Part 9
**************************************
It wasn't until after he had
limped all the way back to his crypt that Spike realized that he had left behind
the Cloak of Darkness. Furious, he whirled about in a fit of temper throwing
anything his hands came in contact with against the wall. The sound of breaking
ceramic told him that he'd just destroyed his favorite blood-drinking mug. The
tantrum over as suddenly as it had begun, he collapsed into a chair.
"Oh, bloody hell!"
He exclaimed, his voice muffled by his hands over his face. *I don't want to go
back there, but I need that Cloak. I only have two days left and I still have to
put a whammy on Junior, the kid and the great brooding one.* He lurched to his
feet with a groan and stomped back into the night.
A short while later Spike
was back looking through the empty window frame. Most of the party guests, with
the exception of a few stragglers and people cleaning up, had already cleared
out. *That'll make this easier, I'll just nip in, grab the Cloak, nip out and no
one will be the wiser...*
"Hey, aren't you that
dude?" Spike turned and glared at the speaker, a scrawny boy with stringy
hair who was now nodding. "You are. You're the dude that flew through that
window. Man, what did you say to the freaky chick?"
Spike was tempted to see how
much pain the chip would cause him if he grabbed the boy in a headlock, but kept
walking instead. He managed to make it to the corner where he had worked the
spell on Tara before without further incident. *Just grab the...Cloak...where is
it?* Spike looked around, realizing instantly that the Cloak was no longer where
he had left it.
"Damn, damn, it's
gone!" He stood motionless for a second, uncertain what he should do now.
The Cloak could have been picked up by anyone. There was no way he was going to
be able to recover it now. He was on his way out when his acute hearing picked
up the sound of Xander's voice coming from another room. He couldn't make out
what he was saying, but he was pretty sure he had heard his own name. Following
the sound, he found a hiding place where he was close enough to hear, but could
do so unobserved.
"...not sure this is a
Code Red, guys. Is there a Code Pink? We need more codes." he heard
Willow's voice say. The next voice made him smile. Buffy.
"Fine. We find Warren
tomorrow." *So they're after the guy that girl was looking for. Wonder what
he did?* Spike thought to himself as Buffy continued. "Tonight I better go
rescue Giles. He's watching Dawn while Mom's on her date, and I get the feeling
there's only so much he can take." He could hear her wry amusement.
"Giles and Dawny? I bet
they ended up having a blast!" Tara interjected, and Spike smirked to
himself. *Yeah, right. That's what happened. I'm sure they did each other's hair
and giggled and made popcorn and had oh so much teen time fun. Almost wish I was
there to see it, he must be over the bend by now.* He pushed himself further
back into the shadows in anticipation of their leaving. But instead Spike heard
a morose voice he did not recognize.
"You guys ready to go?
I want to lock up, not that it'll do much good." Unseen by Spike, the
Scoobies were all looking at Nestor Lowell, the student who had been the main
organizer of the party. He knew that the damage to the Commons that had happened
at the party was coming down on his head, and his head hung in dejection.
Willow, with her natural empathy, went to him and put her hand on his arm.
"I'm sure the
administration will understand about the window, Nestor. It was an
accident." Nestor shook his head.
"I'm not sure I
understand about the window. What was up with that girl and that guy, were they
tag team wrestlers or something?" The others looked at each other and
shrugged.
"That...might be it. I
bet that was it," Buffy enthusiastically agreed. This thought didn't
comfort Nestor at all.
"It doesn't matter. I
asked around, no one knew either one of them. They don't go to school here. Just
a couple of stupid townies." Anya gripped Xander's arm as his expression
darkened. Nestor went on unaware that he had just insulted two of the people to
whom he was talking. "This is going to come out of my pocket. I took
responsibility for any damage from this party. My dad's going to skin me
alive."
"Not literally. I
think," Xander whispered in Anya's ear at her intrigued look.
"Maybe we know somebody
who could help," Willow said slowly, looking at Xander. He looked back at
her blankly at the same moment Nestor had looked at her with a glimmer of hope.
"Like a really, really good carpenter who might, as a personal favor, be
able to do the job for, let's say, half what he would normally charge. Plus the
cost of materials, of course."
"Really? That would be
so great!" Four females eyeing him meaningfully was more than Xander Harris
could stand, he instantly crumbled.
"Yeah, man. I'll give
you an estimate, but I can't get to the job till tomorrow night." Nestor
wore a huge smile of relief, and Xander couldn't help but grin back. After an
exchange of phone information, Nestor snapped his fingers as if remembering
something.
"Wait, while we were
cleaning up, Jackie found something. Do any of you recognize this?" He
reached into his backpack and took something out. The Scoobies stared.
"What is it?" Tara
asked slowly. Spike's heart sank. *Please tell me it's not-*
"I dunno, it looks like
a big cape with a hood or something. It's weird."
"It's mine!"
Anya's sharp tone told Spike that she had recognized the Cloak of Darkness, and
it was best if he go. Now. Quickly. He could hear her talking loudly as he
hastened away. "I was wondering where I put it, darned cloak, always losing
it, Xander's always reminding me, 'Don't forget your cloak!' but I always do.
Please give it to me now." They all stared at Anya in confusion, but Xander
quickly backed her up.
"Yup, there it is,
that's Anya's...scary dark cape thing...what would we do without it? I'm so glad
it's not lost...again. She needs it for her secret identity as the Caped
Avenger-oops, I guess that cat's no longer in the bag. Thanks for finding it,
man." Nestor looked uncertain, but at the other's nods, he handed the cloak
to Anya, who clutched it possessively. They all walked out as a group and waving
goodbye to Nestor headed towards Xander's car.
"Explanation for
that?" Buffy asked in a low tone, in case they could still be overheard.
Anya gestured with the cloak in her arms.
"It’s a Cloak of
Darkness. Big time magick. Giles just noticed we had one missing. You realize
what this means. Someone at that party was a shoplifter!" Anya spit out the
last word as if it were a particularly vile form of demon.
"What does it do, other
than make an I'm-a-big-fan-of-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber fashion statement?" Buffy
asked curiously. They had reached the car.
"When you're wearing
one, you're effectively invisible. I told Giles that he needs to lock them up in
the back, but oh no, he doesn't listen to me. 'No one can get into the loft
without being seen,' he says, and we all know that's not true, don't we?"
The last was said with a pointed gesture at Willow, who scowled and opened her
mouth to retort. Xander cut her off before a squabble could start.
"Hey, do you think
maybe this Warren guy took it, to avoid Robo-girlfriend?"
"Nope, wouldn't work.
The Cloak of Darkness only works when no one is looking for you. If they are
they'll see you right away."
"Huh? What good is
that?" Xander snorted.
"Well for one thing
it's really good for shoplifting. The person who stole this could have robbed us
blind and we'd never know the difference. We're planning on doing a complete
inventory of the shop this weekend to see if anything else is missing." The
friends made their goodbyes and Xander and Anya drove off to take Buffy home.
Tara and Willow walked back
to the dorm in silence. As they approached the dorm, Willow looked at Tara, saw
she was lost in thought, and nudged her gently.
"Huh-what?"
"You're frowning."
"I am?"
"It's cute. It's a cute
frown. But smiles are cuter, so we need to turn the frown upside down."
Tara favored Willow with a small smile. "That's better, but...what's the
matter?"
"I'm not sure."
The girls had reached their room and both flopped on the bed simultaneously.
"What would you say if I told you that I don't remember getting to the
party tonight." Willow immediately propped herself up on her elbows to look
closely at her girlfriend.
"That you had maybe too
much to drink...except you didn't have anything to drink. Tara, did you have a
blackout?"
"No, not exactly. It
was like...like tonight, when we were walking home. I was thinking about that
Cloak, and who could have taken it, and about how you said I disappeared at the
party, and about you in the Magic Box this morning, you know, how you didn't
know why you were in the loft?" At Willow's nod, she continued. "So I
was thinking about all that, and I was so preoccupied, you know, that I don't
actually remember us walking home. It was like that, like I was daydreaming or
thinking, except that I don't have a clue what I was thinking about. I can't
remember."
"That's how I felt this
morning. Like I was waking up from a dream but I couldn't remember ...Tara, I'm
scared. What's going on?"
"It could be
nothing." The girls looked at each other doubtfully.
"Giles. We need
Giles." Willow said, reaching for the phone. Tara put her hand on her arm
gently.
"It's really late.
It'll keep till morning. I think this is, you know, Code Pink." Willow
smiled at her, pleased despite her worry.
"Okay, in the
morning."
**************************************
Lydia looked out the window
as she sipped her tea. She had gotten a few more hours of sleep and when she
awakened Aldric was gone. She was looking at Colin's car, still parked across
the street but in a different space. *I thought Aldric said he'd be out all
night. Guess Colin has a stronger constitution than he thought.*
She had dressed in one of her favorite suits and redone her hair several
times. Now she was dawdling over
her teacup because she knew that by the time she got to the Council building
Alan would likely already have arrived. *One
probably shouldn’t dread seeing one’s betrothed, especially when they’ve
been half a world away for months, but God help me, I do.*
With a sigh, she finally placed the cup in the sink and headed down to
the street. She was only a few
blocks from the Council and she planned on walking, but suddenly she found
herself crossing the street. Almost
as in in a dream she approached the car where Colin was now desperately trying
to make himself invisible. As she
approached he waved a nervous greeting.
“Hello, Lydia.
Fancy meeting you here, I dare say it is a small world.”
Lydia smiled at him coldly.
“Smaller still when you
park in front of my flat, Colin. What
do you think you’re doing?” Colin
immediately dropped his friendly demeanor.
“It’s really none of
your business, my dear. Council
orders from very high up.” Colin’s
bravado faltered when he got a good look at Lydia’s predatory sneer. She suddenly put her face up close to his as if she was
moving in for a kiss, at the same time she plunged one arm into the car and
seized his crotch in a vice-like grip, squeezing ever so slightly. “Lydia, for
the love of God!” Colin squeaked.
“Colin, I thought you
might want to hear some Council orders from very...low...down,”
Lydia whispered in his ear. Colin
whimpered as she applied more pressure. “You
won’t be following me anymore. You’re
going to be leaving me alone. And
you won’t be reporting any of this back to the Council.
No one would believe you if you did, of course.
But you really don’t want to get on my bad side, do you?”
Colin shook his head violently, a tear streaming down his cheek.
“No, Lydia, please...”
She released her grip just as suddenly, standing up and blowing him a
kiss.
“It was lovely to see you
again, Colin. But I know you have
to be going now,” she called,
walking away a bit shakily. *What
was that all about? I can’t
believe I just grabbed him by the...I mean, I never in my life...oh well, it was
rather fun!* Lydia’s face was red
with embarrassment, but she practically skipped the rest of the way to the
Watcher’s Council.
A sense of somberness had
returned to Lydia by the time she reached Quentin Traver’s personal offices.
Upon arriving she had received word that she was expected, and she knew
that this meant it was likely Alan had arrived.
As she reached up to knock on the door, she heard her name being
frantically called from down the hall. She
looked and saw Aldric running towards her, holding the Santiago Codex and
looking positively grim.
“Aldric, what-”
“The wards,”
her brother panted, “Lydia, someone tampered with the wards, and the
Codex, the prophecy is gone. The contraprophecy too, both gone!”
“Gone!
How?” He flipped open the
book to where the pages had been, showing her the blank parchment.
“Dark magick.
I don’t think it can be undone. Someone
wanted to make certain that no one would use the Codex, Lydia.
And they wanted it very badly.”
“And just who would want
to do such a thing?” a new voice
asked dryly. The two turned and saw
Alan Travers standing in the doorway, his uncle slightly behind him.
“I mean, according to you it was the means to save Miss Summers.
Except you never could figure out who the Dark Knight was meant to be,
isn’t that right? Once the
Slayer’s boyfriend decided to leave for parts unknown. there were no other
candidates. Could be you just wanted to cover up another of your repeated
failings.” Aldric leaped at Alan,
pinning him to the wall. Lydia
gasped.
“Aldric, let him go!”
“You unbelievable bastard.
You had a hand in this!” Aldric
accused as he allowed Quentin and Lydia to pry him off of his future
brother-in-law.
“But how could I, as
I’ve only just arrived?” Alan
spoke calmly, and Quentin glared at Aldric.
Lydia tried to talk to him with her eyes.
*Don’t you see, they’re trying to set you up, to make you look like
you’ve become unhinged. Then no
one will listen to anything you say!*
“That’s a strong
allegation, Aldric. And one for
which you have no proof. I suggest
you leave and calm down before you make yourself more the fool.”
Quentin’s angry tone brooked no argument, and after exchanging one more
conversation of glances with his sister, Aldric stormed off.
The three watched him go, then Alan put his arms around Lydia from
behind. She stiffened
involuntarily, then forced herself to relax.
“Well, that’s certainly
not the reunion with my betrothed that I’d hoped for.” Alan murmured softly in her ear.
“Hello, dearest.” Lydia
allowed herself to be turned and kissed him softly.
“Alan.
It’s been too long.” She
hoped and prayed her lie sounded sincere. Upon
settling in Quentin’s office, they spoke for a time about assorted Council
business, the health and well-being of Lydia’s father and mother, and of
course the progress of Sharonda Martin, the future Slayer that Alan had been
monitoring in Australia. As soon as
it could be considered remotely polite, Lydia excused herself to find Aldric.
She searched the Council building, but he had vanished and she could find
no one that had seen him. Gravely
concerned, she returned to Quentin’s office.
“No luck?” Alan asked,
trying to sound considerate and failing miserably.
Before she could answer, a woman’s voice was heard.
“Mr. Travers!”
It was Gillian, Quentin’s secretary, her normally unflappable demeanor
completely shattered. “Something terrible has happened!”
“If it’s about the
Santiago Codex, we’ve heard.”
“No, no, it’s so
horrible. Colin Bixby’s been
murdered!”
**************************************
Part 10
**************************************
Giles was surprised to hear
the knock on the door of the Magic Box. The
shop wasn’t due to open for another couple of
hours, and the gang wouldn’t be meeting to discuss the new robot
situation until then. *Perhaps Anya forgot her key.*
Looking outside he saw Willow and Tara wearing identically apprehensive
expressions. *Oh, dear.
Don’t tell me we have something else to worry about.*
“Willow, Tara, has
something happened?” The witches
traded glances as they stepped inside, then turned to Giles.
“Not exactly,”
Tara started.
“We’re not sure,”
Willow said at the same time. After
another glance, Willow continued. “Something
happened to Tara at the party last night, and we think there might be something
strange going on.”
“A new strange something.
Different from all the other strange somethings,”
Tara added.
“Indeed, go on.”
Giles listened with interest as the girls told him of Tara’s missing
minutes in overlapping commentary.
“It happened to me too,
Giles, before you found me in the loft yesterday.” Willow looked vindicated when Giles nodded thoughtfully.
“And then there’s the
Cloak of Darkness-” Giles cut
Tara off.
“The Cloak of Darkness?
What about it?”
“It’s right here,”
Anya said as she entered the shop with a sleepy Xander in tow.
“I told you someone had stolen it.
Did Willow tell you we found it at the party last night?”
“I believe she was about
to...Anya, why don’t you lock that up in my office? And maybe I should have you girls look at placing some wards
on the loft, to detect intruders?”
“And shoplifters!”
Anya called back sharply. “Something
to hold them in place until we can have their hands cut off,” she finished as
she emerged from Giles’ office. Xander
cleared his throat.
“Anya, I don’t think
that the penalties for petty theft are quite that severe anymore.”
Anya looked disappointed. Giles
decided that a return to the subject at hand was in order.
“Yes, well, Willow and
Tara were just telling me about something they both experienced.”
Giles sketched out the situation with a few interjections from the girls.
Xander looked puzzled and a bit worried, and Anya looked skeptical.
“Do you think this is some
kind of wacky hellgoddess fun? You
know, brain suckage lite?” Xander
asked. The others all shook their
heads.
“It’s a bit subtle for
Glory, she strikes me as a splashier girl.
If she were involved I don’t think she’d be so quiet about it,”
Willow replied.
“And, also, we’re not
insane,” Tara added.
“And I think that I may
have experienced something similar.” Giles
had been reflecting on that moment where Buffy had called to him in his office,
and realized it was the same kind of experience. “The other night, when we were training with Buffy.
If it had been Glory, the warning spell that Willow and Tara cast on the
shop would certainly have been triggered.”
“You did disappear for a
while,” Xander agreed slowly.
“I remember Buffy went to look for you when the iceman didn’t
cometh.”
“Yes, well, at the time I
felt it was simple exhaustion, but now I’m not at all certain.
Have either you or Anya experienced anything similar?”
Xander shook his head emphatically, but Anya seemed suddenly uncertain.
“Yesterday morning...I was
in the loft...” Anya said slowly.
“Yes, you were putting
away the Etruscan idols,” Giles replied.
“What Etruscan idols?”
Anya asked. Giles stared at
her.
“You don’t remember, the
statue of Tuchulcha, and two others?”
“You ordered a summoning
idol for an Etruscan hell-demoness? Are
you nuts?”
“No, I’m not - Anya, you
don’t remember having this conversation with me yesterday?”
“Giles, I would remember
if we talked about Etruscan hell-demonesses, I mean I know a few things
about-”
“So someone put the whammy
on Anya too, is that what you’re saying.
This is bad, right, really bad, like we-need-Buffy bad?”
Xander had put his arm around Anya possessively, and she smiled in
delight. The others frowned and
Tara shook her head uncertainly.
“I’m not sure that
this...whatever it is...is really bad. I
don’t know how to explain it, it’s just kind of a feeling, like there’s
something -”
“Warm,”
Giles said simply.
“Yes, I feel warm, too.
Like a comfort kind of feeling.” Willow’s
statement was met with nods from the others.
“But it’s just odd.”
“Odd but not necessarily
bad. Where do we catalog that,
Giles?” Xander and the others
looked up to see Buffy entering the shop, her expression alarmed as she saw the
gang already assembled.
“Did something...Glory?”
she asked. The others shook their
heads collectively, and Buffy sighed in relief.
“Just please don’t tell me there’s a new evil, I don’t think I
can take another evil in my life right now.
My evil quota is completely filled.”
**************************************
“Oh, yeah, you’re the
big bad, Spike. Really evil.”
Spike was still lamenting
his strategic retreat of last night. *Should
have gotten that Cloak back, I could have waited and gotten it back.
Could have used that bloody crystal on the demon girl.*
If he had a reflection, he’d be scolding it right now.
Instead he had gone down to where he had put together his shrine to
Buffy. Looking at it had always
made him feel better in the past, but now it left him rather hollow and ashamed.
Feelings that were way too human for a vampire.
And to make it worse, he was
doing this big knight in shining armor bit, going around saving people that by
all right he should be trying to kill, all for the love of a woman who should be
his mortal enemy. It was enough to
plunge him into a full-fledged identity crisis, complete with brooding.
Except that this made him feel way too much like his hated sire.
“Snap out of it, son.
What’s the next move?” He
fingered Buffy’s sweater lightly and thought about Dawn.
He knew he’d be able to get to Junior that evening when he got went to
fix the window in the Commons. After
that he would head to LA and have a good twenty-four hours to find and zap
Angel. That left little sis, and
Spike knew she’d be tricky. *No
one ever leaves that child alone, and I doubt she’ll be paying me another
visit to my crypt after...” He
dropped the sweater in momentary disgust and headed back up to the crypt. Once there he lingered near the doorway briefly, carrying his
trusty blanket.
“Guess I’d better go
back to the Magic Box, see if I can find out where the girl’s going to be at.
And what’s going on with Buffy and her pals and that bird from last
night.” As much as didn’t want
to admit it, there was a part of him that was looking forward to this encounter.
He felt unexpected pleasure at the thought of seeing them, knowing that
he was helping Buffy and saving their lives.
He was starting to feel like maybe he was a part of it all, and he had
the potential to be something more, more to them, more to Buffy.
He closed his eyes and saw Lydia smiling in approval.
*Then, on the other hand, maybe this is just a side effect of having a
silly Watcher witch inside my head!* He
gathered the blanket around himself and headed off at top speed as if he could
outrun the sunlight.
**************************************
Lydia once again sipped her
tea near the window of her flat, but this time her gaze through the glass was
unseeing. Instead she was replaying
the incredibly upsetting events of the last few hours in her head.
Colin Bixby’s murder had
taken place within the confines of the Watcher’s Council.
This had been considered a stroke of luck by some, because it meant that
police involvement could be mitigated through the Council attorneys and a
judicious use of magick. Unfortunately, it also meant that there was no doubt that the
murder had been committed by someone who was trusted enough to have been allowed
in the Council building, perhaps even a Watcher.
Colin’s body had been
found near the translation wing. The
official cause of death was definitely the knife that had been buried in his
chest up to the hilt, but there had been definite traces of some kind of magick
surrounding him according to those who had been trained to detect those things.
The same magick had wiped clean the security tapes for the entire day, so
that there was no record of the murder. And
Alan had deftly manipulated the situation so that suspicion had immediately
begun flowing in her brother‘s direction.
The fact that no one had been able to locate Aldric or the Santiago Codex
since his altercation with Quentin’s nephew hadn’t helped matters.
The only thing that had kept anyone from outright accusations against her
brother was the lack of motive. While
Aldric had made it clear that he had no like or respect of his dim-witted
colleague, there had never been any real bad blood between them.
And although none of them would admit it aloud out of deference to the
Bixby family, no one felt that Colin would have had the ability to have damaged
the Codex through magick.
After hours of questioning,
Alan had brought Lydia back to her flat. She
had begged off his offers to stay due to her exhaustion, and had been waiting
ever since. Waiting for-
“Lydia.”
“Aldric.”
His sudden appearance didn’t surprise her in the least.
It was an astral projection she knew, his actual body tucked away
someplace he felt safe.
“We’re alone?”
There was something in his eyes and his tone that made Lydia begin to
feel nervous, almost as if he were afraid of her.
*Which is absurd.*
“Quite alone.
Aldric, what happened?”
“You don’t remember?
I came to ask you why!”
“Why?
I don’t understand. Why
what?”
“Why you killed Colin
Bixby! Lydia, I saw you kill
him.”