Xita: Don't worry, Willow's going to start questioning Samuel's motives and trustworthyness a lot more. Hopefully she won't be doing it too late
Thanks for reading
Now for the update
The Cathedral And The Bazaar
- Author: Justin
- Email address:
justin@techie.com- Summary: This is an alternate version of S6 in which the scoobies don't resurrect Buffy and instead have Faith released from prison.
- Feedback: Any comments or constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.
- Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know.
- Spoilers: Up to and including 'The Gift'
- Rating: R
- Pairing: W/T, X/A
- Disclaimer: Willow And Tara and most of the other characters in this story belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Three cheers for creating two such wonderful characters. Three jeers for the way you treated them. Caitlin is from the comic Wanna Blessed Be by Amber Benson and Chris Golden
- Note: Many thanks to Arwen276 for beta-ing this part
- Note2: Flashbacks/dreams are in italics
- Note 3: A prize to the first person who can tell me what language Megan is programming in in this part.
Chapter 9The priests hurried into a small barren room, which was lit by flickering torches. The only furniture was a small wooden table which had a large leather bound book on it.
"So this is it." The younger of the two priests said, his tone frightened.
"Yes." The other priest, an older man, relied, "Quite possibly the most evil book ever written."
"Why don't we just burn it?"
"Try." The younger priest took a torch off of the wall then hesitated, he could still remember how the old woman had confessed that she had been given the book by the devil. "Go on, it cannot hurt you unless you read it." Nodding he held the torch next to the book. Even after a few seconds the hadn't caught light. pulling the torch a way he saw the book hadn't been harmed by the fire. "All attempts to destroy the book have failed."
"It truly is the devil's work." The young priest took a panicked step back. Despite what the older priest had said he was still afraid that the book might hurt him or his immortal soul. He was just glad that that old Maclay woman, the one responsible for the book, had been burnt at the stake.
"Yes it is." the older priest dropped the chest he had been carrying on the table. "We must dispose of this thing and pray that it is never seen again."
***
Faith Jumped up and kicked the lead vampire in the chest, knocking it several feet back. Shortly after they had started patrolling Faith, Willow and Tara had run into a group of five vampires. Two of them had gone after Willow and Tara while the remaining three attacked Faith. While the vampire that Faith had kicked recovered one of the others grabbed her from behind while the third moved to bite her. Faith kicked it away then pushed the vampire holding her back into a gravestone. The vampire shrieked as the crucifix shaped stone burnt it. Pulling loose Faith drew her stake and stuck it through the vampires heart. Seeing the second vampire running at her out of the corner of her eye she reversed the direction of the stroke and staked that one. Seeing that Willow and Tara had dealt with the two vampires they'd been fighting Faith started looking round for the last vampire. She was just starting to think that it had run off when a hand reached up out of a hole in the ground. Reaching down Faith pulled the vampire part way out, then staked it.
Tara knelt next to her, "It looks like it was dug up from the inside."
Faith nodded "Another new vampire joining the ranks."
"That's not the only one." Willow said from a short distance off. Turning they saw what had attracted her attention. Several rows of graves had been dug up.
"I guess someone's been busy."
***
"So you say there were more than thirty graves that had been dug up?" Claudia asked. After they'd finished patrolling Faith had gone to report what they'd found to her watcher.
"Yes."
"And they'd all been dug up from the inside?"
"That's what I said." faith answered, starting to grow impatient.
"Well that is worrying. If there is a vampire group recruiting in such large numbers then they must be planning something."
"You think?" Faith snapped.
"Right well we need to look into this. Come to the Magic Box early tomorrow."
***
The next evening Willow went to tutor Megan. Leaving Megan to do some computing problems Willow decided to make some notes about the latest menace. She opened up her notebook and flicked to the right page. Opening her pen case she mulled over them a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face. Finally deciding on the right colour, Willow took out a pen and wrote;
Fact: There have been a large number of open graves recently
She considered this statement a moment, chewing on the end of the pen. Then she wrote;
Fact: There hasn't been any increase in vampire activity.
Willow thought about this, then put the pen back and took out a different coloured one;
Supposition: Either whoever is behind this is trying to keep it quiet or it isn't...
Willow was broken from her thoughts by a distraught cry, "I can't do this.".
Quickly snapping the book shut Willow turned to see what was happening. Megan was staring at the computer she had been working on, a look of horror on her face. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? I can't figure this stupid program out. It's only supposed to print the answer at the end but instead it keeps printing out all this rubbish." Megan whined.
"Well let's take a look." Willow said, tentatively. As Megan moved out of the way Willow took a look at her code, quickly spotting what was wrong, "See, here's the problem. You've indented the last line, so that the computer thinks that it's part of the loop."
"I'm never going to remember this." Megan looked down and muttered, "I'm just stupid."
"No, you're not. Remember how last week you told me all about what's going on at school. Who's popular and who's going out with whom."
"Yeah." Megan said slowly, not seeming to understand what Willow was getting at.
"Well if you can keep all that straight you can remember this, but you have to put in some effort." Willow explained patiently. "Because if you're not willing to try then you're just wasting both our time."
"Okay, okay, I'll try." Megan smirked and added, "There's no need to crack the leather out."
"What the what?" Willow asked, not understanding.
"I mean there's no need to go all dominatrixy on me like you did my brother." Megan explained, clearly amused.
For a moment Willow didn't know what to say. She'd no idea that Parker had told anyone about what had happened with her vampire double. Blushing fiercely she said, "That wasn't me."
"But he said it looked just like you. Who was it?"
"Would you believe my evil twin?" Willow asked in a small voice.
"Oh I can totally relate to that. Not that I have an evil twin but I have a friend, well she's more an aquaintance of a friend. Anyway..." Willow sighed and tried to seem interested as Megan rambled on.
***
Once she had gotten to the library, Tara quickly used one of the maps to track down Amy. Amy was sitting in a secluded part of the library, slowly copying a page from a book using a caligraphy pen. Tara sat down next to her, "Hello Amy."
"Hello." Amy replied, not looking up from her work. After a few seconds the pen stopped and Amy looked up, "Who are you?"
"I'm Tara. Willow's girlfriend. We met briefly last week."
"Oh yeah."
"Willow was a little worried about you. That you might have been affected by your time as a rat." Tara explained gently.
"No, not a rat anymore. I'm all human now." Amy went back to her work.
"I know I mean..."
Looking up again Amy interrupted, "Who are you?"
"I'm Tara." Tara could feel herself growing impatient with Amy. She tried to suppress, it telling herself that it wasn't Amy's fault.
Amy went to get some more ink, but caught the ink well with her hand, knocking it over.
Tara jumped up as the ink poured on her skirt, shouting hotly "You stupid bitch."
"I'm sorry." Amy shrunk back away from Tara.
"Goddess, you dumb cow. This skirt is ruined. I'm going to beat you..." Tara stopped as she saw the terror on Amy's face. "Oh goddess, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." Turning Tara fled to the exit.
***
Samuel, who had been standing a short distance away watching, whispered to himself, "Oh that really was delicious." Turning he was surprised to find Emma standing there. "Did you want something?" He asked in a harsh tone.
"Tara seemed to be rather upset." Emma's voice was low and respectful, but she was looking at him with evident hatred.
"And that is your business, how?" Nodding Emma turned to leave. As she walked away Samuel shouted, "Remember, you old hag, I own you."
***
Tara pulled the address out of her pocket and examined it as she walked down the street. Finally coming to the right house she went to the door and rang the bell. A few moments later Willow answered. "Tara, is something wrong?" Willow was surprised, and a little worried since Tara hadn't visited her before at work.
"You could say that. C-can we talk?" Willow's worry increased as she realised how nervous and upset Tara was.
"Sure." Taking Tara's arm Willow led her into the living room. Tara then explained what had happened.
"Then I was suddenly yelling. I felt so angry." Tara said in a sad tone.
"You mean like what happened with Caitlin?"
"No, more than that. I felt like I..." Tara stopped, seeming to be flustered.
Willow raised her hand to Tara's cheek, "It's okay."
"I wanted to hit her. I-I really wanted to hurt Amy."
Willow put her arms round Tara and holding her said, "It's going to be alright."
"Is it? I mean it's obvious that this is more than just stress."
"Yes it is. We're going to work out what's happening and we're going to work through this together." Willow turned to look into Tara's eyes before saying, "I can finish up here early then we can both go and work on getting an answer."
"I can't. I mean I'm needed at the Magic Box. Anya's reorganising and I said that I'd help."
"Okay then. We can look into it once you're finished." Willow raised her hand to stroke Tara's hair, trying to reassure her.
"Thanks." Tara leant her head against Willow's shoulder. They stayed like that for a while then Tara said, "I better let you get back to your student."
***
Faith was about to wrap up her patrol for the night when she heard a scream from down an alley. Quickly running down it, Faith drew her stake. She found a woman being attacked by two men. As she got closer she changed that assessment. Their skin was pale and decayed and their eyes were totally lifeless. Grabbing the first and throwing it against a wall Faith attacked the second, driving her stake into it's heart. Unphased by the stake sticking from it's chest the creature backhanded Faith knocking her to the ground. Jumping up Faith kicked the creature way from the woman. Grabbing her Faith pushed her down the street. "Get out of here" She yelled before turning back to the two creatures. They were both up and moving towards her. "You really are starting to annoy me." Faith growled as she threw herself at them.
***
"Okay, so these need to go up under the counter." Anya said as she handed Tara a couple of boxes.
As Tara walked to the stairs she wondered if Anya really wanted them moved or if this was just a ruse to get her out of the way so that she and Xander could make out or... 'Don't go there.' Tara told herself. As she got up to the main floor Tara looked around noting that Claudia was working at the back of the shop, while Giles was up on the second floor. Putting the boxes down Tara looked under the counter. She was dismayed to see that there wasn't any room there and began to try to rearrange everything. After trying several arrangements, Tara was finally able to get the boxes in. As she turned Tara spotted a statuette that she had removed and not put back. A quick glance told her that it wasn't going to go in. "Dammit." Tara swore, hitting the counter top. Then shaking her hand she said, "Ow!"
"You know the training rooms full of stuff for you to hit." Anya said as she walked up to Tara. Taking the statuette she placed it on a shelf, "There all done."
"I'm sorry, I didn't..." Tara stopped as the doors burst open and Faith staggered in. Here face was badly bruised and there was blood coming from her lip and nose. It was clear that determination was the only thing keeping her standing. She took a couple of steps, then stumbled.
Only to be caught by Claudia, "It's okay. I've got you."
For a moment Tara was confused. She had been sure that Claudia had been at the back of the shop. Realising that that wasn't possible, she decided that she just hadn't been paying attention. While Claudia and Giles helped Faith, Tara went to phone Willow.
***
Faith described what had happened to her while Claudia cleaned up her wounds. Willow arrived about halfway through the explanation and went to stand next to Tara. "Has no one over told you that discretion is the better part of valour?" Claudia asked as opened up a bottle of antiseptic and put some on a cotton wool bud.
"Not my style." Faith winced as Claudia put the antiseptic on a cut.
"I didn't think you had any style." Xander muttered.
Faith glanced at him, but decided to not respond.
"Maybe you should try describing the creatures again."
"They were dead, but not vampires. They were slow, but really strong and nothing I did seemed to hurt them." Faith closed her eyes as she tried to remember any details. "They were wicked smelly and one seemed to be pretty decayed."
"Zombies" Giles and Claudia said at the same time.
Xander walked over to Willow and muttered, "It's watcher vision in stereo."
"There must be connected to the disturbed graves." Claudia said.
"So someone is raising an army of zombies. To what purpose?"
Tara who had been quiet till this point, came over and asked, "If this has been going on a while why haven't we seen more of these creatures?"
No one seemed to have an answer to this.
***
The next afternoon, as soon as school ended, Dawn crept into Spike's crypt and began pulling drawers open and going through them. She had wanted to come all day but had the feeling that Claudia would somehow know if she broke her promise. Searching the drawers she found lots of pictures of Buffy and items of her clothing but not the thing that she had been hoping for. She had hoping she might find a list of contacts so that she could find someone who could her help her deal with Doc. Finally giving up Dawn climbed out of the crypt and went home.
***
"You're home late." Tara said as Dawn came in.
"Um I stayed back to do some home work."
"I hope that they're not overworking you." Ever since their talk a couple of days ago Tara had worried that she'd been so caught up in her own problems that she'd been neglecting Dawn.
"Oh well, you know." Dawn sat down at the counter, "So is Willow going to be in tonight?"
"Well I think she's going to go out for a quick patrol but she'll be in most of the night, me too."
"Oh good."
Tara walked over to Dawn." Listen I know we've both been kind of busy. We don't mean to neglect you, it's just things have been a bit crazy lately."
"I know, it's cool." Dawn shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.
"When things settle down a little we'll spend more time together." Tara promised.
"Well you could let me patrol with you." Dawn suggested, not really expecting the idea to go down well.
Tara frowned knowing she should refuse, but also knowing what it felt like to feel excluded. Finally she came up with a compromise, "What about if we let you help us research? Just to start with at least."
"Really?" Dawn said, starting to grow excited.
"Yes, really." Tara smiled, a little bemused by the reaction.
Dawn shrieked, "Wow! That would be so cool." Then calming a little she said, "Sorry, I promise I won't do that again. I can be mature, you'll see." With that she took off upstairs.
***
Willow spent the evening studying for a test that she had the next day. Going up to their room Tara asked, "So are you ready for that test tomorrow?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Willow answered closing her book up. She thought a moment, tapping the book before saying, "I'll do some more reading tomorrow morning." Willow walked over to Tara and said, "I'm sorry that we didn't get a chance to look into your problem last night."
"It's okay. I mean what happened to Faith couldn't be helped. Anyway I did some reading and I found this crystal." Tara held up the necklace she was wearing, "It's amethyst, it helps calm your nerves."
"Well that should help but I think it's just treating the symptoms of something else."
Tara nodded, "I know but if it stops me blowing up at my friends then I'll take it." Tara took a step away from Willow then said, "I'm going to talk to Samuel about it again."
"Are you sure that this is something he can help with?" Willow questioned, she was growing more and more uncertain about Samuel despite Tara's assurances.
"What do you..." Tara jumped as there was a knock at the door.
"It'll just be Anya and Xander." Willow reached out her hand to soothe Tara.
Tara flinched from Willow's touch, saying bluntly, "You better get going."
"Yeah, I'll speak to you later." Willow went down to the door feeling worried. Both about what Caitlin had said about Samuel and the fact that Tara seemed to be pulling away from her.
***
"This is all Faith's fault." Xander complained, "Why'd she have to get injured anyway?"
"I don't think that she did it on purpose." Willow said, immediately thinking, 'I'm defending Faith? The world really has gone turvy topsy'.
"Well no, I was just saying..." Xander stopped as he realised he didn't know what he was just saying. changing the subject he said, "So zombies, that very ... zombieish."
"It's icky." Willow looked around a moment, "Where's Anya?"
"She's... She was here a moment ago." After a short search of the graveyard they found her crouching behind a gravestone.
"Anya where have you.." Xander started. He stopped as Anya turned and hushed him. She beckoned them over and pointing out over the graveyard said, "Look." they saw a pair of men a short distance off wearing ceremonial clothes, their faces painted to look skull like. They had a small stone statue which was in between them. One of them was chanting in a strange language. Suddenly the statue began glowing and the earth of the graves began moving. After a while several figures pulled themselves out of the graves.
"That isn't good." Willow said, staring in horror at the creatures.
As one of the zombies turned to start walking towards them Anya whispered hurriedly, "We so need to get out of here."
Anya in a wimple...I'd pay full admission for that. Gods Served And Abandoned - by Antigone Unbound
by bluewillowwitch » Mon Sep 08, 2003 7:16 am 
justin,
Why is it that I get a funny feeling from the watcher lady? 
That was weird what happend to 
. I think that 
should have been more worried. I can't wait to 
more. Update soon, please? 
,
) series with Vampires and other 'demons'. 
What'sup with that Emma lady? 
Catlin needs help? This all seemsto be happening at once. smel really big trouble. Especially with the the people Glory brainsuckd being kiddnapped. I cant wait to 
Now if those to could like justnot hate each other they would makea grea team. I wonder what is u wit the cut up bodies and with the book Faith found? I can't wait to 
He crep me out, and what wasup with Amy. I can't wait to 