Chapter 22: Tea

1992

"Please tell me you don't believe in that stuff," said a voice beside Dawn.

Dawn looked at her seat-mate.

"You shouldn't read crap like that," he said. "It'll rot your brain."

Dawn smiled politely, and hoped he'd go away, at least as far away as he could on an airplane flying at an altitude of several thousand feet. She looked over her shoulder at Buffy who sat a row behind and across the aisle. She sighed and shook her head as Buffy nodded in understanding. Dawn went back to reading the pages she'd printed from the website.

"Does that really say werewolves?" he said. "Like fangs and fur? Michael Landon? I Was a Teenage Werewolf?"

"Michael …?" Dawn pretended not to recognize the name. Of course she knew who Michael Landon was. She had seen many of the TV shows and movies that had been created since the first silent film was produced.

"Uh, an old movie. Before my time," he said as Dawn nodded. "Is that for real? Someone's selling information on werewolves? Werewolves? What kind of people would buy crap like that?"

"I would. For sure," Dawn said, affecting her best imitation of Hemery Buffy. "Werewolves are in. Vampires are so five minutes ago. Gothic, ugh. Me and my friends, we tried it once, but when I dyed my hair black, it went green."

"That's, uh—"

"Green! Can you believe it?" Dawn said. "And the clothes they wanted us to wear? Totally gross. So then, like, Chase, he said, what about werewolves? He heard about this group in Miami, so we talked to them and they said vampires were out. Werewolves were the new thing. Chase and I, we went to see them, and they had these costumes, fur and teeth and stuff, and we put them on and popped these pills and presto, we were werewolves."

"Uh, really?" he said, eyes darting about for an escape route. "Well, I'm sure—"

"We could run and jump around and howl, and we went out hunting, and one of the guys caught this rabbit, and, like, I know it sounds gross, but we were so hungry and the smell of the blood—"

"Could you excuse me?" the man interrupted. "I need to use the washroom."

"Sure. You look a little green. Probably air-sickness. My friend Tabby has that real bad. I hope you're feeling better, 'cause I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me tonight. There's this werewolf group in Pittsburgh. They're having a Grand Howl tonight. I'm meeting Chase there. He's kinda my boyfriend, but he switch-hits, you know, and he's really cute. I think you'd like him."

The man mumbled something and sprinted into the aisle.

"Wait 'til I tell you about the Grand Howl," Dawn called after him. "They're so cool." She looked back over her shoulder at Buffy who was laughing and gave her a thumbs up.

Ten minutes later, he still hadn't returned. Dawn returned to her reading as Buffy sat next to her.

"So?" Buffy asked her sister. In the months since she had been bitten, and she and Dawn had moved into Stonehaven so that Dawn could be with Clay, they had been given several responsibilities. One of which was to monitor the burgeoning Internet for signs that some mutt was calling attention to himself.

"Well according to this the attacks were first believed to be dog kills," Dawn said.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You know that's like the barbeque fork deal back in Sunnydale. You know it still amazes me how people can rationalize the supernatural away."

"I know what you mean," Dawn said as she returned to the article.

Once in Pittsburgh, Buffy and Dawn caught a cab, registered at their hotel, dropped off their stuff, and headed to the meeting. They were supposed to meet the vendor—Ms. Winterbourne—outside a place called Tea for Two. It was exactly what it sounded like, a cutesy shop selling afternoon tea and light lunches.

Ms. Winterbourne had promised to meet them in front of the shop at three-thirty. Buffy and Dawn arrived at three-thirty-five. At four o'clock, a young woman approached. When the sisters turned, she smiled. "Dawn? Buffy?" she asked, her voice a deep contralto. "Dawn and Buffy … Danvers?"

"Uh—yes," Dawn said. "That's us. Ms. Winterbourne?"

She smiled. "One of them. I'm Paige. My aunt will be along shortly. You're early."

"No," Buffy said. "You're late."

Paige blinked, thrown off by Buffy's bluntness. "Weren't we supposed to meet at four-thirty?"

"Three-thirty," Dawn said.

"I was sure—" she said as Dawn pulled the printout of their e-mail correspondence from her pocket. "Oh. Three-thirty. I'm so sorry. I must have jotted it down wrong. I'm glad I stopped by early then. I'd better call my aunt and tell her."

She took a cell phone from her purse and called her aunt, who promised to join them as soon as possible. "Well," Paige said, clicking off the phone. "My apologies again, Ms. Danvers and Ms. Danvers. May I call you Dawn? And Buffy?"

"Please, there will be less confusion that way," Dawn said as Buffy nodded in agreement. "Should we wait inside?"

"Actually, it's a bad place for something like this. Aunt Ruth and I had coffee here this morning. Food's great, but it's much too quiet. You can hear conversations from across the room. I guess we should have realized that, but we're not very experienced at this sort of thing."

"No?" Buffy said.

Paige laughed, a throaty chuckle. "I suppose you hear a lot of that. People not wanting to admit they're into this kind of stuff. We're into it. I won't deny that. But this is our first … what would you call it? Sale? Anyway, since the tearoom turned out to be a bad choice, we had some platters made up and took them to our hotel. We'll hold the meeting there."

"Hotel?" Dawn looked at Buffy they had both thought the Winterbournes lived in Pittsburgh. Vendors usually arranged meetings in their hometown.

"It's a few blocks over. An easy walk. Guaranteed privacy."

"Umm, well …" Dawn said, glancing over her shoulder. "Buffy and I would prefer a public place. No offense …"

"None taken," she said. "But all my stuff is back at the hotel. How about we stop by there, and if you two still don't feel comfortable, we can grab my things, meet up with my aunt, and go somewhere else. Good?"

Dawn looked at Buffy who nodded. "I guess so," she said as she and Buffy followed Paige down the street.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The hotel was one of those old places with a ballroom-sized front lobby, glass chandeliers, and elevator operators dressed like organ grinders. Paige's room was on the fourth floor, second one left of the elevator. She unlocked the door and held it open for the sisters, they hesitated.

"I could stick something under the door to prop it open," she said.

Buffy and Dawn glanced around and stepped inside. The woman took a pad of paper from the table and held it up, gesturing toward the closing door.

"That won't be necessary," Dawn said.

"The phone's right here." She lifted the receiver so the sisters could hear the dial tone. "Would you two like me to move it closer? I'm pretty sure Pittsburgh has nine-one-one services."

They knew Paige was joking to ease their minds. She said something about making tea and vanished into the adjoining room of the suite. They sat at a table.

"So this information you're selling," Buffy said as Paige returned. "It's as good as the Phoenix case, right?"

"Better," she said, setting the tea tray on the table. "It's proof that werewolves exist."

"You believe in werewolves?" Dawn asked.

"Don't you two?"

"We believe in anything that'll sell magazines," Buffy said.

"So you don't believe in werewolves?" Paige's lips curved in an annoying half-smile.

"No offense, but it's not our thing," Dawn said. "Buffy and I write the stuff. We sell it to magazines. People like you buy it. Ninety percent of the readers don't believe it themselves. It's harmless fantasy."

"Best to keep it that way, isn't it? Harmless fantasy. If you start believing in werewolves, then you have to admit the possibility of other things, witches and sorcerers and shamans. Not to mention vampires and ghosts. Then there are demons, and that's a whole can of worms you don't want to open."

Buffy glanced at Dawn and rolled her eyes.

"Where's the information?" Dawn asked, as politely as she could manage.

Paige reached over to the side table, where a folder lay. For a moment, she leafed through it, lips pursed. Then she took a sheet and laid it between them. It was a photograph showing the head and shoulders of a middle-aged man, Asian, a pinched nose and dour mouth softened by doe-like eyes.

"Do you recognize him?"

Dawn looked at Buffy who shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "But it's a pretty ordinary face."

Paige showed them a second photo. "How about this one? Not quite so ordinary."

"Now, him we recognize," Buffy said.

"You do?"

"Of course," Dawn said. "Come on. We'd have to live in Tibet not to recognize him. Hell, even journalists in Tibet read Time and Newsweek. He's been covered by them. What five times in the last year, Buffy?

"That sounds about right," Buffy said.

"His name's Ty Winsloe. Billionaire and computer geek extraordinaire," Dawn said.

"So you two have never met him personally?"

"Us?" Dawn asked. "We wish. No matter how many interviews he's given, a Ty Winsloe exclusive would still be a career breakthrough for two no-name reporters like us."

Paige frowned and she fanned both pictures in front of her and waited.

"Okay, we give," Buffy said. "What does this have to do with werewolf proof? Please, please, please don't tell me these guys are werewolves. Is that your game? Put one decent story on the web, lure a couple of dumb journalists down here, and then weave a whopper about werewolf billionaires?"

"Ty Winsloe is not a werewolf. If he was, you two would know it."

"How …?" Dawn shook her head. "Maybe there's some confusion here. Like we said in our e-mail, this is our first werewolf story. If there are experts in the field, that's a scary thought, but we're not one of them."

"You two are not here to write a story. You two are journalists, but not this kind."

"Ah," Buffy said. "So, tell us, why are we here?"

"To protect your Pack."

Dawn and Buffy blinked and looked at each other. "Our what?" Buffy asked as she turned to look at the woman again.

"Your Pack. The others. Other werewolves."

"Ah, so we're," Dawn said, "werewolves."

"Dawn Marie Danvers," Paige said, "Reportedly born in 1970 and married to Clayton Danvers. Buffy Anne Danvers reportedly born in 1964 and married to Jeremy Danvers. But here is the clincher, before two years ago no one had heard of either of you, at least not under those names. Before that you both went under the names Buffy and Dawn Sparrow in Toronto. And before that you were Buffy and Dawn Michaels in New York. Dawn, you attended New York University in the late seventies and early eighties. Dropped out in your third year shortly before moving to upstate New York. Buffy, you moved to Toronto six months before Dawn here was bitten by Clayton Danvers. You returned just after Christmas and then moved with Dawn to upstate New York. Then two years ago you were bitten by Scott Brandon, who was killed later that same night."

Suddenly Buffy and Dawn noticed pressure wound around their legs as if someone were tying them down. The sisters jerked up but couldn't stand. Looking down, they saw nothing restraining them.

Dawn opened her magical senses as she cursed her stupidity. The spell that held them was an easy one for her to break. She looked at Paige and her senses told her this was an apprentice witch. She decided to play along for now. "Whatever you're doing," she said. "I'd suggest you stop it. I'm going to count to three."

"Don't threaten—"

"One," Dawn said.

"—me, Dawn. I can do—"

Buffy smiled. "Two."

"—a lot more than bind—"

"Three," Dawn said as she disappeared in a flash of green.

"—you to that chair."

Buffy smiled. "She warned you," she said as Dawn reappeared and slammed Paige against the wall. As Dawn grabbed the woman's neck she felt the restraints vanish and she stood up.

"Well, it would seem I arrived just in time," a voice said behind them.

Buffy and Dawn looked over their shoulders to see an elderly woman walking into the room.

"I'm Ruth, Paige's great-aunt," she said. "Trying to handle matters on your own again, Paige? Now look what you've done. Those bruises will take weeks to fade and we didn't bring any turtlenecks. And it appears you've pissed of a witch with more power than either of us have."

Dawn loosened her grip around Paige's neck as she and Buffy sidestepped toward the door.

"Thanks for the tea," Buffy said. "We'll be leaving."

"Please don't." Ruth laid a hand on Buffy's arm, firm but not restraining. "We must speak with you two. Perhaps I can handle this better."

Buffy eased her arm out of Ruth's grip as she and Dawn took another step toward the door.

"Please don't. I can restrain you, but I'd rather not resort to that."

Buffy looked at Dawn and instead of lunging for the door they turned and lunged for each other intending for Dawn to teleport them out. Ruth said something. And Buffy and Dawn froze.

"This is the way the spell should work," Ruth said. "It won't break until I give the command."

Dawn glared at the woman. "How powerful are you?"

"Powerful enough," Ruth said. "With the power I can feel radiating from you. I know I can't hold you forever, Dawn, but I can hold you long enough. Now please stay. Binding spells as I am sure you know, Dawn, have their place, but they're not terribly civilized. Let's start over, shall we? I'm Ruth Winterbourne. That impetuous young woman behind you both is my niece Paige. We need to speak to you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Ruth, Buffy and Dawn came to an agreement. Buffy and Dawn would hear Ruth out, admitting nothing about the Pack. They sat at the table.

"So my dear you are a witch," Ruth said.

"I am," Dawn admitted.

"But you are not hereditary," Ruth said.

"I'm not sure what you mean by hereditary," said Dawn.

"Like hereditary werewolves. Born into a family."

"No, I'm not hereditary then," Dawn said. While she usually tried to keep her magic a secret it was not like being a werewolf. Besides Paige there had already seen her teleport. "I was given my magic a very long time ago."

Ruth nodded. "Ok now besides witches there are other things. These beings—races we call them—know about one another and gather periodically to disseminate information and deal with potential exposure. Now, at one point, werewolves were part of this collaboration—"

Dawn opened her mouth, but Ruth again raised her hand.

"All right," Ruth said. "Neither of you need a history lesson. We didn't come here for that. As Paige may have said, we came to warn you. Did she get to that part?"

"I showed them the photos," Paige said. "We didn't get to the explanation."

"Allow me then. These men—humans—have been giving us some trouble. Quite a bit of trouble. Confrontations, accusations, kidnappings. It would seem they know more than they should."

"Those two?" Dawn said, pointing at the folder. "Ty Winsloe? Kidnapping witches? You're losing me. This doesn't make sense. I mean witches can defend themselves and can call on others. I and a friend of ours were both trained by the Devon Coven."

"You are too a point correct. Once upon a time all we had to worry about was bonfires and Grand Inquisitors. Now we have evil computer magnates. I won't go into detail because I'm hoping a little curiosity might bring your Pack to our meeting."

"We're really—" Buffy said.

"They know about the werewolves and they're looking for them, just as they're looking for the rest of us. And they may even look especially hard for you, Dawn. A witch and a werewolf. A deadly combination," she said and then looked straight a Buffy. "Just as a Slayer and a werewolf is."

"You know how this sounds, don't you?" Dawn said. "Pretend we are werewolves. You two lure Buffy and I here with some bullshit story and tell us you're witches. Which I will admit you are as I can feel the magical energies radiating from you both. But you both are also part of some supernatural United Nations. Something we've never ever heard of. And As delegates of this UN, you've decided to contact us with this story about demonic computer geeks—"

"They're not demonic," Ruth said. "As I said, they're human."

"You guys really believe this stuff about Ty Winsloe, don't you?" Buffy asked.

Paige sighed. "Maybe we made a mistake choosing you two—"

"And about that," Dawn said. "Why choose us? Or did you put that story on the Internet and assume only a werewolf would reply? Let's say this conspiracy exists and there are guys out there looking for werewolves. What's to stop them from responding to your ad?"

"We did get a lot of inquiries," Ruth said. "But we were waiting for yours."

"Ours?" Buffy said.

"A few years ago, our council had a run-in with a werewolf. Not one of your Pack. An outsider, what you would call a mutt. We've kept tabs on him, in case we ever needed to contact the werewolves. When this trouble began, we found him and … persuaded him to share some information with us. He knew about your Pack, who led it, who was in it, where they lived. Moreover, he knew all about the two of you and your backgrounds. That you two were the only female werewolves in the Pack. That Buffy here before she was bitten was a Slayer. Though apparently he was not aware you were a witch, Dawn."

"My being a witch is a closely guarded secret, of course," Dawn said. "I mean I don't hide it, but I don't go telling everyone either."

Ruth smiled. "Of course." She continued, "He knew you two followed up on realistic werewolf sightings, watching for misbehavior. Quite interesting. We do the same, monitoring witches who've left our Coven here in the U.S. I will have to contact the Devon Coven and see why we weren't notified about you Dawn."

"You want the truth," Dawn said. "Buffy and I are from the future. I won't be trained for several years."

"I see," Ruth said. "That actually explains the auras surrounding the both of you. I take it a portal or a demon maybe deposited you two hundred years in the past?"

"Correct," Buffy said.

"Drank from the Fountain of Youth before it was destroyed by Spanish soldiers?" Ruth asked.

"How?" Dawn asked.

"Joshamee Gibbs," Ruth stated as Buffy and Dawn's eyes went wide. "I see you recognize the name of Jack's Sparrow's first mate."

"Yes," Dawn said as a tear fell from her eye for the mention of her former lover.

"I believe you would know his wife and daughter?" Ruth asked.

"His wife's name was Annabelle and his daughter was named Jaqueline," Buffy said.

"Then you, Dawn, are the one known by several Native American tribes as The Green Witch?" Ruth asked as Dawn nodded. "Jaqueline is my ancestor, the first in our line. Of course you know that, because you yourself trained her. I've heard stories about you that were passed down from Jaqueline. I've always wanted to meet you. We can talk about that later though as we have gotten off the topic. So we decided to try getting in touch with you two that way before attempting direct contact."

"Why us?" Buffy asked.

"You two are part of the Pack. As well, being the only females in the Pack, you two seemed a … better choice of contact. Perhaps easier to talk to than your male counterparts."

"Okay I would love to know how Buffy and I don't know about this supernatural UN," Dawn said. "And second why, if this UN doesn't include werewolves, would you suddenly want to contact them now? Since you are witches, you must have run into bad guys before."

"We risk exposure as often as you do," Ruth said. "As often as the Slayer does. But it's always been one race at a time. This is different. This involves all of us, which is why we must band together."

"One for all and all for one," Dawn muttered.

"This isn't a joke," Paige said.

"You still don't believe us, do you?" Ruth asked.

"We could do a bigger one," Paige said. "Say, zip your mouth shut. Permanently."

"Paige," Ruth warned. "Forgive my niece's youthful exuberance. If you'd like, though, I could certainly give you a better demonstration. Nothing as uncivilized as a binding spell, of course."

"It's okay," Dawn said. "I'd just break the spell."

"Magic is not the reason we don't believe you," Buffy said. "We're not even denying that Dawn is a witch or I'm the Slayer."

"Fair enough," Ruth said.

"If you have nothing else to say we will be leaving now," Buffy said as she and Dawn stood up.

Ruth touched Buffy's arm. "At least tell your leader what we've said. We're meeting in two days. Delegates from the major races will be there to discuss the problem. We'd like your Pack to join us. Here's my card." She handed Buffy a business card.

"And I expected you to have an occult shop," Buffy said noticing it was a business card for a design shop for women's fashions in Massachusetts.

"Yes," Ruth said with a smile. "It's a real business card for a real business. Not much money in hexes these days."

"Maybe you should try, Sunnydale?" Buffy asked.

"Boca de Infierno?" Ruth asked.

Dawn smiled. "Roughly translated, Hellmouth. Yes. In the future we have a friend who owns a magic shop. He does wonderful business selling various magical items to the locals."

"Possibly we could branch out. I will see about having Paige check into it," Ruth said. "Now if you call, use my cell phone number. We're heading straight from here to the meeting in Vermont. It wouldn't be a long drive from New York if you two decide to come out. I hope you do."

Buffy nodded and pocketed the card and they left. As they walked back toward their hotel Dawn spoke up. "I wonder how come Giles didn't send Willow and I to an American Coven?"

"Who knows, Dawn," Buffy said. "What has me worried is that they know so much about the two of us. Buffy and Dawn Sparrow died in a car crash. There should have been nothing that led them back to those identities. And no one today knows we're immortal, except for the Pack."

"I know," Dawn said. "You know the witch stuff I don't hide more than I have to. It's not a Pack secret just as you being the Slayer isn't. You occasionally drive in to Syracuse to patrol. And when she mentioned Gibbs well she probably already knows who you and I are. Because we told Gibbs and Jack, remember?"

"I remember," Buffy said. "Besides the tear alone would have given it away."

"I know," Dawn sighed. "I love Clay, but I will always love Jack. Clay knows that and he doesn't pressure me to try and move on past Jack. He knows Jack was a very important part of my life. And that I would not be the woman I am today if it was not for Jack."

When Buffy and Dawn walked into their hotel room, the phone was ringing. Dawn went to answer it.

"What the hell are you two doing in Pittsburgh?!" the caller roared before Dawn even got the receiver to her ear. She looked at Buffy and held the phone so Buffy could talk to Clay as well.

"Nice to hear from you, too, Clayton," Dawn said. "Our flight was fine, thanks. How's Detroit?"

"Hello Clay," Buffy said.

"Hotter than Hades," he muttered. "Smells worse, too. Why didn't you two call and tell me you two were going to Pittsburgh?"

"Because you would have insisted on meeting us here," Dawn replied. "We don't need—"

"Too late. I'm already packing."

"We don't need your help, and we don't need your protection," Buffy said.

"And my company? I suppose my wife and my sister don't need that either."

"Give it a rest," Dawn said. "You only left yesterday, and Buffy and I'll be joining you on Monday."

"Then I can save you both, two flights. I'll drive down tonight, and when you two are done there, I can bring you back to Detroit—"

"No," Buffy and Dawn replied.

"I'm just trying to be—"

"Need I remind you how similar you and Buffy are when it comes to me," Dawn said.

"I miss you both."

Dawn shook her head as she glanced at her sister. "Nice try. The answer's still no. We can handle this."

"So what exactly are you two handling?"

"We'll tell you tomorrow," Buffy said. "After we speak to Jeremy."

"Anything good?"

"Maybe," Dawn said.

"Fun?" he asked.

Dawn laughed. "Definite mayhem possibilities," she told him.

"Come on. Tell me."

"Later," the sisters said together.

"Tease," he growled.

"You want to hear teasing?" Dawn asked.

"Sure, if you want me in Pittsburgh in an hour."

"It's a four-hour drive," Dawn said.

"Wanna bet?"

Buffy, Dawn and Clay went on like that for a while, forty-five minutes actually. Before they ended the conversation Clay had agreed—most grudgingly—not to follow them to Pittsburgh.

That night Buffy and Dawn had gone to bed their minds going over the facts of what had happened that day.

They decided to go for a jog to clear their heads. They jogged about a quarter-mile when they realized someone was following them. No matter where they went the footsteps followed. So the they got downwind and checked the scent, in case it was another werewolf. Their pursuer wasn't a mutt. It was a man.

Eager to avoid confrontation they got a closer look while sneaking away. To find him, they stopped in the middle of the empty street, bent over, and retied their shoes. As they did that the stalker-guy got antsy. He leaned out of his hiding spot, giving himself away. Straightening, they launched into a set of hamstring stretches as they prepared to run.

Midway through their second set, they took off. Running full-out into the alley alongside the building where the stalker hid. As they ran out of sight of the man Dawn grabbed her sister's hand and they disappeared in a flash of green. They reappeared on a balcony a few stories up. Unless the man looked up he was likely not going to see them. Their stalked moved down the alley. They could see that a gun dangled from his hand.

As they watched him they noticed he was dressed off for a stalker, he wore black fatigues. He stopped and took something from his pocket, flicked his wrist, and lifted it to his ear.

"They come out that way?" he murmured into a two-way radio. "Yeah … no. They musta made me. Spooked and ran. Caught me off guard … yeah … no, no. I woulda noticed that. Kinda hard to miss two wolves out here."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, the stalker knew what they were.