Part 5
Xander felt much better the next day. When he got up in the morning his bruises were gone. Whatever cream Faith had smeared over him had really helped him. Even the older scars that he'd rather not think about seemed diminished. Almost like magic. He got dressed and left to meet Willow and walk to school with her like he had always done. The two of them walked in silence as they both contemplated their missing friend. When they got to school Buffy was waiting for them. As they walked up to Buffy, her face lit up in a smile.
" I'm glad you guys are here," she said smiling at Xander. " Hell, I'm glad you two are still talking to me after last night."
Xander snorted. " Yah think a little thing like a near death experience or painful bruising is going stop me from making a new friend."
Buffy laughed. " I hope not. I want to be friends," she said shyly. Then her face grew solemn as she shifted gears. " There's a guy here that I want you to meet. He can explain the rules and the wherefores of vampires better than I can. He's my watcher."
Willow and Xander looked at each other. " What's a Watcher?" Willow asked.
**
To say that Giles had been outraged that Buffy had revealed her "Sacred Duty" to civilians was a slight understatement. Xander stared in amusement as the librarian rubbed the bridge of his nose while he lectured Buffy on the necessity of secrecy. He had raved for several minutes until buffy threatened to quit again. He shut up long enough to explain the basics of the hidden world and the role Slayers and Watchers played in it. He then explained about vampires and how to kill them. After giving them the basics the two teenagers looked at each other in shock as they digested the information.
**
Xander was the first one to speak. " What are we going to do about Jesse?" He looked around at Buffy and Giles. They wouldn't meet his gaze. " We can't just leave him with these vampires. Who knows what they're going to do to him."
Buffy looked down and started to speak when Giles interrupted her. " Mr. Harris, YOU'RE not going to do anything. It isn't your destiny. You'll merely slow down Miss Summers while she does her job," he looked directly at Buffy while emphasizing the last part. " Besides," he continued, "I am afraid that your friend Jesse is no doubt dead, perhaps even turned. I will not risk Buffy's life on a futile mission."
" I don't accept that." Xander slammed his hand down on the table. Buffy reached over and covered his hand with hers. " Xander, you know that if I thought it save his life I'd go after Jesse," and she shot a look at Giles. " Watcher or no watcher. But he's right. Jesse probably is not going to make it."
" Besides," Giles added, " We have larger problems. I have been consulting my books and based on what I have been able to ascertain, a rare conflux will be occurring in a few days. It will culminate in the Night of the Harvest. I believe that the Master of the order of Aurelius, who is the local vampire leader, will try to rise on that night."
Willow raised her hand. Xander looked over at her and smiled absently. Willow had the same look on her face that only happened when she was tackling a particularly difficult computer problem. Or when Xander and Jesse managed to drag her on one of their hair-brained schemes. Don't think about Jesse
" Yes, Miss Rosenberg." Giles nodded politely. He appreciated the young redheads decorum.
" Who is the master and what do you mean by rise? If he's so powerful why hasn't he attacked buffy personally?" Willow cocked her head as she asked her pointed questions.
Giles smiled at the intelligent questions. He slipped into lecture mode. " The master is the local vampire leader. No one is quite sure how old he his but the order of Aurelius is known to date back to the age of the Roman Empire. He came to Sunnydale over one century ago in order to try and siphon off the power of the Hellmouth and open it to let in the ancient demons which once held dominion over the earth. A freak earthquake at the moment of his ritual caused him to become mystically 'stuck' in his lair. It is my belief that he will use the power of the Harvest to break free of his prison."
Buffy perked up. " If he's stuck in that prison then he'll be easy to hunt down. I can go stake him and no more Harvest. It'll be a party." She smiled brightly.
Giles stared at his slayer gravely. " Buffy, stakes do not work on the Master."
" We'll that's not very fair. How am I supposed to kill him?" Buffy looked disgruntled as she folded her hands and pouted. Then she got confused. " How did he become immune to staking, cause if vampires are going to change the rules then I'm going to-"
" Because the master has performed the Rite of Amara," came a voice from up above. Everyone looked up and saw Faith sitting on the edge of the banister on the second story of the library. She wore her trademark black leather pants and an Iron Maiden tee shirt covered by a black leather jacket. She walked down the stairs taking them two at a time and yet making not the slightest sound.
Giles looked surprised. " You know of the Rite of Amara?" Then it was his turn to look confused. " Who are you?" He then sighed and shifted his gaze to Buffy. " Are you totally unable to keep your sacred duty secret? Perhaps we should have some sort of assembly."
" Its not her fault watcher man. I knew who she was before she ever set foot in Sunnydale. The Powers sent me to help her." Faith paused for a second. "I have a lot of first hand knowledge about vamps and The Powers that Be sent me as back up for B," she said as she motioned toward the confused looking slayer.
Giles looked impressed at Faiths mention of the powers that be. " I cannot really argue with someone sent by higher beings," He looked back at Buffy, " I apologize Miss Summers."
" How 'bout sharing with the rest of the class," Buffy muttered, " for those that didn't get the time life series on freaky stuff. Why the hell can't I stick the Master like all the rest of the vamps I've killed?"
" Really buffy, did Merrick teach you nothing?" Giles asked exasperatedly. " The rite of Amara is a powerful ritual usable only by vampires. It strengthens the demon inside enhancing their latent abilities while physically twisting them permanently into their demonic countenance."
At Buffy and Xander's confused look Faith clarified, " He means it turns them into super vampires. The vampires who use it end up the head of vampire cults or powerful vampire clans. They also stay in game face permanently and gain unique powers and vulnerabilities."
" Fascinating," Buffy interrupted. " But what I want to know is if he can't be staked how can I kill him?"
" There is no way to kno-" Giles started to say.
" Actually I do know," Faith interrupted. " The master can only be slain using a weapon of blessed silver. Unfortunately I don't know of any weapon around here that meets that qualification."
" I can see what the council can come up with."
Just then the first period bell rang and students filled the halls. Giles looked at the three students and told them to get to class. " I'll expect to see you after school for training buffy. I want you in tip top shape for the Harvest." Buffy nodded her head and waved her hand in acquiescence.
" As for the two of you," Giles said motioning toward Willow and Xander, " Needless to say I must have your absolute silence about who Buffy is and what she does at night. Now that you two know enough to keep safe at night, it would be best if you just stopped thinking about it and just remained Buffy's school chums. You don't have the same capabilities she does."
Xander and Willow looked shocked at what Giles was asking them to do. The two of them nodded silently at him as the three students got up to go to class. Xander was walking in between Buffy and Willow when Faith called out softly, " Wait a minute Xander."
Xander paused and motioned Willow and Buffy to keep going. Buffy scowled but left. Faith walked over to Xander and said, " I heard about your friend Jesse. I have some contacts that hear stuff. I might be able to find out what happened to him."
Xander looked shocked. " Thanks, but you don't have to-"
Faith looked down. " Don't worry about it. I got the contacts, so it be a shame not to use them," she laughed nervously. Then she grew serious. " I am not going to make any promises. I know vampires and your friend's chances ain't great. But if-if he's still alive we might have a chance to rescue him."
" I don't know what to say." Xander looked grimly at Faith. " You're taking a big chance helping me out. I don't want you to do anything dangerous. Jesse wouldn't want that, and neither do I."
" Don't say anything." Faith walked off into the rear of the library. She paused before disappearing into the dark alcove she appeared from. "De Oppreso Liber. Isn't that the motto of your fathers branch of the military, Xander?"
"Yes." Xander looked confused. That was Latin for liberator of the oppressed. It was the motto of the green berets. His father had been one.
Faith smiled sadly. " I've sat on the sidelines for too long. People like Buffy have shone courage and I don't think you got those bruises from sitting on the sidelines. I've just been a coward." She sighed, " I've been a coward for too long." She shook her head, " The people in Sunnydale are as oppressed as any those your father fought to help. High School newspapers shouldn't have obituaries. Towns shouldn't have twelve cemeteries. Families shouldn't be forced to rely on substandard police when members go missing. I'm done sitting on the sidelines." Her eyes bored into Xander and for the first time he realized how dark it was in the library. The entire room was cast in shadows and Faith seemed to almost draw the darkness into herself. " If I can help I will. Starting with your friend." At that she disappeared and Xander was left alone in the darkness.
**
The Master raged in his lair. Last night was an unmitigated disaster. He lost his right hand servant to that dammed new slayer. His best diviners could only tell him that Luke was slain by the slayer and she had some sort of help. Darla had returned with her toy and did not know what had happened to Luke, and Angelus had seriously hurt by the slayer. His shattered ribs would take several days to heal. While he was laid out he was in no condition to tell the master what had happened. The thought that the slayer might have help disturbed him more than he allowed his servants to see. It was unnatural. For uncounted millennia slayers have worked with only the aid of the watchers council. It was one of the things that made them so easy to kill. The master felt helpless and he did not relish the feeling at all.
" Come here." The master motioned to one of his robed vampire priests. The priest approached cautiously. The mastered snatched his head with his spidery fingers and gave a sharp twist. The priest collapsed into dust and the master sighed.
" Make you feel better?" Darla exited one of the side tunnels with a smirk on her face. Now that Luke was dead she was the eldest childe in the order of Aurelius. She wore a tattered blanket draped about her nude form.
" It did." The master smiled. " How is the newest member of our family?"
"Excellent. He should awaken in a few more hours." Darla smiled wickedly. She had ridden the teenager for hours taking just small amounts of blood during their marathon session of fucking. By the end of the evening the boy had been so twisted by the pain/pleasure dynamic he had drunk of her blood with glee. Darla was nothing if not the ultimate mistress of pain.
" Good. I will need all the servants that I can gather for the Harvest. Since the slayer is out there and active with some sort of ally, I want us to lay low so we attract no more attention or lose any more servitors. Even if we have fewer forces than I would like." The master paused for a second and shook his head as memories of wars long over assaulted him. " Since Luke is slain I want you to be the vessel. You will partake of my power and speed my ascension to Godhood."
Looking humbled, Darla said "Master I am honored."
**
The rest of the school day passed by rather quickly. Xander was surprised at how normal everything seemed. Jesse was missing and probably dead and people like Cordelia and Harmony drifted through the school just like it was a normal day. It took a while for him to realize that for them it was normal. Their eyes hadn't been opened up to the hidden world. It weirded him out. In class he talked with Willow about it and the answer he got from her surprised him.
" I'm not surprised that you see everything so differently." Willow looked at Xander with that knowing Willowy look. Xander smiled. Leave it to her to know his own mind better than he did. She always had. " You've had a big shock with Jesse missing and everything else. Everything is different." She shrugged her shoulders, " So do I. We just went from midterms seeming like the end of world to the actual end of the world. "
" Maybe you think midterms are the end of the world," Xander said laughing. Then his face grew serious. " I want to help Buffy." That simple statement surprised Xander even as he was saying it. He had been playing Faith's statement in his mind all day and he realized that he couldn't go back. He could not live in ignorance. He had to help now that he knew. He couldn't leave Buffy to fight with only Faith and that old librarian for help. It's not the right thing to do. Its not what his father would do.
Willow looked at Xander sadly. She knew that he had been thinking about helping Buffy and not just in order to find Jesse. She really did know Xander better than he knew himself. She had asked her mom one day what Xander's father was like and she was told that he always saw himself as a knight in shining armor. That was the reason he joined the green berets. Willow still remembered her mother's final comment on the subject. " Anthony Harris could no more turn his back on someone who need help than he could turn off the love he had for his family. He was one of the most decent men I have ever known. That man was a regular white knight." Sometimes she regretted ever telling Xander that. He was more like his father than he could ever know. Willow could only worry for her best friend and hope that he wouldn't come to the same end as his father did.
**
After school Xander and Willow walked to the library. They walked into the back and paused to watch buffy training with Giles. Or more accurately training Giles to be a punching bag. She leapt and twirled around the watcher armed with a stake as she mock slew him over and over again. She stopped when she noticed Xander and Willow. She gave Xander a big smile as she saw him. She adjusted her sweat stained workout clothing.
" Xand, Wills, what are you guys doing here?"
Willow looked distinctly uncomfortable. Xander just said, " We want to help. With the slaying."
Buffy looked shocked. " You do?"
" We do. It's not right that you have to fight these things on you own with so little help. Wills and I already know about your secret and a few extra pairs of hands never killed anyone." Xander looked very pleased with his statement. He noticed Buffy looking him over appraisingly.
" Out of the question." Giles stood up where he had been doubled over trying to catch his breath. " You two have no training and cannot possibly grasp what you are asking to do. I forbid it."
Xander was so surprised at the venom in Giles voice that he didn't respond.
Even more surprisingly Willow did. The mousy redhead seemed to stretch up several inches in height and her face took on a look of such…resolve that it surprised the middle-aged watcher. " We probably lost our best friend to these things. We've been to more funerals than anyone our age should ever have to go. We FINALLY know what goes bump in the night and we want to make sure that, as few other people have to go through it as possible. As a bonus we can also help out our new friend who has to spend her life doing this. We can do this. We will do this. We can help with her burden. You say we can't do this because we aren't trained, then TRAIN US because we are not giving up."
**
After Willows outburst in the library, which seemed to take everyone by surprise including Willow, Giles eventually acquiesced to helping Buffy in her night job " in a research capacity only."
The next few days passed in a blur of activity for the slayer and her allies. Buffy continued to train and found her slayer instincts, which had seemed to atrophy after she stopped training when Merrick died, came back with a vengeance. She went out on nightly patrols but few vamps raised their heads for her to slay. Faith, who would appear to dispense information and then irritatingly disappear, said that the master was laying low for the harvest. She also told Buffy that the harvest was going to happen at the Bronze. Faith gave some very bad news to Xander. All her sources said that Jesse was dead.
Xander took the news hard. Buffy never brought it up, but the red rims around Xander's eyes told her that he spent more than a little time crying as did Willow. Buffy tried to talk to him about it, to share because she too had lost a good friend to vampires. Xander wouldn't talk to her though. That wouldn't have bothered her so much if she hadn't seen a day later Xander talking to Faith. She had her arms around him as he talked with her. She seemed to be doing a good job comforting Xander. Something Buffy would have liked to do for him.
**
THE NIGHT OF THE HARVEST
" You all know the plan?" Buffy and group were huddled around one of the back tables in the Bronze. They received more than a few odd looks because of the middle-aged librarian that sat at the table with them.
" Yes buffy," they all chorus softly. They had only been asked a half dozen times or so.
She smiled at all of them. " I just want all of us to walk away."
" So when the vamps appear and start grabbing people you start the ass whooping and we start herding people to the doors," Xander said. He looked around at the club. " Where's Faith," he asked.
Great, ask 'bout Faith. Damn bad girls get all the guys " She's around here somewhere Xander. She's out mingling." Buffy stared at whole group. " Remember that no one here is to be a hero. Just get the people out. Leave the fighting to me and Faith."
" Why Faith," Willow asked.
" Because Faith is trained in Aikido. She doesn't need to be as strong as a vampire in order to fight them."
They continued to talk in soft tones for another ten minutes refining the plan. Then all hell broke loose.
**
Faith sat at the bar smiling. She heard what Buffy had said across the room. That little bit about Aikido was a masterstroke. It neatly explained how she was able to hold her own in a fight against a nearly master class vampire and escape with no serious injury. She saw a guy slip the bartender a bill and whisper something in his ear. The bartender walked over and gave faith a drink.
" From the guy at the end of the bar." Faith looked over at the teenager and he raised his drink. Faith smiled at him absently not truly interested. She could feel the power of the night beginning to rise. It was bubbling up out of the Hellmouth, tugged out by mystic gravity created by the rare astrological event called the Harvest. It was causing her whole body to tingle, including that special spot between her legs.
Now is no time to be horny Faithy. Got the redemption gig going on tonight
Special tingling led to thinking about Xander. Faith had gotten to know the boy better over the several days before the Harvest and she was rapidly becoming taken with him. He looked so lost when he heard about his friend's death. Faith had tried to talk with him since she was no stranger to either loss or pain, but that didn't go over so well. Want. Take. Have. She had spent so much time living on the streets using those as her watchwords that now that she met someone that she really liked she could barely speak to him. The whole lack of meaningful human contact for a few decades really put a damper on her comforting skills. And she did like him. That surprised her more than anything else in this godforsaken town. She would never have expected to meet someone, let alone a teenager who touched her the way he did.
Faith was just beginning to get a good brood going on when the club doors opened and all hell broke loose.
**
Buffy and the gang saw a group of about ten vampires walk into the club. The lead vamp was a blond girl wearing a catholic school uniform and had the bloody sign of the vessel scrawled across her forehead. With a girlish flounce she hopped up onto the band stage and grabbed the mike from lead singers hand. " Nobody leave your seats. The floor shows is just getting started and it gonna be a hell of ride," she said with a wicked smile on her face. She then turned to the now micophoneless lead singer and bit into his throat. The Bronze was totally silent except for the sounds of blond vampires slurping. After a few moments she dropped the now ashen figure off the stage. " Next," she shouted in a voice that was far deeper than it should have been.
People began screaming and running towards the nearest exits. The students were stopped at the doors by vampires that forced them back into the club. Buffy shouted above the din, " Everyone break!" The gang leapt up and went in different directions.
**
Willow tried making her way to the alley door in order to help the kids trying to get out that way. She tightly gripped her cross and fingered the vial of holy water in her pocket.
Remember no fighting. Just drive off the vamps with the cross and get the kids out
The press of kids moving back into the club caused the slight redhead to be pushed out of the way into a darkened area of the club. Willow fought against the press of kids but the slight girl couldn't get past them to the door. The shy girl began to growl in frustration.
" That's my girl," said a deep and familiar voice from behind her.
Willow turned around slowly, a white knuckled grip on her cross. " Liam?"
Angelus smiled viciously in game face even as his chest twinged with the pain of his injured ribs. His ribs still hurt from that dammed slayer. " No my dear," he drawled. " The names Angelus. Have I told you how much I love redheads," he whispered seductively as he drew closer to willow.
**
Giles made his way to the front door. He clutched a cross in is right hand and a stake in his left. The students parted around him and he easily made his way to the door. He saw a pair of vampires guarding the front door. The first stood in front of Giles and said, " Nobody's going anywhere old man."
The second added, " Picked the wrong night to hit up the chickies English."
" Chickies," Giles growled dangerously. " I have never in my life 'hit up chickies'." He swung his cross like a club and struck the first vampire in the side of his head cause the vampire to shriek in pain and fall to the ground as his faced steamed. Giles followed it up with a blow from his stake turning the vampire into a pile of dust. He whirled on the other vampire by the door.
**
Buffy fixed her face in slayer mode and made her way to the stage. The vessel was already working on her third victim. Buffy saw several vampires rush her from the left and the right. She snatched up a pair of Billiard balls and whipped them across her chest in parallel lines. The two balls struck the first two vampires in the chest with a loud crack. Both vampires fell to the ground and one of them collapsed into dust.
Buffy arched her eyebrows in surprise. Must have punctured his heart with one of his ribs " Eight ball in the corner vampire," Buffy laughed. " Those your best minions vampslut?" She grabbed a pool stick and broke it over her knee.
Darla arched her eyebrow. " I have tapped into a reserve of power that you cannot possibly grasp." Darla leapt off the stage landing a few feet from Buffy. " Your blood shall free the master. I can feel it."
" How 'bout you feel this." Buffy rushed blond vampire and struck out at her with the pool sticks, moving them so fast they almost hummed.
Darla laughed and easily evaded the attacks. Her hand snapped out faster than Buffy's eyes could follow and grabbed her wrist. She swung Buffy around and slammed her into the stage. " Too slow slayer," She giggled.
Perhaps I could have planned this better Buffy groaned and got back to her feet.
**
Xander got up and went to help Willow. He trusted Giles to clear out the front door on his own. He was moving toward the rear when he lost sight of Willow in the crowd
" Willow," he shouted. He couldn't spot his redheaded friend anywhere in the press of the panicking crowd.
" Dude, don't worry. Wills got a new boyfriend." Xander's spine stiffened and his blood turned to ice as he turned around.
" Jesse?"