(Fair warning, some ickness will occur in this chapter, but it's not to bad.)
Chapter 3
Max sat back in her chair, watching as other police officers went about their business with the criminal element of Seattle. She had only been there for a couple of hours, but she was already becoming more and more edgy. They knew where she was, that meant she was in danger. If they didn't let her go soon, she was sure that she would never leave the station alive.
The officer that had been assigned to her, a guy by the name of Callahan, sat down across from her, placing the fresh cup of coffee in front of him before grabbing the legal pad off the desk. He shifted in his seat, going over everything that had already been written down about her, before starting his own line of questioning.
"So, Maxine, how long have you been living on the streets?" he asked, sounding more like he was talking to himself than to her.
Max glanced up at the standard police station clock that hung on a nearby wall. Too long. She had been there for way too long, and this guy was just holding her up with stupid questions that she had already answered. Damn, she needed to get out of there.
"Um, nearly a year, maybe less," she said, staring to scan the crowed station for the assailants that she knew would be coming. Finally, she turned to Callahan and said, "Look, I know this is your job to ask questions and everything, but is there anyway you can hurry this up? Cause I kinda would like to get out of here, like soon."
The middle-aged police officer lifted his eyes over the legal pad and had a small smile on his lips. "You know, the Good Book says that patience is a virtue."
A shadow in the corner moved, catching the teenager's attention. There was a man standing there, dressed in street clothes, but with the hood of his shirt pulled up to cover his face. A chill went up Max's back, her instincts warning that she needed to go, now.
"That was always a favorite verse of my Grandmamma," Callahan continued on, either ignoring that the girl had turned three shades paler or choosing to ignore it. "Of course, my favorite verse is in Third book of John, the final verse. Especially the last line." Max jerked her head away from the assassin to look back at Callahan. He had a small, knowing grin on his face as he said, "How about you, Rachel?"
She began to open her mouth when his face changed over from knowing to confused and surprised. Turning, Max found that the hooded figure had moved from his spot in the corner and was now standing directly beside her. Her eyes widened as Callahan got to his feet and she saw the knife in the assassin's hand.
"Max!" Callahan exclaimed just as the knife came at her.
**********
Xander grumbled to himself as he sat at the stop light, waiting for it to tell him that it was okay to proceed. It was Tuesday, his day to go and pick up lunch for himself and Tony, the foreman at the construction site he was working at these days. Tony was a good guy, maybe the only friend he could claim that was actual both normal and had that all important Y chromosome.
Don't get him wrong, he loves Buffy and Dawn and Willow to death, but some days, he just needs a guy a friend to hang out with, shoot pool with, or talk about that hot chick that walked by the site today. True, he could do all three with Willow, but still he sometimes needs a guy's point of view of things as opposed to the female one that's always being shoved at him. And good Lord how girly was he in needing a 'guy's point of view?'
Over head, the red light turned the bright green, singling the car in front of him to proceed. Unfortunately for Xander, "Ms Lulu," as the license tag read, had until next year to get to where she was going and was fully planning on taking her sweet time.
"Oh, come on!" the carpenter groaned loudly when the old car in front of him refused to move after several long seconds had passed. Behind him, another car blasted the horn, as if it were Xander's fault that the line wasn't moving. Glaring up into the review mirror at the annoyed driver behind him, the Scooby began to yell at the reflection, "Don't honk at me! She's the one what won't go!"
Above him, the sky gave out a low, ominous groan, telling Xander that he might not be paid for a full day of work. Sighing deeply, he slumped forward against the steering wheel while the person behind him continued to honk and Ms. Lulu continued to sit perfectly still in front of him. Really, could this day get any better?
Something crashing into his windshield answered the silent question he had proposed. Xander shot up as another crash came, followed by another and another and, pretty soon, they were hitting all over his vehicle. Softball size hailstones were smashing into his vehicle, destroying his window and denting in his roof. One slammed right through the breaking windshield, sending shards of glass all over the dashboard as the hailstone itself slammed into Xander and Tony's lunch.
He was vaguely aware that outside of his vehicle, the people who had been unfortunate enough to be on the streets when the sudden storm struck were now screaming as they fled to find sheltered. Xander himself wasn't in much better shape with half the windshield gone and the other threatening to fall in right on top of him. Without a thought, he unsnapped his seatbelt and climbed over into the backseat of the vehicle just as another large hailstone smashed the other side of the windshield he had just been sitting under.
He felt the utility vehicle start to roll forward before hitting something in front of him with enough force to make him roll off the backseat and hit the floor board. Of course, at the moment, he was less than concerned with the fact that he was now in a tight, rolled up ball on the ground and that his car had more than likely just hit Ms. Lulu. He laid there on the ground until the smashing sound started to lessen and it finally quit completely.
Slowly, Xander rose up off the floor board and peeped around through the empty space before him where his windshield had once been. Large hailstones lay on the front seat and spread across the hood that was now smoking, but if it was from the hail or the impact Xander didn't know. Outside, the streets were covered in white, looking almost like they had a thick layer of snow, but broken glass, baring horns, and the injured people who were starting to wander back into the street told otherwise. Xander himself had a few cuts on his hands from the glass, but, for the most part, had escaped unharmed. He could tell that a lot of people around him had not been so lucky.
Getting out of his car, Xander was surprised to see how much damage had actually been done to his vehicle and was silently thanking that voice in the back of his head, that sounded a lot like Anya when she nagged, which had reminded him to pay up his insurance the previous week. Someone groaned from behind him and he turned quickly to find the man who had been honking his horn at him only minutes before was now staggering out of his car, a rather large and nasty cut on his forehead.
"Hey, you okay?" the carpenter asked, jogging towards the injured motorist.
"Yeah," the nicely dressed man said as he held his hand over the wound. Some of the blood began to trickle down from between his fingers, staining the sleeve of his nice shirt and jacket. Xander frowned at this, knowing from years of fighting demons and helping injured Scoobies that this guy was definitely going to need stitches.
Helping the man sit down on the ground, Xander ordered, "Stay here. I've got a first aid kit in my car."
Weakly, the man agreed and the carpenter went back to his broken vehicle. As he dug through the back seat for the kit, he felt something cold starting to fall on his back that was still outside and heard the familiar sound of rain as it fell on the ice covered roof. He was surprised when he heard people once again starting to scream in terror, and quickly climbed out to see what was the matter. As the drenching rain began to fall on him, Xander thought that he might join the screams.
**********
Willow stood nervously outside the door she had just knocked on, waiting for the person inside to answer. This was part of her daily routine that she had fallen into not long after her return from England, and she had Xander to thank for it. Even with all the classes that she had to make up, Willow still had most of the afternoon off, so he had asked her to drop in on Spike every once in awhile.
It wasn't that he was afraid that the sometimes crazed vampire was going to do anything to hurt him; after all, the chip in his head was to insure that he wouldn't, but he wanted to make sure that he wasn't doing anything else, like hawking his stuff for money. Of course, Xander didn't realize that he didn't own anything that anyone would want, unless you count the complete collection of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. If the geeks were still around, Spike might have been able to sell it to them. But then, they probably already had it.
Even if Spike wasn't all there at times, he easily picked up on why Willow had been dropping by more and more during the week when Xander wasn't there. A few weeks ago, he had called the witch on it, and, being the terrible liar that she is, Willow fumbled for several minutes with a horrible excuse before coming clean. Spike told her he wasn't surprised, and then two did a strange thing; they actually began to have a real conversation.
Willow didn't know how it happened, but she did know that by the end of the afternoon she was crying after telling him everything that had happened after he left last year. She felt better after, much better than she had in months. Maybe because she knew no matter what awful thing she had done, Spike could come back with one much worse that he had done. He understood what it was like to feel guilt over something like this. He understood more than the rest anyway. It was nice to have someone in the same sinking ship that she sometimes felt she was trapped on. Nice to know that there was someone there to try and help save her…or drown with her. Ever since then she had been coming back to talk to him or listen to him or just hang out. It was nice, really. She could easily see why Buffy had liked it so much last year. When he wanted to be, Spike really could be a good friend.
As she played with the plastic strap of the tiny bag she held, the door opened and a weary looking Spike stood there. He looked like he was having one of his 'not so good' days, which caused the mothering side of her to kick into drive.
"Hey," she said with a kind smile that made her look like the Willow days gone by. "You okay?"
"Fine, Red," he answered, returning the smile before moving out of her way to let her in the apartment. As she walked by, he explained, "Just slipped and took a header into the bathroom wall this mornin' is all."
"Ouch."
"Yeah," he said touching the back of his still tender head as she went into the living room. "The whelp's probably goin' to piss on himself when he sees the crack in the wall too."
"Well, he works construction; he can fix it in two stakes of a vamp," she said in a cheery tone as she placed the CD into the DVD player.
"I take it the test went well today," Spike said, sitting down the couch as she played with the player. She was always extra cheery when she did well on a test. Like she couldn't do well on one.
"Let's just say that Buffy might be the Chosen One for slaying the undead, but I'm the slayer when it comes to school," she beamed. Willow was going through the menu of the DVD of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" when a strange thumping sound started to fill the apartment. The red head looked over at the equally confused vamp on the couch. "What's that?"
"Not rightly sure, Red," he said getting up from the couch as Willow walked over to the window.
Carefully, she pulled back the blinds to see around them and not let the filtered sunlight be exposed too much into the room. Her eyes widened as she saw the hail flying by her face and nearly jumped out of her skin when one of them slammed into the window. Spike grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the window, but Willow still had a hold of the blinds and tore them down when he jerked her back to him. As a sure instinct reaction, he hissed when the filtered sunlight hit him, but, thanks to the now very dark and cloudy sky that was raining hail on them, it didn't hurt him. They stood back and watched for the few minutes that it hailed on Sunnydale in complete surprise. Only a few minutes ago, the sun had been shining with only a few clouds, and now, suddenly, it was hailing? That was strange, even for the Hellmouth.
When the storm died down just as quickly as it began, Willow looked down at her hand that was still holding onto the edge of the blinds. She gave out a nervous laugh, and held them up for the bleach blond to see. "Well, between the crack you put in the bathroom wall, the broken window, and my graceful attempt at trying to redecorate, it looks like Xander's going to be fixing up his place for awhile."
"Yeah, with yours truly paying for it," Spike said dryly, trying to follow Willow's lead of lightening the mood.
"With what?" she laughed, glancing over her shoulder at the broken window as the rain began to hit it. Her face became pale as she then began to stair, and Spike thought for a moment that she might start to scream. He then looked up at the window she was staring at, and, if his heart did beat, he would swear that it would have stopped then and there.
"Bloody hell."
**********
Buffy stood in the open air hall that flowed into the court yard that some of the kids liked to eat their lunches at. The plans for the new school had been designed to resemble the old school building, but this was really the only spot that Buffy would dare say actually looked like it had stepped right out of her past. Everything about the courtyard was the same, down to where certain kids would gather in certain places.
Let's see if she remembers this. Um, the cool kids (jocks, cheerleaders, and other social acceptables) would be the group in the center of the yard so everyone could see them. Musicians and drama kids are under the tree so they could rehearse with one another. Goth kids would be nearly crouching under the stairs that lead up to the second story, or anywhere else that was dark and dank. And the nerds would be the ones nearest to the doors that led back into the school so they could get out of there before they became prey for the other groups.
There were a few other groups around the yard, mainly made of kids who where different from one another but had somehow made friends with one another, like she, Willow, and Xander had back in high school. Dawn was a part of one of those group that was made of her, Kit, Carlos, and Janice. They had even taken up residency on the elevated wall that separated the yard in half. Out in the open, but close enough to the doors to make a quick getaway if they wanted, and plenty of shade, absolutely prefect for their little group.
"It's good to see Dawn is adjusting so well," a voice said, startling Buffy slightly. The slayer turned and found that Principal Wood had moved next to her, but when she didn't know. "I was afraid after reading her file from last year that she wouldn't. It's good to be proven wrong sometimes."
"We all had it rough last year," Buffy said, feeling rather uncomfortable speaking about the previous year. If anything, she just wanted to forget it ever happened and move on as quickly as possible. That's what they were doing now…for the most part anyway.
"It's not just Dawn, Buffy," he confided. "Most of those kids there all came from troubled backgrounds and we were close to losing them. You really have worked a miracle with them."
"They just needed someone to listen is all," Buffy said with a shrug, but smiled despite herself from the compliment.
She never got complimented at Double-Meat, unless you count the numerous times her boss had made snide remarks about her being late or leaving early and how her excuses never ceased to amaze him. Stupid Todd. See if she keeps the nasty cannibal old lady away from him next time.
A dark shadow started to float over the yard, covering every inch of it in darkness. A low rumble from overhead caused most of the people there to look up at the suddenly ominous looking sky just as the first of the hailstones began to fall on them. A few of the girls began to scream as the large balls of ice began to rain on them and the students tried to flee for cover. The few faculty that where out there did their best to protect the children as everyone made a mad dash for cover, but a few of children feel to the ground; Dawn being one of them.
"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed, darting out into the storm that her sister was left in.
The brown-haired girl was curled into a tight ball while the ice fell on her, doing her best to protect herself from the element. Buffy rushed to her sister's aid, helping the teen back to her feet and getting knocked a couple of good ones for the trouble. The sister pair slid for the overcrowded shelter.
"You okay?" the slayer asked, her own body throbbing from where she was hit.
Weakly, Dawn nodded her head, holding onto her middle from where she had hit the ground hard. "I think so," the teen told her as the crowd of teenagers and teachers watched the sudden hailstorm in fascination. Buffy quickly glanced around the courtyard, but was glad to see that the few other kids who had fallen were now out of harm's way. When the storm began to die, she turned back to Dawn.
The teen picked up one of the softball sized hailstones that had rolled under the covering, smiled, and said, "Well, Mrs. Gardner did say that the school was running low on softball supplies. Think we should freeze them for the spring sea-?" Dawn's face became sheet white, her eyes large as the ice ball rolled out of her hand and smashed when it hit the ground.
"Dawn?" Buffy asked quietly before turning around to see what had spooked her sister.
The rain with the storm had set in, but what should have washed everything clean was now staining it in a crimson color. Slowly, Buffy reached out her hand and let the rain fall onto it. In mere moments, it was drenched in red, with small streams flowing down her arm and staining the nice shirt she had worn that day. As she stared at her hand, she was barely aware of the fact that a few people were screaming again, some even fainting dead to the world, or getting sick right where they stood. Her mind wasn't allowing her to react at all, just letting her stare at her hand.
Blood. It was raining blood.
**********
Phe's face paled as she slowly turned and looked over her shoulder at the door that she and the others had entered only minutes before. Angel could tell something had happened, but he wasn't quite sure what. Whatever it was, it had thrown the balance off enough to touch everything that had any supernatural links. Cordy and Lorne were exchanging equal confused looks, as Connor sat there, not understanding what he had felt or why. Phe swallowed hard as she turned around and walked towards the door, holding onto herself like the physical contact was the only thing that kept things grounded, real, and safe.
"Two to go," she said in a small voice before fainting dead to the world.
**********
The dark-haired girl smiled as she watched the other people in the airport terminal stared in horror at the bloody storm going on outside. Bet the meteorologist were going to have a field day with this one. Oh, what could cause the sky to rain blood? Hum, let's see, could it be…evil? Of course, they would never come to that conclusion. They'll probably have some dumb ass explanation about a tornado hitting a blood bank somewhere and then coming to Sunnydale to dump its contents. Well, it must have been the Fort Knox of blood banks to get this much of the red stuff. Not that she believed that, she already knew the truth. Her mother always did say that she knew how to make an entrance. She just hoped that the First Evil and her supposed brother enjoyed it.
Adjusting the strap of her back pack, the teenage looking girl pushed her sunglasses a little further up her nose and turned to leave. She went out the automatic door of the airport and took in a deep breath, savoring the smell of the blood. A part of her growled deep from within, begging her to strip naked and go bathe in this delicious rain. If she had the time, she might have done just that, but apparently she was being waited on by a very annoyed looking Mr. Rogers wannabe. She knew that really wasn't what he was, that he was as evil and depraved as her, but still, he looked like he belonged on PBS or something.
"Well, hey," she smiled as she approached him. "You wanna be my neighbor?"
"You had to show off like that?" he asked, shaking his head. "You young people really should learn some restraint."
"What? Doc not like my style?" she mocked, playing like she was a small child who had just gotten her feelings hurt. Then going into a full laugh, she accused, "You didn't mind when I destroyed that village in China."
"You were doing your job then," he pointed out. "The All Powerful Dark One will not be happy with you just flaunting your return like this."
"Oh, please."
"He's right, Ms. Johnson," a voice from her past cut in. Shelia spun around on her heels to find Principal Snyder standing there, his usual disgusted face still the same as he sneered at her. "Of course what should I expect from a pathetic slacker like yourself."
With a cool tone, Shelia shifted on her feet and said, "Yeah, well."
The rain then let up and began to die, but the dead principal continued to scold the girl. "Really, Ms. Johnson, I wanted you to keep a low profile. Even an idiot child like you should know what that means." He turned his head towards Doc. "Really, the school system isn't anything but a baby-sitting device these days. Trouble makers like her and Buffy Summers are proof of that."
Doc remained smiling, like he always did, so Shelia wasn't sure if he was laughing at her or not. He better hope it's the not, cause she would so hurt him if he was. She might not be able to kill him, but he was a guy and she knew some much worse ways to make him suffer.
"Now come along you two," Snyder hissed at the two before morphing into a very pretty blonde woman. Glory grinned at the two and then said, "We've got some work to do before my milk bath."
**********