Galway, Ireland, 1727.
Kathy felt the sting of the whip on her twelve year old back before she screamed in pain; she was about to collapse, but she knew she couldn't. Her arms were tied to a vertical rack and when her legs collapsed from the pain, she couldn't take cover or protect herself.. she was essentially hanging with her arms spread out over her; her wrists attached to manacles that were attached to chains that were themselves attached to the wood that made up the ceiling beams. Screaming from another lash of the whip, she felt the skin on her back break and then wetness flowing down from the open wound. Then came another lash as she screamed, and sobbed once again while she thought back to the beginning.
She remembered her brother, Liam leaving after another fight with their father, she remembered him holding her close; telling her that she shouldn't cry and that they'll meet again. She remembered her reaction to the news that he died, Kathy was inconsolable while her father just looked out the window.. and her mother held on to the little girl. Then she remembered the joy in her heart when Liam appeared at her door, she remembered running out to hug him while calling him an angel. She remembered the face of the demon that attacked her after she invited Liam in, she remembered the fangs piercing her skin and her blood being drained.
"I forgive you, Liam," Kathy remembered those were her last words to him.
She couldn't blame her brother; she could never blame the person she loved above all others for what happened.
It had been nearly six months since her soul was put back into her body; and for those six months, all she knew was torture at the hands of the man that the entire village, except for his own family, thought was a madman talking about magic. When her vision cleared after two months, she saw the bearded stout man in a plain shirt with suspenders and tanned pants glaring at her. She then saw the raven haired woman behind him leaning against the wall, the walls made of stone and had candles lit along the walls. Kathy glanced around and knew that she was somewhere else, she saw a rug.. chairs, tables, and then on the other side she saw a small kitchen and pots. Kathy then looked up and saw that each arm was tied to hooks attached to the wooden beams that held the ceiling, and then she looked over her shoulder and noticed the scars on her arms.. and then she noticed a bed that had chains and manacles attached to it as well.
"Do you fear?" asked the man as he rushed towards the young girl and then punched her hard in the abdomen, "do you fear me?"
The man punched again while Kathy could only screamed in pain as the man then punched her face, her chest, and then her sides. All the while the young girl screamed in pain as she hung by her arms… she couldn't even get on her knees.
"So you fear me!" screamed the man.
"You will kill her," said the woman as Kathy looked up at her, barely opening her tear stained eyes through the pain. She saw the woman in a light blue dress walk towards the man, and then pull him back away from the young girl.
"Th… tha… thank you," said Kathy as the man screamed again and pushed the woman away before rushing towards, and then slapping, Kathy with the palm and then the back of his hands.
"Stop," said the woman as she pulled the enraged man back again, "if you kill her, how are you going to bring her soul back? You already sold yours once. It cannot be done again."
"Help… help him, please help Liam," said Kathy, her cheeks bleeding and blood coming down from the sides of her mouth, "please, he.. he does not know what he is doing, and…."
"You are a fool," said the woman as Kathy looked at her berating he man, and then pointed at the wall before turning towards Kathy, "as are you. Your brother murdered you, your family, and this entire village. And you still defend him."
"He is not himself," sobbed Kathy as she nearly passed out from the pain, "please, help him. Liam! Liam! Come back please!"
"He is not coming!" shouted the man as he leapt off the wall and rushed towards Kathy again, the woman in blue sighed before she closed her eyes and stepped aside. She heard Kathy scream and then beg the man to stop slapping her while he shouted vulgarities at the young girl. The woman knew that the man's mind had already been broken, and he was releasing his rage on the girl.. but she also knew what had happened to cause all that rage. She saw the bodies in the entire village after he came to her a sobbing mess after discovering what happened to his family, and to his village. Opening her eyes when the sounds of sobbing stopped, the woman opened her eyes again only to see the man standing over Kathy's shivering form that was hung by her arms. The man's hands were rolled into fists while bloodied pieces of clothes were on the floor. The man then turned around, and stormed past the woman.
Kathy wanted to cover herself up; the man had been beating on her before he started tearing away at the flimsy clothes she was buried in. It was then that the man stopped and turned around before storming away, but not before Kathy heard him tell the mysterious woman to get her some fresh clothes and then heal her; that he didn't want her to die… instead her torture was only just beginning.
"Of course," said the woman as the man walked out of the door and the woman walked towards Kathy.
"Tha… thank…," before Kathy could finish what she wanted to say, there was another slap from the woman. Kathy yelped out in pain before she looked up with tear stained eyes and looked at the dark haired, slender woman, who then crouched down and grabbed the young girl's face in her hand and squeezed tight.
"Do not thank me," hissed the woman, "your brother and his sire has murdered hundreds of people."
"No," said Kathy, her voice breaking from the pain and the thought of her brother murdering more people, "no, you must help him, please… help him."
"You will be clothed once again," said the woman, "I will use my magic to heal you, but I will leave your scars as a reminder of the sin you carry. It is not your time yet, he will break you.. I will break you. You not only killed his own family… your brother killed his wife; my aunt. What I did, and will do? The things that I will help Uncle Aiden with? The people I work for will never know… you will pay dearly, Katherine. You will pay for your brother's sin, you will be the instrument that kills him… and then our agents will find and kill you so that you can join him, your mother, and your father in hell."
BPRI, Sunnydale, Present day; 1750 hours.
While Torallia was being bombed, while discussions were taking place on Lozan, and New Kobol; events on Earth were still taking place as normal, the majority of the planet were largely unsure of what was going on around them thanks to the 'leaks' put out by the American's, and the other IOA member nations; right now it was all unsubstantiated rumours with more 'leaks' scheduled over the next few months. Many pundits had already begun talking about these 'leaks' and there have been many questions about what was really going on; and if alien life really did exist and if they had kidnapped early human beings and placed them on other worlds, then did the Earth have a right to those worlds? Some politicians around the world had already begun discussions on that very question on their own, as well as many discussing the opposing viewpoints; all this alongside various other questions based on the 'leaks'.
For now though, the BPRI was getting confirmation of some of those rumours. It had been nearly five hours since a team from the Pentagon led by Major Davis arrived at the previously locked down BPRI; five hours since Angel was beamed directly into the infirmary to the surprise of the doctors standing by who quickly dismissed the white flash of light and started him on something that one of the BPRI scientists had begun testing on, pigs blood that had similar composition to human blood; and Angel was going to be the first recipient.
While the ensouled vampire was initially given seven of those engineered packs, the other nurses started to bandage up the spots that were still bleeding just as one of the witches ran into the infirmary and then started to slow the bleeding while the nurses closed the wounds. It would be a few minutes later that Angel would be fully fit enough after his massive blood loss due to his injuries to meet with Cordelia, Buffy, and Wesley in their office.
It was in Cordelia's office that Major Davis read Wesley, Fred and two of the other senior Potential's in. He told the stunned BPRI members all about the Stargate and the technology that they retrieved from off-world missions, he told them about the Asgard and their role in the galaxy before going on to the Prometheus Space station that was currently orbiting Earth. It was Cordelia who told the stunned Wesley and Fred, and the Potentials, that the NID committee had already approved Ancient shielding technology to be installed to protect the BPRI; and now the SGC, Home World, and the IOA had agreed to connect the Prometheus' Asgard sensors to the BPRI so that Slayers, Potential Slayers, and anyone with the subdural transmitter's under their skins could be tracked.. and if needed, they could be pulled out via teleportation beam… or back-up could be sent to them the same way.
"But it's only to be used in absolute emergencies," said Major Davis.
"So we could have saved Callie," said Wesley as he sat down on the couch before he looked up at Cordelia, "we should have been told about this, Cordy."
"We've survived so far without teleportation beams," said Cordelia shaking her head, "or advanced sensors; the transmitters and the systems we had were enough."
"But after Callie, there was no choice," said Fred softly while Cordelia nodded her head, "who else knows?"
"Cordy, Angel, Garret, me, Xander, Kennedy, a few of the Potentials," said Buffy.
"The BPRI is being read in as we speak," said Major Davis, "but they'll be told not to say anything to anyone under threat of treason, until disclosure is official next year."
"Aliens are real," said Fred with a smile as she looked up at the Major, "can we meet one?"
"I met one," said Buffy as Fred looked at her with her mouth open, "looks like a Roswell grey."
"That's so cool," said Fred.
"So Mr. Giles?" asked Wesley, "he's not on vacation, or…"
"He's off-world on an archaeological expedition," said Cordelia as the man's eyes went wide, "now that you know about this, when he gets back… I can ask the SGC if they need someone else to help them with a civilization that's existed based on Ancient Greek culture."
"Oh, absolutely," said Wesley.
"Now," said the Major as he looked around, "if you all don't mind, I'd like to sit in for the briefing about this vampire? Can she even be called a vampire?"
"We don't know what she is," said Cordelia as she nodded her head and motioned towards the Major to take a seat, "she claim's she's Angel's sister who he killed when he was Angelus."
"Whatever she is," said Buffy, "she took control of an entire team, she killed one of the agents just by telling him to kill himself… and he did."
"That goes beyond any ordinary hypnosis," said Wesley as the door to Cordelia's office opened and Kennedy rushed in. She was told about Callie once she got off the plane and was picked up by Rona after she and the others in her team brought back Kathy, and locked her deep in a steel reinforced basement; the young woman was in isolation while she remained under tranquilizer sleep.
"Is it true? About Callie?" asked Kennedy as Buffy rushed to her and hugged her, "Buffy, is it true?"
"Yea," said the brunette Slayer as she hugged the stunned Slayer, "I know you trained her, and…"
"And she fought bravely," said Wesley, "but we were too late."
"And… " said Kennedy when she noticed the Major, and then looked at Cordelia and asked what he was dong there. Buffy then updated the second BPRI slayer about what was going on, and all she could do was sit back down on the couch and nod her head. Kennedy then looked up and asked if they caught the one who did this, because if they didn't, then she wanted to be first in line to get him or her.
"We did," said Buffy, "she's in holding and…"
"And nothing," said Kennedy as she got up again and stared at Buffy, "we kill it."
"It's a bit more complicated than that," said Cordelia as she sat down next to Wesley, with Kennedy sitting next to Major Davis, and Buffy and the two other potentials who were just read into the SGC including the Potential from Japan, Satsu; and the Potential from Beijing named Chao-an were just standing around while listening to Cordelia, "the girl.. this vampire, or whatever she is… her name's Kathy. She's Angel's sister."
"The same sister he killed after he became Angelus," said Buffy as the Potentials and Kennedy listened in shock. Major Davis was already briefed on this fact, and he was surprised when he heard it the first time as well. Buffy and Wesley than told Kennedy and the Potential's about how Kathy used her gifts to stop all of the NID agents sent to get her, including Agent Garret, Wesley, and Buffy herself. Buffy then told Kennedy that she even used her abilities to get one of the NID agents to kill himself.
"As I was saying before we were interrupted," said Wesley as Fred sat next to him, "she doesn't use typical hypnosis.. at least I don't think so. Usually, an order to kill oneself shouldn't work since the human body actively works to prevent such a thing… even under the thrall of a vampire."
"I fought Dracula," said Buffy, "and I was under his thrall for a few hours before I got out of it… even getting into his thrall took a day. Dru's hypno thingy didn't work on me either. But Kathy?"
Buffy then reached out and snapped her finger before telling Kennedy and the others that she was under her spell in an instant. Wesley was the next one to confirm that he felt he couldn't move immediately after Kathy had said those words.
"Damn," replied Kennedy shaking her head.
"I saw her fangs and…look, I saw the typical vampire features except for the demony forehead ridges," said Buffy.
"I saw her drink Callie's blood, and the autopsy confirms that most of her blood was drained," said Wesley as he pointed to his own neck, "and there were a pair of bite marks on her neck."
"Ok," said Satsu.
"But she didn't burn up," said Wesley, "she didn't turn to ash and you all know how hot and sunny it was today."
"I staked her with wood," said Buffy, "and all she did was bleed."
Wesley then told the others that based on what Kathy had revealed during her fight with Angel; he believed that she could be a chimera; a being that typically comprised of two or more different animals. Fred pointed at the tablet that she left on the table and told the others that she was running a search of their database at the BPRI, while her assistants were checking the library in the sub-basement.. and there were people checking out the old Watcher Archives in London and Manchester; archives which were found to be intact after Buffy and Kennedy had a little one on one session with Travers following the disclosure of the SGC to the selected members of the BPRI.
"Hey," said Angel who opened the door while being helped in by Harmony, the receptionist downstairs, "did I miss anything?"
"Angel," said Cordelia as she rushed forward to help the vampire as he thanked Harmony before patting her on the shoulder and asking her to go back downstairs, and watch the entrances.
"I can stay," said Harmony, "I mean I heard the rumours about the insane vamp, and about the whole.. you know.. bright lights and going up to the sky and…"
"You'll be briefed, Harmony," said Angel as Cordelia handed the man to Buffy who then helped him sit down. In the meantime, Cordelia asked Harmony to contact Spike and tell him to expect officials from the Pentagon, and the NID, tomorrow morning… that there was a surprise for him.
"Ok," said Harmony nodding her head as she prepared to turn around, but was stopped when Cordelia called for her again.
"After you call him," said Cordelia, "check in with Clem and the others, you guys are gonna be told what's going on. And Harmony, if you tell anyone what they tell you…. Buffy and Kennedy will dust you. Clear?"
"D'uh," said Harmony as she rushed out of the office, "have I ever let you down?"
Cordelia smirked before she frowned at Angel who was looking back at her with a shrug.
"You're supposed to be in the infirmary," said Cordelia as she walked towards the vampire and slapped the man on his arm.
"Yeah," replied Buffy as she hit him on the arm as well, and then Kennedy did the same thing as Angel rubbed the spot they hit before telling them that he was feeling much better than before. He told them that he had already seen Kathy who was still tranquilized, and that the medical teams were examining her.
"The anti-Ori device should keep her abilities out of the count for some time," said Major Davis.
"And since it works on magic users too, we put them temporarily in the dorms," said Cordelia as she walked over to the four level buildings in the distance, "but we need a permanent solution to this Kathy problem.. sorry, Angel. But you know it's true."
"She's dangerous," said Angel nodding his head as he leaned back on his seat, "but…. but I can't believe she's here. Wes, is there any way to separate the demon souls from her human soul? Can she become a human again?"
"I'm searching, Angel," said Wesley, "but the bigger issue we have here is her anger; we need to know how she is what she is. We need to know what was done to her and.. and reverse it somehow. And if we can, even if she becomes human again… I'm afraid that the anger, the hatred, the ruthlessness will still be there."
"But should her soul not take away that anger?" asked Satsu.
"Having her human soul, plus all the demonic souls, may have magnified it," said Wesley as he rubbed his hands on his face, "truthfully, she's something new we haven't faced before. We should be glad that she's on a mission of vengeance… or at last was on a mission of vengeance."
"If she was not," said Chao-an, "then you are saying she could have done something worse?"
"She killed for fun," said Buffy, "I saw the crime scene pictures that Kate and her partner left; it was bad."
"Angel," said Kennedy after she nodded her head at what Buffy had said before looking at the ensouled vampire again, "I get it that she's your sister and all… but from what I heard? She murdered a family, some other people.. an old lady at Buffy's house, then another woman, and… and I don't think she can be saved. If.. if you wanna examine her then do it, but that… that thing's not your sister. Even if she has a soul, she's not her.. not anymore."
"I think it's the fact that she has a human soul that's her saving grace here," said Angel, "I have to believe that she can change."
"Buffy?" asked Kennedy, "don't tell me you agree with this?"
"I don't," said Buffy shaking her head, "I wanted to kill Kathy; but that was before finding out that she can't be staked. Kennedy, what if there are more like her out there… we need to find a way to kill her."
"We cut off her head," said Kennedy shrugging her head, "come on, this is ridiculous. Angel has his soul, he's good. Despite having her soul, Kathy did all this and… and we…"
Just then, the phone on Cordelia's desk started to ring. The young woman stood up while telling Kennedy that they were going to use every precaution they had to prevent Kathy from even waking up; she then walked towards the desk before picking up her phone. The group on the couch were talking while Cordelia nodded her head at what the voice on the other line was telling her before she put the phone down, and then looked up at the others.
"That was Dr. Chase," she said, "he wants to see us in his office, now."
Office of Dr. Kevin Chase, BPRI, 1830 hours.
Cordelia had helped Angel out their office, with Buffy, Major Davis, Wesley, Fred, and Kennedy following closely behind them. Satsu and Chao-an were told by Kennedy to meet up with their teams, and once they were debriefed… the two of them were to go on patrol. She told them that demons and vampires may have heard rumours about the BPRI being too busy to take care of things in the city; so to counter that, she wanted more teams out there.
"Tell everyone that they should keep what they hear today to themselves," said Buffy as the two Potential Slayers nodded their heads before leaving; followed soon by Buffy and the others leaving Cordelia's office.
It was ten minutes later that they reached Sub-Basement One of the BPRI which contained the infirmary, and four rooms of four beds each. As the group walked out of the hallway, they saw Dr. Lee come out of another room at the far end of the hallway.. closing a heavy metal door behind him before he noticed the group, and waved at them.
"Major," said Dr. Lee as he walked towards them and nodded his head, "I just recalibrated the anti-Ori device, since it's been more than five hours after we activated it."
"There's a time limit?" asked Kennedy.
Dr. Lee then explained that the target of the device usually would get used to the ultrasonics that it released, so there was no choice but to change the frequency every four to five hours. He could see that Kennedy, Wesley, and Fred were about to say something so he pre-empted them by saying that the effects were tested on some of the Ori-priors off-world when they tried to take over a world, and the device was tested on Willow's abilities which would still be neutralised.
"However," said Dr. Lee, "using the device on the same individual over a long period of time gets them used to the ultrasonics; and they are able to use their abilities."
"But when you change the ultra-sonic frequencies," said Fred, "they're affected again."
"Yes," said Dr. Lee, "it even affects magic users. But like you said, they can get used to the ultrasonics after prolonged exposure."
"How did.. I mean this device was made to fight the Ori?" asked Fred as she looked at Dr. Lee.
"Actually," said Dr. Lee as he looked at Major Davis, who then nodded his head before Dr. Lee looked at the BPRI group again, "Major Rosenberg wanted something that would neutralize her powers. So, this is the result."
"Oh," said Fred, while Wesley looked at Angel, and then at Cordelia.
"Willow has powers?" asked Wesley.
"Long story," said Angel as he patted the former Watcher on his back.
"Dr. Lee," said the Major, "please begin with the installation of the generators, and then the shield emitters."
"I'm already working with the BPRI people on that," replied the balding man as he put his hands in his pockets before telling them that he was expecting the Naquada generators in two hours, as well as the regulators he'll need so that the entire BPRI buildings do not blow up from massive energy overload.
"Or all the lights, and electronics could just wonk out," said Fred as Dr. Lee shrugged and nodded his head, "yea, that sounds better."
"Get to it, Dr. Lee," said the Major while Cordelia and Angel asked Fred to go with the scientist since she needed to know how the new systems that were going to be installed would work. Once Dr. Lee and Fred had left, Angel looked at the closed metal door that was being guarded by two fully armed NID guards with a faraway look in his eyes as she remembered the sister he used to know… images of whom were soon replaced by the girl he faced earlier that day. He had burning questions in his head, the biggest of which was how was she older?
Angel then followed the others into the doctor's office, and closed the door behind him. Dr. Chase asked the group to sit wherever they wanted before getting into details about his patient. He told them that the bruises Kathy received from her fight with Angel had vanished, and that the hole from the stake that Buffy drove into him was gone… leaving only a scar where the hole used to be.
"We pumped the engineered blood into her intravenously," said Dr. Chase as the others looked on, "that's the only way to feed her since we were told not to wake her up. Oh, speaking of which, I just gave her another sedative that will leave her out for another five hours."
"Doctor," said Cordelia, "you sounded worried on the phone."
It was then that they noticed the doctor frown as he walked towards his desk, and then turned off the lights before he turned on a bright white panel on the wall and then placed X-Ray slides on it. He then sighed and told the others what his examinations and his X-Rays have found. Before continuing, he also told them about the DNA test he conducted, as per Cordelia's order, using Kathy and Angel's hair samples and that he'll get to those results after he was done with the X-rays, and the report on his physical examination of the young woman.
Angel nodded his head before he looked at the screen to the left of the doctor's desk that showed Kathy on a metal chair that had her hands, and feet locked down; while to her left at the far side of the room was the anti-Ori device that had its lights flashing.. indicating that it was active. He could see that his sister was asleep before he heard a voice calling for him.
"Angel," said the doctor as Cordelia and Buffy nudged at him. The vampire then shook his head and looked away from the monitor, and at the doctor who asked him if he should continue.
"Yes," said Angel as the doctor pointed at the slides and explained to the stunned people in the room what they were seeing.
"There are thousands of healed fractures throughout her body," said the doctor as Kennedy, Buffy, and Wesley looked at each other in shock before looking at Angel who slipped his hand out of a stunned Cordelia's hand as he walked towards the panel, "as you can see, Angel… there are micro fractures on her shoulder blades. Calcification on her arms, legs, ribs… if she was alive… I'd said that she'd be dead."
"I.. I don't understand," said Angel as he looked at the slides closely while Cordelia got up and put her hand on Angel's shoulder.
"I can only guess that some of the ribs were pushed into her heart," said the doctor as he point to a section of the X-Rays, 'the pain must have been unbearable, and if she was alive.. she would have died."
"But she said she got her soul back," said Buffy.
"Doesn't mean that she was alive," said Wesley shaking his head, "I hope this isn't what I think it is."
"Wes?" asked Cordelia as she looked back at the former Watcher, while Angel just looked at the slides.. not listening to what the others were talking about. All he could see now was Kathy screaming in pain.
"I don't want to say anything now," said Wesley, "not without any definite proof. Let.. let's see what our research come up with, please."
"Go on, doctor," said Angel as the doctor started to tell Angel and the others about what else he found out from his examination of Kathy's X-rays.
"So she was tortured," said Kennedy softly as the doctor turned on the lights after fifteen minutes before he turned around, headed to his desk and picked up a brown folder and handed it to Cordelia. The doctor didn't answer Kennedy, instead he stepped to one side and put his hands into his pockets as Cordelia opened the folder and gasped. It was then that Wesley, Buffy, Kennedy, and Major Davis walked up to Cordelia who handed them the pictures that were taken of the scars on Kathy's body.
"Oh my God," said Major Davis as he looked at the picture of the marks on Kathy's back.
"Angel," said Cordelia as she gently turned him around, "I know this is difficult to process, but… but you need to see this."
Major Davis then handed the pictures he was looking at to Cordelia who then showed it to Angel. After they were done, Wesley, Buffy, and Kennedy handed their pictures to Cordelia as well. Angel looked at the picture as his soul quaked at the images of the scars on Kathy's shoulders, abdomen, her sides, her legs… the same scars he recognized from the video he had seen in Willie's Bar's security tapes; then he saw the pictures of the whip marks all over her back, and her lower back.
"She said she called for me," said Angel softly as he closed his eyes and imagined Kathy being whipped, beaten, and knifed, "I… I was…"
"It's not your fault," said Cordelia as Angel shook his head.
"Angelus was the one responsible," said Buffy as Cordelia nodded her head at Angel, "not you.. you have a soul, and…"
"She asked me why I didn't turn her," said Angel softly.
"That was a trick," said Buffy, "you know it was… we heard what she told you. She said that she didn't want to be like you…. it was all a trick to get you closer to her."
"Angel," said Kennedy as she walked over to him, and then stood in front of the older man, "I'm sorry about what happened to Kathy; I really am. But this doesn't excuse what she's done so far, and we don't even know what else she's done."
"Kennedy," said Wesley, "not now."
"You know I'm telling you the truth," said Kennedy as she backed away from Angel, "she's dangerous."
"Major," said the doctor as he handed the blood report to the Air Force officer, "her report is something you need to see."
Cordelia and the others, including Major Davis looked at the doctor confused while the Air Force officer took the folder. Dr. Chase told them that Kathy really was Angel's sister, that the DNA test proved as much; and he found something else.
"I was told by Dr. Lam," said Dr. Chase, "not to tell anyone about Mrs. Summers-Harris' Ancient gene; and even with the recent disclosure to the BPRI.. I haven't, you know.. doctor patient privilege and all. I'm telling all of you because you already know about the gene, and that Buffy has it. Now we have one more unexpected person who has it as well who we can add to the other twelve people in this compound."
"It's Kathy, she has the Ancient gene," said Major Davis as he looked up from the file and looked at the doctor, and then at Cordelia and the others who were in shock. He then handed the folder to Cordelia who read through the paper before finding the line that said 'ATA Gene: Positive'.
Before anyone could say anything else, the phone on Dr. Chase's table started to ring. The man then rushed to pick it up while the others just looked at each other, unsure about what to say after that bombshell they just received from the doctor. The doctor then, with the phone on his ear, nodded his head before calling for Wesley and then reached out with the receiver in his hand. He told the Watcher that it was Fred, and she sounded excited. Wesley then took the phone from the doctor's hand and placed it against his ear.
The others just listened to the hushed words between Wesley, and Fred, before the man sighed after he put the phone down. He then looked up at Angel and the others and then told them that they found some information on what may have happened to Kathy.
"It's called a Soul Chimera as I suspected. I heard only rumours about it.. there was nothing concrete," said Wesley as he sat on Dr. Chase's desk and shook his head while sighing, and then rubbing his forehead, "Hundreds of years ago, there was a dark sorcerer named Moroth. He wanted to take over the world using reanimated corpses, and…"
"So Zombies?" asked Buffy.
"Not exactly," said Wesley, "he wanted to return the souls of the most evil witches, and sorcerers of his time. The souls would bring them to life, but they'll still be dead; and then he'd begin the next stage of the ritual… combining the human soul with the souls and essences of other demons. They could be vampires, Polgara, or a combination of any demon he wished… all their benefits without the weaknesses. At least that was the theory."
The others just looked at each other nervously before looking at Wesley as he continued to talk.
"Can you imagine?" continued the Watcher, "a potentially unstoppable army of soldiers who have all their abilities while under his control? And all he needed to do to gain this power was sell his soul."
"I take it he failed?" asked Major Davis, "considering that we're here talking about him."
"When it was discovered what he wanted to do, he was killed," said Wesley, "his spell was locked away so that no one would ever get at it. But… but it's gone."
"What do you mean gone?' asked Angel as he looked at Wesley, "where was it gone from? Who killed Moroth?"
"The Watcher's Council sent a Slayer and an army of witches and warlocks to take Moroth down," said Wesley as Angel's eyes widened in surprise, "they took the spell, and the requirements for the ritual of ensoulment after killing him and then they locked it in the archives. The Archivist was the one in charge of ensuring that any of the dark spells, rituals, and any scrolls or parchment that comes through to the archives stays in the archives. Anything that's in the archives, never gets taken out again.. especially anything that is forbidden, like Moroth's ritual. The Archivist? He or she is the guardian… and the role is absolute. Not even the head of the Watchers Council can order the Archivist to remove these dark spells and ritual scrolls from where they were hidden."
"What are you saying?" asked Cordelia.
"We've been cataloguing everything in the archives so that they can be searched electronically," said Wesley, "we have an entry made that the spell, and the scrolls containing the ritual, was locked away. But we used some of our witches stationed in the archives in Manchester to search for the scrolls since records show that it was stored in that location. The record is there, but not the physical scrolls containing the spell and the ritual."
"What?" asked Cordelia.
"It's gone," said Wesley, "we're searching for it but it's not where it's supposed to be."
"So… what.. what you're saying is.. is that the Watcher's Council did this?" asked Angel, his fists rolled in anger.
"I am sorry, Angel," said Wesley, "but right now, that's what it looks like."
Antarctica, unknown time.
Tara looked around the frozen tundra that lay before her. The last thing she remembered was lying in bed in one of the VIP rooms taking a nap. It was a two bedroom set-up, with Camille on one bed, and her on the other bed. The young girl was well enough to be given her own room, but she refused… instead she wanted to stay with Tara, while Cassie was helping Dr. Lam in the infirmary while waiting for Willow and the others from SG-1 to return. It had only been a few minutes after she lay down that Camille got off her bed, and then ran around it to Tara's bed. The young witch remembered smiling as she took Camille into her arms while humming a nursery rhyme so that the little gril could sleep.
Just as Camille fell asleep, so did Tara.
And now she found herself in the freezing cold as she started to shiver while wrapping her arms around her body. She looked down at the skirt she was wearing as it flapped in the freezing wind which was also carrying bits and pieces of snow around her feet.
"Willow!"
Tara looked up and saw a group of people crouched out in the distance; she couldn't make it out from where she was standing but she thought they were wearing coats for winter survival. She recognized the voices that were being carried on the wind as they called out for Willow and Faith.
"Sam! Daniel! Jack! Colonel Mitchell," shouted Tara as she ran towards the group who suddenly stood up and then stumbled back, with their backs towards Tara as a blur erupted from underneath what Tara later thought to be water; they were at an ice bank. She saw the blur arc back down towards the surface of the snow covered ice as the four figures ran towards her. The blonde witch stepped to one side as two bodies flew past her and landed hard on the hard surface of snow covered ice.
"Willow! Faith!" shouted Colonel Carter as she ran straight through Tara, something that unnerved the young witch as she called out for the two Colonels, General O'Neill, and Daniel. It was soon evident that they couldn't hear Tara's shouts, so the blonde witch walked towards the group and put her hands to her mouth in shock when she saw Willow and Faith holding on to each other tightly. She could see that Faith's eyes were closed, and her lips were already blue, and her hair was stained with some red from a cut on the side of her head; Tara then looked at Willow who had her eyes slightly open while she put a hand gently on Faith's cheek.
"Carter," said the General as he took off his coat, as did Colonel Mitchell and Daniel, "their clothes are all wet. They're gonna freeze and…. look, take them off. We wrap them in the survival gear and their chances of surviving increase, and…"
"No pulse… damn it," said Colonel Carter as she checking Faith's breathing and then her pulse. Tara saw the General and Daniel take off Willow's vest, while Colonel Carter and Mitchell took off Faith's vest and ripped open the BDU's underneath while Colonel Carter started CPR. All the while, Tara saw Willow looking at the dark haired Slayer.
"She's nearly gone, no time" Tara heard Willow say softly; the blonde could see that Willow's fingers, especially the ones holding on to Faith were turning blue, as well as her lips while the General and Daniel were telling the redhead that everything was going to be all right.
"Willow?" asked Tara as then Daniel turned Willow towards Faith so that they could take off her vest and BDU's. Once the General had removed the wet vest and BDU's, he was going for the slightly frozen undershirt when Willow put her other hand around Faith's waist.
"Willow? What're you doing?" asked Colonel Carter as she felt Willow mentally push her off the Slayer, while the redhead pulled Faith closer to her.
"Willow" said Daniel as he tried to put the redhead on her back, "Willow, she's gone… it'll be you next unless…."
"No," Tara heard the redhead say.
The blonde witch watched the redhead mentally push back Daniel and General O'Neill while she brought up the hand that was on the Slayer's abdomen, up to Faith's face. Tara saw Willow's palm glow white, but the top section of her hand was turning blue; she could see Willow breathing harder, her breath condensing in the air, as the light intensified and the cut on Faith's head healed… it wasn't long before Tara saw the blue on Faith's lips vanish while Willow's face was already turning a light blue.
"Willow!" said Colonel Mitchell as he tried to pull the both of them apart, "stop this, and…"
Colonel Mitchell saw Willow's eyes becoming blood red, as if the blood vessels inside had burst before she slowly closed her eyes. At the same Faith opened her eyes slowly before she looked to her left at the redhead.
"Faith," said Colonel Carter as Faith sat up slowly before she hurriedly moved towards Willow who she lay on her back.
Tara could see that the Slayer was ignoring everyone around her while she screamed at Willow.
"What did you do!" the Slayer screamed, "Red! Red! Willow! Get the fuck up! Don't you dare do this!"
"My everything," said Willow softly as she gave Faith a small smile before she stopped moving while Tara could only look on stunned as General O'Neill felt for a pulse and shook his head. Faith was about to start CPR in her weakened state when Colonel Carter pulled her back away from Willow; the dark haired Slayer screaming in pain while Colonel Mitchell started CPR instead on the redhead instead.
Tara watched Faith screaming in anguish as she held her chest, and shouted for Melina to save her daughter; to save Willow.
It was then that the tundra melted away and she found herself snapping her eyes open as she looked at her VIP room. She was lying in bed with Camille in her arms as the young girl was sound asleep, but Tara couldn't get the screams of anguish from Faith out of her mind. She remembered the last dream she had that concerned the SGC; the day of the massacre at the Supergate, and she was afraid that her latest dream meant that Willow was going to die.
'That's exactly what it meant,' though Tara to herself as she stroked Camille's hair, 'she'll die… goddess, Willow's going to die.'
Tara knew that she needed to talk to General Landry before she, Cassie, and Camille go for their dinner; he needed to know about the dream, she needed to tell Willow and Faith.
'Willow's not gonna die,' thought the blonde witch to herself as she looked straight ahead, a pain in her chest developing as she imagined the redhead dying, 'she won't.'
TBC