Who Wants To Live Forever? Prt 3
by Ben Church
b_church@yahoo.com
(Feedback! Please!)
Continuity Note: This obviously takes place before Becoming. In my
Buffy story this is a sequel to Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered:
Martin's Story. In my Highlander series, this takes place after
Unsinkable.
Buffy and all associated characters belong to Joss Whedon. Highlander
and all associated characters belong to Rysher Entertainment (to the
best of my knowledge). And The Last Vampire and all associated
characters belong to Christopher Pike.
Sita arrived home to find it completely transformed. There was
a large display case hanging on the wall with a large assortment of
bladed weapons in it. In the living room sat a large Boesendorfer
Grand Piano, and the shelves were now stocked with books, photographs,
and framed portaits of various people.
And there was a new, distinctly feline aroma wafting through
the air. Lying on the piano was a medium sized black cat. It raised
it's head at her entry, looked at her uninterestedly, and lay it's
head down again.
"Someone's been busy." Sita remarked.
"All the place needed was an Immortal's touch." Tut smiled.
He patted his belly in satisfaction. "Tommorow," he said. "It's my
turn to cook."
"It's a good thing we're Immortal then." Sita joked. She
looked down at the cat curled contentedly in her lap. It had not
surprised her that Tut had a cat, he was Egyptian after all, and still
belived in the Egyptian gods.
"Where was this cat at school?"
"School didn't allow pets."
"Ah. What's the cat's name?" she asked.
"Oh," Tut exclaimed, startling the cat. "I forgot to introduce
you. Sita, meet Isis. Isis, meet Sita."
*I take it this is your new mate?* Isis meowed.
"That's right."
Sita started. "What was that? You understand the cat?"
Tut nodded. "Cats by nature aren't very talkative. I'll
explain. The Quickening is basically, well it's sort of like the
force."
"What?" Sita said, smiling. "As in, Jedi?"
"Yeah, see, it's everywhere, and Immortals would be the Jedi."
"Good analogy. So how does that explain your Dr. Doolittle
trick?"
"I can use the quickening to connect with other living things.
It's a trick that my teacher taught me. From what I understand he's
fallen out of the habit, but I've refined it over the years. I taught
another Immortal how to do it, his name was Ramirez, and he taught his
protoge. It's almost a lost skill. Very few Immortals know how to do
it, and fewer still use it."
"I'd imagine it can come in handy."
"Extremely. I once had a run in with an Immortal who used it
to control a pack of dogs. They'd run down an Immortal and make him an
easy kill. Fortunately for me, I could do it too."
Sita gently removed the cat from her lap. "Sorry Isis." She
stood and streched langoursly. "I'm going to go for a walk."
"Want some company?"
"No, thank you. I need to think about some stuff." She raised
an eyebrow at him. "Wait up for me."
Tut smiled. "Anytime."
Buffy strode confidently through the cemetary. She hoped Angel
would show up. She was getting tired of dragging the ordeal out, and
had decided she was finally ready to kill him. Suddenly, up ahead, she
heard the sounds of battle.
Springing to action, she leaped over a tombstone and raced
around a tomb to see...
A blur of motion. That's all she could make out. Whatever it
was was moving too fast for her too see. But it was making short work
of a large group of Vampires. Almost as soon as she'd arrived on the
scene, it was over. The Vampires were dead, and the force that had
dispensed with them vanished.
"What the hell was that?!" Buffy exclaimed to herself.
The next day, Buffy entered the Library with a purpose. She
intended to find out what it was she had seen last night. And
naturally, Giles was the man to ask. He wasn't in sight immediatley,
then she saw him, in his office talking to someone.
She waited patiently, then impatiently. She peeped into the
office to see what was up, and saw that Giles looked very distressed.
"Ah, so the rumours were true." she heard behind her. She
turned and saw the new boy behind her. "This school does have a
library." He glanced around. "Why is it so dim in here?" he asked.
"What are you people, Vampires?"
"Vampires?!" Buffy said defensively. "What Vampires there are
no Vampires here! In fact there's no such thing as Vampires!"
The boy just stood there for a moment. "You don't drink de-caf
do you." he said finally. He approached her and extended his hand.
"We never actually met." he said. "My name's Tom Kammen."
"Buffy Summers." They shook hands. "Did you want something?"
"Oh, not really I was just familiarizing myself with the
school. Actually, maybe you can help me. I want to show my girl
friend a good time tonight, maybe you can suggest someplace?"
"Your girlfriend is the blond?" Buffy guessed.
"Yeah, Alisa."
"Cool. I aprove, she's very pretty."
"Uh, thanks." Tut wasn't sure where they could go with this
converstation. He'd gotten what he'd come for. The pre-Immortal
wasn't Buffy. That narrowed it down to two people.
"So, anyway," Buffy said, breaking the awkward silence. "The
Bronze is the only nightclub in town. You might try there."
"Cool." Tut thanked her. "See ya 'round."
"Yeah." Buffy sighed. "That could have gone better, could have
gone worse too."
Sita sat in her Trigonometry class, not particularly paying
attention. She already knew more about the subject than the teacher.
Bored, she began sorting throught the different scents in the room.
Chalk, someone had eaten bacon for breakfast, she identified every
brand of deoderant that was being used, there was apparently a new
fragrence on the market, that one forgot to shower, and...
Sita turned her head slightly, her eyes picking out the
interesting smell on the left side of the room. She remembered him
from roll call. Oz. She wondered what his real name was. She sniffed
again, confirming her suspicions. A werewolf. This town was just full
of interesting things.
"So who was that guy?" Buffy wanted to know immediately.
"What? Oh, just another Watcher." Giles assured her. "Nothing
important." But his mind was racing. One of the worlds oldest
Immortals had taken up residence in Sunnydale. That was certainly
going to make things interesting.
"You guys are not going to believe this." Xander declared,
entering the Library with Cordelia close behind. He was holding the
paper above his head like an Evangelist would hold a bible. "Check
this out." He slapped the paper down on the table in front of Buffy.
Curious, she read. Five people, four girls and one boy had
been found dead in various parts of the city. "Xander," Buffy said.
"As tragic as this is, it's not news. In case you haven't noticed,
death is not exactly an unusual occurance around here."
"Read on my friend." the boy told her. "These people weren't
drained of blood, or mauled by any animal. The boy was dismembered
mutilated and some parts were missing, and the other victims were
beaten to death and raped, run through, strangled, and one girl had her
throat cut.
"Those are all the M.O.'s of famouse serial killers."
"Yes," Giles said, looking distressed. "Geoffrey Dahmer, Ted
Bundy, the Boston Strangler, Robert Smith, and Jack the Ripper."
"Okay, it really frightens me that you guys know that." Buffy
said. "So, besides Vampires and Demons, we've got a copycat killer on
our hands?"
"Wait a minute," Cordelia exclaimed the paper placed the time
of death to almost simultaneous. That would mean that either the
killer's really fast, or there's more than one."
As shocking as that possibility was, it was nothing compared to
the shock of hearing an intelligent deduction exit Cordelia's mouth.
"What?" she asked, as they stared at her.
Tut sat pondering his situation in the Bronze. Sita had
promised to join him later, saying she had some business matters to
attend to. But Tut didn't think that was it, he didn't think she was
happy. Something was bothering her. His thoughts were interupted
when his stomach clenched slightly, while a mild buzzing filled his
head. An Immortal. And then, underneath, another sensation. The pre-
Immortal.
He looked around urgently, and found who he was looking for.
The pre-Immortal was being led out the back by an Immortal. And she
didn't look happy about it.
Willow's eyes were wide with fear as the man shoved her up
against the wall. The man had come up to her while she was talking
to Oz, and asked to buy her a drink. When she'd refused, he'd knocked
out Oz and dragged her outside.
Of the others in the group, only Smith and Jack had any real
interest in the Game. That was why Jack had taught Smith to sense a
pre-Immortal.
"You're a very special girl Willow." Smith smiled. With one
hand he held her against the wall. With the other, he drew his sword.
"It's just a shame," he said, relishing the fear in her eyes. "That
you will never get to find out just how special. He thrust forward
with the point of the blade.
Willow clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the pain she was
sure would come, but it didn't. Instead, she heard the sound of steel
on steel, and the man's hand fell away from her throat.
Opening her eyes, she was astonished to see the new boy, what
was it Buffy had said his name was? Tom? Tom. Tom was standing
between her and her attacker, brandishing a sword.
"You want a head," Tut said threateningly. "Take mine. If you
can."
"Anything you say." Smith grinned, slashing with his sword.
"Willow run!"
She did, but not far. She had to see what was going to happen.
Hiding behind a dumpster, she watched the duel.
The man was pathetic, Tut decided. It was no wonder he had
to prey on the untrained. He had no skill with a sword at all. The
fight did not last long.
"There can be only one." Tut said, as he delivered the killing
blow.
It was all Willow could do to not scream, when Tom cut off
the man's head. But she could not help it when she saw what happened
next. It looked like Tom was being struck by lightening, but there
wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the lightening seemed to be coming
primarily from the body of her attacker. What in the world was going
on?!
Oz was suddenly at her side, apparently recovered from the blow
to his head. Together, they watched as electricity flickered across
the alley, blowing out windows. Tut let out a scream that sounded
equal parts pain and pleasure, and then silence. Tut fell to his
knees, panting, his long black hair falling around his shoulders.
This time, when Willow ran, it was for real. Oz was right
behind her.
Drucilla had just stepped out for bite, and found the pickings
slim. She wandered for a while, still not having any luck, when
suddenly, she heard a familiar scream. The scream brought back
delicious memories of before she'd become a Vampire, and she gravitated
to the source, a chorus of tiny voices, that she decided must be the
worms in the earth whispered to her that a wonderfull thing had been
brought to her.
And there in an alley, she found her prize. He was just as she
remembered him, only not flayed. "Thomas," she whispered, half to him,
half to herself. "You came back to me."
Tut pulled in a lungfull of air, recovering from the
Quickening. After all these years, it didn't get any easier. The
crunch of gravel brought him out of his reverie. "Willow," he started.
"I told you to ru-" he opened his eyes. It wasn't Willow. He leaped
to his feet, his face draining of color as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Drucilla?"
"Yes," she crooned, stroking his face gently. "It's me my
pet." Then she hit him. Hard. She gathered his unconsious body in
her arms and started back home. "I've got someone I want you to meet."
To be continued...
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