“Buffy, maybe you want to give the girl a chance to speak before you start interrogating her,” William said calmly, trying to convey with his eyes to go easy on her. The girl had been shaking like a leaf on his doorstep, and if he had to wager a guess, it wasn’t the chill in the air as for once, it was pretty nice out.
Buffy took the hint and nodded, “Yeah, sorry. Do you want anything? Coffee? Tea?”
“Tea would be nice, thank you,” Tara said softly, looking absolutely lost.
“Why don’t you sit down?” William said, pulling out a chair. “Hungry at all? I’ve got some scones if you’re interested.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose…” Tara said, eyeing the scones that William was currently pulling out of his breadbox.
“Nonsense.” Opening the box of cinnamon and raisin scones, he set them before her and after a minute, she dug in.
Settling the tea down in front of the girl that suddenly seemed so vulnerable to her from the last time she’d seen her, Buffy sat down across from her and William next to Buffy. He looped an arm across Buffy’s chair and smiled warmly at her. Finally, answers, his look seemed to say.
“I was looking for you,” Buffy told Tara as she watched the girl dig in with vigor on the scones. “Your shop is gone.” Thank you from the Department of the Obvious. Like she doesn’t know that, Buffy thought.
Tara nodded slowly, swallowing and staring at the scone in her hand. “I had to shut it down.”
“Why?”
“My…I was threatened.”
“Can I take a guess?”
Tara looked up at her, wide-eyed.
“Your aunt? Aunt Edina?” Buffy said bluntly.
Tara nodded, “Yes, yes. What has she done to you? Has it already begun?”
“Has what begun exactly?” William asked, his tone hard.
Tara swallowed and took a deep breath. “She…she wants the house Buffy. She was so mad when your sister died and didn’t leave it to her. She really thought she was going to. Her reasoning was that she and your sister had been so close, and Dru knew how hard she worked there, how our family had been there for so long…she really thought she’d struck a chord with your sister…
When she found out that you were to inherit the house and that you were coming, she hit the roof. She was hoping you wouldn’t want it. She remembered the few times you’d been to visit and how you’d hated it and the ghosts that lived there, and she was hoping you’d eventually just give it up. But then when time passed and you seemed to actually be considering staying, she started to panic, especially when it seemed that the two of you were getting closer. She…” Tara gulped, “She wanted me to come and make it worse with you and the ghosts. She didn’t want me to really help you, she wanted me to aggravate them and make relations between them and you worse. That house cleansing I offered? That was supposed to be for me to call them out and make them angry, to make the environment hostile; to make them think you meant to banish them. I knew though, I knew that wouldn’t work with them. And I… I couldn’t do that to you, Buffy. I couldn’t do that to them. She was so angry with me…” Tara’s eyes welled up in tears. “She disowned me and ordered me to get out and to never come back. She threatened me that if I ever said anything, she’d burn my shop down and see to it that I was in it when she did.”
“Oh my God,” Buffy whispered.
“Then she called Darla in. It was after the Bed and Breakfast idea. She called me, ranting and raving about it. Blaming me.” Tears started to drip from her eyes, “I didn’t realize how insane she really was until then. I mean…I knew, but I always thought there was hope for her. She was so good to me when I was growing up. When she called in Darla, I knew that you were in trouble, and that I was too. Darla threatened me as well. They bullied me out, warning me about the terrible things Darla would make happen if I didn’t go.”
“Does Edina have any power, any magical power like you on her own?”
“No,” Tara shook her head. “Anything she’s done is through Darla.”
“So, Darla is a witch then?”
“Of the worse kind. She practices black magic. What has she done, Buffy? Has she hurt you?”
Buffy relayed it all from the first night she tried to talk with the ghosts, to the night before.
Tara shook her head slowly, “It’s worse than I thought,” she whispered.
“What? What is it?” Buffy urged.
“Buffy, those ghosts were not going to leave that house. I knew that when I first entered it. They were there for the long haul, that house is their home. And your sister…she was among them.”
Buffy’s eyes widened and a “Bloody Hell” escaped William.
“What happened? What did she do? Do you know?” Buffy demanded hoarsely.
“I’m so sorry, Buffy,” Tara said sorrowfully.
“Just tell me!” Buffy yelled.
William wrapped an arm about her, “Just wait for the girl to explain pet, it’s all right,” he said soothingly, pressing a kiss to Buffy’s forehead.
“Since I know those ghosts won’t leave, the only thing I can think of Buffy, is that she trapped them in a circle.”
“Excuse me?”
“A magic circle is something that contains magic inside. It is time out of time, place out of place. It is a doorway from the mundane to the magical. It’s used to hold things inside, to keep them from escaping. Darla could have cast a circle and held the ghosts of the house, including Dru, inside of it so that they couldn’t get to you.”
“And what of this thing that attacked me?”
“Necromancy.”
“What?”
“It’s the practice of conjuring a ghost, usually evil, and then controlling them. Making them do your bidding. That’s why you saw her outside. So she could summon and direct that ghost to do what it did to you.”
”Could it be any of the ghosts in the house?” William asked.
Tara shook her head. “Those ghosts were strong and in no way evil. No matter what power Darla held and taught my aunt, they wouldn’t have turned against Buffy easily. I could feel that when I first entered the house. That ghost she came across last night was evil and it was meant to do her harm.”
“My God,” William muttered and drew Buffy closer to him.
“How are you sure about this?” Buffy questioned.
“Because it’s Darla’s specialty. She’s been studying Necromancy for years, and when she learned of my ghosts in my shop, she offered to contain them for me. I think she likes the idea of creating a Dante like existence for spirits. She finds sport in watching them be contained in one area and her having the key to expel them if she so wishes. It explains so much as to why you couldn’t feel them so suddenly. Those ghosts in that house would have done away with that evil thing. They would have forced it out and Darla could sense that loyalty they felt to you and to Dru. And Dru, I have no doubt was most likely their leader.”
“And that explains why I haven’t seen her,” William told Buffy. “If she’s been contained, she hasn’t been able to come see me.”
“But wouldn’t they have gotten wind of what was happening and warned me before Darla could do anything? I mean if you were there per Edina…don’t the walls have ears?”
Tara shook her head. “My aunt did not want the trouble of them in her quarters. I set up a circle to keep them out for her.”
Buffy’s head was spinning. Burying her face in her hands, she took a deep, calming breath.
“I’m so sorry, Buffy. I wanted to tell you…I wanted to so badly. I was afraid if I said anything they’d hurt me before I could get to you, and then do you in worse,” Tara apologized profusely. “I was going to just stay away, but I had to come and tell you. I tracked Mr. Giles down in the hopes I could get to you.”
“Too bad this couldn’t have come out sooner,” William said sternly.
“I can help you, Buffy. I can help you fight her,” Tara said.
“How?” Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes.
“By getting to the house and releasing your ghosts.”
“How do I know you’re not still working for her?” Buffy demanded.
“Do you think I would have shut down my shop, my livelihood, if I were? She’s crazy, Buffy, and I don’t blame you for not trusting me, but I honestly did try and help you before. My intent at first wasn’t there, it was my loyalty to my aunt that came first, but…I just can’t do evil like that. It’s not in my nature,” Tara explained.
“Pet,” William said softly. “I think she’s legit here. Look at all she’s told us. It makes sense. The pieces fit. Plus, even if we didn’t take her help, we’ve got enough to work with to find someone that can help up or at least research and do it ourselves.”
Buffy stared at Tara for a long time and then nodded. “Fine. Tell me how to take down that circle and release my ghosts.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
hope this all makes sense...