Ginger Snap

This is a very rough chapter. I'm talking industrial grade sandpaper, here. But. Very close to the end. Only the denouement remains!

Chapter Nine

*

Buffy and Faith sprinted through the library doors in unison, leaving them swinging behind them, and coming to a stop in the middle of the room. Xander and Gilese wae watching Oz, who was at the computer, typing furiously.

"What are the kids' names?" Buffy asked triumphantly when they looked up, not expecting an answer.

"Hansel and Gretel," Oz said blandly, his hands pausing on the keyboard.

"Fairy tales are real," Xander agreed, nodding wisely. "I'm thinking of trading in my cow for a handful of beans."

"Literal antecedants of idiosyncratic folklore--" Giles started, then seemed to notice four pairs of eyes glazing over. He sighed in exasperation. "Yes, well. They aren't children. It's a demon that feeds on mass hysteria."

"Right. And we know they're going after witches," Faith said. "That means Willow's in danger, and that Amy-girl--"

"And us," Buffy said. "You should have heard my mom going on about Slayers."

"Yeah, but nobody's gonna try taking us down if they know what's good for 'em," Faith said. "And unless Red's floating a lot more than a pencil these days, I'm betting she's in way deeper than we are."

"She's gone offline," Oz said, his forehead creasing as he stared at the computer.

"She wouldn't have just logged off," Xander said. "We were just getting into the major research mojo."

"Sheila Rosenberg seemed unduly interested in Joyce's speech at the vigil last night," Giles said. "This can't be good."

Oz stood up and pulled his jacket off the back of his chair and started out of the library.

"Ozit!"it!" Buffy followed him and stopped him at the door. "I'm sorry, but I'd better go. It wouldn't help if they got you too."

Oz's face showed as much as it ever did, tight with anger, but he nodded.

"What about us?" Xander asked. "We can't just stand around while the whole town goes Salem on us."

"We gotta find out what's going down, and where," Faith said. "And how to kill this demon."

Buffy nodded. She met Faith's eyes for an instant, long enough for Faith to say, "Be careful," and for her to answer "I always am," without either of them speaking a word.

Buffy ran for Willow's house. She was there in under five minutes, making the most of her Slayer speed. The front door was unlocked, and nobody answered when she called out Willow's name. The house was empty. She was too late. She ran down the steps, glancing through the living room.

There was a "Never Again!" sign leg agg against the coffee table.

MOO.

Of course.

Mom.

Buffy closed her eyes and groaned, stopping short of making the "I'm so stupid" forehead slap.

She was at the wrong house.

She ran again.

Giles' car was sitting in her driveway when she arrived. The gang must have figured out that this was Nutcase Central after she'd left the library. Mom's Jeep was gone. Not a good sign.

Buffy opened the front door and gasped. Giles was lying crumpled in the foyer. She could see the lump on the side of his head through his hair.

"Giles!" She knelt beside him. "Giles, wake up!"

God, what if one of the others had been with him? No one else was here now. And all the Scoobies were targets, if only by association. Buffy wanted to slap Giles awake, but she restrained herself.

"Come on, Giles, let's go." She shook his shoulder. This was bad. Of course there was something weird going on with her mom. Why hadn't she seen it before? Mom wasn't the type to go from totally accepting her to practically calling an intervention to save her from herself--or from Faith.

This mass hysteria demon was the cause. Mom had found the kids, and Mom was the one who'd gone off the deep end.

Giles moaned and sat up, holding his face in his hands.

"Giles!" Buffy pulled him up. "What happened?"

"Faith--" Giles blinked at her, one hand pressed to the goose egg on his temple. "Buffy, I'm so sorry. They drugged her...took her. They're going to City Hall."

Buffy's heart froze. "It was supposed to be me. Why did you bring her here?"

"Michael warned us that there was going to be a sacrifice tonight." Giles stumbled after her, heading to his battered car. "Once we realized that your mother was the most likely to be under the influence of the demon, we couldn't stop Faith. Xander and Oz went to help Amy, and I followed Faith here--in time to see Joyce use the chloroform. And to get knocked out, myself."

Buffy an an empty laugh. "How many times has that happened, anyway?"

Giles stared at her over the car's roof. "Buffy. We will save her. Remember, this isn't your mother acting. It's the demon. This is not your fault."

Buffy shrugged and wrenched her door open. "I should have known something was up. People don't just change."

Giles slid into the driver's seat and started the car. "Parents often do, when faced with...well, with, ah, unconventional..." He shook his head and floored the gas pedal. "Entanglements."

"Right, and you know this how?" Buffy asked bitterly.

Giles merely looked at her.

Buffy said, in a very small voice, "Oh." Those were thoughts she did not want to be having. Giles entangled with Jenny Calendar was bad enough. Anyone 'unconventional'--say, Ethan--was worse.

"Fortunately," Giles said, watching the road as he swung into the street outside City Hall, "I have the spell prepared that will reveal the demon's true form."

"Good." Buffy jumped out of the car almost before it came to a halt. She ran into City Hall. The meeting room's doors were locked, but one hefty kick sent them crashing inwards. Giles hurried up behind her as they pushed through the back of the crowd.

At the front of the room, where the vigil podium had been, there was a huge pile of books, holding three giant stakes. Willow and Amy were tied to the outermost posts, struggling, and between them, dangling limply, dark hair hiding her face--

"Faith!"

Buffy didn't even know she'd shouted the name until the mob turned and looked back at her. She marched to the front, shoving aside anyone not smart enough to get out of her way. Mom stood at the front of the crowd, holding a burning torch.

Buffy stepped up in front of her, on the lowest level of books. Mom stared at her, still with that befuddled look of worry and concern on her face, as if it was Buffy who was acting strangely. "Mom," Buffy said softly, holding out a hand for the torch. "You don't want to do this."

Mom pulled the torch out of her reach. "Since when does it matter what I want?" she asked. "I wanted a normal, happy daughter. Instead, I got a..." She paused, and glanced at Faith. "...a Slayer."

Buffy felt like she'd been sucker-punched in the gut. This wasn't about the occult at all. It was about her and Faith. How could it be just a demon's work, if Mom's hysteria was different from everybody else's?

"Mom, don't..." she whispered, but Mom had already tossed her torch onto the pile. Other men with torches added their flames to the old, dry books. The blaze leapt up, fire licking at the paper. Buffy coughed on the smoke. Mom only shook her head and turned away.

Buffy leapt up the sliding pile, running behind Willow and ripping the ropes off her. "Get down!" she said. "Run!" She moved to Amy next, freeing her quickly.

"Stop them!"

Buffy looked down. Standing in front of Mom were the two children, Hansel and Gretel, holding hands. "You're letting the bad girls escape! They hurt us. You promised. Burn them!"

Mom rested a hand on Gretel's blonde head and nodded. "I'm sorry, Buffy."

"Dead people are talking to you, Mom! Do the math!" Buffy started working on the ropes that bound Faith. There were more of them, and stronger, and knotknots wavered before her eyes in the smoke and the heat. She was coughing harder now, and Faith was starting to mumble and pull away from the nearest flames. "I've got you, baby," Buffy whispered in Faith's ear, ripping as hard as she dared at the ropes without taking Faith's hands off at the wrists. "Just wake up, that's all, Faith, we're gonna get you out of this."

Somewhere beyond the fire, Willow and Amy were hauling out the fire hose, and Giles was reciting something in German. All Buffy could see was the children, one on each side of Mom, and Mom's disappointed sigh as she watched Buffy frantically yanking on Faith's ropes.

Then suddenly the children weren't children--they were a single huge, horned demon towering over Mom.

"Oh, my God," she whispered, staring back and forth between the demon and Buffy.

Faith gasped and spat, a deep, wracking cough shaking her. Her eyes opened, and she looked up. Buffy tore through the last of her ropes. Together, they turned to face the demon.

"Protect us," it said. "Kill the bad girls."

"Y'know what?" Faith asked, cracking her knuckles. "Not as convincing without the kid costume."

"Shall we kill it?" Buffy asked her.

"Maybe it's the drugs talking, but I'm thinking yeah," Faith answered.

So they did.

Amy and Willow manhandled the hose closer and doused the last of the flames. Giles dropped down on his knees in the middle of his books, looking like he was either going to faint or cry at the damage.

Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith's waist and refused to look at Mom. "I don't want to go home," she mumbled into Faith's neck.

"I know, B."

Buffy sniffed, and wiped away a few tears that wouldn't stay in her eyes. "You think I should."

Faith shrugged. "I want you with me."

Buffy knew what she meant. If Faith was forever--or longer than a week, even--Buffy would have to make up with her mom eventually. She couldn't just pretend that none of this had happened.

"But, B, you'd better be ready tomorrow. I've still got a date planned, y'know."

Buffy nodded, and loosened her hold on Faith. "I love you," she said. Anyone and everyone could have heard her. Maybe that was the point.

"I love you too, B." Faith smiled. "Now get your cute ass home, and I'll see ya tomorrow."

Mom's face still showed nothing as Buffy followed her out of City Hall.

*

To be continued.