Victims
by Salix
The Innocent
[reviews]
I went back and made a couple of changes, nothing too big. This is sort of a sequel to 'Primal Hiding'. I'll try to update as quickly as possible, it all depends on if I get writer's block or not. Then there's that little disease called 'laziness' that I'm currently battling. Well, I hope you enjoy. I'm not really considering this a sequel to Primal Hiding, just that it references from that story and Willow and Buffy are together as a result from the events. My sequels aren't usually as good as the first because people compare the two, so please don't compare this to Primal Hiding because this one might not be as good.
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Buffy was walking through the park on that warm Thursday night. The vampires seemed to be hanging out here a lot more then usual and she wanted to make sure she staked as many as possible before she went home for some serious cuddle time with Willow. Willow had a big test tomorrow in her Sociology class and she would be up very late to study for it. Buffy keeps telling her that she knows that stuff by heart, but Willow isn't so convinced.
Just as Buffy was starting to zone out and think about all things Willow, twirling her stake in her hand, she heard a loud, piercing scream. She raced off in the direction it had come from, trying to get there as fast as she could. She got there just in time to see a very tall, about eight feet, demon who would have looked human except for the large red eyes, pull a sword out of a woman's stomach and then slit her throat with it, almost beheading her. He dropped her body to the ground and started to walk towards something that was just off the pathway.
Buffy attacked, striking him with her own sword, but it had little effect. This guy was strong, and also quick to fight back. Buffy had to place all of her concentration of just defending herself, her surroundings sort of drowned out and she wasn't really aware of anything else but the demon. He knocked her to the ground, and he started to walk off the path but Buffy jumped up quickly and stabbed him in the back. He screamed but then turned around and pulled her sword out of him and threw it the ground about twenty feet away from them.
"I'll be back, Slayer," he said and then disappeared in a large flash of light. She was blinded for a few seconds, and stood still while her vision came back to her. As she calmed down from the fight she became aware of all the muscles that were screaming out in pain. That had been the most challenging fight she's had in a while. It makes her almost miss Spike before he got the chip. He had been such a good fighter. But he's gone now, her slayer side killed him on her little rampage a couple of months ago. (Remember the vampire that whose head was twisted so fast it spun seven times before he turned to dust? Yeah, that was Spike.)
She walked over to the woman who was in fact dead. Buffy felt guilty for not getting here sooner. If she could only keep her mind from wondering whenever she gets bored then maybe she would be more aware when something like this is going on. She should have been able to feel that demon. Ever since she tracked down the Nexus her senses have been a lot better then they used to be. She can see better at night, her hearing is like an owl's now, and her demon radars have improved greatly. She can now sense things from a greater distance and it's easier to tell if it's a vampire or a demon that's setting off the red flags.
She was curious as to why that demon kept trying to walk off of the path. It was almost like he was looking for something. She slowly made her way over there and she quickly found what was there, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why a demon would want it. She looked inside of the stroller to see a little girl, about three, who was still sleeping. That was surprising considering that the fight had not been a very quiet one. She looked back over at the woman's body and then to the baby. It was no doubt that they looked a lot a like, same dark hair, same nose and same lips. It was sad that this baby's mother, or sister, or possibly even her aunt, had been murdered at the hand of a demon. A demon that she wasn't able to slay, and that made her mad.
She never really thought about it before until just now. There's always more then one victim whenever a vampire or demon kills somebody. There're all those people who loved the person that was murdered. The family members, the friends, even the pets. All of those are victims too, just not directly. She shook her head from side to side, trying to push the depressing thought out of her mind. She had to get this little baby to a safe place before that demon came back. She knew she couldn't take her back to the dorms, so she went to the one place where she knew the little sleeping girl would be given plenty of love and attention and probably be spoiled in her short time there: her mom's house.
She set the stroller out of the way and unlocked the door with the hidden key. She very, very carefully wheeled the little girl into the house. She used her slayer strength (which did not grow like her senses) to pick up the stroller and carried it upstairs, after she closed and relocked the door. She went into her old bedroom, and put the stroller in the corner while she changed into her pajamas. She thought about calling Willow but a glance at the clock told her that it would only piss the redhead off. It was three in the morning, and Willow was probably sleeping by now. It would do the world a lot of good if she just let her sleep. Then she called 9-1-1 and put in an anonyms tip that there's a dead body of a woman in the park.
She carefully took the little girl out of the stroller. Surprising she stayed asleep, and Buffy made sure she was still breathing, just in case. She pulled back the covers and put the little brunette baby under them. She wasn't sure if kids this age use a pillow or not so she removed it, thinking it would be best for her little neck. She carefully covered the girl up and then stood there for a few minutes, watching her sleep. Her thoughts were all over the place. One of her first ones was: 'I can't wait to do this one-day'. She thought about what it would be like to have a baby, and she smiled when she thought about having one with Willow.
She didn't know if there was a magical way or not, but she figured that adopting or even artificial insemination would be great too. But she thought that it would be wonderful to have Willow's baby. A little redheaded girl, with freckles and hazel eyes, and a little sarcastic attitude, whose really smart like her redheaded mom but will get frustrated easily with homework like her blonde headed mom. She smiled and then another thought crossed her mind. 'Where am I going to sleep tonight?'
She wasn't sure if it was ok to sleep in the same bed with a little baby that she didn't even know. She doesn't know the rules about little kids and the sleeping arrangements, so she decided to just get a sleeping bag out of the closet and sleep on the floor. After she got that all rolled out and put her pillow on the floor along with it she watched the little girl for a little longer, wondering if this would be considered weird. She thought that it was so sad. She had just been left there and if it hadn't been for Buffy then that demon would have done...only God knows what to her. She tried not to think about that. The slayer has her now so she's safe.
Sleep did not come very easy for the blonde college girl that night. She wasn't used to sleeping on a hard floor, or alone for that matter. She was used to sneaking into her at two or three in the morning, changing silently and then crawling into bed and wrapping herself around the most beautiful redhead on earth. She's used to thanking every god and demigod out there for bringing this wonderful person into her life. She fell asleep with Willow on her mind, and she knew how worried the redhead was going to be when she woke up and Buffy wasn't there. It felt good to know that someone would worry. It meant that she isn't all alone.
"Buffy. Buffy! Buffy, wake up! God, how are you sleeping through this?" she heard Dawn yelling at her and she was instantly, well sort of, awake. She was aware of a very annoying sound in the background but she didn't know what it was. She sat up, wondering why in the hell she was on the floor and how come she wasn't in her bed with Willow. The sound finally registered in her mind and she was reminded of what happened last night. She jumped up off of the floor and looked over at the little girl. The toddler was crying, sitting up in the bed, staring at Dawn and Buffy, repeating the word 'mommy' over and over.
Buffy walked closer to her, only to result with a high pitched scream and reminded of her Dawn at that age. She went over to the stroller to look for...anything that would calm her down. She ignored all of Dawn's questions that were flying at her a mile a minute. She found a little brown toy rabbit, it looked a little ratty and by the looks of it the toy was often dragged around by its ears. She walked over to the bed and held the stuffed animal up so the girl could see.
"Do you want this? Want your bunny?" she asked, and the little girl held out her arms, and Buffy handed it to her and the child wrapped her arms tightly around its neck, pressing its face against hers. Buffy was glad that the thing wasn't alive because that little girl had a grip that would have killed a live rabbit. After she was given the rabbit the little girl slowly started to calm down, until her sobs were nothing more then a hiccup here and there.
With that situation taken care of she went back over to the stroller and started to look for any clues she could find about where the girl had come from. All she found was a little pink blanket with a little patchwork of Whinny-the-Pooh, a small backpack full of the toddler's clothes, and a white envelope with the word Slayer written on the front. Ok, that was kind of weird.
She opened it up and inside was two separate pieces of paper inside. One of them was a piece of binder paper, the other looked old, like it had been ripped out of one of the books that Giles has. She pulled both of them out and opened the old looking one first. She quickly scanned it, and saw that it was a spell or something. The other was a letter that was addressed to her. Well, it was addressed as 'slayer' so it was a good guess that it was for her.
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Slayer,
If you're reading this then I'm gone. Her name is Amber, she's three years old, her birthday is February 6. She'll resist you at first, but once she knows you're no threat she'll come around and open up. Keep her safe for me, please. I've kept her hidden from this world, nobody knows of her existence except me, you and the demon who is after her. She's an innocent in this vicious battle. I've bound her powers but with my death she'll receive them after she reads the incantation I've left with this letter. Please teach her. Please let her know about magic and all of the very real evils in this world. It sadness me to burden you with this but you're the only one who can help. She's precious, she's my everything, please protect her, Slayer.
P.S. make sure she gets her rabbit, she won't stop crying unless she has that thing. Its name is Rory, whenever she's upset just ask her if she wants it and she'll calm down after you give it to her.
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Buffy looked over to the little girl who was watching her and Dawn very closely. She was holding a lock of her shoulder length brown hair and twisting it around her fingers. Her death lock on the rabbit had let up a little bit and now she was only holding it with one arm. She was just staring at them with the darkest brown eyes Buffy has ever seen. They made eye contact and Buffy could see the swirls of fear and confusion and she felt so bad. She knew that the girl would never understand, she's so small how could she? Dawn would not stop with the questions and it was starting to piss Buffy off so she handed her younger sister the letter and let her read it for herself.
"So, does this mean you're going to keep her?" Dawn asked and handed Buffy back the letter. Buffy had no idea what she was going to do. If a demon was after her then she wouldn't be safe with social services, and the letter said that nobody knows that she's alive so it's not like people are going to be searching for her. But Buffy's only in college, what does she know about raising kids? The only thing she knew about them was her little sister, and that is the same girl that Buffy used to lock in their bedroom closet when the little girl got too annoying. Buffy looked over at the doorway and saw that her mom had been watching them the entire time. The urge to ask her mom to help her take care of this was overwhelming, but she fought it.
"Her mom was killed by a demon last night," she started to explain when she saw her mother's questioning look. "There's a letter here, she said that nobody knows about her, and that she's being hunted by a demon. There's no name or anything. I'm going to call a scooby meeting and see if we can find the demon, and try and find out if the letter is true." All eyes were on the little girl, and she started to bounce up and down a little bit. Buffy's eyebrows furrowed with some confusion, until the little girl finally spoke up.
"Potty," she said and looked from one Summers woman to the next. "Potty." She repeated, sounding desperate. Buffy looked over at her mom and Joyce held her up her hands as if in surrender. Buffy cocked her head to the side, wondering why her mom was doing that, but it was explained.
"Oh no Buffy. You're not going to leave it up to me to take care of her. I'll go downstairs and make us all some breakfast, you can help her 'go potty'." And with that the oldest Summers left the room, leaving the two sisters all alone with a child. Probably not one of Joyce's better ideas if you ask me. Buffy looked over at Dawn a pleading look in her eyes.
"Don't look at me, you're the one who found her," she said and fled from the room. Buffy shook her head from side to side. She could see her sister not wanting to help with this, but her mom? Don't parents of teenagers and college kids like taking care of babies, to remind them of the good ol' days? Buffy rolled her eyes and walked slowly over to the side of the bed.
"You need to go potty?" she asked and the little girl nodded her head. Buffy held out her hands and was surprised when the little girl held up her arms straight in the air. The blonde reached down and picked the little girl up and set her down on the floor. She was surprised again when the little girl grabbed onto her hand and Buffy led her to the bathroom. Again, she wasn't so sure about the rules on this one, so she stood outside of the door while the little girl was in there. Then Joyce walked up to her and instantly knew what was going on.
"Buffy you can't leave her in there by herself, she's too small. Go downstairs and set the table please, I'll take care of this," she said and walked into the bathroom, leaving a relieved Buffy behind. The blonde ran downstairs and was on her way to the kitchen when the phone rang. She answered it, and was met with a very angry person.
"Buffy, what are you doing at your mom's house? God, I was so worried. You didn't come home and you didn't call and leave a message. Are you ok? You're ok right? Oh God, you're not ok are you? I'll be over in a second, just stay there," Willow said in one long breath, and Buffy was able to get her attention before the redhead hung up, which she was glad for.
"Willow! Willow listen. I'm fine. I'm not hurt. I'm a little tired but other then that I'm ok. Look, I need you to call the gang and have them meet us at the Magic Box in about an hour, ok? I'll explain when I get there, but right now I need to go. I love you," she said and was glad when Willow didn't question her on the whole 'not explaining until later thing'. Willow often tells Buffy that she should be informed of important scooby stuff first, because she's the girlfriend so she should 'get the inside scoop' as she calls it.
"I love you too. I'll see you later then," she said and she hung up, and Buffy could tell that she was still upset. Buffy set the table, and went into the living room and found all of the old phone books that they still hadn't thrown out yet and she put them on one of the chairs so that Amber would be able to reach the table. She looked up when she heard footsteps and she saw Dawn carrying the little girl. Dawn was smiling a wide cheeky smile and Buffy knew that the teen was going to spoil that kid rotten. She noticed that Amber had been changed into a light pink sundress and thought that it was really cute and she wished she had one in her size.
They all sat down at the table and started to eat their breakfast. Joyce had cut up some eggs, a piece of sausage, and a piece of toast for the little girl. She had also poured a glass of Orange Juice that the girl is currently sipping from. She went to put it back on the table but half of the glass rested on top of the fork and the glass spilled all over Buffy's lap. Surprised, the blonde jumped up and grabbed her napkin and started to dab at the very cold liquid running down her legs. She looked over at the little girl who was looking up at her, guilt on her little face.
"Oops," was all she said and Dawn couldn't help but let out a little giggle. Buffy rolled her eyes, not seeing the little smile the toddler sent Dawn's way when she heard the teen laughing, and sat back down. Joyce went into the kitchen and got the girl some more juice. She came back into the dining room and sat the glass down next to Buffy and when the little girl reached for it the back of her hand accidentally hit the glass and the juice spilled all over Buffy's lap, again.
Dawn could not help but crack up laughing, falling out of her chair, and when Buffy looked down at the little girl there was this small mischievous smile on her face, showing off the little girl's dimples, and Buffy was convinced by that grin that the girl had done it on purpose just to make Dawn...and her mom!...laugh.
"Oops," the little girl said and then picked up her fork and started to eat her eggs. Buffy groaned and shook her head, wishing Willow was here. She had a feeling that the redhead would be laughing too and was actually glad that her lover wasn't here to see this embarrassment. 'This is gonna be a lllooonnnngggg day', she thought and went upstairs to change.
(Little side not here: The 'juice incident' as it is now called, is based on true events. My niece spilt a class of apple juice on my lap and then did it again just to make her mom and my mom laugh. It is a much heated debate whether or not the second time was on purpose or not. And if you ever want to make yourself feel really dumb argue with a four year old, that's just one big slap to the ego.)
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So, what did everyone think? Reviews are always welcome, don't be shy. Updates are on the way.