(12/14/2016) There's just something about finally owning your own home that makes you want to paint devil's traps on the walls and Enochian sigils on the windows.
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Joyce sleepily let them into her home around midnight. For once she was prepared for their arrival and had made up a bed on the couch and the nearby floor. Buffy's mother told them, worriedly, that she'd tried speaking with her daughter and had gotten nowhere. She'd then heard the poor girl sobbing herself to sleep. Sam and Dean thanked her for the hospitality, retrieved their duffels from the Impala, and settled in for the night.
They were jolted awake early the next morning by the slam of the front door. Dean threw off his blanket and peered out the window. He spotted his sister, her hands clenched, marching determinedly away.
"What the hell?" Dean muttered as he pulled on his boots. "C'mon," he told Sam, "Buffy's taking off."
The two of them caught up to their teenage sister as she was turning the corner. "Hey hey hey!" Dean said as he grabbed her arm. "Where the hell are you going?"
"To school."
"It's Sunday."
"I'm not an idiot."
Before Dean could be obnoxious and refute her proclamation, Sam quickly inserted, "Buffy, you called us. What's going on?"
"You wanna know? Then keep up."
Buffy's brothers exchanged bewildered glances before hurrying after her. She ate up the blocks leading to her school in record time then headed immediately for the back door to the library. Once inside, Buffy stomped around the bookshelves and went straight for Miss Calendar.
"Buffy," Giles began, "we're both here like you asked, but—"
Astonished, the Watcher cut off his query as his Slayer grabbed the front of Jenny Calendar's sweater and swung the woman's backside into the security cage. With ease, Buffy held the woman up. "What do you know?" she snarled.
Both her brothers and the librarian rose a clamor over her manhandling the computer teacher. Completely ignoring any of them, Buffy continued with her demands. "Did you do it? Did you change him? Did you know what was going to happen?"
"Buffy," Giles said sternly, "you can't just go accusing everyone around you of—"
"I didn't know exactly," Jenny replied.
Save for several quiet chings from the metal fence as Buffy let Miss Calendar down there was silence. Completely mystified, Dean broke it by asking, "Will someone please tell us what the hell is going on?"
"I was told," Miss Calendar said, her head hung, "I was sent here to watch you. When they told me to keep you and Angel apart, they never told me what would happen."
As Giles was looking at Jenny, stricken, Sam asked, "Apart? Why? Is there some kind of law against dating vampires?"
"The curse," she told him. "If Angel achieved a true moment of happiness, just a moment, his soul would blacken once again."
"Hold up," Dean interrupted. "Are you saying that he's back to being a dickhead?"
"Angelus has already made an attempt on our lives," Giles said.
"Angelus?"
"It's… It's what he was called," Miss Calendar explained, "before he was cursed with a cleansed soul. He was supposed to live his life in agony, to feel guilt forever. He was supposed to pay for what he had done to my people."
"And me?" Buffy asked quietly. "What was I supposed to be paying for?"
"I didn't know what would happen until after. I swear I would have told you—"
"So. It was me. I did it."
"I think so. I mean, if you… um…"
"I don't get it," Sam said. "If she did what?"
Buffy gave her younger brother a look. Comprehension dawned quickly. "Oh."
"Oh?" Dean asked. "Oh what?" He gazed about and noted both Sam and Giles' vexation and the chagrin in his sister's eyes. "Oh hell no. You didn't."
"Dean," Sam warned.
Dean walked over and loomed over his sister. "The fuck were you thinking?" he roared.
"I wasn't," she replied evenly.
"Well that's real goddamn clear."
"You've got no right to say that to me," Buffy shot back, her volume rising. "You of all people should understand that sometimes you do stupid things when you love someone!"
Dean stepped back and got a glimpse of his brother's smug expression. Flushed, he folded his arms and said determinedly, "So then we fix it." He turned towards Jenny. "Do the curse again."
"It can't be done," she answered quietly. "Those magics are long lost, even to my people."
"But you did it once," Buffy said desperately. "It might not be too late to save him."
"I'm so sorry. I can't help you."
"Then take me to someone who can."
They all piled into the Impala, Buffy and Sam squished into the front with Dean and Giles and Jenny in the back. The tension pervading car's interior as they drove to one of the town's motels was palpable, particularly the rift that had suddenly developed between the two in the rear. Sam attempted to dispel the miasma by asking the Watcher some questions.
"So," he began as he turned to face Giles, "you guys keep saying that vampires' souls are tainted by Hell. What does that mean exactly?"
With stoic professionalism (and a noticeably significant amount of effort to not acknowledge Miss Calendar), Giles cleared his threat and adjusted his glasses. "Whoever the first vampire was, whatever first made them, passed along a sort of genetic malfeasance that allowed whatever it is that makes a demon a demon to be leeched by a human soul. The Watcher's Council, for the lack of a better term, call this phenomenon a 'tainting of the soul.' Anything that could be called a humanizing trait is swept away."
"Like remorse or compassion."
"Precisely. Vampires are, in fact, minor demons. It's why they've got quite a lot more weaknesses than the full demons you tangle with. It's also why they disintegrate when you kill them; their human bodies have died, torn apart at a basic level during the transformation and held together only by the demonic presence."
Uneasily, Sam looked from his sister to the Watcher. "So when you clean the soul again…"
"The humane emotions come back, and so does the guilt over whatever you might have done."
"But you said that the body had died. So wouldn't Angel's body been dusted when the soul was fixed?"
"What was done to Angel was not so much a full cleanse, but more as if the tainted essence was gathered up and locked away. If it had been removed completely, he would have died."
Dean pulled into the parking lot of the motel and cut the engine. In a small voice Jenny said, "This way," and leapt from the car. The others quickly followed. She hurried up the stairs and down the second floor walkway before suddenly stopping, stunned, at her apparent destination.
Sam and Dean drew their pistols; the door was slightly ajar and the stench wafting from within spoke of something deeply unpleasant. "Wait here," Dean whispered to the others as Sam gently pushed Miss Calendar aside.
The best that could be said about the man they found inside was that he was dead. Had he been alive he would have been in utter agony. Fingers were missing nails and had been bent in unnatural ways. Skin had been carefully excised from his exposed torso in long, straight strips. Shallow cuts were everywhere; all in sensitive places, none deep enough to kill. His face spoke of his final moments, blood and tears a horrifying mask made even more wrenching by the scream frozen on his open jaw.
"Holy crap," Sam breathed.
"Vamp," Dean postulated. He jerked his head at the gaping wound at the body's neck.
"It was Angel."
"You sure?"
"Look."
Dean followed Sam's gaze. "Oh, that's it. I'm making him a eunuch."
The door creaked, a sound that had both brothers whipping around and pointing their guns at the door. "Uncle! Oh, God," Miss Calendar cried as she ignored the weapons and rushed to the body.
As Giles made an attempt to comfort Jenny, Sam tried to bodily prevent his sister from entering the room. She gave him a level look and he stepped aside.
Buffy's eyes first lay on the mangled body, washed over the reddish-brown that liberally painted the floor and furniture, then rested on the wall. There, written in blood, were the words: "WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU?"
"I'll call 911," Sam told them. He pulled out his phone and headed for the door.
"Buffy?" Dean asked quietly.
"I know now what I have to do," she stated firmly.
"What's that?"
She looked up at her brother, her jaw set. "I have to kill him."
"Singin' my song. Where do we start?"
Buffy gazed sadly down at the remains of Jenny Calendar's uncle. "Back to the library. There's more than just Angel that we have to worry about."
On her insistence they left Jenny alone to deal with the authorities. The rest of them piled back into the Impala and headed for the school. Buffy texted Willow, Xander, and, to her brothers' surprise, Cordelia. Apparently the cheerleader had integrated herself more fully into the Slayer's world after the incident with the Order of Taraka. Her position as a member of their unorthodox little clan cemented when she'd begun dating Xander.
Sam also called Jo, who thankfully had the afternoon off. The now larger company convened in the library to hear further explanations. "So what's this 'more' you were talking about?" Sam asked as soon as everyone had settled.
The Sunnydale residents exchanged grim looks. Jo began the tale. "That birthday party y'all went and missed had some vamp gatecrashers. Buffy chased them right into The Bronze. After they were dusted we saw they were carrying a box. When we opened it, there was an arm inside."
"An arm?"
Dean blinked. "Like, a rotted gross corpse arm?"
"More like a fresh-looking, self-animating, really, really, really scary kinda arm," said Willow.
"It tried to choke me to death," Buffy explained to her baffled siblings.
"Well, that's new," commented Dean.
"So whose arm was it?" Sam asked.
Troubled, Giles adjusted his glasses and paced a few steps. "It belonged… belongs to a demon only known as the Judge. Rumor has it he was once part of an elite group of demons that had been hand-picked and trained by Lucifer himself." He glanced over at Buffy (who grimaced) then generalized the remainder of the tale. "Suffice to say that the vampires regained their property."
"And they wanted an arm because…?"
"I assume to put him back together. About six hundred years ago the Judge was subdued. His body was then separated into pieces. A coin depicting a devil's trap was shoved inside each part to prevent him from finding another vessel. If they are reassembling him they would have to remove the coins and somehow join the body together."
"Demons," Xander said disparagingly. "It's just not their thing to make drawing and quartering permanent."
Giles ignored the quip. "The reemergence of the Judge is said to be a sign that the Apocalypse is nigh."
"And who's crazy enough to do that?" Sam wondered.
"Drusilla," Buffy named.
"Crazy-ass bitch is actually alive?" Dean asked incredulously.
"Yup."
"That's just freaking fantastic," Dean groaned. "Now what?"
Giles sighed. "If we can separate the Judge's body before he can find another vessel we should be able to contain him once again."
"That's not going to work."
All of them turned towards the library's double doors. The same blonde woman that had greeted Buffy and Sam outside of St. Avellino's was standing there, arms folded. "Ruby?" Sam asked, astonished.
The others stared, bemused. Dean, however, snarled at his brother, "The fuck is she doing here?"
"Got me," Sam answered.
Ruby gave them a scathing look. "I came to help, you ungrateful dicks."
"Who's this?" Cordelia wondered.
Sam introduced the newcomer. "She's, um… she's a friend."
"She's a demon," Buffy proclaimed, disgusted. As proof, Ruby smirked and blinked to fill her eyes with black.
Buffy's friends shot out of their seats and backed away, Cordelia going so far as to clutch Xander's arm and hide behind him. The boy grabbed a random book and held it out in front of him. "The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!"
"You can't banish me with 'Harry Potter,' dumbass." As Xander peered at the hardcover he'd picked up, Ruby blinked again to return her eyes to normal. "Like I said: I came to help. Not all demons are alike."
Suspiciously, Giles asked, "If you're so helpful then tell us how we can deal with the Judge."
"You can't. You need to run."
"Excuse me?" a furious Buffy demanded.
"You need to run. The Judge isn't just any demon. He's a Knight of Hell."
"Hell has Knights?" Willow wondered. "Like, with horsies and lances and stuff?"
"No, like nothing known can kill them. Not even my knife." The demon looked at Sam. "If you stay, you die."
"What, then we just let everyone else here be slaughtered by the Judge and Angelus?" he scoffed.
"Yes. We all go. Do you remember what happened the last time you didn't listen to me?"
The brothers were silent as they remembered the terrible fate of Agent Henriksen and the members of the Monument Police Department. This time, however, it was Buffy who stymied Ruby's impositions. "I'm not leaving," she declared.
"Then we can't go," Sam told the demon quietly.
"Oh for—" Ruby threw up her hands. "Fine! I think I can get boxes that will contain the Judge. You need to figure out how to get him to fit in the boxes."
Reluctantly, Buffy thanked her. After a final, scorching glare the demon vanished. Before her gaping friends could recover from the hellspawn's sudden disappearance the Slayer turned and asked, "Ideas. Anyone got some? What about the Colt?"
"The Colt?" Giles asked, astonished. "The Colt?"
"Yup," answered Dean. "Except we got no more bullets. Just a fancy antique now."
"So just make more," Buffy said. "I've seen Bobby's silver bullet making thingy."
Sam shook his head. "Buffy, the bullets were part of the whole 'kill everything' deal. Bobby is working on trying to duplicate it but so far no go."
Frustrated, the Slayer turned from her brothers to her friends. "Xander, you said you had something you were going to do today?"
The boy looked nervously between Cordelia and Willow before saying, "Yup. Soon as it gets dark."
"Anything else?"
"Hey," Sam said, puzzled. "Shouldn't you guys have called in extra backup? Kendra maybe?"
"Yeah," agreed Dean. "Where's Slayer number two?"
"I-I'm not sure," Giles answered. "When I contacted the Watcher's Council they would only tell me that there was a transition occurring. Perhaps Sam Zabuto has decided to retire and she's awaiting a new Watcher."
"So that's out. We could go and head to that warehouse Bela told us about and just fry them now."
Buffy's lips pressed together tightly and Sam, who was closest, noticed her holding back tears. "No," she uttered.
Her eldest brother gave her an aggravated look. "But—"
"No."
"So we just sit on our frigging hands for the rest of the day?"
"Shore up and try to do more research," offered Giles. "At least we now know exactly what the Judge is. It'll be a little easier to find some information."
"Awesome," Dean deadpanned.
"Hey, I got a shift over at The Bronze," said Jo. "Meet you guys later?"
A chorus of farewells sent her off. Sam offered to get everyone food and Dean tossed him the Impala's keys. The remainder settled in (a few quite grudgingly) to see what could be found about Knights of Hell and to wait impatiently for both Ruby and Xander to retrieve whatever it was they said would help.
The Judge had been sitting on the floor meditatively for almost all of the past twelve hours. If it hadn't been for Angelus' delightful arrival and the subsequent demonstration of the demon's power Spike would have thought the thing had died. As it was, for all the trouble it took to assemble him the Judge was being very, very boring.
The vampire drummed his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair and stared at the demon's back. If it hadn't been for the black eyes (and the fact that he'd survived being severed into six neat pieces), he would have passed as human. An extraordinary large, bald, ugly human, but a human nonetheless. Pictish blue whorls and patterns that enveloped the Judge's entire body spoke of his origins, and the exquisite seams done by Dalton gave proof to how he'd been revived.
Spoke scowled at the line of five coins that the nerdy little vampire had extracted from the Judge's parts. It should have been six, but one of the nimrods in their group of disposable minions had mocked Angelus and had been forced to swallow one. The idiot was now screaming and writhing about somewhere in the back.
The things burned. A mandala of sorts was inscribed on both sides, one that was anathema to anything that had the taint of Hell in them. They made certain of this by pressing one onto the forehead of a human guest. They noted no deleterious effects, then they had her for dinner.
"Someone is here."
At the Judge's deep growl Spike jerked in his seat and peered around. "Now what?"
Someone clucked their tongue disparagingly. "You picked some real geniuses for guards out there."
Spike turned towards the darkened doorway and spotted a familiar tall figure. "Bloody hell."
"What time is it?" Dean asked.
"Nearly seven," replied Giles. Xander, Willow, and Cordelia had left about an hour earlier. "Why?"
Buffy looked up from the stake she was whittling, concerned, as her brother pulled out his phone and began to place a call. "Sam's been gone for nearly an hour and a half. Doesn't take that long to grab some burgers."
Spike laughed as loudly as his mangled face would allow. "Are you barking mad? Coming here all by yourself! I didn't realize you had a death wish."
The Judge unfolded his legs and stood to confront the stranger. As tall as the other man was, the demon still topped him by several inches. He peered down, then proclaimed, "You are of my kind."
"You're daft," snorted the vampire. "This is one of the Slayer's gormless brothers."
The Judge pulled away and Sam Winchester gave Spike a smirk. He then purposefully blinked and his eyes filmed over in black.
Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episode "Innocence" (BtVS 2.14).
Author's Note : Had some liberties with the Knights of Hell. I was going to eliminate the Judge entirely, maybe make a brand new thingy, but figured this was a better way around it.
There's a weird time discrepancy in "Innocence." Prior to the whole army base scene, Xander tells Willow to meet them in 1/2 an hour. Then Buffy goes to sleep and has her nightmare and the whole Miss Calendar thing happens. Then the army base scene goes on. I just made a slight adjustment so, you know, it doesn't look like Hermione's time-turner was involved.
