing Buffy step protectively in front of Willow and the gem.
"Try me," Buffy countered.
"Insolent brat," her opponent hissed. "I see I'm going to have to teach you a lesson is respect." With that, he sprung forward, lashing out at Buffy with a vicious kick. She managed to dodge it in the nick of time, but the dark man caught her with an elbow across her face. Snarling, he spun around and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her head back before savagely driving his knee into the pit of her stomach. Buffy crumbled to the ground. The dark man proceeded to deliver a sharp kick to her ribs as she struggled to get back to her feet. Then, pivoting on his foot, he lashed out with a bone-crushing kick to her face. Buffy rolled away, tasting blood in her mouth.
"Buffy!" Willow screamed. "Hang on, I'm coming!!"
"I'm afraid not," the dark man replied. Turning to face Willow, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small vial filled with a glowing blue liquid.
"Sishak," he hissed, tossing the vial at Willow. It struck the ground at her feet and exploded, releasing clouds of stifling, blinding smoke. Willow staggered back, choking and coughing. The dark man dove towards her. Unable to see him through the smoke, Willow was caught off guard and unable to defend herself. The dark man tackled her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. The moment her concentration faltered, the protective sphere of light around the gem vanished. The dark man snatched it out of the air with a growl of triumph.
"Thank you," he hissed, "for giving me the power to seal your doom!"
"Not so fast, ugly," Buffy snapped. Coming up behind the dark man, she caught him across the face with a high kick, and the gem went flying.
"Wretched child!" the dark man roared. He swung around to attack her, but Buffy was quicker. She swept his legs out from under him, then leapt on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
"All right, who are you!" Buffy shouted, grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling his face towards her. The moment she saw him, Buffy felt the breath catch in her throat. Her eyes widened.
"No… no, it can't be…"
"What's wrong, girl?" the dark man asked with a grin. "You look like you've lost your best friend." The face staring back at hers was like something out of a nightmare… a demon staring back at her from within the ruins of a man she had loved like a father. Buffy wondered why she hadn't recognized his voice earlier, but then she realized it had become much deeper and darker than it had ever been before. More of the legacy of the monster that had destroyed the man she'd once known.
"G… Giles?!"
"Not quite," the dark man answered. "Where I come from, the slaves address me as Lord Giles."
"Huh? W-wait… you mean, you're not…?"
"You'll understand soon enough," he said with a savage grin. Without warning, his head shot up, smashing into hers in a brutal head butt. Buffy's hands instinctively went to her injured face, and the dark man seized the opportunity to shove her off of him. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed the gem from where it had fallen to the ground.
"Now then… where was I?" he said dramatically. Clasping the gem firmly in one hand, he began to chant. The gem began to glow fiercely, rays of emerald light spilling out from between his fingers.
"Hear me, oh Kronos… and throw open wide the gates of time…!" A vortex of brilliant greenish light swirled around the dark man and then, with a clap like thunder, he was gone. Picking herself up off the ground, Buffy stared at the empty space he had once occupied and shook her head.
"That can't be good."
"Buffy!" Willow's panicked voice cut through her like a knife.
"I'm coming!" She darted to her best friend's side in an instant and gently helped her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"I'll live," Willow replied weakly. "Just had the wind knocked out of me. What happened to tall, dark and ugly?" Buffy swallowed.
"He got the gem."
"What!?"
"I messed up," Buffy whispered, hanging her head. "I let… what he looked like... distract me."
"Was he that gross?" Willow joked. Buffy shook her head.
"No. Will… he was Giles." Willow's eyes went wide.
"W-what?!" she gasped, her voice breaking. "No… no, that's impossible!"
"I don't think he was 'our' Giles, if that makes any sense," Buffy replied, trying to comfort her best friend. "He was definitely a vamp, though."
"Not our Giles?"
"I don't know to explain it, Wills; but there were two of you once, remember?"
"I try not to," Willow replied. In truth, she remembered her vampiric doppelganger very well, but the memories were not pleasant.
"We've got to get that gem back, Buffy. There's no telling what he could do with it!"
"He already did," Buffy muttered. "He cast some kind of spell with it, and just… vanished." Willow swallowed.
"What kind of spell? Did you hear him say anything?" she asked.
"Something about 'the gates of time'…" Buffy replied. She looked at Willow. "This is bad, isn't it?"
"Well…" Willow said thoughtfully, trying her best not to panic. "I've never heard of any spell like that. Got to say though, having a big, nasty vamp that happens to look like Giles open 'the gates of time' doesn't exactly sound like a good thing."
"We'd better hurry back to the fortress and get some help," Buffy replied. "I've got a really bad feeling about all this." Together, she and Willow made their way back to the old Scottish fortress that had become their home and headquarters as fast as they could. They drew in sight of the place minutes later. Willow pulled up short.
"Hey Buffy," she said quietly. "Does this place look… wrong to you all of the sudden?" Buffy swallowed.
"Where are the guards?" she asked aloud.
"That's not all," Willow added. "Where did those black flags come from?" She pointed to several large, black standards fluttering in the chill breeze from their places atop the ramparts.
"I don't like this," Buffy whispered.
"Don't move!" an angry voice suddenly barked from behind her. Buffy started to turn around, only to feel something hard and sharp jab her in her already-sore ribs. Angry, Buffy grabbed the offending prod and tore it from its owner's grasp. Then she whirled around to face the newcomer. Her jaw dropped.
Half a dozen men in military uniforms, bearing an insignia she didn't recognize, stood in front her, weapons at the ready. They looked human, but Buffy could see their flesh was an inhuman, scaly green. Another, presumably their leader, held Willow as his hostage, his arm wrapped around her throat and his gun pressed against her head. Half of his face was twisted and deformed. The other half she recognized instantly as Riley Finn