Disclaimer- Joss and the WB own the rights, and seeing as how I'm no good in fights, Joss need not frit, this story is shit.
Summary- On Christmas Eve, what's a Jewish girl to do? Why, kick some big fat Santa ass, that's what! But can Willow and Tara really save Sunnydale and defeat Santa without losing the lives of their friends or each other?
Spoilers- There's major Season 5 spoilage all throughout, so if you live elsewhere and want to wait for it to air wherever you are, stop right here.
Rating- Another hard R for my second full-length fic to go on FF.Net. Sex scenes, gore later on, spritzled with profanities and layered in strong violence.
Feedback- You know I want it baby.
Author's Notes- This is a horror story in case you didn't see the category I set it to. It's not a very nice story, though I think fans of Willow and Tara will like it.
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Santa and the Jew: A BtVS Christmas Story | by Donald P. Pike
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Chapter 2
8. Making Calls
"Ugh, excuse me. Pardon me. Miss, please. Everybody, I'm leaving the store, please get OUT OF MY WAY!"
Riley Finn fought his way through the surprisingly busy late-night crowd, bags filled with gifts and wrapping paper weighing him down. He and Buffy had an excellent reason for not shopping earlier, namely the fact that they continuously had to drop everything to save the world, but what excuses did these people have? Too bogged down by work, to busy with the kids? It just wasn't right, this was a holiday to be planned for and rejoiced over. But not a single person he'd run into had had a smile on their face. It was disheartening to think that this was the direction the world was going in.
His cell phone vibrating within his pocket broke his train of thought, and he stopped walking by the sliding glass doors to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Riley?"
"Of course, who is this?"
"How far are you from Buffy's house?"
"How do you know-"
"Just answer the question!"
"Uh, a couple of miles."
"Riley, you have to get to Buffy's house!"
"Why? W-willow is that you?"
"Yes, drive to Buffy's and get Dawn before he does!"
"Willow, what the hell is going on?"
"I don't have the time talk, and neither do you!" /click/
Riley sighed, slipping the cell phone back into his pant's pocket. Gathering his stuff together, he traveled through the doors as they opened before him in a mechanical whir, asking himself for the umpteenth time why he was associated with such strange, oft cryptic people. And once again the answer was Buffy.
*
Willow put down the phone, biting her lip. She knew she could've told Riley who was after Dawn, but that would have only led to more questions. The best thing to do now was simply get her before Nicholas did.
A hand lightly touching her shoulder startled Willow out of her thoughts and she turned to see Tara's wide eyes looking back at her. "I g-got the book, did you call Riley?"
Willow nodded, her eyes gazing downwards at the book Tara held. It would come of use to her and she doubted Buffy would hate her too much for taking her gift early. Taking it from Tara she put one arm around the girl's shoulders, leading her outside into the cold. Willow made sure she still had her cell phone with her before getting in, as she had another two calls she wanted to make.
9. House Arrest (Basement Trip)
Riley closed the door to his car, glancing around the residential area surrounding him. Not a soul about. Christmas lights of all colors glowed in silent, blinking splendor up and down the surprisingly snow-covered streets. Buffy had once told him about this happening at an earlier date, but as it had something to do with Angel he'd decided not to call her about it when he saw the snow falling outside the stores. Walking up the slick walk, Riley shook a little in his brown leather jacket and navy-blue turtle-neck sweater. God, it's nice weather, but why do I feel so creeped? It couldn't have been Will's nervous-jitters phone call, he was sure she'd simply had a bad dream and had done a spell wrong as a result, or some such nonsense. Demons weren't around at Christmas very much. Maybe it was the whole Godly thing. In any case, he felt his khakis to make sure his gun was where it should be.
Riley grunted as he unlocked the door to Buffy's house; he'd have to oil the lock, it was starting to get fairly stiff. Opening the door, Riley considered calling out to Dawn or Joyce, but then realized what time it was. What if nothing was wrong and he woke them for no reason? He'd check things out first before going into drastic measures. As it was he kept his magnum by his side, cocked and loaded, ready for action.
Taking short breaths from his chest to his lungs, Riley positioned himself by the door of the living room, summoning up the strength to enter. An odd electric noise filled his ears, and he guessed it must have been the AC kicking on. Counting to three, he bumped the opening and raised his gun...nothing. The darkened room was empty. As he turned around though, a noise like cans tumbling down onto each other made him jump, turning around again and approaching the door that connected the living room to the kitchen and dining room. Putting his gun up, feeling as though he wasn't quite ready for whatever this was, Riley stepped through the dark entryway.
*
Dawn awoke in a silent gasp, the last bit of a horrible nightmare fading away into the dark recesses of her mind. By the time she'd put her feet on the floor she'd already forgotten the contents of the scary dream. Dawn found that she was often very good at that, making bad things go away when she didn't want them there. She thought maybe she just had good control over her imagination.
Sighing, the young girl stood up, stretching her arms and yawning sleepily. She wanted rest for what she was sure would be an exciting day tomorrow, but her throat was sore and her tongue felt fuzzy. She needed something to drink before getting back to bed. Silently opening the door to her bedroom, Dawn slipped outside in her fuzzy bunny slippers and her Serena/Sailor Moon night-shirt, carefully walking down the hall to make sure she didn't step on the creaky boards and wake her mother.
When she came to the bathroom she suddenly realized how bad water tasted on her tongue when it felt this fuzzy, and decided instead to go get something from the fridge downstairs.
*
Finding nothing in the kitchen but a mess of canned tuna, Riley had replaced the foods and left the kitchen through the side entrance, examining the laundry room and once again coming up dry as nightly predators would go. He figured that had anyone been here he would've heard something by now, and the Bailey's he'd picked up for Buffy and himself were quickly melting in the backseat of his car. Of course, that was his own fault really. He'd left the car and the heating on so the windows wouldn't freeze over from the snow. He supposed he could've found a way to fit the ice cream in with the presents in the trunk.
In any case, this seemed pointless. Wandering around Buffy's house at night, searching for something that stood a very good chance of not even being there. The only thing keeping him where he was was the fact that Willow had sounded genuinely frightened. Rounding over to the back of the first floor, Riley checked two closets before nearing himself to the basement, which was situated opposite the back door to the house. A white curtain covered the panes of glass that would have otherwise revealed the outside world to him, but Riley could still make out the shadow of a tree in the moonlight as it swayed in the cold snowy wind. Something beyond the tree caught his attention, and Riley pulled back the drapes to get a better look. Under a particularly large tree sat a snow-covered wooden sled. He smiled a little. Joyce was one to give into festiveness of the season, but that sled looked expensive.
Shivering a little, Riley tried to ignore the ominous creaking of the basement door and stepped down inside. He wasn't the least bit surprised to find that the light at the top of the steps didn't work. Pulling out his lighter, Riley flicked open the metal casing with his thumb and flicked again at the blackened roller, lighting the fire. Putting it slightly away from his face, Riley began descending the staircase, light source in one hand and weapon in the other.
*
Dawn opened the refrigerator, basking in the mechanical thrum as it came to life before her, the small light at the top providing her a view of what it held within. Grabbing some orange juice she closed the fridge and opened a cupboard as quietly as possible. Once a cup was in hand she opened the flask of the o.j. carton and poured some in, filling the glass. The wind blew softly outside and at that moment she could have sworn she heard movement in the living room. Shaking it off, Dawn put the juice back in the fridge, closed the door and took her cup.
As she moved to leave though, another sudden noise from the living room caused her to back up into a counter, knocking over a few cans of tuna her mother had laid out. Hearing footsteps approaching she quickly stepped out of the room, heading for the staircase. When whoever it was passed by she'd go upstairs and get her mom...
But they never came out. Peeking her head back into the kitchen she found that the person had used the back hallway, through the laundry room. A creak announced to her that they were going into the basement. She smiled in spite of herself. Putting her cup on the counter, Dawn crept through the laundry room to the rear hall. The door to the basement stood wide open.
*
The wisp of flame the Zippo provided was getting on Riley's nerves. It wasn't nearly enough to sustain his sight and give very much idea to form of the basement. It was small, more so than Xander's, but it was enough for a bunch of boxes to be stuffed in. Pale shafts of moonlight would have filtered through better had the cardboard boxes not been piled so high as to block them. He stumbled a bit on something that rustled and jingled, guessing it was a carton of old Christmas decorations.
A small whirring sound came to his attention. It was somewhere below him, perhaps set off by his clumsiness. He doubted it was loud enough to be heard by anyone outside of the basement, but he stooped to find and turn it off nonetheless. As he stooped his foot squished in a puddle of water, probably dripping from a broken pipe nearby.
The door above him slammed shut, and for a moment he thought it could simply be the wind when a clicking noise was also heard. Someone had just locked him in the basement. For whatever reason, the slamming of the door jarred the power cords leading to the light switch, and they flashed on and off for a moment before unsteadily illuminating the room. Riley looked down on instinct.
"Jesus!", he screamed backing away from Joyce's body, tripping on boxes and falling over. Not daring to get up, he examined what was left of her. She lay in a slowly growing pool of blood, his shoe mark disappearing next to her head. His mouth opened and closed in shock, though no sound came out. He didn't have to wonder long to see what had torn open Joyce's neck. It crawled out of a recent hole in her flesh, it's metallic feet raking the skin. Clutched in her hand was a small box. Wrapping paper was strewn all about and a bow stuck out from underneath her.
The killer toy spider noticed Riley and turned slightly to face him. Riley saw out of the corner of his eye that there was a cheap gold-painted dinner platter next to him, stuffed in one of the many boxes. His hand crept towards it, his eyes locked on the tiny killer. As soon as his fingers grasped the plate the spider lunged, seeming to fly through the air towards him. He swung his faux-gold weapon and hit the spider in mid-air, watching as it flew into one of the small corners, busting in an electric gasp.
That thing killed Joyce? Oh god, what am I going to tell Buffy? Riley got to his feet, still too shocked to do anything other than stare at the body. They should've been there to protect her, checked up on her more. Now she was...he couldn't think up any words he could possibly use to explain to Buffy what had happened.
Prying his eyes away from the grisly sight, Riley looked up at the door. Someone must have given Joyce that package, or perhaps Joyce had found it. Either way, there could be more of them, which meant that Dawn could still be in danger. He desperately hoped that she was the one who had closed the door on him...
On the steps, Riley figured he wouldn't tell Dawn what had happened. Better to let Buffy do that. A shuffling sound interrupted his fazed demeanor, and he looked downwards to where the spider had landed. He could see a few mechanical legs here and there, scattered around, but nothing to dangerous. Then a light skittering noise began, and Riley's gaze locked back on the box, still in Joyce's hand. It was impossible! Hundreds upon what must have been thousands of tiny miniatures of the first spider were pouring in masses out of the small box. They looked more like small gray granddaddy long-leg spiders, but Riley knew better. His feet thumped as he tore up the wooden steps, reaching the top and hitting the door with all his weight. No good, the door remained solid.
"Dawn! Dawn, for Christ's sake let me OUT! DAWN!"
The skittering sound was everywhere now, buzzing incessantly in his ears. Below him a sea of deadly gray was forming, covering almost every part of the floor. Then Riley remembered his gun. Aiming it at the knob and standing back, Riley fired the weapon at the base of the locked doorknob. The gun burst in recoil and the metal handle flew off the door, the lock severely damaged. He was reaching back to kick in the door when the stairs caved in beneath him.
10. House Arrest (Scaring Dawn Away)
Dawn ran up the stairs when the screaming started. She'd gone for broke and was getting her Mom and was calling Buffy and the police and Riley if he wasn't with Buffy. She could have sworn the man had yelled her name a few times, and his voice sounded familiar, but she knew better than to listen to anyone who broke into her house late at night. On Christmas Eve no less. The perfect time for burglars.
Mom wasn't in her bed. Nor was she in the bathroom. Dawn, getting a bit overwhelmed now, called out to her mother, but no avail. There was no answer. A groan and a loud thump resounded throughout the house, coming from the first floor. Dawn yelped and ran into her room, looking for any sort of weapon. Throwing open the closet, she searched until she found a baseball bat, then realized as she took it that she lived with a vampire slayer. She was about to exit to Buffy's room when something on her bed caught her eye.
A small red box, wrapped in a green bow. The tag read that it was from Xander! Could he be in the house now? Dawn shook her head, evading the fog entering her mind. This wasn't right, someone was playing a trick on her. Running out of her room and into Buffy's, Dawn began searching for the weapon stash. Upon opening the closet Dawn saw the chipped blade of a broken, blood-covered and rusty axe, but that was it. Shrugging, she grabbed it and swung it around a few times. Seemed good enough, and Buffy was probably not going to use it again in the shape it was in.
An explosion ripped Buffy's door off it's hinges and threw Dawn off her feet, onto the bed. Black smoke began to filter into the room, and as Dawn ran out into the upstairs hallway she knew that whatever happened had occurred in her own room. Her eyes widened in realization...the present! Forgetting phoning the police or Buffy, Dawn decided it was time to get to the neighbor's house. Running down the steps, Dawn was heading for the door when she heard her mother's voice in the living room.
"Mom!", she yelled happily, dashing into the dark room to find it empty. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, but she realized that the tree wasn't plugged in and soot covered the floor, even marking footprints across to the kitchen. She gasped when she noticed where they emanated from. The chimney...
"Dawn?" Mom was calling to her from the kitchen.
"Mom?" Dawn approached the now closed door leading into the dining area, but stopped as a thought occurred to her. The footprints lead into the kitchen.
"Dawn, help me! Please honey, I'm trapped under the fridge!"
"Mom, is anyone else in there?"
"Of course not baby, please help me!"
Her heart torn between fear and her love for her mother, Dawn opened the door. Complete darkness reigned from the kitchen. Nothing could be seen. She felt her heart stop in her chest as a deep voice called out, "You heard your mother, Dawn." Before she could run, a monster in a red suit leaned out from the darkness and grabbed her shirt, staring into her eyes. "Now GET IN HERE!"
With a scream she was pulled inside.
11. House Arrest (Escape)
Riley gasped, looking down four feet at certain death. And fairly soon it would only be three feet as the swarm of deadly spiders continued to grow. He stood on a piece of debris from the demolished staircase, faced precariously at a forty-five degree angle. He was well-aware that one wrong move would disrupt the balance, and he'd fall into the scuttling mass of android arachnids.
Looking back and up towards the door he'd just about escaped through, Riley noticed a part of the wooden foundation of the staircase remained, positioned directly next to the door. Rising unsteadily and very slowly, Riley watched beneath him as the mound grew, then glanced to his right, back where the beam of the foundation began.
A pain in his ankle made Riley yelp and lift his foot in shock. A few spiders had managed to climb up already and were attacking his feet with their razor-shard mandibles. Unfortunately, Riley's raising his foot caused the weight on the wood to shift. He heard the cracking of timber beneath him and knew it was time to act. Ignoring the spiders, Riley jumped from what remained of the stairwell to the support beam, wrapping his arm around it and turning his head just in time to see the board he was on disappear in the sea of gray.
Shaking his foot and hitting it against the beam, Riley crushed the spiders left on his shoe and proceeded to climb his way up the wood towards the door. He noticed with no small amount of fear that not only had the floor beneath been completely consumed, but that the spiders were quickly climbing up after him, clicking and shifting their way up. Well, at least Joyce's body was gone from sight.
Reaching the point where the stairs should have ended, Riley put one hand out and with all of his might hit the door with his palm. Despite the burst of fiery flame his palm was feeling, Riley gave an hysterical grin as the door swung open, revealing darkness beyond. Risking a look down again, Riley was reminded of the nature specials that showed some kid putting a stick in an ant hill, then pulling it out to reveal the stick entirely covered in ants. He had to get off this beam.
But as he ventured one of his legs out and found stable ground on the other side of the door, Riley felt a chill run down the length of his spine. A hand wrapped it self on the corner of the door, then another.
"D-Dawn?"
Joyce, grinning madly, popped her head around the corner and Riley screamed. Her hands disappeared and she slammed the door shut, it's lock glowing bright red for a moment before fading out. Riley banged on the door as he felt the tiny monsters beginning to crawl along the side of his leg, biting at the flesh beneath his khakis.
Ignore the pain, ignore the pain, think, think, think!
But his thought process was interrupted as the wooden support he was on groaned, and once again he heard the crackling sound that could only mean one thing. Ripping his jacket off his shoulders, Riley wrapped the leather around his head and torso and yelled from the pain in his leg as the beam snapped, falling at an angle directly into the death trap below. Riley disappeared beneath and all was still save for the constant swimming motion of the millions of tiny enemies.
Then a blood streaked hand rose out from the mass, followed by another. Riley Finn, once a leading soldier in the initiative, once a well-respected and feared man, would not be beaten by these odds. He'd faced worse. Finally the leather jacket, swarming with the little nemeses, lifted itself out of the pool, grappling onto a cardboard box leaned against a wall. He continued to climb in what must have been the worst pain he'd ever felt, the sound of constant skittering and gnawing all around him.
His hands, though slippery from his own blood spilling out of dozens of tiny cuts, were able to cling onto the cardboard as he made his way up the western wall of the basement. When he'd neared the top, he pushed two boxes in front of him out of the way, and through the cover of his jacket Riley saw the small windows leading outside. He laughed as he tried to open one, notice that there really wasn't any way to at his position. It didn't matter. Ramming one already bloody fist through the glass, Riley got a good hold of the cement wall outside and reared back, preparing to run himself through the remaining glass.
The jacket once again took most of the blow, though a few shards did make it threw to cut his scalp. He grimaced and pulled himself the rest of the way out. Once completely free he jumped to his feet and tore of his jacket, doing a wild dance and slapping his slick hands all over his body, laughing and tearing up at the pain and the shock from all of the electric spiders being crushed against him.
Once the spiders were off and he'd assessed the damages, Riley backed away from the small mess he'd made and allowed himself to fall on his ass. He reached a hand up and pressed it to his forehead, continuing to laugh at what he'd just escaped. He leaned over and grabbed his shredded jacket, tearing off a few strips and wincing as he tied them around his now paling hands. He'd be limping and avoiding picking up heavy objects for a while, but he had survived.
A scream brought him out of his reverie, bringing his gaze up the second floor, which he now realized was on fire, and Dawn's room was totally obliterated. Standing up, Riley searched for his gun. No good. He must've dropped it when the stairwell had caved. A quick glance back at the window told him how likely he was to get it, what with the mound of spiders continuing to grow. He doubted it would take any more than five minutes before they began to pour out of the window he'd just exited from. Picking up his jacket and reaching into his pocket, Riley cursed loudly when he felt the sting of another few spiders that had made it through his rampage, but he pulled out what he was looking for. His Zippo glimmered back at him radiantly in the backdrop of the fire above.
Throwing the remains of the jacket down to the ground and stomping on it a few times for good measure, Riley turned and gazed again at the sleigh he'd seen earlier. He now seriously doubted Joyce had picked it up.
Suddenly the sleigh turned around, lifting itself in the air. He backed up, startled. Well, that answers that question.
"Riley!" He looked again at the second floor and caught sight of Dawn being carried away by some huge creature, off into the darkness of the second floor, only slight revealed by the raging fire. Was it really Dawn? Or was it another trick to lure him back to the house? Behind him, the sled began to move again of it's own accord, slowly rising higher into the air and tilting to one side. It looked to be headed for the roof. Riley, not completely sure of what he was doing, grabbed a gardening shovel with one bandaged hand and the bottom of the large sleigh with the other, rising up with it. All he could hope for was that the Dawn he saw was the real thing, and that he shouldn't just be running for his life right now...
*
Dawn was struggling to get out of the big man's grasp, to get to the window and call out to Riley again, but the fraud Santa held onto her tightly and wouldn't let go. He'd just about done something awful to her in the kitchen, grabbing at her waist and bottom lewdly, but the loud noises from the basement had caused him to go into hysterics, yelling about 'Diablo' and 'killing the boy the old-fashioned way', and other stuff she didn't understand. She was simply thankful that he'd been stopped from his original intentions.
Now they were back in Buffy's room, the fat Santa using Buffy's own axe to destroy the window.
"You bastard, let me go!"
He laughed in a rumbling, sickly wet sort of way. "Now-now child, don't be so naughty."
At first she thought he was going to throw her out the window, but was surprised when he helped her latch onto the railing. Some ugly black bows snaked their way out of his coat, tying her in place. "Now, don't you go no where. I've got a little business to take care of before I get back to you, sweet thing."
She was about to spit into his horrid face (she knew that's what they did in all the movies) when a hole that looked a lot like a chimney opened above him, and he disappeared upwards. What was going on?!
*
Riley set himself down on the roof, rolling from under the girth of the magical sled as it also came down with a heavy and reverberating THUD! to the surface. Crouching, the ex-agent looked around tried to spot the monster and Dawn. But along with the sleigh he was the only being there. Had it been a trick?
A hole suddenly appeared on the other side of the roof, and someone Riley had never expected to flew out of it, a grin from ear to ear on the fat man's gray face.
"The key is Diablo's now, and I can dispose of you properly."
Frowning, Riley was to tell the truth a bit intimidated by the man in the red suit, his wide belly and looming figure cast by the starry sky and the full moon directly behind him. It seemed almost fitting in a nightmarish sort of way, thousands of Christmas lights all around them on other rooftops as well as their own. Santa (or what he could only guess was Santa) started to walk towards him.
Riley suddenly remembered the garden shovel in his hand, which he twirled deftly and pointed forward as he charged at the fat behemoth. Unfortunately, Claus was impossibly nimble for his age and weight. By the time Riley realized what had happened he felt a huge blow to the back of his head, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling to the other side. As soon as he stopped skidding Riley jumped to his feet, though pain shot up across his body as his injuries were making themselves noticed.
Claus laughed and once again began slowly (deceptively so) trundling towards him. Riley backed up, looking for an angle on the situation. As soon as Santa was about three feet from him Riley saw his chance. He rolled to the left and as he suspected his opponent was quick in turning to meet him. Riley started to roll again only this time stopped directly by Santa's feet, thrusting the small shovel upwards. He was rewarded with a slick wet sound of sharp metal entering soft skin.
Claus howled, one hand reaching down to grab the Riley and the other reaching behind him. Riley jumped up and away, retracting his weapon and twirling it expertly again, taunting the bigger man. But Claus just grinned, his one hand still behind his back, seeming to be rummaging through his shirt. Riley frowned.
"What, you expected a big red bag? Enchanted coating is where it's at. Like having a black hole on you shoulders."
"You mean instead of in your stomach?"
He actually laughed at this, his bellow seeming to shake the entire roof. "Guess who's going on my 'Bad Boy List', Finn."
Riley was about to ask the obvious, but realized that Santa Claus knew everyone's name. Maybe he was the true thing. In which case, if Riley got out of this alive he promised himself he'd take up Kwanzaa. Meanwhile, Claus found what he was looking for and pulled out an axe that looked very familiar to Riley. Oh, it's Buffy's present for Giles!
Without another word, Claus charged after him, swinging the axe above his head. Riley jumped backwards but couldn't match the speed nor the ferocity. Metal twanged on metal as Riley lifted the shovel in defense, catching it on the blade of the axe. They dueled strengths for a moment before Claus head-butted him, sending Riley down onto his knees. His opponent then knocked the weapon out of his dazed grasp, raising the axe for a final blow. Going for broke, Riley let himself fall backwards on the slanted roof.
The axe was faster though, and it's end snagged on his sweater, ripping into the flesh of his shoulder but keeping him from falling off the roof. He yelled in pain, throwing a fist against the red man's left knee and grabbing the hilt of the axe when he doubled over in pain. A tug of war began between them as to who would gain control of the weapon, and while it was obvious who was stronger, Riley found the he now held a crazy edge. Literally.
Gasping in pain, he rose to his feet and began leaning backwards, breaking the balance. Claus realized just as he did that if he let go, Riley would most definitely fall off. So he did, freeing his grasp of the hilt, his ugly fingers showing dead-blue skin. Riley's breath left him as his feet shot backwards and he fell off the roof, flailing his arms. But he was also swinging his newly acquired weapon in the air, and as he came down the bottom part of the blade caught on to the gutter, giving Riley a chance to get a better grip and place his feet on a windowsill beneath him, regaining some sense of stability.
"Riley!" A voice called out beneath him in a hushed whisper. He looked down and his eyes widened.
"Dawn? What's he got tied to you?"
"I don't know, but keep him busy, I'm almost out of this!"
He nodded, tightening his grip on the axe and winking at her, though inside pain was knocking his brain all around inside his head. "You got it. Call to me when you're out. I'll get us out of here."
With that, he lifted himself, peeking over the edge. Claus was by his sled, apparently looking through a large leather-bound spell-book. Riley tried to be as silent as possible as he lifted himself, but his foot suddenly became snared in a line of colored bulbs Joyce had stapled around the roof. Unable to free himself, Riley was unprepared for the kick to the ribs that once again sent him over the edge. But this time nothing was there to keep him up. The string of lights carried him along as he fell, unstapling itself along the way. Put one particular knot in the cord saved his life not two yards from the ground. Kicking out, he was able to free himself from the line's grasp.
A scream caused him to look upwards, and Riley felt a bit of deja vu'. Santa had gotten back down and was approaching Dawn, who had now freed herself from the restraints but was pressed against the opening in the wall. He was essentially where he had been when they'd been at the back of the house. But at least now there was a way of escape, as simple and dangerous as it may be. Cupping his hands over his mouth, Riley called out, "Dawn, jump and I'll catch you!"
Not needing to be told twice, the young girl leaped through what had been a window, falling about half-a-dozen yards into Riley's arms. Claus had to regain his step above, having lunged at the girl just as she'd jumped. He hopped through the chimney-portal once more before getting into his sleigh, commanding it to fly off the roof. He still had a nice surprise for the two humans below.
And Riley had one in return. The light cord in his hands, Riley swung it like a lasso, letting it fly and wrap itself around one foot of the sleigh. This caused the air-vehicle to jerk in mid-air, just as Claus threw a present down to them. He doubled back so that he was facing the key and Finn, then commanded the lassoed machine to race towards them. Riley saw it coming like a missile and grabbed Dawn who he'd just put down, jumping out of the way. The sleigh was now traveling so fast that when it hit the next closest thing, that being Riley's car, it sent the large object hurtling upwards.
Claus roared in frustration and flew off, disappearing into the night sky, racing beyond the rooftops. Riley and Dawn watched as his car came back down from up above, slamming to the ground; demolished. It started to burn and then imploded a few moments later, but by that time Riley and Dawn were well out of the way, up against the side of the house. Riley had looked down at the small black object in his hand which Claus had dropped down to them. Turning it over, Riley saw a small timer in red letters, counting down and beeping as it did.
07...
"A bomb?"
06...
"Could be."
05...
"He already put one in my room."
04... A small crawling sound entered Riley's ears from the other side of the wall they were leaning against. He could also now hear thousands of tiny beeps, synchronized with that of the black timer.
03...
"Oh god, the spiders!"
02...
"What, where?!"
"Just run!"
01...
They got to the street before the explosion carried them the rest of the way, ramming them both into a neighboring house with a fireball ripping through the crisp December air behind them, marking the end of the Summers' House. Lumber and metal flew like aerial weapons, chunks embedding themselves into cars, window, houses and sheds. Even a street lamp burst in the rage. One such wooden projectile swooshed through the air and slammed into Riley's thigh. Which actually helped, considered it added but also sorted out the pain in his body, equalizing it somehow. Now he felt like dying in every part of his body.
Dawn, unscathed save inwardly and a small blister that would form on her foot from the burning heat of the explosion and bruises on her cheek and elbow from hitting the side of the house, picked herself up off the ground and limped over to Riley, who remained still on the ground.
"You okay?"
Sighing, he looked up at her, but still didn't move. "I will be."
The sound of a car screeching to halt behind them finally forced Riley to at least roll on his side (with a little help from Dawn) to see that it was Willow and Tara. The car doors slammed simultaneously as the girls looked up at the blazing inferno in shock and horror.
"You're a little late!", Riley called to them.
Willow turned, tears in her eyes and a hand covering her mouth. She gave a relieved sob of joy as thought returned to her and she realized that they were alive. Willow ran over to them and Tara followed suit. Greeting were exchanged the form of more sobbing and the thanking of certain names Dawn couldn't understand until Willow began looking around sharply.
"Where is Joyce?"
Dawn looked sadly over to Riley, who shook his head. Willow couldn't feel anything at the moment emotionally, (having just seen her best friend be eaten alive) but she did finally get a good look at Riley.
"Oh no! What happened to you?"
He groaned, motioning that he needed help up. Something Willow knew that he wouldn't do unless it was more than necessary, which scared her even more. Tara reached for one shoulder and Willow the other, Riley struggling to maintain a grip on consciousness as they carried him to the station wagon, Dawn in tow.
"I'll be happy to tell you...when we're well away from here", he said dazedly.
It took a few more moments for the three girls to get Riley to lie down in the back seat, Willow taking notice of blood-drenched leather covering his hands acting as make-shift bandages. After seeing that he'd already fallen asleep, they enter the front of the car. Dawn was devastated at the loss of her mother, and to be truthful she didn't quite believe it yet. It was too much to sink in. But she could at least feel safe sitting between Willow and Tara as they drove off towards Giles'.
12. Grouping
"So you don't know for sure that she's dead?"
"I-I don't know. I'm not thinking clearly."
"Riley, that's the only part of your account that doesn't piece together. What did you find in the basement that caused you alarm?"
Riley sighed, feeling better now that his wounds were properly bandaged and healing (thanks to a few of Tara's herbology tricks) but feeling worse that he had to recount to them exactly what had happened to him. He leaned closer to Giles, coffee mugs in both of their hands and a warm towel wrapped around Riley. Both he and Dawn still had smudges of ash on their faces from the explosion.
"My memory's a little off at that point Giles," he whispered, "Maybe I could get a bit of it back if certain parties weren't in the room." With that he made a quick nod towards Dawn, now wearing a pair of Xander's mother's jeans (Willow had mentioned the predicament when she'd called him about what was going on) and sipping hot chocolate. She had a warm quilt around her shoulders in contrast to Riley's towel.
Giles blinked and nodded. "Dawn, y-you can take a shower if you'd like now. Just to get the soot off."
Realizing what was going to be discussed, she nodded silently and trundled down the hall, quilt dragging behind her as she limped slightly. Riley'd be damned if she didn't paint the saddest picture he'd ever seen. Once she'd gotten a towel from the closet and had closed the door from the bathroom, Riley turned back to Giles and the others. Namely; Willow and Tara, who were at the floor examining their target on the map, Giles who was sitting on the armchair next him, and Xander who was on the sofa, also adjacent Riley.
"Some sort of gift. She must have found and opened it. Inside was a-a spider. Like an electronic one. It probably took her by surprise and...and I really don't want to go into details after that. I found her in the basement. After I killed the spider the little ones started pouring out of the same box, and you know the rest after that."
Giles nodded, not saying anything for a moment. Riley could tell that he too was fighting back the urge to break down. They all were. But if they wanted to catch the bastard they'd have to remain strong until the occasion presented itself to just let go. The Englishman looked up at him.
"The box, all of them poured out of the same small one?"
Riley nodded, talking around the coffee. Giles had suggested tea for all, but Willow had mentioned that anything caffeine-heavy might've been the better choice. "Yeah. The big guy was sayin' something about enchantments being the 'in' thing now. That's when he pulled out...uh, Buffy's axe." Riley gestured to the weapon next Giles on the small table beside him. "Dawn said she took it from Buffy's closet and he took it from her."
Giles smiled politely. "It's all right, Riley. I had mentioned to Buffy that I'd been looking at Mithral's Axe as something I would like."
Willow muttered under her breath, "Buffy's gotta stop putting unwrapped gifts in the closet." Suddenly she looked up at them. "He's moving."
They gathered around the map, watching as the small red dot began to move again (they figured that he must've been recuperating above Sunnydale Park. Now it appeared as though the dot was shaking, as though it was unsure of where to go.
"What's it doing, Will?", Xander asked.
The witch shook her head. "I don't know."
They gasped as they red dot suddenly became two red dots, heading in separate directions. Both stopped shortly after. One at a corner of Sunnydale Park, the other at a business joint, Jim's Steak and Ale.
"Great, how the hell did that happen? What are we supposed to do now?"
Willow looked up at Xander as though the answer was simple. "We split up. He's either at the old carnival in the park or he's at the Steak and Ale."
Xander looked at her, shocked. "So why don't we go check them one at a time? It's crazy to split up, we wouldn't-"
Willow shook her head, cutting him off. "Xander, do you realize what he's doing. Didn't you think it's odd how everyone in town has disappeared all of the sudden? How no one came out to help Riley and Dawn, or even to see what the commotion was?"
He threw his hands up. "So?!"
"So, no one's waking up. They're all going to bed and sleeping. Then when they wake up in the morning, mass murder. A present from Santa Claus to every person in town, but they're not supposed to be up to find them until morning."
Riley shook his head, disagreeably. "Why did Joyce wake up early? Why are any of us up?"
Giles pointed to the bathroom in understanding. "Dawn. We're all directly linked to her, which is why Kringle wanted her. I think she's keeping us awake. Why else would he want her and Buffy?"
Willow frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He realized that Buffy must still not have spoken to any of them about her sister's being the key, the light of day. "I...I think, being Buffy's sister, she has a special bond. P-Perhaps, you know it's just a theory to go along with your own, Willow."
Willow nodded, deep in thought. "Well, if that's true, I think Tara and I could cast a short-period protection spell on the house to keep him out. I don't know how long it would last, but it's worth a shot."
"Well we can't just leave her here. Besides, why are we doing anything without Buffy? You said he took her with him, right Willow? How do we know she's-she's all right?"
Willow's faced turned red. She hadn't been completely truthful with any of them as to Kringle's capturing of Buffy. Except, that is for Tara. "I know she's fine. I know she is. Xander, you can't stay here and watch over Dawn. You work best with her."
He nodded. Willow looked over at Giles. "We need a way of communication...do you have any walky-talkies?"
*
They spread out into the night after the spell had been cast and luck had been wished by an to all. Willow and Tara headed for the park, Giles and Riley for the restaurant. Xander and Dawn (in a clean T-shirt and big socks) stood at the doorway, watching them drive off. None of them were quite sure they'd see the light of day again. And, some of them wouldn't...
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Hey all! Boy, I enjoyed writing that bit! Killing off Joyce and basking in the glory of it all. Sorry, I know this chapter dealt mainly with Riley and I hadn't planned on it being such a long chapter. Yes, I know how almost all of us hate Riley with a fiery passion. I used to like him a lot. I've always imagined him as the perfect Leon F. Kennedy. But I'm proud of it nonetheless. Guess what? ...I forgot! And do you know why? Right, cause it's two-fucking thirty in the morning as I'm finishing this, that's why. (Correction: Four o'clock as I've just finished proof-reading) Anyway, I promise, Riley will not be such a central figure in the following three chapters. This is mainly a Willow/Tara story after all. I have a great sex scene coming up to! :o)
Ain't that sweet?
Donald Pike (Lyle)
---Not one, or two or three but four, FOUR STONES! I mea- What the hell am I supposed to do with an emp-ty case! (mumble) Yes, but you can still count! Look it's easy! See look at my fingers, look, Four stones, Four crates, Zero stones, ZERO CRATES!