Dark are the Shadows 01/13/2020

I apologize for not posting last week - internet issues (which are hopefully solved at this point)  Hope everyone's New Year is starting out great.

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Dark are the Shadows
Ms. Hunter Ash

a BTVS/Dark Shadows Crossover

rating: PG13
pairings: Xander/Anya, Buffy/Quentin, Giles/Angelique, Willow/Tara

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“Try and eat, Rupert,” Quentin urged as the Watcher paced.

At least the other Watchers were gone for awhile, the immortal thought.

Giles sat down and looked at the breakfast tacos.

“Eat,” Buffy also urged.

“It’s a power play. I should have let you loose on them, that’s what I should have done,” Giles mumbled.

“Giles, that Travers guy is like sixty. I can’t hit him! Can I?” Buffy asked.

“I suppose not. Well, I could and I think I will!”

“Can they really shut down the shop and deport you?” Buffy asked.

“Yes, in a heartbeat,” Giles said as he took off his glasses. “With the rough stuff, they’re a bit ham-handed. This stuff, the bureaucracy strings, they’re the best in the world. They can kill you with the stroke of a pen. Bloody prats.”

Quentin jumped at the sound of a crack.

He leaned over the table and unclenched Giles’ hand to reveal his crumbled glasses and broken lenses. “I’ll get some gauze and tape.”

“I’m not going to be able to pass, am I?” Buffy asked.

“You should be able to pass the physical and we can make a case to ignore you not studying Council history,” Giles said.

“That’s not what I’m worried about, it’s judging the decisions I’ve made. I mean I’ve been within slaying distance of Glory three times now and she kicked my ass without even tensing a muscle. I can’t figure out what she is except that she wants the key, which I have and she’s not getting but how do I stop it?”

“Buffy, no one could have done any better than you,” Giles protested.

“No one else is going to be asked the questions that I can’t answer. They’re going to expect me to… be like the Slayer they want and I don’t know they stuff they want. They’ll leave and they won’t tell me how to fight Glory and I’m not going to be able to protect Dawn!”

“Buffy, calm down! The scandal here is not anything you’ve done wrong, it’s the way they’re behaving,” Giles said. “Who are they going to give the information to? Their behavior…. Holding a gun at my head and green card, no less. It’s humiliating.”

“It’s also smart. They picked the perfect thing, I can’t lose you.”

“Thank you,” Giles said softly.

# ## #

Giles managed to smile as Joyce set a cup of tea in front of him and squeezed his shoulder. “Hullo, Buffy and Quentin went to grab Xander and Anya. I advised her not to come but she wants to stand with Buffy and myself… and refuse to answer questions.”

“Good idea,” Joyce said. “Buffy took Dawn someplace safe. She said that Spike will protect her. They aren’t getting near her, Rupert.”

“I agree. Oh bollocks, here they come.”

Quentin Travers and other Watchers entered the shop.

“Where are the others?” Travers demanded as Giles stood up.

Giles frowned. “May I present my wife, Joyce Summers, this is Quentin Travers who seems to have left his manners in another time zone. I haven’t bothered to learn the names of the others.”

“My apologies, Mrs. Summers,” Travers said. “Under different circumstances it would be a pleasure.”

“Thank you,” Joyce said.

“Buffy and Quentin are picking up Xander and Anya, she’s returned from her trip,” Giles answered Travers. “It’ll be up to them if they want to talk to you.”

“They will talk to us,” Travers said firmly. “I’m very annoyed that your witches are out of town, by the way.”

Giles shook his head and sat back down to his cold breakfast. “You didn’t exactly call and ask to talk to everyone. You demanded and your demands didn’t line up with people’s lives.”

# # ##

Buffy, Quentin Collins, Xander and Anya cut through an alley as they headed for the Magic Box as the street in front of the store was being repaved.

Suddenly a man grabbed Buffy around the waist while others tackled Quentin, Xander and Anya.

“Hey!” Buffy yelled as she fell to the ground. She shook the man off and both jumped to their feet. She blinked in surprise as she took in the sight of a man in medieval armor with chain-mail covering his face and the others were being held by guys dressed just like the first.

The one who had grabbed Buffy backhanded her into a pile of garbage. As she bounded back into the center of the alley four more knights appeared, two on either side of the alley. Two had swords and two had metal staves and they were twirling the weapons.

“Guys, is there any way we could reschedule this? We’re running late,” Buffy asked. “I guess not.”

Biffy ducked as one of the knights with a sword swung it at her head. She spun in the motion of ducking and came up with a backhand across his jaw and then ducked a staff thrust, the metal bar hitting the swordsman in the chainmail covering his face. The knight with the sword stumbled back. Buffy kicked the other knight with a staff and punched the first one in the face and grabbed his arm and spun him into the 2^nd knight with a sword. She kicked the first night with the staves and ducked a swing from the 2^nd swordsman.

Buffy grabbed a staff from one of the stunned knights and used it to deflect the staves of the other knight. She back flipped twice, flipping over the staves of the 2^nd knight. She grabbed a staff from him and rammed it into his stomach and turned to deflect a sword thrust with her staves.

In a blur of motions things happened almost faster than Quentin could follow especially when the five knights were moaning and shaking their heads with no weapons in hand and Buffy still had her staves and a bloody lip.

The Slayer kicked one of the knights to the ground and held one of the staves to his throat. “Any of your playmates move and this goes through your throat.”

She bent and pulled his chain mail off and saw an ordinary looking human except for some sort of symbol tattooed on his forehead.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“One soldier in a vast army,” the man answered as the other knights released Quentin, Xander and Anya. Quentin grabbed up a sword as he and Xander put Anya behind them.

“What army?” Buffy asked.

“The Knights of Byzantium, an ancient order,” the man answered. “And your enemy.”

Buffy pushed the staff harder into his throat.

“You work for Glory?”

“You think we align ourselves with the beast? You must be mad,” the knight declared.

“You’re the ones trying to kill me,” Buffy pointed out.

“No, we were fools and didn’t bring enough to defeat you. If it takes a hundred men, we will bring them, if it takes a thousand we will send a thousand.”

“A thousand?” Buffy repeated.

“As long as you protect the key, the brotherhood will destroy it and you. You are the Slayer and we know what we must do. Now, be done with it and kill us, let the legions behind us follow,” the knight said firmly.

Buffy tossed one of the staves away and grabbed up a fallen sword as the knight got to his feet. He turned his head to the side and waited for her to kill him.

“Go,” the Slayer said.

The knight looked surprised.

“Get out of here,” Buffy said. “Next time send someone with answers.”

The knights slowly moved down the alley as Anya and Xander gathered up the fallen weapons.

“Come on, guys.”


## # #

Giles sighed as he glanced at the clock. Joyce was sitting on the steps leading to the balcony/loft area with Giles beside her as Travis shuffled papers around in front of him.

Buffy and group entered with Buffy still hanging onto the sword.

“You’re late,” Travers declared.

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed.

Giles got to his feet when he took in the sight of Buffy carrying a sword and the others with weapons as well, including a sword in Quentin’s hand.

“Was there an attack?” Giles asked.

“Yeah,” Buffy said. “Go on upstairs, guys. Quentin, hang around down here.”

“Well, we can begin the review at last. We’ll skip the obvious questions…” Travers began only to stop when Buffy tossed the sword onto the top of his papers.

“There isn’t going to be a review,” Buffy declared.

“Sorry?” Travers asked.

“No review. No interrogation. No questions you know I can’t answer. No hoops, no jumps,” Buffy said firmly.

The Watcher Giles had called Nigel started to speak and Buffy glared at him. “And no interruptions!”

“See, I’ve had people talking at me the last few days… or more, most telling me how helpless I am against them and how unimportant I am. I finally figured out why. Power. I have it. They don’t. This bothers them.”

Travers appeared unfazed by her declaration.

“Glory came to my home last night while Mom and Giles were out,” Buffy continued. “Just to talk. She told me I’m a bug, I’m a flea that she could squash in a second. Only she didn’t. She came into my home and we talked. We had what probably passes in her warped mind for a civilized conversation. Why? I have power over her.”

Buffy looked at the Watchers with her hands on her hips. “You guys didn’t come all the way from England to determine if I was good enough to be let back in. You came to beg me to let you back in. To give your jobs, your lives some semblance of meaning.”

“This is beyond insolence…”

Buffy grabbed the sword and threw it across the room in one fluid motion. It embedded into the wall next to Nigel’s nose. The Watcher jumped away in fear.

“I’m fairly certain I said no interruptions.”

“That was excellent!” Xander whispered.

Joyce glanced up at Xander and Anya and nodded. She got up and joined Xander and Anya as they sat at the railing overlooking the shop.

“You're Watchers without a Slayer, you're pretty much just watchin' Masterpiece Theater,” Buffy continued. “You can't stop Glory. You can't do anything with the information you have except maybe publish it in the "Everyone Thinks We're Insane-O's Home Journal."

One of the Watchers started to move and found a sword at his chest.

Quentin Collins shook his head at the man.

“So here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna tell me everything you know. Then you're gonna go away,” Buffy continued. “You'll contact me if and when you have any further information about Glory. The magic shop will remain open. Giles will stay here as my official Watcher, reinstated at full salary...”

“Retroactively,” Giles “coughed”

“To be paid retroactively from the month he was fired, he never stopped being my Watcher. I will continue to work with the help of my friends,” Buffy stated.

“I, uh, I don’t want a sword thrown at me but we are talking about children,” a Watcher protested.

“We’re talking about two powerful witches, a thousand year old ex-demon and the support of my Mom,” Buffy said.

“The boy? There’s no power there,” Watcher #3 stated.

“The boy has clocked more field time than any of you, he’s part of the unit.

“Riley speak,” Anya whispered.

“I’ve clocked field time,” Xander said with a grin.

“Now. You all may be very good at your jobs. The only way we're gonna find out is if you work with me. You can all take your time thinking about that,” Buffy said. And turned back to Travers. “But I want an answer right now from Quentin, 'cause I think he's understanding me.”

Quentin Travers cleared his throat. “Uh, your terms are acceptable.”

“See how easy that was?” Buffy asked with a smile.

“Rupert?” Travers called.

“Quentin?”

“When we inventoried your shop we found a bottle of single malt scotch behind the incense hodlers.”

“Well it’s not… during working hours,” Giles stammered.

“I think I could use a glass,” Travers asked.

“I suppose we could….”

“Wait a minute,” Buffy said. “Glory. Intell.”

“That’s the thing, you see, Glory isn’t a demon,” Travers said.

“What is she?”

“She’s a god,” Travers said.

“Oh,” Buffy said softly.

# # # #

“It’s night 6 since we lost Barnabas,” Tara whispered to Angelique. “Do… we… When I first became a vampire the hunger was intense. Still is a lot of the time. Does going a long time without blood… hurt a vampire?”

“Yes,” Angelique said. “The hunger has made Barnabas lose control numerous times, especially when he first rose. The vampires like you have here and ours can fall into a deep vampire coma without blood and be in a frenzy when they rise. With Barnabas, he was locked away for 130 years and was in a frenzy when he was freed but he was also able to maintain enough control not to be caught and to learn about the 20^th century very quickly. This time… I don’t know. Carolyn told Quentin that Barnabas was losing hope within the first couple of hours. Whatever Nicholas has done left Barnabas shaken. When we find him we need to ensure there are no humans in reach.”

“We’re fighting a powerful sorcerer and a god,” Tara said softly. “How do we do this?”

“One step at a time,” Angelique said. “Let’s go inside and see if we can help find Barnabas while the others debate about our resident tin-god.”

Buffy yawned as everyone debated what steps they should take next and Giles read quickly through the file the Council had provided on Glory.

“We’re going up against a god. An actual god,” Xander mumbled. “Well, you know what they say, the bigger they are…”

“The faster they stomp you into nothing,” Anya said, cutting her off.

“She’s right, I’ve thrown everything I’ve got at her and she just shrugs it off,” Buffy commented.

“Then we have to find something heavier to throw,” Xander said.

“That might pose some difficulty. From what the Council’s been able to discover from the book of Tarnis and, and… other sources, Glory and two of her fellow hellgods ruled over one of the more seriously unpleasant demon dimensions.”

“There’s more than one?” Tara asked.

“Oh, there are thousands of demon dimensions. All different,” Anya responded.

“All pushing on the edges of our reality, trying to find a way in,” Giles added.

“I guess Glory found one,” Buffy said. “The question is, why?”

“There’s nothing to indicate that here. Just…vague references to chaos and destruction,” Giles answered.

“Okay, so we know where she’s from,” Buffy said thoughtfully. “What do we know about her? We know she’s tough but no bolts of lightning, no blasts of fire, shouldn’t a god be able to do that kind of stuff?”

“Uh, usually, yes, but being in a human form must be severely limiting her powers. All we have to worry about right now is that she’s immortal, invulnerable and insane,” Giles replied.

“A crazy hellgod? And the fun just keeps on leaving,” Xander complained.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, her living in this world is seriously affecting her mental state as well, hence what Nicholas Blair discovered. She’s only being able to keep…. Intact is draining others of their mental energy. Uh… here, ‘absorbs the energies that bind the human mind into a cohesive whole.’ Once drained all that’s left is…”

“Crazy people,” Buffy supplied.

“Yes,” Giles agreed.

“And Dawnie is the key,” Tara said softly.

“Yes,” Buffy said softly.

“Guys, I’ve got Nicholas again,” Angelique called.

# # # #

Nicholas sighed and leaned against a tall grave marker and crossed his arms.

“Why are we here?” Tom asked softly.

“To see a show,” Nicholas said. “Now don’t move very much. I’m expending quite a bit of energy keeping us from being seen.”

Tom’s eyebrows rose when three men dressed like medieval knights circled a grave.

“Brother Orlando, lead us,” one of them said.

“The link must be severed, such is the will of God,” Orlando intoned as they held their swords out.

“The key is the link, the link must be severed. Such is the will of God,” the three of them intoned. “The key is the link, the link must be severed, such is the will of God.”

“You really think HE is going to help you?” a voice asked.

The three knights turned and saw the troll-like creatures Jinx, Dreg and another and they were each holding an axe.

“I fear your faith is gravely misplaced,” Jinx added and the three demons attacked the knights.

In moments the only demon standing was Jinx. The troll cowered and tried to back away as Orlando advanced. When Jinx tripped over a grave marker he fell to the grass and looked up as Orlando raised his sword high.

“Shall we test your faith now?” Orlando asked.

As the sword began to descend it was grabbed by the blade.

“Never send a minion to do a god’s work,” Glory said calmly.

Glory backhanded the knight sending him flying. He began crawling for his sword as Glory turned her attention to the other knights. She grabbed a sword from one of them and stabbed him through the chest and slashed the other across the throat with it.

Glory dropped the sword and walked towards Orlando, beating him to his sword.

“Nice weapon, I bet it hurts,” Glory said as she picked up it. “you let me know.”

Things faded again.

“Hey, if Nicholas is expending all this energy, we might be able to find Barnabas,” Tara suggested.

“Can I help?”

Everyone turned and saw Roxanne standing in the doorway of the entrance to the mansion. “Where’s Barnabas?”

“That’s what we hope you can help with,” Giles said anxiously.

# # # #

Nicholas held a finger up to his lips as he and Tom Jennings snuck into Glory’s home and saw she had been busy bashing Orlando almost to the point where he wasn’t recognizable.

“Okay, one more time,” Glory said as she circled the knight. “Just between me and you, it’ll be our itsy-bitsy little secret. Where is the key?”

“Even if I knew, I’d die a thousand deaths before I’d tell you,” Orlando said, his voice almost a whisper.

“Well, you won’t need a thousand, sweetie,” Glory said as she patted his cheek. “I’ll make the first one last. A long time.”

Then she jammed her fingers into his mind and he screamed.

# # #

“Six nights?” Roxanne repeated. “Do you have something of his?”

“Yes, he dropped his cane,” Buffy said and went to a coat rack and pulled the cane off a hook.

“There isn’t much that is more… Barnabas,” Roxanne said and took the cane and closed her eyes. When she opened them they were somewhat unfocused. “He’s alive… in darkness. We must hurry.”

“Lead on, Macduff,” Buffy said as everyone scrambled to grab weapons. “I’m going to take Mom and Dawnie somewhere safe and catch up with you,” she told Giles.

“Somewhere safe?”

“They can be used against me,” Buffy said. “Come on, guys. Let’s find Barnabas and Will. I’ll catch up with you.”

# # # #

Spike jumped when a door to his crypt opened. He frowned when Buffy entered followed by Joyce and Dawn.

“Wot the hell? I didn’t send out any invites!”

“I need your help,” Buffy said.

“And if I refuse?” Spike demanded.

“I stake you and drive them to L.A.,” Buffy replied. “You’re strong enough to protect them.”

Spike lost his smirk and nodded. “They’ll be safe here.”

“I’ll be back, guys,” Buffy said. “Spike…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the vampire sighed. “If they get hurt you’ll stake me out on top of an ant hill dipped in honey to wait for the sun, got it.”

Buffy blinked. “Well, that’s inventive, thanks.”

“Make yourselves at home,” Spike said as Buffy left.

Joyce looked around and almost bit her lip.

“I like how you’ve….ignored the upkeep,” she said.

“Yeah, well, just don’t break anything and try and keep quiet,” Spike said. “I recorded Passions today and need to catch up.”

“Passions? I missed it today!” Joyce exclaimed.

Spike motioned her to an easy chair and vampire and mother said on either arm as he picked up a remote.

“Do you think Timmy is really dead?” she asked.

“Of course not,” Spike said. “He’s a doll, she can sew him back up.”

“Yeah, but what about the wedding, they can’t go through with that now, can they?” she asked.

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