Minor Gargoyles Spoiler in this chapter.
Chapter 15.
A week later, the granite for Joyce's sculptures finally arrived. The movers had left them in her garage and that was good enough for her. But she did have them move most of the stones off to the side and leave just one in the middle. Then everyone had to choose a pose. A pose that would be captured in stone. Also a pose they would imitate every morning for a sleeping pose if the statue idea worked. They took turns forming different poses while Joyce took pictures with a camera. Buffy decided on a rather ferocious pose while Giles decided on something that resembled The Thinker. Xander liked the one with his wings cocooned around him and Willow imitated him. Amy wanted one with her wings up and off her back but none of the stones were big enough. With the two thin stones going to Willow and Xander, Amy had to adopt something that looked a bit like Buffy just so she'd fit in the stone's dimensions.
They didn't yet have the armor that they and the statues would eventually be wearing, but it would take a couple weeks before Joyce was ready to start with detail work like armor anyway. Joyce took an entire roll of film from different angles to get her started on her work.
Then it was time to meet Kendra for a hunt. They were going to push the Sunnydale Mall tonight. It would be their first combined hunt since the failed hunt for the Anointed One. Since then, Sam Zabuto had claimed that his Slayer worked better on her own and had kept her away from the gargoyles. But the mall was too big for her to hunt alone. There were too many exits where vampires might slip away from her. So they were teaming up with the gargoyle clan who couldn't go inside the mall without causing a scene. Together, both sides could be more effective than apart. Something even Zabuto could grudgingly admit.
The Master looked out at his cave in despair. Gone were the torches and scores of candles that had lit his lair since he'd risen. Now electric light bulbs threw their harsh lighting around his cave, placed there by his Anointed One, Tod. He knew about electric lighting of course. But in the 1930s, when he'd been trapped in his prison, electricity was only commonplace in major cities like LA. Sunnydale had been in the process of retrofitting most of its buildings for electricity at the time.
He hadn't even considered running something called extension cords to reach down here. Gone also were the puddles of standing water and anything and everything wood. The water because it was a hazard to the lights and the wood because it was a hazard to vampires. His realm was looking quite barren indeed. She had even taken his throne because it was wood.
"Don't worry. I'll get you a new one. I promise," she'd said.
But for now, all he had to sit on was a pink, plastic folding chair. She promised him that plastic couldn't harm vampires and even demonstrated by braking off a piece from a spare chair and shoving through Marcus's heart. Everyone was relieved that he didn't dust.
The Master suddenly found that he had many servants who had time on their hands now that they were no longer constantly keeping torches and candles lit in his room. After all, even vampires can't see in total darkness. However, instead of being sent in search of food to replenish his strength, these vampires were being sent out in search of decorations.
"I don't know how you lived down here with it all dark and dank before," Tod said as she directed her new workers.
The Master looked on from his pink lawn chair as he sipped from the neck of a small child that Darla got for him. At least she was still doing as he wished. And he would put up with Tod's antics for a bit. But if she didn't bring him the Slayer soon, well, he certainly didn't need a piece of wood to kill other vampires.
"Well, that was a bust." Buffy moped as they walked. "I really thought there'd be more than two vamps in the whole mall. Big place, lots of people..."
"Brightly lit," Giles finished. "The brighter the lighting, the more obvious it is that a vampire is undead. Our own night vision makes it rather obvious who is undead and who is not, but humans have more difficulty in low-light conditions."
"Which explains why there were so many at the Bronze the last time Kendra went through there for us," Amy nodded in realization. "Dimly lit."
"Though, since one of the vampires we dusted was in the parking lot waiting in ambush, I suggest we patrol over the area a bit more often," Giles suggested. "Also, we still must find the Anointed One, Xander's one armed friend, and whatever decapitated Dr. Gregory." The list of monsters that had gotten away was getting rather long.
Willow spoke up. "You know, Giles, I've been doing some research on that. No one has been decapitated since we killed that giant mantis. There were those eggs in her basement and several types of mantis are known to eat their... partners."
"True. But they generally eat all of the body, only starting with the head, contrary to popular myth," Giles pointed out.
"She could have been interrupted," Willow pointed out.
"Plus there's that part about her saying that she didn't like vampires because they turned to ash when she bit their head off," Xander added.
Everyone stopped and looked at him. Amy and Buffy were curious. Willow and Giles looked a little angry.
"Umm... didn't I mention that earlier?" he asked weakly.
"No. You did not," Giles said tightly, then sighed, forcing himself to relax. "It appears we've solved the mystery of who or what killed Dr. Greggory."
"And she would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those meddling, gargoyle kids!" Xander quipped.
"The Scooby Gang strikes again!" Amy joined in the joke. "Speaking of which, we have to figure out who's who in the gang."
"Ooh! I call Daphne!" Buffy said.
"As the only redhead in the group, I think I have dibs on Daphne," Willow said.
"But I'd make an awesome Daphne. Besides, I already called 'dibs'," Buffy pouted. "Besides, I'm not smart enough to be Velma."
Amy turned to Xander. "If we're going by hair color, I guess that makes me Fred. You okay with being Shaggy?"
Xander shook his head then let out a very credible Scooby Doo laugh. "Hee he-he-he-he-he-he. Roh-oh, Raggy."
"Well who are we going to get to play Shaggy then?" Buffy asked. Four gargoyles all turned slowly to Giles.
Giles sighed, "No. Please do not include me in your childish games. Speaking of childish games though, have you or Kendra reconsidered posting yourselves at the school?" he asked Sam.
"Excuse me?" Kendra apparently had no clue as to what he was talking about.
Sam's lips narrowed in anger at the former watcher interfering with his charge yet again.
"Oh, he didn't ask you?" Giles asked as if he were surprised the topic hadn't come up. He was not. "I had wondered if you had wanted to enroll in school here or if Sam had wanted the Librarian posting. There were many attacks on students and teachers just in the few weeks we were there. And there are a number of disappearances every year."
"I… hadn't considered it," Kendra replied diplomatically. Truthfully, the thought of attending school with so many other children frightened her. She had been trained to deal with vampires, zombies, and demons, but she had never been trained in how to deal with other humans her own age.
"Perhaps you'll consider it after the next attack," Giles' voice had more venom than normal, but it was directed at Sam instead of Kendra.
"Perhaps," Sam nodded solemnly.
"Yes, and perhaps you might ask your vampire friend for information on the Anointed One. And the location of the one-armed vampire while you're at it," Giles asked Buffy.
"Vampire- Friend?" Sam asked incredulously.
"So not a friend," Buffy said quickly. "More like a..."
"Snitch," Amy said when it didn't look like Buffy could come up with a word. "He's like our Confidential Informant. He tells us stuff, and in return- we don't kill him."
"And he was hurt last time we saw him. Looked like he met the clawy vamp he told us about and Dr. Claw didn't like him much," Buffy added quickly. She wasn't quite sure why she was defending a vampire to a watcher, but something about Sam Zabuto rubbed her the wrong way.
"It's against council policy to give clemency to vampires in exchange for information. It-"
"Well maybe it shouldn't be," Willow surprised herself by interrupting. She'd never interrupted an adult before. "I mean, the CI is a tool used by law enforcement agencies all around the world. Why shouldn't we use it?"
"Because vampires are evil. You do not make deals with evil beings," Sam insisted.
"Pfft. This guy wasn't giving off evil vibes. Sketchy vibes, maybe. But not evil," Buffy said. "Besides, he said he didn't kill people anymore."
"And you have proof of that?" Sam accused.
"Nope." Buffy popped her 'P'. "But without him, we wouldn't have known about the Harvest in time to stop the Master. And that guy sounds seriously bad. So Angel gets a pass so long as he keeps making with the info."
Zabuto bristled even more than normal at being given commands by this child. A child who wasn't even human.
Once they were alone, Sam turned to his Slayer. "If you find this... Angel when the others are not around, you are to slay him immediately. But pretend to be nice if you are with the others. They are too numerous for you to take on alone." That was not his first hint to her that she might have to fight the gargoyles one day soon.
"Understood," Kendra nodded.
Buffy often felt half-deaf since becoming a gargoyle. Her night vision was better than it had been even as the Slayer, which was a nice trade off, but she wasn't sure if she even had normal human hearing any more. The only time she was thankful for it was on the nights (and they were often) when Xander and Amy would go off together. Then she was glad that she usually couldn't hear them. Except sometimes she could hear Amy's screams of ecstasy, and she wasn't sure how she felt hearing that. Even Giles and Willow were starting to spend a lot of time together, mostly just patrolling together, but Buffy thought she was starting to see looks.
Buffy was actually feeling... jealous? Whatever it was she was feeling, she finally got Amy alone to talk to her. Thus it was that Amy flew off alone that night.
Xander watched her go, hurt and confusion on his face. And probably no small measure of disappointment.
"You've been ignoring me," Buffy started.
Xander turned his confused face towards her, "No I haven't."
Buffy suppressed the need to roll her eyes. "You haven't brought me any more flowers."
"You said you weren't ready. I figured I'd give you a chance to-"
"Xander," Buffy cut him off. "I'm ready."
That morning, Buffy snuggled close into one side of Xander as Amy snuggled into the other. Maybe soon they'd share him, but she was glad that Amy had given them the night alone together first. Xander's wooing had been pretty good; she was pretty sure that Amy had given him tips, as he wasn't nearly that suave when they had first met.
Also, tails were awesome!
"What are these?" David Xanatos asked his assistant, Owen.
"Photographs of gargoyles, sir. Real gargoyles, as near as I can tell," Owen replied.
"And these are authentic? Where were they taken?" Xanatos asked. He was outwardly as calm as ever, but inwardly he was as giddy as a schoolgirl.
"They were developed in a suburb of Los Angeles by a man who had heard that we were interested in gargoyles and such. They appear authentic, though we can't really be sure. I'm sure the man who developed them lacks the skills necessary to make such high quality fakes. All we know is that the roll was developed for a woman named 'Joyce' who paid cash and didn't leave a phone number. The suburb is called 'Sunnydale'. Which, combined with her other safeguards tells me that she probably traveled there from Los Angeles," Owen said in his usual monotone. He was also outwardly calm. Inside, he was more nervous than excited. And not for the same reasons as David Xanatos.
"Reasoning?" Xanatos queried.
"Our own gargoyles have shown a strong affinity for the tallest buildings around. Sunnydale doesn't have anything over four stories. And on a clear night, the lights from Los Angeles would be perfectly visible from there," Owen said.
Xanatos nodded. A reasonable argument. "There are a number of national forests in that area. The Angeles National Forest is half a million square acres alone and the Los Padres is probably bigger. Much more likely that they're hiding in those than imitating the clan we brought here. Actually, the high-desert east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains would be a much more likely place for them to have been hiding."
"Low population density until very recently. Perhaps that's how they survived this long, but these were taken indoors. In an artist's studio. There are a few art galleries in this Sunnydale, but no known studios. Los Angeles is lousy with artists," Owen countered.
Xanatos picked up the photos again. "They're posing," he realized, "...for an artist. And these stones in the background. They're having copies of themselves made. An excellent tactic. Very well, put out some feelers and try to find this artist. But be quiet about it. I don't want to draw any attention to them. I certainly don't want our own gargoyles to abandon us for the other coast. And keep a lookout both in LA and the surrounding suburbs for these statues. Once we find the statues, then we'll find them."
"Very well, sir." Owen gave a curt bow and gathered up the photographs to be put in storage. Inside, Puck was quite happy. He'd bought his 'children' a bit more time to get acclimated to their surroundings before the storm that was David Xanatos came crashing down on them. And he had dutifully reported the finding of the gargoyles as his employer would expect. It would have been too suspicious not to report the pictures. Xanatos would have found out anyway and questioned him on it.
The other day, Kyle and his band of hooligans had cornered Aphrodesia and made the poor Cordette cry. Something had to be done about them—even if she had to do it herself—which led to her being here and enjoying this field trip less than she normally would have enjoyed a day off from school. As she watched Kyle and his little gang of animals from a discrete distance, they started picking on the smaller boy, Lance. She couldn't hear what was being said but from the looks of things they were just playing a little keep-away with Lance's notebook. She wasn't about to interfere in that. Partly because she knew they would soon tire of that and partly because she hoping for a major infraction here. Something she could take directly to Principal Flutie and get them expelled. Speaking of whom, here came the man-without-fashion-sense himself. His jacket was such an eyesore that it almost made her eyes water just to look at it.
She could hear Flutie asking what was going on. She couldn't hear the responses but obviously Kyle denied everything. She just shook her head in disappointment when Lance shook his head as well and Flutie walked off in a huff.
She almost smiled as she saw them drag Lance into the closed hyena exhibit. Hopefully, if they thought there were no witnesses, they would let their true colors shine through. She followed discretely behind until she could hear them up ahead.
"Cool!" said Kyle.
She couldn't see them yet, but it sounded like they were around the next corner.
"I don't see any hyenas," Lance sounded nervous. As if he just realized he was alone with Kyle and his gang with no witnesses. Then the sound of a hyena growling echoed back.
"Okay! Now we've seen it," Lance said. She could hear the nervousness in his voice even if she couldn't see him backing away.
"Looks cute," Rhonda said.
"I think it looks hungry," Kyle said threateningly. She could almost see what Kyle was planning.
There was a sound of a scuffle and Lance shouted, "No!" That was her cue. She started moving.
"C'mon, Spot!" Tor said as he and Kyle dragged Lance to the pen.
"C'mon, stop it!" Lance begged.
"Supper time!" Tor called to the animals.
"Guys! Stop! It's not funny!" Lance continued begging.
She came in and pulled Lance away. "I think you guys have had enough fun for one day. Report to the buses."
"Or what? You'll call our parents?" Kyle taunted.
"No, I'm going to start with the police. Assault and Battery on Lance here."
Lance stood up and shook his head. "It's alright, Miss Calendar. They weren't going to do anything."
"Anything except breaking into a closed exhibit and dangling a student in front of hungry predators? Luckily, I saw it all and I don't need Lance to testify to press charges. Get on the bus. Now!" Jenny Calendar said.
Kyle got in her face. "Or what?"
He was nearly a foot taller than her, but she'd faced worse than a high school bully in her day. "Back off," she ordered.
He feinted towards her. That was all she needed to justify her next move. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
"Ow, ow, ow!" he yelled as she forced him up against the hyena cage.
"How do you like it?" Jenny asked as she pulled a zip tie from her sleeve. Those zip ties had hundreds of uses, from tying computer cables and detaining wayward children, to the far kinkier. She hadn't really thought he'd actually be stupid enough to give her an excuse, but kids these days. Whaddaya do?
A laughing growl caused all five of the people near the cage to look at the hyena just as its eyes flashed green.
Oh, that can't be good, Jenny thought.
A/N: Push or Drive are hunting terms where one or more 'drivers' walk through an area to 'push' game from that area to an area where hunters wait to take the prey.
A/N2: The number of torches and candles in the Master's cave was ludicrous. It takes a lot of time and money just to procure the number torches and candles it would take to keep that place lit for even 24 hours.
A/N3: It's been pointed out a number of times in stories with the Hyena in it that hyenas are matriarchal. What's often forgotten is that female hyenas are bigger and stronger than male hyenas. (Also according to Wikipedia they have large pseudopenises [yes, I do a lot of research for my stories] but we'll skip that part) Which is why Xander as the leader of that pack makes perfect sense. So, I needed a new leader who could stand up to Kyle and Tor. Also, a group of hyenas is called a Clan, not a Pack.
A/N4: Minor Gargoyles Spoiler Alert! Owen is Puck. In case you were confused.