"Why are you doubting? You saw it for yourself, this is where you found him" Xander answered.
"Actually it looked nothing like this…"
CONSEQUENCES:
Chapter 25: Loyalty
"What?" Xander hissed stopping.
"It didn't have any trees and even in the dark it was illuminated. It looked like a parking lot, not at all woodsy" Draco explained.
"Why didn't you say something before?" Xander asked.
"Because I thought we were going that way" Draco answered frustrated.
"… we need to tell Buffy, probably Mandy saw something else and she's confused" Xander reasoned.
"But…" Draco started with his eyes a little wider. "Mandy had explained how I was going to see the same as her" Xander looked at Draco frowning severely.
"Then, she brought us here" Xander muttered loudly.
"Sorry you figured that out so late" A voice said from the shadows of the threes. As the creature moved, they recognized the form of Mandy. She smirked smartly. "Now, I don't want you to shout" She said sweetly.
-
"Well I was thinking on opening it again" Anya said as she watched the repaired window.
"It would be a great idea, but I doubt it will be done in the near future Anya" Giles explained as he looked with the same nostalgic expression at the window.
"I was thinking, we are needing money lately, I'm needing money lately" Anya explained glancing away from the window. "And the shop was a great investment, we had tons of people coming to give us cash, it was hard that they understood we only wanted their cash, that we were not there for stupid explanations of how would you jinx your ex-boyfriend's new girl" She explained frustrated by the memory.
"Believe me I would like also opening the magic shop again, but I don't think it will be possible, we've been short of money lately, short of time also" Giles explained as he took from his eyes his glasses, for the millionth time that night and he cleaned them with his tweed jacket.
"Short of money?" Anya asked almost laughing. "Didn't Buffy say she had some money on the Council, now that it exploded she must have even more!" Anya said.
"Anya" Giles preached. "I have not had the time to talk to Buffy about, but without the council, her income will stop… and her account will be reduced" Giles said sadly.
"Reduced? Why?" The demon asked outraged.
"The money is needed to repair the ruins of the building and to pay to those who were injured by the explosion" Giles explained.
"So, when are you going to tell her?" Dawn asked sitting on the couch in front of Anya's.
"I don't know Dawn, I'll wait 'til the right moment I suppose"
"She'll freak out" Dawn continued. "She was counting on that money to finance the potential's training" Dawn explained. "I heard her talking to Harry about it, he told her that he might ask the wizards back at his Ministry to help her cover the training place from the muggles," She smiled a bit. "It's weird still to believe there was this other world we didn't know about"
-
"Harry come on, we've been waiting here for an hour, shouldn't she be back already?" Ron asked. "I don't know but this doesn't smell good"
"It would probably had something to do with the fact we are on a moisty muddy woodsy place would it?" One of the three potentials they were with snapped. "I think we should go back, we haven't heard from the witch nor anybody else from this little adventure of yours"
"I think we should wait" Harry said determined.
"I agree with Jenna" Kennedy said. "Buffy herself told us not to stay in places like this …unprotected" She finished.
"Maybe we should try with the radio once more" Ron suggested.
"I'll try"Kennedy said reluctantly. She turned on the radio but heard nothing as she tried to speak, she saw the light indicating the batteries condition was off. "We don't have any batteries"
"We should go back then" Jenna insisted.
"But what if Mandy comes back?" Harry asked worried.
"Well she'll do her Hocus Pocus and transport herself to the Summer's house" Jenna explained quickly. "Now let's go, this place is giving me the shivers"
-
Buffy looked at the door, she had been surprised to see her theory was mistaken, but was glad Mandy and Draco had found the exact location; she didn't want to take the girls out, to the wrong place. She made signs to the girls not to follow her as she pushed softly against the door, her hearing said nothing was there but she knew better than that. Her spidey sense knew better than that. As she opened the door she entered into the shadows and she felt the presence of someone. She couldn't see. She recognized presences but this was a disturbing one. She saw how something, or someone turned on a candle on a room to the other side of the one she was now in.
She looked around and she didn't see nor feel nothing in the room. She felt her breaths getting slower as she relaxed herself and opened her senses. She felt it again. The same presence as before. She started to step back but she saw at the same time how the door of the room in front of her opened slowly, inviting her in. Disobeying her senses who were screaming her to step back she walked quickly across the room and she pushed the door. She looked how the light iluminations let her look vaguely at the contents of the room. There were some boxes but she still couldn't see the owner of the presence she had felt since she got near the house.
"Show yourself," She commanded.
"Hello Ms. Summers, I was told you would come" Mr. Brown said with an American accent. "I was starting to think, my little spitfire had been found" He stepped into the light.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked not letting her guard down.
"Oh well, if you haven't found about it yet, then … you are not ready to know" Mr. Brown let the candle over one of the boxes. "I was told of your great adventures for years now, but I never thought you would be so easy to distract, so stupid" He said smirking still. The slayer stood there quiet. "I wondered many of your choices and thought of many plans you could have under your sleeve, each less possible than the other but I didn't dismiss any of them because I knew the one I would underestimate that would be my downfall, I was wrong. In many ways," He stopped and started to walk towards her with on of his hands gracefully staying on his back.
"Who are you?" Buffy hissed.
"You are not entitled to know yet little Miss," He said smiling amused. "Now let's talk about how you left your guard down" The slayer looked puzzled. "You left your sister, that dear watcher of yours, the annoying so called vengeance demon and a witch, two woman a child and an old man," He shook his head in disapproval. "You should have known better, didn't this happen before to you…?" He asked fakely confused. Buffy looked about to tear him up. "Oh yes, the vampire with a soul, a perfect inspiration… make her turn her hand to the right and attack her left" He chuckled.
"I know they are safe" The slayer assured. "So you better come with better witty remarks to bug me with, because that ain't working"
"It ain't?" He mocked. "Dear looked at you, you look as if you were from little seconds to jump and attack me, though I don't think that would be such a great idea," He said seriously.
"Why not?" The slayer defied.
"Because then, how would you answer the millions of questions running through your head right now?" He asked smiling. She stayed quiet. "If you could run right now, where would you go?" He continued leaning unto a box. "Would you save your sister, your watcher, the witch and the demon like you've done before or would you save the girls, the potentials the future of your legacy with them you would also save the witch and the boy you've called friends for so long" He looked at her expressionless features and smiled pleased. "Difficult choice isn't it?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "but you've made it before, you've chosen over greater things than family, herodom or fiendship haven't you?"
"You are lucky I don't kill humans, but you are also unlucky I don't" Buffy said softly, but threateningly.
"How do you know I'm a human?" John Brown asked.
"It comes with the slayer package, but I still don't understand why would The First contract a stupid human, unless this one had some tricks under it's sleeve" Buffy said returning his smirks with one of her own.
"It's not smart of you, to reason loudly with your enemy Ms. Summer" He said softly.
"It's not smart of you, to piss of a slayer not knowing what she can do to you," She snapped.
"Touché" He said.
-
"Giles, it's been two hours all left, they still haven't communicated" Dawn said worriedly. On the same moment she heard the door opening and closing not long after, she went carefully to the entrance with Giles behind her. She found five people in her living room, but none of them were Buffy.
"Harry, shouldn't Mandy be with you?" Hermione asked, as she hurried out of the entrance Hall into the living room.
"We got separated, she said she needed to check on something" Harry explained leaving his coat on the coach.
"She did some witchcraft and she … disappeared" Jenna explained.
"Not disappear, as we know it," Harry explained to Hermione. "She .. transported herself"
"Do you know where she went?" Giles asked.
"No, she didn't tell us anything" Kennedy answered.
"Where are the others?" Ron asked.
"They haven't arrived" Dawn explained. "Were you able to communicate with them?"
"No we couldn't, something was wrong with the connection of the batteries" Jenna explained.
"I'll try again, to Willow's cel phone" Dawn said going to the kitchen for the phone.
-
"Willow?" One of Buffy's potentials called as she saw the red head.
"Where's Buffy?" The witch asked immediately.
"She went inside the house already, but we hear nothing… she asked us to stay here" Diane explained.
"Ok" The witch said. "How long has she been inside?"
"Fifteen minutes?" One of Buffy's girls wondered.
"Alright" The witch went to the front. "Molly, I need you to make a barrier for the girls, I'm going inside but I don't want to leave you girls unprotected" Willow explained.
"Willow, I really don't know how to make a barrier," Molly said embarrassed. Willow bit her lip as she thought of something else.
"We can take care of ourselves without a barrier Willow" One of her girls said bravely.
"I know you can, but I'm not taking a risk" Willow said softly. Her green eyes turned into black suddenly and most of the girls stepped away from her. "Barrera Forta" She muttered and the darkness in her eyes went away. Without any words she went inside the house.
-
"What are you doing Mandy?" Xander asked worried stepping away from her.
"I think you already know Xander" Mandy said smirking widely. Draco pulled out his wand.
"Step back" He ordered.
"Or what?" Mandy asked. "You'll hex me?" She mocked.
"Something like that" Draco muttered.
"Who sent you?" Xander asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mandy answered.
"I sent her," Another voice said, as the boys looked at the person the gasped in surprise.
"Buffy?"
-
