Dark are the Shadows
Ms. Hunter Ashripperbard7@yahoo.com
frost29@post.com
A crossover of BTVS + DS + ?
Rating: PG13
Pairings: Buffy/Quentin, Giles/Angelique, Xander/Anya, Willow/Tara, Julia/Thomas, Maggie/Joe
# # #
COLLINSPORT, MAINE
Buffy looked out at the swirling snow and frowned.
Joyce walked up behind her daughter and hugged her. "I know, baby. As soon as we can get you on a plane we will."
"I know, Mom," Buffy responded. "We came here because I wasn't ready to be the Slayer and now I am and I can't get out there."
"I want to see Daddy!"
Joyce and Buffy turned at the sound of Elizabeth's voice and the classic tone of a child throwing a fit.
"It's snowing and it's not going to stop for awhile!" Amy countered as the two stormed down the stairs.
"I've been out in snow!"
"You haven't been out in a snow storm," Any replied. "Now that's it! Why don't you go help Carolyn and Dawn fix dinner?"
"Okay, okay...." Elizabeth muttered.
“I'm going to go help out in the kitchen,” Joyce said as Quentin trotted down the stairs and hugged Amy affectionately and smiled a wide smile for Buffy.
“I'm going to work on preparing the lessons for our young students on home study,” Amy said.
Quentin walked over and kissed Buffy gently. “You're stressed.”
“I am, Anya sounded...really worried about Xander,” Buffy said. “There are times when he's scared or unsure about about a plan but he's always there. She said he won't eat, he won't sleep and he won't stop shaking.”
“He seems like a stable factor in the group,” Quentin agreed. “What has him rattled?”
“Anya can't find out what he saw,” Buffy said. “Whatever that Watcher saw sent her insane.”
“We'll get back as soon as we can,” Quentin said.
“Hey guys, come eat!” Dawn said from the hallway. “Someone yell at Amy, Elizabeth and Giles.”
Buffy frowned and looked at Quentin. “Isn't Elizabeth with you? She was going to help out in the kitchen.”
“No, I haven't seen her since we started making dinner,” Dawn said.
“She went that way....” Buffy said. “Could she get out the back door without being seen?”
“Yeah, especially if we were busy,” Dawn said. “She wouldn't go out in this, would she?”
“She wanted to go see her father,” Buffy said. “Dawn, check and see if her coat is hanging up at the back door in the mud-area. Quentin, call Thomas and see if she's there. I'll get Amy and Giles and we'll search the obvious areas here. Maybe she went upstairs to her room.”
“Right,” Quentin said as Dawn ran back towards the kitchen.
Within minutes the group in Collinwood gathered in the kitchen.
"Her coat and gloves are gone," Dawn announced.
"Would she really go out in this?" Joyce asked.
"We've never gone out in a white-out," Amy said. "I didn't think she would but..."
"Where do we look for her? She knows the trail to the Old House," Giles asked.
Carolyn shook her head. "There is no trail in this stuff. You could lose your way ten feet from the door."
"Thomas is going insane down at the house," Amy added.
Quentin put his hand on Buffy's shoulder as she reached for a coat.
"This is my turf," he said. "I grew up with these storms and dangers, you haven't."
"You aren't going out there alone," Buffy said firmly. "You might need my strength."
"Bundle up," he said after a moment. "Carolyn, is there any rope here?"
"Yes, I'll get it," she said and headed for the basement door.
"Buffy, is this..."
"It's what I do, Mom," Buffy said softly. "It's not always about staking a vampire. I see victims that I didn't get to fast enough. Elizabeth isn't going to be one of them."
"We have some heater packs," Amy said and handed several packets to Quentin and Buffy. "Hunters use them to warm hands and feet."
"Thanks," Buffy said as she pulled on Giles' sweater over her sweatshirt followed by a coat, fur hat and gloves.
"Tell Thomas to stay where he is," Quentin told Amy. "We'll find her. I know the landscape and where she'd likely wander off. The snow has eased up a little bit, we might be able to hear her especially if I'm a wolf."
Carolyn returned with a rope, a pistol and a box of ammo. "If you find her and get to safety, fire that two times and then two times. We might be able to hear you."
Quentin nodded and handed and end of the rope to Buffy. "Tie that around your waist," he said as he pulled on a coat. "I've never been the werewolf in snow, this should be interesting."
"Let's go."
"How can we help? We can't just sit here," Giles asked Carolyn.
"Yes, we can. Any more out there would just make things worse," she said. "We listen closely for them and be ready when they get back with luke-warm water and the fireplace blazing."
# # #
Quentin hesitated at the back door. "Don't breathe through your mouth. The first shock will knock your breath out of you. Wrap this scarf around you. Frost-bite can set in quickly. Get those large over boots on and get ready."
Quentin Collins closed his eyes and began to focus. He hadn't tried to become the werewolf after Buffy's return to the land of the living and he wasn't sure he could do it at will. He focused on Elizabeth wandering around in the snow storm and growled.
Buffy reached around the wolf-man and opened the door and tried to keep from gasping at the sudden blast of cold.
Quentin moved around her and Buffy managed to get her feet moving. After a minute she was glad for the rope, she actually lost sight of him at times when the wind would send the light snow swirling.
It felt like forever before he stopped and handed her the pistol. He held up three fingers and moved away from her and cocked his head.
Buffy pulled her outer gloves off and managed to raise the pistol and fire it three times.
The wolf-man raised three fingers again and Buffy fired the weapon again.
The Slayer felt a tug on the rope and followed it. She had no idea if the werewolf could see or hear anything. Buffy realized that Quentin had been right, she was totally lost and had no idea where the house was, the swirling snow had filled in the path they had formed in the snow behind them.
Buffy frowned at sudden strange shapes in the snow and realized they were now in a graveyard with the snow mostly covering the headstones. She stopped when the werewolf bent over something and Buffy realized it was a small shape. He lifted the child into his arms and kept walking.
She was very surprised when the wolf-man turned and handed her Elizabeth and worked to force open a wrought iron door to a tomb.
Quentin motioned her inside and pulled off his muffler and tied it to the door.
Buffy sat Elizabeth down on a sarcophagus. When she glanced back Quentin was human once again.
“Let me have the pistol,” he said and dropped the empty magazine onto the floor and inserted another. He worked the slide and chambered a round. He stuck his hand out the wrought iron work and fired twice, hesitated and then fired twice again.
“C-cold,” Elizabeth said through chattering teeth. “I lost the trail.”
“I know, sweetheart,” Buffy said. “Can we get back?”
“It's getting dark,” Quentin said. “The temp is going to really drop.”
Buffy's eyebrows rose when he walked past her and reached up to a lion figurehead over a tomb and pulled on the decorative ring in the stonework's mouth and it snaked out and wall beneath it began moving, revealing that the section of the wall was actually a door.
“Come on, it'll be a little more insulated in there,” he urged. He pulled out a lighter and flicked it on and stepped into the secret tomb. Quentin took Elizabeth from Buffy as the Slayer entered and stepped down.
“A coffin?”
“Barnabas' old one,” Quentin said. “Open it up. You and Elizabeth can cuddle and share body heat.”
“A c-coffin.... I can't....” Buffy said as he moved a flagstone at the steps and pressed on something and the door closed. She sat Elizabeth down on the coffin and handed Quentin the lighter after he picked up a battery operated lantern and turned it on.
“I know, I know,” Quentin said and stamped his feet and rubbed his arms. “We'll leave the lid open. It's off the stone floor and will be a lot warmer.”
“All three of us can't fit in there,” Buffy protested.
“I know, you both can. We need to get her warm,” he urged. “Elizabeth, look at me. Let's pull your muffler down and coat open. I want to check your fingers, toes, nose and ears, all right?”
Elizabeth nodded and let him pull her scarf down and tried to smile when he pressed on her nose slightly with a beep sound. He carefully pulled her gloves off and touched the end of each finger.
“We'll check the toes when we're rescued or in the morning,” he said. “Her ears, nose and fingers are fine, which is damn surprising. Come on, the coffin will help radiate the body heat back on both of you.”
“What about you?” Buffy asked as he picked Elizabeth up and Buffy opened the coffin.
“I'm going to curl up in a corner. The storm is supposed to be over by morning,” he said. “They'll find us then if Barnabas and Julia don't find us tonight.”
“Think they can?”
“We aren't at either house,” Quentin said as Buffy sat Elizabeth in the coffin. “They'll check the old garage, greenhouse and cottage. This is another place they'll look.”
“This is where Barnabas was for over a hundred years, isn't it?” Buffy asked as he lifted her into the coffin. She flinched but opened her coat and wrapped her arms around Elizabeth.
“Yes,” Quentin answered. “With a cross in the lid of that thing and it was chained shut. Willie was trying to use the ring in the lion's mouth as a pulley to work the stone slab off Naomi's sarcophagus to rob the grave and the door to this place opened. He thought he'd found a treasure chest of a coffin with the chains and locks. He found Barnabas.”
“Wild,” Buffy said and sighed. “I might thaw out next summer. You've got frost in your eyebrows.”
“It's damned cold and it'll actually get colder once the snow stops,” he responded.
“When's sunset?”
Quentin pulled back the sleeve of his coat and looked at his watch. “Twenty minutes ago. It'll take them awhile to check everywhere because they can't fly in this.”
“I'm sorry,” Elizabeth said softly.
“I know,” Buffy said gently. “Sometimes we think we can do more than we actually can. With some stuff we have to keep trying. With some other stuff it's not smart to try again. Like this one.”
“Okay.”
# # # #
SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA
Anya snuggled down next to Xander and tried to relax as his breathing deepened. He had readily agreed to take a sedative and now he seemed to be able to sleep.
She grabbed for her phone as it vibrated on her nightstand. She got up and went into the hallway of the apartment. “Hello?”
“Hey, Anya, sorry for calling so late,” Willow said. “How are things going? Has the strike team found that demon?”
“Not yet,” Anya responded. “They were here earlier and gave us sedatives so Xander can sleep. They were more respectful than the other Watchers. They were hoping you two were here to help with magically finding that....thing.”
“We can't let them near Tara,” Willow said. “Hang on.”
Anya waited as Willow's muffled voice talked with someone on the other end of the phone.
"Hey, An," Willow said, returning to the conversation. "I can come back for a few days, Tara is going to stay here in L.A. We're probably on thin ice with the Council with Giles being connected to Angelique as it is. They can't find out about Tara."
“Are you sure?” Anya asked. “You will be very worried.”
“I know she'll be really protected here and can help the group here out,” Willow said. “I'll be there tomorrow morning. How's Xan?”
“Finally sleeping,” Anya said. “He won't tell me what that person made him see.”
“I haven't found anything in the data bases that sound like that demon or even any myths,” Willow said. “Let's hope we end this quickly.”
“I will hope for that certainly,” Anya agreed. “See you in the morning. Xander will be with me at the shop. With this rain he can't work which is actually a good thing, I would worry he'd cut his hand off or something with the way his nerves are right now.”
“Ouch! Total agreement,” Willow said. “See you in the morning.”
“Okay.”
# # #
COLLINSPORT, MAINE
Buffy smiled as she looked at the young girl cuddled in her arms. Quentin had been right, Buffy and Elizabeth had gotten warm quickly and now the child was asleep. She remembered holding Dawn like that after her younger sister had nightmares. Created out of energy or not, Buffy wasn't going to doubt her memories about Dawn.
“Quentin!”
Buffy raised up and Elizabeth opened her eyes.
“Quentin!”
Buffy jumped out of the coffin as the secret door began opening. She glanced at Quentin and found him sleeping, huddled down in his coat with his hands tucked into the heavy material. “Quentin, I think we're being rescued.”
The Slayer sighed with relief when she saw Barnabas at the door.
“Ah, good,” the vampire said. “Quentin?”
The werewolf raised his head and tried to smile. “H-hey, cousin.”
“What say we get all of you by a warm fireplace after a warm shower?” Barnabas said as Angelique peered in.
“That s-sounds good,” Quentin agreed.
“We have snowmobiles,” Angelique said. “We can fit Elizabeth between Buffy and myself. Barnabas can haul Quentin back to the big house.”
“Why didn't we take snowmobiles?” Buffy asked Quentin with a frown as he stood up.
“We wouldn't have been able to hear Elizabeth,” Quentin explained and lifted Elizabeth into his arms. “How are you doing?”
“I'm okay, Buffy kept me warm,” Elizabeth responded. “Can we go home?”
“You bet,” Quentin answered.
# # # #
Giles rocked Elizabeth in a rocking chair while Quentin and Buffy sat as close to the fire as possible.
“I'm just glad the three of you are all right,” Joyce said as she handed Buffy a cup of coffee and one to Quentin. “We've never been in a snow storm before.”
“Yeah, I'm great at ice skating,” Buffy said. “I'm not so great at playing sled dog or whatever.”
“I'm glad you thought to tie your scarf on the door to the tomb,” Barnabas commented. “We would have been there sooner but...”
“Barnabas discovered that snowmobiles don't function very well when they turn over in a ditch,” Angelique said with a smile. “He had a lot of technology to get used to when he was released from that coffin.”
“I'm an adequate driver,” Barnabas said. “I haven't been on a snowmobile before. We tend to avoid the frozen north most of the time.”
“Why?” Dawn asked.
“There aren't a lot of people out in stuff like this,” Buffy said. “And animals are kept inside, right?”
“Exactly,” Barnabas said as he nodded. “With smaller numbers of people out and about and animals out of reach... well, it makes survival a bit difficult.”
"The weather radio said this should stop by morning," Carolyn said. "We can get you guys down to town on snowmobiles and Joe will drive you to the airport."
"And Angelique and I will follow tomorrow night," Quentin suggested.
Giles frowned but Angelique reached over and squeezed one of his hands.
"It's all right, you all need to get back to California," she said. "We'll follow tomorrow night."
"All right," Giles said softly.
Amy walked into the parlor. "Thomas is very grateful to everyone for finding and keeping Amy safe. He was in a panic."
"Most of us were here, too," Carolyn agreed.
Roxanne brought in the coffee trolley. "I thought everyone could do with more coffee or tea."
"Good call," Quentin said as he rubbed his hands.
Roxanne hugged Barnabas and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're still cold," she whispered.
"I can't fly in the storm," Barnabas said softly.
Roxanne pulled back and grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hall.
"Come on, you're way too pale," she urged.
"No, so are you," Barnabas protested. "You've given more than you should, not again so soon."
Roxanne touched his cheek as he stared at her neck. "You barely took any last night and you're looking ill, my love. Come upstairs."
Barnabas reluctantly let her pull him towards the stairs.
# # # #
SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA
Xander flinched at the sound of a loud car driving by. Anya squeezed his hand. "It's okay. They aren't stopping here. Willow will be here tomorrow. She can help find that thing and stop them."
Xander nodded and sighed. "I can't let this....control me like this."
"What can we do? Do you want to talk about it?" Anya asked as she sat down next to him. "Do you need one of those doctors to talk to?"
Xander shook his head. "I...what I saw, that'd never happen. I just gotta keep telling myself that. I'm not like him."
"Like who?"
"My dad."
"His drinking?" Anya ventured. "You don't drink often."
"His fists," Xander said softly. "When I was growing up I used to clean the blood off my Mom's face and hold her as we both cried. Both of us would end up bruised and bloody before he'd storm out the door to go to the bar. Then she started drinking to cope. They'd fight, take it out on each other and they'd both take it out on me."
Anya reached for his hand gently.
"I never asked for a dog or a kitten, you know," Xander said after a moment. "I didn't want to expose an innocent pet to that household."
"What did you see?" Anya asked softly.
"You and me fighting, I was drunk and...things went bad," Xander said without looking at her. "Really bad."
"That won't happen, Xander," Anya said and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm not afraid of you."
"I love you, An."
# # # #
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