Under the Forbidden Sun
Part 4 – Intricacy
The group had left the hospital to return to the Magic Box. Willow, Tara, and Gunn had just taken Buffy into the shop, and the rest were still outside when a girl came running down the street, chased by two nasty looking demons. Spike stopped when he saw the girl and whispered “Jericho?” in disbelief, and then hailed her, “Jericho!”
Skidding to a stop near the shocked people, she turned to the demons and said, “Well, boys, it’s been fun!” With a wave of her hand, the demons disappeared. Spike stepped forward and she hugged him enthusiastically, “William, my love, it’s been ages!”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been busy,” he nodded toward Xander, then released her. “Where did you send those demons?”
She laughed, “To my brother. I figured he’d have more fun with them than I would. Well,” she amended, “at least here, anyway.”
Xander stepped forward, staring at the girl. “Spike, who is this? And why does she have horns? And a tail?”
“Bit rude, aren’t we, Pet?” said Spike. “This is Jericho. Jericho, this is Xander, my mate.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jericho said, hugging the startled boy.
“Yeah, same here,” Xander replied, looking at the girl closer. Her eyes were purple and had slit pupils, like a cat. Her hair was dark green and fell past her waist. Two silver horns winked on the top of her head. Seeing a flash of light, he looked lower and saw that her fingernails were also silver.
Angel was also staring at the girl, who went over to the vampire, “Angelus. It’s nice to see you again.”
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said. “I’m sure I would remember.”
“But we have, in Hell.” She smiled as he recoiled away from her. “Now, I didn’t do anything to you there. I was visiting my brother, Joholen.”
Giles had meanwhile been speaking quietly to Xander, “You said she has horns and a tail?”
“Yeah, and green hair. Isn’t it kind of weird? And look at her eyes.”
Giles looked at the girl again, but all he saw was a very pretty girl with black hair and purple eyes. He saw no horns or tail. “Cordelia, Wesley, what do you see?”
Cordelia looked closely at the girl, admiring the black leather pants and spaghetti strap shirt, then said, “Black hair, purple eyes, amazing fashion sense, bit much with the black leather, though. No horns, no tail.”
“She looks quite normal to me as well, Rupert,” Wesley confirmed. “Perhaps you should ask Spike or Angel what they see.”
Spike pulled Jericho away from Angel, steering her towards the rest of the group. “Everyone, this is Jericho. Jericho, this is Giles, Cordelia, and Wesley.”
“Nice to meet all of you,” Jericho smiled. “Do you all like living on the Hellmouth? Isn’t it an absolute blast?” The others stared at the girl, shocked. “I haven’t stayed on a Hellmouth in, like, two centuries.”
“So, you’re not human?” asked Xander. “ ‘Cause they” he gestured to the humans, “don’t see you the same way I do.”
“Of course they won’t, I appear one way to humans and another to demons. Demons see me as I am, while humans see another human. Watch this,” she said, baring her teeth and growling. Xander and Angel were shocked to see that she had fangs.
“What’s the big deal?” asked Cordelia. “So she’s growling. Spike and Angel growl too.”
“Spike?” asked Jericho. “Ugh, I thought you weren’t going to use that anymore.”
“Well, luv, that was what, fifty, sixty years ago. I changed my mind,” said Spike, shrugging. “And I said you didn’t have to use it. Not that I wouldn’t.”
“Well, fine. Anyway,” she said, speaking to the rest. “I am not human. If you’re good,” she smirked, “I might tell you what I am. Maybe. Now, aren’t there more people? I want to meet the Slayer.”
“She’s inside with the witches and Peaches’ other lackey,” said Spike, moving up to the door. “Won’t you come in?”
“Thank you, William.” Jericho entered the shop, followed by the others.
Willow stood upon seeing the stranger. Buffy looked up dazedly. Then her eyes narrowed and she leapt at the girl. Angel and Spike intercepted and held Buffy. “Bloody Hell, Slayer! She’s a friend!” said Spike angrily.
“She’s a demon! She’s going to kill us!” screamed Buffy. “She killed Riley!”
“Calm down, Buffy,” said Giles. “She just got here. Does she look like the demon that attacked you in the cemetery?”
“No.”
“Wait, Buffy, you said she’s a demon? What do you see?” asked Xander excitedly.
“She’s got horns, cat’s eyes, a tail, and green hair,” said Buffy, trying to pull away from the two vampires that were restraining her.
“So Slayers do see us. I wondered about that,” said Jericho elated. “But it does make sense. Slayers aren’t entirely human.”
Willow and Tara looked toward the others curiously.
“Buffy, are you going to behave?” asked Giles.
“Yes, I’m sorry.” Spike and Angel let her go.
Spike snorted and said, “Obviously that’s the Slayer. Slayer, this is Jericho. Jericho, the witches.”
“I’m Willow and this is Tara,” said Willow extending her hand. Jericho took it and Willow was a bit surprised at the strong grip.
“And I’m Gunn,” he stepped forward to shake her hand.
“We’ve had quite a long night, and I do believe we should get some rest before tomorrow,” said Giles.
“Jericho, you can stay with me and Spike,” Xander said as he grabbed his stack of papers and pictures.
Willow and Tara volunteered to stay the night with Buffy, so she wouldn’t be alone. They invited Cordelia and Gunn to come with them as well.
“I don’t trust her,” said Angel as soon as the others had left. “There’s something strange about her.”
“She’s very interesting. What type of demon is she?” asked Wesley.
“I don’t know. Angel, do you?” said Giles, cleaning his glasses.
“No. And I don’t remember ever meeting her before. If she was telling the truth, she’s the same as at least one of my tormentors. But there were so many, and I didn’t even know what all of them were,” Angel looked pained as he delved through his memories of Hell. “Wait, I just had an idea. What did she say her brother’s name was?”
“Joholen, I believe,” said Wesley.
“Then, maybe we should research their names,” suggested Angel. “I’m certain Joholen was one of the demons in charge, maybe we can find some things out about him.”
“Good idea. Let’s get started,” said Giles, heading toward the bookshelves.
“So, how do you two meet?” asked Jericho, once they were in Xander and Spike’s apartment. “I am dying to know!”
“Well, I was first offered to Spike by Angelus in my school,” said Xander, as Spike pulled him onto the couch. “But we really didn’t get to know each other until Spike got chipped.”
“Chipped?” asked Jericho, puzzled.
“Bloody initiative put a microchip in my brain that doesn’t allow me to harm humans. Every time I try to, or even think about it too hard, it inflicts pain,” said Spike.
“Oh, I can fix that easily. That is, if you want me to,” said Jericho.
“You can? How?” asked Xander.
“It’s hard to explain. Well, Wil, you want me to, or not?”
Spike fidgeted, “It’s up to you, Xan. If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”
“Of course I want you to! D’you think I want you to be in pain forever?” said Xander, surprised that Spike could even ask.
“It’s just that I’ll kill again. You know that, right?”
“Well, duh! You’re a vampire! I can’t stop you from doing what you’re supposed to, and I’m sure you’ll only kill people who deserve it.”
Jericho had been watching the two with interest. Now she leaned forward, “So that’s a yes?”
Xander grinned at her, “That’s a big yes!”
Jericho stood and walked over to where the boys were sitting. “Where’d they put it?”
“Back of my, just above the neck,” said Spike, shifting uncomfortablely.
“Don’t worry. This shouldn’t hurt.” She placed her hand at the back of his neck and concentrated. She stood there for a few minutes, then pulled her hand away. “Hold out your hand, Wil.”
He obeyed and was startled when a small bit of plastic, metal, and wires was dropped into it. He stared, amazed.
“That little thing was all that was stopping you?” Xander was shocked.
“And now it’s not,” said Jericho smugly.
“Thank you, luv.”
“See, I told you I’d be paying you back.” Jericho returned to the chair and sat back down. “Now, you were telling me how you got together.”
“Oh, right. After Spike was chipped, Giles took him in…”
“Chained me to his bloody bathtub, now didn’t he?”
“Spike! Be nice, he kept you fed and safe. Anyway, I was dating Anya at the time.”
Spike snorted and Xander glared at him. Then Jericho spoke up, “Anya? As in Anyanka, the Vengence Demon? Boy, you do get around!”
Xander flushed, “She wasn’t a demon at the time!”
“So my Pet here was shagging the ex-demon and then I got foisted off on ‘im. Him an’ the demon bint both protested, don’t know why, me being the cute little innocent wronged vamp that I am. And he tied to me to the most bloody uncomfortable chair I have ever sat in.”
“I didn’t want you to kill me in my sleep!”
“I couldn’t kill you, Pet. You’re ‘moist and delicious,’” Spike grinned at Xander, “my nummy treat.”
“Don’t you ever forget anything?” asked Xander plaintively.
“Um, no,” said Spike, grinning malevolently.
“Okay, boys. I have a feeling that if you keep this up, you’re going to be shagging in a few minutes. So let’s get back to the story,” Jericho said as she watched the two men in front of her exchanging heated glances.
“Right, so the pet was regularly tying me up…”
“God, Spike, you make it sound so sick!” Xander burst in. “Anyway, we started to really get to know each other,” he watched Spike for his reaction to what he was about to say, “and I found out that he was more than an obsessive, egotistical, manic killer.”
“ ‘Ey now! I am not obsessive!”
“Excuse me?” asked Jericho. “Explain Dru, then.” Spike muttered something under his breath, then gave Jericho an innocent look when she narrowed her eyes at him. “Sorry, Wil, you just don’t do innocent well.”
“An’ I found out that Xander is the bravest person I’ve ever met,” Spike said as he hugged the boy closer.
“I guess by then we were each in love with the other, and I know I was too scared to admit it. My relationship with Anya started to fizzle and we broke up. But then Spike started to fixate on Buffy. I wanted to die,” Xander looked miserable as he said this.
Spike felt Jericho’s eyes on him, demanding an explanation. “She’s the Slayer, and since I couldn’t kill ‘er, I figured I’d shag ‘er instead. ‘Course, she wanted no part of it. So she and the witches started cooking up a scheme to get me and Nummy together.”
“Yeah, we were out on patrol one night and Buffy let this huge nasty demon corner me, and I thought I was dead! Then I hear Willow yelling at Spike, it was kinda funny later. She was telling him to get the stick out of his ass and save me, and maybe he’d get a kiss as a reward. And a whole bunch of other stuff I thought I’d NEVER hear coming out of Willow’s mouth.” Before continuing, Xander smiled at Spike, “Then he just ripped the demon apart! It was beautiful. He told me he loved me, and…”
“And he said he loved ME. The girls had to stop us from shagging right there on the demon’s corpse,” Spike smirked. “And that’s how me an’ Xander got together.”
“Ah, nothing says love like sex on the corpse of an enemy,” Jericho smiled. “You’ve got good instincts, Xander.” Xander blushed. “One thing I don’t understand, though. You grew up thinking you were human? Didn’t your parents ever tell you the truth?”
“No, his ‘father’ beat him to a bloody pulp nearly every day, and raped him at least once a month. And his ‘mother’ stood by, and said it was for the best. That Xander had to be disciplined so he could be strong,” said Spike, his voice becoming hard and filled with rage.
“What about your biological family?” Jericho asked Xander.
“Don’t know where they are. The letters Anya gave me from my parents didn’t say. And neither did she. They also said I’d be killed if I went to them, anyway.”
“But don’t you want to see where your dads are buried? And get your questions answered? I know you have questions. And a secret worry.”
“A secret worry?” Spike’s brow crinkled as he thought for a second, “That’s right! You said you might be pregnant!”
“If you were to find them, one of their doctors could tell you if you are or not. And I know where to find them.”
Xander and Spike just stared at the girl for a second. Then they both spoke, “You know…” “How can…”
Spike rubbed Xander’s back and started again, “You know where they are? Why?”
“Because Xander Jeret Chyr-gethin is a very important man. You are the damnation and redemption of the world. Three prophecies have been brought into play. One is actually the continuation of another and they tie into the other in an unusual way.”
“Three prophecies?” asked Xander weakly.
“ ‘One will be born of the Tor-gethin by the Chyr-severin to fight the Holy fight from his first breath. An instrument of evil turned neutral shall open the doors of love. The light shall flee and darkness reign pending destiny and the release the power of the dawn and all exist in peace.’ That is the prophecy that was discovered by your grandparents. However, they translated parts of it wrong and they didn’t have the second section. Which is the second prophecy: ‘The key is twisted by love and tainted by blood. Tempered by anger and disillusionment, purging the taint with the blood of ages further sends the spiral down.’ And you have heard the last prophecy already.”
“But what does it all mean?” asked Xander.
“It means only what it means, interpretations are fickle things. You could take these to five different people and get at least five different versions of what’s going to happen. Each part of a prophecy has several outcomes which then affect other parts of the prophecy, and in this case, of the other prophesies as well.”
“So I have to speak with my family? Or it could mess up the timeline and other things in the prophecies?”
“Yes and no. Whether or not you go will change the outcome, yes, but I cannot tell you which is the right decision,” Jericho stated.
“Xander, love, if you go,” said Spike, holding Xander close, “they’ll kill you and me. I won’t let you go alone. And you know they’ll kill you.”
“I can fix that.” Spike and Xander gaped at Jericho.
“Is this like the whole chip removal?” asked Spike. “That was returning a favor. What will you be asking for in return?”
“You know me so well,” laughed Jericho. “All I want to protect you…”
“I don’t buy it,” Spike growled, vamping out.
“Stop that, William. What I want isn’t important! And you’ve given it to me already. Even if you choose not to remember.”
“You just want us to follow you?” Spike asked, as his vampiric features melted back into his human mask.
“See? Consider this a gift to my loyal followers,” Jericho murmured as she stepped toward the two men and placed her hands on their foreheads. She chanted words in a language neither man knew, then removed her hands to trace several symbols in the air in front of them. Next she removed a small velvet pouch from her pocket and took out two earrings, one a deep red garnet the color of old blood hanging from a startlingly pale ice blue sapphire and the other a dark smoky brown topaz with a bright ruby the color of freshly spilled blood hanging down.
Jericho handed the topaz and ruby earring to Spike, who inserted it into a hole in his left earlobe. Then Jericho turned to Xander, who was watching her warily. “Don’t worry, dear. This is nothing bad. Never had an earring before?” Xander shook his head, then tense as Jericho pushed the remaining earring through his left earlobe. She laughed at his sigh of relief at the lack of pain. “The hole was part of the spell. It’s important that I be able to contact you when I need to, and the earrings give me, and you, a focus for calling spells.”
She sat back, watching the two men touch the earring the other wore. “I took the liberty of making them look like a visual affirmation of your lifebond. Blue eyes and old blood represent William, and brown eyes and new blood represent Xander. And now you are unkillable.”
“So, we belong to you now, your slaves?” asked Xander.
“Yes and no. Not slaves, I have mindless obedience. I would consider us more like a very close-knit family. With me being the respected older sister you listen to and frequently obey. However, if you cross me, I will make you wish you could die. For centuries. An example,” she said, waving her arm. A man wearing only chains appeared and slumped down onto the floor.
Spike went over to the man and lifted his chin, then gasped, “Doyle? I thought you were dead!”
Doyle focused on the vampire in front of him, “Spike? Save me.”
Jericho laughed. “I found him in a bar, drowning his sorrows in alcohol. I cleaned him up, taught him to control his demon-half, and sent him to protect and spy on one brooding creature of the night.”
“Peaches? Why him?” asked Spike.
Xander spoke up, “The prophecy, Spike, ‘One from Hell yet still the same, lost and found shall again deserve the name.’ But wouldn’t you set someone watching the rest of the people in the prophesy as well?”
“Who says I didn’t?” asked Jericho. “Do you even know who else is part of the prophesy?”
“No, I guess not,” Xander said, dejected.
“Pet, I think we can assume that you’re a part of it.”
“Which part?” Xander looked at Jericho, “Will you tell us?”
“Yes, but not until you’ve made your decision about your family.”
“Oh, well, I really do want to know if I’m pregnant. And I want to know why they killed my parents. So, I’m going to see them.”
“Good, good! We’ll leave immediately,” she exclaimed.
“Jericho, luv, what about the half-demon?” asked Spike.
“Oh, we’ll set him up with some clothes and send him to the others.”
“Won’t he tell everything?” asked Xander. “I mean…”
Jericho interrupted him, “Yes, he knows everything. But he’s under a geas. He remembers everything, but he can tell only what I allow.”
“Nothing!” said Wesley disgustedly as he closed the last book. “We’ve been searching for hours and not one mention of a Jericho or a Joholen.”
Doyle stood outside the door. Angel’s car was here, so he hoped this would be a safe place to go. He knocked on the door.
Giles went to open the door. “Can I help you?”
“Angel?”
“Yes, just a moment.” Giles stepped back into the room and Doyle followed.
Angel took one look at him and jumped up. “Doyle! You’re dead!” he said in disbelief.
“Not dead. Jericho… saved me,” he forced out.
“But how?” asked Angel.
“Can’t say, sorry,” Doyle said, collapsing onto a chair.
Angel went up to him, “Where have you been?”
“I… don’t know.”
“It doesn’t matter. You can tell us when you’re ready,” said Wesley, comfortingly.
“Safe?” asked Doyle, staring up into Angel’s eyes.
Angel looked down at the half-demon and felt something inside stir, something he had thought gone. “Yes, you’re safe now.