Part Twenty: Everything That Rises Must Converge
“Oz,” said Willow, savoring the taste of the words. “Good to see you lover.”
“Will,” said Oz, panic spreading across his face. “We need to decelerate this, Will.”
“Why,” said Willow. “Don’t you wanna dance?”
“Enough of this,” said Amy. “This bitch and I have scores to settle.” With a wave of Amy’s hand, Willow was battered in a rain of trash cans and loose bricks, staggering her backward into the fire.
Justine moved next, leaping toward Faith. Their fists collided with each other’s faces brutal explosions.
“Not a full moon,” said Xander, his eyes fixed on Oz. “Kind of keeps you at the kids’ table, doesn’t it.”
Oz gulped as Xander pounced at him. Normally, he knew he could wipe the floor with Xander. If he wanted to—which, admittedly, wasn’t often. But something was different about him. He was stronger, bestial. He was …
“You’re possessed by a hyena spirit, aren’t you?”
Xander bared his teeth, his lips curling into a snarl. Oz kicked him in the face.
“You know,” said Oz, catching his breath. “I was really hoping not to do this.
Oz’s skin began to contort, his skin quivering as the muscles swelled. His bones bent and his teeth grew and sharpened into fangs.
Everything stopped for a moment, as the combatants were momentarily entranced by the transformation. Fully revealed, the wolf leapt toward Xander, the two locked in a feral embrace, clawing and scratching at one another.
“He’s a werewolf,” said Justine. “I’m sleeping with a werewolf.”
Faith pummeled her upside the head.
“Honey,” said Faith, “I think you’re the only one here who didn’t know.”
“Now that’s the guy I used to love,” said Willow, waving her hand and funneling the rampant flames toward Amy, who screamed in terror as she deflected them. “You people couldn’t beat us when we were nice. What makes you think you can take us now?
There was the bang of pistol fire, and a bullet tore through Willow’s shoulder. There was a light giggle in the air. Justine took the distraction to leap away from Faith, pouncing toward Willow and clocking her in the jaw.
“Team spirit,” said Justine. “That’s how we’ll win.”
Amy got the clue, and with a thought hurdled Xander into Faith, knocking the two of them off balance. Connor, who had forced himself to a stand, took advantage of the moment to land another punch on Faith.
“Keep them off balance!” shouted Justine, but Willow had gotten her bearings again. A blue, electrified mist seemed to rise up around Justine, freezing her in place. She turned to face Oz.
“Puppy” she shouted, her voice deliriously happy. “You’ve been a very bad dog.”
Oz could feel the wolf side of his personality reeling, looking to escape as Willow strode toward him, but then she stopped, and looked into a patch of empty air. Inside his head, the human side of Oz’s personality was screaming.
“I see invisible things,” said Willow, a bolt of energy crackling fro her fingertips. There was a thud—meat falling limp to the ground. Willow turned again toward Oz. “And now for you,” she said. “Lie down.” Oz felt his legs buckle, felt himself fall over. “Sleep.” And with that, he was out.
Amy gasped. She was running out of power, and there was only one source for her to siphon from. But if she didn’t try…
Madly, she leapt toward Willow, grabbing her head in her hands. There was a circuit of force running between them, but it was more than Amy had bargained for—it was overwhelming her.
As she screamed in pain, she felt Xander’s fist slam into the back of her head. Before she blacked out, the last thing she saw was his predatory leer.
Justine, her mobility returned, and Connor fell back to back as Willow, Xander and Faith converged on them.
Connor moved first, leaping at Faith, who didn’t even dodge. He flew straight into her fist, and then hit him again, and again, and again, until he was a bloody pulp.
Justine leapt toward Xander, knocking him down with a single blow. She weighed the odds, and (continued...)
( continues...) realized she couldn’t win. She needed help. Riley, maybe. Maybe the real slayer. She began to run, but found herself colliding with an old man’s cane.
“Sorry, young lady,” said Doc, a kindly smile plastered across his face. “But the party’s only starting. What kind of hosts would we be if we let you leave without dessert?”
She felt his fist knock across her head. And then there was only darkness.
Part Twenty-One: Italian Interlude
Although she visited London often, Buffy Summers and her sister, Dawn, called Venice home. And on a day like today, the sun blazing down on Duomo's Square, she remembered why. Best of all? Barely a vampire in the whole damn city. Sure, she had some administrative work to do—and that whole messy affair with the Immortal ended up some drama, certainly—but for the most part, she was free to do what she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it.
“So why on Earth,” she thought, “am I here in front of my house watching my ex-boyfriend’s wife rappel out of an unmarked U.S. government helicopter?”
Buffy sighed, although the realization that Giles was right behind her in that helicopter made her giggle a bit—he was a lot of things, but paratrooper wasn’t one of them. Still, Sam Finn wasn’t one to be easily alarmed.
The three of them—Giles mildly airsick—made their way into the spacious apartment, where Dawn was waiting for them--with coffee and biscotti.
“OK,” said Buffy, as everyone settled in to work. “What the Hell has you two in such a fluster? And if one of you says it’s the end of the world, I’m going to sceam.”
Giles looked uneasy. Buffy could tell that it really was the end of the world. She had a sense about these things. Sam said nothing, but instead handed her a printout of the e-mail that had been sent to her. Buffy read it with intense concentration.
“If this is true…” started Buffy, letting the sentence trail off as she considered the implications.
“Then the situation is even more dire than we thought,” said Giles.
“What are you guys talking about?” asked Dawn.
“Our friends are in deep trouble,” said Sam. “Buffy, will you help?”
Buffy looked to Dawn, who nodded at her.
“Of course,” said Buffy. “I’m ready to go now. Giles, can you look after Dawn while we’re gone.”
“Of course,” said Giles. “In the meantime, I’ll utilize the Council’s resources, see if we can find out more information.”
A few minutes later, Buffy and Sam were headed for America, leaving Giles and Dawn behind.
“So what is it?” asked Dawn. “What has Buffy and Sam so spooked?”
Giles didn’t look at her. Instead, he focused on the small wine collection Buffy had accumulated.
“Our friends do indeed seem to have been turned to evil,” said Giles. “And Riley Finn is working for a dead man.”
“Oh,” said Dawn. “So, uhm, have you had lunch?”
“There’s a lot of good eateries in this neighborhood, as I recall,” said Giles, thankful Dawn had let him off the hook.
Dawn started to reply, but she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Willow in the room, accompanied by a frail old man.
“Doc,” said Dawn, her eyes widening in the memory of the demon slicing a knife into her skin. “Small, shallow cuts.” She remembered it all to well.
“Ms. Summers,” said Doc. “Good to see you again. Gosh, I’d have never figured you’d head off to Italy. Lovely part of the world.”
Giles began to move toward the two of them, but Willow intervened.
“Immobilize,” she said, and both Dawn and Giles were frozen in their tracks.
“Heh,” laughed Willow. “These two are easy. We should go after the slayer.”
“Now, now,” said Doc. “All in good time. First, though, we have big plans for this girl.”
He then turned to Giles.
“And he could be useful too,” said Doc, “now that I think of it.”
Dawn watched as Doc gently laid his palm onto Giles’ torso. There was a flash of energy, and suddenly decades seemed to strip off Giles’ face, and his clothes seemed to morph from a sharp jumper and slacks to torn jeans and a “Who” T-shirt. His hair turned thick and spiky.
“Giles,” said Dawn, cautiously, not entirely sure that his was, indeed, still Giles.
Giles turned to look at her, a swagger in his posture that hadn’t been there previously.
“Giles? That’s my old man,” he said. “You can call me … Ripper.”
