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Author's Chapter Notes:
It's been a while since I posted here, and I decided to mend a wrong and update everything I can.
*Council Room, Slayer Castle, Scotland, UK*
The rectangular room with stone walls and Spartan decorations, consisting solely of a large, oval table and chairs, and an assortment of weapons adorning the walls, was filled with the chatter of the assembled people. Present were the Scoobies in their current form. Buffy, as the Head Slayer, was seated at one end of the table, the Slayer Scythe on the wall behind her. Xander and Dawn sat on her immediate right and Willow on her left. Next to Willow was Andrew, who had flown in overnight from Italy to clarify his allegiance, show his support, bring the latest news from the Immortal’s camp, and beg forgiveness from both Buffy and Spike for his role in keeping Spike’s return a secret. Since he’d first sat at the table, he’d kept his head down, talking only with Willow, Xander, or Dawn and studiously avoiding answering any pertinent questions until the meeting would officially start, and he’d get to have his say.
Spike had chosen to sit on the opposite end of the table from Buffy, so that he could more easily encompass everyone seated in one glance. Erika and Oz were on his right, leaving two empty chairs on his left. Another empty chair was between Andrew and Oz, while opposite the redheaded werewolf and next to Dawn sat Dana, as a representative of the rest of the slayers, as well as being their resident ‘Slayer Researcher.’ Dana, upon first seeing Spike enter, had given him a tight-lipped smile and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” Her apology received a nod from the bemused vampire. Alia was not present, due to Buffy’s unwillingness to play favorites, so she was off on guard duty for the day.
As greetings and personal discussions finally died down, Buffy took it upon herself to make sure they kept on topic from then on. “First things first. Andrew, tell us what’s new in Italy.”
The boy had truly grown up. Now sporting a goatee, a better haircut, and a fine business suit, Andrew looked the part of the manager of a law firm, but faced with the vampire he had once worshipped, his eyes betrayed fear and trepidation. Swallowing once to get control of his voice, he set about detailing the Immortal’s information regarding their enemy’s recent moves. “Dracula’s been breeding an army in the Balkans. He also has spies infiltrated everywhere, from the smallest island in the Aegean, to the halls of the UN and the US Congress. The number of his followers is unknown, but is believed to be growing very rapidly.” Meeting Buffy’s eyes for the first time since his arrival, he went on with his report. “Mary says the Immortal will keep Italy clear of Dracula’s influence, but that even so, he doesn’t have enough power to go on the offensive. What’s even more worrisome is that everything demonic east of the Alps, west of the Urals, south of the Karelia and north of the Euphrates is now controlled by Drac and Drac alone. All the other demons, vampires, and even the human demon hunters and witches that were there and were opposing his rule are now gone—either dead or turned.”
“And the slayers there died as well,” Buffy added in a quiet voice, the losses weighing heavily on her.
“Yes. But this is just the beginning.” Andrew went on to tell them about reports of activity on all the continents that were traced back to Dracula, as well as chilling stories about demon/vampire/human death squads roaming the Russian steppes, armed with weapons capable of taking down just about any threat they might encounter, short of an aerial strike.
The more Buffy heard, the stonier her face got, her mind going a mile a minute trying to figure out what their next step could be. By the time Andrew was done presenting his information, she felt that she needed to kill something—preferably slowly. “What about the lawyers? How’s it going on that front?”
Andrew’s face broke out in a proud grin as he praised his staff and how they seemed to be willing to forego their previous employers’ evil ways. He mentioned that similar reports were coming in from all the WRH branches. “By my estimates, we’ll be in full control by the end of the year, at the latest.”
“At least that’s something!” Buffy met Spike’s gaze, signaling his turn to finally tell his story.
“So, after the Poof had fought these blighters ever since he left Sunnyhell, he suddenly decides to up and change tactics, literally making a deal with the Devil. Apparently he just couldn’t bear it if the world remembered his son, so he made it so that everyone forgot everything about Connor, in return for Angel’s becomin’ Evil Inc’s new boss.”
“Whoa, whoa there, Captain Peroxide. Whaddaya mean son?”
“Not my story to tell, Mad-Eye.” Taking a deep breath, he went on. “When I joined the merry band of idiots, Peaches was already working on his master-plan that would strand us in another dimension and cost us an arm and a bloody leg in casualties. I guess it worked in the end, though, so can’t rightly blame the bloke for trying,” he amended scratching the back of his head. “Anyway, after about a year of fighting tooth and nail, I finally managed to convince Angel to bring his son in on our side.” Everyone at the table could feel the severity of those actions, as Spike decided to forego his usual nicknames, his voice getting graver. “We still had it pretty rough out there. By the time another year passed, we were nearing the end of our collective rope, with just enough left to hang ourselves. And hang we did.” And there he was, smirking again, his fingers fidgeting for the need of a smoke.
“Wesley was all Casper-like after the whole mess with the Black Thorn, yeah? So he pops in one day like usual, only this time he tells us he’s got the buggers’ number. And all we have to do is get this old broom from a hole in the ground where nobody would miss it, and presto! No more Senior Partners.”
“Hardly unmissed.” Erika’s gaze was trained on the vampire, but again, it didn’t reflect hostility; instead it showed just acceptance and resolve, something that Spike felt deserved at least some respect. “That broom was nothing but a physical vessel that acted as a catalyst for the Circle’s powers, allowing them to keep in check the influence that Dracula tried to exert. Needless to say, when it was stolen, the connection was severed and this allowed the Dark Lord to return to his seat of power, leading to the current crisis.”
“We did what we bloody well had to, and we’ll deal with the Transylvanian Bat and his bands as well.”
“Do not misunderstand; what you did, you had to do.” Seeing he was still not getting the full meaning of her words, the Wolf Guard leader decided to explain. “By that, I mean that your interference was fated, and we have waited for you to take the Sacred Source for the past hundred years.”
“That’s just priceless, that is. Let me guess: it was prophecy, right? Why can’t you lot leave well enough alone? Oh, I know. Let’s write up some more tripe for our favorite go-to vamp to do. Want me to fetch you the bloody paper while we’re at it?”
“I thought I was fetching the paper, being Dog Boy and all.” Oz’s comment left Spike stopping in the middle of his rant, opening his mouth to curse and yet unable to think of a single reason why he’d want to. The rest of the people around the table, Erika included, were chuckling or outright laughing at the sight.
Just as Buffy was feeling good about finally being able to get somewhere with their meeting, there was knock on the door, followed by the appearance of one of the junior slayers accompanied by none other than a smiling Riley Finn. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Just what we bloody needed: the Hall Monitor come back to haunt us.” With those words from Spike, every bit of levity was gone from Riley’s face, and he and the vampire started glaring at each other.
“I’d really hoped Buffy had gotten her head on straight and dusted your sorry ass a long time ago.”
“Children, please, stop bickering.” Xander had gotten up from his seat and was standing halfway between Spike and Riley, although his posture indicated he sided with the vampire this time. Nobody was more surprised about this than Spike himself, who sprawled back in his seat in a deceptively relaxed pose.
The soldier just shrugged his shoulders and redirected his attention towards Buffy. “I have some official business to discuss with you. Shall we go somewhere more private?”
A bit thrown by the rapid mood changes in the room, Buffy was left agape. “Are you kidding me?” She shook her head a bit to clear her mind and skip all the questions or statements that would probably lead to endless discussions about previous choices, then straightened her shoulders, displaying every bit of authority that came with her position. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of everyone.”
With a slight frown followed by a curt nod, Riley did a round of handshaking, without skipping either the people he hadn’t previously met or Spike, to the latter’s apparent great amusement. To his credit, though, the vampire decided to keep his mouth shut after his initial outburst, focusing instead on looking as at home as possible in the Slayer’s Council Room.
“I’m here on a mission from the International Supernatural Awareness Pact, or ISAP, which is a joint operation between the US Government and specialized agencies around the world. The purpose of the ISAP is to observe and contain supernatural threats against the human population, without doing any experimentation on the side.” He hastened to add the last part when he saw how the Scoobies stiffened at the news. “Look, the Initiative was a disaster, but we’ve gotten much better at this, and the fact that almost all the countries of the world have some sort of involvement in it should ease your mistrust at least a little.” Looking deadly serious and ignoring Spike’s disbelieving snort, Riley accented his words by slapping his palm on the table. “There are no ‘Super-soldier’ programs, chips, or cells. We’re completely on the up-and-up.” Grinning a bit, he amended, “Well, as much as a secret organization created to battle supernatural forces that the general populace is unaware of can be.” He took a deep breath while some of the others snickered at his words.
“That’s all fine and dandy, but what about the whole chasing us like hardened criminals bit from a couple of years back? Lemme guess: mistaken identity? You didn’t know about the one-armed man?” Xander had sat back down after Riley and was now craning his neck to look around Dana with nothing but accusation at the guy he had once looked up to.
“Look, I had nothing to do with that, and my superiors have given me permission to extend their deepest apologies.” He shrugged, his face clearly showing he was uncomfortable with the subject. He immediately squared his shoulders, his features stony and all traces of amusement gone. “I didn’t come here to talk about past mistakes. I came here to tell you that someone is attacking the Hellmouths.” He paused for a second for effect, before piercing Buffy with his most grave look. “All of them.”
“I thought only the ones in Cleveland and Jaweng were active, and we’ve got them covered. So unless your sources come from the bowels of Hell, I think we’re fine, and you can go back to your superiors and leave us to do our job. You remember my job, right? I’m the one who saved the planet over and over while your precious military was doing its darnedest to get in my way.” Buffy was getting fed up with people coming in every five minutes with dire news. She knew it was probably unfair to take it out on Riley, but she didn’t feel like being fair—especially because she still hadn’t really yelled at him since the night she’d found him in the vamp whorehouse. And she’d been completely nice to his wife, while he’d made her blow up her boyf—…that is, her vamp’s home.
“We’ve been keeping tabs on the dormant hellmouths, just to stay on the safe side. Starting about a week ago, we started losing contact with more and more of the locations. To make matters worse, all the teams we sent in to appraise the situation have also been lost.”
Buffy bristled at the tone Riley was using now, as though he were a teacher talking to a naughty child. She could see how maybe he was a tiny bit right. Still, she felt she was owed a bit of leeway for her pettiness. Looking around the table, she decided she had to be the adult once again and leave personal differences for when the next possible apocalypse wasn’t just rearing its ugly head.
“So you’re saying that you soldier-boys finally got your heads out of your collective asses and tried to do something not so half-cocked, only to have some new Big Bad rip you a new one.” Spike actually looked like he felt sorry for Riley, or at least he did for the dead men.
Buffy didn’t remember ever seeing him show so much compassion for someone he hadn’t even met. That last year in Sunnydale he had mostly been out of his mind with grief over his own actions, or tortured by the First, or focused on helping her, so he hadn’t really had the chance to—well—show off his soul. The realization was pretty sobering.
“And I’ll be twice buggered if we won’t find the wretched, old bat mixed up in all of this.” Leaning forward, Spike pinned Riley with an intense stare. “Better tell us where he hit and how badly; no use going off half-arsed, deaf, dumb, and blind for no reason.”Apparently Spike was either better than the Head Slayer at faking adulthood, or he’d done some real growing up in the other dimension. So what exactly were this new Spike’s feelings for plain old Buffy?
~~~***~~~
*Slayer HQ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*
The entire group of slayers from the Rio Contingent was gathered for a meeting concerning the prioritizing of targets, when the doors were suddenly blasted open in a hail of debris and shrapnel. Through the now gaping hole, about fifty demons of all breeds and sizes burst in and started fighting the stunned slayers. In less than a minute, all the girls were bound and gagged, while all the rest of the people that were there to help them were soon dead. The girls were spirited away to the lair of the new player in town, while the house behind them became engulfed in flames.
~~~***~~~
“Wolfram and Hart building, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”
The offices of Wolfram and Hart in Brazil faced their own midnight assault. Fierce skirmishes took place between the few slayers under Rona’s command and wave after wave of vamps and other demons. Not even the help of the security staff and a friendly gang of human demon hunters was enough to turn the tide, as each casualty of the enemy forces was easily replaced, while the defenders had no back-up coming. Unlike the previous assault on the Rio Contingent, the attackers had orders to kill on sight—no prisoners, no mercy. So it was even more amazing that after all was said and done, a lone figure managed to crawl out from under the rubble, severely wounded but still alive and with urgent news for the slayers.
The news was that the leader of the assault had been one of them once…and that Kennedy was on her way to “rape, torture, and kill—maybe not in that order” her former team-mates.





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