Still don't own the Buffyverse, with the exception of my OC and my villain. Reviews would still be nice, and still thank you to the Beast of Burton for proof-reading for all of this, even though I forgot to mention that the last few times.
Thanks to all who followed also. Your support means a lot to me!
Buff glanced around the room, looking for a weapon. The hold she was in wasn't the biggest problem at the moment; she was confident she could get out of it, except for the slight uneasiness her captor's previous success in restraining her instilled.
The other vampire came at her much more slowly now that she was immobile. The part of Buffy's brain that wasn't occupied by survival could appreciate the irony, given that him charging had allowed her to be more effective while she herself could move.
Vamp One approached her, still holding whatever it was he'd taken from the display in his right hand. The thought that he was stealing from her mom flashed through Buffy's brain, giving rise to a small flood of indignation. Ignoring again, naturally, that stealing from her mom's gallery was the entire reason Buffy was here right now.
"How about this. You put the thing back," she nodded at the vamp's clenched hand. "I don't have to kill you, and we both just leave. What do you say?" She asked cheerily, trying to distract both vampires from the hand that was reaching toward her lower back, in search of the stake she usually kept concealed there.
"Sorry. I'm thinking we've got the upper hand now." Vampire Two responded.
Buffy shrugged. "Your loss." Her hand jerked up the rest of the distance to her waist-band…and grasped only fabric. Internally cursing herself for leaving her weapons in her normal clothes, she decided to change tactics. Lifting a foot, she brought it down on the left foot of the enemy behind her. There was a sound remarkably similar to Vampire One's leg earlier as her heel ground into the top of Vampire Two's arch. He cried out in pain and recoiled, setting her loose. With a quick spin, Buffy delivered a kick to his chest that sent him sprawling into a wall. She remembered Vampire One just in time to hear his grunt of effort. From the sound of it, he was charging yet again, so Buffy simply did what came naturally. This time, it was to duck. As her foe tripped over her and began to fall, she swiftly placed her right hand on his lower abdomen and her left on his upper chest. With a mighty push from her right, she flipped the unfortunate vampire over her, sending him flying only to land heavily on the floor in front of her.
"Well. That wasn't too bad." She commented as she stood tall above her conquered foe. She began scanning the area for a piece of wood to stake him-and Vampire Two's fist caught her in the cheek, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Right. Forgot about you." She muttered as she rolled to her feet and into a combat ready stance.
The two simply watched each other, neither intending to be the first to move. A shifting in the background caught Buffy's eye. She quickly recognized that Vampire One was getting to his feet again. Noticing that his opponent was distracted, Vampire Two lunged.
The Slayer reflexes earned their keep, as Buffy landed a solid blow to Two's face, sending him reeling off course.
Instead of simply coming at her, her two enemies regrouped and shared a glance. Both nodded, and separated to circle around her in counter directions.
Trying to keep an eye on both was impossible-Buffy knew that. Her only choice was to find a way to break the circle-and hopefully get a weapon. As her eyes tried to track both vampires, a gleam caught her eye. Risking an attack, Buffy's eyes locked onto that gleam-and found that the varnish on a wooden stand holding some display or another gleamed in the moonlight streaming in through the window.
"Well alright." Buffy muttered to herself. Doing another quick check to make sure neither Tweedle-Dee or Dum had made a move toward her, she was reassured that they weren't attacking yet. Deciding to take advantage of that, she rushed forward into the open spot the two had left as they circled. She could hear both vampires break formation and start running after her, feet hitting the ground heavily.
Suddenly, she only registered one set of steps behind her. Instinct taking over, she turned her body and went into a slide. Everything seemed to slow down as she slid toward the wall, one of the vamps edging into her field of view above her, having taken a flying leap when she stopped hearing his steps. Modifying her leg's position, she slid into the leg of the display stand with enough force to snap it. Kicking up, she flipped the improvised stake into the air, catching it as she slid into the wall. Vampire Two reached the wall just as she did, prompting her to rocket to her feet, sharp piece of wood outstretched and heading for the vampire's heart.
Vampire Two, seeing her coming, used his demonic strength to punch holds into the wall. He obtained enough purchase to twist mostly out of the way of Buffy's strike, so instead of the improvised stake piercing his heart, it was buried in the left side of his lower abdomen.
"Damn it." Buffy cursed. "What a waste of a completely awesome move." The vampire dropped down in front of her as she spoke, landing with a growl in a menacing, open-arm pose.
Buffy looked at him for a few seconds, just staring. "Wow. That was a great idea, huh?" Her tone was more barbed than her sarcastic words.
"Wha-" Vampire Two didn't get to finish, before Buffy's fist darted into the gap his open arms had left and buried the sharp end of the stand leg in his heart. The shock was frozen on his face for the last few seconds of his un-life before he exploded into dust.
Buffy casually turned to Vampire One. "That's what it means to be the Slayer, by the way. Normally, I wouldn't give this offer, but I'm really in a hurry and not here for you. So how about you just leave, and I can come find and stake you later, okay?" She offered, her casual manner belying her impatience.
The vampire opened his mouth to respond…but then the alarms started going off.
"Oh damn it." Buffy cursed a second time tonight as the vampire took off. Turning, she raced quickly through the rest of the room, searching for the knife as quickly as she could while still being thorough.
"Well; here's hoping none of the others had to fight any vamps." Buffy said to herself when she reached the end of the room empty handed. She could hear security guards flooding into the room from the entrance. Or at least she figured they were security guards; she could hear three different voices calling out in official sounding jargon. It made them seem like they were trying to be actual cops to her.
She glanced around for an exit besides the entrance she'd used-and found one on the right side of the room, completely undisturbed by the security personnel.
She silently added incompetent to her mental estimation as she left the room.
"Alright! Anybody get the knife?" Buffy asked once the excitement had died down. The three bandits had made it back to the van with few problems, and barring a close shave with a police car on their way out of that side of town, had made it out of their criminal caper with no other incident.
Smiling like the cat burglar who stole the golden canary statue, Xander opened his gloved fist to reveal a medieval-looking silver dagger. "Lucked onto it near the end. It was in a glass case which wasn't easy to get it out of, but I solved the puzzle with my usual subtle brilliance."
Buffy didn't even have to give Giles the usual questioning look. "He shattered the display with a rock." The disapproval was evident in the Watcher's tone and manner, as Giles rubbed his eyes with exasperation.
"Hey, whatever works." Xander replied with a shrug.
"Sorry Giles, but I have to go with Xander on this one." Buffy told him, tone only vaguely apologetic.
"Well, I suppose he did obtain our goal." The Watcher admitted reluctantly.
"Right!" Buffy nodded decisively. "Good work, Xand."
"It was a good idea, too." Xander continued his story. "Until all the alarms started going off."
"That was you?" Buffy asked. "I thought the alarms just had a serious delay after a vamp broke open a display in my room."
The other two heads in the back swiveled to face her, near-identical looks of concern on their faces. Between Xander and Giles, Buffy could see Willow's pale face peering around the passenger seat into the back. And it looked like James had cocked his head so he could listen while keeping his eyes on the road.
"There was a vampire there?" Giles asked in slight disbelief.
"Well vampires, as in plural." Buffy responded. Giles face turned to the disapproving stare he'd perfected on her. "Buffy, we agreed to call for help if we needed it." He reprimanded.
"But that's the thing, Giles; I didn't need it. Everything was under control." Buffy assured her Watcher.
Giles sighed. "Very well." He settled back into his seat in the back of the van, and almost instantly straightened up again. "Wait; what was that vampire doing destroying a display case?" He queried, eyes intense.
Buffy blinked surprised. "Uh, he stole something from the gallery. No biggie." Buffy waved away the incident, not very concerned about a theft from an art gallery.
"I am afraid I may have to argue that point, Buffy." Giles contradicted. "Vampires rarely steal material objects for something as simple as monetary gain; most undead are beyond needing it. So I must ask you; what was stolen from the gallery?"
Buffy frowned, trying to remember. "Well, to tell you the truth, I never actually saw it. All I saw was a flash of silver in the vamp's hand."
"Are you absolutely sure? This could be important-vital, even!" Giles pressed for any possible other memories Buffy could recall.
"Um, Giles? I get what you're saying, but shouldn't we focus on killing Laralek before we try to figure out whatever this is?" Willow timidly volunteered.
Giles blinked in surprise, and his body language relaxed. "Of course. You are correct, Willow; I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She assured him, turning her attention up front.
Silence reigned for several moments in the van.
"Hey, guys? Nobody ever told me where to go, and I kind of need that to be the getaway driver." James informed them with a small dose of sarcasm, breaking the quiet.
"That would be, ah, my cue, I suppose." Giles shifted onto his knees, and made his way over to stop just behind the middle of the front seat. "You take the right here, go two blocks, and then turn left." He began giving the newest recruit directions to his apartment.
"I have almost everything set up here for the ritual we need to use." Giles informed them as they all piled into his apartment. "We just needed the knife, and now that we have it, we can begin."
"Uh, Giles? How long is this going to take? Because if it's much longer, my mother will kill me for being out so late." Buffy inquired, glancing uncomprehendingly at the analog clock on the wall.
"This should not take too long, no." Giles reassured his protégé as he bustled further into his apartment. "Come now, all of you. Take up places around the circle, here." He gestured to the four corners of the room. As the four younger people walked single-file into the living room of Giles' apartment, they each got a good look at the sigil on the floor. It was a large circle inside a larger circle, with the space in between the two bands filled with arcane symbols.
James raised an eyebrow as he caught a glance. "Celtic knotwork?" He asked skeptically.
"Well, yes. This circle is not used solely for the spell we are about to perform; it's very old, and has gathered influence from many cultures around the world, all of which have incorporated symbols here." The librarian gestured at the area of floor between the two bands of the circle. "All of these symbols serve to make it stronger. As such, yes, you can see Druidic knots of various kinds as part of the circle."
"A feather?" Xander asked disbelievingly as he pointed to one particular symbol. "What does a feather represent, fried chicken?"
Willow leaned over to examine the spell. "I think that's supposed to be the symbol of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at." She spoke tentatively, not entirely sure.
Her fellow students in the room looked at her in disbelief.
"I read a book on Egyptian mythology…" Willow stated defensively, shrinking back a little.
"Ah, yes, very good Willow. What no public book will explain, however, is how Ma'at relates to this particular ritual. Are you aware of what Ma'at represents?" Giles inquired.
"Umm…doesn't she organize what gods and mortals do? Or something like that?" Willow answered, reaching far back into the mists of half-remembered facts.
"That is indeed among her provinces." Giles agreed. "However, Ma'at relates to this spell because she is a goddess of, among many other things, truth. And, since our foe is made of the essence of deceit, and we need a weapon to destroy him…"
"Then we use a god who represents the truth to help kill it." Xander finished.
"Yes, that is correct, Xander." Giles congratulated the teen as he rose to his feet again. "Although the technical term is to 'invoke', not to 'use' a god."
"Why didn't you make your cover being a teacher, Giles?" James inquired of the older man. "Seems like you'd really have loved that."
"Because grading papers is clearly what a Watcher needs to be doing all day." Giles retorted, his British accent somehow reinforcing the sarcasm. However, he gave James a smile, so that the youth wouldn't be offended.
"So; we ready to get started? Kind of on a time limit here." Buffy reminded everybody.
"Oh, yes, of course. Um, Buffy, you sit there," he pointed to the western-most edge of the circle as he did so. He subsequently directed Xander to the South, Willow to the East, and James to the North. Giles himself took the silver dagger, and sat in the center of the circle.
"Is there anything we need to do?" Willow inquired timidly before Giles officially began the spell.
"Simply focus on the dagger, and…well…push your desire for Laralek's death into it. That should be enough." Giles responded. "Any other questions before we begin?" He asked, scanning the four youths he had found himself working with.
All of them shook their heads.
"Then we shall start." Giles announced, before gingerly placing the dagger in the dead center of the circle directly in front of him.
Most of the ritual was comprised of complete gibberish from James' point of view. Giles would start chanting in a very old-sounding language, keep going for several minutes, and then switch languages. Even if James could understand all of the languages Giles was speaking he would have found it hard to keep up. As it was, all he could pick out was the occasional familiar-sounding word, like 'veritas' when Giles was doing a section in Latin. The only hint James had as to why Giles was switching languages was that whenever he began an invocation in yet another language, a symbol in the circle would begin to give off a steady glow of a seemingly random color. The Celtic knots James had noticed when he first entered gave off a forest green glow, and the feather of Ma'at Willow commented on emitted a bright gold hue. At first they would flare up, the color bursting into and filling the room, but about halfway through the section of the ritual in their language, the symbols would fade back to a steady glow, lighting only a few inches around and above each symbol.
As James was observing, Giles switched into what James was pretty sure was Spanish. The only word he really caught was 'punal', and the symbol of the winged snake that James was later told was in an Aztec style began to glow a soothing blue. As it did, James looked around and realized that all of the symbols were glowing now.
Giles switched back to Latin, and as he began speaking this time, James felt a rush of other-worldly power flow into him. Seeing Xander's expression, and what he could glimpse of Buffy and Willow's out of the corner of his eye, he could tell that they were experiencing the same feeling. Suddenly remembering what Giles had said, James closed his eyes and focused. Finding his desire to kill the demon Laralek, he mentally used it to ball up the mystical energies, and, imagining he had his arm cocked back to throw a baseball, he built up his will-power, and launched. He opened his eyes, and saw that just when his ball of magic and intent should have hit the dagger, a faint white glow appeared around it. It wasn't even as strong as a torch, and James had to rub his eyes and double-check to make sure he wasn't imagining it, but it was definitely there.
He saw Willow's expression relax, and her own eyes slowly opened-and the glow on the dagger became brighter. Likewise, a few seconds later, when Buffy and then Xander opened their own eyes, the light around the dagger increased in magnitude for both.
Giles gently picked the dagger up, one hand on each end, and slowly raised it into the air. The volume and fervor with which the Watcher pronounced the Latin incantation increased, until he was practically yelling up to the gods themselves. As he did so, the glow around the dagger steadily began to brighten again, and the light began to pulse with the rise and fall of Giles' voice. The light gradually brightened until it became blinding, a blazing torch of pure white light in the middle of the dark night.
Suddenly, the light seemed to reach its limit, and with an almost audible shattering sound, suddenly it was over. The light swiftly shrank back into the dagger, becoming once more the faint, white glow sheathing it, flowing over and around its intricate designs. Giles seemingly collapsed, hunching over and letting the dagger fall to the ground.
Silence reigned for several moments.
"That was, ah, not exactly what I expected." Giles admitted as he straightened up, looking around the circle.
"That was…intense." Buffy agreed as she sat back.
"Wow! That was what magic feels like when you do it!?" Willow exclaimed in delighted incredulity.
"Um, yes." Giles nodded. "But remember; though magic feels pleasant, it is a powerful tool that is dangerous if misused." He admonished her.
Willow completely ignored his warning. "Woah…" She simply basked in the memory.
"So…did it work?" Xander asked the most pertinent question.
"Yes, it appeared the ritual was quite successful." Giles informed him as he stood up. "Now, it is quite late, as Buffy mentioned earlier, and I'd hate to get any of you in trouble with your parents."
Xander and Buffy both nodded in fervent agreement, for different reasons.
"Not a problem." James and Willow chorused simultaneously.
Giles frowned at them. "Really? Are you sure?"
They both nodded, a little uncomfortably.
"Very well. At least let me give you a ride home." The librarian looked a little perturbed at the thought of the Rosenburg and McAnon parents not having a problem with their children being out so late. If they were his children…!
"Well, actually, I need to get the van back to its owner. I can drop Willow off at her house on the way." James told him.
"Ah; I see." Giles nodded. "Alright then. We can probably take care of Laralek tomorrow…" He trailed off tiredly.
It seemed to be a particularly dark night out, Willow noticed as the van's headlights lit up the road in front of them. The dash board lights gave off just enough light to make her seem even more pale than usual, she knew; and, glancing over to her left, she could see that James hadn't escaped the effect either. Her eyes roamed over his face, committing to memory the angular yet friendly face of her old friend and new ally.
James caught Willow looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and his heart gave a little jump. Maybe she found him interesting, intriguing like he found her?
Trying to quash his hopes, he reminded himself that she was, at this point, a co-worker; not a potential paramour.
Yet still, he couldn't help but feel those hopes rising in his chest.
Sighing to himself, he directed his attention back to the road. It wouldn't do to kill Willow via car crash because he was daydreaming about going out with her!
Yet, he could see her still looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Some part of his brain was yelling at him, sternly reminding him that sitting in silence was not a viable way to woo a girl. Come on, man! Make conversation! He told himself.
Willow jumped a little in surprise when James cleared his throat. "So; is this, um, pretty much an average night for Buffy and her apprentice slayers?" He inquired, a small bit of nervousness entering his voice. He was, after all, alone with his crush, and didn't want to mess things up.
"Uh, well, not really. Usually, we, uh, don't steal things, 'cause, you know, stealing is bad, and we're the good guys. Usually we just look in Giles books, 'cause, y'know, he's the Book Guy, and the Research Guy, and the Watcher, and we find what we're fighting, and Buffy goes out and kills it." Willow rambled. "Or, there was this one time where it was a witch, and instead of killing her, we just tried to destroy her grimoire, because that breaks all of their spells, you know. Only, we didn't get to destroy her book, so Buffy just ended up reflecting a nasty spell back at her, and she just sort of went up in smoke."
James nodded his head slowly, eyes still fixed on the road. "Well alright then. Sounds like you guys' lives are certainly fraught with peril." He took advantage of a stop-light to look directly at his passenger. "Sounds like you could use another hand."
It took Willow a second to understand what James was really saying. He was asking if it would be all right if he joined them.
"Well, if you wanted to help, I don't think Buffy would have too much of a problem with it." Willow suggested weakly. She felt a mixture of relief and apprehension when a grim smile blossomed across James' features. She still hadn't forgotten about the way Owen had behaved when he learned about monsters and the like being real, and fervently hoped James wasn't going to be the same.
"But you can't just go and rush into a fight, okay?" Willow added on, concern evident in her voice. "I mean, I get that it can be an adrenaline rush, but you need to be smart about it."
James shot her an 'are you crazy' look before being forced to return his eyes to the road. "You're kidding, right? I mean, okay, yeah, it's an adrenaline rush. But I already tried fighting one of these things, remember? I'm not planning on getting involved in a fight unless someone really needs my help." He reassured her.
"Oh; that's good." Willow nodded to reinforce her statement. "I mean, there was this one time, Buffy went out with a guy, and he got all excited about it because it was dangerous."
"What happened to him?" James asked.
Willow shrugged. "Last time I saw him, he was alive, at least. He might be dead now though."
James nodded his head. "Alright then. Particularly cheerful outlook you've got there, Willow."
Her expression grew sad. "Well, it's really just being realistic, even if I don't like it."
James nodded. "I see."
Silence filled the van.
"So, on a happier topic; do you, um, happen to, uh, have a boyfriend, by any chance?" He broke the silence.
Willow looked skeptical. "Who, me? No. I haven't had a boyfriend since an evil demon who I accidentally put on the internet tried to seduce me."
James slammed on the breaks, and shot her an incredulous look. "The hell?!" His voice rose a little.
Willow nodded repeatedly. "It happened." Then, seeing James' expression, she elaborated a little. "Well, he had a robot body made so he could live in it."
James shook his head disbelievingly. "That…really didn't help if you're trying to make the story believable."
"Oh. Well, okay, I guess I can see where you wouldn't believe that." Willow admitted.
"No, I believe you; I'm just pointing out that if I hadn't had a demon come after me with the intent of biting my head off for dinner last night, I probably wouldn't be so accepting of your story." He explained.
Willow nodded again. "Okay."
Another brief silence. "So, uh; any guys you're, um, interested in?" He didn't exactly expect her to say she was interested in him, but he was at least hoping she answered in the negative.
"Yeah." Her expression took on a dreamy caste to it. "Xander."
James felt a surge of jealousy well up in his chest, but he fought it back down. It was swiftly replaced by irritation with the boy in question; after all, it was clear, even to James, that Xander didn't see Willow that way. And it was likely-in James' point of view-that it hurt Willow that Xander couldn't see how she felt; she didn't exactly show it, but it was at least a pretty good guess, given the emotions involved.
James suddenly felt a powerful urge to deck Xander the next time he saw him.
"So, where to from here?" James asked his passenger.
"Oh, you take a left, and then go down for two blocks, and…" Willow began directing him to her house.
It wasn't long before they arrived at her house, and she climbed down out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, James!" She chirped cheerfully.
"No problem." He gave her a half-salute, and pushed the van into reverse.
It really didn't take long at all for him to get the van back to its owner, and walk the three houses down to his own residence.
He crept into his house, knowing full well that his dad probably wasn't asleep. His dad hardly ever seemed to sleep anymore; he just sat up, blankly watching T.V. or staring into space all the time. It was either that or…
James listened carefully, and sure enough, he could hear his father sobbing in the room upstairs that used to be his parents' joint room.
As James snuck upstairs to his own room, he could feel the usual shadow of sadness fall over his heart. It came whenever he entered the house, and left when he did. It had been there since his dad had started losing his ability to function effectively, about a week after his mother had died.
He entered his room and began to change for bed, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about his mother and the bizarre, stupid accident that had caused her to die, in pain and alone.
Barbecue fork accident? James thought, feeling a surge of helpless anger at the police detective that had issued the stupid, stupid, senseless, impossible explanation. What a stupid way to die. He thought bitterly as he fell asleep, his fathers' sobs beating against his ears like waves.