Red Moon Series, Book 6
Frau Hunter Ash
Part 6
* * *
"
"Are you our Carson, still a friendly ex-priest?" Buffy demanded.
"Ja, I am still a non-killing
vampire,"
"How? Where have you been? We
felt you die!"
"Congratulations, Scarlet,"
"I didn't want to take the chance since your body didn't turn to ash, I wasn't sure," Angel nodded, wrapping an arm around Cordelia's shoulder.
"What happened when you woke up?" Giles asked with a frown, knowing a vampire's mindless blood lust when awakening from an injury coma.
"I was a little out of my head, yes,"
"I also come bearing serious news, Red," he said softly. "Can we talk?"
"Of course,"
"No, this concerns the three of you,"
"Talk guys,"
* * *
"I came bearing bad news, actually," he began slowly. "Because of my fight back to sanity I've attracted the interests of The Powers That Be. You know of them, ja?"
Buffy nodded. "Angel's talked about them. Some kind of cosmic forces or something, playing chess with lives and stuff."
"Sometimes it seems like it,"
"So what do they want with you?"
"They are interested in my ideas of teaching vampires
another way,"
Buffy was immediately alert, her eyes flashing intensely.
"What?"
"If you leave for
"Then why agree to train us and everything? Why don't they just try to blast us here?" Buffy frowned.
"The Council fears attacking you in Sunnydale,
you have too many friends and the town itself,"
"The Hellmouth?"
"Ja, they fear the magical
battle might open it again,"
"So what do we do? Go to war with the Council, every Slayer and Watcher in the world as well as the vampires?" Buffy complained.
"I don't know,"
"Anything for you, Scarlet," the vampire smiled and accepted a hug from the other two brides next.
Buffy and
"We'll hear from him again,"
"I know, he says that he's going to
Buffy, her eyes watching for Watchers,
pulled
* * *
Giles was surprised when Quentin Travers stepped out of the car in front of the Magic Box. The ex-Watcher hadn’t been expecting the head of the Council to be there for the meeting, Giles had just called two days before.
Quentin hadn’t even asked why Giles was requesting a meeting with the Council and his kids, he had merely agreed and said representatives would be there.
Now it was the head of the Council himself approaching the shop after closing hours: Quentin and three aides.
“Aides or magic users?” Giles muttered.
“One normal, two mages,” Willow answered from behind Giles.
He didn’t bother to look around at
the witch and Slayer. He knew
“You ready, Buffy?” Giles asked softly, wishing he had a drink of scotch.
“Yes,” Buffy said firmly. “Xander, Anya and Mom are standing by with cars,
“Glock pistol in my waistband, magical talisman to resist magic attack and I’m angry,” Giles nodded. He moved to the door and unlocked it slowly before the Watchers could knock.
Buffy felt her muscles tensing and
could feel
Quentin nodded slightly to Giles
and faced Buffy with no expression either on his face or in his eyes. The Slayer moved back slightly and gestured
towards the back room.
”We’re set up with tea, scotch, sodas and stuff,” Buffy said calmly.
“Of course,” Quentin moved towards the back room with the three following. Buffy quickly noting that none of them were setting off her “spidey” senses and didn’t seem to be projecting any magic energy.
Quentin simply sat down and his aides moved to the sofa against the wall.
Buffy and Giles entered behind Quentin and hesitated.
“I gather from your magickal shields and cautious attitudes that something has changed,” Quentin said bluntly. “Are we discussing this?”
The Sunnydale
group sat down slowly,
“The girls have discovered that you
intend to kill them when they reach
“And what would be the point of paying for your plane fare if we intended to eliminate all of you? We could do that just as easily here,” Quentin asked, his eyes and face still impassive.
“Hellmouth,”
“Excuse me?” Quentin questioned.
“Don’t play ignorant, Quentin,” Giles growled. “It doesn’t become you.”
“Alright,” Quentin’s eyes blazed for a moment before becoming lizard like again. “You are correct, if we intended to harm you, we wouldn’t dare try it while in Sunnydale because of the danger of opening the Hellmouth with such powerful magicks.”
“Why the hell are we fighting each other?” Buffy demanded. “You train Slayers to fight demons and vampires and save the world, that’s what we’ve continued to do.”
“We’ve been through this,” Quentin complained. “Ms. Rosenberg’s magick is too unpredictable and too powerful to allow to exist.”
“I can be quite predictable,”
Quentin sighed and two of the aides shifted uncomfortably on the sofa.
“No, that’s why we would want to
eliminate the threat somewhere other than in Sunnydale,”
Quentin agreed. “If that’s what had been planned. So, I take it that you won’t
be traveling to
“We could call a truce, you leave us alone but under watch, as usual,” Buffy suggested. “We report on dangers, you advise us of upcoming dangers and you leave Sunnydale to us.”
“The Council has determined that is too risky,” Quentin frowned.
“Which will cost more? We tell every Slayer about the others, the girls go on the run and lots of people get hurt or killed. Maybe even a re-emergence of the Hellmouth or other power spots going out of control. Darkness wins, Quentin,” Giles reasoned.
“Darkness has already gotten your Slayer and one witch, how long before the other one falls with them?” Quentin countered.
Buffy frowned. “Hey, we’re right here and still on the side of good, thank you!”
“You’ve had an affair with a vampire which resulted in the world almost being destroyed, you gave into Dracula without even a fight and it’s known that your pet vampire has more than a crush on you,” Quentin snapped.
“I resisted Dracula! Especially when he wanted me to leave the light and
“This is not productive,” Giles complained. “Either we figure out some answers or we start throwing magic bolts at each other like some bad science fiction movie.”
“Yes, you’re right, Rupert,” Quentin nodded after a moment. “What would you suggest?”
“Send them to the university here,
under the guidance of the Educator and myself,” Giles began. “Train
“Same requests as before,” Quentin mumbled.
“Yes, our needs and desires are
simple,”
Quentin’s eyes roamed towards his
companion’s eyes and
//Guys?// Buffy called mentally, her hand on a club under the table. //I can take him out with one blow.//
//Not yet, no magic energy coming
from them yet.//
Quentin turned back to the table with a heavy sigh.
“Alright, we will try this,” he said slowly. “I suspected as much when you called. I shall assign a Watcher from the training committee to arrange school and training schedules within the week.”
Giles glanced at the young women, his eyes questioning.
“Yes, let’s try working together,
please,”
* * *
The week went by slowly for the girls. After canceling their travel plans, they had shifted their focus into going back to school at Sunnydale U with the help of the Council. The Watcher from the Educator program had worked closely with the three young women in planning their semester and school year.
The Sunnydale gang was still jumpy, even after working with the Council for that week. Buffy kept expecting an attack at every turn and was getting tired.
However, once back in school,
Finally, after another week, the Slayer was back into the usual routine; school, slaying, and working with the educator the Council had sent.
The girls were beginning to think
of future concerns, moving out of the house into their own place, training new
Slayers and Hunters, graduating school.
One common theme to the ideas was opening a “
The witches were also helping out
more at the shop and Giles was thinking of expanding the shop now that they
weren’t planning a temporary future in
* * *
Anya
wrapped her arm around Xander’s waist as they exited
the court house, guiding a tearful Xander away from
the Halls of Justice. Buffy,
“It’s okay, Xan,” Buffy said softly. “You did it!”
“You are so brave!” Anya agreed.
“I… I don’t feel brave,” Xander grumbled. “H-he wouldn’t take a plea, made me testify against him.”
“Xander,
your father should have been in a courtroom long before this!”
“My head knows that but inside isn’t so sure,” Xander tried to smile.
“What did the Prosecutor say about the case?” Buffy asked, hoping to lead Xander away from the raw emotions.
“That defense lawyer was such a bitch and made it sound like Xander was the one who was the violent one!” Anya complained.
“The jury will see through that
with his record of drunken violence,”
“That’s what the prosecutor said,” Xander nodded. “Said I did real well and that my dad might even get some jail time and be ordered to stay away from us.”
“When will you know?”
“Closing arguments are happening now, then it’s up to the judge to decide,” Xander answered.
“Yes, he was too much of a coward to face a jury,” Anya commented. “Why would he choose a judge giving judgment over a jury? It is because he’s a coward, right?”
“He knew the pictures of you after the beating would crucify him with 12 of his peers,” Buffy said bitterly, unable to resist looking at the scars on his face and slightly crooked nose.
“Let’s go for pizza,” Anya suggested. “Giles is working the store today and you can tell us all about school and other mundane things.”
“I agree, we took the day off from
school,”
“Pizza?” Xander’s face brightened.
* * *
By the time the gang had finished a couple of large pizzas, two pitchers of soda, several arcade games and fought over the jukebox, everyone was feeling good and close again.
Xander
and Anya were snuggling and making redecorating plans
for the apartment they had taken over from Giles.
The small group left the pizza joint laughing and playfully chasing each other with threats of tickle fights.
Xander
grabbed
Buffy dashed after her friend with shouts of “Tickle Monster”, grabbing her best male friend.
At first
“No! Buffy!”
Xander’s scream cut through the confusion
“No,”
“Xander, put her down! We
need to see!”
Xander, tears streaming down his face as Anya shouted into her cell phone to the 911 operator, placed Buffy carefully down on the asphalt as people began gathering around the group.
“Anya! Three gunshot wounds, entry in the back, one exit wound!” she shouted at the former demon.
“Gunshots?” Xander echoed.
“That’s what it looks and sounded
like,”
“Rapid,”
“Buffy?” Xander whispered.
“Anya,
call Giles and Joyce Mom,”
Xander and Anya both nodded as the paramedics pulled up into the parking lot.
“Who the hell would shoot at us?” Anya demanded as she looked around.
* * *
Giles leaned against the wall of the waiting room, his hand on Joyce’s shoulder as they waited and waited. It hurt to look up and see Xander’s shirt covered in blood, knowing that it was Buffy’s blood. They were still waiting to hear if the Slayer would survive.
A doctor had already been by several times to update the family and wives of the young Slayer and, so far, the news wasn’t encouraging. The bullets had done quite a bit of damage to Buffy’s lungs and the one that had gone through her body had traveled through the Slayer’s heart, only her Slayer healing had kept her alive. During the ambulance ride to the hospital Buffy had stopped breathing from her collapsed lungs and lack of blood flow.
Her heart had been started again but they all knew it was touch and go two hours later.
The police had been through and had promised to check the whereabouts of Xander’s father and the crime scene. The girls and Giles had been unable to think of anyone else that might want to assassinate either Xander or Buffy.
Giles frowned, wondering if the Council would try something so underhanded and prayed he was wrong. Even if he weren’t, the Sunnydale police wouldn’t be able to do much about a Watcher Strike Team out to assassinate his kids.
Giles had no idea how much time had
passed when a different doctor entered the waiting room and approached them
slowly.
“Summers family?” the doctor ventured and everyone sat up straight, trying to ignore the blood on the doctor’s surgical scrubs that looked much like the blood on Xander’s shirt.
“Yes, we’re Buffy’s family,” Joyce stammered. “How is she?”
“Miss Summers is in the ICU
recovery room,” the doctor said slowly, sitting down across from Giles and
Joyce and next to
“She may not wake up?”
“There’s a possibility that her coma may extend indefinitely or permanently,” the doctor said, hesitating.
“We need to be with her,”
“Two people at a time and only for 10 minutes out of every half hour,” the doctor instructed. “She’s unconscious but I believe that people in comas can hear their loved ones. Talk to her, encourage her to come back.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Giles said absently.
“Dr. Johansson was her surgeon and he’ll be around in an hour to explain everything that happened with Miss Summers. I’m Dr. Ben Chapman, I assisted Dr. Johansson and if there’s anything you need, please have the nurses page me.”
* * *
Two days later the entire gang and family were exhausted and the vigil at the hospital was becoming long and weary. Buffy was still comatose with a machine breathing for her and a pace maker keeping her heart beating regularly.
On the third night, Xander volunteered to go out for food after the hospital
cafeteria had closed and
After getting
A heated argument ensued until Xander dragged them out of the ICU waiting room onto the roof of the Sunnydale hospital in the night air.
“Look, I know that we’re not
supposed to go against Fate and all that stuff but what good is
our talents if we can’t help Buffy?”
“It might be Buffy’s time, Will! We
have to accept that and see if she survives!”
“Slayers aren’t supposed to die
from gunshots!”
“We don’t know who shot Buffy,”
“Goddamn it! What about Giles and
Joyce Mom, they’re hurting! Can’t we save her for them?”
“Willow, please,”
“Yeah, the police proved that it wasn’t my dad but they don’t think it was a random shooter,” Xander added to the conversation.
“Leave me alone for awhile, guys,”
“
“Just need to yell at the Powers
That Be for awhile, okay?”
“I know, baby,”
“With Faith in prison, the world
needs a Slayer,”
“Alright, don’t be long, wife,”
* * *
Xander
frowned as he and
“
“Just because we’re witches doesn’t mean that we can just go around using the power for whatever we like, even when it might mean someone’s life,” Tara said slowly.
“You healed
“It… it felt right,” she responded, her voice soft and unsure.
“And healing Buffy, the Slayer;
Buffy, your wife; Buffy,
“I-I don’t know,” she admitted. “The energy surrounding her is erratic and we can’t reach her psychically and we should be able to. She might already be gone, Xander.”
“You mean the machines might be keeping her alive but her spirit is gone?” the young man wrapped his arms around himself, wanting to curl up and hide somewhere.
“Yes,
“Neither will we until you know for sure!” Xander said firmly.
“
* * *
Xander
and Anya kept the nurses busy while
Joyce felt a sense of confusion soon radiating
among the group as the energy wavered and she felt
“Willow, Tara?” Giles asked softly,
dropping his hand from
“She’s still there but lost,”
“Buffy can’t find the line to come
back to us, that’s why her healing hasn’t kicked in,”
“Do you know what’s blocking her?” Giles asked, his face intense. “Is it a demon or magic?”
“I’m not sure,”
“Can you get through it?” Joyce asked softly, looking down at her comatose daughter.
“We’ve got to,”
“But we don’t know how,”
“Research time,” Giles declared. “I’ll open the shop for you both and I’ll research the books I have at home.”
“Let’s get to it,”
“I’m staying with Buffy,” Joyce said, pulling up a stool and taking Buffy’s limp hand into her strong one.
* * *
It was another two days before
Soon everyone was sitting in the living room anxious for answers.
“I… I think we might be able to
break through whatever is blocking Buffy,”
“Where would you do this?” Giles asked.
“There’s an old Indian site in the
woods, the local witches and pagans use it for rituals and holidays,”
“Can we help?” Xander asked anxiously.
“We’ll be there,” Xander nodded firmly.
“I’ll do what I can to shield her,” Giles added. “When will you do this?”
“Now,”
Giles stood up quickly. “Come on, Xander, Anya, we’ll go back to the hospital and help Joyce watch over Buffy.”
“This is moving too fast,” Xander complained. “We don’t even know who shot Buff for sure.”
“We will!”
* * *
The hacker-witch also knew that she needed to relax herself and began mentally forming the circle in her mind, using her energy to start raising the power as she walked the circle of stones.
The witch sighed and lit the candles and then incense, ensuring there was a bottle of water nearby incase something knocked a candle or incense over.
She sat down in the middle of the
circle and held out her hands for
The witches reached for each other’s hands and closed their eyes, sending their connection to the earth and feeling the loving acceptance from each other, their friends and the Earth herself.
“T-Tar?”
“
Three figures stepped out of the
woods, one carrying a tranquilizer gun.
“Perfect,” he commented. “Don’t fight us, please.”
”Y-you shot Buffy?”
“When you have a fantastic team such as yours, the key is to break up the team and separate the fighters,” Quentin shrugged. “It gave us the chance to take Miss Rosenberg into custody without interference from you and the Slayer.”
“Don’t fight us on this, there are two magic users behind you ready to shield against your magicks,” Quentin warned. “They will hurt you if necessary.”
“Y-you’re not taking my wife!”
“Once we eliminate her magical
abilities, we will return her to you,” Quentin commented, waving the men
forward to take the unconscious
“No!”
“What?” Quentin muttered, his eyes widening as
The witch waved her hand and the
two men reaching for
“What?” Quentin repeated, taking several steps back.
“You are going against the wishes
of those that watch over the universe,”
“What are you?” Quentin demanded, his expression betraying a sense of fear.
“I am
“If we refuse?” Quentin growled, feeling his skin crawl from the energy radiating from the young woman as her hair flowed around her, as if blown by a gentle wind.
“You will be eliminated,” Tara/Spirit shrugged. “These three are vital to the fight coming. You are not. Adapt or go extinct.”
“
“Of course she is, everyone is,” Tara/Spirit smiled sadly. “Especially those with power. You will trust in her willpower and the love that the three of them share to keep her on the proper side of things. You cannot control things or people as you think you are allowed.”
“You’re controlling the witch!” Quentin countered.
“No, I am merely sharing her body
for a moment,” Spirit replied. “Don’t
mistake a momentary sharing as weakness. You’ll see what draws us to
“Alright,” Quentin agreed. The fight had become much too expensive in costs and possibly lives.
Quentin fell backwards on the
ground as
“T-Tara?” she called softly.
In a moment the other Watchers were
gone, including Quentin, and
“
When
“Hospital, got to get to hospital,”
* * *
“Explain again what happened,”
Giles demanded as Buffy,
“We walked in and found Buffy awake and fine,” Willow grinned.
“You know what I mean,” Giles smirked back, wrapping an arm around Joyce’s shoulder as Xander giggled. Anya laughed and reached for her husband’s hand.
“I, uh, we were reaching for the
energy of the Earth and the Council attacked us,”
“It was totally awesome, Giles!”
“
“The Earth,”
“What happened to Quentin and the others?” Joyce asked.
“He agreed to stop fighting us and they disappeared,” Willow smiled, reaching up to nuzzle Buffy’s neck.
“Where?” Giles pressed.
“Back to England,” Tara blushed a bright red as Giles fell back into a chair, stunned.
“You… you transported five people half way around the world?” he whispered and Tara nodded.
“With the help of Mother Earth,” she added.
“Wow!” Xander muttered and Anya nodded vigorously, having seen powerful magic before but usually of a dark kind.
“They’ll leave us alone now?” Buffy asked, still angry at having nearly been killed and Willow almost taken from them.
“They’ll work with us instead of against us,” Giles nodded. “I received a call from Quentin. Seems there’s something he wants to talk to us about, asking for our help.”
“Now what?” Buffy complained. “Another apocalypse?”
“Not quite,” Giles smiled. “Quentin said he would explain but they have a rogue Slayer, someone very unique and he thinks we might be best suited to train him.”
“Rogue Slayer?” Buffy repeated. “Faith? They’re letting Faith out?”
“No, not Faith, someone younger,” Giles said calmly.
“Him, you said him,” Tara frowned. “I thought Slayers were only female.”
“That’s the mystery,” Giles smiled. “The new would-be Slayer is a male and a handful, Quentin admitted. He said that he’d explain.”
“A male Slayer?” Buffy frowned. “Isn’t that like against everything that’s ever gone before?”
“Yes,” Giles agreed. “And he should be here by the end of the week. Of course, I’m not sure how Quentin will explain missing stamps in his passport after your dimensional shift.”
Willow’s eyebrows rose in amusement as Buffy began to giggle. “Can we report them for leaving the country illegally. See how they explain that one?”
To be continued in Red Moon Series Book 7: Ripper Part 1