fic: Magister (R) Ch. 5

[gilescandy.livejournal.com]

Daddy's home!

Warnings: A bit of torture.  More Murder.

5.  Wicked Trouble

Xander held the shaking form of Dawn in his strong embrace.  Seconds after her scream echoed through the building, Angel, Wesley, and Buffy sprinted into the lobby from all directions.  Each pair of trained eyes scanned the area for danger, but found nothing.

“What happened?  What is it?” Buffy rushed to help calm her sister.

Xander’s voice trembled as he held Dawn’s head securely to his chest.  “Dawnie here was…  We were getting a little restless, what with the waiting and all.  So, I decided it was a good time to give her that crossbow lesson I’ve been promising.  We went to the weapons cabinet to pick one and…”  His voice seemed to get stuck in his throat.

Angel and Wesley approached the cabinet and carefully peered inside.  “It’s empty,” Angel looked at his associate with confusion.

Wesley’s attention was pulled to the floor as he stepped in a slippery substance.  He crouched to examine it and whispered, “Blood.”

“Yes.  Smells very fresh, too.”

All eyes went to Xander, then slowly followed his gaze to the high ceiling above them.  There, they discovered the sight that had torn the blood-curdling scream from the girl.  All of the sharp bladed weapons had been driven into the ceiling where they held in place the spread eagle body of a man in a dark suit.  The corpse had been displayed like some giant bug pinned to cardboard for study.

Wesley jumped back as a large drop of blood fell toward him.  “My God,” he breathed.

“No,” Angel whispered, “this is not the work of God.”

“Can we go back to the waiting part?” Xander whimpered.

Buffy moved to get a better look at the corpse.  “I don’t understand.  I’ve never see this guy before.  Does he plan to terrorize us by leaving random corpses around for us to find?”

“I don’t think so.”  Wesley cleared his throat.  “We’ve encountered people similar to this man in our work here.  This is a message for us.  And I believe it has a two-fold meaning.  First, he wants us to know he hasn’t forgotten about us.  And second--”

“Wolfram and Hart are trying to court him,” Angel looked to the ex-Watcher for confirmation of the theory.

Wesley nodded.  “And I think it’s safe to assume he’s rejected their first offer.”

“Geez,” Buffy mused, gazing at the ceiling two stories above her.  “How did he get the guy up there in the first place?”  A sob from Dawn brought her back to the situation at hand.  “Xander, take Dawn upstairs.  Hang in Willow’s room for a while and let us handle this.”  The boy began to move, careful to keep the body from his young friend’s view.  “Wes, find Faith and go get whatever ingredients you still need for that locator spell.  Be sure you guys get back before dark.  If he’s upping his game, I want the others to have as much protection as possible.”

“We’ll be as quick as we can.”  He rushed up the stairs the find the other Slayer.

Finally, she spoke to the vampire as they both stared upwards.  “So…  How do you suggest we clean this mess up?”

***

“I thought you said he was one of the most capable agents we had.”

“He was.  Apparently, vampires don’t abide by the ‘don’t kill the messenger’ rule,” Lilah smiled sarcastically at the handsome, young lawyer across from her.

“Neither do we,” Lindsey grinned.  “Just tell me it wasn’t a total loss.”

“It wasn’t a total loss…  The tracking chip and follow team we placed on him gave us a good idea of where he found our vamp.  But, what’s better is where the body ended up.”

Lindsey opened the report from the surveillance team and took out a picture.  “So this is our guy, huh?  Funny, he doesn’t look like the normal ancient and powerful type that usually goes for the big plays.”

“That’s because he’s not.  When I found out he took our agent’s body and left it at Angel’s place, he has guests by the way, it wasn’t long before I figured out who this mystery vamp is.  What you are looking at, Lindsey, is what’s left of a man named Rupert Giles.  He is, or was, the Watcher to the current Slayer, and until almost a week ago, was alive and well.”

“You’re kidding me.  This vamp is less than a week old and others are already following him?”  Lilah nodded to him slowly with a knowing look in her eyes.  “A Watcher turned vampire,” he chuckled, “the Council must be wetting themselves by now.”

“That is precisely why we have to step up our efforts right now.  We need to bring this guy in before they get a chance to take him out.  I mean, the possibilities with what this beast knows…  The Senior Partners would love to get into his head.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Lindsey said cautiously.  “It will be risky because if we lose the asset before she completes her purpose there will be hell to pay… literally.  This vamp king obviously won’t respond to a human, so what if we send him a vamp queen.”

Lilah chuckled.  “Wow, looks like you may be growing a pair, Lindsey.  You’re right, if he kills her, we’ll be toast.”  She picked up the phone.  “Yes…  Can you please inform Drusilla that I’d like to speak to her?”

***

“Shh, Dawnie.  It’ll be all right.”  Willow rocked the younger girl in her arms and stroked her hair.  “We’ll all get through this.”

“I know,” Dawn sniffed the last of her tears.  “It’s just… how could he do something like that?  It’s so not like Giles.”

“That’s because it’s not him.”  She stared into the youngster’s eyes, willing her to understand.  “Until we can put things right, it’s not Giles.  No matter what he does, you have to keep telling yourself that.  Over and over.”  Willow placed a hand over Dawn’s heart.  “You have to protect him here.  That’s where this demon will try to hurt Giles the most.  He’ll try to take our memories of him and the love we all have for him.  Don’t let him, Dawn.  Don’t let him take Giles away from you.”

“She’s right,” Xander sat between them and put his arms around both girls.  “We owe that much to the G-man.  We all know him well enough to know when it’s not him.”

Dawn let out a giggle at his muddled, yet comforting sentiment.

“It will be over soon,” Willow smiled.  She pointed at a sacred circle she had set up on the floor.  “As soon as Wes gets back with the final ingredients, we’ll do the spell and go get him back.”

***

Dawn and Xander came down the stairs just as Buffy set the last of the thoroughly cleaned weapons back in its place.  Angel was speaking to her.

“I know of an oracle that may be able to help decipher Cordy’s vision.  The sun will be setting in a little.  I’ll go there and hit as many contacts as I can tonight to see if they’ve heard if he’s stopped moving around and settled anywhere yet.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Buffy said in a subdued voice.  She turned to the others.  “Wes checked in.  They’re on their way back and should be here any minute.”

“Good,” Xander smiled.  “Willow sent us down to check on that.  I think she feels better now and can’t wait to get in on this.”

“That’s great.  At this point she’s our big gun.”  Buffy placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder and was reassured with a strong, determined smile.  “I’m gonna walk Angel out and seal the sewer access behind him.  You guys hang tight ‘til Faith and Wes get back.”

“We’ll be ready for them,” Dawn called as the Slayer and vampire headed for the basement.

The sun had set when Wesley pushed open the doors.  “We got back as soon as we could,” he smiled at Dawn.  “Anything new?”

“Not really.  Angel’s headed out for the night and Willow’s been waiting for you upstairs.”

Faith chuckled.  “I’ll run the stuff up to her.  I know how she feels.  I’ve been itchin’ to get this rumble started, too.”  She sprinted up the stairs, but was stopped before she could go any farther.  “Hey!” she yelled as four large vampires tried to grab her.

At the same moment, Wesley was wrapped up by two that had appeared behind him and Dawn struggled in the arms of one more.  The girl screamed as the monster that held her lowered his fangs to her neck.

“Wait,” a gruff voice yelled, “Our orders!  They belong to the boss.”

“Screw the orders,” Dawn’s captor hissed.  “I’m hungry.”

Faith vaulted the banister, jumping from the second floor, and raced toward the struggling girl, knowing she’d never get there in time.  She slid to a halt as a large hand roughly grabbed the hair at the back of her target’s head and pulled the fangs away from vulnerable flesh.  Before anyone could blink, the strong hands had broken the offending vampire’s neck and twisted with enough force to decapitate him, leaving only dust.

“Justin,” Dawn’s savior called in a conversational tone loud enough for everyone to hear as he dusted off his hands.  “Tell me, were my instructions in any way unclear?”

“I’m sorry, Sir.  That was a new recruit.  He never should have been allowed on this raid.”

“In future, let us make sure that either you or I meet each of our recruits to ensure stability and reliability before important endeavors.”

Dawn turned to look at her rescuer and sighed, “Giles.”

He smiled at her, then motioned Justin to hold her.  Magister took a stumbling step forward as a heavy weight collided with his back.  Strong arms wrapped around him and attempted to hold onto him with all their might.

“You got a jump on me, Xander.  I’m proud of you.”  He stood up to his full height, dangling the young man’s feet in the air.  “But where is your stake?”

“We don’t want to have to kill you,” Xander begged breathlessly in his ear.  “Just stop doing all this and come home.  We can fix everything.”

“And what if I think there’s nothing to be fixed.”  The vampire flexed his arms out and Xander flew back, colliding with a wall.  He slumped against it, cradling his left arm.

“That’s enough,” Faith called, striding toward him.  “Don’t make me have to do something I don’t want to, Big Guy.”

Magister held his hand up, palm facing towards her and called, “Serpens!”  From his palm flowed a stream of energy in the form of a huge, constricting snake.  The magickal snake wrapped itself around Faith and held her fast, lifting her a few inches off the floor.

He approached her and caressed the snake’s head as she squirmed.  “I wouldn’t struggle if I were you.  The more you fight, the tighter she will squeeze until you won’t be able to breathe at all.  And that would cause me much distress.”  He leaned into her and inhaled deeply, lightly nuzzling at her neck, and whispered, “You smell of mother’s milk to me, Faith.  You nourished me when I was weak.  I have not forgotten your gift.”

Faith tried to fight down her body’s startling reaction to this level of intimacy with him.  “You know I’d do it for you again,” she whispered back.  “Come back and I’ll take care of you just like I promised.”

The vampire shook his head slowly.  “It is you who will come to me.  I know your darkness cries out to join with me.  When you are ready to shrug off this charade of repentance, you will find me.  And I will take your hand and show you the world you were meant for.”

As he spoke, Faith could not pull her eyes from his intense, green gaze.  His words seemed to wash over her and fill her with desires she didn’t even know she could still feel.  He began to back away from her and all she could do was nod.

“Now,” he announced, turning to Dawn, “where’s my prodigal Slayer?”

Dawn shuddered as he looked at her with cold eyes.  “Sh-she should be back any second,” the girl squeaked.

“Let’s see if we can hasten her return, shall we?”

“Giles!” Wesley yelled, having given up his attempts to escape the vampires that held him.  “Leave the child alone.  If your intent here is to cause more pain, do what you will to me.”

“I am impressed, Wesley,” the demon chuckled.  “You have come a long way from begging for your kneecaps.  I feel I should be proud.”  He lightly ran his fingers down Dawn’s arm and brought her delicate left hand to his lips to grace it with a soft kiss.  “You forget I too was once burdened with your calling.  You will do as we all must.  Feel the true pain of having to watch.”  With a smile at Dawn he whispered, “Now, call your sister for me.”

“B-Buffy!” Dawn cried with all the trembling voice she could muster.

The vampiric Watcher clicked his tongue.  “I think we can do better than that, Dearest.”  He slowly, caressingly wrapped two thick, rough fingers around her pinky and yanked to the side.

The girl’s scream of agony echoed through the building.  Softly stroking her hair, the demon whispered soothing sounds to her.  After several moments, he moved to her ring finger.

Dawn began to shake uncontrollably.  “No… no more… please,” She whimpered.  A quick snap and her cries brought tears to all who were helpless to stop her pain.

“Giles!” Buffy shouted from the basement doorway.  “I’m here, leave them alone!”

Before turning, Magister whispered, “Sleep now,” to his young victim and she slumped unconscious into Justin’s arms.  “Ah, Buffy…  What a pleasure it is that you could finally grace us with an appearance.”

“I’m the Slayer. Everything that happened to you is my fault.  If you need revenge, take it out on me.”  Her eyes quickly scanned the room, automatically calculating the risks from the multiple vampires.

“Don’t mind them,” her Watcher chuckled.  “They are just here to observe the session.”

“What session?” Buffy asked with confusion.

“You see, I was making out my schedule earlier and realized I’ve been neglecting my duties.  I believe it’s over a week since I’ve given you a proper workout.  So, I came to make sure your training stays up to par.”

“If I’d known this was a social call, I would have started some tea,” the Slayer ground out stiffly.

“What should we start with tonight?”  Magister shed his coat and strode to the weapons cabinet.  “These have all been recently cleaned.  Wonderful job,” he chuckled.

“Giles…” Buffy began cautiously.

“I do wish you would stop calling me by that name.”  He looked back at her, letting an angry blaze creep into his eyes.  “Your Watcher is dead.  I have a new name now.”

“Magister!” his followers suddenly chorused.

He chuckled, regaining his sense of humor as Buffy stared around the room with a blank expression.  Wesley cleared his throat.  “It’s Latin…” he clarified for the others.  “It means Teacher.”

“Yes,” the vampire grinned.  “Not the most inventive, I know.  But they seem to like it.  Now, I think it’s time we returned to the quarter staff.”

He tossed a fighting staff to Buffy who caught it easily.  “Last time we tried this I knocked you on your ass repeatedly, Old Man.  You sure you want witnesses?”

“I fully expect you to try to kill me for what I’ve already done.”  He bowed and held his weapon at the ready.  “Shall we?”

Buffy reacted just in time to block his first blow and went on the offensive.  She tried combinations that had been tried and true against him before, but he only blocked every move with unerring accuracy, grinning all the while.  As she began to feel the first pangs of frustration, she mentally shook herself.  Realizing she was holding back as she always had so as not to hurt Giles, she let out a grunt, throwing her full strength behind each blow.

“Better,” he used his instructor’s voice.  “Now, show me what you’ve learned over the years.”

The Slayer suddenly found herself on the defensive.  It was all she could do to block his powerful strikes.  She was being forced back, and spun away to regroup.  He slowed patiently to let her come at him again.  Buffy leapt forward.

“You’re still dropping your guard when you go to the left,” he said as he drove his staff into her ribs and sent her flying across the room. 

Buffy regained her feet.  Her staff was nowhere to be seen, so she reached for a short sword that was displayed on the wall and rushed back toward him.  “You know, you’re starting to get on my nerves.  And by the way, as far as I’m concerned, my Watcher is still alive, and he’s going to kick your ass right after I’m through.”

Magister laughed as he parried her slash and caught her by the throat in his iron grip.  With one arm, he lifted her and threw her.  She collided with a support column, half way up, and crashed to the floor in a heap.  “I am now realizing why you seemed to enjoy our sparring sessions so much more than I did.  There’s not nearly so much pain when the match is equal.”

Buffy collected her sword and ran at him.  “Stop saying I hurt him,” she screamed with tears in her eyes.  Not realizing he had opened up his defenses, she stumbled back in shock as her sword stayed behind, securely lodged in his chest.

“You see, Slayer,” he said calmly.  “This is why you will lose.  Instead of harmlessly stabbing me, you could have used this weapon to take my head and ended this nightmare once and for all.  No wonder you were such a disappointment to him.”  In one swift motion he pulled the sword from his chest and threw it, piercing her thigh.  The moment she hit the ground he was on her.  “Don’t worry, Luv,” he whispered in the ear of the girl pinned beneath him, “Your time has not come yet.  I think he would want you to suffer as he did.  But don’t worry,” he stroked his fingers tenderly through her hair.  “I will give you the rest you deserve very soon.”

Buffy could barely see through the tears in her eyes as she felt his weight leave her.  On his nod, the rest of the room cleared of vampires.  Wesley was quickly at her side.

“Thank you all for a most enjoyable evening, but I only came to retrieve something precious I had left behind.”  Magister walked to the counter and waved his hand over a small area.  The urn containing Giles’ soul appeared and he picked it up.  “Just a tiny glamour.  I take it the lovely Willow is still recovering.  If she’d have come down, she would have seen through it easily.”  He smiled at the murderous look on Wesley’s face.  “I’ll be seeing you…”  And, in a bright flash of white light, he was gone.

“Faith!” Wesley shouted.

“Already on my way, Wes” she replied, bounding up the stairs.

The ex-Watcher helped Buffy sit up.  When she had braced herself, he pulled the short sword from her leg.  He then ran for the first aid kit.

Faith appeared at the second floor banister.  “She’s nowhere to be found.  Looks like the soul wasn’t the only thing he came back for.”  She sprinted down to help Xander with Dawn.  “And what’s with all the creepy parlor tricks?  Did you guys know he had that kind of voodoo workin’ for him?”

“No,” Buffy winced as Wesley tightened a bandage around her leg.  “I guess we know for sure now that Cordy’s vision wasn’t exaggerating about him kicking our butts.”  She looked up and started giving orders.  “Wes, I need you to take Dawn and Xander to the ER.  Get them looked after.”

“What about you?” he whispered.

“Slayer healing.  I’ll be all good.  Besides, Faith and I are going to track those vamps.  He was the only one that took the magick express.  The others should be easy enough to follow.”

Wesley took Dawn from Faith’s arms.  He smiled sadly down as the semi-conscious girl kept murmuring, “Not him...  It’s not him...”

“Sorry, B.” Faith sighed.  “But you’re pretty much hobbled right now.  I’ll move faster alone.”

“You’re right.  Just track them, though.  You’re outnumbered so be careful.”

“You know me,” Faith yelled as she sprinted out the door.

“Are you sure you don’t need the hospital?” Wesley asked, preparing to leave.

“I have to make a phone call.  I think I’ve figured out who was in Cordy’s vision.”

“Another friend?”

“No.  An enemy.”


Chapter 6