Disclaimer:- These Characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy (Grrr – arg), and Granada Television. Not Me. Although I'm pretty sure that the story line's original! If it isn't – I apologise profusely – please don't sue!
This is set somewhere between "amends" and "Bad Girls" the season 3 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Faith is still 'good', but November 2000 in Coronation Street – just after Jack won his bet, but before we found out about Natalie's pregnancy. Glad that's cleared up! Oh – and you have to pretend that the Rovers has just had an extension put on, to turn it into a bed and breakfast – I know its not quite true, but it is a fanFIC after all!
NB I do know that the two Irish characters are from Northern Ireland and Eire, but with some poetic license we don't need to mention that now do we?
Feedback:- Yes please!!!
Distribution:- Ask and you shall receive.
Part One - Sunnydale
"England?!" Buffy Summers exclaimed. "But what about patrol? What about demons, and vamps, and –" Her watcher cut her off. He was adamant she was going to take a holiday.
"Buffy, you've been slaying practically non-stop since the start of the semester."
"Giles, you're always the one telling me I cant neglect my duties!"
"Well, ah, I've had a little chat with your mother, and we both agree that a holiday would do you good. Faith will cope, for now."
"But in the middle of school. This is too good to be true! Hey guys –" she yelled to her friends - who had just walked in the door – "we're going to England!"
"Wohoo!!" To anyone who didn't know Daniel Osbourne, this would sound like a perfectly normal exclamation of pleasure, but for Oz, this was absolutely amazing!
"Whoa!" Xander Harris immediately woke up. "Were my ears deceiving me, or did Oz actually just express pleasure?!"
"I think you're right! Oz, are you feeling OK?" Willow Rosenburg, his girlfriend, sounded worried. He put his arm round her and squeezed her tightly.
"Will, I'm absolutely fine! We're going to England!"
"I think I need to sit down." Buffy collapsed into one of the hard-backed chairs that Rupert Giles keeps in his library.
"There is one, small, problem." Buffy jumped. She was so elated, she had almost forgotten that Giles was even there. "Umm . . . the plan was just for you and I to go to England, to visit some relatives I have there."
"What?! No way! That is so unfair! Well if they can't come too, I'm not going. I'm staying right here." Buffy crossed her legs defiantly, and the jolly atmosphere that had built up in the room over the last few minutes disappeared at once. Oz's facial expression slid back into his usual non-committal one. Xander slumped back to his spot on the stairs.
"But Buffy, your mother and I really do think that it would be best if you had a break . . ." Glancing over at Buffy for a second (his eyes had been sliding from floor to ceiling and back again for the last few minutes) he spotted a look that he had seen many times before. He knew she wasn't going to give in. "Oh very well. We'll all go. But I'll have to find you some hotel rooms somewhere, we cant all stay at my Aunt Vera's."
"Wohoo!" This time the exclamation of delight came from Cordelia Chase, who had just entered the library. "So, we're going to England then are we?"
"Apparently so" sighed Giles.
"So when do we leave?" asked Willow, always the sensible one.
"Ah, yes, well, that's the other problem with us all going."
"Giles . . ." Buffy started in that warning tone that the group knew all too well.
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!!!" exclaimed Cordelia. "Well, there's me out of it. It would take me that long just to decide how many pairs of shoes to take!"
"Oh, well, too bad, but if ya can't make it . . ." began Buffy, hoping that this meant she wouldn't have to put up with Cordelia's precocious nature for the duration of the holiday. But Cordelia picked up on this, and vowed to make Buffy's holiday as hell-like as possible. Well, after all, she thought, Sunnydale is the hellmouth – it'll be a home away from home for her!
"Actually, on second thoughts – I can make it!"
"Oh great." Buffy sighed.
"Well then, the flight leaves 12 noon tomorrow – we'll meet here at 8am."
"8am?! That gives me less than 24 hours to pack! See you guys later!!" Cordelia picked up her things and flounced out, leaving the others to follow close behind.
Part Two - Wetherfield.
"Eey, Jack, I've just had a letter from our Rupert!"
"Oh, have ya V? That's nice." Jack looked up at his wife disinterestedly, before going back to studying the form guide in the paper. Jack enjoyed a good gamble, but he just gambled for fun since they won fifty nine thousand pounds in an accumulator bet. To look at the house, though, you would never guess it – it looked exactly the same as it did before they won the money. A plain terraced house inside, with blue cladding on the outside.
"Yes, he's coming to visit us! He's bringing a friend of his . . . Buffy he says she's called. I hope he's got himself a nice lass at last – he deserves it."
"Buffy you say, V? Daft name, if you ask me."
"Oh don't start before you've met the girl, Jack. She's probably perfectly nice."
"Hmm."
Later that afternoon Jack and Vera were relaxing – well, Jack was relaxing, Vera was ironing – when the telephone rang.
"Are you gonna get that then V?"
"Oh, honestly, I have to do everything around this house! Hello? Oh, hello Rupert." She cupped her hand over the receiver and hissed "Jack – its Rupert!"
"You think? I'd never have guessed," muttered Jack before Vera returned to the phone.
"What sorry? I didn't quite catch that Rupert. How many? Another 4 as well as Buffy? Students?! Well they won't all fit in here. Yes. I see. What time?! 4am?! Right. Well you'll have to get a taxi – there won't be any buses that time of night and we don't drive. There's a good firm at the end of the street – I'll book you one. Manchester Airport at 4am? Right I'll give your name. Bye love." Vera sat down, looking very perplexed.
"What is it V? I can see you're dying to tell me." Jack didn't even look up from his form guide as he made this observation.
"That was Rupert."
"Yes Vera, we've established that. What exactly did he say?"
"He says he's bringing some students with him, there'll be five altogether."
"Well they won't all fit in here."
"That's what I told him, he said he'd sort something out"
"He better had do. When's he coming?"
"Tomorrow morning"
"Bloody hell he doesn't waste any time, does he?!"
Part Three - Sunnydale
"Well if she doesn't arrive soon, we'll just have to leave." Giles sighed with exasperation.
"I'm here!" A jolly voice reached their ears. "And I have a whole 6 seconds to spare! Hurry up guys we're gonna be late!"
"And she doesn't realise that the reason for that is because we've been waiting for her. Geez this holiday's off to a great start!" Buffy was obviously annoyed. Now Giles had managed to talk her into going, she was totally psyched and didn't want to miss out!
"Can we just go?" Xander whined. "I'm hungry."
"Yes alright, we're going. Where's that bloody taxi?"
"Calm down Giles, we don't want you to have some kind of heart attack while we're there do we now?"
The journey to England was somewhat uneventful, with the Scooby gang spending most of the time fast asleep. In fact, the only interesting thing that happened was when Buffy woke up from a deep stupor just as the stewardess was on her way round. In the resulting confusion, Buffy attempted to stake the young woman, mistaking her for a vamp. So when the gang arrived at Manchester airport, they were fresh-faced and not at all jet-lagged, thanks to all the sleep they had on the way. This was due to the advice of Giles, who had given them all travel tips that he had gained from his frequent trips to and from England.
When they alighted the plane, after claiming all their luggage (which took longer than the average trip thanks to Cordelia, who had managed to talk them all into taking one of her bags each as they weren't using their allocated weights), they were greeted by a shifty looking man, shouting "Rupert Giles?!"
"Geez, Giles, that guy seriously needs tutoring in fashion sense!" Cordelia exclaimed, to which Giles replied with a look that plainly said 'shut up and be polite Cordelia, or you'll be on the next flight home'.
"Yes, hello, I'm Rupert Giles. Are you the taxi driver?"
"Amongst other things, yes. You a relation of Vera then?"
"Yes, I'm her nephew. Can we get going please, we've had a long flight, and we'd like to get to bed."
"Oh, yes, that reminds me, she said I should ask you if you found anywhere for your guests to stay?" As he spoke, he looked round the five friends, his gaze resting on Buffy for a few seconds longer than the others. Usually the gang would put it down to Buffy's stunning good looks, but there was something more than that in the look in his eyes. Buffy slipped her hand into her pocket, and grasped her stake as tightly as she could without looking too unnatural.
"Damnit. I knew there was something else I was supposed to do. I seem to remember there's a quaint little public house at the end of the street, do you think there could possibly be room there?"
"Well, usually, I'd say no, but I happen to know that the landlady has recently had it extended into a guesthouse. You're lucky, not many people know about her new venture yet, so there should be enough rooms for the five kids. I take it you plan to stay with Vera then?"
"Well, yes, that was the plan. Do you think I should give the pub a call?"
"No need, I live on that street and I know that she has at least two rooms spare – if some of you don't mind sharing, that is?"
"Sharing -" Cordelia began in disgust, but Giles silenced her with a look, and continued for her. " – will be delightful. That will be fine, Mr – er –"
"Macdonald. Steve."
"Thank you, Steve."
"It's my job. Well, here we are – that'll be £10:43, and" as he morphed into a vampire face "which one of you lovely ladies will have the pleasure . . ." He didn't have time to finish before Buffy drew her stake out of her pocket, and drove it right through his heart.
"Well, it certainly saves on cab fare, that's for sure!" Buffy said brightly. "Looks like I got here just in time!"
"It does, Buffy, but do remember you're here for a holiday, not a slaying-fest." He barely had time to finish his sentence before Vera rushed out of number 9 Coronation Street, and wrapped her arms tightly round his neck.
"Rupert! It's so good to see you! Haven't you grown? Are you going to introduce me to your friends?" Buffy could see that this little English greeting (she sure hoped it wasn't a typical one!) had flustered Giles, so she stepped in.
"I'm Buffy," she began politely, holding out her hand, which Vera shook. "And this is Xander, Oz, Willow, and Cordelia."
"Well, its nice to meet you all. Now, how about some hot chocolate? You can stay in our living room for tonight – the Rovers closed a while back. We'll get you settled in there in the morning. I didn't think Rupert would have sorted out anywhere for you to stay, so I asked Natalie, and she was happy to have you. Come in, you'll catch you're death!"
"Friendly, aren't they?" Willow said, contentedly.
"Yeah, lets just hope they aren't all as 'friendly' as our cab driver over there." Cordelia, ever the pessimist, added.
"I'm hungry," Xander replied.
Part Four – Weatherfield
The five friends walked into the Rovers Return, not knowing at all what to expect. The second Willow opened the door, they got their first taste of an English public house. The buzz that floated out from inside it was amazing. For a few minutes they just stood there, awe-struck, and then Buffy regained her composure and headed towards the bar. A pretty looking barmaid greeted her, with what she guessed was a strong Mancunian accent.
"Can I help you?" she inquired. Willow decided she had a friendly face.
"Yeah, I'm looking for-" Buffy began, " Will – what was the name again?"
Before Willow had a chance to reply, an older looking lady answered her.
"Hi." She said with a smile. "I'm Natalie. Are you the kids Vera told us about?"
"Yeah, that's us. I'm Buffy, and this is Willow, Cordelia, Oz, and Xander."
"How come you always get to do the introductions Buffy? I wanna." Xander whined.
"Oh, quit complaining. Xan – you can do the next one. I promise."
"Really?" asked Xander, his eyes lighting up immediately.
"Yeah, you can introduce yourself to me."
Xander turned his head and a stunning blonde met his gaze.
"Hi. I'm Toyah."
"Wow."
"Xander – breathe!" Willow hissed.
"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry. I'm Xander."
"So I gathered." Toyah smiled.
"See? She already knows my name! This is so unfair!" Xander complained.
"So then Xander" began Toyah, "how long are you here for? I don't know that!"
"Well, I, uh, well –"
"We're here for two weeks" cut in Buffy, helping her friend out.
"Yeah, that's right, two weeks!" added Xander brightly. Cordelia silently shook her head, thinking how glad she was to have got rid of the doofus.
While Toyah and Xander chatted, Natalie showed the rest of the gang around the pub. Once they were settled, Natalie left them, returning to the bar.
"Toyah!" she scolded. "Would you mind removing your tongue from the mouth of that fine young gentleman and getting back to work?"
"Yes Natalie." She mumbled. She turned back to Xander. "I live here too – so I'll see you later, yeah?"
"Yeah." It occurred to Xander that he was now alone next to the bar. He hadn't noticed everyone leaving, and was just about to ask Toyah if she had noticed what happened, when he spotted Giles walk in the door with a man who looked about 60.
"Ah, Xander." He began. "This is Ken, he's lived in Wetherfield all his life, and he's volunteered to take you all on a tour of Manchester tomorrow."
"Great" said Xander, with mock enthusiasm. "And what are we doing after that, going to some art museum?!"
"Well, actually, yes."
"Oh." Xander looked uncomfortable. Just then Cordelia and Buffy entered the bar, chatting amiably. "Looks like England's had a good effect on those two already."
"Indeed it does."
"Giles! Cordy and I have been chatting to Natalie, and she says she has a friend at the – what was it again? Oh that's right, the Wetherfield Gazette and we're going there tomorrow!"
"I'm not sure about that, Buffy, after all, Ken and I had arranged for him to take you around Manchester tomorrow."
"Yawn." This was Cordelia.
"What she means to say, Giles, is that we have the whole two weeks to do that, but there won't be another chance for us to visit the Gazette, coz Natalie's friend is a very busy guy."
"Its fine, Rupert, I don't mind. Let them enjoy their holiday, they don't want to spend it with an old man like me. I'll see you around."
"Yes, that'd be great, Ken." He turned to Buffy after Ken walked over to join some friends at the other side of the bar. "Where are Willow and Oz?"
"They're upstairs – after that long flight they needed some, er, alone time. If you get what I'm saying"
"Ah, I, er, yes. Right." An awkward silence followed, only broken by the voice of a fairly young woman, who entered the pub in obvious distress.
"Is Les in here? Please God let him be in here" She was close to tears.
"Calm down Janice!" Natalie began
"Calm down?! Have you read the Gazette tonight? No. I thought not. Well look at this." Janice handed over the newspaper she was carrying, and Natalie scanned the front page.
ANOTHER BODY FOUND ON ROSAMUND STREET
Body of unidentified male, thought to be around 40 years old, is found in the Rosamund Street bus shelter.
Last night another body was found in a Wetherfield bus shelter. This time it was Rosamund Street, and the body was found by the driver of the number 34 bus to Manchester City Centre.
It is the latest in a long list of murders, and all the bodies have been discovered in bus shelters. The bodies have so far all seemed to be in perfect health, other than that they were dead. All the victims have been marked with a symbol showing the Star of David, which has then been crossed out. Forensic reports tell us that the symbols have been burned onto the body with hot metal.
Police so far have no leads on who could be doing this, but residents are urged not to leave their homes after dark, and if it is necessary, they should avoid any routes which pass bus shelters.
The identity of this latest victim is as yet unknown, and Police are looking for anyone who may know who it is. They are also looking for anyone who passed this particular bus shelter between the hours of 10am and midnight. Anyone with any information should contact Wetherfield CID on 01233 455324.
"Well? What about it?" she queried.
"My Les didn't come home last night. Oh, Natalie, what if it's him?"
"Well what have you come in here for then?!"
"I thought he might be here. I didn't want to make a prat of myself by calling the police if he was in here all along!"
"Well ring them now!"
A few nervous minutes later Janice emerged from the back hallway of the pub. The pub had become silent, even Xander had stopped looking longingly at Toyah.
"The police think it might be Les." She announced to the pub with a shaking voice.
"Oh, Mam! Would you like me to come to the police station with you?" asked Toyah.
"Would you love? I don't think I could do it on my own."
Slowly the atmosphere in the pub returned to normal. Giles drew Buffy over to one side, and reached for the newspaper, which Janice had left on the side of the bar.
"Buffy, I think you should have a look at this article. It says here that there have been other murders recently, and the circumstances have all been the same."
"So you think we should take a look into it?"
"Yes, and you should ask Willow if she can get on the 'net – I think she said she brought her laptop with her – to see if she can find out any more about the previous murders."
"What shall I do?" Although Buffy had come to England for a holiday, she really was happiest when she was slaying, or banishing evil of any kind.
"I think that the best thing you can do for now is sit tight until Willow or I find some information that can help. We don't want you to go rushing into anything when we don't know what we're dealing with."
"I'll go find Willow now."
Part Five –Sunnydale
"Giles said to look for anything cult-related. Oh and look carefully for any mention of naked bodies." Angel was shuffling through papers and flicking through books as fast as he could.
"Naked bodies?!" exclaimed Faith. "Geez, these guys really work quickly don't they?!"
"Come on Faith, as soon as I find some information that might be useful he wants me to take it to him in England."
"That is so not fair. I mean, I wanna go to England."
"Faith, you know we can't have both slayers away at once, especially with every one else who might be able to help away as well. Look, when I get chance I'll talk Giles into letting you have a holiday too, but it'll have to wait until I get back."
"What have I missed?" Wesley marched into the room, attempting to assume a commanding air but failing miserably.
"Its not fair, why does Buffy get all the good stuff?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Don't join in conversations half way through Wesley, its not good" announced Angel, while thrusting a pile of books into Wesley's hands. "Take a look through there, anything related to cults, and naked bodies."
"Nake – "
"We've been there already, Wes, just shut up and look."
"I believe I am the Watcher around here Faith, and I-"
"Shut up and LOOK, Wesley." Angel enforced Faith's decision, and the room became silent. The silence was only broken when -
"Boy am I good, I should do Willow's job. Oh wait, then who'd do the slaying? Cuz everyone else is off having fun in England, and –"
"Faith, have you found something?" Angel was beginning to get impatient.
"What? Oh, yeah. It says here, that in 1704, a group of German demons named – wait a second it's a little smudged here – I think it says Klatsch Dämon but don't hold me to it - were found to be sacrificially killing humans. It gets better though, they left their victims naked because in order for the Klatsch Gott – what the hell is a Gott?! - to be happy with the sacrifice, the clothes must be ingested by the victim no longer than an hour before death. Eeew that's gross!"
"Klatsch Dämon. Yes, of course! I don't know why I didn't think of it before, it was so ob –"
"Wesley." Angel had become much more relaxed, and amusement showed on his face.
"Yes Angel?"
"You've never heard of them before, have you?"
"Yes, of course I - " he looked up and caught sight of Angel's disbelieving face. "Well I think I remember hearing the name before, I do believe it was . ." his voice trailed off. Wanting to salvage at least a small amount of pride, he said "But I do know that 'Gott' is German for God, if that helps at all."
"Thank you for that Wesley. I'll be catching the next flight over to England. While I'm getting ready, can you see what else you can find out about these Klatsch Dämon? We still don't know why there was a crossed out star burnt onto the bodies."
"Who died and made you 'Gott'?"
"Faith this is no laughing matter. Someone needs to take charge, and it certainly can't be Wesley - he can't even lie properly." Wesley didn't even bother to retort to this, as he knew it was true and there was no getting out of it. "I'm going to ring the airport, I need the next evening flight to England. Can I leave you two to finish up here?"
"Yeah, yeah." Faith was now bored of her role as super sleuth, and wanted to get back to kicking some butt. "Wesley can sort it, I'm going out on patrol."
"Right, then it seems like its down to you Wes. Do your best not to get into too much trouble, Faith won't help you and the rest of us are gonna be halfway across the world." Without waiting for Wesley to reply, Angel picked up Faith's book about Klatsch Dämon, and walked out of the room, leaving Faith and Wesley to tidy up.
Part Six – Weatherfield
(Note – this happens simultaneously with part five)
"So, Janice, I'm sorry I have to do this, but I need some personal details about Les for the records. We'll still need you to identify the body, of course, but even if it isn't him we still need the details. This is pretty unorthodox, but since this recent spate of murders has begun, we've been keeping details of anyone who has been missing for longer than 24 hours, whether they've later been found or not. This isn't really my job, but they asked me to do it, as I know you. Are you OK to start with some easy stuff Janice, or would you like a bit longer." A pretty WPC, also a resident of Coronation Street, sat next to Janice Battersby with a folder in her hand. Emma Taylor looked apprehensive, not wanting to upset her neighbour.
"I'm fine, love, I'll do it." Janice composed herself, and listened to the questions Emma asked her, answering as best she could. They started off pretty easily, with Emma asking how old Les was, his address, and every day questions. Even when the questions began to focus more on when she had last seen Les, she managed to keep herself more or less together. But when asked if she thought there was anyone who might have a vendetta against Les, or a reason for killing him, Janice couldn't take it any more.
"Now he might have been a bit naughty" she began, tears streaming down her face "liked a scam, did our Les, but nobody would have wanted to kill him. No one. And besides, I haven't seen a body, how am I supposed to know if its even Les? Can I see it before you ask me any more stupid questions?"
"Of course, Janice. Wait here." Emma left the room, returning minutes later with another police officer. "Janice, this is PC Midgley, he'll be accompanying you to the mortuary. Now, are you sure you're ready for this?"
"I'm positive, our Toyah will be with me, and I need to know if it's him. I need to, Emma." Emma nodded to PC Midgley, and he took the two ladies out of the room. Emma collapsed in a chair, muttering something about how its 'always worse when you know them."
Part Seven – Weatherfield
"Hey Xander! You wouldn't believe it! I met this great old lady today, she's called Blanche, and she and I just clicked right away!" Cordelia practically danced into the Rovers Return, literally buzzing.
"'Clicked' how? Because there's one kind of 'click' I'm thinking of here that I don't really want to go into. In fact" he turned to Buffy "did you by any chance just go to the same scary visual place as I did?"
"No, Xander. Carry on Cordy, she sounds real nice."
"Well we went shopping –"
"Ah – there we go, knew there had to be shopping in it somewhere. Right at the beginning's good, coz now I can concentrate on the rest of the story and . . " Suddenly he noticed that Cordy was staring at him impatiently, and Buffy looked totally puzzled. "Sorry, you were saying?"
"Anyway. We went shopping, and she told me all this really interesting stuff! I can't remember most of it, but we're going out again tonight. In fact – there she is! And the best part? She's gonna introduce me to her grandson – who is 19! Come on, what can be more sexy than a hot 19 year old British guy?! I'll see you two, Mr single and Miss My-lover-kills-people, tomorrow, after I have my way with Robert Hunt!" She turned on her heel and walked over to the bar, where Blanche was standing waiting. After a brief chat, the two of them walked out the main entrance, leaving Buffy and Xander feeling stunned after that brief encounter!
"Well" began Xander, having recovered his strength. "Looks like we've been Cordy-d"
"Drink?" Asked Buffy, unable to get her head around what had just happened.
"Yes please Buffy." He sank back into the chair he had been sitting in, in total silence. The two of them were enjoying a quiet drink in the pub when Toyah Battersby returned. Even though they didn't know Les, they were as shocked as everyone else when Toyah announced to the now silent pub that the body had been identified as that of her step-dad. Then she disappeared upstairs amongst the murmurings of disbelief that were surrounding Buffy and Xander. They felt as if they were intruding on a private affair, as they didn't know Les, so they mutually and silently decided that they should visit Giles, to see if he had managed to find anything about what was happening.
Buffy rang the doorbell, and was shocked to see the figure that opened it. "Angel!" She exclaimed. "What – I mean why – I mean" she turned to Giles, lost for words, and managed to hiss "What's he doing here?!"
"Hi, Buffy! I couldn't keep away from you, and so when Giles contacted me about the Klatsch Dämon, I thought –"
"Whoa, whoa, back up there. Giles contacted you about the WHAT?!" Giles evidently thought that this would be a good place to intervene.
"I called Angel yesterday morning, while you were all still asleep. I asked him to get Faith and Wesley to the library, and to see what they could find out about what was happening. And I'm glad I did, this looks like it could turn particularly nasty." Buffy had begun to recover from the shock of seeing Angel again, and turned her mind to the task in hand.
"Right, so, what do we got?" Giles left Angel to tell Buffy what he had found out, while he went upstairs to check Willow's progress searching for information on the internet.
"Found anything interesting Willow? Anything that might be of use?"
"Yeah. Well, I still haven't found out anything about exactly what they are, or how to kill them, but I've got some information about the kind of people they seem to go for. Its over there" she indicated towards the bed, and while Giles scanned the information, she continued. "They tend to go for people who interfere too much in other people's lives, or are narrow minded. And as far as I can tell, they aren't too keen on people with money, or people who value material things too highly." As she finished this, Buffy and Xander, who had just caught the description given by Willow as they climbed the stairs, and Giles all glanced up and looked at each other. Without a moments hesitation, the three came to the same conclusion. Xander was the first to speak their thoughts out loud.
"Where's Cordelia?"
Part Eight - Weatherfield
Buffy ran into the Rovers Return, followed closely by Xander, Oz, and Giles. Angel came slower, they had decided he should stay at the Rovers while they went to find Cordelia, in case they needed to call for back up, or anything else. They still didn't know how to kill the demons, or even where they would be, but they had to do something. Willow was staying at the computer until she found something, and then she had orders to go straight to Angel and send him after them.
"Excuse me, Natalie?" began Buffy.
"Yes love, what can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for Cordelia, I haven't seen her since she went away earlier with a lady called Blanche, and we, um, need to contact her about something."
"Well I'm sorry Buffy, I can't help you there. But that's Blanche's daughter, Deirdre, over there, she might have some idea of Blanche's plans for the evening. Deirdre!" she called. Deirdre turned, and Natalie explained their problem to her.
"Ah, so you're Cordelia's friends are you? She said she was taking her out somewhere tonight . . now where was it again? Ah yes, that's it, something about Cordelia wanting to see the stars on the Red Rec. Don't quite know why Mum's taking her, never been a big fan of stars has my mother."
"That doesn't sound like Cordelia. She's not much of a starry person either – well at least not in the astronomical sense," added Buffy, having realised the inaccuracy of what she had said. "Before she left, she said Blanche was going to introduce her to her grandson, Roger I think she said he was called."
"Robert," corrected Xander.
"Oh, yeah right. Robert. Do you have any idea where he might be? Will he be on this 'red rec.' with them?"
"She doesn't have a grandson called Robert. Well, my daughter's husband is called Robert, but they live in London. And I don't see what interest Cordelia could have in him, he's nowhere near her age, and he's married."
"Nowhere near her age? Blanche told Cordy he was 19."
"Well then in that case your friend must be mistaken, my mother does not have a 19 year old grandson called Robert. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy here." Deirdre turned back to the red-haired barmaid she had been chatting to, and Giles dragged Buffy off to one side.
"I think we should go to the red rec. I know where it is, I used to play there when I was a child and I was staying with aunt Vera."
"Giles as a child. New concept."
"Yes very funny Buffy, but I'm genuinely concerned about Cordelia's whereabouts. We all know she matches the description Willow gave us perfectly, and she's gone of with some old lady who seems to be a compulsive liar. I think we should get a move on."
"You're right, Giles. Lets go." The four of them left the pub, leaving Angel at the bar.
"Can I get you something, love?" The ditzy looking barmaid with red-hair that had been talking to Deirdre earlier had suddenly appeared beside Angel.
"Um, no thank you, I'm waiting for someone."
"Ah, so you're with the American kids that were in here before? You look far too mature to be with kids like them." Suddenly realising that she was trying to come onto him, Angel began to feel uncomfortable. He was saved, however, when a fairly tall guy with dark hair came over.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm looking for a Liz Macdonald, and I've got reason to believe that that person would be you." He announced in a strong Irish accent, before breaking into a grin. The barmaid, Liz, glanced away from Angel, and her eyes lit up.
"Alan!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
"Me ma' contacted me, she said Uncle Jim's in prison! Tha' can't be right now can it?" Liz's bright eyes misted over, before she replied.
"I'm afraid it is, Alan."
"Well tha' can't be right! And where's your Steve, or Andy?"
"Andy's still in Spain, and I don't know where Steve is. He's on the up now, he's a partner in the taxi firm round the corner. He's a good lad, is our Steve, inside."
"Well I'm glad to here it. Go on, Auntie Liz, you've got customers waitin'. I'll still be here when you get back."
"OK, you just make sure you're still here when I get back, I can't believe you've grown so much! You can keep this broodin' yank here company, he looks like he needs it!
"A pleasure." Alan turned to Angel as Liz began serving customers, and held out his hand. "Alan Francis Doyle, nice to meet ya."
"I'm Angel. Just Angel. Nice to meet you too, Alan."
"So then Angel, you're an American then are ya? I've been living in America for a while now meself, with me wife Harry."
"I've spent most of me life in America, so in body and mind, I'm American, yeah. But originally I'm an Irish man, like yourself."
"Really? Whereabouts are ya from?" Just as Angel was about to reply, Willow ran into the pub. "Angel!" She exclaimed breathlessly. "Come on, we have to go, I've found the only way to stop Cordelia from – oh, hi," She stopped, noticing Doyle.
"I'll leave ya to it," Doyle whispered, before walking over to a booth, and taking a seat with some people he evidently already knew.
"I'll tell you on the way, where've they gone?" Willow was dragging Angel from the bar as she spoke.
"Some place called the Red Rec. I think I can find them, from what I heard Giles muttering I think I can get there."
"Well, we have to hurry. The only way to save her is to stop the sacrifice – if she's already ingested any of her clothing, its too late. There's no way to stop them."
"Then lets go!!"
Part Nine – Weatherfield.
"Well, this is it." Announced Giles. "The red rec. Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yeah, you'd never have guessed the place is full of demons now would you?" broke in Xander, ruining the moment, and bringing Giles back down to earth.
"Right, I imagine they'll be in a secluded spot. We should split up, and –"
"WAIT!" Willow and Angel could be seen running across the road separating the gentle atmosphere of the park, with the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the town.
"Willow! What did you find?" Buffy ran over to meet them as she crossed the road.
"Well, Giles, is there any sort of cave near here? Cuz they seem to do most of their sacrifices in caves. Also, they have to be done at exactly 10:53pm by the 'Sacred Clock of Kanexthlor.' Which is pretty much English time but really precise. And if they don't perform the sacrifice, they will lose their Klatsch Dämon powers."
"Xander – you have a watch, what time is it by you now?"
"Ten fifteen."
"Then we have half an hour to find them and rescue her. We've got to allow for Xander's watch being wrong, or for the eventuality that the Sacred Clock of Kanexthlor is ahead of English time."
"Will, how do we stop the sacrifice?
"They will have stripped Cordelia by now, and handcuffed her to the 'Sacred Stone of Kanexthlor' –"
"This guy has plenty of sacred things named after him!"
"Xander – shh!"
"Sorry Buffy"
"Anyway, she'll be handcuffed to the stone, and will be preparing to feed her clothes to her. We just have to make sure we can distract them long enough to get her out of the handcuffs, and stop them from feeding the clothes to her before that. They can't do the sacrifice unless she's on the stone, so once we get her off it, we're home and dry."
"And the caves?" queried Buffy.
"Over there, come on, we've got no time to lose!" Giles hurried them along, anxious in case he would have to take the news of Cordelia's death back to Mr and Mrs Chase when they arrived back in Sunnydale.
The gang ran in the direction Giles had pointed, slowing down once the caves were in sight. Buffy breathlessly gave them instructions. "Oz, Xander, handcuff duty. Use these, we don't have a key so you'll have to cut them." She handed them a superstrength handsaw, which would be small enough to cut the handcuffs without slicing Cordelia's wrists off. "Will, Giles, you've gotta get the clothes. Angel and I will take care of the Demons, all you need to do is wait until they're distracted, and then get Cordelia's clothes. Bring them back out here and hide behind those rocks until the guys bring her out – I've got a feeling she's gonna want to be wearing them soon. You all OK with that?" They all nodded, knowing that even if they were to protest it would be no use, as Buffy would launch the attempt to save Cordy on her own, and she almost certainly wouldn't manage it. "Then lets go!"
Slowly and quietly the Scooby gang invaded the cave. It took a few minutes for any of the demons to realise they were there, and it wasn't until Buffy and Angel ran forwards, launching a full scale attack on them, that they realised what was happening. While Buffy and Angel dealt with three very tall guys who were intent on stopping them reach Cordelia, Giles launched his own attack on Blanche, who was hiding Cordelia.
"Oz, Xander, she's over here!" He shouted, whilst battling with an extraordinarily strong old lady. The two boys immediately dashed forward, and spotted an unconscious and very naked Cordelia lying on a very old rock. Xander stood, unable to move, mesmerised by how beautiful Cordelia's naked body was. Oz noticed this, and took the saw from Xander, attempting to save Cordelia on his own, not allowing the feel of her smooth skin, or how blemish free it was, all over her body, to get to him. Minutes later, Xander, still overcome, but realising that he needed to help Oz if he wanted to save her, was at Oz's side.
Willow waited patiently at the entrance to the cave, looking for Giles' signal to come in. She noticed the way in which Oz outwardly reacted at the sight of Cordelia's body, or rather, didn't react, and flushed with happiness. She saw her chance. Giles was busy battling with Blanche, and Oz and Xander had Cordelia almost free. Buffy had already knocked one of the demons onto the floor, unconscious, and Angel had almost finished off another. However, Buffy was tiring, and the third demon looked as strong as ever. If she slipped in at this point, she could take Cordelia's clothes, which were on full view underneath the clock, and have them safely outside the cave, ready for Cordelia without anyone noticing. And then it wouldn't matter if Buffy couldn't take the last one, because there would be no clothes to feed the sacrifice. She had made up her mind. Silently, she walked into the cave. Everyone else was too busy to notice her presence. She noted the time on the clock. 10:47pm. Just enough time. Slowly, she bent over. Picked up the bundle of Cordelia's designer clothes. And walked out again. She stood behind the rock, as Buffy had directed her, and waited.
Inside the cave, time was running out. Oz finally severed the final link in the chain linking Cordelia to the stone, and he and Xander carried her out between them. Xander lovingly laid her on the floor behind the stone, and covered her up with her clothes. He decided against redressing her, as he wasn't sure he could cope with the feel of her naked skin against his any longer. Leaving Willow with her, he and Oz re-entered the cave just in time to see the Sacred Clock hit 10:53pm. And exactly at that moment, Buffy delivered the final blow to the one remaining demon. He was lying on the floor, not unconscious, but unable to continue the fight.
The second the clock read the time that the sacrifice was to take place at, Cordelia stirred. She was dazed, unsure of the events, but with Willows help managed to gather herself together enough to dress, and the two girls entered the cave in silence just as the final demon confronted Buffy.
"You stupid bitch. How could you? One more sacrifice and I would have been the ultimate demon. Unbeatable. But now I'm nothing. Not as much of a nothing as you though. I enjoyed being a demon. It was so much better than what I was before. What I am now."
"And what's that?" asked Buffy.
"Lets see" morphing into a vamp. He moved to bite her, when she pulled her stake out of her pocket. He looked shocked.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm Buffy. But you can call me Slayer". With that she raised her right arm and drove the wooden stake right through his heart. He immediately turned into dust.
"Oh dear." Came Giles' voice from behind her. "What am I going to tell Auntie Vera?"
"What do you mean?"
"That was my cousin Terry, Vera's son."
"Oh my god." Xander summed up the feelings of the group in those three small words.
"Yes, exactly."
"Well, this might sound kinda selfish, but considering I've been tortured, stripped and threatened with having to EAT perfectly good Versace, do you mind if we go back?"
"Of course, Cordelia." Said Giles, laughing. "Terry always was the family black sheep, I just don't think anyone expected him to go quite that far into demonic activity! We'll just not mention this to Auntie Vera, she'll never know anything about it, ok? Not a word about what went on here, Cordelia went to the Red Rec. to look at the stars."
"Excuse me, I did WHAT?!"
"She wont think any less of you Cordelia!"
"I guess."
"So, what do we do with old demon lady here?"
"Leave her. She'll find her own way back eventually, and I have a feeling she was under a curse from the Klatsch Dämon. She probably won't even remember that there was any such thing!"
"Well, if you're sure!" Without a second look at the comatose Blanche, the Slayerettes exited the cave, returning the noisy streets of Weatherfield.