CHAPTER SEVEN
Buffy waited patiently that afternoon for her mother's arrival at home. The nineteen year old had just finished her shift at the retail job, glad that this was her afternoon off from her next job. Her mother had started to ease back into her previous lifestyle since the brain surgery. Though it was too soon for her to work, Joyce had run some minor errands that day to the grocery store and the cleaners.
When the older woman entered the house, Buffy had the television on and was flipping through channels.
"Hi, Mom," she greeted, settling on a judge show.
Joyce put the grocery bags in the kitchen then sat on the couch. "Hello, Sweetheart," she told her daughter. "How was work?" Buffy turned off the TV.
"Work was work," Buffy said, shrugging. She sat in a chair directly across from her mother so that Joyce could see her daughter clearly.
"Have I told you how proud I am of you lately?" Joyce asked, smiling. "It hasn't been easy for you, I know, what with your sister being away in college and you having to manage for yourself. I'm so glad that you've become quite the capable young leader, taking the initiative like you do."
"Thanks," Buffy said, looking like she wanted to say something more.
**Might as well go for broke,** she thought.
"Mom," Buffy asked.
"Yes, Honey?" Joyce questioned back.
"Why won't you tell me what happened two days ago?" Buffy inquired, giving her mother a knowing look.
Joyce got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She came back with a pitcher of water and a glass with ice. While she poured, Buffy waited for her to collect herself.
"Never could keep anything from you, could I?" Joyce said tiredly, drinking. "'Delia, yes, but not you."
"Did something bad happen?" Buffy asked.
"Besides me losing my way?" Joyce bounced back. She then shook her head, saying, "Not exactly bad, bad. But…"
"If it's not so bad, then why won't you tell me?" the younger girl questioned, looking worried. Joyce rose and sat beside her daughter, stroking her arm to comfort her.
"There's not much to tell," the mother said.
"But," Buffy reasoned. "Riley did make a great point." She stood up from the couch, walking rapidly. "I mean, you usually call us before anything, no matter where you are. A-and, I'm not saying a tow truck wouldn't have taken some time to get to you, but where your car was found wasn't where you normally drive."
Looking somewhat ashamed that she wasn't telling Buffy everything, Joyce said, "Well, there was a fog, honey…"
"Mom," Buffy said. "I'm not trying to get into your business. But you said that we share and share alike. We're family, right? And, if you're in some kind of trouble, I wanna help."
Joyce took a deep breath. She tried never to lie about keeping promises, but she also knew that, strong willed as Buffy was, her youngest daughter would dig and dig until all the stones were unturned. Rather than make things worse, Joyce told Buffy the whole story of what had happened. Buffy stopped pacing and stared at her mother.
"You mean you were trapped in the cellar of the Vampire Beast's home, but you promised him you wouldn't say anything?" she asked incredulously.
"We don't know that he killed anyone," Joyce defended Spike, wondering when she had become his champion. "There could be another one."
"Yeah, right!" Buffy cried sarcastically. "Because whenever a vampire gets an urge to feed, he just naturally picks our neck of the woods instead of, say, a more densely populated area like New York, or Los Angeles!"
Normally, her mother would have told her daughter not to take that tone, but Joyce knew Buffy had a right to be angry.
Joyce tried again, saying, "He has a friend who's staying with him. He didn't feed on him, and that young man has been with him for a long time."
"Well, even a vampire needs a servant, or something," Buffy accused.
**Just like in the movies, Mom. Ignorance, much?**the youngest of the Summers' clan thought, though she didn't voice her opinion.
Joyce continued to weather the storm of her daughter's tirade.
"I know you're upset," she told Buffy. "That's why I didn't want to say anything; that, and the fact that I gave them my word."
Joyce felt the stirring of guilt for having betrayed the vampire's trust. She also felt afraid for her family. Would Spike make good on his promise? That thought warred with her more logical side which told her that the beastly looking vamp was just trying to scare her; that if he really meant any harm, he would have attacked her family already. Plus, she'd seen his reaction to Buffy's picture. She wondered what her daughter had to do with him, if anything.
Again, Buffy's mother felt the need to defend the vampire, even as she queried within herself why she did.
"For what it's worth, I really think Spike wants to be alone." At the mention of the vampire's name, Buffy's eyes grew wide.
"What does he look like?" she asked Joyce. When Joyce didn't answer, Buffy went over to her and, kneeling in front of her mother, gripped both of her arms.
"Please, Mom, you have to tell me," Buffy insisted. "WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE!?"
When Joyce described the bumpy faced, orange yellow eyed, vampire, Buffy got up from her mother, her face looking dejected.
"Honey, what is it?" Joyce asked, concerned.
"Nothing, Mom," Buffy fibbed, putting on a neutral look. Joyce didn't say anything; she knew Buffy would tell her what was going on when her daughter was ready.
Buffy thought about the handsome, blue eyed, angular cheeked man of her dreams just then. When she'd been younger, she'd thought that the dreams were just coincidental. But now, Buffy wondered, did the Spike of her dreams have a connection with the ugly vampire her mother had just described?
Realizing that her parent was studying her, Buffy put that question in the back of her mind. She said softly, "I just…can't believe what you're telling me."
"Well, now that I have told you, I want you to promise me something," Joyce said sternly.
Buffy nodded her assent, asking, "What?"
"Promise me that you won't tell anyone else," Joyce insisted. "If he is the one doing the killings, I don't want you to get involved. Let the police or the military handle this. Besides, if there is another vampire on a killing spree, and Spike 's innocent, we owe it to him to leave well enough alone." Buffy opened her mouth to comment, but Joyce cut her off, reiterating with more force, "PROMISE me."
Buffy said, "I promise. I won't do anything that will endanger us, or myself." Joyce smiled, glad that she had gotten her youngest girl to agree. When she told Buffy she needed to lie down, the girl's eyes followed her mother's trek upstairs.
Buffy was determined as she seized upon a course of action. She absolutely hated lying to her mother, but the wanted answers, and she wasn't going to wait.
After hastily scribbling a note that she was going shopping at the mall, she rose and went to her jacket. The almost-twenty-year old got the plank of wood that she had carved into a stake since the Vampire Beast in Sunnydale had been sighted.
Putting it back inside her jacket's pocket, Buffy dressed and walked out of the house. She hoped she knew how to use one, but movies and books, even though they dealit with creatures like vampires in a fictitious way, had to know something, right?
She headed to the car and drove toward the town her parent had described.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
At an underground base beneath the whole of Sunnydale, an army officer switched off the tape that had been running during Buffy's and Joyce's conversation. He rolled the tape back on his state-of-the-art machine, his long, brown fingers stopping the machine at what he believed was the beginning of said dialogue.
"Sir!" he called over to Riley, who was checking other monitors in the expansive underground base.
"Yes, what is it, Private?" Riley asked the African American officer. The black man removed his headphones from his completely shaven, dark chocolate brown head.
"We've got something," he told Riley, switching on the tape. As Riley listened to the conversation, he nodded, glad that he had planted the bug in Joyce's house.
"All right, get some officers here, only two for now," Riley ordered, "and I want a detailed map of that area where Williamstown is located. I want our contingent equipped with stakes, tranq guns, and any other weapons available."
"Consider it done," the Private told Riley. The sandy haired Midwestern man's eyes alighted on the cells that, as of that moment, were finished and ready for capture of the evil forces.
Riley had been ordered by the United States Government's Defense Department to use any means necessary to capture the Vampire Beast and any others like him. Once that had been achieved, his instructions were to inform his superiors so that they and the scientists milling about the base could study the creatures in depth.
The vampires and any other demons worth their attention would be tagged and eventually eliminated once the experiments to find out what their greatest assets and weaknesses were had been completed. The US Government also planned to market their unique services to allies overseas or potential friends who dealt with revenants and their demon cronies on a daily basis.
The highly secretive branch of the Defense Department would clean up not only by supplying the neutered vampires and demons as "servants" to their friends all over the globe, but it would also provide the means to off them if they got out of line.
After the US Government's Initiative Program offered its services to the highest bidder, it knew several interested parties who would jump at the chance to be on the ground floor of cheap labor and the latest technology from the US.
The resulting cash flow from said parties would not only be used to fund other worthwhile Government operations, but would, upon careful juggling, provide a nice and tidy profit to those who were intelligent enough to seize the financial high ground without getting caught. Determined to be one of those, Riley thought about the SUV he had just put a down payment on and grinned.
"Private Jones," Riley commanded, "make sure that any information goes through me first. I would rather view it initially before passing it onto the top brass. Got it?"
Private Marshall Jones nodded enthusiastically. He knew what side his bread was buttered on, and he and his fellow officers would serve Riley until the bitter end.
Marshall never trusted higher ups; they often issued orders without seeing first hand what was at stake, and they always forgot to take care of those who had helped them achieve their success. Riley was different. Although he'd risen in the ranks to become one of the youngest Commanders in their unique operation, he never forgot all ten of his men. He always looked after them, and, in turn, Marshall would look after Riley.
Marshall saluted Riley, saying, "Yes, sir!"
Riley smiled again. He walked down the corridor and opened the secret trap door at the end of the hallway. The door led into a crypt used by the military operation so that Army personnel could enter and leave without detection.
He would find out where Williamstown was, follow his inamorato there, capture the Beast, and when the financial and physical awards followed along with Buffy's hand in marriage, the Midwestern Army Unit Commander would toast his success.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
In his flat on the Eastern part of town, Rupert Giles studied the images of the events that had just taken place on his magically enhanced telly. The middle aged British sorcerer walked over to his library of magic books, consulting which one would best serve Buffy in her journey toward her destiny. Although he didn't know everything yet about the mystic energies surrounding the girl, he did know that she and Spike were somehow deeply connected.
Giles found the tome he searched for at the top of his shelf. He focused on the protection spell to shield Williamstown so that Buffy could arrive there safely and undeterred by Riley.
"Spell of Cloaking, hear me now: surround the province of Williamstown," Giles spoke aloud.
He glanced at the telly and saw the mist that was invisible to everyone except those of his kind. The White One knew that the time had also come for him, and his best student, Willow, to lend a hand in helping Buffy, Spike, and the ones inseparable from the fabric of prophecy tightly woven around them.
He looked at the books and set forth putting the volumes into his bottomless magic bag. When he was satisfied that he had everything he needed, Giles left his flat.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Spike could practically sense that something was different about this day. He had risen about two hours before sunset, wondering what caused the hairs on his neck to stand on end. He had only felt that way once before: the day the Evil Vampire Sorceress, Drusilla, had robbed him of his humanity and cursed him to boot.
He opened his door before he had even smelled who was on the other side. His mouth hung open when he saw the petite, blonde haired, green eyed girl of his dreams in living color on the other side of it.
She looked angry about something, he could tell. He suspected what the source of her anger had been. Before he could react or try to placate her, Buffy let her fist fly straight into the nose on his bumpy face.
"Bloody hell!" he swore as he gingerly rubbed his throbbing nose.
[Reviews - 67]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2656 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
A/n: Finally...the meeting takes place! Thanks to those who waited so patiently, and thanks for all reviews!
For those who may have read this on my other websites that I post to, this is slightly edited, but there are no great corrections to the chapter, just some minor added insights into Joyce's and Buffy's thoughts.
For those who may have read this on my other websites that I post to, this is slightly edited, but there are no great corrections to the chapter, just some minor added insights into Joyce's and Buffy's thoughts.