Chapter 10
Pilgrims of Hell
Dusk rolled over and sighed, lazily coming out of a deep sleep, into sort of a drowsy awareness. Slowly, he became aware of details, the sun shining on his face, the sound of people talking in the next room, the smell of Willow. This last observation caused him to open his eyes and as he did so, he became acutely aware of the soft touch of Willow's body, pressed against him, he turned to regard his sleeping lover with deep affection. For a moment, he felt no guilt about his feelings toward Dawn. That he felt drawn to the younger Summers’ sister was undeniable. But this, this feeling of bliss and contentment, this belonged solely to Willow. Gently, he reached out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear; she smiled and made a contented sound. Her eyes slowly opened to regard him tenderly,
“What’cha thinking about?” she whispered in drowsy curiosity. He smiled,
“I’m thinking about how I have this amazing woman very much naked on this couch, that I happen to love very much,” he confessed with a grin. She smiled and closed her eyes, savoring his words. No matter how many times he said it, it still made her heart shiver just a little in delight. She leaned in and gently kissed his mouth, he reached up to stroke her face inhaling her scent. They parted and rested their faces against one another, gazing deeply into each other’s eyes, their eyelashes entwining. ‘Butterfly kisses’ Willow had once called them. She smiled perkily,
“Ask me what I’m thinking about,” she requested demurely, Dusk stretched out an arm, and wrapped it around her; she quickly nestled against him, resting her face on his shoulder, staring up into his face.
“Okay, what are you thinking about?” Dusk asked with a smile. Willow grinned and picked up the top of the sheet, peeking underneath,
“I’m thinking how I have this amazing man VERY much naked on this couch that I happen to love more than anything in the world,” Dusk smiled and closed his eyes, deeply touched. She leaned forward to kiss him, when suddenly, her stomach gurgled loudly, protesting the fact that they’d slept through breakfast. Willow blushed and Dusk laughed earning him a playful swipe from the red headed witch.
“I’m thinking it’s time for breakfast,” he responded wryly. She covered her face with her hands, mumbling agreement, laughing self-consciously. Grinning, he stroked her hair,
“It’s okay, because…” without warning he jerked the sheet up and dove under the blanket to kiss her bare stomach, “…I love your noisy stomach too,” Willow shrieked and batted at his head under the sheet,
“Hey! You leave my noisy stomach alon-Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise A surprise that quickly melted into a deep purr of pleasure. That was most definitely NOT her stomach.
“I guess we can postpone breakfast a little longer,” she breathlessly conceded. Biting her lower lip in amusement, she yanked the covers over her head. Much giggling and various other happy noises ensued.
Finally, Dusk emerged from the back, clad only in a pair of black jeans and the bandages still on his back. Quietly, he padded into the shop area and smack dab into the outskirts of an argument,
“I’m telling you B, there was something fishy going on with the skipper and his ‘little buddy,” he heard Faith declare. He heard Buffy snort in disbelief,
“You’re deeply disturbed Faith, you know that right?” he heard Buffy respond, “There was absolutely NOTHING going on between Gilligan and the Skipper. Gilligan was lusting over Ginger. Anyone with half a brain could see that!” Dusk sighed relieved, while chances were the slayers were far from being bosom buddies, they did seem to be on the road to reconciliation. He stepped into full view of the two, who were seated in front of a small black and white T.V., which was displaying, not surprisingly, a rerun of “Gilligans Island”. They turned to him with nearly identical looks of deep amusement.
“Morning,” he responded cheerfully, Buffy snorted and got to her feet, walking over to him,
“Try ‘mid-afternoon’ there bro,” she grinned at him, “Busy night?” Dusk got a stupid looking grin on his face,
“Well…” he rubbed a hand up and down the back of his neck and didn’t meet her gaze, his face coloring slightly; Buffy grinned in glee, sharing a moment of sibling confidence,
“You animal!” she exclaimed laughing, Dusk placed a hand over his face,
“She started it,” he mumbled through his hand as way of defense, Buffy laughed and patted Dusks’ arm,
“Sure she did,” she humored him. Dusk glared at her, chuckling,
“There is coffee somewhere here, right?” he asked, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. Buffy nodded,
“Right there over on the hotplate,” she pointed as Dusk made a desperate lurch for the pot of instant cure-all.
“Thank God,” he muttered pouring himself a lukewarm mug full and taking a long pull from the cup, Buffy just shook her head, mock disapprovingly,
“We really need to talk about this caffeine dependency of yours, Alec, it’s not healthy,” Without stopping to put the cup down, Alec gave her the hairy eyeball as he nosily drained the contents of the cup and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Bringing the mug down slowly away from his face, he extended a finger on the other hand, pointing accusingly at the slayer,
“This,” he swallowed, “ coming from the woman who, last month, pulled an all-nighter fighting Tockra demons and then decided to drink an entire pot of espresso so she could be coherent enough to take a final exam, only to wind up having to run to the bathroom every fifteen minutes?” Faith laughed at this,
“Way to get in touch with your inner Starbucks there, B,” Buffy shot her a nasty look,
“Faith, go back to concocting homoerotic relationships between fictional characters, okay?” Still chuckling, Faith turned her attention back to the T.V. and continued watching her show. Smiling amused, Dusk shot a confused look around the room,
“Speaking of interesting characters, where IS everyone?” He inquired, Buffy counted off on her fingers,
“Spike and Angel headed back to Spikes’ place to wait out the day, Giles went back to his house to check on my mother and Dawn, also he’s planning on stopping at the Campus Science lap, see if he can’t get his hands on a microscope so we can take a closer look at those parasite thingies we pulled out of your back,” Buffy made a face then continued, “And Xander and Anya snuck out of here around five this morning, I’m guessing to go back to Xanders’ place,” she shot him an insinuating glance, “my guess is it had something to do with that bag of goodies he picked up at the drug store last night,”
Dusk snorted, “No bet,” he replied dryly. Buffy smirked and headed over to a table with a large plastic bag on it, she held it up for Dusk to see,
“Here’s a change of clothes,” she sat the bag down, and walked back over to Dusk, “let’s take a look at those wounds huh?”
“Yeah. Okay,” Dusk put the drained coffee mug down as he turned his back to Buffy; she bent over and examined the bandage then looked up at him,
“How do you want this: slow or quick?” Dusk frowned,
“What are yo-” without warning, Buffy tore the bandage off in one swift motion, Dusk swallowed a scream and squeezed his eyes shut, “Thanks sis, that was…cool,” he gasped in a strained voice, opening and closing his suddenly teary eyes a few times, exhaling hard,
“That’ll wake you up in the morning,” he commented dryly with a shaky smile, Buffy chuckled and studied the freshly healed skin. The wound had all but vanished.
“Well, you look good to go,” she straightened and smiled mischievously at him, “Willow must really have the healing touch,” Dusk nodded emphatically,
“And how.” he replied, smiling and scratching at the newly healed flesh, Buffy swatted at his hand,
“Don’t pick at it, it’ll never heal,” Dusk regarded her as if she had gone insane,
“Uh, it’s already healed there sis,” Buffy shrugged,
“I know. I’ve just always wanted to say that,” she smiled and patted his arm before stuffing the bag of clothes against his chest. He took the bag stoically, giving her a patient look. Gingerly he pulled out on a black t-shirt, which he quickly pulled on and then removed a folded black duster from the bag. He smiled,
“Good old Dad, doesn’t forget a thing,” putting the duster aside, he padded back to the backroom door and knocked,
“Lover? You up and about?” a groggy voice answered,
“You’re not coming back into this room, unless you’re bearing coffee,” the voice growled at him. Buffy laughed and went to pour another cup; Dusk took it gratefully from her, trying his best not to ignore the barely constrained laughter in her face. He smiled sheepishly,
“She’s not a morning person,” he offered as an explanation,
“COFFEE!” the voice on the other side demanded, promising dire repercussions if her wishes were not carried out. Starting a little, Dusk opened the door just enough for a slender white arm to snatch the coffee mug from his grasp and close the door in his face, he turned back to Buffy whose shoulders were heaving silently with laughter.
“She’s really NOT a morning person,” he reiterated. Buffy burst out laughing,
“Obviously,” she smirked and gave him a sympathetic look, before her eyes wandered down to his feet “good luck getting your shoes,” she added sardonically. Dusk looked down at his bare feet and groaned,
“Thanks,” he responded dourly, girding himself, he knocked on the door tentatively, “uh…honey?”
“Further negotiations will ensue only with a steady infusion of java products,” Willow called through the door. The door opened and the white arm reappeared dropping the now-empty coffee mug into Dusks’ hands. The hand made a gesture of dismissal before retreating back into the room and closing the door. At this point Buffy was howling with laughter, earning her nasty looks from Faith, who was still trying to figure out just what were the implications between a large man calling a smaller man his ‘little buddy’.
Ten minutes, (and two or three cups of coffee later) a fully clothed Dusk, sat at a table talking with Buffy, Faith, Willow and his father, who had just gotten back. He’d set the Summers’ women up in a fairly nice motel about a block from here. So in case there were any further attempts on Dawn, they could reach them quickly. He also had hung a sign on the front door of the store, claiming that it was closed for the day for cleaning.
Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them, “I must say, Alec, Dawn was really quite upset when I told her you weren’t quite up and about this morning,” he replaced the glasses upon his face, and pushed them up onto the bridge of his nose, “I daresay your heroism last night left quite an impression on the young woman,” he finished with a look of paternal amusement. Dusk shrugged uncomfortably, and threw Buffy a look, who was pouring over some sort of demonology book,
“It’s a phase, it’ll pass,” he mumbled. Willow took this opportunity to look up from her laptop and tease him,
“Hmmm, maybe I have competition then? Perhaps I’ll just have to turn her into something icky,” she made a face. Even though Dusk was fully aware that she was joking, a rush of…something filled him and he gritted his teeth to keep from barking out an angry retort,
“Some other time, all right dear?” he tried to quip lightly. Willow smiled unaware and went back to the translation program she was working on in order to translate the book Dusk had gotten from the Mayors office. He turned his attention back to his father,
“I’ve got a bit of a radical suggestion,” Dusk put forth. Giles frowned and listened intently,
“I think that Buffy and I should go down into the sewers and try to track this thing, if we can get rid of it, everyone will be a lot safer,” Dusk proposed. Giles shook his head,
“That’s terribly risky, Alec, in close quarters like that, and given the fact that we have no idea what it is that attacked you,”
“Oh yes we do,” Buffy interrupted. Hoisting the book up, she placed it down for all to see, pointing to an illustration of a creature made of slime and rotted vegetation,
“That’s what played Santa Claus of the sewer at my place last night, I knew I’d
seen a picture of it somewhere, “ Giles leaned forward to study the description,
“A…golobulan,” he read frowning, “it says here that a golobulan is a greater servant of the forces of rot or decay. They’re also known as ‘Abominations of Golobulus,” Buffy frowned,
“Who or what is Golobulus?” she asked. Giles put a finger to his lips thoughtfully, before rising from his chair and scanning a bookshelf searching,
“I know I have it somewh-A-ha!” he exclaimed as he pulled down a large tome, carrying it back to the table, he deposited into the center. Buffy leaned over to study the title,
“ ‘Codex Borbonicus?” she read the title and looked up at him frowning. Giles opened the massive book as he explained,
“The art of the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas sometimes included something called a codex which was a manuscript on which they illustrated stories, usually of religious or cultural significance,”
“Like those illustrated kids bibles they have at Sunday school?” Faith asked. Four pairs of eyes lifted in unison to regard her in stunned disbelief, “What?” she demanded, “I was raised in Boston, bible-thumper capital of New England, I did a brief stint as a catholic school girl,” she clarified defensively. Dusk and Willow went back to paying attention to Giles, Buffy was still having trouble wrapping her mind around that little tidbit of information. Giles found the page he was looking for and gestured to it, continuing,
“This page here,” he pointed to a large illustration, “shows the Aztec gods Tezcalipoca,” he pointed to large man with green and red feathers, “and Quetzalcoatl, in the form of a green serpent devouring a man, here,” he pointed to large green snake eating a man, Buffy leaned in to get a better look and made a face,
“That looks unpleasant,” she turned to shoot Faith a look, “remind you of any former employers, Sunday school girl?” Faith snorted and ignored the comment, Giles resumed,
“It’s been put forth by anthropologists that stories such as the one recorded here may relate the importance of human sacrifice in Aztec religion, as well as to the Aztec legend that Quetzalcoatl, the exiled god, would one day return to rule the Aztec people."
“Okay, now for the sixty-four thousand dollar question,” Buffy asked, “was Quetzalcoatl a nice little deity that loved and cherished his followers and wanted nothing more than peace and love in the world or was he ‘other’?” Dusk snorted,
“Given the fact that this shows him eating a guy, I’m leaning towards ‘other’,” Dusk interposed. Giles nodded not really paying attention to the sibling byplay,
“Actually some historians believe that the whole story of Quetzalcoatl is based on the exile from Tula of a priest-king also named Quetzalcoatl in the 10th century,” Giles leaned back in his chair thoughtfully, “it was rumored that Quetzalcoatl was exiled for practicing forbidden rites and communion with unnatural powers,”
“Like this Golobulus?” Buffy asked, Giles nodded,
“Precisely, after his banishment in the 10th century, Quetzalcoatl headed north, into what would later be California. Once there he assembled a cult of followers and began preaching the teachings of Golobulus.” Buffy sighed,
“I know I’m going to regret asking this, but what was Golobulus associated with? What was his thing?”
“Rot. Corruption. Decay, both physical and spiritual,” Giles replied instantly. Buffy sighed again,
“I knew I was going to be sorry,” she responded glumly. Dusk jumped in,
“Hang on,” he turned to Buffy, “do you remember, just before that thing showed up, that weird smell?” Buffy nodded slightly,
“Yeah like gas or methane,” she looked up at Giles suddenly, “Isn’t methane caused by stuff rotting?” Giles nodded,
“Yes, during the stages of decomposition of organic matter, methane is released,” he turned to Buffy, “you actually paid attention in Biology, Buffy?” Buffy ignored him and turned to Dusk continuing,
“And when I hit it with the Christmas lights, it lit up like the forth of July,” she added.
“You did douse it in kerosene first, but still, that wouldn’t attribute it exploding like it did,” Dusk replied thoughtfully. Buffy nodded,
“Yeah it went up like a big, rotten flambé” she turned back to Giles, “so this is what, some kind of ancient Aztec god we’re dealing with?” she asked incredulously. Giles shook his head,
“I don’t think so, remember what Dracula said regarding the Hellmouth? He told us that it had spread its roots through far into ground. Maybe it spread all the way into central Mexico and what Quetzalcoatl encountered was a portion of the Hellmouth. Perhaps that’s what he dubbed as Golobulus and built his religion around.”
“Why go to all the trouble of attracting new followers, when with a little song and dance, you can snag existing ones?” Dusk shook his head, “Clever,”
“Diabolically so,” Giles agreed.
“So let me get this straight,” Faith started, “This guy Quetza-whatever runs into something he thinks is this god of rot Golobulus, but actually is the Hellmouth. He starts worshipping it, he gets caught and booted out, and he heads up to sunny California and starts it all over again?” she finished, looking a little pale. “This is one twisted M.F.”
Giles frowned,
“ ‘M.F?” he queried. Faith turned to him,
“Yeah Rup, one twisted motherfu-“
“Faith!” Buffy interrupted, “rhank you, we get it,” turning back to Giles. “So after this Quetzalcoatl got his little cult together, only this time closer to the Hellmouth’s home turf. What happened next?” Giles cleared his throat and continued to read,
“Well it says here, that he and his followers engaged in several profane acts: including human sacrifice, ritualistic torture, bodily mutilation, visceral interc-“
“We get it, Dad,” Dusk interrupted, “Sick bad man,” he exhaled, “so what happened to them?” Giles shook his head,
“It doesn’t say, just that sometime in the early 11th century, Quetzalcoatl and his followers were wiped out. No one knows by who or how,” he shook his head, puzzled.
“Uh guys?” Willow chimed in, she’d been silent through the whole discussion, “I think I can help you with that,” the others rose from their seats and huddled around Willow's computer screen, she gestured to it, “I just got done translating the book that Alec got. It wasn’t written by pilgrims, it was written by-“
“The order of San Miguel,” Giles finished, leaning closer to the screen peering at it intently, Willow looked at him slightly miffed,
“I was going to say that,” she said, her voice laced with wounded pride. Dusk chuckled and kissed her head,
“Good work luv, you get a cookie,” Willow swiped at him lightly with her hand,
“Well I WAS,” she pouted. Still chuckling, Dusk turned to his father,
“So, who were the order of San Miguel?” he asked. Giles turned to him,
“The order of Saint Michael, who incidentally, wasn’t a saint, but the archangel of, amongst many things, battle. Christian theology claims that it was he who cast Lucifer out of heaven during Lucifer’s war on God,”
“ ‘Now war arose in heaven,” Faith began to quote, “Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole earth--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Book of Revelations, chapter twelve verses seven to nine,” she finished and noticed again the stares of shock she was receiving. Shrugging she simply stated, “My Sunday school teacher was a Harvard hottie so I was big on class attendance,” she offered as an explanation. Shaking her head in wonder, Buffy chuckled,
“If he was such a hottie, why’d you stop going?” Faith held up two fingers,
“Two things. One,” she counted off on her fingers, “I hit puberty and two, a little thing called a vow of chastity,” she sighed wistfully, “which is a shame really. I’ve heard that priests are great on their knees,” Faith added with a wicked grin. Buffy closed her eyes,
“Scarred for life. Thank you Faith,” she sighed and turned to Dusk, who was nearly delirious with laughter at this time,
“Priests! ‘Good on their knees!’” he gasped through streaming eyes, “Oh lord if I live to be a thousand, may I never forget that one,” reaching over and slapped the still-grinning Faith a high-five,” Willow looked up at him,
“I’m not sure I totally get it,” she ventured mildly. Gasping for air, Dusk put a hand on her shoulder,
“I’ll clue you in later, sweetheart, let’s get back to the matter at hand,” he composed himself and cautiously regarded his father, who was looking at them all with a mixture of disbelief and stern disapproval. Dusk immediately turned back to the computer screen, but not before flashing Faith another appreciative grin. Giles cleared his throat, and glaring at each of them in turn, continued,
“Yes well. The order of Saint Michael, were crusaders. Holy warriors, paladins I suppose, Very strong, very fierce. They traveled around the world battling enemies of the church but unlike those who fought in the Holy Crusades,” Giles held up a finger, “the order of Saint Michael slew only humans that were completely devoted to the service of otherworldly evil or such creatures as demons and vampires,” he shook his head, “they were not interested in converting other cultures, like most of the church’s followers were. They simply, hunted down and destroyed infernal creatures. Now the history is a little sketchy but it says here,” he pointed to the computer screen, “that the order broke away from the church completely near the end of the Forth Crusade after the sacking on Constantinople in 1204,” Buffy frowned,
“Wait a minute, if these guys were such bad-ass priests, why would they ditch the church?” she asked puzzled. Giles shook his head,
“Perhaps their code of conduct could no longer condone the church’s actions during those centuries of war,” he straightened. “I can only theorize, but it’s not unreasonable to believe that the Order came to regard the church as a corrupt institution after they sacked their own city, more interested in increasing its base of power than protecting its followers from demonic forces,” Willow scoffed,
“Yeah imagine the church only looking out for its best interests and not caring who got burned at the stake along the way,” she declared bitterly. Four pairs of eyes turned to regard her curiously, she blushed,
“Sorry, witchy prejudices at work here,” she looked over at Giles, “continue please,” Giles resumed,
“In any case, it says here that the Order of Saint Michael followed a code called Via Caeli, which roughly translates into “Road of Heaven,” he gestured to the screen, “Apparently, this code taught them that it was not only their obligation, but their holy duty to combat the forces of evil. And it would seem they were very, very good at their job,”
“Pretty hard to fight fanatics, especially the ones that come equipped with equal parts brains and fervor,” Dusk pointed out, Giles nodded in agreement.
“So what happened? The God squad ran into our boys from Mexico and proceeded to lay the smackdown on them?” Buffy quipped. Giles nodded slowly,
“It would appear so. See, unlike the rest of the church, they did not believe that sorcery and witchcraft was inherently evil, but rather a tool that could be used for either noble or sinister purposes,”
“Yay for the order of Saint Michael!” Willow cheered. Dusk smiled and stroked her head,
“In any case,” Giles continued, “the order, apparently, was skilled at more than just combat. Sorcery, herbalism, alchemy, even some very basic astronomy and metaphysiology, they were scholars as well as warriors. It also states that most of them were highly skilled in the medicinal arts. They often served as healers or apothecaries during times of disease. It says here that in cases of leprosy, an acolyte of St. Michael, using a combination of medical knowledge and laying on hands could cure a person afflicted with leprosy.”
“Laying on hands?” Buffy asked, confused.
“Faith healing, B,” Faith chimed in.
OH. Buffy mouthed shaking her head in disbelief at Faith’s newest insight, before turning back to Giles.
“Out of curiosity, Dad,” Dusk jumped in, “How was the order founded?” Giles frowned as he focused on the screen,
“Well, it’s impossible to get a completely accurate answer. The legends range from, a saint with divine power, to a knight who received visions, to the actual archangel himself handpicking people and training them,” Faith whistled low,
“How do I sign up for THAT program?” she asked wryly. Giles shook his head,
“Apparently you don’t,” he pointed to the screen, “there’s no mention of the order after the thirteenth century. All it says is that, sometime in the mid-thirteenth century, the entire order mobilized to confront an evil. An evil that had no name. An evil that resided-” he stopped, his eyes wide in disbelief, “Good lord,” he whispered.
“What, what is it?” Buffy demanded. Dusk read aloud,
“The entire order mobilized to confront an unspeakable evil that resided La Boca de la inferno.” He turned and looked at her gravely,
“In the mouth of Hell,” he finished, his tone grim.
“The Hellmouth,” Giles breathed, “The order attempted to destroy the Hellmouth,”
“And they were never heard from again,” Willow put in, “Okay, it’s official: I’m having a wiggins,” Dusk placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, but he too, was filled with dread.
Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, “they were no less than five score that went to face the beast,” he read, “it says here there was only one survivor, a young knight, named Esperanza,” he turned back to the group, “The order considered the sexes equal under the eyes of God, and thus had both women and men serving within their ranks,” he offered. There was no reply and he sighed and continued reading,
“It says here that she was driven mad from her experience. Accounts are a little sketchy, but apparently, she spent her last remaining days in a madhouse, raving about,” he leaned in closer to study the text, “A, quote, ‘cathedral of flesh, and beasts that grew in the belly of the dragon’, end quote” he shook his head, “and then she cut her wrists and scrawled some sort of message in her own blood before dying,” Buffy swallowed audibly,
“Nice.” She croaked, “ Any idiot can use a fountain pen, but in your own blood, that’s really something,” she joked weakly.
“What were her last words?” Dusk asked quietly. Giles took a long time before he responded,
“Her last words were ‘In Vita. In Vita et Digestium en Carne de la Terra.’”
Buffy closed her eyes, “Which means?”
“ ‘It lives. It lives to devour the meat of the world.”
A long silence passed,
“Isn’t anyone else wigged?” Willow asked.
“Yes,” came all four voices in unison.
“Good,” Willow mumbled quietly, “I didn’t want to be the only one,”
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