4THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER
BOOK 2: CALL TO BATTLE
by
LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA
(AKA "Mad Tom")
CHAPTER 2
"Apparently, the father was abusive to Iris, her mother and her little sister," Tracie's voice came over the speaker phone in the admin office after Giles returned her call. "I guess he was what you'd call a 'mean drunk'. The police and DYFS- that's the Child Protective Services agency here in Jersey- had been involved in the past but never took the kids out of the home. The day we went into the Hellmouth, the dad started smacking Iris and her sister around. And when Iris got the calling in the middle of it, she hit back. And ended up breaking his neck."
Giles sighed.
"Is this an epidemic?" Tewksbury was obviously forcing himself not to laugh.
"Might be," Dawn replied. "Not counting our cousins, this girl's the first of the previously unknown Slayers we've contacted. Our cousin Colette knocked a baseball out of the park and clear across a parking lot when she got called. No telling what other circumstances these other girls might have been in."
Buffy suddenly felt sickly and sat in the nearest chair. "We... I killed that man!"
"No, Buffy," Willow put a hand on her shoulder. "I killed him! It was my power that activated them."
"But it was my plan," Buffy said. "My scythe that you gave the power boost to."
"Okay, so you both killed him," Tracie's voice sounded impatient. "Actually, you two and Iris killed him. Word from around her neighborhood is that he probably had it coming. It's probably going to be Involuntary Manslaughter and she's claiming self-defense."
Joan and Carl moved closer to their elder granddaughter. "What you did," Joan said as she stroked Buffy's shoulder, "was save the world from the First Evil and those Ubervampires. The tragedy of what happened to this man is well offset by what you did in Sunnydale."
"It was for the greater good," Giles nodded. He cleared his throat and added, "We as the new Council should be able to retain a lawyer for this girl, presuming she has only a public defender at this point."
"She does," Tracie said over the speaker.
"Tracie," Giles said toward the phone, "perhaps you can find a reputable lawyer there in New Jersey. You can give him or her our toll-free number."
"I'll ask my dad," Tracie replied. "He should know someone."
Giles turned to Tewksbury. "Harry, I don't suppose there's anything you could do...?"
"Asking the PM to try to persuade the President of the US to issue a pardon to a convicted murderer is a tall enough order," Tewksbury rolled his eyes. "Asking for intervention in a case that hasn't gone to trial yet..." He smiled wryly. "I'll put it on my 'to do' list."
"Who's that?" Tracie asked.
"One of our new friends in high places," Dawn replied with a little giggle. She noticed the grimaces on Giles' and Tewksbury's faces and added, "And that's all we need to know at this point!"
"Tracie, perhaps you should stay in New Jersey until we do retain an attorney," Giles said. "You and Pamela and Jamie aren't on a fixed schedule anyway, as I recall. That gives each of you more time with your families as well."
"I'll be glad to do that," Tracie replied.
"We'll call the other girls ourselves, and let them know," Giles said. "Do keep us informed."
"Okay, I'll call as soon as there's anything new." She hung up.
There was a long moment's silence in the admin office after Willow reached over and shut off the speaker phone. "Giles," Robson finally spoke up, "as long as you're here in London, have you considered paying a visit to Roger Wyndam-Pryce? Perhaps a face-to-face fence-mending visit."
Giles drew a deep breath, shooting a brief, apprehensive sideways glance at Buffy. "Yes, I've considered it. No, I don't think it would be very productive."
"Well, I know he still blames you and Buffy for ruining his son's career with the Council," Robson said, "but right now, we're the only game in town. And surely he must realize how valuable his experience would be to us if he were to come out of retirement."
"Well," Giles replied, "apart from the grudge he has against Buffy and myself, he was also one of those who blocked Carl's full membership in the Council and limited him to consultant status back in the day. Once he finds out that Buffy is his granddaughter and that I've got both of them here in London with me, and that Carl is now a senior Council member..."
"Surely he can't be that petty."
"You don't know him as well as I do, Robson," Giles sighed. "Plus, the whole issue of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce's failed career as a Watcher has become even more sensitive, in ways I'd rather not discuss right now."
Buffy reached out and placed a hand on his forearm. "Giles, if you're trying to shield me from knowing that Wolfram and Hart took over Angel Investigations... or vice-versa... I already do!"
He raised his eyebrows, then shot a quick glance at Dawn and saw that she was obviously as surprised as he was. "How?"
"I had lunch with Fred Burkle the weekend before we checked out of the Harwood Terrace," Willow told him. "She was the one who answered the phone when you called Wesley."
"Willow," Giles turned pale, "you didn't tell her we were setting up the Slayer Academy in Lake Keogh!"
"No," she replied quickly. "Fred's a good friend, but I didn't know what to make of the situation either. I still don't. I did mention we were all headed for Europe on a working vacation. Didn't even mention about the Slayers all being called, let alone that we were setting up a school for them."
"Hey!" Xander grinned. "Since we now have friends in the business, maybe we can retain Wolfram and Hart to represent this girl Iris!"
"Don't even joke about that, Xander!" Dawn snapped as she saw Buffy lower her head and blink glumly.
"Yes, Xan," Willow added. "Fred told me that the amulet Angel gave Buffy came from Wolfram and Hart."
"You mean the amulet that burned up all the ubervamps and collapsed the Hellmouth," Xander replied, still with a trace of his grin. "So maybe they're not such bad guys after all!"
"The same amulet that killed Spike," Buffy said at a near whisper.
"And would have killed Angel if you'd let him wear it instead of Spike," Willow added. "The law firm could've lured Angel and his gang in to make it easier to get rid of them."
"I still don't know what to think," Buffy said.
"But if Wolfram and Hart are so evil, why did they help us beat The First Evil?" Xander asked.
"Competing forms of evil," Giles said. "Had The First taken over this world, Wolfram and Hart would've lost their power and ability to dominate this dimension. We were convenient for them. As Sun Tzu said, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend!'"
Willow furrowed her eyebrows. "Sun Tzu? I thought it was Mao Zedong who said it."
"The communists, and perhaps your university professors in California, would have everyone believe Mao said it," Tewksbury smiled. "It is Chinese, but several centuries older than Mao."
"I thought it was Arabic," Xander said.
"No," Tony spoke up. "The Arabic philosophy is in direct conflict with that: 'Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, me and my cousin against the Infidels!' When you're trying to form alliances in war, you have to look closely to see which philosophy is more in play with your potential allies and your enemies."
"Gee, just like the Slayer business!" Dawn smiled at him.
"In any case," Giles said, "that's exactly my intention with respect to Angel Investigations and Wolfram and Hart. Keep an eye on them but hands off until we're sure of what we're dealing with."
"I still wish we could've stayed in Paris with Grandma and Grandpa a little longer!" Buffy said. Dawn was driving along a highway in the foothills of the Italian Alps with herself and Tony, in a rented Mercedes coupe not unlike their own.
"Buffy, we'll get to see more of Paris on the way home," Dawn replied. "And have a little consideration! What couple in their right minds would go on a second honeymoon in Paris and want their granddaughters tagging along being a fifth wheel?"
"We would've stayed out of their way!"
"Hey, you and Giles were the ones who put me and Willow in charge of everyone's itinerary!" Dawn said. "It makes better sense to use Rome as a rendezvous point for everyone. The Westbury and Devon Covens have a sister coven there that can put us up, there are actually two new Slayers here in Italy and none in France. And Rome's a closer jumping off point for the teams that are going to Africa and South Asia."
"Admit it, Dawnie!" Buffy teased. "You just set it up for us to stay in Italy the longest because you're dating a guy named Vincenzo!"
"Hey!" Tony spoke up from the back seat, "I'm sitting right here! And I'm only a quarter Italian!"
"Does that mean you know only every fourth word in the language?" Buffy laughed.
"I think he's demonstrated his mastery of the language since we crossed the border!" Dawn came to his aid.
"You know I'm just playing the role of mean old big sister here, right?" Buffy said, patting Dawn's shoulder. The truth was that she had never stopped being terrified of having to fill their mother's shoes as Dawn's guardian since Joyce's death, and had been grateful that other than the two incidents, with Justin the teen vampire and RJ and the enchanted jacket, Dawn hadn't really dated up to now, and once she'd gotten past her attention-seeking kleptomania phase, had been sensible and level-headed in her social life. She was particularly grateful now that Dawn's first real relationship was with a young man their grandfather knew and trusted. "And you two both did a great job with your German in Austria."
"I'm afraid that's the extent of my linguistic skills," Tony smiled modestly. "An Italian grandfather and three years of German in high school." He turned to Dawn. "After we're done here in Italy, we're dependent on this, uh, special talent of yours."
"That's the plan," Buffy smiled.
"I still can't believe you just studied Italian and German for three months and you're almost as fluent as I am already!" Tony smiled proudly at Dawn. "And you studied a half-dozen other languages at the same time to talk to all these other Slayers who were staying with you who didn't speak English, plus all these ancient languages for research."
"Part of my special and unique Slayery package, apparently," Dawn glanced back over her shoulder and smiled back. "Too bad I had trouble with Cantonese. I might have been able to warn Chao Ahn to watch what she said."
"I don't think anyone could have predicted that she'd get knocked unconscious and that the hospital would have a doctor who spoke Cantonese," Buffy said. "No way you should blame yourself for what happened."
"I know," Dawn nodded. "I could probably converse with her a lot better at this point, but once that deputy warden showed up looking for Faith, there wasn't anything we could do without risking this guy coming after us."
"Well, sometimes we and Law Enforcement can find ourselves on opposite sides," Buffy said. "You've gotta look at Law Enforcement very carefully before you decide whether they're the good guys or the bad guys. The whole Sun Suit 'My enemy's enemy' thing."
"Sun Tzu," Tony corrected. "Speaking of which, you know I still get the vibe that the police and the other people in Klagenfurt weren't telling us everything they knew."
"Tell me about it!" Buffy rolled her eyes. "Maybe I couldn't understand the words, but I got the definite feeling I was watching a conversation with the Sunnydale PD, but dubbed into German!"
"That about sums it!" Dawn nodded.
"That's a red flag that we should eventually go back and do some further digging," Buffy said. "Or send another team back. Eventually."
"I wouldn't mind going back," Dawn replied. "Would you, Tony?"
"The only thing I'd be worried about is that we may have given them a red flag," Tony said. "A bunch of Ugly Americans nosing around in this quaint college town in the Austrian Alps, asking around about a local girl who would have no reason for knowing us, and whose whole family just seems to have up and left town with no forwarding address. We might not be welcome back. I have this feeling if we'd stuck around and pressed the issue, the local cops might have tried to link us to their 'sudden relocation'."
"Boy, you're learning fast, Rookie!" Buffy winked at him.
"Local legend was that Klagenfurt was menaced by a dragon," Tony said thoughtfully. "You don't suppose that could be a sign of another Hellmouth?"
"If it is, it's been a long-dormant one," Dawn said. "Nothing like Sunnydale, or even the Cleveland waterfront. No other classic manifestations that the Old Council would have identified."
"I'm guessing whatever really happened to our girl and her family was a one-shot deal," Buffy nodded. "Possibly related to her being Chosen. The Council will have to eventually revisit this, but probably not the three of us specifically."
"Too bad." Dawn didn't try to hide her disappointment. "I kinda liked the place."
"There's even more to see right here in Italy," Tony said. "I've only been here once, when I was eleven, when I came here with my grandparents, but there's a lot I think you'll like."
Both sisters did like what they saw, and Tony saw even more than he'd seen and remembered from his last visit. They took a leisurely drive down from the Alps and down the Adriatic coast, stopping over at a couple of small resort towns, figuring that they would cross over the Apennines east of Rome; as their two Italian Slayers lived respectively in Tivoli and near Salerno, they'd get to see enough of the Mediterranean coast later.
After crossing the Apennines and the rest of the leg of the boot of Italy, with Tony at the wheel, they found themselves on the outskirts of Tivoli.
"What do you think, ladies?" Tony said as they passed a sign indicating an upcoming turnoff. "You think we should touch base with this girl Isabella and her family as long as we're passing through?"
"Nah," Buffy replied. "It's getting late and the Coven's expecting us. We need to get ourselves situated and settled in Rome before we establish contact with this girl."
"Makes sense," Tony nodded. "Just thought I'd throw it out as an idea."
"Besides," Dawn added, "it's only 20 kilometers to Rome. It's not like we're going to be backtracking a really big distance."
They were inside the city limits of Rome in a half hour, and within another half hour had found their way down an old and narrow street, where Tony steered the Mercedes into the courtyard of a three-story apartment building, where there were four other cars parked. As they got out, a crowd of about twenty women of varying ages poured out of what appeared to be the main entrance. The apparent leader, a black-haired, full-figured woman in her late thirties or early forties, approached them with open arms. "Bongiorno! Benvenuti! Benvenuti!" she smiled broadly as she hugged each of the new arrivals. "I'm Arianna, high priestess of the Coven!"
"Grazie!" Buffy replied. "I'm Buffy Summers. This is my sister Dawn, and this is Tony Vincenzo."
"Vincenzo!" Arianna laughed. "A good Italiano name! I like this already! And I met your friend Willow in Westbury last summer. A most fascinating girl! I hope she's well!"
"Much better than she would have been when you met her," Buffy smiled back.
"Excellent! You're just in time for dinner!"
After introductions to the other women, they learned that although a plurality of them were Italian, it was a rather multinational coven. Most were from other countries in Europe, and there were two Americans: Evelyn, a middle aged woman from Phoenix, and Trudy from Seattle, who was young, blonde, and actually resembled Buffy from a distance.
Evelyn and Trudy were selected to escort the guests to their rooms on the third floor. As they did so, they explained that while they were a large coven- the philosophy that a coven had to be exactly thirteen members had long been abandoned by their particular sect- not all of them lived in the building and there were several vacant apartments where the Council members and newly recruited Slayers were welcome to stay as they gathered and awaited return to California. Buffy and Dawn found themselves in a rather comfortable two bedroom apartment with Tony next door, and with a nice view of the Roman hills from the balcony.
"This is nice," Dawn smiled as she enjoyed the view. "I wouldn't mind staying here the rest of the summer, 'til we have to go home for school."
"It is nice," Buffy nodded in agreement, "but remember, Rome is just a part of the whole world, which I promised you we'd see together. And you promised me we'd go back and see more of Paris!"
They spent the next three days sight-seeing the city itself. Buffy surprised Dawn and Tony by actually attending Mass at the Vatican with them; Dawn noted to herself that the last Mass Buffy had attended was their mother's funeral. None of them brought up the odd and ironic fact that they were coming from a Wiccan coven house to attend Mass at the very seat of power of the Catholic Church.
Afterward, Buffy went to a bank of votive candles near the altar, inserted money in the donation slot, and started lighting several candles, beginning with the bottom row of one section. Dawn reached over for another long matchstick and helped her.
"How many are we lighting?" Tony asked Buffy as he reached for a matchstick.
"Thirty three," Buffy replied softly. "Thirty one for each of the Slayers and Potentials who died in Sunnydale, one for Anya, and one for Spike."
They completed four rows of eight from the bottom up, and then Buffy reached up with her match to light one more at the center of the top row. "I want to set Spike's apart," she explained with a sniffle. "I know Anya died human with a human soul, but Spike's soul was something he struggled and fought for. It wasn't even forced on him like Angel's was. He fought to get it back, for me." Then she whispered, audible only to herself rather than for the benefit of the others, "Rest in peace, Spike. I love you."
The three of them headed for the exit to complete their tour of the Vatican. None of them saw that, as soon as they'd turned their backs to it, the single lit candle in the top row flared up and then extinguished itself, sending a puff of smoke rising toward the ceiling.
The next morning, it was back to business, and back to Tivoli. The various locator spells by Willow and the network of covens, and information gleaned by their various seers, indicated that the Slayer there was named Isabella Colossi and that she lived with her family on an olive orchard they owned. An internet search of olive growers in the Tivoli area and an entry into Mapquest yielded the map that Dawn now used to navigate the Mercedes along a rural road in the foothills east of town. Since Tivoli was so close to Rome and they'd started right after breakfast, it was still early and the olive orchards and vineyards covering the hills were only now losing their yellowish tint of sunrise.
"I'd swear we were back in California," Buffy mused.
"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Tony nodded. "but then again, a lot of the big wineries back home were started by Italians: Ernest and Julio Gallo, Carlo Rossi..."
"Which begs the question," Dawn giggled. "Did they set up in California because it looks like Italy, or does California wine country look like Italy because they made it look like Ita... Ah! This must be the place!"
They'd been driving a short distance along an old stone fence in front of an orchard, and now came upon a gravel driveway marked with a painted sign, with a wreath of olive branches surrounding the words:
Frutteti dei Colossi
Dawn turned the car down the driveway. A one-story farmhouse sat in among the olive trees, back in a few hundred feet and difficult to see from the road, with a few outbuildings behind it. The driveway widened into a parking area, with a late-model Fiat minivan parked by the front door of the house. Dawn parked next to it and the three of them got out. As they approached the front doorway, they noticed the main door open behind the screen door.
"You do the honors, Miss UN Translator!" Buffy said. "No offense, Tony, but I think the bombshell we're about to drop will go over a little better coming from a female, even if her last name doesn't end in a vowel!"
Dawn giggled again, then rapped on the screen door as called out through the screen: "Bongiorno!" As she did so, her spider sense kicked in and she saw what was causing it: the main door frame was broken and splintered where the doorknob strike plate had been. "Buffy! The door's been kicked in!"
"This is not good!" Buffy said softly as the three of them backed away from the door. "We have anything for weapons?"
Dawn reached into her purse and grimly pulled out a curve-bladed dagger with a jeweled handle.
"Of course!" Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. It was one of the knives Dawn had taken from and used against the Bringers of the First Evil back in Sunnydale, when the two sisters had rescued their Aunt Polly from them. The only times she never carried it with her was when they flew on airliners.
"There should be a tire iron in the trunk," Tony said. "I'll go get it."
Buffy scanned the front stoop, saw an assortment of farming tools leaning against the wall, and selected a long-handled tool with a hooked blade on the end. "In the right hands, anything can be a weapon."
"Why, Buffy," Tony smiled as he returned with the tire iron, "it's absolutely Biblical! Isaiah says, 'beat your spears into pruning hooks', and Joel says to reverse the process when you have to!"
"Oh, is that what this thing is?" Buffy raised her eyebrows. "It looks the most weapony!" She turned back to the door. "Okay. We'll all go in at once. I'll be first, then Dawn. Tony, you've got our backs."
"Your six," Tony said.
"Huh?" Buffy squinted.
"Your six o'clock. Helicopter crewman, remember? For giving directions to aircrews, you're in the middle of an imaginary clock face. Front is twelve, right is three, six is your back and left is nine."
"Whatever!" Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. She grabbed the handle to the screen door. "Okay, on three. One, two, three!"
They burst through the door in succession and found themselves inside a living room that was in a condition Buffy and Dawn had become all too familiar with after their seven years in Sunnydale: a shambles. Most of the furniture had been broken or knocked over. A middle-aged man in pajamas lay dead behind the overturned sofa, his throat cut across nearly to the point of decapitation, blood pooled under him and a shotgun lying across his abdomen. A few feet from him, a figure in a dark brown hooded robe lay spread-eagled on its back, its trunk obliterated by what had obviously been a point-blank shotgun blast. A curve-bladed dagger exactly like Dawn's battle trophy lay near the hand of the robed figure, and its eyelids were unmistakably branded shut with strange hieroglyphics. Beyond them at the end of a hallway leading to the back of the house were three more inert figures: two more in hooded robes, and a teenage girl in a tank top and shorts.
"Oh, sh-!" the Summers sisters and Tony chorused.
Author's Notes:
Sorry it's been months since I've added to this! As I've said in my notes on my other works, I work for a public school district and February through the end of the school year is the busiest time for me at work. It's taken me a little time to get back in the groove during my summer break and finish this chapter, plus I've also been working on the other books in this series as my muses inspire me. My apologies to those who have been following this story for leaving you hanging this long. I'll do my best to keep the next chapter from being so long in coming! Thanks.