Chapter 91
The Children
Will and Terri took the lead in the teacher's battered old Honda, swerving recklessly through the streets as they whizzed past dentists playing frisbee in the darkened park and church ladies spilling out of dive bars with stolen bottles of Smirnoff Ice. Buffy followed in her mother's Jeep, while the rest of her scooby gang - minus Tina, who was researching disturbing second childhoods in McKinley's library - cringed at the haphazard way she cruised behind the Honda, half of the vehicle jutting out into the other lane.
"I don't want to speak for everyone," Kurt said in the backseat, once again sandwiched between Blaine and Quinn, "But I would be more comfortable if you let me drive."
Quinn's shoulder slammed against the door as Buffy made a sharp right turn, tailing after the Honda as they twisted through Lima's abandoned industrial district, built when the town was pseudo-famous for making bottle caps. Now, Lima's only valuable local produce was corn and the only things to be found in the factories that lined the southern part of town were sinister at best.
Buffy rolled her eyes as Will's brake-lights flashed ahead of her. "Chill. We're here."
It wasn't difficult to tell which factory they were looking for. A whole crowd of adults were making a racket next to a loading dock, practically foaming at the mouth. Workers in blue jumpsuits were standing at the large mouths of the dock, tossing free candy bars into the mob. Buffy parked in the middle of the narrow street and stomped out of the car and through the crowd. The other six followed her nervously as she parted a path through the dozens of cheering people, who were blasting Twisted Sister through a boombox and stuffing their faces with free, half-melted chocolate.
Buffy grabbed hold onto the edge of the loading dock and lifted herself off. The employees, startled and annoyed, tried to push her back down, but she grabbed each of them by the backs of their clothes and threw them into the crowd. She held out her hand to help the rest of the scoobies up, and the seven of them ventured into the wide factory, the echoes of partying teen-dults sounding through the vast space. The place was loaded floor to ceiling with boxes of those nondescript, red-wrapped candy bars.
"It smells so chocolate-y," Terri said, her blue eyes wide with wonder as Buffy quickly led them around a corner.
There, she spotted him. Bryan Ryan, leaning over a conveyor belt, his blond hair slicked back with gel, crinkles at the edges of his eyes as he smiled and said into his cellphone, "Yeah, the town is wide open. You guys can make your move any time."
"Bryan Ryan," Buffy said loudly, folding her arms over her chest.
Bryan looked up, the playful spark in his expression disappearing. He locked eyes with Buffy and tightened his grip on his cellphone. "You might want to hurry," he said, before quickly ending the call.
"Bryan," Will frowned, sticking out his chest. Terri blushed beside him.
Bryan smirked. "Billy," he said, almost fondly, before turning quick on his Italian heels and running for the door.
Buffy ran after him and leapt over the conveyor belt as he bolted to another door, pulling a tall, wheeled crate out behind him to block the slayer's path. She quickly dodged around the crate and followed Bryan through the door. Beyond it were ceiling-high walls of candy-bar boxes, narrow paths cleared between them like a maze, and Bryan had just disappeared around one of their corners. Will was quick to follow behind the slayer and they were both vaguely aware of the other scoobies running after them, their footsteps slapping against the concrete floors.
Buffy twisted round and round through the maze-like corners, keeping a sharp ear out for the footsteps in front of her. She bounded around in a circle and realized she was at a dead end. There were nothing but cardboard boxes and a flat wall of wooden crates in front of her.
"Where'd he go?" Will panted.
"Shh!" Buffy ordered before twirling around and sending a flying kick into one of the crates. The wood splintered and fell apart just as Buffy pushed her hand in and brought back out a fistful of Bryan's shirt, pulling his head right out with it. Bryan blinked defeatedly at her, his head sticking right through the giant hole in the crate.
"Look," Buffy smirked, her breath perfectly steady, "A box full of farm-fresh chicken."
The slayer backed up, her fist falling away from Bryan Ryan as he scrambled out of the box, shaking splintered wood off of his dark blue suit.
"So," said Buffy, folding her arms, "What's going on, Bryan? And don't play any games with me. This is pretty much a talk or bleed situation."
"Hit him!" Will goaded her with enthusiasm.
"I would just like to start by saying that this was not my idea," said Bryan, as Buffy flashed Will a quick glare.
"What do you mean?" she asked, turning back to the culprit, her hands on the hips of her high rise jeans.
The man gulped, his eyes traveling around the group in front of him. "It's Motta you want. I'm just helping him collect the sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?" Buffy wrinkled her nose, "For who and or what?"
"He's lying," Will said boastfully, "Come on, hit him."
"I don't think he is and shut up," Buffy bristled.
"I'm supposed to be the watcher," Will whined, "You have to do what I tell you!"
"Will!" Buffy snapped.
With drooped shoulders, Will twisted around and kicked at the ground. Buffy just rolled her eyes and turned back to Bryan.
"What are the sacrifices for?" Buffy asked patiently.
Bryan stuck his tongue in his cheek. "A demon," he replied.
"What demon?"
Bryan raised his eyes to the ceiling and shrugged. "I don't recall."
Buffy nodded before balling her fist and sending a swift, albeit light punch right into Bryan Ryan's jaw. Will hopped up and let out a little yelp of victory, but ducked his head again when Buffy gave him another stern glare.
"Lurconis," said Bryan, bringing a hand to his aching jaw, "The demon's name is Lurconis. They just wanted a distraction so the sacrifices wouldn't be protected."
"So you're just the diversion?"
"Basically. They said the sacrifice was so important that they couldn't just take it unless everyone was totally out of it. Once the spell wears off, they'll all just blame themselves."
"Where is Al Motta?" asked Buffy.
"I don't know," Bryan shrugged.
"Hit him again!" Will cheered, and Buffy balled her fist.
"No!" Bryan cried, "I really don't know! Probably delivering the sacrifice."
"I guess that brings us to the real question and believe me, you can't afford to give a wrong answer," said Buffy, and Will smiled with delight behind her, "What is the sacrifice?"
Bryan's mouth was pressed into a firm, tight line. "I don't know."
Buffy gritted her teeth and raised a fist.
"I don't know! I don't know, I swear!" Bryan raised his hands, his blue eyes startlingly wide, "Look, some bigwig big bads contacted me, asking for my services, so I did my duty. I didn't ask questions. There's a demon and sacrifices, but I don't know anything more than that, I swear."
Buffy kept her fist balled and stared at him, her jaw clenched. "Alright. Come on."
Buffy grabbed the man by his collar and dragged him along through the maze, Will following them, buzzing with energy and excitement. They met the rest of the scoobies back in the main part of the warehouse, most of them leaning expectantly against the conveyor belts, kicking at stray tools that littered the concrete floor.
"We tried following you," Rachel piped up when she spotted the threesome walking toward them, "But we couldn't keep up."
"What do you know?" asked Quinn, folding her arms.
"Not much," Buffy sighed, her fist still clutched around Bryan's shirt, "I need to call Tina."
"What happened?" Terri asked nervously, sidling up to Will.
"We're taking care of it, baby," Will said, beaming with newfound confidence as he slung his arm around the blonde.
Buffy rolled her eyes and let go of Bryan to fish her cellphone out of her pocket and find Tina's number. "We found him."
"You did?" Tina exclaimed on the other line, whispering slightly, as if the library she was in wasn't actually empty, "What happened?"
"I need you to research a demon, Lurconis."
"Lurconis," Tina said slowly, as if she was writing it down, "A demon. What do you know about it?"
"See if you can find anything about sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?"
"Yeah, that's all I know. My source is all tapped out," said Buffy, giving Bryan a quick glare.
"Okay, stay there, Mike just found a whole chapter in the bestiary. Looks like a sacrifice is made every thirty years, and this one's late, so I'm guessing he's in for a big meal. Oh, and… oh…"
"Tina, what is it?"
"Lurconis eats infants."
Buffy widened her eyes. "Infants?"
The scoobies looked up, staring at Buffy as she nervously chewed her lip.
"Children who exhibit or are born of magical properties. I guess that's why Lurconis comes to the Hellmouth."
Buffy bit her bottom lip and glanced worriedly at Quinn, who was giving her a curious look. "Thanks, Tina… Call me if you find out more."
xxx
Puck was panting heavily in the driver's seat, struggling to put his belt back on as he watched Shelby slide into her tube top, her cheeks flushed pink and her dark hair mussed.
"That was… amazing," he said, his eyes stuck to her.
She glanced at him, her mouth quirked in an amused smile. "Yeah, that was fun."
"I didn't know… I didn't really think you felt that way about me."
Shelby gave him a strange look and shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, you're totally hot."
"Yeah, I know, but I didn't think you saw me as… you know… a man."
Shelby smiled and slid her fingers through his overgrown faux-hawk. "I am woman, you are man," she said in a phony accent that Puck couldn't place, and then started giggling wildly, "Sorry, that's from a movie. Ooh, we should go to the movies!"
Puck glanced nervously back at the apartment building from his pick-up truck in the far side of the parking lot. "Maybe we should check on Beth."
"Right," Shelby sighed, "She's so cute, right? It's so bizarre, like we're playing house."
Puck shrugged. "We're not really playing, though. You're her mom. I'm her dad…"
"Right," Shelby nodded, "We're, like, a real family. Oh my God, how crazy is that? It sounds so grown-up!"
Puck raised an eyebrow, about to speak when a sharp knock sounded on his car door window. The pair of them jumped and looked out of Puck's window to see the darkened outline of Quinn standing impatiently in front of them, strands of pink hair lit by the moon. She leaned down to peer into the window, Rachel standing a few feet away from her, picking at her fingernails. Quinn knocked again, a grimace on her face, and Puck rolled down the window.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Quinn opened her mouth to speak, before glancing at Shelby in the passenger's seat. Her green eyes continued to dart between the two of them, bewilderment flashing through her eyes. Rachel peered curiously over her shoulder, a sinking look of realization washing over her face. Quinn seemed to snap out of it and impatiently asked, "Where's Beth?!"
Puck and Shelby glanced back at the apartment building through the windshield. "Sh-She's inside," Puck stammered.
Quinn gave them a quick glare before storming off toward the apartment. Rachel's feet were planted firmly on the ground, her mouth a small circle as she continued to stare at the couple in the car. Puck blushed and got out to follow Quinn, Shelby trailing closely behind. Rachel snapped out of her stupor, straightened her skirt and headed inside. They all sprinted to catch up to Quinn, whose eyes bugged out of her head as she sped down the hall to see Shelby's apartment door wide open.
"You didn't lock the door?!" she exclaimed.
Before she could let anyone answer, she was running into the apartment, stomping over loose paperwork and baby toys to get to Beth's nursery. The other three followed her in to see her hands gripping the edge of Beth's crib, staring down into the empty bed.
"They took her," she said, alarmingly quiet.
"Who took her?!" Shelby asked, starting to panic.
Quinn whipped around and glared at Shelby. "You didn't see?!"
"N-No, we were…" Shelby trailed off, her face turning red.
Quinn gritted her teeth and looked at Rachel. "Call Buffy," she said, before marching back out of the room.
xxx
"Something's going to eat all those babies?!" Terri screeched, looking close to tears.
As Will attempted to soothe the woman, Buffy folded her arms and stared through the window partition that separated them from the hospital's nursery. Most of the cribs were completely empty. Almost every doctor and nurse had abandoned their post. Whoever had taken the babies had strolled right in. Buffy had received a near-hysterical phone call just minutes earlier from Rachel, to inform her that Beth was missing.
"She didn't see who took them," said Blaine, looking unusually pale as he and Kurt walked toward Buffy.
They had been questioning the only nurse who had stuck around. She'd had her earphones in when they arrived and was reluctant to engage in conversation.
"She said it's not like she stole the babies and to just get off her back."
"We know who took them," Buffy bristled.
"Well, then, let's go find the demon and kick it's ass!" Will exclaimed.
Buffy gave him an exasperated look. "We would if we knew where they were. Quinn's probably tearing up the whole town in your car, looking for Beth."
Blaine grimaced. "Lurconis dwells beneath the city, filth to filth."
Buffy furrowed her brow at the boy. "What?"'
"I knew this. I mean, I read about it, once. In my dad's journals," he explained.
"Dwells beneath the city?" Buffy raised an eyebrow, "Are you thinking sewers?"
"We should go now," said Kurt.
"To the sewers? No, thanks," Terri turned up her nose, "I'll stay here… in case the babies come back."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's go."
"Will, stay with me," said Terri, grabbing his hand and giving him a wide-eyed stare.
"What?" Buffy's lip curled up in distaste, "Will, you have to come with us."
"Come on, I'll be so scared here on my own," Terri pouted, stroking Will's shoulder. The man looked conflicted, her blue eyes flickering between the two blondes.
"Will!" Buffy exclaimed, "Come on, I need help. I need grown-ups! These babies are going to die if we don't act now and think clearly. Okay? Quinn's daughter is in danger. There is no room for error or selfishness. Besides, you guys are grossing me out."
xxx
Quinn darted down the ladder as soon as she heard the strangled cry of a baby. Rachel had received a call from Buffy, telling them to wait for her outside of the sewer tunnel entrance back near the abandoned industrial sector, but Quinn hadn't wanted to wait. Without much objection, Rachel, Puck and Shelby followed her in, each of them panicked and eager to find Beth. Quinn dropped down the ladder and the slap of her boots against the concrete caused a distant murmur - almost like a rhythmic chanting - to subside. She cringed at the silence, save for the crying babies, and hoped she hadn't just cost them their discretion.
She crept down the short hallway she'd found herself in, the others following, and peered around the corner to see a wide, oval cavern, and several hooded figures standing amongst tall, lit ceremonial torches. All of the figures were gathered around the center, and Quinn narrowed her eyes to see it was some sort of wide pen where the babies were lying, wailing impatiently. Her heart thudded wildy at the sight of her own daughter's whispy blond curls.
"I see Beth," she hissed to the others, and they sighed with relief.
At almost a year and a half, Beth was the oldest infant there, sitting up with a sense of serenity about her compared to the red-faced newborns.
"Well, let's go down and kick some ass!" Shelby hissed.
Quinn frowned, her eyes locked on Beth. She didn't want to start throwing around fireballs and risk hurting the children. "We need to at least have a plan if we're not going to wait for Buffy."
"Wait's over."
Quinn whirled around to see Buffy had hopped down from the ladder that led them to the cavern - Will, Kurt and Blaine following closely behind.
"What do we got?" asked the slayer.
"Bunch of hoods. Some vampires, some probably not, considering they kidnapped Beth right from the apartment," said Quinn, keeping her eyes on the child, "What do we do?"
"You get your girl and blaze anybody who gets in your way. Rachel, Kurt, Puck and Blaine will take the rest of the babies and you all get out of here, to somewhere safe. Will and Shelby and I will do the ass-kicking."
"Awesome!" Shelby exclaimed with an excited smile, silencing the chanting once again.
Quinn looked back around at the hooded figures to see each and every one of them was staring in their direction. "Now!" she ordered, and the Scoobies all rushed out of their hiding place as chaos ensued.
Quinn did just as Buffy told her and ran straight for the babies, while the others around her started fighting off the hooded figures. As bodies flew around her, Quinn made her way to the center. While Kurt scooped up a newborn and headed for the hills, Quinn reached out for Beth and was surprised when her hands slapped against an invisible surface just a foot away from where the child sat. Startled, she reeled back a moment, before laying one hand down. She was held back by a force-field that shimmered when she touched it. Beth was staring straight at her with a strangely determined look in her brown eyes.
For a moment, Quinn looked around in a panic, wondering why the other babies weren't hindered by a forcefield. Rachel was about to run back with a baby cradled carefully in her arms, but gave Quinn a startled look when she saw her standing there.
"What is it?" she asked urgently.
Quinn laid her hand against the force field once more. "I think… Beth won't let me touch her."
Rachel's eyes darted between her girlfriend and the baby. "She's scared!" said Rachel with sudden realization, "She's doing it because she's scared."
Quinn wrinkled her brow and leaned forward. "Beth, it's me. It's Quinn. Come on, let's go, baby girl. It's me. Mommy."
Beth quirked her eyebrow up at Quinn.
"Come on, you want to go, sweetie?" asked Quinn, sweat dripping down her forehead. She reached her arms out again, careful not to touch the force field. "You want to go? You want to go with Mommy?"
Beth gurgled and reached her arms up toward Quinn. She leaned forward to find the force field was gone, and clamped her hands under Beth's arms to lift the girl up onto her hip. Quinn closely followed Rachel back out of the cavern, her hand protectively laid on her daughter's head.
By the time the Scoobies had left with all of the babies, most of the hooded figures had been slain. As Shelby held down a vamp for Will to stake, Buffy jumped high and kicked one of the hooded demons in the chest. He flew backwards and landed near the circular entrance to another sickly-smelling sewer tunnel. As Buffy was about to run forward and fight him, an unearthly rumbling sounded throughout the cavern and the ground shook beneath her feet as if an earthquake had started. Will and Shelby staked their vampire and looked around their surroundings, bewildered. The demon near the entrance struggled to scramble to his feet as Will approached the slayer.
"What's that?" he asked.
Buffy widened her eyes as the monstrous head of an eyeless, snake-like monster reared out of the sewer tunnel's entrance and detached its slimy maw to swallow the hooded demon hole. It quickly disappeared back into the tunnel.
Buffy gulped. "Lurconis, I'm guessing."
The ground started to rumble again and Buffy's eyes frantically scanned the ceiling of the rounded cavern to see pipes running through each other. She zeroed in on a thin pipe as the room began to shake. The tunnel before her darkened and she glanced at one of the ceremonial torches before leaping onto a demon's corpse and jumping in the air, her hand gripping the pipe and pulled it down from the ceiling. Wavering gas screamed from the open pipe and as Lurconis stuck his scaly head back out and widened his salivating mouth, Buffy aimed the pipe at the nearest torch and watched as a shower of fire blazed all over the giant demon's head.
Buffy held her grip until she was sure that the demon - as it's blackened head retreated back into the sewer, screeching loudly - was going to die. She dropped the pipe to the floor and made a mental note to call the city planner or the mayor or the police - whoever it was she was supposed to notify about leaking gas pipes.
"Can we go home now?" Will whined as he and Shelby padded toward the slayer, panting heavily.
"Yeah," Buffy smirked, "We can go home now. I've got the SATs tomorrow."
Shelby shrugged and straightened her skirt. "Blow 'em off."
xxx
Mike trudged back into his house, a messenger bag slung over his arm as he closed the front door behind him and listened intently for his parents. He could hear some quiet murmuring coming from his father's office, so he climbed the stairs and walked quietly toward it. While he'd been researching the demon with Tina, in the back of his mind he'd been worried about what his parents were getting up to. He didn't peg them for rebellious teenagers, but it was possible they simply didn't tell him everything.
Light streamed from the open door of his father's study as he reached the upstairs landing. Mike made himself scarce against the edge of the door and peered over quickly to see that his father was having a conversation with another man in the room. The man had his back turned, so all Mike could see of him was fluffy blond hair and an expensive suit. Mike pressed his back against the wall and listened.
"And the consultant?" asked the man.
"He's been paid," said Mr. Chang, "He did exactly what we asked him to. We think it would be unwise to burn that bridge just yet."
"This didn't turn out the way I had planned."
"Sir, I think you should look at this as a positive."
"Oh. How so?"
"You'll never have to pay tribute to Lurconis again."
Mike sucked in a sharp breath and slapped his hand against his mouth for fear that his father and the unknown man would hear him.
"Are you saying that you think you did me a favor?" asked the man.
There were a few seconds of silence, during which Mr. Chang struggled to answer.
"In the future," the man continued, "I'd be careful before you do me anymore favors."
Mike's heart thudded so rapidly that he couldn't hear the man walking out of his father's study before it was too late. He jumped as the man rounded the corner and bumped right into him.
"Whoa, boy, you just about gave me a coronary," the man let out a surprised laugh.
Mr. Chang quickly walked into the hall. His face paled to see Mike over the man's shoulder. Mike just narrowed his eyes at the man, who looked extremely familiar.
"Mike, where have you been?" Mr. Chang asked quickly, "It's past your curfew."
"I was studying," Mike replied. Not a complete lie. He didn't dare mention that he was with Tina.
"We'll speak again soon, Michael," said the man, glancing back at Mike's father before retreating down the hall and disappearing downstairs.
Mr. Chang didn't reply or bother walking the man to the door. He just stared after him as he left and then gave Mike a curious look.
"Working late?" asked Mike, an eyebrow quirked.
Mr. Chang pursed his lips. "You should go to bed. It's a school night."
xxx
"It was just too much to deal with. It was like nothing made sense anymore."
Tina and Buffy walked out of McKinley's entrance, their footsteps aligned as their classmates sprinted past them, on their way home.
"I know, Buffy," Tina smiled politely, "I was there, too."
"Yeah, but, I don't think it was the same for you," Buffy shook her head, clinging anxiously to the straps of her blue backpack, "The things that I thought I understood were gone. I just felt… so alone."
Tina smiled sympathetically. "Was that the math or the verbal?"
"Mostly the math."
"You know, if you don't get the score you want, you can always take them again," shrugged Tina.
"More SATs?!" Buffy wrinkled her nose as the girls walked leisurely toward Tina's car.
Their vision of the car was blocked as Mike ran past them and planted his feet in front of them, his eyebrows knitted.
"Finally," he said, as the girls skidded to a stop, "I've been looking for you all day."
Buffy glanced at her friend. "I'll wait by the car."
"No, I need to talk to you, too," Mike said urgently, rubbing his hands against the sides of his jeans.
Tina frowned with concern. "What's going on, Mike?"
"When I got home last night, my dad was talking to some guy in his office," Mike nervously looked around at their surroundings and leaned into the girls, "He mentioned Lurconis."
Buffy and Tina gave each other a grave look. "What did he say?" asked the slayer.
"He said that the guy should look on the bright side because he'll never have to pay tribute to Lurconis again." Mike's wide, frightened eyes darted between the two girls as the truth dawned on them all. "You guys, is my dad behind this?"
The girls looked reluctant to answer. "Who was the guy?" asked Buffy, "Was it Al Motta?"
"No," Mike sighed, "I saw him. I knew he looked so familiar, but I couldn't place him, and then this morning my mom was watching the local news. They were talking about sewer repairs or something completely uninteresting, but then I saw him again. The guy my dad was talking to is a news anchor on News 8."
Tina's eyes widened. "Remington!"
"Rod Remington?" Buffy raised an eyebrow, "The guy with the fluffy hair? My mom loves him."
"He's the guy your dad's been working with this whole time? But why?" asked Tina, almost to herself.
"I don't know," Mike shrugged, clenching his jaw, "All I know is that my dad is working for the bad guy."
Next up: Quinn realizes what she must do and Kitty's new watcher arrives...