Fic: Visiting History (1/?)

[C A Moore <cab_moore@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here it is (finally).If you read the teaser with my
beta request, you've already read most of this (but
unbetaed)apart from the new opening paragraph, and an
extra section on the end


TITLE: History Visiting [working title] (1/?)
AUTHOR: C A Moore (cab_moore@xxxxxxxxx)
PAIRINGS: Eventually B/W, mild B/R, W/T, B/f in
transit
RATING: PG, I suppose, nothing very explicit, yet
DISCLAIMER: Buffy Universe is the property of
Joss/Mutant Enemy/WB. Helen, Jo, Chris & Jane are mine
SUMMARY: A visitor comes to Sunnydale and ruffles a
few feathers. Fits "in the cracks" between "Doomed"
and "A New Man".
SPOILERS: In this part I don?t remember spoiling past
Doomed
AUTHOR?S NOTES: It?s B/W but don?t hold your breath it
will take a while (blasted story keeps expanding).
Mary Sue alert (I don?t need to tell you who)

History Visiting 

The dark figure stood over the coffin, brooding for a
moment over things past. These last decades had been
happy, containing a human intimacy never expected.
Buffy and Angel, the figure reflected, love eternal
yet forbidden, always the wrong time. They had found
happiness with others, and now were finally separated
forever by the tyranny of time. Death by old age, who
would have thought? Never expected there to be enough
left to bury. The figure looked up slightly, and
caught sight of the beautiful ?woman? waiting outside,
standing discreetly in the shadows. Immortal and
mortal doomed to sadness, love between immortals, was
different, without the urgency; love that deepened
with time. It was worth it, although sixty years ago I
would have never believed it ? the demon broke into a
smile, and swept dramatically out of the church to the
waiting female, finally closing a story begun so many
years earlier.

****

In the alley the air shimmered briefly as if, for a
moment reality struggled against the inevitable,
reluctant to accept the change. The air cleared and
there was now a tall, slim man standing in the
previously empty space. The "man" looked about him
getting his bearings; this place was familiar, but at
the same time felt so different. As he moved to the
mouth of the alley a group of young people, men and
women, moved past the alley, talking and laughing as
they made their way into some sort of club. A small
smile crossed his lips as he left to alley to follow
them.

****

Buffy walked towards the Bronze, her brow creased in
thought. Patrol had been uneventful, with just a few
newly risen vamps, easily staked. Before patrol Willow
had warned her that there might be something new in
town. She had said that earlier, when she had been
performing a simple spell she had sensed something,
something that had frightened her. She was unable to
exactly describe it; she said it "felt" like an
interdimensional portal being opened and closed; like
a demon summoning, but this had been different, more
powerful yet more controlled. It had really scared
her, and Giles, too, seemed concerned when they told
him, and he had advised her to be very careful on
patrol.

As she entered the Bronze, Willow ambushed her,
"Anything?"

"A few newbie vamps, nothing unusual"

"Riley?"

"I haven't seen him yet, but I'll ask if the
Initiative has seen anything when I see him tonight"

"I won't wait up" Willow smiled.

"Uh-huh", Buffy paused, "Walk you home?"

"Thanks"
As they left the Bronze there was the sound of a
scuffle and some distinctly vampiric growling from an
alley. Rushing to the alley mouth they saw a man
easily pinning a struggling woman against a wall;
looking at them Buffy?s "Slayer Sense" was screaming:
vampire! Signalling Willow to stay put Buffy stalked
up behind the man, staking him in the back and
throwing him down into a pile of litter. Turning to
help the victim she was shocked to see that she was a
vampire; before she could react the demon leaped on to
her, stopping her from using the stake; they grappled
for a moment but Buffy clearly had the advantage.

Suddenly the demon's hand reached inside her clothing
and reappeared with a knife. Buffy braced herself for
the blow, but it never came: someone hit the vampire's
elbow causing it to miss. Taking advantage of the
surprise, Buffy moved back and staked the vampire
easily, turning away form the dust cloud, she looked
up at her ally, a red-haired woman of about her own
age. The woman offered her a hand up; she accepted.

As they moved into the better lighting at the mouth of
the alley, the woman spoke 
"What was that?"

"Vampire" Buffy replied shortly. The woman's fast
reaction to the knife was worrying her; so was the
fact that she hadn't noticed the woman when she first
entered the alley, although she supposed that she
could have missed her in the shadows, as her attention
had been focused on the obvious 'victim'.

"They were very fast and strong," the woman said,
almost as if she was excusing herself, and continued
with a smile "what about you?"

Willow joined the pair at the alley mouth
"Are you alright Buffy?"

In the shadows of the alley it had been difficult to
make out exactly what was happening. She had been as
surprised as Buffy when the victim had turned into the
aggressor, and on seeing the other figure approach the
fighting pair had been about to yell a warning when
the fight came to its abrupt conclusion.

"Fine" Buffy replied looking at the stranger in the
streetlight. She was tallish, perhaps five six; but
perfectly proportioned, so that without a reference
you wouldn?t notice. Her hair was a paler shade than
Willow?s, and she was wearing a clingy green dress
that left little of her shape to the imagination. On
an impulse, she reached out to the girl's neck to
check her pulse, 'stupid to get caught twice in one
night'. She had a pulse, and her neck was soft and
warm. Her thoughts drifted again to the dress, and
it's contents, it was a very nice shape, she thought,
as her hand caressed the smiling woman's neck. A voice
intruded on her thoughts.

"Buffy?" Riley asked, approaching the group.

Buffy drew her hand back as if stung; gathering her
confused thoughts, 'damn post slaying....', she turned
to Riley with a hastily summoned smile
"Riley? I thought we were meeting at your place", she
remembered the new girl, "Riley this is..." suddenly
realising that she didn't know her name.

"Jo", the girl supplied.

Riley seemed distracted
"Buffy, about tonight, I -" he paused as the presence
of the extra person penetrated his consciousness. 

"Yes?"

He drew Buffy away from the others and continued
"Something has come up, I've been rostered on to
tonight's shift, they?ve put me on double shifts, and
when I?m not patrolling I?ll be babysitting, um,
briefing some new brass form Washington, for the whole
weekend. They?ve even got me sleeping on base. I won?t
be able to see you until next week."

"Oh"

*****

When Buffy and Riley left them, Willow turned to Jo
"Are you from around here?"

"No, I just arrived; your friend, Buffy, what is she?"

Willow ignored the question.
"What do you do?", then realising that it came out a
bit blunt she continued, "I mean, um, what brings you
to Sunnydale?"

The other woman smiled,
"Sorry, I'm a bit pushy. I'm a scientist, I guess. As
a hobby I study paranormal phenomena, and my research
seemed to indicate that Sunnydale was the place to go;
the laryngitis epidemic was too much to ignore. I must
admit I didn't expect to observing so, well,
intimately"

There was a short silence, Jo looked over at Buffy and
Riley talking
"Soldiers and their secrets", she commented to Willow
with a smile.

Willow started,
"How?"

"His job a secret too, huh" Jo said, looking even more
amused, "I'm trained to observe, remember. Anyway,
I've seen a lot of soldiers; after a while you can
just tell".

Buffy rejoined the group as Riley left to report
"Riley has to, " looking at Jo, "mark some papers".
She stopped, noticing that Jo and Willow were smiling
broadly at her explanation "What?"

"She worked it out Buffy, she knows Riley is military.
She says you can tell by looking at him." Willow
explained.

Buffy smiled too, seeing their joke
"He told me he had to do some work on the covert
thing? So, what were you two talking about when you
weren't checking out my boyfriend?"

Jo looked on, amused, as Willow filled Buffy in
"? Maybe we should take her to see Giles?" she
finished.

"Isn't he performing tonight?" Buffy asked smiling
again.

"Tomorrow morning, then" Willow continued
emphatically, sharing the joke. 

"What is he, a stripper, or something?" Jo asked

"Worse" Buffy replied.

"Folk music" Willow finished.

"Tomorrow it is, then" Jo agreed.

As the three girls continued to talk, Jo subtly
started them walking in the direction that Willow and
Buffy had been heading before the fight. Soon the trio
was headed for the dorm room, Buffy and Willow having
unconsciously taken the lead, still talking to the
woman about their experiences. Not once, despite
talking all night, telling the stranger all about
their lives on the Hellmouth and their roles as slayer
and witch, did the two girls realise the strangeness
of their easy intimacy with someone they had met only
hours earlier. 

Trust is intuitive, body language is the language of
intuition, and Jo was a fluent speaker; it had been
easy to allay their suspicions, using the strength of
their feeling for each other to ensure their
acceptance by mimicking them, to get them to talk
about their lives. She had not expected an opportunity
like this so soon after her arrival. Tired, the girls
fell asleep, awash with feelings of friendship and
security. It was 4AM, plenty of time before sunrise;
Jo quietly rose from her sitting position on the floor
and looked at the sleeping girls, smiling gently to
herself. She had a job to do, and now was the time to
do it.

*****

Riley looked at his watch for what seemed to be the
hundredth time; 4:15, only 45 minutes until he was off
duty, and he could finally sleep. Usually there was
little HST activity in the predawn hours, as there
were few humans to hunt. Tonight, however was
different, the lab coats had picked up a strange
energy pattern that afternoon, more of a hot flush
than a hot spot, all the HSTs were uneasy; now they
had double patrols. He signalled his men to hide; they
were outside the computer science building, he had
heard stories from some students about someone
attacking people here during the last few nights. It
would be nice to end the parol with at least one less
HST on campus, even if they didn?t find this
hypothetical big bad.

The commandos tensed as they head footsteps
approaching. Riley peered through the bushes and was
able to make out what appeared to be a red haired girl
walking towards them; she seemed vaguely familiar, but
he couldn?t place her. As she came closer he looked
over to Graham; the other commando answered his
unspoken question by signalling that this was ?a warm
one?, not a vampire.

Continuing her progress, apparently oblivious to their
observation, the girl came close to some bushes.
Suddenly, the vampire attacked, leaping out from his
hiding place to stand in front of the girl, his face
wearing its demonic features. Before the soldiers
could react, the girl did. Her foot shot upwards,
connecting solidly between the demon?s legs; while the
creature doubled over in pain she ran quickly,
reaching the building, opening the door, and going
inside. For a second the commandoes stood stunned;
Riley had felt himself wince in sympathy as he heard
the blow, Forrest summed it up

?Remind me to never piss her off?, he said; the
disabled HST was easily dispatched.

?Sir?? The soldier carrying the new equipment
approached Riley nervously.

?Yes, soldier?

?We got what looks like a positive reading, Sir?

?The vampire?? He frowned, the order was capture, not
kill.

?The girl, sir?

Riley quickly gave orders to secure the building. When
the second patrol arrived he lead a team into the
building, taking a few seconds to enter an override
code into the electronic lock; a thought nagged at the
edge of his mind refusing to focus. As they entered he
dismissed it, to better concentrate on capturing the
hostile. Opening the door of one of the rooms they
found the hostile leaning over a computer; hearing
them approach it turned revealing a vampiric visage.
Instead of fleeing or trying to fight, it quickly
plunged the pencil it was holding into its heart, and
disintegrated in a cloud of dust. The team stood
stunned; they had never seen one do that before. When
he recovered the power of speech Riley called base,
reported the situation, and was ordered to report
immediately for debriefing; with warm blooded vampires
on the loose, sleep would have to wait.

*****

part two coming soon
CBMoore

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