Hunting Our Needs

Ch 6 – Searchers and Hunters

"There was an ancient cult of snake-worshippers," Anya explained to the assembled group, "called the Cult of Sobek. They were generally reviled throughout ancient Egypt because they believed that magic was corrupting men, diminishing their influence throughout the world. Though they claimed allegiance to the Crocodile god of the Nile, they were a pretty ambivalent bunch towards gods and goddesses influence over man's affairs as well. Anyway, the ingredients of this sales receipt, especially the totem, mean someone is trying to summon the incarnation of Sobek."

"Okay…and any summoning is usually a bad thing," Buffy said, "but what's the freak out, specifically?"

"Sobek was said to have the power to hunt down magic users…priests, magicians, whatever. But more importantly, he could be summoned in order to find lost magical artifacts. I even considered him myself when I was trying to get my powers back, but once he's summoned to one dimension he can't go crossing over into another. So, if this blonde lady is the same one you fought, and she's trying to summon Sobek…" Anya looked expectantly as the pieces clicked into place.

"You think she's looking for this creature to find her Key," Giles supplied.

Buffy went pale. Swallowing over the lump of fear in her throat she managed to squeak out, "I've got to find her. Stop her from completing the ritual."

"Buffy, we don't know where she'd be," Xander said. "Besides, so she gets the Key and goes home. Maybe we should be helping her out here."

"The monk told me that we'd all suffer if she opened that portal," Buffy reminded them. "Besides, we can't let her get…" Buffy stopped, having realized she was just about to say 'Dawn'. "…uh, this Key thing until we know more about it and her."

"I tend to agree with Buffy," Giles added, "Until we know the consequences of this portal business more fully, we should keep her from opening it. A-and that means: finding and stopping this summoning ritual."

"Well, she'd need a reptile for Sobek to inhabit…" Anya started when she was interrupted by Willow, blurting the rest of her thought.

"The zoo!"

"Right. I'll get over there. Dawnie, stay here with the gang 'til I get back," Buffy was already up and heading toward the counter. She knew there'd be an axe hidden on one of the shelves below the register.

A sudden crash and the sounds of falling glass interrupted everyone in mid-stream. Standing just inside the window, or more like slithering, was a large torso topped by a snake's head.

Buffy ran for the counter for that axe. Xander grabbed Anya and pushed her behind him. Giles had been startled backward where he fell into Tara seated in a chair; they both tumbled to the floor. Willow had leapt up and was trying to chant a spell, but her mind was blanking out on the words…she had three spells in mind and they were all confused in the excitement.

Dawn stood screaming as the thing lurched halfway into the shop. Buffy yelled for her to move, but the snake-man reared back. Its violet eyes briefly turned silver before returning to their normal hue. It hissed at Dawn and she thought it sounded vaguely like laughter or an exclamation of triumph and then it was bolting back out of the shop.

Buffy sprinted past her, the axe gripped tightly in one of her hands. Dawn heard her mumbling something that sounded like, 'it knows' and then she was gone. Giles raced behind Buffy, shouting, "I'll follow in my car!"

The rest of the gang was left behind to make sure no one was hurt and to secure the shop.

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In an otherwise empty house, April slowly managed to move a limb. Bending with difficulty she struggled to start the generator near her.

She tried to shout for Warren, to let him know that somehow she'd come unplugged and the generator had shut off, but her vocalizer wasn't working. She didn't have the power reserves to run it, her language database, and her motor functions all at once. In fact, all of her external sensors, except her hearing were shut down as she'd come very close to being completely out of power. Right now, she determined that mobility was most required.

Fortunately, April had created an emergency file of her own design days ago to warn her if her power reserves should fall to critical. It wasn't that she didn't trust Warren, because she was programmed to think of him as infallible. But, he'd been very busy and she had worried he wouldn't take care of himself. When he became obsessed over a new project, he'd often forget to eat or sleep and it fell to April to remind him of these important events for his continued optimal functioning. So, she had created the emergency file just in case he ever forgot to plug in her power supply when he wasn't using her. This allowed her to be woken up before it was too late, so that she could plug herself in. And in this way, always be prepared to help her boyfriend stay in his optimum operational condition. It was completely for her boyfriend's benefit…he'd programmed her that it was the woman's responsibility to worry about these things while he pursued the great achievements.

After struggling for nearly half an hour, she finally had managed to switch the generator back on and to plug in her power cord. Unfortunately she didn't hear Warren anywhere within the house throughout that time and that had her approximating worry. Adam was formidable and anything could have happened while she was insensate. She knew she shouldn't be concerned because Warren was smart and capable and strong, but Adam was built to kill and Warren, for all of his many, many, many outstanding and stupendous qualities, was still a human organism.

As she began to re-power, she displayed an internal digital map of Sunnydale. If, when she was fully restored, she found Adam and Warren missing, she would immediately begin a systematic sweep for them.

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Buffy strained her muscles as she raced after Sobek, its own movements being far quicker than hers. In her mind there was a repeating refrain of 'it'll rat out Dawn' and she pushed herself frantically to catch the damned thing. She knew it would be headed back to the powerful blonde and it would reveal everything. She couldn't let that happen!

Behind her, she heard Giles' sports car racing toward her and as she glanced back, he caught up and surpassed her. She caught a determined look on his face as he aimed the BMW at the racing serpent-man. She kinda wished he'd stopped long enough to pick her up.

Giles' car made a hairpin swerve just ahead of her, the automobile smashing into the body of Sobek and causing a loud hiss from him. Buffy was still a few dozen steps away and redoubled her efforts. As she watched, Giles pulled a dagger from the glove compartment and tried to stab the beast. She admired his bravery, but her heart sank as Sobek easily disarmed him. Her Watcher was backhanded and went tumbling out of the open convertible top.

Buffy didn't have time to check on him, as Sobek had gotten its heavy tail free of the car's wheels and was once again on the run. It managed to bust through a gate into Rainbow Park, but she was gaining on it.

As Sobek went slithering past a picnic table, Buffy leapt onto it; using it as a springboard. She flew several feet and then connected solidly with the snake, grabbing it around its smooth shoulders.

As she managed to wrap one arm around its throat and begin squeezing, Sobek was thrashing around making keeping her grip more difficult. It bucked unexpectedly, and Buffy found herself flying back onto the picnic table and then off of it and hitting the ground hard.

Sobek used the opportunity to swing around the table and struck out at her. She screamed as large fangs penetrated her left shoulder and he picked her up off the ground. Giving her a few shakes like a dog with a toy, Buffy's shoulder screeched in protest.

Moments later, Giles' voice rang out across the park. Buffy felt an impact through Sobek and he dropped her to the ground. A glance revealed Giles loading another heavy bolt in his crossbow.

Sobek turned and Buffy saw its muscles tense in preparation for another dash, but she again leaped on the thing. Yanking back, she forced Sobek to fall backward on top of her where she wrapped her good arm and her legs around it. He was busy hissing and spitting, his body writhing around atop her and the ground, but she refused to let go.

She saw Giles let loose another bolt and felt Sobek shudder on top of her and go still.

After Giles had assisted her out from under the snakeman, he began to check over her wound. Sobek lay on the ground; a crossbow bolt sticking out from its maw. Blood leaked from between its protruded fangs and into the dirt.

Giles was just moving her blouse out of the way of her wound when Sobek suddenly leaped up, shocking yells out of them both. Pushing Giles away, Buffy again leaped at Sobek, this time into its arms. Even as it tried to wrestle her away, she grabbed the shaft lodged in its throat and leaned into it, pushing it deeper and deeper into its flesh.

Sobek flopped on the ground for nearly a minute like a fish out of water before it finally stilled again. Buffy took no chances: she yanked the bolt from its mouth and rammed it back in again and again until Giles finally grabbed her arm and said forcefully that he was dead. Looking at the fallen body, she could see the brains leaking out of Sobek's head.

As Giles yanked her away, the huge beast radiated a soft violet glow and shrunk. In seconds it had lost all of its former mass and form and was now just a large, but normal, dead snake.

"You've been bitten deeply," Giles was saying, "but I don't believe it struck anything major. You should be well in a few days."

"Yea. Another few days of pain. You know something, Giles? I'm getting really tired lately of being everything's punching bag."

"Well," Giles bent for a closer look at the snake, "I don't believe this was a poisonous variety, so at least it hasn't filled you with venom."

"Just blind luck," Buffy said harshly. "Giles, I can't keep doing this. I may not be losing lately, but I am depending on luck way too much. I need to know why I'm coming so close lately."

"I know you're upset with your performance lately, Buffy. And I'm trying to give you more skills, but you're the only one that knows whether you're fighting your best in any given situation."

"I know," Buffy blew out air in frustration. "It's Adam's return, I think. I only got to beat him because of you guys combining with me. Now with him back, even though he shouldn't be nearly as tough now, I just keep getting hurt. I'm missing something, Giles…I don't know…I'm just tired, maybe…wore out."

"With everything happening with your mother, that isn't surprising. I've looked in the journals I have copies of, but there simply isn't a lot of details about what made the Slayer's last battles different from any of the previous ones. Not that you can blame the Watcher for that…I'm sure writing of such things would be…uh…"

"…unseemly," Buffy gave him a weak and sardonic grin, "Tacky? In 'poor taste'?"

"I was going to say 'painful'. Not all Watchers are like Travers…especially those who've actually worked in the field with you young ladies."

"Sorry," Buffy sighed. "But right now, I could really use them to be less human and more 'all business'."

"I'm far more interested right now in Sobek. He found something in the shop, Buffy. If he really was after the location of this 'Key'…"

Buffy gave him a long look as he stared off into space, probably doing an entire mental inventory of what was located in the shop. She took a deep breath for courage and then touched his arm.

"It's Dawn, Giles. The thing was sent to find Dawn. She's the mysterious Key."

"Dawn? Buffy, I don't think I understand."

"I know. The monk told me that Dawn used to be energy. All of our memories, all of the past is just a lie." Buffy continued to fill Giles in on everything she could remember from what the monk she'd tried to rescue said before his demise.

"My heavens," Giles said, immediately grabbing his glasses and polishing them.

"That's why I've been so stressed lately. It's why I've been so worried about not being good enough. Giles, I have to be better! I have to find a way to be stronger and faster. I need to know more about my Slayer heritage, now more than ever. Giles, she's still my sister. No matter how she came to be here, she belongs to me and mom. I have to keep her safe, not because of what she started out as, but because of who she is now."

"Yes, well…uh, well…this will take some getting used to."

"I know, but we have to try to act normal. The gang shouldn't know, either. At least not yet, the less people that know the truth, the less chance that someone will slip up."

Giles nodded to her, giving her a small smile. "Yes, of course, I quite agree. Well, for the moment, Dawn is safe and we haven't exhausted all of our resources in finding out who this woman truly is. With this new information, maybe I can tease out more information from my books. As for knowing more about the deciding battles…"

Giles began to give Buffy a shrug, before stopping in the middle of the gesture. His eyes lit up, followed by a frown as he looked at her.

"What? You thought of something, Giles. You have 'light bulb' face."

"You're not going to like it."

"Right now, I'll be grateful for any suggestion to help me keep Dawnie's secret safe and get rid of this 'Beast'."

Giles cleared his throat before he went on. "There's only one person still alive, so to speak, who has been an eyewitness to a Slayer's last battle. He could give you the details you're looking for…"

"…you're right. I don't like this idea," Buffy sighed.

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End Ch 6