Victims
by Salix
History Lesson
[reviews]
Buffy watched as the two older women looked at the youngest with some shock, kind of like how a parent would look at a child who just said something completely rude. Which she did, so Buffy can understand the others' reactions. But she didn't really care right now. They were here, they could help and she'd worry about her appearance later when she really needed to.
"Phoebe!" Piper yelled out and smacked her younger sister on the arm. Phoebe looked at Buffy with this apologetic look. Sometimes her brain just doesn't catch up with her mouth in time. But Buffy wasn't willing to dwell on it, mostly because it was making her a little self-conscious and her resolve was starting to quickly fade.
"It's alright. I thought you said you wouldn't be here for a couple days?" she asked as she stepped aside to let them in. As soon as they walked into the house and crossed the magical barrier spell that Willow had put up, Buffy could feel the magical power pouring off of them. She felt a little better, a little safer, but she would feel a lot safer if Willow were in the house with them too. The redhead always makes her feel safe, and not just because of her magical ability. They watched as she hobbled into the living room and they all gave her really concerned looks.
"Oh well, we had our own demonic problem and we didn't know how soon we'd be done. A lot sooner then we thought. I hope you don't mind us coming so soon." Buffy shook her head no. Her voice wasn't really working too well at the moment. "If you don't mind, I can have Leo take care of you. He'll fix you right up, make you good as new," Piper said with a small smile. That was a lot more help then Buffy wanted at the moment, but she knew that if she were going to fight that demon then she'd need to be at the top of her game. And right now she's somewhere really close to the bottom. Without saying a word she nodded her head yes. "Leo!" She looked up and waited for the blue and white lights to appear, and when they did they lingered for a couple of seconds before they turned into the blonde man. "Heal Buffy please." It was a command more then a request.
She watched as he walked up to her and gave a small smile, one that said 'I'm harmless please don't rip my arms off'. He held his hands above her face and she saw the golden glow of his healing powers start to shine. She would feel the magic wash over her, mending her bones and sealing her cuts. It even went to work on her internal organs and it only took a few seconds for her to feel so much better. He stepped back and then kissed his wife goodbye before orbing out of the house. Buffy jumped up and ran to a mirror and almost cried in relief when she saw that she was back to normal. She went back into the living room and sat down in the chair near the couch, where the three sisters were sitting.
"I need to get me one of those. Are you sure white-lighters are only for witches?" she asked, mostly just trying to kill this silence that had settled between them. The other smiled but before Piper could say anything Phoebe interrupted.
"Where's Willow?" she asked and Buffy couldn't help but glare at her a little. So her slayer possessiveness was starting to kick in a little. So what? She always thought that Phoebe had a thing for Willow that's why she doesn't really like to call upon the witches for help, even if they are the most powerful ones in the western hemisphere.
"Out back. Did you guys bring the book?" she asked and Prue nodded her head and pulled the famous Halliwell Book of Shadows out of her bag. It was large, thick and leather and Buffy could feel the power that it holds. She watched as Prue flipped to the section on demons and then handed her the book. She looked at it for a few seconds in awe, liking the little high she was getting from just touching it. She started to flip through the pages, looking for the demon that had attacked her. It didn't take her long to find it and she skimmed through the entry, not really able to read the tiny handwriting. So she handed it over to Piper and the middle sister started to read out loud.
"'A demonic power trader. For the last two centuries the strongest group of these demons have been hunting a specific clan of witches, using their powers for trade and moving themselves up in the demonic hierarchy.' Yada, yada, yada, 'they all look the same except each has a different symbol tattooed on the back of its neck,' sort of like an i.d. card for something. 'They are all left handed', that's weird." She kept reading through it. It was a very long entry, five or so pages and Buffy was getting a little frustrated because Piper wasn't really saying anything on how to kill the demon.
"'Ground wolfsbane root is the only known weakness of these demons. Grind the root into a fine powder, a small amount will wound them and slowly kill them over time. If a large amount is used the flesh, muscles and internal organs melt away, leaving nothing more then a pile of bones.' Well that's disgusting." /That's probably what I threw on in at the Magic Box, that jar of yellow powdery stuff. So he's probably dead by now. Here's hopin./
"I think that's what I used on him at the magic shop when he attacked me. I threw a jar at him, it had this yellow powder stuff in it, and it started to eat away at his skin and then he left. So if he's dead by now, which is probably is, then will the others come after her?" They looked at her with these really confused expressions on their faces. She still hasn't explained about the little girl, just that the demon had attacked at the Magic Box.
"Her, who?" Phoebe asked and took the book from Piper so she could flip through the pages a little. She wasn't really looking for anything or reading out of it, she just wanted to keep her hands busy.
"Oh right, I should probably explain. The other night on patrol I saw the demon attack this woman. He killed her before I could stop him. I fought him off, sort of, and he left and I found this little girl in a stroller a little ways off the path. When he attacked me at the magic shop he said something about the power of a Callahan witch, that the high from draining one is enough to have someone crawling back for more." The witches looked upset, which was understandable. Demons are always after them for their powers, learning that it causes some sort of high, like a drug, well, now they feel a little more burdened. They didn't ask to become witches, it just happened, and these are the types of things they have to deal with. But for now, they'll grit their teeth and bite the nail because they have an innocent to save.
"Oh, I think I read something in here about Callahan witches last night," Phoebe said and started to flip more towards the front of the book. It took her a couple of minutes but she finally found what she was looking for. "'The first Callahan witch was a woman named Annabelle Callahan. Born in the late fourteen hundreds she discovered that she had the power of foresight at the age of nine when she predicted the family farm would burn to the ground. She kept quiet about her gift, knowing the town's people would think she were either possessed or crazy, she soon discovered she had many other magical abilities, all of which she kept to herself. She married in 1497 and gave birth to a daughter, Mary Jacobs, a year later. She quickly found that Mary also had the ability of foresight along with telekinesis and transfiguration of inanimate objects.
"Dying of natural causes in 1517, Annabelle left behind a legacy in the making. Having given birth to three other children, all of them with magical abilities, the only one they had in common was foresight. With each generation the magic became stronger, the individual powers became more complex and the family lived in silence except with one another for fear of being hung, stoned or burned to death by the town's people. When the opportunity arrived the Callahans moved to America where they believed their magical abilities would not be looked down upon. A young woman, Elizabeth Huntington, foresaw the Salem Witch Trails that would take place a year later and informed her other magically inclined family members. They combined their powers and together, twenty women, ten children, and fifteen men (husbands of some of the women) performed a spell that transferred them to another dimension. The specific dimension is not known, and their whereabouts were never discovered and all forty-five people were declared dead in the summer of 1691.
"The power of the Callahan witches is notorious. Not only did the spell make the veil separating the different dimensions weaker, but the gained more power and are easily able to hop from one dimension to another, using very little magic and energy. The children born after the spell was cast have been more powerful then the ones before them, but they did not seek out personal gain. The dimension they mainly resided in was very similar to this one, only people do not live in fear because of their magic, it is used openly. They used their magic to help others, opening an herbal medicine clinic where they healed the sick, cured the blind, and offered quick remedies for...impotence." Phoebe blushed a little and then continued.
"In the mid 1800 hundreds a clan of demons came to their village searching for the Callahans. Many where able to escape after predicting the invasion, but one was captured before she could flee. Mary Allen, fifty-four years of age at the time, was murdered and her heart was used in a spell that would allow the demons to sense whenever a Callahan witch uses their magic, excluding premonitions. They started to hunt the witches and drained them of their powers, killing them in the process, and then used the power they gained for their own personal benefits. Some of the witches were powerful enough to put up a cloaking spell, but it doesn't last for very long. As of the year 1998 there are only an estimated ten surviving witches, one of them a two year old child who has the potential of becoming the strongest magical being in history. Her mother is currently in hiding and has succeeded so far.' Damn that was a long entry." She tried to lighten the mood, but it wasn't very easy.
"So they'll keep coming until she's dead. But her mom, she left a note saying that she bound Amber's powers. So if the other demons don't know that she's here then she should be fine. We just have to find a home for her." Buffy was a little distracted after she said that. It was possible that Amber was the one that the entry was talking about, that she could become this powerful being, she was two in '98 if Buffy is doing her math right. But what if she has some little cousins out there or something? In the letter her mom said that no one else knows about her, but she could still have a blood relative. She turned her attention towards the two opened glass doors when she heard laughing.
"Buffy look what me an' Willow found in the-" she stopped dead when she saw the Halliwells. Whatever she was holding in her hands was dropped to the ground and she just stared. Buffy wasn't sure why, maybe she could sense their magic also? If she was able to sense Willow's then Buffy is surprised that she wasn't able to pick up on the Halliwell magic from out in the backyard.
"Hey guys, are you helping with that de...um...little problem Buffy's having?" Willow asked and walked a little further into the room. They nodded their heads yes and kept their eyes on the little kid was staring back at them. Being witches for as long as they have they can pick up on the energy waves expelled from another witch. Depending on the power inside of the individual, the energy waves range from weak to intoxicatingly strong. And right now Amber is sending off to send these witches into a daze. The little trance was broken when the little black fuzzy thing that Amber dropped barked. "Oh, Buff, look what we found running around in the backyard." She watched as Willow picked up a little, very little, black puppy. Buffy couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"We can't keep it Willow. Not right now. We have too much going on to worry about another life." Willow pouted, so did Amber and Buffy couldn't help feel like she was being ganged up on. After she looked over at Amber and saw that the little girl looked like she was about to cry she finally caved, and it only took three minutes for her to give in. /This kid is turning me soft. I wouldn't had that thing out of the house by now./ "Alright, fine. I'll ask my mom if it can stay here. Maybe Dawn will take care of it for us while we try and figure this out. It isn't going to get big is it?" Willow smiled and handed the little black ball of fur to her. She had to admit that it was very tiny, even for a puppy.
"Nope. The guy said it's a cross between a Pomeranian and a Poodle, so he'll stay small. Isn't he just the cutest little thing ever?" she asked, clearly excited, but Buffy did not miss the little slip in her story. She looked up at Willow with this look of suspicion and confusion.
"I thought you said you found it in the backyard?" She saw Willow make a guilty face and she got a little quiet. Oh yeah, she had lied, and Buffy caught her. She's never going to hear the end of this one, the can be sure of that.
"Well, we did find him. After the guy gave him to us and he got lost in some of the bushes. But isn't he cute? You can't help but love that little face." Buffy was going to press the issue. She was going to go have a talk with Willow when Amber walked up to her. Her eyes brimming with tears and Buffy knew right then that there was no way in hell she'd be able to make them give this dog back.
"Please, can we keep 'im, please? My mommy got rid of Sallie 'cause she said we had to leave, and I miss her. Please, can we keep him?" Her bottom lip was starting to quiver and it stuck out a little bit. A single teardrop made its way down her cheek and Buffy felt her chest start to constrict. If she said no, Amber would cry, and Buffy really doesn't think she'd be able to handle that. /God, I'm going to suck as a parent. I don't have the ability to say no. How did mom survive?/ She sighed heavily and nodded her head yes and then handed over the little fuzz ball to the toddler. "Thank you!" she squealed and then ran off in the direction of the back yard.
"Thanks baby. I promise you won't have to take care of him at all, I'll do it. And hey, you look fantastic." She just had to try and butter up to the blonde. She gave Buffy a quick peck on the lips before running off after Amber. Their laughter could be heard until the backdoor was closed.
"Someone's whipped," Phoebe snickered and Piper hit her on the arm. "What? She is." Buffy rolled her eyes and tried to forget about the terrible decision that she just made. She knew that she'd end up taking care of that dog. She'd be the one to walk it and feed it and clean up after it. She had a very strong feeling that she was going to be like the dad from the movie Beethoven. /Might as well change my last name to Newton./
"Ok. So we should probably stock up on...whatever it is you said kills those things. I can head over to the Magic Box now and get some more. Willow set up a magical alarm system or something so you guys should be alerted if anything demonic comes within like a hundred feet or so of here. Do me a huge favor? Protect both of them? If anything happens have Leo orb all of you somewhere and then have him come get me?" They all agreed that they would protect both the little girl and Willow with their lives. They knew better then to disagree with a slayer. They learned after they met her a few months ago. Prue pulled a pen out of her purse and wrote down the name of the herb on the palm of Buffy's hand, and then handed her some money. Buffy promised to be back soon and then took off running as fast as she could.
"If she runs forty miles an hour in a thirty mile speed limit zone, do you think she'd get pulled over by the cops?" Phoebe asked and the other two just rolled their eyes. They stood up and went in search of the backyard, leaving Phoebe trailing behind, a little confused by their behavior. "What? What did I say?"
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So, what do you think? I'm having a little trouble coming up with one, so any suggestions for the dog's name? It's a boy so keep that in mind.