Buffy awoke to the smell of coffee, and the sound of the shower running. She could feel the warmth of Dawn snuggled up against her back. Morning sunlight was streaming in the window.
Buffy reached out to the bedside table to get her watch. It was just after eight. Normally Buffy would consider that much too early to be getting out of bed on a Saturday, but she knew that she had things to do. She rolled out of bed, and went to get herself some of that coffee.
Buffy waited until she had finished her own shower before she went back and rousted Dawn out of bed. The two sisters had a very pleasant breakfast with their father, with no talk of vampires, Slayers, Keys, or anything else out of the ordinary. It was the sort of breakfast that Buffy had started out this weekend hoping they'd have. It was interrupted by the ringing of Buffy's cell phone.
Buffy went back to their bedroom to get her phone out of its charger. "Hello. … Hi Wes. What's up? … Okay, we'll be there in half an hour or so." Buffy returned to the dining area where Dawn and her father were finishing off their breakfasts. "That was Wesley. He's got something on that Chucky-whatsit demon guy. He wants to talk to us. I told him we'd be there in half an hour."
It took a little longer than half an hour. Dawn had insisted on having her own shower first. It was nearly ten when the three Summers entered the lobby of the Hyperion hotel. Dawn looked around. "This place is so cool!"
Buffy looked around the lobby. She could see Lorne on the balcony overlooking it. He took one long look at Dawn, before he turned around and left. She frowned. That wasn't the sort of reaction she liked seeing to her sister.
Wesley came out of the office. "Ah, Buffy, you're here."
"In the flesh," said Buffy. "Where's everyone?" She couldn't help notice that Wesley looked like he hadn't been to sleep yet.
"Cordelia went home, but she should be back any time now. Fred packed it in at about four AM, but I think I heard some movement from her room a little while ago. Gunn and Angel got in just before sunrise. I don't expect to see Gunn again until after noon…" Wesley looked toward the stairs. "…but here comes Angel now."
"How about you?" asked Buffy. "Doesn't look like you got much sleep."
"Oh, I'm fine," said Wesley.
"You really should get some sleep Wesley," said Angel. "We might need everyone at their sharpest tonight."
"I can get some rest after I've filled you in on what we've learned," said Wesley. He looked around at the computer. "But we really need Fred to run that infernal machine."
"God, you sound like Giles." Dawn moved toward Fred's computer on the reception desk. "Let me at it." Dawn stopped and looked embarrassed. "Uh, you don't think she'd mind me using her computer do you?"
"Actually she told me that you'd know how to get everything out of it, before she went to bed," said Wesley.
Dawn frowned. "Really?" She woke up the TiBook, and saw that she was looking at the login screen. There was an account named "Dawn" in between the ones for Cordelia and Fred. Dawn was struck with a nasty suspicion. She selected Fred's account, and typed in the password that she'd watched Fred type the night before.
The login screen shook, and the password field cleared. Fred had changed her password. Dawn canceled out of that login, and clicked on her own name. The computer asked her for a password. Dawn typed in Fred's old password again. This time the computer let her in.
"Why that little… She knew!" said Dawn.
"Knew what?" asked Buffy.
"Never mind," said Dawn. She briefly considered changing her password, but she decided not to bother. Fred probably had root access to this computer anyway. Dawn looked at the window that opened up in front of her. It contained one document, titled "Read Me.html" She double clicked on it. The web browser opened showing an index page full of links. The first one was labeled 'Chalajuaxis.' Dawn clicked on it. A new window opened showing a picture of a tentacled demon.
"The demon Chalajuaxis, like many others, promises great power to its followers, given that they make the proper periodic sacrifices," said Wesley. "In the case of Chalajuaxis the sacrifices must be made every fifty years. It requires the deaths of twelve human beings. This sacrifice should take place on the night of the first full moon following the fifty year anniversary of the last sacrifice."
"Should?" asked Buffy.
"Should," said Wesley. "Chalajuaxis likes punctuality. The sacrifice must take place during the full moon, and a late sacrifice is unacceptable. Early sacrifices are not as effective in ensuring Chalajuaxis' pleasure, but they will forestall its wrath. Missing a sacrifice will bring down ruin on Chalajuaxis' followers."
Dawn clicked on a link labeled 'Ephemeris.' "Next full moon is…tonight."
"Yes," said Wesley. "Tonight is three months early, but it is much better to be early when dealing with Chalajuaxis than late. Three months early probably won't please it much, but it should keep it from eviscerating its followers."
"So you think that Wolfram and Hart may do this sacrifice tonight?" asked Buffy.
"Not Wolfram and Hart," said Dawn. She had been reading some more of the links Fred had left for her. "Looks like one of their clients."
"Right," said Wesley. "Wolfram and Hart represents the Cult of Chalajuaxis, but they have only become clients recently. It seems that the cult screwed up, and forgot to pay their taxes. They lost control of the property, and after a couple more transfers it wound up in the hands of Harmon and Ross. They didn't hire Wolfram and Hart until a couple of months ago, which is good news for you." Wesley told Mr. Summers. "This isn't a Wolfram and Hart project, which means that if we can just get you past the deadline, your problems should be over. Wolfram and Hart's interest in you will be over, and Chalajuaxis will probably kill off the cultists itself."
"Why is it so important that they do it before the building is demolished?" asked Buffy.
"Chalajuaxis requires that all subsequent sacrifices take place in exactly the same location as the original sacrifice," said Wesley. "Chalajuaxis is a very picky demon."
"So, if they're going to do it, it will have to be tonight," said Buffy. "Which means that they're probably looking for people to sacrifice already."
"Have been for some time," said Angel. "A friend of ours runs a shelter for runaway teens. She told us a couple of days ago that several of her kids have vanished. No clues, they just disappeared. One or two deciding to move on somewhere else in a month without telling anyone isn't unusual. Half a dozen in a week gets her twitchy. These were kids that no one but Anne would miss. She knows the sort of stuff that really goes on, so she asked us to look into it. We hadn't made any progress, until now. Good news is that the missing kids are probably still alive…until tonight."
"So, if we want to stop this thing we could burn the building down or something like that," said Dawn. "I haven't got to do that yet."
"You are still not going to get to do it," said Buffy. "You and Dad are going to be staying someplace safe."
"Come on. You'd burned down two buildings by the time you were my age," said Dawn. "You get all the fun."
"Dawn, burning down buildings is not fun," said Buffy. "It tends to lead to long conversations with police and fire marshals and other completely humourless people. If we do burn this building down, you won't be anywhere nearby when we do it, and we'll have to check it out first. Make sure that there aren't any homeless people living in the basement now, or anything like that."
"Shouldn't be," said Hank. "We've got some rent-a-cops guarding it to keep people out. You wouldn't believe the law suits that can happen if someone stubs their toe."
"Rent-a-cops?" asked Dawn. She clicked back a few links. "They wouldn't be from Pinnacle Security by any chance?"
"Maybe," said Hank. "I'm not sure. The name sounds familiar. Why?"
"Pinnacle Security is on the list of companies owned by various members of the cult," said Dawn. "Looks like you've got the foxes guarding the henhouse."
"Ah!" said Buffy. "Which also makes it a likely place for them to be keeping their sacrifices until they're needed. We are definitely not burning that building down without taking a really good look at it first."
"We burning something down?" asked Gunn. He and Fred were coming down the stairs into the lobby.
"Probably not," said Angel. "But we may have some good news for Anne. We think we know what's been happening to her kids. If we're right, they should still be alive."
"She'll be happy to hear that," said Gunn.
"So, here's the plan," said Buffy. "I want to check this place out. Start with a basic recon, just see what's there. It's a little sunny out, so Angel will have to stay behind. He won't be able to do much hiding under a blanket. Dawn can stay here too, maybe she and Fred can do more digging. I'm thinking that Wesley looks like he could use a nap, we might need everyone fresh tonight. Gunn's with me. Dad…" Buffy really didn't know what to do with her father.
"I'm coming with you, Honey," said Hank Summers.
"Dad—"
"No," said Hank Summers. "I am coming with you. Above and beyond your being my daughter, whatever is happening is happening because of something I am doing. I have to see this through."
Gunn had asked that they stop in at the East Hills Teen Center. He wanted to tell Annie that they might have a line on her missing kids, and to see if she had any more information herself. He told Buffy that Annie was one of his best sources for information on strange goings on. She had lines that fed her information from half of the L.A. County underground. "She also knows all about the demon stuff. She helped me and Alona out a lot when we first came to L.A. We wouldn't have survived the first year without her."
Gunn was looking for someone to ask where Anne was when Buffy heard a familiar voice behind her. "Buffy?"
Buffy spun around. "Lily!" The two girls grabbed each other in a hug. "God it's good to see you!" Buffy and Lily kept hugging.
"Um…I guess you guys already know each other," said Gunn.
"Oh, Gunn. This is Anne!" said Anne. "The original I mean."
"Huh?" said Gunn.
"Anne's my middle name," said Buffy. "Last time I saw Lily here, I was using it." She looked back at her old friend, and remembered how they'd last parted. "You really decided to stick with it, eh?"
"Give Annie half a chance and she'll tell anybody the story of how she picked her name because this girl named Anne saved her life one time," said Gunn. "That was you?"
Buffy gave Lily another hug. "We saved each other's lives. I tried to reach you at the diner. They said you'd left, and you didn't leave a forwarding address at the apartment. I was worried about you!"
"I only worked at the diner for a couple of weeks," said Anne. "It really wasn't my thing. I decided I wanted to help people, like you did, so I got a job here. We get a lot of turnover, and inside a year I found I was running the place. So how do you know Gunn?"
"Turns out she's a friend of Angel's," said Gunn.
"Oh." Buffy saw a sour expression cross Anne's face. "So how do you know Angel?" she asked Buffy.
"Angel is kinda the reason I was hiding out in L.A., calling myself 'Anne.'" said Buffy. "I take it you aren't a fan."
"Annie first met Angel during his low period," said Gunn. "It was when his vendetta with Wolfram and Hart was at its peak, and he tried to use Annie and the Center to get to them. None of us was liking him much at the time. Annie still hasn't forgiven him."
Buffy heard her father clear his throat. "Ahem!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" said Buffy. "Lily—I guess it's Anne now—this is my dad. Hank Summers."
Anne shook his hand. "How do you do Mr. Summers. A pleasure to meet you."
"And you…Anne. I am certainly meeting a varied assortment of my daughter's friends this weekend."
"Dad just got introduced to the whole vampires and demons thing," said Buffy. "He's still shell shocked."
"It is a lot to take in," said Anne. "So, Gunn, since you obviously weren't bringing my old friend around to meet me, what are you doing here?"
"We may have a lead on your disappearing kids," said Gunn. "If we're right it's kind of a good news and bad news type of deal. The good news is that they're still alive. The bad news is that they're scheduled to be sacrificed to a demon tonight. We were wondering if you heard any more."
"A couple of more kids didn't turn up last night," said Anne. "That brings the total to eight."
"They need twelve," said Buffy.
"Doesn't mean they don't have twelve," said Anne. "We help all we can, but there are too many kids out there for us to even hope to keep track of them all…plus there are lots of kids who just drop out of sight for a week or a month, and then turn up again. Some of our missing might be some of those. That's why we can't get the cops to take us seriously. You really think they're still alive?"
"We know that someone plans to sacrifice a dozen people, probably tonight," said Buffy. "We're on our way to check out where we think they're going to do it. If they're your kids, we'll get them out…even if they aren't your kids, we'll get them out."
Buffy circled her Cherokee around the lot with the building that was scheduled to be demolished on Monday. Nothing out of the ordinary was visible from the outside. A deserted building, four stories high, with most of its windows boarded over. It was surrounded by a chain link fence with a few strands of barbed wire across the top to discourage kids from climbing it. There was a gate at the front with a guard shack, and one bored looking guard.
Buffy parked a block away. "So how do we handle this?"
"We could try the straight forward approach," said Hank. "This is supposed to be my project. We could just say that we're here to inspect things before work starts on Monday."
"If there's really nothing happening here now, that would probably get us in," said Buffy. "If there's no one inside we could torch the place, and be gone before anyone could stop us. Problem solved."
"Except for Annie's missing kids," said Gunn. "I doubt if these guys will just let them go, if they're keeping them someplace else."
"Oh yeah," said Buffy. "I knew that sounded too simple…so no torching."
Buffy pulled her Cherokee up to the gate. The guard took his time coming out of his shack. He was carrying a clipboard in his hand.
Buffy gave him her best smile. "Hi! We're here for the pre-demolition inspection!"
The guard took his time looking at his clipboard. "Nobody told me nothing about no pre-demolition inspections, and there ain't nothin' here on the board about it. What were your names?"
"Oh! I'm Harmony Kendall!" said Buffy. "This is Forrest Gates and Mr. Snyder."
The guard looked at the clipboard again. "Your names ain't here. I ain't supposed to let nobody in who ain't on my list."
"Oh, I'm sure it's just a mistake," said Buffy. "Why don't you call Mr. Summers at Harmon and Ross. I'm sure he'll straighten you out."
"I don't know no Mr. Summers neither," said the guard. "My boss told me not to let no one in who ain't on my list."
"I can't believe this!" said Gunn from the back seat. "I get called in to work on a Saturday, and the idiots back at the main office never tell you we're coming? What are those REMFs doing?"
"I don't know," said the guard. "But I can't let you folks in here without you bein' on my list."
Buffy pulled the Cherokee to a stop on the opposite side of the building. "So much for Plan A. Plan B: Gunn and I will sneak in, while Dad keeps watch." She looked at her father. "If we get into trouble, you have to get us out. Don't worry about scratching the paint or damaging the fence. Once we leave, move the car, just in case the guard takes a walk around. Park someplace where you have a clear view of this side of the building though. We'll try to come back out this side."
Buffy got out of the driver's seat and went around to the back, while her father slid over, and Gunn got out too. She opened the back hatch, and opened what looked like a large tool chest. It had tools in it, but Gunn saw that it mostly contained an assortment of weapons. Buffy ignored them, and selected a heavy duty pair of wire cutters. She handed them to Gunn. She closed the tool chest, and the hatch, and gave the back of the Cherokee a slap. "Get going!" She was pleased with how quickly her father pulled away.
Gunn ran across the street, and selected a piece of fence that was slightly sheltered from prying eyes by a telephone pole. He had a quick look around to see if anyone seemed to be watching before he started cutting a hole in the fence, while Buffy kept watch.
Gunn soon had a hole big enough. He squeezed through, and looked back for Buffy. She'd vanished.
"Come on!" said Buffy.
Gunn spun around. Buffy was already inside the fence. "Wait a minute. How'd you…?" Buffy was already running across the open space to the boarded over windows on the ground floor of the building.
Gunn stuck the cutters into his jacket pocket and ran after Buffy. "How'd you do that?"
Buffy ignored the question. She was looking for a way into the building. All of the ground floor windows had been boarded over, but several of the second storey windows were uncovered, and had the glass broken out of them. She pointed one of them out to Gunn. "I think we can get in there."
"Yeah, sure," said Gunn. "I could boost you up to it, but then how would I get in?"
Buffy held her hands down to make a step for Gunn, and smiled. "Actually, I was planning to boost you."
Gunn remembered Wesley telling him that this little girl had beat Angel in a fight to the death once, and a few of the other stories he'd heard over the years from Wes, Angel and Cordy about what they had experienced in Sunnydale, and refrained from further comment. He put his foot into Buffy's hands, and let her boost him.
Her strength still took him by surprise. Gunn was expecting to have to catch the ledge beneath the window, and pull himself up, but Buffy lifted him high enough that he was able to catch the bottom of the frame, and pull himself in. She appeared in the window as soon as he was clear of it.
The room was empty of furnishings. There was broken glass and pigeon droppings on the floor. The walls were cracked, and covered with peeling wallpaper. Buffy moved silently to the inner door. Gunn followed her, aware of how much noise the broken glass made under his feet.
Buffy opened the door, and winced as the hinges squeaked. She stopped to listen for any sign that anyone else had heard it. She heard nothing but wind blowing through broken windows, and the occasional cooing of pigeons. She moved through the door into the anteroom of the office that they'd come in through.
Buffy had a quick look around. This seemed to be some sort of waiting room for a suite of offices, but the furnishings were long gone. There wasn't any broken glass on the floor here, so Gunn was able to move almost as silently as Buffy had. They crossed to the doorway into the hall. This one was already open, so Buffy didn't have to risk the noise from squeaking hinges.
Buffy peeked out into the hallway. It was dark, and empty. "Left or right?" she asked Gunn.
Gunn looked both ways down the hall. There didn't seem to be much of a choice. Both ways looked pretty much the same. "Don't seem to make much difference."
"Left it is," said Buffy, and moved off down the hall.
Gunn followed Buffy to the end of the hall. A fire door opened into a stairwell. They started down.
Buffy froze on the landing half way down to the ground floor. She'd heard something below her. She held up her hand to stop Gunn, and was gratified that he did without making any comment. She peered over the railing, and saw a man sitting in a chair by the door just below them. He seemed to be napping, but he had an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster.
Buffy pointed up, and she and Gunn returned to the second floor, where they had a whispered conference in the hall.
"They've got a guard in this stairwell," said Buffy. "They probably have one in the other one too. If they've got the people in the basement those are probably the only exits. So how do we get in?"
"Elevator shafts," said Gunn. "The power's off, they won't be running. Why guard them?"
"Worth a try," said Buffy. She moved down the hall toward the center of the building.
There was a pair of elevator doors half way down the hallway. Buffy looked at them. "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe!" She pointed to the doors on the right.
Buffy went to the elevator doors, and worked her fingers into the crack between them. She closed her eyes and made a silent prayer to whatever powers looked over the Slayer, and pulled them apart. The doors parted with hardly any noise at all.
It still sounded much too loud to both of them. They held their breaths, and waited, listening to see if there was any reaction to the noise. After half a minute they both started to breathe again.
The hallway was dark, with only a little light coming in through some open doors, but the elevator shaft was pitch black. Even Buffy couldn't see anything. She pulled a small flashlight out of her jacket pocket, and turned it on. She shone it down the shaft. She could see the top of the elevator car a floor beneath her. "This seems to be our lucky day." she told Gunn. "The elevator is in the basement." She shone the light around the shaft some more. "No convenient ladders though. Looks like I use the cables."
Buffy turned off her flashlight, and reached out and felt the cable. She was relieved to feel just cool steel under her fingers. It wasn't greased or anything like that. She grabbed the cable and swung herself out onto it.
Buffy climbed down the cable until she reached the roof of the elevator car, one floor below her. "Come on!" she whispered up to Gunn. "I'll catch you!"
Gunn didn't bother with the cable. He lowered himself over the lip of the elevator door. Buffy caught him and lowered him down to the top of the car.
Buffy flipped on her flashlight again for a moment, and shone it around the top of the car. She spotted the hatch. She turned off the light before she tried to open it.
Buffy opened the hatch in the elevator roof a crack. She was a little surprised to see that the car below her was dimly lit. She peered through the crack, but didn't see anything. She opened the hatch the rest of the way, and poked her head down through it. The light was coming through the open elevator doors. She could hear the muffled sound of voices now too.
Buffy pulled her head back up, and closed the hatch. "Oh, this is just too easy." she whispered to Gunn.
"If it's an ambush, it's probably for Angel," said Gunn. "And they won't be expecting him until after sunset. We may have lucked out."
"One way to find out." Buffy opened the hatch, and swung herself down through it. Gunn followed a few seconds later. Buffy peered out the elevator doors.
The elevator opened into a large open area. The light was coming from some battery powered camp lanterns. She could see half a dozen demons standing around. They seemed to be watching over a small group of people who were down on their hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. The people doing the scrubbing looked to be teenagers to Buffy.
The demons were of a species that Buffy wasn't familiar with. Bipedal, scalely, greenish, about human size. Just your regular demons. The only thing that struck her as unusual was that a couple of them seemed to be carrying guns.
One of the demons kicked a girl on the floor. "You missed a spot!" it told her. It pointed to the offending piece of floor. The girl took her brush, and went back to rescrub the place it indicated.
Buffy risked sticking her head out of the elevator doors for a better look around. She pulled her head back quickly. No way she was going to be able to get out of the elevator to see more without being seen. There were half a dozen kids on the floor, only half the number needed for the sacrifice, but a couple of demons seemed to be standing guard on a door to the left. She guessed that the rest of the sacrifices were in there.
Buffy considered the possibility of mounting a rescue now, but she didn't like the odds. At least two of the demons she could see had guns, and she knew that the guards on the stairwells did too. She knew she could take the two armed demons she could see before they could fire, but the others would raise the alarm, and more would come. If anyone started shooting, kids would probably die.
Buffy glanced at Gunn. He had seen what she'd seen, and she could tell that he had come to pretty much the same conclusions that she had. She pointed back toward the hatch. He nodded.
There was one last thing Buffy wanted to do before she left. She pulled out her cell phone, and opened it up. She checked the signal level shown on the display.
Hank sat in the Jeep parked half way down the next block. He kept the engine running, and he had a good view of the north side of the building where Buffy and Gunn had entered, as well as the west side. He wondered what the heck he was doing there. His entire world had been turned upside down in last twenty-four hours. His daughters had become strangers, and things that he thought were the province of B movies were real.
The two years he'd spent in Europe certainly hadn't helped. He knew he should have kept in touch. He didn't understand why he hadn't. He hadn't even found out that Joyce was dead until months after it had happened. When he had finally learned about it and contacted his daughters the damage was done. Neither of them came right out and said it, but it was clear to him that they didn't want their father around anymore. He had offered to come back to the U.S. but they had both told him that they were just fine without him. He should have come right back anyway, but something—in his more self critical moods he called it cowardice—had kept him away. He had really hoped that this weekend would help to heal the rift that had grown between him and his daughters. He had even picked up three tickets to the ice show for tonight. He remembered how Buffy had loved figure skating, how he'd always take her for her birthday, but that tradition had died several years before. The last time they'd gone had been just before her seventeenth birthday.
Now Buffy was a young woman, self assured, commanding even. He'd noticed the way people jumped when she started giving orders, even people who didn't seem to know her. He knew that Buffy had known Wesley, Angel and Cordelia for some time, but she'd just met this Gunn fellow last night, and Gunn was jumping when Buffy said "frog." Buffy even had him jumping. He couldn't imagine that he would have sat waiting, keeping the engine going in the getaway car, two days ago.
Dawn it seemed had changed even more. When she was younger she had been a very shy girl who seemed to just blend into her surroundings. She was the girl that no one noticed, especially when her big sister was around. She hadn't had any close friends. She seemed to be that way right up until her fourteenth birthday. Many of his friends from before the divorce barely seemed to remember her at all. A couple of old acquaintances that he'd mentioned this visit to hadn't even remembered that he had a second daughter. She had certainly blossomed over the past couple of years. He noticed that the guys especially were noticing her now. She had become much more outgoing. She seemed to hit it off right away with that Fred girl, and she'd talked about several of her friends back in Sunnydale during yesterday afternoon.
That afternoon already seemed to have happened in a different world. It was a world where there was no such thing as vampires. Buffy burning down the school gym was just stupid teenage stuff, not part of some great battle between the forces of Good and Evil. Wolfram and Hart was just a bunch of annoying lawyers.
He was still having problems believing it, despite what he'd seen. That vampire in his apartment. Buffy's demonstration of her strength last night. Even watching her jump up to that second storey window just fifteen minutes ago. It had looked like something out of The Bionic Woman, without the slow motion, or sound effects. He kept expecting to wake up from the dream, maybe find himself in the hospital recovering from the concussion that guy had given him when he bounced Hank's head off the wall, with a couple of normal daughters waiting anxiously by his bedside.
Hank came out of his reverie. He'd seen some motion at the window that Buffy and Gunn had entered the building through. He saw Gunn lower himself from the ledge, and drop to the ground, followed by Buffy jumping. He checked his mirrors for traffic, and put the Jeep into gear. Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry, so he guessed that they hadn't been spotted. He pulled away from the curb, and drove down the block to pick them up.