Chapter 9

Just When Things Were Looking Up

There was one place in Sunnydale that radiates power, and that was exactly where she was headed. She needed more, and fast. The power was like a drug, encompassing her and drawing her in, making her crave more and more and more. She didn't know that this would keep up until the power got too great for her and destroyed her. She looked up into the black cloud covered sky as she walked through the streets of Sunnydale. There was a tingling in the air tonight, a sense of power. She could feel it, and she knew that some kind of great magickal event was occurring at that very moment, but it was miles and miles away. She would have done anything to be at that event, as the power surge from it radiated around the world. If she could have gotten her hands on that amount of power, there would be no one to stop her, nothing to stand in her way. But for now, the amount of power she had was sufficient. She could walk through the streets of Sunnydale unafraid of the things that lurked in the night, knowing that she could destroy just about anything that crossed her path. The only things that could stop her were Buffy and Willow, and luckily for her, Willow was out of town at the moment.

Amy Madison saw her destination approaching in front of her. Images of years past flashed through her mind. Here was the place where she had just about grown up; here was the place that she had advanced in her magickal practices. As she approached, her senses heightened, and the hair stood on the back of her neck. She could sense something approaching her, and it too, had great power.

"Invisiralli," Amy muttered. The air around her shimmered and shifted, bending the light around it. Now, whatever was coming towards her wouldn't be able to see her, just a blur in the air. She looked into the direction that the thing was coming from, and she was shocked to see a large, dark hooded figure floating along the ground, down the street. Everything in Amy's body told her that this thing was a pure predator, and that she shouldn't mess with it. It passed her by quickly and Amy waited a while for it to be far enough away, just in case it may be able to sense her. "So there is something to be afraid of in this town after all," she said to herself before starting her approach to the ruins of Sunnydale High School.

Once she was inside, she made her way down under the school, to the little thing they called The Hellmouth. She entered the remnants of the room that the entrance to the Hellmouth was located in. She placed her bag on the dirt floor and began rummaging through it, pulling out the necessary ingredients for the spell that she was about to cast. She was startled when she noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up just in time to see the large hooded figure she had seen earlier. Its hand grabbed her neck, and easily it pushed her up onto the wall, pinning her in place. In front of her, an image of Rack appeared.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Rack said to her.

"I need more," Amy replied coarsely, hardly being able to breathe.

"You have to wait for more power, I've told you that," Rack said. He moved up closer to her, looking at her right in the eyes. Amy could hear something coming to the room they were in, and just at the right moment she turned and saw another one of the hooded figures coming, bringing with it a struggling vampire. The vampire was trying to get away from the figure, but the figure was easily too strong. Another hooded figure came in behind it, carrying with it a very large knife. Rack looked to all of them, and Amy then knew that she had been lied to the whole time. Whatever Rack was, he wasn't the ghost of Rack. He didn't have command over creatures this powerful even when he was alive, and as far as she could tell, he couldn't do anything as a ghost.

"I've figured it out you know," Amy said to him.

"Figured what out honey?" Rack asked back.

"Who you are… you're not Rack," Amy said to him. Rack just laughed a little while approaching Amy.

"I'm not now am I?" he asked her to her face, not expecting a reply. "Then how is it that I know you're dark little secrets then Amy. Remember the times you used to come to me, looking for a little fix. I remember seeing you then…. That total loss of control… You don't like to lose control do you Amy? You like to think that you're in control of yourself," He started. "Those times, you just let go, and weren't in control… I know that's what scares you Amy… and I know how to make you lose control," Rack said to her, sending a chill down her spine.

Rack stepped back, and Amy watched as the hooded figure with the knife cut into the vampire that was being held. It collected the blood that poured out of the wound in a small glass jar. The hooded figure then put the jar down next to the Hellmouth and then faced Amy.

It came towards her, slowly and menacingly. Amy just looked up at it in fear, trying to escape the grip of the other one, but she couldn't. In a flash, the knife shot out and cut Amy across the shoulder. The figure then started to collect the blood pouring out of her shoulder in another glass jar that it had acquired from somewhere. Pain seared through her being, but already her mind was working on fixing the damage. Her thoughts were concentrated on the energy around her, sending it to the wound to stop it bleeding and stop the figure from collecting enough blood. Somewhere, in the recesses of her mind in the part that was still thinking straight, she knew that if they didn't get enough blood that they would just create a new wound, but she didn't care. She had to close the one up that she had already. Before everyone's eyes, the wound started healing at an accelerated rate, due to magick.

Fortunately, and unfortunately, the figure took the jar away before the wound closed. Amy was still being held by the other two figures as the last one went back to the Hellmouth and to the other glass jar. The figure poured the blood from the vampire and the blood from Amy together into one jar. It then stood above the Hellmouth and Amy sensed the change in the air. Power was being drawn to the dark hooded figure, right before it drank the blood in the glass jar. Around it, the hoods flew off and Amy saw a dark silhouette standing by the Hellmouth. It had dark skin and bright red-orange eyes and was bald. It was humanoid in shape and Amy Madison knew that it was lethal. The air shimmered around it, and Amy could no longer see the creature clearly, but she could see that it was undergoing a transformation. When the air cleared around it, she saw a twisted up gnarled face, looking back at her with pure savagery. Large fangs hung out of the mouth and Amy knew that it was a form of vampire.

"The First. The First vampire. Called a Turokhan. The First of many of it's type to return to this world," an image of Amy Madison's mother said. It lunged at Amy, but one of the hooded figures struck out against the vampire, sending it flying into the ground with a loud thump. When it got up again, it did not look at Amy with the hunger that it had once had, but instead growled. Amy knew that there was something wrong about what she had just seen, but she knew that she would have to wait until later on to think about it, and have to concentrate on getting away now.

Strangely, the Turokhan started to leave the room, along with the two hooded figures. An image of Catherine Madison was left standing above Amy, who was still on the ground. She looked up at her mother, waiting for her to say something.

"Kill me," Amy said to her, half pleading.

"Oh please. That would be too easy, to kill you, to taste your power," The First said to her. "To get that one step closer towards my goal," it continued on. It waited a while, looking down at Amy in disgust, making her childhood memories come back to her. "Killing you would be too easy, a quick way out, for you… I still have plans for you yet," The First in the visage of Catherine said to her before disappearing.

Just outside the ruins of Sunnydale High school, the Turokhan emerged onto the streets, looking around at the strange New World for the first time, being blinded by the bright streetlights, shielding away from them. A Syopher stood on each side of it, shadowing it. It could smell the sunrise, and ran off to the nearest piece of soft earth, burying itself in the ground to escape the harmful rays of the sun.

All of them hadn't experienced this kind of silence and awkwardness ever before. Everyone in the room felt strange and out of place at the arrival of the three newcomers. Their story was a wild one, and no one knew what to expect after the previous events of the night. No one was willing to trust these people's stories.

"So let me get this straight," Xander started while looking at the three girls sitting on the Summers' couch. "You're dormant slayers, and your Watchers have been killed and they sent you here for protection?" Xander said, hoping that he had gotten the story right.

"Yes," one of them replied. Xander couldn't remember their names, their story overwhelming him.

"Why didn't you get sent to the Watchers Council?" Dawn asked them, thinking that there was something wrong with their story.

"Because, they're being attacked. Or so my Watcher told me," the same girl replied.

"Yeah, but it's the Watchers' Council. They'd probably be the safest place to go to," Dawn replied to her.

"They're being attacked, and they aren't winning. They don't even know who's attacking them," another one of the Potential Slayers replied. "Apparently, it's bad," she added.

"Why haven't we heard of this? Surely they would have contacted you. You're their big gun. They aren't the Watchers Council for nothing," Anya said to Buffy.

"I quit, remember… they probably figured I wouldn't help," Buffy replied, speaking for the first time. There was a long silence before anyone spoke again, everyone lost in thought.

"Hey, that would make sense," Dawn said, expressing her thoughts out loud.

"What would?" Buffy answered.

"Why they would want Faith dead… They're being attacked, and they don't have their most powerful weapon… well, at least not under their control anyway… so, they want to get their own Slayer, to save their own hides," Dawn said to them. No one said anything in reply, everyone just adding the new information to each of their own thoughts.

"But what could do something like this?" one of the potentials asked the room, specifically Buffy.

"Bunnies!" Anya answered, receiving strange looks from the new arrivals. "Think about it. Who would expect the bunnies to take over? No one! They could take over the whole planet and run it without anyone ever knowing," Anya started, being perfectly serious. "We have got to strike back! We must launch a counter attack, at once, wipe them off of the face of the earth, once and for all!" she exclaimed. "We have to launch an attack, right now!" She said to everyone, urging them on. "I'll get the traps."

"Against the bunnies?" one of the potentials asked, not believing her ears.

"Yes!" Anya replied. The potential's eyes just went wide.

"Anya here's got a thing against bunnies," Xander explained to them all.

"Riiight," the potential replied. Xander looked down at the potentials, not wanting to be in their situation.

"There will be more," the last potential spoke, for the first time that night. "more of us… they're coming after us, the potential slayers. Trying to cull our numbers. All over the world, they're dying, being hunted down like animals," she said, her eyes distant. "It's after us. It can be any one it wants. It doesn't have form. It knows everything, even your darkest secrets. It's out there, coming for us, all," the girl said. Xander and Buffy's minds raced back to the events earlier that night and their encounters with Principal Flutie, Snyder and Joyce Summers. The girl looked up into Xander's eyes, and then Buffy's. "They killed her… They killed my mother, they killed my father, they killed my watcher. They took everything away from me, until I couldn't run or fight…… they knew what to do to weaken me… I-I-It knew things, things I haven't told anyone," The girl said, tearing up, the memories coming back to her. "No where's safe. Not even here."

Everyone stood around, not sure what to do. It was Buffy, who finally took charge of everything.

"How certain are all of you that there'll be more girls coming?" she asked them.

"Pretty sure," the first one replied. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"And you don't have any clue who, or what's after you?" Buffy asked again. All the girls just shook their heads in unison.

"Okay, we have to get ready… I guess you'll all be staying here… we need to find you some space," Buffy said. "I'm think that whatever's after you is the same thing that we encountered last night," Buffy started. "But I can't be sure, this is Sunnydale after all." She walked off into the kitchen, and Xander only just noticed what she whispered to him. "We need Giles."

They drove through the town, looking around them at the scenery for once. For Cassia and Giles, it was the same as everywhere else, but for Willow, it was greatly different. She hadn't seen much of the countryside of England on their way into the coven, as she was too traumatised to realise what was going on around her, but now she was doing much, much better. They were driving through the town of Bath, to Giles's estate, which until now, Willow didn't know he owned. They had all agreed that their best option was to get out of the country before the coven could do anything to them, if they dared. They were more concerned about Samantha and Montague getting out and coming after them. They had all decided to go to Giles's estate to pick up some of his personal belongings, then travel to the Watchers' Council and tell them about the situation with the coven: that they weren't all that they seemed to be and could be quite dangerous. From there, they would travel back to Sunnydale, where hopefully, they would be safe, as the Coven wouldn't dare send anyone up against the Scooby Gang. It amazed Willow how much of a reputation they had. She had found out from Cassia, that the Scooby Gang was known the world over. Of course, they weren't known as the Scooby Gang, something more along the lines of 'The Slayer's Group', but everyone knew that they weren't something to come up against. Especially now, having one of the most powerful witches in the world in the group.

Cassia had decided to go with them, as she had nothing left in England now, and she would really like to see America.

Sitting in the car, no one said much. Giles and Willow were still reeling from the effects of their encounters with their ghosts, and Cassia didn't know what to do, and she was also dealing with her own problems. She was leaving the country that she had spent the first nineteen years of her life in, and would probably never see again. And what was worse was that she was leaving with two people she hardly knew, and from her now recent experience, she didn't know whether to take them at face value or not. She had taken the people at the coven for what they seemed, and they had turned out to be bad. She didn't know who to trust any more, and she hoped that she was making the right decision. Also, she would be able to meet the Slayer, which would be good, really good. She felt safe with Willow and Giles, but she was scared of coming up against Willow if she went off the deep end again. Hopefully, she would never see that happen again, but she wasn't sure. She was surprised at how quickly the town had disappeared, and how soon it was before they were turning down the driveway to Giles's estate.

The back of a van is very boring and lifeless. That's what Faith had soon discovered after she had landed in England. They had taken her straight to an unmarked red van and shoved her in the back with two guards. She guessed that she was being taken to the Watchers Council Headquarters, where they would probably evaluate her. There, she would have to find a way to escape, and begin her work at taking the Council down. She didn't really have much of a plan, just do as much damage as she could while she was inside the Council, and then escape before they could catch her. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she rarely knew how she was going to do anything before she actually did it: the opportunities always presented themselves, and Faith was switched on enough to make use of them all.

Suddenly, the back doors were pulled open from the outside, and Faith was awfully surprised, as she hadn't even felt the van come to a stop. The two guards held her by one arm each as she got up, and escorted her out of the van. To her surprise there were thirty or so people standing out the front of the building she was approaching.

"Wow… didn't think I'd have a welcoming committee," she said to herself as she looked at all the people. She guessed that they all must have heard that she was coming in and came to see her for themselves.

She was escorted directly into the building, and straight to an elevator, where she saw one of the guards press the button for the thirteenth floor. On the way in, she had noticed that there was a fire escape door, which obviously lead to stairs. She could use them to get out of the building if needs be.

Once they had arrived on the thirteenth floor, the guards led Faith to a door, and shoved her inside and ordered her to sit. Looking around, she could just see a table and two chairs; there was nothing else in the room. She took the guards advice and sat down behind the desk, on one of the chairs.

"Man, this is worse than prison," she said to no one in general, guessing that they had the room bugged or something like that. Faith knew that the Watchers probably thought she was crazy by now, having overheard some of their conversation on the plane. She was just about to get up and walk around when she heard a snapping sound. Her manacles had just dropped off her, having opened somehow. "Wicked cool," she said. She put her arms down against the arm rests, and heard another snapping sound and felt a tight pressure against her wrists and ankles. A wire had shot out of the chair and looped itself around each of faith's wrists and ankles. "What?" she said, confused. It was then that the door opened and a young woman in a tweed suit with dark glasses and her hair pulled back entered the room.

"Hello Faith," she said.

"Get these things off of me," Faith demanded.

"Can't do that," she replied.

"Well then, you know, these things don't look too tough. I might have to break out of them myself," she told the woman.

"Go ahead, try. They're magickally bound to the chair, and they can't be broken," the woman replied. Faith just sighed and rolled her eyes. Faith sat there, looking at the woman, and the woman took the seat across the table from her. For what seemed an eternity, they just sat there, looking at each other.

"So, Faith. Tell me why you decided to turn yourself in," the woman asked. Faith just sighed.

"I've told you this already," she replied.

"Tell us again," the woman replied. Faith just sighed again.

"I'm sick of it. I'm sick of running from everyone. I'm sick of having to hide. I just want to live, and I figure that the only way that you Watchers are going to let me do that is if I cooperate with you one hundred percent," Faith replied.

"Okay," was all that the woman said in reply. "Can you tell me Faith, what was the event that triggered this?"

"The letter the Council sent me," Faith replied. The woman looked at Faith confused.

"What letter?" the woman asked.

"The one that said you were going to kill me in order to get another slayer, one that will actually do her job," Faith replied.

"I hate to disappoint you Faith, but we sent no such letter," the woman told her.

"Well, I got one. And it was from Quentin Travers himself," Faith told the woman matter-of-factly. The woman just got up and left the room without saying a word, and leaving Faith there with a guard.

The woman returned in a few minutes and took her seat across from Faith once again. She looked straight into Faith's eyes.

"We didn't send a letter like the one you described. We haven't done anything, and we have never considered killing you. We know that you went rogue, and we do not know what to think of you until we have evaluated you…" the woman started before Faith cut her off.

"It would help if you spoke in English," Faith said.

"In other words, we don't know if you're a threat yet, and if what you say is true, we didn't know the reasons for your surrender to us," the woman explained.

"Okay," Faith said. "But if you didn't send the letter, then who did?" Faith asked.

"We don't know… I'll tell you something, and I don't know if I should be doing this, but our resources across the world are under attack. All around the world, the Watchers Council is being attacked, and we don't know who's behind it, and we don't know what their purpose is, other than to destroy us. Whoever's doing that is probably the person who sent the letter to you, but for what reason, we can't guess," the woman said to Faith. Faith just sat there, handcuffed to the chair and took it all in.

"Right, I get you," Faith said to her while nodding. The woman looked down at her papers for a while and then looked back up at Faith.

"Faith, we're going to have to know everything that's happened to you since you received the letter telling that we were going to kill you," the woman said. Faith just took a breath and then started.