Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
Fire and Blood
By: human28
Chapter Nineteen
The funeral of the three High Priestesses was decidedly grave. It came to pass early morning, just before dawn. White, who preferred to make his presence unnoticed, stood at the back of the room, watching the somber ceremony take place. Everyone was dressed in crisp black suits.
White never showed total respect for the Priestesses and their irrational plans for world domination. The opening of hell dimensions was their most imbecilic plan ever formulated. Oh sure, they consulted the resident Seers about the safety of the Familiars, but did you really think that he – Special Agent Ames White would trust his life on mere astrology?
He was not stupid. He believed in science and logic rather than stars and crystal balls. This was the reason why they were all still standing here, alive and breathing.
The Heads of the Conclave had gathered for a meeting last night and a decision had been reached. White smirked. He will watch the humans drop dead one by one and he will smile down on their corpses. But the human race wasn't the only thing that needed eradicating.
His eyes flashed. He had never been more ashamed to be the son of the one person who created the race that had become their enemy. What his father had done was blasphemy. An insult to their Family.
And it was his job to clean up the mess that his father had made.
The funeral came to an end, and everyone began to leave. His eyes searched the sea of black for a certain, well-respected Senator. He grinned predatorily as he saw him.
It was time to put his plan into action.
…
"Normal's gonna fire us, for sure." Alec said. They were making their way towards the downtown of Seattle inside Logan's beloved car. They had agreed to look for Sandeman's old place the night before. Logan was not sure of the exact address, but based on his research and a few of his sources, it was located in downtown Seattle.
The two transgenics had trouble believing that Sandeman actually built a house in a place so close to the Cult's headquarters. But as Logan explained, this happened before the Cult actually found out about his ingenious creations.
Max rolled her eyes. "Well, he might fire me but he sure as hell won't fire you. Honestly, that guy is seriously in love with you."
Alec turned green. "That's just sick, Max."
She couldn't help but grin.
Logan brought the car to a sudden stop, causing the two X5s to simultaneously swear. "I think this is it." He said, his eyes locked on a decaying house half-hidden behind overgrown shrubbery.
"Are you sure?"
"No." Logan admitted. "But we've gone through a lot of houses already, and none of them looked like they belonged to Sandeman. This is the last one. And presumably, it."
"Finally!" Alec said in relief. "I never thought I would be so happy to see this – this extremely ugly house."
Max slapped his arm and dragged him towards the edifice with Logan right behind them. She quickly worked on the lock, and seconds later, it opened with a creak. They went in cautiously.
"Stop." Alec murmured in a low voice, his hands shooting out to grab either one of Max's and Logan's shoulders. The latter turned to look at him inquisitively. Max, on the other hand, immediately caught on.
"Someone's here."
…
"Do tell me how I am supposed to find out how that man knew that you were a Slayer." Giles said, annoyed. Buffy had been badgering him about this all morning. He was only a tiny bit grateful that she didn't wake him up in the middle of the night. He supposed that she noticed the bags under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well all that much lately…perhaps it was all the excitement that the transgenics had caused.
And that feeling he had been having that something big was about to happen. As a Watcher, he knew. And he knew that Buffy and Faith felt it too. Call it intuition.
Buffy sighed. "You're right. But it was weird Giles! I mean, really, really, freaky. He was looking at me like – like he half-wanted to kill me and half-wanted to hug me. It was the strangest thing."
"I've got an idea," Willow said plopping onto the empty seat next to Buffy. They were in the living room, discussing last night's happening. Dawn and Xander were in the kitchen, while Spike and Faith were in the training room.
"What is it?"
"He's either a demon – although that's highly unlikely because vampires would never dare attack a demon. Except maybe Spike. Or he knew a Slayer once upon a time."
"That's possible." Giles stated thoughtfully.
Willow shrugged and pulled out her laptop from it's case. "Let's try this." She began to type furiously on the keyboard. "That guy was about what age, Buffy?"
"I don't know. Around my age. Late twenties."
"Okay. It's 2020, right. Let's say, twenty-four years ago. That would be the year 1990. Minus a few more years…let's say 1987." Buffy and Giles leaned in to see what she was doing. Their eyes widened when Willow opened a window that revealed the number of deaths in the year 1987 . The death rated was incredibly high especially those underneath the 'Cause of Death Unknown' category, but as the years passed, it began to decrease…and decrease…and decrease.
"There was a Slayer here." Buffy gasped.
Willow keyed in a number of things into the computer. Several more windows popped up. Giles recognized the sites. They were from the Watcher's Council. She had hacked into their documents. She clicked a number of files, before stopping on one of them.
"Here she is," she murmured, and began to read the document.
---
Name of Slayer: Angela Stevenson
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date of Calling: February 17, 1987
Age of Death: 22 years old
Cause of Death: Unknown
Note: Watcher died on 1989 – cause of death is unknown; Slayer conceived child on 1990 – father is unknown; Slayer was murdered on 1993 – cause of death is unknown – location of death: Brookridge Street, Seattle, Washington; Edifice was empty; Murderer remains anonymous.
---
Buffy gasped. "Oh my god. That could only mean one thing…"
"That man you saw was the son of a Slayer." Giles concluded grimly.
…
It was faint, but they could smell it. Smoke from a burning candle. It was everywhere. Apparently, someone was presently living inside the dank, old house. Of course, they couldn't blame whoever it was that was there – the house had, after all, been abandoned. The three of them stood stock-still a few feet from the door, their eyes alert and attentive.
Footsteps sounded from what they presumed was the kitchen. It was headed straight towards them. The two transgenics immediately dropped into a fighting stance, while Logan took several steps backward, wishing that he had brought his gun with him. Whoever was living in the house could be dangerous.
The kitchen door opened and a man in his early twenties with scraggly hair and dark brown eyes emerged. He froze as he caught sight of them. Something akin to recognition crossed his features, but this went unnoticed to the three intruders.
"What do you want?" the man asked, surprisingly calm.
"Are you alone?" Alec asked, his gaze darting around the room. You could never be too careful.
"I am." He answered. "May I ask why you broke into my house?"
"Your house?" Logan echoed, exchanging a glance with Max. She shrugged. The two X5s had dropped their defensive postures, both deeming the man harmless. Although they stood stiffly on either side of Logan, unable to relax completely.
The man frowned. "Yes. My house. Do you have a problem with that? Who are you anyway?"
"We're um, real estate agents." Logan lied. "We thought the house was abandoned. So we decided to check it out."
To their bewilderment, the man smiled. It wasn't a normal smile. It was a crooked kind of smile that they couldn't quite read. Although they did see something flicker behind his eyes. This man knew something they didn't.
"Do you really think that I would fall for that?" He asked, with a small laugh. "I may not be a transgenic. But I'm not stupid."
That caught them completely off guard. "What?" Alec snapped.
"Well, the two of you," he gestured towards Max and Alec. "Are obviously transgenics. And you," he frowned at Logan. "You look familiar. I think I've seen you somewhere before…although I can't quite place it."
Logan shifted uncomfortably.
"How do you know that?" Max asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"I don't know. I think I saw him once or twice, but I can't be too sure…"
"Not that," Max snapped. "I meant, how do you know about transgenics?"
His eyes twinkled almost amusedly. "That's simple."
"My father made you."
…
For some strange reason, Max found that she instantly believed him. And she could tell that Alec did too. Maybe it was the fact that most transgenics were incredibly perceptive, and could detect a lie, no matter how small. Or maybe it was how the back of their necks prickled when he said this.
"Care to join me in the living room?" He asked. "I'd be happy to answer any of your questions." He grimaced. "Those that I know of, of course."
They nodded mutely and followed him into the living room. They took their seats and fixed their gaze on Sandeman's son. Max could almost hear Joshua's voice in her head: 'Father…Sandeman…' Of course, Joshua wasn't Sandeman's biological son. He was simply Sandeman's first creation.
"I'm CJ by the way." He said with a smile. They introduced themselves reluctantly, still wary around the strange man. He may be Sandeman's son, but then, whoever said that Sandeman was a good person? He did, after all, create them – freaks of nature.
"Sandeman was a Familiar," Logan stated bluntly. "Then that must mean that you are one too."
A shadow clouded over CJ's face. "You're right. He was a Familiar. But I'm not one of them."
"And how is that possible?"
"Easy. I wasn't able to go through the Initiation."
"Initiation?" Alec echoed, confused.
CJ nodded. "That's where it all began. The Initiation was a test given to all younglings to see if they were worthy and strong enough to be a Familiar."
"What kind of test?" Max asked curiously.
"They inject you with snake blood." He explained with a shudder. "It was a very rare kind of species. It was tinged with poison. So it was pretty much deadly. It could kill an ordinary human in less than an hour." His eyes had gone slightly glassy, as if reliving a specific memory. "My father knew I wouldn't survive the Initiation. He tested my DNA – he was a scientist you see…"
"Apparently," Alec muttered under his breath.
"That was one of the reasons on why he left the Cult. He didn't want me to die. Especially after my mother was killed…" CJ trailed off, looking pained.
"Killed? Who killed her?" Max asked.
"They did. The Familiars did." He said with a hollow laugh. "You see, my mother wasn't one of us. She was different – special. And there was the other fact that dad's wife found out about her."
"You mean, your father was having an affair?" Logan asked, surprised.
CJ nodded. "With my biological mom."
Max was growing impatient. She didn't want to hear about his mother. She wanted to know more about Sandeman. And why he created them. "So he left the Breeding Cult because he knew wouldn't survive the test, and because they killed your mother."
"That's right. But one of the bigger reasons was because he wanted to change things with science and technology." CJ shook his head sadly. "That wasn't allowed, you see. The Cult thought of it as a heresy. It went against their beliefs of purity and such."
"So your dad got sick of the whole selective-breeding thing and started to get into the gene-splicing game?" Alec asked. His hazel-green eyes were unreadable. "Why?"
CJ shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know." He sighed. "Maybe he simply wanted to help the country. Or maybe it was because of revenge. They did kill my mom, after all. And from what I can remember, he really loved her."
"Makes sense." Logan said thoughtfully. "The Familiars wanted to breed the ultimate race. Sandeman went and created a race that could rival theirs."
Max's thoughts wandered over to the runes on her back – the prophecy. Giles' voice echoed in her head. '…this prophecy evidently speaks about some kind of upcoming war…'
"Are saying that we were made because of revenge?" Alec asked incredulously. He looked absolutely pissed.
Max shook her head. "I don't think that's it."
Three heads turned to look at her.
"I think Sandeman created us for a more important purpose."
"Like what?" CJ asked, curious.
Alec was staring at her. Everything began to click into place. "The runes…they were a message from him. Some sort of warning. Apparently, he knew that something like this was going to happen."
"Something like what?" Logan asked, impatiently. He despised not knowing.
"The Familiars…they're going to kill everyone – the ordinaries…" Max trailed off.
"And we were made to stop them." Alec concluded.
…
White smiled and shook the Senator's hand.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you Senator."
McKinley nodded. "That was an ingenious plan, Brother White. I will personally make the announcement tomorrow night." He smiled viciously and shut the door of his limousine.
White watched the vehicle disappear into the distance.
It won't be long now.
…
To be continued……
A/N: Review please.