Author's Note: Yaw613 – The First Evil is the BTVS version of the devil.

Chapter 48: Bring on the Night

July 7, 2003

In the living room, Sirius, Xander and Harry swept up the broken glass from any and all windows in the entire Summers' home. Buffy and Willow were at the table doing computer research, while Faith, Anya and Dawn sat on the couch with very old and musty-smelling books.

"It's a loop," Xander said, exasperated. "Like the mummy hand. I'm doomed to replace these windows for all eternity. Isn't there some spell you guys can do?"

"Yes," Sirius said as Faith glanced at him. He smiled at her. In the months since he had been in Sunnydale, they had a growing attraction. He knew that she liked it when he actually worked with his hands. "But after being in Azkaban for thirteen years. I like doing the mundane, reminds me I am still alive."

Xander had noticed the looks that Faith and Sirius gave each other over the last year. He understood why Sirius wanted to do things the normal way.

Anya, who had on her reading glasses to alleviate her eyestrain, was as frustrated as Xander. She held up a notebook she'd been reading and announced, "Nothing. And nothing."

Faith held up two books. "Cliff Notes to nothing. Nothing abridged . . ."

Willow glanced up from the laptop. "Yeah, our search isn't turning up anything, either." She asked Buffy, "Are you sure this thing called itself 'The First.'"

Buffy gave a thoughtful shrug. "Pretty sure. It claimed to be the original evil, the one that came before anything else."

Anya peered over glasses and rolled her eyes. "Please. How many times have I heard that line in my demon days? 'I'm so rotten, they don't even have a word for it. I'm bad. Baddy bad bad bad does it make you horny?'" Off everyone's startled glances, she added quickly, "Or terrified. Whatever."

"We know it's possible though," Dawn said. "Look at me, well Key part of me. It's supposed to be as old as time. Which means it had to be created by something which means something else had to be here to create it."

"Dawn's right," Buffy agreed. "When I came up against this thing, I felt it. It was ancient and enormous. It nearly got Angel to kill himself. And if we don't rescue Spike soon, God only knows what The First'll get him to do."

Xander shot a look at Andrew, who was back in his chair and unconscious again. "I wish Sleeping Ugly would come to," he grumbled. "He's been out all night."

Anya added, "He was just starting to squeal when the spooky SWAT arrived. He said The First was held up at the Seal of Danzar something?"

Dawn set her book aside and walked over to Andrew, regarding him suspiciously. "Maybe he's just faking so he doesn't have to answer any more questions." She slapped him and stood back to gauge the effect. "Or maybe he's in a fugue state." She pulled back her hand in preparation to slapping him again, but Buffy interrupted her.

"He'll come to when he comes to. If we're going to rescue Spike, we need how to figure out how to fight this thing."

Dawn pouted as she headed back to the couch. "Anya gets to hit him."

"And you're a Slayer," Buffy reminded her sister.

"You beat up Willy and he was human," Dawn reminded her sister.

"Point taken," Buffy said.

"Hey," Willow called excitedly. "Here! The First!" She kept reading, grimaced, and added, "Bank of Delaware. Sorry."

Sighing, Buffy said, "Hand me the Watcher's Codex again."

And then, as she took it . . .

"Can I get you something else, baby? How about some tea?" Joyce Summers stood beside Buffy, her face sweet and kind and solicitous.

Buffy closed her eyes and said, "You're not real. You're, The First."

"Oh, baby, you're so tired, you're not making sense," Joyce said kindly. "Maybe you should get some sleep. You can't win against this thing. Not if you don't rest."

Visibly shaken, Buffy said, "Stop. Stop being like this. It's a lie."

"I don't want to scare you," Joyce continued, "but I want you to take care." She bent and said slowly, "You need to wake up."

"What?" Buffy asked, frowning in confusion.

Then Harry said, "You're dreaming. Buffy, wake up."

She roused, sitting upright as she realized she had been asleep. She looked around and said, "Did you see it?"

"See what, Buffy," Harry said. "Did you have a vision like Dawn and I do?"

"No," Buffy said. "Just a dream."

"Buffy," Harry said as he sat down next to his sister. "I know you better than that."

"I saw, mom," Buffy said as Harry wrapped an arm around her. He knew without asking that Buffy was talking about Joyce.

"I won't tell Dawn," he said as she smiled at him appreciatively.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked in just as Dawn splashed Andrew with cold water, which worked, but Anya didn't want to get in trouble with Buffy so Anya blurted, "Silly Andrew. You drooled all over yourself."

Andrew gazed at Buffy and said, "'I was about to be dead. You, Faith and that guy, what's his name? You three saved me."

"For the time being." Buffy crossed her arms and said, "But if you don't tell us what we need to know, then I'm going to offer you to The First on a platter and let him chop you into tiny pieces."

Andrew swallowed, composing himself. He was about to talk when he stopped, confused, and asked, "The First what?"

"It's the name of the evil thing that pretended to be Warren to get you to kill Jonathan."

He was disappointed. "Not very ominous sounding. An evil name should be like Lex or Darth Vader or—"

"Hey, I was intimidating here," Buffy groused.

"Oh, sorry," Andrew said contritely. "Go ahead."

She sighed. "Forget it. Where's the Seal?"

An hour later they were in the basement of the high school, staring down at the disc, and Xander said, "Whoa. Check out the goat-heady badness."

"What does it do?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know. It didn't work 'cause there wasn't enough blood."

Dawn was examining a strange wheel-cross thing as she said, "There's blood on this. Lots. Looks like The First made a sacrifice. Or a music video."

"The Seal could've been activated," Faith said. "I bet that's what The First needed Spike for."

Andrew began to panic. "That wasn't there before," he insisted, indicated the crossworks. "I had nothing to do with that."

"Thanks for clearing that up," Xander drawled, "'cause otherwise we might've thought you were up to no good here at the satanic manhole cover." In exasperation, he added, "You killed your best friend!"

Andrew murmured, "He's in a place of joy and peace. He told me."

"You were tricked," Sirius said. "No one told you anything."

"Can we save the encounter session?" Buffy demanded. "We need to cover this thing up."

Sirius nodded as he pulled out his wand. "Faster than trying to shovel it back," he said as Buffy nodded in agreement. With a wave of his wand the dirt flew back into place over the seal.

They walked out of the room and into the hallway.

Andrew muttered, "Man, this place gives me the creeps. It's like in Wonder Woman, issue 297-299."

"Catacombs," Xander said reflexively. "With the skeletons."

Simultaneously they both said, "That was cool."

"So, what next?" Dawn asked . . . and then she and Buffy both clammed up as Robin Wood, the principal of Sunnydale High, emerged from another corridor, carrying a shovel of his own.

"Faith …" he began having spotted Faith in the group.

"Hey," Faith replied.

Faith eyed the shovel in Wood's hands.

"Apparently somebody left this in the courtyard, and I was just returning it," he told her.

Faith raised her brows. "That's some full-service principaling."

"What are you doing here, Faith?" he asked. "School is out."

"Oh, community service project," Faith said. "Our group wanted to bury a time capsule. I was like this would be the perfect place. Not like many people come down here."

After they got home; Willow and Buffy made preparations for a locator spell, to see if they could find The First.

Dawn, Sirius and Harry tried to get Buffy to get some rest, but she demurred. They watched on as Buffy and Willow finished their oblation, pouring magical powder on the table from a bowl.

Then the area on the table exploded, sending Buffy flying. Wind whipped through the room, scattering objects in a maelstrom. The bowl superheated. Crimson light from the bowl twisted into twin funnels that shot into Willow's nose. Willow threw back her head and screamed as her eyes and hair went black. Then The First, as Buffy had first glimpsed it years ago, erupted from Willow's mouth.

It was enormous, a glowing red apparition derived from every nightmare of hell, its eyes two flaming pits, its talons at the ready as it lunged at Buffy and Faith.

Then it was immediately sucked back inside Willow.

"Baby!" Buffy cried.

Willow stood, her body shaking as red lightning bolts shot from her mouth. The bolts knocked Buffy down and shot her across the room.

A demonic voice erupted from Willow, bellowing, "You only make me stronger!"

"Accio bowl!" Sirius said and with a flick of his wand he sent the bowl flying into a wall where it shattered.

Just as suddenly as everything had started, it all went back to normal. Willow's eyes and hair—everything.

Willow's knees buckled and she fell to the floor. She was sobbing and shaking, and as Buffy knelt at her side, Willow cried, "It's still in me. I feel it!"

"No, it's not. It's gone. You're okay," Buffy soothed her wife.

Willow could not calm down. "I don't want to hurt anybody. Please, Buffy, don't let it make me. Oh, God!"

"I won't, baby, I promise," Buffy said as she looked at all the witches and wizards in the room. "No Wiccan magics. Wand only, at least for now, will be used to fight this thing until we know more."

Dawn, Harry, Sirius and Willow all nodded in agreement.

Shortly thereafter, Buffy put on her coat and gathered up a few weapons, preparing to go after The First herself.

"Buffy," Sirius said, "I'm going with you." Buffy refused, and he pointed out, "You said yourself you don't know how to fight The First. Or even where it is."

Buffy reached for the door. "It's out there. It's hurting my friends. It's hurting my wife! I'll find it."

She pulled the door open.

Giles stood on the front porch, a nimbus of light around his head. "Buffy," he said.

"Giles." She couldn't believe the relief that flooded through her at the sight of him. She went to hug him, but at that moment, three young girls she'd never seen before walked right into her house.

The first one looked all Ghost World—lunchbox for a purse, and as she came in, she said, "Nice place. Bit of a mess."

The second one, more polished, smiled at Buffy and drifted in, saying nothing.

The third one—very beautiful—gave Buffy a once-over and said, "This is the Slayer? Huh." She sounded unimpressed.

"Sorry to barge in," Giles said, a tad wry. "I'm afraid we have a slight apocalypse."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the living room, Dawn inspected the three new girls as she said, "They're all Potentials?"

Giles nodded. "Waiting for one to be called. I see you were called before them, Dawn."

"Yeah," Dawn said. "One of the many contingencies the monks put in incase Buffy failed to protect me from Glory. After Warren shot Faith, she flatlined on the operating table. The doctors of course revived her, but not before the Slayer spirit assumed that she was dead and activated me."

Giles nodded. "Anyways, there were many more like them all over the world, but now there's just a handful, and they're all on their way to Sunnydale."

"Buffy," Willow said as Buffy looked toward her. "The dream I had last year. That's what I saw, a Potential being murdered."

Buffy sighed and nodded as she wrapped her arms around Willow and held the redhead tight.

"We always feared this day would come," Giles said. "When there'd be an attack, against not just an individual Slayer, but against the whole line."

"The First. That's what it wants," Buffy said.

"Yes," Giles said. "To erase all the Slayers in training and their Watchers, along with their methods."

"And then Dawn, Faith, and me," Buffy said shortly. "And with all the Potentials gone and no way of making another, it's the end. No more Slayer. Ever."

Willow was confused. "But we haven't found any information on The First. No documentation."

Giles crossed his arms as he explained. "That's because it, like the Key, predates any written history, and it rarely shows its true face. The only record we know was in the Council Library." He looked uncomfortable.

"What about the Council? What do they say about this?" Faith asked.

"Gone," Giles replied. "Obliterated. They were in session, and there was an explosion."

"That means all the Council's records are—are destroyed?" Willow asked anxiously.

"Annabelle," Giles prompted, and the young Potential stepped forward with a backpack. She pulled out a pitiful number of files and books.

"That's what's left," he told them. "The mystic secrets of the Watchers, and whatever I could find on The First."

"But what do these records say about The First?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, very little," Giles admitted. "It can change form. It only appears in the guise of someone who's passed away." He saw Buffy, Harry, Willow and Dawn all share a look. "I take it you all have seen it in the guise of someone you know has passed away?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "Willow and I saw it in the guise of one of Faith's students when she was the Guidance Counselor at Sunnydale High last year. Dawn and Harry saw mom."

"Joyce?" he asked as Dawn and Harry nodded. He sighed as he placed a comforting hand on Dawn's shoulder. He decided the best thing right then would be to return to the topic at hand. "It's not corporeal. It can't touch or fight on its own. It only works through those it manipulates. And its followers, the Bringers."

"Yeah, with the hoodies and the crazy alphabet eyes," said the Potential named Molly.

"Molly," said Annabelle, "Mr. Giles doesn't need us prattling on."

Giles sat on the arm of the couch. "The First is unlike anything we've faced before. I mean, there's evil and there's the thing that created evil, the source. It has eternities to act, endless resources. How to defeat it . . . honestly, I don't know. But we have to find a way. If the Slayer line is eliminated, then the Hellmouth has no guardian. the balance is destroyed." He walked up to Faith, Dawn and Buffy. "I'm afraid it falls to you three. You are the only ones who have the strength to protect the girls—and the world—against what's coming."

"But no pressure," Xander said angrily.

The pretty Potential walked to the center of the room and said in disbelief, "That's it? That's the plan? I don't see how three people, even a Slayer, could protect us. And if this thing is the root of all evil, isn't the Hellmouth going to be its number one vacation spot? I mean, don't you think we should be hiding our asses on the other side of the globe?"

"Kennedy!" Annabelle cried.

"No, she's not wrong," Buffy said. "We need more muscle. That's why we need to find Spike."

Anya looked dubious. "Yeah, he'll help. If he's not crazy. Or killing people. Or dead. Or you, know, all of the above."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sunnydale's Main Street was decorated for Independence Day. Buffy, Dawn, Faith and Giles walked together.

"This place, where you last saw The First, you say it was in a Christmas tree lot?"

"Under it," Buffy corrected him. "There was a hidden cavern, just happened to be under a tree lot. The Bringers were doing some kind of ritual. Giles, this is bad, isn't it? A new kind of bad." She gazed at him fondly. "Think you'll ever just show up for a real visit? The kind where the world isn't about to end?"

"If we survive this, I promise," he said with a wistful smile.

"Good. 'Cause I miss you."

"I miss you, too," he said. "All of you. And Buffy may I say congratulations on your wedding."

"Thanks," Buffy said as she smiled.

They got to the place where the Christmas tree lot had once stood.

As Buffy stepped on some wooden boards, they broke beneath her weight and she tumbled into the entrance to the cave.

"Found it," she announced, picking herself up.

Dawn closed her eyes and opened a portal. She and Faith stepped through and next to Buffy in the cave.

"Okay, Giles, stay up there," Buffy said. "We're going to check it out." They walked among the outcroppings and cave formations; they thought they saw a flicker of movement, but when any of them turned around, there was nothing.

They walked on, turned around again.

This time something was there, in their faces. They were hideous, gray and deformed, unbelievably hideous monsters.

The monsters each made an uppercut that sent the three Slayers slamming in opposite directions around the cavern. They came at Buffy, Dawn and Faith again, and their blocks were ineffective.

"Retreat," Buffy said and she, Faith and Dawn retreated; the monsters followed.

They managed a few blows, but they barely managed to stay upright. Yet their opponents were barely winded.

Inside of a minute all three of them were injured and bleeding. They swung, connected, swung again; but this time they dropped in tandem and rolled . . . and sprang to their feet with stakes in hand. Before the monsters could react, they drove the stakes deep into the monsters' hearts.

But the monsters did not dust.

They grinned, and pulled the stakes out.

"Dawn, get us out of here!" Buffy said.

"I wish I could," Dawn said as she swung at the monster attacking her. "If I even try and close my eyes to picture a location …'

Buffy and Faith knew what Dawn was saying. If Dawn tried to open a portal, the monster could get the upper hand.

The monsters came at Buffy, Dawn and Faith with their own stakes. They barely managed to avoid the stabbing motions, and the stakes splintered inches from their faces.

"Run back to the entrance," Faith said.

They ran. They leaped to the rock wall where Buffy had fallen in and started scrambling up, as fast as they could, hand-and footholds crumbling . . .

Dawn was halfway up when she felt a taloned hand gripping her ankle... She struggled as Faith and Buffy climbed the rest of the way out. He managed to yank her back in. She dug into the soft earth, her fingers leaving treads...

And there was Buffy and Faith, haloed with a nimbus of light. They reached down as Dawn poured in the strength of the Slayer and leaped grabbing Buffy and Faith's outstretched hands. They helped Dawn out of the hole, the monster behind retreated in snarling fear.

When they got back to Buffy's house, the Potentials were eating dinner, having made themselves at home.

"Sorry about the British invasion," Kennedy said. Then she looked at Buffy, Dawn and Faith as they walked into the kitchen and said, "You guys all right? You all look . . ." She trailed off.

"Yeah," Buffy said as she shut the door. "Yeah, we just got into a fight, is all."

"You want to tell us with what?" Faith asked as she, Dawn and Buffy looked toward Giles.

Giles hesitated. "We should discuss this privately, don't you three think?"

"You mean, not in front of the next generation? No time to coddle them," Buffy said. She looked to the Potentials, "Welcome to the war room, guys."

A thrill rippled through the girls. Annabelle grabbed a pen and a pad of paper.

"What you three fought were vampires, but they were something more than that," Giles explained. "They were Turok-han. As Neanderthals are to human beings, the Turok-han are to vampires. Primordial, ferociously powerful killing machines, as single-minded as animals. They are the vampires that vampires fear. An ancient and entirely different race. Until today, I thought they were myth."

"So, The First Evil shows up," Harry said as he walked into the kitchen, "and now there are these super powerful vampires. I don't think it's a coincidence." He looked at his sisters giving them a once over to make sure they were both all right. And what he saw on both of them caused him to worry.

"More than likely you are correct, Harry," Giles said. "The Turok-han are here as an agent of The First."

The girls processed that. Then Annabelle nervously raised her hand. "Did you slay it?"

"Them," Buffy corrected. "There was one each for all three of us. But no, they're still out there. Somewhere."

"What do they want?" Molly asked.

"All of us dead," Faith said frankly.

"But for now, it looks like sunlight is keeping these Ubervamps away," Dawn said.

"So, until sunset, I suggest you three get some rest," Giles urged Buffy. "A few hours' sleep will do a world of difference."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the bathroom Buffy examined her injuries. They were bad.

"Buffy?" Harry said as he walked into the bathroom. He averted his eyes when he saw she was clad from the waist up in only her bra, but not before he saw the bruises. "I'll get you some ice."

He turned to go.

"Harry," Buffy said as she put back on her shirt. Harry turned and looked back at her. "You and Dawn are about the only ones that would suspect…"

"I know," Harry said as he walked over to his sister and pulled her into an embrace. "You need to rest, so the Slayer spirit can heal you."

Buffy looked at her brother and saw his own version of Willow's resolve face. She nodded. "In shifts so Dawn and Faith can get some sleep too. We are after all the first line of defense."

"You, Dawn and Faith are not the only line of defense to protect the world."

Harry and Buffy turned and saw Dumbledore standing there.

"You have some of the Order of the Phoenix here to help," Dumbledore said. "Sirius contacted me a few minutes ago by Floo."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the living room at Summers' house, preparations for siege were underway.

Xander was in the loop, finishing boarding up the living room window. Giles was pacing. Dawn, Sirius, Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Willow had their wands in hand. Faith and Buffy were selecting weapons from the chest.

The Potentials sat together, looking useless and scared.

"This day's almost over," Giles said, looking at his watch. "And the sun will go down in seventeen minutes."

"Hey, junior Slayers, don't look so worried," Xander piped, smiling at the three young girls. "I mean, sure, we don't know where Spike is, or how to fight The First, or when the super-style vamp is going to attack us all. However, the house" —He tapped his hammer on the wooden panels he had installed— "boarded up. Now all we got to do is trap the Ubervamps in the pantry, and it's game over."

Willow raised a brow at him. "Xander? Newbies. Let's ease them into the whole 'jokes in the face of death' thing."

"Who's joking?" Xander shot back in mock innocence. "Are you saying M. Night Shamalayan lied to us?"

Buffy said to the Potentials, "You'll be okay."

"Okay, or even better. It's like our guarantee," Willow said. To Buffy, she added, "Um, Baby, I just, I want you to know that I'm really sorry for letting you down. You know, here before with the magic going all 'aah' and me going all 'eee' and everything getting all 'rrrr.'"

Buffy put an arm around Willow. "You didn't let me down."

"She is right, Willow," Dumbledore agreed having been filled in on the locator spell. "What happened was not your fault. You and Buffy were the focal for the spell. Either of you could have become possessed by it."

"It chose me though," Willow said.

"Yes, it did," Buffy said. "And it made a grave mistake in doing so. You are my wife, my love, my soulmate. It is going down for hurting you!"

Will smiled at her wife appreciatively.

Then Kennedy approached, bordering on agitated, as she said, "Hey, are we getting weapons? Trained fighters, badness coming? I've heard worse ideas."

Annabelle said primly, "We'll be armed when the Slayers feel we're ready."

"I feel ready," Molly volunteered.

"You're frightened," Annabelle insisted. "You must learn to control your fear."

Kennedy said huffily, "Hey, you know what would help with that?" She looked at Buffy. "Weapons. We're sitting ducks without them."

Annabelle countered, "We're with the Slayers. Safe as houses."

"Do you see the house we're in?" Kennedy scoffed.

And Annabelle's balloon of courage pfffted . . . revealing a very young girl, filled with very pure dread.

"Their right, Buffy," Dawn said. "They now live on the Hellmouth. Just like the American Ministry said last year when they rescinded my expulsion from Hogwarts. I have a right to protect myself from what goes bump in the night in this town. So, do they."

Buffy nodded and looked toward Giles. "We should load them up, Giles."

Xander walked into the dining room, where Andrew was still tied in the chair.

The blond bad boy said, "Listen to me, man. I've got a bad feeling about this. My spider-sense is tingling. This is going to get hairy. I'm talking weird with a beard. Better untie me."

Buffy joined them. "And that'll help us how?"

Andrew sighed mournfully. "Okay, I know what you're thinking. Andrew. Bad guy. You think I'm a super villain, like Dr. Doom, or Apokalypse, or . . . or the Riddler. I admit I went over to the Dark Side. But only to pick up a couple of things and now I'm back. I've learned. I'm good again."

As Buffy and Xander walked out of the room, Buffy muttered, "And when were you good before?"

"Okay, technically . . . never. Touché." He called after Buffy, trying to get free. "But I'm like Vader in the last five minutes of Jedi, with redemptive powers minus a redemptive struggle of epic redemption which chronicles . . ."

Realizing the futility of both his diatribe and his struggle, he sighed and added, "These ropes itch."

Buffy, Dawn and Faith joined Giles and Sirius at the window. Sunset was imminent. Their time was at hand.

"You three have all my faith," Giles told Buffy, Dawn and Faith. "And they're depending on you."

Faith smirked. "That's what you are going with?"

"Buffy," Dumbledore said as he led Molly to them. "One of the Potentials has run."

"Annabelle," Molly added.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Darkness had fallen, over the city of Sunnydale and across Annabelle's reflexive prime directive: survival. Her mind had gone into primitive overdrive; it was fight or flight, and something deep inside her had chosen the latter.

She was frantic, racing for her life, putting distance between the Summers' house and her safety and—a hideous monster jumped from behind a dumpster and grabbed her by the throat. With a roar it hoisted her off the ground, her eyes bulging, her legs kicking . . .

It didn't take Buffy, Faith and Dumbledore long to find Annabelle's body.

"We must get back to your house, Buffy," Dumbledore said. "Before the vampire that killed her …"

Suddenly three of the Ubervamps rushed up behind them and slammed them to the ground. Dumbledore apparated away. Seconds later a portal snapped into existence. Buffy and Faith ran for it and into the Summers' house.

"Are you okay, baby?" Willow said as she looked over her wife.

"Still a little beat up from earlier, otherwise…" Buffy said as she wrapped her arm around Willow and leaned into the redhead.

"Buffy," Dumbledore said. "Minerva and I are going back. When you need us let Sirius know and he will contact us and we will return at a moment's notice."

"Thanks, Albus," Buffy said. She watched as Dumbledore and McGonagall apparated and she sighed. She was tired of running. Twice in one day she had been forced to run. She was done running. The First wanted an apocalypse, she was going to give it an apocalypse.