For notes, warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1
Chapter 37: Of Brain and Brawn
(Buffy's POV)
Even with Faith right behind me I am terrified as I make it to the boarding house in which my mother is being held. The place seems to have been taken straight out of a cheesy B-movie and I can't help but wonder how cliched the Council can get... of course I know I'm just trying to keep myself from thinking about what's going on behind door number one, about what I may find as soon as I step across that threshold.
I'm hoping that my mom will be fine, I'm hoping that we will be in time... with a little luck we will, with a little luck he will have kept her alive long enough to taunt me but I can't be sure. The thing is that ever since I became a slayer my greatest fear has been to have to dust someone I know... no, not so much someone I know, I've had to do that several times already but I've never had to dust someone I love. Sure there was Ford whom I had once counted as a friend and Jesse back when I first came here to Sunnydale, come to think of it, the dusting of that one fell on Xander... on his best friend. In a way I've never wanted to think about it, about what Xander had to do on that particular night, but now I can't help it. I'm hoping my mom will still be alive, I'm preparing for the possibility that she may be dead... and I'm dreading the fact that she may have been turned.
One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to shove that sword into Angel... and it took me months to be able to get to that point. Sometimes I still think of the deaths that could have been prevented if I just hadn't hesitated, if I had just dusted him when I had the chance shortly after the Judge had been reassembled. If I had been able to take Angelus out then, would Jenny still be alive? What would have happened with mom and with Giles?
Somehow I seriously doubt they would have gotten together but right now I can't afford to think about that. Right now I have to find my mother, that is the most important thing, the most urgent thing. If the worst has happened, if she's been turned then we are all in big trouble. I am strong, or at least I used to be, but there's no way I'm going to be able to take her out no matter what. Even if she's already dead, even if she's just a corpse that has been taken over by a demon there's no way I'm ever going to be able to destroy her, no way that my hand is going to be the one to shove a stake into her heart... and I don't think Faith or Giles would be able to do it either.
I shake my head. I can't afford to think like that. We are in time, we have to be. In this house we will find my mom and she will be fine, we can't be too late... and we will destroy Kralik for daring to touch her. He will die by my hand though I have no clue as to how I'm going to do it and that terrifies me. Sure, I'm carrying a couple of stakes and I can pinpoint a vampire's heart in my sleep but the truth is that to actually stake someone is not all that easy. It takes a good deal of strength... and right now I'm not really sure whether or not I can pull it off. We can blame mother nature for that little obstacle. The heart is a vital organ and even in a corpse it is surrounded by bone. I know that Willow can stake a vampire, I've seen her do it countless times so I know I should be able to pull it off somehow... though maybe under the circumstances an upward motion would be more effective than the downward one I'm more familiar with. It is not the way in which I usually do it and it may feel more than a little awkward but I'm too weak and the stakes --pun intended-- are too high for me to take that kind of a chance.
I know my mind is going around in circles, I know better than to try and visualize the fight against a specific vamp before I actually see him but I can't help it... especially because I can't sense him. He is holding my mother and I am well aware that right now I'm not myself. I know Faith is with me, I know she will do everything in her power to take him out, I know she is as angry and as scared as I am but she is my mother, this is my kill and Faith knows it.
As soon as we step into the house I have a pretty ugly scare as a vampire, not Kralik, grabs me and I struggle to break free but he has me by the throat and I can't match his strength. I know it should have been possible for me to break free, I know Xander or even Willow would have known how to break his hold but I am used to relying on my strength. Luckily Faith kept her wits and managed to get him away from me. As soon as he releases me I gesture for Faith to go after him, still determined to take on Kralik myself, even after the painful reminder of just how weak I am.
After hesitating for a fraction of a second Faith nods and does as I ask.
Hopefully there won't be any more surprises. I know I'm in way over my head, I know I probably shouldn't even be here but the fact is that I have no choice. There are drafts and weird echoes all around me, a scent of decay and abandonment that is really creeping me out and a sense of confinement. I hate fighting in close quarters even at the best of times, especially in places where my enemy has the advantage. Here I am feeling completely lost.
As I make my way upstairs a hand reaches up for me from under the stairs and grabs my ankle. I fall, hard, and I feel the blood running down my face but I know I can't stop, not now. He is still holding me and I'm struggling to break free. My hand wraps around something, and almost instinctively I jab at him. Even if I'm not aiming at anything anywhere near his heart he is still distracted enough that I can make it away from him. As soon as I make it to the second floor I see countless doors and I have no way of knowing what awaits behind each of them but I don't have time to think. I need to get away so I make my way into the first room I find. It is incredibly dark but then I turn on the light and almost immediately I wish I hadn't.
Every single inch is covered with countless photos... photos of my mother who is clearly terrified. The good news is that that means she is probably still alive and that offers me a small measure of comfort... and a closer look reveals what looks like a boiler behind her.
I know now where I have to go, I know where she is... the problem is that getting down to the basement won't be easy.
Reluctantly I leave the relative safety of that room and almost immediately I'm confronted with Kralik. He pins me to the wall and I can't break free. I feel him baring my neck and I prepare myself for the pain even as I continue to struggle... and then something happens. I am caught totally off guard when he lets go of me and clutches his head as if he were in pain. I see him struggle to open a bottle of pills and I realize that I've found his weakness. I grab the pills and dive head first into the laundry shuttle. It's not the most dignified way down but it is bound to be the fastest one and I know Kralik is too big to follow, I only hope there will be something down there to break my fall.
There isn't.
I struggle to get up. I've taken a pounding tonight and my body can barely keep on going but then I hear my mom calling my name and I know I can't give up, not yet. I'm tired but it's not just my life that is on the line here. I need to find a way to get us out of here and it can't be by relying on my strength. I need to think. I look around searching for some sort of inspiration and then it hits me... and not a moment to soon, seeing how I can hear Kralik approaching.
A few seconds later he bursts into the basement demanding his pills. I try to get past him but he grabs me and shoves me against the wall... hard, and then he takes the pills from my fingers. I am just about to collapse but I know I can't afford to do that as I see him downing the pills almost by the fist full... and in spite of the pain I can barely keep the smile off my face as he washes them down with a glass of freshly squeezed holy water.
