Chapter Seventeen

Jack lightly poked at the small fire with a stick before settling back against the boulder. He wearily rubbed his eyes in effort to stay awake. Buffy had pushed the pace over the past two weeks, the protector in her wanting to save as many people as possible. They had already cleared out the vampires from four of the five villages, and they should be reaching the last one by mid-day tomorrow.

But their speed was taking its toll. Buffy was distancing herself more and more from the rest of the group, and he wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Dave had been sending him some non-discreet looks over the past several days. Jack knew that if he didn’t do something soon, Dave would.

A sad smile ghosted his lips as he looked over at Buffy’s sleeping form. Even in sleep she was unable to fully relax. Her body was tense as if waiting for an attack and her brows were slightly creased in worry. He could see the dark shadows under her eyes telling the world of how little rest she was actually getting.

Jack checked his watch and sighed as he realized his rotation was over. He hated the thought of waking Buffy from her much needed sleep. Although now would probably be a good time to talk to her.

Fearing her reflexes, he safely pushed at her shoulder with his stick. He barely let go of it in time to prevent himself from being flung into the dark as she grabbed the stick and threw it.

“Easy,” he said softly as Buffy sat up and looked wildly around.

Her eyes locked on to him and some of the tension left her. “Sorry. You startled me,” she said, stretching her arms before standing.

“I was prepared,” he said with a grin. Dave had earned a solid punch to the jaw when he had tried to wake her for watch the night before. “It’s been quiet.”

“Good,” she said, moving to sit next to him. Instead, Jack grabbed her arm and guided her until she sat in front of him, between his long legs. He wrapped his arms around her forcing her to lean back against his chest. “Jack… What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m holding you.”

“We’re not exactly alone,” she hissed, gesturing to their sleeping teammates.

He sighed and relaxed his hold. “So you regret your decision to try this?”

“What?” She asked, turning to look at him. “Why would you say that?”

Jack squirmed. He hated discussing this stuff. It always felt like everything he said came out wrong. “Well, we haven’t exactly done any… We haven’t kis… It’s like you’re ashamed.”

Buffy sagged against him and turned her attention to the dirt under her nails. “It’s not you, it’s me. Did you know there’s a rumor about us that started when I joined the SGC?”

“I was aware.”

“I’m just worried that they’ll find out and believe it was always there. That that’s the reason I was hired. That you’ll get in trouble for dating someone in your command.”

He tightened his grip around her. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Anyone who has worked with you knows you belong here. You aren’t military so I can’t get in too much trouble for that either.”

“But you could.”

“Ah, but the president really likes us,” he reminded her.

She looked at their sleeping teammates. “I know my team doesn’t care, but what about yours?”

“Daniel can barely contain himself, he’s so happy,” Jack said with a chuckle. He rested his cheek against her head and reveled in the simple joy of just holding her. He’d missed it. “Anything else bothering you?”

“Just these vampires,” she said, gazing into the small campfire.

“They haven’t been much of a challenge,” he said with a frown. “Why would they worry you?”

“It’s not so much them as where they came from that’s worrying me.”

“What do you mean?”

Buffy resisted the urge to get up and pace, but stayed in the comfort of Jack’s embrace. “There’s no stargate and these people have been here for hundreds of years. This just started about a year ago. Unless the Goa’uld know about vampires and brought them here, which if they do we have bigger problems. But how did these vampires get here?”

Jack’s frown got deeper. “Good question.”

“And the closer we get to this last village the more… off I feel. There’s something wrong with this other village. I think it’s where it all started.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open then,” he said. “Maybe make our patrol groups bigger.”

“Probably wouldn’t hurt,” she said, as she snuggled closer. “Not that I’m complaining, but were you planning on getting some sleep tonight?”

“Later. I’m quite comfortable right here.”

She smiled and softly kissed him. “Me, too.”

XXXXXXXXXX

Daniel sighed as he slowly made his way through the forest. After doing so many evening patrols over the past few weeks, it seemed a little odd to be hunting vampires during the day. But something was worrying Buffy and they all could sense it. She had insisted on them getting a layout of the land during the day. She had even made the patrolling groups a little bigger.

They had fallen back into their old teams, with Buffy and Teal’c traveling together. Daniel had the sneaking suspicion that Buffy had teamed up with Teal’c because he was the only match for her – she didn’t have to worry about him. Not that Daniel was offended, or wasn’t thankful for an extra person in the patrol group. He knew how strong the vampires could be from a tussle he had gotten into in the last village. It just hadn’t really occurred to him until just then of how lonely it must be to be different from everyone else around you. It had to be comforting and almost a relief to work with someone as different as you.

Daniel frowned as he noticed something. He stopped and crouched down to study the forest floor. “Jack! Sam! I think I’ve found something!”

“What is it?” Jack asked when they reached him.

“It looks like a path of some sort,” Daniel said, indicating the barely visible packed earth.

“Let’s find out where it leads,” Jack said, checking to make sure all of his weapons were in place.

“Should we call Buffy?” Sam asked.

“Nah, this could be a game trail for all we know,” Jack said as he started walking.

Ten minutes later they stopped and stared. Seeming to emerge from the rock face was a temple.

“This is being used, Jack. Look at how the branches have been cleared away,” Daniel pointed out.

“There are two more paths, sir,” Sam said as she swept the clearing.

Jack clicked on his radio. “Buffy, we’ve found some sort of temple that looks like it’s getting some heavy use.”

“Don’t go inside. We’ll all meet you there. Teal’c and I should be there in a few,” Buffy’s tired voice came through the speaker.

“Guess we wait,” Jack said. He turned to see Daniel almost touching the outside wall. “Hey! Remember the rule about no touching?”

Daniel automatically jerked his hand back and turned to glare at Jack. “Yes.”

“Just checkin’,” Jack said with a small smirk.

A few minutes later, they could hear Teal’c’s deep voice from a short distance away. “Are you certain, Buffy Summers?”

“Yes, Spaceballs is a way better movie than Star Wars,” Buffy replied.

“I find that hard to believe. Star Wars has many fine attributes to make it an excellent movie.”

“I’m not saying it’s not a good movie, ‘cause it is. It’s just that Spaceballs is better.”

“You will have to show me this movie when we return to Earth,” Teal’c said as they entered the clearing.

“As long as you’ve also seen Star Trek, ‘cause it won’t make sense if you haven’t,” Buffy said.

“I fail to see how not seeing Star Trek would have an impact on my viewing of Spaceballs.”

“Because Spaceballs is a parody – it pokes fun at Star Wars, Star Trek, sci-fi in general,” Jack explained.

Teal’c frowned at Buffy. “You wish for me to watch a movie that ‘pokes fun’ at Star Wars?”

“It’s funny, Teal’c. It’s not doing it out of spite,” Jack said in her defense. “Trust her on this. It’s a good movie.”

“I shall withhold judgment until I witness this movie.”

“Sweet. Movie night when we get back,” Jack said with a grin.

“Can you read it?” Buffy asked, walking over to Daniel. To her it looked to be a bunch of squiggles, but then all foreign languages looked like that to her.

“It looks like an Ancient form of Sumerian. I don’t recognize some of these words, but it keeps making references to the ‘Old Ones’ or the ‘ones who came before’.”

“Ah, crap,” Jack muttered. In a louder voice, he said, “You think they raised an Old One?”

“No,” Buffy said. “They’re all back on Earth in the Deeper Well. They might have done some sort of ritual or something that turned one of them into a vamp and then so on and so forth.”

“What’s an Old One?” Dave asked, as the rest of SG-13 joined them.

“Full-fledged demons. They were the ones who first walked the Earth,” Buffy explained. “Before man.”

“How did a temple get out here?” Simon asked.

“The Old Ones had a lot of power so it’s possible that one of them had been here. Could have hidden their troops here even.” 

“So… Probably not your run of the mill vamp in charge then,” Jack said with a puff of air.

“Nope, which is why I’m going in alone,” Buffy said.

“Whoa! Wait one minute here,” Jack said. “What makes you think we’re gonna let you do that?”

“Because I’m in charge,” she said slowly. “I think it’s too dangerous for you guys in there…”

“Says who?” Jeff asked.

“Says me.”

“We can’t let you go in there alone,” Daniel said.

“Why?”

“Are we not your friends, Buffy Summers?” Teal’c calmly asked.

“Yes,” she replied, her voice tinged slightly with confusion.

“Would you let us willingly walk into danger alone if you could accompany us?”

“No.”

“Nor can we,” he simply stated.

Buffy gaped at him in surprise, and then looked at the others. They all had resolute looks on their faces.

“Face it, Summers. You’re stuck with us,” Dave said with a grin.

“Fine, but if any of you die, I’m tellin’,” she said, walking towards the temple.

Teal’c tilted his head. “Telling who?”

“It’s a figure of speech, T,” Jack said, rescuing Buffy from the explanation.

She stopped and turned to look at the two teams. “Just don’t interfere when the fighting starts. This is going to be more than you can handle.”

“But you can?” Dave asked slowly.

“This is my job,” she said with a sad smile, turning back to the temple.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“No, it’s not,” she said, walking through the doorway.

Dave went to speak again, but Jack reached out and stopped him. “Let it go. She’s had years to accept that she might not come out on top.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Jack said with a sad smile of his own. He followed Buffy inside.

As the others filed in, Daniel quickly turned his attention to the writings that lined the wall. The rest searched the large entrance room for hidden dangers.

“Anything useful?” Jack asked Daniel.

“Not yet,” he replied absently as Jeff joined him. They began a rapid conversation that the others didn’t even try to follow.

“Just don’t read out anything word for word, just summarize,” Buffy said, edging towards the doorway that lead deeper into the temple. “Who knows what they did to cause this.”

“Problems in the past?” Simon asked.

“Xander learned not to speak Latin in front of the books,” she said with a true grin.

“Bad?”

“Just a small fire.”

Jack moved to stand next to Buffy as the others continued their sweep. “How’s the spidey sense?”

“Going haywire… I wouldn’t swear to it, but it almost feels like… like a hellmouth,” she whispered, leaning closer to him.

“For cryin’ out loud, are you sure?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’m not positive, but yeah.”

“Got something!” Jeff called out.

Buffy and the others hurried over. “What?” She asked.

“We think the temple was built for Dalmatae’s faithful. It suggests that if you were worthy, you were granted immortal life,” he said.

“Does it explain how?” Buffy asked.

Jeff nodded. “Some references to moon and sun placement and a crystal.”

“They must have found the crystal at just the right moment,” Jack said in amazement. “Wonder what the odds were for that.”

“Just means we have to make sure the crystal is destroyed so this can’t happen again. You guys keep a lookout while I take care of the ring leader,” Buffy decided with a grim look. “Let’s finish this so we can go home.”

Jack grabbed her arm to stop her. “You want to wait until tomorrow morning? We could get a good night’s rest first.”

Buffy shook her head. “It’s too late. They probably already know we’re here. Besides, I’m not sure if I’d be able to sleep.”

“Then let’s go,” Jack said with a sigh. Her mind was already made up and there was going to be no stopping her.

They headed down the hallway with Buffy in the lead. They hadn’t gone far when they heard a scuffle at the back of the line. Teal’c and Sam quickly dusted the two vampires that had attacked them.

“Everyone okay?” Jack asked. After everyone had answered, they started moving again. Only they were more wary now since it was obvious the vampires were up and knew they were there.

It wasn’t long before they entered a large room that had an empty stand in the middle. Light was being filtered in by some strange manner. It bounced off the tops of the wall and bathed the room in a warm glow.

“Spread out, but be careful,” Buffy said, her senses screaming at her that the enemy was close, but she couldn’t seem to find them.

Four vampires seemed to emerge from the walls on either side of them. Sam fired off a quick shot from her crossbow, dusting one of them before it had even reached them.

Jack ducked under the swing of the one on his side. As he rose back up, he landed a quick uppercut causing the vamp to step back. He lashed out with his foot, disorienting it more before plunging his stake into its heart.

He turned to see Dave throw one of the others in his direction. Jack reached out and spun the vamp around to face him. “Hi, there,” he said with a grin before punching him. Then he grabbed hold of the vamp’s shirt and slammed him against the wall several times before staking him.

Dave shook off the punch the vampire had landed in time to take a step back to avoid the foot swinging towards his face. At the last moment, he grabbed the offending appendage and twisted. The vampire had no sooner hit the ground than Dave staked him through the back.

“Nice work,” Jack commented.

“Thanks. Sparring with Buffy has its advantages,” he said with a smirk as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Don’t forget the crystal,” Buffy said as she reached the pedestal. She could see where the crystal should rest, but no sign of the actual object.

“Well, what do we have here?” Said a soft male voice from the far corner of the room. A moment later, a nice looking man emerged with nine others flanking him. His human mask was firmly in place as he smiled at them. “How interesting. Resistance. Who are you?”

“If you were from Earth, you would have already been warned about me. But since you grew up without real civilization, I’ll just have to forgive your ignorance. I’m the slayer,” Buffy said with a smirk as she took a few steps away from the pedestal. “The vampire slayer.”

“And what are vampires?”

Buffy resisted the urge to groan. “You are vampires.”

“We are…” he hesitated.

“Yup, vampires. With the yellow eyes, bumpy foreheads, fangs, and a lust for blood.”

“And you…”

“Kill your kind,” she said, twirling the scythe causing it to sing. “Buffy the vampire slayer. And you are?”

“Lucas,” he said, a half-smile pulling at his lips as he stepped closer. “And you are more than welcome to try, but I’m afraid you won’t be too successful.”

“Tell that to all of your followers we dusted in the other villages,” she taunted.

His face twisted in anger and he motioned to the vampires surrounding him. They moved in to attack and all hell broke lose.

Buffy paid little attention to the minions and concentrated on Lucas. As they slowly circled each other she could hear the others fighting around them. Concern welled up for her friends, but she squashed it to concentrate on her opponent.

She blocked his first punch with the scythe and countered by smashing the side of his head with her fist. He growled as he turned back to her and tried a series of punches and kicks that she again easily blocked. She dropped under the last swing and swept her leg out, knocking him to the ground.

However, by the time she stood up, he had regained his footing. She threw a punch and he caught her fist. He shoved her back and she connected hard with the rock wall. He grinned at her as he moved to pin her but she surprised him by bringing her knee up into his groin. He gasped and took a step back as he bent over in pain. She kicked again, knocking him on his back.

“Impressive,” he gasped out

She snorted. “I’ve met fledglings who were better than you.” She heard the bones in his face crunch as he shifted to his true face.

“But you haven’t seen everything yet, girl,” he snarled before leaping at her with renewed strength.

Buffy cursed herself for letting herself believe that he hadn’t been holding back as he landed a solid punch to her jaw. As she fell back, the scythe slipped out of her hands. He was obviously stronger and faster than she had originally thought.
Lucas grabbed her arm and threw her over his head and she crashed onto the pedestal, causing it to crumble underneath her. She shakily got to her feet only to have pain erupt as a kick struck her low in the stomach. He didn’t give her time to recover as he knocked her to the ground and kept her pinned down with his own body.

He yanked back on her hair, forcing her to expose her neck.

Jack looked up in horror to see Buffy go down. He was too far away to reach her in time and he had nothing to throw. “Buffy!” He cried, shoving at the nearest vampire.

Just as Lucas went to bite her, a bolt from a crossbow sunk into his shoulder causing him to loosen his hold on her. Jack looked over to see Simon lowering his crossbow. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks, before turning around to stake the vampire trying to attack him from behind.

Buffy managed to twist herself out from under Lucas and backed away. He broke off the end of the bolt with a sneer. “He missed.”

“Maybe, but doesn’t mean I will,” she said, raising the scythe from where she had picked it up from the floor. She swung it in a deadly dance as she forced him to retreat as he ducked and weaved to avoid the weapon. There was no way she was going to underestimate him again. As she arced it towards him, she changed the angle at the last moment to hit him solidly against the head with the flat of side of the blade. With a flick of her wrist, she flipped the scythe around and staked him with the wooden end.

Lucas fell to the floor in a pile of ash and Buffy suddenly found herself being tightly held in Jack’s arms.

“I thought I had lost you there for a minute,” he whispered hoarsely into her hair. He pulled back enough to crush his lips to hers. She parted her lips to allow him entrance. All the fear and worry poured out as they desperately clung to each other.

“I found it,” Jeff happily declared. He held up a pale purple crystal for everyone to see.