Chapter Seventeen: Down Under

Gunn pulled his car to a halt and looked at his watch. It was becoming more and more difficult to stay clear of Jasmine's people. Gunn therefore kept on the move as much as possible and trusted nobody, well nobody but Connor.

Jasmine seemed to have some of the cops working for her now. That was why Gunn had changed cars twice in recent days, just in case his car was on any sort of wanted list. He had learnt to look closely at the faces of anybody he met, searching for signs that the person had that diagnostic artificial 'happiness' which seemed to be part of what happened to people when Jasmine took control of them.

Staying away from Angel was the biggest problem. From what Gunn and Connor could tell Angel had been detailed by Jasmine to capture them and seemed to be spending his time on nothing else. He knew all about Gunn and Connor, including the names of their friends and many of their other contacts and he could track them by smell.

Whenever Gunn stopped the car he tried to make sure it was in full sunshine but he knew that once darkness fell Angel wouldn't be far behind. He hoped their plan worked.

Gunn was getting fed up going up against Angel so much lately. It made him realise how truly formidable Angel was. It was easy to write Angel off as the broody guy who didn't get out much but there was nobody in this city, well nobody who was anybody, who didn't take Angel seriously.

Gunn's phone rang twice and then stopped. Thirty seconds later it did the same thing again. Gunn didn't pick it up but he got the message. Everything was in place. He started the car and drove away.

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Willow Rosenberg was happy. The sun was shining, she had a day free of the cares of the world and she had Tara. As she thought this she unconsciously squeezed Tara's hand a little bit tighter. Tara was becoming used to this from Willow but she never said anything. She never would, even if it hurt. She knew Willow too well. She knew that Willow was still terrified of losing her again and truth to tell Tara had a similar fear.

Tara didn't know where people went when they died, that is to say died permanently. Her own memory of the time after she had been killed had now almost faded away but she knew from what had happened to her and to Buffy that something continued on.

Tara didn't know what would happen to Willow when she died, how the rules worked as far as atonement and forgiveness were concerned but she did know that wherever Willow went she would go with her. That didn't make her any the less determined to make sure that that day was postponed for many years to come.

"Here it is," said Willow as they arrived outside the large Wicca store. "You'll love this place." Willow led Tara inside. This was a magic shop to make Anya green with envy. It was far larger, had plenty of customers and, as far as Tara could see, it got away with charging higher prices.

Willow led Tara past the chicken feet, newt eyes and the Halloween masks towards the books shelves at the back. She knew the books they needed. The sooner they got them and did their research the better. Willow was extra motivated to complete the research on forget spells because that way she would have more time with Tara before they had to meet up with the Halliwells again later that day.

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Giles stood waiting for his luggage to come round. He had gotten off the plane at Sydney airport a little while before. Unusually for him he had slept through a lot of the journey and was still thinking about the vivid dream he had been having when he had been woken up to put on his seatbelt for landing.

There's no history of watchers having prophetic dreams he thought. That's just as well because a visit from Tutankhamen, the Wizard of Oz and his aunt Helen was the last thing Sunnydale needed at the moment.

Giles picked up his bag. Just the one suitcase as he did not intend to stay long. In fact he only had one case of things with him in Sunnydale anyway. He looked for the signs for the exit and the taxi rank and began walking.

A half hour later Giles got out of the cab ready to pay the fare when he stopped and looked around him. The driver had taken him to a deserted run down warehouse district of the type that would have been instantly familiar to any resident of Sunnydale. However it most certainly wasn't anywhere near where the taxi driver should have taken him.

"Are you sure..." Giles began as he turned back towards the taxi but was unable to say any more as the driver sped off without being paid. Concluding that the taxi driver was up to something Giles decided that he had better get out of the area as quickly as possible.

Giles had been in Sydney a number of times before and had taken little interest in what he had assumed would be a routine journey to the hotel. In fact he had again been thinking through the events of four years previously, oblivious to his surroundings.

Now Giles went from cursing himself for his blindness four years before to cursing his lack of attention now. He should never have allowed himself to be caught out like this. He was definitely getting soft.

Giles started to walk quickly in the middle of the empty road, keeping close watch to either side and making frequent glances behind him. He headed back the way the taxi had come on the principle that he would be safest back in the residential area of the city, where he could hopefully find another cab.

Two figures came out of a doorway across the road to Giles's right, quickly followed by two more. They immediately began to run towards him. From a distance they looked like men but they didn't act like men. Unlike human chasers there was no calling out, in fact no sound at all. As Giles dropped his case and began to run himself he realised that he was being chased by Bringers.

Giles was a lot fitter than most men of his age. Being responsible for training slayers all these years saw to that. Since the chasers were not super strong Giles felt he had a good chance of staying ahead of them until he found safety. Turning the next corner however placed this belief in serious doubt.

Two more Bringers were coming towards him. While Giles felt he had a sporting chance of dealing with two Bringers he knew he would have no chance of doing so quickly enough to stay clear of the four others that were behind him. He therefore turned right and ran up a set of outside stairs leading up the side of a warehouse.

Giles didn't know where he was going but at least all of the Bringers were now once more behind him. If there was no way out up these stairs at least he should only have to face one or two Bringers at a time coming up from below.

Suddenly Giles felt an agonising pain in his lower back. He had no doubt that he had been hit by a Bringer's knife, thrown by one of the pursuers. Giles staggered and turned, pulling out a handful of coins from his jacket pocket. He managed to hold himself together long enough to throw the coins in the face of the leading Bringer as he came close.

Giles found himself unable to remain on his feet any longer as the leading Bringer stumbled back into the next in line. Giles knew that this was only a brief respite however as he finally lost his hold on consciousness.

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Lilah Morgan put her phone down. Well at least I managed to stop that little plan she thought. Lilah had just received confirmation that her efforts to stop Jasmine broadcasting had been successful. She was under no illusions however. Jasmine wouldn't give up. Having just managed to set up the Wolfram and Hart offices again after the visit of the Beast, Lilah had been doing little else other than trying to slow down Jasmine's progress.

Suddenly the door to her office burst open and there stood Darla with Drusilla following behind. Great, she thought, just what I need. Note to self she mentally added. Look for a new security chief. Dispose of the old security chief.

"If you're looking for your little boy you won't find him here," said Lilah. "Anyway he's not so little any more."

"I'm looking for you," said Darla. "I'm guessing you're not happy at the thought of becoming one of Jasmine's babbling idiots. What are you doing to stop her?"

"Why should I do anything? Why should you?" asked Lilah. "We're all on the side of evil aren't we?"

"Don't give me that crap, you're on your own side, so am I and so is Jasmine," replied Darla. "If Jasmine isn't stopped your cosy little number here as the queen of all evil is over and I'm sure you don't want that."

"If you're looking for a job..." began Lilah but she didn't finish because the impatient Darla changed to vampire face, quickly crossed the room and slapped Lilah hard, knocking her onto the floor.

"I'm not going to ask again. What..." Now it was Darla's turn to be interrupted as she was flung across the room against the wall. As Lilah got back to her feet she saw that Drusilla had been knocked unconscious and Darla was being held up against the wall by the neck.

"OK, let her go," Lilah ordered and watched as Darla massaged her throat. She didn't need air to breath but she needed to clear her throat before speaking.

"So who's she?" Darla asked looking at her assailant. "What is she? She's as strong as a slayer."

"Darla, meet Eve," said Lilah. "Eve's a...well let's say Eve's a weapon. I just don't know where to aim her yet."

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"I've got them," said Fred from her seat at the computer.

"Got what?" asked Dawn looking up from her book.

"My professor's notes," replied Fred. "I asked my friend Sara to send me everything on the professor's work on dimensional portals. It's just come through."

"Will that do it then?" asked Kennedy. "Can we stop with the books because this really isn't fun."

"Hey you volunteered," protested Dawn. First Buffy, then Faith, now Kennedy. Was there something about slayers and research she wondered.

"That was to give me a break from being chief prefect in the girls' school," said Kennedy.

"In answer to your question no," said Fred. "This'll help me to find and activate dimensional portals but we still need to find out which dimension Glory comes from. Besides I've got a lot of work to do before I can use all this. The professor's notes aren't exactly the ABC of inter-dimensional travel."

At that moment Kennedy's cellphone rang. She picked it up to find that Buffy was reminding her she was late. "Gotta go," said Kennedy. "With Faith and Gwen out of town I'm up for vampire patrol."

"I thought Buffy was looking after the potentials at the moment?" said Fred.

"Only the training around the house," said Kennedy with a smirk. "There's no way Buffy's gonna be away from her darling little sister whilst Glory's out there."

Dawn made a face at the departing Kennedy and went back to her book. The sooner Giles, Willow and Tara get back the better she thought. They probably already know what I'm trying to find out.

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Gunn looked at his watch for the tenth time in the past ten minutes. At last! It was time. He got out of his car and walked over to the nearby alleyway in the gathering gloom. As he did so he could feel somebody watching him or at least that's what he thought. Just imagination he told himself because as far as he knew he had no mystic or magical powers. Anyway he knew very well he was being watched. That's what this was all about. He was the cheese in the trap.

Gunn continued on down the alley to the end and banged on the door. As he did so he heard something and quickly turned round. Behind him stood Angel. He realised the noise was deliberate because Angel could move silently when he wanted to. Being ready for some sort of confrontation Gunn already had a wooden stake in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other.

"Two hundred years of experience and you think that'll stop me?" asked Angel smiling. This was another different Angel realised Gunn. How many more? We've had normal broody Angel, very broody Angel and Angelus. This was different again, this was happy Angel and the smile was a smile of contentment not the sadistic smile of Angelus.

Good job Willow left the 'perfect happiness' clause out of the last curse thought Gunn because Jasmine's got him thinking every day's Christmas Day.

"Well maybe it will and maybe it won't," said Gunn, "but you're not gonna be quite so happy when we've finished, that I promise you."

"You're wasting your time," said Angel. "He's not coming. Your plan to distract me while Connor takes me out's not gonna work. I got Connor an hour ago. Lorne's taking him to Jasmine. You don't need to fight. Just come with me and I promise you'll never regret it."

It was a quiet sound, a barely discernable movement of air but Angel heard it and as always moved inhumanly fast to turn and dodge aside. He wasn't fast enough however. The missile was thrown with superhuman force and homed into Angel's chest by changing direction at the last minute to compensate for his dodge. Even so Angel managed to get his hand in the way to protect his chest.

The missile looked like a wooden stake so as soon as he intercepted it with his hand Angel knew it couldn't kill him however painful it was. The missile only looked like a wooden stake however. It was something else entirely and was disguised as a stake in order to hide its real nature. As it hit Angel's hand the 'stake' burst with a small pop and spread in all directions.

With his back to the alley wall to enable him to see Gunn as well as try to see his unknown enemy Angel frantically tried to brush off the spreading substance but with no success whatever. Inside a few seconds it had completely cocooned him. Angel had no need of air so the cutting off of his air supply was no problem but something about the device was designed to incapacitate a vampire. Once the cocoon was complete Angel fell to the ground unconscious.

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Jasmine, back at the hotel found herself unable to see any more through Angel's eyes. She didn't know who Angel's new attackers were but she could see that they had at least one magic user of unknown ability. They probably knew about Jasmine's ability to see through the eyes of her followers which was why they had remained out of sight.

Jasmine went downstairs and spoke to Wesley. She quickly briefed him about what had happened. "Next time we see Angel he may not be our friend any more," she explained. "Take no chances, maximum security. When Angel shows up, kill him."

"If it's Willow come back, you'll be up against strong magic," he said.

"Willow?" asked Jasmine and listened intently as Wesley told her all he knew about Willow and Tara and the magic sisters they had been working with.

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Back in the Alleyway several figures walked down the alley towards Gunn. He was relieved to see that one was Connor and he had an unconscious Lorne over his shoulder. Connor reached the end of the alley and put Lorne down alongside Angel.

The rest of the party was all female. "Cordy!" he greeted the first one he recognised and then recognised Faith and Gwen as they came closer in the gloom.

"Hi Gunn, this is Amy, Amy Madison," said Cordelia introducing the fourth woman to him. "She's an old school friend from Sunnydale and she's here to help with the magic."

"That thing was yours?" asked Gunn. Amy nodded in reply. "That's pretty cool. You must be one powerful witch."

Here we go again thought Gwen sourly. Charles Gunn, new girl, same old story.

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Giles came awake suddenly. He started to get off the bed before he remembered and began to wonder. He sat on the side of the bed and felt his back. Nothing, no pain, no damage and, as far as he could feel not even a hole in his shirt, assuming it was the same shirt.

Giles stood up and went over to the mirror. He was in a hotel room and he'd been lying asleep fully clothed on the bed. The suitcase that he had dropped when running from the Bringers was in the room with him.

Giles looked in the mirror and could see that he needed a shave. Obviously a few hours had passed since he was attacked but not a whole day. He looked at his watch. It was about ten hours since he had gotten off the plane.

Giles stretched and then stripped off his shirt. He used the mirror to confirm no damage at all. Either his memory was faulty or he had been healed. But by whom? Then he remembered. That is he remembered the last time he had been healed, not what had happened this time. Tara, who now called herself a Whitelighter, could have done this and she could have orbed him to this room. "Tara?" Giles said aloud but there was no reply.

A check with hotel reception confirmed that this was the hotel that he had booked and where he had intended to go after leaving the airport. "Are you feeling better now?" asked the clerk on the phone.

"Better?" asked Giles.

"Yes, your wife said you weren't feeling too good and would sleep for a while," explained the clerk.

"My wife?" asked Giles puzzled.

"Yeah, you know, beautiful American lady, long dark hair, really nice."

"Uh, sorry, I'm still a little out of it. But I'm fine. I'm OK, thank you."

Giles put the phone down. Long dark hair, that didn't sound like Tara. Who? Giles broke off his train of thought as he heard the key being turned in the door lock.

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"It's no good, it's not working," said Prue from her position in the centre of the circle. "I get so far and then it all unravels."

"I was sure we had the spell right," said Willow sounding apologetic. Willow, like the other witches present, was sat cross-legged in a circle surrounding Prue.

Tara moved to put her arm around Willow and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "We do have it right," she said. "We all agreed."

"The mixtures are all OK," said Piper. "I did them myself."

"And I helped," added Paige. "We followed the directions exactly. We know things go wrong if you don't."

"Perhaps it's a matter of power, we just don't have enough power," suggested Tara.

"With the Power of Four plus you two," said Phoebe. "I don't think so."

"OK," said Prue. "Let's not squabble. I don't think it's the spell, I don't think it's the potions and I don't think it's the power."

The other five women looked at Prue expectantly, waiting for her explanation.

"When we were doing the chanting I felt resistance," she explained. There is at least one, maybe more strong sources of power in the world, in this part of the world, that are getting in the way."

"Glory," suggested Willow. Tara had told her and the Halliwells about the return of Glory. "I bet she's trying to stop us."

"I don't know if somebody was actually trying to stop us," said Prue, "so much as getting in our way just by being here, in our world."

At that moment Leo orbed in to join the witches in the Halliwell attic. "We've got trouble," he said.