House of Cards
by Forrister
Email address: forrister@hotmail.com
Feedback: Please – I really appreciate some constructive feedback. (Not necessarily positive feedback, but definitely constructive.)
Distribution: Please don’t distribute or archive my story without asking me.
Rating: PG –13
Disclaimer: I know Joss owns them all. I know I don’t. (A little knowledge can be so damn frustrating.)
Note: Post “The Gift”. Sequel to “Little Miss Nobody.” (Set about eight weeks after ‘The Gift’)
Thanks to all the Kitties who send me feedback and give me a reason to keep posting - you know who you are. Thanks also to Katharyn for the advice, the support, and the occasional gentle kick in the rear to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Chapter 6
Giles pottered around the shop as he did first thing every morning. Usually he listened to music as he gave the inventory a cursory inspection and made sure everything was ready for the day, but on this day he did his best to work in silence. He’d woken early and walked the few blocks between his home and the shop. He had intended to make breakfast for Tara and Willow, who'd stayed overnight. When he arrived he popped his head into the back room to see if they were awake. They were, but to his complete embarrassment they were occupied with needs more physical than culinary. Discretion being the better part of valour, he valiantly refrained from disturbing them or advertising his presence. He simply shut the door and very quietly locked it to make sure that Anya wouldn't walk in when she arrived.
It was nearly half an hour before Anya finally got to work. She was neatly dressed and properly groomed as usual, yet somehow she managed to give the impression of having dressed in a hurry. Giles refrained from comment until Anya had performed her morning ritual of checking the till and counting the day's float. He'd learned that there was nothing she hated more than to be interrupted while counting the money.
"Is it all there?'' Giles knew perfectly well that it was, but it was a traditional part of the morning ritual.
"All present and accounted for." Anya replied as she put a torn note aside for replacement at the bank. She did so hate to deal with shabby money.
"Very good." Giles replied, as he gave the counter a final polish. "Now, why were you in so late this morning?"
"Oh, Xander didn't have to start until late today and we were, er … doing that thing you asked me not to tell you about."
"Thank you so much, for refraining from mentioning that." Giles replied. It was going to be one of those mornings.
You're welcome!" replied Anya cheerily oblivious to the sarcasm.
Giles just shook his head and sighed.
"Did that package get delivered last night? Was there a good tip?" Anya burbled.
"There was actually quite a bit of trouble last night." Giles began to outline the events of the previous evening. He explained about the package and Miss Buchanan, and he was half way through an account of what had happened at the hospital when Anya surprised him by interrupting.
"Willow and Tara were mugged and Willow was hurt and you didn't even take time to make a phone call to us?" Anya turned on him angrily. She had very few friends and she was very fond of all of them. She rarely spoke about it to anyone but Xander but the feelings were strong just the same. The idea that her friends could be hurt and no one had taken the time to even let her know was hurtful to her. She stewed in anger for a few seconds until her concern kicked in and she asked in a sharpish voice. "Are they all right then?"
Giles could've kicked himself. He realised that he should have thought of Xander and Anya but the speed with which events unfolded during the previous evening left his head whirling. The thought of contacting them never even crossed his mind, to his shame. "I apologise. I was completely thoughtless and failed utterly to take your and Xander's needs into consideration." He knew this was laying it on a bit thick but with Anya that was often the best way to go. "Could you possibly forgive me?"
Anya thought about it for all of thirty seconds before accepting his apology. She'd forgive him but she also wouldn't let him forget it. "Don't let it happen again. Now, are they both ok?"
Giles reassured her of their condition and then continued with the outline of events. Anya was quite upset when she heard about the curse and even more upset when she was told about the Lich.
"They're nothing but bad news." Anya commented. "I knew one about five hundred years ago. His former wife wanted vengeance when he murdered their two children in the rite that turned him into a Lich." Her face clouded over. "I failed because the Lich was far too powerful for me to deal with. He ended up using her to perform a ritual that involved ripping out her heart and drinking her blood, then eating her brains. Really messy. That wasn't so bad but he worked his way through the entire village before he made the mistake of summoning a demon he couldn't properly control. The demon ate his brains so I suppose there was justice of a sort in the end."
"Thank you for sharing." Giles commented grimly. "The Lich we have here seems to be female and I have no idea why she's here or what she's up to."
"I can take a guess. It's either to raise power, to get some spell, to get a powerful artefact, or for a personal reason."
"That covers just about everything. Now all we need is to narrow it down to one of a few thousand specifics." Giles replied in frustrated tones.
A thought occurred to Anya. "We have a concentration of magical artefacts and rare spell ingredients here. This place would be a prime target." She went to go through into the back room where most of the reference collection was kept, but found the door locked. "This door is never kept locked. Is there something you're not telling me?"
Giles cleared his throat. "After the events of last night we thought it better if Willow and Tara spent the night here. They're likely to be still in bed." Giles hoped that his carefully worded truth wouldn't arouse Anya's rampant curiosity.
"Well then, they should be up at this hour of the day! I can bring them in some breakfast if you like. Xander says that I'm getting better with the whole cooking thing. I haven't burned anything in ages!"
"No, I don’t think food is quite what they need right now." Giles took off his glasses and began to clean them as he felt the blush begin to creep up behind his ears.
Anya didn't thrive as a vengeance demon for a thousand years by failing to notice the little details of body language that people often gave out in spite of themselves. True she seldom gave them any real consideration but she usually noticed them. Giles' cryptic remark caused her to look at him closely and the faint pink tinge to his otherwise pale features was a dead giveaway. She took two and two and being good with numbers, naturally came up with four. A wry grin slowly spread on her face as Giles tried to look at anything else but her. Of course Anya's motto in life was 'why bother thinking it if you don't say it' and she had to live up to it. "So, the ladies are getting down and dirty! Way to go witches!"
Giles put his finger to his lips. "Shush. What if they hear you? They'd be so embarrassed."
Anya nodded. Funnily enough this was something she vaguely understood. For some reason those two having sex was somehow an even more forbidden topic than her and Xander's frequently amazing sexual exploits. She didn't see the difference herself but she guessed that it was one of those modern things she was still getting the hang of. It was fun watching the ever staid Giles squirm though. "Are you sure that's what they're doing in there?" she teased. "I could always take a quick look and check."
"Touch that door and you'll be forbidden to even look at the money until you're a little old, grey haired, ex-vengeance demon. Oh, and absolutely no mention of this to anyone, them included." Giles knew what sort of threat would carry the most weight with Anya and added the last comment in the hopes that Anya could manage to keep quiet for once.
"Perhaps Xander and I could stay over one night?" Anya mused aloud. "They say a change of location can do wonders for the libido!"
"No!" snapped Giles. "I am not going to set up a little love nest for you two out the back. This is a business."
"But you let Willow and Tara …"
Giles cut her off dead. "So shall I start looking for a new shop assistant?" He made the threat quietly and with emphasis. Knowing all the while, of course, that he could never bring himself to sack the annoying young woman. He was too fond of her, in spite of her odd ways - or perhaps because of them.
"Spoil sport!" Anya pouted and went to check her beloved cash register once more. "I wouldn't want to disturb them anyway. They deserve a little fun." She took another good look at Giles and couldn’t restrain herself from making one last dig. "You know, it's about time you had a little fun yourself."
"Anya!"
**********
Tara and Willow lay entwined together on the narrow mattress. Willow was fast asleep again but Tara's eyes were open and alert. Their lovemaking had been different from their usual loving exploration of each other's needs and desires. This had been urgent and demanding. The word 'torrid' kept floating to the front of Tara's mind. A fiery exposure that threatened to consume them both. Willow had frightened her by literally passing out at the moment of release. Her lover came to after a short time, and spoke brief words of love before falling deeply asleep, but Tara still recalled the panic she had felt in those few moments. They'd had passionate sex before. Sex that was more instinct and fire than studied intimacy, but this had a new element. An element that Tara wasn't entirely comfortable with. Fear.
She finally had it pinpointed in her mind. Willow was terribly afraid, and their lovemaking had served both as a safety line and a way to push the dark thoughts out of her mind. Tara was fully prepared to give her love whatever lifelines or reassurances she needed but she wasn't too keen on being used as an escape. Buffy had told her of Willows brief brush with the bottle when Oz had left her. Willow had gotten very drunk to try and escape the pain she was feeling. Her lover was never much of a drinker and the thought of Willow cavorting round the dance floor at the Bronze raised a little smile to Tara's lips. A smile that disappeared just as quickly as she realised she had compared herself to a drunken binge on Miller Lite.
Tara began to untangle herself from her lover. She extracted her legs and gently lifted Willow's head from her breast where it had been pillowed like a sleeping kitten. She slowly and carefully rose from the mattress in a manner akin to Venus rising from the sea, pausing only to be sure that her movements had not disturbed her sleeping love.
It wasn't until she got dressed that she noticed the time. She felt a brief moment of alarm as she realised that it was far later than she'd thought. Giles would have opened the shop by now and Anya would be hovering over her cash register. She was glad that no one had bothered to come into the back room. Particularly when they were … otherwise engaged. She turned the handle of the door and realised that it was locked. That puzzled her as the door into the shop was usually kept unlocked. Had someone been in and they'd been too, er… busy to notice? Tara began to blush. Then she thought that Giles may have locked the door when he'd gotten back last night, so that they'd be safe and secure. Yes, that had to be the reason. The other idea was too embarrassing to be thought about.
She unlocked the back door and pulled it shut behind her. Making sure that the deadlock had snapped back into place she followed the alley out onto the street. Sunnydale always seemed so cheerful in the daylight, as if the blue skies and bright sun could somehow compensate for the night time horrors. She opened the front door and walked in.
**********
"Good morning Tara. Why are you coming in the front door?" Giles asked as Tara walked in the door.
"The connecting door was locked and I didn't want to take the chance of waking Willow by knocking." Tara slowly began as she took a seat at the table. "Willow's still asleep. I think that … everything took a lot out of her."
Anya, reminded of what Giles had said on the subject hid her little snicker behind her hand. Tara gave her a sharpish look but decided that Anya couldn't possibly know anything because if she did she'd have shouted it to the world the moment that Tara had walked in the door.
"I locked the door so that you two could stay in bed without being disturbed." Giles tried to sound nonchalant as he carefully kept his back turned and his nose in the shelves.
Tara felt a wave of relief, at least they hadn't made exhibitions of themselves, that would be too embarrassing for words. "So, how is everything this morning? Did Siobhan get to the hotel alright?"
"I delivered her there myself." Giles replied, grateful to have avoided the issue.
"Good. I guess last night proved that this town isn't one to be walking in after dark." Tara sat herself down at the table.
"True. Would you care for some tea? I've just brewed a fresh pot." Giles offered politely.
"Thanks, that'd be nice. You don’t have anything edible around do you? I'm strangely hungry this morning for some reason." Tara's stomach had begun to growl at the mere mention of food.
Anya ducked down behind the counter and pretended to rummage in the shelves, her hand covering her mouth.
Giles looked to see if Tara had picked up on this but thankfully she'd been looking the other way at the time. He decided to do something anyway. "There's no way I could get to the kitchenette out back without waking Willow so Anya, would you trot down to the bakery and pick up something for breakfast? Croissants, maybe some of those little continental sausage rolls, you know the sort of thing. Oh and make sure there's enough for four in case Willow wants some later. There's a good girl!" He shoved a twenty dollar bill into her hand and sent Anya out the door and on her way before she could say a word.
"Thanks, but you didn't have to go to all that trouble." Despite her words, Tara was privately looking forward to hot croissants.
"Don't mention it. I was feeling a bit peckish myself." Giles poured her a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea made with the special Harrod's blend that he preferred. He added milk but remembered that she rarely took sugar in her tea. Delivering the cup he sat himself down at the table and watched as she savoured those first few sips.
"We never seem to be able to make tea as nice as yours." Tara commented as she drank.
"Thank you." Giles smiled. "It's a secret known only to us British." He waited until she'd finished most of her tea before speaking again. "Tara, what do you know about Miss Buchanan?" he asked carefully.
"Oh, she’s a very powerful and experienced witch and a terrific artist. She paints those cards herself you know." Tara replied with enthusiasm.
"I realised that last night, and yes, they are quite intricate. But about Miss Buchanan?" Giles pressed for more information
Tara realised that the question was of some import to Giles so she tried to supply all the information she could. "Right. She has the sight and she can read auras, like I can sometimes but way better than I ever could. Oh, and I think she comes from Scotland."
"I had rather deduced the last part myself thank you. She didn’t mention anything about her background at all?"
"She had a brother who was a Watcher." Tara added.
"A watcher?" Giles leapt on the small piece of information like an owl on a mouse. "Do you know his name?"
"She didn’t say. But he died earlier this year." Tara added sadly. "He was the one who told her about us."
"Us?" Giles frowned. "What does she know about us?"
"She knew we were the slayer’s friends and that you had the magic shop." Tara could see that Giles had a problem with Siobhan but couldn't really understand why.
At that moment Anya arrived back with large box full of croissants, sausage rolls, cheese puffs, and the little eclairs that she liked so much. She went straight to the till and put in the change and the receipt. When the important things were done she brought the box over to the table and joined the two already sitting there. She produced from a separate bag some strawberry jam, butter, and a can of whipped cream. Giles raised his eyebrows at the cream but refrained from commenting lest he get Anya thinking again about forbidden subjects.
"Suppose we eat this before it gets cold and you can tell me everything you can remember about your conversation with Siobhan Buchanan."
**********
To be continued.
Facito aliquid operis, ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum.
(Always do something, so that the devil always finds you occupied.)
