Part 9:
#
"We should probably head inside," Faith said. "I don't think we're liable to clear anything up out here."
Giles and Joyce were still bickering, quite loudly so. The way they were going at it almost made Faith think that they might have ... nah, not Giles and Joyce. Then again they were under the influence of cursed candy, regressed into horny teenagers. There was way too much bickering going on between them.
And way too much PDAs from Buffy and Angel.
Shaking off those thoughts and disturbing images Faith looked at Cordelia, the only clear-headed one present except herself.
"Think you can keep a lid on things out here for a moment?"
"I'm not going to break up those two," the brunette said, pointing at Buffy and Angel with an air of disgust. "I might be able to keep Giles and Mrs. Summers from killing each other. No guarantees, though."
"Fair enough. I'll be back in a minute."
"Please hurry!"
Faith found herself giving Cordelia another grin, surprised at how the former cheerleader was pulling her weight. Usually she was too busy bitching about having to help. She remembered that little talk she had overheard between Cordelia and Xander, the first glimpse of true feelings she had ever seen on the brunette's face. More and more Faith found that people actually had the capacity to surprise her in a positive way, something she would have said was impossible before coming to Sunnydale.
Still grinning she threw herself into the crowd of chocolate addicts, quickly making her way to the front. The two worker guys tried to stop her, but barely managed to slow her down. One found himself flying through the air, the crowd quickly parting to get out of his way, the other came to rest in the wrecked remains of a few chocolate boxes.
People immediately swarmed over the liberated chocolate bars as Faith made her way inside. The warehouse was filled to the rafters with chocolate boxes, probably enough to make all of California go crazy.
"Someone will have to burn this place to the ground," Faith whistled with just a tiny bit more enthusiasm than was proper. Passing an open box she quickly stuffed a few chocolate bars into her pockets. If the six bars she had consumed so far had not regressed her to babyhood she figured a few more could not hurt. They did taste quite good.
"This is far out," a British-tinged voice said behind her.
"Giles?" She turned to look at him. He was not alone. "What are you all doing in here?"
Buffy and Angel were there as well, still arm in arm. "What? You think you can hog all the ass-kicking fun around here? I should remind you I've been the Slayer about thirty years longer than you, girlfriend."
Cordelia came in with Joyce, dragging the woman along. "Sorry, but stepping in the way of fun-loving vampires and Slayers is not part of my job description."
Snyder snuck in behind them, looking around with his little gnome eyes, taking some chocolate from the same box Faith had ripped off just a minute ago. Faith was about to launch into a string of curses, not able to think of anything better to do, when she heard a faint voice from somewhere behind the boxes.
"Yes, it worked perfectly," the voice said, also tinged with a British accent. "The town is wide open."
Faith stealthily made her way toward the source of the voice, followed by the rest of the gang. Thankfully all of them were quiet as well, even Joyce and Giles.
"You can start anytime you want." The speaker was a man with greying hair, dressed in black pants and a silk shirt. Faith had never seen him before.
"Ethan Rayne," Buffy suddenly said, sounding like she had just discovered something rather unpleasant under her shoe.
The man called Ethan turned around, looking at the newcomers with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"You might want to hurry," he told whoever was on the other side of the phone, then hung up.
"Hello, Ethan," Giles said, moving towards him with a cruel grin on his face.
"Hello, Ripper." Ripper? Why was he calling Giles Ripper?
Moments later Ethan bolted, making a beeline for the stocked chocolate boxes. Faith, still a little out of the loop, needed a moment before she thought of following him. By that time Buffy, Angel, and Giles were already hot on his trail.
Ethan tries to hide amidst the boxes, but Faith had little problem homing in on the stink of his fear. For Buffy and Angel, who both had the whole predator sense thing going rather strong these days, it was even less of an effort. Barely a minute after he had begun his flight Ethan was being dragged back out again, surrounded by quite a few super powered, angry people.
Faith also noticed that Snyder seemed to be coming on to Joyce, something that disturbed her on a level too deep to describe. Thankfully Joyce did not seem interested, just kept chewing on bubble gum.
"Who is this guy?" Faith asked Cordelia, hoping to get a coherent answer from someone around here.
"I think I saw him once, about a year ago. Some kind of sorcerer, black magic guy. He and Giles used to hang when Giles was in his black magic, hate the world, walking time bomb phase."
"What are you doing here, Ethan?" Buffy asked him.
"You know me, Slayer, just ..."
Before he could even finish the sentence Buffy punched him in the gut, causing him to double over. Angel wore an admiring look on his face while Giles jumped into the air, seeming very pleased.
Faith, deciding not to trust the questioning part to the cursed candy crowd, went over to pick him off the floor.
"Let's do this again, shall we? What's with the cursed candy? Who were you talking to on the phone?"
"Cursed candy, I really don't ..."
"Hit him," Giles interrupted.
Buffy raised her fist, eager to comply.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ethan quickly back-pedalled. "I ... I'm just the little guy here, really. Just doing a job. I was hired for this."
"Hired by whom?"
"I don't actually know."
"Hit him!"
This time both Buffy and Faith raised their fists while Angel slipped into vampire face, the gleeful grin on his face turning very scary in the process.
"I really don't! A guy in a suit, had some vampires following him around but he wasn't one. Offered me a whole lot of money to make sure that all of Sunnydale was distracted for tonight."
"Why tonight?"
For a moment he seemed liable to deny knowledge again, but with Buffy, Faith, Angel, and Giles all standing uncomfortably close and looking quite willing to pummel him at a moment's notice he quickly changed his mind.
"There's some kind of demon and they need to give him tribute tonight. They wanted to be sure that no one interferes. Meaning all of you, I'd say."
Faith gave him an encouraging smile, encouraging in the way that it would have sent him running if all possible escape routes had not been blocked by angry-looking super-powered people.
"See? That wasn't so hard, Ethan, was it? Now be a good boy and tell us what that big heap tribute is all about, will you?"
#
In the Sunnydale hospital most of the employees were out having fun, seeing as working the night shift was not exactly the epitome of a good time. The only one currently present was a nurse manning the counter in the nursery station, but she was busy watching TV and folding little airplanes out of patient files.
Therefore she did not notice the six vampires walking out of the elevator, immediately heading into the nursery. Moments later they were gone again, leaving nothing but empty cribs behind.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
"We should probably head inside," Faith said. "I don't think we're liable to clear anything up out here."
Giles and Joyce were still bickering, quite loudly so. The way they were going at it almost made Faith think that they might have ... nah, not Giles and Joyce. Then again they were under the influence of cursed candy, regressed into horny teenagers. There was way too much bickering going on between them.
And way too much PDAs from Buffy and Angel.
Shaking off those thoughts and disturbing images Faith looked at Cordelia, the only clear-headed one present except herself.
"Think you can keep a lid on things out here for a moment?"
"I'm not going to break up those two," the brunette said, pointing at Buffy and Angel with an air of disgust. "I might be able to keep Giles and Mrs. Summers from killing each other. No guarantees, though."
"Fair enough. I'll be back in a minute."
"Please hurry!"
Faith found herself giving Cordelia another grin, surprised at how the former cheerleader was pulling her weight. Usually she was too busy bitching about having to help. She remembered that little talk she had overheard between Cordelia and Xander, the first glimpse of true feelings she had ever seen on the brunette's face. More and more Faith found that people actually had the capacity to surprise her in a positive way, something she would have said was impossible before coming to Sunnydale.
Still grinning she threw herself into the crowd of chocolate addicts, quickly making her way to the front. The two worker guys tried to stop her, but barely managed to slow her down. One found himself flying through the air, the crowd quickly parting to get out of his way, the other came to rest in the wrecked remains of a few chocolate boxes.
People immediately swarmed over the liberated chocolate bars as Faith made her way inside. The warehouse was filled to the rafters with chocolate boxes, probably enough to make all of California go crazy.
"Someone will have to burn this place to the ground," Faith whistled with just a tiny bit more enthusiasm than was proper. Passing an open box she quickly stuffed a few chocolate bars into her pockets. If the six bars she had consumed so far had not regressed her to babyhood she figured a few more could not hurt. They did taste quite good.
"This is far out," a British-tinged voice said behind her.
"Giles?" She turned to look at him. He was not alone. "What are you all doing in here?"
Buffy and Angel were there as well, still arm in arm. "What? You think you can hog all the ass-kicking fun around here? I should remind you I've been the Slayer about thirty years longer than you, girlfriend."
Cordelia came in with Joyce, dragging the woman along. "Sorry, but stepping in the way of fun-loving vampires and Slayers is not part of my job description."
Snyder snuck in behind them, looking around with his little gnome eyes, taking some chocolate from the same box Faith had ripped off just a minute ago. Faith was about to launch into a string of curses, not able to think of anything better to do, when she heard a faint voice from somewhere behind the boxes.
"Yes, it worked perfectly," the voice said, also tinged with a British accent. "The town is wide open."
Faith stealthily made her way toward the source of the voice, followed by the rest of the gang. Thankfully all of them were quiet as well, even Joyce and Giles.
"You can start anytime you want." The speaker was a man with greying hair, dressed in black pants and a silk shirt. Faith had never seen him before.
"Ethan Rayne," Buffy suddenly said, sounding like she had just discovered something rather unpleasant under her shoe.
The man called Ethan turned around, looking at the newcomers with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"You might want to hurry," he told whoever was on the other side of the phone, then hung up.
"Hello, Ethan," Giles said, moving towards him with a cruel grin on his face.
"Hello, Ripper." Ripper? Why was he calling Giles Ripper?
Moments later Ethan bolted, making a beeline for the stocked chocolate boxes. Faith, still a little out of the loop, needed a moment before she thought of following him. By that time Buffy, Angel, and Giles were already hot on his trail.
Ethan tries to hide amidst the boxes, but Faith had little problem homing in on the stink of his fear. For Buffy and Angel, who both had the whole predator sense thing going rather strong these days, it was even less of an effort. Barely a minute after he had begun his flight Ethan was being dragged back out again, surrounded by quite a few super powered, angry people.
Faith also noticed that Snyder seemed to be coming on to Joyce, something that disturbed her on a level too deep to describe. Thankfully Joyce did not seem interested, just kept chewing on bubble gum.
"Who is this guy?" Faith asked Cordelia, hoping to get a coherent answer from someone around here.
"I think I saw him once, about a year ago. Some kind of sorcerer, black magic guy. He and Giles used to hang when Giles was in his black magic, hate the world, walking time bomb phase."
"What are you doing here, Ethan?" Buffy asked him.
"You know me, Slayer, just ..."
Before he could even finish the sentence Buffy punched him in the gut, causing him to double over. Angel wore an admiring look on his face while Giles jumped into the air, seeming very pleased.
Faith, deciding not to trust the questioning part to the cursed candy crowd, went over to pick him off the floor.
"Let's do this again, shall we? What's with the cursed candy? Who were you talking to on the phone?"
"Cursed candy, I really don't ..."
"Hit him," Giles interrupted.
Buffy raised her fist, eager to comply.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ethan quickly back-pedalled. "I ... I'm just the little guy here, really. Just doing a job. I was hired for this."
"Hired by whom?"
"I don't actually know."
"Hit him!"
This time both Buffy and Faith raised their fists while Angel slipped into vampire face, the gleeful grin on his face turning very scary in the process.
"I really don't! A guy in a suit, had some vampires following him around but he wasn't one. Offered me a whole lot of money to make sure that all of Sunnydale was distracted for tonight."
"Why tonight?"
For a moment he seemed liable to deny knowledge again, but with Buffy, Faith, Angel, and Giles all standing uncomfortably close and looking quite willing to pummel him at a moment's notice he quickly changed his mind.
"There's some kind of demon and they need to give him tribute tonight. They wanted to be sure that no one interferes. Meaning all of you, I'd say."
Faith gave him an encouraging smile, encouraging in the way that it would have sent him running if all possible escape routes had not been blocked by angry-looking super-powered people.
"See? That wasn't so hard, Ethan, was it? Now be a good boy and tell us what that big heap tribute is all about, will you?"
#
In the Sunnydale hospital most of the employees were out having fun, seeing as working the night shift was not exactly the epitome of a good time. The only one currently present was a nurse manning the counter in the nursery station, but she was busy watching TV and folding little airplanes out of patient files.
Therefore she did not notice the six vampires walking out of the elevator, immediately heading into the nursery. Moments later they were gone again, leaving nothing but empty cribs behind.
TO BE CONTINUED
