Chapter 14.
"We should do this all over town!" Willow said.
"Or at least the mall," Amy added.
"If we're going to do this more, I want Giles with us," Xander said. "So we have three in the back and two in the front."
Amy snickered at that. Willow leaned towards her and Amy whispered in her ear. A very un-gargoyle-like squeak came from Willow's lips once she got the reference.
Xander was clueless. "What? I don't get it." No one filled him in.
Buffy and Kendra stood off to one side. "Sorry," Buffy said. "They don't understand that being the Slayer is kind of a solo gig. I've had to adjust since- you know. But I had more time to adjust. They were kind of already helping even before we transformed."
"It was... very successful," Kendra said diplomatically. "I doubt I could have gotten all of them meself. Some would have gotten away."
"But you didn't get to Slay any yourself," Buffy finished, nodding. "I know. I would have been totally disappointed back when I was the Slayer. It's hard to explain. I used to have this urge to Slay. Now I just have this urge to Protect. So even if I don't get the kills, I still feel good when they're dust. But if we ask beforehand, I'm sure we can get them to save you a vamp or two from each ambush to Slay."
Kendra shook her head. "It would be like catching fish in a barrel. Too easy. I will just have to be sneakier next time and get some inside before they notice me."
"Don't you mean 'shooting fish in a barrel'?"
"Why would you shoot fish in a barrel? You would get less meat and you would probably put a hole in the barrel," Kendra said.
"Ah, they're back," Giles said as he heard the sound of large wings flapping.
Sam stood up and went to the kitchen sink. He wanted to be on his feet and with something between himself and the monsters in case it came to a fight. Also, he filled two glasses of water. His Slayer was always thirsty when she came back from patrol and he also wanted to be ready for the possibility that she was still alive and unharmed.
It was impossible to keep the smile off his face when he saw that she was indeed alive and unharmed. In relief, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. She immediately came over to him and drained one glass after another as quickly as he could refill the empty one and hand it back to her. Several exchanges later—thirst finally sated—they both joined the monsters in the living room and he received her Slaying report.
"Is that how I'm supposed to give it?" Buffy asked her watcher once the report was finished.
"Yes," he said, a smile playing over his lips. Her reports had never been that professional, but they were always much more interesting. It was one of the reasons he hadn't asked her to change.
"Kinda dry. She didn't even mention the look of terror on their faces when we dropped down on them. Or the cute guy that we saved from that total skank-ho of a vamp," Buffy said.
Giles sighed. "You're right, Buffy. Your way is far more detailed than Kendra's," he doubted she caught the sarcasm in his voice.
"Thank you," she nodded. "Wait, was that sarcasm? Do you even know what sarcasm is? Was it even invented when you were a kid?"
For the life of him, he couldn't tell if she was serious or being sarcastic herself so he just ignored her. "Mr. Zabuto and I haven't discovered much more about the Brethren of Aurelius or the Anointed One, unfortunately."
"'He will rise from the ashes of the Five on the evening of the thousandth day after the Advent of Septus.' Which is tomorrow," Sam quoted.
"Aren't you sunshine and roses," Buffy quipped. Then she turned to Giles. "So, no clearing the mall of vamps tomorrow night? He could rise there just as easily as anywhere else, you know?"
Giles gave her an unbelieving look. "Doubtful. Sam and I will put together a search pattern which will give us the greatest chance of successfully catching him."
The Master had the Brethren of Aurelius in front of him again. And this time, there was a one-armed vampire to his right. "Marcus has just given me some very important news. News which corroborates my choice to be lenient all those years ago when he failed me. He tells me there are new hunters in the city. Winged hunters who are aiding the Slayer and tearing through our ranks. We must change our plans. You will leave the city and meet the Anointed as he leaves on his trip instead of when he arrives. Go and prepare. You leave at sundown tomorrow."
The Master turned to the one armed vampire. "And you, you have been absolved of your sins against me. I shall see you put to rights."
The children all patrolled the next night, looking for the Anointed One. The gargoyle clan had killed a fair number of vampires since they started patrolling only a short time ago. Wings were far superior to feet for both travel speed and for giving them a vantage point to spot and attack the undead from. Sunnydale was getting very quiet at night. Or at least all the places that gargoyles could easily patrol had gotten quiet. Every now and then, families were actually using the parks at night. No longer quite so afraid of 'gang activity'. One of those families unknowingly acted as bait and got the gargoyles their only kill of the night. Buffy shot it from the sky with her crossbow and the family never even knew they were in danger. Only the child on the swings even looked around at the odd noise of a vampire dusting nearby.
"We got one at Pinecone Park," Buffy radioed in. "But it didn't look like he was a recent riser."
"I have gotten three tonight," Kendra reported in on her radio. She was borrowing Xander's. She was also patrolling, but on foot and alone in those places with too many trees for the gargoyles to see through as they flew over.
"We've seen zip," Amy reported.
"Very good, Kendra," Zabuto praised. He was using Willow's radio so he had a direct connection to her that didn't require Rupert to pass on messages.
"Yes. The uh, rest of you as well. Job well done," Giles added awkwardly.
Sam looked at Giles impassively. "Four gargoyles got only one vampire while my Slayer got three."
Giles suddenly felt much less nervous and awkward. A snipe at his clan's abilities was an attack against the clan, after all. And he knew how to deal with an attack. "I think you're forgetting the scores of vampires and demons we've gotten in just the past week or so. Smart vampires no longer walk in the open."
"So you say," Sam said calmly and turned back to his research.
"I do say," Giles throttled the impulse to punch the man in the head. Mostly because he would probably tear the human's head off and that would make things even more awkward between themselves and the new Slayer—not to mention the council. He rolled his shoulders, stiff from an all-night research session. He looked at the clock. A few more minutes and they should probably head home. "Have you thought of enrolling Kendra in school or taking up the vacant librarian position?" he asked the other watcher.
"Kendra knows all she needs to know. And the job would only interfere in my duties as a watcher and hers as Slayer. Kendra would probably be dead in weeks," Sam needled.
Giles ignored the jibe. "Not long after we were… transformed by a witch on campus, a teacher at the school turned up decapitated."
Sam raised an eyebrow. Still, "Two such incidences do not a pattern make."
"In other words, you'll wait until more children or teachers die before you do anything?" Giles fired his own shot.
"Not at all. I will order Kendra to patrol around the area. But enrollment seems drastic," Sam said.
"You are on the Hellmouth now. I suggest you get used to taking drastic action," Giles said as he closed his book and rose. He then keyed his microphone, "Giles here. Time to head home." With that, he left the interloping watcher alone in his old flat.
The Anointed Five were driven into Sunnydale in the back of a limousine the Brethren of Aurelius had stolen just for the occasion. When they stopped, one of the Brethren hopped out and held the door open for them. An actual red carpet had been rolled out. They followed the short carpet to the door of the crypt, leaving themselves exposed to the night sky for only a few seconds. One of the Brethren then led the way down the passageway in the back of the crypt and through the sewers and tunnels that led to the Master's cave. At the Master's right sat a vampire with a hook in place of his own right hand.
The Master rose to greet them and opened his arms, "Welcome, my friends."
"The unholiest of holies. The Lord did cast the serpent into the pit to be tortured in a lake of fire for all eternity," One of the five preached.
The Master made a motion towards one of the Brethren who stepped forward to stake the vampire. He was relieved to do it, too. A Jesus-freak vampire was something he had never seen in all his long years. It unnerved him.
"Well, welcome to the rest of you in any case. Now, I'd like to read you a bit of prophesy, if I might. 'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' Basically, what it means is that only one of you can be the Anointed one. So, the four of you fight and the survivor gets to be my Anointed champion to bring me the Slayer when the time is right." He paused to look around, "Well, what are you waiting for? Last one not a pile of dust, wins."
The battle royale quickly turned into a 2-on-2 match-up. The boy and his mother, while being vampires meant they didn't fully trust each other anymore, were still mother and son and certainly had a connection that not even vampires could ignore. The other two, seeing this connection, silently decided to team up to take out the already paired team. They certainly didn't trust each other either, but each of them would be no match for two vamps, even if one was small.
The boy squared off against the nurse while the mother squared off against the bus driver. The driver, being male, started off with punches to the woman's face and body but was soon driven off. The mother, being a woman, was more familiar with the cat-fight style of fighting and found her new claws were wonderful for that. Unfortunately, claws are no match for a wooden bench, which the bus driver picked up and smacked her with. The mother landed on top of a whole mess of candles. The driver didn't even wait to watch her burn. Instead he turned to watch the other fight.
The boy and the nurse locked themselves in an epic struggle. Unfortunately for the boy, he was simply turned too early in his life and the nurse's superior size and leverage forced him back bit by bit. He reached a pile of candles and felt the flames start to lick up his back. And then the pressure stopped. The nurse had been stabbed in the back by the bus driver. The boy gave a quick glance around but he knew that if the driver was here then his mother was dead. Worse, flames were still crawling up his back. "Take you with me," he whispered to himself before he launched himself at the man and latched onto his leg.
"Get off! Get off!" the vampire yelled.
"Put them out! Put them out!" the Master yelled.
The remaining members of the Brethren of Aurelius launched themselves at the two vampires but only served to immolate themselves as well.
"No! No. No," the Master sunk to his knees in grief. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen at all. The Anointed was to be his greatest warrior against the Slayer. Now he had neither the Brethren nor the Anointed.
"What happened?" a female voice asked.
"You? But you-?"
"Most of the candles went out when I landed on them. But my hair got a little singed. I'm glad Collin got him for that," the vampiress said.
The Master recovered himself quickly and stood up. "Congratulations, my dear. Tell me, what is your name?"
"Deborah. But everyone calls me Tod," Tod said.
The Master quirked what would have been an eyebrow if he'd had them.
"It's a long story," Tod said.
The Master waved his hand dismissively. "I don't care. Tod is good enough for me. Come, we have much to discuss, you and I."
"Oh, absolutely," Tod agreed. "Like how wood and fire are some of the few things that can kill vampires and yet you have both of them down here. Besides, candles are so passé," she scolded.
The Master looked at her as if she'd grown an extra head. He looked over at Marcus but the one armed vampire just shrugged.
"You know, what I heard is that Willow went all 'Carrie' on their asses," Harmony said. "She poured blood on all of them and then pulled off Mrs. Madison's head with her psychosomatic powers."
"No way," another girl said. "Why would little miss goody-two-shoes do something like that?"
"Probably when she found out that Xander wasn't going to settle for her any time soon? I could see her doing that then," a third girl added.
Cordelia huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. "First of all, it's 'psychic', not 'psychosomatic', you moron. Second of all, have you seen Carrie? She's the one who gets blood dumped on her. It's why she kills all those people. And finally, do you really think that mousy Willow Rosenberg is capable of killing five people? Even Harmony bullied her, and it doesn't get much lower than that." With that she walked away. Still, she had to admit, Rosenberg going psycho was a better explanation than some new librarian kidnapping and eating four students. To the best of her knowledge, no student—or even faculty, for that matter—had willingly set foot in the library since the disappearances. If this could just be explained away as the normal weirdness that was Sunnydale High, then people could just get on with their lives. And by people, she meant her.