The Gift of a Family Ch15. Stumbling Around In The Dark.
Thanks Sulien from Tthfanfic dot com for being my beta reader!
Buffy followed Jack and the vampires who had captured him from a distance. She didn't want to loose them, but she also didn't want them to find out that she was following them back to their lair.
Jack was a far better fighter than she thought he would be against far stronger opponents. Buffy found herself highly impressed as she watched him dust 2 vampires. She remembered the cruciamentum and how frightening it had been to take on a vampire without her slayer powers, yet Jack attacked them as if he was the one with the superpowers. She was really worried that the vampires were about to kill him when they finally succeeded in capturing him and tensed ready to jump in and save him.
Ooh, Jack, that looked really painful. Are you ok? I'm ready to come in and get you out. Buffy asked him in his mind.
No, kiddo, stick to the plan. That was just a love tap. Jack answered. A really painful love tap, he corrected himself but kept those thoughts to himself.
Daniel, Wes, get the car and get ahead of us. Stay out of sight and downwind though. Buffy called back to them as she started silently following Jack and the vampires as they traveled west through the cemetery.
Buffy followed as close as she dared. They had exited the cemetery and gone through several neighborhoods and were finally nearing the shore. There were a number of caves there that were a warren of tunnels and she was worried that once they entered the tunnels she would loose them. She wanted to get closer so that there would be no danger of that, but they were nearing the beach and there wasn't as much to hide behind.
Jack, those tunnels that they are leading you to are like a labyrinth. I'm going to take out the vampires so we don't loose you.
If you do that, we might not be able to find the place in time. They had several groups looking for sacrifices last night, and if they had more groups tonight, they may already have all the sacrifices they need for the ritual. I'll try and give you directions to follow us through the tunnels. Jack replied.
Wes, Daniel, where are you? Buffy asked not liking the idea of possibly losing Jack in the tunnels.
We're hidden in the rocks close to the caves so we should be able to see which tunnel they enter. Daniel answered back.
Before you ask, we are also close to the surf so they shouldn't hear our heartbeats and we are downwind so they shouldn't smell us. Wesley added.
Oppressive darkness closed in around Jack as the vampires led him through what seemed like miles of tunnels. He had to direct Buffy, Daniel and Wesley through the labyrinth, so he was counting steps and turns since he couldn't see anything.
Jack tripped on a small stalagmite and couldn't help but wonder how the vampires could see to find their way, and how Buffy and the others would be able to find their way through. He fell, though the vampires kept him upright and simply started dragging him forward. He silently cursed as he realized he had lost count even as he struggled to regain his footing again.
They had been walking for a long time and Jack couldn't help but wonder if they were leading him in circles to confuse anybody who might be following them. He really hoped that wasn't the case, and if it wasn't, they were probably under the middle of Sunnydale already.
Jack finally found his footing and realized that they had left the impenetrable darkness of the tunnels behind. Now they were at the edge of a large cavern, far larger than he imagined from Buffy's description of her dream. It was still dark at the edges of the cavern, but towards the middle there were several bonfires as well as Tiki torches and candlelight, all surrounding a circle about 20 feet wide. At several points of the large circle were pillars of black obsidian.
Jack was dragged towards the center of the room, where he realized the accuracy of slayer dreams. Each pillar was indeed at the point of a black pentagram that was etched into the same black stone as the pillars, and in the middle of the pentagram was an eye. Chained to all the pillars but one were young men who were obviously military.
"I'll bet cash money that's the evil eye." He couldn't help smirking. "This place is all too cliche for that not to be. Hey, looks like someone forgot the stuck pig, you've got the fires for a good luau ready. It would be better on the beach, though," he stated to the vampires, who didn't seem to care what he was saying one way or the other. Yet, in spite of his words making light of the situation, he was very worried. If Buffy's slayer dreams were this accurate, the last part might be true as well. He eyed the heavy iron chains that would bind him as the final sacrifice with fear, not for himself, but for Buffy. There were way too many vampires hanging around in the shadows. If he allowed himself to be chained to that rock and things went down like her dream, there wouldn't be one damn thing he would be able to do about it. That thought was simply unacceptable.
Without another word, Jack jerked his arms away from the vampires holding him and drew one of his hidden stakes. With a loud shout that startled the vampires he started staking them left and right until a powerful blow hit him from behind and he fell into unconsciousness.
"Not to be negative or anything, but I can't see a thing." Daniel whispered to the others.
"Use the telepathic spell to talk, we are too close to them to risk being heard," Buffy urged from where she was leading them through the darkened caves.
"Ow!" Wesley cried out as he walked into a stalactite. "Sorry, I'm just getting beat up before I even come face to face with a vampire."
"Here, Wes, put your hand on Daniels shoulder and let him lead you. Daniel, I'll lead you," she said and, taking his hand in her own brought it to her hip to leave both her hands free to fight. She was distracted by the thought of his hands for a moment. They were so warm, masculine and large, and she couldn't help imagining those hands roaming freely all over her body.
Ack, no thinking carnal thoughts, Buffy! Concentrate on Jack. No happy-happy, joy-joy thoughts until the world is safe." So, with a slight blush on her face, she continued leading them through the darkened maze following Jack's footprints and rather vague directions.
Jack's battle cry echoed through the tunnels to where his rescuers were making their way. Buffy hissed in a breath. She stepped up her pace momentarily, but then held back for Daniel and Wesley, and also so that she wouldn't loose the tracks she had been following.
"Jack, what is going on?" She asked through the link they were still sharing.
"I won't do you any good locked up, so I thought I would go ahead and start a little ruckus. Feel free to join me whenever you can."
"Crap! Jack, you won't do me any good dead, either." She growled and started running, hoping Daniel and Wes would be able to keep up.
Suddenly, Buffy realized that there was only one pair of footprints that she was following and stopped only to be run into by Daniel and Wesley consecutively.
"Uh, Buffy, what are we doing?" Wesley asked, and though he spoke in her mind, he sounded like he was out of breath and in pain from running into Daniel.
"We took a wrong turn, but before we back track, I think I'd better dust this vamp. It's hiding and waiting for us to walk into it's trap. Jack, are you there? Please answer." She was really worried about him.
"He has probably been knocked unconscious, I'm sure they wouldn't kill him before the ritual starts. They need him too badly," Wes commented.
Buffy nodded and sighed though they couldn't see her. "Wait here while I take care of the Vamp, then we will back track and find the trail Jack left."
"You can actually see tracks in this blackness?" Wesley asked. "I realized that Slayer vision must be better suited to the night but that is incredible."
Daniel couldn't help but agree with Wesley, but was too concerned about Jack to comment. He felt Buffy slip away from him and a part of him wanted to reach out and pull her back to him. A part of him couldn't help but worry that she might not come back. He wanted to go with her, but knew that since he was blind as a bat he would be more of a hindrance than a help.
The sound of a scuffle filled the tunnel, then there was nothing but silence and blackness. It seemed to last forever, far longer than it should have taken her to come back. Panic for her safety and fear that she would never return to him welled within him. Fear that, like Sha're, she would be lost to him forever.
"Buffy?" He called out loud to her.
"Shh, I'm here. I was just making sure that there weren't any other vampires hiding around here."
Her voice in his mind was like sunlight and he couldn't help smiling to hear it again. He could almost feel her drawing near, and he blinked to realize that he could actually sense her presence. It was like a little bit of Ascended light returned to him in his exile.
This realization made him realize that ever since coming to Sunnydale he had felt like he was surrounded by death and darkness. It was only in her presence that this seemed to fade to nothing. He couldn't help but wonder if it was possible that she felt the same things from him and wondered how she would interpret this feeling, if she did indeed have it. He understood it better than she could, he knew that they had been ascended together. But she didn't know this, and he felt a little guilty for not sharing this knowledge with her. But, how do you explain to a girl that you just met that when she died and thought she was in heaven she was actually an ascended being and that he was there in enlightenment with her? She would probably think he had been out in the sun digging up artifacts for too long.
A loud sound echoed through the tunnel interrupting his musings. A few feet away, Buffy cursed and dug into her fanny pack. It took him a moment to recognize the theme song to Scooby Doo and he realized that she was getting a phone call.
Buffy was babbling off apologies to him, Wesley and even Jack. Explaining that she didn't get calls very often and that she sometimes forgot that she even had a cell phone. He could tell that she felt mortified that she had forgotten something that could easily get them all killed.
"Hello," she whispered into the phone. "Xander, I can't talk right now, I'm about to be attacked by an army of vampires who heard my phone ringing. I'm kinda in the middle of an apocalypse, can I call you back later?"
There was a brief pause as Xander seemed to reply.
"What? Why did you let her watch that? Xander, you know about Anya. Just tell her that ones like in that movie don't exist. Besides, there is no such thing as a Holy Hand-Grenade."
"Xander let Anya watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Buffy mentally explained to Wesley and Daniel.
Daniel blinked in shock wondering why this was a problem. Wesley however seemed to understand.
"Why did he do that? He knows about the scene with the killer bunny. Anya is afraid of bunnies," Wesley explained to Daniel.
"Xander, I only answered the phone because it was the quickest way to make it stop making noise, I really can't talk now. Just...distract her with money or sex, if that doesn't work have her breathe into a paper bag, and if she is still having a panic, attack call for an ambulance. Just don't tell them that she got frightened watching Monty Python, they will think that it's a prank call. Have a good honeymoon." With that, Buffy hung up and turned off her phone.
"Honeymoon?" Wesley cried out loud in surprise. Realizing his error, he switched back to the spell. "They got married? I never thought it would happen after the last wedding attempt they had."
"They eloped and married in Vegas. Neither of them wanted to get her demon friends or his drunken family in a single room again. It's supposed to be a secret, I wasn't supposed to tell anybody. Please don't tell anybody," Buffy asked them.
Daniel and Wesley quickly agreed to keep the nuptials a secret and they all turned back to find where they had made a wrong turn.
"Buffy, why does Anya have demon friends?" Daniel asked regarding one of the many things that didn't make sense to him.
"I have some myself," Buffy pointed out. "Not all demons are evil. Anya, though, has so many because she was a vengeance demon for hundreds of years. Her medallion was destroyed, turning her human again. The thing to remember about Vengeance Demons is to never say the W word...Wish to anybody, because they could be a Vengeance Demon in disguise."
Disclaimer: I do not own Monty Python and the Holy Grail, except on DVD. (And Stargate and Buffy)
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