(10/5/2016) So, updates to get fewer for the next few months. Finishing out my last few Master's classes online so I can be done with it and rake in the moolah. Basically everything I've been writing in my "spare" time has been pedagogical and I'm totally afraid that in the student haze I might accidentally post my essay here and my chapter there and WOW that would be interesting.
Smoochies to RHatch89 and thedarkpokemaster (hi there!) for the reviews. And if you're favoriting and/or following, feel free to leave a bit of a hello!
Sam gave his sister ten minutes to do whatever it was she'd planned on doing before following her. Upon entering the library he found a black haired woman dragging a dazed Giles to a chair and Dean prostrate on the floor. "What the hell happened?"
"Buffy went to take on the Master," the woman explained anxiously. "Alone. I'm assuming you're her other brother?"
"Uh, yeah," he replied as he knelt by Dean. "I'm Sam."
"Jenny Calendar."
Sam nodded briefly in acknowledgement. "We're going to need help. Can you contact her friends, tell them to meet us here?"
"Certainly, but what is it that you think we can do?"
As Sam hauled his brother to the chair next to Giles, he firmly proclaimed, "Anything to make sure Buffy doesn't die tonight."
Several minutes later, a bleary but coherent Giles found himself busy informing Xander and Willow about the prophecy. Sam had detailed the dream he'd had in Willow's driveway and was now behind the circulation desk arguing fiercely with his brother regarding its validity. "You sure you weren't just having some kinda nightmare because of what Jeeves said?" Dean asked skeptically.
"It's Giles," Sam corrected impatiently, "and no. C'mon, I think I know where she's at."
"You think? Or you know?"
"Okay, here's my question," came Miss Calendar's voice as Sam silently fumed over his brother's obstinance. "The Hellmouth opens… where? If the Master's underground somewhere, then it's where he's at, right? We find the Hellmouth, we find the Master."
"And Buffy," an irate Xander added.
"Good point," Giles said in response to both statements. "Let's check through the Black Histories, and, uh, Willow?" He pointed to the nearest computer. "Check the town histories."
As the others set to their assigned tasks, Xander began storming off towards the exit. "Where the hell are you going?" Dean wondered as the boy passed.
"You guys do that stuff," the boy answered, gesturing about, "and I'm going to see if I can get faster answers from Angel."
"Not alone you're not," Buffy's eldest brother cautioned. He leapt over the desk.
"I'll go," Sam said as he took the more traditional way around the barrier.
"What? Why?"
"One, because I'm pretty sure you're going to stake the guy soon as you see him; and two, I know what the place the Master's at is supposed to look like. Angel tries to screw us over I'll dust him."
"Fine," Dean groused. "I'll get everyone hooked up with weapons. Whoever gets there first makes sure Buffy doesn't go into that room."
Xander and Sam both nodded in agreement and headed out. Dean took stock of Giles' office arsenal and called out, "So what happens if this Master dude gets out? Why're we so freaked out about it?"
"The only way he can get out is if the Hellmouth is opened," Miss Calendar answered as she pulled a book from the large collection Giles had stacked on the table.
The hunter fiddled with a crossbow, making minor adjustments to improve its accuracy. "How big is this thing anyways?"
"I don't know," Giles replied irritably as he flipped furiously through an ancient tome. "Hellmouth sized?"
"This guy lives in a sewer?" Sam asked as they slogged through the muck. He swept his flashlight around the tunnel to ensure neither of them walked through anything questionable. Belatedly, he remembered that he was still wearing the rented tux and tried to take extra care where he stepped.
"Sort of," replied Xander. "It's an abandoned water main. Thus no stench-o-rama. Here it is," the boy stated as they arrived at a nondescript maintenance door. He reached out and pounded on the metal. Xander gave Angel around half a second to respond before he turned the knob and strode inside.
Sam sighed and followed. Once he crossed the threshold he took a moment to appreciate the decor. The vampire had done quite a bit with an abandoned concrete room. It was clean and spartan, a few pieces of memorabilia poised in careful places, with a desk and a large, filled bookcase in one corner. A rumpled bed sat in an alcove. LED wall lights provided a pleasant, but not overbearing, amount of illumination.
The owner of the suite was staring at his intruders, bewildered. "Why are you here?" he asked, unnerved.
"She's gone," Xander spat.
"What do you mean?"
"Buffy. She's going right now to face the Master."
Sam saw Angel's face contort in anguish before he replaced his stoic mask. "He'll kill her."
"Rumor has it. Only we're not going to let that happen."
The vampire looked at the hunter. "You're Buffy's brother."
"I'm Sam."
"Where's the other one?"
"Not here." Anxious over the time, Sam asked belligerently, "Look, do you know where the Master's at or not?"
"I do."
"Good, then lets go."
Angel glanced at Xander. "You're a hunter. The Master will eat this one alive."
Sam turned to the boy. "Go back and help the others with whatever they're doing."
"No!" Xander exclaimed vehemently. "I can't just—"
"He's in love with her," interjected the vampire.
Xander glared furiously. "Aren't you?" The two exchanged a moment of silent comprehension before the boy acquiesced to Sam's request. "Fine," Xander snarled. He pulled a large wooden cross and a stake from inside his jacket and plopped them into Buffy's brother's hands. "Just in case."
Sam's eyebrows lifted when, as the religious icon was brought out, Angel flinched. The only creatures that he'd been taught were affected by crosses and the like were demons. What, then, was the connection with vampires…?
The hunter was jolted out of his speculation by the loud clang of Angel's door being slammed shut. Sam and the vampire eyed one another warily. "Why don't you want to kill me like your brother?" Angel finally asked.
"Because last time we were here I saw you stake Darla," Sam said. "Dean thinks you're just a vamp, a monster, but Buffy apparently has another opinion. Who're you gonna prove right?"
Angel frowned, his brow drawn tight with strain, before heading for the door. "Let's go. It's not far."
"Dude, why don't you have any firearms?"
An exasperated Giles sighed at Dean. "Mr. Winchester, this is a school. I risk enough bringing in bladed weapons, what do you think would happen in this day and age if I brought in a gun?"
Dean shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll go get some from my car." Amid the Watcher's stuttering protests the hunter called, "It's Saturday! Ain't nobody here."
"Idiot," muttered Giles. "Willow, Jenny: you find anything?"
"No," replied Miss Calendar.
"Maybe," Willow answered. "Remember the Harvest? The first time he tried his breaking out thing? He sent a bunch of vampires to The Bronze to get him fresh blood. He might do it again and-and-and it's going to be full of people for the prom."
"We need to warn them."
"Right," Giles affirmed. "I'll stay here and keep researching. You two—" The Watcher broke off as the sound of shotgun blasts drifted down the hallway. "What the devil…?" He walked quickly to the library entrance and poked his head out.
A few moments later, a breathless Dean shoved Giles back through the doors, a duffel bag hanging from his shoulder and the source of the noise cradled in his left arm. He tossed the weapon to Giles, grabbed a metal sign pole, and jammed it into the handles while shouting, "Vampires! Like, freaking, a thousand of them! All coming this way."
With a tremendous clunk Dean dropped the bag onto the checkout desk. He pulled out a box of shells and handed them to Giles. "Might not do much for killing them, but it'll sure as hell slow them down."
"Stakes," Giles ordered at Willow as he pointed towards his office. She ran over for the weapons.
Dean rushed for the high windows in the back and leapt up to close the ones that had been opened to let in the night breeze. "They're almost at the building!" he called. "Why the fuck are they heading to this freaking spot?"
"Good Lord," Giles said as he made a horrified realization. "The Hellmouth must be here."
Sam and Angel came to an abrupt halt at the cavernous entrance to the Master's cell. A woman with short blonde hair was standing before it, her fingers in her pockets and a wry smile on her lips. "Hi, Sam," she greeted pleasantly.
"Meg?" he replied, astonished. "What are you doing here?"
"Friend of yours?" Angel wondered, his tone strangely hostile.
"Uh, yeah, sort of. We met several months ago." Sam turned to Meg. "This isn't a good place to be right now. If you head that way, there's a school with some people in it that can help protect you."
"Oh, Sam," Meg sighed. "Sam, Sam, Sammy, Sam. I'm right where I need to be, don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Nice suit, by the way."
When the hunter lurched forward, intending to shove the woman out of the way if need be, Angel grabbed his shoulder and growled, "She smells wrong. That's not a human."
"What? What the hell are you talking about?"
In response, the vampire snatched the stake that was still in Sam's hand and speared it at Meg. It imbedded into her heart and she fell backwards with an astonished grunt. The hunter pulled the wooden cross from his inside jacket pocket, staggering Angel backwards, and shouted, "Are you insane?"
The vampire cautiously moved away from the hunter. He opened his mouth to explain and was stymied by a peal of mocking giggles. The two men looked towards the source and found Meg standing, the stake jutting forward from her chest. As Sam watched, gaping, the woman slid the weapon from her skin and her eyes filled in with black.
"Demon," the hunter hissed. He dropped the cross and pulled his pistol from behind his back.
"Now that wasn't very nice, Angelus," pouted Meg as she dropped the wood to the grass. "You know, I think you really hurt my feelings! I guess I'm going to have to let my friends teach you a lesson." The demon turned her head to one side and called, "Sic 'em boys!"
Half a dozen vampires emerged from the shadows, their faces distorted into their carnivorous masks. They rushed forward, snarling, eager for the kill. Angel picked up the cross, sucking in his breath when it scorched his hand, and slammed it into the face of the first enemy that got close. The vampire reeled away howling as Angel punched another on the side of the head.
Sam snatched up the abandoned cross and discovered that it repelled the creatures better than his firearm. They were flinching at the impacts, but even a headshot couldn't put one down for very long. He backed away, the icon held out in front of him, and was alarmed when an arm wrapped around his throat. The gargantuan vampire immediately sank his teeth into Sam's neck while his cohorts crept forward to join in the feast.
Abruptly, both the painful bite and the pressure on his windpipe vanished. Sam felt bits and pieces of desiccated corpse pepper his neck. He clapped a hand over his wound and swiveled around to find his rescuer. Standing there was a stake-wielding Xander, who had obviously not done what he had been told, and, astonishingly, the Winchester patriarch.
John Winchester gave his middle child the smirk that his eldest had inherited. He tossed Sam a spare stake. "Let's go, boy!" John shouted as he charged the remaining vamps. "Baby that papercut later!"
Sam had no chance to digest his father's sudden appearance as a vampire came within reach. The hunter clobbered her in the temple with the butt of his gun and stabbed her in the heart with the stake. Given the chance to look around, he saw that John was dispatching the last of them. Meg was nowhere to be found.
Angel glared pointedly at Xander. The boy had the sense to at least look abashed at having defied their command. "Not my fault!" he exclaimed. "This guy saw me heading into the school and wanted me to follow him here. Now that all the scary stuff is done," Xander said as he faced John, "mind telling me who you are?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam demanded.
"I was going to speak with Rupert," answered John, ignoring Xander's query, "but then I caught sight of this mess."
"And it didn't dawn on you to let any of us know you were coming here?" his son demanded. "Not even your frigging daughter?"
As comprehension lit up Xander's expression, John snarled, "Don't you take that tone with me, boy. You'll know what I need you to know. Since you're here, let's go."
"Buffy," Angel gasped before running into the cavern.
"Buffy?" John repeated, startled.
"You didn't know?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Know what?"
"Uh, guys?" Xander interjected. "I'm following Angel, but stay here and have your not-happy family reunion if you want."
The boy hurried off and Sam made to follow. His father clamped a hand on his arm. "What the hell is going on with your sister?"
"Not my secret to tell," Sam replied as he jerked his appendage away. "You'll know if she wants you to know," he added scathingly as he quickly moved to join the others in running to the Master's lair.
After a short, rumbling earthquake several cracks appeared on the library floor between the stacks and tables. A horrific smell had spewed forth; something akin to a burning truck full of rotten eggs. As Giles and the others gagged, small wisps of black smoke seeped through. The vapor-like creatures immediately began flitting about looking for something to torment. Luckily for them there were four hapless humans in their immediate vicinity.
The only visual sign of their presence were shadows on the walls. Striking one down was therefore difficult. Giles shouted out at one point that they were daeva, minor demons, and that the Hellmouth needed to be closed before something stronger escaped.
"Okay," said Dean as he fired his shotgun into the wall where he'd glimpsed a dark form. "How the fuck do we do that?"
"The Master!" Giles shouted back as he ducked to avoid a set of hurled encyclopedias. "The Hellmouth is tied to his life force. If he's dead, then it will close. In the meantime, we need a strong source of light!" He fired his crossbow at a vampire who had risked sticking his head up at the (now broken) back windows.
"Are you on the phone?" Dean asked Willow, incredulous.
The red-headed girl, who was trying to hide under a table, responded to whoever she was speaking with. "In the library! Just come straight in!" She snapped her phone closed and shrieked as her cover was flung away by a gleeful daeva. Dean grabbed Willow's arm and hauled her up as the sentient shadow smashed into the floor.
Standing by the doorway, Miss Calendar shone the light of a lamp onto a shadow and cried, "What's that sound?"
Dean pulled Willow behind the circulation desk and listened. "Is that a car?"
A moment later, a red Lexus plowed through the library doors and came to a halt several feet in front of the remains of the tables. The brights flipped on and the daeva screeched in protest. In the driver's seat was a frazzled Cordelia who backed up her car in order to spread the light more fully. "Does this work?" she wondered through the open passenger window.
In the momentary lull, Willow nodded firmly and said, "Perfect."
"Watch out!" Dean yelled as several books lifted themselves and flew with devastating force into the Lexus' headlamps. Another burst through the windshield as a screaming Cordelia scrambled out of her car.
The light was gone and the daeva were free to once again wreak havoc. It was also clear that Dean's improvised lock on the doors was now broken; there was no longer a physical barrier between them and the monsters waiting outside.
"What now?" Willow squeaked.
"We survive," Giles replied. "And we wait for Buffy."
"Well someone tell her to hurry up!" Cordelia complained. "I'm not dying before someone buys me a new car!"
When Sam and his father finally made it down to the Master's prison the ancient vampire was gone. Far more disconcerting was the sight of Xander desperately performing mouth-to-mouth on Buffy. John blanched, but his voice was steady as he asked, "What happened?"
As Buffy's father and brother knelt down beside her, Angel explained, "We found her face down in the water."
Rage suffused John's expression as Xander moved to perform CPR. The boy desperately urged, "C'mon, Buffy! Breathe!"
The others waited in agony as the boy continued to administer the procedures. A long minute passed. Sam raised a quivering hand, intent on stopping Xander's unnecessary ministrations, just as Buffy's eyes snapped open. She gasped, wonderfully filling her body with oxygen, before turning on her side and vomiting a great quantity of water.
Her father waited for her heaving to stop before pulling her off the floor and giving her a strong embrace. "Oh thank God!" he whispered harshly as he squeezed even tighter.
"Dad?" Buffy croaked out. She looked over, baffled, at her teary-eyed brother. Sam gave her a watery smile and shrugged.
John finally loosened his grip and let his daughter sit back on her heels. "Buffy," he demanded, "what in God's name were you doing down here?"
Brought back to the reason behind her drowning, Buffy's lips pressed into a tight, thin line. "I'm here because I'm supposed to be here," she declared, her voice clearer.
"Buffy, the only one that was supposed to be here—" John cut himself off and stared, horrified. "No. No no no, you can't be."
His daughter tried pushing herself to her feet. When he saw what a monumental effort it was taking, Angel reached out and grasped her hand and elbow in aid. "The Master?" Buffy asked the vampire.
"He's gone up," he replied as the rest of them stood.
"Buffy, no," John said harshly. "You might be the Slayer, but let us handle him."
Both Sam and his sister stared at their father. "How the hell do you know about that?" Sam demanded.
"The yellow-eyed demon," John replied. "He's playin' some kind of long term game. All I know is that the Slayer had to die tonight for it to go forward. Buffy," the hunter continued, agonized, "how did this happen?"
"It just did," she answered. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I've got someone's butt to kick." The Slayer whirled on her heel and hurried off, both Xander and Sam close behind.
Angel made to follow when a hand gripped his shoulder. He turned to see the fiery gaze of John Winchester. "I know who you are," he growled.
"Then you know why I'm not like the others," Angel replied.
John jabbed his finger at the vampire. "You listen to me. I get one word that that soul o'yours ain't clean no more and I'll be hoofing it right back here to stake your sorry ass."
Angel swallowed. "If that ever happened, I'd be grateful."
"Good." John stepped back. "So. You smelled him, didn't you."
"Yes."
"And you didn't say nothing."
"No reason for me to do so."
"Good. Let's keep it that way."
Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episode, "Prophecy Girl" (BtVS 1.12).
Author's Note : I'm changing the mythos on some of the monsters, like the vampires, thus the soul cleanse thing. I'll explain eventually, promise!
Also, smooshed together the early stuff with Meg and revealed her black-eyedness before the whole Colt thing goes down. 'Cuz I wanted to.
I'm not exactly clear on the whole CPR/mouth-to-mouth thing, like if what Xander was doing on the show was in any way accurate or if it was just tv stuff. If it's wrong, please let me know!
