Still don't own Buffy.
My thanks to Muffyn1 and NaruHarem4ever for following this story, and to the person who anonymously reviewed.
"Buffy, could you take James home? He's had a most trying night." Giles instructed as he began making his way to the back of the library, towards some of his more comprehensive occult texts.
Buffy nodded, and began leading James gently out the door.
"Poor Terry…"James was muttering. "He was such a nice guy, too…"
"Don't worry, Giles, I'll make sure he gets home okay." Buffy called to her Watcher as she exited the room.
Giles came out of the stacks barely a minute later, carrying three thick books. "Willow, Xander, here." He called for his two young research assistants. "Very good…each take one…" he muttered as they took the top two books off of the stack in his arms. Predictably, Xander took the slimmer of the two books, while Willow took the thickest one of the set. The librarian turned to Willow. "Now, Willow, can you show us exactly where you found the body? We must examine it for markings that may give us any possible clue to what killed the boy."
Willow grimaced at the thought of seeing the corpse again, but nodded gamely none the less. "I can do that." Her resolute expression , however, did nothing to mask the slight tremble of disgust and fear in her voice.
She wasn't the only one; judging by Xander's expression, he wasn't too sanguine about the prospect either.
As Buffy and James exited the school through the front doors, the already setting sun came as an unpleasant surprise.
Wow, she thought. Is the sun supposed to go down this early, or is it just the special Hell-mouth brand Buffy luck?
"Come on; we have to hurry. Sunnydale really isn't the best place to be at night." Buffy advised her companion, a trace of irony in her tone. He nodded silently, but sped up to a fast walk.
They stayed like that for a full minute, moving quickly and quietly. They stayed like that, that is, until Buffy began to feel uncomfortable with the silence.
"So," she began awkwardly. "You have a crush on Willow, right? Spill."
James looked over at her in surprise. He hadn't expected her to talk to him too much-or really at all-, let alone about… "How did you know?"
"Well, it was kind of obvious when you bumped into Willow this morning. I mean, with the stammering and the blushing, it was a miracle the whole school didn't pick up on it." Buffy responded matter-of-factly.
"Okay, yeah." James admitted sheepishly. "I'm much better at hiding things like that on stage. I wasn't exactly following a script there."
Silence fell for a few seconds, James continuing home and Buffy walking slightly behind as an escort. An escort that didn't appear to be needed, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Wait a second. Buffy thought, as her supernatural sense she had nicknamed her Slaydar started 'pinging'.
There was something supernatural in the area. And not too far away.
Of course. Just after she thought better safe than sorry.
"And irony continues to dominate my life." Buffy muttered under her breath, before turning to James. "James, we should hurry. It's really late, and we don't want your parents to get too worried." The Slayer concocted an excuse on the fly as she sped up to keep pace with him. "Come on." She continued as she began to pull away to the front.
James gave a small, humorless chuckle, but followed anyway.
Buffy searched the area around, behind, and even above them to try to locate whatever creature was causing her Slayer sense to tingle.
And then, suddenly, as her gaze swept a house across the street for a third time, she saw it, standing in the yard. Her wonder at where it had appeared from so quickly was secondary to the surprise at its form.
It was tall, roughly seven feet, and had green skin that was seemed to be either patterned or scales from where Buffy was standing. She was willing to bet on scales. It had eyes that were black, but had a small, luminous yellow core. Its front teeth were long, thin, and bloodstained. The demon had a torso like a tree trunk, with thick arms that extended down into clawed hands.
The demon, grinning widely, stepped out onto the street, watching her the entire time.
Buffy stared down the demon, waiting for it to make its' move. The two stayed like that for several moments, a tense silence growing, until the demon extended its' clawed hand, pointed at James, and opened its' mouth.
"Let me have my lunch." The voice was calm, but not pleasant to hear. It grated against Buffy's ears, deep, and raspy enough to make her want to flinch.
"James; go now. Run home." Buffy ordered, voice deadly serious. James took one look at what she was gazing at, and nodded. "I think I can do that." He told her, voice trembling slightly. "What is that thing?"
"A demon." Buffy answered, voice firm. "Now go."
The demon took another step toward her.
Xander could see Giles grimace as he inspected the headless corpse. It was hard to envy the Watcher at the moment. Not that Xander usually did, but he really didn't envy him right then. All Xander was doing was sitting on the floor of the stage and looking through a book for any of the signs Giles had described.
"Hmm…"the older British man mused. "The flesh of the neck doesn't bear any signs of being pulled off. In fact, it looks like it was, um, severed. But that doesn't explain the grooves here…" Giles trailed off as Xander tried not to imagine what Giles was talking about.
"Alright, G-man. Severed with grooves." He peered over at Willow before cracking a smile. "Groovy." He joked. Willow shot him a "now is not the time" look. He shrugged apologetically before delving back into his relatively thin-but still too thick for his taste- demonic compendium.
"Giles, could it be another Ms. French?" Willow suggested as she paged through her own thick, dusty tome.
"I don't think so. The style of severance does not quite match. And these grooves…it appears as though some type of needle were used to push through the flesh." Giles' voice echoed up from the trap door, sounding troubled.
An unpleasant picture of a demonic doctor filled Willow's mind. It was dressed in a surgeon's outfit, complete with mask, laughing diabolically as it pushed needles into the neck of a struggling patient.
Scratch that thought. That picture hadn't been unpleasant; it was horrifying.
"I hope we find this thing soon…" Willow whispered as she delved back into the book she was using to research.
"Hey, Giles, could it be-oh, wait; never mind." Xander interrupted himself. "I thought those were needles, but they were just really scary teeth." He explained as he went back to his reading.
There was a shocked silence from the pit. Then, the moment passed, and Giles' voice rang out with a fervor only bestowed by true hope. "Xander! That might just be it! They could be teeth! Long and thin teeth, to be sure, but some demons possess teeth that match that description. And that would explain the hastened breakdown of flesh by the neck; demon saliva is generally more potent than a human's, after all." Giles' congratulations began to devolve into a lecture, but the librarian managed to pull himself back on track. "But, um, I digress. Xander, bring the book here; show me that picture!"
Xander obediently scooted over and handed down the tome. Willow could hear Giles' muttering to himself, but couldn't quite make out what he said until the book reappeared in her view, along with a negative assessment by the Watcher. "No, I don't believe it is that particular creature, Xander. For one, it is too short. The angle of the grooves in the neck indicate that the bite came from directly above the victim. So, either the creature is tall, or can extend its' neck. That creature has neither of those attributes. However, I do believe you are on the right track; keep looking at teeth!"
Willow felt a little exasperated as she had to thumb quickly back through the part of the book she'd already passed through, looking at the mouths of illustrations that she passed. "No…Djinn, no…succubus, definitely not…" she muttered as she raced through the previous illustrations.
"Hey." Xander said suddenly, breaking her concentration. "Buff's had time to get almost anywhere in Sunnydale and back by now. Where is she?"
Buffy ducked under another blow from the demon, but barely. She could hear the wind whistling above her head and struck her own blow-a kick to the knee. Her opponent staggered back, caught off balance. The Slayer rushed to take advantage of that fact by doing a hop forward-kick that slammed into the demons' chest. It knocked him to the ground, and Buffy raced to her downed foe, drawing a stake as she did so. She wasn't sure what a sharp stick would do to penetrate her enemies' armoring scales, but she figured she could find some place to stab it. The eye looked promising.
When she reached the demon, however, she discovered that it hadn't been defeated. Before she could react, its' fist rocketed toward her from the side, knocking her right leg out from under her and sending the blonde crashing to the ground. There was a small crunch as pain shot through her skull when it met the asphalt of the road. With a gasp of pain, Buffy brought her hand to the back of her head, and it came away bloody.
She felt a surge of anger wash through her, and she was ready to go again. Buffy got ready to launch herself to her feet, when suddenly two yellow orbs entered her view. Her foe reached down and, locking his hand around her throat, began to raise her into the air. She could feel his hand tighten, trying to choke her. Even just thinking about it seemed to make it hard to breathe, Buffy discovered as her lungs began to cry for air.
Buffy's vision began to tunnel, collapsing in on itself as she slid closer to unconsciousness. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out a course of action, but nothing quite made sense anymore. The last rational part of Buffy's brain was telling her she was about to pass out.
There was a light thud, and the demon blinked a couple of times in surprise. Then, her opponent slowly looked behind him. He dropped her to the ground uncaringly, and started after his new attacker, growling.
When Buffy recovered enough to start looking-thank you Slayer durability!- she saw a fearful James backing away from the demon holding a baseball bat.
"I told you to go." Buffy croaked out as he drew near her. James nodded vaguely, distracted by the demon coming after him. "I did. I came back." Even the bravado he was trying to project wasn't quite enough to combat the fear in his voice. Buffy noticed it even as she began struggling back to her feet. "Why?" Buffy managed to ask.
James drew back the baseball bat, and swung it with all of his might. The blow connected with the demon's abdomen-and the wooden bat shattered uselessly against the beast.
"You know, I'm starting to wonder the same thing." James muttered as he backed away from the demon, a predator's grin on its horrific face.
The Slayer was hurt, but gathering strength quickly. Seeing that James was holding the demon's attention nicely for the moment, she decided on going with a surprise attack.
The instant Buffy reached that decision was the same moment that the demon lashed out with a swift, powerful backhand. A Slayer could have barely dodged the blow, but James was a normal person, without such speed. The blow connected hard, sending him flying back into the yard behind him. The demon watched with a cruel, satisfied look, before it took a step to follow its prey.
"That's far enough." Buffy announced as she ran toward her large opponent. She slanted her feet as she ran, and suddenly she was sliding quickly on the road. The adrenaline flowing through her prevented her from feeling it, but at least some part of her was aware that she either had gained a massive friction burn on her left leg, or she had torn some of her skin off.
Shaking it off, she kicked the demon in the back of the knee, which stopped her momentum. She then quickly rolled to the side and sprang up in a ready position. Drawing a second stake she kept on her, she dove at her foe, knocking both of them over, the demon onto its' back, with Buffy atop it.
Buffy raised the stake over her head, ready to slam it down into the demons' yellow eyes-when the demon spoke again.
This time, she noted through her mental fog, the voice wasn't raspy or grating. The closest adjective she could think of to describe that voice would be…heavenly. The demons' voice rolled through her body and mind, sweet as honey, soft as silk. It was such a beautiful sound that all Buffy could do was let it fill her and carry her mind away.
"You don't want to hurt me." The demon told her. Buffy could only nod numbly, eyes wide, as the stake fell from her suddenly lax fingers.
"You are going to let me go find another meal in peace." It advised her. Buffy could only nod again, stand, and back away, freeing her former foe. The demon laughed a laugh that would make angels jealous.
"You are going to stay right there." The demon pointed to where she now stood next to James, spell-bound.
James frowned as he watched all of this happen. "Buffy?" He inquired, concerned, as he waved a hand in front of her face. "Buffy, are you okay?"
The demon chuckled again. "She's just fine." It told James, whose head lazily drifted around to find the owner of the impossibly beatific voice. James nodded dreamily as he accepted the words of their enemy.
"Oh; one more thing." The demon raised an index finger, as if just remembering. In two short strides, he reached them, cocked back a fist, and delivered an enormous uppercut to Buffy's chin. She flew back into the wall of the house behind her with an audible thud, and fell to the ground, leaving a noticeable Buffy-shaped imprint in the wall. He then turned and walked away.
The hypnosis snapped as the demon walked away, leaving James free to run over and inspect Buffy. He was quite frankly surprised to find her alive when he got there. He received another pleasant surprise when she told him nothing was broken.
"How did you fight that thing? I mean, I tried, but I'd need to go to the hospital after just one more hit, let alone any of the ones he landed on you. And I wasn't anywhere near fast enough to dodge," James thought for a brief second before continuing, "really, any more than just one of his attacks. I've never seen anyone move so fast! And you actually hurt him! You know, considering what just happened, I feel that I am well within reason when I ask," he took a deep breathe to steady himself before continuing, "what are you?!"
Buffy sighed. "If you're going to insist on an answer, at least let's get to your house first. That guy isn't the only creature of the night lurking around, trust me." She glanced down at the leg she slid on to find it lightly dripping blood. Great; she thought to herself. Now I'm going to be a vampire magnet until we can get to his place.
"Come on." She waved him on, and began limping lightly in the direction they had been going before the demon interrupted them.
"Hey, I just had a thought." She addressed James as they continued. "How did you know who the victim was?"
James lowered his head and let out a sad sigh. "Terry was the only one I know who wore super-hero shirts to practice."
Buffy cocked her head to the side and thought. "How do you know it wasn't someone else who wore shirts like that?" She asked.
James shrugged. "Because if it was anyone else, Terry would have come down from the light booth after practice." James walked silently for a few seconds, head down as guilt trickled through his being. "I thought he was just setting up something to play around with for tomorrow. He always liked doing things like that."
Buffy recognized the tone, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. There is no possible way this was your fault, okay? Even if you had seen it happening, what could you have done? Seriously. You can't fight demons." She reminded him bluntly. It may have been a little harsh, but it was the truth, and she felt that James needed to hear it. And, hey, if remembering this conversation helped him by making him not fight a demon later in his life, bonus, right?
James nodded despondently. "Yeah. I'm starting to get that."
The rest of the walk to James' house was completed in silence.
"Crowley's guide to demonology-no." Giles muttered as he gently placed the book on the 'unhelpful' pile of books. Aleister Crowley had known a lot about demons for a man who introduced himself to the supernatural world, but he wasn't as much of an authority as he thought he was.
"Native spirits of Germany? I guess this could be worth a look-see." Xander surmised as he cracked open a thick book with a red, yellow, and black cover.
Willow frowned inquisitively as she pulled a thick, old book off of the shelf they were searching "The Power of Prayer: The Ins and Outs of Faith Magic?" Her voice was full of curiosity.
"Hm? Oh, yes." Giles remembered the book. Not particularly well, since faith magic wasn't used very often, but he remembered the fundamentals of the subject. "What about it, Willow?"
"I didn't know that religion factored into magic." She mused, cracking the book open to see beautiful calligraphy underlying even more beautiful pictures.
"Yes, but it only factors into specific spells." Giles said. "And it's very difficult to use. One must have a completely pure faith. More often than not, a person who tries to use faith magic will be disappointed. A devotion to God-or really any of the interpretations of the singular God-strong enough to power magic is not common. Particularly in this…modern age." The librarian shot a nasty look at the computer as he said 'modern.'
"There are some aspects that anyone can use, however." Giles continued his impromptu lecture. "Those generally are based on holy symbols, and the power and popularity of said symbols. Actually, that is why crosses can hurt and repel vampires. The popularity of the symbol, combined with the fact that a holy cross stands for what is thought to be the ultimate sacrifice that purified the entire race of man, lends it quite a bit of power when dealing with vampires." The librarian continued. "Faith magic can be quite powerful, when one is found that can wield it. Exorcisms, healings, defenses against hostile magic-all are part of a faith mages' arsenal. However, as I mentioned before, not very many people can use it. Many people have thought they could use faith magic, and been wrong."
"I'm Jewish, and that's a version of the singular god. The original, in fact! Maybe I could do it." Willow commented, hope rising in her tone at the thought of learning such an art.
Giles looked at her skeptically. "Do you truly believe in it?" He asked.
Willow wilted a little. "I don't think so…" Willow admitted, a little ashamed. She kept some of the traditions, sure, and celebrated Hanukkah instead of Christmas, but mostly she followed Judaism because she had once hoped that her parents would approve if she did it. The truth was that it hadn't changed a thing for them.
She looked up at Giles again, expression once more one of a student wishing to learn. "Why only the singular God? Why doesn't it work for, say, Hindu people?"
Giles frowned. "The truth is that no one has any idea why faith magic behaves the way it does. The only conclusion we can come to is that it taps into some higher power. Whether it's the one the user believes themselves to be tapping into remains to be seen." He explained, a little embarrassed at his lack of knowledge.
"Regardless, I don't think that particular book is what we're looking for right now." Giles interrupted any more of Willow's forming questions, reaching for a new book to inspect for clues.
"Oh, right!" Willow said, shutting the book on the page that depicted an ancient faith mage battling a demon named Laralek the Deceiver. According to the caption, anyway; she hadn't managed to look at the actual picture.
A longer moment of silence fell as the three continued looking through books for possibilities.
"Hmmm…" Giles broke the silence once again. Willow looked up, surprised, to see Giles staring in the direction of the library doors, brow furrowed.
"What is it?" Willow asked, following his gaze, but seeing nothing.
"Xander had a point. Buffy really should have been back by now." Concern was threaded throughout the Watcher's voice. "You two stay here and keep researching; I'm going to go look for her." Giles commanded, striding purposefully over to the weapons cage.
"I'll start by looking at her house, then James' house. If you find anything, write it down." He gestured to the notepad in the center of the table between the staircases.
"Aye aye, cap'n Giles." Xander saluted jokingly as Giles hurried out the door.
"So, vampires and demons are real?" James repeated, trying to get his head around everything Buffy had just told him.
"Yup."
They were seated in James' living room; Buffy had placed him on the soft couch while she took a stiffer chair. Looking around the Spartan room, James couldn't think of a time when it had seemed so alien. Then again, he'd never had his whole world turned on its' head before, either.
"And you're something called a Vampire Slayer, which means it's your job to kill the nasties that bump people off in the night?" James checked.
"And in the day sometimes, too." Buffy agreed with a nod.
"And the librarian is something called a Watcher, which means he trains you and prepares you to fight the baddies?" James recalled disbelievingly.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"And I'm not going insane?"
"The jury's still out on that one." Buffy snarked. "But I think you're probably safe."
"Okay, one last question." Buffy raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Okay, one last question before the next three hundred." James amended. Buffy nodded in acceptance. "Why did you tell me all of this?" James asked. "'Cause from the way you're talking, this is all supposed to be a great big secret.
"Well…" Buffy began, but stopped. Why had she told James about her secret life? It was supposed to be, well, secret, just like he'd said. "I…guess because you've already seen a demon so I couldn't just wave it away like people do with everything else, and telling you is more likely to keep you safe than letting you flounder around like most people in this town."
"I see." James simply sat there for a few seconds, absorbing the information, before a thoughtful look began to spread across his face. "Hey, I just had a thought. If demons are running around, what about their counterparts?"
"What, you mean angels?" Buffy asked, incredulity coloring her tone. At the same time, she couldn't help but see the irony in the fact that the only "Angel" she'd met was still a demon.
"Yeah." James said, nodding, excitement growing. "I mean, there's balance in everything. Everything lives, and it dies. Even undead things die, you just told me they do!"
"I'm not sure that the same thing applies to magic." Buffy said with a frown.
"So, what, you're telling me that a powerful spell doesn't require any sort of a cost to cast?" James challenged. "That curses can't be broken?"
Buffy shrugged. "Well…I don't know all that much about the magic-y stuff. That's really more Giles' department." She deflected.
"Alright; fair." James held up his hands in acquiescence. "But let me phrase my point this way; you say Slayers are chosen, that you're called to be one. Well, that leads to one question; who does the choosing?"
Buffy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. The truth was, she had contemplated that often in the past-mostly pre-Sunnydale, however. She'd realized that that sort of wondering didn't help her do what she had to do, so she'd stopped. But still, maybe James has a point.
Buffy looked up at him. "So; gonna start attending church?" Buffy asked, a small, friendly laugh in her voice.
James gave her a look that said, 'do you blame me?' "Well, I find out demons are running around the world; what better time is there?" He asked.
"You got me there." Buffy admitted.
The knock came as a surprise to both Buffy and James. James-being the one who actually lived in the house-got up to answer the door.
"Hello? Oh, Mr. Giles!" He greeted in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Hello, James. Actually, I was looking for Buffy. Is she still here, by any chance?" Giles queried.
"Yes, she is." Buffy appeared at James' shoulder. "What's up? Yet another dastardly evil determined to destroy the world?" She asked in a tone that left some doubt to whether she was being sarcastic or not.
"Well…well, no, not as of yet." Giles fussed, looking down in minor embarrassment. "The truth is, you were taking quite some time, and we all grew, um, concerned."
Buffy's eyebrows jumped for her hairline. "Really? Maybe they should change your title from Watcher to Babysitter." She commented with a friendly air.
"Believe me, I've pondered the necessity." The Watcher responded to his charges' good-natured jibe with one of his own. "But yes, um, I think that you should either return to your own home for some rest, or come back to the library to aid in research."
"Whew. You know how much I love finding which nasties love to eat people in which ways, Giles, but I think I'm gonna have to head home." She remarked, more than a touch of sarcasm lacing her words.
"James!" She called back as she moved around Giles. "Remember; you might want to rest your side for a while; go easy on it."
"Yes, of course." Giles allowed Buffy to pass him on her way out, and suddenly seemed to remember James' existence. "She was not, of course, referring to actual, um 'nasties', naturally. She was referring to research for a, ah, project they are doing for a class." Giles verbally fumbled as he tried to hide the truth from the young in in front of him.
"It's alright, Giles; he knows." Buffy called from the driveway.
"Oh, very good." Giles muttered as he turned and followed Buffy off of the porch. "Wait, how does he know?"
"Bye…" James waved meekly, forgotten.
"I told him." Buffy stated matter-of-factly as she climbed into the passengers' seat of Giles' car.
"Why did you tell him?" Giles asked in vehement disbelief.
"Because we'd just been attacked by a demon, he'd managed to hit it with a baseball bat, and got punched by it. Plus he wasn't drowning himself in denial like everyone else around here. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that I told him it was a demon just before it attacked."
Giles blinked in surprise and concern as he extracted the truly pertinent information from Buffy's rambling. "Good lord, you were attacked by a demon?" Giles asked, worry taking over.
Buffy nodded. "Yup. Ugly, too. Probably hit about seven feet, scales, claws, teeth like knives, the whole deal." She described the demon as well as she could remember.
Giles nodded, going over the list of attributes in his memory. That ruled out many possibilities, but there were a few demons that had all of those traits. He needed to know more. "Was there anything else unique about this demon?" Giles inquired, manner shifting from the kindly librarian to the intense Watcher.
Buffy's brow furrowed as she stared through the window blankly, as if she could see another time through it. "Yeah…" Buffy muttered distantly. Seconds later, her head snapped back around to face Giles. "Yeah, there is something else. His voice. The first time he spoke, he asked to eat James. But when that happened, he had this horrible voice. Like, nails on a chalkboard have nothing on this guy. But then, during the fight, he spoke again. He told me I didn't want to hurt him. And all of a sudden…I didn't. Not only that, but his voice sounded completely different!"
Giles' own brow was furrowing as he contemplated possibilities. "How did it change?" He asked.
"It was beautiful!" Buffy told him frankly, admiration clear. "I-I don't even know how to describe it!"
"Hmmm…" Giles pondered. "This will require more research, but I think you've given us a very important clue. I'll drive you home, and we can continue this in the morning."
Buffy nodded. "I'm okay with that."
"Good." Giles nodded with authority as he started the car. "Now put on your seat belt, Buffy."
James lay still, sleeping with a peace that was not reflected inside. His mind was filled with images flashing past, images that showed little connection to each other save for the people in them. He saw Buffy fighting monsters with human bodies-vampires, his dream self knew. He caught a glimpse of Xander stabbing another one in the back with an easel, the vampire exploding into dust. He saw Willow, hacking a computer. He could see the entire group-Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, he even glimpsed Cordelia in a few of the images, much to his surprise. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew, too, that most of these images had not yet come to pass.
And, as the images flooded past him, he began to see himself appearing in them. Fighting a vampire, leaping onto a demons' back knife in hand, sitting in inside a circle on the ground with Willow as she chanted in some old language; after that one, the images sped up, rushing past too quickly for him to see.
Though James wouldn't remember most of this when he awoke, his dream-self was, in the way a dream-self knows everything, aware of the fact that these visions did not come under his own power. Something was showing him these images.
The dream-self was too busy pondering that fact to feel the cosmic shift that was a change in destiny.