Chapter 28.

SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT HILTON

(MICK ST. JOHN'S P.O.V.)

It was midnight by the time we got back to the Presidential Suite. When I say "we," I mean me and Angel. The latter had been given a temporary reprieve from the bawling out Buffy had promised him, when Detective Kohanek reminded her that Cordelia was still at SFPD headquarters. So, he had driven her there, while Sonny Toussaint drove the two of us back to the hotel.

The first thing we heard, when we entered the suite, was Willow and Xander with a perfectly synchronized chorus of:

"Where's Buffy?"

"She went to pick up Cordelia," replied Angel: "Detective Toussaint's partner should have the two of them back here in about half an hour."

"Why?" I added. "What's wrong?"

"Plenty!" declared Xander.

He then told us about a phone call he had gotten from Giles. About the massacres at the St. Ioannes monastery in Crete, and the St. Wenceslaus monastery in the Czech Republic. And, how they weren't really "terrorist attacks," as the authorities had told the news media.

"He said they were actually raided by some kind of super Big Bad! Looking to use an Orb of Thesulah in conjunction with something called a Dagon-sphere."

At the mention of those last two words, I swear I saw Angel turn whiter than the silk night gowns worn by Josef's girl friends.

"What's a Dagon-sphere?" I asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Well, according to Giles," Xander replied: "The saint that the Greek monastery is named for was better known to us mere mortals, in the Middle Ages, as Johannes the Presbyter. Or, Prester John, for short!"

As it turns out, there was more to the legend of Prester John than most people realized. He had born in the Four Valleys region of medieval Germany as a Kinsman of the Black Fury Garou (a matriarchal tribe of werewolves), who gave all their male children up for adoption. In Johannes' case, he was raised by the shapeshifting Hermetic wizards of House Bjornaer, in the Harz Mountains. But, later on in life, he transferred to House Castrovilli, which the Order of Hermes had founded to investigate Biblical miracles.

Through them, he became affiliated with the Christian mystics of the Celestial Chorus, in general. And, the Monist Brothers of St. Christopher, in particular. It was in the latter capacity that he battled-and vanquished-an Embraced Nashimite of Clan Tremere.

The Nashimites of the Celestial Chorus were religious fanatics, who believed that the corruption of the physical world equally corrupted the spirit world. And, circa 1200 A.D., one certain Nashimite decided to remedy this for all time. He used the sorcery taught him by his vampiric sire to undergo a ritual called the Ascension. A ritual that resulted in his becoming the super-powerful avatar for a soul-killer demon called Lohesh!

"Imagine Jack the Ripper with Superman's powers," added Willow: "And, you might get the idea."

"In any event," resumed Xander: "...it took almost all of Johannes' powers to bring down Lohesh. Plus, the help of three mystical talismans! The Dagon-sphere (named for the first such uber-demon it was used against) to stun him. A brass-tipped wooden rod, called the Ferrula Geminiarum, to split Lohesh and the Nashimite apart. And, the Orb of Thesulah, to put the Nashimite's vampirized body into torpor, by absorbing his essence! It was only after the body was staked through the heart and cremated that the Nashimite's essence was released into the here-after."

"And, following that?" continued Willow: "The three talismans were sent to separate churches, because Johannes felt they were too collectively powerful for anyone else to resist using them for more nefarious purposes."

"A nail that he seems to have hit right on the head," I remarked: "Where's the third talisman? That wooden rod?"

"The Council of Watchers sent it to the Smithsonian Institute, for safe-keeping, during the London Blitz of World War II," said Xander: "There's only one problem."

"Don't tell me...!" Angel began to exclaim.

Willow nodded: "The Smithsonian just reported a break-in to the FBI."

SFPD HQ.

12:15 A.M.

Buffy and Kohanek went straight to the waiting room from the parking garage. Upon arriving, they found Cordelia gone. Fortunately, there was a familiar face nearby of whom the stubble-faced, dark-haired police detective could inquire. A stocky male Caucasian who wore a well-tailored suit that was the same shade of yellowish-brown as his hair and "Vandyke" (moustache/goatee combo). *

"Hey, Rick!"

"Oh! Hi, Frank. Who's your friend?"

"Buffy Summers? Detective Bettina. Ms. Summers was one of the witnesses to that scrap at the Purple Dragon earlier this evening. I just finished taking her statement. Did you see the other girl? The one who was in here?"

"You mean that brunette hottie? Yeah, she already left."

"She left!" echoed Buffy, in shock: "Alone?"

"No, she went somewhere upstairs with a Detective Blalock. Must be a new guy. Never saw him before today!"

"What does he look like?" asked Kohanek (looking briefly at Buffy).

"You can't miss him. Skinny; whitish-blond hair; a little taller than me. And, he talks with a limey accent. In fact, he looks a little like... David Bowie!"

"Spike!" muttered Buffy, before running toward the nearest stairwell. With Kohanek vainly trying to keep up with her. "Bettina" smirked to himself, as he entered the nearest men's room...before exiting it, a moment later, as "Blalock."

"So, you're telling me I'm on a ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean?" exclaimed Cordelia (quite shrilly): "That's not possible! The last thing I remember, I was sleeping off a good cry, in a police station, in San Francisco!"

"With all due respect, Ms. Chase," replied Ben: "You must've been having a fever dream as a side-effect of that seafood poisoning. You're actually a movie actress who just finished shooting her part in some horror film, about pterodactyl men, on location in New Guinea. And, you ate some bad clams at the wrap party. Now, we're headed back to Sydney to put you on a plane bound for Los Angeles, and the UCLA Medical Center."

Cordelia opened her mouth to protest. But, she was suddenly interrupted by the ship's P.A. system.

"Dr. Wilkinson to the bridge," intoned some kind of Slavic accent: "Dr. Wilkinson to the bridge."

"Would you excuse me, please?" he rhetorically asked.

Five minutes later, Ben was in the wheelhouse of the Russian freighter.

"You wanted to see me, Capt. Skorzeny?"

The tall, silver-haired Romanian turned around and grinned.

"We have reached the designated co-ordinates. Equidistant between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn. And, at the center of a triangle formed by Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and Cape Leeuwin, Australia. Now, all we have to do is wait for Sarpedon and that Toth demon."

"Good," replied the young physician. "I'm barely keeping her from freaking out, as it is. She'll go twice as berserk if and when she sees Glory appear out of nowhere."

tbc

*Note to fans of LOST: ten years before playing "Leslie Arzdt," actor Daniel Roebuck played the unscrupulously ambitious, politically incorrect "Det. Rick Bettina" on the CBS police drama NASH BRIDGES. He also played "Count Dracula," in a still yet-to-be-released OVA called THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS CLUB.