The Game by SLynn

Chapter 2: The Beginning

The first thing Xander was truly aware of was the sound of key in a lock. He had vaguely heard her coming down the hallway, but had hoped she'd just pass him by. Maybe she had other people to torment.

The door opened and he could feel her presence, even before she said a word, even before she was completely in the room with him. It was oppressive.

'Maybe this time she'll kill me,' he thought. It was almost like hope.

The whoosh of Venetian blinds lifting allowed the daylight to stream in. She still hadn't said a word and Xander hadn't moved.

"Good morning sunshine."

Still nothing. He heard her sigh and move towards him.

'Please God, just let her…'

Before he could finish the thought, he felt her boot connect with his stomach. He curled up, instinctively clutching his midsection and began alternately coughing and gasping, as best he could.

Leaning down, she looked him square in the eyes.

"I said good morning."

Xander tried to respond. Besides moaning, all he could do was open his eyes briefly once or twice. That was enough for her, for now. She didn't expect him to answer, she knew he couldn't. Before she'd gone to meet the slayer, she had broken his jaw; she couldn't have him screaming for help, not yet anyway. But now she just wanted his attention. Once she was sure she had it, she began.

"I met your friends this morning. I told you I would. Its sad how they really didn't seem to care where you were or how you were doing. I'm not sure they are the right people for you to associating with. Xander, you are so much better then them. But I have good news; she agreed to play my game. You're happy for me, right?"

Xander did his best to let her know he'd heard and was happy, thrilled even. It was easier to go along. If she was preoccupied with herself, she might forget about him.

"I love playing games, especially since I always win."

Constance stopped, noticing Xander was starting to drift off.

"Xander, are you listening to me? You are, aren't you? You know how I hate being ignored, I wouldn't want to…"

Shaking off the sleep that had been overwhelming him, he managed to raise his arm part way and nod his head.

"Good. You're such a good boy. I brought you something."

Xander was almost too afraid to look. The last time she'd brought him something…

'Don't think about it,' he told himself.

He knew that if he didn't look now it would be much worse. He should just get it over with.

Slowly turning his head up he saw Constance holding out a glass or something. It looked like…

Water.

Xander wanted to cry. He mentally reprimanded himself for that. That was one thing he had promised himself not to do. Let her break what she would, but he was going to try damn hard not to let her know just how broken he was. But for water, that was tough. He had no idea how long he'd been here but it felt like years since the last time he'd had a drink of anything. All he could taste in his mouth was blood. It's all he could ever remember tasting. And he was so thirsty and dehydrated; dehydrated to the point where he couldn't cry real tears if Constance beat him to a pulp demanding it. But for that glass of water, well, he wouldn't think that.

She grabbed him roughly by the arm and pulled him to a sitting position.

"There's my boy," she said ignoring his gasp of pain and caressing his face with one hand as she held the glass just out of reach with the other.

"You are grateful, aren't you?"

Xander just nodded, not looking directly at her. Experience taught him she didn't really like it when he looked her in the eyes.

"I knew it," she smiled.

Just before she put the glass in his had she remembered.

"Wait a minute," she said, still smiling.

Her free hand slid down the side of his face and grabbed hold of his jaw. Xander's froze in pain, his eyes momentarily locking with hers. He could hear his jaw snapping back together with an audible pop. The pain was extreme but only lingered a few seconds and then was gone. Constance handed him the glass.

"I want you to really enjoy this."

Xander had it drank almost before she was gone.

XXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXX

They were getting no where and time was wasting. It had already been an hour and a half and they still didn't even have a starting point. Willow had exhausted every search engine she knew of on the internet looking up Zothos, immortals, and anything else they thought might help. Anya and Tara had been pouring through the books. Giles had even gone so far as to make contact with the watcher council to see if perhaps they knew anything about Constance. Buffy mostly paced.

"I've got to do something," she said for the umpteenth time, being mostly ignored, "I can't just sit here."

Still, everyone worked.

"Maybe I should check out the cemetery; round up the usual suspects."

"Yes, Buffy, if you think it will help," Giles said, only half listening.

"Take my cell phone," Tara said, walking over to her, "that way if we find something out, we can call you."

"Great, thanks."

"Oh, and you might as well take Xander's car," Anya said, tossing her the keys, "it'd be faster."

'Xander's car,' Buffy thought.

"Why would she bring his car?"

"What?" Tara said, just starting to walk away.

"Why would she bring his car here?"

"Didn't she say she'd leave clues…" Willow started.

"…and something like we should check it out." Tara finished.

Buffy, Willow and Tara raced out the front of the shop. Xander's car was unmistakable and it was parked right out front.

Buffy quickly opened the driver's side door and sat behind the wheel and then opened the remaining doors to allow the other two in.

"What do you think we're looking for?" she asked.

"It might be hard to tell," Willow said, "Xander's not exactly neat."

"I'm looking at some McDonald's wrappers, a couple of empty bottles of Pepsi and a bunch of random papers," Tara called from the back.

"Nothing in the glove compartment except the standard, registration, insurance, you know, car stuff," was Willow's reply.

"And I've got a steering wheel," said Buffy deflated.

"And we call ourselves the Scooby Gang," Willow said as Tara squeezed her shoulder with affection.

"It was a good try."

"Wait a minute," Buffy said, just before they got out, "I think I have something."

"What?" the other's asked, both at once.

"This was behind the visor."

Buffy held out the card she'd found. It was larger then a standard playing card. On the back was an intricate red and black lace design. On the front was a picture of devil with the Roman numeral XV beneath it. The top right hand corner had the letter A written inside of a circle, while the bottom left hand corner had the word ZOTHOS printed on it. Scrawled across the drawing were the words, "Hallow the body as a temple to comeliness and sanctify the heart as a sacrifice to love; love recompenses the adorers."

"It's a Tarot card, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, it looks like one, from the major arcadia I think," answered Tara hesitantly, "but I've never seen one with a saying attached to it."

"Maybe Giles will know what it means," Willow suggested.

The three of them quickly made their way back into the shop. Buffy checked her watch. 10:48am. Time was wasting.

Giles was in the middle of an apparently heated conversation. Seeing their impatience, he ended it quick.

"I don't care just send me everything then," he yelled, slamming the phone down, "Have you found something?"

"We think so," Buffy said, handing the card over to Giles.

Anya hurried over and leaned in to get a look. After a minute or two, Willow couldn't help but ask what he thought of it.

"Hallow the body as a temple…" he muttered, "I'm not sure. It's obvious she thinks we'd know what this meant, but I really don't know."

"Maybe it's like a scavenger hunt?" Anya suggested, "You know one clue leads to the next."

"But where's the next clue?" Tara asked.

"I think I know," Buffy whispered.

XXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXX

Buffy made her way down the long flight of steps into the darkness below. It'd had been just over three years since the last time she'd been here. Down into the Master's lair once more.

Giles and Willow had tried to talk her out of going, or at least letting one of them go with her, but she wouldn't have it. Constance had left very specific instructions that she was to come alone. She didn't want to risk her friend's lives further because she might be a bit jittery.

As she reached the bottom, she shined her flash light around a bit. The church had sunken further and further into the ground over the years. It was nearly unrecognizable.

'Where would she keep him down here? And why?' she thought.

"Hello Buffy," Constance said, walking out from behind the remains of a column, "I was almost fixing to leave."

"Why go now, the fun is just beginning."

Constance laughed.

'God I hate her.'

"Your right, the fun is just beginning."

"Where is he?"

"You think I'd drag him down here? No, no, no. This is just the start. I had to make sure you got my calling card. I've left you more. Find them all and you'll find your friend."

Constance's eyes darted quickly to her right. Buffy looked as well, and she saw it. In the dim she could make out another card lying next to a pool of water. She inched toward it, making sure not to turn her back to the woman.

"I thought this was an appropriate place to begin."

Buffy slowly bent down, never letting her eyes leave Constance for long, and picked the card up.

"Why's that?"

"This is where he saved your life. Now you get to save his. Well, you get to try. It's kind of like karma. He told me all about it. How afraid he was when he found you lying there, just about where you're standing now. How afraid he was that you might be gone forever. And how afraid he was that he'd never get to tell you how much…"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Mostly because I can."

The two women stared at each other.

"You know, I wasn't going to pick him at first. I was going to take your watcher. But something told me

Xander was the better pawn. That he'd be much more fun to play with."

Buffy remained silent.

"I'm so glad I was right. He makes an excellent subject and he's a remarkably quick learner. I only had to break his leg twice before he knew not to look my way unless I wanted him too."

Still nothing.

"Not that that stopped me from breaking it again. I'm not a believer in positive reinforcement. No, in my time it was 'Spare the rod, spoil the child'. I'm really just an old-fashion girl."

The stood staring at each other another minute or two. Constance nearly agitated and Buffy wearing her rage inside.

"You'd better hurry if you want to repay your debt to karma Buffy," she said as she turned to go.

After she resurfaced Buffy called the Magic Shop with the borrowed cell phone to relay the message on the new card. She made sure not to mention Constance being there or what she'd said about her torture techniques. Buffy could barely think of it herself without getting ill, much less actually tell the others what that thing had done to Xander. She just hoped it wasn't really true.

The card was the Priestess, Roman numeral II. On it was the letter C, in the same spot as the A on the previous card. WILLOW had replaced ZOTHOS. Written across it was, "A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, walked up to the carriage."

Just as she made it there, Willow came running out to meet her.

"It's the Emperor's New Clothes!"

"What?"

"The quote, it's from that fairy tale, the Emperor's New Clothes."

"So what does it mean?" Buffy asked, still a bit confused.

"We think it has to do with the Roman exhibit at the museum."

"I'm on my way."

"Good luck!" Willow called, as Buffy was already speeding down the street.

'And please hurry,' she added mentally.

XXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXXxxxxXXXX

She was in the room with him again. Xander had begun to notice that sometimes he heard her coming and sometimes she just appeared. He had also noticed her demeanor was different, depending on how she chose to come back. Silence from Constance was not a good thing.

"She thinks she's better then me," Constance finally began, pacing the room.

Xander just remained quiet and calm and very, very still.

"She actually thinks she'll beat me. That she can win."

Her voice was angrier then he'd ever heard it. Xander felt her standing over him. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself being lifted up. Constance forced him to his feet and pinned him to the wall with one arm across his chest. His left leg, practically shattered, sent shock waves of pain shooting up his side. She'd placed him just exactly so that he had to put weight on it. The pain was so intense he could hardly breathe.

"Look at me," she snapped.

Xander, sweat pouring down his face, tried hard to remain calm. He tried to not just scream out in agony. Slowly, he met her gaze.

"It's her fault I'm doing this to you. She's not playing by the rules."

Her hand slowly slid across his face.

'She's going to do it again,' he thought.

As if reading his mind, she shook her head from side to side.

"No sweetie, not this time. This time I want to hear you."

Suddenly she clutched his right forearm.

He didn't really know how she did it, but without moving she was breaking his arm. Slowly, very slowly the pain grew until if felt like she was going to twist it clean off.

"If she would just play by the rules none of this would be happening," she said, her voice becoming calmer.

At that point though, Xander didn't hear her. He was screaming louder then he thought he could.