8-Warning
Jesse ran through the halls. He was glad that classes were in session at the moment, otherwise there would have been a whole lot of shoving going on. He was fast on his feet, but he heard Talbot and Randall close behind him. They were apparently fast on their feet, too.
Jesse tried to lose them. He raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and continued down a corridor. At the end of the corridor, he took the stairs, going down three steps at a time and once, he came dangerously close to stumbling down the rest of the way. However, he managed to make it down the stairs in one piece, turned the corner, and ran straight into a wall. He fell to the floor. As he tried to regain his composure, he managed to look up and that was when he realized he hadn't really run into a wall. Not unless that wall was an actual person with a name.
He had run into Marc "Fury" Shiva.
Shiva glared down at Jesse and was about to say something when he heard a commotion coming down the stairs. As Jesse got to his feet, Talbot and Randall rounded the corner. Shiva suddenly grabbed Jesse by the collar, spun him around, and slammed him up against the lockers.
"You're dead meat!" Shiva growled.
Talbot and Randall stopped and they looked at each other. "Fury," Talbot began, taking a breath, "thanks for catching him for us."
Randall glared at Jesse, but he was talking to Shiva. "Yeah. We'll take him from here. We'll take him out behind the friggin' Wall."
The Wall was an area located behind the school where the dopers, the skippers, and the bad kids hung out. It was a place to go if someone wanted trouble. It was also a good place to get a beating. Every once in a while, the Sunnydale PD would make a visit to the Wall and send everyone running. After all, they had to make an appearance every now and then. However, after their visit, it was back to normal for the kids who hung out at the Wall.
Shiva glared at Talbot and Randall. "This asshole just tried to knock me down!" he exclaimed angrily. "He's mine!"
Randall looked at Shiva. "You're just an Initiate, brother. You're not-"
Talbot interrupted as he clapped Randall on the shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We're not going to get in your way, Fury. Just give him a pounding for us."
Randall glanced at Talbot.
"Yeah, I'll pound the shit out of him, all right," Shiva assured the Brother.
Talbot and Randall walked away.
Shiva watched them go. Then, he took a hold of Jesse and literally dragged him down the hall. As luck would have it, there was an empty classroom and Shiva shoved him into it. He closed the door behind him.
Jesse was no fool. He knew there was no way he could ever hope to take on Marc Shiva. The guy was huge, and it was all muscle. If Jesse didn't find a way out of this mess, he was going to be in some serious pain.
"Look," Jesse began hesitantly as Shiva approached him menacingly, "y'know.my man!" He pointed at him. "Hey, y'know, that was an accident out there with what, y'know, just happened."
Shiva looked at him.
"C'mon, man. Y'know, I really don't have any problem with you. At all!"
Shiva raised his hand, made a fist, and showed the tattoo on the back of his hand. "Do you see this?"
"Well, uh." Jesse looked at him suspiciously, "sure, I see it. Uh, y'know, nice tattoo."
"I'm warning you. You should watch out for anyone who wears this tattoo."
Jesse looked at him. "Well, uh, thanks for the warning, man, but, uh, you have that tattoo."
Shiva nodded grimly. "Yeah. I know."
Silence descended upon the room. Shiva just stood there, looking thoughtful.
Jesse paused. "Look, are we, y'know, done here? Or are you going to, uh, kick my ass or something?" He held up his hands. "Not that I want you to," he added hastily.
Shiva frowned. "You're a friend of Willow's, aren't you? I've.I've seen you with her a few times. You and Harris."
"Well, uh, yeah. Sure. Willow's a friend." Jesse frowned at him. "What's that to you?"
Shiva hesitated. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. "She's.she's in a lot of trouble, man."
Jesse snorted. "What?" He shook his head. "No way. Willow Rosenberg? In trouble?" He laughed. "C'mon, man, do you know Willow? At all? 'Cause you don't know what you're talking about. What kind of trouble could Willow possibly get herself into?"
"She has been chosen by the Brotherhood."
"The what?"
"The Brotherhood."
Jesse frowned. "Well, uh, what's the Brotherhood? Is that like some kind of gang or something? And you all wear those tattoos?"
Shiva nodded. "Yeah. Only it's not really a gang. It's more like a.a cult, I guess. Or an Order. A Coven. Something like that."
Jesse looked at him dubiously. "Yeah. Whatever. What's this got to do with Willow?"
"I don't know everything yet 'cause I'm only an Initiate, but I heard some things.and I can damn well figure out the rest. I know the Brotherhood want her for something." He looked at Jesse. "Something bad."
Jesse held up his hands and shook his head. "Whoa there, big fella. Slow down. Nobody wants Willow for something bad, not if I can help it." He was getting all worked up. "Now what the hell are you saying? What do they want her for?"
"Look, I've told you all I can."
"You've told me some kind of Nightmare on Elm Street bit, but I don't know what you've been smoking."
"Just watch out for Willow. Someone has to know that she's in danger. Man, if you ignore this, it's on your hands."
Jesse looked at him. "What--?"
Shiva abruptly spun around and headed out of the classroom.
Jesse headed out and followed after him. "Hey!" he called. "If somebody is threatening Willow, I want to know who--"
"I've told you everything I can," Shiva growled without turning around. "Get away from me."
"I think you--"
Shiva interrupted him by slamming him against the lockers. "BACK OFF!"
Jesse held up his hands. "All right, man! Y'know? I-I'm backing off."
Shiva let him go and walked away. Jesse watched him go as he wondered what that was all about. He wasn't certain Shiva was serious about Willow. Was the big guy playing some kind of game? Or was there really a gang called the Brotherhood and were they really harassing Willow?
Jesse tended to believe that Shiva was messing with him. However, he did seem sincere. Jesse decided that he was going to have a little talk with Willow to see if anyone had been giving her a hard time. He suddenly remembered Xander was at that moment confronting Virgil Paige about taking a strand of hair from Willow. The more he thought about it, the more he found Shiva's warning to be reliable.
He began to make his way toward the library. When he arrived at the men's room where he had left his friend, both Paige and Xander were gone. He made a mental promise to catch up with Xander later and headed for class. He was going to be late, but it was a Study Hall so he wasn't too concerned about it. If it had been Chemistry, or History, or Math, then it would have been well worth it to be late.
When the bell rang at the end of the period, Jesse left the Study Hall with intentions of looking for Xander and Willow, or at least one or the other. But as he headed down the hall, he saw Cordelia Chase at her locker. God, he thought to himself, Cordelia is so freakin' hot! He grinned as he made his way over to her.
"Hey! Cordelia!" he greeted happily.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, great! Now I'm having nightmares during the day, AND while I'm fully awake! Would it be too much to ask for you to go away? Far away?"
Jesse chuckled nervously. "Hey! Y'know, that was, uh, pretty funny. Y'know, you're, uh, you're real witty."
"And you're real, like, 'Duh'. That wasn't me being 'witty', lamebrain. That was me being insulting." She glared at him as she closed her locker. "God! Can't you take a hint?"
"Well, uh, y'know, uh, I thought that, y'know, if you were going to the Bronze tonight, maybe, y'know." he shrugged, ".I could, uh, see you there."
Cordelia gave him the look. "Okay. So, 'y'know', you can't take a hint. How about this one? Tonight at the Bronze, I will be seen by many, and you will be seen by, well, a mere few who are less fortunate like you are. But guess what?" She smiled sweetly. "We will NOT be seen tonight at the Bronze.together!"
She abruptly turned and walked away.
Jesse, aware that some kids were looking at him, simply grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, yeah," he said to no one in particular. "She really digs me."
For the rest of the day, Cordelia Chase was all he thought about. He completely forgot about the warning he had received from Shiva concerning Willow and the Brotherhood.
********************************************************
Paige was furious.
When he caught up with Randall and Talbot, he confronted them. "I can handle a loser like Harris on any given day," he told them in a voice of complete calm, "so the issue here has nothing to do with whether I can take him or not. The issue is that I had no warning. Harris came in without being stopped and he could have seen the Father. That is the issue."
Talbot and Randall looked at each other nervously. They knew they had let the Elder down.
"Did he see the Father?" Talbot asked.
Paige shook his head. "No. He didn't.but that's not the point, is it?"
Again, the Brothers cast guilty glances at one another. Then they both bowed their heads in shame.
"We've failed you," Talbot said as he got onto his knees.
Randall also got down onto his knees with his head bowed. "We await punishment, Elder."
Paige glared at them with disgust on his face. "And punishment is what you should get, but there's no time." He let out a sigh. "You'll make amends for leaving your posts. Now get on your feet before someone sees you!"
Talbot and Randall immediately got to their feet. They were standing outside the school upon the lawn and if they had been seen on their knees, their actions would appear to seem quite odd.
"How can we make amends, Elder?" Talbot asked eagerly. "What must we do to earn your forgiveness?"
"You can begin by apologizing."
The Brothers began to apologize at the same time. Paige let them ramble on for a while. What he was able to gather from their babbling, however, was enough to make it clear to him what had happened. Xander's friend, Jesse, had deliberately lured them away.
Paige nodded. "Enough."
Talbot and Randall both stopped apologizing simultaneously.
"There will be no punishment for this." Paige shook his head. "The blame for this does not fall on you, even though you should not have chased after McNally."
The Brothers were relieved.
"Then.you blame McNally?" Randall asked. "We can find him and--"
"No. McNally is not to blame either." Paige looked at them. "And, as much as I'd like to, I can't really blame Harris either."
"But, Elder, if not McNally or Harris.then who?"
Paige turned to Randall. "Rosenberg."
Randall frowned. "Willow?"
Talbot frowned. "But we can't touch Willow. The Father strictly forbid it. He said we can harass her but--"
"I know what he said," Paige interrupted. "We can't touch her.but we can touch her friends." He paused in thought. "It's time we teach the bitch a lesson. We'll set an example for her so that she'll think twice about it before she runs off to tell tales to her friends."
"We're going after Harris?"
Paige shook his head. "No."
Randall regarded him. "Then, who?"
A malicious grin crossed Paige's face. "We're going after Joshua MacDonald."
*****************
TO BE CONTINUED--
Jesse ran through the halls. He was glad that classes were in session at the moment, otherwise there would have been a whole lot of shoving going on. He was fast on his feet, but he heard Talbot and Randall close behind him. They were apparently fast on their feet, too.
Jesse tried to lose them. He raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and continued down a corridor. At the end of the corridor, he took the stairs, going down three steps at a time and once, he came dangerously close to stumbling down the rest of the way. However, he managed to make it down the stairs in one piece, turned the corner, and ran straight into a wall. He fell to the floor. As he tried to regain his composure, he managed to look up and that was when he realized he hadn't really run into a wall. Not unless that wall was an actual person with a name.
He had run into Marc "Fury" Shiva.
Shiva glared down at Jesse and was about to say something when he heard a commotion coming down the stairs. As Jesse got to his feet, Talbot and Randall rounded the corner. Shiva suddenly grabbed Jesse by the collar, spun him around, and slammed him up against the lockers.
"You're dead meat!" Shiva growled.
Talbot and Randall stopped and they looked at each other. "Fury," Talbot began, taking a breath, "thanks for catching him for us."
Randall glared at Jesse, but he was talking to Shiva. "Yeah. We'll take him from here. We'll take him out behind the friggin' Wall."
The Wall was an area located behind the school where the dopers, the skippers, and the bad kids hung out. It was a place to go if someone wanted trouble. It was also a good place to get a beating. Every once in a while, the Sunnydale PD would make a visit to the Wall and send everyone running. After all, they had to make an appearance every now and then. However, after their visit, it was back to normal for the kids who hung out at the Wall.
Shiva glared at Talbot and Randall. "This asshole just tried to knock me down!" he exclaimed angrily. "He's mine!"
Randall looked at Shiva. "You're just an Initiate, brother. You're not-"
Talbot interrupted as he clapped Randall on the shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We're not going to get in your way, Fury. Just give him a pounding for us."
Randall glanced at Talbot.
"Yeah, I'll pound the shit out of him, all right," Shiva assured the Brother.
Talbot and Randall walked away.
Shiva watched them go. Then, he took a hold of Jesse and literally dragged him down the hall. As luck would have it, there was an empty classroom and Shiva shoved him into it. He closed the door behind him.
Jesse was no fool. He knew there was no way he could ever hope to take on Marc Shiva. The guy was huge, and it was all muscle. If Jesse didn't find a way out of this mess, he was going to be in some serious pain.
"Look," Jesse began hesitantly as Shiva approached him menacingly, "y'know.my man!" He pointed at him. "Hey, y'know, that was an accident out there with what, y'know, just happened."
Shiva looked at him.
"C'mon, man. Y'know, I really don't have any problem with you. At all!"
Shiva raised his hand, made a fist, and showed the tattoo on the back of his hand. "Do you see this?"
"Well, uh." Jesse looked at him suspiciously, "sure, I see it. Uh, y'know, nice tattoo."
"I'm warning you. You should watch out for anyone who wears this tattoo."
Jesse looked at him. "Well, uh, thanks for the warning, man, but, uh, you have that tattoo."
Shiva nodded grimly. "Yeah. I know."
Silence descended upon the room. Shiva just stood there, looking thoughtful.
Jesse paused. "Look, are we, y'know, done here? Or are you going to, uh, kick my ass or something?" He held up his hands. "Not that I want you to," he added hastily.
Shiva frowned. "You're a friend of Willow's, aren't you? I've.I've seen you with her a few times. You and Harris."
"Well, uh, yeah. Sure. Willow's a friend." Jesse frowned at him. "What's that to you?"
Shiva hesitated. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. "She's.she's in a lot of trouble, man."
Jesse snorted. "What?" He shook his head. "No way. Willow Rosenberg? In trouble?" He laughed. "C'mon, man, do you know Willow? At all? 'Cause you don't know what you're talking about. What kind of trouble could Willow possibly get herself into?"
"She has been chosen by the Brotherhood."
"The what?"
"The Brotherhood."
Jesse frowned. "Well, uh, what's the Brotherhood? Is that like some kind of gang or something? And you all wear those tattoos?"
Shiva nodded. "Yeah. Only it's not really a gang. It's more like a.a cult, I guess. Or an Order. A Coven. Something like that."
Jesse looked at him dubiously. "Yeah. Whatever. What's this got to do with Willow?"
"I don't know everything yet 'cause I'm only an Initiate, but I heard some things.and I can damn well figure out the rest. I know the Brotherhood want her for something." He looked at Jesse. "Something bad."
Jesse held up his hands and shook his head. "Whoa there, big fella. Slow down. Nobody wants Willow for something bad, not if I can help it." He was getting all worked up. "Now what the hell are you saying? What do they want her for?"
"Look, I've told you all I can."
"You've told me some kind of Nightmare on Elm Street bit, but I don't know what you've been smoking."
"Just watch out for Willow. Someone has to know that she's in danger. Man, if you ignore this, it's on your hands."
Jesse looked at him. "What--?"
Shiva abruptly spun around and headed out of the classroom.
Jesse headed out and followed after him. "Hey!" he called. "If somebody is threatening Willow, I want to know who--"
"I've told you everything I can," Shiva growled without turning around. "Get away from me."
"I think you--"
Shiva interrupted him by slamming him against the lockers. "BACK OFF!"
Jesse held up his hands. "All right, man! Y'know? I-I'm backing off."
Shiva let him go and walked away. Jesse watched him go as he wondered what that was all about. He wasn't certain Shiva was serious about Willow. Was the big guy playing some kind of game? Or was there really a gang called the Brotherhood and were they really harassing Willow?
Jesse tended to believe that Shiva was messing with him. However, he did seem sincere. Jesse decided that he was going to have a little talk with Willow to see if anyone had been giving her a hard time. He suddenly remembered Xander was at that moment confronting Virgil Paige about taking a strand of hair from Willow. The more he thought about it, the more he found Shiva's warning to be reliable.
He began to make his way toward the library. When he arrived at the men's room where he had left his friend, both Paige and Xander were gone. He made a mental promise to catch up with Xander later and headed for class. He was going to be late, but it was a Study Hall so he wasn't too concerned about it. If it had been Chemistry, or History, or Math, then it would have been well worth it to be late.
When the bell rang at the end of the period, Jesse left the Study Hall with intentions of looking for Xander and Willow, or at least one or the other. But as he headed down the hall, he saw Cordelia Chase at her locker. God, he thought to himself, Cordelia is so freakin' hot! He grinned as he made his way over to her.
"Hey! Cordelia!" he greeted happily.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, great! Now I'm having nightmares during the day, AND while I'm fully awake! Would it be too much to ask for you to go away? Far away?"
Jesse chuckled nervously. "Hey! Y'know, that was, uh, pretty funny. Y'know, you're, uh, you're real witty."
"And you're real, like, 'Duh'. That wasn't me being 'witty', lamebrain. That was me being insulting." She glared at him as she closed her locker. "God! Can't you take a hint?"
"Well, uh, y'know, uh, I thought that, y'know, if you were going to the Bronze tonight, maybe, y'know." he shrugged, ".I could, uh, see you there."
Cordelia gave him the look. "Okay. So, 'y'know', you can't take a hint. How about this one? Tonight at the Bronze, I will be seen by many, and you will be seen by, well, a mere few who are less fortunate like you are. But guess what?" She smiled sweetly. "We will NOT be seen tonight at the Bronze.together!"
She abruptly turned and walked away.
Jesse, aware that some kids were looking at him, simply grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, yeah," he said to no one in particular. "She really digs me."
For the rest of the day, Cordelia Chase was all he thought about. He completely forgot about the warning he had received from Shiva concerning Willow and the Brotherhood.
********************************************************
Paige was furious.
When he caught up with Randall and Talbot, he confronted them. "I can handle a loser like Harris on any given day," he told them in a voice of complete calm, "so the issue here has nothing to do with whether I can take him or not. The issue is that I had no warning. Harris came in without being stopped and he could have seen the Father. That is the issue."
Talbot and Randall looked at each other nervously. They knew they had let the Elder down.
"Did he see the Father?" Talbot asked.
Paige shook his head. "No. He didn't.but that's not the point, is it?"
Again, the Brothers cast guilty glances at one another. Then they both bowed their heads in shame.
"We've failed you," Talbot said as he got onto his knees.
Randall also got down onto his knees with his head bowed. "We await punishment, Elder."
Paige glared at them with disgust on his face. "And punishment is what you should get, but there's no time." He let out a sigh. "You'll make amends for leaving your posts. Now get on your feet before someone sees you!"
Talbot and Randall immediately got to their feet. They were standing outside the school upon the lawn and if they had been seen on their knees, their actions would appear to seem quite odd.
"How can we make amends, Elder?" Talbot asked eagerly. "What must we do to earn your forgiveness?"
"You can begin by apologizing."
The Brothers began to apologize at the same time. Paige let them ramble on for a while. What he was able to gather from their babbling, however, was enough to make it clear to him what had happened. Xander's friend, Jesse, had deliberately lured them away.
Paige nodded. "Enough."
Talbot and Randall both stopped apologizing simultaneously.
"There will be no punishment for this." Paige shook his head. "The blame for this does not fall on you, even though you should not have chased after McNally."
The Brothers were relieved.
"Then.you blame McNally?" Randall asked. "We can find him and--"
"No. McNally is not to blame either." Paige looked at them. "And, as much as I'd like to, I can't really blame Harris either."
"But, Elder, if not McNally or Harris.then who?"
Paige turned to Randall. "Rosenberg."
Randall frowned. "Willow?"
Talbot frowned. "But we can't touch Willow. The Father strictly forbid it. He said we can harass her but--"
"I know what he said," Paige interrupted. "We can't touch her.but we can touch her friends." He paused in thought. "It's time we teach the bitch a lesson. We'll set an example for her so that she'll think twice about it before she runs off to tell tales to her friends."
"We're going after Harris?"
Paige shook his head. "No."
Randall regarded him. "Then, who?"
A malicious grin crossed Paige's face. "We're going after Joshua MacDonald."
*****************
TO BE CONTINUED--