"Watch Over Me" Chpt 3 (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Chapter 3
Riley and Xander were the last to make it back to Giles's place that afternoon, and Buffy quickly ushered them in and shut the door behind them.
“What's with the recall, Buffy?” Willow questioned from the couch.
Buffy moved around into the kitchen and began bringing out what she'd dug up just before the others arrived. “I don't want to waste time any more than the rest of you do, but I don't think any of us have had anything to eat since the Expresso Pump this morning. We all need to refuel, and we might as well go over anything we've got so far.” The boys helped her in carrying the food to the table in the main room-most of it leftovers and the like.
Xander glanced into a container before he set it down. “So you raided Giles's refrigerator? Dontcha think he'll be ticked off about that later?”
“I think he'll understand This is faster, and we can always replace things later-when we find him.” she answered with convinction. The others weren't moving yet, and she made sweeping motions toward the table. “Come on, let's eat. We need to get back out there as soon as we can.”
“Yes, and leave me alone to be useless again,” Anya grumbled, digging in without hesitation. Xander followed her lead, slipping an arm around her shoulders to give her a brief squeeze of sympathy.
Buffy let out a breath as she spooned leftovers onto a plate. Her stomach was growling even looking at the stuff cold. She had to admit that, when he did it, Giles was quite the cook. “I'm sorry, Anya, but we need someone here in case whoever took him tries to contact us-or if he finds a way out. Here and my house are the two main places I can think of that would need to be covered in the instance of either of those possibilities, and we have my mom to stay at my house.”
She headed back for the kitchen, en route to make use of the ancient microwave. Back in the main room she heard Anya respond in confusion.
“And all of that meant what?”
“That you're not useless,” Xander answered.
“Ah. Well, I'll take your word for it.”
By the time Buffy made it back out everyone had something on a plate, and Xander slipped past her to take his turn at the microwave. Buffy found a chair at the table and sat down heavily. “So how are we doing? Anything at all?”
“Not so much as a single vampire,” Willow shrugged forlornly.
Riley sat beside beside Buffy, and she slid her chair closer as he made his own report. “Saw a couple groups of kids that looked suspicious-thought maybe they were vamps, or something else, but they turned out to be just what they looked like. Groups of suspicious-looking kids.”
Buffy squeezed his hand. “I haven't seen anything either. Hopefully we'll have more luck after dark.”
Xander returned and sat with the rest of them, and when he did Tara stood to bring both her plate and Willow's into the kitchen to warm them. Willow smiled at her in thanks and then focused on Buffy again. “Dark. Yay. Where the nasty things thrive.”
Buffy grimaced. “Just be careful. All of you.”
“You got it, Buff,” Xander nodded. “You know us; we've done this before. One hundred percent vigilance. I'd rather not wake up dead, myself.”
“That made no sense,” Anya complained.
“You're stealing my thunder, hon.”
Buffy smiled at them, just a little. She knew it was a tired smiled, but it was something. Beyond that, trying to do anything but focus on the problem at hand just wasn't working for her. Not when it was Giles. Not if it was any of her friends, but certainly not when it was Giles.
“Guys...”
Xander's eyebrows went up as he looked at her, and as Tara came back and sat down everyone else seemed to look at her too.
None of them had to ask to know what she was saying.
After a moment Xander broke the silence, smiling gently in understanding as he nodded amiably and dug a fork into the food he'd momentarily forgotten. “Right. Eating and leaving.” He nodded once more. “Eating and leaving.”
He stuck the full fork in his mouth, and Buffy went back to her own food. She had to shove a bite in quickly to have an excuse to swallow; to gulp back the lump that threatened to form in her throat.
They all cared about Giles. They all cared enough to do whatever was necessary to get him back safely, and they didn't mind taking her orders for now if it meant that might happen sooner.
Buffy could only hope with an ache akin to physical pain that they found Giles in time. He needed to know how they felt.
Giles had learned quickly that Sohlehk and his fellows didn't take kindly to sarsasm or to not being given what they wanted, and much of his body now ached to prove it. He didn't want to think about what the bruises would look like in a day or two.
If he was still alive in a day or two.
He wanted to tell himself that Buffy would come. She and the others would find him. He would be rescued, and everything would be just fine. But part of him didn't want Buffy anywhere near this place. There were too many hostiles here-too many enemies. She would never be able to handle them all on her own, and that was simple fact and not any reflection on her power or skill. There were just too many.
The bottom line for Rupert was that he seemed to be in a lose-lose situation. If the others never found him, he would be deemed useless eventually, and more than likely killed. If they did, an attempted rescue of any kind at all could result in someone he cared about being hurt. Possibly killed.
And he couldn't bear the thought of that at all.
Giles swallowed to himself and shifted position slighty on the concrete floor. It didn't take long in one place for the cold surface to numb his legs, and periodically changing position was the only thing that kept the blood flowing. It would have been much easier without the deep bruises and the shoulder wound, but there was nothing he could do about those. There was nothing he could do about his vision, either, which was a little blurry now that his glasses had been long since knocked to the floor beside him.
He grimaced as he moved, and his breath hitched as his shoulder flared with pain. At the same time he realized that there might be a cracked rib in there after all, and he let out a frustrated breath as he stopped moving and let his head fall back against the steel beam behind him. The cool metal was almost soothing there, but the edges that bit into the back of his skull if he rested that way for too long prevented the position from being too comfortable.
With his wrists tied on the other side of the beam behind him, there was no comfortable, and certainly not after being beaten. They had left him alone for a few hours now, probably hoping that allowing him to sit and suffer for a while would change his mind-that he would tell them what they wanted to know before he would let them hurt him any further.
But if so, they underestimated him.
Either way, he wasn't going to sit around to find out if he didn't have to. He'd been testing the ropes, twisting and tugging as much as he could when none of the demons or vampires were looking. He wasn't sure what he could do even if he managed to free himself-not with this many around-but he had to do something. If he sat and did nothing he was afraid he might lose it. He didn't want to feel useless; it was a feeling he'd grown much too familiar with in the past months.
The ropes were feeling a little more loose than before, and he was beginning to think he might actually be able to get out of them if only he had enough time...
But Giles doubted they would leave him be for much longer.
The sun was nearly gone, and Willow kept a constant hold on Tara's hand now, as they conducted their search. They both had power, but they were stronger together. They both wanted to be ready for whatever they might come across, and staying connected and keeping their combined power circulating between them was the best way to do that.
Willow carried a small crossbow, too, in her free hand, but better safe than sorry, she always said-or thought she should always say, anyway.
The touch created something of a bond, and she could feel that Tara was anxious, a little worried. She didn't know how much of that was for Giles and how much was for themselves. Either way, over-riding it was Tara's sense of quiet determination. She wanted to help just as much as Willow did, and Willow was glad that she was feeling included at the moment. They were really only beginning, in the subtle effort to integrate Tara into the Scooby Gang, but already she was feeling positive about it.
And no matter how that went, she was just glad to have someone in her life again. Sometimes she wondered if Tara were Goddess-sent.
It wouldn't have surprised her in the least.
“It's...getting dark...” Tara murmured a moment later.
Willow shivered just a bit, making certain to keep her crossbow at the ready and her grip tight on the hand in hers. “Never was much of a fan of the whole dark thing myself. Ask Xander. We spent a lot of sleepovers in blanket tents with flashlights, reading happy books until we fell asleep.”
“So that was before the-the monsters? Before you knew i-it was all...real?”
“Oh yeah. Knowing just made it worse. Well, at first. Then I guess, you know, I got kinda used it, but...then again, it's still kinda weird sometimes.
“I guess I know what you mean. It seems like I've always known things about the dark side of the world, but sometimes it just seems strange to me, too...just because most people don't know.”
Wiillow nodded. “Exactly.” Even though they were taling, she thought she was paying attention. She thought she was ready.
But she wasn't prepared when a snarling form jumped from the shadows and knocked Tara into the wall of the alley and away from her grasp. Her girlfriend's head struck the bricks, and she crumpled to the ground in a heap.
“Tara!”
The vampire whirled on Willow, ripping the crossbow from her grasp and shoving her back into the opposite alley wall before it went back to Tara. Willow scrambled for the crossbow, but as she was grabboing for it she heard a mutter below the snarls of the vampire that had once been a young man. Her fingers closed around the weapon, and as she turned a small, brief flash of blinding light flickered between Tara and the vampire. That was when Willow realized that the other girl was awake, and the alarmed muttering had been a spell, mumbled when she woke and found herself about to be sucked dry by by a creature of the night.
Willow didn't waste time getting back to her feet when the vampire staggered back in surprise, covering it's eyes. She jerked her arms up to aim and fired, sending a bolt from the crossbow into the vampire's back.
But it didn't turn to dust.
Tara, more awake now, cried out. “You missed the heart!”
“Thanks, sweetie! I got that!” The vampire roared in pain and was turning on her again, and Willow quickly fired once more. This time the bolt caught the thing in the chest, and in the right place. It dissolved into dust in the middle of a lunge for the red-headed witch's throat.
Willow swallowed and looked across the narrow alley to Tara. “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine. You were amazing.”
She grinned. “So were you.”
“Well...” Tara trailed.
Willow stood and crossed the alley to help the her girlfriend to her feet. “No arguing; we have a British guy to find.” She frowned when Tara winced and rubbed carefully at the back of her head. “Are you sure you're all right?”
“I'll be fine. Uhm...sh-shouldn't we call in, or something?”
“Nah, that was just one vamp. I doubt it had anything to do with what we're looking for. You were right, though. It's dark. Time for being extra careful, especially since it's just the two of us.”
Tara took her hand again and smiled that shy smile of hers that somehow seemed so confident at the same time. “We'll be fine; I always feel safe with you.”
Willow blushed, and as they continued on she laughed a little and called back to the debrief at Giles's apartment. "Well, so much for not-even-a-single-vampire."
When Sohlehk turned away from watching the others and headed for Giles's corner, Rupert straightened again. No sign of weakness. Not if he could help it. He had once been a highly respected Watcher, damnit, and now, at least to Buffy, he was again. That counted for something...at least to himself.
The demon towered over him, looking down disdainfully. “Well, Watcher?”
Giles made a show of blinking a few times before looking up, as if he'd just come out of his thoughts. “I'm sorry; did you say something?”
Sohlehk snarled and lashed out, his heavy foot slamming into Giles's midsection and sinking deep. Rupert found himself doubled over, gaping for air as he saw dark spots swimming before his eyes and the wave of pain from the impact went clear through to his back and travelled up to his neck. “I am not here to play games!” The demon paused for a moment. “I will not allow you to die until we have the Slayer.”
“Well how very nice for me then; I'll live,” Giles gasped. With considerable effort he straightened again, and saw that the demon was still glaring down at him.
“You have so much faith in your Slayer? Perhaps she has powers-strength. That is true. But she is only a girl.”
Giles's eyebrows went up, and he answered quietly. “That is where you're wrong.” Sohlehk just stared at him, and he went on. When he did, he couldn't hide the ghost of a smiled that tugged at the corners of his lips. Even if she had not asked him to serve as her Watcher again, he would still be proud of Buffy.
“Yes, she is human-perhaps much more human than the Slayers of the past have dared allowed themselves to be-but she is much more, and very little of that comes merely from her power.” He shrugged slightly, only with his uninjured shoulder, before he finished quietly. “But no matter what else she is, she is human. A person. A life. And as such, no matter the cost to myself I cannot do anything that would aid you in killing her.”
As he fell silent Rupert looked up unflinchingly, part of him fearful that what'd he said would set the demon off again and the rest of him calmly accepting of what might happen if it did. As events usually fell in the world of the Slayers, it was the Watcher most often left to grieve...but from the moment he had read the prophecy that the Slayer would die at the hands of the Master, from the moment Buffy the girl had whispered in that small, quavering voice that she didn't want to die...Giles had known that he would never hesitate, if it came to it.
He would give his life for her.
Sohlehk continued to stare, unmoving, for one of the longest moments of Giles's life.
And then he laughed.
“Kill her? Why would I kill her? Do you think we have not heard the lore? One Slayer dies, and the next is called. We do not wish to kill her.” He motioned to the others in the warehouse, and that was when Giles realized that it was dark. The vampires began to slip out into the night, and the demons remained to take up what must have been guard or watch positions near the entrances. “We only want her out of the way.”
Giles stared for a long moment, horrified. He could only imagine what that might mean, and none of the options his imagination conjured were pleasant. “What?” he managed finally.
Dagkel was the only one to not take a post. He skittered over, his pointed teeth showing as he glanced up at the taller demon Giles was now certain had to be in charge here. “When we have the Slayer, Sohlehk will trap her in a nightmare. She will be helpless to stop us.”
The leader didn't smile, but he sounded almost smug as he spoke next. “And she will suffer.”
He knew his eyes were wide, and Rupert opted to stare toward far wall of the warehouse at nothing instead of at Sohlehk as he panicked silently. Bloody hell...
A moment later the demon's voice cut into his thoughts. “Well, Watcher?” he said, repeating himself from minutes before. “Do you still plan to ruin my night as you ruined my day?”
Giles fought the urge to swallow, and looked at Sohlehk again. “I believe I do, actually.”
The demon kicked him again, more to the side this time to avoid any resistance from the human's legs. It hurt just as much, and Rupert gasped, tugging again at the ropes holding him to the steel beam. They loosened a little more, but not enough. On his other side Dagkel grabbed at the shoulder wound he had caused, digging one of his smaller claws into the opening and tugging only lightly. But it was plenty.
Giles gasped again, letting out an unwanted cry of pain after, and his already imperfect vision began to swim as he sunk back against the metal behind him, involuntarily trying to get away from the demon's claws and the fresh, sharp pain. Through all of that he was only barely able to hear Sohlehk, who still sounded rather smug.
“It is of little consequence. With or without your aid, we will find her eventually.”
( Click here for next chapter.)