Part III
"Have I ever mentioned how enjoyable it is reading books so old that their bicentennials have had bicentennials?" Xander's annoyed question got no response, and he concluded, "There's a reason for that."
Giles turned and gave his young friend an annoyed look as he replied, "I know you'd rather be reading the sports page, Xander, but we are in a bit of a crisis here." Xander glowered at Giles for a moment, then turned back to reading the ancient book in front of him. Giles sighed and did likewise with the tome in front of him.
Four hours had passed since the sea cave had been found to be empty, and the whole group had been searching through the research materials, trying to find information about both Acathla and the mysterious being known as Tanara.
The second task had been easier, since both Giles and Zabuto had heard the name, and finding the books with the appropriate information had not been difficult. Tanara had once been a member of the nobility of a small European country. Too far down the secession to dream of ruling, she resorted to dark magic that cost her immortal soul, but gave her great personal power. The Slayer had been dispatched to eliminate the menace she presented, and she had fled, only to appear periodically to make other grabs for power. It was when Buffy shouted and pointed at a vivid picture in a nineteenth century book that they obtained the final piece of the puzzle.
The Sisterhood of Jhe was a group of demons of particularly dangerous nature that sought to bring about the Apocalypse. They had been thwarted at various times in the past two centuries, sometimes at the cost of the life of the current Slayer, but in the late nineteenth century they had gained a new leader who made them far more dangerous: Tanara. Or so the Watchers had thought. . .but the Sisterhood had not been seen in the last century.
"A hundred years and they couldn't find a decent Apocalypse to stir up until now?" commented Willow. "The way they keep popping up around here, you'd think that this Tanara would have found some way to try to bring about the end of the world before now."
Zabuto smiled grimly and replied, "These things tend to be cyclical, Miss Rosenberg, and confined to certain areas of mystic significance. Or, to put it more concisely from your point of view: wrong place, wrong time." He sighed and concluded, "Fortunate, in that otherwise these things would be hard to prevent, unfortunate in that when the dam finally breaks, it can take an extraordinary effort to deal with it."
Giles nodded in agreement and elaborated, "If ending the world were that easy of a proposition, the Master wouldn't have had to come to the Hellmouth to try to bring it about in the first place." He placed a book with a red cover on the table and opened it to a certain page before continuing, "Now that we have the who, what and why of the situation, I think this will explain the how and the when." He pointed at a particular passage and began to read, "The Sleeping Demon can be awakened by performing the Ritual of Vondar during the new moon. . ."
"The next new moon is tomorrow night," commented Oz, who of course had good reason to be aware of the cycles of the moon. "Doesn't exactly give us a lot of time, does it?"
"No, but on the bright side, that ritual requires the sacrifice of a number of powerful demons to complete it." Angel had drifted in from the stacks and his sudden interjection caused all heads to turn to him. "If we can interrupt the ritual in progress, we can attack them while she has less numbers on her side."
Giles looked over at Zabuto and grimaced as he commented, "Yet another good news/bad news dichotomy. . .still, it gives us a better chance of stopping the ritual from being completed." He beckoned to Angel and continued, "Angel, this is Samuel Zabuto, Kendra's Watcher. Samuel, this is Angel."
Zabuto offered his hand, and Angel shook it firmly, noticing the fascinated look in the man's eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and Zabuto smiled and apologized, "I'm sorry for staring. . .but you do have a fascinating history, and recent events have only made it more so."
Angel's expression darkened, and he whispered, "It seems less fascinating when you've actually lived it, and have to remember it, Mr. Zabuto." He blinked, then continued, "I'm sorry. . .that was rude. . .I'm sure that encountering an ensouled vampire isn't an everyday occurrence for you."
Zabuto raised an eyebrow, then replied, "No. . .but it is the third time in the last twenty-four hours." As he spoke, he turned and looked directly at Giles and Jenny.
Willow gasped, and Buffy silently stood and moved to a point directly between the two vampires and Kendra, who was watching the scene calmly. The others just stared. . .then Giles blinked, polished his glasses, and asked, "How did you know?"
"There were several things that led me to be suspicious," replied Zabuto, watching his counterpart as he and his lover walked rather shakily to nearby chairs and sat down. "I examined the materials that Miss Rosenberg translated regarding the curse ritual. They were fascinating reading, but one tended to wonder why you needed the extra materials in the first place when the material translated by Miss Calendar was sufficient to restore Angelus' soul to him. Also, you covered it well, but your movements were noticeably different after that night, Rupert. . .no more references to daytime outdoor activity, and the like. Miss Calendar changed jobs at that point, too. The clinchers came when we arrived and it turned out that you were headed for a midnight meeting with a museum employee, and when I actually saw you, Rupert." Giles frowned, and Zabuto explained, "The glamour spell is an excellent one, but it is subject to countering by talismans, and I made sure that Kendra and I were both well protected; after all, it was not completely out of the realm of possibility that things were not as the reports made them seem, and we could have been walking into a trap. Obviously, the state of affairs here has convinced me that we have not." Zabuto frowned and concluded, "There are others on the Council who would not be so understanding, however. I have no intention of passing on my discovery to them, and I believe that our reports on this incident can certainly omit any extraneous information, assuming that we all survive to file them. Is this an acceptable arrangement?"
Giles and Jenny looked at each other, then Giles turned back to Zabuto and replied in a dazed voice, "Yes, it certainly is. . .thank you, Samuel."
Buffy turned and looked at Kendra for a long moment before asking quietly, "Is this going to be all right with you, Kendra? The last time you were in Sunnydale you weren't exactly Angel's biggest booster."
Kendra shrugged and replied, "Angel is back to his old self, and you have ceased the activities that might put his soul in future jeopardy." Buffy flushed for a moment, then relaxed as Kendra continued, "As for Mr. Giles and Ms. Calendar, I have studied the appropriate texts, and they are quite clear: the souls bestowed by the non-curse ritual are permanent unless extraordinary dark magic is called upon to dispel them, and that is a remote risk, to say the least. . .I trust them not to turn evil." The younger Slayer smiled wistfully, then concluded, "Besides, Buffy. . .in spite of your attempts to influence my behavior during my last visit, I am still quite inclined to follow orders. . .if Mr. Zabuto is satisfied as to the bona fides of your friends, I will not question them either."
Buffy smiled back at Kendra and gave her an uninhibited hug, then looked over at Zabuto and smiled gratefully at him: the dark eyes of the Watcher acknowledged the thanks before he looked back at Giles and suggested, "Now that this little matter has been dealt with, shall we get back to work? Time is most definitely not our friend right now."
* * * * *
Eight hours later, they had come up with precisely nothing. Buffy had gone out and hassled Willy the Snitch and a few of his patrons, but for a change Willy was completely in the dark, and he didn't know anyone who might know. He had turned bone white when Buffy gave him a brief description of what would happen if Tanara achieved her purpose, and swore up and down that he would call the library immediately if he heard anything about the Sisterhood of Jhe. A few other sources that Angel had recommended also turned up nothing (though they too were motivated to be helpful when they heard about the impending threat), and Buffy had returned to the library, frustrated and angry.
Research had likewise turned out to be unhelpful. The ritual had to be conducted outdoors, but there were any number of homes in Sunnydale isolated enough to perform such a ritual without undue notice being attracted, and there was nothing stopping Tanara from keeping the rather conspicuous Apocalypse demons out of sight until the ceremony was ready to begin. Sunnydale was a relatively small town, but searching house to house was not going to be practical.
Night had just fallen when the whole group met again in the library to compare notes, and everyone agreed that they had a major problem. "We've done about all we can with research," Giles commented, "and it's just a matter of finding them, then waiting. We'll split up, cover as much of the town as we can and hope that some of the informants that Buffy motivated to help us come through with the location of the Sisterhood."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and they were gathering supplies and preparing to head out when the phone rang loudly in Giles' office. He went in to answer it, and the others were quietly waiting for him to conclude the call when they heard Giles utter a vile curse and snap, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm not in the mood for it! Don't think that just because you're out of this town, I can't send Buffy to hunt you down. . .she'd enjoy it."
Buffy ran over to the office door just in time to see Giles blink and swallow at something he heard at the other end of the line. He leaned down and pressed the "Hold" button on the phone before hanging up the receiver, then walked past Buffy with a stunned expression on his face. Buffy followed closely as Giles walked over to the front desk phone, then hit the speakerphone button and stated flatly: "You're on."
"That's better. . .always nice to talk to the whole gang at once." The voice was accented and sardonic in tone, and sent a chill down the spine of everyone in the room who recognized it. Buffy stared at the phone and spat out the speaker's name like a curse:
"Spike."
. . .to be continued.
As always, comments are welcome and desired.
"Have I ever mentioned how enjoyable it is reading books so old that their bicentennials have had bicentennials?" Xander's annoyed question got no response, and he concluded, "There's a reason for that."
Giles turned and gave his young friend an annoyed look as he replied, "I know you'd rather be reading the sports page, Xander, but we are in a bit of a crisis here." Xander glowered at Giles for a moment, then turned back to reading the ancient book in front of him. Giles sighed and did likewise with the tome in front of him.
Four hours had passed since the sea cave had been found to be empty, and the whole group had been searching through the research materials, trying to find information about both Acathla and the mysterious being known as Tanara.
The second task had been easier, since both Giles and Zabuto had heard the name, and finding the books with the appropriate information had not been difficult. Tanara had once been a member of the nobility of a small European country. Too far down the secession to dream of ruling, she resorted to dark magic that cost her immortal soul, but gave her great personal power. The Slayer had been dispatched to eliminate the menace she presented, and she had fled, only to appear periodically to make other grabs for power. It was when Buffy shouted and pointed at a vivid picture in a nineteenth century book that they obtained the final piece of the puzzle.
The Sisterhood of Jhe was a group of demons of particularly dangerous nature that sought to bring about the Apocalypse. They had been thwarted at various times in the past two centuries, sometimes at the cost of the life of the current Slayer, but in the late nineteenth century they had gained a new leader who made them far more dangerous: Tanara. Or so the Watchers had thought. . .but the Sisterhood had not been seen in the last century.
"A hundred years and they couldn't find a decent Apocalypse to stir up until now?" commented Willow. "The way they keep popping up around here, you'd think that this Tanara would have found some way to try to bring about the end of the world before now."
Zabuto smiled grimly and replied, "These things tend to be cyclical, Miss Rosenberg, and confined to certain areas of mystic significance. Or, to put it more concisely from your point of view: wrong place, wrong time." He sighed and concluded, "Fortunate, in that otherwise these things would be hard to prevent, unfortunate in that when the dam finally breaks, it can take an extraordinary effort to deal with it."
Giles nodded in agreement and elaborated, "If ending the world were that easy of a proposition, the Master wouldn't have had to come to the Hellmouth to try to bring it about in the first place." He placed a book with a red cover on the table and opened it to a certain page before continuing, "Now that we have the who, what and why of the situation, I think this will explain the how and the when." He pointed at a particular passage and began to read, "The Sleeping Demon can be awakened by performing the Ritual of Vondar during the new moon. . ."
"The next new moon is tomorrow night," commented Oz, who of course had good reason to be aware of the cycles of the moon. "Doesn't exactly give us a lot of time, does it?"
"No, but on the bright side, that ritual requires the sacrifice of a number of powerful demons to complete it." Angel had drifted in from the stacks and his sudden interjection caused all heads to turn to him. "If we can interrupt the ritual in progress, we can attack them while she has less numbers on her side."
Giles looked over at Zabuto and grimaced as he commented, "Yet another good news/bad news dichotomy. . .still, it gives us a better chance of stopping the ritual from being completed." He beckoned to Angel and continued, "Angel, this is Samuel Zabuto, Kendra's Watcher. Samuel, this is Angel."
Zabuto offered his hand, and Angel shook it firmly, noticing the fascinated look in the man's eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and Zabuto smiled and apologized, "I'm sorry for staring. . .but you do have a fascinating history, and recent events have only made it more so."
Angel's expression darkened, and he whispered, "It seems less fascinating when you've actually lived it, and have to remember it, Mr. Zabuto." He blinked, then continued, "I'm sorry. . .that was rude. . .I'm sure that encountering an ensouled vampire isn't an everyday occurrence for you."
Zabuto raised an eyebrow, then replied, "No. . .but it is the third time in the last twenty-four hours." As he spoke, he turned and looked directly at Giles and Jenny.
Willow gasped, and Buffy silently stood and moved to a point directly between the two vampires and Kendra, who was watching the scene calmly. The others just stared. . .then Giles blinked, polished his glasses, and asked, "How did you know?"
"There were several things that led me to be suspicious," replied Zabuto, watching his counterpart as he and his lover walked rather shakily to nearby chairs and sat down. "I examined the materials that Miss Rosenberg translated regarding the curse ritual. They were fascinating reading, but one tended to wonder why you needed the extra materials in the first place when the material translated by Miss Calendar was sufficient to restore Angelus' soul to him. Also, you covered it well, but your movements were noticeably different after that night, Rupert. . .no more references to daytime outdoor activity, and the like. Miss Calendar changed jobs at that point, too. The clinchers came when we arrived and it turned out that you were headed for a midnight meeting with a museum employee, and when I actually saw you, Rupert." Giles frowned, and Zabuto explained, "The glamour spell is an excellent one, but it is subject to countering by talismans, and I made sure that Kendra and I were both well protected; after all, it was not completely out of the realm of possibility that things were not as the reports made them seem, and we could have been walking into a trap. Obviously, the state of affairs here has convinced me that we have not." Zabuto frowned and concluded, "There are others on the Council who would not be so understanding, however. I have no intention of passing on my discovery to them, and I believe that our reports on this incident can certainly omit any extraneous information, assuming that we all survive to file them. Is this an acceptable arrangement?"
Giles and Jenny looked at each other, then Giles turned back to Zabuto and replied in a dazed voice, "Yes, it certainly is. . .thank you, Samuel."
Buffy turned and looked at Kendra for a long moment before asking quietly, "Is this going to be all right with you, Kendra? The last time you were in Sunnydale you weren't exactly Angel's biggest booster."
Kendra shrugged and replied, "Angel is back to his old self, and you have ceased the activities that might put his soul in future jeopardy." Buffy flushed for a moment, then relaxed as Kendra continued, "As for Mr. Giles and Ms. Calendar, I have studied the appropriate texts, and they are quite clear: the souls bestowed by the non-curse ritual are permanent unless extraordinary dark magic is called upon to dispel them, and that is a remote risk, to say the least. . .I trust them not to turn evil." The younger Slayer smiled wistfully, then concluded, "Besides, Buffy. . .in spite of your attempts to influence my behavior during my last visit, I am still quite inclined to follow orders. . .if Mr. Zabuto is satisfied as to the bona fides of your friends, I will not question them either."
Buffy smiled back at Kendra and gave her an uninhibited hug, then looked over at Zabuto and smiled gratefully at him: the dark eyes of the Watcher acknowledged the thanks before he looked back at Giles and suggested, "Now that this little matter has been dealt with, shall we get back to work? Time is most definitely not our friend right now."
* * * * *
Eight hours later, they had come up with precisely nothing. Buffy had gone out and hassled Willy the Snitch and a few of his patrons, but for a change Willy was completely in the dark, and he didn't know anyone who might know. He had turned bone white when Buffy gave him a brief description of what would happen if Tanara achieved her purpose, and swore up and down that he would call the library immediately if he heard anything about the Sisterhood of Jhe. A few other sources that Angel had recommended also turned up nothing (though they too were motivated to be helpful when they heard about the impending threat), and Buffy had returned to the library, frustrated and angry.
Research had likewise turned out to be unhelpful. The ritual had to be conducted outdoors, but there were any number of homes in Sunnydale isolated enough to perform such a ritual without undue notice being attracted, and there was nothing stopping Tanara from keeping the rather conspicuous Apocalypse demons out of sight until the ceremony was ready to begin. Sunnydale was a relatively small town, but searching house to house was not going to be practical.
Night had just fallen when the whole group met again in the library to compare notes, and everyone agreed that they had a major problem. "We've done about all we can with research," Giles commented, "and it's just a matter of finding them, then waiting. We'll split up, cover as much of the town as we can and hope that some of the informants that Buffy motivated to help us come through with the location of the Sisterhood."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and they were gathering supplies and preparing to head out when the phone rang loudly in Giles' office. He went in to answer it, and the others were quietly waiting for him to conclude the call when they heard Giles utter a vile curse and snap, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm not in the mood for it! Don't think that just because you're out of this town, I can't send Buffy to hunt you down. . .she'd enjoy it."
Buffy ran over to the office door just in time to see Giles blink and swallow at something he heard at the other end of the line. He leaned down and pressed the "Hold" button on the phone before hanging up the receiver, then walked past Buffy with a stunned expression on his face. Buffy followed closely as Giles walked over to the front desk phone, then hit the speakerphone button and stated flatly: "You're on."
"That's better. . .always nice to talk to the whole gang at once." The voice was accented and sardonic in tone, and sent a chill down the spine of everyone in the room who recognized it. Buffy stared at the phone and spat out the speaker's name like a curse:
"Spike."
. . .to be continued.
As always, comments are welcome and desired.