Anya, Xander, Willow and I walked into the Magic Box during the day, seeing Giles and Tara already there.
Anya immediately started straightening the merchandise on the shelves.
"I'm just saying, I think it's rude," Xander told us.
"I wouldn't call it rude," I told them.
"Rude-ish," Xander told us. "Rude-esque. Whatever you want to call it. When a person makes a 'destroy all vampires' date, it's simple courtesy to wait for your co-destroyers. Am I right, Giles?"
"I'm almost certain you're not, but to be fair, I wasn't listening," Giles told him.
"Oh, the--the new phone book's in with Mr. Giles' ad," Tara told us.
Anya walked around the counter, pushing past Tara.
"Oh, nice," Willow told us.
"Yay," Anya told us. "Am I mentioned?"
Anya looked eagerly at the ad.
"Not as much," Giles answered.
Anya was disappointed. "Oh."
Xander looked at Giles. "Okay, we were supposed to hook up with Riley this morning, to take on a nest of vamps holed up in a tomb. So, we get there, and guess what?" He looked at Willow. "Tell him, Will."
"Tomb go boom," Willow answered.
"Yep," Xander agreed. "Captain America blowed it up real good. All by his lone wolf lonesome."
"Hmm, uh, rather reckless of him," Giles told us.
"I'd say very rather," Xander told us.
"All that aside, I should think you'd be pleased to avoid the confrontation," Giles told us.
"That's what I've been saying," Anya told us. "I mean, I for one didn't want to start my day with a slaughter." She realized something, excited. "Which really just goes to show how much I've grown."
Anya smiled proudly.
Willow and Tara smiled.
I smirked.
"Yes, well, um, in any event, uh, since you're all here," Giles told us. "Tara and I could use your help researching Zoey's mysterious woman."
"Oh, yeah, this has been fruitful," I told them sarcastically. "Trying to look up something you don't know the name of or don't know anything about."
"Just do what I do," Anya told us. "Flip through the pages and look busy."
"It'd be nice if we knew where she was, where she's hiding out," Willow told us.
"No doubt lurking around some sewer or condemned church or rat-infested warehouse," Xander told us. "You know, the usual haunts."
•••••
The table was spread with books.
Xander, Tara, Willow and I were sitting around it.
"I just wish we knew what we were dealing with," Willow told us. "It feels like we're going around in circles."
Anya was looking at bookshelves.
A customer was walking through the shop.
"Our circles are going around in circles," Xander told me. "We've got dizzy circles here, Zoey. A little more detail and information would be great right about now."
"I'm sorry," I told them sarcastically. "I was too busy getting my ass kicked by this demon chick to get much of a name."
The customer walked up to the counter, handing Giles an item.
"Ah, weeping buddha, shoulders your spiritual burden," Giles told him, wrapping the item. "Makes a lovely paperweight, too."
"Maybe she's not in the books," Tara told us.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean, what if she's not a demon or sorceress or spirit or whatever these books cover?" Tara asked. Giles looked up, ringing up the sale. "What if she's something else altogether?"
Giles handed the item to the customer. "Thank you, come again." The customer walked out, leaving. Giles walked out from behind the counter, toward us. "Something new, you mean?"
Tara shook her head. "Something old. So old it pre-dates the written word."
I thought for a moment. "Giles, the Dagon Sphere. You said that was created to repel..."
"That which cannot be named," Giles finished, taking off his glasses thoughtfully.
"So, I'm thinking maybe she..." Willow trailed off.
"Predates language itself?" Giles finished.
Willow nodded.
Xander looked puzzled. "Well, hey, if it means i don't have to read anymore, whoo! And might I add a big hoo!"
"If Tara's right, then we're blind," Giles told us. "There's--there's no way we can determine... her moves, her habits, where she'll turn up next... She could be anywhere." He looked at me. "But if she is as powerful as you say, then I imagine it won't be long before she makes herself known."
Anya was looking through a pile of receipts, stopping after a moment. "Hey. Hey. Hey!" Xander turned to look over. Anya held up a receipt, waving it at Giles. "Hey!"
Giles smiled fakely. "Anya, your 'hey's are startling the customers."
"And--and pretty much the state," I told her.
Anya ignored me, looking at Giles. "You sold someone a Khul's amulet and a Sobekian bloodstone."
"Yes, I believe I did," Giles agreed, taking the receipt, examining it.
"Are you stupid or something?" Anya asked.
"Allow me to answer that question with a firing," Giles told her.
"She's kidding," Xander told him. He looked at Anya. "An, we talked about the employee-employer vocabulary no-nos. That was number five."
Anya took the receipt back from Giles. "You never sell these things together, ever. Bad news. Don't you know about the Sobekites?"
"Oh, I do," Willow told us. "It was an ancient Egyptian cult, heavy into dark magic."
Anya nodded.
"And the Khul's amulet, wasn't that a transmogrification conduit?" Tara asked.
"Damn straight," Anya answered.
"Be that as it may, I still see no reason for concern," Giles told us. "I mean, the--the Sobekian transmogrification spells were lost thousands of years ago. And besides, the young woman to whom I sold them would have to have had enormous power..."
Giles stopped in realization.
I sighed, standing, giving Giles a look. "Young woman? Let me guess. Blonde, girl hair. Tight red dress."
Giles pulled of his glasses. "Oh, dear Lord."
Everyone looked alarm.
Xander looked confused. "What?"
•••••
Buffy was here now, telling us that Joyce had a tumor on her brain. "So, I figured there has to be some kind of mystical cure, right? I mean, like a--a potion, or a spell or something. We have to look."
"We can look," Willow told her. "I mean, we ill, but... I haven't seen anything."
"The truth is, uh, the... mystical and the medical aren't meant to mix, Buffy," Giles told her. "Sorry, um... the human mind is very delicate. Too much can go wrong."
"Yeah, I've heard stories about people trying healing spells," Tara told her. "If we did something, it could make things a lot worse, Buffy."
"We've done just about enough making things worse for one day, haven't we?" Anya asked.
We looked at Buffy guiltily.
"Why?" Buffy asked. "What do you mean?"
"Uh, nothing," Xander told her. "Anya broke a... bippity boppity boo. A thing. Don't worry about it."
"I did not," Anya told her. "I didn't break--"
"Anya, Buffy doesn't need to hear about your... clumsiness right now," Giles told her.
Anya sighed sarcastically. "My clumsiness. I mean, that is so--" Willow, Xander and I gave her a look. Anya looked at Buffy. "Like... me. Slippery, slippery... butterfingers."
Buffy didn't buy it. "What happened?"
"Nothing to concern you, uh..." Giles trailed off.
"Giles," Buffy told him.
Giles sighed. "The, uh... demon woman was here, the one who attacked Zoey."
Buffy looked alarmed.
"It's no biggie," Willow told us. "She--she just got an amulet and a bloodstone."
"That can create a monster," Anya told us.
"Okay, biggie," Willow told us.
"My God, are you guys okay, though?" Buffy asked. "I mean, did... No one got hurt, right?"
"Oh, no," Giles answered. "Thankfully, no, uh, no violence to speak of."
"Okay, so, that's good," Buffy told us. Giles looked guilty. "How did she get away with this bad mojo stuff?"
"Giles sold it to her," Anya answered.
Buffy gave Giles a look.
"I--I--I... I didn't know it was her," Giles told us in defense. "I mean, how could I?" He sighed. "If it's any consolation, I may have overcharged her."
"Anya, you were in the middle of telling us what the demon lady's up to before Buffy came back," I told her.
"Right," Anya agreed. "A few thousand years ago, there was this cult, the temple of Sobek."
"Sobek?" Buffy repeated.
"Reptile demon," Anya explained. "Sobekites were reptile worshippers."
"Just once, I would like to run into a cult of bunny worshippers," Xander told us.
"Great," Anya told him sarcastically. "Thank you very much for those nightmares."
"Sorry," Xander told her.
"Anyway, their high priest Khul had great mystic powers," Anya told us. "He, um, forged an amulet with transmogrifying crystal."
"Transmogrifying is changing a living thing into a different kind of thing," Willow explained.
"I've managed to decipher the markings that were on the bloodstone that I sold, that she left with," Giles told us. "Um, cobra. She's going to transmogrify a cobra."
"Okay, so she's making a monster," I told them. "What for? What does it do?"
"That's the part..." Giles trailed off, clearing his throat. "We're working on it."
"Well, you keep working on it," Buffy told them. She looked at me. "We'll go kill it."
Buffy turned toward the door.
I stood. "Buffy?"
Buffy turned back. "What?"
"Buffy, this chick creamed me last time," I told her.
"Well, now she has both of us to deal with," Buffy told me. I stepped closer. Buffy stepped closer to me, lowering her voice so the others wouldn't hear. "I know what you're worried about, Zoey. And I'm gonna help you protect her."
I sighed, nodding.
We walked out, leaving.
•••••
We found the woman in the red dress in the Sunnydale Zoo with a scabby looking demon.
The demon was chanting in a foreign language.
The woman was holding the bloodstone over a vase. "Sobek, grant the power..." The demon continued chanting. "That it may mold this wretched creature... that it may be reborn... that it may serve..." The woman was irritated. "Dark incantations! Always overwritten." The demon looked at the woman uncertainly, no longer chanting. "Why can't they just cut to the--"
I tackled the woman into the wall. "Fight?"
I kicked the woman in the face.
"No fair," the woman told me. I kicked her in the face again. "Attacking." I kicked her. "When I wasn't even looking." I grabbed the woman's head, slamming it against the stone wall. The woman grabbed me, slamming me against the stone wall, turning away. "No. This is no good. I'm out of the moment." She grabbed my arm, twisting it behind her head, trying to dislocate my arm. "And you're not giving me anything I can use." She looked at the demon. "Dreg, I'm not hearing chanting! Continue."
"Yes, Glory," Dreg told her, starting to chant again.
Buffy punched Glory from behind repeatedly, making her let go of me.
Glory looked between us on either side of her. "Hey. There's two of you? Come on. Work with me here." Buffy punched Glory from one side. I kicked her from the other. "Oh, you think this is a fair fight?" Glory punched Buffy, making her fall. She grabbed me, throwing me against the wall. "You would be correct. But it's not a fair fight for you." She kneed Buffy in the face twice. "There, that feels more real. Don't you think?" She tossed Buffy into the wall, picking her up. "Even if I do have to carry your performance." She threw Buffy into a display case, making the glass shatter, holding her arms up. I stood, slamming a vase over Gory's head. Glory turned to face me, gripping my throat, throwing me into Buffy as she tried to stand, making us both fall. "Scene." Dreg continued to chant. Glory smiled. "Arise." The large vase started to shake. "Arise." Glory got annoyed. "Arise!"
The vase rocked wildly back and forth. It exploded. A very large snake with arms burst out of it, hissing, swaying back and forth.
"He is arisen," Dreg told us.
Glory smiled. "About damn time."
•••••
Buffy and I stood, stepping out of the cage, unnotied.
Dreg and Glory watched the snake rise.
"Spawn of Sobek," Glory told him. The creature turned toward her, approaching. Glory smiled, touching its face. "The power is yours to see what is unseen."
Buffy and I walked out, leaving.
•••••
We got to the hospital.
Buffy was with her mom, tending to her own wounds.
I was on a payphone, holding an ice pack from a nearby rack of medical supplies, calling Giles.
"Magic Box, your one-stop spot to shop for--"
"Giles, it's me."
"Zoey. You all right?"
"No, I'm really not. We--we couldn't stop her. We couldn't even slow her down."
"Where are you?"
I put the ice pack on my shoulder. "Sunnydale Memorial."
"Are you badly hurt? I'll--I'll come right over."
"No. No, I--I just wanted to warn you that that thing she conjured, it's loose. It's a big snake thing. Not Mayor big, but it's pretty..." I winced in pain. "Lethal looking."
"Do you know why she raised it?"
"I don't know yet."
"I'll warn the others. We'll get weapons. We'll fan out--"
"Wait. What time is it?"
"Half past four. Why?"
"School's out. Mom's at work, and I'm not at home. Dawn's on her way over to you. Giles--"
"Understood. We'll keep her safe here until you arrive."
"Thanks. Bye."
"Bye."
I hung up, walking off through the hospital halls.
•••••
Buffy stayed with her mom to get the answers that she needed.
I walked into the Magic Box.
Giles was yawning, putting on his suit jacket.
Willow and Tara were at the counter, reading a book, looking tired.
Xander and Anya were standing in the back.
Dawn saw me, standing, walking closer. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Depends on what you're talking about," I told her.
"Stunt vampire three and this demon chick," Dawn answered.
I managed a smile. "No. Just trying to do my job."
Dawn embraced me. "If your job gets you killed, I'm gonna kill you for doing your job."
I smiled a small smile, returning the embrace, pulling away, looking at Willow and Giles. "So, any monster reptile sightings?"
"None," Giles answered.
"Tara and I did a mini-patrol earlier, but biggie snake was nowhere to be--" Willow started.
The snake creature burst in through the display window, making it shattering, slithering inside, looking at us, smacking a display case with one arm, making it topple over onto me, pinning me to the floor, sliding closer to Dawn.
Dawn screamed continuously in fear.
The snake's eyes glowed red.
I struggled to get out from under the case.
The snake looked at Dawn for a moment, turning around, slithering quickly back out the way it had come in.
Dawn stopped screaming.
•••••
Tara and Willow stood from behind the counter.
Xander ran over to Dawn. "Dawn, you okay?"
"Why was the big snake afraid of Dawn?" Willow asked.
I got out from under the shelf.
Giles ran over.
"It knows," I told him, turning around, running outside to the street.
The snake slithered down the middle of the street.
People ran out of its path.
A car came around the corner, screeching to a stop as the snake slithered past.
People screamed.
I ran after the snake.
Giles' car came around the corner, screeching to a stop beside me.
I jumped in.
Giles drove after the creature as fast as he could, rounding a corner.
The snake used its tail to push a dumpster out into the car's path.
Giles swerved to avoid it, crashing into a pile of garbage bags. He struggled to shift into reverse.
"I've gotta stop this monster before it gets back to Glory," I told him.
"Glory?" Giles repeated.
"That's what he called her," I told him. "Giles, she's gonna know Dawn's the key if we don't--"
"We will," Giles told me, backing the car out, chasing after the snake.
I sighed worriedly.
•••••
The snake slithered down the darkened street with us in the car in pursuit, careening around a corner, nearly slamming into another car.
The snake tore down a section of fence that was covered with a tarp, moving off past it.
Giles reversed back toward the fence.
I jumped out of the car, running through the broken fence, past picnic tables, across a wide expanse of grass, after the creature.
The creature knocked over a sign reading 'bike path, closed after dusk'.
I grabbed a piece of chain from another section of fence.
The snake slithered into a more wooded area, passing around a rock.
I jumped onto the rock, leaping onto the snake's back, looping the chain around its neck, strangling it. The snake reared up and thrashed, trying to throw me off, but i held on, tightening the chain around its neck, riding it like a wild horse. It bucked and fought, but finally went still, closing its eyes. I frowned, letting go of the chain, letting it drop to the ground.
I would die before I ever let anything happen to my family.
But I could not protect them all the time, no matter how much I wanted to.