Chapter Six
War Council
Buffy came back to the Magic shop around sundown. Entering the back room unnoticed, she stopped dead when she saw Faith and Angel, along with the rest of the group discussing strategy. For a moment, she stared dumbstruck.
“How can you do this?” she cried out, The rest of them dropped what they were doing to regard her surprised, “My God have you all forgotten what she’s done to us all?” She pointed an accusatory finger to Faith. “Have you all forgotten that she’s a murderer and evil and sick and psychotic?” she turned her gaze to Willow who was sitting on Dusk’s lap. “How she kidnapped Willow?” she turned to Xander “And you, you she just used and discarded, then she tried to kill you,” she turned an accusatory glare at Angel, “Oh and let’s not forget ANGELUS here,” Angel flinched, it was the first time she had ever address him by that name, she continued spewing hate, “How he murdered our friends and tried to get the world sucked into Hell? So what, now it’s ‘forgive and forget?” she scoffed, “I don’t think so,” she turned to go.
“Buffy,” Xander spoke up, Buffy turned. “Angel’s paid for what he did, and he’s paid back the debt several times over,” Buffy’s, mouth sagged open, Xander was DEFENDING Angel? “He saved all our lives at graduation and from what Oz told us when he got back from L.A., Angel’s done his best over there to make amends. If what’s coming as is as bad as all that, then we’re going to need his help,” Xander finished as Willow, Buffy and Angel all gaped at him, Xander grinned wryly, “Besides, Angel is always welcome to help in a nice non-key capacity,” he turned an amused look at Angel who actually chuckled and shook his head,
“Thanks Harris, I appreciate it,” Buffy broke in.
“Fine Xander so you’re all ‘buddy buddy’ with Angel now, huh? “ she scoffed, “Now I KNOW the end of the world is coming. So what about Faith, huh Xander? What, does she get into your ‘fine and dandy’ book as well? What’s her excuse?”
Xander’s smile faded as the rest of the group exchanged worried looks. They’d never heard Buffy talk like this. Finally Xander found words,
“Well, I mean, hey, Spike’s been trying to kill us a lot longer than Faith has, and he’s welcome to help so I figured-“ that was as far as he got before Buffy walked over and slapped him hard across the face. The sound was like a gunshot as Xander was spun around and fell hard against the table, a large red handprint blazoned against his face. Willow leaped to her feet,
“Buffy!” she cried out shocked. Even Spike looked stunned as he cautiously got to his feet.
“Hey, come on, luv, that wasn’t necessary, I mean, he’s right,” he tried to grin and put a hand on her shoulder, she knocked it aside hard.
“Don’t touch me, got it?” She carefully moved back up the stairs leading out. Anya was tending to Xander; his cheek already was swelling up, red and ugly. For an instant, Buffy looked horrified but her eyes hardened again and she gestured to her friends.
“Way I see it, Faith is evil, anyone who helps her, well, then they’re not much better. I don’t want you help; I don’t need your help. I’m going to deal with the Hellmouth like a slayer should,” she opened the door, “by myself!” she screamed at them and slammed the door shut. There was a collective flinch from the group at the sound and a stunned silence except for Anya trying to comfort Xander. Finally Dusk spoke,
“Anyone want to go after her?” Spike stood to get up.
“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend…I think. Guess it should be me,” Giles spoke up.
“Normally Spike, I’d agree, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea right now, given the fragile state of mind she’s in,” Spike started to protest, Giles cut him off, “Spike, she struck Xander, I’ve never seen her this incensed, she’s clearly not thinking rationally,” he turned to Dusk, “Alec, you seem to be the closest to her without having such an extensive past attached, would you…?” Dusk held up a hand.
“I’m on it,” he rose to leave.
“Be careful,” Willow cautioned, “I’ve…I’ve never seen her like this, not even after the master killed her and she was acting like a complete bitch,” Dusk smiled slightly and kissed her lips gently.
“No worries, I’ll see what I can do,” Willow’s lip trembled slightly, the sight of her friend so unhinged was beginning to take it’s toll. He gathered her up in a tight hug,
“Don’t worry baby, she’ll be okay,” he released her as she sniffled and nodded tearfully, then walked over to where Anya and Faith were tending to Xander, who was whimpering quietly. As he was leaving Spike stopped him with a hand on his arm, deadly serious,
“Make her understand mate, she can’t fight this thing on her own, she’ll get herself killed,” Spikes eyes burned with concern for his lover, Dusk placed a firm had on Spike’s shoulder reassuringly.
“I’ll do my best man,” Spike released his grip on him, satisfied. Casting another look at the group, Dusk swept out of the room closing the door gently behind him.
He found her sitting on a swing in a playground, sobbing pitifully. He waited for her to acknowledge his presence. Wiping her eyes angrily, she glared at him balefully,
“I know what you’re going to say ‘How could you be such a bitch? What are you thinking? You can’t fight the Hellmouth by yourself,” she sniffled, “Well I can and I will and I don’t need you or Xander or Willow or Giles or Spike or Angel or anyone else’s help to do it!” She snarled. Dusk just regarded her calmly. Buffy continued to glare at him.
“Well?!? Say something you…you demonic freak! You half-breed, say something!” she screamed at him getting up from the swing to stalk over to him, snarling through her tears, “Say something or so help me...!” she reared back to hit him, Dusk caught her arm easily and held her tightly, she cursed and struck him.
“Let me go! I hate you! I hate all of you! How could you betray me like this? Faith is evil! Why can’t any of you see that? You don’t know what she did to me! Let me GO!” she pummeled futilely against his chest. Finally her resolve broke and the guilt and shame of what she had done washed over, she broke down and started sobbing like a lost child. Dusk gently supported her, whispering soothing words to her. She poured all her hate, her fear and rage into him, he accepted it stoically, not judging her merely offering quiet love and support. Finally, she hiccupped slightly and regarded him with tearstained eyes.
“Oh God, what did I do? I hit Xander! I said awful things, you must all hate me!” Dusk gently shushed her.
“No one hates you, Buffy, not me, not Xander not anyone. We’re just worried about you,” he tilted her chin up to look at him, “you’re better than this. Better than unthinking hatred. Yes, Faith has sinned, against you especially, and that’s not an easy thing to forgive or forget. But she’s here now, and she’s willing to fight to atone for those sins. Just like Angel and just like Spike,” he smiled wryly, “although you try getting Spike to admit he’s sorry for anything,” Buffy smiled slightly at that.
“Yeah really,” she replied weakly. Dusk smiled at her then grew serious,
“We’re all here for you Buffy, you have Xander, Willow, Angel, Spike, Anya, Faith, my father…and you have me,” he kissed her forehead tenderly, Buffy closed her eyes and sighed shuddering. “I can’t speak for Faith or Anya, because I don’t know them well enough, but I know the rest of us love you dearly, and we’re not going to let you go face this thing alone, you hear me?” Buffy nodded, sniffling. She started to say something, Dusk cut her off.
“You’re welcome,” he smiled down at her and wrapped an arm around her.
“Come on. Dad’s in full research mode and Xander’s going to go on a doughnut run…as soon as the swelling in his face goes down,” Buffy laughed a little at that.
“Jelly doughnuts?” she asked hopefully. Dusk nodded.
“Preferred pastry of Slayer and Watcher alike,” Buffy smiled again.
“Well…okay,” she pointed a finger at him, mock serious, “but ONLY because there’s going to be jelly doughnuts there,” Dusk laughed and gathered her up in a tight hug.
“That’s the law of the universe, fight immortal evil and you get all the jelly doughnuts you can eat,” Buffy smiled and rested against him.
“You’re a good big brother,” she sniffled. Dusk smiled and gently bopped his forehead against hers affectionately.
“Ouch,” she sniffled mildly, before laughing quietly.
“Come on, let’s go before dad eats all the jellies when they arrive,” he took her hand and led her back to the magic shop.
The bell over the door rang, and all heads swiveled towards it. Dusk and a significantly calmer looking Buffy entered. Spike got up and walked over to her putting a hand on her shoulder, gazing into her eyes, concerned.
“Are you all right baby?” he asked. She nodded and patted his hand.
“I’m good, and I’m sorry about the things I said,” Spike waved it off.
“Yeah well, I’ll think of someway for you to make it up to me later,” he replied cockily. She smiled and he kissed her cheek, before leading her to the table. He sent Dusk a grateful look, who nodded in return as he followed the pair back to the table where their friends were waiting anxiously. Buffy took a deep breath and spoke,
“I had no right to say the things I did or to hit Xander,” she turned an extremely apologetic look to Xander, who was seated at the table, cradling an icepack to his face, “I’m really sorry Xander. Tell you what, I’ll spring for doughnuts?” Xander continued to nurse his jaw, “and pizza?” she added hopefully, Xander still continued to regard her humorlessly,
“And ice cream?” he interjected. Buffy sighed relieved and smiled.
“Deal,” she leaned down to gather her friend in a tight hug. Xander flinched.
“Ow! Cheek is still of the hurting,” Buffy gasped and released him quickly.
“Ooo! Sorry,” she smiled apologetically at him then she turned her attention to Faith, who was seated across from Giles. The tension level in the room grew noticeably and Willow, who was sitting between the two slayers, cautiously got up and moved out of the line of fire to stand next to Dusk, who wrapped an arm around her waist and patted her reassuringly.
“Faith,” Buffy began “You’ve injured me in ways, I really never thought could exist, you’ve tortured my friends, you’ve stolen my body, abused my loved ones, and nearly helped bring about the end of the world. This isn’t stuff you just forgive,” Faith looked down ashamed, Buffy let the moment hang a while before continuing,
“But Angel is right, this is bigger than any of that, and if we’re going to survive it’s going to be as a team,” Faith's head began to lift, disbelieving, hopeful, Buffy saw the look and held up a hand, “We are NOT friends, Faith, I don’t like you, I don’t trust you…but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re here and you’re willing to help. So, for the duration of the emergency only, you’re on parole,” Faith began to smile until Buffy got in her face, “But you screw up just this MUCH,” she held her fingers barely spaced apart, “and I’m going to find a bigger knife and a taller building. Are you hearing me crystal clear? Are we ‘five by five’?” Faith paled slightly but nodded and Buffy backed down before sitting down next to Spike, who was regarding her with a mixture of shock and awe, gently tugging at the collar of his shirt, uncomfortable. Xander spoke up,
“Okay, so since Buffy is buying, who wants what on their pizza?” Eight pairs of eyes turned to regard him, uncomprehending. He shrugged.
“What? I’m hungry.” Willow tentatively put up a hand.
“I’ll have mushrooms please,” she put forth meekly. The room dissolved into light laughter and smiles as the tension drained out of the room. Dusk looked down at her and made a face.
“Fungus, luv?” She shrugged and Giles smiled slightly.
“I’ll make the calls,” he then stopped and added almost hopefully, “someone is going for doughnuts, yes?” Another round of quiet laughter. Dusk grinned at his father.
“Jellies for all, dad,” Giles smiled relieved and went to go make the call.
Six pizzas and two-dozen doughnuts later, the group discussed their options. Giles spoke first,
“I think it’s safe to say that this isn’t going to be some sort of one-shot raid, this is bigger than anything we’ve ever done, it will need a lot of preparation,” Xander raised a hand.
“How exactly does one ‘prepare’ to face primordial evil?” he asked sardonically.
“Carefully,” Dusk put in wryly, “and thoroughly.”
“Hear, hear,” Angel put in dryly. Giles cleared his throat.
“Precisely and that being the case, I suggest we set forth a list of tasks, the first thing we’ll need to do is, not surprisingly, research,” this elicited groans from the table, save Angel, who had grown used to doing research during his tenure in L.A., and from Dusk and Willow, who both relished a little book worming. Giles held a hand up for silence,
“I’ve consulted most of my books regarding both the Hellmouth and the Key, but I’m afraid I just don’t have the proper tomes,” Faith quietly spoke up.
“The mayor had a pretty good size collection of books,” she turned to Willow for support, who bobbed her head emphatically in agreement remembering her brief…and wholly unwilling extended stay at the building.
“That’s right! Maybe he’ll have something on the Key, he certainly should have something regarding the Hellmouth,” she looked back at Faith, who slowly nodded her head,
“Yeah, he once told me he founded Sunnydale so that demons could feed here, it’d make sense he’d know a ton about the Hellmouth before doing so,” Faith added, she turned to Buffy,
“Is City Hall still up and running?” Buffy regarded her coolly before catching herself and sighing, trying to beat down the rush of hatred that filled her.
“Yeah. Although it’s pretty vacant, after the mayors little performance at graduation, a lot of people regard city hall as sort of a haunted house,” she shrugged, “I keep hearing plans to close it and tear it down, nobody seems to get around to it,” Faith smiled slightly and turned back to address the group.
“Then I’ll go down and get the books,” Spike snorted slightly.
“What, you’re just going to ask the secretary for the keys to the ex-demons office then? And I thought my slayer was the only one who couldn’t keep a subtle plan to save her life,” Buffy swatted him upside the head.
“Look who’s talking, Mister ‘let’s put together a giant demonic Smurf and unleash him on a Cineplex,'” Spike was about to retort when Dusk cut in.
“I think it’s safe to say that it’s going to require both a little discretion and someone who knows enough about arcane lore to grab the right books,” he got to his feet. “Either way that means me. Faith and I will go to city hall and get the books,” he addressed Buffy, “we’re going to need supplies too. Do you still have that commando friend of yours’ address?” Buffy frowned,
“Riley? No, he was recalled and put in Nevada, I have no idea how to get in contact with him,” Dusk pursed his lips together and turned to Willow,
“Lover, can you hop online and find him? You’ll want to check the national records database, subcategory armed forces, it’ll have some pretty impressive firewalls so you may have to work a little magic to nudge it along,” he turned to Giles, “Jenny told me she gave you a disk once containing a few technopagan rituals?” Giles frowned, then nodded.
“Yes, but I’ll have to go back to the house to get them,” Dusk nodded and turned back to Willow,
“You feel like committing a felony, luv?” she smiled and bounded to her feet,
“My parents pay taxes, I think I’m entitled to raid the federal database,” she replied. Buffy interrupted,
“So once we get Riley’s address, then what?” Dusk turned to her.
“That’s where Xander comes in,” Xander was talking to Anya when his ears perked up
“Huh? What? Am I key guy again?” asked bewilderedly. Dusk regarded him inquiringly.
“You still possess any of that army know-how?” Xander smiled and bobbed his head.
“Aye-firmative. What’cha need? Rocket launcher? C-4? Heavy ordinance preferred by slayers everywhere.” he waggled his eyebrows, earning a grin from Dusk.
“Perhaps, I need something like a shotgun, but a little faster on the draw. Also I need incendiary rounds, you know, like they have in flare guns. Anything spring to mind?”
Xander frowned, thinking, “Maybe. That doesn’t sound as easy as your generic rocket launcher, but I’ll think of something,” Dusk nodded satisfied.
“Good. Figure it out and when you get a hold of Riley, ask him for a lot of them. Explain what’s going on and make sure he can get them out here in a hurry. Riley might risking a court martial here, so stress how important this is and ask nicely,” Xander saluted.
“Yes sir,” Xander replied. Dusk nodded and turned to Angel and Spike.
“Angel, Spike, head to Willy’s, we need the word on the street as well. Buffy once told me that whenever there’s serious evil in the ground, subterraneanians tend to vacate. Find out if that’s happened and if so, exactly why. Also, we need to find as many entrances to the underground as we can. Natural cave formations, service access tunnels, sewers, crypts, everything, maybe we can find a optimal approach for this thing”
Spike interjected, “Ah, excuse me mate, but I’m not exactly popular down at Willy’s anymore,” Dusk arched an eyebrow.
“Well, if you’re afraid, I suppose you could always help dad with research,” he suggested mildly. Spikes face darkened and he leapt to his feet,
“Bloody hell! Bring it on!” he shook his fist in the air, earning chuckles of amusement and slap on the butt from Buffy.
“That’s the spirit, honey,” she quipped wryly, he looked down at her and grinned. Dusk chuckled before turning to Giles.
“Dad, get the Quentin on the horn, find out what they can tell us. Stress the whole ‘end of the world’ angle,”
“Yeah, find out if they can send some sort of special ops team like they’ve been known to, usually at the worst possible time,” Buffy added, sending Faith a look. Faith averted her look and studied an open book. Giles cleared his throat.
“Yes,” he checked his watch, “It’s about midnight there, so I’ll be waking the old man up,” he smiled a hint of wickedness in his expression, “I don’t think I have a problem with that, I’ll call them from my house,” Dusk nodded.
“All right then, that’s the plan: Buffy, Dad, Willow Xander: Dad’s house for hacking, phone calls and heavy ordinance procurement, Angel, Spike: Willy’s for information, and Faith and I’ll go raid city hall,” Dusk finished. Anya spoke up,
“What about me?” Dusk pursed his lips together in thought.
“Anya stay here and keep an eye on the store,” an idea struck him, he turned to Willow.
“Willow, do you still have that glyph that demon gave you?” Willow nodded.
“It’s back at the dorm,” Dusk turned to Buffy.
“Buffy?” Buffy was already on her feet.
“On it. Willow where is it?” she asked her.
“Oh it’s in my jewelry box, next to the box of cond-“ she stopped as her hand flew to her mouth and her face quickly coloring to match her hair. Spike gave the witch a wry look and Buffy mirrored it, grinning teasingly before patting Willow on the shoulder.
“In the jewelry box, I got it Wills,” Buffy turned to Anya.
“Do you think this demon guy is likely to help?” Anya frowned.
“D’Hoffryn is pretty set in his ways,” she exhaled, “But I suppose I could go to all the trouble of asking him,” she huffed. Buffy nodded curtly and turned to Dusk,
“I’ll have Giles drop me off at the dorms, then I’ll come run back here and drop it off before heading back up to his place” Dusk nodded.
“Sounds good. So we’re all set then?” There were general sounds of assent from the table. Dusk got his coat, and for the first time noticed the odd looks he was getting from everyone.
“What?” he finally asked. Buffy spoke up.
“When did you get all ‘take charge with the delegating and the plan?” Dusk stopped to regard her.
“If you have a better idea, sis, I’m all ears,” he stated simply. She shook her head,
“It’s a good plan, it’s just a side of you I haven’t seen,” she leaned forward to kiss his cheek then pinching it, “You’re so cute when you’re all take-charge macho man,” he rolled his eyes and shoved her gently away.
“Am-scray, time is moving and we are standing still,” everyone got to their feet and filed out into the night. “Don’t forget, Buffy, Dad. Midnight - the Bronze,” Dusk called after them.
“Will do!” Buffy yelled as she, Willow, Xander and Giles piled into Giles’ new sporty red car. Angel and Spike headed in the opposite direction towards Angel’s car, a long black Mustang, minus top.
“Good luck,” Angel told Dusk.
“You too,” Dusk replied. He shook his hand and slapped Spike's, before leveling a warning finger at Spike.
“Remember: ‘information’ not ‘body count’ comprende?” Spike growled good-naturedly and lit a cigarette.
“Bloody Hell, you’re as bad as your sister,” grinning he shook his head and followed Angel. As they retreated, Dusk could just make out the two vampires bickering,
“A vampire with a convertible, you really are a professional sufferer aren’t you?” Spike mocked the elder vampire.
“Spike, don’t start on my car, it’s a good car. And get rid of the cigarette,” Angel retorted. Dusk heard Spike mutter something obscene as he and Angel piled into the car and headed off towards Willy’s.
Chuckling, Dusk turned to regard the only people remaining, Faith and Anya. He turned to Anya, who wore an unhappy expression on her face. Dusk patted her shoulder sympathetically.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon,” he told her, referring to Xander. She shook her head.
“It’s not that. Willow just reminded me, I forgot to buy condoms,” she sighed, looking stricken. “That means Xander and I can’t have sex tonight,” Dusk laughed.
“I wouldn’t worry, we’re going to be a tad too busy preventing the apocalypse for you and he to get some loving in,” Anya glared at him.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” she turned and stalked into the store. Still laughing quietly, he turned to Faith.
“You ready to go?” Faith sighed long and hard before looking at him.
“Why did you volunteer to go with me? You know full well I could handle it by myself,”
Dusk shrugged. “Actually it makes sense, you could use someone who knows the occult well enough to grab the right stuff. Besides, I figured you’d feel more comfortable traveling with someone who wasn’t around when all this insanity involving you and the mayor occurred.” Faith grimaced,
“Point,” she her gaze was still hard, “that still doesn’t explain why,” Dusk turned to go.
“We’ve all got things to atone for, maybe I can help you along. You coming or not?” Faith sighed again and followed.
“Hey chief, it’s a long walk from here to city hall,” Faith interjected. Dusk favored her with a wry grin.
“Who said anything about walking?” He led her to the back of the shop where something was gleaming in the dark. Faith inhaled sharply.
“Sweet!” she exclaimed as she gazed adoringly at the viciously sleek-looking, black and red sports bike leaning against the wall. “This is a bad-ass machine,” appreciatively, she ran her fingers across the smooth curves of the bike, pushing a fingernail probingly against the leather of the double saddle. Dusk chuckled.
“Does this suit your fancy?” he asked her wryly. She bit her lower lip and grinned, a glimmer of the old Faith shining through.
“Does it ever. Man, the feeling of this baby between my legs. Grrrr!” she grinned and threw a leg over the saddle. Dusk shook his head laughing quietly and mounted the bike, handing her a helmet. Faith dutifully strapped it on before placing both her hands on his shoulders.
“Let’s ride, bad boy,” she purred into his ear. Dusk just snorted sardonically and strapped his helmet on. Turning the engine over, it revved to life, eliciting a squeal of delight from the slayer behind him. Gently easing the bike out of the alleyway, he gunned the engine and shot like a rocket down the street.
“Whoo-hoo-hoo!” Faith whooped as the bike turned gracefully around a corner, “God, I want this thing to bear my children!” Dusk thought it best to change the subject.
“So, how long have you known Angel?” Faith immediately calmed down, becoming morose.
“Since I first got here, I tried to kill him a couple of times here and in L.A. For some reason he’s stuck by me. Helped me to do what was right.”
“Yeah, what was that?” Dusk asked as he eased the bike around another turn.
“Turn myself in and confess to multiple counts of homicide,” Faith sighed, “I had a pretty high tab to pay to the world guess coming out here is my way of doing it.” Dusk spared her a look.
“So how’d you get out of the cooler?” Faith shrugged.
“Dunno. Today I get hauled out of my cozy cell and dumped before a parole officer. Next thing you know, I’m out on the streets and some guy called Gunn is picking me up from the slammer and telling me Angel needs me down in Sunnydale. I owed Angel, so here I am,” Faith sighed, “I was probably safer in the slammer with Bertha the gnash hound gunning for me,” Dusk chuckled.
“Probably, but if you’re serious about making amends, this is the way to do it,” Faith snorted.
“Terrific, another Jiminy Cricket conscience, do guys like you come in some sort of karmic six-pack or what?” Dusk chuckled, not offended in the least. Faith pointed down the street. “There it is, that big building on the left,” Dusk nodded and idled the bike slowly up to the front steps. Getting off the bike and helping Faith off, he stripped the helmet from his head and gave the building a cursory glance, noting the darkened windows.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Dusk commented. Faith took her helmet off and took his from him, tossing both onto the bike.
“Yeah,” she whispered back, her voice sounding strained. Dusk turned to face her.
“You all right?” he asked. Faith shook her head clearing it.
“Yeah, just a lot of memories,” she sighed and trudged up the front stairs.
She pointed to a darkened window on the third floor. “That’s his office there,” She turned to regard Dusk, “so how do we get in?”
Dusk smiled wryly and turned to her, “Can you keep a secret?”
Faith shrugged, confused. “Sure. Why?” Dusk looked back up at the window then stepping into a nearby shadow, he vanished. Faith jumped back in surprise.
“What the fu-?” she peered into the darkness, “Hey D, you still there?”
The window above her suddenly opened and Dusk peered out from it down at her.
“Stay put, I’ll toss down a rope,” Faith confused looked up at him.
“How the hell do you do that? And what rope?”
She got her answer later as a long thick cord emerged from the window and writhed down the side of the building to appear in front of her. Looking deeply apprehensive tentatively took it…and yelped in alarm when the cord wrapped itself around her arm and dragged her up the side of the building with dizzying speed. Before she knew it, Dusk was helping her through the window, into the office. Faith spun on him,
“What the hell was…” her voice trailed off as she noticed the cord of darkness uncoiling itself from her arm, to shoot back underneath Dusk’s arm. He flexed the arm and shook it a little, grinning.
“Just a little trick that comes in handy every now and then. Keep it on the Q.T. all right?” Faith shook her head.
“Sure. Whatever,” smiling appreciatively, “Handy trick though,” Dusk snorted gently.
“I hear that a lot from Slayers,” he replied wryly, looking around he flipped on a desk lamp. Faith’s face pinched with emotion. Aside from some dust, the office of Mayor Wilkins’s hadn’t changed at all since she last stood here. Before that last fight with Buffy that had ended with her nearly gutted and in a coma, she felt a hand settle on her shoulder and she jumped and spun around, only to have Dusk regarding her with concern.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked gently. Faith sighed and hanging her head, nodded before pointing to a large cabinet.
“All his freak stuff was in there,” she informed him quietly. Giving her shoulder a squeeze he released her and turned to study it.
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” he turned back to Faith, “you want to wait outside?” Faith looked up suddenly, about to protest before sighing and nodding her head.
“Yeah, thanks,” she turned back to the window. Gently, Dusk extended a tendril of darkness that wrapped around her slim waist and, without so much as a sound of protest; Faith was picked up off her feet and carried down to street level. Shaking his head and sighing sympathetically, Dusk went over to the cabinet. Fingering a large padlock, he smiled slightly.
“Trusting sort, wasn’t he?” he commented dryly, placing a fingertip to the keyhole, a tiny tendril of darkness sprung out from under his fingernail and penetrated the hole. A few seconds later, the lock sprung open and Dusk opened the cabinet.
“Wow,” he whistled softly. Shrunken heads, a fetus in a jar, and various other fairly grotesque items graced the shelves. “This was not your average public servant,” gingerly reaching behind the various items his fingers began to probe along the walls.
“Ah ha!” he exclaimed, fingers discovering a small catch switch. Pressing it in, he stepped back as the bottom part of the wall beneath the cabinet slid open revealing a pair of bookshelves containing several tomes, crouching down he began examining them.
“Necronomicon, Tobin’s spirit guide, Books of Ascension,” he shook his head, this was a pretty eclectic bunch of reading material, “Hmmm…this could be promising,” he fingered the binding of one book. “ ‘La Boca de la Inferno, the mouth of Hell’,” taking the book from the shelf, he flipped through it. It looked to be written in Spanish and bore some sort of missionary seal. Setting it aside, he continued to peruse the titles. Finding nothing else of interest, he was about to close the compartment, when a small leather bound bundle of papers fell out. Dusk picked it up and examined it,
“’Diary of Richard Wilkins, circa 1898?” his eyes widened and he just shook his head, “Definitely NOT your average public servant,” stuffing the diary in his jacket, he quietly closed the compartment, picked up the other book, relocked the cabinet and walked over to the window.
“Faith,” he called out. The slayer was leaning against his bike, fidgeting, she looked up, “Catch!” he yelled laying the book flat on its side and dropping it to her, she caught it easily. Throwing one leg over the window ledge, he dangled over the ledge and summoning a shadow from within the room, closed the window. Then he simply let go of the ledge and fell.
“Dusk!” Faith cried out, she rushed futilely to try to catch him. He fell a short distance, then his coat exploded outwards into a huge wave of trailing darkness, billowing out, it quickly slowed his descent. Gracefully he landed on his feet. Faith whistled appreciatively.
“Not bad D, very McFarland,” Dusk eyed quizzically.
“Impressionistic artist?” he asked.
“Comic book artist,” she replied grinning. Dusk shrugged, as his coat became a thing of cloth once more, “Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked. Dusk nodded,
“Yeah, think so,” reaching into his jacket, he removed a small phone and speed-dialed Buffy.
“What’s up bro?” her voice came to him over the earpiece.
“We got what we came for here, how are things on your end?” He heard Buffy say something to someone else in the room before coming back on the line.
“We just got Miss Calendars program up and running, Willow’s having a field day with it,” Dusk smiled wryly.
“I’ll bet. Any word from Spike and Angel?”
“Yeah they just called from a pay phone, they’re on their way here,” Dusk nodded.
“All right, we’ll be there shortly. See you soon,” hitting END, he put the phone away and turned to Faith.
“So what’s the story?” she asked.
“Willow is hacking into the pentagon with Jenny’s magic program and Spike and Angel are on their way there,” Faith nodded, grinning slightly,
“Sounds like a typical night for the Scooby gang. Guess we should get going, don’t want to miss all the fun” throwing one last look at the building, she pulled on her helmet and mounted the bike.
“Guess so,” he replied quietly, strapping on his helmet and mounting the bike, he kicked it to life and rocketed away from the dark building and the darker memories held within.
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