THE BOOK OF DAYS
‘Bottom line is, even if you seen’em coming, you’re not ready for the big moments. So what are we? Helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come - you can’t help that. It’s what you do afterwards that counts. That’s when you find out who you are. You’ll see what I mean.’
Whistler, ‘Becoming I’
Part One: The Suspect
‘You have a suspect in custody?’ Agent Fox Mulder looked up from the crime scene photos he had been studying. Beside him, his partner was rolling off a pair of examination gloves that were lightly smeared with blood. She surveyed the young woman laid out on the autopsy tray before them one last time, then nodded to the morgue assistant and turned to join her partner.
‘Ahh...yeah - a female, seventeen.’ The detective handed Mulder a thin dossier, then crossed the room, obviously trying to put as much distance between himself and the corpse as possible. ‘Two priors, arson and minor assault. Neither went to court, just got herself a warning. School records say she’s trouble, as does the headmaster. The whole situation is strange though. There appears to be no motive, nothing concrete. We don’t even know who this girl is.’ He waved his hand in the general direction of the body that was now covered with a sheet. ‘Then the other girl - the one who was injured - wakes up and starts spouting about vampires and demons and angels. Asking us for help. The boy wasn’t much better. More vampire stuff. Now I wouldn’t normally pay any credence to it all, but......I have a cousin on the LAPD who worked on a vampire-type case a few years back, the year of the fires, y’know? So I give him a call, just to see what he thinks, see if they’ve had any problems with those goddamn vampire cults recently, and he gives me your name. Lucky thing you and your partner were only in L.A.’
His monologue finished, the detective folded his arms and leant back against the morgue bench, looking at Mulder expectantly. The agent turned to his partner.
‘All done?’
‘I’ve done as much of an examination as I can without opening her up for a full autopsy. But I’m pretty sure I can tell you what killed her. The neck wound is the only sign of trauma on her except for some patches of bruising on both knees and a scar on her chest. The bruising looks to be at least a couple of weeks old, and the scar she probably received as a child, judging by the degree of healing. Nothing recent. Just a single slash to the carotid artery, which looks like it was done with some sort of serrated or blunt blade - it’s a ragged cut.’
‘So she died from arterial trauma - blood loss?’ He peeled back the sheet and took a close look at the young woman’s left arm, then returned the sheet to its resting place.
‘That’s my current opinion, yes.’ Dana Scully looked up at her partner. ‘I can tell by the look on your face that you don’t agree.’
‘If she bleed to death, then where’s all the blood?’ He held out the photos. ‘Look at that first photo. There’s a small pool under the victim’s head, but surely not enough to come from an arterial wound of that size. Wouldn’t a cut like that cause massive, high pressure bleeding that could conceivably travel several feet?’
Detective Simons shifted uncomfortably. ‘There was nothing done at the scene before that photo was taken. They’ve only just begun the cleanup, the site hasn’t been fully detailed yet. So far, only the removal of the body and the two injured kids have been taken to Mercy. That’s it.’
Scully frowned ‘You’re right. There should be more blood. A lot more. I think I’d like to see the crime scene while the authorisation for a autopsy goes through. Is that alright with you, Detective?’
‘And I want to talk to the three kids,’ Mulder began ‘there’s a lot more to this than meets the eye.’
‘Well, you can start on the suspect. Detective Daniels hasn’t got anything out of her. The other two are still up at the hospital - will be for a few days by the look of them. The girl has some suspected head injuries, the boy has a nasty compound fracture of the arm - it’s broken in three places. They’ve got him doped up, he’s not going to be much good for a while.’
‘Where’s the suspect?’ Mulder sounded impatient.
‘In an interview room upstairs with Daniels and the girl’s mother. She won’t talk. Could be shock, I’ve seen’em like that before.’
‘What’s the young lady’s name?
‘Buffy. Buffy Summers. Follow me.’
###
Dana Scully ducked under the cordon that was strung across the library entrance. The double doors had been pegged back, and even in the hallway she had been able to hear raised voices coming from the crime scene. One was shrill, almost hysterical, young, and female. The other was also female, but older, and appreciably more calm. Coming more fully into the room, Scully was able to see the two speakers, along with a large group of people dusting for fingerprints, sorting through the materials on the large library tables, and measuring distances from objects to other points, which were duly being noted down.
‘Oh god....what happened...Oh I don’t know Xander told me to run and I did and there was no one there and I thought oh god oh god oh I’ll go and get Buffy because they’re hurt and there’s too many..’ the young woman covered her face with her hands.
The blonde policewoman was obviously trying to settle the girl down, to little avail. She continued to moan behind her hands. The cop reached for her forearm and he girl startled, wide eyed, framed by a curtain of dark hair.
‘Where are they!?!’ She looked straight at the policewoman. ‘I was so scared and I took the car and I went to the graveyard but Buffy wasn’t there. I couldn’t find her. I think Angel killed her. I think he did...oh my god... I saw him but I hid and he didn’t see me I couldn’t move I just hid....’
‘Excuse me.’ Scully flipped her badge in the direction of the policewoman. ‘Dana Scully. Special Agent, F.B.I. May I talk to this young lady?’
The woman looked harassed ‘She’s all yours, Ma’am. Please take her away. I’m just forensics squad. We really don’t need this right now. I radioed through to the base but no one has turned up yet and I don’t know what to do with her’
‘She just needs to sit down for a while. Miss? Will you come out into the hallway with me?’
The girl choked, then nodded. Scully passed a handkerchief to her and led her out to a chair in the hallway. She waited a few minutes before squatting to the girl’s level.
‘Now, take a deep breath in. And out. Just keep breathing slowly like that. That’s it. Okay. Can I ask you some questions?’
Another nod. The girl’s sobbing subsided a little.
‘Okay. Firstly, what’s your name?’
‘Cor..Cordelia. Cordelia Chase’
‘Where you in the library this evening?’
A nod.
‘Now, I overheard something you said. Were you talking about Buffy Summers?’
Another dumb nod, and then the girl looked up, stricken. ‘I couldn’t find her. I think Angel killed her.’
‘Buffy Summers is alive.’ The girl’s face did not change. ‘Cordelia? She’s alive. She’s in police custody. She’s safe.’
‘Xander...where’s Xander?’
Scully flicked through the manila folder that Mulder had given her. ‘Ah...yes, here it is. An Alexander Harris and a Willow Rosenburg were taken to Mercy Hospital about six hours ago.’
‘Are they alright? Xander’s not dead? Can I see him?’
‘Well, I haven’t been told much about their condition, but I do know that he has a broken arm. I think they’re both fine. Now, Cordelia, I need you to tell me what happened here this evening. The best place for us to do that is down at the police station. Will you come with me?’
‘The police station.’ The girl seemed to snap out of her panic. ‘The police station. Yes. Do you have a mirror I can borrow? Oh! I need to call home. They might be worried about me. Oh god..’
‘No, I’m sorry, I don’t, but there’ll be one in the car. There will be a phone at the station. Now can you just sit here for a minute while I talk to my partner?’ Scully rose from her kneeling position at the girl’s side, knee joints popping. Cordelia nodded quickly, much more in control of herself than before although it was obvious she was still very - desperately - afraid.
Scully rounded the corner, hopefully out of earshot of the frightened teenager, and pressed speed dial.
The phone rang only once before it was picked up. ‘Mulder.’
‘Mulder, it’s me.’
She heard a muffled movement in the background, and then her partner saying away from the phone ‘I have to take this.’ A different voice further away answered something unintelligible. Then ‘Interview suspended at 2.11am. Take a break everyone.’ A click of a door closing.
‘Scully. What have you got?’
‘A witness from the scene, another high school student by the looks of it. She’s in a bad way, in shock. I’m bringing her in to the station right now, but she may need a trip to the hospital. She seemed to think that Miss Summers had been killed, but not at the scene. She’s talking about angels too. I’m not sure what to make of all this. Anything at your end?’
‘She didn’t do it, Scully. I have this really strong feeling about it. She hasn’t said anything yet, but I know she didn’t. It just doesn’t add up.’
‘Well, I don't think a 'strong feeling' is going to be enough to clear her, Mulder, but for once I agree with you. It’s starting to sound like she wasn’t even there when the murder occurred. I think you should tell Miss Summers that not all her friends are dead. If she won't talk to you it maybe because she fears we think she killed them.’
‘Okay. That sounds reasonable. That might get something more out of her. I want to get rid of her mother, I’m sensing that she won’t talk with her there......How long will you be?'
'As quick as I can - maybe half an hour?'
'Okay Scully - hey, be careful out there.'
She depressed the end button and walked back to where Cordelia was seated, staring blankly ahead, fingers compulsively pushing back her cuticles.
###
Mulder replaced his cell in his inner pocket. The hall of the police centre was abandoned in the early morning hour, and the echoing silence of the place reminded him of just how early it was. He leaned back against the wall and rubbed thoughtfully at his chin, where more than a day’s growth of scratchy beard had appeared. He supposed he didn’t really look very much like a professional G-man, and with that thought in his mind, decided to try a different approach.
When he returned to the interview room, he turned the chair around backwards and swung himself onto it. The deputy sergeant had not returned to the room, so he ignored the recorder and simply placed his case folder neatly in front of him.
‘I staked a vampire once,’ he said conversationally, not looking at either of the women in the room. ‘Of course, it didn’t die - something to do with technique, maybe - but I didn’t find that out until later. My partner was not happy.’
The older woman looked at him the way Skinner did when he, rather than Scully, had done that month’s expense report. He was not, however, watching for her response. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl freeze, then an almost imperceptible shift of her eyes toward him. She was watching, waiting.
He opened the file. ‘I have been advised to tell you that Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris are being treated for injuries at Sunnydale Mercy Hospital. Miss Rosenburg has a severe concussion after being knocked unconscious and they are checking her for head injuries. Mr Harris has a badly broken arm and various other injuries, consistent with being in a nasty fight. Neither of them have been much help in the investigation so far.’
Joyce Summers reacted to this information with horror. ‘And you think Buffy had something to do with this? With hurting her _best_friends_? No. This can’t be happening.’
‘Mrs Summers, how old is your daughter?’
‘Seventeen. What does that have to do with...with this?’ she asked waving her hand vaguely towards the rest of the room. Neither mother nor daughter would meet the other’s eyes.
‘I was wondering if you would consent to letting me question Buffy alone. This is standard procedure in a federal case, although I realise that Buffy has not been charged with anything at this stage.’
‘No. No way.’
‘Mom..’ The girl moved in her chair and spoke for the first time. ‘Mom, it’s okay. It’s okay if you go.’
‘Buffy.’ Joyce looked on the edge of panic. ‘How could you not want me here?’
‘Because you’re wigging out, Mom. I think it would be better if I talked to um..Mr Mulder by myself. I swear.’ She finally looked straight at her mother, lower lip trembling ‘I need to know if Willow and Xander and Cordy and Giles are alright. Will you go to the hospital? Please?’
After so long in the interview room holding her face closed and impassive, the teenager was now unable to keep her emotions under control. She burst into tears, brushing them quickly from her face as she cried, obviously unwilling to let the two adults see the display. ‘Please Mom...I need to know. I didn’t hurt them. Please.’
Joyce Summers stood up from her chair and knelt beside her daughter, enfolding Buffy in her arms. ‘I’ll go. And I’ll be right back. I’ll have my cell phone with me. Anything - you ring. Okay?’
The girl nodded. Already she was getting her expression under control. As her mother crossed to the door she pulled her chair up to the table. The door clicked softly behind Joyce and Mulder turned his attention fully onto the teenager in front of him.
He was about to speak but she beat him to it.
‘Okay. How did you know?’
‘Know?’
‘That I’m the slayer.’
He looked up, startled. ‘I didn’t.’
‘Then what was the alienating my Mom bit?’
‘The girl who died...’
‘Kendra.’
Mulder wrote the name down, having to will the cursive from his tired, aching hand.
‘Kendra carried a mark I recognised. I study the paranormal, and my partner and I investigate paranormal cases for the F.B.I. She has the mark of the slayer - I was surprised because the last mention of the slayer in the old records I have access to was in 1898, in France. Maria Du Pont was widely reputed to be the last slayer.’
‘I guess we went underground. It’s me now. Me and Kendra. Was me and Kendra.’ She looked down at her hands.
‘Two slayers? But I thought......’
‘I died. I died and Xander CPR’d me back again. Giles said I must have been dead just long enough for Kendra to become slayer.’
‘Giles?’
‘My Watcher.’
The clock in the corner of the room was ticking uncomfortably loudly. Mulder pushed his chair backwards, swivelled it, and sat down again.
‘Miss Summers? Who killed Kendra? Why did they kill Kendra?’
She was silent a moment, and looked down. ‘Miss Summers?’
‘I guess...an attack party. Vampires. Willow and Giles were performing a ritual, a restoration ritual to restore the soul of a vampire that killed...that has been killing..many here. They sent me out to fight him in case it didn’t work. He must have known..he must have sent others to attack them. It was all a set-up...’ Mulder was a little startled when she looked up and purposefully caught his eye. ‘I know how it sounds. I don’t expect you to believe me.’
‘Did you kill Kendra?’
‘No.’
‘Why would this...attack party kill Kendra and leave the others.’
‘Because she would have fought hardest. She wouldn’t have let anything happen to the others if she was still alive. I left her there to protect them, in case something happened. I shouldn’t have left.’
‘How many people were in the library when you left?’
‘Um...Willow, Xander, Kendra....Giles and Cordy. Cordelia. Five.’
‘Okay. Cordelia - she’s your age?’ Buffy nodded. ‘Alright. I believe my partner has her and is bringing her to the station now. The first two you mentioned are at the hospital, Kendra we know about. That makes four out of five people who were at the scene accounted for.’
Buffy’s voice was grim ‘Giles is missing. And there’s something else...’
###
The station was so quiet Scully became unusually aware of the clicking of her heels as she made her way down the darkened corridor towards the interview room. Expecting the bustle of a small-town murder man-hunt, the F.B.I agent had been underwhelmed at the response to the new witness. Only the duty officer had greeted her, explaining that the investigation team not at the murder scene had ‘gone home to get some sleep’. He had been amused at her surprised reaction - ‘Ma’am, I think you’ll find single murders like this are fairly routine around here - we’ve got some fairly nasty transient elements come down from L.A.’ and had simply pointed out the payphone to Cordelia and the direction of the interview room to her, then settled back down with his GQ magazine.
She decided to find Mulder before demanding to see the investigation head. The clock had ticked around to four a.m and she was uncharacteristically reluctant to create a stir. There was something about this strange little town that pressed heavily on her. With Cordelia finished on the phone, she had settled the teenager in a small holding lounge with a cup of coffee and had set off to find Mulder.
Finding interview room 2A, she flicked the peephole over and peered in to see her partner seated at the interview table, his face a mask of concentration, looking at someone she was unable to see from her vantage point. She knocked and entered.
Mulder rose to his feet, obviously glad to see her. The person he had been listening to whirled around at her entrance and she found herself face to face with a slim blonde girl who stood no taller than she did. The girl’s face showed signs of exhaustion. Her eye makeup was smudged and her hair wild and she glared at Scully with sudden hostility that faded away as she took in Mulder’s response to the newcomer. The tension seemed to drain out of her body and she dropped her subconsciously assumed fighting stance. All of a sudden she looked very young and Scully felt her sympathies rise. Firmly she pushed them down again and addressed her partner.
‘Mulder, I’m sorry I took so long to get back. One of the forensics squad waylaid me as I was leaving. I’ve got our witness in one of the lounges, but I want to know what’s going on here! All the detectives have left - only the duty officer was here to let us in. What the hell is happening with this investigation? Can I please talk to you outside? Right now!’
Mulder stretched out a hand, palm up. ‘Wait a minute, Scully. First things first. Dana Scully, meet Buffy Summers. Buffy, my partner, Dr Scully.’ The two women looked at each other briefly before Scully rounded on her partner again. Mulder interrupted her.
‘What is the name of the girl you’ve brought in?’
‘Her name is Cordelia Chase.’
Buffy exhaled sharply. ‘Thank God. Can I go and see her?’ She threw Mulder a look full of mute appeal.
‘Scully will bring her here and you can see each other while we talk.’
‘Mulder...’ Scully’s voice was a warning growl. ‘I shouldn’t let you do this.’
‘She didn’t do it Scully, and we currently have two more pressing matters to worry about. There was a man at the scene of the crime who is currently missing and possibly in extreme danger, and secondly, the world may be about to be sucked into hell unless we act very quickly.’
His partner looked up at him and realising he wasn’t joking, thinned her lips and shook her head before turning away.
###
‘Mulder! You are being played!’ Fox Mulder could not recall the last time his partner was quite so angry with him. Despite his best efforts he could feel his own ire rising to match hers and it was becoming more of a struggle for them to keep their voices down so that the girls in the next room could not hear them.
The teenagers had initially greeted each other quietly, but Cordelia had quickly become overwhelmed at the thought of her ordeal and had broken into fresh tears. Buffy, relatively undemonstrative towards the girl despite her relief at seeing her unharmed, had deigned to give Cordelia a quick hug, but was obviously more interested at the information her friend could provide. As they entered the interview room, Mulder heard Buffy say ‘A desperate situation and they take away Giles and leave me you! Well, no one said they were stupid.’ Cordelia sobbed noisily.
He had explained to Scully what he had gleaned from the blonde girl so far, wincing internally as her face took on a look of disbelief that quickly set into anger. The details of vampires and stone demons and imminent apocalypse had immediately turned Scully off and now he could tell she was thinking only of her reaction to him rather than what he had actually said, and he too was getting angry.
‘Scully - I just _don’t_ think this is a straightforward murder. What reason would she have to lie?’
‘Maybe because she did it!’
‘Is that what you think? Despite the fact that you have a witness - make that three witnesses, those kids in hospital are raring to get up and out of there and clear her name - who say she didn’t do it! Just two hours ago you didn’t think she was responsible. And now you are given an alternative you are too close-minded to even consider, and you decide she’s guilty again! For God’s sake, Dana, make up your mind! And do it quickly because we don’t have much time!’
‘Oh my God you believe her.’ Scully turned away, walking slowly away from him. He could hear the resigned sorrow in her voice as she continued. ‘Mulder...sometimes I wonder about you, I really do. It’s obvious to me that we shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have gone back to work so soon after getting out of the psyc. ward. We need to get Simons or Daniels back down here to interview Cordelia...’
‘We can’t. Daniels moved the case to complete federal jurisdiction before he left the station, at my request. I got a 302 faxed in from Skinner at about three o’clock after I faxed him some case details at home. He was up, thank God - the man doesn’t sleep. The case is now officially an X-File.’
‘And you did all this without even consulting me? Mulder....’ Her voice was cold fury and he was glad she didn’t finish what she was going to say. He tried a conciliatory tone.
‘Look, Scully - both girls have confirmed that Rupert Giles, the school librarian, was at the scene when the attack...raid...whatever, took place. He is not at the hospital and he is not answering his phone. We have a missing person. Can we at least agree on that?’
She didn’t answer.
‘Good. I think our first and best course of action is to find him. First, search his apartment. We can take the girls with us, effectively keeping Buffy in custody. When that is done, we will decide what to do next.’
Still no answer. Mulder realised that she was so angry at him she’d moved into her ‘keep out’ silence, a holdover from the middle years of their partnership. ‘Alright, fine. I am taking Buffy and Cordelia to find Mr. Giles. Come if you want. Feel free to sit here and wait and if things go as anticipated the next time we see each other we’ll both have our own personal demon poking us with a pitchfork.’
He strode to the interview room door and pulled it open, allowing Cordelia and Buffy to file out into the corridor.
###
The duty officer completely ignored the foursome as they exited the station. Four thirty, and dawn was still an hour away, the darkness palpably curling around the sparse streetlights. A small chill of fear cut into Scully’s anger as she followed Mulder and the two teenagers at a safe distance towards the nearby commercial carpark. She was too infuriated to allow herself to speak to Mulder, but she had decided to leave with the trio in order to keep an eye not only on the murder suspect, but her wayward partner. And now she found herself jumping at shadows in this strange small town. Mulder was going back to the doctor when they got to D.C. if she had to carry him.
She could just catch the quiet conversation that was going on ahead of her.
‘How far is it to your car?’
‘A block, maybe.’
‘You should park closer. You’ve got no protection.’
Mulder pulled back his suit jacket, revealing his full holster. Beside him, the girl gave an amused snort. ‘That won’t help. Wait.’ She stopped in her tracks, reaching out and placing her hand on Cordelia’s forearm.
‘Buffy?’ Cordelia’s voice had dropped to a whisper and she reached for the cross in her pocket.
‘My spidey sense has kicked in. Not Angel, and not far away. Damn - I’m stakeless. I was searched.’
‘I’ve got one.’ Cordy pulled a sliver of wood from her cleavage. ‘Xander...never mind...’
‘Don’t leave home without it, huh? Not a great example of weaponry, but it’ll do. Now shut up and don’t move.’
She walked a few steps a way from the couple and looked around. Scully, who had stopped herself, saw her close her eyes as if she was concentrating hard, then open them wide, and suddenly began running swiftly towards her. Shocked, Scully took a step back and into something cold and soft and yielding behind her. The pain, when it came, was sudden and she felt herself crumple to the ground.
The blow to the head had only momentarily stunned Scully and from out of the corner of her eye she saw Buffy jump on her assailant. He was a tall man, with shaggy blonde hair and there was something dreadfully wrong with his face. Mulder ran to her side and he and Cordelia dragged her to her feet and away from the fight. The three of them watched in horror as Buffy traded quick blows with the man. He kicked her in the face and she fell, landing on her hands and knees.
‘Nice try.’ She lunged at him from her grounded position, catching his legs and throwing him a good distance along the sidewalk. She got to her feet, then stood her ground as he ran at her. The stake she wielded wasn’t easily visible in the street light and the man ran into it as though it wasn’t even there. He seemed to explode into ash, and Buffy winced, bringing her hand to her stomach as if she was in pain. They watched her as she shrugged.
‘Must be indigestion.’ She walked a few metres down the street, Cordelia following. ‘Are you guys coming, or not?’
Dana Scully watched disbelievingly as the ash drifted slowly to the ground.
###
End of Part One.
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