Chapter 6
A/N: Sorry, I ran a little long here. Chapter 7 is the conclusion
In a dim, half-remodeled room in the old Catholic school, a witch sat surrounded by slayers, weaving a spell to locate other chosen ones. Into this familiar spell, she wound a new thread. A tendril of power designed both to protect from and to seek out danger.
As she drew her fingers from point to point on her slayer map, she called out details to Andrew beside her, taking note of each slayer they would contact soon. Always though, she kept on guard, wary of any intrusion into her sphere of power. Then it came. If she hadn't felt the violation in her own mind, the searing heat flooding her searching fingertip, she would have known something was happening from the indrawn and held breath of those around her.
"It just looks so. . . evil." Andrew felt compelled to state the obvious as the menacing red glow gradually washed out the white points of light Willow had guided into existence. He dropped his notebook and stepped back behind Giles, who stood fretting and fuming at the magic that was far beyond his power to control.
"Can you see it. The source?" Giles asked.
Willow opened her eyes and gazed quizzically into the crimson miasma. There was an odor to it that she hadn't noticed as it overwhelmed her before. A clinging scent of fresh talcum powder and soiled diapers. There was something she could see: "Babies?"
"Babies?" her audience asked in chorus.
"Somehow this glow is coming from babies. A lot of infant girls, all over the place. . . It's almost like the spell is finding them even though they aren't slayers. I think maybe they're potentials. All of them seem very young - probably born since the spell was done to activate everyone else."
"So, the little babies attacked you in the hotel?" Buffy asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"No, I don't think they . . ."
"It's just the spell then?" asked Giles. "That doesn't quite follow. Potentials should be more difficult to find than slayers - they should hardly be able to cloud a spell meant to find more powerful manifestations of the . . ."
"No, I think something's feeding off them."
"Ooh, it eats babies?" Andrew drew further back in horror. "Really evil."
"No. No, it doesn't eat them," Willow responded, casting an annoyed glance toward the back of the group. "I mean feeding off their power. . . or maybe using their lack of power or something. It - it's using them as a conduit to this spell. Coming at me through them."
"Can you see any further. See what it is that's controlling this?" Giles asked.
"There is something," Willow said, concentrating on one child in particular and trying to follow the power backward from it. " I see fire, a bright red fire - I guess that's what the red light is from. And shadows. . . Whoa. Big antlers."
"Antlers?"
"It's like a person, but with big Bullwinkle antlers dripping some kind of goo."
"A chaos demon?" Giles asked, puzzled. "Can you tell anything else about it? Who it is? Where it is? Why it would be doing this?"
"Yeah, I know where it is. It looks like we're going to have a chance to give Faith Gunn's good news in person."
"Yes," said Father Benedict, inspecting the work Xander was directing as several slayers applied the first coat of primer to the freshly drywalled library. "You've done an excellent job. The place hasn't looked this good in years."
"Well. . .thanks. I had quite a crew to work with." Xander stood stiffly beside the priest, memories of the last time he saw a clerical collar this close fresh in his mind.
"And has Mr. Giles decided on a color yet?" The boy was clearly not comfortable, and Father Benedict supposed he could understand that. Perhaps discussing the work would help him relax.
"He said as soon as he gets back. Definitely so we can have it done in time for the full moon when Willow plans to do her protection spell."
The Catholic clergyman's eyes darkened at the thought. He'd never doubted that pagan rites would be performed in this space, but the sheer audacity of a Wiccan blessing being placed on this place of God. . . "I'm sure." He paused for a moment to regain his composure. "Back? He's gone now?"
"Yeah, Giles and Buffy went of to Mexico to track down some Chaos demons who were wreaking unholy havoc with Wil's Slayer locating magic."
"Chaos indeed." Benedict's fury grew to the point where he could barely contain himself, "He knew perfectly well that the Vatican's direct representative would be arriving shortly and now he's fled to Mexico? Leaving all of you here to. . ."
"He'll be back soon," said Willow coming through the doors behind them. Kennedy followed immediately after her and began to collect the toiling slayers for dinner. "Tomorrow if all goes well."
The priest looked from Witch to Slayer, trying very hard not to notice their rumpled clothes, tussled hair, the fact they had come in together and alone. "Tomorrow," he said. "I certainly hope so." He strode out without another look for the work he'd come to inspect.
Willow watched him leave before saying, "Well. He seems nice."
"Real charmer." Xander looked back at his workers, deserting their posts. "So, you an Kennedy have dinner ready?"
"Yeah, Andrew finally got to kick us out of the kitchen once we were ready to serve. I don't think he was impressed by our culinary skills."
"Now that he has that big industrial kitchen to feed everyone from, instead of just scrounging the Summers' home?"
"Yeah, though I think he did have some requests for you in there. . . You coming?"
"Sure. I'm just going to finish up a few things in here first, then I'll be along."
Willow grinned at her old friend and walked out. Even if she had been a little upset about Giles and Buffy leaving her behind, at least that meant a few calm dinners and relaxation before planning in earnest just how the whole slayer academy thing would work.
Xander's smile had evaporated by the time Willow stepped out through the library doors and he turned to the paint rollers left drying around the room. "Yup. Just a few things to clean up first."
A smooth trans-Atlantic jumbo-jet flight was a lot different than what Giles got in the little puddle jumper he'd hired to take them from Mexico City Airport to a remote landing strip nearer their destination. He bounced through turbulence, suffered innumerable, inexplicable odors coming presumably from either the pilot or the engine, and to top it all off, ground his teeth at the screeching sound of the plane's brakes or steering or something as it listed hard right on the narrow runway on which they finished their journey.
He nearly stumbled over Buffy as she practically skipped down the steps, pointedly not looking at him as she grinned broadly - clearly quite amused about something. He assumed it wasn't meeting again with Faith, as her smile seemed to falter a bit when she caught sight of the Second Slayer and her protégé.
The two were leaning against a beat up old black sedan just off the side of the paved runway. Both wore some mixture of black denim and black leather and they were passing what Giles could only hope was a cigarette between them in the deepening twilight. If Faith hadn't been a good six inches taller than the other girl, it would have been difficult to tell them apart. Faith handed the butt back and stepped forward.
"Hey, B. Giles. I'd like you to meet Adina." She said in an unusually calm, nearly formal voice. "My partner in terror down here south o' the old border."
"Yes, of course," said Giles, now regaining control of his inner ear. "Adina, yes. Rona told us about you when she arrived in Cleveland. I trust you're coping well enough? I know it's difficult . . ."
"Uh, Giles?" Said Faith. "In Mexico, we generally hable Espanol."
"Oh, um. Yes o-of course. Um, Hola, Adina. Mi nombre es Senoir Giles."
oth Faith and Adina let out a grunt of a chuckle and Adina held up a hand to interrupt. "Si, I know Senoir Giles. Faith es just being difficult. I do hable cierto Ingles."
"Oh, well excellent then. Shall we?" Giles said indicating the car as the plane behind them began revving up for it's return flight.
The four slid into the vehicle with Faith at the drivers seat and Buffy and Giles in the back. Faith muttered to her companion, "Well, si estoy siendo difícil. . ."
Adina ignored her and turned back to face the new arrivals. "So, what news from Cleveland?"
"Quite a bit actually. Faith, have you isolated our destination?"
"Yup. Big old abandoned monastery. We scoped it out this afternoon. Perfect spooky antlered thing hang out."
"I have a few more details on that we can cover on the way there, but there's another matter I've had some news back on since we spoke." Giles paused not entirely sure how to approach the matter. "About your. . . legal status."
"My. . . you mean being a murderer?" Faith cocked and eyebrow at Giles in the rear-view mirror and he saw none of the shock he'd feared on Adina's face. Clearly she had some knowledge of this.
"Well, yes - or perhaps more accurately about your not being a murderer any longer."
"You're going to change the past? Sounds like some pretty major mojo."
"No, but we can change the records. It turns out Angel's 'crew' as it were has effectively taken over Wolfram and Hart. With their - er 'legal resources' Mr. Gunn assures me they can arrange to have any offenses expunged from your record."
Faith flicked on her headlights as the sun set over the ridge behind them and furrowed her brow. The last she'd seen Angel, Gunn and the rest they'd been trying not to die as a result of their own actions - now they'd taken over a big evil corporation? "Well. That is quite a bit of news."
Giles tried to gauge Faith's expression and the intonation of her words. "I thought you'd be a bit more excited than that. I mean, there's a lot to do and no longer being pursued for. . . what you did before will certainly make it all much simpler. You can even come back to Cleveland for a while, maybe relax and help instruct the young Slayers - there's certainly a lot of that to be done."
"Yeah. Expunged." Faith looked over at Adina, whose wide eyes were swiveling between Giles and Faith. "You want to see Cleveland? I hear it's bitchin' when they light the lake on fire."
"¿El lago? Pero. . . but what about los vampiros here?"
"She has un punto, Giles. I mean, you might be surprised, but while the boys and girls from Sunnydale were keeping people safe in suburbia, things have been literally going to hell down here. I doubt its coincidence that your chaos demons set up shop south of the border."
Giles' lips drew tight as he considered some of what Faith had just suggested, but he opted for a diplomatic response. "Of course, you're under no obligation to come back with us. I do have a list of the Slayers Willow has identified in Mexico and Central America. They may take a while to find, but it is also . . ."
"Parada!" shouted Adina, her faced pressed against her window. "Tire del . . . pull the car over"
Buffy and Giles clutched their seats in shock as Faith slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a skidding halt along the side of the road. Adina leapt out before they were even fully stopped and Faith threw the door open as she slid the transmission into park. The pair in the back seat exchanged a glance and then followed.
When Buffy's eyes adjusted sufficiently to the darkness that she could discern figures struggling a hundred yards or so away she broke into a sprint that Giles had no hope of keeping up with.
In the brief time it took Buffy to cover the distance between them she saw Faith and Adina dust three vampires. They worked astoundingly well as a team, with just a grunt here and a point there, their efforts were perfectly coordinated for maximum killing with minimum effort. Buffy pulled the stake she had sheathed at the small of her back and went for one that seemed about to get the upper hand on Adina, but Faith stepped in without noticing her and took the creature out with a simple thrust. The momentum of Faith's strike spun the partners around, putting Adina and herself in position to take out the final two vamps.
Giles jogged toward the slayers, huffing a bit and looking around bewildered. "I wonder what all that was about? All those vampires out in the middle of nowhere?"
Faith fixed a hard gaze at her former watcher as she briefly embraced Adina and praised her, "buen trabajo." The Mexican slayer nodded and returned her stake to the inside pocket of her jacket and began to walk back toward the car. "Yeah. Lets get going. Those chaos demons aren't going to take care of themselves."
Back in the car, Faith explained. "That's what I was telling you, Giles. They're everywhere. I mean, this seems like the middle of nowhere, but there's probably 5 farmhouses in a couple miles radius. Not a lot - but enough to feed a pack of vampires for a while. Then they move on."
"Well that's entirely atypical. It's only in singular instances - the rise of a particularly charismatic and powerful leader such as The Master or Kakistos for instance - that vampires even travel in large groups like that. I've never heard of them doing it just to. . ."
"But," interrupted Buffy looking pointedly at Giles, "apparently they are doing it here. Or at least they have been." She shifted her gaze to the slayers in the front seat. "You two make one hell of a team."
Faith looked at Buffy almost defensively in the mirror, but her expression softened when she saw that Buffy was being sincere. "Thanks, B. We try."
"You do more than try. And Adina? You've known you were a slayer now for what? A matter of days? A week? That's quite the proof of progress right there. You must have a pretty good teacher."
Faith shook her head and said, "She was a natural." Buffy's cocked eyebrow and disbelieving stare brought her shrug and add, "Who'da guessed?"