BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

INNER LIGHT

Part Four

Meeting At The Bronze

The music in the Bronze that night was loud. It pounded out of the speakers, sweeping over the throngs of dancers, causing cups, glasses and other loose items to bounce slightly with each beat as it thrummed out of the speakers. Buffy sat at the bar twisted to face Willow as they spoke. Spoke wasn't really the word for it though. Yelled would have been a far better description of what they were doing. The music in the Bronze was particularly loud that night.

"And then he just walked out of the alleyway!" Buffy shouted over the din. Willow looked dumbstruck, almost as if she couldn't believe what was being said.

"Wow!" she said. Buffy couldn't hear her but she could still understand.

"I know." She continued. "Isn't it just the weirdest?" Willow nodded in agreement then smiled.

"So what's he like?" she said mischievously.

"What do you mean?" said Buffy sounding defensive.

"You know what I mean." Buffy raised her eyebrows at her.

"Willow," she said sternly. "You're not trying to get me to say something incredibly dumb that will inevitably lead me to stuttering for a way out of his conversation with my dignity intact are you?" Willow clicked her fingers in mock frustration.

"Foiled again!" she said suppressing a laugh. Then her face straightened. "Seriously Buffy, what's he like. Is he dark and brooding, you know," She paused seeming to look for a suitable description. "Angel like." She finished. Buffy shrugged.

"I suppose." She said.

"Oh come on Buffy, details." Willow whined.

"Like What?" Buffy demanded.

"Like his looks, his personality. Is he big, small, skinny, fat, handsome, ugly, you know the usual."

"I suppose he'd have to be the better of all the ones in the list." Said Buffy slowly.

"Wow!" Willow gasped again seemingly in awe of her friend.

"Where do you get it from Buffy?" she asked in amazement. Buffy shrugged. She didn't know and the truth was she wished she did know what she was doing so she could just stop doing it. Mysterious men seemed to gravitate to her as if she had some big neon sign over her head advertising the fact that she was irresistibly attracted to them. The Reaver was perfect example. She'd only met him once but already when she thought about him her heartbeat went up by a fair few knots. She'd felt the exact same thing with Angel in the early days. She wondered what her old squeeze was up to right now and immediately wished she hadn't. Thoughts of Angel were always painful and happened far too often to be good for her. She never wanted to be that hurt again.

"Penny for your thoughts." Someone said. At first Buffy had thought it was Willow but when she analysed the voice in her head she realised it wasn't. It was far too deep and masculine to be her red headed friend. Slowly she turned in her seat to stare at who had spoken. The Reaver sat on a bar stool next to her. He seemed even bigger and certainly far more defined in the light of Bronze than he had been out on the street.

"There really not worth it." She said watching as he accepted a drink from the bar man. He never even sipped at it. Instead he just held it in his hands and stared down at the surface as it rippled with every base beat of the music that continued to thunder through the club.

"Pity." He said not looking at her. "You strike me as the kind of person who'd always have something interesting to share." Buffy glanced at Willow and had to hold back a smile. She was sat dumbstruck at the sight of the Reaver. Buffy didn't blame her. His sheer height was enough to make anyone nervous. Coupled with his well developed muscles and broad chest he was all the more imposing. Despite his youthful looks grey streaked his jet-black hair at each temple. His soft grey eyes seemed to hold a permanent tint of weariness, as if everything was little more than tiring for him. For a reason she couldn't understand Buffy felt pity for him rise up inside her.

"Care to tell me anything about yours?" she asked.

"My thoughts aren't worth that much." He said still staring at his drink.

"How much would you say they're worth."

"Does it really matter?" Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Not much," she sighed. "Just trying to make conversation. That's all."

"I'm not much of a conversationalist." He said.

"You could have fooled me." Said Buffy dryly. For the first time he turned to look at her and now she found herself looking into his eyes it was almost as if the sense of exhaustion was overpowering.

"You had questions for me." He said. It was a statement but Buffy treated it like a question.

"I sure did." She smiled trying to inject a bit of chirpiness into the conversation.

"What are they?" he said flatly. It hadn't worked.

"I just wanted to know who you are and what you're doing here in Sunnydale." The Reaver paused for a moment, looking her up and down as he did so. Suddenly he pushed back his bar stool.

"Let's take a walk." He said then glanced at Willow.

"Your friend can come too if she wants." Buffy turned round to see Willow nodding vigorously. She'd been listening carefully to every little thing that had been said.

"C'mon then Will." She smirked. "Looks like a game of follow the leader."

*****

 

The foul smell of the sewers wafted into Buffy's nostrils and she was rapidly beginning to think that staying in the Bronze would have been a much better idea. Ahead of her The Reaver strode knee deep through the murky sewage seemingly unaffected by the raw stench that filled the dark tunnel. Behind her she could see Willow struggling through the gunk almost up to her waist in it, her cheeks puffed out in an over exaggerated fashion as she held her breath. She would only open her mouth once every so often to suck in great lungfulls of air before closing it again. Neither of them had spoken a word since coming down here. Buffy touched her jacket pockets and felt the reassuring weight of a stake in one and the familiar outline of a crucifix in the other. Sewers were popular hang outs for vampires and she didn't want to come up against one in a place so well suited to them without at least some kind of weapon. Up in front The Reaver had paused.

"We're here." He yelled back to them.

"Where?" demanded Buffy.

"You'll soon see." He called back. Suddenly he vanished from sight. Buffy glanced back at Willow who merely stood with her cheeks puffed out and eyes wide with shock.

"Hey!" she yelled. "You still there?"

"Come on!" his voice drifted back to them sounding faintly muffled. Slowly Buffy edged her way over to where he had disappeared breathing a sigh of relief when she caught sight of the hole in the wall at the end of the tunnel.

"Willow!" she yelled back over her shoulder. "Come on." One after the other they heaved themselves out of rancid water and through the hole. The slope of loose rubble on the other side of the hole came as something of a surprise to Buffy who, as soon as she stepped on it, lost her footing and went skidding down the slope on her back.

"You've got a lot to answer for!" she growled dusting herself off as she clambered to her feet. "I might be the Slayer but I don't want to spend my precious free time wading through sewers and falling down slop…" her voice trailed off as she caught sight of the chamber around her. It was big. Easily the size of the old Library back at Sunnydale High and certainly higher too. The dusty yellow sandstone walls were covered in all manner of strange symbols that Buffy did not recognise. The only light in the chamber seemed to be focused on the large central dais. Carved into its surface were a series of dots and lines that she remembered only too well.

"The star constellations!" she breathed. A muffled shriek behind her announced the arrival of Willow. Buffy turned to help her friend to her feet.

"Check this place out Will." She said. "Recognise any of these?" she gestured at the symbols on the wall.

"Not really." Said Willow. "Give me a minute and I might have something." While Willow disappeared into the chamber Buffy began to search for the Reaver. She found him some minutes later with his back to her, fingertips pressed to one of five large pillars that surrounded the dais.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she walked nearer. He whirled around to face her seemingly embarrassed by the whole thing.

"Nothing!" he said a little too sharply.

"O.K." said Buffy emphasising the O.

"Well what do you think?" he said moving his arm in a wide gesture that seemed to take in the entire chamber.

"It's amazing." Said Buffy looking up to the high ceiling. The look of awe passed from her face as she turned questioning eyes to him.

"What exactly is it?" she said. The Reaver chuckled softly.

"I don't think it has a name." He said looking around the chamber. "But it has a purpose."

"Which is?" she pressed.

"To bring life from death."

"Come again?" said Buffy cupping a hand behind her ear. "It sounded like you just said this thing could bring the dead to life."

"It can." She was stunned.

"How?" she said finally.

"When the three constellations occur back to back…"

"…Then light will come and evil will walk abroad." Finished Buffy. "I know that but what does it mean." He seemed momentarily stunned by her reciting of the prophecy.

"How did you know…"

"My Watcher," she grinned. It suddenly faded. "Or Ex-watcher, whatever." She continued.

"Oh." Was all he said.

"Now are you going to tell me what it means or not."

"I'm not entirely certain about how the temple works," he said. "But I do know that when the constellations occur one after the other for three nights, on the third night the light from these constellations will shine down on the temple and create a life giving light over that dais." He pointed at the centre of the chamber where the pale light shone. In the light she could clearly make out a symbol etched into one of the pillars.

"Hey Will!" she shouted. "Any luck with the symbols?"

"Nope," her friends voice drifted out of the shadows that collected in the corners of the chamber. "But I can tell they're powerful. Whoever carved them knew exactly what they were doing." Buffy gazed at the symbol. She often wondered how Willow could do that. Her training at being a witch undoubtedly helped but Buffy had thought that her powers as the Slayer might have allowed her to see things others could not. The truth was that when she stared at the symbols, no matter how hard she tried, all she ever saw were stones with fancy writing engraved on them. Willow saw so much more and Buffy sometimes found herself feeling jealous of the abilities her friend possessed. 

"Pretty impressive." she said walking over to the dais to get a better look at the symbol that had caught her eye. "But what does any of this have to do with me? Does the Slayer play some mystical part in getting this thing to work? Do I have to spill blood on the dais or something because if I do then you can forget having my help." The Reaver was shaking his head smiling.

"None of that Buffy." He said. "The temple has nothing to do with you whatsoever."

"Then what do you need me for?"

"I need you to help me protect it." He said.

"From who."

"Us." Hissed a third voice. She whirled around in surprise to see two vamps stood at the bottom of the rocky slope; both in full on vamp faces. She winced at the sight of them. Even if they had had human faces on they still would have been butt ugly. Their clothes were tatty and their skin was pale even for vampires. They both looked skinny, almost malnourished and grime covered their thin features.

"You really ought to take better care of your place," she said turning to the Reaver. "Squatters can be real trouble."

"Can we just skip all this and get down to the fighting," snarled one of the two scruffy vampires. "I'm hungry." His friend turned to look at him and grinned.

"Then let's eat." He sniggered and suddenly hurled himself across the open air at the two of them. Buffy stepped forward, grabbing at his loose fitting shirt and, using his added momentum, hurled him across the chamber. The vampire smashed heavily against one of the pillars sinking to the floor. Pivoting to face where he had landed Buffy yanked the stake she was carrying out of her jacket pocket and threw it straight at him. Her aim was impeccable and in an instant the vampire was little more than a pile of dust.

"Lost your appetite yet?" she grinned turning to the second vamp. A look of panic spread across his face as he turned to run. Next to her she watched as the Reaver drew his own stake and lifted it ready to throw. In front of them the vampire vanished in a cloud of dust.

"Nice throw!" said Buffy, surprised he had managed it all so fast. It was then she noticed the stake was still in his hand.

"What the…" her voice trailed off as the cloud of dust cleared revealing a tall man with a long dark pony tail that fell down to his waist stood in the entrance to the chamber, a stake still held loosely in his hand. Then she saw it and felt a shiver run down her spine. Next to his right eye was a tattoo of a black bladed sword. He was the vampire she'd been warned about.

"Pathetic." he muttered to himself as the dust settled. "Death is too good a fate for these maggots." He glanced up and appeared to notice them for the first time. His chilling dark brown eyes passed over both she and Willow who had emerged from the shadows at the sounds of fighting, to finally settle on the Reaver.

"Marcus!" he snarled. "So the worm has finally crawled back out of the woodwork."

"You're slipping King." Marcus snapped icily back at him. "In the good old days you'd never have revealed yourself."

"And I wouldn't have this time except you have brought the Slayer into our little business here." He turned to glare at Buffy and she felt that same shiver as his eyes focused on her. "This is going to be your only warning Slayer so listen carefully for I hate to repeat myself. You are too close to this and I will not tolerate interference of any kind. Leave it be and I will not be forced to drink from you and your friends." He turned to leave pausing by the entrance to the chamber.

"One last thing Marcus." He said, "Let the good times roll on," he disappeared out of the hole in the wall and into the sewers still speaking.

"Let the good times roll on."