Moon Magic
Rated Teen
Chapters Six-Ten
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Chapter Six
Riley didn't even have the option of closing his eyes to avoid seeing the fight that ended all too soon with Faith sprawled on the stone floor, Snape standing over her with his wand. Some distant part of Riley's mind circled in fear and wanted nothing more than to put his hands around Snape's neck and feel the bones snap. She had come for him. Damn it. And now she was going to die for him.
Snape pointed his own wand toward his face and with a curt "Episkey," the broken nose reset itself. "Tergeo," and even the blood that had splattered across his face vanished, leaving only a very cranky looking wizard standing there.
Faith twitched, her whole body shaking and an arm flopping out, and Snape stepped back away. Riley wished he could feel more than the distant, drowsy frustration he'd felt ever since hearing Faith's voice. He couldn't.
"Since she is clearly in no state to provide answers..." Snape turned to Riley's cage, reached in and dropped Riley to the floor so fast that Riley didn't have a chance to catch his breath before he landed, in human form, on the cold floor.
"What is she?" Snape demanded, wand ready. Riley slowly stood, looking toward Faith and then Snape. "If I were trying to harm her, I would not have used the Petrificus Totalus spell."
"Petrificus." Riley muttered the familiar word as he looked at Faith twitching on the ground. Straightening up, he glared at Snape. "It looks like you did more than petrify her."
"Obviously the incantation had an unusual effects. So, I'm going to repeat my question only once before I take more drastic action. What is she?"
Faith went into a series of small convulsions, her arms flopping against the stone hard enough that she was going to have some spectacular bruising. Riley clenched his teeth as he considered his options. Snape hadn't actually hurt him, although getting turned into a snake was on his list of experiences to avoid in the future. And if Riley could trust Snape's word and his own rusty memory of Latin, the man hadn't tried to hurt Faith.
"She's a vampire slayer. A girl born to fight demons."
"She's a magical creature?" Snape was so startled he let his wand hand drop. Riley considered the opportunity, but the odds were against him, especially since he didn't know how to help Faith. Snape brought the wand back up and pointed it at Riley as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I don't know of any vampire slayers in this universe. Describe their attributes."
Riley hesitated only a second. "They're fast, and exceptionally strong, probably as strong as a vampire."
"Interesting." Snape turned toward Faith, watching her twitch for a second before going over and opening a cupboard. "Continue."
"They heal fast. I watched Buffy get her ribs broken, and the next day she was just a little sore. And it took a lot to break her ribs. If I'd taken the same hit from a demon, it would have crushed my chest."
"Anything else?" Snape was now totally ignoring Riley, pushing aside vials and bottles and knobby roots as he searched for something on the crowded shelf. He brought out a bottle of blue liquid followed by a small, rolled paper tied with a string.
"There's only supposed to be one at a time, but a spell activated a lot of them. Apparently some warlock or shaman or something put a demon's power into a girl a long time ago, and all the slayers still use that power."
Snape stopped, his hands pausing on a bottle of what looked suspiciously like mice feet. "How interesting Mr. Finn. From your reactions, I had assumed you were unaware of magic."
"I've fought magic users," Riley answered calmly. Part of him pointed out that he was an idiot for revealing anything to a potential enemy, but getting turned into a snake had an emasculating effect, and power, any little drop of power, felt good right now.
Snape looked at him with a raised eyebrow before he dropped a couple of the potential mice feet into the blue vial. "You continue to surprise me. I don't like surprises." Snape swirled the bottle and the liquid slowly turned white.
"She needs to drink this. Obviously, I have no interest in trying to fight her long enough to get the potion in her." Snape held out the bottle. "Half the bottle should suffice, and try not to get too much on my floor."
Riley looked at the bottle and then at Snape. Regulations did not cover any of this, not even the regulations he had helped write as part of his work fighting demons for the government. He knew how far to stand from a drosav and where to strike a vampire; he had no experience with potions and slightly sadistic professors. Okay, so he did have experience with sadistic professors, but it had been a long time since he'd had to play that game with Walsh. "What is it?" he finally asked.
"I do not have the time or inclination to try and explain such a complex potion to an imbecile. Either give her the potion or watch her die." Snape held the bottle a little closer, and this time Riley took it. The professor turned his back and headed for the table.
Riley sent up a quick prayer that he was making the right decision before he knelt next to Faith on the floor. She was breathing in quick pants and in all her flopping around, she had pulled her shirt up to reveal one breast. Riley quickly pulled the black fabric down, trying not to notice things that would make Sam murder him in his sleep when he got home. He put one hand under Faith's neck and let a little of the milky white fluid trickle into her mouth.
"Come on, just swallow," he encouraged her. A spasm sent her arms flopping, and Riley winced when one slammed into his shoulder with slayer-strength. "It's supposed to make you better, just try," he muttered as he poured a little more into her mouth. This time, a slow line of white drool appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"For Merlin's sake, just pour it in her."
"I'm not going to risk choking her," Riley said through clenched teeth. He was starting to develop some very unChristian ideas of where to shove Snape's wand.
"Given your description of her, I had rather thought that impossible." Snape's voice dripped with condescension, but Riley ignored him as he slowly allowed the fluid to trickle into Faith's open mouth. Her convulsions had stopped, but now she lay unmoving, her skin far too pale.
Riley watched as Faith's face lost the last of the pink from her cheeks. "If this kills her, I will make sure you follow her."
"You have neither the ability nor the intelligence to carry out that threat; however, the potion certainly will not kill her, not unless you've lied about her origins."
Riley didn't bother answering as he held the bottle up. "Did she drink enough?" Half the fluid was gone.
"Yes."
Riley expected Snape to check Faith or come take the bottle or maybe to just wave his wand and turn Riley back into a snake. Instead, he sat at the table and drank a cup of tea he must have summoned when Riley had been tending Faith. Turning away, Riley went to the couch and pulled the cushions off before he headed back to Faith's side and put one under her head and the other under her legs to improve circulation. Her breath slowed to a more regular pace and Riley sat next to her on the edge of a rug that defined the living room section of this... cave? dungeon? basement? He waited.
"Fuck." Faith softly slurred the word.
"No thanks, I'm married," Riley said, relief washing through him so that he had to smile. One eye cracked open
"Already did you anyway," she said, working her mouth as though it hurt. Riley didn't remember Snape getting in any hits, but her hand came up and poked at her jaw.
"What hit me?"
"You hit me," Snape commented from his seat at the table. He leaned forward with the tea cup in hand. "I wouldn't recommend you attempt that again."
"Seems like you're the one who didn't do what he was told. All you had to do was give me the boy-toy and I'd be out of here," Faith rolled to her side and got up with far more grace than humanly possible. Snape raised an eyebrow.
"Let us just say I don't appreciate being held at knife point," Snape commented. Faith stretched her neck one way and then the other, her body twisting in ways that made Riley look the other way and remind himself that he was a married man and he had no interest in cheating on Sam.
"Can't say I like being held at wand point," Faith shrugged. "But the deal is still good. You give me the boy, and I'm out of here."
"Yes, but you seem to have lost your leverage."
"What, you want to keep Riley? You have a thing for soldier-boys maybe? Keep him in that little cage until you feel that itch you can't quite scratch?" Faith rolled her hips and made it quite clear what kind of itch she meant. Riley physically backed away, disgust and fear battling for control before he ordered all those feelings away. They wouldn't help him, not now. He could panic later. Faith looked Snape up and down, clearly assessing him before she turned her back and ran a finger over the spines of the books on the nearest shelf.
Snape picked up the teacup. "I have no need of such... desperate measures," he sniffed. "However, there is still something you could offer in return for your freedom. You said--"
Snape's voice cut off in the middle of the sentence as Faith went from casually browsing book titles to an all-out attack. She was reaching for Snape before Riley even noticed the attack.
"Incarcerous!" Snape shouted as he stumbled backwards, knocking over his own chair. The tea cup went flying, and before he could even get his brain fully in gear, Riley instinctively leapt forward to back Faith's attack. From nowhere, ropes sang through the air, brushing by his arm as he reached for Snape.
"Petrificus Totalus," Snape called out just as Riley's hands brushed against his black robes. Already off balance, Riley found himself unable to control his body, and he crashed forward, hitting the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of him. And then he found himself lying stomach down, hands still reaching for Snape who calmly walked around Riley's frozen body.
Behind him, Riley could hear Faith cursing, and something shattered with a loud crash, so she wasn't totally out of the game, but Riley did suspect that they had lost this round. He forced himself to relax and not fight the spell that held him immobile. As horrifying as it was, he wished he was a snake; at least then the fear and anger would be pushed behind the lethargy that controlled his mind. Now, he could feel everything even as he was forced to lie helpless and wait for Snape to do something.
"So, let us have a discussion, Miss Faith," Snape said. The cursing went silent and Riley could only stare at the pattern of the rocks on the floor and wait.
Chapter Seven
Faith tested the ropes that bound her, just about growling her frustration when she found that they were the tightest she had ever encountered. Fuck. If he'd just been a little slower with the wand, she would have had him. Hell, any other weapon, and she so would have taken his scrawny ass to the ground, but the man was fast with a wand, she had to hand him that. Her attack had gotten her inches from him, but fighting the ropes left her, once again, near the wall of bookcases.
"You're pretty good with ropes," she said salaciously, arching her eyebrows as she curved her hip out. He raised is own eyebrows in obvious surprise.
"I have had occasion to use them."
"Have you?" With all other weapons gone, Faith fell back to the oldest and most successful of the weapons in her arsenal. "Mmm. I bet you have," she let just enough growl into her voice to tempt him. More men wanted to tame a wildcat than pet a pussy; Buffy never had understood that. If she had, she wouldn't have lost first Spike and then the Immortal. Faith narrowed her eyes and gave Snape her most wicked, dangerous smile.
"I believe we were discussing a trade," Snape commented as he waved his wand at Riley with a curt "Serpenta Mutalatis." The soldier went from being a frozen mannequin face down on the ground to a hissing snake curling and striking out at Snape's feet.
"Cool it, babe," Faith said, the snake's head swung toward her, his body curling tighter. "Play nice with the big, bad wizard."
Instead of calming the snake, the small green body curled lighter and the head weaved angrily from side to side.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Snape said in a bored voice and the snake rose into the air before moving toward the cage. "I would let the two of you get to spend some quality time together, but directly spelling a magical creature is never a good idea."
"Magical creature?" Faith asked, laughing. "Babe, I don't know what story soldier-boy fed you, but magic is not my thing."
"He said you were a vampire slayer." Once he dropped the green fabric back over the cage, Snape turned back toward her.
"Oh, that," Faith gave an awkward shrug while trying to wiggle out of one strand of rope. "So, do I take it that a soldier-boy in a cage isn't quite up your alley?" Faith took a step closer, her body language both inviting and dangerous: a tilt of a hip to expose the curve of her waist, feet planted in a classic attack pose.
"Nor are you," Snape said dryly.
Immediately Faith straightened up. "Look, whatever deal you're looking for, just spit it out. I could get insulted anywhere." The minute she challenged him, Snape actually seemed to relax, nodding slightly.
"Information for Mr. Finn's return."
"Information?" Faith asked slowly. No way would it be that simple.
She worked her fingers through a strand of the rope. The rope tightened itself around her the moment the loop cleared her fingers, and Faith had to consciously keep her expression neutral. Hey, it was five-by-five. Next time she would just keep applying slayer strength to the strand until she could push the whole coil up. She started again. Meanwhile, Snape paced.
"You said someone was in here. Describe her."
"Hey, let's lay down the terms first. You can't go rushing into the climax without the foreplay."
Snape stopped and considered her with the same look that old fart in Chicago used when she was eleven and would smoke on the front stoop.
"The terms are simple: you give me information on who came into my rooms, and I give you Mr. Finn."
"Now see, maybe it's just me being all suspicious, but that sounds a little less than simple. What information am I supposed to have? When do you plan to hand over Riley, and the really important one, will he have all his fingers and toes and other appendages attached in their correct places when I get him back? I hear his wife is a real kick-ass bitch, which I'm down for, but I don't plan to throw down with the woman because I forgot to have you reattach an important piece of equipment."
Snape stopped and studied Faith so hard that she stopped working the ropes, sure for a second that he was going to send another set her way and she was going to have to start over. Instead, he slowly smiled. "You would have made an excellent Slytherin," he commented with a nod. "I will return Mr. Finn to human form immediately; however, I would recommend that you stay in these quarters until I can return you to your own world in two weeks."
"Some bad shit going on out there, huh?" Faith asked. Snape's eyes narrowed.
"Your timing is awkward," he said slowly. This time Faith nodded. She'd seen the look on his face often enough to know it, the thin veneer of nonchalance over the pure desperation. For years, she'd seen that expression in her own eyes every morning in the mirror. Eventually, she'd just taken to putting on the make up without a mirror to avoid the expression. Hell, she always figured she'd be a step ahead of the typical minion if she ever got vamped considering all the experience she had avoiding mirrors.
"Riley gets turned into a real boy, within the hour, and he stays that way," Faith said firmly.
"I assure you, this is less," Snape paused, "stressful in his current form."
"Probably," Faith agreed, "but since I have the information, that's not your call."
"There are other ways to get the information," Snape threatened. Faith hesitated. She could see the honest threat in Snape's eyes, the need to do whatever it took.
"I think you've shown that your magic is a little less than reliable when it comes to me, and if you're going for torture... I've seen bigger and badder, so you aren't scaring me," Faith honestly answered.
"You have no idea what I am capable of." His voice grew soft.
"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea. It's not like I haven't walked the shady side of the street before, but trust me, I've seen bigger and badder. Besides, we don't have to be on opposite sides here," Faith pointed out.
Snape gave an ugly laugh. "Oh yes, shall I untie you now so you can attempt to murder me again?"
"Okay, it might be my fault we got off to a bad start here," Faith admitted in her best conciliatory tone. Xander or Willow would have rolled their eyes at her and accused her of sounding more manipulative than conciliatory, but Snape just waited in silence. "I tend to be a take hostages first and ask questions later kind of girl, but I can smell shit going bad from a good distance, and you got that around here, don't you?"
Snape didn't answer, but his head tilted slightly. Nodding at Snape, Faith continued. "Whatever crap is going down, you're totally freaked out about someone being in here, maybe someone who shouldn't, maybe someone who might find something you don't want them to find." Now Snape was unnaturally still. "Something on the other side of that door scares you shitless."
"You have no idea what is on the other side of that door." Snape moved quickly, almost gliding into Faith's personal space so they stood nose to nose, even if Faith did have to tilt her head up to see him. "You have no idea how deadly this situation could become if certain parties became aware that you and your friend appeared here in response to an incantation requesting help."
"Unless you have something scarier than an all-powerful being who came way too fucking close to destroying our entire reality, you don't have shit to scare me." Faith didn't even blink.
"He should scare you. The boy they will dismiss; a muggle with no talents is clearly not a threat. But a new and unique magical creature? They will pull you apart cell by cell and use your parts in their potions."
Faith studied Snape, the twitch of an eyebrow, the stiff body held rigidly locked, the dark eyes that hid his emotion. Slowly, Faith nodded.
"You'd pull me apart. They find out about me, and you'll be the one ripping out my guts. You're the potions expert here, and unless I miss my guess, you're playing both sides of this fence."
Snape physically jerked as if slapped, but Faith ignored him. "It's five-by-five with me. We all do what we've got to do babe, but don't think I'd be that easy to take apart. So, here's the deal. I tell you everything, you turn Riley back into tall, blond, and easy-on-the-eyes, and we all try to stay quiet as church mice to avoid any of us being put into really messy situations," Faith offered.
For the first time, Faith realized that she had shocked the wizard into speechlessness. A clock heavily ticked in the silence. "What are you?" he eventually asked.
"I thought we covered this. Me slayer, you wizard."
"You couldn't know. Does your race practice legilimency?"
"Don't really know since I've never heard that one, but there are lots of words I've never heard before. But let's get one thing straight: I'm human."
"Legilimency, the ability to read another's thoughts," Snape said, totally ignoring the being human half of Faith's complaint.
"Nah. I've just seen that look too fucking much on myself. You think you're the first one to ride a little close to that edge? But here's the thing. If you were on the wrong side of the bad that's going on here, you'd be enjoying this a little more. So, your turn, cutie. Do we have a deal?"
"All the information, nothing withheld, and I will turn Mr. Finn back into a human and leave him such for two weeks until I can send you home," Snape summarized.
"Deal. I would shake on it, but you know," Faith smiled and gave a shrug that hid the last of her struggles.
"Yes, I can--" Faith twisted, throwing the loop of rope up and off as fast as slayer speed and strength allowed. The closing loop brushed the top of her head before falling behind her, but by then Faith had closed the small gap and grabbed Snape. Jerking him around, she got an arm around his throat before he could bring his wand halfway up.
"Drop it or you'll hear your own neck bones snap," Faith warned. Snape hesitated for just a second, but when Faith tightened her grip, his wand clattered to the floor as he flushed.
"How foolish of me to assume even that spell would work as intended."
"So, we have a deal?" Faith asked casually without letting go of his neck.
"Deal?" Snape sounded so cute when he was totally fucking confused. She just had to smile.
"Yep, I'll give you everything I know, you do right by Riley. Oh, I'm adding one other little piece," she said cheerfully.
"Oh?" The dark, suspicious tone just made Faith smile more.
"I promise to not try to break your neck, gut you, stab you, or shove your wand so far up your ass you cough up splinters, and you never point that fucking thing at me again. Deal?"
"You would have made an exceptional Slytherin."
Taking that as a promise of sorts, Faith released Snape, holding her hands up in a gesture of helplessness, but Snape's eyes still watched her warily as he retrieved his wand and tucked it under his robes.
"So, you wanted to know about my afternoon. After I stabbed that ankle-biting book of yours, I just sort of hung out and looked through your library until I heard that door start to open..." Faith told him the story, and Snape sank onto the grandmaish couch and listened, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers steepled in front of his nose. But what Faith really noticed were his eyes, dark and focused and watching her every move as she paced the room.
Chapter Eight
Snape had long ago leaned back, his eyes blank. Faith finished her story and dropped onto the arm of the couch, draping one leg over as she propped an elbow on the back. "Uncomfortable as shit," she complained mildly.
"One is intended to sit on the cushion," Snape answered dryly without taking his focus on the far wall, a spot above the cage where Riley gave an occasional hiss from his cage.
"Whatever," Faith wiggled so that the wood arm wasn't poking her in any particularly sensitive spot, which left one boot braced on the cushion next to Snape. He glared at the boot in question for a second before sighing.
"You told Aurora I had brought a strumpet into my chambers. My reputation shall never recover." Strangely, Snape sounded suddenly tired and quiet and faintly Giles-like.
"Hey, I'm not just any strumpet. You have quality goods here, so it's not like you're slumming." Faith held her hands out and wiggled a little to show off her assets; however, Snape's expression didn't improve. "Not unless you have some reputation as a goody-goody, and babe, if that's the case, you simply have to work on the whole look. You kinda have the bad-boy thing going for you."
"Good? Hardly. However, I have always jealously guarded my privacy. I do not wish to invite others to become familiar, and Aurora is one in particular from whom I would wish to keep a certain distance."
"Ah," Faith said knowingly. Snape turned his full glare toward her.
"Give it a rest, babe. That look don't work on me. So, if you're playing the dangerous lone wolf, the question is why you would let her in your room when you had soldier-boy in the cage."
"The wrong people are already aware of the use of moon magic. I have shown him to one who was undoubtedly sent here by his betters, and I suspect that I shall have to show him to others before the two weeks is up. As long as we do not have to reveal your presence, that should not be a problem. And as for your question, I certainly did not give Aurora permission to enter my chambers."
"Shit," Faith said softly.
"Now you understand." Snape pushed his hair back from his face and a hardness settled into his face. "Something is underfoot, and obviously I have been excluded from certain plans."
"Funny, I'm usually pretty good at spotting a danger, but the woman came off as more twitchy than dangerous. The radar must be off," Faith shrugged.
"Not necessarily. Just because Aurora came in here does not mean that she did it of her own free will or that she even remembers."
"Oh, I'm pretty hard to forget," Faith said with a lusty look that made Snape raise an eyebrow, but he didn't respond. She sighed. It was going to be a long two weeks if they couldn't find Willow and hitch a ride home sooner. "You guys have some freaky shit around here, you know that, right?"
Snape closed his eyes for a second, and Faith could feel the fatigue, the stress that rolled from him like a fog. "You simply need to remain unobtrusive, so this has nothing to do with you. I shall go to someone who should be able to help."
"Unobtrusive," Faith nodded thoughtfully. They were so screwed. Her tone must have warned him because he suddenly shifted on the couch, focusing all his attention and one serious death-glare on her. "Chill, babe."
"Chill?" Both eyebrows went up.
"Chill, don't get your robes bunched up in your ass crack, calm down," Faith clarified. "But if you want unobtrusive, we have a problem."
"Why am I spectacularly unsurprised?"
Faith laughed at the dry humor. "Yeah, I don't do unobtrusive well. I'm not sure whether that's the slayer bits or just pure Faith, but I do tend to stand out from the crowd. However, you've got bigger worries than me."
"Yes, I do," Snape said, and the earlier humor had vanished. "If there is something I should know, say it now because I have work that needs to be done."
"The witch who sent me here, she makes me look like a regular wallflower when she gets going, and she's going to be trying to track us down."
"Wonderful." Snape sighed. "How long before she attempts to follow you?"
"Time out. You think I'd come to freaky central without backup? I do not have a death wish, not anymore, anyway. She came through with me, but we must have been separated during the spell because I landed here and she didn't."
"She attempted to enter Hogwarts?" Snape stood and faced Faith, his eyes narrowing.
"That was the plan." Faith calmly watched as Snape's eyes darkened.
"The idiot."
Sliding down to the seat of the couch, Faith curled her legs under her Indian style and smiled up. "Oh, I'd call Red all sorts of things, but an idiot wouldn't even be on the list. Now manipulative? Yeah, I could go for that one."
"One cannot apparate onto school grounds."
"Whoa, this is a school? Shit. I don't remember school being this..." Faith hesitated. The books and the dungeon atmosphere were kinda cool, but the furniture, that was all old-lady freaky, and not a good kind of freaky.
"It is a magical school, and various protections prevent apparition."
"Babe, you have got to learn to use little words. We both know I can kick your ass, but I'm not even going to pretend to understand all the shit you say." Snape looked at her for a second, frowning.
"Apparate, to appear by magic. Disapparate, to--"
"Disappear. Got it. I suffer a lack of education, not intelligence, so play nice or I'll give you another demonstration of how well I can kick your ass," Faith warned. "And I hate to break it to you, but your protections aren't that good." Faith stood up so that she was right in Snape's personal space. He quickly backed off a step and then glared at her. Man was kinda cute when he got pissed. "I seem to have come through just fine."
"You are a magical creature. Wizarding magic does not prevent house elves from apparating and disapparting at will, so I am hardly surprised you came through."
"Wait. You mean Willow got bounced off some fucking shield?"
"Probably," Snape agreed. "The complexities of traveling realities and the power of the witch in question would certainly affect the results, and I have no way of evaluating either."
"Red? She's one scary ass witch. She channeled some sort of earth magic and activated every potential slayer on the planet. Hell, she even brought Buffy back from the dead."
Snape had been looking around the room, his eyes skimming the bookshelves, but now that sharp gaze locked on Faith. "Creating Inferi is powerful and dark magic."
"Yeah, Red sometimes goes pretty dark on us, but we've already talked about the big words, so don't make me repeat myself."
Snape blinked at her for a second before rolling his eyes. "Inferi, the walking dead, bodies reanimated by the will of a witch or wizard who controls them."
"Zombies? No, Buffy is not a zombie, and Willow is definitely not in control there. No, Willow brought Buffy back good as new. Something about how Buffy died made it possible to haul her ass right out of heaven all shiny and new. Still freaks me out because when I'm dead, I want to stay dead. One time on this merry-go-round is plenty for me."
"She brought someone back? And what is she likely to do now that you've been separated?"
"Oh, I figure she'll start by keeping her head down and playing it quiet. After a while, she'll get all panicky and babble at random strangers, but eventually, the girl's going to lose her mind and start making a whole lot of noise."
"Wonderful." Snape turned and headed for the fireplace, not even trying to hide the sour-milk expression on his face. "How long before this person makes herself conspicuous?"
"Who knows?" Faith shrugged and watched as Snape pulled Riley out of his cage and pointed his wand. Without a word, Riley was suddenly on the ground in human form, and from his expression, he was not a happy soldier.
"Faith," he said curtly.
"Thanks for the backup."
"For all the help I was," Riley said, clearly not happy with his own ineffectiveness.
"That was foolish. I would not suggest you try it again," Snape warned darkly, and Faith could smell the testosterone start to build.
"Backing Faith was my best chance, and considering that she did end up beating you, I would back her again."
"Whoa, hey, right now, we're all on the same side here, boys. Let's play nice."
Both men stared at each other, but Riley was the first to glance away, his body still tight and stiff and all soldierly, but at least he wouldn't push things. After hearing Buffy's stories, Faith suspected that it was an act because Riley wasn't the kind to just give up easy, but right now, she had priorities other than soothing male egos.
"I shall make some inquiries and endeavor to find where your witch has gone," Snape said, his own gaze still locked on Riley.
"We're going with you to get Willow," Riley said quietly, his gaze unfocused.
"No, you aren't."
Now Riley looked over at him.
"And if you argue, you can go back in your cage."
"No way, Riley's staying on two legs, or you and I are going to have another tussle," Faith warned.
"And if you try to talk to Willow alone, she will panic," Riley said calmly. Of course, Faith could see the way he had stiffened at the threat, so she was guessing he was feeling a whole lot more stress than he was showing.
"Define panic," Snape demanded.
"Willow and Xander, they back up the slayers, they aren't the front-line fighters. She's perfectly comfortable standing behind Faith, but being alone, she's going to be scared and overly emotional. I don't know how your magic works, but with Willow, the more emotional she gets, the more unpredictable her magic is. If someone confronts her and she feels trapped or thinks she's in danger, she could do anything from levitate rocks to make someone explode."
"She would kill?" Snape didn't looked surprised at that, just thoughtful.
Riley considered his answer for a moment. "I don't think that would be her first reaction, but she has killed in the past, and she regularly slays demons, so if she comes to think of you as evil or demonic, she is very capable of killing."
"I shall have to make sure Miss Granger knows how much I appreciate the complications she has brought into my life," Snape sighed. Faith had expected him to dismiss Riley's words for no reason other than the fact that Riley had said them. In her experience, guys just did that. Hell, get Angel, Spike, and Xander in the same room with three doors, and they'd starve before they'd all agree on one door to try, just on the principle of it. But Snape seemed to have accepted Riley's conclusion. "I need to speak with someone. I will return," Snape announced. He pulled something from a pocket and tossed it on the fireplace. The part that freaked Faith, though, was when he walked into the flames and vanished.
"Shit."
"And I thought I hated magic on our world," Riley agreed softly. "So, you're the rescue party?"
Faith looked at the man she had once tricked into bed and shrugged. He'd been good--a little conventional for her tastes, but good. "I figured I owed you one after, you know." Even now, Faith found it a little difficult to face the people she had so thoroughly screwed over.
"Thank you," Riley said. "The thought of having to rely on Professor Snape's word was not good for my digestion."
"Snape's okay. If all else fails, he'll get us home in two weeks."
"But hopefully Willow will get us home sooner."
"Yeah. I don't think I can put up with two weeks of this shit." Faith dropped onto the couch and looked around. "No TV."
"It's a lot more comfortable out here than in the cage," Riley pointed out. After that, there wasn't anything else to say and an awkward silence separated them. Riley walked the room studying the titles of the books that lined the wall. Faith sat and picked at a long, shallow scab on her leg. Oh yeah, this was so going to be a fun two weeks, just a non-stop party. Telling herself that she was earning bonus karma points for this good deed, Faith leaned back and started counting the circles carved into the stone ceiling.
Chapter Nine
"The news just continues to improve," Snape said as he stepped out of the fireplace, the flames flashing behind him for a second.
"Do I want to know?" Faith asked as she looked up from her foot. She had retrieved her knife from the biting book and was trimming her toenails with it. Snape looked at her with his eyebrows up.
"Probably not," he admitted without commenting on Faith's grooming habits.
"What is it?" Riley had been sitting at the dining room table with a book on dark magic, but now he came back to the living room area.
"Indulging in some light reading?" Snape asked as he looked over toward the table. Riley went still, his body going into that creepy military form with his hands tucked away at the small of his back. Faith always had an urge to sneak up behind him and handcuff him when he stood like that, but then any man in that military pose gave Faith that urge. Standing with your feet apart and your hands behind your back was just way too much temptation for a girl.
"When in enemy territory, it's always a good idea to know what you're facing," Riley said with that same almost-calm voice. Snape looked at him for a second before turning his back on him. Faith had to give Riley some credit, the boy didn't even flinch at the insult.
"Apparently your origins make it impossible to track your movement, so we shall have to try and find your witch before she panics."
"Willow is capable of doing a tracking spell. She would have brought the ingredients, so even if you can't trace us, being from the same reality, she may be able to," Riley interrupted. Snape didn't bother to look at the man, but he did look thoughtful.
"Will she attempt to trace you or Faith?" he asked Riley without giving him the courtesy of looking at him.
"Faith," Riley immediately answered. "She'll want to find Faith before she tries to track me down, especially if she feels threatened."
"Yeah, and the girl's going to start freaking soon."
"Then we shall have to leave Hogwarts so she can find you. We shall start in Hogsmead and slowly circle outside the school's protections."
"Five by five with me," Faith quickly agreed. Right now she'd agree to a quick walk through hell if it meant getting out of this room for a little bit. She stuck her knife back into its sheath and pulled her boot on. "I'm just not walking through fire," she warned Snape.
"I had been planning to use the door," Snape said, and Faith smiled at the man's dry humor.
"Yeah, with all the freaky-ass shit you got going on, I was afraid you'd want to flush yourself down the toilet or something."
Snape sniffed. "That is for those fools over at the Ministry of Magic. Quite distasteful."
"Shit. You're serious." Faith stared at Snape.
"I do not joke about the moronic behavior at the Ministry of Magic. Simply reporting their antics is amusement enough."
Faith pulled her jacket on and followed Snape to the door. "You will not be coming with us," Snape said as he turned and looked at Riley. The soldier was two steps behind them, and immediately his expression hardened. He glanced toward Faith.
"I thought we agreed to stay together," Faith said, carefully. Snape hadn't tried to put any distance between them, so she didn't expect an attack, but he'd clearly changed the plans.
"You commented on your desire to stay together; however, there is a certain reality we must deal with. In my world, those without magical powers are seen as..." Snape paused and graced Riley with a dismissive sneer.
"Got it," Faith said before Riley had a chance to say something stupid. The boy was doing a good job controlling the testosterone, but she couldn't see any man having the control to ignore that look. "So the non-magical sort aren't exactly welcome."
"Not in the places we are likely to go, and not with the people who may see us."
"What about Faith?" Riley asked with more control than Faith would have given him credit for.
"As she already introduced herself as a woman for hire, her presence is explainable. However, anyone who spends any time around her will notice that she has magical qualities, so we need an explanation other than her being a new form of magical creature. That would invite... experimentation," Snape said. Faith flinched from that idea. She was all for a good honest fight, but Snape was describing something a lot slimier than an honest fight.
"What's the story then because I don't think I can pass myself off as a house elf."
"Assuredly not," Snape agreed. "If cornered, we shall tell people that your grandmother was a succubus."
Faith started laughing. "Snape, I didn't know you'd noticed! You do know how to turn a girl's head with the sweet talk, don't you?"
"You know the species?"
"Hell yeah! Xander had one fixate on him not long after we lost Anya. She called him intoxicating, but she might have just been stoned from the smell of turpentine from his clothes. He took off for Africa not long after that."
"Faith, you should not be going anywhere with him alone," Riley said, interrupting the moment. Faith looked over at the soldier, understanding both men's positions. If Snape was walking the fence in this fight, he couldn't be seen pal-ing around with some normal human. But Riley, well that boy was all nobility and chivalry and, Faith was starting to suspect, a lot more shrewdness than she had given him credit for based on Buffy's stories.
"Chill, babe. We need to find Willow, and three people wandering the streets looks a lot more suspicious than a man and a woman out for a little stroll and some romance."
"Romance?" Snape asked, one eyebrow up again. Yeah, her and Snape were not the roses and love notes sort.
"How about the two of us out looking for a drink and a place to fuck like bunnies?" she amended herself. She got an almost-smile out of Snape. "But," she said to Riley, "as much as I wouldn't mind the idea of the three of us fucking like bunnies together, three is more conspicuous than two." Riley studied her, his face hiding his emotions.
"I'm married," Riley finally pointed out, "So, I'm going to have to say no to a threesome." For a second, Faith didn't catch his point and thought the boy had just slipped off the rails a bit, but then she watched him back off a step. "If Sam finds out you're talking about fucking with me, you're going to have one serious fight on your hands."
Faith nodded at the silent permission and the silent request to make sure he got back to Sam. "Five by five with me; Snape and me will have to do our fucking without you," she joked. She turned around to find Snape looking at her with an expression she couldn't quiet decipher. "So, we ready?"
"Yes," Snape agreed, shaking himself out of whatever strangeness had grabbed him before he pulled out his wand and tapped the door. It slid open with a heavy grinding of stone over stone.
"No wonder I couldn't get the damn thing open," Faith muttered as Snape closed it again behind them.
"And the source of my concern that Aurora could open it," Snape agreed in the empty passage outside his chambers before he sealed the door with a whispered word. "Your witch friend is in danger out there, but I would suggest we find her quickly rather than leave Mr. Finn to his own devices for long. With the world as it is, I should worry even about your ability to safely navigate the dangers."
Nodding, she followed Snape through a series of dark corridors past doors and suits of armor and paintings with people who watched with surprise and followed them from one picture frame to another.
Faith glanced around, controlling her curiosity even though a little part of her wanted to gawk and poke at the paintings and see just how real they were. "Nice place," she commented mildly, assuming that Snape would understand what she was really saying.
"Yes, it is," Snape agreed ambiguously, and Faith really couldn't ask him what that meant as they walked through a storage room and out an enormous arched doorway into the green, rolling hills of the countryside. A short stone wall ducked between hills, popping up randomly and interrupting the green, and a well-worn sand-colored path disappeared around the corner. Now Faith could see that it really was a castle, an old-fashioned stone castle with towers and all. Damn. Now this was cool.
"I hope you don't mind a walk."
"Mind? Shit. I was ready to start climbing the shelves and swinging from the ceiling in there. Sitting still is not my thing, and after a couple of years of some serious sitting still, I'm even less fond of it."
"A couple of years?" Snape's glance didn't even try to hide the calculations and speculations as he stared at her.
"Yeah, prison's not good for someone who feels a need to fight or fuck or just run until I can feel every cell in my body. But sometimes I think having to sit still for a while made me look at my demons." A shadow flickered across the hill, and Faith glanced up to see brooms zip by, kids yelling as they darted up into the air until all five or six of them headed back down behind the hill again. "No fucking way. You have flying brooms!" Faith gave Snape's arm a slap, and he stumbled to the side in surprise before regaining his footing.
"Broomsticks, apparating, and floo powder or walking through the fireplace are the primary forms of transportation."
"Willow is going to shit herself over that. She has fits when people have those cardboard cutouts with a witch on a broomstick--calls it stereotyping and discrimination and some shit about domestic subjugation of women, but then she's a pain in the ass about Christmas and Jewishness and all that, too. Next time she gets her panties in a twist about broomsticks, though, I'm rubbing this in."
They walked as the path went winding around some hills and taking them over others. Faith noticed a forest in the distance, and something about it set off the slayer alarms at the back of her neck.
"What were you in prison for?" Snape asked casually as though commenting on the weather.
"Murder."
"Ah."
They walked in silence for a short time, Faith waiting for the inevitable follow-up questions which never came. "You're the first person I've told that to who didn't ask if I did it," Faith eventually commented.
"I assume you did."
"Yeah, but see, if you assume I did, you're supposed to either start trying to figure out what could drive me to that point or freaking out."
"Would you like me to scream in fear?" Snape's sneer made it clear just how likely he was to do that, and Faith laughed. "At least you have atoned for your past," Snape added in a far more serious tone.
"Atoned?" Faith almost choked on the word. "Babe, I don't know how you expect to atone for killing someone, but I don't figure I ever will."
"But you were released--"
"No, I had friends who needed me to save the world. They played a little fast and loose with the paperwork, and everyone who knew I was supposed to be in prison had a little magical help believing I had done my time and had earned the right to go back out into the world a reformed woman." Faith looked around at the hills, the castle, the shadows of the clouds sliding over the grass. "I try to live up to the second chance they gave me, but I avoid words like atone."
Funny, this conversation was getting way too personal. Yeah, she was happy enough to tell people she'd done her time in prison. Most people considered it part of the whole bad-girl image she had going on, but Faith wasn't usually big with sharing the details. The young slayers in Boston had a bet going about why Faith had been in with assault and battery leading drugs two to one.
"So, you ever spent any time in the big house?"
"I assume you mean prison."
"That'd be the house I meant."
Again, a comfortable silence fell over their conversations so that their footsteps on the path and the distant sounds of birds crying made the whole conversation about prison seem just a little weird.
"I often wonder if I am going to end up there eventually. If the wrong side wins, I shall probably be dead, but if the others win..."
"Riding the fence doesn't make you popular with anyone," Faith nodded.
"It can be rather limiting," Snape agreed. "And my own past would certainly justify a prison sentence."
"So," Faith said brightly, feeling a need to change the tone of this conversation. "What do your friends call you?"
Snape took several minutes to answer this time, and Faith listened to their footsteps against the path. "You're assuming I have any."
"Everyone has friends, even when they don't want them. So, when they're busy telling you things you don't want to hear and refusing to give up on you, what do they call you?"
"Snape."
"It can't be that bad," Faith laughed. "What, did you get some totally lame-ass name like Eugene or Eustace or some shit like that?"
"I doubt that anyone would believe that I invited a woman I hired to use my first name. Snape is sufficient."
"This is me. Like I said before, I'm quality goods. Besides, being on the front line when Xander had his little succubus problem, I know for a fact that men turn into marshmallows around those women. They wiggle one little finger, and a man will crawl over glass lick her boots." Faith teased Snape by getting head of him on the path and wiggling her own finger at him as she gave her hips an extra twist.
"But you are one-quarter succubus."
"Babe, let me promise you one thing. If we were in bed together, you would tell me anything I wanted to know, including your name." Faith stopped so that Snape would close the distance between them. When he paused too far away, Faith moved toward him, her hand reaching up to stroke his dark robes. They were cool and smooth, and under them, Faith could feel Snape's chest rise as he sucked in a breath.
"You are young enough to have been my student," Snape said coldly, but Faith could still hear the strained breathing.
"I've been out of school for a long time, babe, and you and I both know I'm as old as you are in any way that counts," Faith countered. "But right now, I'm just asking for a name."
Snape backed off a step, and Faith fisted his robe to prevent him from retreating any more. Faith could see the edge of panic, which was funny considering he'd been Mr. Cool when she'd threatened to break his neck.
"Severus," he offered, and Faith let go of his robes.
"Severus. Nice name," she said as she turned back toward the path. "So, can I pass as a succubus?"
"You'll do adequately," Severus said dryly. Faith laughed, and she realized that she hadn't laughed this much in a long time. She hadn't been thrilled with flinging herself into a new reality just to save Riley's ass, but this wasn't turning out so bad after all. Or at least it wouldn't be too bad as long as they could find Red before she went and blew someone up.
Chapter Ten
Riley was giving himself fodder for a million nightmares reading about boggarts and red caps and kappas and dementors along with the more familiar banshees and vampires. He just had to send up a quick prayer of thanks that this wasn't his world and he didn't have to fight these creatures.
The fireplace flared again, and Riley stood, expecting Snape and Faith to come through the fireplace together this time. Instead, an old man with glasses popped through and looked around curiously.
"Ah, my boy. There you are. It's nice to see you back on your feet again," he said cheerfully, and Riley felt a cold creeping up his back as he recognized him. Snape with that wand of his made Riley's skin crawl, but this was the man who gave Snape orders in that big office. Despite the cheerful and quite frankly slightly senile image the man projected, Riley didn't feel comfortable. He wanted to poke around the edges of this act and find whatever power would make Snape back off.
"Riley Finn, U.S. Army," Riley introduced himself.
"Yes, yes. I am sorry about Miss Granger's ill-advised spell. I'm sure it has inconvenienced you tremendously. I don't know if you remember me, but I am Professor Dumbledore."
Riley blinked as he tried to ignore a threat assessment nerve that jangled as Dumbledore wandered the room poking at the fallen books with his foot before sweeping around to pin Riley with a stare.
"I remember," Riley said slowly. "We met right after the spell."
"Moon magic," Dumbledore nodded. "Moon magic is something most witches and wizards would never attempt. Notta Bellaificus was a unique witch."
Riley watched impassively, even when Dumbledore looked over, that watery gaze inviting him to ask a question or demand some answer. Riley might have asked one of the dozen questions rattling around in his head if he had any idea how to categorize this man, but he'd run into Dumbledore's name twice in Snape's book, and both times, he had been described as the powerful wizard who had destroyed some dark beast. So Riley wasn't buying the harmless act Dumbledore wore like that cloak.
"She was muggle born. I vaguely remember her from when I was a boy, fascinating woman. She had a very strong belief in faith and God, and much of her magic incorporates that fascination for a higher power. Do you share that belief Mr. Finn?" Dumbledore looked at him as if the answer were no more important than the temperature outside, but if he were just looking for casual conversation, this was a strange place to start.
"Yes," Riley agreed carefully. Dumbledore nodded.
"I had thought you might." The toothed book on the floor snapped at Dumbledore's robes as he walked by, and the man made a little clucking sound before he bent over and carefully stroked the spine of the book. With a soft purr, the book fell silent, the teeth disappearing into simple pages before Dumbledore picked the book up and replaced it on the shelf.
"Forgive the question, but being raised in the wizarding world, I fear I am unversed in some of the less studied muggle customs. What does having this faith entail?"
"Excuse me?" Riley moved toward the living room, but Dumbledore had his back turned as he studied the books on the shelf.
"Faith in god, it's a concept one does not often encounter in the wizarding world."
"I don't plan on discussing my faith in God with you. That's rather personal," Riley said firmly. He thought Dumbledore might be angry, but he just turned around and nodded calmly as though he liked Riley's answer.
"Of course, forgive the curiosity of an old man. I imagine you are quite sick of being in here with all of Snape's dusty tomes." Dumbledore turned and gave him a smile. "Would you like a tour of the school?"
"A tour?" Riley repeated suspiciously.
"My boy, you are simply too suspicious," Dumbledore tisked mildly as he pulled out his wand. Riley froze, but all Dumbledore did was head for the door and tap it, making it swing open so Riley could see the corridor outside. Riley had no doubt that the tour had a purpose other than entertaining him, but information was information.
"It is a little stuffy in here," he agreed as he headed for the door.
"Quite so. Severus truly should consider windows." Dumbledore followed Riley out into the corridor where torches set into the wall illuminated the darkness. At the far end of the hall, Riley could see an arched window that showed nothing other than stars and the blue-black of night. "Severus is an amazing man in whom I have every confidence, but his taste in decorating is rather dismal."
Riley really couldn't disagree, but he didn't say that as they walked through various hallways where some of the portraits held pictures of sleeping people and others watched. After the pictures in the books he'd studied, Riley had a pretty good idea of how the magic worked, but he still had to pinch himself to quite believe in such an obvious and casual use of magic. "Faith and Snape have been gone a long time," Riley eventually offered once he realized that Dumbledore's idea of a tour was to silently walk the halls.
"Severus can certainly handle himself and based on his description of your friend, I suspect Faith is equally competent."
"But aren't you a little worried."
"Assuredly not. They shall be fine," Dumbledore announced, and Riley understood an order to drop a subject when he heard one. "I have spoken to Miss Granger about the thoughtlessness she has shown toward you, and she is sincerely apologetic. She had only hoped to help a friend."
"Help a friend? If she wanted answers for her calculus exam, I'm afraid it's been a few years since I've been in high school."
"Ah," Dumbledore said ambiguously. "Yes, well unfortunately the times are rather more desperate than that. And in desperate times, we all have our parts to play, do we not?"
Up to this point, Riley had concentrated on learning the route from Snape's quarters out into the castle. He'd been estimating distances and mentally mapping the various landmarks along the way like the stone gargoyle and the painting of the thin-faced man who had stuck his tongue out at them as they passed. But now Riley concentrated on just the old man.
"In desperate times, I think we all do things we wouldn't normally consider," he agreed, not really sure what he was agreeing to, but it was the truth.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, even when it is children who must play their parts. I find that quite the most disagreeable part."
Riley thought about how he'd felt when he found out that Buffy had been called at fifteen, that the world had stolen her childhood and expected her to make the most unthinkable of sacrifices when she wasn't even old enough to understand what death really meant. She'd learned, but the price she had paid had made Riley want to pull her into his arms and hold her and give her back a moment where she didn't have to be the slayer. Of course, in the end he had lost her because she couldn't ever forget who she was or the burden she carried. And Riley had been left feeling like he never had Buffy at all.
"I wish children weren't a part of the fight," Riley admitted, "but--"
"But sometimes they must be. Sometimes we shall lose the fight without them," Dumbledore nodded. "And knowing that, it does behoove us to forgive them and perhaps make a few sacrifices for them." Dumbledore fell silent, but he had successfully made Riley wonder what was going on that the girl had summoned him. "Oh my. I have something which needs attending. I am sorry, but I don't have time to escort you back, but you'll be fine here, won't you?" Dumbledore rattled the words off as he backed away, his eyes already focusing somewhere else.
Riley opened his mouth to agree, but Dumbledore vanished. One moment he was in the hall backing up toward the coat of arms and the next he was simply gone. "Damn," Riley whispered as he realized he was effectively stranded unless he wanted to wander around the dim halls of a magical castle alone. Maybe it was years of growing up on horror films, or maybe it was reading that book of Snape's, but Riley really didn't feel like getting lost in some basement.
With a sigh, he headed for the railing that overlooked the giant maze of staircases. They had started in the dungeon, but he and Dumbledore had somehow ended up on a hall half-way up the tangled mass of stairwells, seemingly without climbing any stairs. Obviously Riley's mental map of the place had developed a few flaws because he had assumed they were still on the lower levels.
"Hello," a child's voice said from behind. Riley turned and nearly snorted in laughter at the girl with a hat that closely resembled a soggy pancake.
"Hi," he answered.
"We shouldn't be out here. Are you hunting the banded ceryneian frofentor too?" She looked at him with a wide-eyed wondering surprise that made Riley feel faintly guilty for not hunting them.
"No, I was just waiting for someone."
She nodded. "I find that if someone has asked me to wait and they don't show up for an hour, that often means they don't plan to come back for me," she suggested. Her hat rippled, the rim dipping down to nearly cover her eyes and she shoved at it until it curled back up again. Riley couldn't quite figure out what to say to that. "Would you like to hunt banded ceryneian frofentor with me?"
"Are you sure you should be hunting them alone?" Riley asked. He hadn't run into that particular species in Snape's book, but she didn't look substantial enough to take out a mosquito, wand or no wand. She just giggled though.
"If you can touch their tails, you get good luck. The house elves bring them in, but you can only catch them on nights with a quarter moon in years ruled by Sagittarius. My father wrote all about them in his paper, so I'm surprised more students aren't trying to find one tonight. But then again, it is against the rules to be out of the tower so late. You don't look like a student though, so if you want to come with me, I'm sure that's not against the rules."
"I think I better wait here," Riley said. "But if it's against the rules to be out, don't you think you should head back to your tower?"
The girl nodded. "I wonder if it would count if I brought back a banded ceryneian frofentor for you to touch. I know it's not the same as hunting one for yourself, but you've been so nice. I'm Luna," she said brightly, still nodding even thought she was completely rejecting Riley's suggestion.
"Nice to meet you, Luna. I'm Riley, and while that would be nice of you, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will be back by then," Riley said as he started to wonder if the child has some problem a little more serious than the hat which had started to squirm again.
"Okay. Well, I'd better go before all the frofentor are gone." The girl went tripping down the stairs, her hat so large that once she reached the next landing, he could only see it as it bounced on her head. Riley blamed his amusement for the fact that he didn't hear anyone coming up behind him.
"Well, if it isn't a muggle," a nasally voice said. Riley turned to find the Malfoy boy looking at him, a wand already drawn and a couple of escapees from a juvenile correction facility flanking him on either side.
"Malfoy," Riley answered. Well, shit. This probably wasn't good.