Champions All
by W/T4Eva
Vengeance
[reviews]
Buffy, Xander and Dawn sat around in the front room of the Summers house and discussed what to do about the First Evil. Buffy realised that her dreams of girls being killed were connected because the killers seemed to be identical with what she remembered of the Bringers who served the First Evil.
Dawn's researches had not turned up anything about the First Evil beyond what they already knew. There was nothing that she could find that gave any clue as to how to destroy it.
"Can't we like exorcise it," asked Xander. "That's what you do with ghosts right?"
"Don't you need a priest for that," asked Dawn. "Do we know any priests?"
"I'm thinking if an ordinary ghost can be exorcised by a priest we're going to need a lot more to deal with this thing," said Buffy. "It must have a whole lot more power than any ghost. Before we try anything like that we have to know what we're doing."
"Still nothing from Giles?" asked Dawn.
Buffy explained that not only had she had no call back from Giles but she had been unable to contact Wesley or Angel in LA nor the Watchers' Council in England. Giles hadn't called back, Wesley had moved, Angel's number had a recorded message with Cordy's voice on it saying that Angel Investigations was temporarily closed for business and the number for the Watchers' Council was discontinued.
"You don't think this First Evil thingy has got them all do you?" asked Xander.
"Angel and the gang must be busy with whatever that darkness in LA is all about," said Dawn. "Cordy's message was probably done to clear the decks while they sorted it all out."
"I agree," said Buffy. "I can't believe all of the LA gang are gone. One of them would have called us if things were really bad. They're just busy." She admitted to herself that she was worried about Giles however.
The front door bell rang and Buffy got up to answer it. Dawn and Xander followed her out of the room to see who it was. Buffy opened the door and was surprised to see Giles standing there. She immediately jumped forward and hugged him, this time remembering to restrain herself from using her full slayer strength.
Buffy stepped back, and saw that Giles was not alone. There were three girls standing behind him. "I'm afraid we have something of an apocalypse on our hands. Can we come in?" he asked.
Buffy stood back to allow Giles and his companions to enter the house. When they were all inside and Giles had been greeted by Xander and hugged by Dawn Buffy led everybody into the front room.
Giles introduced his companions. They were three potential Slayers: Vi, Annabelle and Molly. Vi was a Canadian and the latter two were English although only Annabelle sounded like Giles. Molly had a strong cockney accent.
Giles explained about the killing of potential slayers and their watchers around the world in recent weeks. The three girls with him were among the survivors. Others would be joining them in Sunnydale in the hope that the Slayer could keep them safe.
"Don't mean to be a wet blanket or anything," Vi interrupted, "but are you sure this is a good idea? Can one girl, even a Slayer, keep us all safe all the time?"
"We'll be stronger together," said Buffy. "I'll be here and so will Xander, and Giles and Dawn and the other potentials. We can watch each others backs. It's better than being picked off one by one."
A further discussion followed as Buffy and the gang explained what they knew about the First Evil. Giles explained that he also was aware that their enemy was the First. Unfortunately he was of the opinion that it was not possible to destroy the First. This depressed the gang, especially Annabelle and Molly.
"Well if we can't destroy it we'll just have to put it back to sleep," said Xander. "We just need to know why it's causing this trouble all of a sudden and then we can put things back the way they were."
"I'm betting the First knows the Slayer can stop it and that's why it's attacking the potentials," said Dawn. "It's got weaknesses, we've just got to find out what they are."
Buffy asked Giles about the Watchers' Council and what they were doing about the potentials and their watchers. "Nothing I'm afraid," said Giles to the gang's great surprise. "There is no more Watchers' Council. The headquarters building in England was blown up a few days ago and all the members of the Council were killed."
"Was that what the news called the terrorist incident north of London?" asked Dawn. Giles confirmed it was the same event but he believed it was carried out by an agent of the First and not by the usual terrorist suspects.
Everybody responded to this very bad news with silence and glum faces until Buffy spoke up in an effort to cheer them up.
"Well I'm sad for all of the dead people, I suppose some of them were your friends Giles." she said. Giles nodded. "But the Council usually did their own thing. To be blunt about it they never gave us much help even when we had big problems. We're no worse off now than we were before."
Dawn had a very disquieting thought. "Buffy, we've got to think about security." she said. "If this First has got people setting off explosions we've got to make sure it's not us next time."
"I'll talk to Amy," said Xander, "and see if she can set up some sort of defense or warning system for us, some sort of magic whammy for anybody who tries to attack us with magic or set off explosives."
"A magical ward," said Dawn. "That's what it's called. I'll see if I can speak to Anya as well. She knows a lot about magic."
Giles raised his eyebrows. He knew Amy of course and was aware of her somewhat patchy record as far as the sensible use of magic was concerned. He also knew about Anya's present reversion to vengeance demon.
"I'll also do some research along those lines as well," he said. "But is Willow not about?"
Buffy explained about Willow's quest. This produced some very skeptical glances amongst the potentials along the lines of 'what sort of people have we landed amongst?'
"OK," said Buffy, "I'll do some patrolling. I want to have a look at the place where the bringers worked when they were here before a few years ago."
"Yeah," said Xander to the potentials. "We've had these guys before and Buffy sent them packing. No problem."
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The three Halliwell sisters stood ready to do their spell summoning Tara. Leo stood nearby watching. Willow sat on a chair to one side nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. Suddenly Leo looked up as if listening to something.
"Sorry, I've got to go," he said. To Willow's surprise Leo then disappeared in a swirl of bright lights. Leo's teleportation reminded her of something.
"Did you do the warding spell?" she asked the sisters.
"What warding spell?" asked Piper looking at Phoebe and Paige. Both of her sisters looked blankly at her.
Willow reminded them of the discussion they had had on her last visit about warding the manor to prevent demons teleporting in to attack. Astonishingly none of the sisters had any memory of the conversation.
"You said that after I left you were gonna research why you'd never done a warding spell before," said Willow. "And you were going to do one to protect the manor."
"I smell a rat," said Phoebe. "As Willow says we should always have had a warding spell on this place. Working with the Power of Three we should be able to put up a strong enough barrier to prevent just about any demon from coming in."
"Sounds like somebody's working magic on us," said Paige. "Somebody doesn't want us to put up wards."
"Well demons wouldn't want us to put up wards," said Piper. "There must be some evil out there we're not aware of yet."
"Have you heard about the First Evil?" asked Willow who explained to the Halliwells what she knew of it and its recent and previous manifestations in Sunnydale. "Could that be it?" she asked.
A discussion followed. None of the sisters had ever heard of the First Evil and they could find no reference to it in the Book of Shadows. Piper thought the First Evil might be to blame. Phoebe was more skeptical as it seemed the failure to set wards was a long standing thing and the First Evil seemed to be a recent problem.
"If we'd had wards on this place Prue would still be alive," said Phoebe. As she said this she wondered if Leo was the culprit. He'd done magic on them before because he thought it to be in their best interests. She would not voice this suspicion without proof however as it would devastate Piper if her husband was in any way to blame for Prue's death.
"Either this thing is self-renewing or somebody did a number on us since our last meeting," said Paige. "Either way why didn't it work on Willow?"
"Because she wasn't here," said Piper. "It might be something to do with the manor itself. Remember we didn't get our powers until we spent a night together under this roof. There's magic in this house and we've never gotten around to understanding it. Maybe the manor resets things overnight?"
I hope she's right thought Phoebe. I hope Leo's really innocent. After further discussion the sisters did a Power of Three warding spell on the house. They then did a remember spell to kick in the next day in case they suffered memory wipe again. At last they were ready to carry out the spell to call Tara.
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Half an hour later four very frustrated witches stood around trying to work out why the spell hadn't worked.
"Have you done this spell before?" asked Willow. "Are you sure it works?"
Piper explained the many occasions they had successfully done the spell. One of them working alone was sufficient to call their mother or grandmother. They had just tried a Power of Three spell and even that hadn't worked.
"Let's call Gramps now," suggested Paige. "We can see if the spell works with her. She might know why it's not working for Tara."
"Or for Prue," added Phoebe.
"Prue?" asked Willow.
"Prue was our eldest sister," explained Piper. "She was killed by a demon a couple of years ago. We've never been able to call her either. Leo said it was too soon."
"I'm so sorry," said Willow. "What did he mean by too soon?"
The sisters explained that they simply didn't know what Leo had meant but their grandmother had said the same thing when they called her back and she met Paige. This led on to an explanation of why Paige had not previously met her grandmother.
"OK people, times a moving on," said Piper. "I'll call gramps now. We'll at least know if the spell still works to that extent."
Piper performed the spell alone and the sisters' grandmother appeared in a swirl of light with her usual beaming smile. To Willow's surprise she was fully corporeal and hugged her granddaughters in turn. The Halliwell sisters then explained their problem to their grandmother.
"I've been told not to help you to help Willow I'm afraid," she explained. "You know the elders don't approve of what you're trying to do."
"Can't you just, you know...hint or something," wheedled Paige putting on what she hopped was her best granddaughter's smile.
"Sorry," said Gramps. "If I did I'd disappear before the words left my mouth and it'd be a long time before I'd be able to see you again."
Aha, thought Phoebe. Thanks Gramps. "We'd better send you straight back then." she said, "before you're tempted to say something you shouldn't."
"Before you go Mrs. Halliwell," said Willow. "Do you know why your granddaughters are having so much trouble remembering to put warding spells on this house?"
"We are?" said Paige.
"When did this happen?" asked Phoebe.
Willow rolled her eyes upwards and explained all over again as it was clear that the sisters had once again forgotten about the warding spells even though they had finally done one.
"Oh dear!" said Gramps. "It's all my fault I'm afraid." She explained that she had done warding spells on the manor when she had been the resident witch. She'd also done warding spells on each of her granddaughters after they had been born, including Paige.
"It kept out some demons but there were always some that were strong enough to get through, Gramps explained. "I think what we have here are side effects of old magic interfering with new." She explained that what they needed to do was to discharge all the old spells on themselves and the manor before putting on any new ones. Clearly Gramps old magic was no longer very effective at keeping out demons and the Power of Three would do a much better job.
"You'd better do it now before you forget again. The details are in the Book of Shadows," said Gramps flipping through the book. The sisters looked over her shoulder to see details of the discharge spell.
The sisters carried out the discharge spell and then once again carried out the warding spell. Phoebe frantically wrote down details of what had just happened and left the room briefly to put the note on her bed. "Just in case we all forget again," she explained when she came back. "We won't always have Willow here to remind us."
The sisters said their goodbyes to their grandmother. "Leo's doing his best for you, you know," said Gramps just before she disappeared. "He's been trying to persuade the elders to cut you all a little slack." Just as she disappeared she looked straight at Willow and smiled.
Willow was stunned by what had just happened, what she had just discovered was possible through the power of good magic. Grandma Halliwell had not been just a ghostly voice speaking through a medium, she had been real, real to hug and hold even if only for a short time. It took a great deal of effort for Willow to suppress, even a little, all of the hope that now surged within her. Hope that she would at least be able to have a little time with Tara, if only to finally say goodbye.
After Gramps had been sent back Phoebe explained to the others the implications of what their grandmother had told them. "She as good as said that the elders could stop her responding to our spell," Phoebe explained. "If they could do that they could block us off from Tara or Prue."
"But why would they stop us seeing Prue?" asked Piper puzzled and upset. If this was true then Leo almost certainly knew about it.
"For the same reason they don't want you to help me," said Willow who yet again had gone from great hope to deep depression in an instant. "They're scared you'll try to bring her back."
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Anya watched the woman walk away. The woman was no longer crying. Anya had met her in the bar down the street. After the usual prompting her wish had been that her husband had never met his secretary. She had granted the wish. The husband had never met his secretary. She had also granted the meaning of the wish, that the husband go on loving his wife. No blood, no death, no evil consequences.
Anya knew how the old Anyanka would have interpreted such a wish. She would have arranged for some horrible accident to happen to the husband to prevent him meeting his secretary. Given him leprosy perhaps.
Of course granting the wish in the old way wouldn't have helped the woman. She would have suffered even more but that wouldn't have bothered the old Anyanka. Suffering and death of the women she was 'helping' had never bothered her. Now Anya could see just how grotesque she had been as a vengeance demon. She could see the emptiness of her old boasting that she was helping women. Just as empty as Hallie claiming to help children she thought.
"Having fun?" said a voice from the darkness to her right. The voice came from D'Hoffryn who now stepped forward into the light. "Glad you're back as a vengeance demon? A vengeance demon who doesn't do vengeance that is."
Anya looked at D'Hoffryn. He looked the same as he ever did but surprisingly she felt no fear of him. For the first time she could look at him and just see a silly looking demon. One with a lot of power but no responsibility. Just the latest in a long line of demon mischief makers.
"Isn't that what you want?" asked Anya. "You're the one who left me my soul when you gave me my old job back. It shouldn't be a surprise that I've still got a conscience."
D'Hoffryn laughed. "Is that what you think?" he asked. "You don't remember do you? I left you your soul last time. I always leave my demons with their souls. It's what you do as a vengeance demon that costs you your soul, not what I do to you. I just give you the power."
"But I see I made a mistake with you," D'Hoffryn continued. He shrugged. "It happens." D'Hoffryn made a casual wave of his right hand and the amulet on the chain around Anya's neck grew hot and dissolved. He waved his hand again and Anya screamed and disappeared in a ball of flame.
"Pity really, " said D'Hoffryn to himself. "You were always one of my favorites."
"How nice," said Anya who had appeared behind D'Hoffryn completely unscathed. As he turned she pulled his amulet from his neck before he could stop her. D'Hoffryn grabbed at Anya trying to get his amulet back. Astonishingly, even though D'Hoffryn thought he had destroyed her amulet Anya still had her full power as a vengeance demon and she knocked D'Hoffryn back twenty feet and over a low wall.
D'Hoffryn no longer had his power source but he was still a demon and hard to hurt. He immediately jumped up ready to continue the fight. Anya however had no interest in a prolonged brawl. As D'Hoffryn stood up she materialized behind him and took off his head with her sword of hardened air. She tossed the sword aside and watched impassively as D'Hoffryn fell to the ground. His head and his body disintegrated as they were consumed in flames.
Anya held firmly to D'Hoffryn's amulet in her right hand and concentrated. After a few minutes she looked up. All of D'Hoffryn's vengeance demons had materialized in a circle around her. Altogether there were forty two demons and they were now all looking at her.
"It's been a long time since we had a new D'Hoffryn," said one, an ordinary looking man in a business suit. "Congratulations, I suppose you have orders for us."
Anya looked around the assembled vengeance demons. Yes, they're all here she thought. She spoke to Halfrek. "See, I told you I'd make a big splash Hallie," she said. Hallie said nothing, one of many demons still too surprised by what had happened to say anything.
"Put your amulets on the ground," Anya commanded. "I won't tell you twice," she added when the demons all hesitated. "Anybody tries to leave here with an amulet dies now," she warned sternly glaring at demon after demon.
Gradually the demons all complied. "Walk away, all of you. Try to be good people. Try to make up for everything you've done." Anya ordered. As the demons put their amulets on the ground they drifted away, stunned by what had happened. "Watch out for vampires," called Anya, "you're all human now."
Halfrek was the last one left. She still couldn't believe what had happened. "This is a test right?" she said. "You want to see who you can trust before you hand back the amulets. Well you can trust me. You know you can. We've always been friends. Even when nobody else liked you..." Halfrek broke off worried that she was saying the wrong thing.
Anya waved her hand and all of the amulets scattered around her on the ground grew bright and then dissolved into nothing.
"No!" screamed Halfrek rushing towards the amulets but stopping when she realised there was no longer anything there. She turned back to Anya but Anya had gone.
Anya appeared back in her apartment. Thanks Willow she thought, all debts are paid. That fake amulet had to be good to fool D'Hoffryn. She put D'Hoffryn's amulet around her neck. Her original amulet was still there, concealed by another of Willow's spells, powered by yet another amulet.
Anya slumped down in her chair. She'd never thought it would work, that she'd have to work out what to do next. She expected there to be some consequences for what she'd done. D'Hoffryn had been of some standing in the demon hierarchy. Somebody was going to be very annoyed about all this.