"Not bad," assessed Mara as she looked about her surroundings. Candelabras, freshly lit, gave light to the cavernous room that decades ago had once been part of a church. "The Master had fairly good taste as far as lairs go for a vampire."
Mara gave an approving nod before dropping herself into the chair that had once been the Master's throne. "I rather liked the look of that castle out by the sea, but the irony of setting up shop in the home of the vampire that killed the Slayer is to much to pass up." Mara then blinked and scratched her head for a second. "Say, who would go and build a big, Gothic-style castle in a town like this anyway?"
Mara's musings where suddenly interrupted by the sound of movement coming down a nearby tunnel. The demon steeled herself in case it was trouble, but relaxed when see saw who in was. Six vampires, two females and four males, emerged from the tunnel, stopped and cast wary gazes at the demon.
"Ah, the minions promised by Mr. Trick are here. All right, which one of you is in charge?" asked Mara.
"That would be me," said a female vamp with long, dark hair and what sounded to Mara like an Australian accent.
"You got a name?"
"Sydney," replied the creature.
"Oh, I get it," said Mara. "You're from Australia and your name is Sydney. How very cute."
"I'm not from damned Australia!" howled Sydney. "I'm from New Zealand!"
"Boy, the new girl is really psycho," muttered one of the other vampires. His comrades nodded in agreement.
Mara was seriously beginning to think that Mr. Trick and given her sub-par henchmen but wasn't ready to admit that yet. "So if you're name is Sydney why did your parents--"
"Because they were bloody stupid!" The vamp then grinned to herself. "They were especially bloody after I tore out their throats."
Mara took a moment to process that and then smiled. "You got moxy, kid. I like that."
"Mr. Trick said you've got something brewing and that we're to help you," said Sydney. "So what's the plan?"
"So glad you asked!" informed Mara as The Big Pop-Up Book of Apocalyptic Magick materialized in her right hand. "You see, kids, this book here is full of all sorts of spells that are just tailor-made to cause chaos and havoc on a worldwide scale. Now what most people don't understand about the universe is that it all comes down to math."
"That's a math book?" asked another of the vamps.
Mara gave the creature a withering look. "Speak when spoken to, fangface. As I was saying, at its most basic level the universe operates on a series of mathematical principles. EMC2 and such. In this book is a spell that can reach down to that level and cause a disruption. This disruption, called a 'chaos burst', will temporarily send the laws of probability out of whack."
"And that will do what?" quizzed Sydney.
"It's more like what it won't do," grinned Mara. "You see, nothing is truly impossible. Just extremely improbable. Start messing with the laws that control probability and anything could happen. Earthquakes in places with no fault lines, hurricanes and tornadoes appearing from thin air, pregnant women giving birth to snakes, people suddenly going blind or deaf without cause, the economies of entire nations going belly up and all sorts of other fun things. Hell, if we're lucky a few wars will break out."
"But won't that mess up Sunnydale too?" asked Sydney. "The Mayor wouldn't like that."
Mara made a dismissive gesture. "With a few modifications the spell will spare this town any serious harm. Sunnydale with be the eye in Mara's hurricane of chaos."
"So what do you want with us?" demanded Sydney.
Mara reached into a fold in her cape and tossed a scroll in the lead vampire. "That's a list of things I'll need to do the ritual to unleash my spell. Normally I'd handle such an important task myself, but there are other factors in this game that require my personal attention. All you lot have to do is get what's on that list and have it back here tomorrow night. Think you can handle some grocery shopping?"
"No problem," assured Sydney with a small bow. "Come on, guys. We're off to raid The Magic Box."
"Soon to be under new management. Again," snickered one of the vamps as he put on his game face and licked his fangs.
With that, the vampires left.
"I wonder if calling in outside contractors was such a hot idea after all," wondered Mara aloud as she watched them leave. The demon then shrugged. "Oh well. Now it's time to pay a visit to another old friend."
"Mortality sucks," muttered the young woman who called herself Anya as she walked down one of Sunnydale's streets. "Back when I was a demon I got to spend my time exacting terrible vengeance on the males of this world. Now I spend my time worrying about things like algebra class, money, laundry and bed head. It's so unfair!"
"Mortality's a bitch and then you die, huh?" called a voice from behind the girl.
Anya turned to see Mara leaning casually against a lamppost. "Hey, Anyanka. Long time no see."
"Mara!" grinned Anya. "Wow, it's been ages! I haven't seen you since…"
"It was 1951," supplied Mara. "You made a colony of fire ants appear under the skin of some Italian guy who was cheating on his wife. After he was done tearing most of his flesh off we went out to a bar in Milan and got totally trashed."
"That's right," nodded Anya. "Ah, the tormented screams of unfaithful men. Damn, I miss the good old days."
"I bet you do, Anyanka," replied Mara with a smirk. "Oh, wait, its just Anya these days, isn't it? You lost your little amulet and your license so now you're stuck as a mortal, aren't you?"
"Yeah, and let me tell you it's terrible. I'm still going though vengeance withdrawal," whined Anya.
It was then that Anya's face brightened. "Say, Mara, ol' pal, you've got a lot of connections, don't you? I've been trying to be my powers back but haven't had any luck. And what with us being old friends and all I was hoping you could do me a little favor and--"
"Forget it," interrupted Mara.
Anya blinked several times. "What? Why won't you help me? I thought we were friends!"
"I suppose your definition of 'friend' is deferent than mine," said Mara. "Yeah, we hung out together once in a while, had a few good times but that's it. I mean, it's not as if someone such as moi-même would ever be real friends with a wannabe like you."
"Wannabe!" flared Anya.
"That's right, a wannabe!" retorted Mara. "You were just another pissant mortal till you turned your boyfriend into a troll. A nice spell, I'll grant you, but it wasn't what any real demon would call spectacular. But that little trick was enough to convince D'Hoffryn, Mr. Low Standards himself, that you had the chops to be a vengeance demon."
"I was a great vengeance demon!"
Mara smirked again and began to idly toy with a lock of her hair. "Oh, you were a creative little demon, I'll give you that. You took those second-class limited powers he gave you and used them well. But that still doesn't change the fact that unlike me, a pureblooded demon, you were once a weak little mortal thing."
Anya glared at Mara. "So what if I was once mortal? For over eleven hundred and twenty years I carried out my duties as a vengeance demon and I did my job damn well!"
"Is eleven hundred and twenty years and some change supposed to impress me?" asked Mara. "Little girl, I've around longer than you can imagine. I knew that from the moment I met you you'd blow it one day. Those times I saw you making cow eyes at that arrogant, overexposed, pretentious, Eurotrash, pretty boy Dracula only reinforced that belief."
Anya chewed her lip a bit but stayed silent.
"In the end I was right, wasn't I?" quizzed Mara. "The source of your power was destroyed, you failed in your attempt to get it back and D'Hoffryn abandoned you. Now you're just another zit-poppin', MTV-watchin', brainless, mortal teenage girl!"
Anya scowled. "Some friend you were."
"Hey, I'm a demon. Betrayal and back-stabbing are part of the job," shrugged Mara. "Fun parts."
"So did you come here just to kick me went I'm down or did you come for something else?" demanded Anya.
Mara conjured up yet another of her nasty grins. "Actually, kicking you while you're down was just a bonus. But the reason I came here was to do you a favor."
"A favor?" said Anya as she narrowed her eyes and tried ignore the chill that had suddenly ran down her spine.
"That's right. While we may not have been friends I do have some nostalgia for the old days. So with that in mind I decided to give you a little warning. If you're smart you'll pack a bag, blow town, find a little bunker somewhere and settle in for a while. I've got something in the works that'll knock this planet on its ear. If you don't want to get caught in the crossfire now would be real a good time to lay low."
Anya felt her stomach tie itself into a knot. She'd known Mara long enough to know that when she used that tone of voice that the demon wasn't playing around. "Really? Just what are you planning?"
"A good magician never reveals her secrets," replied Mara. As if to emphasize her point the demon suddenly made a black magician's hat appear in her hand.
Anya looked at the hat and gulped.
Mara saw the look on Anya's face and smiled. This is gonna to be sweet, Mara thought.
"Presto!" cried the blonde demon as she reached into the hat and pulled out a cute, white rabbit by its ears.
Anya stared at the rabbit.
The rabbit stared at Anya.
"What's up, Doc?" chuckled Mara.
"B-bu-bu-bunny!" screamed Anya. The ex-demon then turned and ran screaming down the street as fast as her legs would carry her.
Once Anya was out of site the rabbit disappeared from Mara's hand in a small puff of smoke. The demon then gave her wrist a little flick sending her top hat rolling neatly up her arm. When it reached her shoulder she gave it a little bounce, which caused the hat to go into the air, flip and land neatly on the demon's head. "Its moments like that that remind me of just how much fun evil is."
Smirking, Mara continued to look in the direction Anya had run. "Run far and fast, ya little wannabe! Maybe I do have some nostalgia for the old days, but that's not enough to help a second-rate ex-demon like you.
The only reason I even bothered with you is because you're on somewhat good terms with the Slayer and her crew now that you're mortal. I couldn't take the chance that they might try and get information about me out of you. After all, Urd knows we used to hang out. While she likely doesn't know about you getting fired those kids do. No point in taking the chance of them putting those two bits of information together."
Mara made her hat vanish and then cracked her knuckles. "Now that that's out of the way I think it's time I made a little home visit to a certain Slayer."
Mara then vanished.
It looked like any other sleazy motel room in the world. There were clothes tossed on the floor, bits of food, mostly cold pizza, sat around growing mold and the air smelled of old cigarettes and other even less pleasant odors. Only the presence of two things helped the room in any way. One was a small, but rather nice-looking, radio/CD player that sat on a table amid two stacks of CDs and a few bags of junk food.
The other thing was the beautiful, longhaired girl currently sleeping in the room's battered bed.
Mara took all of this in with a glance as she appeared silently in the room. "Yeesh, what a dump. I've seen parts of Hell that weren't as unpleasant as this place. And they smelled better to boot."
After checking to see that the girl was still sleeping Mara decided to poke around the room a bit. The first thing that drew her attention was the radio/CD player and the stacks of CDs by it. "Hhhmmm, that's a decent piece of electronics there. It's a shame this girl doesn't have better taste in music that go with it," muttered Mara as she glanced at the titles of the CDs. "Most of this seems to be that crap ravers listen to."
Mara suddenly smiled as she saw the name of the band on one of the CDs at the bottom of a stack. "Ah, Aerosmith! I guess this girl has at least some taste."
"Hey, how can a girl not listen some of her hometown's boys who hit it big?" said a voice with a pronounced Boston accent.
Mara calmly raised her hands and slowly turned around. Mentally she gave a little smile.
Behind Mara, now fully awake and with a stake in each hand, stood the Slayer known as Faith. "Consider yourself lucky, lady. Since I was having a nice dream before you came in here, I'm gonna give you few seconds to explain who you are and what you're up to before I get all John Woo on your obviously demonic ass."
"And just what makes you so sure I'm a demon?" asked Mara coyly.
"You got in here without making sound, you've got some weird tattoos on your face and you make my that's-an-evil-thing-that-I-might want-to-look-into-killing-senses go all tingly," replied the Slayer. "That good enough, Ms.Gonna-Be-Dead-If-She-Don't-Start-Talking?"
She can see my demon marks? I guess the enhanced senses of a Slayer shaper than I remembered, mused the demon to herself.
"Peace out there, Slayer," said Mara. "Believe it or not, I'm not here to hurt you."
"I choose 'or not'," replied Faith. "Now you got five seconds to say something that'll impress me or I'll use these stakes to make you into a kebob."
"Okay, okay, I just wanted to say…." began Mara.
Faith's eye's narrowed. "Say what?"
"SWEETS DREAMS!" howled the demon. Then, again with incredible speed, Mara brought her right hand up to her face and blew a puff of air across the flat of her palm. From the demon's hand came a cloud of yellowish dust that hit Faith right in the face. The Slayer stumbled back coughing.
"Dammit! hack what did cough you do to gasp me, you bitch?" demanded Faith in-between coughs.
"Like it?" smirked Mara. "That's magic sleep sand that I stole from a sandman. Lemme tell ya, sister, that's no easy task. Even to a demon like myself sandmen are little more than the whisper of a shadow. Lucky for me I happened to find a sandman who was a bit careless one day. I stole his sleep sand and he was severely punished by his master, Morpheus, the god sleep."
Though still short of breath, Faith rallied her remaining strength and charged. Still smirking, Mara used her amazing speed to block the Slayer's first attack with her right forearm. Then, before Faith could counter, the demon slammed her left fist into the dark-haired girl's stomach.
Faith fell to her knees coughing and gasping again. But now her eyes were beginning to go in and out of focus and there was a painful sluggishness to her movements.
"Damn you," cursed the Slayer.
Mara narrowed her eyes at Faith glared. "I'm a pureblooded demon, kid. I've got hellfire in my heart and brimstone in bones. I was born damned."
Faith opened her mouth as if to retort, but then she simply closed her eyes and fell over.
Mara then waved a hand over the fallen girl and Faith's body suddenly rose off the ground and into the air. Faith then floated over to her bed where she suddenly fell, almost bouncing off the mattress.
Mara strolled over to the side of the bed and looked down upon the defeated Slayer.
"So easy," smiled the demon.
"You know, kid, you actually pretty lucky," said Mara. "I gave that other Slayer and her pals a knockaround they won't forget anytime soon and I could have done the same to you."
Mara's grin got a bit bigger. "I could, but I didn't. I didn't because you're not like them. Yeah, you're a Slayer, but you're also a bad girl. You see the kind of happy lives that Buffy and her friends lead and a part of you just wants to destroy that. After all, why should they get to be so happy when your life has been so rough?"
Mara leaned down and looked at Faith's face very closely. "You and I have more in common than you'd ever guess."
"But that's not important right now," continued Mara. "What is important is that sleep sand I hit you with. You see, not only does it put people to sleep, but it can also be used to implant hypnotic suggestions."
Mara reached into the interior of her leather jacket and pulled out a sheet of bright green paper that she tossed onto the sleeping girls' chest. "That's a flyer for a big rock festival that's happening down in San Diego this weekend. Now listen carefully, girl. When you wake up in a few hours and see that the only thought that's going start running in your head is finding a way to get down there and having one hell of a good time."
Mara took a second to wipe a stray lock of hair from her eyes. "You'll get to party and I won't have to worry about you helping Urd and company interfere with my plans. It's win-win for both of us, kiddo."
Mara threw her head back and let out a burst of staccato laughter.
The demon then took another look at Faith. "Once this is all over, kid, I'll come back and check on you sometime. A girl with as much power and anger as you could do a lot of damage in this world. I think I might just be the demon to help you down that path. If you don't go that way on your own anyway."
"Turning a Slayer to evil. Oh, what a feather in my cap that would be," mused Mara. In the bed Faith twitched and a frown briefly appeared on her face. Whatever the Slayer was dreaming of it wasn't pleasant.
"Now that that's done, it's time for a little mad science!" chuckled Mara as she vanished.
Computers, both desktop and wall-size lined the room while technicians in white lab coats constantly scurried about. To the uninformed the place could have been mistaken for an ordinary research lab. But this was no ordinary research lab. It was in fact the main research room for the covert government program known as the Initiative.
None of this impressed Mara as she materialized against a wall. Thanks to yet another of her concealment spells no one noticed the demon's arrival. As she looked around the room, an older woman with distinguished features and a strong air of authority caught Mara's attention.
Dollars to donuts, I'll be she's the one in charge here, mused Mara.
"Sutton, what's the latest on 314?" said the woman to one of the technicians.
"Bad news, I afraid, Dr. Walsh," replied the bespeckled man. "We've tried everything we can think of, but 314 is rejecting the transplant from Subject P27. Their respective biologies are just too incompatible."
"Dammit!" cursed Walsh. "All right, move on to Subject D95. We may have better luck with it. And have some fresh X-rays taken of the right arm. I want it replaced as soon as possible. The current one is just too…human."
"I like that attitude," mused Mara to herself. "She has a real Joseph Mengela air to her."
It was then at a young, handsome man dressed in a soldier's uniform entered the room, a clipboard under his right arm. "Excuse me, Dr. Wash," said the soldier. "Dr. Angleman asked me to deliver this to you."
"Ah, thank you, Riley," replied the scientist as she took the clipboard. "I just hope it's good news. I could use some right about now."
"I don't know what's on that clipboard, but I can tell you that your bad news has just started," chuckled Mara. With that, the demon reached into her jacket and withdrew what seemed like a red can of soda. The words 'Mephisto Cola! Now with 40 More Black Magic!' were written on the label.
Mara popped the tab and took a quick swig from the can. "Mmm, that extra black magic tastes so good!" grinned the demon as she licked her lips. "Human's would just eat this stuff up if they ever marketed in here. Just a mouthful would be enough to turn them into a pile of green goo, of course, but good judgment has never been one of humanity's strong points."
Mara then took the can and causally pored the contents onto the keyboard to a nearby computer. Almost instantly the computer's screen went black. Moments later the machine began to make a horrible electronic noise. The noise grew louder and louder and then the machine began to shoot off sparks.
A few seconds later another computer in the room began to do the same thing. And then another, and another and another…
"What the hell is going on!" shouted Dr. Walsh as the lights in the room suddenly began to flicker.
"I don't know, but I'll try and find out," assured Riley evenly. The solider then grabbed the walkie-talkie on his belt and began to shout into it. "Graham, Forrest, Mason! Get your gear on and meet me at Blue 4. We've got to make sure that the containment cells hold!"
"We're already on our way!" replied the voice of Graham.
"Roger, over and out," confirmed Riley as he charged out the door.
Mara watched as the technicians scrambled about frantically trying to determine what was going on while Dr. Walsh shouted orders. "Fun just doesn't begin to describe this. The taxpayers of this country would be ashamed if they knew their government's best computers go crazy if someone spills a little soda on them," mused the demon.
Still invisible to all around her Mara strolled up behind Dr. Walsh and watched as the scientist continued to shout orders. "Relax, Marie Curie. Ol' Mara isn't going to do anything that would permanently shut down this little shop of horrors. Nobody loves a time bomb just waiting to go off like I do. This place will be up and running again in, oh, five weeks. Six tops."
Dr. Walsh screamed and dived for shelter under a desk as a nearby light fixture exploded, sending sparks and bits of hot glass everywhere.
"You know, the Russians had a place a lot like this back in the early 80s," continued Mara, more to herself than anyone. "They were trying to create an army of unkillable demon soldiers to replace their nuclear program. They'd made some pretty good headway until they decided to let a pair of Kalgor demons they had mate. What the Russkies didn't know it that Kalgors are part insect. The female gives birth to hundreds of young at once. And when little Kalgors are born they tend to eat anything and grow insanely fast.
Not only did the Ivans end up having a lot of their best minds turned into baby Kalgor chow, they also lost two divisions of the Red Army keeping the things confined to the base long enough for someone in Moscow to active the place's self-destruct system by remote. But, hey, that's life, isn't it?
The blast did kill all the Kalgors in the end. It also killed the soldier's who were fighting to keep the demons from escaping too, but most them had already been eaten by then so I suppose it really wasn't that big a sacrifice."
Mara closed her eyes and concentrated. "But you folks have something far more interesting around here than some Kalgors, don't ya? I think I'll just have a peek."
Mara then vanished.
Klaxons blared and reddish emergency lighting flickered on and off as Mara appeared in another part of the Initiative's base. The room was empty of its normal contingent of technicians. They all had bigger fish to fry at the moment. But the large tank with the number 314 painted on the side sat unchanged and oblivious to the chaos surrounding it.
"My, my, that's a big piñata. Let's have a peak at what's inside. Somehow I don't think its candy," said Mara she stared at the tank. The demon then reached into her jacket and pulled out an odd-looking pair of glasses that had a spiral pattern on the lenses. "X-ray specs, the real deal! Comic book geeks of the world, eat yer hearts out!" chuckled Mara as she slipped on the glasses and looked at the tank.
Inside 314 was a being unlike any Mara had ever seen. The creature was part human, part demon (actually part several different demons) and part machine. Though the thing didn't move Mara could sense great power emanating from the creature.
"Well, aren't you just the cutest little chimera ever?" asked Mara as she floated closer to the tank. "And the power coming from you…human, demonic, mechanical and nuclear…oh, it just sends a shiver down my spine. I can just tell that you're going to go Frankenstein someday. And when you do…mmm, the destruction is gonna be suh-weet!"
Mara then placed the tips of her three largest fingers against her lips, kissed them and then put her hand to the side of the tank. An image shaped like a kiss appeared on the side of the tank, flared bright red for a moment and then disappeared.
"That was a special little blessing from your truly, my little patchwork man," informed Mara as she stowed her glasses. "Just a little something to help you went your time comes. And when your time comes here's some advice; hit your enemies where they're weakest. Hit their emotions. Pervert and twist that which they care about and let nothing stand in your way."
Mara floated away from the tank but blew a final kiss as she went. "See ya, handsome. My time is now, but yours will come soon enough. If I have the time I'll drop by and see what you're up to personally. Dream of the chaos you and I could create while you sleep. Adios!"
With those words Mara vanished. The creature in the tank, called Adam by the woman who'd created him, lay silent.
And then…
Just for a second Adam's right hand twitched. And just as quickly Adam was still again.
Then Adam began to dream…
Sitting in his office, the mayor hummed a little tune to himself as he scrawled his signature on some paperwork. As he worked the mayor's mind briefly did a review of his day. There'd been a meeting with the city council, an interview for local television, some elementary school children dropping in during to a tour of city haul, three blood sacrifices to a variety of demons and his meetings with Mr. Trick and Mara. Yes indeed, it had been a busy day.
But there was one final bit of business before the day was over.
As he finished signing the last paper on his desk Wally and Zack appeared in a flash of red light before the mayor. "Ah, gentlemen, right on time I see. Good, good. Punctuality is such a lost art these days," greeted the demonic politician.
"Our boss expects the best from us," informed Zack simply.
The mayor nodded politely but kept most of his attention on the black briefcase Zack currently held.
"Mr. Trick has already been compensated for his role in helping our boss' agenda come to fruition. We even gave him a bonus for the short notice. Now, as agreed, here's your reward for your assistance in this endeavor," said Wally.
With those words Zack set the briefcase on the mayor's desk, popped it and stood back as the mayor reached inside. Quickly the mayor withdrew with a book with a demonic face as the main feature on its black cover.
"Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the Book of the Dead," grinned the mayor as he examined his prize. "Thousands of years old, bound in human flesh and inked in blood. Crammed to the gills with bizarre funeral rights and demon summoning rituals. You won't be seeing this on the self next to the Harry Potter books at Barnes & Noble."
"I should think not," grunted Wally. "We had to go all the way to Arkham, Massachusetts to steal that thing from Miskatonic University. That was no mean feat, let me tell you."
"I'm sure you did your employer proud," said the mayor. "I know no questions asked was part of our bargain, but I'll admit I'm curious as a kitten to know what you boys are helping cook up."
"All things come to he who waits," replied Zack. "Now if there's nothing else…"
"No, no, you boys run along," dismissed the mayor. "This book will be very helpful in taking care of some of the final details of my Ascension so I want to get to reading it right away. If I can be of any more help you know where to find me."
Wally and Zack nodded and then disappeared in a flash of red light.
Once again alone the mayor opened the Necronomicon and began to read.
"Now let's see…if I'm reading this map right I should be right by Furikan High School. That means the Tendo Dojo is nearby!"
Those hopeful words belonged to Ryoga Hibiki who, in defiance of the odds, had somehow managed to stay solidly in Sunnydale for the last several hours instead his usual habit of taking a wrong turn and somehow ending up in Uruguay. Sadly for Ryoga he was still very, very far from the Tendo Dojo. But he was near a high school (inside one, in fact). But it wasn't Furikan High.
Thanks to the still unknown properties of the Hibiki directional sense, Ryoga somehow found himself stepping out of Giles' office and into the main library of Sunnydale High. He looked once more at the map in his hand (currently a map of Indonesia) and then looked up to see that he was, in fact, not at Furikan high.
Ryoga was about to scream his trademark accusation of blame on Ranma Saotome when something caught his eye. It was Giles, his head down on one of the library's tables sleeping. Spread out before the Englishmen were nine volumes of demon lore all open to various pages. Hanging partially from his body was a utilitarian-looking blue blanket.
Giles was snoring softly.
"No, I don't think this is Furikan High. I'm pretty sure even the nutty principle they have there isn't in the habit of letting foreigners sleep in the library," muttered Ryoga as he quietly strolled over to where Giles was sleeping. The young martial artist briefly considered waking the sleeping man to ask for directions but quickly discounted the idea for several reasons. For one, waking a sleeping stranger seemed pretty rude. Two, the odds that the stranger knew where the Tendo Dojo was a longshot at best. Finally, the man looked extremely tired.
"Looks like you've had a hard day, pal," commented Ryoga as he looked Giles over. "Believe me, I know what that's like."
Ryoga's gaze then fell on the occult books on the table in front of Giles. "Wow, I guess you're a big horror fan. Let me tell you about some of the stuff I've been though sometime. Thanks to that jerk Ranma I've seen hell. Um, in the figurative sense."
Giles continued to sleep, unaware of the young man beside him.
Ryoga sighed, reached over to the blanket that had been covering Giles and pulled it back up over the librarian. "Sleep tight, mister. From the look on your face I'd say you've earned a rest."
With a small nod Ryoga left Giles' side and headed out of the library to who knows where.
Some hours later Sunnydale had settled into its usual late Friday night pattern. Those on third shift toiled away, while other people slept or partied and a few unfortunate souls few victim to the various menaces that prowled the city.
Skuld, however, was doing none of those things. Instead the little goddess sat in the Harris' kitchen, a half-eaten bowl of vanilla ice cream to one side and a large pile of comic books on the other.
"Wow, lightweight but highly aerodynamic and protective armor, HUD displays, various sensor system, boot jets and palm-mounted repulser beams. This Iron Man guy is just the coolest!" smiled Skuld as she read one of the comics.
"Yeah, ol' Shellhead is pretty darn spiffy," replied a voice. "But personally I always preferred Spider-Man. For me, a guy like Peter Parker is much easier to relate to."
Skuld looked up to see Xander standing in the kitchen's doorway, a slight smile on her face. "Oh, Xander, hi. Sorry about borrowing your comics without asking. It's just that I woke up and…didn't feel like going back to sleep right away. I was trying to think of something to do so I wouldn't be bored when I spotted a box of comics in your room. So I…"
"It's cool," assured Xander as she sat down at the table and glanced at the pile of comics by Skuld. "Comics were meant to be read, not kept in boxes. Let's see what ya got here…Gen13, Nightwing, Preacher…uh, you're a little young for that one…JLA, Flash, Avengers, Fantastic Four, DV8, Starman, Generation X, Robin, Thunderbolts, The Authority, Supergirl, Green Lantern, X-Men and, of course, Iron Man. Hey, you got good taste."
"Uh, thanks," said Skuld. "So what are you doing up?"
"Nature called," shrugged Xander. "And now that I'm a girl that's a whole new ride. But the less said about that the better. But, uh, using the bathroom isn't the only reason I'm up."
"Bad dream?" ventured Skuld.
Xander nodded. "And I'm not the only one am I?"
Skuld froze for a second and then nodded. "Yeah, me too. How could you tell?"
"Sunnydale is where all the thing that people though lived under their bed really do live. Living in a place like this you learn a lot about nightmares. You wanna talk about it?"
Skuld shook her head "Not really."
Xander frowned briefly. "Look, Skuld, I know you just met me but you can talk to me if you want. I've seen what happens when people keep what they're feeling bottled up and trust me it's not pretty."
Skuld's face softened a bit but she said nothing.
"How about if I tell you what I dreamed about and you tell me what you dreamed about. Sound fair?"
Skuld hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
"Well, to understand my dream you gotta know about something that happened a few years back," began Xander. "I had a major crush on Buffy but she was all about the posterboy for Ann Rice-style whiny vampires AKA Angel. So I sorta…blackmailed a witch girl that I knew into casting a love spell on me. It was supposed to make Buffy find me totally irresistible. Unfortunately the spell didn't work exactly right and pretty soon everything I met that didn't have a Y chromosome was after me."
"Wow, a screwed up love spell that Urd had nothing to do with. I'm shocked," said Skuld. "But having loads of girls after you sounds like something any guy would want."
"Well, when the girls start chasing you as a mob and attacking each other because they want to get rid of the competition it gets very non-fun very fast. We managed to get the spell lifted eventually, but believe you me, nobody knows just how bad to much of a good thing can be more than me."
"Okay, I understand the story. So what was your dream?"
"I was being chased by screaming hordes who wanted me again," replied Xander. "But this time it was all guys. Even Giles, Oz and Angel. Bring on the eeeewww."
Xander's brow then furrowed for second. "Now that I think about it, I just realized something funny. I knew all the guys in my dream who were chasing me but one. He was dressed in this blue robe kinda thing, was currying a wooden sword, like one I saw in a martial arts movie once, and kept shouting something about 'the Blue Thunder of freakin' high school'.
"A blue robe and a wooden sword? That sounds like a kendo outfit to me," said Skuld.
"Yeah, kendo, I think that's what the guys in the movie called it," nodded Xander. "Anyway, I don't know what 'freakin' high school' that guy goes to, but no way is it as weird as Sunnydale High."
"If what I read about this town is true I think you might be right," concurred Skuld.
"Okay, I kept up my end of the deal. Now how about telling me what 's bothering you."
Skuld took a deep breath before speaking. "You remember back at the library how Urd talked about being possessed by the Lord of Terror and trying to destroy the universe and stuff?"
Xander nodded. He had a sense of where this story was likely to go, but knew it would be best to let Skuld speak the words herself.
"Well, it took everything Belldandy, me and Keni—uh, a guy we know to stop the Lord of Terror. But in my dream we weren't able to stop him without destroying…"
"Urd, right?" finished Xander.
Skuld nodded, a few tears welling up in her eyes. The little goddess sniffled and quickly wiped the tears away. "Lousy Urd. Making me have bad dreams and get all upset."
"Hey, if I had to dream like that with one of my friends in place of Urd I'd be feeling the need for some tears too," informed Xander. "She's you sister. Of course you'd feel upset about the idea of anything bad happening to her. And she'd feel the same if she thought something bad was going to happen to you. That's the way families work. Or so the 'very special episodes' on TV say."
"Yeah, I guess," sighed Skuld. "I just wish she didn't pick on me so much."
"That's just another part of being a family. Yeah, they can drive you nuts but at the end of the day you know that they love you and would do anything for you. If there's anything I've learned from Buffy, Will and Oz it's that. You do know that Urd loves you, right?"
Skuld cast her eyes to the floor.
Xander frowned for a second be went on. "Don't be like that, kiddo. You should have seen the look on Urd's face when she knew that Mara Bomb hadn't hurt you. It was 100 relief."
Skuld was again silent for a few moments but eventually nodded. "Yeah, I know she loves me. She's just got a funny way of showing it sometimes."
"I could say the same about you," said Xander. "I'll go out on a limb here and say that the fighting I saw you two doing isn't nothing new."
"Got that right," snorted Skuld.
"And I'll also say that for all the fighting you do you love Urd too."
Skuld again looked at the floor.
Xander hhhmmmed. "Okay then, tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you hate your sister."
Skuld looked up at Xander with a slight glower. "Okay, yeah, as much of a pain as she can be, I do love Urd. She's my sister after all. But that was a really low way of making me admit it."
"Maybe, but I bet you feel better now, don't ya?" grinned Xander.
Skuld stopped to think for a second and quickly realized she indeed did feel better. "Yeah, I guess I do. Thanks, Xander."
"Anytime, Skuld."
Skuld suddenly looked uncomfortable and began to fidget a bit. "Uh, Xander, about what I said…"
"You secret will go with me to my grave. Now maybe we should back to bed. It's a sure bet tomorrow is going to be a long day."
Skuld nodded and with that she and Xander quickly cleaned up the ice cream, put the comics back into a stack and returned to Xander's room.
They slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
"And that should do it," assessed Angel as the last of the blood hit the floor. The vampire then took a moment to step back and check his work. On the floor of the main room of the mansion Angel called home a complicated pentagram filled in various spots with other arcane symbols had been painted in cow blood. Blood that was supposed to have been his food for the next few days Angel momentarily lamented.
Satisfied that the pentagram had been drawn correctly Angel reached for a book laying on a small table nearby. Earlier the book had been part of Giles' collection that he kept in the library at Sunnydale High. After the other Scoobies had left it had become one of the books Giles and Angel began to look though for information on Mara. But only an hour into their work the day's events had proved too much for the Englishman and Giles had drifted off. Angel had tried to make Giles as comfortable as possible without waking him by covering him with blanket secured from the office of the school nurse.
That done Angel began to dig though the books again on his own. Now long after he returned to his research the vampire had stumbled across something very interesting. The prospect might not have been pleasant but was worth a try.
His brief reflection on recent events over, Angel took a moment to steel himself, opened the book to a pre-marked page and began to read the chant that lay there.
"Pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa," recited Angel.
Almost instantly the illumination in the room seemed to fade and the great pentagram on the floor began to glow with a red fire.
"Pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa," continued the vampire as the pentagram began to glow brighter and a strong wind suddenly filled the room.
"Pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa, pa gu a sun fa!" shouted Angel as the chant came to a crashing close. As soon as the final word was spoken a blinding burst of red light filled the room.
When he was able to open his eyes again Angel could clearly see a person was now standing in the center of the pentagram. The person in question was Mara.
"Well, well, look who's here," smirked the demon as she turned and saw Angel. "I wondered who was using that ancient ol' spell to summon me. I never would've guessed it was you, handsome."
"Don't start with me, Mara," growled Angel. "I summoned you here for a reason."
Mara struck a sultry pose and blew Angel a kiss. "Oh, why is that? Your little Slayer toy no longer able to love you long time?"
"Toss off all the nasty comments you want," snapped Angel. "I summoned you here for information, not to watch you act like a streetwalker."
Mara shot a glare at Angel that would have melted him if it had been possible. "You're lucky that summoning spell you used keeps me confined to this circle for as long as I'm here, deadboy. But you better believe I'll make you pay for that comment very soon."
Angel gave a mental wince. How the hell had Mara found out that annoying nickname Xander had given him?
Brushing that though aside Angle returned to business. "You can get some of that revenge on me right now if you want, Mara. All you have to do is tell me how it is you know me."
"Tell you how I know you?" repeated the demon. "Now why should I tell you something like that? As a certain mysterious priest and longtime associate of mine is so fond of saying, 'That's a secret'."
"You'll tell me because we met when I was Angelus, didn't we?" asked Angel. "You'll tell me because it'll make me recall something I did back in those days. Something that most likely involved death and pain for a lot of innocent people. And you know that those feelings will hurt me like nothing you could ever do to me.
So here's your shot, Mara. Be the demon that you are by reminding me of the demon I once was!
Mara stared at Angel for several seconds before erupting in another round of her blistering laugh. "Very good, Angelus. You make an excellent case. All right then, I'll tell about the time I first met you. And I'll tell you this right now, it did involve much terror and death."
With that, Mara began her story.
To be continued…
Author's notes: Just a few quick notes on some of the stuff that might have gone over people's heads.
"Say, who would go and build a big, Gothic-style castle in a town like this anyway?"
The castle in question is the one where Dracula set up shop in the first episode of season five.
"Come on, guys. We're off to raid The Magic Box."
The Magic Box, of course, is the shop that will eventually be run by Giles and Anya.
Those times I saw you making cow eyes at that arrogant, overexposed, pretentious, Eurotrash, pretty boy Dracula only reinforced that belief."
The "Buffy Vs Dracula" episode hinted that Anya may have had a crush on Dracula.
"She has a real Joseph Mengela air to her."
Joseph Mengela achieved infamy as a Nazi doctor who performed horrible experiments on human subjects in concentration camps.
"Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the Book of the Dead," grinned the mayor as he examined his prize.
This bit is all a reference to the movie Army of Darkness.
"We had to go all the way to Arkham, Massachusetts to steal that thing from Miskatonic University."
Miskatonic University is a reference to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a great author whose horror fiction clearly had an influence on Buffy.
The Ryoga cameo was mostly for fun, but it also helped establish where Giles was when Angel was performing his spell.
All those comics Xander reads are also ones I'm a fan of. Sue me for indulging my fanboy side a bit. But the fact that Xander does like comics has popped up several times in the show so it's not as if it isn't cannon.
I knew all the guys in my dream who were chasing me but one. He was dressed in this blue robe kinda thing, was currying a wooden sword, like one I saw in a martial arts movie once, and kept shouting something about 'the Blue Thunder of freakin' high school'.
Yeah, the guy in Xander's dream was Kuno from Ranma ½. Having Xander become Xander-chan it only seemed right that Kuno should pop up to make life hard for him.
The "freakin' high school' line comes from the fact that Furinkan High School said in English sounds a bit like "freakin' high school".
That "Pa gu a sun fa" stuff that Angel uses to summon Mara is the same chant the Kei pirates use to control their Tao magic in Outlaw Star.
As a certain mysterious priest and longtime associate of mine is so fond of saying, 'That's a secret'."
Could Mara be talking about Xellos from Slayers? That's a secret! wink