By Sword and by Claw
Chapter Six

Buffy pulled her jacket over the surgical gown they'd given her. 'How long was I out?' she asked the still kneeling Giles.

'Buffy?' He asked again blinking in shock at her.

'No, the easter bunny.' She laughed. 'Yeah Giles, it's me.'

He slowly stood up and reached for her arm. When he was sure she was real he suddenly wrapped her up in a hug. 'You're alive!' He gasped before pulling back. 'How? What happened?'

Buffy shook her head, she didn't know where to begin. There was what she had seen, what she had felt and then what she knew. Shrugging she showed of her new toy. 'Does more than look pretty.'

'The sword?' he asked. The object the sword had been tucked into was, in fact, a gauntlet. Giles could even see fingers on it that he could have sworn weren't there before. Fingers that ended in sharp, knife like, talons.

'… Of Omens.' she corrected. 'It's a long story, tell you later. Right now let's get out of here. I hate hospitals.'

Mayor Richard Wilkins put the phone down slowly 'So she survived.' He said aloud.

'Sir?' One of his vampire guards asked.

'The Slayer, the other one. She survived.'

The vampire looked shocked,' Summers? but… but Faith shot her in the heart. You said…'

'I know what I said. What I was told!' He shouted. 'Something happened, last night. I felt it. The watchers and that red headed witch must have cooked something up.' He sat down and took a calming breath. 'Yes, that's what they did. Risky playing with life and death like that. Could draw the wrong attention and no one wants that. No siree. No one wants that at all.' He gnawed at a knuckle bone in his finger. It had been close Christmas just gone. With the accession only a day away the last thing he needed was the sprit of evil showing up and drawing a heavenly host down for a pitched battle in the streets.

'It's a shame about Faith, seemed such a capable young woman too.' he said after a moment of thought. The vampire looked at him quizzically. 'Don't get me wrong, she's creative, lethal, dangerous and a real firecracker. It's just recently she's been unfocused. Sloppy. Letting that vampire trick her, revealing my plans like some radio play villain. Letting the witch escape and utterly failing to kill any of the hangers on. Not even that foolish boy, or the fop of a Watcher. I had some hope with setting her against the vampire. Instead she misses and ends up wounding Summers, even that turns out to be a waste of time.'

'You want me to send the boys?' The lackey asked hesitantly.

"Hum, what?' Richard blinked before thinking about it. 'Heavens no, she's still a lose cannon. It's conceivable Summers and her motley crew might try to pull something devious at the last minute. We'll just turn her lose at them, let her prove herself. If they do defeat her, well that's the way it goes I suppose. She should be enough of a distraction to keep their meddling little hands busy until I finish my transformation.'

He stood up from his desk and headed to the cabinet where he kept his relics. Unlocking it he pulled out his skull of jelly beans. 'Shame really, I was beginning to think of her as the daughter I never had.'

'Faith sir?'

'Yes.' he smiled absently.

'You already had a daughter sir. You ate her.'

'Your point?

Giles parked up his old car, Joyce pulling up next to him and Oz on the other side. The gang got out, still glancing at Buffy to make sure she was really there. They headed for the library. It was closer than anyone's home and long experience meant that Buffy had a change of clothes ready.

'What the hell…?' Wesley muttered. Giles looked around and saw what looked like a disaster area.

'What happened here?' Angel asked. The doors to the school had been blown off their hinges and great divots had been carved from the ground at even spaces. Down a side street the walls looked scorched, bins and refuse were scattered. One lid was buried in the building two levels up.

'Oh yeah, my bad. Oops. I guess.' Buffy shrugged. 'We might need to tidy up the library.'

'Tidy up?' Giles couldn't keep the horror from his voice. From the looks of the hallway she wasn't wrong. It was as if some giant beast had torn through the place. 'Buffy what happened?' he asked.

'It's kinda hard to explain. I was a big cat at the time.'

Xander was the one to say what they were all thinking. 'Big cat?'

'Yeah.' She shrugged. 'Let me get changed and I'll tell you.' With that Buffy headed to her locker. Leaving the rest of them to find the library.

The library was, thankfully, better off than the hallway. Not that that was saying much. The table that had been in the middle of the room was now fire wood, scattered across the entire room. Splinters were embedded in the banister railings and walls. The books they had left on it were lying all over the place. The doors were still attached, but the middle was bashed in, as if something heavy had barged through them. Large dark paw prints lead from where the table was out and down the trail of destruction.

Strangely Buffy took just enough time for them to tidy up to get changed. Giles was in the middle of sweeping up when she came in. The golden gauntlet still on her arm, but otherwise looking non the worse for wear. 'It wasn't that bad, was it?'

Giles could only glare at her. Joyce, who had been helping Wesley rearrange the books, however had an answer. 'No sweetheart, but it could have been worse.'

'How?' asked Xander, who was busy pulling what amounted to match sticks out of the wall.

'She could have blown up our living room.' she laughed. Giles suppressed a growl as everyone but him and Wesley found it hilarious.

Putting the broomstick down he waited for them to stop. 'Back to the point, what actually happened here Buffy? How did you survive that arrow?'

His Slayer pulled a face. 'The Sword saved me. Well not really the Sword, more the jewel thingy.' She tapped the ruby. 'It's called the Eye. The rest of this is just decoration, this thing is the important part. It's one of the Power Stones.'

'Power Stones?' Wesley asked.

Buffy seemed to stop and shook her head. 'Any time now Jaga. No, I'm on my own? Great.' She sighed and pulled up a chair. 'While I was... Well not dead this ghost cat-guy called Jaga came and tried to explain things to me.'

'Buffy, are you sure you're okay?' her mother asked sounding concerned. Not that Giles could blame her.

'Mom.' The Slayer rolled her eyes. 'I got an arrow in my chest, not my head. Jaga was from a race of man-cats that came after the dinosaurs, but before demons. At least that was how he told it. They forged the Sword and the Claw Shield to fight this ancient embodiment of evil. It created, or I don't know summoned, demons to fight for it. When it was all over there weren't enough cat people left and man, us, were coming. So they buried the Sword incase demons came back.'

Giles took a step back. A civilisation pre-demon, it was a fairy tale. 'There... there are stories.' he muttered. 'Legends. Of a great civilisation destroyed by the coming of demons.'

'Mr Giles, those are myths. No solid evidence had ever been found...' Wesley began.

'Yeah, What's this then.' Buffy asked him, waving her golden hand

Giles was still thinking things through. 'If Buffy is correct then we might have just found it Wesley. We need to research, everything we and the Council have on this. As soon as possible.'

'Whoa there.' Buffy stood up. 'We're not calling the Council. And we're not wasting time reading some ancient book written in some unreadable language. We've got to kill the Mayor before he eats us all at graduation.'

'The Mayor?' Joyce gasped

'Yeah, I left that part out. Sorry. Again.'

'Buffy's right.' Angel announced. 'People's lives come first.'

The Slayer nodded before spinning on Giles. 'That includes getting my mother out of town. Now.'

Joyce shook her head. 'I'm not going anywhere. Not this time.'

'Mom?! Buffy half shouted, 'Giles, tell her.'

Feeling distinctly uncomfortable the former Watcher got as far as clearing his throat when Joyce replayed. 'I'm not running Buffy. I'm going to stay and fight.'

'No no no. Giles...' she insisted but her mother cut in

'I was going to leave before...' Joyce admitted

Buffy interrupted 'Leave now. Leaving is good...'

Clearing his throat again, this time very loudly Giles finally got their attention. 'Joyce, Buffy's right.'

'See...' the Slayer began only to be very quiet after he turned his glare on her. 'She is also extremely wrong. This fight is no place for civilians, that much it true, but if Joyce goes so must myself, Xander, Willow and everyone else in this room.'

Buffy looked around. 'Nothing's stopping you.' she told him carefully.

'Yes, there is.' Angel supplied. 'It doesn't matter how powerful that sword is you need us for this one.'

Buffy looked at everyone, Giles knew they were all agreed with Angel. 'I'm not putting my mother in danger.' She said stubbornly.

'That's her choice.' Giles pointed out.

For once it seemed she agreed wit him. 'Mom, please. I can't do this without knowing you'll be safe.'

Joyce took her daughter's hand. 'Buffy, I've lost you once today and you told me this isn't the first time you've died.'

'It wasn't exactly my choice.' Buffy refused to look her mother in the eye, not that Giles could blame her.

'I can't go anywhere without knowing you'll be safe and you can't promise me that.'

'Okay, but promise me you'll be the one to try and stay safe.' The Slayer almost begged.

Joyce smiled and pulled her daughter in for a hug. 'You promise me the same.'

After a moment of silence Xander stepped up carrying a battle axe in one hand and a mace in the other. 'Now time for the important question Mrs Summers; sharp or blunt?'

'If we have quite finished with making jokes.' Wesley announced, attempting to sound authoritative, but just coming off as particularly pompous. 'There is still one issue we have yet to discuss. Just how are we going to destroy the demon Mayor once he has assumed his demonic form.'

Everyone looked at each other as Buffy raised her gauntlet again. 'I have a really bad idea about that...'

Faith followed the Vampire into the Mayor's office. It was morning and after that, whatever it had been, attacked she hadn't got any sleep. Inside was the stunted little troll of a Principle. Snyder. '...Destroyed the hallway! It'll take days to fix. I want her out of my school. All of them! That librarian to.' He was seriously pissed off. Enough to forget just who he was talking to.

'Royston, Royston, Royston.' The Mayor shook his head. Faith could hardly believe it. No one talked to the boss like that. 'Would you prefer me to call you Roy? Roy I would like nothing better than to remove this particular problem from both our lives, however the timing might need to be looked at. That troublesome girl and her friends graduate tomorrow. We have to ask ourselves what would be the point?'

'She's a menace. I thought you wanted her gone.'

'I do. More than you could ever imagine, but the paperwork for both of us wouldn't be worth it now would it?

The stunted troll seemed to be struggling with himself, as if he remembered were he was. Eventually he nodded.

'Good, excellent in fact. Now get your caretakers to work fixing that school of ours for tomorrows ceremony. I want everything polished and perfect. This is going to be a graduation no one's ever going to forget.'

'What about that Librarian?' Snyder snapped without thinking and Faith kept her face blank. If he walked out of here alive it would only be because the boss wanted to plan something special for him.

The Mayor smirked back calmly. 'You have it on the best authority he will no longer be your problem after tomorrow.' The smirk became a grin. 'Oh and Roy, You've shown some real sprit coming here and talking to me like this. I'm impressed. Don't do it again.'

The Principle went pale so fast Faith was sure he had to be losing blood. Stammering a thanks he shuffled out, past her and down the corridor.

'Well Faith, I take it you've heard?'

'That Buffy survived, how?' She asked. 'I saw the arrow, I saw it kill her.'

'Well that's the thing with you Slayers. Your tough, resilient, and just that unpredictable. She held on long enough for the Watchers and that red headed witch to cook something up.' he smiled, but Faith could have sworn she saw something flash behind his eyes. 'But that's for later. Good news is a spell like that would drain whatever energies they had. Not that they had much chance. Still better safe than sorry.'

He looked at her for a long moment. 'I have a job for you, my dear. Buffy's resurrection would never have worked if a certain doctor, and administrator, had done as they were told. Be a sweetheart and deal with it will you?'

Faith nodded, touching the knife at her hip. 'What then boss?'

'Take the rest of the day off.' he shrugged back. 'I'll send a car for you as one of my guests at Graduation.'

'And the Principle?' She asked, hoping she wasn't pushing to much.

He grinned. 'Roy's just blowing steam. He wasn't chosen for his personality. No, I've looked forward to rewarding him for his service for quite a while now. He's mine.' Faith laughed back, but didn't feel good about it.

End Chapter Six