Dark are the Shadows - 11/25/2020

Dark are the Shadow

Hunter Ash

Pairings: Xander/Anya, Willow/Tara, Giles/Angelique, Buffy/Quentin

Rating: PG13

# # # #

 

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

“What happened tonight, Barnabas?” Julia asked as Thomas pulled the bookcase/secret door away from the hidden room in the Old House. “And did you get ahold of Willow?”

“No, it went to voicemail,” Barnabas responded. “Tonight, I...was before those powers that gave me a choice when I was bricked up.”

“You haven't said much about that,” Julia said. “We've some time before sunrise.”

Barnabas sighed and told her and Thomas about his first encounter with the Powers That Be. He wasn't surprised when they were quiet for over a minute after he finished.

“You knew our relationship would be in trouble if you chose to stay there?” Julia asked.

“Our relationship was already in trouble,” Barnabas pointed out. “That's why I was there and you two were here.”

“You and Rupert should compare notes,” Thomas muttered.

“What do you mean?” Julia asked.

“I heard him taking with Joyce,” Thomas said. “He was telling her actual details about his past, how he screwed up as a kid and how he's been paying for it ever since. You're both trying to make up for stuff that was paid a long time ago, in my opinion.”

“I'd agree with that,” Julia added. “What happened tonight?”

Barnabas told them about his second encounter with the Powers and what they had said and what they had hinted at offering.

“If they don't intend on bringing either of them back, why put you through choosing?” Thomas grumbled.

“That would be my question,” Barnabas said. “Rupert says they can be...enigmatic, aloof, and arrogant and they play word games.”

“We can do without mind games,” Thomas muttered. “Let's get you settled in, Barnabas. Is Angelique staying up at the big house today?”

“Yes, she wants to be close to Giles for a bit.”

# # # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

“Are you nervous, baby?” Tara asked as Willow settled into Tara's arms as the sky began showing a faint hint of purple.

“Yeah, I am but it'll work!” Willow said firmly. “We're going to get her back!”

Tara kissed her lover and smiled. “Just rest, you haven't been sleeping since...we lost Buffy.”

“I will,” Willow said softly.

# # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Willow looked out over a peaceful pond surrounded by trees. She absently straightened a corner of the blanket she was sitting on and then reached for a small bowl and poured the contents out onto the ground.

“Adonai, Helomi, Pine,” she said softly. “Adonai, Helomi, Pine. The gods do command thee from thy majesty.”

She replaced the lid on the small pot.

“O Mappa Laman, Adonai, Helomi. Come forward, blessed one. Know your calling,” she intoned and looked around.

A young fawn stepped out of the woods and approached her calmly.

“Come forward, blessed one,” Willow said gently and began petting the creature when it reached her, dropping it's head slightly. Willow placed an arm over the deer's back as her other hand felt for a large knife next to the pot.

# # # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

Angelique smiled as Giles and David were engrossed in conversation next to the fire. Joyce walked up next to her and also smiled.

“He's doing better, I think,” Joyce said softly.

“I agree,” Angelique responded. “He and David are discussing things that happened when David was a child.”

“And he's been helping out during the day cutting wood for the fireplaces,” Joyce commented. “The family buys enough but he says its good exercise and it works out a lot of frustrations.”

“And helps out around the place with Thomas' leg in a cast,” Angelique added. “How are you doing?”

“About as well as I could hope after losing my daughter,” Joyce said softly. “Knowing the odds were that I'd lose her before she turned 25 isn't the same as it actually happening.”

“I am sorry, she was a remarkable young woman,” Angelique said. “Dawn has gotten older almost over night. And Barnabas....”

“He is still hopeless?”

“Yes,” Angelique said with a sigh. “Maggie and Julia have been trying to draw him out with some success but he hasn't healed as much as he should have. He can be a fatalist fairly quickly but he's usually stubborn and smart enough to counter that.”

“How can we help?”

“Get him to visit up here and keep him talking,” Angelique suggested.

“Rupert has muttered about brooding vampires,” Joyce said. “usually followed by a swear word or two.”

Angelique laughed softly. “Carolyn says you're helping out with the cooking, I know Rupert is a fan.”

Joyce smiled and nodded. “I need to do something to keep busy and help out. I'm not sure when we'll return to California. Sarah, my assistant, is quite capable in running the gallery and Rupert talks to Anya daily.”

“I think Carolyn and Amy are glad for the company,” Angelique said.

# # # #

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Angel looked up from the file he was reading just before the door opened and Gunn and Cordelia looked up. The vampire frowned and stood up.

“Hello, Quentin, we weren't expecting you. What's up?”

Quentin frowned as he entered the office. “But...Willow said that you had information on a major demon that was about to hit Sunnydale and that included sigils that she didn't trust over the internet.”

“Cordelia, did Willow ask you and Wes to research something?” Angel asked.

“No, not at all,” Cordelia said. “And I'm not even getting a psychic twinge about anything going down.”

“What the hell is going on?” Quentin asked.

“One question is why they wanted you out of Sunnydale,” Gunn suggested.

“Cordelia, hit the phone and email, messenger or whatever you do,” Angel said and pulled out his cellphone as Quentin did the same.

All three of them frowned as they ended the calls.

“Xander's voice mail,” Quentin said.

“Willow's voice mail,” Angel added.

“I got the same,” Cordelia said. “She's not on messenger either.”

“There's been no hint of anything major that they don't want to expose you to? A danger to immortals or werewolves?” Gunn asked.

“No, nothing,” Quentin said.

“We need to get to Sunnydale,” Angel said. “Gunn, load up weapons and get them in the trunk. Cordy, leave a note for Wes and tell him what's happening but also tell him not to tell any of the group that we're rushing to Sunnydale. Something is going on and they don't want Quentin there. That probably means they don't want us there either.”

“Got it,” Cordelia said.

# # # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

Barnabas leaned back in his chair as he and Thomas talked. He heard Julia grab her phone as it began chirping.

“Hello? Quentin.... Quentin, slow down!” Julia urged and Thomas and Barnabas turned towards her with frowns. “What is happening? Wait, let me put you on speaker. Go ahead.”

“Is Barnabas there?”

“Yes, Quentin, I'm here,” Barnabas said as he stood up and Thomas led him closer to Julia. “What's wrong?”

“Willow tricked me into going to Los Angeles by saying Angel had a book and papers she needed,” Quentin explained. “No one at their office knew I was coming and no one is answering their phone. Barnabas, can you break through to Tara or Willow?”

“I don't know, give me a few minutes. Tommy, take me over by the window,” Barnabas asked.

“Quentin, have you talked to Rupert?” Julia asked.

“Cordelia said that she talked with him and he's in the dark as well,” Quentin answered. “Why would they want me out of town? There's no hint that I'm targeted by anyone and if they're in danger, why send me away?”

“I can't think of any reason to send you away,” Julia commented.

“Tara! Tara, hear me!” Barnabas said softly but urgently. // Tara! Hear me!//

// Barnabas? Can't talk!//

“Tara? What's happening? Tara?” Barnabas' voice grew louder. “Damnit! Willow! Hear me!” // Willow! Willow? Can you hear me? //

“Are Angel and the others following you?” Julia asked Quentin.

“Yes, they're right behind me,” Quentin responded.

“Quentin, I reached Tara but she shut down the connection and I can't reach Willow,” Barnabas said as he and Thomas walked back to Julia. “I got the impression there's danger.”

“All right,” Quentin said. “We're rushing there now. I'll call when I know something.”

“Be careful,” Julia urged. “There's been too many losses lately.”

“Absolutely,” Quentin muttered and the call ended.

“What on earth is going on?” Julia exclaimed.

“I don't know,” Barnabas said with a frown. “Let's go up to Collinwood.”

“Why?” Thomas asked.

“Rupert doesn't know what's going on either,” Julia commented.

“Because they're going to be anxious and stressed as we are,” Barnabas said. “We can take turns pacing.”

# # # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Xander ducked as a demon on a motorcycle tried to hit him with a metal pipe and smacked at the demon passing him with a baseball bat that another had dropped moments before. “Anya! Tara! Get Willow out of here!”

“The ritual!” Willow protested as she stumbled to her feet.

“It's over!” Xander yelled back. “Move! Get to the warehouse or something! They've cut off the way to the Box!”

# # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

Giles tapped his fingers on his leg as he stared at his phone.

“Damnit! We're not accustomed to being clear across the country from the danger,” Carolyn grumbled. “And I can't even get one image! I hate being psychic at times! I can't just...access what I need to see.”

“I still don't see why they'd want Quentin out of town,” Angelique commented. “He's strong, he knows about the occult and demons and he's dedicated.”

“If they were facing something....earth shattering wouldn't they have called with research questions?” Joyce asked Giles.

“You'd think,” Giles said with a nod. “There's no hint. Just Willow rushing me off the phone last night.”

“What could they be up to?” Amy asked and Barnabas tilted his head slightly.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, whenever David and I were up to something no one would approve of we'd go quiet and try to distract everyone,” Amy said and David nodded.

“What could they be planning that we wouldn't approve of, though?” Joyce asked.

Giles frowned. “Something magical, but what?”

# # # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Quentin Collins pulled over at the edge of the center of town and opened his car door and looked at an untold number of... demons on motorcycles roaring through the streets while cars slowly burned down to their rims, people screamed, windowpanes left jagged and broken and people littered the street.

Angel pulled up next to Quentin's car and Cordelia lowered the window.

“Turn off your car lights,” she urged Quentin.

He nodded and reached into his rental car. “What the hell are those things.”

“Hellions,” Angel said. “They don't usually attack good sized cities. They're big, not too brilliant and damned hard to kill.”

“Where will the kids be?” Quentin asked. “Duck!”

He dived back into his car and laid across the seat as demons roared towards them on bikes and went by.

Quentin frowned as he sat up.

“The Magic Box?” Cordelia suggested as she sat up slightly in the passenger seat and Gunn primed a shotgun in the backseat.

“It'll be damned hard to get there,” Angel said. “Start at the mansion?”

“Lead the way and try not to use your brake lights,” Quentin suggested.

Angel nodded and reversed the car and moved it down a side street.

Both cars stopped when they spotted five motorcycles blocking the road in front of them and the demons had seen them.

Angel started to back up and then stopped.

“What, get us out of here,” Cordelia protested.

“I saw Xander and Tara running behind them,” Angel said. “We can use the car to take a couple of them out.”

He floored the gas pedal and headed for the bikes as they headed for the cars in a game of chicken.

“When a bike takes on a car, guess who usually wins,” Angel muttered and turned the wheel at the last moment, hitting a motorcycle with the front panel instead of head on. He straightened out the car and hit another bike and drove over the machine.

He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Quentin's car hit a bike head-on. He saw the radiator begin steaming and Quentin jump out of the car with a tire iron as two more bikes headed for him and the demon from the crashed motorcycle got up.

“Damnit!” Angel growled and looked back over the back of the car.

“I'll get him,” Gunn said and opened the back door. “Get the kids safe.”

“Meet at the mansion,” Angel said.

“Since I don't know where the mansion is I'll get him to lead,” Gunn said and jumped out of the car and aimed a shotgun at a demon on a motorcycle approaching them. The demon hit the asphalt hard.

Gunn ran towards Quentin as he struggled to keep three Hellions at bay.

## # # #

Xander leaned against a wall as he panted. “Almost there,” he muttered. He glanced at the three women as Tara bit her lip and kept an eye out for more demons as Willow slid down the wall onto the sidewalk. “We left stuff in the warehouse when we split. We can grab bats or something and then head to the mansion.”

“They're coming,” Tara said and pulled Willow to her feet.

Xander wrapped an arm around Anya's waist. “Come on, baby.”

“Someone's coming, they aren't demons,” Tara said as Anya grabbed Willow and Xander turned with the bat in hand.

“Xander!”

“It's Quentin!” Anya exclaimed.

“And Gunn,” Tara added as the two ran up to the Scooby gang.

“Come on, we have to get out of sight,” Quentin urged. “There's a lot of demons heading this way.”

“Let's get to the mansion,” Tara urged.

“We won't make it,” Quentin said.

“The warehouse, come on,” Xander said.

# # # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

Joyce glanced at the clock once again and sighed. “Carolyn, let me help with dinner. Sitting around isn't going to help.”

“You're on,” Carolyn agreed. “Too bad you're heading home tomorrow, David.”

“Yeah, I can't put it off any longer,” David said. “I'll be in constant contact.”

Angelique leaned her head on Giles' shoulder.

“Is everyone going to be okay?” Elizabeth asked Dawn, looking up from their checkers board.

“I hope so,” Dawn said. “Something's going on in California and we don't know what it is.”

“They have to be okay,” Elizabeth said softly but firmly.

“I agree,” Dawn said.

# # # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Quentin touched a cut above his temple and frowned. “What the hell is going on?”

Xander looked up from where he and Tara were helping Willow sit up. “There was a major magic working and then these guys showed up.”

“What was the working?” Gunn asked.

“It didn't work, don't worry about it,” Xander snapped.

“I hear motorcycles stopping!” Tara said softly.

“Gunn, get them out that hole in the wall,” Quentin said. “I'll hold them for a few minutes and dive out.”

“This is my job, this is what I do, I rumble,” Gunn argued.

“Move!” Quentin insisted.

The immortal grabbed the bat from Xander and handed him the tire iron. “Go! Get the girls safe.”

“I can help,” Tara said. “I'm a vampire and a witch.”

“You need to protect Willow,” Quentin argued. “I'm a wolf, hopefully they won't kill me.”

Tara followed the others through a half-door sized hole in the corner of the warehouse.

Quentin moved against an abandoned piece of machinery.

# # # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

“God, this is taking forever,” Barnabas complained as the family ate mostly in silence. “We should have heard something by now.”

“I don't know if we should call,” Giles said. “If they're in a crisis or in danger they don't need a cellphone chirping away.”

“You're right,” Barnabas said with a sigh.

# # # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Quentin gripped the baseball bat tightly when a group of demons kicked open the door to the warehouse.

“Okay, human, where's the women?” the largest demon demanded.

“Two things,” Quentin said. “One, they're gone. Two, I'm not human. They're adopted into my family, my pack.”

“A wolfie?” the largest one said and laughed. “Well, since it's not a full moon I don't think I'll be very impressed.”

“I don't need fangs to impress you,” Quentin said firmly. “The women are gone, move on.”

“You're going to tell us where they are or we'll see if you sprout fur if we skin you alive,” the largest said. “Take him.”

“Okay, Razor.”

Quentin stepped forward and rammed the end of the bat into a demon's stomach and brought it up under the creature's jaw, sending him falling back into two of his fellow demons. Then the immortal swung the bat along side the head of a distracted demon and then he was swarmed.

# # # #

Xander slammed the front door of the mansion open and stopped dead when he was greeted with the tip of a sword at his throat.

“Whoa!”

“Xander?” Angel pulled the sword back and stepped aside as the others entered. “Where's Quentin?”

“He was going to slow the demons down for a minute and follow us,” Gunn said. “He didn't follow us. we need more weapons.”

“Grab something and let's go,” Angel said firmly. “Someone stay here with Willow, she's obviously out of it. How are your magic levels, Tara?”

“Zapped.”

“Okay, good old fashioned weapons, it is,” Angel said. “Let's go.”

# # # #

COLLINSPORT, MAINE

Giles watched as Joyce and Dawn headed upstairs to try and sleep despite the tension of the evening. He sighed and glanced at the clock again.

# # #

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA

Quentin tried to bite at Razor's hand as the demon reached out and shoved Quentin, sending him swinging back and forth. The immortal growled and tried to work his hands free but hanging upside down with his hands tied behind his back was making everything difficult.

“Okay, Wolfie, where are the females hiding?” Razor demanded.

“Get bent,” Quentin muttered and Razor responded by hitting the werewolf in the face.

“Where are they, Wolfie?” Razor repeated.

“Razor!”

Quentin opened his eyes as Razor turned to see what had caught the attention of one of his men. The werewolf frowned.

Buffy Summers was standing in the doorway with a long pipe in hand. Her clothing and hands were dirt stained.

// Willow must have fixed the robot// Quentin absently thought and tried to get his hands free.

“Well, there's one,” Razor said. “Bring her over.”

Two demons rushed forward to grab Buffy but she stepped into the warehouse and spun the iron bar over her head and brought it down over one demon's head and jammed an end into the face of the other without her face changing expression.

She kept her eyes on Razor as two more demons tried to grab her and were lying on the floor groaning in a moment.

“You like to play rough, eh?” Razor said and pulled out a large knife.

Quentin frowned. The robot was usually more...chipper and talkative. Maybe that hadn't been reconnected....

Buffy stepped close to Razor and looked up at him with the same calm expression.

Razor hit her across the jaw with enough force to snap her head to the side.

Buffy brought her head back and looked up at him. The only sign that she had been hit was a trickle of blood from a split lip.

Quentin's eyes widened. The robot didn't bleed.

He started to yell but snapped his jaw shut, he shouldn't distract her. She was still outnumbered.

Buffy brought the pipe around as she spun and took on two of the demons trying to rush her.

Immediately, Buffy was fighting a group of demons with the pipe against chains, bats, pipes and knives.

Quentin saw Buffy take several hits but held out hope, she was holding her own for several moments. Then a demon managed to hit her in the lower back with a bat and she stumbled. She turned and sent the demon falling back with his face a bloody mess.

“Behind you!” Quentin yelled.

He saw Buffy wince and turn with a backhand blow to Razor's jaw as he held a bloody knife.

Quentin growled and felt his teeth elongating into fangs and the ropes fell away from his wrists.

The werewolf reached up and slashed the rope holding him up in the air.

# # # #