Hey got my first mean review today, it was quite interesting actually. Go read
it, I quite like it.
Genesis – if you don't like my fic, then
don't read it. Sorry if I've botched it for you and you are losing interest,
but frankly I don't care.
Anyway thanks to:
Wllw979 – yeah I like Faith and Buffy too. And I see what you mean about the forgiveness, maybe it was a little quick but I'm thinking that being with Sirius might have mellowed Buffy a bit. And the fact that in this instance Faith hadn't done as much to Buffy, whereas in the show she had tried to kill her mom, slept with Riley and stolen Buffy's body. Also I wanted to move the story along quickly!
Sierra-Falls- glad you killed it, yes that's what I was going with for Grey, a bit of Snape, a bit of Quentin Travers maybe and a few other influences.
ScruffyWes – yes England should be in about three more chapters I'm thinking. Though I make no promises.
Becks89 – thanks for the review and the update, great chapter btw, I'm about to go review it!
Christiana – yeah I will be developing the Buffy and Sirius relationship more. Harry Potter will be when all the Sunnydale stuff is wrapped up, as I said in about three more chapters.
Tiger Tiger2 – Yes that would be nice but I haven't got any plans for Spike in this story at the moment. Sorry.
Alexandra the Half-Wolf – glad you like it still, don't worry they'll be back in England soon. Loads of people are asking for that!
Chapter 27 – Checking out the opposition
Buff, Faith
and Sirius returned to Giles' home, both Faith and Buffy fuming at the way they
had been treated by Commander Grey. Giles managed to calm them enough to get
the names that the Commander had given them and then they set to work
researching the other three, mostly through accounts of the vampire's actions.
Sirius and Buffy took Antoinette, Xander, Oz and Willow looked into Vlad and
Faith and Giles researched Henry. Anya simply sat on the sofa filing her nails
and throwing out useless demon gossip when she felt like it.
"Okay so what have we got?" Buffy said a
few hours later. She munched on a cookie that Giles had got out for them.
"Well Vlad's gonna be a tricky one,"
Xander said, also eating cookie and spraying crumbs on Willow opposite him.
"He's the youngest, killed a vampire called Francis to get his position. Worked
his way up through the Cult, no noble blood like the others, he was a peasant
during the Industrial revolution so he's pretty young. It's rumoured he once
had a thing with Drusilla." Buffy raised her eyebrows and Willow continued.
"He's into eating women mostly," Willow
said, scanning a book in front of her. "So he's gonna love you guys. He's vicious,
not much reason in his kills, pretty much kills what he sees." Buffy and Faith
nodded and Sirius continued.
"We did Antoinette," he started. "She's
an old noble woman, sired by Mary about three hundred years ago. They are
close, like to hunt together. Twisted like all the others, likes to kill people
and leave the corpses for other people to find. Got an account here from a monk
in 1740 who found his monastery all dead, seated in the pews with their eyes
open. Kind of hard to understand since he went mad after that." Buffy took over
with her part of the research.
"She's French," she continued, "Hates
America, thinks it's uncultured. Has a slayer complex, she's the only one who's
never killed one and she's looking to catch up."
She looked
up at Giles and faith.
"Okay so what are we looking at for the
first?" she asked tiredly. "Don't sugar coat it.
"I'm not sure that we could sugar coat
this," Giles said apologetically. "Henry, born of his father, also called Henry
in England in approximately 1170. Sired at the age of 25, when he was just
about to take up his father's position. Worked his way up the Cult, killed the
previous leader, a Viking known as Erik to get where he did. Therefore he's
about eight hundred years old."
"This guy is wicked fast," Faith
continued. "Never lost a battle, killed five slayers in his time. Powerful,
strong, has that mind control thing down. Basically unbeatable. Plus it said he
went to Durmstrang, dunno what that is but the writer seemed pretty in awe of
that." The only one who didn't look non-plussed was Sirius.
"Dark Wizarding School," he explained. "Old
and pretty elite, my family wanted me to go there. They reckon that they
actually teach them the dark arts there, instead of teaching them how to defend
against them."
"Then this guy has magic as well," Buffy
said with a sigh. "This is gonna be tough."
Buffy and
Sirius headed to Willy's shortly, as Buffy wanted to know where they were going
to find the Antichrist.
"If it isn't my favourite slayer," Willy
greeted her as she entered. "The other one's not around is she?" Sirius eyed
Buffy and she shrugged.
"What can I get you?" Willy said,
polishing a glass. "A couple of Polgara demon eyeballs? Or just a nice frosty
glass of blood?"
"Just some information," Buffy said. "Cult of the Antichrist. Any idea where they're staying while they're in town?"
"Oh yeah, I heard those guys had come to
town," Willy said vaguely. "Well you know me; I don't like to say much." Buffy
grabbed his throat and pulled him over the bar.
"How about now?" she said sweetly.
"Alright, alright," he pulled out of her
grasp and smoothed his shirt. "Heard from a couple of vampires, not members
mind you, that they're staying up at the old mansion, you know, where Angel
lived. Rumour has it they've done it up pretty nice, those high members like to
live in style." He walked back round the bar and Buffy nodded, having got what
she came for. She and Sirius were just about to leave when Sirius grabbed her
arm to stop her.
"What's that?" Sirius said pointing to
something on a shelf behind Willy.
"What the bottle?" Willy asked. "Well,
it's a little concoction that some of the customers like, I call it a Willy
special. You take some kitten tail juice and then-"
"Not that," Sirius cut in impatiently. "That
stick in front of it."
"Oh this?" Willy said picking it up.
"Some guy gave it to my grandfather a long time ago when he owned this bar.
Said he'd never had better Firewhisky. It's kind of a family heirloom."
"Can I see it?" Sirius asked urgently
and Buffy was curious too.
"Be careful with it," Willy warned handing it over. "It's special to me." Sirius held it and examined it closely, looking at the full length of it detail. He brandished it, waved it and said 'avis.' A flock of small twittering birds came of the end of the wand and vanished after a few seconds.
"Well, I never knew it could do that," Willy
said in surprise. "And in all the years I've had it as well." Sirius was
excited; it had been a long time since he'd used a wand and it felt good to use
his magic again.
"I want to buy this off of you," he said
to Willy. "I'll pay anything."
"No can do," Willy replied, shaking his
head. "That's priceless; you can't buy memories like that."
"Well can I at least borrow it?" Sirius said
desperately. "You can have it back before I leave Sunnydale. I'll pay you. It won't get damaged, I promise." Willy was
wavering, so Sirius pulled out a handful of galleons from his pocket.
"Alright," Willy said, grabbing the
galleons from his hand. "But I want it back. I've got some nasty friends."
Sirius thanked him and he and Buffy walked out of the bar.
"Good Luck Slayer," Willy called after
them. "You're sure gonna need it!"
Sirius and
Buffy returned to Giles, both slightly more optimistic now they had the use of
magic. They showed the others what the wand could do, including a demonstration
of stunning performed by Sirius and Xander.
"Just stand in front of the pile of
cushions," Sirius instructed and Xander obeyed. Sirius lifted the wand.
"Stupefy," he said and a bolt of red
light flew out of the wand tip and hit Xander who went stiff as a board and
keeled over backwards, missing the cushion pile completely.
"Oh my god, you killed him!" Willow
exclaimed, rushing forward to try and feel for a pulse.
"He's not dead," Sirius said laughing.
"Enervate." Xander regained consciousness and sat up, blinking dazedly and
rubbing his back.
"Ouch," he murmured. "Does it always
hurt that much?"
"Only when you miss the cushions," Buffy
teased. Willow helped Xander up.
"That should be great," Buffy said
delightedly. "If you can do that magicky thing, then me and Faith can stake the
vamps."
"I can probably to some other stuff
too," Sirius said thoughtfully. "I can shot flames at them, which would work
too right? Plus other things like the impedimenta jinx which would slow them
down and some other jinxes. Maybe diffindo to cut off their heads. But I can't
do the unforgivables; I'd have the Improper Use of Magic Office, swooping down
on me, plus loads of Aurors…." The only one who had some idea of what Sirius
was talking about was Buffy and they all stared at him blankly.
"Anyway," Faith said. "When are we going to move in, take some action?"
"I don't think we can just walk in there,"
Giles said. "We need to see the place first, investigate what we're facing, see
what kind of numbers there are."
Buffy nodded.
"So what are we waiting for?" faith
asked, jumping up. "Daylight's here that can be enough protection, let's go."
Giles and Anya remained at Giles' home, continuing research, while the rest
headed up towards the old mansion. The mansion held a lot of memories, for both
Faith and Buffy, and a lot of pain. They exchanged awkward glances as it came
into sight, but continued walking up. They entered the courtyard through a side
entrance, careful to keep out of sight and one by one they lined up beneath the
window, so they could hear what was going on inside and see just about.
Sunlight shone down on their backs so they weren't worried about the risk of
getting attacked.
Inside, there was apparently a meeting going on. The vampires all stood in the
room, numbering over fifty and on a platform sat four vampires, one of which
Buffy, Sirius and Faith recognised to be Mary. Also on the platform stood a
tall, broad shouldered man that they took to be Henry. He was very tall, had
black hair that was neatly trimmed and dark eyes that looked almost black.
Power simply radiated off of him and they could all see a certain degree of
fear in the eyes of the watching vampires, and even those on stage.
The room had been transformed; they really did like to live in style. Thick
rugs lay on the floor, and tapestries hung from the walls. Along one of the
walls, however, was chained four human, all apparently just about alive and
sporting a variety of bite marks and what looked like torture wounds.
There was a
clear hierarchy in the room, the five on stage were clearly the most powerful,
and both Buffy and Faith had never seen more formidable looking vampires. In
the audience the first few rows of vampires were taller and stronger looking
than those behind them, clearly divided into the second and third levels. Henry
on the platform was speaking, a wand hung at his waist which Sirius noticed,
and they all listened:
"The hell mouth provides the perfect
opportunity for us," Henry said, gesturing with broad, muscled arms. "The
darkness here is calling to our Order to rise up and rid the world of these
filthy soldiers. I want to taste slayer blood again, feel it running through my
veins. Here is our chance to vanquish the armies of the Church once and for all
and to build our future as leaders of this world!" The room erupted in cheers
and yelling and all of the Scoobies felt a distinct cult vibe from them, this
man had truly inspired them to feel, to believe in his words. Henry spread his
arms to Mary and she stood up.
"I have seen the slayers," she said
imperiously and the room fell silent. "There are two of them, girls, children.
They will put up no fight. Soon we shall drink deep from their bodies and their
power shall fill us." The room once again filled with the noise of cheering and
one by one the Scoobies crept out of the courtyard.
"There's too many for you guys," Buffy
protested. "Way too many."
"I think we can take them," Xander
argued. "If you can handle the five big guys, then we can take the rest." Buffy
sighed.
"Look we'll discuss this later," she
said. "We've got to patrol. I don't want these guys getting any more followers
than they've already got." Faith, Sirius and Buffy headed out of the door.
"Two days
until Christmas then," Sirius said conversationally as they crossed the
graveyard that had become so familiar lately.
"Yeah, I wanna get all this wrapped up
before that happens," Buffy said firmly. "I promised mom we'd have a family Christmas."
They walked across and then stopped when they reached the crypt that had long
before held the route to the master's underground home.
"You hear something?" Faith asked Buffy who
had stopped them.
"Maybe," she said, still listening. "Or
just my slayer sense tingling." She crept up to the door and listened, then
pushed it open sharply. A rat ran out of the door, running past Buffy's ankles.
She laughed, relieved.
"Just a bit jumpy I guess," she said, grinning.
"Not wizout reason," a heavily accented
voice said and they all turned. One of the five top vampires stood before them,
a woman that they didn't recognise.
"Antoinette, I suppose," Buffy said
tensely. The woman smiled, her game face already on and her pearly fangs
glinting in the moonlight.
"Zat would be correct," she replied.
"We heard about you," Faith said boredly.
"I suppose you're planning to kill us, drink our blood and all that jazz."
Antoinette narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, well I have some catching up to do I think," she replied. She leapt into action and so did Buffy and Faith, kicking, punching and generally blocking what was thrown at them. Sirius held his wand pointed at them but at the time they were moving so fast that he couldn't guarantee hitting Antoinette by firing a curse. He watched helpless as Buffy was thrown against the stone wall of the crypt and Faith continued to fight.
She was
also thrown off and he took his chance to fire some blue flames at Antoinette.
Her left sleeve caught fire and she screamed and threw herself on the ground to
put out the flames. Sirius fired a stunner at her but she rolled and he missed.
She jumped up and picked him up by the throat throwing him backwards, against
the crypt. He was winded and his back felt tender but he climbed up unsteadily.
Antoinette growled at him and ran towards him but he transformed into his dog
formed and ran forward and bit her leg. He shook it incessantly and broke the
skin. She kicked him off but the distraction gave Faith and Buffy the opportunity
to attack her again. They caught her off guard, punching her to the ground, but
once down she kicked out Buffy's legs from under her.
Faith pinned her, and Buffy, from her vantage point on the ground, pulled out
the axe Giles had given her and severed Antoinette's neck in one chop. She
crumbled into dust and the slayers lay on the ground, exhausted. Sirius
stumbled over and collapsed next to them.
"You okay
honey?" Buffy asked, out of breath.
"Yeah," Sirius murmured, feeling his
ribs tenderly.
Before they could make any move to get up, they were surrounded once again. Too exhausted to bother, Buffy, Sirius and Faith just remained on the ground as the soldiers in their black fatigues surrounded them. Commander Grey stood over them, looking down in disgust at their lack of effort to get up.
"Stand up," he barked and Faith laughed out
loud. Buffy however struggled to her feet.
"Have we proved ourselves to you now?"
she said, squaring up to Grey. "Did you see what we just did? Are we still a
couple of stupid little girls?" Grey remained silent, staring Buffy in the
eyes.
"I was impressed by your work," Grey said finally
and Buffy couldn't stop her jaw from dropping.
"Didn't expect that," she said with a
grin and she could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile on Grey's
face.
"I'll level with you," he said, still
grave. "This army hasn't a lot of faith in slayers. Over the years we've seen a
lot of failures, and frankly we lost our belief in their power. But what we've
just witnessed has just changed our perception. I think we should join forces."
Buffy's jaw dropped further.
"I have just seen three of you take out one of
the Cult leaders." Grey continued. "In all the years of our organisation, a
leader has never been killed by less than ten warriors, and never without any
casualties." Faith stood up now.
"Can I just have a word with my girl for
a second?" she said to the Commander and dragged Buffy out of the circle and
out of earshot. Sirius left alone in the circle, stood up awkwardly and stood
in the circle uncomfortably, grinning at the Commander but stopping when he saw
his stern face.
"You look familiar," Grey barked.
"Oh, I just have one of those faces,"
Sirius said with a weak smile.
"You aren't seriously considering
collaborating with this guy are you?" Faith said furiously to Buffy.
"We don't
have many choices," Buffy said. "Despite what Xander says, there's no way they
can hold off the second level guys while we battle the big guys, but with these
numbers we can."
"But we can't trust that guy," Faith
argued. "He would stab us in the back in a second B."
"I know that," Buffy insisted. "But we
need him and he needs us. Without some slayer power he's got no chance of
taking out the top level and you can see that he's dying to do that." Faith
looked at her critically for a few moments and then nodded.
"Okay I'm in," she said finally. "But
keep your eye on this guy, B. I don't trust him. They re-entered the circle,
where Sirius was extremely pleased to see them.
"We're in," Faith said and Buffy nodded in
agreement.
"But this needs to be done before Christmas,"
Buffy warned grey. "Because I promised my mom a family Christmas and I intend
to keep my promise."
"Fine," Grey replied. "Tomorrow then.
Night time, less civilian danger and we can take the fight outside. Meet here
at nine. Don't be late."
*****
I think this is the longest chapter in the world. Well maybe just the longest chapter I've ever written. But please read and then review. It only takes a second!