It was a very tense and strained time at the
Summers House. Two days had passed and still Willow had yet to say
any more than ten words in one sentence. Ever since Xander had brought
her back to the house, the only words she'd spoken were yeses or nos and
she only spoke those when asked. She also became very desolate, spending
most of her time in the spare room while Buffy, Xander, and Giles tried
their best to help Willow through the trauma that she was going through.
But the truth was that they didn't know how to help the redhead. They
all knew that the relationship that Willow and Tara had shared was a special
one, one that had an emotional bond that no one could really understand
because it was so unique and powerful that it surprised anyone who was around
them. They all wanted to tell Willow that things would get better
through time, but they couldn't voice the words when they themselves didn't
really believe them.
And during the past two days, Buffy and Xander had completely taken care
of the room that had once been Willow and Tara's bedroom. They moved
all of Willow's stuff to the redhead's new room and they'd boxed all of
Tara's stuff and put it in the basement for Willow to take care of when
she was ready.
The police had come by the day before to ask some questions about the
shooting. The officer that had questioned Buffy and Xander was nice
and sincere and even though he did positively identify Willow as the attacker
at the jail, he kept that bit of information to himself since no one else
really had any idea who it was. He had recognized Willow when the redhead
had come downstairs to answer the questions, but for some reason that no
one understood, he kept quiet and they were all very grateful for him in
doing so. And he'd left after getting some answers to who the shooter
was.
But today, Willow secured herself away in her new room and had the door
shut and locked so no one would interrupt her. Buffy was downstairs
with Dawn, Xander, and Giles and they all were in the living room with no
real idea of what to do to help the redhead. Giles did have another
concern about Willow, though.
"I'm worried about her magic." he said after a few minutes of silence.
"Giles, she doesn't have any magic left." Buffy pointed out. "Since
that coven's power drained her."
Giles shook his head. He was sporting a bandage on his face. "The
power from the coven didn't drain her, it was her emotions that did that.
The coven's power only let her feel the last of her humanity. But
the magic is inside her. Not the dark magic that she consumed, but
the real magic. The magic a witch is born with. That's still
there and until she can control it, she's going to be a danger in the future.
Maybe not as volatile as two days ago, but still a danger."
Xander looked at the Englishman. "What exactly can we do to help
her then?"
Giles pinched his nose. "There's a training technique I know of
that helps powerful witches learn to harness their powers before the power
ruins them. It's a very hard and difficult training, but it does work.
I think we might need to get Willow to go."
"That might be what she needs, but it won't be what she does. She's
not going to want to go." Dawn quipped.
"Maybe not, but we can't let her stay here in her condition. She's.....she's
suicidal right now. She's in a very deep depression right now that
we have to get her out of before it's too late." Giles told them.
"What do you mean 'before it's too late'?" Buffy asked, watching him
like a hawk.
Giles leaned forward in his seat. "This depression she's in, it's
only going to get worse. And sooner or later, it's going to progress
to the point that she's going to start pushing everyone around her away.
She's not going to want to be around anyone. I've seen it happen
many times. That's when the person decides to just end their misery
by taking their life. Willow is vastly approaching that point."
"Well, we have to stop that from happening!" Dawn said, now alarmed.
"We will, but it starts with the training in England. The training
was designed to help witches learn how to control their energy, but it
was also designed to help them reach an inner peace. If we can get
Willow to begin the training, it may help her with this depression." Giles
urged.
A knock at the front door interrupted their intense conversation and
Buffy headed over to the door to answer it. "Then that's what we'll
do." Buffy told him before she reached the door. She pulled the door
open and her eyes widened at the person she saw there. The woman that
stood there was drop dead gorgeous to Buffy's eyes. She was about
Buffy's own height with long blond hair that was hanging freely. She
had creamy white skin with a golden hue to it that made her look like a
goddess. Her emerald green eyes grabbed Buffy's attention at once.
And full red lips that were parted slightly and turned upwards into
a small smile.
The Slayer felt a heat form around her face and spread outward when the
woman smiled at her. Buffy had never felt such things from a woman
before. The last time she felt what she was feeling now was with Angel.
It wasn't lust, but it was something entirely different. Buffy
swallowed as she tried to gather her wits before the others saw her face.
"Can I.....can I help you?" she asked the woman.
The woman was slightly speechless. When the Slayer opened the door,
the woman's eyes had opened wider when she saw her. The curly blonde
locks shaped around a perfectly sculptured face had taken the woman's breath
away. And she felt very distinct feelings in the pit of her stomach
that spread outward and the woman knew that she was entranced with Buffy.
She'd learned early on in her life that she was more interested in
women than guys and she'd even had a few one night stands with a few women,
but she was never in a long term relationship with any of them. But
the fact is that none of them had ever rendered her breathless like Buffy
just did to her.
The woman snapped out of her haze enough to answer the question.
Business first, horny girl. She scolded herself. You can
try to have your fun later. She looked at the other blonde woman
and pulled the note the student had given her out. "Are you....Buffy
Summers or Willow Rosenberg?" she asked, looking back up.
Buffy raised her eyebrows. "I'm Buffy."
The blonde woman looked up. "Thank goodness I found your house.
The student at Stevenson Hall directed me here."
"Alright," Buffy said, now wanting to know who the woman was and why
she was here, "what can I do for you?"
The woman now saw three other people gather near the door, eyeing her
suspiciously. "Um...I'm looking for my half sister. The student
at Stevenson Hall directed me here."
"And who is your half sister?" Giles asked, now curious.
"I was told by my father that her name was Tara Maclay." the woman said,
eyeing them. She noted immediately the looks that crossed their faces.
There was a mixture of dread, sorrow, and barely disquised suspicion
clouding their faces. And the woman was beginning to wonder if coming
here was such a good idea.
"And just who was your father?" Xander asked, finding himself coming
to Tara's defense, surprising even him.
The woman bristled at the tone directed about her father. "My father's
name was William Cross. Look, I didn't come here to pick a fight
with anyone. I've been going from city to city for the past year,
trying to find my half sister. I was told, by my father, that her
name was Tara Maclay and that her brother's name was Donny. Can you
help me or am I wasting my time?!" she said hotly.
Without being able to stop herself, Buffy licked her lips at seeing the
woman's flash of anger. She found it sexy. WOW! Did
I just think she's sexy. That can't be right. I'm not gay, at least
I don't think I am. Buffy thought to herself. Then, she concentrated
on the woman's words and closed her eyes. She was fairly certain that
the woman wasn't a a threat and she stepped aside, allowing the woman to
step inside quietly. They all walked into the living room.
The woman sat down at the far corner of the couch while Buffy stayed
by the entrance way to the living room. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch
your name?"
The woman looked up at her. "Nora, my name is Nora Cross."
Buffy gave her a quick small smile. "I'm Buffy. This is Giles,
Xander, and my sister Dawn. I'm glad your sitting down because we
do know about your half sister."
Nora sighed a sigh of relief at finally finding her half sister. She
was beginning to wonder if she'd ever find her. "Thank god." she
breathed. "Can you direct me to her?"
Buffy glanced at Giles before looking back at Nora. "Miss Cross,"
she said, "I'm afraid Tara was.....she was involved in a shooting a couple
of days ago and she passed away." Funny how saying it can make you
feel the pain. Buffy felt tears strike her eyes at the unfairness of
it.
Nora Cross looked at the floor for a few moments after hearing Buffy's
words. "How badly was her body hurt?" she asked after a moment. She'd
realized long ago that the possibility existed that her half sister could
already be dead when she found her and the blonde haired woman had done
her research on a lot of different matters. Her mind was already spinning
with different ideas.
"What?" Dawn's upset voice spoke up.
Nora looked at the younger woman. "I'm sorry to phrase it like
that. I just need to know because...I might be able to help."
"How can you help?" Giles asked, beginning to become annoyed with the
woman.
Nora looked at her duffel bag for a moment. "Well, if Tara was
taken unjustly then the possibility of her soul being returned to her body
isn't completely out of the question."
"What do you mean?" Xander asked, interested.
Nora sighed, how could she phrase it that they'd understand. During
her time in Egypt, she'd learned a lot about the Egyptian Gods and their
Goddesses and about a lot of different things. She'd read a lot of
extensive stuff about resurrections and about how it is possible, given certain
circumstances. "I mean, was Tara taken before she meant to? Have
any of you tried a resurrection spell?"
They were all silent for a moment, but then a voice spoke up that none
of them would have expected to speak. "Absolutely not!!" Willow Rosenberg's
voice boomed from the top of the stairs.
Buffy looked up at her friend, seeing the tears and the rage being directed
at Nora.
Chapter 2
Willow Rosenberg sat upstairs in her new room.
She was at the head of her bed with her back resting against the headboard
and her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms around them. She
kept her head touching her arms as she tried to fight the onslaught of tears
that kept trying to bubble up to the surface. It seemed that no matter
what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop herself from
feeling the agony of losing her beloved Tara.
Every moment she looked anywhere in the house, she caught a glimpse
of a memory just wanting to be remembered. Some memories were happy
ones, others were those sad reminders of the fights they'd had many months
earlier. And the others didn't know it, but the room Willow was in
had certain memories to her. She and Tara would sometimes use this room
for their personal intimate activities when they were rushed. Or when
others were in the house and they didn't want to be disturbed, they'd use
this room so they wouldn't be disturbed. And Willow could still feel
what it was like to hold Tara in her arms or have Tara hold her in her arms.
She could still feel it and the memories were slowly driving her insane.
She looked around the room she was in with bloodshot eyes. Her
cheeks were already wet from her tears and looking around the room didn't
help her any. Every aching moment of being awake was like a daily reminder
of not only what she'd lost, but what she'd done in the moments following
Tara's shooting. She took a human life. Willow felt it the moment
she lifted her hand and saw Warren's body skinned before her eyes. She'd
done that in revenge for Tara. For Tara. She'd done it for Tara.
And that thought made her smile. She'd heard it said somewhere
that you know you love someone when you'd kill to protect them or to avenge
them. And even though Willow knew she loved Tara before that day two
days ago happened, knowing what she did as an act of revenge against Warren
just reinforced that. But what she'd ended up almost doing to her friends
was something else entirely.
She'd come so close to ending their lives and the lives of everyone
on the planet. If it hadn't been for Xander's act at the top of Kingman's
Bluff, Willow was sure she'd be in Hell right now for the life she'd taken.
And the thought that she would spend an eternity in Hell while Tara
was in Heaven was enough to make her scream in painful agony. But she
didn't, she remained quiet. And the knowledge that she had gladly wanted
to end the world to stop her suffering made her want to vomit.
She knew she wanted revenge against Warren, Jonathon, and Andrew
for what happened, but the fact that she took her rage out on her friends
was something she didn't want to face. She knew beyond a doubt that
her dark side was extremely powerful. That her rage and anger had given
form to her and that being that had taken over her body, even if she gladly
did so, cared not for her friends, just on the end. And now, as she
sat here in this room, Willow came to realize that she owed her friends an
explanation of her actions and an apology for the things she'd done and the
things she'd said. Especially to Dawn.
She was sure Dawn hated her right now. Willow had tried
to turn her back to the Key. And she'd said many things about all of
them and Willow wanted nothing more than to just roll up and die. But
she knew that before she could could carry out the plan she'd made this morning,
she would make her peace with her friends. Slowly, she sat up and
rose from the bed and approached the door.
She opened the door a moment later and approached the stairs.
As she neared, she heard voices in the living room. Most of them
she recognized, but there was one voice that she did not recognize. It
was a woman's voice, but it was one she'd never heard of before. Willow
was about to turn around and return to her room and wait for the woman to
leave when she heard the woman speak the name of her beloved Tara.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she turned back around
and leaned against the wall, still out of sight to them and easedropped
on their conversation.
"How badly was her body hurt?" was the first question
she heard from the woman. That was followed by another question.
"Was Tara taken before she was meant to?" But none of those two questions
could measure up to the last question the redhead heard before she was propelled
into action by the sudden urge to speak up after she heard the question uttered.
"Have any of you tried a resurrection spell?"
Willow moved away from the wall and stood at the top of the stairs
and let her voice be known to everyone who was down there. "Absolutely
not!" she called down, her eyes staring intently into the green eyes of the
woman she didn't know.
Buffy stared up at her friend, surprised to see her out of her
room. "Willow." she said up, but the redhead's eyes refused to meet
hers as she continued to stare into Nora's eyes.
"Buffy, who is this woman?" Willow demanded.
Buffy approached the now upset witch with caution. "I'm
pretty sure she's Tara's half sister."
Hearing this, Willow turned and looked at Buffy and quickly read
her eyes. Buffy seemed to believe that this woman was the half sister
of her beloved Tara. Willow looked at the woman as she descended the
stairs. "Do you have any proof that you are who you say you are?" she
asked.
Nora Cross laid her duffel bag down and slowly rose, watching
the redheaded woman that slowly walked down the stairs. When she first
saw Willow, the powerfully enhanced senses she was born with told her that
this woman was not only a witch, but a rather powerful witch who was recently
using great power for bad purposes. And Nora was also a gifted seer.
She could read auras of a person's mystical psyche. And reading
this woman's aura told Nora that this woman was still very powerful.
She tilted her head to one side as she spoke to the woman, trusting
her innate instincts now more than ever. "You must have loved my sister
very much." she commented.
You could have heard a single pin drop when the silence in the
entire house reigned. Every single person in the house stilled and
stayed silent, all watching Willow and just hoping that the redhead wouldn't
take offense to what the blonde woman had said. Willow stared hard
into Nora's eyes and was surprised to see compassion and caring in the green
eyes. She hadn't seen green eyes that shade since her beloved Tara
and now she was beginning to believe that maybe this woman was related to
Tara.
"Yes," she said, "I loved Tara more than anything else in the
world."
That seemed to settle the sudden chilled silence as they all
took a collective sigh of relief that Willow wasn't going to explode. Instead,
the redhead sat down on one of the stairs and kept watching the woman. "Who
are you?" she asked after a minute.
Nora walked over towards Willow. "My name is Nora Cross.
And as for the proof, I do have it. A little over a year ago,
my father confessed to me before he died that he'd once been in love with
a woman." Nora said, looking at the others so they could know she was talking
to them as well. "And this woman loved my father very much as well.
But, the woman that I now know as my mother had a husband and a son.
And even though they loved each other, she wouldn't leave her husband."
"The woman was Tara's mother." Giles said, more as a statement
than a question.
"Yes," Nora nodded, her hands now in her pockets, "and I was
created by their brief affair. When her husband learned of this, he
gave her an ultimatum and he gave my father a threat. He had my mother
so afraid of him that he knew she wouldn't leave. And he threatened
my father by saying that he would kill me while I was still in my mother's
womb if he didn't agree to what her husband wanted."
"What did he want?" Buffy asked.
Nora had a look of disgust on her face. "He wanted to be
rid of my father and me. So he made a deal with his wife and my father.
As soon as I was born, she was to say goodbye to me and my father would
take me away from her forever. And that's the way it happened. My
father raised me as best he could and I ended up becoming an archeologist.
But just before he died, my father told me that he'd kept in touch
with my mother following the years of my birth and he'd learned that she did
in fact have another child after me. That child was my sister that was
named Tara Maclay."
Willow looked down at her feet, unable to say anything.
"And he wanted me to find Tara and tell her about me and about
him. He wanted Tara to know that he was sorry he couldn't take her
away from her father's abuse." Nora said. "And after he died, I joined
a dig in Egypt, where I've learned a lot about the Egyptian Mythology. After
my employer's funding went out, I left Egypt to begin my search for my half
sister. I had a list of over thirty different Tara Maclays that lived
in America and I've spent the past year trying to track her down. And
I guess I've found her at last." Nora shook her head.
"I'm sorry it went down this way." Dawn said to her.
Willow looked up as earlier words hit her. "Why did you
ask them about resurrection spells?"
As soon as Willow asked the words, the others stared at Nora,
now also wanting to know. Nora looked back at all of them. This
would be the hard part, she was sure. "Because I happen to know for
a fact that resurrection spells do exist and they do work. I asked
you because from the sounds of it, I don't think Tara was meant to die the
way she did."
"It's too late anyway." Willow said quietly after a few moments
of silence.
"Why?" Buffy asked, sitting down next to Willow on the stairs.
Willow wouldn't answer, she just kept her gaze locked on the
steps.
"You already tried, didn't you?" Nora asked, easily being able
to guess that much.
Willow looked up at her sharply.
"You've already asked Osiris to bring her back. Am I right?"
Nora asked.
Willow looked away.
"Willow," Giles spoke softly, "we need you to answer."
"Yes! Alright! I begged Osiris to bring her back
but he refused. Or some demon for Osiris refused. He told me
that a human life taken by human means can't be brought back." Willow yelled
at them, her face full of sudden anger.
Nora looked out the window, trying to look at everything she
knows about resurrection and putting that against what she knows about the
Egyptian God Osiris. What Willow had told her just didn't add up.
There was something missing here. She turned back towards the
others, who were now watching her. "Are you sure this...demon or being
that spoke for Osiris was actually representing Osiris?"
"What do you mean?" Willow asked, crossing her arms over her
chest.
Nora sighed, she had to phrase this right. "Well, like
I've already said, I'm an archeaologist. I study fossils and stuff
like that. But when I was in College, I was mystified by Egypt and
Egyptian Mythology. It's all I studied. And I've done an extensive
study of the Egyptian God Osiris, among others and what you told just doesn't
add up."
"Will you explain it, then?" Giles asked, a little curious. He
knew a little about Ancient Egypt, but not much.
Nora took a deep breath. "Well," she began, "history recognizes
Osiris as the Egyptian God of the Underworld. But that's not his whole
story. Before he rose to Godhood, he was a powerful Pharaoh of Egypt.
But his brother Seth was envious of him and he killed Osiris and tore
him into fourteen pieces. After his death, his widowed wife Isis and
her sister Nephthys searched and found all fourteen pieces of Osiris's torn
body and buried them. In doing this, they gave new life to Osiris and
somehow, he became the Lord of the Underworld as a result."
They were all silent as Nora spoke.
"He was now in charge of life and death throughout Egypt. He
has been credited by historians with the growth of vegetation to the continued
flowing of the great Nile River. And his wife Isis has an interesting
story as well. She became a great enchantress. Many historians
recognize her abilites. She had the ability to heal gravely sick people,
but those who morned those people hd to invoke her name for it to happen.
But more importantly, she had the power to bring the dead back to life."
Nora paused, letting them absorb that before she continued. "Now while
it's not a proven fact among historians, some believe that Osiris alone
does not control life and death in the world. They believe that he,
among other judges of life and death, control it. I am one of those
who believe the judges theory as it's been called. But from all my
reading and researching of Ancient Egypt, I am convinced that Osiris would
bring any soul back one time, but you would be in debt to him for a later
date."
Willow rose after hearing this and approached Nora, tears in
her eyes again. "Then why did he or his disciple refuse me?"
Nora's face was compassionate as was her voice. "That's
just it, Willow. I don't think Osiris or any of Osiris's people even
knew of your request when this shooting happened. I'm guessing it was
one of these judges who doesn't want Tara returned." she said. The
next words from her mouth were with complete seriousness. "Willow,
everyone....I believe there is still a chance to bring Tara back. But
you have to trust me."
Willow stepped back slowly, a sob catching in her throat. Buffy
rose and put her arm around Willow, being as good a friend as she could.
Xander and Giles stared at Nora for a long moment as Dawn helped Buffy
with Willow.
"You want to explain that please?" Giles said to Nora.
She nodded. "I've done my reading on resurrections. I've
even witness two resurrections successfully done. There's a book, a
very powerful book that was written so long ago that the exact point of origin
is unknown even today. It's called the Book of the Dead. The
book holds the most powerful resurrection spells known to man. And it's spells
have been enchanted and touched by Osiris and the greatest of all Egyptian
Gods, Ra. As long as we can get to the book before one complete moon
cycle passes, we can bring Tara back with this book. But we have to
act quickly if we're going to do it."
"Where is this....Book of the Dead?" Willow asked from her seat
on the couch.
Nora took a deep breath. "That's the thing you see. It
was buried somewhere in the Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. Otherwise
known as the City of the Dead. Many have tired to find the book, but
it's exact location has never been discovered."
"Then how can you even suggest we go looking for this book!"
Willow snapped.
Nora walked closer to her. "I said many have tried to find
it. I have been one of them. And until recently, I had no idea
where it was. When I was on my last dig, I came across an old stone
tablet. I was the translater for the dig and written on the table was
the exact location of the Book of the Dead. Now, I had no desire to
see the book end up in some Museum for rich people to gawk at so before I
showed it to anyone, I did my best to mess up the letters on the tablet.
But I did read the tablet before I handed it to them. I know exactly
where the Book is, we just need to get there."
Although Giles personally was against this, he knew it wasn't
his decision. He was believing this was just another obstacle standing
in the way of Willow's grieving. But he would let Willow make the decision,
as they all would. If she said no, they wouldn't go and they would
send this woman away. On the other hand, if Willow believed in this
Book, then the others would stand behind Willow on this task.
It took less than two minutes for Willow to make the decision.
She found herself believing in what this woman was saying to her and
because she believed her, she would give her a chance. If there was
a chance, even a small one to bring her lover back from the dead, then she
would do whatever she had to make that happen. Looking at all her
friends, then at Nora, the redheaded witch spoke. She nodded her head.
"Let's do this." she said quietly.
Nora exhaled a sigh of relief. She had already known that
if they refused, she was going to find the book on her own because she truly
believed that Tara's time on Earth was not over. But now that they
were going to give it a try, there were some concerns that Nora was worried
about. "I do have some concerns that you all need to know about." she
said.
"What concerns?" Dawn asked.
"Well, first off........Tara." seeing their looks, she tried
to explain without upsetting them. "We have to...how can I put this...we
have to keep Tara's body from..decomposing." she said.
A look of utter horror filled Willow's face.
"What I mean is..." Nora hastened to explain, "we need to find
someplace to keep Tara while we go to Egypt. And we're going to have
to keep her on ice, that's the only way to make sure her body stays intact."
"Alright," Giles said, taking over before Willow threw up from
the words, "Xander and I will take Tara from the morgue tonight. I
know of a place where we can keep her. Then, first thing tomorrow morning,
we'll head out towards Egypt. I'll make the arrangements tonight."
They nodded, letting the older man take control of the situation.
"Wait a minute, someone's going to have to stay here with....Tara."
Dawn sudden interjected.
There were all silent as they thought about who they could get
to do that. Then Xander spoke up. "Anya. Let me go talk
to Anya and see if she'll do it."
"How long are we going to have?" Giles asked the blonde woman.
Nora crossed her arms. "Well, aside from Tara's physical
condition, it's going to be thirty days and thirty nights before it'll be
too late to perform the spell. We'll be in Egypt long before then.
Finding the book shouldn't take anymore than a few days and we should
be back here in time to do the right spell."
Giles nodded as Xander walked over and grabbed his bright brown
jacket and pulled it on.
Nora looked at Xander with the jacket. "That's a weird
looking jacket."
Xander didn't hear her comment as he was already leaving the
door when she spoke up. Buffy looked at the door and shook her head.
"Don't ask. He's got the strangest taste in clothes." she said,
not bothering to comment on his taste in women.
Nora stayed quiet as they helped get Willow back upstairs. She
had a lot to think about now.
Chapter 3
Doctor Peter Wilkins Graham grabbed his black
dress blazer and pulled it over his shoulders after he pulled his white lab
coat off. Today had been a very eventful day for the project he'd been
working on for the better part of the last ten years. He was a man
of about six feet tall in height and he had a normal man's body structure.
He had hazel eyes and a dark head of hair. He wore a pair of silver
rimmed eye glasses and he had a dark shaded thin beard and mustache.
Right now, Doctor Graham walked walked through different corridors of
a secret military base hidden just outside Sunnydale. He walked through
more corridors for a few more minutes before he came to a part of the walls
that could easily be considered nothing but part of the wall. But
the man knew differently. He reached into his pocket and produced
a small card. Reaching up, he moved a picture frame slightly to one
side and inserted the card.
A section of the wall moved inward to produce the interior of a elevator.
Dr. Graham entered it and re-inserted his card into a different insertion
point, effectively closing the opening. He punched in a code on the
keypad and the elevator began moving downward, towards his goal. Peter
Graham was the type of man who liked to make extraordinary achievements in
technology and science. He'd worked his entire life for the military
and government, obeying their orders, while at the same time, working for
a single goal he'd always had.
Ever since he entered college, he'd had a dream. That dream was
to discover the way to break that barrier that exists between life and death.
To break that one wall that separates mortality from immortality. That
became the basis for the project that began ten years ago. The military
and government worked together with the hopes of building super soldiers
to battle their enemies and Peter Graham was just the man to head their project.
Peter Graham, however, had another more scientific goal in mind than
creating super soldiers.
He wanted to break the gap between life and death. Find the secret
to giving a person immortality. He knew the answer lay in science and
technology. And because of that, he began to work with animals. Rats,
insects, rabbits, small animals to begin with. He first tried to manipulate
their DNA patterns. But the early tests ended in them death. Later,
as more and more time wore on, Peter Graham began to realize that the secret
to bringing a person's life back from the great beyond lie not with their
DNA, but with scientific formulas. So, Dr. Graham began mixing and
matching different potions together with hopes of finding that one formula
that would break the gap.
And one week ago, Dr. Graham and his team did exactly that. They
took a small rabbit and deliberately gave the small animal a vial of liquid
that would speed the rabbit's heart up until it stopped altogether. Within
an hour, the poor rabbit was dead. But that was only step one of the
experiment. Step two came when they took the formula they had just
finished and inserted the formulaic potion into the rabbit. It took
a little over an hour, but the potion brought the rabbit back to life. The
little furry animal had a fully functional heartbeat once again. And
while Graham's superiors wanted achievements in the super soldier project,
which he was still working on, he had broken the gap between life and death.
But that was only in animals.
After they had returned the rabbit to life, Dr. Graham began to wonder
if it would work on a recently deceased human being. His closest assistanst
told him it was a bad idea to try it because things could go wrong. One
of his assistants had ties with the other worldly beings like witches, warlocks,
and the such. And that assistant had told him that there were resurrection
spells that could bring a person back, but the person would sometimes come
back wrong. And he warned Dr. Graham that the same could happen if
they tried it with a human being.
Needless to say, Dr. Peter Wilkins Graham would no longer listen to their
concerns. He wanted to know if it was possible to bring a human being
back to life and he wanted to know now. So, he had ordered a team sent
out to the Sunnydale Morgue and bring back someone recently killed or recently
passed away and the call he had just recieved informed him that the team
had returned with a body.
The elevator stopped at the level he'd entered and the doors
slowly opened. Peter Graham stepped out of it and his first steps
were onto a steel platform that led to steel steps. The area he was
now at resembled the Initiative slightly. Dr. Graham stepped down
the steps, one at a time and he saw his assistants waiting, going over their
clipboards and trying to look busy. Peter knew they weren't really,
though.
He waited until he stepped off the steps before he said anything to his
assistants. "The body is here, I take it."
"Yes sir. The team returned an hour ago and we've been keeping it
on ice since." one of his three assistants replied.
"Good." Peter Graham replied.
"Sir," the assistant with the ties to the other worldly beings said, "there
are some concerns we've been worrying about."
"Such as?" Peter kept walking.
"If the formula works and this body is returned to life, what are we going
to do with her? I mean, do you plan on releasing her to return to return
to her life....or keep her here? That's sort of been a concern. Obviously,
we could use the brain scan and erase her memory of this place and the people
she sees and just drop her off somewhere She'd find her way back to wherever
it is she lives." the assistant, Mark Andrews, said.
Peter stopped and regarded them silently. "First off, if this works,
there's going to be no need to return her at all. Because if it works,
we'll have the formula that every science corporation, every country in the
world will want their hands on and this woman will be famous as being the
first human to be returned to life. She'll make millions of dollars
off it while we make billions. She won't have the desire to leave."
"But," Mark Andrews argued, "what if....she doesn't want to stay? I
mean, what if we can't convince her to stay here?"
Mark Andrews suddenly wished he hadn't spoken that question. Because
Dr. Graham now had the hardest, the coldest look he ever had on his face
and his words were even colder. "If she can't be convinced, she can
be forced. Otherwise, she becomes a liability. And we all know
what happens to liabilities around here, don't we?"
"Um...yes sir." Mark said, now remaining quiet as they entered the large
white room where they would test the formula.
In the center of the large padded white room was a long steel table that
had a body lying on top of it, a sheet covering the body. After pulling
a pair of latex gloves over his hands and removing his blazer, Dr. Graham
walked over to it and gently removed the sheet, showing the body to their
eyes. "How was this woman killed?" he asked, seeing the gunshot wound
above her right breast.
"Um...a shooter names Warren Mears tried to kill a different woman and
one of the bullets penetrated her heart and she died instantly." one of the
other assistants replied.
"Hm." Graham sighed as he looked at the woman's face. "Such a beauty.
Such a waste. Alright, let's get started. Where's the formula?"
he asked, looking back. He nor any of his men had named the formula
yet, but they would if it worked.
Mark Andrews stepped forward and handed his superior a syringe that held
a bright green substance within it. He stepped back after Dr. Graham
grabbed it and turned back towards the body. Stepping back another
stepped, he looked around quickly, noticed no one was watching him and then
he glanced at the cameras, knowing immediately where they were and knew that
none of them were had a direct shot of him. Slowly, he raised his right
hand to his ink pen, that was inside his shirt pocket and clicked the top
of it once, activating the hidden camera he had. Then, he stood still
and watched.
Unknown to what just happened behind him, Peter Graham slowly looked at
the syringe and nodded at the amount that was inside it. He then rubbed
a small amount of alcohol with a small piece of cotton over the area of the
gunshot wound. He then lowered the syringe and slowly inserted the
needle point into the skin above the gunshot wound. He knew through
the many tests he'd performed that the formula healed the wounds that originally
inflicted death. He just didn't know if it would work on a human being.
Either way, he'd find out right now. He slowly pushed the substance
from the syringe into the woman. He let the last of the substance inter
her body before he pulled the needle out and stepped back.
"Alright, now we wait." Dr. Graham said, walking away.
"Why exactly, are we having to be the ones
doing this?" Xander groaned as he and Giles walked through the hospital,
on the way to the wing where the Morgue was currently situated. He
was nervous and a bit unnerved at being the one to bring Tara's body somewhere
safely. And to top it off, Giles didn't seem to be that upset by it
and that just made Xander's day.
Giles glanced at the young man he'd come to know as a pain in his ass.
"Because we, if you can't figure out, are supposed to be the men of
our little group. The others are needed to keep Willow's mind off
this. So stop your bloody yapping and let's do this!"
Xander looked at Giles while they were moving. And he realized his
original interpretation of the man was completely off base. Giles
was upset by having to do this. More than that, Giles was horrified by the
fact that they were doing this. Xander swallowed hard at the reality
of the situation they all found themselves. Having to find the body
of Willow's girlfriend was one thing, but keeping it on ice until they could
find this book was something Xander would never have imagined.
The moved towards the Morgue and they were about to enter the double glass
doors when they heard two angry voices speaking to each other. The
two slowed and stopped outside the door to listen to what was being said.
"Sir, I promise you.....I have no idea what happened!" one of the voices
said urgently.
"Michael, that body couldn't have just got up and walked away! That's
just not how it works. You said you were here....about to do the autopsy
and you left for what...five minutes and you came back and the body was
gone!" the other voice said back.
"Yes and I told that to the Police you wanted to call. I've been
over this time and time again. I was out of this place for less than
five minutes and when I came back, the body was gone. I don't know
how to explain it to you."
"Michael, go home! And don't come back until we have this situation
resolved." the other voice ordered before Giles and Xander heard footsteps
walking closer to the double glass doors. One of the doors suddenly
burst inward and headed out, almost seeing Giles and Xander, but not seeing
them.
The two shared a glance then turned their attention back to the other man
inside the Morgue. They looked through the doors and saw him pull
out a cell phone and dial a number. A moment later, they heard him
speaking. "Yes, this is Jeremy Norwood at Sunnydale General. Please
inform Maxwell Price that his granddaughter's body has disappeared. I'm
looking into the matter and I hope to have this matter resolved within the
next day or two. Tell him that. Thank you."
Xander and Giles hurried to the far end of the hall just in time because
the other man, the head of the Morgue department, burst out of the double
glass doors and stomped away. The two looked at each other again before
hurrying into the Morgue and moving quickly. "What in the world was
that about?" Xander asked.
"I don't know but I don't want to be around to find out." Giles replied
as they looked through the room, trying to find anything that would tell them
where Tara Maclay's body was being kept. There was an empty table near
the far wall and that was where Giles guessed the missing body was. He
reached down to pick up the chart that was on top of the table and he quickly
looked through it, just tempted to know who the body belonged to that was
causing the problems. All color drained from his face when he read
through the report. "Oh god." he breathed, earning Xander's sudden
attention.
"What....what is it?" Xander asked.
Giles handed him the chart and started walking away. "It's trouble."
he said plainly.
Xander looked through the chart and he had much the same reaction. He
closed his eyes heavily, a new complication that none of them had counted
on. He walked back over towards Giles. "What does this mean?"
he asked, concerned.
Giles glanced at him, then at the table. "I'm not sure."
Xander remained silent as they started heading out of the hospital. His
mind kept wandering back to what he had seen on the chart. The name
on the chart of the now missing deceased body was Tara Maclay.
Back at the hidden military complex, Peter
Graham was sitting in the small office that was set up in the lower levels
of the base. He had a cigarette between his lips and he was taking
a few drags off of it. Two guards were posted outside his office, but
he kept his gaze locked on the surveillance camera that showed the large
white room with the body lying on the table. He kept hoping for the
body to twitch a finger, to move the toes, anything to show life within that
vessel.
It was now just over an hour and a half and there was still nothing new.
He knew that if the formula didn't work now, they would have to begin
working on a stronger one. The problem would have to be in the differences
that separated man from animals. The formula had worked on animals
because they had tried it with more than just rabbits. He took another
drag off his cigarette and blew out the smoke.
A moment later, he heard running footsteps, followed by a few knocks on
his door. "Enter." Dr. Graham said.
One of his three assistants entered, not Mark Andrews. This assistant
was a woman with red hair. "Sir, the equipment just registered a heartbeat."
she said excitedly.
Peter Graham's eyes widened and a sudden smile lit his face as he rose
and began hurrying towards the control room. He entered it and checked
the read outs. The read outs reported that in less than one minute
ago, there was a faint heartbeat, followed by a faint reading of a pulse
registering through the woman's body. Now, as he continued to scan
the read outs and the other monitors, the pulse was beginning to beat more
regularly and the heartrate was beginning to get stronger and stronger.
Everyone inside the small room was beginning to get excited at the prospect
that thay're ten year project was turning into a complete success. But
Peter Graham knew enough about science to know that waiting a little longer
was the real key. Before they could celebrate, they had to be sure
the woman was really alive. "What about her brain?" he asked the neurological
expert, Daniel Pepp.
"Sir, I'm getting normal brain waves on the readings. The formula's
already begun pumping her blood back to the brain and her normal motor functions
are returning to their normal rate." Daniel Pepp replied.
"Alright, good. The heart's getting back to a good strong pace and
her pulse is strong as well. Is she awake yet?" Peter Graham asked.
"She's..." one of his assistants began, but suddenly looked back at the
room.
They all did at the same moment because a sound emanated from the room.
It was a sudden whimper from the lips of the woman. There were
no restraints holding her down, and they all saw a right hand come up from
beneath the sheets and press th palm of it to her face, groaning as she did
so. And back inside the room, they all broke out in smiles. They
had done it. They'd broken the gap between life and death with their
formula.
Peter Graham straightened his tie as he moved towards the door that led
into the room. His three assistants followed suit. A moment later,
they were slowly and carefully entering the room as to not startle the woman
that was now beginning to sit up on the table. There was a dazed and
slightly confused look on the woman's face as she looked at them. Then,
before they knew it, she was grabbing the sheet tightly and wrapping it
around herself closely. And before they could utter a sound, she was
off the table and moving backward, her bare back touching the far wall,
where she looked frightenedly at them.
"Easy Miss Maclay, we're not here to harm you." Peter coaxed, holding his
hands out.
Tara Maclay looked very frightened and she turned her eyes to Dr. Graham
and to two of the other assistants before her gaze locked on the last assistant
and her eyes widened at seeing the familiar face. She was about to
go to him, but she saw a look on his face. She understood what it meant.
Play along for now. So, Tara clutched the sheet tighter to her
body and looked back at Dr. Graham. "W.....who are you?" she asked
after a moment.
"My name is Peter Graham. I am a scientist Miss Maclay. You
were recently...." he began.
"I know what happened to me!" she cut him off. "I don't need anyone
reminding me of it."
Peter raised an eyebrow. First off, he didn't like seeing anybody,
least of all a woman, talk back to him. But he had to show some lee
way here. "I'm sorry." he said. "Well, this military installation
has been here for over ten years and for ten of those years, we have been
working on a project. To break the gap between life and death and
you are the first human being who we have successfually brought back to
life."
Tara started taking deep breaths and now that feeling was starting to return
to all parts of her anatomy, she was beginning to feel cold. Actually,
she was beginning to feel like she was freezing and she began shivering.
"I I I I.....I'm cccoooollllldddd." she stammered.
"Of course!" Dr. Graham said, turning to one of the assistants. "Go
fetch a blanket."
The assistant hurried off to fetch the blanket as Dr. Graham turned back
to the shivering blonde. "I'm sorry about your being cold Miss Maclay,
but we're all very excited. You get to be the first real positive result
of the research we've done here. This is a very excited time for us
and for you."
"Wwwwwhhhhhyyy ffffoooorrrrr mmmeeee?" she managed to ask.
Dr. Graham started to look pensive now. "Miss Maclay, you are in
a very unique position right now. When word gets out what we've done
here, you are going to become a very famous person. You could stand
to make millions of dollars. I've done my research on you and you were
never a very wealthy person and neither was your parents."
"Maybe.....bbbuuutttt you're in the position to make more." Tara managed
to point out without too much stammering. The assistant returned and
put the blanket around her chilled body.
Peter watched her wrap it around herself. "Yes, but having you as
the first successful person to be brought back is an astounding feat. Don't
you want to be a part of that?" he said, beginning to understand what his
assistant was talking about earlier.
She shivered, but with the blanket, it was less frequently now. "What
I want..." she began, then stopped. There was really only one thing
she wanted in the world right now and that was to be back in Willow's safe
arms. "What I want is to go home." she said, looking down.
The assistant she recognized softened his gaze at hearing it, but knew
Peter Graham well enough to know he wouldn't let that happen. He looked
at Dr. Graham.
Peter's face was clouded. "Miss Maclay, I'm afraid you can not be
allowed to go home. You are dead to them and therefore, no longer free
to return to them." his voice was hard as he looked into her eyes. And
he was glad to see the beginning tendrils of fear in her eyes. "The
second you died in that house you no longer had your own life. You are
my property Miss Maclay. As long as you are alive in this life, you
will never be free again. You need to accept that or you're time with
us here will be very miserable for you." Dr. Graham told her, seeing the
tears beginning to fill in her eyes. He turned to Mark Andrews. "Guards,
grab Miss Maclay and follow Mark to her new home. Make sure her clothes
are there. Before we present her to the bosses upstairs, I want her
looking presentable." he ordered.
Chapter 4
At around ten o'clock at night, Giles and Xander
were not only back at the house, but they were just finishing with their
explanations about what they saw and heard at the Morgue. Everyone
was present. Dawn, Buffy, and Willow were seated on the couch and Anya
was seated on one of the chairs. Giles and Xander were seated on two
of the dining table's chairs that they'd brought into the living room.
"I guess we're going to have to wait on this Egypt trip until we get to
the bottom of this." Buffy commented as she crossed her arms.
"What I'm trying to figure out is.." Nora said, "who could have wanted
to take her body from the Morgue?"
"I have no idea." Giles said.
"And what's this phone call you overheard?" Anya asked, her arms crossed.
"The guy on the phone said that this guy...Maxwell Price...was Tara's grandfather."
Xander told them. The name was familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"Why is that name familiar?" Buffy asked.
"Maxwell Price..." Dawn said, her mind beginning to think before it hit
her, "I got it!"
They watched her bounce up off the couch and walk over towards the bookcase
and go through it. Then she pulled out a magazine out of the other
mags that were over there. She flipped to a certain page and set the
magazine down on the table, pointing at the page. "That's why." she
said.
They leaned forward, with the exception of Willow, who was looking in the
opposite direction. On the page was a man with dark blonde hair with
a pair of dark glasses over his eyes. The caption on the page read
"BILLIONAIRE MAXWELL PRICE BRANCHES HIS COMPANY OUT INTO BIO GENETICS". He
was standing in front of a newly built building that was constructed in Sunnydale
by the company Xander works for.
"Whoa whoa whow!!" Xander pointed at the page. "The billionaire Maxwell
Price is Tara's grandfather?!"
"That would make him my grandfather as well, I guess." Nora said, surprised
more than she could admit to.
"Okay, none of this explains why Tara's body was taken from the Morgue
or who took it." Buffy pointed out.
"I think maybe we should pay a visit to Mr. Price." Giles said.
"Yes, that sounds like the beginning of a plan, which I'm all for." Xander
said.
"Maybe he just wanted to see her before she's buried." Willow said softly.
She hadn't spoken until that point and her words stopped everyone
cold.
Buffy turned towards the redhead and looked at her. "Willow, I don't
like this anymore than you do, but we have to get to the bottom of this.
Believe me, I know how much you loved Tara, I do. I saw it everyday
you were apart from her. And we have a real chance to bring her back
and I know you want her back. But we have to find her body first. And
we need you onboard here."
Willow nodded. "Alright."
A new day started in the city of Sunnydale,
promising many things to different people. But for those associated
with the Vampire Slayer, it meant a complexity of problems they had yet to
even realize. Since learning of the billionaire Maxwell Price's possible
involvement with Tara, they had decided to put off the trip to Egypt to find
the Book of the Dead and speak with the powerful business man.
Maxwell Price was a man that no one in Sunnydale didn't know about or didn't
hear about. The man was constantly trying to achieve new things with
his company. Whilw the Mayor had created Sunnydale for demons and vampires
to feed on, Maxwell Price single handedly helped make the city a successful
place to raise a family. Of course, that was way before the monsters
began feeding on the men and women.
He was a man of vision and a man with integrity and honor. Every penny
he'd ever earned through his companies and through his business deals he'd
made honestly and without resorting to the deceptive manner in which many
business people in LA or other big cities do. In fact, Maxwell Price
began his life living in a rundown shack. He'd built his enterprise from scratch,
making sound investments that paid off and made him a major business man
throughout America.
But all that didn't come without a price. He'd paid a major price.
He had to just sit by and watch his daughter, the only child he had,
vanish from his life forever and to only hear of any family he might have
left through reading of her death in a newspaper. But he also had learned
that his daughter had given birth to three children before her death. One
of them Maxwell had tried to contact, but that didn't work out because he'd
quickly learned that Donny Maclay's mind was brainwashed by his father's single
mindedness. So, Maxwell turned to the two granddaughters he knew he
had somewhere out there.
The first granddaughter, he'd learned, was named Tara Maclay and although
he'd tried, Maxwell couldn't seem to locate her until recently. The
other, he didn't know her name at all, had been a complete mystery to him.
And when he'd finally found Tara, it had been too late because it had
been on the very day that she was involved in a shooting by a psycho named
Warren Mears. Then, Maxwell had heard of news about her life and about
her gay lover, Willow Rosenberg.
And learning that had brought another list of news he hadn't expected. His
granddaughter had been involved with the Slayer, although it wasn't her fault.
But what surprised Maxwell Price above all else was that her girlfriend
had gone insane in her grief and killed the one responsible for Tara's death.
Maxwell Price hadn't felt that much satisfaction at hearing of Warren's
death in quite a while. But he was then concerned with giving the granddaughter
he never knew the funeral she deserved.
Then the worst part happened.
Tara's body had disappeared from the Morgue. Max's contacts didn't
know how her body could've disappeared, but it had and there was no explanation
for it. As Max continued to let his mind wander about the entire horrid
situation, the intercom to his personal office buzzed. He reached down
and touched the button. "Yes." he said.
"You have some visitors, sir." came the response. "Shall I send them
away?"
"No, I'll see them. Show them to the gaming quarters." Maxwell said
to them. The voice on the other end belonged to Maxwell Price's butler,
Jennings.
Jennings had been the head butler for Maxwell Price for over twelve years
now. He'd first met his head butler while he was in Chicago. He'd
heard news from a contact that his daughter had been there and gone to investigate.
Jennings had been homeless for about a year at that point and was merely
looking for scraps to eat or pennies to have. And Max had seen in Jennings
a chance to pass on knowledge in case he never again saw his daughter or granddaughters.
Jennings had been eighteen years old then and Maxwell took him in,
cleaned him up and let him work for him. And now, twelve years later,
Jennings was his closest and dearest friend.
Maxwell Price was a man about six feet tall with aging blonde hair and green
eyes. He was dressed in a light green button up dress shirt that was
tucked into a pair of brown dress slacks. Over his shirt was a darker
green vest, which went past his waist a tad. The front part of his head
was bald, but his hair started just past that. He walked out of his
office on the second floor of his three story estate and slowly descended
the stairs that were on both sides of him. He'd taken the stairs on
the right side. Just under the stairs as the door that led to the game
room where he had his guests assembled.
His estate was one of the top five most expensive estates in the entire
city. When he first decided to settle down in Sunnydale and run his
enterprise from here, he'd had this estate specifically designed. It
took them about eight months to complete. Besides the large three story
house, there was a huge pool where the basement usually was and there were
three other smaller houses that he'd had built as guest houses.
He stepped on the base level of his estate house and turned to his left.
The door to the game room was a few feet away and he quickly reached
it, opening it and entering within a moment. Inside, the guests who'd
come to visit him were there, all looking at him as he entered. He recognized
the group immediately. Well, except for one of them, that is.
There were two blonde women in the game room, a dark haired younger man
with a surprisingly upper body form, an older man who looked English or possible
British, Maxwell couldn't be sure, a redheaded young woman who looked slightly
bored and out of place, and another blonde girl who was looking around with
unrestrained glee. And there was a dark haired girl, who Maxwell guessed had
to still be in high school. Instead of saying anything, he walked across
the room to the bar and poured himself a glass of wine. "Can I get
you anything?" he asked politely.
Buffy shook her head in a no fashion. Even though she was highly impressed
and in awe of the home she found herself in, she kept her excitement down.
They did have reason to be here. "No thanks Mr. Price. We
um....we do have business here." she said.
"Very well." Maxwell said as he drank the small glass of wine he'd poured.
He started to pour himself some more. "What can I do for you?"
he asked.
Buffy shared a glance with Giles. Giles spoke up. "We are actually
here about a matter that we've learned of as of last night."
Maxwell's face was a mask. He had a feeling he knew of what the Englishman
was about to speak of. "You're referring to the incident at the Morgue,
are you not Mr. Giles." he said, letting them all know that he knew who they
were.
"You know who I am?" Giles said, now alarmed.
"Please don't be worried. I know who all of you are." he said, seeing
their faces of caution. "You are Rupert Giles, a Watcher for the Watcher's
Council. You are Buffy Summers, the infamous Vampire Slayer. You
are her sister Dawn Summers. You're good and close friend Alexander
Harris, you are...I mean were his fiancée Anya and you in the back
are Willow Rosenberg." his gaze remained on her for a moment. "But I
don't quite know you." he pointed at the other blonde woman.
"Nora Cross." she supplied.
"Thanks." Maxwell catalogued the name for future reference.
"If you know who we are, then you know why we're here." Buffy said.
Maxwell, still behind the bar, pulled a folder out from behind his bar.
He pulled a piece of paper out and put the folder back away. Looking
at the paper, he then looked at them. "You are wondering about why
I am claiming that Tara Maclay is my granddaughter." he said, looking at
them.
"That's right." Giles said, leaning against the arm of the pool table that
was behind him.
Maxwell nodded. "Alright, let me begin. A very long time ago,
when I was just beginning to build my enterprise, the only daughter I had
in the world met this farmer from Ohio. Now, I was too wrapped up in
my business to pay the attention I should have and this man convinced my daughter
that he loved her. I know she loved him, or thought she did. Before
I knew it, she'd taken off with him and gotten married. But all he
was really interested in was having someone to do things for him. He
was nothing more than a slaver. He made her do things without bothering
to show gratification or anything."
"Sounds like someone we know." Dawn quipped.
"Well," Maxwell continued, sipping his wine, "I tried to find her, but I
never did. The closest I came to finding her was when her husband took
a trip to Chicago once, but he was gone before I even got there. And
I never did find her. Because the next time I heard anything was after
she'd died of cancer."
No one said anything as the wealthy man looked down. He shook his
head and looked at them again. "Then I found out a few weeks later
that she'd given birth to three children. The first one, Donald was
too much like his father and he just ignored me altogether. The second
child, I never knew her name, was born and taken away by her biological father
to be raised because of some problems with the husband." he shook his head.
"And the third child, a little girl, was named Tara Maclay. I've
spent my time since then running my busniess while trying to find them. And
I finally have. I tracked down Tara two days ago....but that was after
she was shot."
Maxwell swallowed the lump in his throat as he walked closer to them. "So
yes, I do know about all of you. I know that you, Miss Rosenberg, were
involved with my granddaughter and that you avenged her." he pinned Willow
with her eyes.
She looked at him, keeping his gaze for several moments before he turned
away. She looked down, too shocked at what she'd already heard to utter
a sound. He walked back towards the front, where a recliner was located
and sat down. "I simply wanted to give my granddaughter a nice funeral.
I couldn't do that for my daughter, but I wanted to do that for my granddaughter.
I still have my search going for the other granddaughter I know is
out there, but I won't give up."
Silently, Buffy nudged Nora. The blonde looked at her with startled
green eyes, shaking her head no vehemently. Buffy frowned.
"Is that all you wanted to know?" Maxwell said to them.
"Well," Giles said after a moment, "we also wanted to ask if you had any
information as to who would want to take Tara's body from the Morgue."
"I have no idea." Maxwell replied. "How did you even know it was taken,
let alone that I was mentioned?"
Buffy answered, "Giles and Xander were going to......take Tara's body and
place it somewhere safe and they heard the docs there talking about the disappearance
and one of them placed a call to you."
He nodded, but his wheels were turning inside his head. "And why were
you taking her.?"
"Well.....um....." Buffy stammered.
"We were going to take a trip to Egypt in an effort to ressurrect Tara."
Willow spoke up for the first time.
Maxwell looked up, surprised that the redhead had spoken. "You all
do know that those type of spells are very dangerous and that sometimes, the
person brought back isn't who you wanted."
"Yes, we are aware of it." Giles said.
"That's why we were going after the Book of the Dead." Nora pipped in.
"Ah."
"You've heard of it, I take it." Nora said.
"Yes, anyone who's ever studied Egyptian history's heard of it. That
and the Book of Ah Mun Ra." Maxwell said.
Nora wanted to continue the conversation about Ah Mun Ra, but she knew now
wasn't the time or place. "So if you don't know where Tara's body's
been taken, how can we find out?"
"I don't know." Maxwell replied.
Riley Finn opened the door to the apartment
he and his wife Samantha were using with his right hand. In his left
was a small brown bag of some groceries he'd bought. The apartment was just
located outside the city lines of Sunnydale. It had been tough, but
Riley and Sam had convinced Tara to not go back to Sunnydale right away. First
of all, she needed to get her strength back before they returned and plus,
now that they'd gotten her out of there, her safety was going to become a
bigger factor.
One thing Riley had learned about Peter Graham during his undercover work
at the military base was that Peter Graham never gave up anything that he
wanted. He'd spent the last ten years of his life on that formula and
to finally see living results of that formula work on a human being to only
see it escape was something the scientist simply wouldn't allow. Riley
knew that Peter would now immediately begin keeping track of Buffy and everyone
that Tara knew in Sunnydale. And if Tara should suddenly show up, Riley
shuddered to think of the lengths Peter would go to to get Tara back.
Inside the apartment, Samantha was watching the television while Tara slept.
The blonde woman had been sleeping for the past ten hours and she hadn't
yet awoken. But Sam had checked her every once in a while to make sure she
was okay. "Brought some food." Riley said.
Samantha nodded as she grabbed the bag and poured the things inside it onto
the table. There were some assorted fruit, some bread, and ham with
cheese. "Ugh, where's the sweets, Riley!" Sam said indigently.
"She needs to get her strength back, Sam." Riley said, ever the strong front.
"I know...but it doesn't mean I have to eat healthy crap too." Sam said
to him.
He chuckled as he sat down on the chair in front of the table. He
picked up his gun and checked the ammo he had. He had three clips for
his pistol with the silencer. There was silence in the small hotel apartment
as both Riley and Sam said nothing. Finally, Riley looked at her. "What
are you wondering about?" he asked, knowing her enough to know she was thinking
about something.
"What are we going to tell her if she wants to go back today?" Sam asked,
leaning back on the chair she was sitting on and crossing her arms.
He sighed. "We tell her the truth. We can't force her to stay
with us until it's safe. But, if we can't convince her to not go back,
then we have to stay in Sunnydale until it is safe."
"I know." Sam said softly, looking at the woman as she slept. "I'm
just worried about what Dr. Graham's gonna do now."
"Indeed. He's not just gonna let this go. He's gonna want her
back." Riley said.
Before Sam could say another word, they both saw that Tara moved in the
bed, rolling onto her back and stretching, making a purring sound as she
did so. "Mmm." she moaned as she began to wake up. "That was
nice baby....very nice." she mumbled, a serene smile crossing her lips.
"She's dreaming about Willow, right?" Sam asked, looking at her husband.
"Oh yeah." Riley said. He could remember a time at the Summers House
when he was still involved with Buffy when he'd seen Tara napping on the couch.
She'd made similar sounds then.
Tara's eyes fluttered open as she began to take stock of her surroundings.
Then, like a light bulb flashing in her head, she abruptly sat up, clutching
the sheet to her body, although she was clothed. "Oh...um morning."
she said drowsily, slowly getting out of the bed and heading towards the
bathroom.
"Good morning Tara." Sam called after the door shut.
Inside the bathroom, Tara splashed some water over her face and then ran
her fingers through her hair. She looked at the mirror and she was relieved
to see and feel that the blood was beginning to flow throughout her body
again. After she'd first been spoken to by Peter Graham, she had half
believed that parts of her body still wasn't working right since she had
died. She was happy to note that that wasn't the case.
Rubbing her eyes, Tara slowly looked at what she wore. She just had
on a pair of white boxer shorts and a pink sleeveless top that the Finns had
supplied. The previous night was very much still a blur to her. She
remembered being led out of that nightmarish compound by Riley and moved
into a van and then she was here, slowly allowing her body to heal through
nourishment and rest. And now that she was beginning to feel her strength
returning, she wanted nothing more than to return to Sunnydale and find Willow.
She knew they needed to have a talk about what transpired after her
death.
Shaking her head, she turned around and returned to the part of the hotel
where they were and slowly sat down on the bed. She studied them silently
for a few moments before she spoke. "I want to go home today." she said,
her tone indicating that there was no trying to change her mind.
Riley sighed, this was what he was dreading, but expecting. "Tara..."
he began, "there are complications that you need to consider before making
that decision."
"What complications?" she asked.
Riley turned his chair towards her. "For starters," he said after
Sam turned the television off, "everyone you knew in Sunnydale believes you
are dead. They are grieving right now and you suddenly showing up is
gonna shock them. Second of all.....what Peter Graham told you is true,
if you look at it from his perspective. You now carry within you....a
vaccine that is living proof that the dead can be brought back to life."
Tara swallowed, but said nothing.
"Tara," Sam took over for Riley, "Peter Graham has been working on that
formula that brought you back for over ten years. It's his life's work.
He is not going to just let you go. He's probably already putting
trackers on all your friends. Buffy, Willow....everyone." she said.
"It's not safe to go back."
"But I have to." Tara whispered, trying to smile at them through the tears
that were falling. "Willow thinks I'm gone forever. I can't.....I
can't let her believe that. I have to go back." she said, her voice
stronger now. "Unless you're making me a prisoner like at that base,
you're going to let me leave now or you're taking me back. Either way,
I'm going."
Sam and Riley looked at each other, Sam giving him a look that said I
told you so. Sam rose from her chair and walked over to the small
suitcase. She opened it and tossed a shirt and a pair of pants towards
Tara. "After you eat something, take a shower and you can dress in these.
We'll leave once you're dressed." she told the blonde.
"Thank you." Tara told both of them.
"Yeah well.....first thing we do when we get to Sunnydale is find Buffy.
We have to explain things to her before anyone else can be told. Agreed?"
Riley looked at her.
"Alright." Tara submitted to that much.
"Tell me again how the hell no one could have
none about this!!!" Peter Graham's enraged voice made shudders go through
the assembled soldiers. "Well, I'm waiting!!!"
"We only found out who that Mark Andrews really was an hour ago." one of
the soldiers protested. "It's not our fault!"
Peter glared at the soldier. "Yesterday, this base achieved our greatest
accomplishment. I wanted security beefed up immediately. I told
you something like this could very well happen. But did you heed my
warning, absolutely not. Now, our accomplishment has escaped and she
could be anywhere by now!" he seethed. "I want her found and returned
here. Because otherwise, I might just have the inclination to just kill
one of you and use you as the next test subject, Understand!!!"
"Yes sir!" the soldiers nodded before moving away.
"Captain?" Peter to his left.
"Yes sir?" Captain Ryan Marshell, the military base's chief of security
answered. He'd been on a trip to Washington for the past three days
and hadn't been here to witness Tara Maclay's rebirth or her escape.
Peter turned to him. He had a lot of respect for Ryan Marshell because
the soldier was known to possess a vicious streak when dealing out punishment
that was much harsher than some authority figures would like. He didn't
tolerate disloyalty or disrespect and when he punished his own men, it was
with severe and brutal tactics. "I want her found and returned to this
base. Do whatever you have to, but I want her here alive and unharmed.
Are the trackers in place?"
"Yes sir. I have the trackers in place and the second she shows her
face, we'll have her." the military captain said.
"Good. I don't want any messups Captain." the threat was in his voice
and the captain knew it.
"There will be no messups sir. I promise you." he declared before
he turned and exited.
Peter Graham returned to his office on the upper levels of the base and
after he closed his door, he threw his blazer across the room with a fit
of rage. He'd worked for so long on that formula and even though they
could make much more of the vaccine, he didn't like loose ends or the fact
that he'd been betrayed by his own. He wanted Mark Andrews, or Riley
Finn as he'd been told his real name was to pay and he wanted the project's
property, Tara, returned immediately. "Bastard Finn is going to pay."
he promised himself with a hiss.
"Is he?" a dark voice boomed from the corner of the room.
Peter Graham twisted his body around, searching for the voice intently.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
The figure stayed in the shadows of the room, keeping his appearance from
Graham. "You should know my voice by now, Dr. Graham. If it wasn't
for me, you would never have gotten the formula completed."
"You..." a dawning of recognizion covered his face. For going on five
years now, he'd begun hearing this voice in his head. He never knew
who the voice belong to, or even seen a body or form to go with the voice.
But the voice had helped him get closer and closer to the formula and
it had been the voice that had told him which code sequence to use to complete
the forumla. "You gave me the code sequence." he said.
"That is right." the voice returned. "And I believe we made an agreement
long ago. I have lived up to my agreement. Now, it is time for
you to live up to yours."
For the first time in a very long time, Peter Graham began to feel faint
tinges of fear spread through him. "You are right."
"Then, get started with fulfilling your promise." the voice said.
"If I remember correctly, you never told me what I was supposed to do."
Peter stated.
The voice from the shadows in the corner began to slowly walk out of the
shadows, revealing pasty white gorish skin to his face. Peter visibly
moved backward. He'd never seen that face before in his entire life.
It was a face he could only imagine in his worst nightmares. "That's
correct. I never did. And now, I'm going to tell you what I want
you to do." the voice said. The voice, belonging to a face from the
Slayer's past, snarled evilly as he indeed began telling Peter what he wanted
done.
The gang returned to the House after their meeting
with Maxwell Price. There hadn't been much said after that point and
so they had just left. But there was a calming effect just from the
way Maxwell carried himself that seemed to keep everyone at ease. They
didn't seem threatened by him at all and he told them that they were welcomed
at his estate any time they wanted. And while Anya and Dawn took especial
pleasure in that, Buffy herself wasn't sure they would ever be able to go
there.
Once again, Buffy noted, Willow headed back to her room, preferring to stay
there than do anything else. The thought saddened the Slayer, but she
couldn't really do anything else. Xander had already headed back to
his apartment while Anya went to the Magic Box with Giles to start sorting
through the mess that was left over there. Dawn was in her room and Nora went
to get a hotel room in town. Buffy was downstairs with nowhere to go
and no one to talk to.
As she walked over to sit on the couch, a knock came at the door. She
groaned at not being able to sit, but reluctantly, she headed over to answer
the door. She pulled the door back and her whole body jerked back in
surprise at who was standing there. Blinking her eyes to make sure she
wasn't seeing things, Buffy managed to say a word. "Sam..." she said.
Sam stood there nervously, her eyes looking behind her in case she had been
followed. Truth was, she, Riley, and Tara had just gotten into Sunnydale
and before they let Tara come here, they needed to speak with Buffy alone.
She looked at the Slayer for a moment. "Hi Buffy." Sam said, smiling
a bit.
"Um...Sam." Buffy said again, unable to voice any questions. She looked
behind Sam because the last time she'd seen the woman was when Riley had returned
to Sunnydale temporarily. Then it dawned on her that Riley wasn't there.
Her eyes widened and her brows contracted. "Is Riley...." she
couldn't voice the word dead.
Sam held her hands up. "Riley's fine Buffy. But, he and I need
to speak with you....alone."
"What....now?!" Buffy questioned, not liking the timing.
Sam grimaced, she knew the timing was awful as well. "Yeah, see.....it's
really important. Trust me, it's gonna change your life forever when
you see what we need to talk to you about."
"I don't think anything can change my life anymore." she muttered.
"What was that?" Sam asked.
"Nothing. Where do you need me to go?" Buffy asked quickly.
Sam turned. "Me and Riley have a hotel room a little ways down. Can
you come with me?"
"Sure." she answered. She turned back inside the house. "Dawn!
I'm going somewhere but I'll be back soon."
"Yeah sure whatever!" Dawn's voice called back down.
"Let's go." Buffy said a moment later.
The two left the house. It was pretty hot outside, so both women weren't
wearing heavy clothing. Buffy was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a
white silk blouse while Sam was wearing her black pants and a white t-shirt
tucked into the pants. They didn't talk much either. Buffy was
still slightly uncomfortable with the entire Riley being married situation,
even though she put up the brave front. Soon enough, they arrived at
the door where Sam and Riley were held up. Sam turned to Buffy. "Just
a moment." she said as she opened the door and peered inside.
Riley was sitting on the bed, facing the door. Tara was sitting near
the window, just gazing out and waiting. When Riley saw his wife's face
inside the door, he silently motioned for Tara to head into the bedroom while
they readied Buffy. Wordlessly, Tara complied, heading into the bedroom
and shutting the door. Then, Sam opened the door and she and Buffy
entered the room.
"Buffy." Riley said after they entered.
Buffy looked at him. After seeing him return to Sunnydale the first
time, she knew this time could mean only one thing. "Got another nasty
demon in Sunnydale you need help with?"
"Um..." Riley looked at Sam then back at the Slayer. "Actually, this
is different. We're here because......well there was an incident that
happened at your house a couple days ago, right?" he began to edge into the
conversation.
A look stony reserve covered her face. "That's right and a good friend
died."
Riley shared a look with Sam. "Well, that did happen but what we're
here to explain to you...is that there have been complications to that situation
that you need to be made aware of before this goes any farther."
"What are you talking about!" Buffy demanded.
Sam took up the conversation. "Buffy, there's a military installation
outside Sunnydale. It's been there for over ten years and they do experiments
on animals and humans. Until recently, all the experiments they'd been
doing were complete failures. Riley and myself were hired to go undercover
and find out exactly what the experiments were and put a stop to them. Then,
ten days ago, the man in charge, Doctor Peter Wilkins Graham, he cracked the
formula that the whole project was designed for."
Buffy let her back rest against the wall. She was listening and beginning
to understand what Sam was saying, but she needed to hear the rest. "Continue."
she said slowly.
Sam nodded. "Okay. After he got the right formula, none of us
are really sure how he did it exactly, but he used the formula on animals.
What the formula is...is it's a complex vaccine designed to give creature,
a being a second chance at life if....and only if.....they passed away within
the past thirty days. And eight of the past ten days, they used this
vaccine on different animals. They would inject toxins into the animals
to kill them, then inject the formula into them and within hours, the vaccine
brings them back to life. Then Dr. Graham wanted to try the vaccine
on a human being. But the human being had to have recently passed away.
He sent a team to the local Morgue here in Sunnydale to find and bring
back a body to test the vaccine on." Sam explained.
"Oh god." Buffy breathed. She rested her head against the back of
the door as she let the ramifications of all that information surge through
her. She quickly began adding things together. A scientist develops
a vaccine to bring the dead back to life. Tara's body suddenly disappears
from the Morgue around the same time. Riley and Sam tells Buffy they
were undercover at this base that the said scientist works at. Buffy
felt tears spread in her eyes as she looked at both of them. "Is....Tara....."
she swallowed. "Is she okay?" she asked nervously.
Instead of answering, Sam walked over to the door to the bedroom and slowly
opened it. Sam then just looked at Buffy as she walked back to where
Riley was. Then, she was there. Willow's soulmate, her partner
and a good friend to Buffy, even though Buffy sometimes wasn't a good friend
to her. Tara walked out from behind the door and looked nervously at
Buffy. "Hi Buffy." Tara said, her nervousness evident in her movements.
Before anyone could move or say anything, Buffy moved from the wall and
in four steps, she engulfed Tara's body in an emotional embrace, needing
to feel the physical closeness to be convinced of Tara's actual being here.
She wrapped her arms around Tara's body and gave her a squeeze, her
emotions too strong for her to stop. She closed her eyes when Tara hugged
her back tightly. And for several seconds, neither woman moved or spoke,
they just hugged each other.
Then Buffy stepped back, still looking at the blonde. "How..." she
managed.
"It....it's like they explained. Dr. Graham injected that...vaccine
in me and I woke up." she said.
"I.....I can't believe it." Buffy said, her disbelief at seeing Willow's
lover alive and well evident in her face.
Riley spoke up. "Buffy, there are some things you need to know before
you go back to the house and tell anyone."
She turned to her ex-boyfriend. "Like what?"
He took a deep breath. "Well, first of all, Peter Graham is obsessed
with this entire project. Bringing someone who died back to life is
what he's worked toward for years. He's not going to let Tara just disappear.
Chances are, he's going to try to snatch her back the first chance
he gets. What I mean is.....it's very likely that he's already put
trackers on you and anyone Tara knew. If she shows up, they're going
to take her before she can even run."
"So, what are you saying? Tara has to stay hidden? For how long?"
Buffy asked, upset at the news. Tara was now sitting on the bed, looking
at the floor.