Dark are the Shadows
a Buffy & Dark Shadows crossover
Ms. Hunter Ash
ripperbard7@yahoo.com
frost29@post.com
pairings: Buffy/Quentin, Willow/Tara, Anya/Xander, Barnabas/Roxanne, Giles/Angelique, Julia/Thomas, Joe/Maggie
# # # #
Amy and Giles were glancing through old family picture albums as Giles learned more about the Collins, Jennings and Haskell families. He strummed the acoustic guitar softly. Both frowned at a knock at the door.
Amy got up and went to the window and then dashed to a bookcase. “Quick, over here,” she said softly but urgently. “I don't know these two men.”
She pulled the bookcase out just enough for Giles to slip inside and then closed it, leaving him in darkness with his two new guitars.
Giles put his ear next to the hidden door. He could hear muffled voices but not what they were saying.
It seemed like forever before Amy partly opened the door. “Stay in there for a bit. There's a light switch on my right. They said the Council sent them to protect you but they said the head watcher's name is Oscar Ramsay.”
“He's the next in line, he's the one that is semi public to other agencies and such, those men aren't from the Council,” Giles said. “Bollocks.”
“Wait in here for a bit until we're sure they're gone,” Amy urged. “We'll get you to the island tonight.”
“All right.”
# # #
BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA
Walsh pulled into the parking lot of a fast food place outside of Barstow, just off the highway. She handed the keys to Dr. Sam.
"What happens next?" Sam asked her.
"I'm going to find the keys hidden in the rental car over there," Walsh responded. "I'm going to Las Vegas and get a hotel off the strip with my forged identification and spend three quiet days and nights. I'm going to avoid casinos. When I return to Sunnydale I'm going to forget all of this including you."
"Okay, good luck, Professor," Sam said. "I hope you reconsider how you treat those you call hostiles."
Walsh nodded and got out of the van and headed for a rental car.
Sam started the van and drove over to another fast food place and Buffy, Robert Giles and Willow jumped into the back of the van. Robert moved to the passenger seat as Sam pulled out onto the street and headed for the interstate.
Buffy examined Quentin quickly. "How did it go?"
"Like clockwork," Dr. Sam said as they pulled onto the Interstate heading back they way they had come. "Walsh didn't give any indication that she was fighting the vampire influence."
"And Thomas is waiting in San Bernadino with his rental car to take you and Quentin to Angel's hotel," Robert said to Sam.
"Oh, that's the plan?" she said. "That works."
"No one knew the entire plan in case something went wrong and the Initiative caught one of us," Buffy said. "I was the only one with it."
"That was smart," Robert commented.
"Thanks, he's....he's been through a lot," Buffy said about Quentin as she took in the bruises, skin scrapings, injections bruises in addition to cuts and burns.
"He was staring at nothing when I sedated him this morning," Sam informed the Scooby members.
"Will, can you do anything?" Buffy asked softly.
"I'll try," the red-haired witch said and closed her eyes, her hands extended over the unconscious man.
Robert glanced back and watched as Willow's hands began glowing a light green.
After several moments the witch opened her eyes and the glow faded. "He's not hurt too bad inside. I can't do anything with the mental stuff."
"I know," Buffy said softly. "Do we have any idea what they've done to him? You got the records before Walsh erased them, right?"
"Yeah, on a disk in my backpack," Willow said. "I glanced through while we drove here, to Barstow I mean. Mostly the usual stuff we know they do to anyone captured, lots of blood tests, urine, skin and stuff. Heat and cold tolerance, trying to assess if he has any phobias or weaknesses like shrill noises, snakes, things like that. The unusual stuff, unusual for them, I mean, they did more cutting, beating and burns to test his rate of healing. We know his....that he heals faster than others and they couldn't figure out why. They also couldn't figure out why his lycanthropy isn't contagious."
"Because his lycanthropy is from a curse? But its inherited," Buffy protested.
Willow shrugged. "I can't explain any of it."
"As long as we can help him," Buffy said. "When will he wake up?"
"Another hour," Sam said. "What about this van? The Initiative owns it."
"I'll sanitize it and then torch it," Robert said. "When will you go to LA to be with Quentin?"
"In a week, probably," Buffy said. "I want to be in Sunnydale when chaos hits the Initiative. They'll see us around and it'll confuse them. They'll expect me to be with Quentin if we took him."
"Makes sense," Dr. Sam said.
# # # #
COLLINSPORT, MAINE
Amy grabbed up the phone at the Old House. “Hello.”
“Amy? It's Buffy, is Giles around?”
“Not at the moment,” Amy said. “We had VISITORS earlier looking for him as well. He's popular right now apparently.”
Amy could almost hear Buffy's mind whirling.
“Got it, is he going to go out to dinner with Circe tonight?”
“Most definitely,” Amy acknowledged.
“That sounds like fun,” Buffy said, sounding cheerful. “Tell him to call me when he gets the chance. We have good news on this end that he's anxious to hear. Dawn passed her latest tests and her grades are going up.”
“Oh that is good news, tell her congrats,” Amy said. “I'll have him call you. Carolyn might call from her cellphone later. I think she wants that paprika recipe from your mom.”
“Oh Mom will totally share,” Buffy said. “Gotta go. Talk to you later.”
“Bye,” Amy responded and hung up the phone. Amy went to the bookcase and glanced over the titles. “I think they got Quentin back. Buffy didn't say because we're on a land line here.”
She heard an answering three knocks.
# # #
CALIFORNIA
“What was that about?” Willow asked Buffy as they headed away from San Bernadino towards Sunnydale with Robert Giles.
“I got Amy at the Old House in Maine,” Buffy began explaining. “She said that they had visitors today and they were looking for Giles.”
“My son? Who were they?” Robert asked.
“She didn't say,” Buffy said. “I think she didn't trust the phone. That's why I asked if his girlfriend and he were going out, she'll get Giles to a private island that the Council and Initiative don't know about.”
“A private island?”
“She's rich and will protect him to the moon, if necessary,” Buffy explained.
“And if I dash off to Maine it would lead them much closer to him and they might be able to trace her from the Collins family?”
“Maybe phone records might, yeah,” Buffy agreed.
“Bollocks. All right, next level of pressure against both governments and the Council,” Robert declared.
# # #
COLLINSPORT, MAINE
Julia Hoffman-Collins blinked in surprise when she opened the lid to her coffin and found Giles sitting on a cot in the room with a book beside him.
“Rupert?”
“Two men came looking for me,” he said. “They said they were from the Council and wanted to protect me but they didn't know the name of the Head Watcher.”
“The Initiative?”
“That's what I'm thinking,” he said with a sigh.
“Let me get with everyone and we'll get you out of here,” she responded. “I know there's a secret tunnel in the basement. Barnabas knows where it is.”
Giles nodded.
Julia bit her lip, the Englishman looked very dejected. “Will the Initiative try to capture anyone they believe are vampires?”
“I haven't a clue, honestly,” Giles answered. “I don't know if they're after anyone that isn't human around Buffy or just me.”
“Damn,” Julia said softly. “All right, let me go and we'll figure something out.”
“All right.”
Julia cautiously stepped out of the secret room to find Amy waiting with four mugs of blood ready. The vampire took in the fact that the storm shutters were closed on the windows on the first floor and nodded in approval.
She and Amy looked up as Barnabas, Roxanne and Angelique trotted down the stairs.
“Where's Rupert?” Angelique demanded.
“In the secret room,” Amy informed them. “Two men came asking for him. They said they were from the Council but they got Quentin Travers' name wrong. They're probably from the Initiative.”
“Oh damn them!” Angelique swore.
“We need him out of here and we probably shouldn't be here either,” Barnabas said. “I can get us out of the Old House but getting off the property might be a little more difficult unless we want to walk to the airstrip miles away.”
“How?” Angelique asked.
“There's a secret tunnel in the basement to the old greenhouse,” Barnabas explained.
Everyone jumped at the sound of a firm knock on the door.
“Quick!” Amy urged and went to the bookcase door. Vampires and Englishman crowded inside.
Amy sighed with relief when she found Carolyn and Elizabeth at the door and motioned them inside and locked the door. “Glad you're both here. Let me get everyone out.”
Carolyn smiled at the small group exiting the hidden room. “Anyone have a plan?”
“There's a secret tunnel from the house to the greenhouse,” Barnabas said. “From there we don't.”
“I just got my pilot and plane put on alert,” Angelique informed everyone as she closed her phone.
“We don't know if they're just after Rupert or Rupert and vampires,” Roxanne added.
“They might check any trucks leaving the property,” Carolyn said thoughtfully. “So we need another way or a diversion....let me make a call.”
“They should leave the area in a couple of days if they can't spot Giles,” Amy commented.
“Looks like the three of you will get to know the island,” Angelique said. “Julia and Barnabas have been there but that was decades ago.”
“I hope we get news about Quentin soon,” Amy said softly.
“This entire thing is....frustrating,” Giles added.
“Okay, guys, I've got an idea,” Carolyn announced as she entered the parlor again.
# # #
SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA
“Hey, Summers!”
Buffy stopped on her way across the quad at the university and saw Graham rushing towards her. The Slayer turned and crossed her arms.
She could see a muscle twitching along Graham's jaw as he approached.
"What?" she asked.
"Where the hell is Professor Walsh and your pet wolfie?" he demanded.
"My....Walsh? What?" Buffy stammered. "Wait, you're admitting you have one of my team but you're also saying you lost him?"
"And Walsh and some scientist that said she was from another facility and they never heard of her," Graham added.
"I don't care about Walsh, where's my teammate?" Buffy snapped.
“That why I'm asking you, we don't know,” Graham yelled.
“Do you think I'd be here if I knew where my teammate was?” Buffy countered.
“What do you mean?”
“I know what you sick bastards do to werewolves,” Buffy said. “People who didn't ask for this and who are human 25 nights out of the month and you treat them like lab rats and worse. Experiments that your scientists learned from the Nazis, right?”
“Who can infect others and condemn them to a life of preying on humans!” Graham countered.
“That doesn't change the fact that I'm here and not with my friend trying to help him get over whatever the hell you put him through,” Buffy snapped. “Go and find your professor and my friend and do it damn quick before the government brings the house down around your ears!”
“As if you've got that power,” Graham taunted.
“Dude, Slayers have been around for centuries,” Buffy said. “The organization that guides Slayers has existed right along and it has powers in almost every country. I've been dusting vampires and demons since I was fifteen. Had your voice even cracked yet?”
“Your screwball group better hope that you haven't harmed Walsh.”
“Go and play wargames or basketball, you're out of your league here.”
# ## #
Buffy pulled out her phone and dialed as Willow joined her as they headed towards the Magic Box.
"Angel Investigations, how may I help you?" a voice asked.
"Hey, Cordelia, it's Buffy," the Slayer said. "How's the case from Sunnydale going?"
“Hi, Buff,” Cordelia's voice said cheerfully. “It's going really well with some major breakthrough even though no one thought that would happen for at least a month.”
“Oh that's great,' Buffy said. “Hey, did you want to go shopping Saturday? Mom needs to pick up some art pieces over there and is suggesting we have a girl day. You, me, Dawn and my Mom.”
“Oh girlfriend, you are on! Oh damn, Wesley is needing attention, call tomorrow and let me know when you'll be in town. Bye!”
“Will do, bye,” Buffy said and closed her phone. She smiled at Willow. “You heard. Sounds like really good news.”
“It does,” Willow agreed. “You three are going to LA?”
“Yeah and dropping by the hotel won't be out of character,” Buffy said. “I'll get to see Quentin while Mom and Dawn talk with Wes, Fred, Gunn and Cordelia.”
“Awesome.”
# # #
COLLINSPORT, MAINE
“Hi, officer, what's the problem?”
“Hey, Joe,” the highway patrolman said as he climbed up on the running board of the delivery truck. “Got a report of a patient that took an unauthorized absence from the hospital and he might be a danger to himself. We don't normally see you making a delivery, what's up?”
“Maggie asked me to make the trip,” Joe said. “They're having a big dinner up at the big house in a couple of days and ordered some of Maggie's special cheesecakes and table and chairs. Cheesecakes fit in a car, tables and chairs not so much.”
“Heard,” officer Jonathan Haskell said. “Anything in here I should know about?”
Joe shook his head and turned off the truck. “Come on, I'll open up the back so you can report to anyone asking that you took a look.”
“I appreciate that,” Officer Haskell said.
Joe managed to get the lock open on the back of the delivery truck and raised the rolling door. Officer Haskell shined his flashlight into the very simple and empty truck.
“Looks good,” Cousin Haskell said. “Nothing behind the seat, right?”
“A roadside kit, flashlight and baseball bat,” Joe answered. “On the seat are my son's guitars, I'm picking him and we're going to do some jamming at the diner.”
Cousin Haskell held out his gloved hand and the two men shook. “See you Wednesday night at the bowling alley.”
“Ayup, I'll be there,” Joe said as he climbed back into the truck.
As he started the truck he saw his cousin returning to the highway patrol car and Joe pulled past the roadblock and headed into town.
“Sometimes it's good to have friends or family in important places,” Joe commented aloud. “That was my cousin.”
“Handy,” a voice said from behind the bench seat.
“Yep,” Joe agreed. “They're being really clever using the danger to self escaped hospital patient bit.”
“Which means it's not just the group in Sunnydale,” Giles ventured. “Someone in authority had to authorize that cover story.”
“You'd think,” Joe said. “I'm pulling the truck up behind the diner. I'm turning the dome light off. I'll open my door and tilt the seat forward to grab my coat. You can slip out the other side. There's a van right next to us. Slip in the back. Everyone is waiting.”
“Thank you, Joe, very much,” Giles said.
“Barnabas considers all of you family, that makes you family,” Joe said and opened his door and stepped out onto the running board and pulled the seat forward. “Have someone call and let us know you all make it to the island wherever it is.”
“We will,” Giles said and he slipped out of the truck. He crawled into the back of a passenger van and felt a blanket being thrown over him along with some empty boxes.
“Glad to see you, Rupert,” he heard Julia say as the van began moving.
“Glad to be here,” Giles said. “They've alerted the highway patrol and likely the local police and state police that a hospital patient escaped and I'm a danger to myself.”
“The Initiative has that kind of pull?” Roxanne asked.
“They are a secret group authorized and funded by the United States government,” Giles said. “I don't know what part of the government is in charge but someone is willing to let them kidnap citizens and go against the agreement that the Council has with your government. Or the Council is aware of all of this and is fine with them capturing me and me disappearing.”
"Well, even if they suspect anything is amiss on the island they'll hesitate about raiding the place," Giles heard Barnabas say from further up in the van. "Money has a way of making people reconsider their plans."
"Speaking of money and power, I think its time to call my father again," Giles commented. "Is everyone here that needed to flee?"
"Yes," he heard Angelique say and felt someone reach between the boxes and touch him through the blanket. "We'll be at the plane shortly which will fly us to the airport just across from the island and we'll take a launch from there."
"We need to end this threat by the Initiative," Barnabas said. "I'll not be driven from my home for long, Julia and I have been away for too long."
"And what they did to Quentin...." Julia added.
# # # # #
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