BUFFY
THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
INNER
LIGHT
Part Six
Beginning
Of The End
Buffy
groaned at the sound of birds singing happily outside and rolled over relieving
the uncomfortable pressure on the side of her face that had been pressed
against the arm of Giles' settee for the few hours of sleep she'd had.
"Please
shut up." She mumbled at the singing creature. Its response was to tweet
happily back at her. With another groan she stretched her self up into a sitting
position and yawned. Glancing around Giles' living room she caught sight of
Willow and Xander snoozing in armchairs while Giles himself was slumped over
his worktable drooling on one of his old books and snoring loudly.
"For
once I'm the first one awake." She smiled tiredly. "yay me." She clambered
exhaustedly off the settee and made her way through to the small kitchen area
that over looked the living room and began making herself a strong cup of
coffee. Buffy reached over and opened the coffee. One advantage of being the
Slayer was she never encountered tricky jars. There was a sudden knock at the
door causing her to send the beans flying across the room.
"Oh
great!" she said stepping out from the kitchen area and making her way around
to the front door. A second round of thunderous knocking caused Giles to stir
behind her. She reached out and opened the door. Marcus was stood on the other
side.
"Morning."
He said flatly.
"What
happened to 'good'?" said Buffy.
"It's
not that kind of morning. Can I come in?"
"Yeah
sure." Said Buffy watching as he stepped over the threshold. She was still
unsure about what he was. He certainly was not human. Not after the things
she'd seen him do. She was relieved as he stepped past a mirror to see that he
had a reflection.
"Not
that I want to sound paranoid here or anything but what are you doing here?"
she asked. Giles groggily lifted his head, his eyes widening as he caught sight
of the stranger in his house.
"There's
a lot to do before tonight, a lot of planning and preparation. I'm here to help
you."
"Uh
Buffy," said Giles, "Do you know this man."
"Giles,
this is Marcus."
"Ah!"
Giles exclaimed. "So you're the Reaver. At last maybe we can have a little
light shed on this subject." The Reaver turned and smiled weakly at him.
"I
suppose I do owe you people answers and I am only too happy to give them to
you." He sighed. "Unfortunately it'll have to be the abridged version. We only
have one day and you can bet that King is already preparing. Our only advantage
is they cannot move in the daylight."
"Well,"
said Giles waving at a chair nearby, "let's get started."
*****
Buffy
sat nursing her third cup of coffee as Marcus finished his background detail of
the temple. Xander, Willow and Giles seemed enraptured by it. As Marcus had
told her the night before the temple had been built with the simple purpose of
bringing the dead to life. Unfortunately it could only do this every several
thousand years when three star alignments occurred back to back. The final
alignment due to occur tonight would complete this cycle for the next few
thousand years before the temple would activate again meaning missing the
convergence was pretty much unacceptable to all involved parties otherwise next
time round there would be an even bigger waiting list.
"Okay
so let me get this straight," said Xander. "We have a vampire who's a couple of
thousand years old, a temple that can make the dead live which hasn't worked in
even longer and you are trying to stop him reaching it. There is a slight question
of motivation here. Like why does he want to reach the temple and why are you
trying to stop him."
"That's
a good point." Said Buffy. "Why is a vampire interested in coming to life?
Surely that would kill the vampire and bring back the soul of the man he used
to be."
Marcus
leaned back in his armchair and let out a long sigh.
"That's
a long story. We'll start with the temple. It can't revive a vampire. There are
other forces at work there than death itself. The demon inside the body will
not allow it to live again but the light can cure disease and terminal
injuries. That's what King wants. He is sick and dying Buffy. He has a few
decades left but no longer. This is his last chance and he isn't going to give
it up without a fight." He leaned forward again. "I'm sure you see the
advantages Buffy in keeping a creature like King away from opportunities for
him to heal himself."
"So
why do you want to see him dead so badly? Is this a vengeance trip? Did he kill
someone close to you?" asked Willow.
"Nothing
like that." Buffy's eyes narrowed.
"You
poisoned him didn't you?" she said with a knowing grin. "It didn't kill him
outright and you want to make sure the job gets done." Marcus smiled.
"There
is a slightly more personal reason."
"Which
is?" she asked.
"Non
of your concern."
"I
think it very much is our concern." Said Buffy irritably. She was sick and
tired of having her questions sidestepped by Marcus. "If we are to help you we
need a reason and it had better be a good one." He gave an irritated sigh.
"All
you need to know is that I have a condition that can't be cured by modern
science. That temple is the only thing that can help me." He took her hands in
his and squeezed them gently. "Please Buffy, help me." She stared at his grey
eyes and not for the first time she found herself thinking of Angel. God she
hated it when this happened. It had been a few months now but it still hurt
when she thought about it. It hurt like hell every time she saw him in her
mind. Slowly she pulled her hands free of his.
"Alright,"
she said softly. "We'll help." He smiled with delight.
"I
knew I could count on you."
"So
what do we do?" asked Xander.
"I
already have an idea." Grinned Buffy.
*****
Buffy
stepped out of the church carrying the bottles of holy water still smiling at
the look on the priests face when she had asked him to bless them. As she
reached the roadside she turned and looked back at the building. It was funny.
Every time she visited church she found herself thinking about the existence of
God. And the more she thought about it the more likely it seemed to her that he
did exist. She fingered the cross necklace she always wore and let her gaze
travel to its larger equivalent perched on the roof of the holy building. If
there was a hell as she was so often reminded in this line of work then there
simply had to be a heaven. After all if you didn't have one what could define
the other. She shook her head. This train of thought was becoming way too heavy
for her right now. She turned and found herself face to face with a man stood
shivering as he huddled inside a ragged makeshift cloak. He looked very pale
and his eyes constantly darted fearfully towards the cross on the church roof
and around her neck. It took her a moment to notice the smoke rising from his body.
"Y…You
have a…a…allied yourself with his e…enemy." The vampire stuttered nervously. He
glanced over his shoulder at the nearby trees. Buffy followed his gaze and for
a moment thought she saw a flicker of movement in the shadows. The vampire
coughed. It was a horrible sound wracked with pain and suffering.
"F…F…for
that you will p…pay." He finished just in time as his body finally gave up and
succumbed to the sunlight burning him to a crisp. She winced at the sight of
it. No creature on Earth, not even a vampire deserved to suffer so much in
death but the vamp must have been terrified even more of what would happen to
him if he hadn't delivered that heart warming little message otherwise he would
never have done it. She looked back over at the trees once more and shivered.
She had the feeling things were becoming much more dangerous.
*****
King
smiled from where he stood in the shadow of the trees as the Slayer glanced
about. Even from this distance he could see the fear in her eyes.
"As
it should be my dear." He muttered before glancing at the sinking sun. In his
exceptionally long life as a vampire he had learned many ways to circumvent the
rules under which vampires existed and was all the stronger for it. Yet despite
his strengths and abilities the ability to walk in the sunlight eluded him. It
was perhaps the one unbreakable rule all vampires must adhere to that only
certain spells or charms could hope to shield them from. He didn't miss walking
in the daylight. Far from it, the night was a much better time for his kind and
far more beautiful to boot. Nevertheless the ability to walk freely during the
day would be a powerful tool provided the vampire knew how to use it. Still,
the sun was sinking and soon night would arrive and with it the final alignment
and his salvation. His arm began to shake again. Gritting his teeth he
concentrated hard to bring it under control but it did no good. Reaching round
with his free arm he gripped it tightly to steady it breathing steadily in and
out. After several minutes he released his grip on the arm and smiled when it
remained still. Tonight would be glorious. Not only would he be restored to
full health by morning but his revenge on that cursed Reaver would be complete
and the Slayer would be dead. He licked his canines in anticipation.
"At
last." He whispered.