Chapter 40: Annihilation
Clay froze in mid-step. His eyes flickered from one guard to the other, but he didn't move, didn't even complete his stride. Tucker turned to face him, smiling.
"So, it is you," Tucker said. "The brute who took out my men near Augusta. If we hadn't found the camera, I wouldn't have believed it. Three of my best men. Killed by one rabid dog."
Clay said nothing. Adam, Buffy and Dawn stood in the open doorway. Tucker ignored them.
"Not a bad idea, disabling the radios and alarms," Tucker said. "Not bad, but not brilliant either." He motioned to a monitor that showed the ground level hall. He had seen them teleport in. "When I saw you four, well… Anyways, yes, I know it's four to three right now. Not outstanding odds for our side, but I expect them to improve at any moment. One of my men is gathering backup as we speak." He tilted his head. "Do I hear footsteps? I think I do. But you're the one with bionic hearing. Tell me, how many men are approaching? Four? Six? Ten?"
Dawn then had an idea as she murmured under her breath, casting a binding spell. The guard who was farther from them tensed. Dawn then flew at the nearer guard. As she slammed into him, a shot fired at the ceiling. She wrenched the gun from his hands as they fell to the floor. The second guard was turning now, the spell broken.
Adam hurdled over Dawn and threw the other guard into the wall. Clay grabbed Tucker by the neck. As Dawn drove her fists into her target's gut, his knee caught her in the chest, winding her. The stink of burning flesh filled the room. The other guard screamed. At the sound, Dawn's guard hesitated just long enough for her to catch her breath. She heaved him over her head and into a set of heavy steel shelves. The back of his head slammed into the top shelf corner. He hung there a minute, suspended in midair. His eyes blinked once, then he toppled face first to the floor, blood gushing from a crevice in the back of his skull. Clay checked the guard's pulse as she stood.
"Dead," he said.
One glance at Tucker and the other guard told Dawn and Buffy they suffered from the same condition.
"Can you hear anyone coming, Buffy?" Clay asked Buffy who was at the door standing guard.
"Tucker wasn't bluffing earlier," Buffy said. "They're coming. At least four. As many as seven."
"We should run," Dawn said.
"Run?" Adam said. "Their seven to our four? That's decent odds."
"I want excellent, not decent," Dawn said. "Seven to four almost guarantees a loss on our side. Are you volunteering for the position?"
Adam glanced at Clay.
"Dawn's right," Clay said. "We run now and hope they split up. If they don't, we pick the battlefield. Here, we're cornered."
They left the gun locker.
Though Buffy could hear the guards coming, they weren't in sight yet. They made it around the corner. Then they ducked into an open doorway.
"They're at the gun locker," Buffy whispered as she listened. "They're talking … they see Tucker. One—no, two are staying to check for vital signs. The rest are going to keep looking. They've slowed to a walk, but they're coming this way."
"They've separated," Clay murmured. "But not for long."
"I will cast a cover spell," Dawn said.
"Good, thinking Dawn," Buffy said. "Bait and relocate?"
"Bait and relocate," Dawn said.
"Okay, I'll be the decoy and lead them past you three. You can attack from behind. Once the guards' attention—and their guns—are off me, I'll rejoin you," Buffy said. "Places everyone. Here they come."
In the ensuing battle, Adam took a bullet to the shoulder. Painful, but not incapacitating. The guards died. All of them—the four who'd come around the corner, plus the two who'd stayed behind to check Tucker, plus three more who showed up moments later. Nine guards. All dead.
Adam, Buffy, Clay and Dawn covered the whole second level twice. When they found no sign of Winsloe, they went upstairs, exited the compound, and checked for potential escapees. All four vehicles were still in the garage. Dawn and Clay killed two guards frantically tinkering with a busted Bronco. Then they circled the perimeter of the compound, listening and sniffing for anyone who might have bolted into the woods. Nothing. No trace of Winsloe either.
Then Dawn telepathically contacted Jeremy and said it was time for him to join them. It would take at least thirty minutes for Jeremy, Kenneth and Paige to get through the woods. By then, they'd be ready for their help cleaning up and destroying the evidence. First, though, they had one last task: Clear the cells and find Savannah.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
As Buffy and Dawn expected, there were only the usual two men manning the cellblock guard station. Clay and Dawn dispatched them, and then they headed into the cells. Adam's work disconnecting the system meant all the security doors were now open, so they were able to discard the bag o' body parts Clay had retrieved from outside.
Before entering the cell block, Clay split up from Buffy and Dawn. Yes, Jeremy had warned them not to, and the sisters understood that he didn't mean they weren't to leave each other's sight at all. He trusted Buffy and Dawn to use their discretion, and that discretion said it would be better for the three of them to enter the cell block from opposite doors. They were out of contact for only a few seconds as they passed from the corridor to the cell block. Entering through separate doors meant no one could escape out the other side as they went in. An unnecessary precaution. Winsloe wasn't hiding in the cell hallway. No one was. Buffy and Dawn entered from the guard-station side, and as they walked through the door, Adam and Clay were already heading toward the sisters from the other end.
"We should let everyone out," Dawn called as they approached.
Clay nodded. "Gives us a chance to check the cells for Winsloe."
Buffy smiled as she stopped at Savannah's cell. Inside, Savannah played on a Game Boy, nose scrunched in concentration. "She's okay," she said. "Good."
"Buffy, let's check on Leah first," Dawn said. "Make sure she's secured in her cell."
Leah's cell was still next to Savannah's, and unfortunately, she was also alive and well, sitting in her chair, feet propped on a table, reading Cosmo.
Adam peered into the cell. "That's her? The evil Leah? Doesn't look very dangerous to me. I could take her."
"Move along," Clay said. "So long as she's secured, we'll leave her there until Jeremy decides what he wants done."
Adam cast one last, longing glance at Leah, and then turned to the sisters. "Now what?"
"You and Clay can check how many other cells are occupied while Buffy and I get Savannah," Dawn said.
As Clay and Adam headed down the hall, Dawn and Buffy approached Savannah's cell. Inside, she was still playing her video game. Buffy paused outside the door.
"It's going to be fine, Buffy," Dawn said. "She's going to love you. Ready?"
Buffy exhaled and nodded. "Okay," she said. She opened the door, and walked inside. "Hey, sweetie."
Savannah leaped up, Game Boy crashing to the floor. Her eyes flickered to Buffy and grinned as she raced over. "Mom, I knew you'd come back," she said.
"You ready to go home?" Buffy asked as Savannah nodded and hugged her.
"Who's that?" Savannah pointed at Clay, standing in the doorway, then realized she was pointing and turned the gesture into a wave.
"Clayton," Buffy said turning to look at where Savannah had pointed. "Your uncle."
Clay rolled his eyes. "Uncle, hunh?"
"Yes uncle," Dawn said. "You are my husband, aren't you?" Clay nodded. "That makes you Savannah's uncle."
"Ruth told me about him," Savannah said as she gave Clay the adolescent girl's version of a once-over, which didn't extend lower than his neck. She nodded approvingly, and then leaned forward, nearly tripping over her mother. "Who's that?"
"Adam Vasic," Adam said, stepping into the room with a mock bow.
Savannah stifled a giggle. "Ruth mentioned you. The fire-demon. That doesn't sound too bad, but what can you do? Besides start fires?"
"We really should—" Buffy began.
"It's Savannah Levine, right?" Adam asked.
"Actually," Buffy said. "It's Savannah Dawn Summers. Well actually if I had kept her, I was going to name her Joyce Dawn Summers.
"Really?" Dawn asked. She was thrilled that her niece would have shared her name.
"Yeah," Buffy said. "But I like Savannah, and she is used to that name so …"
Adam extended his hand with a flourish, paused, and then put his finger to the wall. The drywall smoked. Using his finger, he scorched S. D. S., and then drew a heart around it.
Savannah's face lit up, but she struggled to hide it under a veil of indifference. "Not bad. But anyone can do that with a magnifying glass. Don't you have any real powers?"
"Later," Clay said. "We have two more cells to empty."
Adam stepped aside to let Savannah pass, holding the door open for her. She pretended to ignore him, but couldn't hide a tiny smile and one last glance at his artwork on the wall. Buffy smiled as she thought, Poor Xavier. So easily ousted from her daughter's affections by a younger, more powerful half-demon. How fickle the heart of a twelve-year-old girl.
As Savannah walked past Adam, she collided with Clay blocking the exit.
"She stays here," he said. "Your mom will look after you."
Savannah yelped.
"We should have released her last," Clay said. "There could still be some guards left. I don't want her wandering about."
"I won't wander—"
"Savannah," Buffy said. "It's not safe yet okay. Just stay with me for a little bit till Uncle Clay and Aunt Dawn say it's okay for us to leave."
"Okay, mom," Savannah said.
"Adam, stay with them," Clay said. "Stand guard."
"I don't need anyone to protect me," Savannah said. "But you can look after my mom." She jerked her chin toward Buffy. "Mom looks like she might need help."
Buffy laughed. "Listen to my little girl. Trying to set me up."
Dawn laughed and smiled at Buffy as she and Clay headed down the cell block.
Two prisoners left. Curtis Zaid, the Vodoun priest, and a new captive in the cell across from Dawn and Buffy's old one. Dawn frowned as she recognized the occupant of the cell. "Rei."
"As in Buffy's Rei?" Clay asked as Dawn nodded.
"Which means she can't see Buffy or I when we release her. She may not recognize Buffy now. But she will when she gets to Sunnydale, and she'll recognize me as Dawn Summers when she gets to Sunnydale or as Dawn Swann. Especially Dawn Swann. She'll have questions that Buffy and I can't answer, not yet anyways."
They walked to Curtis Zaid's cell. Dawn watched him through the one-way glass, trying to assess his mental stability.
"He looks okay," Dawn said. "No ranting and cursing. I think the poor guy's lost it, but he isn't dangerous. He doesn't have any true power. More likely to be a nuisance than a threat."
"Let's get him out, then," Clay said, opening the door.
As Dawn and Clay stepped into the cell, Zaid turned and pulled something from his head. Earphones, connected to a tape player on the table. He closed his book and laid it on top of a VCR. tapes? Videos? She and Buffy had never gotten such things, just books and a television with two fuzzy stations.
"We're here to let you out, Curtis," Dawn said.
Zaid didn't appear the least bit surprised. Maybe he was too far gone. Ignoring them, he stood and headed for the door. They moved back to let him out. He stepped into the hall, stopped, and looked around, as if expecting a trap. Then he started for the exit.
"Uh, you don't want to leave just yet," Dawn called. "It's a long hike to the nearest town."
Zaid kept walking.
"Let him go," Clay said. "He won't get far. We'll find him before we leave."
Savannah ran from her cell. Adam whirled from his guard-post position and tried to snatch her arm but missed.
"Aunt Dawn are you done yet?" she called. "Can you please tell Mom we can go now? Hey, is that Mr. Zaid?" She stopped a few feet from Zaid, stared up at him, and took a tiny step back as she sensed his magical energies. "That's not a Voodoo—"
"Savannah!" Buffy said, running from the cell. "I told you to stay—" Something in her Slayer senses tripped as she looked at Zaid and realized he was not who he had pretended to be. "DAWN! He's Katzen."
Dawn followed her sister's gaze to Zaid and she cursed as she realized he had not only created a ward to keep her from teleporting but he had created a spell that masked his magical energies from any who had the ability to sense them. Zaid lifted his hand as if in greeting. Savannah's feet flew from under her. She sailed through the air.
"Savannah!" Buffy screamed and threw herself at her daughter.
Savannah's body hovered in midair for a second, and then hurtled toward Dawn and Clay like a rock from a slingshot. Or rather the wall behind them. Clay and Dawn wheeled around, arms out to grab her. Clay lunged, catching Savannah before she hit the floor.
Dawn spun back towards Zaid whose lips curved in a tiny smile.
"It's been a long time since I had the pleasure of confronting a witch," he said. "And here I have two at once. We could have had some fun. You know, Slayer I knew the older witch that came in with the girl was not her birth mother. Then I felt the presence of the balance demon, Whistler. And heard what he told the old witch. Imagine my surprise when he said that the werewolf in the cell on the opposite end was the mother."
He fluttered one hand and Buffy's knees buckled. She stumbled, but caught herself.
"While it would be fun to take you on, Slayer. I would much prefer your sister. Tell me, Dawn," he said as he turned to face Dawn. "How is it that you have become so powerful?"
Dawn stepped toward Zaid, or rather Katzen. "I received my powers from the goddess Calypso in the year 1737."
Katzen nodded. "Of course, that would explain it, you are The Green Witch."
Buffy and Adam stepped toward Katzen from behind him while Clay made sure to protect Savannah. Dawn and Buffy both were thankful that Clay was doing that. Katzen glanced over his shoulder and waved a circle with one hand. Buffy and Adam stopped short, blinking. They reached forward. Their hands seemed to hit something hard but invisible. He swung his fist, but his hand stopped in mid-swing. Katzen slanted a bored glance at Dawn.
"Don't bother," he said. "This is between me and the witch. Enjoy the show, but don't make yourselves too comfortable. It won't last long." He turned to Dawn. "I'm feeling magnanimous today, witch. Concede and I'll let you go."
"No deal," Dawn said. "But if you concede, I'll … No, I won't let you go."
Katzen flipped his wrist as Dawn mumbled a few words and stayed his hand. He flexed his fingers, easily snapping the binding spell, but when he tried the gesture again, Dawn cast another spell, stopping his hand before he completed the motion.
"Good try," he said. "But you're wasting your time. No witch, even one as powerful as you, can hope to out-fight a sorcerer. I'm sure you know your history. You witches are so good at remembering the past, especially since you yourself lived it. All you have left, really. Rather sad."
"Actually," Dawn said. "I don't know the history beyond what I lived through. I could probably ask. I'm sure you can feel her, too."
"The apprentice, outside," Katzen said. "Yes, she probably would know."
Katzen lifted both hands. Dawn's lips moved, but before any spell came out, she vaulted into the air. She hit the ground rolling from the impact, and then vanished in a flash of green. Katzen scanned the floor.
"A cover spell. How original."
"Not a cover spell," Dawn said from behind him. "Teleportation." She quickly muttered a spell.
Katzen's eyes went wide. No witch was strong enough to cast a teleportation spell without a serious drain on their energy and the accompanying physical side-effects; the headaches and nose-bleeds. He began to wonder if he had bitten off more than he could chew. She was indeed quite powerful, more powerful than any he had ever met.
Then a fiery ball swooped from the ceiling, struck him in the chest, and exploded. He reeled back, coughing, clothing singed. He whipped his head around, searching for Dawn who had disappeared once again.
"Well done, witch," he said.
He started to say more, and then stopped, turning as if something had caught his eye. His lips curved in a slow grin. Buffy and Dawn followed his gaze to Leah's cell. Katzen's grin broadened, and he flipped his hand, murmured a few words. There was a click, too soft for human ears to detect. Then Leah's door creaked open an inch. Inside, she sat up, her magazine sliding to the floor. She walked to the door, opened it, and stepped out.
"You're missing all the fun, my dear," Katzen said as Leah stepped from her cell. "Why don't you take the girl someplace safe while I deal with her aunt?"
Leah blinked, momentarily disoriented as she scanned the hall, gaze crossing the unfamiliar figures of Clay and Adam. Then she spotted Buffy and smiled. "I should have guessed," she said. "Welcome back, Buffy. So where is Dawn, I know you wouldn't come back without her."
Dawn reappeared but only for an instant. She grabbed Buffy and disappeared again and reappeared next to Clay. "Don't even think about it, Leah," she said.
"Leah?" Savannah said, still sounding dazed. She struggled to her feet behind the sisters. "Can—can you help us?"
Leah smiled. "Of course, I can."
"No, she can't, Savannah," Dawn said. "Leah, if you even try to touch Savannah you will be dead before you turn around. I can guarantee it." She looked to Buffy and Clay, both of them nodded at the unspoken thought.
Buffy made to grab for her daughter, but her hand didn't make contact. It stopped short as it had when she'd hit the invisible barrier around Katzen.
"No interference from you, mommy," Katzen said. "We don't need your kind or the fire-demon. Take your friend, your sister's mate, and leave before your sister whets my appetite for more."
Buffy tottered forward and bumped into the barrier surrounding Savannah and Dawn. She pounded her fists against the invisible wall; the recoil from her own blows sent her stumbling back. "Let her go," she said. "She's only a kid."
Leah rolled her eyes. "Don't go pulling that 'innocent child' crap on me, Buffy. Savannah is twelve years old. Hardly a little girl. And hardly innocent." She smiled at Savannah. "But I don't mind that. I'll look after her, a Slayer/witch hybrid."
Savannah looked from Buffy to Leah, confused. In that moment Buffy and Dawn realized what Leah had been up to, staging all those flying-object events and blaming Savannah. She'd tried to make herself the girl's only ally, the only one who would accept her no matter what she did. In addition, Leah had somehow allied herself with Katzen. Together they'd staged the whole horror show the night Buffy and Dawn escaped. But to what purpose?
"She is innocent," Dawn said. "Innocent of everything that happened in here. Why don't you tell her who really attacked all those guards, who really killed Ruth Winterbourne? Flying objects … telekinetic half-demon. Hmmm, could there be a connection?"
"But—" Savannah blinked looking from her mother and aunt to Leah. "You—wouldn't do that."
"Of course, I wouldn't," Leah said. "I'd never hurt you, Savannah."
"No?" Buffy said. "What about that flying glass? Do you think that tickled? But you weren't there, were you? You conveniently appeared after that was over."
Savannah's gaze swiveled from Leah to Buffy and back. "Okay," she said quietly. "If you're my friend, Leah, then let them go. Tell him to let Aunt Dawn go. She didn't do anything wrong. Let them go and come with us."
"I can't do that, Savannah," Leah said. "They don't understand you. They'll take you away and, when things go bad, they won't understand. I'm the only one—"
"No!" Savannah shouted. Her body jerked upright. For a moment, Buffy and Dawn thought Katzen had her again. Buffy threw herself at the barrier, and then she saw Savannah's face. Savannah's eyes were solid black and her lips moved.
"Dawn!" Buffy shouted.
Dawn followed Buffy's gaze and her eyes widened. The last time either she or Buffy had seen a witch with solid black eyes was Willow, before she and Willow had gone to the Devon coven. They knew it was a sign of dark magicks in use.
Leah reached for Savannah, and then froze in mid-motion. Confusion flickered in her eyes, then dawning comprehension, then the faintest stain of fear. She didn't move. Didn't even twitch a muscle.
"She's bound her," Dawn said as she realized what spell Savannah had cast. "Savannah's bound her."
Katzen stared at Savannah, and then started to laugh. "Now there's power," he said. "She may be more powerful than you, witch."
Was that possible? Dawn had to wonder. Could Savannah be more powerful than her or Willow? She and Willow were supposed to have been the most powerful witches on the planet. Then something occurred to her, at the moment of Savannah's conception the timeline had changed. Not majorly but enough to witness the birth of a new race. The next stage of human evolution, a Slayer/witch hybrid. Slayers would become obsolete as Savannah's children and grandchildren came into their powers. And all because some demon had sent her and Buffy into the past.
Katzen snapped his hand and Dawn sailed backward and almost hit the wall before disappearing in a flash of green. She was beginning to feel the effects of too much teleportation. She reappeared and cast a spell as Katzen whirled in time to see her just two feet behind him. She threw in every bit of magical energy she had left into the spell, to bring down the barrier. His foot flew out, catching her in the stomach just as she finished the words. Wheezing, Dawn rolled out of his way and struggled to her feet as the barrier came down.
Buffy lunged at Katzen. His hands flew up to cast a spell. Buffy snatched his wrists, clasping them so tight the bones snapped. Katzen gasped. "You should never have messed with my daughter," Buffy said as she grabbed his head and twisted, breaking his neck. The sorcerer's body convulsed, then Katzen went limp.
Clay came forward and checked his pulse. "He's dead."
"He's dead," Savannah said, as Buffy came up beside her. "It's over."
Leah's face went white. Outrage and grief flooded her eyes. A rumbling filled the room. A loud crack. Then another. A chunk of plaster flew from the wall. The lightbulbs exploded. Buffy wheeled toward Savannah and covered her with her own body. A chair shot from Katzen's cell. It struck Buffy in the back and she crumpled. Dawn appeared next to Buffy in a flash of green and grabbed both her sister and niece at the same time. Glass swirled around them, mingling with a whirlwind of dust from falling plaster. Clay shouted. Dawn teleported Buffy and Savannah into a cell and out of the hailstorm of debris. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. And Leah was gone.
"Clay, Dawn," Buffy said as she, Dawn and Savannah came out of the cell. "Find her, kill her."
Clay and Dawn looked at Buffy and saw the fury in her eyes. The fury of an Alpha wolf protecting her cub. They knew not to question, Buffy's directive. They turned and followed Leah's trail outside, but they didn't get far before a familiar voice hailed them. Jeremy stepped from the woods, Kenneth and Paige in tow.
"What happened?" Jeremy asked, taking in their dust-covered clothes and glass-nicked skin.
Reaching out, he wiped a dribble of blood from Dawn's cheek. She leaned back against him, closing her eyes to indulge in a brief moment of peace.
"You're okay?" he murmured. "Buffy? Savannah?"
"Alive," Dawn said. "Everyone is." She gave Jeremy a full report, concluding with Leah's escape. "Buffy ordered us to find her and kill her."
Jeremy let out a sigh, if he hadn't already known he would have by now. "Once we are done here, you two and Buffy have my permission to find her. Right now, though, I'm more concerned with stopping Tyrone Winsloe and finding any remaining staff members."
"Clay and I will go look for Winsloe," Dawn said. "Oh, I just remembered. There's still one captive left, Buffy and I can't be there when she is released. It's Rei."
Jeremy nodded. "While you two and Buffy look for Winsloe. Adam and I will release Rei."
Dawn and Clay heard footsteps behind and they turned to see Buffy with Adam and Savannah. "Savannah, honey. This is Uncle Jeremy," Buffy said as Jeremy smiled at Savannah. "He's going to watch you while Aunt Dawn, Uncle Clay and I go find Mr. Winsloe."
Savannah nodded and hugged first Buffy, then Dawn and then finally Clay who stood stiffly for a moment before relaxing and putting his arms around her.
"Adam," Jeremy said. "We have one last person to release I understand."