Chapter Two
“All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.” - William Harvey
“You guys will not believe what just happened,” Buffy sighed as she walked through the doors of the Magic Box.
Anya was standing behind the register, with one hand draped over it protectively while Giles and Tara were sitting at the rounded table off to the side, a variety of books open in front of them. Willow smiled when she saw Tara and walked towards her, falling into the seat beside her and giving her a sweet kiss.
“Why are you never that happy to see me?” Anya pouted, glaring at Xander.
“I’m always that happy to see you,” Xander replied, going towards the counter and leaning over it to give his girlfriend a kiss, “I’m just a man and show it in less obvious ways.”
Anya seemed to accept this, she was still learning about human life and human relationships after all and knew Xander had no reason to lie to her.
“Does this have something to do with the phone call I got from a certain FBI agent asking me to clarify the whereabouts of you three over the past week?” Giles asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tara’s eyes widened and her head snapped around, looking at Giles
“W-what?”
“I didn’t want to say anything until they were here to tell us what happened,” Giles said, giving Tara a comforting smile, “I didn’t wish to alarm you unless absolutely necessary.”
Tara’s head turned to Willow this time, as she waited for an explanation.
“We kinda got arrested,” Buffy said as she grabbed a can of soda from the mini-fridge behind the counter and popped the tab as she sat at the table.
“Not arrested!” Willow quickly clarified when Tara went pale, “Not arrested, baby, just brought in for questioning.”
Tara gave the redhead a look to say that wasn’t any better and Willow gulped, that look meant unhappy-Tara and an unhappy Tara was not good. Not least of which was that unhappy-Tara was generally very unreceptive to smoochies
“I t-thought you we’re j-just going to ch-check out the area?”
“We were,” Willow said, taking one of her girlfriend’s hands and breathing a sigh of relief when it wasn’t snatched back, “We did. But there was another girl there.”
“Another one?” Giles asked with a frown, “That makes four over four days. Quite bizarre.”
“Yea,” Buffy agreed, continuing with the story, “Anyway, we went to help her and these FBI agents show up and brought us in. But it’s all good. Wills here worked her computer-magic and made it look like we were working for the school paper. So that’s what they think if they start asking anymore questions, okay?”
“D-do you think they w-will?” Tara asked.
Buffy sighed, before shrugging.
“I think we’ll be seeing them again. I think they know we’re trying to help though. I mean, dammit, we’ve never had to deal with the police before. How the hell do I explain that I killed the guy they were looking for because he was already either undead or something that literally came from hell?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Giles answered.
“I have a demon friend who can make anyone think the past week of their lives was a dream,” Anya interjected.
“Or I know some spells that can make people forget things,” Willow added, grinning excitedly when she thought of all the magics she’d learnt, especially since Tara had entered her life.
Tara frowned at this, but Willow didn’t notice as Giles shook his head.
“I sincerely hope such measures won’t be necessary. But for now, I feel we still need to focus on the issue at hand. Girls are going missing, with no harm being done to them. I know we discussed this idea before, but could it be a message of some description for you, Buffy? These girls do resemble you...”
“They have blonde hair,” Buffy replied, “That’s the only resemblance. That and our age...”
“Their eyes are blue, though,” Xander said, taking a seat at the table too, “Yours are green, Buff.”
“Demons don’t really do attention to detail,” Anya spoke up, “It could just be coincidence they all have blue eyes and this demon really is trying to tell you that it’s after you.”
“Thanks, Anya, for your comforting words,” Buffy replied sarcastically, before gesturing around the table, “Did the books show up anything?”
“N-no,” Tara shook her head, “We l-looked up any references to d-demons that abduct their p-prey but it’s mostly just related to t-torturing for i-information.”
Tara shuddered at this and Willow rubbed her back comfortingly.
“Quite unpleasant,” Giles agreed, “But as far as we can tell, this isn’t a signature of any demon we’re aware of. Which leads us back to the message idea.”
Buffy was about to say something when the bell above the door rang, and everyone turned towards it. Anya perked up, as she always did when a prospective new customer came in and everyone else was stopped from reacting as Xander suddenly jumped from his chair, pale and twitchy.
“Toth, Toth, it’s Toth, he’s back!! Quick, Willow, get the chalk and, the candles and the ‘let the spell be ended’, say it, say it!!!!”
Buffy jumped out of her seat as well, fighting stance ready as she took in the site of the two people who’d just walked in, a woman with vibrant and obviously-dyed red hair, put up in bunches with a man who looked incredibly like Xander, only geekier (which Buffy hadn’t realised was possible) and wearing glasses.
“Two Xanders!” Anya proclaimed, clapping her hands together, and moving over to the table, before glaring at Willow and Tara, “You witches stopped me from getting my threesome last time, this time you can butt out!”
“Whoa. My name is Penelope Garcia,” the woman said, holding up a badge that showed she was with the FBI, “I’m a technical analyst with the FBI, this is Kevin Lynch, a fellow analyst. And uh, my boyfriend, so there will be no threesomes with him, okay?”
Anya just scowled and crossed her arm across her chest as Buffy moved forwards, eyeing Kevin up and down.
“They’re...”
“Identical,” Garcia finished, “I know. But they’re different. For example, my one likes comic books, makes awkward jokes and is an avid Star Trek fan.”
Everyone else in the store all exchanged glances until Anya spoke up.
“That doesn’t really help.”
“Really?” Kevin spoke for the first time, stepping towards Xander, “You like X-Men? I have issue #524 with me. Brought it for the plane journey.”
Xander perked up at the mention of his favourite comic, the eeriness of having what was basically his double forgotten in place of reading the latest on Wolverine and Cyclops.
“This hasn’t even been released yet. How did you get it?”
“It’s amazing the things you can get when you have access to the entire national security database,” Kevin replied with a goofy smile, pulling the comic out of his satchel.
The two boys sat down at the table and Buffy looked at Garcia.
“I saw you at the police station.”
“Yea...” Garcia replied, looking around the store, the freaky feeling she’d been having since Hotch had told her to come down to the shop, “My boss says that I’m supposed to work with you. From here. Not exact the portal of technological excellence I’m used to, but I can work it.”
“The tall guy?” Buffy asked, “Stuffy? Nods a lot?”
“That’s Hotch,” Garcia nodded, “He says I’m working with you guys ‘off the radar’, which, well, is kinda what I do best.”
“So that means...?”
Garcia opened the satchel she had across her chest and produced her laptop.
“That means that if you guys can help in any way you can, no matter how...illicit, then that help would be greatly appreciated.”
Buffy’s eyebrows shot up in doubt.
“Your boss said that?”
“My boss knows I can work things without leaving a trail,” Garcia replied, “And he made it known that this might be one of those times. He didn’t say it directly, but for some reason, he thinks you guys might be key in getting this case solved. The cops down at the station didn’t even want to give me access to their files, not that that stopped me, but still, something weird is going on. And if Hotch trusts you, then I trust him.”
Buffy looked Garcia up and down before glancing back at the table where everyone bar Xander and Kevin, who were both engrossed in the comic, were watching her and the scene play out in front of them.
“Okay,” she nodded eventually, “Well you’re gonna need a lot of trust if you’re working with us. And we’re gonna need to trust that certain things that you learn...you’ll keep to yourself.”
“Off the radar,” Garcia repeated, “I won’t even tell the team unless it’s something to help with the case.”
Buffy and Garcia locked eyes for a moment, earning each other’s trust quietly before Buffy nodded towards the table and motioned for Garcia to follow her.
“Well first you should meet the gang,” Buffy said, pointing out each person as she spoke, “This is Willow, her girlfriend Tara, this is Giles, you know Xander, and Anya, Xander’s girlfriend, which I’m sure you gathered.”
Garcia waved and everyone gave a small wave back, before Buffy gestured for her to sit down and sighed.
“Right. We have a lot to tell you.”
“I knew it!” Kevin exclaimed as Buffy finished filling him and Garcia in on the basics of who they all were and what was going on, “I mean, I knew that there had to be...”
“Supernatural happenings,” Garcia breathed, “I mean, I’ve always been into the mystical, but I never thought...”
“I know this comes as quite a shock,” Giles said, looking intently at Garcia, “But you have to understand the sheer importance of keeping this a secret is. If word were ever to get out that...”
“Vampires and demons exist and are being stopped by a group of kids in Southern California?” Garcia asked, a small smirk playing on her lips, “I get it. Just look at the Twilight mania. People finding out vampires are real would not be a good thing.”
“Well...certainly,” Giles coughed, unsure of what exactly Garcia was talking about but understanding she got the point, “We can trust you to keep this part secret? Even from your team? The government especially, they’d take Buffy and probably Willow and Tara away to experiment on them and other such...unpleasantness.”
“I swear on...everything and anyone,” Garcia replied emphatically, “This secret will go to the grave with both me and Kevin.”
Garcia looked to Kevin, who nodded vigorously as well.
“They’d probably just put me in the nuthouse if I said anything anyway.”
Garcia smiled at her adorable boyfriend before turning back to the group.
“So you think a demon is behind this?”
“Well it has to be,” Buffy said with a shrug, “And we’re thinking he’s targeting these girls to send me a message. ‘You’re next’ or something.”
“‘Cause you’re the slayer,” Garcia said in slight awe, “Sorry, that’s just so cool. Um, okay, so where do we go from here?”
“I have to patrol tonight,” Buffy said, then off the confused looks from the two new additions, “I find and kill whatever unworldly creatures I can find. I’ll stop by Willie’s, see what information I can punch outta him. We all meet back here tomorrow morning and try and stop this before another girl gets taken.”
“And I will report back to my colleagues that you guys are looking into things with some informants you have,” Garcia replied, “And I will come back tomorrow with whatever they’ve figured out. It’s probably not much considering what we’re dealing with isn’t human, but maybe some of the trivial details can help.”
Buffy nodded her head.
“Sounds good. I’ll walk you two back to your hotel. Do not leave it until sunrise, and do not let any of your agent people go either. Make something up, whatever you have to do, just don’t let them go. Guns don’t do anything against vampires.”
Garcia and Kevin nodded their understanding before they started packing up their belongings.
“Nice to meet such a good-looking dude,” Xander said jokingly as he shook Kevin’s hand.
“You too,” Kevin joked back, both of them grinning goofily.
“Come on, let’s get you guys home safe.”