DISCLAIMER:: I do not own Oz, Joyce, Giles, Cordelia, Buffy, Angel, Willow or Xander. They belong to Wb&co. RATING: PG-13. CONTENT: Nothing is shown though much is implied. SPOILERS: Post-Lovers Walk. SUMMARY: But I can't summarize because then you wouldn't need to read it! The night seemed brighter. Brighter, and not as cold. The weather lately had been unusually crisp for Southern California, with temperatures dropping into the forties at night. But somehow it felt... different now. More comfortable. Oz smiled as he breathed in the night air. He hadn't felt this good in... in... well, ever, actually. For the first time in his life, he felt safe. Safe and powerful. Maybe it was because now, his curse as a lycanthrope was ended. All the texts had said that once a werewolf, always a werewolf; but apparently they hadn't taken this situation into account. Of course, Oz still had his worries. A new life had begun for him, but that didn't relieve him of certain... responsibilities he felt obliged to discharge. Which was why he was headed towards Buffy's house. He knew she wasn't going to be there, but her mother would, and her mother might know where to contact her. He rang the doorbell and waited anxiously. (Not that we would have been able to tell he was anxious if I hadn't said so. Just take my word for it. He was anxious.) The door opened, framing Joyce Summers in brightness as the lamplight spilled out onto the porch. "Who is it?" Joyce asked. Oz gave her a quick, strained smile. "Hi, Mrs. Summers. It's me. Can I come in?" "Who?" Joyce said suspiciously, before her expression lightened. "Oh, Willow's boyfriend, the musician. Sure, come right in." Oz stepped inside and moved into the living room. Joyce followed. "Buffy's not home right now, Oz..." He cut her off. "Yeah, I know. Mrs. Summers, I think there's something you ought to know about." Something in his tone alerted her. "What?" "Turn on the TV. It's all over the news." Beginning to feel frightened, Joyce crossed over to the TV and turned it on. The staticky picture of Channel 12 flickered onscreen. The next thing Joyce saw was blackness. "So what should we do now?" Joyce asked. Oz shrugged. "I was kind of hoping you could get hold of Willow. Or Buffy. She'd listen to you more than me." Joyce shook her head. "I don't know where she goes when she goes patrolling. She could be anywhere, and I think Willow and Xander are out with her tonight." Oz sighed. "Well, scratch that idea." He stayed silent for another moment, and then his face brightened. "But we could talk to Giles. I mean, he could help us with this prophecy thing, and maybe he knows where to get hold of your errant Slayer daughter." Joyce smiled. "Oh! Why didn't I think of that? Mr. Giles would be the perfect person to go to, of course." "But... what if he doesn't agree to help us? He might not see things our way." Joyce shrugged, and then her face turned sly. "I think we can bring him around." "Anyone home?" Oz called, poking his head in the library. "Oz?" Giles said as he came out of the stacks. "Oh. Good. I n-need to get hold of Buffy. I've discovered something in the texts, a new prophecy..." "Yeah, we know," Oz stated as he made his way into the library and plopped down into his usual seat. "H-how do you know?" Giles questioned. "And w-who is 'we'?" "Oh, it's just me, Mr. Giles," Joyce said, following Oz into the library. Giles stopped short in surprise. "Mrs. Summers! It was g-good... it's nice to see you again," he corrected himself. Oz smiled. With an effort, Giles returned his mind to the concerns at hand. "Anyway... About the prophecy. I need to f-find Buffy, because this text r-refers to 'the strong becoming weak', and it was in a reference to mortals, not vampires, so..." " 'For as the cycle of one thousand years reaches its second ending,'" Oz quoted, " 'the Old Ones shall see the error of their ways, and turn from the path of strength to the path of guile. And in the dawning of this new era, the weak shall find their rightful place as kings.' That it?" Giles turned and stared at Oz, hard. Behind him, Joyce approached, also listening to Oz's monologue. Giles was taken aback. "H-how... how did you know that?" A slight smile crossed Oz's face. "This is the second time tonight I've heard it." "Buffy? Oh good, you're back from patrol. Yes. I need to talk with you, as soon as possible. At the library." Giles paused on the phone to listen for a minute, then continued. "Oh, yes, by all means, bring her. And Xander. There's something rather important going on, and you'll need all the strength you can get." Giles listened for another moment, then rolled his eyes. "All right. Just get here. See you soon." He hung up, and turned back to Oz and Joyce. "They'll be here soon," he reported. "Well. We had sort of gathered that," Oz deadpanned. Joyce smiled and held her arms out to Giles. "My daughter the Slayer," she said, as he came to her. "Soon to be your daughter, too. She'll be ours." Oz made a gagging sound. Both adults turned and gave him stern looks of disapproval. Oz looked innocent. A noise from the library doors got their attention. "That was fast," muttered Giles. However, it wasn't Buffy who came through the doors, but Cordelia. She stopped, looking both relieved and disgusted at the same time. "I knew I'd find you guys here," she said. "Hi, Giles, Mrs. Summers. Something weird is going on." Giles snickered. "For some strange reason I have trouble believing that." Cordelia glared at him. "I'm serious. I was out shopping, right, and I ran into Lance. You remember him? Such a wimp that he nearly got himself beaten up by Xander? Well, at any rate, I walked straight into him, in the middle of the mall, and he totally went with the fangs." Oz looked up, looking faintly amused. "So, how is a person turning into a vampire weird? I mean, I'm not saying it isn't, 'cause it is. Just not for Sunnydale." Cordelia rolled her eyes and ignored him. "I thought vampires usually don't like to make vampires out of the docile type. You told me they prefer just to eat the meek, and only make vamps out of the buff type." Giles shrugged, uncaring. "Usually they do." Cordelia began to get upset. "So, you mean that things are all out of whack? Vampires are doing things they're not supposed to? People are being turned into demons right and left! How am I supposed to handle this? How am I supposed to know who's going to be a nasty next?" Oz stood up and moved, so that he was standing between Cordelia and the doors. "You know what?" he said. "You really can't, can you?" Joyce, Giles and Oz stared at Cordelia. Hungrily. Buffy, Xander and Willow strode into the library, to find Giles and Oz already there. "Oh, hey, what's up?" Buffy asked brightly. "You sounded kinda freaked over the phone." Giles smiled strangely at her. "Yes, well, I had good cause to be. Oz, could you show Xander and Willow what I mean? Back in the stacks, that is. Buffy, could you come with me for a second?" Buffy followed, a bit unnerved. "Okay, again with the freaky. Giles, what's happening?" "Hmmm?" Giles said. "Oh. Yes. You want to know what's going on. Here, take a look at this." He gestured to a book lying open on his desk. Buffy leaned over to read the itty-bitty printing. Without warning, she felt a hot explosion on the back of her head, and then nothing. "Is it secure?" said a voice. "Of course it's secure," said another one. "I checked it three times. I'm not an idiot." "You sure she can't break it?" "Now see here. I know her strength better than either of you do. I was her Watcher, remember? I'm positive she can't break it. Or Angel either, for that matter." "What, she can't break Angel? Lay odds on that." "Do you want me to answer that or just glare? I meant the chains. And I'll bet on it." "Ooo, look, Oz. Willow and Xander are waking up," said a third voice, a female voice. "The door is locked, right?" It was the first voice again. There was a pause. "Okay, okay! So I'm a bit worried about a miracle for our former buddies! Cut me a break!" With an effort, Buffy opened her eyes. A vampire's face was barely inches from her own. Suddenly wide awake, Buffy threw herself backwards and tried to lash out at the demon, only to pull up short as she found her hands and feet tethered by chains. She tugged at her bonds, ultimately futilely. Whoever had tied her up really knew what they were doing. The vampire grinned, highly amused by her efforts to escape. As Buffy watched in horror, the demonic visage melted away, to be replaced by an all-too-familiar face. Giles. "You're awake," he said happily. "Good." Buffy looked around the library. On the opposite side of the room stood a dark-haired vampiress whose clothes bore a stunning resemblence to the designer outfit that Cordelia had been wearing earlier that day. A sick feeling of realization began to grow in the pit of Buffy's stomach. Inside the book cage were two sprawled figures, one of whom was just beginning to stir. Willow and Xander? Guarding the cage were two blond vampires. One of them had to be Oz. And the other‹ "Mom?" Buffy whispered. Joyce apparently heard her, though, for she came over to stand next to Giles, putting an arm around his waist. He responded with a companionable arm over her shoulders. Joyce smiled up at him, then turned that smile on her daughter. "Yes, honey," she said. "Isn't it wonderful?" "What happened?" Buffy said hopelessly. There had to be a way out of here. Just had to... but she couldn't see any. She had been tricked, betrayed by the death of four of the people she trusted most in the world. This was summer... how long before she was missed? Who would miss her? All the people she cared most about in the world were in this room. Unless -- her wild hopes were dashed a moment later when she saw Angel there, chained in a similar manner to one of the library railings and tightly gagged. He was still unconscious. When had he come in? How long had she been out? No way to tell. Giles started to answer Buffy's question, but Oz, coming over, cut him off. "Now, now," he said chidingly to the ex-librarian, "we didn't come here to chat with the dinner course." "Right," said Cordelia, joining in the conversation although not leaving her post. "If there's gonna be any talking, we're going to do it." "After all," Oz continued. "I spent most of my life being quiet. So I really do think it's our turn." "You see," Joyce explained, "We were going to bring you over, you and Willow and Xander. We really were." "But then we got to talking, you see, and we decided that, after all, what do we need you guys for?" Cordelia maintained. "I mean, I was gonna make with the biting for Xander, and, you know, we'd be together for all eternity and all that, right?" "And I was going to do the same for Willow," Oz finished. "But I have Cordelia now, and Giles has Joyce. We're all one big happy family. And that was when I realized I was still kind of annoyed at Willow, for making out with Xander behind my back..." "And I kind of felt the same way about Xander," Cordy said, addressing her comments now to Xander, who was slowly standing up. "For that matter, I found that I myself had not fully forgiven Angel for killing Miss Calender," Giles put in, giving the re-souled vampire a nasty glare. "So you see? We all talked it over, and decided there was much more fun in torturing and killing you." Joyce smiled. "I mean, honey, you really have put me through hell these last two and a half years. I think it's time for payback." "It so is," Cordelia agreed. "I mean, ever since you showed up, I've been attacked by invisible girls, kidnapped to be Bride of Frankenstein, used as bait, gotten hooked up with El Geeko here, and impaled. And I for one am sick and tired of being pushed around." "Right," Giles agreed. "You said it, Cordy," Joyce applauded. "No more laid-back guy!" Oz said happily. "And yeah, yeah, we know; when you die, another Slayer will be called." "So we're saving you for last!" Cordelia enthused. Giles, returning to his vampire face, gave the four captives meaningful glances. "And it'll all be worth it to watch your face as your friends die." "Who do we start with?" Joyce asked him. "I say the vampire," Giles replied without hesitating. "Then Willow, then Xander, and Buffy last. After all, we have all summer." "'S true." Oz was looking more and more psyched about this. He hauled out a bag and upended it on the table. Joyce and Giles looked admiringly at the assortment of implements and weapons on the table, but Cordelia refused to go near. "I just know you'll spill some of that holy water on me," she complained. "I'll stand guard. You three can go first." "Well, somebody has to," Joyce sighed. "Okay. As soon as Willow and Angel wake up, we can get started." " '... and in the dawning of the new era, the weak shall take their rightful place as kings. The strong shall be cast down from underneath,' " Giles murmured, " 'as the weak become strong, and the strong weak again; the blood of the feeble shall flow like wine, and the Earth shall belong to the old ones. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth...' " "Y'know, evisceration," Oz commented, picking a pair of scissors off of the table. "It's sort of like disembowelment. But with a twist." "...Amen." Let's see Wolf-boy when he's a wolf, rather than a vampire More, more, I'm still not satisfied The Brotherhood ][ Last Man Out ][ Blacklight Behind the Scenes ][ What's Mine Is Yours ][ 3 Thru The Merry-O Swing Set ][ The Healer ][ Black & White The Meek Shall Inherit ][ Rosemary For Remembrance