Xander looked around cautiously, his mind racing through different scenarios, wondering how this was all going to go down. But Luck seemed to be with the raiding party as they made their way towards the main staircase. He noticed that Spike seemed to be noting which rooms had people in them and assumed the vampire could hear their voices.
Elvara shifted in her Soturi’s arms, beginning the climb towards consciousness. She felt the pulse of magic in the air and instinctively used the energy to mask their presence from the residents of the building.
Haakon paused as Elvara abruptly opened her eyes and squirmed. He gently placed her on her feet and steadied her while she regained her balance, keeping an eye out for anyone that might approach.
Xander gave a mild snort in disgust and started to complain about the delay, when he found himself unable to speak. He glanced up and found Willow glaring at him along with Tara, and realized he had been silenced by his longtime friend. Her look of disdain, coupled with what looked like pity made something inside him crack.
Methos glanced back and noticed Elvara was on her feet. He silently sent her a signal asking if she was okay. When she nodded and drew her gun he turned his full attention to the stairs in front of him. A wildly anticipatory smile danced on his lips as a fire began to blaze in his eyes.
Elvara slipped up behind Buffy and found herself closely shadowed by her Soturi and the vampire. She smirked to herself, knowing that she was quite possibly the safest person in the building at that moment.
Wolf and Fahr fluidly shifted into their animal forms, startling Giles and Xander. Wolf padded silently up beside Buffy, his eerie green eyes glowing brightly against his midnight fur. His nose quivered as he sorted through the scents permeating the building, separating those of his companions from the prey.
Fahr nudged Xander in the side, pushing him towards the stairs and rumbling beneath his breath. His sky-blue eyes locked with the dark-haired humans, encouraging him to follow after Methos. As he followed Xander and Methos up the stairs, he moved so silently he might have been the ghost of a tiger, with his silvery-white fur and pale grey striping.
Xander followed Methos as prompted by his massive four-pawed companion, more than a little leery of the sharp fangs in its mouth. His heart was pounding so hard, he hoped nobody could hear it. That hope was dashed when the tiger pressed against him as if to comfort him.
Giles, along with Anya and Cassandra, mounted the stairs just behind him, walking quietly so as not to disturb the current occupants of the building. The trio was closely followed by Willow and Tara, with Richie guarding their backs.
They paused at the first landing, cautiously peering around. Spike and both the weres stood with heads cocked, listening and scenting the air, marking the placement of their prey. Buffy raised an eyebrow in inquiry and all three men nodded, it was clear.
Haakon was still steadying Elvara as they passed a couple of closed doors which had originally led into the main ballroom. She swayed alarmingly before catching herself, ribbons of gold beginning to streak her dark red hair.
As Willow and Tara passed the doors, they both shuddered and turned pale, their stomachs lurching alarmingly. Tara’s small moan catching both Richie’s and Elvara’s attention.
Before Richie could say or do anything, Elvara unsheathed her Boline and nicked her finger on its needle-sharp point. She allowed a couple of drops of blood to fall to the floor outside the doors to the room. As she did so, the oppressive atmosphere lightened, and everyone felt like a weight had been lifted. Both the younger witches breathed heavily, but nodded to Elvara, indicating they were fine.
Buffy glanced back at Elvara and whispered, “Is there anything we can do?”
Elvara shook her head, “There is nothing in there now, just the residue of past atrocities.”
With a nod, Buffy indicated they should continue on. Only Elvara noticing the scale patterns spreading across the Immortal Slayers delicate cheekbones like liquid silver.
Their luck couldn't hold of course. They were just heading up the second set of stairs when a door unexpectedly opened and a woman came out through the opening.
Before Xander could even react, Methos had taken off at a run slamming the woman against a wall and efficiently slitting her throat. He lowered the body to the floor as quietly as he could before the others caught up to him. He growled something to Buffy, who nodded. Methos signaled to Spike who crept up to the door with preternatural silence.
There was a quick nod and the body was shoved back into the room the door being shut behind it, and sealed with glue.
One more set of stairs and they would be in the attics. Xander started praying that luck would hold, or the warriors would be quick with their knives. He patted the gun he was carrying, taking comfort in its weight.
Without further trouble they reached the attic. What had originally been used as servants quarters in times past, were now being used as offices for the bottom rungs of the Council ladder. With a nod and a flick of her fingers, Buffy motioned for her teams to split in 2 directions, making their way towards the secondary staircases at either end of the floor. “Leave nothing alive” she commanded as they moved to dispose of the enemy.
They swept through the attic, disposing of anyone they saw. Elvara pocketed a few small objects that she thought she recognized. She wanted to study them later when she had time. If she was right, the council had been stealing artifacts from ancient burial sites all over the globe.
Willow watched as the Priestess did nothing to stop the slaughter of people, she simply blessed the bodies from a small pouch of ash she carried so they wouldn't rise behind them. There was no mercy in anyone's face as the warriors silently annihilated any who stood in their way. Coming out of a small room was a woman carrying a bundle of papers. Her back was towards the invaders. Haakon took aim with his silenced gun when Elvara hit it out of the way, causing him to put a round into the ceiling. She shot the woman herself, in the back. When she fell, Elvara rolled the woman over and put her into the recovery position without saying a word to anyone. She held a hand over the woman's abdomen, the light from it glowed blue for a second. Spike raised an eyebrow.
"We kill Council, not children." was her only comment.
The vampire listened more closely; sure enough there was the unmistakable sound of a fetal heartbeat.
When they met up with the other group Buffy asked softly "How many alive?"
Elvara held up one finger and Buffy grinned and kissed her gently on the cheek."Next floor"
Like shadows, they descended to the first floor, and once again split up. This floor seemed to hold more offices and a library or two. There were even four of five bedroom suites, complete with ensuite bathrooms. Each council member they encountered was swiftly put to death. Even Xander could see the corruption that clung to the soon-to-be-corpses like a putrid cloud.
Methos, Xander and Fahr entered a room which looked to be a weapons repository. There were various types of guns as well as ancient weapons, such as daggers and swords. They surprised three men, all of which turned to fight.
Fahr, seeing one of the men reach for a gun, sprang at him with a silent snarl. Locking his fangs around, and through, the man’s throat, he let his body weight bear them both to the ground, slowly suffocating the life out of his prey.
Utilizing some of the leftover training memories from his Halloween stint as a soldier, Xander put a bullet between the eyes of the second man, who was approaching Fahr from behind.
The third man, who had been examining an ancient Viking sword, grasped its hilt and lunged at Methos, thinking him to be an easy target. He was quickly disabused of this notion, when Methos met his charge head on, blocking the downward strike with his own sword, a feral smile gracing his lips.
Xander and Fahr looked on as Methos played with the man, clearly enjoying himself. “Get it over with already. We don’t have time for your play date.” Xander said with a wry chuckle, as his words caused the Immortal to turn his back on the man he was fighting.
“Play date?” Methos said, arching an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you know SHE won’t be happy if we botch this up.” Xander said with a smirk. Fahr rumbled an agreement.
“Okay, fine!” Methos grumbled. “Ruin all my fun.” With a practiced move, Methos spun and blocked the strike that was aimed for his heart, and then with a final flourish, separated the man’s head from his shoulders. “Satisfied?”
Xander headed for the door, “Yup.”
Of course the good luck couldn't last forever. Wolf was padding forward on silent paws when a door opened up and a group of four men and a woman came out. The woman screamed at the top of her voice. The noise only lasted for a second or two before a knife appeared in her throat, but it was long enough for voices to sound below them.
Ritchie and Buffy swung their swords with practiced ease separating heads from shoulders. Tara tried not to look as the blood spurted out from the decapitated bodies, spraying walls six or seven feet away. The smell of blood in the air was becoming overpowering and she worried about how Spike was dealing with it.
Wolf had the last man by the throat and was tearing it out. He spat out the flesh when his prey stopped moving, there was such a look of disgust at the taste on his face that Tara actually giggled.
“From the sounds of it, looks like we’ve been found out.” Ritchie said as they all sprinted towards the stairs.
Buffy nodded, her brow furrowed in concentration. “Willow, can you and Tara make sure all exits are blocked? I don’t want any of these morons escaping.”
Willow and Tara shared a look and both nodded. They clasped hands and closed their eyes, Ritchie took up a position behind them, his sword drawn, guarding the two young witches. Bright light flared around them and both young girls hair turned a blinding silver.
By the time the flare died down, and their hair had returned to normal, the rest of their party had joined them. Elvara checked over both girls to make sure they were okay. She smiled softly and gave them each a small boost to shore up their flagging energies.
Willow turned to Buffy and said “all the exits we could find are sealed. Nobody is getting in or out.”
“Good. Time to get this over with.” Buffy said with a chuckle. “We move as one unit, protect the ladies.”
Anya was about to complain when a council peon took a shot at her and almost hit her. She dived behind Spike and started swearing up a storm. When her comments were added to by Haakon, she started to giggle. Seems he had just been missed as well.
Methos let out an unearthly howl, which was taken up by both Wolf and Fahr. It sent shivers down the spine of all who heard it.
Haakon grinned and said something that Spike knew was an ancient language before leaping into the fray.
Anya translated "Hurry to meet death before your place is taken." she told the witches, aiming with her own weapon. One shot took out the sniper that had been locking in on Elvara.
Elvara grinned and fired back at another moron who believed he stood a chance. She started speaking, almost singing
'Lo, there do I see my father. 'Lo, there do I see...
My mother, and my sisters, and my brothers.
'Lo, there do I see...
The line of my people...
Back to the beginning.
'Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them.
In the halls of Valhalla...
Where the brave...
May live...
...forever.
Xander could see the effect the words had on their foe, it seemed to sap their strength and it powered the Scooby’s and Co. As one they moved forward, emptying round after round into those stupid enough to try and stop them.
There was a snarl from Fahr as a bullet found its mark in his shoulder, but the wound sealed as soon as it happened, the projectile actually back tracking out. He shot a grateful look at Elvara and continued stalking his prey. Every council member that got separated from the herd soon died. No one escaped the covering of gore.
Methos shouted "Duck" as he swung his sword taking off two heads at once.
"Show off," Cassie laughed, before jumping over the top of one little group of defenders, taking them out from the back.
It was a blood bath.
Spike vamped out and tore into the approaching councilmen with a vicious snarl, snapping necks and ripping out throats with practiced ease. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a woman aiming a gun at Elvara’s back, and he leapt in between them, taking the bullet high in his left shoulder. With an enraged snarl he grabbed the woman and drained her dry in a matter of seconds.
Elvara approached Spike and placed a hand on his back, whispering her thanks before ducking a flying dagger.
It seemed the work of just minutes to make it to the door of the cellars. Xander went to check his watch, but of course it wasn't there. He grabbed at Methos' arm to see how long they'd been in the building, only to get growled at by the tiger. Xander couldn't believe it had been only seventeen minutes. He turned to see Fahr ripping out some man's throat. His attention was diverted again by Willow aiming and firing her tranq gun at someone. Then he felt the white hot heat of a wound across his thigh. Unlike the wounds received by the others, this one kept bleeding. Xander cursed his reluctance to accept the Goddess's blessing earlier that day. Tara ducked down and slapped a field dressing onto his leg, tightening it until the blood slowed down. Suddenly there was silence. No snarls no shots, no yells. Spike listened closely for a few seconds.
"This floor is cleared," he finally said. "Just the cellars to go."
"And that’s at least half the occupied rooms down there" Giles reminded them. "Why hasn't anyone come up to find out what’s going on?"
Buffy nodded towards Elvara. "She's been holding the wards on the cellar doors. They are completely unaware of us."
“No wonder I couldn’t sense the cellar doors…” Willow muttered as if to herself, throwing an admiring glance at Elvara. “I think we should address injuries before we go much further, just to be safe.”
Xander grunted his agreement, peering at the wound on his thigh, which was still slowly trickling blood.
Spike stalked over to Xander and crouched down to peer at the wound. “Just a graze, nothing major was hit.” He looked up at Xander and gave him a fang-filled grin. “Bet it hurts like a bitch though.”
“No shit Sherlock…” Xander muttered, glaring around him, looking for someone to blame.
Methos snickered at the look on Xander’s face. “Next time someone offers their aid, I suggest you take it, no matter if you find it distasteful. Either that or learn to avoid bullets.” He slapped Xander on the shoulder and grinned.
Haakon wrapped his arms around Elvara, "You can't save the whole world, My Lady. He'll learn."
"Oh I know that. Are you alright? No wounds?" She asked, accepting his reassurance.
"Nothing to even boast about." Haakon reassured her, checking her over for any blood that belonged to her and not one of the numerous bodies they had left behind them.
"Do we take any alive?" Cassie asked as she reloaded her own gun, glancing at the basement door.
“While I would like to say no,” Buffy said, rubbing between her eyebrows with two fingers, “I think we need to take Travers and the members of the ruling board alive for questioning.”
Giles looked up from having reloaded his gun. “May I inquire as to why?”
“She wants to know how far this has reached. And who started the attack on you.” Cassandra said with a small shrug.
“Not only that, I want to know why in hell they refused to send a slayer to an overly active Hellmouth.” Buffy grumbled, cleaning the blood from her sword. She glanced over at Spike and shook her head. “And before you say that you had it under control, which I believe you did, it still doesn’t explain what they did.”
Spike nodded, any protest dying unspoken.
Edging away from Elvara, Xander insinuated himself between Methos and Fahr. “Let’s get this show on the road then.”
Elvara closed her eyes for a second or two, before opening them again. When she did they weren't her eyes. Willow gasped at the sheer age and power she saw contained inside them.
Buffy grinned, "Hello Cousin," she laughed as Elvara's hair turned to liquid gold.
Elvara, or whoever was in Elvara's body, beckoned to Haakon who went over to her quickly, bowing when he reached her. The woman wrapped her fingers in his hair, controlling his whole head, before she kissed him brutally, causing his lip to bleed.
"My fee," she whispered, before grinning. "I will hold the doors; none will know you are there until you enter a room. Enjoy yourselves my children." She looked around at them all, staring first at one and then another. "Good choice," she said when she examined Spike. Tara was given special scrutiny.
“Hands off. Cousin or no… you even think of touching him… I will hurt you.” Buffy stated with a hard gleam in her eyes.
With a tinkling laugh the being inhabiting Elvara’s body grinned. “No worries Cousin.” Elvara's hair darkened and her eyes returned to normal, she wobbled for a couple of seconds. "Goddess I hate it when she does that," Lifting one finger up she wiped away the excess blood from Haakon's lips. "Molested again?" she asked before turning the handle and opening the cellar doors.
Haakon nodded, smiling slightly. He hoped that no one else noticed his reaction to the kiss from the Goddess but from the smirk on Spike's face he wasn't that lucky. At least his pants were dark enough to hide the stain of his completion from the humans.
Elvara pushed open the door and stood back, allowing the more experienced warriors to go through first. Tara giggled as the Priestess's eyes gleamed for a second as she pinched Spike's arse as he went passed her.
“OI!” Spike exclaimed, startled. “Hands off the goods!”
Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Maybe we should send her a few ‘toys’ to play with”
Xander muttered under his breath, “Looks like the entire family is a bunch of whores and perverts…”
Three hands reached out and slapped him across the back of the head, sending the young man to the floor. It was Methos who reached down and hauled him to his feet. “Say that again boy and I will have no trouble eviscerating you.” He snarled, his blue-painted face inches from Xander’s own.
"She prefers honorable souls, Buffy" Elvara said gently reminded her. "Sorry Spike, she means no harm. Amongst the Soturi it was seen as a compliment to be noticed by her,"
"S’ok, Isn't the first time some bird has grabbed me, at least this time she has a beautiful body." he added with his trademark smirk, causing Elvara to blush slightly.
Giles looked in askance at everything that was being said, He would have more questions for Joyce when they got home.
Buffy just looked at Xander in disgust. There was something up with the boy. His reactions weren't right.
By the time they had finished the conversations they were at the bottom of the stairs.
"According to the plans the holding cells are down the stairs to the left, the offices and council rooms to the right," Cassie reminded them.
Buffy nodded, she pointed to Ritchie, Cassie and and Spike, "Take your groups and go that way, down the stairs to the sub-basement cells; we'll head this way and get the Watchers."
Anya rolled her eyes. "Xander would you please stop saying foolish things. She is the Goddess of fertility and sex, if you piss her off enough your penis might never work again."
Willow tried hard not to laugh at the look on her friend's face as his stupidity sank in, but it was an effort. Unfortunately for Xander, everyone else gave in to the urge to laugh, even Fahr.
Haakon snorted out a short bark of laughter. “Harris, keep it up and the only thing your dick will be good for is pissing, and believe me, her blessing is worth having.”
~*~*~*~*~
The preternatural warriors led the way down narrow staircase to where the holding cells were. Each one was flooded with neon light, thick glass windows allowed their occupants to be clearly seen. A clipboard on the outside of each cell detailing the species as well as what experimentation had been carried out on them. Tara felt sick when she saw a female vampire with no arms or legs, her fangs pulled out and blood being dripped into a tube that led up her nose. A stake from Cassie put an end to her misery, Tara nearly crying when she whispered her thanks as it entered her chest.
A couple of figures in white coats appeared pushing a trolley between them. Ritchie shot first one and then the other before proceeding very cautiously forward to see who or what was strapped onto the gurney. The demon looked unconscious, and also looked very alien. Lilac tentacles lay motionless against its thorax.
"Vec'lak. Perfectly harmless. What the fuck have they done to her?" Ritchie swore.
"Push her in here," Elvara said. "We can come back and sort them all out later,"
Opening the door to an empty cell she helped Haakon maneuver the trolley in, covering the demon with a blanket, and freeing her from the strapping before shutting and locking the door.
"Next," she ordered. Haakon nodded and followed Spike to where he could hear heart beats. It was useful having a vampire hunt with them.
As they were passing one cell, Willow and Anya cried out, pointing excitedly..."That's Clem's family. That's his sister, Bayan. Giles we have to get in there."
The demon had noticed the figures, but was hovering protectively over what seemed like a bundle of rags in the corner of her cell.
Willow shouted again for Elvara, causing Cassie to put a hand over her mouth, "We're supposed to be being quiet, witch,"
Willow nodded slowly. She had forgotten in her excitement. Elvara opened the door and let Anya and Tara lead the way in, "We've come to help" Anya told the demon, who nodded once.
Elvara made her way over. "The little one is very sick. I can heal her but you need to let me touch," she said softly, not wanting to provoke an over protective mother.
Bayan nodded once more and Elvara pulled back the blanket, the little one had obviously not been fed properly, and she had been cut as well. The sight hardened the Priestess's heart against the monsters that ran the Council How could they do this to a child?
"Her name is Clerise," Tara told Elvara as she watched the healing. Rose colored light flooded from Elvara's hands into the demon child, causing her to make the first noise.
"Mama," she whimpered.
Bayan smiled up at the Priestess, but growled again as Haakon came into the room.
"It’s OK he's with me," Elvara told her. "He won't hurt you,"
"We've cleared this end, Rakkaani. Council are dead, so are the more dangerous prisoners."
Elvara nodded, "Bayan, we're going to lock you in again, but only we can break the wards I'll set. Even if there is loose council they'll not be able to get to you and we will come back and get you. If we don't the wards will fall in about five hours, so it will be up to you then, OK?"
Bayan nodded "Thank you, Lady."
Spike led the way back along the corridor, sniffing the air as he went. It was all clear. He could hear Buffy in the distance, she didn't sound overly stressed. He patted Elvara's hand and nodded slightly, reassuring the woman that all was well with the other group. He grinned at Haakon who was checking all around them with a warrior's eye.
"Why haven't they got surveillance cameras around here? I would have the place covered in them." he said quietly
"Oh, they had." Anya informed them happily "but my old boss got rid of them for us. Anything to keep Buffy and Elvara off of his back. He might be a demon but he's not stupid."
~*~*~*~*~
Buffy turned away from the stairs to the lower level and proceeded to the first door she could see. “Considering how misogynistic the council is, we won’t need to worry about any women down here.” Her eyes hardened, the pupils developing into slits and the green of her eyes took on an eerily glow. “So tempting to kill them all, and let Hades sort them out.” A rumbling growl issued from the depths of her chest.
Methos rolled his eyes, which looked massively weird with his half-painted face. “Don’t forget we need to question Travers and his men.”
“I haven’t forgotten. Just said it was tempting.” Buffy growled, flexing her fingers around the hilt of her sword. “Okay, we go room by room. The three of you on the right side, Wolf and I on the left. Clear each room.” A wicked grin crossed Buffy’s lips. “And for the love of little green apples, don’t get yourself killed.”
Xander leaned close to Methos and whispered, “What do apples have to do with this?”
Methos chuckled and replied, “She basically said if you get killed, she’ll make a pie from you instead of from apples.” He shook his head. “Hopefully you taste better than that snake stew she made when I was a kid.”
Xander blinked, understanding finally dawning on him and he nodded. “Gotcha, no dying.”
Wolf and Fahr both huffed with laughter, enjoying the two immortals twisted sense of humor.
They paused outside two doors on opposite sides of the hall from each other. With a glance and a nod, Buffy and Methos kicked down the respective doors and invaded the rooms.
Buffy huffed in indignation, sharing a wry glance with Wolf. “Looks like this room is empty. Damn it!”
Xander poked his head back out into the hall from the room he had entered. “This one is empty too. Do you think they were all in the upstairs hall?”
Buffy shook her head. “If I know anything about this organization, it’s the fact that the heads are lazy sons of bitches that prefer to let others do the dying for them.”
Fahr scented the air in front of another door and shook his head.
"Council room it is then,” Buffy said, "I haven't trashed that place in at least three hundred years. Wonder if there still is a bloody big axe sticking out of one of the walls?" she muttered with a grin. Buffy stood in front of the double doors that led to the main council room. "Everyone ready?" she asked. There were nods all round. Cheekily she walked up and knocked softly.
"Tea, Sir" she called out in a very feminine voice.
"Bring it in you stupid woman," a voice answered her.
Xander leaned over and quietly asked Methos, “She trashed this place once already?”
“Apparently. I’m not too clear on the why, but they must have pissed her off somehow.” Methos replied with a grin. “And what that idiot just called her, isn’t helping her temper any.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Once again, thanks to Jamies_lady for the inspiring tennis matches.