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Whispers in the Dark - Chapter 9

Angel had begun to stir from this latest bout of unconsciousness, awaking to the slayers Buffy and Faith fighting each other, exchanging brutal blows until they finally knocked each other down. They began to get up, when Angel heard others walk into the mansion.

"That's enough!" Giles yelled at the girls. Angel looked towards Buffy's watcher, locking eyes with him for a mere moment. It was enough to know that he was not a welcome sight. Angel looked beyond him to see Oz, Willow, and Cordelia. "Where's Xander?"

"He was following Lucius," Buffy said, gasping for air.

"Why?" Faith asked. "It's true isn't it? You're protecting you're boy toy, and you're all in on it!"

"First off, he's not my boy toy," Buffy denied vehemently. "Second..."

"We don't approve of this," Giles interjected.

"Look," Angel finally spoke up. "it's not wha..."

"I honestly don't give a damn about anything you're about to say," Giles interrupted sternly, his gaze burning holes into him. "Buffy, you were foolish to keep us in the dark on this." She tried to think of something to say in response, but she knew he was right, despite his extreme prejudice. "Oz, Cordelia, go find Xander, make sure he's ok."

"Why would he be in danger?" Faith asked, a hint of anger penetrating her words. "He's after my new watche..."

"He wasn't your watcher!" Buffy exploded. "He tricked you! He's not part of the watcher's council! You can't trust him!"

"Apparently I can't trust you either," Faith sneered.

"Look, you want to judge me for the secrets I keep, fine," Buffy reasoned. "But, for the record, you, nor the rest of you have any idea what's going on with Angel, so instead of jumping to conclusions, I think it'd be nice for you all to trust the slayer that's gotten us through quite a few predicaments. Not to mention, I'm the same girl who stabbed him with a sword and sent him to a supposed hell dimension. So how about showing a little bit of trust here."

"Buffy, this man is a vampire, and cannot be trusted," Giles replied.

"Would you say that if he hadn't killed Jenny?" Buffy retorted, but realized she went over the edge as soon as she said it. She saw the expression on her watcher's face fade, knowing she just hit him with a proverbial low blow. He cared so much about Jenny, that when Angelus had killed her, it nearly drove him mad. He lifted his head to respond, when Oz, Cordy, and Willow returned into the mansion. "Where's Xander?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Cordy asked in an unforgiving tone.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"Xander's no where to be found," Oz explained. "We even tried to track his footprints, but we got nothing."

"Yeah, who do we have to thank for losing my boyfriend?" Cordy asked sarcastically. "Oh, that's right. The blonde bimbo who sacrificed mine for her own, who happens to be a blood-thirsty psychopath."

"You wanna go?" Buffy looked sternly at Cordy, but it was Angel who tried to interject.

"Look, I know my opinion isn't the most wanted or valued right now, but while we fight and argue, that blonde-haired guy is out there. AND, Faith is no longer here. So why don't we put our personal problems on hold, and figure out what the hell is going on."

"As much as it pains me, I agree," Giles spoke softly. "We need to find Faith before Lucius can find her again, and we need to find Lucius so we can find Xander."

"Ok," Buffy said uneasily. "Giles, I need you to get back on the line with the Watcher's Council and see if we can find any more info on this Lucius guy. I'll go looking for Faith. The rest of you, find Xander. We'll settle the rest of this later." As they broke up, Faith was all ready a good half-mile or so away from the mansion. She found her way to the edge of the wood, and wandered around until she made her way back to her motel room. She entered the room, only to find a well dressed man in standing in the middle of it. She pulled her stake, but he turned around with a smile, a sense of warmth and calm that she hadn't sensed in ages.

"It's ok... I'm not here to hurt you," the man said.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Mayor Wilkins," he replied. "I hear you have quite the talent."

"From who?" She asked suspiciously.

"I believe you met my consultant Lucius earlier," he mentioned.

"You mean the fake watcher? You sent him?"

"He was telling you the truth for the most part. The watcher part, not so much. We felt it would be the only way to get you to go with him to see what was really going on."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"What I mean, is that, I've had my eye on you for a long time, Faith. You have great potential, and I want you to realize that potential. But to do that, you need someone to care for you. And those people, Ms. Summers and her cohorts... well, they've shown what they're all about. Lies and deception. They kept you in the dark about one of the greatest horrors Sunnydale, heck, the world, has ever seen. Can you imagine if Buffy allowed Angel another moment of happiness. Let's just say, it wouldn't be a very wholesome picture."

"And you're all about wholesome?"

"Well, to the best of my ability," he replied. "I mean, I am a politician, so there has to be something wrong with me, right?" He smiled. "But when it comes to cleanliness, language... well, I'm your man."

"What aren't you telling me?" She asked.

"You really are a smart cookie, aren't you?" He asked, again with a very warm smile. "I want you to lead my army. You see, when graduation comes, I am going to ascend. It's this big ritual, but long story short, I made a deal with a bunch of demons back in the day. In sparing my life, I told them that one of them could ascend using me. It would allow me to rule Sunnydale forever. But to do it, I need your help. I need your leadership."

"And if I refuse?"

"Well, it's either the devil you know, or the devils you don't."

"No thanks," she replied, and ran out the door. Wilkins stood still, and remained calm as she walked out on him.

"Well... I guess it's going to be the hard way," he said to himself.

As Faith wandered around town, she started to ponder the Mayor's proposal. Was what he was offering that much different from Buffy? Sure, he made a deal with a demon, but Buffy was in love with one. Suddenly, she was torn out of her thoughts.

"Faith!" Buffy screamed as she ran after her.

"What do you want Buffy?" She asked. "

"Look, Faith... I'm sorry I didn't bring you in about Angel," she said. "I... I didn't know what to do."

"It's five by five, B," Faith said, but clearly not meaning it.

"I'm serious, Faith," she replied. But before she could explain further, vampires began surround them. "Great... of all the times you guys pick to drop in." The two slayers got into fighting stances, and one by one dusted them all. However, as Buffy dusted her last vampire, she noticed a man running behind Faith. Faith noticed him, and kicked him as he tried to run by her. She took a stake in her hand, and as he pleaded, Faith plunged the stake into his heart. Except he didn't turn to ash. In fact, blood began to pour from his chest, and then it began to drip from his mouth. Buffy ran over to see that the man was Deputy Mayor Finch. "Oh my gosh... Faith."

"It's ok..."

"It's not ok! You killed a man!" Faith's face showed shock, she couldn't believe what had just happened. However, before they could understand the full magnitude of what had just happened, they heard police sirens coming towards them.

"We've gotta bail!"

"Faith, wait!" But before she could grab hold of her fellow slayer, Faith was gone. Buffy looked around and realized it would be fruitless to remain behind and try to explain the situation, so she too took off, disturbed by what had happened.

*Yellow Frog Arts and Athletics Complex*

"Can I help you?" Rocky asked, noticing a young man walking close towards him.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Kimberly Hart, I'm a friend of hers from Sunnydale."

"Oh yeah, she told us all about your adventures there," Rocky grinned. "Name?"

"Xander Harris. Is she here?"

"Let me check... she might be still be out doing some wedding planning, I know she was taking the morning off to do that. You know that she and Tommy got engaged recently?" Xander showed no emotion as he simply answered him.

"No idea."

Rocky shrugged his shoulders at his lack of response, and chocked it up to an early morning drive to see them. He went and looked in the staff room, and there sat Kim with Tommy and Kat.

"Hey Rocky, we were just looking at possible swatches for bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen vests, want to put your input in?" Kim asked.

"Ha, I'd love to, but I actually need to interrupt for a second," he started. "This guy, Xander Harris from Sunnydale, he's here to see you."

"Xander?" Tommy asked. "Wonder why he's here?" Before Rocky could answer back, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and after a grimace, a strike to the head sent him spiraling down to the floor, revealing Xander with a pistol in his hand, aiming it at Tommy.

"Kim, you need to come with me, other wise your fiance gets a bullet in the head," Xander said calmly.

"Xander, what's gotten into you?" Tommy asked. Before anything else could be said he raised the gun, pointing it to the ceiling, and fired it, making Tommy, Kim, and Kat cower from the sound of it.

"I'm not playing around! Kim's gotta come with me, or else!"

"It's ok, Tommy," Kim said, easing his arm away from her as he had held her. As she took a couple of steps forward, it was Rocky who surprised everyone by kicking the gun from Xander's hand, and then Kim ran at him and tackled him, throwing her whole body into him. He was able to force her off him, but as he got up, Tommy landed a straight kick to his temple, which sent him into the wall, which caused him to fall into unconsciousness.

"What the heck happened?" Kat asked, coming over to the group. "Was he always like that?"

"No," Tommy answered. "When we were there, he was one of the guys helping us out."

"Is everything ok?" Jason asked, rushing into the room. "I heard a gunshot, and..." his voice trailed off when he saw the gun on the floor, and then looked over to the young man that was now sprawled out on the floor. "What the..."

"His name is Xander... he's from Sunnydale," Kim explained. "And no, we didn't expect this from him."

"What did he want?" Jason asked.

"Kim," Tommy said numbly.

"I don't understand... why would he want me?" Kim asked.

"Let's ask and find out," Tommy replied. "Rocko, can you grab me a pitcher of water?"

"Sure thing, boss." Rocky strolled out of the room, only to return immediately with a a pail filled to the brim with liquid. Tommy motioned Kim to shut the door behind them, while Rocky handed the pail to him. He poured it onto Xander's face, which caused him to wake and flail, only to be restrained by Jason and Kat.

"What's going on... what's happening!"

"You attacked us, that's what happened!" Tommy shouted. "Why did you come here? Why did you want to take Kim?"

"I... Fabio?" Xander said, somewhat humorously, but then shook his head. "Oh my gosh... Tommy... I'm so sorry. Is everyone ok?"

"We're fine..." Tommy said. "But what are you doing here. Why did you pull a gun on us?"

"I... um... there was this guy. He... well, I don't know the best way to explain it... but he pulled a wand on me."

"Wait... a wand?" Kat asked. "Like a magical wand?"

"Something like that," he replied. "The guy cast a spell, and all of a sudden I had no control."

"The Imperius Curse," Jason muttered.

"Come again?" Rocky asked, which got him looks from his fellow rangers.

"It's a spell that causes it's victim to be compromised by the castor," Tommy answered.

"Who cast the spell?" Kim asked.

"Long, blonde hair, goes by the name Lucius," Xander answered. While Rocky could only give a puzzled look at what Xander shared, the others sat or stood in shock.

"Malfoy," Kim finally whispered.

"So what do we do?" Rocky asked.

"We line up some subs for the school, because we need to go to Sunnydale," Tommy said. "All of us, we need to find out what's going on. Jason, can you send an owl, we need to get in contact with Harry, he's going to want to know about this."

"On it," Jason said.

"Wait... why is this so big?" Rocky asked. "I mean, not to sound crass, but who is this guy, anyway?"

"Lucius Malfoy, one of Voldemort's death eaters," Kat said. "He's one of the most dangerous wizards alive, and apparently, he's after Kim."

"Then we need to take the fight to him... because I refuse to lose Kim to him," Tommy said, looking at his future bride. "I refuse to let him take another ranger down, especially not my bride to be."

To Be Continued...

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- Googz333