Those Christmas Bells

By Zaru

Summary: The Flame Series. It's Christmastime. Snow falling, fireplaces running and dead children? What will the group encounter as they try to uncover the mystery?

Disclaimer: Buffy characters belong to Joss Whedon. TMNT belongs to Nickelodeon. I do, however, own Zaru and other characters not associated with the Buffy or TMNT universes. XD

A/n: This is chapter 2. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

It was only a week later, a few days before Christmas when the housemates heard about two more killings of children on the news. Buffy was becoming agitated, hearing all about the poor kids being killed just days before a family holiday. The blonde slayer was itching to kill something, but with the low temperatures and heavy-falling snow, patrolling was not permitted. So, instead, they all decided to head down to the lair to visit with the turtles and Master Splinter, hoping they might have found something about the killings while patrolling the city.

The sewers were freezing as they trudged through the shallow water in rain boots. They had learned that whenever visiting the guys, they would need waders so they're shoes and feet wouldn't get wet. The smell repelled them half the time, but they continued on until the group found the entrance they were looking for. Buffy reached up, pulling down the second of four small pipes and stood back as the bricks parted revealing the heavy metal door of the lair.

The turtles were spread throughout the lair eating their dinner of pizza and soda. Master Splinter remained in his room for meditation leaving his sons to do as they pleased. Leonardo chewed on another bite of his pizza before taking a sip of Cola. Unfortunately, the blue-bandana wearing turtle wasn't really hungry that night since his mind was on other things at the moment. During patrols, they'd always hear about the murder of innocent children while overlooking the crime scenes wherever police roamed. In one situation, he and his brothers heard the strange sound of bells come and go. The bell sound had come from the direction of one of the brownstone homes where a child was killed. And they were so close by, but unable to catch any criminal coming from that area. Whoever was picking off the children one by one was an evil mastermind in Leonardo's book.

The door of the lair opened to reveal all the figures of the slayers, witch and former key. Donatello was the one who greeted them.

"Hello, girls." He smiled and waved, a pair of goggles perched upon his domed head. "What are you doing out here in this cold weather? I hope you aren't planning to patrol tonight. The weather channel says the temperature could get below zero in the middle of the night." When he saw Willow, a grin spread ear to ear. "Hi, Willow."

"Hey, Donnie." Willow bound down the steps happily while removing her heavy faux fur coat. Giving him a quick kiss, she set her coat over the railing. "So, what're you doing tonight?"

Donatello held up a tool box. "I was going to check the gears and computers on the Shellicopter. Wanna come? I could always use an extra hand."

At her nod, the two headed off toward his lab, her arm wrapped around his.

Zaru smiled and shook her head. Upon seeing Leonardo spaced out, she waved. "Yo, Leo!"

The turtle turned to glance noticing his girlfriend and the others. "Oh, hi, guys." He set down what was left of his pizza and soda on the table in front of him and stood. "What are you girls doing here? It's pretty chilly out tonight. I figured you'd be staying in where it's nice and warm."

Buffy just smirked as she made her way down the steps before taking off her rain boots. "Nah." She shrugged off her coat and set her boots aside near the steps while draping her jacket over Willow's. "I don't feel like being cooped up in the house all night."

"I'm guessing patrolling is out of the question, huh?" He asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders while she sighed heavily. "What's wrong, Buffy?" Leonardo turned her to face him. "What's the matter?"

"It's just," She licked her lower lip. "I don't understand what is going on around here."

"Huh?" He was confused.

"There's something bad going on around here, Leo."

The fearless leader nodded. "Yeah. I know what you mean. It's about the dead children, right?" At her nod, he continued. "I understand how you feel. We've been around and heard what the police were saying."

Zaru and Faith continued down the stairs.

"Well, we're trying to figure out what's going on ourselves. I mean, whoever or whatever is doing this to those poor kids is running crazy through the city and there's nothing that we or the police can do about it unless he's caught in the act." Zaru stated, arms folded across her chest.

"Perhaps we might know something you don't." Leonardo gazed down at Buffy who smiled small.

Her throat cleared. "That's one of the reasons why we came here, too. To swap information if you had any."

"And it seems you do, Leo." Faith smirked.

All four turtles, slayers, witch and Master Splinter sat around on whatever they could find in the living area. Dawn kept herself busy playing games on Donatello's computer since she didn't feel like getting involved. Raphael sat back in the leather chair as Zaru sat on his lap comfortably as possible, ankles crossed. Willow and Donatello sat side by side on the coffee table while Leonardo, Buffy and Master Splinter took up the couch leaving Michelangelo and Faith on the floor. The raven-haired vampire slayer sat in between Michelangelo's legs, arms resting on top of his knees, the hardness of his plastron keeping her level.

"So, what have you guys heard?" Willow asked.

Donatello clasped his large hands together. "According to police, all three victims were found dead near fireplaces. Every single one of them had their internal organs removed and wrapped up in Christmas décor." He stood up, beginning to pace back and forth. "Now, without a doubt, the murder scenes were scanned thoroughly for any evidence. And many witnesses have come forth stating strange occurrences."

Zaru raised an eyebrow. "Occurrences? What occurrences?" The demon slayer listened as best she could to all the details, not wanting to missing a single thing.

The scientific turtle continued on. "People were saying things about hearing bells before and after the murders."

"Bells?" Buffy was puzzled. "Okay. Now that is weird. Unless it's just the bells from local churches going off?"

"Donnie, can you find out if there are any churches near the murder victims' homes?"

"I've done that already. And there is only one church nearby the first victim's house. But the bells on that church never go off since they're old."

Zaru groaned. "Anything else we can use?"

Donatello nodded. "I hacked into the police station's computer files. I brought up all the police reports and everything along with the cases. It seems that there were some fibers found at the scenes, too."

Buffy wasn't satisfied with his answers. "Wasn't there any signs of forced entry or anything? I mean, these murders happened at night." Leonardo lowered his head and mumbled something. His girlfriend tried to see his face. "What'd you say?"

"There were footprints found." He finally answered.

"Where?" Willow was more curious than ever.

"In the fireplace. Footprints made from a type of work boot was found in the fireplace."

The witch motioned for him to continue on. "And the fibers? What kind of fibers did they find?"

"There was fur. White fiber and red fiber."

"Were the children all home alone when this happened?" Faith finally asked.

"Yeah. According to the reports, all children were home alone and found by their parents later on." Raphael put in his two cents.

Zaru took it all in. "Okay. Children home alone. Disemboweled. Wrapped in Christmas decorations. White and red fur. Footprints in the fireplace and no forced entry." She tried to piece everything together.

"Oh, and the bell sounds, Zaru. Can't forget those."

"Children. Bells. Fur. Fireplace." Zaru stood up. "But what could all of these things have in common?"

Michelangelo put up a finger. "Uh, dudettes, I have a suggestion of whom it might be."

All eyes turned to the prankster turtle.

"Who, Mikey?"

"Uh, Santa."

Every single pair of eyes widened at the suggestion. Could it be possible that someone or something was dressed like Santa Claus and hurt those poor children? Only time spent on finding out more information would help.

TBC…

A/n: Well, chapter 2 is done for now. I'm not sure when I will get to chapter 3, so from me to you, I wish you a happy holiday and a Merry Christmas. J

Zaru