Chapter 33 – Do What
You Do
Slow down, that’s
right
Give it all you got
Yeah, you got the
right stuff
Kick back, let go
Trust yourself to know
Yeah what you got is
good enough
Martina McBride
The buzzer was the annoying kind. Loud, insistent, and causing a body to want to look around to see who they were disturbing by daring to even touch it. Giles refused to move though. He just hoped it was bothering the occupants of the flat enough so they would answer the door. Four days and no word from Wesley or Fred except for a message on his machine saying they were taking time off. Not only he but the slayers and the school needed them. Things were going to hell in a handbasket fast. There wasn’t time for self-pity or self-indulgence.
Giles pressed the button again, leaving it there so the screech of the doorbell was a neverending source of irritation. He wanted to shove his fingers in his ears like a child. The sound of someone removing the chain lock was the only thing that silenced the damn thing. He waited patiently until the door was jerked open to reveal a highly upset Fred.
“Go away, Giles,” the young woman said. “We need some time alone.”
“We need you,” Giles replied just as tersely. He stepped forward, forcing Fred to move out of his way or be barreled down. “Wesley is only giving the rumor mill fodder by his being absent. No one knows the truth, but the girls are showing quite the imagination with filling in the blanks.” He stopped in the middle of the room. “Besides demon activity is increasing. Things are getting out of control. We need to finish deciphering this prophecy and figure out how to stop whatever is coming. I need you both.”
“Oh, you need us, but the entire Blood family can take a vacation?” Fred bit out. “Especially the one who started everything is out there having a good old time.” At his look of surprise, she added. “Yeah, we know. Kind of hard to miss the email sent to the faculty that Faith and Max would be covering Sunnydale while they’re gone.”
“I highly doubt that Raven is having a good old time as you put it since she was nearly raped,” Giles said, trying to ignore Fred’s sarcasm. He knew she had been hurt as well in the whole fiasco. After all it was her boyfriend that had been flirting with a teenage Slayer. Trying to remain calm, he removed his glasses, folding them carefully then unfolding them. “I understand your points, Winifred, I really do. But if we don’t get some much needed help then there may not be anything left to argue about.”
“Giles, what is happening?” Wesley questioned as he stepped out of the bedroom.
Giles quickly hid his surprise at his colleague’s appearance. Wesley looked worse than he’d ever seen him before. There was at least a few days growth of beard covering his pale countenance. He appeared thinner. It could have been the fact that he was dressed in wrinkled jeans and a shirt that hung lifeless around the younger man’s form. Wesley was going through his own form of self-imposed hell after the incident with Raven.
Angel had explained to Giles about an encounter several years before with an evil being that left Wesley’s inner demons in control, including his attack on Fred that had nearly broken the young Watcher.
“A surge of demon activity,” Giles replied. “Not only around the hellmouths but here in the city as well. It appears as if they are testing us, insidously trying to find our strengths and weakness. Staking claim to a future we know nothing about. The girls are severely overwhelmed with combatting them. We are sending our senior girls out to other locations, but quite frankly, they aren’t prepared. We don’t have Watchers to send with them. They are used to being supported by each other, working in a group, and a few…I’m scared for them. We need to finish translating the prophecy and stop this before its too late.”
“Are you sure I’m wanted at the school?” Wesley asked, sitting on the edge of his couch. His hands dangled between his knees. His head hung in a defeated manner. He was the picture of a man beaten down by his own weaknesses. Someone who knew only too well the depth of his own evil and not sure how to fight it.
Giles sat across from him. “Yes, you are wanted at the school. Actually you are needed. Wesley, I can’t tell you that you haven’t made mistakes because you have. You handled the whole incident with Raven the wrong way. But we don’t have the luxury of time for scolding.”
Wesley looked up at him and nodded slowly. “Give me a few hours and I’ll be there.”
“You’re kidding right?” Fred burst out. “You’re just going to go back after what happened? They just get to skip away free and clear.”
“I’m afraid in the end they will pay the highest price,” Wesley said, with a wan smile. He shook his head. “They usually do. My concern lies with our other Slayers, and with this world that we keep saving. It’s what I was trained to do and I will do it.”
“Very good,” Giles approved. His voice held pride at
Wesley’s decision. It was their Watcher’s oath to protect their girls, to make
the hard decisions, and to protect the world no matter what the personal cost.
In these times they needed to remember that. “I will see you in my office at
It was settled. One more thing Giles could cross off his list. Next, he needed to see about making a plea to Travers to help with the girls they were sending out into the world. He blamed himself. They were all hopelessly unprepared for indivdual battle. Their time of triumph had made them all weak. Now the innocent would pay the price.
~~~~~~~~
The door to his office opened then closed softly behind whoever had entered. Angel raised his head to see Gunn standing just inside the door. In his hand was a piece of paper. His friend looked nervous as he stepped closer to Angel’s desk.
“Sit, Gunn,” Angel said, straightening the contracts he was reading over then slipped them into a folder. The young man remained standing with his hands now behind his back and the paper gone from view. “So, what’s going on?” Angel asked, standing also. He turned to the small credenza to pour himself a cup of coffee. The power play demanded he stand but not show the weakness of standing. Coffee was only an excuse and after one sip was placed on his desk.
“It’s regarding the Silver Cross nightclub,” Gunn explained. “The one that Raven was in last weekend.”
“What about it?” Angel asked, bristling. “I ordered the place closed down.”
“The owner is one of our clients.”
“And Raven is my family,” Angel retorted, letting his
irritation at having his orders disobeyed show. “Shut it down now.”
“We do lucrative business with the owner,” Gunn said. “We
keep him operational, we get a cut of his profits and all the…entertainment we
need for our other clients.”
It was only from centuries of practice
at disguising his feelings that enabled Angel to
hide his revulsion at his colleague’s words. He forced his face to remain
impassive even as thoughts of what Raven’s fate could have been if they hadn’t
found her in time. Probably hundreds of innocent girls had found their downfall
in that club.
“Raven is my family,” Angel repeated. “She is under my
protection. Take care of it.”
Dismissing Gunn, Angel reached for a file on his desk. The
other man didn’t leave though. The air was bristling with tension between them.
Angel wanted to keep his promise to Spike to avenge the attack on his daughter,
but if the opportunity to further his quest into the Black Thorn presented
itself, then he would have to opt for the
greater good. Bringing down the inner circle of Wolfram & Hart would have greater
impact then taking down a mere gnat on a wall.
“Did you need something else?” Angel asked, without looking
at Gunn.
“I thought you didn’t care about anything or anyone after
Cordelia.”
“She’s still alive,” Angel said, facing his friend. “And as
long as she is, I will continue to do what makes her happy. Protecting
our own falls under that heading.”
Gunn nodded. “What about that power you crave? What if you
could have it now? The ability to control your own destiny and have all you desire
just by asking for it.”
“Like you?” Angel asked quietly. “I’ve noticed the
expenditures that far exceed even your generous salary here.”
“Better than me,” Gunn promised. “More than you could ever
hope for.” He held out the piece of paper holding the Silver Cross’s fate on
it. “Prove where your loyalties lie.”
“Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven**,” Angel
said, reaching for the paper. He prayed that Spike would understand as he
ripped the orders into little pieces. It was done.
“I’ll let you know when and where,” Gunn said, with a smile. He turned to leave, but hesitated at the door. “I’m sure you’re eager to go ahead with this, so I’ll see how soon it can be arranged.
~~~~~~~~
There weren’t any overt stares in his direction as he made
his way through the lobby. He could sense the glances, the whispers, and the
sudden busyness as he walked by. It made him uncomfortable. He kept his eyes to
the floor, taking rapid strides back to the administrative offices. With a
backward glance to see who was watching, and hating himself for the furtive
movement, Wesley slipped into Giles’ office.
“Ah, you’ve arrived,” the older Watcher greeted him, barely looking up from the books he was studying. “Did Winifred return to work?”
“Yes,” Wesley said, hesitating just inside the doorway. “I dropped her off at Wolfram & Hart before coming here.”
“Did she come to understand your reason to return?”
Wesley laughed. Fred had been anything but understanding. She was making demands he didn’t know if he could follow through on. Especially the one asking him to give up his Watcher duties and to devote all his time to the law firm. But he didn’t want to reveal such private problems to Giles however, so he lied.
“We worked things out,” Wesley said.
“Good,” Giles said with a nod. He waved to the table beside
his desk. “There’s a fresh pot of tea if you would like some.”
“Thank you,” Wesley responded, only glancing at the teapot
before approaching the desk. “I’m fine right now. Have you made any progress?”
“A few more words,” Giles said, pulling his glasses off. He
dropped them on the table as he rubbed his forehead. “It doesn’t make sense.
There seems to be several elements involved that somehow connect together like
a jigsaw puzzle.”
“Everything affects everything else,” Wesley said, taking a
seat across the desk. He reached over to take the pad of notes that Giles had
made. “Winged creatures born of hope? A new form of demons?”
“I don’t know…I just don’t know,” Giles said, leaning back
in his chair. “We know that it involves Spike, but what does he have to do with
winged creatures? It’s not like vampires can turn into bats like the legend
says. Besides he is only half-vampire now.”
“We’re not quite sure what Spike is,” Wesley said, running
his finger over the phrases they were trying to piece together. “It’s like
with…Raven; no one has really tested their abilities.” He looked up as a
thought crossed his mind. “There is someone in this whole picture that we’ve
overlooked.”
“Who?”
“Journey,” Wesley said. “The First made itself known not
long after her birth. And remember Dagon was certain that she would usher in a
new era of evil.”
“Dagon was also certain that Journey would be a male,” Giles
countered. “But it does bear more consideration with the timing. She is someone
else that we have no clue what her exact abilities are.”
“Why have we not pushed Buffy and Spike to allow these
studies?” Wesley asked. “I understand them not wanting the Council to have
dominion over their children, but that also leaves us blind as to what we might
be dealing with. Either Raven or Journey could be the key to this whole thing.”
“Like Dawn was once upon a time?” Giles asked quietly.
“Events have seemed to be following a predestined path since Raven and Elijah
came into the picture. And we seem to have been blindly following it.” He
sighed then leaned forward on the desk again. “I guess its back to the
grindstone.”
“Giles, why don’t we demand answers?” Wesley said. “This
whole thing is a farce. No one is willing to push those that have some of the
answers. We aren’t testing the abilities of the people around us. Why not? It’s
ridiculous. People are probably going to die, but we aren’t allowed to know
why.”
Wesley stood to pace around the small office. His anger over
what happened with Raven was only compounding the frustration he was feeling.
People were depending on Giles and him to solve the mystery of what was going
to happen, but yet they were stymied at every turn. By some of the very people
they were trying to protect. It didn’t make sense. Shouldn’t everyone be giving
one hundred percent to the effort?
“I don’t know, Wesley,” Giles said. “It doesn’t make sense.
Buffy’s silence on the whole thing worries me…especially after what happened
during her pregnancy. Yet Spike does trust her. All I can do is plod on here
and hope that we find something to tie it all together.”
“And if we don’t find the answers in time?”
“Then I assume we’ve run out of luck,” Giles said. “And
we’ve lost the war.”
It was what Wesley was afraid of; the world would be destroyed because of secrecy and egos. He shook his head as he remembered what happened with Connor. Should he take a risk again and do things on his own? Or should he try to trust those that didn’t seem to deserve it? It was a hard question. With a heavy sigh, he sat before Giles and reached for one of the books.
For now he could only do what he was best at. Research, advice and hope to hell it was enough. He shook his head as he copied the phrases they had already deciphered:
Three hearts forged
into one soul
Two winged creatures
born of hope
Thrice tempted, one
convicted holds closed the gate by faith
One fallen and all is
lost
to be continued…
