See Part One for disclaimer and details. Hey, big thanks to those people who keep reviewing this story. Glad you're enjoying it.
Part Four: New Arrivals In Town
Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale
February 8th, 1999
Quite a few things had happened over the last month or so, the way they usually did around this time of year.
For example, Xander had been stunned to learn that Tara was gay after all those months of knowing her. Ira Rosenberg had sprayed soup out of his mouth all over the dinner table upon learning how his daughter had a boyfriend, visions of an illegitimate grandchild making him heave with his overactive imagination. Joyce had practically driven Buffy crazy trying to make up for almost killing her own child at City Hall, so much so the blonde Chosen One had almost run away from home again.
The Slayer's 18th birthday had also come and gone, and with it the Council's sick and twisted test known as the Cruciamentum. Buffy had passed; Giles hadn't. So Quentin Travers had summarily informed Rupert that he was fired and not to try to countermand the authority of the new Watcher that would arrive soon, or else he would be 'dealt with'.
Unfortunately Wesley wasn't able to set off for California straightaway, with Council politics and Pryce's own desires both playing a part in that. Accordingly, he had missed out on the potential apocalypse that the demon cult known as the Sisterhood of Jhe had tried to engineer about a week previously. Xander had missed out on it too; since Jack O'Toole was currently languishing in a state correctional facility because of the so-called 'chemical leak', Harris had never encountered any zombies that night either.
Michael Czajak knew nothing about all this though. He was in Rack's private chambers; having visited the man again, once he'd finally scrounged together the first instalment of the cash required for their negotiated deal to begin.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Rack asked. "Because I'm telling you right now, it's gonna take a while. Weeks, maybe even months. And it'll hurt. A lot."
"I'm sure," Michael said defiantly. His nervous eyes gave him away though. "So let's get on with it."
Rack shrugged. "As you wish." He then stepped forward, invading Michael's personal space.
"Can I do anything to help?" the male teenager asked uneasily.
"No. Relax, kid. Now, first thing's first; I just gotta take a little tour." Rack's smile was suddenly very repulsive.
The mage quickly thrust his multi-colored glowing hand into his client's abdomen, and Michael screamed as if his soul was being torn apart.
Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale
The next day
Buffy was describing the sword she'd seen in last night's fight against some atypical vamps that she and Faith had encountered. "It was kind of a short one, but it had jewels and engravings and stuff on it. Not your average pigsticker, anyway."
"Hmmm," Giles frowned. ( Sounds familiar, but I'm not sure where from. )
"Giles. Is that a good 'hmm' or a bad 'hmm'?" Miss Summers asked somewhat impatiently.
"I'm not sure. But there are some areas of investigation I'd like to pursue-"
"Really? And what might they be?"
Both Slayer and ex-Watcher turned around towards the library doorway, where Wesley was standing there with a briefcase. "Who are you?" Giles asked.
"My name's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," the British man said, walking into the room and placing his briefcase on the table before opening it and withdrawing some papers. He handed them over to Giles. "The Council sent me here, Mr. Giles. I'm your replacement."
Rupert looked at the written sheets, and then back at the new Watcher on campus. He said slowly after taking off his glasses, "You know, you don't exactly look like the type I was expecting to arrive here to take over..."
Indeed he didn't, for instead of the man who'd been clean-shaven and wearing a perfectly fitting suit seven months ago, Wesley now sported a day's worth of beard and he was wearing only a chambray shirt and trousers with scuffed shoes. The glasses were gone as well, long since replaced by contact lenses. And there was a slight scar on Wesley's neck, a souvenir from a nasty battle with the enemy.
"I take it you'll be wanting to check my credentials," Wyndam-Pryce said curtly. "And if I want the opinions of a man who managed to get himself fired from the job in disgrace, I'll ask for them."
Giles stared at Wes in annoyance, before heading off to his office to do what protocol demanded. Just then Faith arrived. "Hey. Who's this?"
"New Watcher." Buffy and Faith subsequently checked out the new arrival, both as women and as Slayers. "You think he's evil?" the blonde asked the brunette.
"God, I hope so." Faith had taken an instant liking to Wesley's somewhat scruffy appearance. ( If I'd have known they came this young and cute, hell. I'd have asked for my own Watcher ages ago! )
"Faith, I'm serious! We all thought the last one was kosher, remember, but she turned out to be a total bad guy in disguise," Buffy insisted.
"If you're talking about Gwendolyn Post, I've heard about what happened with her. And in my opinion, you did the world a favour by getting rid of that woman." Wesley stared at his new charges.
Faith's grin widened despite the bad memories, and she started to sashay over to Wesley. "So what's your name?"
"You can call me Wesley." The Watcher's eyes narrowed a little.
"Okay, Wes," Faith purred. "That's Buffy, and I'm Faith. Anything else you wanna know?"
"Yes. If you're a Slayer, then why are you dressed like a streetwalker?"
That question wiped the grin off of Faith's face. "What?"
Wesley withdrew a knife from his back pocket. "Just so I haven't made a mistake." He threw the knife at Faith's head, and the girl only just caught the blade between her palms before it hit her right between the eyes.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! You threw a fuckin' knife at my head!" Miss Lehane screamed, before Buffy caught her mid-charge.
"Hey, hey, calm down! They all do that sort of stuff, it's no big deal. I mean, my first Watcher Merrick? He did the exact same thing to me when we first met. It's nothing personal," the more senior Slayer said, but still sent a glare in Wesley's direction.
Buffy let her go after Faith stopped struggling. "Yeah, but that crack about my wardrobe sure as hell was!"
"Well then, be my guest and do something about it," Wesley said with a slight smirk as he opened up his briefcase again.
That was too much for the Boston-born Slayer to take. With a grunt she launched herself at Wesley again, but the second she got within striking distance, Wes jabbed her with a hand taser that he had withdrawn from the briefcase.
The prongs of the stun gun zapped Faith pretty good, blasting a lot of voltage into her body with a 'scrkkkkkk' sound. The brunette girl subsequently fell twitching to the floor.
Buffy's eyes went wide as she screamed Faith's name, but Wesley's harsh voice barked out, "Stay where you are! She'll not suffer any lasting effects, other than some damage to her pride."
Wesley sounded like someone used to forcefully giving orders and having them obeyed, and despite herself, the California girl did so. The Englishman then strode over to the fallen Slayer, and held out his hand. A still-dazed Faith grabbed it and allowed him to haul her up. Then Miss Lehane shook her head, clearing it as her expression changed to one of murderous fury. "Why, you-"
"Lesson the first; never lose your temper. There will always be someone who'll take advantage of you when that happens. This time, it was me. The next time, it might be someone who's actually out to kill you," Wesley said coldly, staring Faith right in the eye.
The East Coast native quickly lost a lot of her belligerence. Sensei Kanno and her first Watcher, Professor Dormer, had told her something similar back in the old days. However her martial arts teacher had been like a favorite uncle and Diana had been like a mother to her, whereas this jerk – no matter how studly he appeared – didn't merit that sort of free pass.
"You ever do that to me again, and I'll use your intestines as a belt afterwards," Faith finally growled.
Oddly, Wesley just smiled at hearing that even as Buffy grimaced at the visual. He had heard worse threats over the last six months or so, from that assassin and from things that weren't even human. So unfazed, he just stared at Miss Lehane and nodded once.
"I'm glad we understand each other. Now then, care to point me in the direction of the local bar and its resident snitch?" the Watcher asked. "I could do with a shot of whiskey. Not to mention that I'd like to get to know about the major players around here as soon as possible."
"What?" Buffy demanded. She'd not been expecting that Wes would want to get up to that sort of thing, at least not less than thirty seconds after arriving in town.
The other Slayer ignored her. ( Windy-price tag may be a total asshole, but at least he ain't stupid. And if we're gonna be working together in this town, may as well break him in sooner rather than later, ) Faith reflected.
"Yeah, place you want is Willy's bar, it's over in the demon-friendly part of town." Faith debated with herself for a few moments and then added grudgingly, "I could take you there, on account of I ain't a student here and B can't just leave school whenever she wants."
"Faith!" the senior Slayer hissed. "We don't even know for sure yet if this guy is the real deal!" She whirled around to stare at Rupert's private office, surprised that he hadn't heard all the noise lately. "What the hell is taking Giles so long, anyway?"
Faith rotated her neck and shoulders, finally banishing all the effects of the electric shock. "Ah, screw it. G's probably talkin' about the recipe for tea or scones or whatever to some asswipe that he knows over there. I'm outta here; Wes, you comin' or what?"
"After you." Wesley gestured. "Miss Summers, we'll talk later after I get back. I have quite a number of things I want to discuss with you."
Buffy could only blink and nod. A few minutes later after they left, Giles finally came back into the main part of the library. He looked around as he inquired, "Where's Faith and the new Watcher?"
( Damn it, I don't want a new Watcher! Giles, you're the only one I can trust out of that whole hoity-toity bunch of jerks, ) she thought. "Gone to check out Willy's. So, uh, this guy's definitely on the level then?" Buffy asked with a sinking feeling in her heart.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, I confirmed it before I got off the phone with London." Giles looked at his former charge somewhat quizzically. "Buffy, is there something going on that I don't know about?"
Buffy sighed. "Pull up a chair, have I got a story to tell you about what happened just now."
City Hall, Sunnydale
February 10th, 1999
While at the school Buffy and her friends were in the middle of a chemistry test, Mr. Trick was having a chat with his employer elsewhere.
"Check these out," the black man said as he laid a pair of swords down on the table.
Mayor Wilkins stopped reading the newspaper, and stared at the weapons. Richard instantly recognized them as the swords belonging to El Eliminati, a group of vampires loyal to a demon enemy of his named Balthazar.
Both of whom Wilkins had personally driven out of Sunnydale over one hundred years ago. Therefore, seeing these blades again now was most certainly not a good omen in the Mayor's book.
"Well, now. I haven't seen anything like these in, uh...a good long while. Where's the owner of these fine implements?" Richard asked.
Trick shrugged, "Most likely theory is that he's been slain. But rumor has it certain people have been seeing his breed around lately. Should we be expecting any trouble?"
The Mayor made a pish-tosh gesture with his hand. "Unlikely. But let's keep an eye out, shall we? After all, we've got the Dedication coming up tomorrow night. And I certainly can't have anything interfering with that."
"Why not?"
Wilkins settled his gaze upon his minion. "The Dedication is the final step before my Ascension, Mr. Trick. Once it's done I will become completely invulnerable to harm. And after the Hundred Days, I'll be on a higher plane with no further concern about the little things." The Mayor paused and then said, "Hmmm...just to be safe, I want you to find out everything you can about these vampires and discreetly feed that information to the Slayers. With any luck, they'll kill each other-"
Suddenly, he heard shouts and the sounds of battle outside his office. Which was definitely unexpected, not to mention a matter of concern, because Wilkins hadn't authorized such things around here today.
"Well, gosh, this isn't right. What's going on out there?" Richard asked in annoyance, as he headed for the door. He had no idea that El Eliminati were attacking City Hall in broad daylight, until Vincent – the head of the 15th century cult, a minion who really looked the part – stood at the doorway, sword drawn and blocking the exit.
Trick looked at the new arrival critically. "Brother, you obviously have no idea what the words 'fashion sense' mean."
Vincent said nothing to his fellow undead as an earthquake started. The Mayor knew something was wrong; this was not a normal southern California quake. He had lived in the area long enough to tell. "Mr. Trick..."
The ground's trembling increased, until without warning the office floor exploded upwards with a geyser of wooden floorboards and solid earth. The demon Balthazar then flowed smoothly out of the hole as the rain of wood and soil subsided, turning to face his old enemy.
"Hello, Richard."
Wilkins stepped back. "Balthazar. How the heck did you get in here?" he demanded, his usual chipper tone now something a lot darker.
"You were careless, Richard. You left my amulet out in the open, buried with Mr. Gleaves. My acolytes retrieved it last night and finally restored my strength to what it was before you met me," Balthazar gloated.
"Really? Well then, that's just swell for you. But look, I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement here. I mean gosh, I'm willing to simply let bygones be bygones..." the politician started to say, his usual manner reasserting itself. Wilkins didn't notice Trick edging towards the hole, and neither did Balthazar, as a vampire outside who was loyal to the Mayor suddenly distracted Vincent.
"I am not interested in making deals with you, Richard. And you're already starting to bore me. Come here!" Balthazar held up his arms, and the air between him and the Mayor was visibly disturbed. Fighting against it and suddenly cursing like a sailor, Wilkins was nonetheless inevitably floated to Balthazar's grasp.
"This is for everything you did to me, and all the suffering I endured for a hundred years," the no-longer-obese Balthazar hissed. The demon slug's right hand shot out and twisted Wilkins' neck to an unnatural angle, snuffing out the Mayor's life – and all his future plans – with a horrible 'crack' noise.
"At last!" Balthazar exulted in his moment of victory as Trick took the opportunity to jump down the hole and make good his escape, just in the nick of time.
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But as Balthazar threw away the corpse and headed back down into the sewers of Sunnydale, he decided that there was a lot to say for having it served hot as well.
Sunnydale town limits, California
Later that night
After nearly three months absence, the '59 DeSoto belonging to William the Bloody passed the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign and finally arrived back in town.
Spike had been a busy vampire ever since he had departed the Hellmouth last year, the foul taste of Willow Rosenberg still fresh in his mouth. He had searched high and low for Drusilla, but found no trace of her anywhere. Finally there had come the news he'd been secretly dreading; that his priceless, beautiful sire was now dust.
He didn't know for sure yet who had done it or where it had happened, but the rage in the vampire upon learning the news had nonetheless been something unique to behold.
Since to get Dru back, Spike had been willing to butcher the entire world, if that was what it took to get her to forgive him. But now, that was impossible. And if there was no outlet for his frustration other than extreme violence against said world, then by Satan's balls that was exactly what Spike was going to do.
In particular, whoever had killed Drusilla was going to suffer for it for as long and painfully as possible.
But there were other things to be done first. The Master vampire knew that he had to make his arse as invulnerable as possible before he killed Betty, the big poof and that redheaded witch, just for starters and not necessarily in that order. Minions, while they had their uses, weren't going to be enough for this sort of fight. Spike wanted the odds stacked firmly in his favor right from the start.
"I know you're around here somewhere," Spike muttered to himself, having done all of the research needed to ascertain the location of the object he desired. "And I'm gonna find you."
The car bumped over something on the road for a moment, briefly shaking and vibrating. But the vehicle's driver never even seemed to notice.
"And when I do...this whole damn planet is gonna wish they'd never heard of William the Bloody," Spike finished up.
The vampire glanced down at the passenger seat, upon which lay the ancient scroll he had found. Well, yanked away from the previous owner's dying flesh.
The scroll containing clues to the whereabouts of the vampire Holy Grail.
The Gem of Amara.
TBC...