Title: The Sacrifices
Author: mispel
E-mail: PG-13
Summary: Buffy finds a use for Harmony. Halfrek and Anya make progress underground. Willow tries to adjust to the way things are.
Spoilers: Early season 7
Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing
Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.
A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.
Previously: Xander had found a baby by a scene of a demon fight. Anya recruited Halfrek. Harmony enlisted Spike.
"I have them!" Willow exclaimed feeling very helpful again. "Michila Demons. Baby sacrifice based on day of birth plus jewely thingy. We have bingo!"
"You rule!" Buffy yelled and almost knocked over her bottle of water endangering the rare demonology books, but caught it in time. Willow was almost completely absorbed in her discovery, but her inner bibliophile still frowned at Buffy before she started to read from the research.
"Let's see. 'Subjects of the Denekari Beast.' It's just your usual, giant, underground dwelling, snake beastie," Willow explained as she read. "'Michila demons are the guardians of Denekari's Cluster.' That's a conglomeration of jewels. I can't believe they were giving this thing away. It's way powerful." Willow scowled at the computer screen. What she saw didn't make sense.
"Hmm, I think Harmony got it wrong. Big surprise. The jeweled thingy is an offering to this beastie. 'Each Cluster comes along decades after the last. Generations of Michila demons are dedicated to guarding them at all costs'," Willow read out loud.
"Maybe it's a cheap knockoff," Buffy said as she came to look over her shoulder.
"Maybe it's a scam. They get the baby sacrifice, the sacrifice provider gets bubkus."
"How despicable. If you can't trust baby sacrificers, who can you trust?" Buffy quipped.
Willow kept reading as fast as her eyes would let her, skipping over all the useless trivia. Who cares if they are hermaphrodites. Hierarchy, hatching rituals, whatever.
"So, where can I find these Michelin Demons," Buffy said sounding a little impatient.
Willow considering the image of the Michelin Man as a demon. Then she made a mental note to research Michelin Man's possible demonic origins and corrected Buffy.
"Michila. There is nothing on their location. They use the baby's blood ... Bastards! ... to call the Denekari Beast to them and it appears wherever they are. Basically any dank, dark place will do."
"You got a list of those?" Buffy asked.
Willow kept searching but it didn't look promising. Mentions of caves and holes in the ground, a mine shaft, that kind of thing.
"Harmony was taking the baby to them," Buffy said with a shrug.
"Xander said she was lost," Willow remembered.
"She probably can't follow directions. But maybe with some help," Buffy said and she got ready to go. She got her jacket, made sure she had her stake and she was all set.
"I just have to put on my shoes and I'm ready," Willow said as she started to get up from the chair.
"You want to come? Can you, ah, do anything?" Buffy asked obviously cringing at the sound of what she said.
"What do you mean? Oh." Willow sat back down with a sense of deja vu.
In the rush of the familiar research, Willow had felt like her old self. But she wasn't. She could tell Buffy was trying to soft-pedal it, but there really was no way to do that.
"I know you always helped out before you were a witch. I mean, you helped lots. But now, maybe it would be better to keep you away from temptation. Something could go wrong and..." Buffy didn't finish. She just looked at Willow apologetically. Her eyes were asking Willow to understand. And she did.
So many things could go wrong, mostly her. Willow had already made herself invisible without meaning to. She didn't know what would happen if she used magic deliberately, in a crisis.
"You're right. Plus Denekari's Cluster is some powerful juju. I better stay away," Willow agreed.
"I'm sorry, Will. But you helped bunches already."
Willow had helped the way she did in the old days. But she wasn't that Willow - powerless and only useful in geeky things. She had taken huge strides in the years since then. Then a thousand giant leaps backward. She was no more useful than she used to be and possibly more dangerous than any demons that Buffy was likely to face.
"I better go help Xander and Dawn not get arrested," Willow said trying not to sound too glum.
"Sorry, Will."
Willow put on a smile then turned away, not sure how long she could keep it there.
"I'll print out some of this stuff."
"Thanks."
Willow busied herself with the printing. She kept her back turned not wanting to make Buffy feel bad with her 'I skinned a guy and now no one trusts me' pouting.
Halfrek and Anya walked bent over through the tunnel too small to let them walk upright. It went down almost vertically, but the small space allowed them to hold on and keep from tumbling forward. Ahead of them they could hear the faint, echoing cries of the baby.
"I think I can hear it. We better hurry up," Anya said as she tried to pick up her pace but that almost made her lose her footing. As some lose dirt rolled down, she slowed again. Halfrek didn't seem to notice. She had her head tilted to one side because she was listening - and because she couldn't hold her head up straight.
"It's not a pleasing sound. And to think you were going to saddle yourself with one of those," Halfrek observed as the baby's cries were even more audible to her due to her infantile vengeance fixation. For someone who made kids in distress her specialty, she didn't seem to like them much.
"It's a human thing. I was human," Anya said brusquely. She was really sick of Hallie's carping. While she was human she made horrible, human mistakes. It had nothing to do with her now.
"Well, you didn't have to wallow in it? Marriage. Didn't you get enough drudgery and domestic chores on your first go around as a human being? And that was when they still beat laundry against rocks," Halfrek said sounding horrified.
"We didn't beat laundry against rocks. We used a washboard. And I didn't chose to be human or to suffer from human defects," Anya said lowering her voice as they got closer to their goal. She couldn't wait for the slaughter to start just to put an end the conversation with the subject of how Anya isn't the vengeance demon she used to be.
"You were suffering from temporary humanity. I understand," Halfrek said but she didn't sound like she understood. "But you've been cured." Halfrek spoke in a stern but low voice.
Anya didn't turn, but she could picture her smug 'I'm being strict for your own good' expression. It wasn't like Hallie didn't have a point. Anya just wasn't all there. She was turned around. It was all the looking backwards - it had her twisted like a pretzel and feeling all the wrong things. She was supposed to be the embodiment of vengeance not a sullen bureaucrat filling out forms and watching the clock. Instead of feeling sharp and powerful, she was squishy with uncertainty and regret. She was turning into Buffy, Anya realized and stumbled again. She straightened quickly.
"I'm getting back into it. You'll see," Anya promised. And she would see, everyone would. She was going to do something spectacular. She was just waiting for the right wronged party, that was all.
"I hope so, sweetie. Ow, I think my back is going to get stuck this way," Halfrek complained, bent over uncomfortably as she followed after Anya.
In the cemetery, Buffy had found Xander's cut up belt by the tree and no Harmony. It was only a little worrying to have Harmony on the loose. Unless she got some help.
"And what helpful soul does Harmony know around here?" Buffy had asked obviously knowing the answer. "Her currently crazy, former boyfriend." Buffy headed to the high school at a brisk pace.
Buffy stopped. She was close to the high school when she saw Spike's and Harmony's blond heads making their way through the dark parking lot. She followed them, keeping out of sight. Harmony's high voice carried to her almost the whole time. She couldn't hear Spike, but he jumped at nothing. A few times Harmony had to pull him back as he started to go off in the wrong direction or just stopped.
Spike stopped again, and Harmony couldn't budge him. He stared all around. Buffy got close and she could hear him.
"She is everywhere," he said.
"Whatever. Be freaky and obsessive after you get me the cluster thingy. You owe me. I don't see why we're going empty handed anyway. We were supposed to get the kid. This is your stupid plan, so move it!" Harmony yelled the last part in an almost authoritative voice.
"Yes, Miss. I was just daydreaming. So sorry," Spike said his voice meek and childlike.
"I didn't know you could be so polite," Harmony said, pleased, "Now, shift your ass."
But Spike turned away again and he seemed to be looking right at the spot where Buffy stood out of sight. Not wanting to waste any more time, Buffy revealed herself.
"It stabs you through the eyes," Spike said pointing at Buffy. The burns on his face and neck were healing fast, hardly visible in the dark. But there were new wounds on top of the old ones.
"So, where are we going?" Buffy asked cheerfully after giving Spike only a passing glance.
Harmony looked like she was about to run so Buffy hurried over and grabbed a hold of her.
"We were just strolling, you know, former lovebirds catching up," Harmony said lamely as she tried to get out of Buffy's grip. She failed and gave out a nervous laugh.
"Sounds nice. Can I come?" Buffy's sweet voice was in contrast to the way she pushed Harmony in the direction where they had been heading.
"This night sucks. I knew I shouldn't have come back here. You suck!" she finished speaking to Spike who was ignoring her.
Buffy looked back to see that Spike seemed to be trying to dig through the pavement. Considering that he might be a liability, she decided not to ask him to come along.
Once Buffy left, Willow felt the oppressive emptiness of the house driving her out. She left quickly. Outside wasn't much better. The night air smelled familiar - lawns and a tree in Buffy's neighbor's yard that gave off its strongest scent at night.
Startled when someone's sprinklers came on, Willow kept walking. The normal fear she should have been feeling had been replaced by something she thought must be unique to her - a fear of herself over anyone or anything else. What would she do if someone or something attacked her? Buffy was right to keep her away from the action.
There were always little things threatening to trigger her magic reflexes. A tiny grease fire when she made eggs; when the power went out for just a minute; when she dropped the pretty, glass paperweight Tara liked. Tara said it looked like someone had caught a star inside it. There were little air bubbles in it and when it fell it broke neatly in two.
But Willow was afraid to think about Tara too much. She rationed her memories so the feelings wouldn't overwhelm her. As Willow went by a fence, a dog started barking and Willow forced herself not to react.
to be continued