Chapter 25: Burned

They'd elected to eat at an Italian restaurant. Though it was nearly eight, the place was crowded. There was no hope of getting a table for seven, so they agreed to split up. When the server found them a table for six and a table for two, Buffy and Dawn took the small table.

The sisters sat apart from the others, out on the patio. "What do you think?" Buffy asked.

Dawn looked over at the other table. "I'm not sure. I wish we were in our own year. I would love to ask Giles about this Coven business. I wonder why this Coven didn't try and get me and Willow back then. Willow was a witch longer than I was. And she hadn't known about Covens till Giles took herself and I to the Devon Coven."

"It's a possibility they didn't know about you and Willow," Buffy said. "Remember Ruth and Paige hadn't known till we met them in Pittsburgh. Your teleportation caught them by surprise."

Dawn nodded. "Talking about the future. Do you think this bunch could be affiliated with the Initiative?"

"It's possible," Buffy said. "And if they are we need to let Jeremy know. It could be very bad otherwise."

After dinner, Adam repeated Paige's offer to join them on the way back to the Legion Hall. Again, Buffy and Dawn were about to decline, but this time Jeremy overheard and insisted they go along, probably hoping the two youngest delegates would talk more freely around Buffy and Dawn without their elders around.

Unlike Jeremy, Adam hadn't found parking in the small lot behind the restaurant, so the four of them left the others and headed up a side street.

"Yours?" Dawn asked Adam as they approached a Jeep with California plates.

"Unfortunately."

"That's some drive," Dawn said as she looked at Buffy. She looked back at Adam. "We're California born and bred."

"Neat," Adam said as he smiled. "Then you know how long a drive it is. It's an especially long drive in that Jeep. I think I shook loose two fillings this time. Getting above the speed limit is nearly impossible. And passing? Forget it. It'd be easier driving over slow traffic. Next time, I'm saving my pennies so I can fly out."

"You say that every time," Paige said. "Robert would buy you a plane ticket any day, but you always refuse. You love driving that piece of crap."

"The blush is wearing off the romance. One more—Shit!"

They spotted a massive Yukon backing into the spot in front of Adam's Jeep. It kept reversing until it was mere inches from the Jeep's front bumper. Another car was parked less than a foot from the Jeep's rear end.

"Hey!" Adam called as he jogged toward the Yukon. "Hold on!"

A woman in the passenger seat turned and fixed Adam with an expressionless stare.

"I'm stuck in behind you," he said, flashing a wide grin. "Could you just pull forward a second? I'll get her out of there and you'll have lots of room."

The woman didn't answer. She looked over at the driver's seat. The driver's door opened and a man in a golf shirt got out. His wife did the same.

"Hey!" Adam called. "Did you hear me? You boxed me in. If you can pull forward, I'll be out of there in a flash."

The man clicked his remote. The alarm chirped. His wife fell in step beside him and they headed for the restaurant.

"Assholes," Paige muttered. "Own a fifty-thousand-dollar gas-guzzler and you own the whole damned road."

"I'll talk to them," Dawn said. "Maybe he'll listen to a woman."

"Don't." Paige grabbed Dawn's arm. "We'll catch up with the others and come back for the Jeep later."

Buffy growled at Paige. "Release her. She was only going to talk to them."

Paige looked at Buffy as she suddenly remembered what Buffy was and released Dawn's arm. She glanced at Adam, who was starting after the couple. "It's not Dawn, I'm worried about."

The man turned now, lip curling as he threw some insult at Adam.

"What did you say?" Adam yelled back.

"Oh, shit," Paige murmured.

The man turned his back on Adam.

"What did you say?" Adam shouted.

Adam advanced on the man as Dawn looked at Buffy and they made the split-second decision to interfere. They were trying to lie low and couldn't afford to call attention to themselves with a brawl that might involve the police.

As Dawn turned to go after Adam, Paige hesitated but grabbed Dawn's arm again just long enough to draw the sisters' attention to her. "Hold on," she said. "You two don't—"

Dawn and Buffy shook their heads and started running; ignoring Paige's trailing footsteps and warning shouts. As Buffy and Dawn drew closer to Adam, they smelled fire. Ignoring it, Buffy grabbed Adam's wrist and whirled him around.

"Forget it," Buffy said as he turned. "Jeremy can drive us—"

Adam faced Buffy now, and she knew where the smell of fire came from. His eyes glowed crimson. The whites were luminescent red, sparking absolute, bottomless rage. She looked to Dawn who nodded, having seen it also.

"Get your hands off me," he rumbled. He grabbed Buffy, each hand gripping her forearms. Something sizzled. Buffy grimaced from the intense pain. And for a Slayer turned werewolf that meant it was a heck of a lot of pain. He let go of Buffy and she stumbled backward. Red welts leapt up on her forearms.

Dawn grabbed her sister from behind, steadying her as they both watched Adam striding toward a vacant alley.

"He's okay," Paige said. "He'll get it under control now."

The Explorer rounded the corner. Dawn waved her arms for Jeremy to stop and yanked open the passenger door before the SUV hit a full stop. She pushed Buffy in and jumped in beside her. Jeremy's gaze went to Buffy's burned arms and his mouth tightened, but he said nothing. He waited until Dawn was inside, and then hit the accelerator.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Jeremy drove, Dawn explained what happened. Once outside town, Jeremy pulled into a gas station, parked in front of the phone booth, and got out. A few minutes later he returned and took them back onto the highway.

"Ruth?" Dawn asked.

"I told her we're not returning to the meeting tonight. She heard what happened. Very apologetic. She asked if we'd come if they meet again tomorrow. I said I didn't know, so she wants me to call back tonight and see what they decided."

"Will you?" Buffy asked,

"Probably. My first priority is protecting the Pack. To do that, we may need to join these people temporarily, while they investigate this threat. They have resources we can't match; even with you two and your knowledge pf the future we couldn't match them since this is a human threat that you never dealt with. At dinner we discussed the astral projection, and it sounds like an invaluable tool for learning more about these men you two encountered in Pittsburgh. But you said you couldn't do it, Dawn."

"It's not that I can't," Dawn said. "It's more that I don't know how. Astral Projection is an extremely advanced form of magic. While I am the most powerful witch on the planet and can do things most other witches can't. I am still limited because of how much I learned."

"Anyways," Jeremy said. "Beyond that, though, I have no intention of sticking around to help them. We fight our own battles. Buffy, how are you doing?"

"It hurts," Buffy said. "Like any third degree burn might. To tell the truth I don't think it was intentional. He knew it would take a lot more to hurt me than Dawn, Paige or those humans. So he did the sensible thing and released his power into me."

"I understand that, Buffy," Jeremy said. "But that still doesn't excuse what he did."

"I'm curious on something," Dawn said. "If werewolves did sit on this council at one time, why isn't it in the Legacy?"

"I don't know. If as Ruth says, werewolves broke from the council, they may have chosen to remove that portion of their history from the Legacy."

"Maybe for good reason," Buffy said, brushing her fingertips over her burned arms.

Jeremy glanced at the sisters and nodded. "Maybe so."

At the cabin, despite Buffy's protests that her werewolf enhanced Slayer healing would take care of the burns. Jeremy washed and dressed them anyways, then asked if they were ready for bed or wanted to stay up longer.

"Were you staying up?" Dawn asked.

Jeremy nodded. "If either of you were."

"If you were, I will, but if you're tired …?" Dawn said.

"Ditto," Buffy said.

"Are you two are tire—" Jeremy stopped, knowing they could go on like that for a while.

"I'm going to stay up awhile," Dawn and Buffy said.

"I'll keep you both company," Jeremy said.

"You don't have to," Dawn said.

"I know," Jeremy said. "We'll sit on the deck. Go out, and I'll fix us a snack."

Buffy and Dawn went outside. Minutes later, Jeremy followed with three glasses of milk and a bag of cookies.

"Nothing stronger around to dull the pain," he said, handing Buffy a glass of milk. "You'll have to settle for simple comfort."

"You know me and alcohol, Jeremy," said Buffy.

"Yes," Jeremy said. He had heard many of the stories of Buffy and Dawn's past. And he knew the reason for Buffy's dislike of alcohol. He handed Dawn the second glass of milk and then sat between the sisters.

"Now," Jeremy said. "I saw the look you two shared at the meeting. Want to tell me?"

"Do you remember the stories we told you about the Initiative?" Buffy asked as Jeremy nodded. "When they were mentioning taking us apart to see what gives us our powers. In the future the Initiative does that and creates a one-third cyborg, one-third demon, one-third human killing machine. If this Ty Winsloe is affiliated with the Initiative."

"They could already be working on this killing machine or at least some form of prototype," Jeremy said. He didn't like the sound of what he had just learned.

They gazed out over the water for a few minutes, the crunch of cookies echoing in the silence. Smoke from a campfire floated across the lake.

"We should build a fire," Dawn said.

"No matches."

"Damn. Where's Adam when you need him?" Buffy quipped.

Jeremy gave a half-smile. "We'll have a bonfire for you back at Stonehaven. Plenty of matches there. Marshmallows too. If only I can remember how to carve a roasting stick."

"You know how?" Dawn asked.

He chuckled. "Hard to believe, isn't it? Yes, I did some camping as a child. Dominic used to rent a cottage every summer, get Tonio and his brothers out of the city, back to nature. They'd take me along."

"Where did you go?" Dawn asked.

"Not far. Vermont, New Hampshire."

"Was it fun?" Buffy asked.

Another half-smile. "Very. I didn't care about the back to nature part. Stonehaven has all that. But it let Tonio and me play at being real kids, to play with other kids. Of course, we met other children at school. But we always went to private school. As Alpha, Dominic enforced that for Pack sons. If their fathers couldn't afford to send them, he paid for it. Strict environmental control. Home for weekends and holidays, minimal interaction with humans. On vacation, though, we could cut loose, so long as we used false names and all that."

"You had to use fake names? How old were you?" Dawn said.

"Young. Tonio was older, of course. But I was the one who made up our stories. It was fun, actually, inventing a new identity every summer. One year we were minor nobility visiting from England. Our accents were atrocious. Another year we were Mafia brats. Tonio loved that one. Gave him a chance to practice his Italian and make the local bullies quake."

"I can imagine," Buffy and Dawn said.

"Great fun, until the kids started offering us their ice cream money. Tonio drew the line there. Integrity above all, even if it meant turning down extra food. We were debating whether to admit the whole mob thing was a hoax when Malcolm showed up to take me back to Stonehaven. Early as always."

"He missed you?" Dawn asked.

Jeremy laughed. "No," he said. "Malcolm most assuredly did not miss me. He did that every summer; stop by to see how I was doing. If I was having fun, which I always was, he decided it was time for me to come home. After a few years, I started outmaneuvering him. As soon as Malcolm arrived, I'd have a massive attack of homesickness. Desperately miserable. Dying to leave. Then, of course, he'd make me stay the rest of the summer. The Sorrentinos played along. They knew what it was like for me at home." He gave a wry half-smile. "You two, Clayton, and me. Four housemates, all with rotten childhoods. What are the chances?"

"We still had a good childhood," Buffy said. "We had a mother who loved us. Up to the divorce we didn't have to worry about nothing. Whatever we wanted we got. I was into ice skating. Dawn was into ballet. We both got lessons for them. Yes, my being called and our moving to Sunnydale made things rough for both of us. But you know what I think neither Dawn nor I would give up what happened for the world."

"Buffy's right," Dawn said. "Especially me. If things hadn't happened. I would not have met Jack of Gavin. I would not have had a beautiful little girl who would have a family of her own. I don't regret a single moment of it."

"Even losing Jack?" Jeremy asked.

Dawn sighed. "I'll always miss him. And I will always love him. Clay understands, he has never once pushed me to forget Jack and for that I am very grateful." She decided to change the subject away from her and Buffy. "Clay had a good childhood at Stonehaven."

"When he wasn't being expelled from school for dissecting the class guinea pig?" Jeremy asked.

"It was already dead," Dawn said.

Jeremy chuckled. "I can still hear him saying that. Over twenty years later and I can hear it perfectly. Clay's first Pack meeting. I'm trying to pretend every thing's fine, not let anyone know about the expulsion. Then Daniel roars in and announces it to the whole Pack. 'Clayton got kicked out of school for cutting up a guinea pig.' Clay tears into the room, marches over to Daniel, glares up at him—they were the same age, but Clay was at least a head shorter—and shouts, 'It was already dead!'"

"Which explained everything," Buffy said.

"Absolutely." Jeremy smiled and shook his head. "Between the dissected class pet and the toy animal fiasco, I had to question whether I was cut out for surrogate parenthood."

"Toy animals?" Dawn asked as she glanced at Buffy remembering her sister's stuffed pig, Mr. Gordo.

"Clay hasn't told you that one, Dawn?" Jeremy drained his glass, picked up Dawn and Buffy's, and stood.

Dawn grabbed his pant leg. "Tell me."

"When I come back."

Buffy and Dawn waited. And waited. Took him much too long to pour them another glass of milk. Playing the whole thing for full effect.

"Toy animals," Dawn said when he finally returned.

"Right. Clay had problems with the other children at school. I assume you know that."

Dawn nodded. "He didn't fit in and didn't try. Small for his age. Antisocial. The accent only made it worse. I wondered about that when I met him. He said he'd lived in New York State for twenty years, but he sounded like he'd just stepped off the train from Louisiana. He said when he was a kid, other children mocked his accent. So he kept it. Clay's perverse logic."

Jeremy nodded. "Anything to set him apart. So, after the guinea pig disaster, I home-schooled him until the following September, then sent him to a different school and asked the principal to notify me of any behavioral problems. I swear I spent three afternoons a week in parent-teacher conferences. Mostly it was little things, but one day the teacher said Clay was having trouble at recess. The other kids were complaining that he was following them around, watching them, that sort of thing."

"Stalking them," Buffy said. "Scouting for weaknesses."

"Exactly. Now, I wasn't worried he'd do anything. I was very strict on that point. No devouring classmates." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Other parents warn their kids not to talk to strangers. I had to warn mine not to eat them. Anyway, this teacher says Clay isn't showing an interest in normal recess pursuits, like playing with toys. Toys. I knew I was missing something. Clay was the most un-childlike child I'd ever met, so I tended to forget he should be doing childish things. After the conference, I drove straight to the toy store and bought bags of toys. He ignored them all … all except this set of plastic animals—cows, horses, sheep, deer, camels, and so on. He'd take them into his room and stay there for hours. I congratulated myself on my great insight, assuming he liked the animals because he felt some kinship to them. Then I found the book." He paused.

"What book?" Dawn asked.

"Gibson's Guide to Animal Anatomy. He'd stolen it from the school library and dog-eared a bunch of pages. So I took a closer look at the plastic toys. They were all marked with strategically placed red Xs."

"Identifying the vital organs," Buffy said. "For hunting."

Jeremy nodded. "Exactly."

"So what'd you do?" Dawn asked.

"Gave him a long lecture about stealing and made him return the book immediately."

Dawn and Buffy threw their heads back and laughed. Jeremy rested his hands around both sisters' waists, a rare gesture of closeness that they all enjoyed for as long as possible.

"How about a run?" he asked after a few minutes. "We could all use one to work off some stress after today."

Buffy and Dawn agreed and they walked into the woods, taking the path until they were deep enough to find places for their Change. They'd gone about twenty feet when Jeremy turned to stare over their shoulder.

"What?" Dawn asked.

But it wasn't Jeremy that answered but Buffy. "A car," she said having heard its approach. "Slowing at the top of the drive."

"I saw the headlights," Jeremy said to confirm what Buffy had said.

The driveway sloped steeply from the road to the cottage, so all they could see was the glow of twin lights. As they waited, the lights vanished and the rumble of the engine died. A car door opened and shut. Footsteps walked to the edge of the hill. A stone pinged from beneath a shoe, clattering down the incline. A pause. Someone listening for a response to the noise. Then the whisper of long grass against pant legs. Then moving south, downwind. Intentionally downwind.

Dawn, Jeremy and Buffy watched, listened and smelled. Then a rock tumbled down the hillside to their right. As Dawn turned, she caught a blur of motion to their left. The blur was on Dawn, knocking her legs out from under her. Hands grabbed her as she went down, flipping her onto her back and pinning her arms at her sides. She hit the ground with her attacker atop her.

Her attacker quickly found himself torpedoed as Buffy knocked him off Dawn and flipped him, pinning his arms at his sides as he hit the ground with Buffy on top of him.