CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: BROTHER AMOS

Sunday: 11:30pm

15th August 1999

California: Sunnydale

Buffy ducked into a roll, avoiding a swinging fist from a large brutish vampire.  It snarled angrily and Buffy just rolled her eyes.

"What is with the snarling?  Is that all you vamps are capable of?"

It snarled again and lunged towards her.

"I'll kill you Slayer!"

"You guys so need a better script writer," she taunted.  She thrust the flat of her palm against his chest, sending him flying backwards into the steps of the abandoned factory.  It stumbled and tried to clutch the railing to keep himself standing.  He fell flat on his back and Buffy saw the perfect opening.

She shoved her stake through his heart and watched as it turned to ash.  She smiled, thankful for an easy slay and turned to walk away.  She turned and flinched as light shone directly in her eyes.  Her hand came up to stop the beam from blinding her, but the light was lowered.

"You shouldn't be in here, miss." It was a security guard, torch in one hand, nightstick in the other. 

"Sorry," she replied easily, about to walk out.

"If you're looking for one of those raves, I chased a couple of kids out of here last night," he informed her.

"Oh.  Damn.  I was really looking forward to that…rave," she said, pathetically attempting to go with the cover story that he had handed to her.

"Y'know, if this place was mine, I wouldn't care.  But…I'm getting paid to keep you outta here, so…"

"I'm already gone," Buffy said, turning to leave.  She had taken two steps when she heard his voice again.

"Oh.  Miss." She turned.  "You forgot your…what is this?  A glow ball.  Huh…kids these days."

Buffy took the delicate glass orb from him, the sphere shining a brilliant orangey-yellow. 

"What is that thing?" he asked curiously.

She swallowed hard, wondering the exact same thing.  "Uh…just a…glow ball.  New model."

"Uh huh.  Well…have a good night kid," he said, leaving her at the front gates.  Buffy absently waved goodbye and turned to walk back to the house, glow ball in hand.

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Sunday: 11:55pm

15th August 1999

California: Sunnydale

She walked into the apartment, orb still in her hand.

"What's that you've got luv?" Ethan asked curiously.

Giles looked up from his paper and stood, seeing the glowing orb in his Slayer's hand.  She handed it over to him, the Watcher peering at it curiously.

"I found it on patrol," she explained.  "What the hell is it?"

"Well, it appears to be paranormal in origin," Giles stated confidently.

"How can you tell?" asked Faith.

"Well, it's so shiny," Giles replied.

Buffy smirked and took the orb back from him. 

"Where'd you find it, B?" Faith asked.

"Uh…near an old factory.  Actually, a security guard found it.  He was convinced that I was an evening late to a rave and that this little glow thingy was mine," she explained.

"Ah, Rocky's.  Yeah, that was fun," Faith said absently, recalling the party from the evening before.

Buffy glared at her best friend.  "You said you were having an early night!"

"I did!  It was early when I got home…about five am."

"Uh, girls…perhaps we should concentrate on finding out a little more about this orb, rather than on your previous evenings activities," Giles said.

Both Buffy and Faith turned their attention to the Watcher, and Buffy sat beside Faith.

"So…book action?" Faith asked.

"Uh…not right now, no.  Probably best to get some sleep before we begin trying to ascertain what this object is and where it originated," Giles said.

Buffy rolled her eyes dramatically.  "You couldn't have just said, 'we'll wait til morning'?"

Giles glared, but Buffy just stood up, stretching tiredly.  "So…I'm thinking bed's looking pretty good right about now," she said.  "Night guys."

She bent over to kiss Ethan's cheek.  "I'll see you next weekend," she said hugging him.

"Course luv.  Be careful."

She pulled back and grinned at him.  "Always am."

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Monday: 5pm

16th August 1999

California: Sunnydale

"So, no luck finding anything on this orb thingy?" Buffy asked.

"Nothing.  There's…a multitude of orbs and spheres that these texts mention, and we've managed to narrow it down to several possibilities, but…we've got nothing concrete as yet," Giles replied.

"Damn.  And I was so hoping for the afternoon off," Buffy said, grabbing a book and settling herself onto the couch beside her Watcher.  "So, where's Faith?"

"Uh…she and your brother, uh…took off," Giles said.

"Smoochies, huh?"

"Quite."

"Kicked 'em out, didn'tcha?"

"W-well…"

Buffy grinned and flipped open her book.  "You realise they probably won't come back now that you've let them go."

"Hey people!" sounded Faith's voice from the doorway.  "We're back.  And we got pizza."

"You were saying?" Giles asked dryly.

"Yeah, yeah…laugh it up, fuzzball."

Faith, Jay and Xander entered, settling themselves around the room.  Giles blushed a little and turned away as he saw his Slayer greet Xander with a kiss.

"Hey you."

"Hey yourself," Xander replied, grinning as he always did whenever he saw her.  "How was the gallery?  Any interesting old stuff?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at her boyfriends lack of interest in all things arty.  "Nothing that would interest you," she replied.  "How goes the job hunt?"

He shrugged and settled himself next to her, pulling her into his arms.  "Same as always.  Not qualified enough, not smart enough, not good-looking enough."

Buffy sighed and leant against him, hoping to offer some sort of support to him. 

"You'll find something soon," she said.

"Yeah, I know."

"Any news on the orbular front?" Faith asked, mouth half-full of pizza.

"Nothing as yet," Giles replied. 

Faith and Jay sighed.  They'd researched for five hours straight earlier that day before Giles had kicked them out of the house.  To hear that there was still research to be done wasn't the best of news.

"I was thinking that maybe I should go back to the factory, check out where I found it.  See if there are any others," Buffy said.  "Maybe I'll find whoever put it there in the first place."

"Just...be careful," Giles cautioned.

"Sure thing."

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Monday: 6pm

16th August 1999

California: Sunnydale

Buffy scanned the empty parking lot of the factory, looking for the security guard from the night before.  She really didn't need to get caught in the same place twice.  When she was certain that he wasn't anywhere near her, she quickly made her way to the entrance of the factory, entering quietly.

Inside, there was debris and rubble strewn throughout the main room.  The large metal doors had been smashed in, completely ripped away from the wall.  Buffy found herself wishing that she'd brought larger, sharper weapons.

She swallowed nervously and crept further into the room, keeping herself near the wall.  She could hear someone breathing from inside the room, but the area where he or she was had been darkened.  She squinted and was able to make out someone's form strapped to a chair in the centre of the room in front of a large pane of glass.

She raced towards him and knelt in front of him.  He was dressed in brown robes, scars on his face, blood in his hair and on his hands.  He looked to be a monk.

"Hey, it's okay," Buffy said quietly.  "I'm gonna get you outta here."

She could hear someone beginning to creep up behind her.  She saw the monks eyes widen in fear, but he was too exhausted to try and warn his young saviour.  The ropes came off his wrists and feet.

"I'm a lot stronger than I look.  And I've had a lotta experience with this sorta thing."

She could hear whomever it was stop directly behind her.  Buffy stood up and turned quickly, her hand going to the throat of her attacker.

"Most of all…I'm not stupid."

It was a young woman, no more than twenty-five-years-old.  She smiled at the Slayer and shook grabbed Buffy's wrist, squeezing tightly. Buffy relinquished her hold on the woman's throat, her wrist bursting with pain.

"You sure about that, sweet cheeks?"

Buffy didn't have time to reply sarcastically.  Instead, she was hit with a stunning right hook and went flying across the room, smashing her back against the concrete wall.  She felt part of the wall crumble behind her.  With a gasp of shock and pain, she managed to stand up, regrouping as the woman advanced towards where she stood.

The woman's fist went flying, but Buffy ducked and a hole was made in the solid concrete wall.  The other fist went flying and Buffy only barely managed to catch it before it knocked her out. 

Buffy hit her with everything that she had, and her opponent barely blinked.  She punched and kicked with all her might, and still nothing effected this woman. 

"You know what I just noticed?" the woman asked, her voice sickly sweet and beginning to grate on Buffy's nerves.  "You've got super powers.  That is so cute."

She grabbed Buffy by the arms and brought them so they were face-to-face.

"Can you fly?"

Buffy was again thrown across the room, flying behind the monk and landing in a painful heap.  She struggled to stand and quickly weighed her options.  In a quick move, she raced to the monk in the chair and hauled him to his feet. 

"Hey!  Get your own dam monk!  He's the only one who knows where my key is!  How dare you defy the great Glorificus?!"

There was no way to get back to the entrance, so she ran towards the large window, throwing herself out, making sure she would land on her back with the monk on top, rather than the other way around. 

She felt a sudden rush of pain and struggled to her feet, dragging the monk with her. 

The monk stumbled and fell as they reached the gate, and from inside the factory, there was a tremendous crash.  Buffy looked up and saw dust coming from the windows.  She didn't know what had stopped the woman from following them, but she was certainly grateful.

"Come on," Buffy said, trying to get the monk to stand.

"My journey…is ending," the monk rasped.

"Don't get all metaphory on me now," Buffy said firmly.  "We have to keep going."

"I am finished," he said.  "But you…you must…you must protect the key."

Buffy looked at him in confusion, shaking her head, not understanding.

You're not looking for a needle.  You're looking for a key.

"What key?"

"Many more will die if you don't keep it safe," he told her.

"So, if you get up we can keep it safe together," she said, again trying to pull him to his feet.

He resisted and collapsed against a pole.

"You must protect it."

"How?  What is it?" she asked.

"The key…is energy.  It's a portal…it opens the door…for centuries, my brethren were it's only keepers.  Then…the abomination came…"

Buffy could only guess that the woman in the red dress who had nearly beaten her to a bloody pulp was the abomination that he spoke of.

"We had to hide the key…gave it form…moulded it flesh…made it human and sent it to you.  We gave you new memories…to make you want to keep it safe."

Buffy shook her head, still not understanding.  "Memories?  What memories?  What are you talking about?"

"We knew the Slayer would protect…"

"Protect what?  What is the key?"

"Human…now human and helpless."

Buffy tried to understand what she was being told, but it made very little sense to her.  She went to ask more, but the monk closed his eyes and breathed his last breath.  With that, the last monk of the Order of Dagon, Brother Amos, was no more.

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Hmmm. Far too long between updates.  I'm getting a little bit slack I think.  My apologies.  I'm having MEGA problems with this fic.  No idea where the hell I'm going with it.  Plus, I'm kinda working on a new one that I won't be posting until it's properly finished, which should hopefully be soon.  Anyways, hope you guy are still reading this thing.

Toodles.

K.