Author's Notes & Disclaimer
After creating the Shadows and Light universe, Caroline Fales and I thought it would be fun to do something darker and different from the other things we'd worked on. So, we created the Dark Horizons universe, which aside from one story ("Sleep Now in the Fire") has never really seen the light of day. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest one is that out of all of our collaboration and planning, aside from "Sleep Now in the Fire," there never came to be any solid building stories. There are many story fragments and snippets, but nothing that works as a whole story.
However, the idea for Dark Horizons came from somewhere, and this short story was written to provide a glimpse into the original Dark Horizons universe.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Oz, Rupert Giles, Faith, Angel, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Drusilla and Spike (some appear in name only) are not mine. They are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox Television. Likewise, Adam Newman, Ami Jackson, Megabyte Damon and Jade Wilson are not mine. They belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames/Tetra Television, ITV and Nickelodeon. All are featured here without permission but not for profit. Catriona Fraser belongs to Caroline Fales.
This story will be housed at TPFICT, and eventually at Alternate Realities (http://www.alt-realities.net) in The Morgue Files.
Send all feedback to michele@alt-realities.net.
Michele
Posted 12.30.2003
"So, Giles, what's the word with Faith? How are things in LA?" Buffy Summers settled into a seat at the table, propping her feet up.
"Quiet," Giles said simply, not looking up from the book he carried. "Very, very quiet."
"Quiet's good though," Willow piped up. "I like quiet. We can do quiet."
"I would tend to agree with you, Willow, but Faith thinks that things are too quiet," Giles finally looked up from the book, his gaze taking in the young people who also occupied the room. He closed the book and set it aside with a sigh, "There are signs that Derrick's people are moving, signs of something --"
"Apocalyptic?" Megabyte volunteered.
"That would be the word."
"Does she know what?" Buffy straightened, her attention now held by her Watcher.
"Faith is like you, Buffy. She doesn't keep so much abreast of leisure reading," Giles reminded his Slayer. "Her words were, and I quote 'Bad mojo, here, Giles, can you give me a Cliff's notes about it'?" The scowl on the librarian's face said all that needed to be said regarding his opinion on the other Slayer's choice of words.
"Oh," Giles began walking towards the back office, "She ran into Ami."
A palatable silence fell over the room as all faces focused their attention on the Watcher.
"Well?" Buffy prompted after he said no more.
"She got away, but this time she only left one dead child on Faith's doorstep."
Megabyte released a string of obscenities that would have made a sailor blush.
"Ditto," Buffy whispered.
"It's so hard to believe that that used to be our Ami," Willow whispered into her lap, her face drawn. "She was so good and so nice and so--"
"Stop it, Willow," The Watcher's words were hard. "That's precisely the sort of reasoning that we cannot allow ourselves to entertain. We must never forget that this is not the Ami we knew. She's dead, gone. What is left is a demon that has decided to use her body as a home and manipulate her memories. Nothing more."
"Giles, we know the drill," Buffy leapt to her friend's defense, "There's no need to wig
out."
"That's precisely the point," Giles replied, "but unlike Angel, Ami isn't simply a demon with a human host--she's a demon possessing an above average human form. A Tomorrow Person. Something that gives her an edge over Angelus or Spike. And she's as mad as Drusilla--"
"She's not crazy," Jade spoke up, her blue eyes large and haunted, "It would be better if she were."
The Watcher and Slayerettes stared at the small girl, watching her as she hugged herself, face downcast. It had been difficult on all of them, losing Ami in the way they had but sometimes they forgot just how difficult it had been on the Tomorrow People in their midst. Especially since their psychic powers made them privy to every dark flush of emotion, all the blood lust, and wanton callousness that permeated the new Ami. And as much as they could shut it out and try to forget, her conversion and betrayal had left a dark place in the remaining Tomorrow People. And nothing would ever change that.
They watched as Megabyte placed a comforting arm around the girl, glancing at them apologetically, saying by way of an explanation, "Ami's been messing with our dreams again."
"Oh, dear. This could be quite serious," Giles replied, brow furrowing.
"No kidding," Buffy retorted sarcastically, before turning to Jade, "What's she been doing? Is it...is she showing you Adam again?"
Jade nodded wordlessly. Megabyte glanced at her, "But it's more than that. Worse."
"Worse?" Willow chimed in, "How much worse?"
Megabyte's intense blue eyes focused on her. "You don't want to know," he told her flatly, "Especially not if you want to go on eating that thing."
Willow glanced at the Twinkie in her hand with its raspberry jam oozing out. She swallowed. "Never mind," she replied in a small voice.
"Giles, there has to be a way to stop Ami from doing this. Isn't there some kind of spell or something you could cast to keep her out of their minds?" Buffy leaned forward, eyes pleading.
"I'm not sure that would be wise," the Watcher replied, "Ami may be able to manipulate the Tomorrow People's shielding by virtue of the bond but by the same token, they know where she is. It's what's protected them thus far. If I tinker with that, I might inadvertently tip the scales in Ami's favor--would you really want her to be able to sneak upon the three of you with out any warning?"
The question was directed at Megabyte but it was Jade who answered it. "No," she shook her head emphatically. "I'd rather have nightmares."
"Besides," Megabyte continued, "We learning from the Ship how to strengthen our dreaming shields. It may take a bit of time but I think it will work out better that way in the long run."
"Quite," Giles agreed, "In the meantime, our main concern is the sudden activity among Derrick's fiefdom. Until Faith reports anything, all I can do is consult my books. Buffy, it might be a good idea for you to go--"
"On heavy duty patrol," she finished for him, "Just in case, the Sunnydale vamps start getting any ideas."
Giles nodded, looking pleased that they seemed to be on the same wavelength for once.
"But what about Xander?" Willow demanded, looking back and forth between the Slayer and Watcher, "I mean, with Cordelia dead and him missing--"
"Willow," Giles stopped her, his voice soft, "Xander may not be missing."
Her dark eyes widened in comprehension, "No," she half-stood, "Xander's not dead! I would know--he can't be...I."
"You're right, Willow," Buffy interrupted, her voice, unlike Giles', was cool, "He might be one of them."
Willow paled, appearing faintly sick. Remembering their first real conversation about vampires, Buffy hastily ordered her, "Breathe."
"Breathing," she replied mechanically.
"Breathe," Buffy said again for good measure, placing a comforting hand on the auburn-haired girl's shoulder.
"How come you're so calm about this?" Willow accused, "Xander's your friend!"
"Willow... I know how you feel. Believe me, I do but I can't let myself dwell on this," Buffy told her quietly, "if I do... Willow, I'm the Slayer. I have a duty. If I let myself get incapacitated by grief then a lot of innocent people are going to die."
And too many had already. Like Cordelia. Like Adam. If she hadn't been wallowing in grief, hadn't been blaming herself for not preventing Angelus from siring Ami in the first place – hindsight is always horribly twenty-twenty.
"Besides, there is a very good chance that Xander is not a vampire," Giles reminded Willow. "If he were, I imagine that we would have seen him by now. Not seeing him tends to imply that he's –"
"Dead," Willow whispered hoarsely.
"Or so completely mad by now that he would be better off dead." There was a sadness and a tearing pain in the Watcher's words as he said the last. And Buffy knew why; he still carried the scars from the one time he'd fallen into the hands of Derrick and Ami. His only comment to Buffy on the subject were, "Ami has mastered the art of pain far better than Angelus ever did." If the vampire had tortured Xander – he probably was as insane as Drusilla.
That thought saddened Buffy deeply. So many lost, so many dead. If she closed her eyes she could still see Cordelia's body, neatly laid out on the table. Bloodless of course, but dressed in one of the most flattering dresses that Cordelia owned. Ami had even taken the time to style Cordelia's hair and do her make up.
It was sick. It was demented.
It was torture.
Pushing the morbid memory aside, Buffy gave Willow an affectionate and supportive hug. "Look, Wills, whatever happens, we'll survive. We always have and always will."
"I miss Xander, Buffy."
"So do I," Buffy admitted. "So do I."
"What about Angel? Have you heard from him?"
Every head in the room swiveled towards the sound of a new voice. They watched as first a pair of long legs advanced down the stairs followed by a lithe form then a flash of red as the overhead lamp caught the newcomer's hair. A young woman, dressed in camouflage pants and green tank top. Her oval face was free of make-up, the fiery hair surrounding it pulled back into a tight ponytail. The only bit of jewelry she wore was a silver cross on a bit of black string. It glinted against her pale throat, drew attention there.
Not exactly the kind of attention one wanted when one lived in a one Starbucks, all vampire town like Sunnydale.
"Catriona," Giles greeted her. The Watcher was the only person who ever called the Tomorrow Person by her full name. Of course, he was probably the only person the Tomorrow Person would actually allow the full use of her name. It was all part of his old-fashioned, old world charm that her mother loved and that sometimes made Buffy want to ship him back to Merry Old England.
"Hey, Cat," Buffy called, leading a chorus of greetings as the oldest Tomorrow Person--the oldest living Tomorrow Person, Buffy corrected herself, stepped down onto the stone floor, her combat boots making no sound as she did so.
She nodded shortly in reply. "What about Angel?" she reiterated.
It wasn't so much the words but her tone that commanded attention-- that flat, hard voice. Buffy could remember a time when it hadn't been like that. When the Tomorrow Person had been more exuberant, her smiles bright and warm. Cat rarely smiled any more these days. And Buffy doubted that she had been happy in long time.
Not since Adam.
Buffy forced herself to put the Australian out of her mind. He was gone and there was nothing that would change that. Her fault again. Another reminder that if she had carried out her duties like she should have, another innocent would not have died needlessly. In this case, Ami would have been dead, and Adam would still be here. With Cat.
Strangely enough, the other girl had never spoken out once to blame her. Somehow, that only made Buffy feel worse.
"I'm afraid I haven't heard from Angel," Giles replied, tone troubled as he removed his glasses to rub his eyes.
That caught her attention. "You haven't heard from Angel?" Buffy asked slowly. "In how long?"
Giles looked distinctly uncomfortable. "He was supposed to contact me a few days ago and--"
"A few days ago?" Buffy felt her voice rise an octave. She glanced swiftly at Cat. The older girl was leaning against the banister expectantly. Waiting. Not for the first time, she wished she had Cat's reserve and patience.
Then again, Buffy thought with a shudder, if she had to go through what the other girl had to in order to gain those qualities then she would just as soon pass.
"Did you send Faith to check in on him?" the Slayer demanded, placing her hands on the table and leaning forward.
"Actually, I did. She said she hadn't seen him in several weeks and that his apartment was empty when she went to check on him," Giles said defensively.
"Oh, you're a lot of help," Buffy snapped, mind racing in panic. As it always did where Angel was concerned. It didn't matter that they weren't together any more, just the thought of him in danger could cause her to forget everything else. It was dangerous in her line of work. The distraction Angel offered, that he presented might well be her undoing.
But that didn't mean she cared any less. Or that she wasn't going to be concerned about him.
"I'm sorry," Giles did indeed sound apologetic, "But as you are well aware of, Angel has a history of disappearing now and again. Something that makes it quite difficult to decide whether he is in trouble or simply lurking in the background again."
"He does have a point," Megabyte admitted.
Buffy threw a poisonous glance in his direction.
"Well, Angel does have a tendency to do that trick where he drops out of sight for a while a lot," Willow replied, in Megabyte's andGiles' defense. "It's part of his job description as the handsome,mysterious stranger--remember?"
Sighing, the Slayer conceded, "I know, I know but I have a bad feeling about this, guys."
"Normally, in anywhere but Sunnydale, with anyone excepting Buffy or Luke Skywalker saying that line, I might blow them off," Megabyte observed, "But in this case, she might be right: Angel could be in trouble."
"Agreed," Cat spoke up at last, reminding them of her presence once more. She slid out her lean into standing. Crossing her arms, she nodded to Giles, "I'll pop over to LA and lurk a bit, see what I can find out. Anything you want me to do while I'm there, message for Faith or something?"
"Just tell her to sit tight. As soon as I have anything to tell her, I'll give her a call," Giles replaced his glasses on his nose.
Cat nodded, starting to up the stairs again. Buffy rose, calling, "Maybe I should go with you?"
The girl froze, so did every one else in the room. Buffy glanced around, "What?"
"Buffy," Giles began delicately, "Running off to LA the moment might not be the wisest course of action for you at the moment. With the increased vampiric activity, your sudden arrival could set into premature action whatever plan Derrick is unraveling up there."
"Besides," Cat shrugged, "I can get in and out easier than you can. I've been hanging with Angel--I know who his contacts are there. They can tell me if he's been around in a few days or not."
"You have someone particular in mind," Giles asked, with some amount of interest. Not even Faith knew the people Angel talked to, who he got his information from, and it really made Buffy wonder that Cat did. Down, girl, Buffy tried to squelch down a wave of jealousy. But then jealousy was pretty much the reaction that hearing Angel spent time with anyone else aside from her drew. Especially these days.
The Tomorrow Person's gray eyes focused on him sharply, "Yes," she replied simply, but her lips upturned a bit, not exactly a smile. More of an expression of ironic amusement. "I'll be in touch."
Then she glanced at Megabyte and Jade, "You two stick around here and lay low. Watch your necks."
It wasn't quite a warning, though it was obviously an order. Months ago, it would have been Adam, who had given that order. Another reminder of how much things had changed in so short a space of time.
They watched as Cat headed back up the stairs, Buffy falling back into her seat with a disgruntled sigh. "Great, once again I'm left behind holding the bag while someone else goes off to more exciting and useful pastures."
"Not holding the bag," Willow tried to console her, "Just watching the flocks. I mean, you are Sunnydale's last, best hope for a vamp-free zone."
"Then Sunnydale is in a lot of trouble," Buffy muttered.
*** End ***