Part 11
Xander was not in a good mood.
He'd had a hard week at the construction site, working long hours, shorthanded. Now he was at the Magic Box on the weekend donating his time to help Anya and Giles get the shop ready, and it seemed that everyone was conspiring against him to make his job as difficult as they could.
Anya followed him around compulsively, pointing out edges that needed more sanding and nails that weren't exactly flush. To make matters worse, when she was not pointing out his shortcomings as a carpenter, she was fawning over Giles as he looked for clues about the demons and monsters that had been surfacing around Sunnydale. Since when had the two of them developed such a friendly working relationship? The last time he checked they had been playing tug of war over a Ramadan effigy, with Anya anxious for the older man to leave. Now she acted like she was about to melt every time he removed his glasses. Xander was certain that she was just doing this to spite him, but it rankled all the same.
Then there was Spike. Xander refused to join in with the others and call him William. Who did he think he was fooling anyway? The vampire was just angling for another way to get into Buffy's pants. Xander would stake him before he'd ever let him touch Buffy again. That didn't appear to be much of a threat anyway. Spike was more interested in schmoozing up to Giles than in hitting on either Buffy or Anya. So far the two adversaries had managed to avoid each other, with Xander retreating to the back room or the loft whenever Spike came into the shop. Right now the creep was sitting with the Watcher describing the water monster that had attacked Buffy and him earlier that week. Xander was curious, in spite of his hatred of Spike. He wandered closer to the table.
"No, I didn't really get a good look at the head, just the body and those leg things."
"And how long do you estimate it to have been?" Giles reached for a thick volume.
"Over twice my length. Whacked me on the head with its tail."
"Hmm. So we're talking about a creature at least twelve feet long."
"I'd guess twenty, rough and dirty. And I couldn't reach all the way around it."
"Leviathan." Anya blurted.
"Anya," Giles began in his pedantic tone. "A Leviathan was reputed to be a large fish or squid. Also, it was a mythical creature that dwelt in the sea."
"I've seen one. They are large, ugly, eely things with long tentacles. This one sounds like it was on the small side, fortunately." She pulled up a chair beside Giles and searched for a particular book. She flipped through the pages, finally stopping on one. "There. See?" She moved the book in front of Giles. "People are confused over whether it is a fish or a squid, because it has traits of both. They're not mythical, just extinct."
Giles slid the book over to William. "Is this the creature?"
William shuddered. "Nasty bit of news, that one. Tasted like week-old chocolate milk gone bad."
Giles turned to Anya. "This is the second time you've identified a creature that has been considered extinct. Do you have a theory?"
Xander snorted. "You're asking her?"
"Xander, I have been around for over a thousand years. I've seen a great many things."
"Yeah." Xander remarked rudely. "We all know about some of the things you've seen." He glared at William.
"That's enough." William stood.
"What'cha gonna do Willy? Gonna try and hit me and give yourself a migraine? Oh, that's right. You won't hit me because you're all souled and remorseful now. You wouldn't chance hurting a poor wittle human."
"Xander, please." Giles tried to interrupt.
"Care to test me?"
"What's going on here?" Buffy was standing in the doorway. The tension between the two men was palpable. They looked like they were about to pounce on each other. William's jaw was clenched and Xander had curled his hands into fists.
"I don't see why we need him around." Xander didn't take his eyes off the shorter man. "All he does is screw up everything he touches."
William sneered. "Seems to me I'm not the only one around here screwin' things up. Tell me again why we need you, you small-minded carpenter boy."
"Please... stop." Giles sputtered.
Buffy marched over to stand between them. "What is this all about?"
"Spikey here felt the need to defend Anya from her big, mean ex-boyfriend."
"That's ex-fiancée." Anya clarified.
"And I'm tired of everybody around here buying his big 'I'm redeemed' act and forgetting what he put us all through."
"I haven't forgotten anything." Buffy stated. "But he still deserves a chance."
"I've told you before Buffy, I don't need you to defend me." William's voice was cold.
She turned to him angrily. "Do I have to pop you in the nose again to make you two stop this macho posturing? Weird stuff is going down and we all need to be able to work together. We can't keep getting sidetracked while the two of you decide who has the biggest stones!"
Anya raised her hand. "I can tell you."
Everybody stopped arguing and turned to look at her in shocked disbelief. Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Xander stormed away and began to earnestly pound on something in the back room. Buffy and William shuffled uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
Giles cleared his throat and motioned to the reference book. "It would seem that we have found your river monster, Buffy."
She walked around the table and studied the drawing. "Yes. I think that's it. What was that doing in Sunnydale?"
"I can't believe that the appearances of these monsters are unrelated." Giles frowned in concentration. "The Leviathan, the dragon, and the Ghora that William referred to."
"That was over a year and a half ago." William noted.
"Perhaps you could share the circumstances with us."
William looked uneasy. "I was when I helped Dawn with the resurrection spell."
"I still can't believe you had a hand in that." Buffy looked at him dubiously. "You hate magic!"
He gazed at Buffy "I had to help out the Li'l Bit."
"Tell me more about this spell." Giles prodded him.
"Well you see, we went to this guy, Doc, who I heard was a specialist in those kinds of spells. He told us we needed a Ghora egg, then told us where we could find one."
"So he knew the whereabouts of a creature known to be extinct? And you didn't think that odd?"
William shrugged his shoulders. "I'd heard of them, and I knew they were rare, but how would I know they weren't supposed to be around here? This is the Hellmouth, old man."
Anya pulled up the chair next to Giles. "Giles isn't old." She turned to smile at him adoringly. "He's just mature."
"Yes, well." Giles cleared his throat. "Back to your story. Tell me about this 'Doc'. Was he a warlock of sorts?"
"That's what I thought when I first heard about him, but after meeting him I knew he wasn't human. He had this whole reptile thing going."
"That's right." Buffy recalled. "You and Xander went to him for help later and he attacked you with his tongue. Then you thought you killed him."
"Yes." William nodded. "Except then he showed up to bleed Dawn on the tower. He hit me with the tongue, then he stabbed me in the back and threw me over."
Giles inclined his head. "Yes, I had forgotten some of the other details of that night. I was otherwise... occupied."
"He was a Time Wizard." Anya stated.
Again, everyone stopped to look at her. "They're kind of like Vengeance Demons. They have some magical powers, but can only use them at the request of others." She smiled at the others who were staring at her in amazement.
"Anya, you never said anything about that before." Buffy noted.
"Well," she raised her eyebrows. "Nobody told me about the tongue thing. I guess Xander was too busy with his faux proposal to tell me anything relevant."
"I heard that!" Xander yelled from the back room.
"I know." Anya yelled back.
"But you said 'Time Wizard'?" Giles questioned.
"Yes. They can teleport through time, like I can teleport through space. They are very rare."
"Can they teleport anything with them?" Buffy asked.
"Not that I'm aware of." Anya answered. "I can't teleport another person, unless it is a specific part of their vengeance wish. That's why D'Hoffryn has to personally go claim his recruits. We don't have the ability to bring anyone to him."
William turned to Buffy. "So you're thinking..."
"That this guy has gone back in time and brought some creatures back with him." Buffy looked to Giles. "But why, and how?"
Xander was standing in the doorway. "But wait Buffy. I thought you threw him off the tower and killed him."
"And the two of you thought you had killed him in his shop." She looked around at all the others "Did anybody see his body later?"
They all shook their heads silently. "Buff." Xander stated quietly. "We were a little more focused on you, and your... body."
"That's ancient history guys. Don't let it get in our way now." Buffy was all business. "We know that Doc was working with Glory." Buffy's mind was thinking through the possibilities. "Why would he conjure up a Ghora demon with eggs to help you and Dawn?"
"I have a theory about that." Giles speculated. "What if he was just looking for a reason to have contact with The Key? Perhaps to verify that she existed? Did he touch Dawn in any way?"
"Pulled out a strand of her hair."
"But Giles," Buffy objected. "Glory didn't know that Dawn was The Key then."
"He could have time-traveled." Anya pointed out. "Glory thought Dawn was the key, then sent him back to make sure. And she could have given him the power-boost he needed to transport the Ghora."
"That makes sense, in a strange sort of way." Giles commented. "But with Glory gone, I don't know what he could be up to now."
"Or," Anya added. "How he found the power to bring these creatures here."
Buffy looked at the others soberly. "That's what we have to find out."
Xander was not in a good mood.
He'd had a hard week at the construction site, working long hours, shorthanded. Now he was at the Magic Box on the weekend donating his time to help Anya and Giles get the shop ready, and it seemed that everyone was conspiring against him to make his job as difficult as they could.
Anya followed him around compulsively, pointing out edges that needed more sanding and nails that weren't exactly flush. To make matters worse, when she was not pointing out his shortcomings as a carpenter, she was fawning over Giles as he looked for clues about the demons and monsters that had been surfacing around Sunnydale. Since when had the two of them developed such a friendly working relationship? The last time he checked they had been playing tug of war over a Ramadan effigy, with Anya anxious for the older man to leave. Now she acted like she was about to melt every time he removed his glasses. Xander was certain that she was just doing this to spite him, but it rankled all the same.
Then there was Spike. Xander refused to join in with the others and call him William. Who did he think he was fooling anyway? The vampire was just angling for another way to get into Buffy's pants. Xander would stake him before he'd ever let him touch Buffy again. That didn't appear to be much of a threat anyway. Spike was more interested in schmoozing up to Giles than in hitting on either Buffy or Anya. So far the two adversaries had managed to avoid each other, with Xander retreating to the back room or the loft whenever Spike came into the shop. Right now the creep was sitting with the Watcher describing the water monster that had attacked Buffy and him earlier that week. Xander was curious, in spite of his hatred of Spike. He wandered closer to the table.
"No, I didn't really get a good look at the head, just the body and those leg things."
"And how long do you estimate it to have been?" Giles reached for a thick volume.
"Over twice my length. Whacked me on the head with its tail."
"Hmm. So we're talking about a creature at least twelve feet long."
"I'd guess twenty, rough and dirty. And I couldn't reach all the way around it."
"Leviathan." Anya blurted.
"Anya," Giles began in his pedantic tone. "A Leviathan was reputed to be a large fish or squid. Also, it was a mythical creature that dwelt in the sea."
"I've seen one. They are large, ugly, eely things with long tentacles. This one sounds like it was on the small side, fortunately." She pulled up a chair beside Giles and searched for a particular book. She flipped through the pages, finally stopping on one. "There. See?" She moved the book in front of Giles. "People are confused over whether it is a fish or a squid, because it has traits of both. They're not mythical, just extinct."
Giles slid the book over to William. "Is this the creature?"
William shuddered. "Nasty bit of news, that one. Tasted like week-old chocolate milk gone bad."
Giles turned to Anya. "This is the second time you've identified a creature that has been considered extinct. Do you have a theory?"
Xander snorted. "You're asking her?"
"Xander, I have been around for over a thousand years. I've seen a great many things."
"Yeah." Xander remarked rudely. "We all know about some of the things you've seen." He glared at William.
"That's enough." William stood.
"What'cha gonna do Willy? Gonna try and hit me and give yourself a migraine? Oh, that's right. You won't hit me because you're all souled and remorseful now. You wouldn't chance hurting a poor wittle human."
"Xander, please." Giles tried to interrupt.
"Care to test me?"
"What's going on here?" Buffy was standing in the doorway. The tension between the two men was palpable. They looked like they were about to pounce on each other. William's jaw was clenched and Xander had curled his hands into fists.
"I don't see why we need him around." Xander didn't take his eyes off the shorter man. "All he does is screw up everything he touches."
William sneered. "Seems to me I'm not the only one around here screwin' things up. Tell me again why we need you, you small-minded carpenter boy."
"Please... stop." Giles sputtered.
Buffy marched over to stand between them. "What is this all about?"
"Spikey here felt the need to defend Anya from her big, mean ex-boyfriend."
"That's ex-fiancée." Anya clarified.
"And I'm tired of everybody around here buying his big 'I'm redeemed' act and forgetting what he put us all through."
"I haven't forgotten anything." Buffy stated. "But he still deserves a chance."
"I've told you before Buffy, I don't need you to defend me." William's voice was cold.
She turned to him angrily. "Do I have to pop you in the nose again to make you two stop this macho posturing? Weird stuff is going down and we all need to be able to work together. We can't keep getting sidetracked while the two of you decide who has the biggest stones!"
Anya raised her hand. "I can tell you."
Everybody stopped arguing and turned to look at her in shocked disbelief. Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Xander stormed away and began to earnestly pound on something in the back room. Buffy and William shuffled uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
Giles cleared his throat and motioned to the reference book. "It would seem that we have found your river monster, Buffy."
She walked around the table and studied the drawing. "Yes. I think that's it. What was that doing in Sunnydale?"
"I can't believe that the appearances of these monsters are unrelated." Giles frowned in concentration. "The Leviathan, the dragon, and the Ghora that William referred to."
"That was over a year and a half ago." William noted.
"Perhaps you could share the circumstances with us."
William looked uneasy. "I was when I helped Dawn with the resurrection spell."
"I still can't believe you had a hand in that." Buffy looked at him dubiously. "You hate magic!"
He gazed at Buffy "I had to help out the Li'l Bit."
"Tell me more about this spell." Giles prodded him.
"Well you see, we went to this guy, Doc, who I heard was a specialist in those kinds of spells. He told us we needed a Ghora egg, then told us where we could find one."
"So he knew the whereabouts of a creature known to be extinct? And you didn't think that odd?"
William shrugged his shoulders. "I'd heard of them, and I knew they were rare, but how would I know they weren't supposed to be around here? This is the Hellmouth, old man."
Anya pulled up the chair next to Giles. "Giles isn't old." She turned to smile at him adoringly. "He's just mature."
"Yes, well." Giles cleared his throat. "Back to your story. Tell me about this 'Doc'. Was he a warlock of sorts?"
"That's what I thought when I first heard about him, but after meeting him I knew he wasn't human. He had this whole reptile thing going."
"That's right." Buffy recalled. "You and Xander went to him for help later and he attacked you with his tongue. Then you thought you killed him."
"Yes." William nodded. "Except then he showed up to bleed Dawn on the tower. He hit me with the tongue, then he stabbed me in the back and threw me over."
Giles inclined his head. "Yes, I had forgotten some of the other details of that night. I was otherwise... occupied."
"He was a Time Wizard." Anya stated.
Again, everyone stopped to look at her. "They're kind of like Vengeance Demons. They have some magical powers, but can only use them at the request of others." She smiled at the others who were staring at her in amazement.
"Anya, you never said anything about that before." Buffy noted.
"Well," she raised her eyebrows. "Nobody told me about the tongue thing. I guess Xander was too busy with his faux proposal to tell me anything relevant."
"I heard that!" Xander yelled from the back room.
"I know." Anya yelled back.
"But you said 'Time Wizard'?" Giles questioned.
"Yes. They can teleport through time, like I can teleport through space. They are very rare."
"Can they teleport anything with them?" Buffy asked.
"Not that I'm aware of." Anya answered. "I can't teleport another person, unless it is a specific part of their vengeance wish. That's why D'Hoffryn has to personally go claim his recruits. We don't have the ability to bring anyone to him."
William turned to Buffy. "So you're thinking..."
"That this guy has gone back in time and brought some creatures back with him." Buffy looked to Giles. "But why, and how?"
Xander was standing in the doorway. "But wait Buffy. I thought you threw him off the tower and killed him."
"And the two of you thought you had killed him in his shop." She looked around at all the others "Did anybody see his body later?"
They all shook their heads silently. "Buff." Xander stated quietly. "We were a little more focused on you, and your... body."
"That's ancient history guys. Don't let it get in our way now." Buffy was all business. "We know that Doc was working with Glory." Buffy's mind was thinking through the possibilities. "Why would he conjure up a Ghora demon with eggs to help you and Dawn?"
"I have a theory about that." Giles speculated. "What if he was just looking for a reason to have contact with The Key? Perhaps to verify that she existed? Did he touch Dawn in any way?"
"Pulled out a strand of her hair."
"But Giles," Buffy objected. "Glory didn't know that Dawn was The Key then."
"He could have time-traveled." Anya pointed out. "Glory thought Dawn was the key, then sent him back to make sure. And she could have given him the power-boost he needed to transport the Ghora."
"That makes sense, in a strange sort of way." Giles commented. "But with Glory gone, I don't know what he could be up to now."
"Or," Anya added. "How he found the power to bring these creatures here."
Buffy looked at the others soberly. "That's what we have to find out."