Crown and Key
By Sandra and William Johnson
Chapter Eight
Buffy’s stake impacted with the vampire’s heart, dusting it instantly even as she swore and hung up the phone. “Trouble at home. Think you can handle the rest of these Lara?”
Lara Croft’s guns barked again and again, shattering the kneecaps of the three advancing vampires. She quickly holstered her guns and pulled a stake from her belt. “Go Buffy. I’ll catch up!” Braided ponytail whirling behind her, Lara spun kicked another vampire and used his falling body for leverage as she leapt over him, legs spread in a split, and landed behind him. Her hand flashed and the vampire turned to dust as the stake took his unlife.
Buffy nodded, “Be quick!” and with that, the Slayer darted off into the night, heading for home. The four remaining vampires leered at Lara as Buffy seemed to flee into the night. “Hey! We scared off the Slayer!” one of them gloated.
His gloat became a grunt of pain as Lara quickly dusted him and turned to face his three limping compadres.
* * * *
Buffy’s heart raced as she turned the corner and saw her front door splintered in. She ran in, stake still in her right hand, “Dawn! Willow! Xander!” Buffy’s eyes darted around the room, falling first upon the shattered kitchen door and then upon the man in the Fur Bathing suit lying on her floor. Her instincts took over and she leapt to the man’s side, grabbing his hair, “Where is my sister?” she shouted in his ear
“Buffy! No! He’s a good guy, I think.” Xander said as he limped into the living room, holding a sandwich bag full of ice to the back of his head. “At least, he’s not the one who slammed us all around.”
Buffy spun to her feet. “Xander! Where’s Dawnny?”
Xander gestured up the stairs, “Resting in her bed with a bump as big as mine. This getting beaten up by women stuff really sucks”
Buffy didn’t wait around for Xander to finish his dialogue. She took the stairs, two and three at a time, and ran into her sister’s room.
Dawn looked up at her sister, and smiled, “Buffy…” she said, her voice raspy, “I knew you’d come…”
Buffy smiled, “Just rest Dawnny. Xander’s calling the paramedics and we’ll get you looked over.”
Dawn smiled, “I’m alright Buffy, really” she smiled again, her voice returning to its normal timber. “It was that girl, Adora…but, she seemed different. She claimed to be Kendra. And…Willow…”
“What about Willow, Dawnny? And who is the Hercules wannabe lying on our floor?”
“I don’t know who he is, he kind of came in towards the end. But, Willow, she um, she uh—“
“She’s fine.” A soft, and extremely familiar male voice said from the door. ‘At least, she is now.”
Buffy turned slowly to face the speaker. Leaning against the door frame was a man about her height, with a shock of reddish brown hair and big brown eyes. One of Xander’s Hawaiian print shirts draped loosely across his shoulders, and a pair of baggy sweat pants covered his legs. Buffy’s eyes widened in shock as she took in the fact that he was indeed standing in her house.
“Oz?” She asked tentatively. After the events that apparently occurred this evening, Buffy was not sure if she could trust her own eyesight.
“Hey Buffy. Long time…” Oz began. His voice trailed off as the Slayer engulfed him in a bear hug.
“Your words may be small, but your timing, as usual, is impeccable.” She said, releasing him from her embrace.
Suddenly, footsteps thundered up the stairs and the shining barrel of a pistol was placed to Oz’s head. “Alright, “ Lara said, “Step back from Buffy, very slowly.”
“Only very? Not very, very?” Oz stated.
“Lara. It’s ok, he’s a friend,” Buffy said, slipping past Oz and into the hallway.
Lara lowered her pistol, “Sorry,” she said with a sheepish grin, “After I saw the condition downstairs and that Xander had somehow managed to get that muscle man tied into a chair; which, you must see by the way, it’s quite humorous. I naturally assumed the worst.”
“Well, you know what happens when you assume, Lara.” Dawn said from the bed,
“Sunshine! You’re all right” Lara exclaimed, slipping past Buffy and wrapping Dawn in a hug
“Ow…Wounded person here.”
“Sorry,” Lara apologized again, sheepishly grinning.
Buffy, meanwhile, shot Lara’s back a look, twinged with a touch of jealousy at how close her sister and Lara had become in merely one day.
“Uh, Buff? Willow’s in her room” Oz interjected, noticing Buffy’s discomfort.
“Yea, I better go check on Will. Oz, why don’t you go downstairs and help Xander with our, uh, guest? And while you’re at it, someone should probably give Giles a call.”
“I’m on it. I’ll have Xander call everyone’s favorite Librarian and I’ll keep an eye on Jercules in the chair. Oh, when you’re done with Willow, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Talk? You? Must be important. You spoke more than one sentence!”
Oz smiled, “Yea, well, you know me.”
“Yes, I do.”
Buffy headed out and looked back as she saw Lara sitting on the bed with Dawn. She quickly turned away and went in to check on Willow. She found the redhead out of bed, seated staring out the window.
“Will? You okay?” Buffy asked as she entered the room.
“Is he still here?” Willow asked, a slight tremor in her voice. Her back remained to her best friend.
“Oz? Yeah, he’s downstairs playing commando with Xander.”
“He isn’t leaving…he isn’t leaving….” Willow whispered over and over to herself. Buffy took in her best friends body language very carefully. The tense shoulders, the stiff neck; she’d seen all these signs before. Unfortunately, the last time she saw them was moments before Willow unleashed her fury on the helpless Magic Box.
“Will?” Buffy asked again, this time moving closer to her friend and placing a hand on her shoulder.
“STOP!” Willow commanded with a wave of her hand. Buffy froze on the spot, unable to move her arms or legs. She stared at her friend in fright, terrified of what would happen next. Willow turned to face her, her normally sunny and carefree blue eyes as black as night. With a shake of her head, Willow’s eyes cleared. Shock registered on her face.
“Oh my God, Buffy! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…” she noticed that Buffy was trying to say something, and then remembered the spell stopped all movement, including speech.
“Oh! Release!” She said, retracting her hand in the opposite direction she had flung it before. With a gasp, the Slayer collapsed on her bed. Remorse filled Willow’s face. “Are you okay?”
Buffy smiled. “Just peachy. Really.” She paused and searched Willow’s face for clues to what had triggered this surge of magic. “Are you?”
“Why’s he here, Buffy? Why of all times to show up again did he pick now?”
“Maybe he knew that now is when you needed him the most.” Buffy offered. “I mean, this is Oz we’re talking about. He’s as in tune to you as Angel was to me-I mean is- I mean…I don’t know what I mean.” She laughed dryly. “YOU know what I mean though, right?
”Yeah, I do.” Willow said. “I guess we should get downstairs. I mean, I just left that big guy asleep on the floor.”
Buffy laughed, remembering what Lara had described to her in Dawn’s room. “Don’t worry, Sergeant Slaughter down there is in good hands. Commando Xander is back. You know how much he loves pretending he’s the big strong interrogative type.”
“Yeah! Anya told me once he dressed her in a white dress and sat her on a chair and made her pretend she was Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct…And you really didn’t want to know that.” She shuddered. “Come to think of it, I really didn’t want to know that either.”
Buffy grimaced at Willow’s comments, “Yes, Will, sharing WAY too much here. Let’s go make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. That guy is built like Schwarzenegger.”
Willow rose from the bed and followed Buffy downstairs.
* * * *
Lara looked at Dawn, “Something is wrong. Something besides the ruckus downstairs.”
Dawn looked at her new friend. “Yea…something did happen, but..”
Lara noticed Dawn’s hesitation, “What is it Sunshine? You can tell me.”
“Well, you see…Jonathan showed up along with Oz.”
“Jonathan? I guess this is another nasty person?”
“Well, not really. Well, sorta. He and Buffy were friends, but, he kinda helped Warren steal things and Warren is the one who killed Tara.”
“Tara, She was Willow’s lover, right? The one who was murdered and caused Willow to go all evil?”
“Yes. But, Jonathan never really hurt anyone. He, well, he just wanted to have some friends.”
“The shy, quiet type, right? Liked Sci fi and Dungeons and Dragons?”
“Yea. Exactly the type, except he really CAN cast spells.”
“More magic? Why do I feel so in over my head here?”
Dawn smiled, “I don’t know, you seem to be doing pretty well. Besides, you DID find Pandora’s Box, not to mention stop the Illuminati.”
Lara smiled, “Hey, that’s supposed to be a secret, remember? Anyhow, Jonathan showed up when, what his name, Oz, did?”
“Yea. But, it was like he came here WITH Oz. And, he didn’t hurt anyone. He just wanted to make sure I was OK, then he ran off. I think he wants to help but he’s afraid of what Buffy and the rest will do to him if they know he is here. I want to tell Buffy, but, I don’t know if I should.”
“Well, if it’s my advice you want, I think you should tell Buffy at least and see what she thinks. Then, we can take it from there. I’ll go with you if you want me to.”
“Really? You will?”
“Sure Sunshine. What are friends for?”
“OK, let’s get this done with then.” Dawn began to rise from her bed.
Lara put out a restraining hand, “Not so fast. Wait till after the paramedics have looked you over at least. That’s a pretty nasty bump you have. Besides, I have some phone calls to make and some things to look into myself.
“OK Lara. If you think I should wait. Are you leaving then?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Just need to figure some things out and, well, right now it’s old home week here and I’m the 5th wheel.”
“Alright. See you in the morning?”
“I promise it.” Lara flashed her shining grin at Dawn, then bent down and kissed the girl on the forehead, “Pleasant dreams Sunshine”
“Night Lara.”
Lara closed the door behind her as she left the bedroom and quietly made her way downstairs. As she headed down the stairs, she reflected on why she felt so close to the younger Summers girl. Was it because she was about Dawn’s age when she lost both her parents? Or was it because she saw so much of her own fighting spirit in Dawn? No, it was something else, something connected to this particular mission. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Lara was jolted out of her thoughts as her cell phone buzzed angrily at her side; informing her she had voicemail. She stopped briefly outside the kitchen, seeing Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies, as they so fondly referred to themselves, interrogating the muscle man. Figuring they had everything under control, she slipped out into the night. Lara pulled her cell phone from her belt. “Bryce? I need you to make a few calls for me”
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