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The Undiscovered Country Chapter 2/?
Author; Phoenixheart79 aka Carl/theblondiebear
Rating; PG, but may get higher (Features m/m relationship)
Disclaimer; I do not own BtVS, that privilige goesto Joss Whedon and M.E. I guess I own Sebastian, but
the rest I'm just borrowing. I promise to put them back in the toy box when I'm done!
Continuity; Starts ten days after the events of "Chosen"
Distribution; Please ask unless I post it somewhere where you archive it (like some of the yahoo groups I'm on), in which case I bow to that authority.
Feedback; Please! I write for me, but it's a boost to know what people think of my work.
Authors Note; This fic is the sequel to my last story, "A Childe
Awakens". If you haven't read that, you should, as portions of this story just won't make sense.
Chapter 2
The next day they were walking the streets of the nearby town, shopping for a few clothes and other essentials. As they strolled down the high street they chatted amongst themselves about their plans.
"I’ve been going through my old address book," Giles said, "It’s surprising the number of people who are willing to help."
"So the new council’s a go?" Buffy asked.
Giles nodded, "So it would seem. A few people have been scouting for a new location, but the real problem is going to be replacing the reference library. Some of the books lost were the only copies, they were irreplaceable."
"You’re too hung up on books, Giles."
"Buffy, we’ve had this debate before."
"Yeah, well, even you have to admit that if the books had been scanned, there would be backups somewhere."
Giles sighed, "That may be so, but books contain something more. They have sme..."
Xander laughed, "Give up Giles, you’re talking to the MTV generation."
Beside him Bastian smiled and gave Xander’s hand a quick squeeze before letting it go. "I’m going to have to side with Giles on this one. I have all the computer literacy of Shakespeare. Why do you think I needed Willow’s help to book my flight?"
Xander looked to him, "Hey, don’t blame us if the British education system is stuck in the Nineteenth century."
Bastian smiled ruefully, "Actually, the school’s here aren’t that bad, I just spent my schooldays waiting for PE so I could stare at the guys in shorts."
Next to them, Willow laughed, "So fickle. Me, I was glued to schoolwork."
"Willow the nerd? I can’t see that." Kennedy said beside her, mirroring what Bastian had done earlier and squeezing her lovers hand, only she didn’t let go.
Willow only nodded, "Uh-huh, I was a uber-nerd alright."
"Yeah, but Will, look at the woman you turned into." Buffy commented, "Looks to me like the nerd phase was a stepping stone to mega-cool-world-saving-super-witch."
"So what, you got top grades or something?" Bastian asked. Again Willow nodded and started to answer, but Xander cut in,
"Our Wills was top of the year, breezed through school like it was kindergarten. She had a letter of acceptance from every university that could write. And they told their buddies. She had letters coming in from all over."
Willow blushed, "Don’t exaggerate Xand." She paused, "It was only the universities in the States and Europe."
"Only?" Bastian and Kennedy echoed each other. Bastian looked at Willow, "Jeez girl, I didn’t get one grade above an E in my final exams. I left school with my bronze swimming certificate." He laughed lightly at their looks, "Okay, the swimming thing was a forgery my mate Dave did."
Buffy looked at Bastian, "At least I’m not home alone in the lack of smarts department."
Willow looked at Buffy shocked, "Buffy, we’ve had this discussion before, you’re way smarter than you look. Remember the trial in the house, where you got that psycho vamp to drink holy water? That was smart."
"Yeah," Xander chipped "and don’t forget your SAT scores, those were sky high."
Bastian let out a mock sigh, "Oh no, I’m surrounded by brain cases."
"Not entirely," Xander said, "Remember, I barely scraped through high school." He paused, "Uh oh."
"What?" Bastian asked.
"I think this relationship might struggle, it’s gonna be like the blind leading the blind."
Bastian grinned and swatted Xander on the shoulder. "It’s okay, I’ll get a guide dog."
"Oh no," Xander said, pulling a face, "I ain’t sharing you with no dog. You can have a white stick and be happy with it."
Bastian grinned at Xander, "I can live with that, there’s lots of uses I could put a white stick to."
"Like what?"
"Err, shall we go in here?" Giles said, "And please stop the rapidly more disturbing conversation before you give us all nightmares."
The group nodded and Bastian looked remorseful, "Sorry guys. Say, we could get you lot some ear muffs, then we can talk the disturbing talk all afternoon!"
Giles gave him a mock glare, "You two should remember that you’re guests in my house."
The two looked at each, then mimed zipping their lips before laughing. Giles let out a sigh. "I give up. Just, please, leave the disturbing sexual innuendo at home."
"Will do, Giles." Xander answered.
A few hours later the car pulled up in front of Giles’ home and they all piled out, carrying copious amounts of shopping. They traipsed into the living room, collapsing onto the sofa and armchairs. Dawn sighed,
"What a day. You know, I thought the fashion here was going to be so out of date, but it’s not that bad."
"Yeah Dawny, I know what you mean," Buffy said, "I got this great top, look."
As she lifted the top in question from the bag to show the group, the phone rang and Giles stepped into the hall to answer it.
"Ah, Devon, how are you? Thank you for calling me back. I hope retirement is suiting you." He listened for a while, "Bored? Well, I have a challenge if you’re interested. Yes. That’s right, yes, the new council. Wonderful. I’ll call yo tomorrow and we can arrange to meet up. Thank you, take care yourself." He hung up and returned to the living room, "That was Devon Sawyer, the watcher who helped train me when I returned to the council. He’s agreed to meet me and discuss helping with the new council."
"That’s good." Buffy said, "Hold on, he’s not in the Quentin Travers mould is he? Because we could really do without that stuffiness. We’ve got a lot of girls to find Giles, we can’t be scaring them off with stupid strength sapping tests and stuff."
Giles shook his head, "No, Devon was always a bit of a rebel, but he was also one of the best watchers ever."
Buffy nodded, "Okay, that’s good." Not missing a beat, she turned back to the gang, "Anyway, I found the most amazing pair of leather pants." She started going through her shopping bags, looking for the pants in question when the house reverberated with the sound of the doorknocker. Olivia’s voice filtered through to them and they heard the soft padding of her feet on the carpeted staircase,
"I’ll get it Rupert." Momentarily they heard the sound of the door being opened and voices talking, not hushed, but not quite loud enough to be heard. The door closed with a solid thunk and footsteps could be heard approaching. Olivia appeared in the doorway to the living room, a slightly overweight man standing beside her, dressed in tweed. "Edward’s here."
Giles stood, smiled and walked over to the new arrival. He pumped his hand in greeting, "Edward! Good to see you! You really should come round more often. Come on in, I want you to meet the slayers." He turned and headed into the room but paused when Edward didn’t follow. "What’s wrong?" He asked, turning around.
Unsteadily, Edward walked into the living room and sat in an armchair. "I’m sorry to call in on you so soon after your return, but I’m afraid I don’t know who else to turn to. I need help Rupert, or I’ll be dead by morning."
"Good lord." Giles said, sitting down opposite Edward, "What’s wrong?"
"It’s the same as the others Rupert. Every single one has died." He looked down at his hands, obviously deeply preoccupied.
Giles frowned, "Hold on Edward, start at the beginning, what others?"
Edward looked up from his hands, "There have been a number of mysterious deaths in the local area. To start with I just assumed, like everyone else, that they were freak accidents. But then a relative of one of the deceased came to see me, because I’m known as a bit of a supernatural enthusiast. It seems that the dead man saw a large black dog six days before his death."
"A Barghest." Giles said softly.
Edward nodded in agreement, "That was my conclusion too."
"Uh, excuse me," Buffy said, raising a hand, "What’s a Bar-fest when it’s at home?"
"Barghest. It’s a nocturnal, large black dog, roughly the size of a calf, that is purported to indicate an individuals death if they see it. The person usually has six days and nights after seeing the creature before they die."
"Wow, nice pets you have round here Giles." Dawn said.
Giles turned back to Edward, "Please continue Edward."
Nodding, he carried on talking, "Anyway, realising what it may be, I set about finding a way to identify the creature, but without seeing it. Finally, after much research, I determined that looking at it through a mirror should protect me. At least that way I could determine for sure what I was dealing with. I set out one evening to hunt the Barghest, walking backwards along the field, not looking anywhere except in my mirror. As the night passed, I had seen nothing and gave up, returning home. I had decided that it must have been a mistake, so put my mirror away. As I stood up from packing my bag, I saw a large black dog standing on a nearby hill, staring me down." He paused, shuddering, "It had been hunting me Rupert, I know it. Waiting for me to drop my guard."
"When did all this happen?" Giles asked.
"Tonight will be the sixth night since I saw the Barghest."
Giles drew in a sharp breath, "Good grief. I’m glad you came here. We’ll do our absolute best to protect you and find a solution to this."
Edward responded with a weary smile, "Thank you, Rupert."
"It’s no trouble Edward, none at all. I think it would be for the best if you spent the night here." There were nods of agreement all around.
"Thank you again Rupert, but there’s no need. I’m in as much danger here as anywhere else."
"Nonsense. If you stay here, you’ll be protected by three slayers and an incredibly powerful witch, I can’t think of any better place for you." He smiled genially at the nervous man.
Wringing his hands, Edward looked into Giles’ face, "Very well, thank you Rupert. But I need to go home, collect a few bits and pieces."
Giles’ smiled and nodded in agreement, "Of course." He looked out of the window at the young night, "Kennedy, will you accompany Edward please, just to be safe."
"Sure." Kennedy said, jumping to her feet, "Come on, lets get going before it gets any darker."
Edward stood and followed her into the hallway. She opened the door for him and he proceeded her out onto the front driveway. A white Mini was parked over by one of the fences to the left and he headed towards it.
Their footsteps crunched on the gravel and Edward seemed to be getting more and more nervous, there was barely a sound to be heard. No birds, no animals. It was eerily quiet. "Come on." He said, speeding up a little. In the field, one of the horses whinnied in agitation, circling, clearly distressed. In the distance, an unearthly howl floated over the hills to them. With a final terrified sound, the horse bolted, leaping the fence and charging towards them.
Kennedy saw it all in slow motion "Watch out!" she cried, rolling out of the terrified animal’s path. Edward dodged to the right, trying to avoid the horse. He almost made it. The left flank of the charging animal hit him and staggered away. He flailed his arms as he tripped on a stone and fell flat on his back. The horse, still terrified, circled around and charged back the way it had come. It raced past Kennedy and narrowly missed trampling Edward, gravel flying in all directions. As it reached the fence, the animal turned to race along the length of the fence, knocking into some farm tools lent against it.
Kennedy clambered to her feet and started towards Edward, but she could see it was too late. The tools seemed to fall in slow motion. Ten feet. The tools were still falling. Eight feet. Still falling. Six feet. She was going to make it. Four feet. She reached out for the tools.
With a wet sound, the hoe struck Edwards head, blood and brains splashing across the gravel. Kennedy came to a skidding stop. Everything went still and quiet again. The horse stopped, frozen in place. A chill crept it’s way down her spine and slowly she turned to her left.
She screamed.
There, not thirty feet away, a large black dog, the size of a calf, stood staring at her
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