BtVS/VMars: "Not Quite Queen of the Damned" (4/4)
Title: Not Quite Queen of the Damned
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Veronica Mars
Rating: Mostly worksafe, but possibly borderline
Summary: Faith and Vi hire Keith to investigate Phoenix Land Trust, Cassidy's old company. Is its business being conducted from beyond the grave?
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
MEMORIES
Not Quite Queen of the Damned (4/4)
They met at Mars Investigations at nine o'clock, as agreed, the three of them: Vi, Faith, and Keith. They armed themselves in silence, speaking only when necessary, such as helping Keith pick out a sword he could wield with a minimum of training. The drive to the Neptune Grand, the ride up the elevator, and the walk up the last few flights of steps to the roof, were all just as quiet.
Kendall and Dick were already on the roof when they got up there, alongside a rather spectral semi-transparent young man. "That's enough," said Keith, the grip on his short sword firm. "It's over, Cassidy.”
But Cassidy just smirked as a familiar voice called out from behind Keith, Faith, and Vi. "No, Mr. Mars," Mac said with a dry laugh. "I'm afraid it's just beginning."
Behind her, Keith saw when he turned around, were maybe two dozen hungry-looking vampires. A bolt flew from Vi's crossbow and one of their number turned to dust, but the rest charged forward and Vi dropped the crossbow and clutched her axe with both hands.
"Bring it on," Faith said, her face a portrait of fatalistic-no, nihilistic, even-determination. Keith would have preferred brazen confidence himself, and gulped as he held the sword.
Mac deftly made her way around the fray to where Dick and Kendall stood. "Why?" Keith asked her, still waiting for a vamp to get past Faith or Vi. One did almost immediately, and Keith impaled it with the sword, then beheaded it.
"Because this way I can be with Cassidy again," she said with the simple intensity of a teenaged girl mourning her dead boyfriend. Never mind that the boyfriend had been a psychotic serial killer; Keith knew in an instant there would be no reasoning with her. Besides, as Faith suffered an ugly gash to her shoulder and two more vamps rushed past her, there were more immediate things to worry about.
Still, even as Keith did his best to defend himself with his sword, he continued to watch Mac out of the corner of his eye. She had picked up a large ceremonial knife and was holding it in front of herself almost reverently. Then in a single quick and smooth movement, she lunged it into Dick's chest.
Kendall, suddenly realizing just in what capacity she was present at this ritual slaughter, quickly made her way away from Mac, but one of the vampires blocked her exit and sunk its fangs into her neck.
"I, Mac of the blood Sinclair," Mac said, projecting her voice into the night. Keith started; Mac's parents were the Mackenzies-that's where she got the nickname, even-and were about as different from the rich Sinclair as could be imagined. He didn't have much time to think about this puzzle, however, as a vamp snapped Vi's neck and a half-dozen of its kindred rushed forward.
"-do present this sacrifice of blood," Mac continued, "and offer myself as vessel to Cassidy of the blood Casablancas, so that his spirit may once again walk amidst this world in flesh."
"You don't know what you're doing," Faith called out, but she had already sustained several injuries and her voice was thick with blood. "He's using you."
But Keith recognized the expression on Mac's face as the one he had seen on countless repeat domestic violence victims. She wanted to be used.
"Oh, she knows," said Cassidy, and he was already brighter, more solid as he stepped towards Mac and then into her, a haze of glowing mystical energy surrounding the two.
Keith was doing his best to defend himself from the rampaging vampire horde, but he didn't have the strength or skill the Slayers had and already Vi was clearly dead and Faith pretty much fallen. If Keith had been in front instead of them he would have been dead in seconds. Even now, with only a few vampires left after Faith and Vi took most of their number down with them, he was pretty sure he didn't have long left to live.
Suddenly, however, Cassidy reeled back away from Mac as if repelled by an invisible force. "What!?" he shouted angrily as the glowing energy began to solidify into another spectral figure.
Keith watched in amazement-as he pushed a vampire off himself and decapitated it-as the second figure settled into a form at least as familiar as the first had been. Even without the teeny green-and-white Neptune High pep squad outfit the ghost wore or the grotesque head wound it sported Keith would have been able to recognize it in an instant as Lilly Kane.
"Not you!" Cassidy shouted at Lilly, his ghostly voice echoing. "This is none of your business."
"You hurt my friend," Lilly pointed out, her expression that of pure vindictiveness and malice. "And I'm not alone." Behind her, Keith could make out the faintest outline of more ghosts, so faded they were just barely identifiable as Cassidy's victims: Meg Manning, Betina Carone, Marcos Oliveres, and so on. "No," Cassidy said, taking a step back.
"You think you're all powerful, and you've been a ghost hardly a month. You're still bound to this pathetic place, even." Lilly was clearly relishing her position of power as she stepped towards Cassidy. "Well, as someone who's figured out a lot more of the tricks of the trade than you, let me say to you: Go. To. Hell."
Cassidy screamed as a vortex of light opened up behind him. Idly he tried to escape its vacuum as it inexorably sucked him in closer until he was lost within it. The, a second later, it was gone.
The ghostly figures behind Lilly faded, leaving Lilly and Mac standing next to each other, the dead body of Dick Casablancas at their feet.
The vampires who had surrounded Keith now looked at each other, uncertain what to do now that their boss was gone. "Boo," said Lilly, and they fled. Mac just stood there, staring out into space with a dazed expression on her face.
"Are you alright, Sheriff?" Lilly asked, the ghost already bent over the prostrate forms of the two Slayers.
"I think I broke my leg," he said, feeling somewhat awkward having a conversation with a ghost. Still he dragged himself over and joined Lilly in examining Faith and Vi. "Thank you."
Vi was clearly dead, but Faith still had a pulse. "Her Slayer healing is already working," Lilly said, "but her spirit has already departed her body. Did you know her name?"
Keith blinked. "Faith," he answered,
"Her last name?"
Keith shook his head. "She gave Lehane, but I'm pretty sure that was an alias."
Lilly nodded. "Let's hope this works then."
She stood up and, her ghostly voice projecting into the night, said, "I, Lilly of the blood Kane, accept this sacrifice of blood and take Faith of the blood Slayer as my vessel so that my spririt may once again walk amidst the world in flesh."
And with that Lilly plunged into Faith and Keith was left surrounded by four fallen bodies, one of which still drew breath, and a decidedly vacant Cindy Mackenzie.
He took out his cell phone and called 911.
. . .
"She's awake," an unfamiliar male voice said.
"Come back," answered a female voice. "Let her father be there."
Veronica opened her eyes to see, indeed, Keith Mars staring back at her. She was in a hospital bed, she realized. "What happened?" she asked, even as the memories slowly came back to her.
Vampires.
"How much do you remember?" Keith prompted.
Veronica looked doubtfully as the other two occupants of the hospital room, who stood in the corner watching the father-daughter reunion. One was a young woman about Veronica's age with long dark hair; the other was a man a few years older with an eye patch.
"This is Dawn Summers and Xander Harris from the Council of Watchers," Keith introduced them, understanding her concern. "You can talk freely in front of them."
"It was vampires," she said, and was relieved to see the expressions of the two strangers didn't change. "We were attacked by vampires." A horrible thought occurred to her. "Wallace?"
Keith frowned, and that was all it took for Veronica to already know the answer. "He's dead," her father said.
She felt her heart clench up. Another one of her friends lost. How many of the people around her-Lilly, Meg, Beaver-were going to be dead before all this was over? She had already come too close with her father.
But Keith looked pensive, glancing at Dawn and Xander and back at Veronica. "There's something else," he said slowly, and she braced herself for more bad news. "It's about Lilly."
. . .
The Watcher with the eye patch, Xander, pushed Veronica's wheelchair (she could walk perfectly fine, thank you very much, but the hospitals were always so paranoid) through the hospital down to the PT area. He stopped the wheelchair in front of a basketball half-court where a brunette about his age was shooting hoops. Every single one of her throws went in, no matter where she stood on the court or what else she was doing at the time. She was dressed in a pair of very short gym shorts and a tight-fitting midriff-baring athletic top.
"Hey," she said when she saw Xander. "You want to play?"
Xander just shook his head, his face a pale white as he mumbled out a "I'll just be over here holler if you need me" and went into the next room.
The woman just shrugged. "Every time those Watcher guys see me they always act like they've seen a ghost. Which I guess I was until just recently but clearly I got better." And she shot another three-point shot.
"Lilly?" Veronica asked, looking up at the woman from her wheelchair uncertainly. She looked nothing like Lilly, but the smile was hers, and there was something else, something about the way she carried herself.
"Hey, Veronica," the woman said, and the cadence was Lilly's own even if the voice was different, deeper. "I have to say I really liked my old body, but this one is pretty smoking hot too. Plus-look at this." She crouched down, then sprung up into the air, flawlessly executing a double backflip. "Awesome, huh?" You should see what I can do with a running start. And that's without any training."
Veronica just stared at what she still could only half believe was her-formerly dead!-best friend. "Is it really you?"
Lilly just smiled-and, no, Veronica couldn't deny that it was definitely Lilly's smile. "You better believe it," she answered. "And you can thank me for saving your life any time you want."
"Saving my life?" Veronica asked, confused.
Lilly shot another three-point shot. "Who was it that made sure you didn't get on that bus?" she reminded Veronica.
Veronica blanched. "I didn't tell anybody about that," she whispered, then remembered all the times she had felt as if Lilly had been there, guiding her in the quest to find Lilly's killer. And Lilly really had, Veronica realized, she'd really been there. All those moments had been real.
And here was Lilly just as real, really here again, in the flesh even if it was a very difficult flesh than last she had worn. "I've missed you so much," she whispered to her friend, embracing Lilly, pulling herself up out of the wheelchair, hospital regulations be damned. "Don't leave me again."
"I won't," promised Lilly. "I never did."
. . .
"I've worked everything out with the hospital," Dawn told Keith before she and Xander left. "There are still people working here who remember the time before you were sheriff. You won't be asked any difficult questions."
She paused. "We'll send a Watcher to train Lilly as soon as we can. Preferably . . . someone who didn't know Faith."
Keith frowned. "I didn't know Faith or Vi for very long, but they were good women. I'm sorry for your loss." He knew what it was like to lose a man in the field, under one's command.
Dawn's expression was a mix of sorrow and some other emotion Keith couldn't identify. "They were both unique, each in her own way," she said. "They can't be replaced. Thank you." Her features hardened. "I'm sorry for your loss as well."
Keith nodded. It was always hardest when kids were caught in the crossfires. "Wallace was a good kid, and will be missed." He paused. "And Mac . . . ?"
"She'll be better in our care," Dawn answered, back to business. "Acting as a conduit to the spirit world is a heavy experience. I promise you we'll take good care of her, but she may never be herself again."
"Understood." After what Cassidy had done in life to her, that may well have been true even if the supernatural hadn't impinged upon their lives.
Dawn turned to leave, then rotated back. "The Council is restructuring right now," she said, "and we can always use more good Watchers. If you or your daughter is interested-" She pulled out a business card.
Keith took the card but shook his head. "I'll pass it onto Veronica," he promised her, "but human evil has to be dealt with, too."
"I understand," said Dawn, and Keith could see that she did. "But if you ever change your mind. . . ." She turned away, leaving Keith alone.
Dawn Summers, the card read. High Watcher, Watcher's Council of Britain, then a London address and a UK telephone number.
"Ms. Summers," he called out after her, and Dawn turned back, looking at him. "I wish we had met under happier circumstances," he told her, "but . . . thank you. For everything."
Dawn Summers' smile was sad as she turned away again and left.
The End
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Veronica Mars
Rating: Mostly worksafe, but possibly borderline
Summary: Faith and Vi hire Keith to investigate Phoenix Land Trust, Cassidy's old company. Is its business being conducted from beyond the grave?
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
MEMORIES
Not Quite Queen of the Damned (4/4)
They met at Mars Investigations at nine o'clock, as agreed, the three of them: Vi, Faith, and Keith. They armed themselves in silence, speaking only when necessary, such as helping Keith pick out a sword he could wield with a minimum of training. The drive to the Neptune Grand, the ride up the elevator, and the walk up the last few flights of steps to the roof, were all just as quiet.
Kendall and Dick were already on the roof when they got up there, alongside a rather spectral semi-transparent young man. "That's enough," said Keith, the grip on his short sword firm. "It's over, Cassidy.”
But Cassidy just smirked as a familiar voice called out from behind Keith, Faith, and Vi. "No, Mr. Mars," Mac said with a dry laugh. "I'm afraid it's just beginning."
Behind her, Keith saw when he turned around, were maybe two dozen hungry-looking vampires. A bolt flew from Vi's crossbow and one of their number turned to dust, but the rest charged forward and Vi dropped the crossbow and clutched her axe with both hands.
"Bring it on," Faith said, her face a portrait of fatalistic-no, nihilistic, even-determination. Keith would have preferred brazen confidence himself, and gulped as he held the sword.
Mac deftly made her way around the fray to where Dick and Kendall stood. "Why?" Keith asked her, still waiting for a vamp to get past Faith or Vi. One did almost immediately, and Keith impaled it with the sword, then beheaded it.
"Because this way I can be with Cassidy again," she said with the simple intensity of a teenaged girl mourning her dead boyfriend. Never mind that the boyfriend had been a psychotic serial killer; Keith knew in an instant there would be no reasoning with her. Besides, as Faith suffered an ugly gash to her shoulder and two more vamps rushed past her, there were more immediate things to worry about.
Still, even as Keith did his best to defend himself with his sword, he continued to watch Mac out of the corner of his eye. She had picked up a large ceremonial knife and was holding it in front of herself almost reverently. Then in a single quick and smooth movement, she lunged it into Dick's chest.
Kendall, suddenly realizing just in what capacity she was present at this ritual slaughter, quickly made her way away from Mac, but one of the vampires blocked her exit and sunk its fangs into her neck.
"I, Mac of the blood Sinclair," Mac said, projecting her voice into the night. Keith started; Mac's parents were the Mackenzies-that's where she got the nickname, even-and were about as different from the rich Sinclair as could be imagined. He didn't have much time to think about this puzzle, however, as a vamp snapped Vi's neck and a half-dozen of its kindred rushed forward.
"-do present this sacrifice of blood," Mac continued, "and offer myself as vessel to Cassidy of the blood Casablancas, so that his spirit may once again walk amidst this world in flesh."
"You don't know what you're doing," Faith called out, but she had already sustained several injuries and her voice was thick with blood. "He's using you."
But Keith recognized the expression on Mac's face as the one he had seen on countless repeat domestic violence victims. She wanted to be used.
"Oh, she knows," said Cassidy, and he was already brighter, more solid as he stepped towards Mac and then into her, a haze of glowing mystical energy surrounding the two.
Keith was doing his best to defend himself from the rampaging vampire horde, but he didn't have the strength or skill the Slayers had and already Vi was clearly dead and Faith pretty much fallen. If Keith had been in front instead of them he would have been dead in seconds. Even now, with only a few vampires left after Faith and Vi took most of their number down with them, he was pretty sure he didn't have long left to live.
Suddenly, however, Cassidy reeled back away from Mac as if repelled by an invisible force. "What!?" he shouted angrily as the glowing energy began to solidify into another spectral figure.
Keith watched in amazement-as he pushed a vampire off himself and decapitated it-as the second figure settled into a form at least as familiar as the first had been. Even without the teeny green-and-white Neptune High pep squad outfit the ghost wore or the grotesque head wound it sported Keith would have been able to recognize it in an instant as Lilly Kane.
"Not you!" Cassidy shouted at Lilly, his ghostly voice echoing. "This is none of your business."
"You hurt my friend," Lilly pointed out, her expression that of pure vindictiveness and malice. "And I'm not alone." Behind her, Keith could make out the faintest outline of more ghosts, so faded they were just barely identifiable as Cassidy's victims: Meg Manning, Betina Carone, Marcos Oliveres, and so on. "No," Cassidy said, taking a step back.
"You think you're all powerful, and you've been a ghost hardly a month. You're still bound to this pathetic place, even." Lilly was clearly relishing her position of power as she stepped towards Cassidy. "Well, as someone who's figured out a lot more of the tricks of the trade than you, let me say to you: Go. To. Hell."
Cassidy screamed as a vortex of light opened up behind him. Idly he tried to escape its vacuum as it inexorably sucked him in closer until he was lost within it. The, a second later, it was gone.
The ghostly figures behind Lilly faded, leaving Lilly and Mac standing next to each other, the dead body of Dick Casablancas at their feet.
The vampires who had surrounded Keith now looked at each other, uncertain what to do now that their boss was gone. "Boo," said Lilly, and they fled. Mac just stood there, staring out into space with a dazed expression on her face.
"Are you alright, Sheriff?" Lilly asked, the ghost already bent over the prostrate forms of the two Slayers.
"I think I broke my leg," he said, feeling somewhat awkward having a conversation with a ghost. Still he dragged himself over and joined Lilly in examining Faith and Vi. "Thank you."
Vi was clearly dead, but Faith still had a pulse. "Her Slayer healing is already working," Lilly said, "but her spirit has already departed her body. Did you know her name?"
Keith blinked. "Faith," he answered,
"Her last name?"
Keith shook his head. "She gave Lehane, but I'm pretty sure that was an alias."
Lilly nodded. "Let's hope this works then."
She stood up and, her ghostly voice projecting into the night, said, "I, Lilly of the blood Kane, accept this sacrifice of blood and take Faith of the blood Slayer as my vessel so that my spririt may once again walk amidst the world in flesh."
And with that Lilly plunged into Faith and Keith was left surrounded by four fallen bodies, one of which still drew breath, and a decidedly vacant Cindy Mackenzie.
He took out his cell phone and called 911.
. . .
"She's awake," an unfamiliar male voice said.
"Come back," answered a female voice. "Let her father be there."
Veronica opened her eyes to see, indeed, Keith Mars staring back at her. She was in a hospital bed, she realized. "What happened?" she asked, even as the memories slowly came back to her.
Vampires.
"How much do you remember?" Keith prompted.
Veronica looked doubtfully as the other two occupants of the hospital room, who stood in the corner watching the father-daughter reunion. One was a young woman about Veronica's age with long dark hair; the other was a man a few years older with an eye patch.
"This is Dawn Summers and Xander Harris from the Council of Watchers," Keith introduced them, understanding her concern. "You can talk freely in front of them."
"It was vampires," she said, and was relieved to see the expressions of the two strangers didn't change. "We were attacked by vampires." A horrible thought occurred to her. "Wallace?"
Keith frowned, and that was all it took for Veronica to already know the answer. "He's dead," her father said.
She felt her heart clench up. Another one of her friends lost. How many of the people around her-Lilly, Meg, Beaver-were going to be dead before all this was over? She had already come too close with her father.
But Keith looked pensive, glancing at Dawn and Xander and back at Veronica. "There's something else," he said slowly, and she braced herself for more bad news. "It's about Lilly."
. . .
The Watcher with the eye patch, Xander, pushed Veronica's wheelchair (she could walk perfectly fine, thank you very much, but the hospitals were always so paranoid) through the hospital down to the PT area. He stopped the wheelchair in front of a basketball half-court where a brunette about his age was shooting hoops. Every single one of her throws went in, no matter where she stood on the court or what else she was doing at the time. She was dressed in a pair of very short gym shorts and a tight-fitting midriff-baring athletic top.
"Hey," she said when she saw Xander. "You want to play?"
Xander just shook his head, his face a pale white as he mumbled out a "I'll just be over here holler if you need me" and went into the next room.
The woman just shrugged. "Every time those Watcher guys see me they always act like they've seen a ghost. Which I guess I was until just recently but clearly I got better." And she shot another three-point shot.
"Lilly?" Veronica asked, looking up at the woman from her wheelchair uncertainly. She looked nothing like Lilly, but the smile was hers, and there was something else, something about the way she carried herself.
"Hey, Veronica," the woman said, and the cadence was Lilly's own even if the voice was different, deeper. "I have to say I really liked my old body, but this one is pretty smoking hot too. Plus-look at this." She crouched down, then sprung up into the air, flawlessly executing a double backflip. "Awesome, huh?" You should see what I can do with a running start. And that's without any training."
Veronica just stared at what she still could only half believe was her-formerly dead!-best friend. "Is it really you?"
Lilly just smiled-and, no, Veronica couldn't deny that it was definitely Lilly's smile. "You better believe it," she answered. "And you can thank me for saving your life any time you want."
"Saving my life?" Veronica asked, confused.
Lilly shot another three-point shot. "Who was it that made sure you didn't get on that bus?" she reminded Veronica.
Veronica blanched. "I didn't tell anybody about that," she whispered, then remembered all the times she had felt as if Lilly had been there, guiding her in the quest to find Lilly's killer. And Lilly really had, Veronica realized, she'd really been there. All those moments had been real.
And here was Lilly just as real, really here again, in the flesh even if it was a very difficult flesh than last she had worn. "I've missed you so much," she whispered to her friend, embracing Lilly, pulling herself up out of the wheelchair, hospital regulations be damned. "Don't leave me again."
"I won't," promised Lilly. "I never did."
. . .
"I've worked everything out with the hospital," Dawn told Keith before she and Xander left. "There are still people working here who remember the time before you were sheriff. You won't be asked any difficult questions."
She paused. "We'll send a Watcher to train Lilly as soon as we can. Preferably . . . someone who didn't know Faith."
Keith frowned. "I didn't know Faith or Vi for very long, but they were good women. I'm sorry for your loss." He knew what it was like to lose a man in the field, under one's command.
Dawn's expression was a mix of sorrow and some other emotion Keith couldn't identify. "They were both unique, each in her own way," she said. "They can't be replaced. Thank you." Her features hardened. "I'm sorry for your loss as well."
Keith nodded. It was always hardest when kids were caught in the crossfires. "Wallace was a good kid, and will be missed." He paused. "And Mac . . . ?"
"She'll be better in our care," Dawn answered, back to business. "Acting as a conduit to the spirit world is a heavy experience. I promise you we'll take good care of her, but she may never be herself again."
"Understood." After what Cassidy had done in life to her, that may well have been true even if the supernatural hadn't impinged upon their lives.
Dawn turned to leave, then rotated back. "The Council is restructuring right now," she said, "and we can always use more good Watchers. If you or your daughter is interested-" She pulled out a business card.
Keith took the card but shook his head. "I'll pass it onto Veronica," he promised her, "but human evil has to be dealt with, too."
"I understand," said Dawn, and Keith could see that she did. "But if you ever change your mind. . . ." She turned away, leaving Keith alone.
Dawn Summers, the card read. High Watcher, Watcher's Council of Britain, then a London address and a UK telephone number.
"Ms. Summers," he called out after her, and Dawn turned back, looking at him. "I wish we had met under happier circumstances," he told her, "but . . . thank you. For everything."
Dawn Summers' smile was sad as she turned away again and left.
The End