Rota

by
JezT

Part Nine

The search of most of Sunnydale had turned up no sign of the slayer, even Giles' house had shown only the signs of a minor struggle but it was promising that there was no blood or other indications that anything other than that had taken place. The group returned to the mansion in time to see Cordelia arrive in a familiar black convertable. She looked harried and made her way cautiously to Angel as she saw Spike's proximity to his Sire.

"Angel?" Cordelia asked reaching for the stake that had been an ever present accesory since High school.

"Delia? What are you doing here?" Asked a concerned Xander knowing that despite her boss' being out of town she was supposed to stay in LA to hold down the fort.

"Faith." Cordy told them. "She's...she's..."

"Coming to town?" said a familiar voice behind them, all of the team but Angel and Wesley turned to stare at the brunette slayer, she stood on alert for signs of attack but the look in her eyes showed that she was far from able to fight, it was as if the violence had left her. Sensing the confusing emotions of fear from one lover and pride from the other it was Spike that voiced the question that no one else dare ask.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" He asked belidgerently.

"I came to see about a job." Faith said looking at Angel.

"Bloody hell Peaches, you do pick the strangest employees. Don't tell me, it's part of the redemption that you have to have a bunch of ninnies on your payroll."

"Actually Faith is far from stupid, she merely had a darker start to life. Less oppurtunity to flourish in a loving environment." Wesley said, Xander blanched as if his tutor had spoken an implied meaning that no one else understood, then he spoke up.

"Well, I guess the first job is to get you settled and then fill you in on the way things work around here. For one there is no slaying these two, or you'll have me to face." Xander said, Cordelia smiled a little and Faith openly laughed at the threat from the guy she had known as donut boy.

"Faith, he isn't joking with you. Xander has a power that even Buffy could not stand up to." Angel said, knowing that if she would not believe them then his oversensitive lover would feel that a show of his true strength was necessary. Faith trusted Angel as much as she could trust anyone and nodded to him in recognition, this was the hellmouth after all and stranger things had happened. The group made their way into the mansion and Faith relaxed for the first time in a long while, the protection spell that locked the mansion causing a calm environment for them to explain the events and for her to tell her story, they began to piece together the clues and assumed that the Watcher's council were tired of waiting for Buffy to return to the nest. Willow yawned at the lateness of the hour, not used as Cordelia, Wesley and Xander were to Vampire's nocturnal schedules. Faith too appeared tired, her trip having worn her out. They chose that point to make their way to their separate rooms, Wesley offering to show the girls where they could sleep. It was not mentioned that Xander was sharing with the two vampires, everyone having accepted the strange relationship that they shared.

As Xander snuggled between his two lovers wanting to find sleep so that he would be well rested for the morning and for the sex that Angel had promised he felt a soft touch to his ear, a gentle mouth kissing and whispering to him.

"Thankyou for accepting Faith, I know it is difficult to trust her after she hurt you." Angel spoke gently, caressing his lover to express his gratitude.

"I had to Angel, even though you trusted her that wasn't the reason, what Wesley said made me think. He told us at the beginning that there were two of us he was here to watch and judging by his timing..."

"You think that Faith is the other chosen one?" Angel asked continuing his assault on Xander's ear and then moving down to nip at his neck and shoulder. Xander nodded before letting out a gasp as the assault heightened.

"Bloody hell." Spike let out in both frustration that he was being left out and at the words that he was hearing. "I know we live on a hellmouth but is there no bleeding normal person out there?" His question remained unanswered instead Xander pulled him to him for a kiss and began his own oral assualt on the Vampire. 'So much for sleep,' Xander smiled as he felt his two vampires loving him, 'I guess I won't have to wait until the morning for that sex.' That was his last concious thought because the next moment he felt Angel's talented finger preparing his puckered opening and Spike engulfing his erection with his cool mouth.

Buffy woke to find herself in a place that looked very much like the type of places that she went to fight demons, it was dark, it was dank and it smelled of rotting fish. They must be down by the docks. She was about to continue the catalogue of senses when she heard Giles' voice close by, moving as best she could towards the former watcher she found that he was sitting in a corner mumbling what sounded like Latin.

"Giles?" She asked tentatively.

"Oh God." He stuttered, making Buffy wonder how long her mentor had been here and feeling guilty that she did not know.

"It's Okay." She said, trying not to wonder how bad the situation must be if she was having to comfort him, the one man that was the centre of calmness and stoicism. Giles clung to his charge in fear and continued his chant, which was when Buffy realised it was not an incantation but a prayer.

Xander woke early the next morning and got up to feed the appetite that his lovers had helped him to build up the night before, he left Sire and Childe asleep and found Willow, Wes, Faith and Delia around the table tucking in to a cooked breakfast, he wondered if he had missed it and then saw that Wesley had risen to plate him up some of the goodies.

"Wes was just filling us in on your super powers." Cordelia said. "Damn that I dumped you back before you realised that you had them. I know that you would psych out any of the people that turn me down at auditions." The budding actress said. Xander smiled knowing that the joke was an acceptance of a sort and lent over and whispered something in her ear. Willow frowned when Delia looked over at the closed bedroom and began to laugh, Xander's face fell as if he were hurt.

"So, Are we going to try and find Buffy again today?" Willow asked, slightly chagrined that they were not taking the Slayer's disappearence very seriously.

"Sure Wills, if you want we can try a scrying spell after we're done here." Xander said, the witch took a few moments before she remembered that Xander was as powerful a spell caster as she was and then smiled. Wes looked at his charge oddly but did not say anything, he knew that Xander did not need a chrystal to locate the girl, that a quiet room and a personal possession was enough for him to work foresight but said nothing as he knew that Xander was trying to involve the young witch. Besides, he had other worries on his mind, after all there was a new initiate to bring in to the fold and somehow he knew that this would be more difficult than his last, after all his last attempt with her had ended up with him strapped to a chair and being half tortured to death. Swallowing a little too hard and choking on his toast at the memory he decided that it may be better to leave the initiation until after they had found Buffy. The decision made he went to help Xander and Willow with the scrying, after all there was more power with three.

"Why did you bring him here?" The voice asked, "It is only the Slayer that is required for this ritual."

"Believe me there are a lot of people that want to see Ripper pay the price for his betrayal, he went against his watcher oath when he aided a rogue slayer and he knew the price they pay." Another voice told the first, this one recognisable as a man that Buffy thought that she would not see again, Ethan Rayne.

"Just so long as you complete the ritual, personal vendettas are carried out in your own time." The voice, apparently the one that was in charge said, "Now take Agent Finn out and begin him on his meds, Maggie Walsh was right to contact us when she was wary of the Slayer. Her little genetics project worked as well as she expected, it's just a shame that she never got to use him."

Buffy blanched at the cackle that followed the voice's jibe at Riley's origins, they had never expected something this bad when Adam had told them of Walsh's work on her *son*, but it appeared there was a lot more than atheletic enhancement. Giles was less than happy that Ethan was out and he was muttering to himself about the spell being a myth. Buffy felt herself wondering why she had not paid more attention to the books that Giles so loved, maybe then she would know what it was that he was referring to.

"Here it is..." Angel said with a smile. "The progeny spell." He read, Xander stared over his shoulder and read it too.

"Oh, A 'bring-about-a-new-slayer' spell." Xander translated. "You mean they have spells for that, why not just kill her...not that I would in any way suggest that." He added quickly at the frowns from Faith and Wesley.

"Why not Ducks, sounds like a good career option for the bint if you ask me." Spike said, gaining him glares from the rest of the assortment in the library.

"This means that they can locate the new Slayer and have power over her." Angel explained, "Which means that they would probably send her after you." he aimed at his Childe. "After all, you are the *big, bad*" If it were possible Xander was sure that his lover would have paled, of course being a Vampire white was his natural colour.

"So, we just find out where they are holding her and stop them killing Buffy before the spell takes place." Willow added, her optimism always outshining the true nature of the evil of the hellmouth.

"The problem is that there are only four people that I know of strong enough to carry out this spell." Wesley said. "Giles is one of them and his friend Ethan Rayne is another."

"Giles wouldn't do that to Buffy and Ethan is tightly locked away in Nevada, about the only good thing that the initiative did." Willow explained with a smile.

"What about the others?" Xander asked.

"I have to agree with Ms. Rosenburg about Giles and I know you and Angel would not do it, but I have bad news about Ethan, he was never locked up by your government, he was extradited to England instead. I received word that he may be back in the area." Wes said only now seeing the significance of it all.

"How do we stop this?" Xander asked his lover who held the book and therefore the answers in his hands. Angel handed the book to Xander and then pulled his lover close, receiving a growl from Spike until he saw that Xander was shaking. He had read the words that he was not sure he could comprehend. The spell was irreversible.

Part Ten

"I don't understand." Riley Finn said as the man in front of him recited what it was that he was designed to do.

"You are a soldier Agent Finn, just as you always have been, it's just that all of this time you were fighting for the wrong people. Ms. Walsh was developing a way of making a soldier with Slayer strength, you are that person." Ethan explained. "It just appears that the dear Professor was also using her techniques for the government, although we are still not sure which one."

"But how did you...?"

"Make you turn on your little girlfriend?" Ethan asked sarcastically, "You were merely following orders agent, you just didn't know that you had been given any." Riley paled as he realised the extent of what he was being told, he was a minion of an organisation that he knew very little about and was afraid to learn anything more. As Ethan turned his back to prepare the injection that he was due to adminster Riley found what he pondered to be his last amount of free will and swiftly kicked the warlock to the ground. He had to escape, after all if there was a way to get out and get to Xander then maybe he could get Buffy out of there alive.

Xander felt torn, he wanted to comfort Willow who was in tears that they might lose Buffy, but also he had to prepare himself for the fight that he knew was coming. He had done a spell of foresight and Cordelia had had a vision, both of which pointed to a warehouse on the edge of the town. Now they were waiting until the sun went down so that they could go out and help rescue her, even Spike had agreed after Xander had reminded him how the Slayer had once spared Dru's life, even though he was in love with two other people Spike still held a torch for his dark queen. Angel and Spike were getting blood for their dinner and Chinese for every one else, and Faith was pacing at the chance of seeing her arch rival again, in the end Xander went out of the room to find his weapons and left Cordelia, Faith and Willow in the library, the three of them comforting and calming each other.

As the sun went down on the town of Sunnydale none of it's residents were aware of the battle that was about to take place, there was no time to warn them either, and most of the hellmouth dwellers would not have taken any notice anyway, even if they saw the seer, the witch the watcher, the slayer, the warlock-to-be and the pair of vampires heading towards the dockside. It is amazing what some people will turn the other cheek to in order to ignore what is going on under their noses, Xander mused as his group made their way to rescue Buffy.

Riley ran desperate to escape the people that had been holding him and to get to Xander as soon as possible, he was so wary of being followed that he did not see the group in front of him until he lay at Faith's feet, it was the first time that he had bumped into the rogue slayer since she had slept with him to get back at Buffy and had he not been worried about his girlfriend he may have been more upset that she was back.

"Riley?" Faith murmured in an alarmed tone. Xander ignored her and knelt to the fallen soldier that lay at the slayers feet.

"Where's Buffy?" He asked clearly, Riley was aware of a compelling need to tell him all that he knew, but it was not necessary, Xander was not used to mind reading but had the skill at his disposal. He disliked it a lot but knew it would save time rather than trying to interrogate the distressed initiative soldier. Xander felt the pain and guilt over what Riley perceived to be a betrayal to Buffy, he saw the warehouse where the blonde Slayerwas being held and he saw the people that were keeping her there. Finally breaking the link between himself and the marine he fell slightly back at the loss of contact until Angel bent to pick him up.

"I'm sorry." Riley said, partly from the pain that he had just unloaded on Xander and partly for his own guilt at the actions.

"It's Okay Ri, Willow and Cordelia are going to take you back to our place." He said, the order in his voice clear to the two girls, "I need you to look after them for me." He said, knowing this was going to be the only way to get Riley to go. Riley Finn nodded in agreement, the broken man not wanting to admit defeat and thankful that Xander had given him a way out. As the threesome turned to go back to the mansion Riley could not help but smile at Xander's last words. "I'll bring her back to you."

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