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Hidden Agendas by angelic_amy
 
Fighting.
 
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Chapter 11: Fighting.


“TELL me.”

His head snapped back with a jolt, searing pain resonated through his skull and down his spine when it connected with the brick wall behind him. This was bad, very bad. The vampire in front of him was beyond pissed, and it didn’t seem likely that he was going to be able to talk his way out of this one.

“I s-swear… I got nothing.” His adams apple bobbing in her throat with each nervous gulp.

His head hit the concrete again, this second blow causing stars to burst in front of his eyes. The pain was making him nauseous and he had a feeling that he was going to hurl if the vampire kept shaking him like that.

“Really. Now why is it that I have this feeling that you’re lying to me Terry. You do remember what happens when you get caught in a lie don’t you?”

Terry shuddered as the memories hit him. Yes he remembered, very clearly. Broken fingers caused lots and lots of pain. He knew he should keep his mouth shut, that talking was just going to cause him more trouble, but right now all he could think about was avoiding the pain.

“Alright, alright. So maybe I did hear something.” He whimpered fearfully.

Angel let go of the lapels of the jacket that the demon half-breed that was cowering before him was wearing. Now he was getting somewhere. “Everything.” He commanded.

Terry nodded nervously, looking up and down the alleyway to make sure that they didn’t have an audience before he spoke. “There’s been some activity underground. Deep Underground.”

He looked around again nervously. “Ever heard of the sunken church beneath the High School?”

Angel’s eyes flashed yellow. He should have known. “Go on.”

~~~

Spike’s expression was solemn. He had been sitting with her for hours, cradling her hand in his, whispering soft words of encouragement to her. But there had been nothing. No change what so ever. The longer he sat with her, the most disheartened he became, his pleas more desperate. The one consolation was that Drusilla was nowhere nearby. He’d have known if she were; he’d be able to sense her the moment she set foot on the hospital grounds. They had spent a hundred years together and in that time he had become very aware of her presence.

He knew it wouldn’t be long before Angel would show up and he’d have to leave her. He didn’t want to though; he wanted to stay by her side until she woke up. He knew that she had been in the cemetery that night because of him, looking for him. Giles had told him everything. And the guilt that he felt knowing that was agonizing.

Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles for the umpteenth time just as the door creaked open. Spike’s gaze never left Buffy’s face, even when Angel moved right into the room. When he saw Tall Dark and Broody pull up a chair on the other side of the bed to Buffy he finally moved.

“Look after her.” he implored, leaving the room before Angel could respond.

~~~

“Ah-HA!” Willow exclaimed with excitement when she found the book she had been searching for. Giles would not be at all pleased if he knew what she doing right now, which is why she was waiting until after the spell until she informed him of it.

It was a spell a very specific locator spell. If she performed it correctly, it would hopefully point out the location of where in Sunnydale any vampires of the Master’s bloodline would be located on a map she had spread out before her. Obviously Spike and Angel were of that line, so their presence would be expected. But if more than the two showed up, then they might have a lead to work from.

Setting up the spell, she glanced over at the clock and noted the time. It was far too late for her to wake Tara up for some help, so she crossed her fingers that she would be able to work the spell by herself.

~~~

Why is this happening… why aren’t I waking up? Buffy thought desperately as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

Her gaze lifted skyward as she screamed out in despair, in grief, and in frustration. This couldn’t really be happening could it? She had been certain… what, minutes, hours ago that this was a dream. Like last time. Except this time she wasn’t waking, this time it didn’t stop.

Could it be real? Could this actually be happening? Fury replaced her grief momentarily as she cursed Giles name. He had told her it was just a dream, a bad, bad dream. But she had been certain that there was something more to it, that it might possibly be prophetic.

“You’re stressed about Glory he said.” She mocked. “It’s something your mind has conjured up as an outlet for your stress he said.”

She sobbed loudly again as she ran her fingers over her sisters arms. They were cold.

Dawn was cold.

The sarcasm left her as a sense of overwhelming guilt filled her. Here she was blaming poor Giles for not researching, when it was she who hadn’t been able to get to her in time. It was all her fault… if only she had trained harder, if only she had more stamina, maybe she would have got to Dawn in time.

“It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream.” She wept, trembling with grief.

With each moment that passed, she became less confident that this was just a dream.


~~~

A puff of green smoke rose in the air, causing Willow to cough as the cloud grew. Waving her hand to clear the air, she looked down at her map. Three little glowing spots were illuminated on it. Willow was stunned that it had actually worked and it took her a moment before she started, grabbing a pen and paper and jotting down the locations.

The Hospital.

Shady Hill Cemetery.

The High School.


“The high school…” she murmured. That had to be it. But why would they want to go to the high school, it was in ruins now anyway and there was nothing important about that…

“The Hellmouth.” She said with a gulp.

Reaching for the telephone, she dialed Giles’ number, and hoped that he wouldn’t be cranky with her for waking him.

~~~

The telephone rang and Giles’ head lifted from the tabletop, the pages of the books he had flipping through sticking to his cheek for a moment as he sat up. Ordinarily he probably wouldn’t have worried about answering quickly, but tonight he reached for it immediately. He didn’t want the ringing to wake up Dawn. Having only lost Joyce a few weeks ago, and with Buffy now in a coma, she was taking things pretty hard. When he had knocked on her door a few hours before to offer her some tea, her eyes had been puffy and swollen from crying and she looked downright miserable.

He had tried to reassure her, but his words offered her no comfort.‘I want Buffy to be alright, I want her to wake up’ she had said.

And he had agreed with her.

Running his free hand through his hair as he picked up the receiver and placed it against his ear, he cleared his throat quietly before speaking, his voice weary from lack of sleep. “Hello?”

“Giles, I think I found something!” came the excited reply.

He recognised the voice immediately. Squinting as he turned his head to view the clock, he removed his glasses from the bridge of his nose and wiped his eyes.

“Willow, what are you doing up at this time of the night?” he scolded half-heartedly. “You should be asleep.”

“So should you.” She replied. If she knew Giles, he had probably fallen asleep on his books.

“Yes, well.” He said as he straightened himself a little. “Found something you say?”

“I think I may know where this threat may be, the vamps that are trying to bring back the Master.” She informed him. “I did a spell that pin-pointed the location of vampires that were linked to the Master by his bloodline.”

Giles listened in interest as Willow explained the specifics of the spell and of how Spike had donated his blood to be used. A few weeks ago that would have been surprising. But now? Spike had come to Buffy’s rescue in the cemetery, and his distress upon seeing her in the hospital bed had been immense.

“So the map showed three areas of town but I ruled out two of them.” She continued.

“Angel and Spike.” Giles filled in.

“Yes.” Willow said with a nod. “One of the green lights was hovering in the hospital and one in Shady Hill Cemetery. I assumed it was Spike in the cemetery since Angel has watch duty at the hospital.”

“And the third?” he asked tentatively.

Willow took a deep breath. “Sunnydale High.”

Giles whipped his glasses from his face again, cursing under his breath for not having thought of it sooner. “The Sunken Church.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Were you about to get an estimate of numbers?”

“No.” Willow shook her head. “But there’s more than one… the green light was… larger, more vibrant than the other two specks on the map.”

Giles slipped his glassed back on again and reached for the text which he was almost certain contained a family tree of sorts relating to the Master and the Order of Aurelius. Now it was just a case of going through the tree and crossing out any unlikely or improbable vampires in the line. The Master’s inner circle was tight, a closed circle of sorts and seldom few vampires were sired by the Master himself, or by his first blood children. The vampire behind the attempt to resurrect him would almost certainly be a direct descendent, or a childe of one of them.

“Giles are you still there?” Willow’s voice echoed down the phone line. She had heard movement from Giles end, the shuffling of paper and the umming and ahhing that could only mean he had already begun his research.

“Hmm? Oh yes, Willow.” He said, her voice reminding him that he still had the telephone cradled against his shoulder. “You get some rest, I will try and narrow down our list of suspects and let you know of the results in the morning.”

“Alright.” She said with a tired sigh. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I’ll try.” Giles replied with a smile, touched by her concern.

“Night Giles!” she said cheerfully.

“Goodnight Willow.”

Hanging up the receiver, Giles found the family tree he was looking for and began making notes on a blank notepad, going through the list quickly and eliminating those he knew to be dead, and excluding Angel and Spike of course, before he began to follow up on those still possibly alive.

It was going to be a long night, but at least now they had a location.

~~~

Spike had been wandering the cemetery that he considered his own for hours. It had been the last stop for the night in search of clues, figuring that he might be able to find some physical evidence that could identify any of the attacks. The few he had fought were nameless faceless flunkies. Those in charge had disappeared before he had came to properly. They were the ones who had planned and executed the whole thing, so they were the ones he was after.

He paced back and forth, partly out of frustration, and partly in search of clues. So far, nothing had turned up. And it was getting close to sunrise. He was going to have to head into his crypt. He cursed the lack of physical evidence, kicking at a headstone in frustration as he walked passed it. He did realize that if he expected to find anything then he should probably be paying more attention to the ground, and less to his thoughts of revenge. But right now, all he could think of was blood.

Making those sons of bitches who put Buffy in hospital pay for what they did.

Painfully.

Slowly.

All his thoughts of vengeance, of blood, were making him hungry. With a frustrated growl he turned and stalked towards his crypt at the other end of the cemetery. If he was planning on doing any damage when he found those in charge, he needed to be strong, and rested.

If he had worn a watch, he would have known that sunrise was only 30minutes away. But he didn’t need a watch… he could feel the sunrise coming. Cursing himself that he didn’t find anything he made a silent vow to tear the vampires in charge apart.

Piece, by bloody piece.

~~~

The hairs on the back of Buffy’s neck all stood on end, and her shoulders tensed in apprehension when she felt a presence nearby her, a presence that hadn’t been there seconds ago. She wasn’t alone anymore. Snapping her attention to the site, she frowned when she saw nothing.

Gently placing her sister back on the ground, she stood up and confronted the presence that she felt, taking on a defensive stance. Nobody was going to take Dawn away from her…

“Whose there?” she demanded harshly.

The sensation disappeared and Buffy blinked in confusion before spinning in the other direction. A loud gasp ripped from her throat and her heart began to race when she found the space behind her empty.

Dawn was gone…

“DAWN!” Buffy screamed. “DAWNIE!”

She knew it was ridiculous to call out, even as she screamed. But she couldn’t help herself. Her sister was gone… she had been there seconds ago, and now she was gone. Someone or something had taken her. She fell to her knees, staring at the empty space where Dawn’s body had lain moments before and it was then that she also noticed that the blood was gone.

Her breathing came in shallow gasps as she tried to stop herself from hyperventilating. The voice in her head that had been drowned out by her sorrow again began to reassure her that this was just a dream. She couldn’t have disappeared like that if it were real…

But it gave her little solace. If it were just a dream, then why wasn’t she waking up?

Buffy felt a presence behind her again and she whirled around in anger. For the second time in a matter of minutes her breath escaped her and her jaw dropped.

“Mommy?”




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