I do regret to say that this fanfic will never be completed, however I did want to post what has been written along with what was planned. There is nothing I like less than not knowing the end of a story. So please forgive the incompleteness of this chapter. The main reason this story will never be completed is that I have lost all contact with my Co-author... I can write a good D (I think) but I need help when it comes to Buffy and company. (The buffy characters are much better portrayed in this fic than in the others I have posted, and that is because most of those parts were done by molly. Fact is some parts I have totally for gotten which of us wrote.)
Pt 5
"I'm not sure I like this new plan, D."
"Same plan as before, only we follow the girl."
"You are starting to get mushy, D. You should have followed the demon last night, instead of coming here to lust after some girl."
"You are out of line."
D had checked the registry for the last name Summers. Joyce and Dawn Summers were sharing a room, which D watched the entire night, waiting for the Demons to come for them. Surely they would not take them in the daylight, but they did not come during the night.
Willow awoke the next morning shaking her head at the strange dream she had just had. The man... He said it was a prophetic dream. This wasn't her area of expertise, as it was usually Buffy that had such dreams.
She smiled as she felt her girlfriend snuggle against her, and then frowned as she heard Tara mumble in her sleep.
"It's the red room. The dwarf is the voice. Listen to the owls, Willow." Tara muttered then turned around in her sleep to hug Willow.
Willow looked down at the blonde hair that was partially covered with the light blue sheet and reached out her hand to stroke the girls head, as she thought of the dream that she had just had, and the fact that it seemed that Tara had had the same dream. She felt Tara snuggle against her again, then open up her blue eyes.
"Morning baby. Are you ok"? Tara asked seeing the worry in Willow's green eyes.
"I just had a weird dream. What did you dream, Tara"? Willow asked.
"I...um..." Tara's eyes took a far away look, then sheepishly looked at Willow, "...don't really remember. I think there might have been a munchkin in it." She giggled a little at the thought.
Willow smiled, "well I think that I would say more of a dwarf, and a red room, but I guess he was kinda, munchkiny now that I think about it. But on a more pleasant note," Willow leaned over and gave her lover a good morning kiss. When they parted they both got out of bed and began to get dressed.
When they made it downstairs they saw Xander and Anya were still asleep on the fold out couch and Buffy and Giles were drinking their morning cups of coffee and tea respectively. Tara went and poured her and Willow some coffee, then they all sat around the table and tried to wake up.
Tara looked like she was about to say something, when Willows laptop beeped.
Willow went over to the laptop, and saw that the computer had found the password. She paled when she saw the words, FIRE WALK WITH ME, appeared on the screen. She felt the world around her go unstable as she reached out for the desk to steady herself.
Tara and Buffy jumped up to grab Willow before she could fall. "Willow what's wrong." Tara as she and Buffy helped to steady the hacker.
Willow pointed at the screen and said, "From my dream, the one that had the munchkin in it. Don't like all prophetic-y dreams"
"Prophetic dream? What was it about"? Giles asked looking up from the morning newspaper.
"Well I was in this red room, with a man in a suit and a dwarf. It was weird, they were talking in slow motion. They said something about the fourth letter not being there, and that I needed to remember that it was a door, to somewhere. Oh and there was scratching underneath the floor. And that something wanted to go home, past the seal. And that he said something about fire walk with me." Willow got a look of concentration on her face, trying to remember exactly what the man said. "One chance out, between two worlds, fire walk with me. Does mean anything"?
Seeing Buffy and Tara shake their heads, she looked over to Giles.
"I think that we should look into any books dealing with any of that stuff and see if there is a prophesy that would translate to that phrase. In the mean time see if you can remember more about the dream, and see what the infernal device has come up with."
Willow nodded and input the code into the program. When it was done, map schematics came up on screen, as well as another name, Project Bluebook. She looked over the material when she felt Tara's hands tighten almost painfully on her shoulders. "Tara"? She asked looking up.
"That's G-ghostw-w-ood National P-park." Tara stuttered looking at the screen.
Willow frowned at hearing the stutter from her girlfriend. Tara looked scared. She looked at Giles and Buffy also seeing that they heard it too. When she saw Tara starting to lean over and point to the screen she moved slightly out of the way to give her more room.
"That's the grove of trees, and over here is where they put on the summer plays. And..." Tara faltered out, and looked at Willow, "And...there is Twin Peaks."
Xander and Anya had moved over to the table to get coffee, and at Tara's statement Xander looked up and asked, "Isn't that where you grew up, Tara?"
"Yes, at least until I was about ten or eleven." Tara said softly, and then continued, "I remember mom and me going to Ghostwood and sitting at the grove. That is where she taught me a lot of the craft. We had some fun times there." She gave a crooked smile at Xander.
MORE STUFF TO ADD WHEN I SEE FRED
With that Buffy looked at the group and said, "Well I've got to book. Remember everybody, dinner with mom and Dawn tonight." Saying bye Buffy headed out the door.
"Come on, Xander we have to leave too. I want to have plenty of time to reminisce about the good old days at the Tower of London. All of the torture, and death. They just can't do it the same anymore." Anya said pulling Xander to his feet.
"Bye guys." Xander called back as Anya pulled him out the door.
"Well I suppose that leaves us to go and get the spell components, and do some research into Willow's dream." Giles said looking at Willow and Tara.
"Ok, Mr. Giles." Tara said while she and Willow grabbed their coats, and they too exited the house.
Morning came. He watched unseen as they went down and grabbed a breakfast. If he was hungry, D gave no indication. Soon, the women finished their meal, grabbed their pocket books and a city map, and then headed out into the street.
The girls seemed to stop to take pictures of every traffic cop and phone booth they passed. While Joyce was taking a picture of a building, the younger girl stopped, her attention grabbed by something in the shop window.
D used the opportunity to approach the women. He needed to get a better look at them, and give his parasite a chance to get their "scents."
Dawn's attention was fixed on a television in the store window that was running a BBC news report.
"...and now that the last permit has been granted, in a few weeks the Genom Corperation will begin tearing down Stonehenge in favor of the proposed 'Stonehenge Country Club and Estates.' All that remains to find a construction company to do the job. Residents have expressed a great amount of excitement for the project, saying the jobs the country club will bring in will lead to a boom for the local economy."
"They cant do that, can they?" the girl asked.
D had assumed she was asking a rhetorical question, but he found her eyes fixed on him. He certainly couldn't see any reason why not. If anything, D thought, he would be glad to see the stones go.
"I mean, it's a national monument or something like that, isn't it?"
D remained silent, but inwardly he was pondering it over. It was a national monument, and an archeological link to forgotten civilization. Some project to bulldoze it should certainly have raised some level of protest.
"How can you be out in the daylight?" the girl asked.
It took D a moment to realize her question had completely shifted topics. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you ARE a vampire, aren't you? You kinda have a reflection in the window, but not a full one, and my sister always says you can tell a vampire by their tacky dress sense." She added with a smile, "No offence."
"None taken." He said softly. "Your mother is calling you."
Dawn turned, and sure enough, her mother was waving her over to look at some street or other. When she looked back at the man, though, he was gone. With nothing else to do, she trotted to catch up to her mother.
"Well, she seems to have a Slayer's instincts as well, doesn't she?"
"Yes." D replied.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she wound up being the next Slayer. Wouldn't that be something? Just think, you could take her now, huh? Take her and tempt her, bring her over to the Night. A pre-slayer turned Vampire, that would even top that Slayer turned Vampire!"
"Quiet," D commanded, "they are getting away." D picked up his pace, making extra sure that he stayed out of sight.
"Hurry up, Dawn. We are supposed to meet Buffy in ten minutes." Joyce tried to hurry her youngest daughter along.
"I don't see why we have to plan our vacation around Buffy." Dawn gripped. She wanted to go into the store they were in front of to try on the pair of shoes that was in the window.
"Dawn, the shoes will still be there in an hour. Besides you know that this isn't a vacation for your sister and her friends." Joyce said.
"Yeah, yeah, everything is always about her. The chosen one." Dawn moved away from the window of the store and headed down the sidewalk with her mother. "Just once I would like...AAAHHH!" Dawn finished with a shriek as from out of an alley way two hands grabbed her and pulled her into the alley. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another robed figure grab her mother. Just as she was about to scream again, she felt a sharp blow to her head, and then everything went black.
"And right here is where Anne Bolyn head was chopped." Anya told her boyfriend. They were standing in front of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, and Anya was doing her best to try and relate the tale of Anne Bolyn. "Just like a stupid man to execute his wife for having a girl. He killed her before she had a chance to make a wish even."
"Aw, hun. Henry the VIII got his in the end." Xander tried to placate the ex-demon. Then Xander shivered, his senses that he had gotten through the years of being a scoobie flaring. Looking around he figured out what it was. Nobody was around the site. There should have been a lot of tourists milling about, but there was no one. He was about to mention this to Anya, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadowy figure moving out from one of the buildings. Looking over towards the area he saw a large red demon, with a ridge of spikes coming out of its forearms rushing towards the pair.
"Xander, are you paying attention to me!" Anya huffed, then when Xander grabbed her arm and jerked her towards the Chapel she yelled, "What are you doing!"
"Demon!" Xander said, running them into the chapel.
Giles, Willow, and Tara were walking back from the magic store, with the ingredients needed to cast the spell on Buffy. They had, had a pleasant morning, first stopping to have a nice brunch, then moving on to do their shopping. They were talking over Willow's dream, trying to help the hacker remember it all, and figuring out what it meant.
They got back to the house and were sitting around the table, looking over spell books.
"Giles, I think that we need to find out where this seal is. I mean if Ghostwood and this are related, then we are a long way from where we need to be." Willow looked up at the watcher with a frown on her face.
"With what Tara told us, it would seem that the grove is a place of power; however, there are many such places in the world. While I am still considering the fact that it could be Ghostwood, I am..."
Giles was cut off by the crash of glass, as the back door burst open to reveal four demons. Grabbing an axe Giles readied himself for the attack.
The one in the lead ran in and backhanded Tara across the table. Then went for Willow who was the closest to him. He raised his fist, to hit the young woman when Giles brought the axe down over his arm, severing it at the elbow. He howled in rage as he turned on the watcher. He shot out his undamaged arm and backhanded Giles across the face.
Giles fell on the floor beside Tara, and taking quick aim, he threw the axe hitting the Demon in the back as he grabbed Willow around the throat. Seeing him go down he turned towards the blonde witch, to see her pulling herself up.
Tara grabbed some of the herbs on the table and looking at the group of demons moving in she threw the herbs at them and in a clear voice yelled "Strigo are laqueus!"
Two of the three other demons froze in place as Willow quickly raised a hand and quickly spoke "Incendo cendri" and the two demons burst into flames.
Giles ran and grabbed the axe out of the fallen demons back, as Tara threw a mug of tea at the last demon. He yelled as the hot liquid splashed on him, and the mug shattered against his flesh. At the same moment a knife embedded in his shoulder from Willow levitating the knife. Giles brought the axe down over his neck and was knocked back from a blow at the same time. As the demon sank to the ground in a pool of its own blood, Giles came to a rest up against the fallen table.
Xander ran into the chapel with the demon closing in. In desperation he plunged his hand into the holy water and slung it out to hit the demon. Seeing the demon grab his face he pulled Anya farther into the chapel.
The demon recovered from the holy water in his eyes, and with a growl followed the young man inside the building. Pushing a marble statue over in frustration. Barreling forward pursuing the young couple into the inner sanctum of the church, swinging his massive hands and shattering pews as he went.
"An, run behind the podium and see if you can find something I can fight this thing with." Xander told his girlfriend as he grabbed a candelabrum, holding it in front of him like a staff. Waiting for the demon to get close, he swung the metal shaft and hit the demon in its stomach. Pulling it back for another swing, the creature threw out its hand and using the shaft as a shield, Xander blocked the blow. Unfortunately, the metal gave way, and he was left holding two broke pieces of the candelabra.
The demon kicked Xander in the chest and sent him tumbling backwards.
"Don't touch him, he's mine." Anya yelled as she saw Xander staggering back. She grabbed an incense holder and ran towards the demon swinging the large head of the holder at the demon. The demon grabbed it, and pulled it out of her hands throwing it to the side, then grabbing Anya he threw her against a pew.
While the demon was busy with Anya, Xander grabbed the discarded holder, and swung the makeshift club against the back of the demons head. Seeing the creature grab its head, he turned the holder in his hands, and plunged the end into the demon's heart.
Then he ran over to Anya and pulled her to her feet. "Anya, baby, are you ok?" He searched over her for any wounds, as she staggered against him.
"I think so. Are you ok?" She asked pulling his shirt up, and noticing the purpling flesh.
"I'll live. This is so not of the good, we have to get back." He spoke as the shaken couple made their way out of the chapel.
D drew his sword and disappeared into the shadows at the first hint of danger. He wasn't sure where they would be coming from, but he knew they were there. His suspicions were confirmed as the two women he had been following screamed.
One of the demons grabbed Joyce from behind, while Dawn tried hitting them with her shopping bags. It was not long before she too was grabbed. A man standing nearby took a step towards them to help, but he was backhanded by one of the demons without a second thought. And then, carrying their prey, the demons fled.
With a flutter of cape and hat, D leaped into the air. He chose his landing points carefully, to stay out of the view of the fleeing demons, as much as the unsuspecting humans. He would not allow himself to make any mistakes.
Chapter...
D stopped instantly in his tracks, then abruptly turned to the south. The daylight was suddenly gone, obscured by dark storm clouds. He did not need this. They had an understanding, so why was he here? What did he have planned this time?
Buffy Summers was up early... bad dreams again. They had started shortly after arriving in England and were only getting worse. They had started with the thing under the zigzag floor that was trying to claw through the floor to get out, but they had been getting worse. Last night's dream had started with an atomic blast, complete with mushroom cloud, that expanded burning Dawn, Willow and the rest to cinders. Even Riley and Oz were there burning in her dream. Then her dream zoomed to the center of the mushroom cloud where a stone tower was crumbling away. And that strange voice was crying. She didn't know why, but she knew the zigzag floor and what was under it figured into this dream too... somehow.
That was odd, it was dark outside. She hoped she wasn't just dreaming she was awake, that would bee too much.
Outside the sky had suddenly gotten really cloudy. It almost looked like nighttime.
Why was she reminded of that day at the beach when Willow started a fire, and it suddenly started to rain?
The moving van was there in front of the castle, just as D knew it would be. He didn't need or want this distraction. D wanted to confront him now, but he needed to be elsewhere. He just hoped that nothing drastic would happen before he could have the confrontation he should have known would take place.
Willow was grateful to have been able to escape the rigors of research long enough to go shopping. She had actually managed to find one of the bookstores Giles had told her about, and had picked up a few of the kinds of Magic books one only heard about in stories. She couldn't wait to get back and try some of the spells out. They had cost her quite a few pretty pennies... or whatever the coins were called here. Actually she was grateful for the problem of currency conversion; she knew that Tara would be cross with her if she knew exactly how much she had spent.
When the rain had hit, she had taken refuge in a café to wait for it to stop. Not that she minded getting too wet, but she was worried about the books. You don't spend that many pounds at once and let your new old books get ruined with wetness. She figured she would eat a little snack, and maybe a few pages.
The food at the little café she had run into had surprisingly good food, she thought even Xander would find some of the sandwiches good. Maybe.
Finally the rain ended and she went back into the street. Was she really in there that long? The sun had already gone down. She held her books tightly to her breasts, and hurried into the night.
Streetlights. There were definitely not enough streetlights in the world, she decided. Not enough streetlight, and too many cars, a very bad combination for the wandering Americans who unwisely spent all their money on books, and didn't save enough to take a taxi, she thought as she rested against a streetlight while waiting for the traffic light to change. Too many cars.
At least she wasn't the only one stuck walking, a man was standing next to her. Apparently he, too, was waiting to cross the street. Alone with a man at night on a strange street corner... that had a very bad sound to it once she thought about it. Maybe if she talked to him and he was friendly it wouldn't be that bad... may he would know where one of the other bookstores Giles had mentioned was.
Then she realized she knew the man.
She looked up at him and smiled. Dracula. No, wait. Not good. She forced her smile to go away, even though it really didn't want to.
"Um... If I run, you wont chase me, or anything, will you?" she asked, her smile half returning to her face to betray her hope. Hope that she would get away or hope that she wouldn't, she wasn't quite sure.
Slowly he gazed into her eyes... or rather through her. Just then she realized that he hadn't recognized her until she said something, but now he did.
Tilting his head, Dracula didn't quite smile. "The off-putting female, what could you be doing here, in this country at this time?" He stared deep into her soul, "Your friends are here as well." It was not a question, but a confirmation.
Nodding, she asked, "Am I going to die now?" She did not want to run. Where was Buffy when she needed her?
"No. I am not here for you now. Leave me. Do not interfere."
Nodding Willow backed up, and noticing that the traffic was now clear, ran across the street. She suddenly had the strongest urge to get back to Tara and reaffirm her gayness.
It took longer than D had expected, but the Carion Demon finally left Mr. Towagowa's apartment. Another hired gun to go after himself and the Slayer.
Leaping from the shadows, D's sword flashed downwards.
The demon didn't even have time to cry out before he died.
Proping the demon up against the wall, D pulled out a cross shaped dagger, and used it to fix the demon's body on the wall. It was a message to Mr. Towagowa, and just in case the message wasn't clear enough, he went ahead and wrote it out on paper.
Later, Mr. Towagowa opened the door, carrying his ice tray, which immediately fell to the floor. With uncertain hands, he reached out and took the paper on the end of the dagger. It had a simple message written on it. "No More Freelancers."
Taking out his cell phone, Towagowa disappeared back into his hotel room.
"Mr. Lee?"
The man sitting at the counter looked up from his soup at the stranger who seemed to know his name.
"Mr. Magnus Lee?" A tall, pale man with long hair asked.
"That's right, how can I help you?"
"You own and run 'Nobility Construction,' do you not?"
Magnus nodded. His graying hair only enhanced his proud face, he was obviously pleased with the apparent fame of his company. His clothing and callused fingers revealed how hard he had worked to achieve whatever reputation his business had earned. "Right again, Mr...?"
"Call me Dracula."
Magnus choked back a laugh at that, and wondered why no one else in the diner did the same. Looking around, he realized that everyone seemed to be quite unnaturally still, staring into space with blank looks on their faces. He suddenly felt quite threatened. "All right, Dracula."
"You will cancel your construction contracts with the Genom Corperation."
"Do you know how much they are paying me? Why would I want to throw away a fortune like that? What can you possibly offer me?"
Dracula gave a sad, bemused smile, and then leaned in close...
"BUFFY!" Willow shouted as soon as she opened the door. "Is Buffy here? She hasn't gone patrolling yet has she?"
Tara jumped up and rushed over, not use to seeing Willow so excited. "She just got back, she's upstairs."
Willow turned to the stairs, and instead of rushing up them, shouted at the top of her lungs, "BUFFY!"
Buffy rushed down the stairs at top speed, actually she figured that was the fastest she had ever gotten down stairs without falling down them. "Will, what is it?"
"Dracula is here."
With wide eyes, Buffy scanned the room.
"No, not here here, out there somewhere here. I saw him at a corner a few blocks away."
"Did he bite you?"
"What?"
"Willow! I need to know. Did he bite you?"
"No. No biting. We talked... well, mostly I talked, and he looked at me with those eyes of his."
Tara gave her a dirty look.
"But it was bad, scary bad."
Buffy, gave Willow's neck a quick check anyway. "Hm. Thrall, been there, done that."
Reaching over to grab her leather jacket and crossbow, Buffy turned to the group, "I'm going out, lock the doors, and stay here!"
She didn't go to the grave yard, instead she headed the other direction, to the good side of town. Dracula preferred the company of the living to the company of the dead. That or he just didn't like his extravagant lifestyle to clash with his neighbors if he were to live in the slums with the rest of the vampires. Maybe Towagowa was working for Dracula, and Dracula was behind everything? Buffy doubted that theory.
She really didn't know where she was going to look for him. Somehow she just knew that she would either find him, or he would find her.
Something was in the shadows. Before she had time to think, she had already fired the cross bow at it.
A dog yelped in pain. Or was it a wolf?
Walking over, she found her bolt laying on the ground, and reloaded the crossbow. It must have been the fog.
Wait a minute.
It WAS him. He was still there, somewhere, hiding in the fog. She wasn't sure she knew how to kill him, or if she could kill him. She really wasn't sure why he hadn't come back after her in Sunnydale, for that matter.
Her crossbow was knocked across the street by a kick that came out of nowhere.
With an animalistic growl Dracula lunged at the slayer, knocking her to the ground.
She kicked him off, and jumped to her feet. With punch after punch she advanced, driving him back. "What, did you think I had forgotten my true nature?"
"Hardly," he replied, catching her next punch and stopping it cold. "I have business here, you came looking for me? Have you reconsidered my offer?"
Kicking at Dracula's head, Buffy pulled her fists free of his grasp. "No."
"Good, the offer is withdrawn," Dracula caught her next kick, and used it to flip Buffy over backwards.
Buffy landed face first on her front, and instantly tried to jump back up.
Dracula was faster, and pinned her down. One foot was pressed firmly down on her wrist, his other knee was on her back, and grasped her neck like a vice.
Leaning close, he tenderly whispered to her, "Do you prey for a swift death? Or do you want to die slowly to savor every moment of ebbing life?"
Buffy moved her free hand, trying to find something she could use as a weapon to get out from under the vampire's hold, but could find nothing. Footsteps.
She heard footsteps coming closer.
Black boots stepped in front of her face, and a sword tip hovered just above them.
The grip on her neck shifted slightly, and she lost consciousness.
"I told you not to interfere, I will handle this." D said.
Standing, Dracula looked from the unconscious Slayer to D. "I am wondering, was my trust in you misplaced?"
"We have had our disagreements, but I will settle things here."
Dracula looked away from D to the street, or halfway between the two. "Your mother..." he started. He did not continue the sentence. He could not bring himself to finish the sentence, and D did not want him to.
"I will not allow the Hellmouth to be reopened, and your interference has made my task harder."
"You know what I have done since arriving here tonight?" Dracula asked, looking at D. "There is much of your mother in you."
"I am not human, any more than I am vampire. I can never, truly, be part of either world."
"I will make a better world. One where Vampires rule all, none will dare shun you then. Just give me another four or five thousand years, and it will all be different."
"Will it be better? Do you really expect Vampires to be able to become noble?"
The two men faced each other, and in each they saw someone as alone as themselves, and no way to bridge the gap between them. Too much pain, and pride.
D spoke, "Go home. I said I would handle this situation, and I will."
Dracula did not speak as he turned and slowly walked away.
D waited until he was sure the elder vampire was gone, before bending down to scoop up the Slayer.
Buffy woke up on the back step with a killer headache, and the feeling that she was being watched. She was not ready to worry about that. If they had wanted her dead, she would be dead.
She stood up on shaky knees, and wondered what had happened for her to be there. Last thing she remembered was fighting Dracula on the streets. She supposed she won. She must have. She opened the door and went inside, it would be better to continue being passed out in her own bed.
The Twin Peaks parts were really unexpected. I was trying to explain how some of the concepts of this fanfic were like TP, and in order to explain it wound up pulling out the videos... and a new fan was born... and the thought came up of what if Tara was originally from Twin Peaks, and if so how much of the events of that series would she be aware of. Then of course things just started to get weird.
To sum up what is going on in this story... the demon Genom wishes to open a previously closed hell mouth... by bull dozing its seal and building an apartment complex on top of it... or maybe a wal mart. Doesn't really matter... but as Stonehenge is what has sealed the hell mouth, people would object if it were illegally destroyed, so a spell was cast to induce total apathy about the presence or destruction of the monument.
Dracula, having his own ideas about how the world should end, if at all, was opposed to Genom's plan and set about to stop his plan, either directly or by sending in other agents.
Upcoming chapters would have included Joyce and Dawn being kidnapped. Buffy would have rescued them with unexpected assistance from D, who gets in Buffy's way enough to allow the kidnapping demons to escape so he could follow them to their master.
There would also have been a chapter donated to a cameo from Oz... as it would have been impossible to avoid endless American Werewolf in London jokes... this would have also introduced a band of "White Hats" who attempt to keep the demon and vampire population down in the absence of a slayer. Buffy would be wary of the Hats for fear of what they would do to Dawn if they knew what she was. Spike's offer of information gets a few takers, although Spike doesn't care for the terms and winds up killing a few demons himself.
The apathy spell would have been broken, leading up to a showdown at Stonehenge... followed by a final battle between Buffy, D and Genom. And Yes, Genom is intended to be a reference to Bubblegum Crisis.