Book of Homecoming part 4a
By phoenixgod2000
Rating R for violence
Buffy/highlander/Charmed/Destroyer series Crossover
Summary. The vampires start a riot in order to get enough blood magic to
put of the domain of evernight. More importantly, spike finds out who's
been pulling his strings and one of the Three gets taken. Get ready for a
wild ride as the Sunnydale Riots begin!
Special Thanks: to Greywizard who served as my Beta. I'm glad he offered
because my story is a lot better now. Thanks man!
Feedback: Yes please. I only got about for reviews for my last part but
about twenty private emails wondering when the next one was coming out.
Throw me a bone here people. If you read, please leave a review. It makes
me write faster
Warning: there is almost no character bashing. All of the good guys
listen to the better angels of their nature and Spike is and will remain
pleasantly evil. The only character I actively hate is Forrest. Damn guy
always left a bad taste in my mouth. So be warned. The group has enough
problems without internal division.
*** Humanities Building #26 Monday Nov 3, 1999. Approx. Nine A.M.
Buffy stepped out of Abnormal psychology and took a deep breath. The fresh scent of grass and trees waffled around her. A huge smile broke across her face. She'd had a good weekend. She and Angel had spent the nights getting to know one another. Really getting to know one another. No holds barred.
Angel had held nothing back about his past or his feelings. It was as though his permanently anchored soul had broken some sort of emotion barrier. Angel talked for hours, more than Buffy had ever heard him share before. He smiled and talked about the first time he met the badly dressed demon called Whistler and the first time he laid eyes on Buffy; about the years of pain and far between moments of bittersweet joy; about meeting the Rat Pack for the first time in Vegas.
Neither of them could ever have anything resembling a normal life. She was an Immortal now and Angel was still a vampire. They would spend their entire lives fighting in one way or another. They would never be able to have children or the white picket fence, but they could have each other.
For Buffy that was enough.
She was happier than she had been in a long time. Not many people knew it, but she often still had nightmares about the time Angelus roamed. She still thought about Jenny Calendar and how scared she was for Giles when he went after Angelus alone. Buffy had been feeling the darkness close in around her lately, but since the return of Xander and the others, despite the shock of her new status, she had slowly been regaining happiness and vitality that had slowly been eroding after night after night of fighting for her life and the future of the world.
Angel was only part of it, though. This immortality gig came with its own share of problems, but, for the first time in a long time, Buffy could see the light at the end of the tunnel. She might actually live to be older than twenty-five, and get to go farther in her life than LA. In every way, her life was looking up.
" So, details," Willow asked excitedly. " How are you and Angel doing? Is it good? I bet it's good."
Buffy beamed, her smile lighting up her face. " It is good. It's nice, you know, to finally be able to be with Angel without the angst, and just be.happy."
The two of them walked along the tree-lined paths of UC Sunnydale. For Buffy the trees were greener, the grass was fuller and there were actually birds singing. She was goofy in love.
Willow just smiled. It was good to see her friend so happy, she had been really down lately. Xander had helped a lot to put the spark back in her eyes and the smile on her face. For that matter, back on to her own face as well.
She and Xander have been meeting every morning since the three of them had gotten back, in an effort to rebuild their friendship. It hurt Willow to realize that the man she once knew better than anyone else on the planet was now a nearly complete mystery and the girl she had hated for her whole life now knew him better. Willow was resolved to change that.
Willow and Buffy walked to the University Union building where they normally met Amy and Tara for lunch on campus. They were surprised to see the couple already waiting for them.
" Buffy, Willow, let's go get lunch, " Amy told the pair. " We got out of class early, and we want dirt on Angel."
Buffy laughed and started to nod before a frown appeared unexpectedly on her face. Suddenly, she burst forward, past the three surprised witches. Buffy ran with full Slayer speed, blurring past several other students. She had just seen something. Something that should be impossible.
Spike was walking around the campus. In broad daylight.
****
Anya turned around trying to find the warmth that was Riley and found it missing. She lay in bed for the moment before deciding to catch her wayward man. They had decided to skip school that day and to spend it in bed, and he was breaking the pact.
She sighed and got up. The weekend had been really good. She and Riley had spent a lot of time together during the day and at night, after his patrols, he would come over and spend the night. For such a white bread guy, Riley had possessed more than adequate sexual skills in bed. And Anya was gratified to discover that Cosmo did not lie about his.hand size, which had proved to be an excellent predictor.
She smiled as she thought about that first night. The night of Halloween, she bandaged his wounds and then tried to seduce him. The way he stuttered and stammered was so cute. He told her that he wasn't expecting anything from her that night.
Then, of course, there was the look on his face when she smirked and said she was.
She put on a thin silk robe and walked out into the kitchen, where she found Riley.actually cooking in her kitchen. He was even singing as he whipped up some eggs and bacon.
" You know, Riley, I actually have to worry about cholesterol now. Bacon and eggs are not conducive to living forever."
" We're all going to die sometime, Anya." The soldier answered cheerfully, " Might as well do it full and on good tasting food." Riley smiled as he watched Anya's face light up in laughter. She was so beautiful. Her svelte form looked so nice in thin bathrobe.
She frowned slightly.
" What's wrong Anya?"
" I have been less that forthcoming with you, Riley. I hate hypocrisy in men and I will not be a hypocrite myself."
Riley sat down at the small table in the kitchen. " You know you can tell me anything."
" I'm not eighteen, Riley, and I'm not even a hundred and eighteen. I am eleven hundred and twenty one years old. I was a demon of vengeance for more than a thousand years. I was born human in a small Scandinavian fishing village. When I was nineteen, I found out that my husband had been cheating on me because I was unable to provide him with a male heir. D'Hoffryn the demon lord of vengeance found me and gave me a new purpose and job. He transformed me into a demon of vengeance and I wreaked havoc on men for mistreating women for long, long time." She smiled bitterly. ", It wasn't like there was ever any shortage of work."
Riley paled and stood up. ", You're a demon? He whispered. " I don't understand. Last night."
" I was," Anya replied softly, " but I lost my powers. And now I'm the same as everybody else. Human. Just like you." She put a soft hand on Riley's larger, calloused one.
" Did you ever.kill people?" Riley asked the question, dreading the response.
Anya looked away, unable to meet Riley's gaze. " Yeah, I did." Riley jerked away and she rushed to continue. " Riley, I really like you, more than any man I've ever met. I didn't exactly get the best impression of you guys, but you're a good decent person and I want to keep seeing you." She looked at him hopefully.
" I.I can't be here right now." Riley turned around and walked out of the apartment.
Anya watched him walk away, tears winding a path down her face.
***
Spike felt the sun warm on his face for only the second time since he had received the Gem of Amara. He had refrained from using the Gem for the last several days because he wanted to lie low to avoid the Slayer's attention. Plus, a bunch of the demons and vamps in town said a new power was taking the place over and they were rumored to be the Three. Even Spike wasn't crazy enough to tackle them. But today was D-day. Today was the day the blood bath was going to start.
In order to transfer the sacrificial power to the temple, the vampires had to kill or feast with their bare hands. They couldn't just plant a few bombs and rack up the energy; no, they had to feel the blood pour like wine from the veins of their chosen prey. Like the old days, when vampires roamed the world like the prides of great cats. So the plan was pretty simple. The vamps were going to go out tonight and paint the town red. But Spike wanted an early start, so he took off.
Spike shaded his eyes and looked around. Kids were wandering around without fear for what lurked in the dark, and the bleached vampire was disgusted. They knew nothing about what walked among them. He shifted into game face and grinned, as he considered the expressions their faces would soon be wearing.
They soon would learn all about things that go bump in the night. And some that went bump in the daylight, too.
Spike walked up to a couple eating on the grass. When they looked up to see who was approaching, the male smiled. " Nice makeup job. You in the drama club?"
" Sorry mate. I'm in the 'killing you now' club." Before either of them could react, he snapped their necks.
Chaos erupted. Girls erupted into screams and panic caused students to begin trampling each other in their rush to get away from the blond vampire. He grabbed several more people and ripped into them. A pair of men tried to tackle the now blood splattered demon. Two big burly football player types, who expected the thin vampire to be bowled over easily.
They were sadly mistaken, as Spike not only remained unmoved; but also tossed them both aside with contemptuous ease. Spike grabbed one thick- necked athlete and ripped his throat out. Blood geysered from the swiftly pumping artery and splattered several nearby students. At the same time, Spike shoved his hand through the chest of the other football player and pulled his heart out.
Tossing the organ behind him, the blood soaked vampire looked for a new victim.
He found it, in the form of Buffy Summers. The Slayer rushed up the cement walkway. Her first attack was a flying kick that carried her close to a dozen feet through the air.
Spike spotted it from the corner of his eye and barely managed to evade the blow. Buffy landed gracefully and immediately spun around in a defensive position.
" I don't know how you're doing this, but I'm going to kill you Spike."
" Please Slayer, try. I do so want you to try," the vamped out Spike answered.
Buffy tried to shift her breath to match the way Xander told her how to breathe. Sinanju, the martial art Xander was trying to teach her was predicated on proper breathing style. Buffy already felt calmer as the soothing breath strengthened her limbs. She launched a devastating combination that had worked on Spike on the several occasions they had previously clashed. Powered by sinanju and Slayer strength, she expected to blast past his defenses.
She was sadly mistaken.
Spike reacted with astonishing speed and grace. He blocked blow after blow, moving with a level of speed that Buffy had never seen before. His body was blur and contorted into amazing positions as he dodged and retaliated. His blows seemed to come from a thousand different directions at once, at a speed that Buffy could barely register.
" Pick up some new tricks there, pet?" Spike punched Buffy in the face, the ring of Amara cutting a deep furrow in her cheek. His eyebrows rose when it sealed up, leaving only a thin trail of blood.
Buffy smiled. " You have no idea." Outwardly, she was calm, but inside she was worried. Spike's fists had felt like sledgehammers. Even after deflecting several of his strikes, she could feel her arms tingling from the force of his blows. And more of his hits were sneaking past her defenses. She could feel that at least one of her ribs was broken, although the tingle in her side let her know that her Quickening was quickly solving that problem. He had not been this strong when she fought him last year, when he came to town for a love spell to get Dru back. It was like he had been supercharged, somehow.
She snapped a branch off a nearby tree. Spike didn't even try to stop the blow that drove the branch into his withered poet's heart. He just smiled as Buffy gaped at him. Then he launched a backhanded blow that launched her through the air and knocked her to the ground. She tried to struggle to her feet, but with the wind knocked out of her, it was proving to be damn hard.
" Did I forget to mention that I've picked up a few new tricks myself?" The British vampire gloated in that special, annoying, and completely Spike- like way. He absently rubbed the ring he was wearing and Buffy took note " We're going to be at this all day, luv, and I got better things to do. People to kill and all that."
Spike bowed to Buffy as she lay stunned on the ground and turned around. He ran to a hedge and jumped over it with a single graceful bound. He then ran down the street, blurring past the pedestrians.
His parting words were, " I'll be seeing you, pet. Trust me on that."
***
Riley paced back and forth as Dr. Walsh told him about the murders on campus an hour before.
" I don't understand," she said while shaking her head. " Vampires are not supposed be able to do what this one did today. He killed at least five people and severely wounded many others. Miss Summers was able to drive him off, although she muttered something about not being able to dust him. The strength and speed he demonstrated in combat were well above the norms established by Mister Angel, and he is not a weak vampire."
Riley could only shake his head in shock.
" I can only theorize that this vampire is either older than Angel, or perhaps some sort of mutation on the standard vampire strain."
Riley shook his head. " That's not what Buffy told me. I heard her say that she had met the vampire before. His name was Spike, and he's younger than Angel and has a reputation for viciousness that is second to none."
" Really," Dr. Walsh raised an eyebrow. " She neglected to tell me that."
" She probably just forgot."
" No doubt."
" Ma'am. Dr. Walsh." A young soldier ran up to the professor. " There's something going on in the pens. It's the vampires."
Dr. Walsh turned to the soldier and motioned for an escort. " Take me."
***
" Xander, it's not possible. Simply not possible." Giles shook his head. Several days after drinking the demon's blood, the Watcher already looked five years younger. The slight gut he had acquired over the years had evaporated and the careworn lines in his face likewise had started to become less prominent and disappear.
As soon as she had finished alerting the Initiative, Buffy had gone to Xander's mansion and told him what had happened. He called Giles and the three of them were conferring about the new Spike.
Buffy shivered. " I'm scared," she admitted. " I've handled Spike before, but whatever he did to himself, if I hadn't been you know.what I was," Buffy still couldn't say Immortal, " Spike would have had his hat trick."
" We'll figure it out and we'll get the bastard." Xander soothed her jangled nerves. " I still think it's the Gem of Amara."
Giles jutted out his chin. " And I still say, it's not possible."
" Of course it is," the ancient immortal replied. " Just about anything's possible. Even the Council used to remember that."
" Xander, I am telling you that there are no reliable Council records of vampires being able to walk in the sun. The scepter of Imhotep, the Ankh of the Midnight Sun, the Gem of Amara, they're bloody myths. They don't exist. The Council knows that," he retorted sarcastically.
" Ever hear of the vampire magus called Valentino?" Xander asked Giles. The Watcher was surprised by the apparent non sequitur.
Giles nodded slowly, a sneaking suspicion as to where this was leading, growing in his mind. There were certain Council records that predated the early purges that Ripper had sneaked a few peaks at. If Xander was about to say what Giles thought he was going to say, then not even the Council knew the full exploits of the Three.
Buffy just snickered at the vampire's name.
Xander shot an annoyed look at Buffy. " You think his name is funny, Buff? Val was an ancient vampire; he looked like Kakistos did when he came to Sunny D last year. He was about twenty five hundred years old back then and more than one Slayer was tucked under his belt." Buffy shot him a horrified look. " Oh, it gets better. He was a mage and rumored to be the last disciple of Amara, the god of vampires. He was a true master vampire and he knew spells that could keep vampires alive in sunlight. And, yes, I know it's true Giles, because I saw them in action."
" Xander, I." Buffy sounded like she was trying to apologize to the ancient Immortal
Xander ignored the beginnings of the Slayer's apology and the presence of her Watcher as his voice began to grow distant...
*** Flashback- Italy 29 A.D. A villa by the beach
The Immortal known as Alexander of Troy relaxed within the garden of his villa. The well-manicured garden was exceedingly comfortable in the hot Mediterranean sun. The scent of flowers hung in the air and fruit hung heavy on the vines and trees that filled the large private garden. The freshly painted frescos glimmered in the morning light.
With care, he smeared soft oils on the back of his wife, Cordelia. He massaged her naked shoulders, working the oil into her tanned, muscled skin. Leaning forward, he nibbled lightly on the back of her neck. She leaned up against him on a marble bench that sat near the center of the garden
" Do you know how much I love you?" he whispered
" I've forgotten," she smiled, " I think you have to tell me for a few hours. Just to remind me, of course."
Xander took his wife into his arms and was about to count the ways he loved her with kisses when an embarrassed cough caused him to look up.
Tomas, the ten-year-old slave child of a housekeeper, stood beneath the archway entrance to the internal garden; He appeared shame faced that he had interrupted his masters in so compromising a position. " M-M-My lord and lady, a senator is here to see you."
Xander sighed and motioned for the boy to let the politician through. The Immortal was surprised to see his old friend, Lucien Agrippa, step through the archway. The senator eyed the slender, retreating form of the slave.
" You do have the loveliest toys," he murmured
Xander winced. " Don't say things like that. I'd hate to have to kill you."
The senator shrugged. " I'm not here to debate the rights of slaves. There are bigger things in play."
" How come you never come just to visit?" Xander joked. Lucien Agrippa was one of the few senators who stood for him when the Caesar revoked his general-hood. It was part of a power play by the immortal soldier, Darius. Lucien was a man of principle in a land where principles were too often for sale and for that, if not his appetites, Xander respected him.
" I must sincerely apologize to you, Alexander-and your lady wife for this interruption, but Rome needs you. Our colonies in Spain are being attacked and the local guards can't handle what's happening." The old soldier turned massive landowner looked at them to assess their reaction. He was less than pleased with what he saw.
Xander rolled his eyes. " Rome has legions and generals enough, without dragging me into the middle of it. Besides, I think the senate made what they think about my leadership skills abundantly clear when they stripped me of my command. Others can handle the barbarians and bandits you're having your little tiff with. So, my answer is, no."
" If it were simple barbarians, I wouldn't be here, " the roman senator sighed. " Let me rephrase the statement. " The Council needs you."
" You're a Watcher," Xander said in surprise. He turned to Cordelia. " Did you know that?"
Cordelia shrugged and gave a knowing smile.
" Yes, I am a Watcher. We need you, Alexander. I know you care about Slayers. All of our archives show that you take their welfare quite seriously." The senator sat down on the bench opposite the lovers and sighed, appearing suddenly decades older. " It's gotten bad."
" You lost a Slayer." Xander appeared grim.
He shook his head. " We haven't lost one slayer, Alexander. We've lost seven slayers in the past four months. It's the worst debacle in the history of the Council." Lucien lost his stoic countenance. " The last was the daughter of my brother. She was a child of rare beauty and wit. She would have been a powerful lady of Rome."
" Had fate not willed otherwise," Cordelia interjected.
" As she often does," Senator Agrippa smiled without humor. Visibly gathering the mantle of leadership about himself, he continued. " We need the man written about in the Chronicles. We need the man who marched to Carthage and tore down the walls of that dark city and slew the vampire general, Hannibal.
" We need you."
Xander stood up and pulled Cordelia up with him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She better, than anyone else, understood the price Xander payed for being the warmaster that he was. The pain, the nightmares, the eternal what-ifs; It was that pain which caused him to allow himself to be exiled away from the heart of power for the first time in more than a thousand years. He would not easily enter that arena again. But she also knew her husband.
And he had a soft spot for Slayers.
One quick glance between the married couple and she knew his decision.
" I will go to Spain."
The Senator smiled. " The Council has a great deal of power within the Senate. We can get your command back."
Xander leaned back and asked, " So what can you tell me about this vampire warlord?"
" He's ancient for one. He is just about the oldest vampire any of us can find in the journals. Six months ago, he fled the land of the Hebrews. Supposedly, there is a new sorcerer who has risen there, and along with his disciples, takes a rather dim view of the undead." Lucien frowned. " We've tried to recruit him, but all he said was that his destined role lies along another path."
" Leave him alone," Cordelia told the Watcher. " Seriously. He's beyond you."
***
" I was so arrogant. I thought in a thousand years I had scene all that life had to offer." Xander shook his head and whispered, " I had no idea how was wrong I was."
In a stronger voice, he told Giles. " The whole legion I took to Spain was wiped out nearly to a man. I thought that I would only have to worry about fighting battles at night and I had done it before with the legions, but somehow, vampires attacked us during the day. You might think that you known fear, Giles, but you haven't. Imagine staring at a legion of vampires in game face, sunlight reflecting on their yellow eyes, just before the command was given to rush your position. Then, imagine that, day after day, with men disappearing in the night only to be fought by friends the next day. Our supply lines were overrun and we starved along with everything else. The whole thing was a nightmare.
Giles just shook his head. He vaguely knew about Valentino from the Council archives on the Three. It was one thing to read about their tales in books and reports, but it's something else entirely to hear about it from the lips of the man who was there. There was passion and pain in his voice, emotions that cannot be conveyed through secondary sources. " How did you defeat him?"
" Cordy and I, along with an Amazon tribe that worshiped Faith, ended up tracking him to his lair and destroying his power center. That ended most of his outstanding spells and his servants went back to being just regular vampires." Xander shrugged. " Everything else was just mopping up."
Buffy said from where she was sitting, " History is all well and good, Xander, but what the hell does this have to do with Spike and him going all not dusty?"
" I don't know," Xander replied. " But I think it's connected. Something about your story just made me think about Valentino." Bitterly, Xander said " It's not one of my most treasured memories, so I'm going to go with my instincts on this one and say its important. There aren't lot of vampires with the skills to use the spells that are probably protecting him. And all of them are beyond the parlor tricks of Drusilla. And, if he actually found the Gem of Amara, then things are going to get even worse."
" Then Spike has found a new magic buddy." Buffy didn't sound happy at all.
Giles said what was on all their minds.
" We need to find out who it is and what they are planning."
***
Spike wandered through the streets of Sunnydale. Splattered in blood, he kept to the shadows. Finding a dark corner, he hid from the sunlight. While it didn't burn him any longer, it still stung his eyes.
" Thorne was right," he muttered to himself. " Bitch has found some new tricks." He stared at several drops of blood that graced the Gem of Amara where he scrapped Buffy's face and remembered how it had healed in moments. Intoxicating odors waffled from the blood, a slight hint of ozone tainting the scent. Hesitantly, he licked the blood off the ring and moaned slightly. The blood spread warmth through his system and he felt a little dizzy. Spike had tasted the blood of more than one Slayer, but this eclipsed them all.
This blood tasted like power.
High from the few drops he had imbibed, Spike went off to find some more people to kill. After all, it would be a shame to waste this feeling.
***
Dr. Walsh moved down the corridor at a smooth clip, with Riley following right behind. The demons in the clear cells clawed at the walls with a variety of appendages. The young soldier led them to the end of the cellblock. All the vampires were kept within close proximity to each other, in order to 'assess the socio/cultural dynamics of the most common sub terrestrial type within a prison setting.'
When she reached the vampires, she stopped up short. Vampires had a relatively small number of responses to being imprisoned. Dr. Walsh believed the limited affective responses of vampires were due to changes that occurred when a human was infected. Most went stir crazy and devolved to a more primitive state from hunger and a lack of stimulus.
These vampires weren't doing any of the limited variety of behaviors that they had catalogued during their studies. In fact, the affective demeanors changed nearly simultaneously in all of them, at the same time.
They were calm and could even be described as serene. The vampires were all chanting in unison, perfectly in harmony with one another, " The lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will."
" Amazing," Dr. Walsh murmured. " They seem to be showing signs of hypnotic suggestion. I thought that was impossible to do to vampires." She turned to Riley. " I want three patrols tonight, led by you, Forrest, and Graham. I want more specimens, and I want a wider sample. Something is happening and we need to know what it is. See if you can get a few members of this demon-hunting group to go with each group. Witches may have a unique perspective on this situation."
" Yes, Ma'am."
Dr. Walsh turned to the young soldier that had attracted her attention in the first place. " Private, I want you to get a tranq rifle." She pointed at a vampire that looked like a curvaceous blond chanting along with the rest, a particularly vapid expression on her face. " I think I'll dissect that one to see if any physiological changes have occurred."
The vampire coded hostile seventeen, better known as Harmony Kendall, never took notice until soldiers entered her cell and shot her full of tranquilizers.
*** Sunnydale Docks Approx. Nine Thirty P.M.
Riley silently motioned to two of his men, signaling to them that they needed to separate and recon the area ahead. The pair nodded and broke away from the group. He and his men, plus Tara and Faith, were hunting through the port/warehouse district of Sunnydale. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two civilians and began to contemplate how different they truly were from each other.
Faith wore form-fitting black leather pants that hugged all of her very impressive curves. Heavy dark makeup contrasted with her pale features and gave her a seductive gothic look that had more than one soldier more than a little distracted. However, for the few that dared to approach her, she quickly established that she was a taken woman.
Riley shook his head, half in admiration and half in wonder. He still could not figure out how Xander had managed to rope both Faith and Cordelia into marrying him, but more power to him if he could keep them both satisfied. Riley could barely keep up with the voracious sexual appetite of Anya.
Anya.
He shook his head as his thoughts turned once again to beguiling woman who, in the span of a few days, had turned his heart and head completely upside down. Demons were supposed to be ugly and green, slimy and foul smelling. Not beautiful and beguiling, with a slender waist and musical laugh. They definitely weren't supposed to be lovable.
With a savage wave, Riley motioned for Faith to come over and forced thoughts of Anya out of his head. Faith sauntered over with a sexy swish from her hips.
" What's the stitch?"
Although her voice was bored, Riley could tell that very little was escaping the notice of the dark Slayer. Her heavy lidded eyes flickered back and forth as she scanned the area.
" Are you sure that this Intel is good? We're not getting anything, and if we go back with nothing, Walsh will have my ass. Our three patrols are off their normal routes based on what your girl had to say."
Faith smiled. " Cordy is the best seer I've ever seen. She has.kind of a direct connection to some powerful forces. If she says that something is going to happen out here in the docks, then it will." She frowned a little. " Although her visions weren't as clear tonight as they normally are." She shook off the momentary lapse and laughed throatily at the scowling soldier. " Have a little faith, Riley. Does the body good."
Riley was about to answer when his radio crackled to life.
# Captain Finn, Captain Finn #
Riley held the radio to his mouth. " This had better be good. We're supposed to be maintaining radio silence," he snapped.
# Sir, # the voice replied. # We just heard over the police radio, there is a violent crime scene in your area. Lots of blood and Walsh thinks it sounds like it could be a vamp attack. #
" And how are we going to get into a crime scene? We don't exactly look like the FBI." He was about to argue further when Tara tapped him on the shoulder and shook her head. " Never mind, we'll handle it."
Riley got off the radio and asked Tara. " Okay, why did I agree to go to a crime scene, when we have no authority to seize jurisdiction and we looked like paint ball rejects?"
Tara smiled and Riley was struck by how pretty the shy blond was when she didn't hide behind her hair. " I've been studying this spell called Faerie Seeming. It sort of combines an illusion and a low level mind control spell to make a group of people look like something entirely different." Tara had spent the weekend studying the spell book Cordelia had given her. Part journal, part book of shadows, the tome held sorceries of such power, Tara could hardly believe that Cordy had turned it over to her. The Faerie Seeming was among the least of the powers, yet Tara knew the spell would tax her limited powers to the max. Of course, she didn't tell Riley that.
Riley looked doubtfully but nodded to the men. " Okay guys, lets go play cops and robbers."
***
Forrest hated graveyards. The very idea of walking over ground where dead people were buried weirded him out. And in a town where the dead tended to crawl out of grave, his neurosis was even more heightened. At least he had his first real command, away from that candy-ass, Riley Finn.
Of course, having civilian demon hunters on his team wasn't improving his mood any.
At least Harris seemed like he knew his way around the military. There was a sort of quiet confidence about Xander that lent him an air of authority that eclipsed all of the military leaders Forrest had served under.
And he could fight, too.
Forrest could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Xander sparring the other day against several of his men who were known to be the best in the company in hand to hand. Xander had flat out owned them on the practice mat. He seemed to hardly move, yet, time after time, the men went flying. And by the end of the match, he wasn't even breathing hard. He didn't move like a martial arts master.
He moved like he fricken' invented the martial arts.
If Xander Harris reluctantly impressed Forrest, Buffy Summers, the Slayer did anything but. His eyes shifted to the Slayer in question as he thought about her. She was wearing a purple tank top and dark shorts, while her streaked blond hair was pulled into two short pigtails. She looked like a cheerleader out on a midnight stroll. Totally unprofessional. When Forrest told her she couldn't go out like that, she told him she wanted to 'play bait' tonight. He decided to let her.
Mostly because the look in her eyes, when he told her she looked stupid in her outfit, terrified the young soldier.
But the person he really reserved his venom for was the witch in the group. The redhead, Willow Rosenberg. God, she was annoying! Dr. Walsh had insisted that each of the groups have a witch in it. She wanted to know if any of them were picking up any vibrations that might explain the weird behavior of the imprisoned vampires. Of course, he couldn't have gotten the shy blond or the practical brown haired girlfriend of said shy blond. No, he had to get the motor mouth/- redheaded best friend of one of the Slayers and Harris. She was a twitchy, fast talking girl who had no business being on a serious op.
At this very moment, she was validating everything he thought about her. She was watching the graveyard they were in with exaggerated glances in every direction. Nervously, she patted down her pouch of combat ready spell components and looked around. She looked like she couldn't find her ass with a locating spell, let alone do something useful.
The cemetery they were in, Rest View, was located in downtown Sunnydale. Just that thought was enough to make Forrest shake his head. This was the only damn town he knew that had so many cemeteries, they had to be in the in the center of the damn town.
He sent three members of his eight-man patrol to perform a short sweep to see if any newbie vampires had risen tonight.
God, he was bored.
The only thing worse than having a civilian witch on the team was the fact he was out here, freezing his ass off, thanks to intelligence provided by another witch. And not even real Intel, just some weird vibes or visions or something.
Of course, at that moment, the universe decided to thumb his nose at Forrest. Across the street, the whole squad heard the screams of multiple women at a nearby cafe.
Maybe it was better to be bored.
***
Cordelia Chase shivered as she watched the WELCOME TO SUNNYDALE sign. She, Angel, and Amy were with the squad lead by Graham. Their mission was to watch the entrance to Sunnydale, in order to spot any influx of vampires or demons coming into town. Cordelia exhaled and watched the little cloud as it formed from her breath. She wished she could blame the weather for the shiver, but since her empowerment at the hands of Cassandra, the cold didn't do much to her.
No, her shiver was because she had made the mistake of trying to sense Graham's destiny. All she wanted to do was try and get a feel for the mystical acoustics in the area, to see if the Hellmouth was affecting her abilities, and she thought he would have a nice bland destiny fitting the soldier's pleasantly bland personality, but the overpowering nature of Graham's destiny shocked her. He was going to die, and he wasn't going to do it easily.
It will come through pain and fire, and he would die alone. Cordelia could feel that he was rushing headlong towards his destiny and there was little she could do to save him
She drew the white leather of her coat around her body as she watched the soldier speak to the men under his command and set up a perimeter for their little stakeout. Graham was a nice looking, pleasant soldier. He didn't show any real leadership skills the way Riley or Forrest did, but he was good man. Looking up from his work, he caught her eye and smiled. Cordy blinked back tears and sent a little smile back in his direction.
It was times like these when she hated her life, and hated Cassandra for giving her this burden.
*** Flashback- 1200 BC A few weeks before the fall of Troy
Cordelia Chase ran up the narrow winding tower where Princess Cassandra had sequestered herself. Torches in Brackets lined the walls and sent flickering shadows dancing along the narrow stairs. She sighed. Being the handmaiden of the crown princess of Troy was a powerful responsibility, and one that the former head cheerleader had only slowly grown accustomed to. But now, she and Cassie were fairly close friends, much closer than Cassandra and Faith, who used to work as the Princess' maid. Eventually, Faith moved to working with Helen. As a child of Sparta, Helen's personality was much more like Faith's and Cordelia. Cordy just hated Helen.
So, when a soldier called on her to say that the princess needed her immediately, she came running.
Reaching the top of the staircase, she knocked on heavy door. Slowly, the door creaked open and revealed the wan form of Cassandra. The apparently un-aging girl looked like time had finally caught up with her. The twenty four-year-old girl with the too-old eyes looked like she had not slept in a week. Beneath her tanned form, a gray pallor had settled in. Her cheekbones were heightened by the large amount of weight she had lost. She smiled when she saw her friend.
" Sit down, Cordelia." Cassandra said in English. That surprised Cordelia. Cassandra had been insistent that the three travelers learn the language of the Trojans. Only rarely in the past ten years had any of the three used English. Mainly, it was used for conversations they didn't want overheard. Cordelia sat down in a thickly padded chair in the well- appointed room.
" I was worried, Cassie. When Lyse told me that you needed me right away, I feared the worst."
Cassandra smiled wanly. " Don't worry Cordy. I'm as well as can be expected." Walking over to a small table, she lifted up a copper tea service and motioned over the pot of water, using a simple spell to bring it to boil. Making simple tea for the two of them, she brought over a pair of cups and took the seat opposite Cordelia. " I'm tired, Cordelia," she began.
" Tired of what?"
Cassandra shifted the conversation. " Did you know my twin brother was killed, two weeks ago?"
" Is that why you hid yourself up here?" Cordelia looked worriedly at her friend. Cassandra looked like she had not eaten in several days
" Partly. My brother was also what you would call a seer. He refused to give prophecies to the other side after they blamed him for Achilles' death, so they killed him." Cassandra looked sad and sipped the scalding tea. " Now all that he was, all the power that was within him, has flown into me. It has been.difficult to handle the influx of energy."
" I don't understand. You and your brother shared powers?"
" I'm not a sorceress, and my brother was not a magus." Cassandra looked sadly at her friend. " I'm going to tell you a story, and even for you, it will be a difficult one to believe."
Cordy snorted. " Yeah, right. I'm thousands of years in the past, trapped in a war that most people don't believe ever really happened, and you think your little story is going to bother me."
Cassandra floated a secret, seductive smile. " There are Powers in the world, powers that were given dominion over the world by the creator. Older than the true demons, older than the ancient gods, these beings possessed great abilities and used their massive intellects to oversee all the aspects of creation they possessed power over. These beings were neither good nor evil, but beyond moral limitations enforced by mortals."
As Cassandra talked, her low voice caused images, flashes really, of times long past and worlds barely hinted at to flash past the corner of Cordy's eyes. Cordelia shook her head, as Cassandra's voice seemed to grow farther and farther away. She reached for the tea to take a strengthening drink.
".One of these beings, these Powers, possessed dominion over the tapestry of destiny- the best and brightest futures of all things in the multiverse. As time went on, over the millennia, the Power began to see the conscious beings as more than chess pieces on the cosmic board. This power of destiny began to use his abilities to give power to the mortals, free will to decide how they would live their lives. The other Powers-That-Be grew angry and demanded that he live among those he seemed to care so much about. With his powers, he divided himself in twain and placed his essence inside the bodies of my ancestors. Eventually, they were passed to my brother and I. We grew up and learned of the power that flowed within us. With my brothe'rs death, the remaining energy has gone to me." Her sorrowful gaze held Cordelia's. " And that power is killing me. I was not meant to have this power. You were."
Cordelia shook her head and the room spun around. The fires lighting the small chamber danced like tavern girls she had seen entertaining the soldiers. What was happening to her?
" I poisoned you," Cassandra answered Cordelia's unspoken question. " I could not take the chance of you denying the power. I'm giving you my power. I will become a mortal woman." She leaned forward and captured Cordelia's failing gaze. " I am sorry my friend, so very sorry. Perhaps you'll forgive me? Even destiny can't see into the heart."
With that final statement, Cassandra, daughter of Priam, and princess of the besieged city of Troy, kissed Cordelia full on the lips. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen a light gray mist flow from Cassandra into the mouth of Cordelia.
And a new Power was born.
***
" Cordelia. Cordy, are you okay?" A concerned Angel shook the reminiscing Power on the shoulder.
She smiled sadly at Angel. " I'm fine, thanks, Angel. Just remembering an old friend."
" Why were you muttering 'Not yet, I haven't'?" The much taller Angel gazed with concern at Cordelia.
" Just remembering why I hate her so much." Cordy answered while gazing sorrowfully at Graham.
Angel looked confused but nodded, accepting that whatever was going on with the powerful seer was going to stay with her.
Cordelia peered at Angel, no longer overwhelmed by the force of her memories. She noticed that a thin film of sweat was covering his face. " Are you okay?" She waved her hands around his face, " You're looking paler than normal."
Angel sighed. " I feel something tugging at the edge of my demon. There's something out there that's calling to the vampire in me, but I think my soul's blunting whatever it is. I've been feeling it all day, and its been getting stronger, like a heart beat." He stared into the night sky. " Just pulsing away."
Cordy looked as though she was about to ask Angel another question when Graham walked up smiling. The seer frowned and turned away so the soldier couldn't see the sorrow in her eyes. He asked, " Everybody holding up here alright?"
Angel and Cordelia nodded their assent, but Amy answered negatively. " I don't like being this far away from Tara," she muttered. " She's going to need me. She doesn't like to go out alone."
" I'm sorry, but you know that we needed to make sure that every unit has their own spell caster with them." Graham looked apologetically at the lesbian witch. " It's important that we get witches to all of the hotspots, to see if they notice anything using their witchy stuff."
" I know," Amy replied bitterly, " but I don't have to like it."
Graham put his hand on her shoulder and stared at her. " Amy, I swear everything will be alright, and so will Tara."
Amy softened and was about to respond when Cordelia suddenly shouted.
Dozens of figures walked with frightening slowness out of the fog coming from the freeway
Their chant could easily be heard
" The lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord ."
***
The whole street where the bar was located was blocked off with police barricades. Red and blue strobe lights twirled around, casting weird shadows around the area. Riley and his unit stopped about a block away.
" Tara, are you sure you can pull this off?" Riley looked nervously at all the police. This was exactly the sort of textbook scene they were instructed to avoid in the Initiative. Now they were walking into the middle of the damn thing
" Yes." Tara answered shakily. Now that she was actually faced with the prospect of using the advanced magic, she was terrified. What if it didn't work, what if-?
A thousand what ifs crossed her mind but she clamped down on the little voice in the back of her mind that called her a failure, a voice that sounded like her father. Summoning all of her power, she began a chant that was already old when the standing stones of Stonehenge were newly built.
Mirrors of Erisod,
Mists of Avalon,
Clothe these forms,
Let those of simple minds,
See the lords of law from this land.
Tara concentrated on forming the illusion of several FBI agents. She tried to summon all of the information she knew about the FBI and she drew on some odd memories. Sweat broke out across her forehead as she rode the wave of the invisible force of magic. She remembered sitting at the feet of her mother as Tamara McClay gently showed her the joy of Wicca, the bliss and the responsibility of calling on the goddess both within and without for power. She could not tame the energies, and she did not try. Instead, she gave in to them, allowed them to shape itself to her will. It was a uniquely passive, yet commanding way of using magic. It bent to her will because she didn't ask anything of it.
Then she sagged, and one of the soldiers caught her. " It's done," she murmured wearily.
" Okay. I want you five to set up a perimeter, see if you can find any tracks or external clues about whether or not this was a vamp attack." Riley motioned to the three remaining soldiers. " You guys and Tara, come with me. We're going inside and check out the crime scene."
" I'm gonna stay out here. I got something I need to do." Faith looked at the others as if daring them to try and give her an order to the contrary and pulled out a cigarette.
Tara nodded and the five of them walked the rest of the way and crossed the police line.
A uniformed officer stopped them. " I'm sorry, you can't be here right now. This is the scene of a very serious crime."
" We know that officer." Riley leaned forward, " Samuels. I'm Special Agent Riley Finn and these are my associates. This is the latest in a string of mass killings of a particularly violent nature. The FBI is taking over this investigation." He looked apologetically at the officer.
The officer blinked in surprise. " I'll need to see some Id."
Riley produced his driver's license, which had taken on the form of a FBI badge. Tara held her breath as the cop scanned the badge, because she wasn't sure the illusion would hold, but he merely nodded and waved then through. The troop of agents walked past the police officer. A plain- clothes detective walked up to officer Samuels.
" Who were those people?"
" FBI."
" 'Bout damn time the feds looked in on this town." Then the detective shook his head. " Is it jut me, or does that guy in the lead look like a dead ringer for Agent Mulder?"
" It's not just you."
***
*** Humanities Building #26 Monday Nov 3, 1999. Approx. Nine A.M.
Buffy stepped out of Abnormal psychology and took a deep breath. The fresh scent of grass and trees waffled around her. A huge smile broke across her face. She'd had a good weekend. She and Angel had spent the nights getting to know one another. Really getting to know one another. No holds barred.
Angel had held nothing back about his past or his feelings. It was as though his permanently anchored soul had broken some sort of emotion barrier. Angel talked for hours, more than Buffy had ever heard him share before. He smiled and talked about the first time he met the badly dressed demon called Whistler and the first time he laid eyes on Buffy; about the years of pain and far between moments of bittersweet joy; about meeting the Rat Pack for the first time in Vegas.
Neither of them could ever have anything resembling a normal life. She was an Immortal now and Angel was still a vampire. They would spend their entire lives fighting in one way or another. They would never be able to have children or the white picket fence, but they could have each other.
For Buffy that was enough.
She was happier than she had been in a long time. Not many people knew it, but she often still had nightmares about the time Angelus roamed. She still thought about Jenny Calendar and how scared she was for Giles when he went after Angelus alone. Buffy had been feeling the darkness close in around her lately, but since the return of Xander and the others, despite the shock of her new status, she had slowly been regaining happiness and vitality that had slowly been eroding after night after night of fighting for her life and the future of the world.
Angel was only part of it, though. This immortality gig came with its own share of problems, but, for the first time in a long time, Buffy could see the light at the end of the tunnel. She might actually live to be older than twenty-five, and get to go farther in her life than LA. In every way, her life was looking up.
" So, details," Willow asked excitedly. " How are you and Angel doing? Is it good? I bet it's good."
Buffy beamed, her smile lighting up her face. " It is good. It's nice, you know, to finally be able to be with Angel without the angst, and just be.happy."
The two of them walked along the tree-lined paths of UC Sunnydale. For Buffy the trees were greener, the grass was fuller and there were actually birds singing. She was goofy in love.
Willow just smiled. It was good to see her friend so happy, she had been really down lately. Xander had helped a lot to put the spark back in her eyes and the smile on her face. For that matter, back on to her own face as well.
She and Xander have been meeting every morning since the three of them had gotten back, in an effort to rebuild their friendship. It hurt Willow to realize that the man she once knew better than anyone else on the planet was now a nearly complete mystery and the girl she had hated for her whole life now knew him better. Willow was resolved to change that.
Willow and Buffy walked to the University Union building where they normally met Amy and Tara for lunch on campus. They were surprised to see the couple already waiting for them.
" Buffy, Willow, let's go get lunch, " Amy told the pair. " We got out of class early, and we want dirt on Angel."
Buffy laughed and started to nod before a frown appeared unexpectedly on her face. Suddenly, she burst forward, past the three surprised witches. Buffy ran with full Slayer speed, blurring past several other students. She had just seen something. Something that should be impossible.
Spike was walking around the campus. In broad daylight.
****
Anya turned around trying to find the warmth that was Riley and found it missing. She lay in bed for the moment before deciding to catch her wayward man. They had decided to skip school that day and to spend it in bed, and he was breaking the pact.
She sighed and got up. The weekend had been really good. She and Riley had spent a lot of time together during the day and at night, after his patrols, he would come over and spend the night. For such a white bread guy, Riley had possessed more than adequate sexual skills in bed. And Anya was gratified to discover that Cosmo did not lie about his.hand size, which had proved to be an excellent predictor.
She smiled as she thought about that first night. The night of Halloween, she bandaged his wounds and then tried to seduce him. The way he stuttered and stammered was so cute. He told her that he wasn't expecting anything from her that night.
Then, of course, there was the look on his face when she smirked and said she was.
She put on a thin silk robe and walked out into the kitchen, where she found Riley.actually cooking in her kitchen. He was even singing as he whipped up some eggs and bacon.
" You know, Riley, I actually have to worry about cholesterol now. Bacon and eggs are not conducive to living forever."
" We're all going to die sometime, Anya." The soldier answered cheerfully, " Might as well do it full and on good tasting food." Riley smiled as he watched Anya's face light up in laughter. She was so beautiful. Her svelte form looked so nice in thin bathrobe.
She frowned slightly.
" What's wrong Anya?"
" I have been less that forthcoming with you, Riley. I hate hypocrisy in men and I will not be a hypocrite myself."
Riley sat down at the small table in the kitchen. " You know you can tell me anything."
" I'm not eighteen, Riley, and I'm not even a hundred and eighteen. I am eleven hundred and twenty one years old. I was a demon of vengeance for more than a thousand years. I was born human in a small Scandinavian fishing village. When I was nineteen, I found out that my husband had been cheating on me because I was unable to provide him with a male heir. D'Hoffryn the demon lord of vengeance found me and gave me a new purpose and job. He transformed me into a demon of vengeance and I wreaked havoc on men for mistreating women for long, long time." She smiled bitterly. ", It wasn't like there was ever any shortage of work."
Riley paled and stood up. ", You're a demon? He whispered. " I don't understand. Last night."
" I was," Anya replied softly, " but I lost my powers. And now I'm the same as everybody else. Human. Just like you." She put a soft hand on Riley's larger, calloused one.
" Did you ever.kill people?" Riley asked the question, dreading the response.
Anya looked away, unable to meet Riley's gaze. " Yeah, I did." Riley jerked away and she rushed to continue. " Riley, I really like you, more than any man I've ever met. I didn't exactly get the best impression of you guys, but you're a good decent person and I want to keep seeing you." She looked at him hopefully.
" I.I can't be here right now." Riley turned around and walked out of the apartment.
Anya watched him walk away, tears winding a path down her face.
***
Spike felt the sun warm on his face for only the second time since he had received the Gem of Amara. He had refrained from using the Gem for the last several days because he wanted to lie low to avoid the Slayer's attention. Plus, a bunch of the demons and vamps in town said a new power was taking the place over and they were rumored to be the Three. Even Spike wasn't crazy enough to tackle them. But today was D-day. Today was the day the blood bath was going to start.
In order to transfer the sacrificial power to the temple, the vampires had to kill or feast with their bare hands. They couldn't just plant a few bombs and rack up the energy; no, they had to feel the blood pour like wine from the veins of their chosen prey. Like the old days, when vampires roamed the world like the prides of great cats. So the plan was pretty simple. The vamps were going to go out tonight and paint the town red. But Spike wanted an early start, so he took off.
Spike shaded his eyes and looked around. Kids were wandering around without fear for what lurked in the dark, and the bleached vampire was disgusted. They knew nothing about what walked among them. He shifted into game face and grinned, as he considered the expressions their faces would soon be wearing.
They soon would learn all about things that go bump in the night. And some that went bump in the daylight, too.
Spike walked up to a couple eating on the grass. When they looked up to see who was approaching, the male smiled. " Nice makeup job. You in the drama club?"
" Sorry mate. I'm in the 'killing you now' club." Before either of them could react, he snapped their necks.
Chaos erupted. Girls erupted into screams and panic caused students to begin trampling each other in their rush to get away from the blond vampire. He grabbed several more people and ripped into them. A pair of men tried to tackle the now blood splattered demon. Two big burly football player types, who expected the thin vampire to be bowled over easily.
They were sadly mistaken, as Spike not only remained unmoved; but also tossed them both aside with contemptuous ease. Spike grabbed one thick- necked athlete and ripped his throat out. Blood geysered from the swiftly pumping artery and splattered several nearby students. At the same time, Spike shoved his hand through the chest of the other football player and pulled his heart out.
Tossing the organ behind him, the blood soaked vampire looked for a new victim.
He found it, in the form of Buffy Summers. The Slayer rushed up the cement walkway. Her first attack was a flying kick that carried her close to a dozen feet through the air.
Spike spotted it from the corner of his eye and barely managed to evade the blow. Buffy landed gracefully and immediately spun around in a defensive position.
" I don't know how you're doing this, but I'm going to kill you Spike."
" Please Slayer, try. I do so want you to try," the vamped out Spike answered.
Buffy tried to shift her breath to match the way Xander told her how to breathe. Sinanju, the martial art Xander was trying to teach her was predicated on proper breathing style. Buffy already felt calmer as the soothing breath strengthened her limbs. She launched a devastating combination that had worked on Spike on the several occasions they had previously clashed. Powered by sinanju and Slayer strength, she expected to blast past his defenses.
She was sadly mistaken.
Spike reacted with astonishing speed and grace. He blocked blow after blow, moving with a level of speed that Buffy had never seen before. His body was blur and contorted into amazing positions as he dodged and retaliated. His blows seemed to come from a thousand different directions at once, at a speed that Buffy could barely register.
" Pick up some new tricks there, pet?" Spike punched Buffy in the face, the ring of Amara cutting a deep furrow in her cheek. His eyebrows rose when it sealed up, leaving only a thin trail of blood.
Buffy smiled. " You have no idea." Outwardly, she was calm, but inside she was worried. Spike's fists had felt like sledgehammers. Even after deflecting several of his strikes, she could feel her arms tingling from the force of his blows. And more of his hits were sneaking past her defenses. She could feel that at least one of her ribs was broken, although the tingle in her side let her know that her Quickening was quickly solving that problem. He had not been this strong when she fought him last year, when he came to town for a love spell to get Dru back. It was like he had been supercharged, somehow.
She snapped a branch off a nearby tree. Spike didn't even try to stop the blow that drove the branch into his withered poet's heart. He just smiled as Buffy gaped at him. Then he launched a backhanded blow that launched her through the air and knocked her to the ground. She tried to struggle to her feet, but with the wind knocked out of her, it was proving to be damn hard.
" Did I forget to mention that I've picked up a few new tricks myself?" The British vampire gloated in that special, annoying, and completely Spike- like way. He absently rubbed the ring he was wearing and Buffy took note " We're going to be at this all day, luv, and I got better things to do. People to kill and all that."
Spike bowed to Buffy as she lay stunned on the ground and turned around. He ran to a hedge and jumped over it with a single graceful bound. He then ran down the street, blurring past the pedestrians.
His parting words were, " I'll be seeing you, pet. Trust me on that."
***
Riley paced back and forth as Dr. Walsh told him about the murders on campus an hour before.
" I don't understand," she said while shaking her head. " Vampires are not supposed be able to do what this one did today. He killed at least five people and severely wounded many others. Miss Summers was able to drive him off, although she muttered something about not being able to dust him. The strength and speed he demonstrated in combat were well above the norms established by Mister Angel, and he is not a weak vampire."
Riley could only shake his head in shock.
" I can only theorize that this vampire is either older than Angel, or perhaps some sort of mutation on the standard vampire strain."
Riley shook his head. " That's not what Buffy told me. I heard her say that she had met the vampire before. His name was Spike, and he's younger than Angel and has a reputation for viciousness that is second to none."
" Really," Dr. Walsh raised an eyebrow. " She neglected to tell me that."
" She probably just forgot."
" No doubt."
" Ma'am. Dr. Walsh." A young soldier ran up to the professor. " There's something going on in the pens. It's the vampires."
Dr. Walsh turned to the soldier and motioned for an escort. " Take me."
***
" Xander, it's not possible. Simply not possible." Giles shook his head. Several days after drinking the demon's blood, the Watcher already looked five years younger. The slight gut he had acquired over the years had evaporated and the careworn lines in his face likewise had started to become less prominent and disappear.
As soon as she had finished alerting the Initiative, Buffy had gone to Xander's mansion and told him what had happened. He called Giles and the three of them were conferring about the new Spike.
Buffy shivered. " I'm scared," she admitted. " I've handled Spike before, but whatever he did to himself, if I hadn't been you know.what I was," Buffy still couldn't say Immortal, " Spike would have had his hat trick."
" We'll figure it out and we'll get the bastard." Xander soothed her jangled nerves. " I still think it's the Gem of Amara."
Giles jutted out his chin. " And I still say, it's not possible."
" Of course it is," the ancient immortal replied. " Just about anything's possible. Even the Council used to remember that."
" Xander, I am telling you that there are no reliable Council records of vampires being able to walk in the sun. The scepter of Imhotep, the Ankh of the Midnight Sun, the Gem of Amara, they're bloody myths. They don't exist. The Council knows that," he retorted sarcastically.
" Ever hear of the vampire magus called Valentino?" Xander asked Giles. The Watcher was surprised by the apparent non sequitur.
Giles nodded slowly, a sneaking suspicion as to where this was leading, growing in his mind. There were certain Council records that predated the early purges that Ripper had sneaked a few peaks at. If Xander was about to say what Giles thought he was going to say, then not even the Council knew the full exploits of the Three.
Buffy just snickered at the vampire's name.
Xander shot an annoyed look at Buffy. " You think his name is funny, Buff? Val was an ancient vampire; he looked like Kakistos did when he came to Sunny D last year. He was about twenty five hundred years old back then and more than one Slayer was tucked under his belt." Buffy shot him a horrified look. " Oh, it gets better. He was a mage and rumored to be the last disciple of Amara, the god of vampires. He was a true master vampire and he knew spells that could keep vampires alive in sunlight. And, yes, I know it's true Giles, because I saw them in action."
" Xander, I." Buffy sounded like she was trying to apologize to the ancient Immortal
Xander ignored the beginnings of the Slayer's apology and the presence of her Watcher as his voice began to grow distant...
*** Flashback- Italy 29 A.D. A villa by the beach
The Immortal known as Alexander of Troy relaxed within the garden of his villa. The well-manicured garden was exceedingly comfortable in the hot Mediterranean sun. The scent of flowers hung in the air and fruit hung heavy on the vines and trees that filled the large private garden. The freshly painted frescos glimmered in the morning light.
With care, he smeared soft oils on the back of his wife, Cordelia. He massaged her naked shoulders, working the oil into her tanned, muscled skin. Leaning forward, he nibbled lightly on the back of her neck. She leaned up against him on a marble bench that sat near the center of the garden
" Do you know how much I love you?" he whispered
" I've forgotten," she smiled, " I think you have to tell me for a few hours. Just to remind me, of course."
Xander took his wife into his arms and was about to count the ways he loved her with kisses when an embarrassed cough caused him to look up.
Tomas, the ten-year-old slave child of a housekeeper, stood beneath the archway entrance to the internal garden; He appeared shame faced that he had interrupted his masters in so compromising a position. " M-M-My lord and lady, a senator is here to see you."
Xander sighed and motioned for the boy to let the politician through. The Immortal was surprised to see his old friend, Lucien Agrippa, step through the archway. The senator eyed the slender, retreating form of the slave.
" You do have the loveliest toys," he murmured
Xander winced. " Don't say things like that. I'd hate to have to kill you."
The senator shrugged. " I'm not here to debate the rights of slaves. There are bigger things in play."
" How come you never come just to visit?" Xander joked. Lucien Agrippa was one of the few senators who stood for him when the Caesar revoked his general-hood. It was part of a power play by the immortal soldier, Darius. Lucien was a man of principle in a land where principles were too often for sale and for that, if not his appetites, Xander respected him.
" I must sincerely apologize to you, Alexander-and your lady wife for this interruption, but Rome needs you. Our colonies in Spain are being attacked and the local guards can't handle what's happening." The old soldier turned massive landowner looked at them to assess their reaction. He was less than pleased with what he saw.
Xander rolled his eyes. " Rome has legions and generals enough, without dragging me into the middle of it. Besides, I think the senate made what they think about my leadership skills abundantly clear when they stripped me of my command. Others can handle the barbarians and bandits you're having your little tiff with. So, my answer is, no."
" If it were simple barbarians, I wouldn't be here, " the roman senator sighed. " Let me rephrase the statement. " The Council needs you."
" You're a Watcher," Xander said in surprise. He turned to Cordelia. " Did you know that?"
Cordelia shrugged and gave a knowing smile.
" Yes, I am a Watcher. We need you, Alexander. I know you care about Slayers. All of our archives show that you take their welfare quite seriously." The senator sat down on the bench opposite the lovers and sighed, appearing suddenly decades older. " It's gotten bad."
" You lost a Slayer." Xander appeared grim.
He shook his head. " We haven't lost one slayer, Alexander. We've lost seven slayers in the past four months. It's the worst debacle in the history of the Council." Lucien lost his stoic countenance. " The last was the daughter of my brother. She was a child of rare beauty and wit. She would have been a powerful lady of Rome."
" Had fate not willed otherwise," Cordelia interjected.
" As she often does," Senator Agrippa smiled without humor. Visibly gathering the mantle of leadership about himself, he continued. " We need the man written about in the Chronicles. We need the man who marched to Carthage and tore down the walls of that dark city and slew the vampire general, Hannibal.
" We need you."
Xander stood up and pulled Cordelia up with him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She better, than anyone else, understood the price Xander payed for being the warmaster that he was. The pain, the nightmares, the eternal what-ifs; It was that pain which caused him to allow himself to be exiled away from the heart of power for the first time in more than a thousand years. He would not easily enter that arena again. But she also knew her husband.
And he had a soft spot for Slayers.
One quick glance between the married couple and she knew his decision.
" I will go to Spain."
The Senator smiled. " The Council has a great deal of power within the Senate. We can get your command back."
Xander leaned back and asked, " So what can you tell me about this vampire warlord?"
" He's ancient for one. He is just about the oldest vampire any of us can find in the journals. Six months ago, he fled the land of the Hebrews. Supposedly, there is a new sorcerer who has risen there, and along with his disciples, takes a rather dim view of the undead." Lucien frowned. " We've tried to recruit him, but all he said was that his destined role lies along another path."
" Leave him alone," Cordelia told the Watcher. " Seriously. He's beyond you."
***
" I was so arrogant. I thought in a thousand years I had scene all that life had to offer." Xander shook his head and whispered, " I had no idea how was wrong I was."
In a stronger voice, he told Giles. " The whole legion I took to Spain was wiped out nearly to a man. I thought that I would only have to worry about fighting battles at night and I had done it before with the legions, but somehow, vampires attacked us during the day. You might think that you known fear, Giles, but you haven't. Imagine staring at a legion of vampires in game face, sunlight reflecting on their yellow eyes, just before the command was given to rush your position. Then, imagine that, day after day, with men disappearing in the night only to be fought by friends the next day. Our supply lines were overrun and we starved along with everything else. The whole thing was a nightmare.
Giles just shook his head. He vaguely knew about Valentino from the Council archives on the Three. It was one thing to read about their tales in books and reports, but it's something else entirely to hear about it from the lips of the man who was there. There was passion and pain in his voice, emotions that cannot be conveyed through secondary sources. " How did you defeat him?"
" Cordy and I, along with an Amazon tribe that worshiped Faith, ended up tracking him to his lair and destroying his power center. That ended most of his outstanding spells and his servants went back to being just regular vampires." Xander shrugged. " Everything else was just mopping up."
Buffy said from where she was sitting, " History is all well and good, Xander, but what the hell does this have to do with Spike and him going all not dusty?"
" I don't know," Xander replied. " But I think it's connected. Something about your story just made me think about Valentino." Bitterly, Xander said " It's not one of my most treasured memories, so I'm going to go with my instincts on this one and say its important. There aren't lot of vampires with the skills to use the spells that are probably protecting him. And all of them are beyond the parlor tricks of Drusilla. And, if he actually found the Gem of Amara, then things are going to get even worse."
" Then Spike has found a new magic buddy." Buffy didn't sound happy at all.
Giles said what was on all their minds.
" We need to find out who it is and what they are planning."
***
Spike wandered through the streets of Sunnydale. Splattered in blood, he kept to the shadows. Finding a dark corner, he hid from the sunlight. While it didn't burn him any longer, it still stung his eyes.
" Thorne was right," he muttered to himself. " Bitch has found some new tricks." He stared at several drops of blood that graced the Gem of Amara where he scrapped Buffy's face and remembered how it had healed in moments. Intoxicating odors waffled from the blood, a slight hint of ozone tainting the scent. Hesitantly, he licked the blood off the ring and moaned slightly. The blood spread warmth through his system and he felt a little dizzy. Spike had tasted the blood of more than one Slayer, but this eclipsed them all.
This blood tasted like power.
High from the few drops he had imbibed, Spike went off to find some more people to kill. After all, it would be a shame to waste this feeling.
***
Dr. Walsh moved down the corridor at a smooth clip, with Riley following right behind. The demons in the clear cells clawed at the walls with a variety of appendages. The young soldier led them to the end of the cellblock. All the vampires were kept within close proximity to each other, in order to 'assess the socio/cultural dynamics of the most common sub terrestrial type within a prison setting.'
When she reached the vampires, she stopped up short. Vampires had a relatively small number of responses to being imprisoned. Dr. Walsh believed the limited affective responses of vampires were due to changes that occurred when a human was infected. Most went stir crazy and devolved to a more primitive state from hunger and a lack of stimulus.
These vampires weren't doing any of the limited variety of behaviors that they had catalogued during their studies. In fact, the affective demeanors changed nearly simultaneously in all of them, at the same time.
They were calm and could even be described as serene. The vampires were all chanting in unison, perfectly in harmony with one another, " The lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will."
" Amazing," Dr. Walsh murmured. " They seem to be showing signs of hypnotic suggestion. I thought that was impossible to do to vampires." She turned to Riley. " I want three patrols tonight, led by you, Forrest, and Graham. I want more specimens, and I want a wider sample. Something is happening and we need to know what it is. See if you can get a few members of this demon-hunting group to go with each group. Witches may have a unique perspective on this situation."
" Yes, Ma'am."
Dr. Walsh turned to the young soldier that had attracted her attention in the first place. " Private, I want you to get a tranq rifle." She pointed at a vampire that looked like a curvaceous blond chanting along with the rest, a particularly vapid expression on her face. " I think I'll dissect that one to see if any physiological changes have occurred."
The vampire coded hostile seventeen, better known as Harmony Kendall, never took notice until soldiers entered her cell and shot her full of tranquilizers.
*** Sunnydale Docks Approx. Nine Thirty P.M.
Riley silently motioned to two of his men, signaling to them that they needed to separate and recon the area ahead. The pair nodded and broke away from the group. He and his men, plus Tara and Faith, were hunting through the port/warehouse district of Sunnydale. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two civilians and began to contemplate how different they truly were from each other.
Faith wore form-fitting black leather pants that hugged all of her very impressive curves. Heavy dark makeup contrasted with her pale features and gave her a seductive gothic look that had more than one soldier more than a little distracted. However, for the few that dared to approach her, she quickly established that she was a taken woman.
Riley shook his head, half in admiration and half in wonder. He still could not figure out how Xander had managed to rope both Faith and Cordelia into marrying him, but more power to him if he could keep them both satisfied. Riley could barely keep up with the voracious sexual appetite of Anya.
Anya.
He shook his head as his thoughts turned once again to beguiling woman who, in the span of a few days, had turned his heart and head completely upside down. Demons were supposed to be ugly and green, slimy and foul smelling. Not beautiful and beguiling, with a slender waist and musical laugh. They definitely weren't supposed to be lovable.
With a savage wave, Riley motioned for Faith to come over and forced thoughts of Anya out of his head. Faith sauntered over with a sexy swish from her hips.
" What's the stitch?"
Although her voice was bored, Riley could tell that very little was escaping the notice of the dark Slayer. Her heavy lidded eyes flickered back and forth as she scanned the area.
" Are you sure that this Intel is good? We're not getting anything, and if we go back with nothing, Walsh will have my ass. Our three patrols are off their normal routes based on what your girl had to say."
Faith smiled. " Cordy is the best seer I've ever seen. She has.kind of a direct connection to some powerful forces. If she says that something is going to happen out here in the docks, then it will." She frowned a little. " Although her visions weren't as clear tonight as they normally are." She shook off the momentary lapse and laughed throatily at the scowling soldier. " Have a little faith, Riley. Does the body good."
Riley was about to answer when his radio crackled to life.
# Captain Finn, Captain Finn #
Riley held the radio to his mouth. " This had better be good. We're supposed to be maintaining radio silence," he snapped.
# Sir, # the voice replied. # We just heard over the police radio, there is a violent crime scene in your area. Lots of blood and Walsh thinks it sounds like it could be a vamp attack. #
" And how are we going to get into a crime scene? We don't exactly look like the FBI." He was about to argue further when Tara tapped him on the shoulder and shook her head. " Never mind, we'll handle it."
Riley got off the radio and asked Tara. " Okay, why did I agree to go to a crime scene, when we have no authority to seize jurisdiction and we looked like paint ball rejects?"
Tara smiled and Riley was struck by how pretty the shy blond was when she didn't hide behind her hair. " I've been studying this spell called Faerie Seeming. It sort of combines an illusion and a low level mind control spell to make a group of people look like something entirely different." Tara had spent the weekend studying the spell book Cordelia had given her. Part journal, part book of shadows, the tome held sorceries of such power, Tara could hardly believe that Cordy had turned it over to her. The Faerie Seeming was among the least of the powers, yet Tara knew the spell would tax her limited powers to the max. Of course, she didn't tell Riley that.
Riley looked doubtfully but nodded to the men. " Okay guys, lets go play cops and robbers."
***
Forrest hated graveyards. The very idea of walking over ground where dead people were buried weirded him out. And in a town where the dead tended to crawl out of grave, his neurosis was even more heightened. At least he had his first real command, away from that candy-ass, Riley Finn.
Of course, having civilian demon hunters on his team wasn't improving his mood any.
At least Harris seemed like he knew his way around the military. There was a sort of quiet confidence about Xander that lent him an air of authority that eclipsed all of the military leaders Forrest had served under.
And he could fight, too.
Forrest could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Xander sparring the other day against several of his men who were known to be the best in the company in hand to hand. Xander had flat out owned them on the practice mat. He seemed to hardly move, yet, time after time, the men went flying. And by the end of the match, he wasn't even breathing hard. He didn't move like a martial arts master.
He moved like he fricken' invented the martial arts.
If Xander Harris reluctantly impressed Forrest, Buffy Summers, the Slayer did anything but. His eyes shifted to the Slayer in question as he thought about her. She was wearing a purple tank top and dark shorts, while her streaked blond hair was pulled into two short pigtails. She looked like a cheerleader out on a midnight stroll. Totally unprofessional. When Forrest told her she couldn't go out like that, she told him she wanted to 'play bait' tonight. He decided to let her.
Mostly because the look in her eyes, when he told her she looked stupid in her outfit, terrified the young soldier.
But the person he really reserved his venom for was the witch in the group. The redhead, Willow Rosenberg. God, she was annoying! Dr. Walsh had insisted that each of the groups have a witch in it. She wanted to know if any of them were picking up any vibrations that might explain the weird behavior of the imprisoned vampires. Of course, he couldn't have gotten the shy blond or the practical brown haired girlfriend of said shy blond. No, he had to get the motor mouth/- redheaded best friend of one of the Slayers and Harris. She was a twitchy, fast talking girl who had no business being on a serious op.
At this very moment, she was validating everything he thought about her. She was watching the graveyard they were in with exaggerated glances in every direction. Nervously, she patted down her pouch of combat ready spell components and looked around. She looked like she couldn't find her ass with a locating spell, let alone do something useful.
The cemetery they were in, Rest View, was located in downtown Sunnydale. Just that thought was enough to make Forrest shake his head. This was the only damn town he knew that had so many cemeteries, they had to be in the in the center of the damn town.
He sent three members of his eight-man patrol to perform a short sweep to see if any newbie vampires had risen tonight.
God, he was bored.
The only thing worse than having a civilian witch on the team was the fact he was out here, freezing his ass off, thanks to intelligence provided by another witch. And not even real Intel, just some weird vibes or visions or something.
Of course, at that moment, the universe decided to thumb his nose at Forrest. Across the street, the whole squad heard the screams of multiple women at a nearby cafe.
Maybe it was better to be bored.
***
Cordelia Chase shivered as she watched the WELCOME TO SUNNYDALE sign. She, Angel, and Amy were with the squad lead by Graham. Their mission was to watch the entrance to Sunnydale, in order to spot any influx of vampires or demons coming into town. Cordelia exhaled and watched the little cloud as it formed from her breath. She wished she could blame the weather for the shiver, but since her empowerment at the hands of Cassandra, the cold didn't do much to her.
No, her shiver was because she had made the mistake of trying to sense Graham's destiny. All she wanted to do was try and get a feel for the mystical acoustics in the area, to see if the Hellmouth was affecting her abilities, and she thought he would have a nice bland destiny fitting the soldier's pleasantly bland personality, but the overpowering nature of Graham's destiny shocked her. He was going to die, and he wasn't going to do it easily.
It will come through pain and fire, and he would die alone. Cordelia could feel that he was rushing headlong towards his destiny and there was little she could do to save him
She drew the white leather of her coat around her body as she watched the soldier speak to the men under his command and set up a perimeter for their little stakeout. Graham was a nice looking, pleasant soldier. He didn't show any real leadership skills the way Riley or Forrest did, but he was good man. Looking up from his work, he caught her eye and smiled. Cordy blinked back tears and sent a little smile back in his direction.
It was times like these when she hated her life, and hated Cassandra for giving her this burden.
*** Flashback- 1200 BC A few weeks before the fall of Troy
Cordelia Chase ran up the narrow winding tower where Princess Cassandra had sequestered herself. Torches in Brackets lined the walls and sent flickering shadows dancing along the narrow stairs. She sighed. Being the handmaiden of the crown princess of Troy was a powerful responsibility, and one that the former head cheerleader had only slowly grown accustomed to. But now, she and Cassie were fairly close friends, much closer than Cassandra and Faith, who used to work as the Princess' maid. Eventually, Faith moved to working with Helen. As a child of Sparta, Helen's personality was much more like Faith's and Cordelia. Cordy just hated Helen.
So, when a soldier called on her to say that the princess needed her immediately, she came running.
Reaching the top of the staircase, she knocked on heavy door. Slowly, the door creaked open and revealed the wan form of Cassandra. The apparently un-aging girl looked like time had finally caught up with her. The twenty four-year-old girl with the too-old eyes looked like she had not slept in a week. Beneath her tanned form, a gray pallor had settled in. Her cheekbones were heightened by the large amount of weight she had lost. She smiled when she saw her friend.
" Sit down, Cordelia." Cassandra said in English. That surprised Cordelia. Cassandra had been insistent that the three travelers learn the language of the Trojans. Only rarely in the past ten years had any of the three used English. Mainly, it was used for conversations they didn't want overheard. Cordelia sat down in a thickly padded chair in the well- appointed room.
" I was worried, Cassie. When Lyse told me that you needed me right away, I feared the worst."
Cassandra smiled wanly. " Don't worry Cordy. I'm as well as can be expected." Walking over to a small table, she lifted up a copper tea service and motioned over the pot of water, using a simple spell to bring it to boil. Making simple tea for the two of them, she brought over a pair of cups and took the seat opposite Cordelia. " I'm tired, Cordelia," she began.
" Tired of what?"
Cassandra shifted the conversation. " Did you know my twin brother was killed, two weeks ago?"
" Is that why you hid yourself up here?" Cordelia looked worriedly at her friend. Cassandra looked like she had not eaten in several days
" Partly. My brother was also what you would call a seer. He refused to give prophecies to the other side after they blamed him for Achilles' death, so they killed him." Cassandra looked sad and sipped the scalding tea. " Now all that he was, all the power that was within him, has flown into me. It has been.difficult to handle the influx of energy."
" I don't understand. You and your brother shared powers?"
" I'm not a sorceress, and my brother was not a magus." Cassandra looked sadly at her friend. " I'm going to tell you a story, and even for you, it will be a difficult one to believe."
Cordy snorted. " Yeah, right. I'm thousands of years in the past, trapped in a war that most people don't believe ever really happened, and you think your little story is going to bother me."
Cassandra floated a secret, seductive smile. " There are Powers in the world, powers that were given dominion over the world by the creator. Older than the true demons, older than the ancient gods, these beings possessed great abilities and used their massive intellects to oversee all the aspects of creation they possessed power over. These beings were neither good nor evil, but beyond moral limitations enforced by mortals."
As Cassandra talked, her low voice caused images, flashes really, of times long past and worlds barely hinted at to flash past the corner of Cordy's eyes. Cordelia shook her head, as Cassandra's voice seemed to grow farther and farther away. She reached for the tea to take a strengthening drink.
".One of these beings, these Powers, possessed dominion over the tapestry of destiny- the best and brightest futures of all things in the multiverse. As time went on, over the millennia, the Power began to see the conscious beings as more than chess pieces on the cosmic board. This power of destiny began to use his abilities to give power to the mortals, free will to decide how they would live their lives. The other Powers-That-Be grew angry and demanded that he live among those he seemed to care so much about. With his powers, he divided himself in twain and placed his essence inside the bodies of my ancestors. Eventually, they were passed to my brother and I. We grew up and learned of the power that flowed within us. With my brothe'rs death, the remaining energy has gone to me." Her sorrowful gaze held Cordelia's. " And that power is killing me. I was not meant to have this power. You were."
Cordelia shook her head and the room spun around. The fires lighting the small chamber danced like tavern girls she had seen entertaining the soldiers. What was happening to her?
" I poisoned you," Cassandra answered Cordelia's unspoken question. " I could not take the chance of you denying the power. I'm giving you my power. I will become a mortal woman." She leaned forward and captured Cordelia's failing gaze. " I am sorry my friend, so very sorry. Perhaps you'll forgive me? Even destiny can't see into the heart."
With that final statement, Cassandra, daughter of Priam, and princess of the besieged city of Troy, kissed Cordelia full on the lips. Had anyone been watching, they would have seen a light gray mist flow from Cassandra into the mouth of Cordelia.
And a new Power was born.
***
" Cordelia. Cordy, are you okay?" A concerned Angel shook the reminiscing Power on the shoulder.
She smiled sadly at Angel. " I'm fine, thanks, Angel. Just remembering an old friend."
" Why were you muttering 'Not yet, I haven't'?" The much taller Angel gazed with concern at Cordelia.
" Just remembering why I hate her so much." Cordy answered while gazing sorrowfully at Graham.
Angel looked confused but nodded, accepting that whatever was going on with the powerful seer was going to stay with her.
Cordelia peered at Angel, no longer overwhelmed by the force of her memories. She noticed that a thin film of sweat was covering his face. " Are you okay?" She waved her hands around his face, " You're looking paler than normal."
Angel sighed. " I feel something tugging at the edge of my demon. There's something out there that's calling to the vampire in me, but I think my soul's blunting whatever it is. I've been feeling it all day, and its been getting stronger, like a heart beat." He stared into the night sky. " Just pulsing away."
Cordy looked as though she was about to ask Angel another question when Graham walked up smiling. The seer frowned and turned away so the soldier couldn't see the sorrow in her eyes. He asked, " Everybody holding up here alright?"
Angel and Cordelia nodded their assent, but Amy answered negatively. " I don't like being this far away from Tara," she muttered. " She's going to need me. She doesn't like to go out alone."
" I'm sorry, but you know that we needed to make sure that every unit has their own spell caster with them." Graham looked apologetically at the lesbian witch. " It's important that we get witches to all of the hotspots, to see if they notice anything using their witchy stuff."
" I know," Amy replied bitterly, " but I don't have to like it."
Graham put his hand on her shoulder and stared at her. " Amy, I swear everything will be alright, and so will Tara."
Amy softened and was about to respond when Cordelia suddenly shouted.
Dozens of figures walked with frightening slowness out of the fog coming from the freeway
Their chant could easily be heard
" The lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord will come on rivers of blood, the lord ."
***
The whole street where the bar was located was blocked off with police barricades. Red and blue strobe lights twirled around, casting weird shadows around the area. Riley and his unit stopped about a block away.
" Tara, are you sure you can pull this off?" Riley looked nervously at all the police. This was exactly the sort of textbook scene they were instructed to avoid in the Initiative. Now they were walking into the middle of the damn thing
" Yes." Tara answered shakily. Now that she was actually faced with the prospect of using the advanced magic, she was terrified. What if it didn't work, what if-?
A thousand what ifs crossed her mind but she clamped down on the little voice in the back of her mind that called her a failure, a voice that sounded like her father. Summoning all of her power, she began a chant that was already old when the standing stones of Stonehenge were newly built.
Mirrors of Erisod,
Mists of Avalon,
Clothe these forms,
Let those of simple minds,
See the lords of law from this land.
Tara concentrated on forming the illusion of several FBI agents. She tried to summon all of the information she knew about the FBI and she drew on some odd memories. Sweat broke out across her forehead as she rode the wave of the invisible force of magic. She remembered sitting at the feet of her mother as Tamara McClay gently showed her the joy of Wicca, the bliss and the responsibility of calling on the goddess both within and without for power. She could not tame the energies, and she did not try. Instead, she gave in to them, allowed them to shape itself to her will. It was a uniquely passive, yet commanding way of using magic. It bent to her will because she didn't ask anything of it.
Then she sagged, and one of the soldiers caught her. " It's done," she murmured wearily.
" Okay. I want you five to set up a perimeter, see if you can find any tracks or external clues about whether or not this was a vamp attack." Riley motioned to the three remaining soldiers. " You guys and Tara, come with me. We're going inside and check out the crime scene."
" I'm gonna stay out here. I got something I need to do." Faith looked at the others as if daring them to try and give her an order to the contrary and pulled out a cigarette.
Tara nodded and the five of them walked the rest of the way and crossed the police line.
A uniformed officer stopped them. " I'm sorry, you can't be here right now. This is the scene of a very serious crime."
" We know that officer." Riley leaned forward, " Samuels. I'm Special Agent Riley Finn and these are my associates. This is the latest in a string of mass killings of a particularly violent nature. The FBI is taking over this investigation." He looked apologetically at the officer.
The officer blinked in surprise. " I'll need to see some Id."
Riley produced his driver's license, which had taken on the form of a FBI badge. Tara held her breath as the cop scanned the badge, because she wasn't sure the illusion would hold, but he merely nodded and waved then through. The troop of agents walked past the police officer. A plain- clothes detective walked up to officer Samuels.
" Who were those people?"
" FBI."
" 'Bout damn time the feds looked in on this town." Then the detective shook his head. " Is it jut me, or does that guy in the lead look like a dead ringer for Agent Mulder?"
" It's not just you."
***