Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Kersey and a few other little add-ons. Buffy and Co. belong to Joss Whedon, the WB network, and Mutant Enemy.
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Part Two
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"Come out, come out wherever you are.." Buffy whispered almost inaudibly as she crept through the park. Every now and then she would stop and stand still long enough for her head to stop pounding. So far, so good. She'd only seen one vampire and he'd been easy to dispatch. Just jab and see ya.
It was almost boring.
Then she heard it. Behind her. A rustling.
The Slayer spun and faced a small female vampire staring up at her. The vampire hissed and began to circle her. Buffy lifted an eyebrow and watched the creature with a bit of amusement.
"Are you done yet?" Buffy asked. "I mean, I'd really like to get this over with. Curfew, ya know?"
The woman opened her mouth wide to reveal her fangs. With a low growl she charged Buffy. The Slayer easily flipped her. The vampire charged again but this time Buffy did a leg sweep and knocked the demon flat on it's back. "Tsk, tsk..bad form. Dismount was pitiful." With that she shoved a stake directly into the creature's heart. It flew apart in a spray of dust and Buffy grinned. "Score one for the good guys," she said almost musically.
"Then I guess you won't mind if we go in to sudden death overtime." A low voice said from behind her. In a fluid motion she grabbed her stake off the ground and spun towards the voice. To her horror, five male vampires stood directly in front of her. All of them looked young and very strong.
"You just had to make this difficult," Buffy sighed. "All right..we can do this the more senselessly violent way but I'm warning you, the death count is going to rise."
Her only reply was a laugh from the tallest and largest of the vampires; presumably the speaker. "It's time to die, Slayer." One of the vampires charged.
She spun around and kicked him directly in the chest with enough momentum to send him flying backwards. With a quick precise motion she sent a stake flying into his heart. "Ew..that's gotta hurt. Too bad. Next." She was about to turn when she felt a pressure against her rib cage. She gasped and tried to spin around in the inhuman arms held her tight. This was weird; she should have been able to break his grip but still he held her.
Not for long however. A moment later she felt herself flying through the air. She barely had time to adjust her body before she slammed into a tree. Only luck alone kept her back from absorbing the full blow. Her head wasn't so lucky. She could feel a sticky line of fluid running down the side of her face. Dizzily she lifted her hand to a place just above her left eye. She brought it away and stared frightened at the blood. "Gotta get up," She murmured, trying to push herself up. Her body ignored her and she slumped back down against the tree, her head spinning.
"Where are your quips now, Slayer?" The lead vampire growled as he straddled her. She tried to kick him off of her but the motion made her nauseous. He reached up and his her sharply across the face. She winced and pushed away. With every bit of energy she has left in her, she pushed herself to her feet and executed a roundhouse. It hit her intended target and gave her the time to send her other stake into the lead vamp's chest.
"Buh-bye," Buffy murmured, just before collapsing to the ground. She could see the darkness at the corners of her vision. "No," she protested weakly, very much aware of the presense of the other three vampires. And they of course were very much aware of the fact that the Slayer was down and barely moving.
They attacked all at once and she screamed. Flailing with her arms and thrashing with her legs she tried to push them away but they were far too strong and she was far too out of it. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the bitter realization of what was about to happen hit her.
One of the vampires hit her directly in the ribs and the seeping darkness rushed towards her. Just before it consumed her she saw one of the vampires moving towards her neck and then the lights went out.
* * *
"Giles!"
The Watcher blinked and rubbed his eyes. He stared upwards and searched around for the source of the scream. He glanced over at Xander and Willow who both shrugged.
A minute later the doors to the library flew open and Angel strode through them. His face was pale and he was fighting to keep it human as a host of emotions played across his handsome features.
And then Giles saw.
"No..."
In the vampires' arms was none other than the Slayer, Buffy Summers. In a dramatic motion, Angel brushed off a table and laid the unconsious and badly hurt girl on it. "She's hurt," he said needlessly.
Giles just nodded and moved towards her. "Wha..what? Do you know what happened?"
"I got there too late.." Angel said, shaking his head. "I knew something wasn't right tonight..I should have been following her.."
Giles turned and faced him. Attempting to remain calm he repeated his question. It was clearly up to him to maintain control because all three of his companions looked on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
"Uh...she was ambushed in the park. They planned..laid in wait. When I got there she was already unconsious..they didn't bite her though." Angel murmured. Cautiously he reached down and very lightly touched the Slayers' badly bruised face. Even through the blood and swelling he could still very clearly see tear streaks.
"But she's gonna be alright," Xander said, his voice trembling. He looked up at Giles, "Right?"
He didn't have the heart to reply. Slowly he reached down and removed the leather jacket. Gazing down at her he saw that her white shirt was stained with blood. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and prayed for the best. Careful not to touch anything but the shirt he peeled it back and examined the Slayers' broken ribs with a sad expression. Finally he said softly, "This isn't good." He looked at the others, "She's in bad shape."
"Will she be okay?" Xander asked, fear in his dark eyes. The jokes were gone now.
"I...uh..don't know." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and then he turned and gazed at the other three, "Buffy is a strong, resilent and stubborn girl. I'm sure she'll fight this..she'll be okay. We have got to believe that."
"Believe, okay..believe..gotcha." Xander said softly. He looked over at Angel who was still staring down at Buffy. Abruptly Angel jerked his head up in his shock, his eyes suddenly wide. "Angel?"
"What's wrong?" Willow squeaked. She held her clenched fists tightly against her legs and leaned against the desk. In the short time that she'd known Buffy, the Slayer had already managed to give her the courage to be externally strong in the worst of times.
"What's today?" Angel asked sharply.
"Wha? What?" Giles stammered. "I hardly see.."
"What's today?" Angel roared, his anger barely suppressed. It was taking all he had to keep his emotions checked.
"Er..uh..May 15."
"The Seven Days," Angel said sadly, dropping to his knees next to Buffy. "Oh..this was no accidental attack. They knew exactly what they were doing." He trailed a finger across Buffy's jawline.
"Excuse me but am I missing something?" Xander exclaimed.
Giles' eyes scanned rapidly from left to right as if to suggest that he was mentally going over his minds' databanks. And then it hit him and he exhaled sharply, "The interference."
"Interference?" Willow asked in a small voice. She was pretty sure that she didn't want to hear this.
Giles nodded sadly, his eyes never leaving Buffy's unconsious form. "The Seven Days..one of the more..obscure of the prophecy's speaks of a week when a, uh..mystical field of sorts will disrupt the Slayers' natural defenses. In short, it makes her a normal human being."
"And you didn't tell her?" Xander howled angrily.
Giles shook his head desperately and said softly, "I should have.."
Angel stood up, his hand gliding down to touch Buffy's. "No..as he said, it's one of the more obscure prophecies..from the uh, well roughly translated it means Agenda of the Dark...one of the more unreliable sources of Slayer prophecy."
"Still.." Giles protested.
"Still...unreliable, right? Maybe that means it won't come true and she'll be okay." Willow suggested hopefully.
Giles shook his head sadly, "No...I suspect that her near collapse in the cafeteria this morning was our neon warning sign of sorts."
"Which means what?" Xander said, his eyes wide in shock and fear.
"Which means that if Buffy's gonna live, she's gonna have to fight for her life herself." Willow said softly. "We should take her to a hospital."
Angel shook his head frantically, "No...that won't keep the vampires away. This is a perfect time to attack and finish the job. You've got to hide her at least until the Seven Days are over."
"He's right." Giles murmured.
"Okay..then we're agreed that we need to watch her..I get that but we are we going to tell her mother? That a big mean vampire did it and that he's awfully sorry?" Xander exclaimed.
Giles chewed his lip thoughtfully and then replied, "I guess we couldn't have had luck on our side and had Ms.Summers be out of town."
"That was last week," Angel murmured, his hand still lightly brushing against Buffys'. He glanced up and saw that the trio of Slayerettes as they called themselves were all staring at him with curious expression. Well, Xander's was more irritated than curious but just the same. He shrugged, "She got scared in a big house by herself so I visited her."
Xander opened his mouth to say something but Willow hit him lightly on the arm. Giles cleared his throat, "Um, yes."
"We still need to figure out what to do about Buffy's mom," Willow reminded them.
"Right, can't we just take her home..say she was attacked at the Bronze and..." Xander started.
"No...that would be a bad idea," Angel replied, shaking his head.
"Why? She'd be safe with her mom."
"I think her mother would insist upon relocating Buffy to a hospital. Were it any safer to do so, I would also." Giles replied. "No, I think that would be very bad."
"Buffy's not going to be able to even stand," Angel said softly, "She's unconsious and she looks like what happened; she got beaten and badly. Her mother will..what's the word..trip." Angel told them.
"Thank you, Mr.Commentary.. now how about you tell us what to do about that? She can't go home, fine..I get it.."
"Xander," Willow warned softly. He ignored her. Even after Buffy had turned him down, he'd remained madly in love with. The very sight of her warmed his heart. Four months ago he'd been a regular teen living a regular life. That was all different now. Now he knew for sure that if he lost either Willow or Buffy, he'd fall completely and utterly apart.
"Just the same..we gotta do something to help her...look at her, she's dying."
"She's not going to die," Angel said fiercely. "I won't let that happen."
Xander turned sharply on him, "And how pray tell do you intend to stop that?" His eyes narrowed and his anger and his fear made him bold enough to step towards Angel. "Don't even think about biting her.."
Angel looked shocked, "What?" He looked at Giles desperately, "I wouldn't do that."
He nodded, " I know. Xander, we need to work together to figure this out. First we need a place for Buffy to um, stay.."
"My house," Willow said softly. She looked up at the others, "My parents are gone 'til the weekend. That's only three days but.."
"Good enough, we need to get her there quickly." Giles said, reaching down to pull the unconsious Slayer into his arms. "We'll take my car."
Xander rolled his eyes and muttered, "I thought you said we had to get her there quickly."
***
It was Angel who carried the unconsious and now frightenly feverish Slayer up the stairs to Willow's room. She quickly brushed the covers aside and he laid Buffy down on the soft mattress. A moment later Giles appeared with a wet cloth. He moved to Buffy's side and placed the cloth over her forehead. "The fever is getting worse."
"Hey, Xander?" Willow said suddenky, "Isn't Shawn a med-school student?"
"Shawn?" Giles asked.
"My cousin. Yeah, he is..yeah.." Xander replied. "I'll call him."
"Wait," Giles said.
Xander spun, "It's worth it, Giles. We don't have to say that she got hurt by dead guys." Giles nodded his consent and Xander exited the room quickly.
"We still need to figure out what to do about her mother," Willow reminded.
"Can't you just say she's staying with you?"
"For an entire week?" Willow asked increduously. "Besides, I think her mom would want to acutually speak to her."
Giles dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Um, we could say that she went on a trip."
"And didn't call and ask permission first?" Xander said from the doorway. "Might worked but she's going to be in a heap of trouble when she does go home."
"Better than dead," Angel said softly. He leaned down and moved his hand slowly across her face. "She's not breathing well." He looked up at Xander. "Did you get ahold of your friend?"
"My cousin," Xander corrected. Then he nodded, "And yes, Shawn is on his way."
"Well good. Now help us come with something to tell her mother."
* * *
Joyce Summers jumped to her feet when the sound of the phone rang shrilly through her house. By her watch it was well after three in the morning and her daughter was still not home which made her well..worried. She ripped across the where the phone was and picked it up, "Buffy?"
"Yeah, it's me." Came the reply.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt? What's wrong? Do you have any idea what time it is? Where are you?"
"Don't wig, mom..um I'm in Sacramento."
"SACRAMENTO?" Joyce. She took a deep breath. "Honey, what exactly are you doing in Sacramento?"
"Well I kinda got offered a position on a teen panel and we had to leave right after school and I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I couldn't and I'm sorry."
"Buffy, slow down..you sound like you're high..you're not high are you?"
"No..of course not, mom."
"How long are you going to be in Sacramento and who is with you?"
"A week and Mr.Giles."
There was a long pause and then Joyce said, "Buffy, I'm not happy about this. It's good that you got selected to a teen panel but you shouldn't have gone...this is not the time..it's three in the morning. When you get home you and I are going to need to sit down and have a very long talk."
"Yes, mom."
"Goodnight." Joyce said and hung up the phone. She stared at the far wall and sighed. In the back of her mind something nagged at her and told her that all was not right and that Buffy was not as okay as she sounded. She dismissed it as the worries of an overprotective mother but just the same she couldn't help but wonder. "Buffy, what have you gotten yourself into now?"
* * *
Willow punched a key on the computer and the program terminated. "That went..well?"
"As well as it could," Giles murmured.
"Yeah well you're probbaly not the one that's going to have to listen to her go postal when she discovers that we got her in trouble," Xander sighed.
"Consider the alternative, "Angel replied. He moved the cloth down across Buffy's face and soaked up another stream of sweat. "Where's your cousin."
"I don't know." He looked at Giles, "Lucky that Willow remmebered her voice impersonation program, huh?"
Giles lifted an eyebrow, "Yes, lucky although I don't know if I should be concerned that she would even create such a thing."
Willow blushed and opened her mouth to explain but then decided that he wouldn't get it anyways. As she lifted her hand to brush him off, she heard something that made her spin so fast, she almost fell over.
Buffy moaned.
Almost instantly all eyes were on the fallen Slayer. Her eyes flickered half open and one of her hands rose into the air, "Daddy? Where are you?" her voice was small and sounded scared.
Willow looked at Xander and then glanced up at Giles who shrugged. Angel approached Buffy's bedside and knelt down beside her. "Buffy?"
"Pike?" Buffy asked, reaching her hand across to touch Angels' face. "I'm sorry...please? Pike?" Angel caught her hand and leaned in closer.
"It's Angel..Buffy, can you hear me?"
"Pike...I don't want to face Lothos." The Slayer whispered. "I'm scared." A tear cascaded down her face. Angel quickly wiped it away and still clutching her hand in his looked up at Giles.
"Lothos..that's the name of the master of the Los Angeles sect." Angel said softly. "She killed him though."
"She's delirious, I'm afraid." Giles said. "Hardly a suprise..her fever is getting worse as we speak."
"Who's Pike?" Xander asked suddenly.
The others turned to regard him. Finally Giles said, "No idea but apparently someone who knew that she was a Slayer. She's never mentioned him to me before."
"Pike!" She screamed suddenly. She wrenched forward in the bed and would have top-sized completely had Angel not held her. Even delirious the pain of her broken ribs was too much and she collapsed backwards. Angel brushed a strand of sweat-soaked hair away from her brow.
"I guess she's pretty upset about this Pike character," he said thoughtfully.
"Ya think?" Xander said sarcastically. He shook his head, "Whatever..where is he?"
Almost on cue there was a knock on the door. Willow jumped up and raced out of the room. Xander glanced back down at Buffy who although consious was so out of it that she just barely counted as sentient. The girl was murmuring inaudibly but every now and then she would say "Pike" and then she would fall quiet again.
"So, what's wrong?" A voice asked stepping into the room. Xander looked up and smiled faintly at the newcomer. It was a young lean male in his late twenties with green eyes.
"Guys, this is my cousin, Shawn Kersey."
Kersey was about to extend his palm when his eyes fell upon the girl on the bed. He ran a hand through his spiky brown hair and quickly approached her. "I'm assuming this is why you called me?" He leaned down closer and picked up the girls' wrist. Staring at his watch intently he took her pulse. Then he slowly slid his hand across her stomache and over her ribs. She moaned. He lifted the shirt and shook his head. Then he moved his position so that he could check her head. She had a fairly large bump on it and a rather ugly gash above her eye. Finally he gazed up at the expectant quartet above him, "This girl is very sick. We need to get her to a hospital immediately."
"We can't," Giles said quickly. "I mean..well..her life would be in danger if we did that."
"Her life is in danger right now," Kersey replied tensely. "Look, her ribs are broken...she could have internal bleeding."
"I'm afraid that's not an option," Giles reitterated.
Xander stepped in and put a hand on Kersey's shoulder, "Shawn, there are some very dangerous people after her. If they catch up to her, they'll kill her." His voice was very serious and completely devoid of it's usual lightness.
Kersey shook his head, "Her? She looks like she couldn't hurt a fly." The others all excahnged almost amused glances. Kersey sighed, "What do you want me to do?"
"What you can." Angel said softly.
"Fine, what I can. That's not much. She needs to see a real doctor. I'm only a medical student. Best I can do is fix her up externally but I'm telling you that without proper care, if she has internal bleeding, she could hemmorage. And it wouldn't hurt to have her get a CAT scan taken..these head wounds don't look pretty."
Xander reached out and grabbed Giles arm and led him over to the far wall. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea, "he whispered.
"Xander..the risks.."
"Aren't worth is if she bleeds to death," Xander replied, fear in his tone and in his eyes. "Please, what if someone stays with her at all times?"
Giles turned away from him, "If we allow her to be checked into the hospital for treatment and the uh, tests..would we be able to remove her soon after?"
"If I'm right about the seriousness of her injuries..I think the doctors would frown upon that. Are you her father?"
Giles never hesistated, "Yes."
"It's your decision then."
* * *
In the end it was decided that they would take the delirious Slayer to a hospital about fifty miles away from Sunnydale. It would have been far to risky to admit Buffy to one where she might have been recognized.
And then the waiting began.
The medics had placed her on the gurney and wheeled her down the hallway in a hurry, the doors shutting behind them. And then a nurse had approached and given Giles the paperwork. He sighed and set to doing it.
"Shouldn't someone invite Angel in?" Willow asked.
Xander muttered something. Then he sighed, "I'll be right back."
"No need, "Angel said, walking towards them. "Someone else did..which is exactly why we need to move her as soon as possible."
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