a/n: IAM STILL ALIVE! And so is this story. I have been schooling and working, moving cities, fighting dragons but I have finally brought you the next chapter. I'm hoping to complete a chapter every month but we'll see how diligently I can stick to that schedule because people are making me have a social life. Thanks for everyone's support and reviews during the time of silence, reading them gave me a smile. As promised, here is the race, some slaying, and just general up-to-no-goodness. And the rest of this story finally has a direction so hopefully it'll even get finished.
P.s. Extra long chapter in apology. And I'm too lazy to put a space in Hellmouth so that's how it'll be spelled from now on.
Chapter 9: Off To The Races
The last rays of the sun were just barely lighting the sky in reds and purples over the desert as the whole house transitioned from family meal to dressing to impress for the upcoming race night. Buffy was still a little sceptical of this whole race business but then again she spent her nights in a completely different, remotely illegal manner so who was she to judge before trying it?
The nights were still fairly warm so Buffy decided she'd have a little fun and wear shorts. The bruises had healed over the course of the day, probably due to finally eating a good meal and having some restful sleep. Only light silvery trails along her skin defined where injuries had been but no one with human eyes would be able to pick up on them, especially with the low street lightly where they were going to hanging out. Riffling through her duffle bag, she laid out a careful assort of both clothes and matching weapons. Mostly things she could easily hide and not have everyone think she was a crazy person.
Buffy wiggled into some high waisted light wash jean shorts what were both long enough to maintain her dignity but short enough not to restrict leg movement. Pulling on a light, black long sleeve shirt, she tucked in the short front into her waist band and left the back to slight overlap the dagger hidden at the small of her back.
"You just about ready?" Brian asked, popping his head around the living room door way with his eyes firmly shut.
"I'm clothed Brian," Buffy assured him.
"Oh good." He looked at her for a moment with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Are you sure you wouldn't want more leg coverage? You could borrow one of my pairs of sweatpants?"
"And look like I escaped from a basement where I've spent the last two weeks watching all of the CSI episodes? No, thank you" Buffy was sceptical about where this line of questioning was going.
"True. You could borrow a pair of Mia's cargo pants? Maybe a nice sweater dress?" Brian proposed.
"Why does she own either? It's the middle of the California desert?"
"She-" Buffy interrupted him.
"No, these are my clothes. And If I want to bare my legs and collarbones to the world then I will," she said. Brian rolled his eyes and disappeared behind down the hall way.
"So there,"Buffy whispered in victory. Her phone chirped and she checked it, finding a somewhat psychic text from Faith.
Heard you were going out on the town so to speak. I packed appropriate footwear for you. You're welcome.
Buffy raised both brows. How did you know? She texted back.
;)
Buffy rolled her eyes and peered into the bottom of her duffle like she might find a pair of shoes fashioned out of snakes waiting for her. Instead she found a pair of thigh high, leather, lace up, pointy toed high heeled boots.
Buffy drooled a little.
The stiletto heel was mad out of wood, a beautiful dark wood that had been polished until the grains gleamed. On the arch of the sole on both boots was a coven mark. It was the coven mark of the Unified British Coven that worked alongside the Watcher's Council and had been very helpful and patient with her as she had tried to sort out business with a lack of watchers in England.
That meant they weren't just sexy boots. They were sexy magical boots. With a wooden heel. These boots could literally slay.
Buffy gasped and grinned, dropping down onto the couch to slide on a pair of accommodating socks (because bare feet in closed leather boots, ew) and the boots.
Sexy, magically comfortable and durable, vampire staking boots. Faith was pretty awesome. And finding a birthday present for her on the same level as these was going to be a serious pain in the ass.
Slipping another small knife in the top of her right boot, she stamped her feet and shuffled to get a feel for them. They were flexible enough she could run in them and strong enough she wouldn't be worried about breaking a heel during a fight. Most importantly, they were practical. More so that carrying a giant tooth pick with her everywhere.
She walked into the front hall and found the male members of the household already there, Roman had surfaced from the basement. All of them were wearing black or dark wash jeans and clean t-shirts of wife beaters in varying colours.
Brian smiled at her and tucked her into his side. Letty joined them first, in simple leather combat boots, black jeans that were distressed the old fashioned way, though ware, and I tight red tank top. Really, the similarities between her and Faith were uncanny. As long as she didn't try and sleep with Brian while wielding a crossbow, things would be ok. Mia quickly followed in a white halter top and short swirly skirt.
"Finally," Vince groused letting himself out the door and jogging toward his car.
"That man has the patience of a three year old at a water park" Buffy mumbled.
"Don't let him hear you say that, we can't put him in a time out at the races" Brian retorted. Buffy smiled into his t-shirt.
"Yo homey, get yo' white ass in that golf cart o' yours. We goin' racin' or not? Them ladies be waitin' on they main man Roman to make they night!" Roman yelled from inside his purple and chrome attention grabber. He revved his engine with a loud laugh and was off down the street.
"Oh those poor women" said Letty. Dom, Brian Mia and Buffy shared a laugh and folded themselves into various cars. Vince was already idling waiting for them to get with the program.
One by one they pulled out of the driveway and filled the street and surrounding blocks with the echoes from highly tuned racing engines ready for a long and profitable night.
Buffy wasn't entirely sure what to expect of the night time street races. The crowds of colourfully and scantily dressed women mingling with car owners and admirers alike with all sorts of modified, supped up, and tricked out classical to foreign cars was almost too much to take in at once. She didn't know where to look first.
The Toretto clan came rolling in in an auspicious reversed V shape, the crowds hollering out names and moving out of the way then with the cars as they parked in a routine that looked too perfect to be unpracticed. Brian patted Buffy's hand and flashed her a smile before getting out of his neon rice rocket, smirk firmly fixed to his face, to stand next to Mia and Dom.
With a deep breath Buffy hoisted herself from the car and let the warm but not stuffy breeze help ease some of her anxiety. Letty came and stood next to her and gave her a slight nudge in her ribs.
"You'll be fine. Just remember to keep your chin up, put on your bitch face, and don't take crap from anyone" Letty said. Buffy nodded then showed her a snooty pout.
"Maybe ease a little there, less priss more powerfully unapproachable" she corrected. Buffy smiled and relaxed her face.
A casually dressed Hispanic man with a beautiful, if slightly under dressed Latina on his arm, came up to them, outstretching a hand to complete a firm handshake. He repeated this to Vince and Roman, gave Brian a polite nod and opened his arms to a quick hug from both Mia and Letty.
"Dom, it's good to finally see you back on the streets. We'd all heard you were back in town after all that trouble went down" there was a direct glance at Brian who rolled his eyes "but we were beginning to think you wouldn't turn up. I've got newbies chomping at the bit to claim being the new king. You gonna make me watch this?"
Dom let out a deep laugh.
"Like I'd let that happen. We had some family business to sort out."
"Oh, the snowman givin' you trouble?" Hector asked with a grin. Brian made a noise of exasperated complaint.
"No, we had a new face come in." Dom stretched a hand out to Buffy and beckoned her forward to curl his muscled arm around her shoulders.
"Hector, this is Buffy. She's Brian's sister, she needed some family to stay with. Make sure your boys are polite and welcoming if she stops by the Racer's Edge" Dom directed. Hector nodded and held out a hand to her.
"Hey chica, I'm Hector. I organise the races though I'm slowly being ousted by that Miami partier Tej."
There was an indignant Hey from Tej's microphone from the other end of the parking segment of the blocked off road.
"You race chica?" Buffy laughed quietly and shook her head.
"I'm not much of a driver. My reflexes and skills are better in person. But who knows, maybe these guys'll wrangle me into a car."
Dom squeezed her shoulders as they all shared wide grins and looks of excitement at the thought of getting Buffy behind the wheel of a highly modified gem of American muscle.
For now, the thoughts of getting behind the wheel of one of these cars was far from Buffy's mind with all the music, flashing of lights which she had been told were popular with Miami racers and was making a rise with LA racers, and the laughing of the crowds talking and dancing by a closed weigh station where a dj had set up shop. She couldn't tell if the shivers and heady rush she was getting was her regular senses overloading from everything going on or if her slayer senses were kicking in. Sweat beaded along her neck and back, as she tried to listen to everything at once. Engines roared and crowds cheered as the first set of four cars pulled on to the road at the painted strip to begin racing.
"Come on," Buffy jolted slightly when Dom put a hand at her back and steered her towards the edge of the road near the rest of the Toretto crew. "I don't want you to miss your first race, we have to get your blood pumping don't we?"
Buffy smiled and walked swiftly towards her brother at the start where he was grinning like an idiot. Tej was standing in the middle of the road flicking a thick bundle of cash with his thumb while hollering at the crowd and drivers to pump them up.
As he raised his hand, the hairs on the back of Buffy's neck prickled and her pupils dilated.
The cars took off, surrounded by squealing tires and burnout as the more amateur racers took off down the road, cheering and yelling following them from the spectators. A buzz in her head made the energy of the racer chasers and wannabes disappear.
A brief yellow double glow caught her eyes in the shadows on the opposite side of the wide road. It blinked at shifted as a figure turned and walked barely in sight along the edge of the crowd towards the less populated end of the road.
Buffy became aware of someone talking to her as the buzz in her ears faded away.
"-you alright? Hey," Brian turned her by her shoulder and looked into her face with concern.
"I'm fine, Brian. A little, um, over stimulated." Brian nodded in understanding.
"You gonna be alright? We'll probably be here until really late but we can get you a ride home if you need some space." Buffy smiled absently and patted his arm, her head craning to look at the rapidly disappearing figure.
"Yeah, but there is no need. I'm going to wonder a little bit," Buffy said. With a quick glance to Dom tking with a couple of strangers, Mia and Letty, and Vince and Roman heckling some other drivers, Buffy slipped into the crowds with an easy but quick walk following her focus toward the blocked off end of the street away from the racing strip and dancing crowds.
Slipping free of the last groups of before and just on the edge of the noise, Buffy slowed to a walk from her gentle jog past the rows of parked cars. She could here crickets again and the faint sounds of traffic from the highway and the busy downtown corridor. The sounds of footsteps made her turned around, her slayer senses on full alert but not kicking her into a fighting gear.
It was Whistler. Still wearing his vaguely 80's brown suit and stupid hat, a friendly and half hearted smirk stuck to his face.
"I really hope you came to say 'thank you' or something along those lines. It would be a nice change from every other time you've popped up in my life to screw something up," Buffy grumbled. Whistler smiled and glanced to where her brother's golden curls could just be seen under an amber street light.
"Your brother all caught up then?"
Buffy raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"My apologies. Thank you venerable Queen Slayer," Whistler jibbed as he gave a tiny tilt of his hat. She scoffed but smiled.
"He knows the main bits. We may not have been talking recently but he knows me well enough to fill in some gaps."
"How are you doing?"
"You mean am I still having nightmares, hypersensitivity, and aggressive flashbacks?"
Whistler gave a lower whistle, scuffed his shiny shoe's heel against the road and nodded his head.
"Yeah. Believe what you like Buffy, but the Powers That Be do care about you. You have done and surpassed and endured more than any other slayer, more than even They thought was possible. You've had family and friends along the way, and sometimes there is betrayal and heartbreak, but reconnecting you with your brother was important. That's why Faith received the dream that she did," explained Whistler. Buffy was astonished.
"Faith dreampt about Brian?"
"How do you think she knew where to find him and how to contact him? Whatever problems she's had, and that is plenty," Whistler gave a wry laugh, "she has come out of it caring for her sister slayer. You understand what it means to be burdened by your calling. The newly called slayers may have experienced pain, loss, and war but the giddiness from their new power dulls that for them."
Buffy didn't know what to say. As far as she had always felt, the Powers That Be were the distant and somewhat make believe figures that she could freely blame her difficulties and heartbreaks on because of their "contribution" to her destiny. It was because of them she had been called as a slayer and all the disastrous things that followed over the years could be linked to Their actions.
To know They cared? Well, They still seemed like jerks. The least They could have done was help out around the house when Willow and the gang had brought her back. What is house plumbing against the powers of the universe?
"So did they come to give thanks and apology or something?" Buffy was aware that being emotionally discombobulated was making her a little more snarky than should really be allowed but by the look on Whistler's face said that he understood.
"Not exactly. Certain…..events have aligned in such a way that your current…..peculiar situation is particularly suited to dealing with," Whistler hedged.
"What?" Buffy stared at him blankly.
"Something very serious has suddenly come up. To be entirely honest, We were going to have the shady money grubbing demonic resources available to Wolfram and Hart deal with it. But, and entirely by coincidence, you then landed yourself in a place surrounded by suitably skilled people to deal with this problem."
"Whistler," Buffy grit her teeth. "This is starting to sound a lot like work. Like a big slayer work related pain in my ass."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"No you aren't. Tell me the problem before I try out my new boots on you."
"It is a strange combination of some old familiar cases. Remember the Master's raison d'etre?"
"I assume that has nothing to due with raisins and means something fancy? Master fruit punch mouth wanted to open the Hellmouth."
"Yes. The Sunnydale Hellmouth was a interesting case in that it was naturally forming."
Now Whistler really had her attention. Even with all the information they had pertaining to Hellmouths, it was all ritual and what could be done. The formation or occurrence of one was ironically somewhat mythical.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Think of the Hellmouth as a volcano, filled with demonic energy magma. The presence of a volcano, with magma in it, will cause geographic phenomena like hot springs. The water is heated by proximity to the magma and takes place as a hot spring or geyser as a neutral natural occurance."
"Okay. So that is the Sunnydale Hellmouth? But if it isn't active why is it drawing demons left and right?"
"Those hot springs in this case act like a draw. Demons and those with some sort of connection could feel a change in the atmosphere if you will, that alerted them to the presence of the Hellmouth. But that doesn't mean the Hellmouth was open or directly active."
"So all the demons and stuff were like monkeys that wanted to come bathe in the Hellmouth hot springs," Buffy summarized.
"Interesting terms but yes. Only those with immense power would be able to face the open Hellmouth's power and not be vaporized or simply sucked in."
"Like the Master. Or the First," Buffy whispered. Whistler nodded solemnly.
"Exactly."
"So what is different about this case?"
"This cat, low level demon, not much to write home about, is a big deal in the human crime world. Enough power to push mortals around and a few lesser demons. Recently he came across an old text, must have been in transit between holders or the keeping family died out and all this time no one really knew what it was for, or did and was smart enough to bury it."
"Okay, what does it do?"
"Let's just say, it teaches you how to build a volcano." Buffy stood there shocked. Then she turned and paced a brief circle while running her fingers through her hair.
"So this guy could use it to create a Hellmouth, wherever he chooses?"
"Yup. Not a nice thought, is it? The thing about natural Hellmouths is that that have a sense of balance to them. Like the geyser in Yellowstone National Park, they can stay in a state of limbo for decades, even hundreds of years even though the risk of a catastrophe is apparent and possible."
"But it won't have that balance. So it will open?"
"Or collapse in on itself. And we've already seen that damage that causes."
Sunnydale. That's what Whistler was subtly hinting to. The Hellmouth there was closed due to their and Spike's efforts but it was only by miraculous luck that they had the time, foresight, and people to evacuate the city before hand. Even then, there were over a hundred non slayer deaths.
"Buffy!" Buffy turned and saw Brian, Mia and Dom walking towards her with Vince and Letty trailing behind, all of them looking suspiciously at Whistler.
"That's my sign to leave," said Whistler. Buffy turned back to him and he held out a piece of folded paper, about the size of a cheap hotel stationary pad.
"The information you'll need to find him is on there. I'll be listening for your decision. And Buffy? Under no circumstances is this guy to know what he is sitting on. Powers That Be are only worried while he's got it, they'll be downright freaked if he reads the damn thing," Whistler warned.
With another tilt of his stupid hat, he took a couple steps back, out of the circle of orange light from the overhead street light and disappeared into the shadows of the trees and undergrowth lining the road.
"Buffy, we were getting worried. You've missed multiple races," Mia's voice was noticeably chiding.
"Who was that?" Brian cut Mia off before she could ask anything else.
"Whistler. He was just here to offer thanks and congratulations." Buffy traced the edge of the paper with her finger nail.
"Really. That's all?" Brian was skeptical. He'd never met Whistler but he knew who the demon was.
"He looks like a drug dealer," muttered Vince. Letty elbowed him but didn't look like she totally disagreed.
"Buffy? Is everything alright?" asked Dom. He held her shoulder so she faced him and searched her eyes for any sign something was wrong.
"Just an old friend. Or friendly acquaintance. He was asking me to look into someone for him. There's a problem along my lines of work that his bosses would appreciate my help with." Dom could tell that was the heavily censored version and he didn't know who these bosses were but obviously they were important whoever they were.
"Who is it he asked you to look into?" Brian asked, his arm around Mia as he ricked gently back onto his heels.
Buffy shrugged and unfolded the paper that Whistler had given her.
"Hernan Reyes."
