Chapter Eighteen: Wildlife
Buffy, Xander, Anya and Fred were treating themselves to a late breakfast at Castle Buffy after the departure of the throng of potentials. Kennedy had taken the potentials out early, on an out of town trek as part of her training plan. Dawn had managed to get out of it by pointing out it was a school day.
Buffy had been in two minds when Kennedy had suggested the trek. On the one hand she agreed that the potentials couldn't just stay besieged in the house indefinitely. On the other she was worried about what Glory might do. Unlike the demons and vampires Glory had no problem moving about during the day time. However on discussion she was persuaded to agree to the trip.
Although Buffy had decided to take a day off work in order to be on call in case anything happened Dawn had persuaded her to let her go to school. This was the first time Dawn had been any distance away from Buffy since they knew about Glory's return. Glory had made no further move since the meeting and Buffy had realised that Dawn was not happy about her sister's close attention over the past few days.
Faith had spoken to Buffy on the phone the previous night to report success in capturing Angel and Lorne but no success in finding a way to break Jasmine's thrall. Everybody thought it likely that the thrall would not be broken until Jasmine had departed from the world one way or another.
Anya had now moved into the new house. Without her demon powers she no longer felt safe in her old apartment. Xander still continued with his work but had taken a few days off to help out while so many others were away.
After breakfast the gang trouped into the front room. "I think I know where the most likely sites for portals are around here," began Fred picking up a folder of papers from the nearby cabinet. "There's a whole cluster of places that qualify downtown." With that she unfolded a town map and showed the others the places she had marked.
"They're all within spitting distance of the Hellmouth," pointed out Xander. "Is that a coincidence?"
"When you open one of these portals can things come out as well as go in?" asked Buffy.
Fred nodded. "Yeah, that's they way they work," she said. "If they didn't we'd never have got back from Pylea."
"In that case try to find somewhere else well away from the Hellmouth," said Buffy. "I don't want to take any chances. That sort of magic near the Hellmouth might open up more than we want opened."
"Um, it's not exactly magic..." began Fred quietly. She broke off when she saw the sceptical looks from Buffy, Xander and Anya. "But I suppose it amounts to pretty much the same thing. OK, I'll keep looking."
At that moment further discussion was broken off as Tara, with her arms around Willow, orbed into the room.
Willow and Tara explained about their lack of success in getting the forget spell done. "We've got to get rid of Glory before we try again," said Willow.
"And we have to wait for the Halliwells to get back as well," added Tara. She explained that Leo had taken the Charmed Ones away to deal with a new crisis.
"That would be Jasmine in LA I suppose," said Anya.
"LA? Oh no, I think they had to go to Europe," said Tara.
"Who's Jasmine?" asked Willow.
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Giles tensed as the door opened. He could see it was a woman carrying two bags of shopping in her arms. The woman turned before he could see her face and kicked the door shut. As she turned back to put the bags on the dressing table Giles finally recognised her.
It was probably the last person he expected to see. "Jenny? Is that really you Jenny? Are you one of these Whitelighters as well?" he asked.
Jenny smiled. "Ooh, very fast Rupert. That big brain's still working at top speed I see. Yes it's really me and yes I am 'one of those Whitelighters as well'."
Giles sat down on the bed. He shouldn't have been so stunned he knew, after all Buffy came back, Tara came back...
"Doesn't anybody stay dead any more?" he asked, more to himself than to Jenny.
"Well nice to see you too," said Jenny who was stung by this reaction and turned to go.
Giles moved fast, very fast as he reached the door before she did. It was only later that he realised she didn't need to use the door to leave. "I'm sorry," he said. "This is such a surprise, such a wonderful surprise, and I'm glad you're here, very glad."
"Yeah, well good job for you I was keeping an eye on you," said Jenny turning away from him.
"So why are you here, I mean why now," asked Giles. "Couldn't you have, you know couldn't you have come to see us, come to see me, before now?"
"Doesn't work that way Rupert," replied Jenny. "I've been keeping an eye on Sunnydale from time to time but I'm not a free agent. I obey orders from those who know more about what's going on than I do. Until now it would have caused more harm than good for me to let you know I was still around."
"I don't really see..." began Giles.
"Quite honesty nor do I," said Jenny, "but I trust the people making the decisions. They've just given me the green light to let you see me. I suppose now that you know all about Whitelighters they figure it can't do any harm."
Giles walked forward and put his arms around Jenny. She responded by kissing him but then quickly broke away. "Let's take it slowly," she said. "I don't know if I'll be around much after this business is over. Let's just get to know each other all over again shall we?"
"This business?" asked Giles.
"Yeah, you know: The First Evil, Glory, Jasmine, all that." explained Jenny.
"Jasmine? Glory!" queried Giles, alarmed.
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All of Kennedy's training as a potential slayer had been to prepare her for a life as a lone warrior. Nothing had been said about leading, or rather helping to lead, an army of potential slayers and she'd had no leadership training as a potential or a slayer. She felt like the teacher of a new subject who bones up overnight to keep one step ahead of the pupils she teaches.
At present Kenney was finishing her lunch in the middle of a pleasant woodland setting. She had nearly finished when her cellphone rang. It was Vi. "We're ready," said the potential who Kennedy had appointed to lead the first squad.
Kennedy acknowledged Vi's message, put the phone away and stood up. She waved her arm towards Rona to signal her to move out with the second squad. She then sat down again to wait for another ten minutes before following herself.
A half hour later Rona led her squad through the woods, alert to catch the slightest unusual sound, her eyes closely following Ingrid who was acting as the scout. Abruptly Ingrid fell and disappeared from view. Rona immediately rushed forward only to trip over a rope across the path. She managed to roll with the fall however and found herself engaged in combat with Molly and Isabella.
Kennedy looked down on the fight from high up in a nearby tree. Neither group was gaining the upper hand, which was the way she wanted it. This wasn't really a competition so much as an opportunity to let off steam. She had done her best to make the two groups as equal as possible in fighting ability and experience.
Out of the corner of her eye Kennedy caught sight of a sudden movement away from the main action. She gasped as she realised what it was and quickly dropped out of the tree.
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"Transylvania! You've brought us to Transylvania?" said Piper. "That's where Dracula comes from isn't it?"
"Isn't this something the Vampire Slayer should be dealing with?" asked Paige.
"I don't think this is anything to do with vampires," said Leo. "It's just this is where you need to be to deal with what's gonna happen."
"Dracula's a work of fiction," said Prue, "partly based on the life of Vlad the Impaler. He's not real."
"Oh no, he's real all right," said Leo. "A very slippery customer that one. But he doesn't spend much time in Transylvania these days. We probably won't meet him."
"Only probably won't meet him?" queried Piper looking suspiciously around.
"Oh, I don't know," said Paige. "It might be romantic to meet the real Dracula."
"You can ask Willow about Dracula the next time you see her," said Leo. "I believe she and the slayer met Dracula a couple of years ago."
"And he survived?" queried Paige. "You're right, he must be a very slippery customer."
"If it's our business to deal with whatever this is all about then why haven't I...?" began Phoebe who broke off as the vision hit her.
Having seen the vision Phoebe just had to sit down on the ground. She had turned pale and her sisters gathered round in concern.
"What is it Pheebs?" asked Prue.
Phoebe swallowed and then explained.
"A meteor?" asked Piper. "That's not demonic is it? How come that's our business?"
"Um, because we'll be killed along with everybody else if it hits?" suggested Paige.
"How big is it Phoebe?" asked Prue, "any idea?"
"I dunno," said Phoebe, "pretty big. From what I saw it'll destroy the world if it hits, or a large part of it anyway."
"Perhaps we should go into the observatory and find out," suggested Piper sarcastically.
"Observatory?" queried Phoebe looking up.
"Yeah, the one Leo's just oh so coincidentally brought us to," said Piper looking at her husband.
Leo held up his hands. "Hey, I didn't know about the meteor. I was just told to bring you here."
"OK, an observatory," said Paige, "but why an observatory in Transylvania?
"Perhaps they're the first ones to spot the meteor," said Prue. "Different observatories look at different parts of the sky. Let's go inside."
"Anybody speak Transylvanian?" asked Piper.
"Rumanian," corrected Prue walking towards the observatory.
"I knew that," said Piper unconvincingly as she followed Prue.
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Dawn Summers walked along the corridor of the school towards the Principal's office. Up until recently she would have been worried to be called out of class this way but now that she knew Principal Wood, in fact had been with him when they had been in the team together battling evil, such mundane worries seemed too petty to worry about. Since she couldn't think of anything she'd done wrong lately she assumed Wood had a message for Buffy or something like that.
The Principal's secretary was not at her desk so Dawn knocked on the Principal's door and went in when she heard Wood call enter. On entering the room she found that the Principal was not alone. Sat in a chair opposite his desk was an elderly woman.
"Ah Dawn," said Principal Wood. "There's somebody here to see you. I believe you haven't met for some time."
"Grandma?" queried Dawn. "What are you doing here? Is there something wrong?"
"Wrong?" answered Grandma Summers standing up. "Does there have to be something wrong for me to visit my granddaughters? Well it's wrong that I've not seen you and Buffy for a long time but I only came to the school because the house is closed up. I didn't know you'd moved."
Dawn went forward and kissed her grandmother on the cheek.
"Goodness," said Grandma Summers looking up at Dawn, "haven't you grown!"
"You'd better take the rest of the day off Dawn," said Principal Wood. "Show your grandmother your new home."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here when your mother died," said Grandma Summers as they left the school.
"That's OK grandma," said Dawn. "Are you feeling alright now?"
"I'm fine," said Grandma Summers. "Tell me everything that's been happening with you and Buffy."
"Everything?" replied Dawn doubtfully.
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Wesley Wyndham-Pryce finished his security check of the hotel and went into the office. All was in order. All the guards were in place, suitably armed and as ready as he could make them. There should be no repetition of the visit by Darla and Drusilla. Everything was in order and ready for Jasmine's move the next day.
The plan was simple: If the networks were stopped from coming to Jasmine she would go to them. Jasmine arriving at the news studios would be irresistible. That would take care of any opposition because after her broadcast things would move very quickly all around the world.
At present Jasmine was meeting a group of people upstairs and gathering her strength for the next day. For some reason the number of visitors had been tailing off and Wesley took this to be indicative of the actions of Jasmine's evil enemies. Well they may think they are being very clever he thought but it'll do them no good.
A loud roar shook the building and the window shattered. Wesley staggered then steadied himself by holding onto the desk. Somebody had let off a bomb near the front of the building. Wesley was in no doubt that this was an attack from the forces of evil. He grabbed his cellphone and barked orders into it at the same time rushing out of the office.
Upstairs the explosion awoke Jasmine. She had been having a nap after eating but was now fully awake. She stood up smiling, confident in her power and in her ability to convert anybody who attacked her into a devoted supporter. Before leaving the room she looked through the eyes of her guards in and around the hotel.
Wesley arrived outside the front of the hotel to see surprisingly little damage. Whilst a few windows had been broken there was no steaming crater and no pile of bodies lying around. Keeping low in case of snipers or other missile attack he hurried over to his nearest lieutenant, a policeman named George.
"Haven't seen anybody yet," said George. "Far as I can tell we've not had any casualties."
"What are they waiting...it's a diversion," said Wesley. "Come with me." Wesley rushed back to the front door of the hotel and into the entrance but suddenly bounced off an invisible barrier. It was as if he was an uninvited vampire trying to enter a private house. He was unable to enter and neither was George.
"Is it working?" asked Eve who was sitting in a car over the road in a side turning opposite the hotel, watching the action.
"Well I can see Wesley and he can't get back into the hotel," replied Lilah from the seat beside her. She kept looking through her binoculars. "So it's blocked off at the moment. We won't know if it's gonna work until Jasmine cuts loose. Be ready to get out of here quick."
From a roof nearby Faith and Cordelia were also watching. They had arrived to scout the area and had witnessed the explosion. Now they could see that there was no further visible attack but the guards on the outside of the building were frantically, but unsuccessfully trying to get back inside.
"What do you think's going on?" asked Faith. "Who's attacking the hotel?"
"Somebody with magical backup," said Cordelia. "It's not us so that leaves Willow's friends..."
"The sisters in San Francisco?" asked Faith.
"...or Wolfram and Hart," finished Cordelia. "I'm betting Wolfram and Hart because I can't see those witches using a bomb."
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Kennedy ran through the woods. She thought she could just get there in time and she was right. She arrived in the small woodland clearing just as the bear began to charge. It had homed in on the nearest potential who just happened to be Colleen. Colleen screamed as she saw the bear but at least she had the presence of mind to turn and run at the same time.
The bear of course was much faster than the potential and was only five paces away from her when it was hit by Kennedy who launched herself feet first at the bear's head. Kennedy was travelling at speed and knew how to deliver a brutal kick but the bear rode the blow. One thing Kennedy did not have was mass. Her 100 pounds, colliding with the 600 pound grizzly caused more surprise than damage and the animal remained on its feet.
Surprise turned out to be good for Kennedy because the confused bear stopped its pursuit of Colleen and backed away a few yards to assess what was going on and what was attacking it. Kennedy was now back on her feet and was not backing away.
She leapt in the air and screamed, hoping to get the animal to run away. Picking up on this quickly Colleen together with Rona, Molly and Isabelle, who were nearby and had rushed into the clearing, also began screaming and waving their arms.
The bear shook its head, reared up on its hind legs and roared. "Don't throw or fire anything at it unless you really have to," shouted Kennedy. A wounded bear is the last thing we want she thought.
Kennedy now held a knife in her right hand and knew she'd have to throw it if the bear charged at her and be prepared to move quickly to keep out of its way. With that jaw and those claws she knew she couldn't let it get too close. She'd have to hit the bear's brain with her throw to stop it. She figured that if she threw the knife hard enough and hit somewhere between the eyes that should do it.
The bear couldn't seem to make up its mind. It dropped back to all fours and backed away a few yards only to shuffle forward again and roar once more. Kennedy had no doubt that if she turned away she would have the bear right behind her. It was her aggression that was so far keeping the bear at bay. She decided to make the next move and moved forward slowly, screaming once again and waving her arms. The bear backed away.
Kennedy began to smile in the belief that the bear had finally made up its mind to leave when suddenly everything changed. Caridad and Lakshmi, hearing the screaming had come rushing through the woods towards the clearing. Unfortunately they arrived behind the bear leaving the bear between them and Kennedy.
The bear, hearing the arrival of the newcomers turned and prepared to charge. Kennedy was about to spring forward and stick her knife in the bear from the rear when a shot rang out, quickly followed by a second and a third. The bear fell in a heap.
Two men walked into the clearing carrying guns. They walked over to the bear and examined it. Kennedy did so as well, still keeping her knife in her hand. To her surprise the bear had been shot with tranquiliser darts. It was not dead, just deeply unconscious. One of the men took out a cellphone and the other turned to Kennedy. He looked at Kennedy and then at her knife, shaking his head.
"That's either the bravest or the most stupid thing I've ever seen," he said. "You were really going to take on a grizzly with a knife?"
"I was trying to frighten it away," replied Kennedy. "All those wildlife programmes say animals just want to keep away from people. I was just hoping to send it on its way."
"Were you hunting it," asked Rona who had come to stand beside Kennedy, "because I'm thinking it's been a long time since grizzly bears were found in these parts."
"Yeah," said the man. "We've been following it. It went crazy a while back and broke out of the truck being used to move it."
"So what are you, great white hunter and all that?" asked Kennedy.
"Oh, sorry," said the man. "I'm Marcus Hazel. I work for the LA Zoo. We've been following the bear rather than tracking it. It's been quite easy because ever since it broke free it's been heading this way in a straight line. Weird really, it's as if it was homing in on someplace."
Kennedy exchanged glances with Rona but neither of them said anything. Both had the same suspicion however that this was the work of The First and the bear had been aimed at the potentials.
"Well we've got to go," said Kennedy. She looked around the gathered potentials and counted to confirm they were all there. They were, including Sophie who was climbing out of a nearby tree. She turned and led the potentials away.
"Enough exercise for one day I think," she announced. "Let's go home."