NEW FIC - Just Another Eventful Evening
Oct. 22nd, 2009 04:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
afteriwake.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
demonicforensicsTitle: Just Another Eventful Evening
Author: Ragna (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
afteriwake)
Fandom: CSI: NY/Supernatural/Buffyverse
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: None of the characters from any of these shows belong to me.
Author's Notes: This is my answer to thespook_me ficathon. I picked the creature prompt of ghost, and was also inspired by the second prompt of “Dead, Man, Dead.”
--
Flack was on his cell phone when Bela finally left the bedroom and headed into her kitchen. He’d left the bedroom to let her sleep, but lack of warmth beside her and a particularly disturbing dream had woken her up nonetheless. She usually did not eavesdrop on his phone calls, but she heard him say the word ghost and she paid closer attention.
“So you mean to tell me the monastery’s really haunted? The 1-2-2 has got two deaths there, and Hammerback suspects a ghost? That’s got to be interesting.” There was a pause as he shook his head. “No, I have another case to take care of. Is this one you’re working on your own?” There was a much shorter pause this time. “Yeah, well, if it’s just you and Jess we can all take care of it pretty quickly.” He turned and saw Bela standing nearby. “Need to go. Bela’s up. Talk to you at the labs later.” He hung up and looked at Bela. “Didn’t mean to wake you up,” he said.
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t you, not completely. Prophetic dream and all.”
“Anything important?”
She nodded slightly. “It may have to do with your ghost. I think that the ghost may have been the victim of a human sacrifice. If we do not get a handle on the problem it could become much worse.”
“What did you see?”
“Not much, only because I woke up before it finished. I saw some demons, Buffy’s variety, in an abandoned building doing the sacrifice. I don’t know who the victim was. All I know is that it was a young man in his mid twenties or so, with blonde hair.”
“Did you see how they killed him?”
“Slit his throat and stabbed him a few times. It was almost as though they wanted to drain him.”
“I’ll let Danny know when I see him to ask Hammerback about any deaths with a vic matching that description.” He went over to her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “You hadn’t had a dream in a couple of days. You okay?”
“This one was not as disturbing as the ones I’ve had about Sam have been,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “But still, human sacrifice is not a pretty sight.”
“I can imagine,” he said, putting his arms around her completely and kissing the top of her head. He held her there for a few moments before letting go. “I need to leave for work in about an hour. Anything you want to do in the meantime?”
She was quiet for a moment. “I’d like to try and get some more sleep. Would you mind lying down next to me for a while?”
“No problem,” he said. “I can do that.”
She smiled at him and took his hand, leading him back to her bedroom. They settled in and she shut her eyes as he pulled her close against him. “Don?” she asked after a few moments.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“If I do end up having more of that dream, should I just call Danny?”
“I think that would be a good idea,” he said. “It’s his case. But call me too, okay? I want to know you’re okay.”
She smiled slightly. “I will.” She started to drift back into sleep, feeling safe and secure for the moment. She knew he would leave the bed eventually, but for now he was there and if she had the dream she could tell him immediately. There was a real sense of comfort in that, and she found she needed it more and more.
--
She woke up just as he pulled on his coat jacket, breathing hard. “Bela, you okay?” he asked, concerned.
“They chopped up his body into pieces, put it into a wooden box and buried him somewhere near the building,” she said, feeling ill.
He sat down on the edge of her bed near her. “You need anything right now?”
“I think I may be sick. I saw everything, Don. And I tried my best to stay asleep as long as possible.”
He moved closer and pulled her closer to him. “Need me to be late for work?” he asked quietly.
She almost nodded, but after a moment or two the feeling began to fade, and she shook her head. “No. You need to speak with Danny, remember? As long as we get this taken care of tonight I don’t think it will be a problem anymore.”
“What do we need to do, exactly?”
“Find the body, salt it and burn it. After that the ghost will disappear.”
He nodded. “I’ll tell Danny and Jess when I see them today.”
“And I suppose I could talk to Buffy. The more people we have looking for the body the better.” She sighed. “Sometimes some of the things I see are so damn senseless.”
“We know demons are trying to open a Hellmouth here, and it’s been happening more and more frequently. The things they do are always going to be senseless.” He leaned in and kissed her softly, and she felt herself relax against him. He always seemed to know exactly what to do or say in regards to the dreams she had. When he pulled away he grinned at her slightly. “We’ll get it taken care of.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling back at him. “I suppose I should get dressed and pay her a visit.”
“Might not be a bad idea. Danny said something about Buffy having the day off work.”
“Perhaps I’ll call first, though. If she’s sleeping in I don’t want to wake her.”
His grin grew. “Now, I bet nine months ago you wouldn’t have cared if you woke her up or not.”
“Nine months ago, you would have been right.” Then she paused. “Nine months…has it really been that long now?”
He nodded. “I’m kinda keeping track of it. When I hit a year, I’ll reexamine my life and see if I’ve gone off the deep end yet.”
She laughed and put a hand on his face. “I doubt you’ll go off the deep end, Detective. Not with the support system you have.”
“I have you,” he said somewhat seriously. “That’s important.” She leaned in and kissed him again, a slow, lingering kiss. When she was done, he looked at her. “Just remember you have me now, too. You’re not alone anymore.”
“I know,” she said with a nod, moving her hand off his face. “You should go now, before I decide to have my wicked way with you.”
He laughed this time and got off the bed. “Feel free to have your wicked way with me tonight. I’ll see you later.”
She watched him leave and only left the bed when her front door closed. She got dressed slowly, thinking about their discussion. If it had been nine months since they all started working together, then that meant it had been almost six months since she started dating Flack. She had never had a relationship go past a month. Point of fact, most of the time she never had relationships to speak of, only one night stands.
But here she was, almost six months later and she was still with the same man. A solid, reliable, caring man, someone who was the complete opposite of all the other men she’d been with before. She had been so used to using men that this still struck her as something unusual and very, very special. And, the more she thought about it, the more she had a sinking suspicion that she had fallen in love with her Detective. This was a new feeling for her, and its scared her.
She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about those things. Now was the time to get dressed and pay a visit to the main Slayer in residence.
--
“Damn it,” Buffy muttered after Bela had told her the whole dream. “And you’re sure we can take care of this?”
She nodded. “All we need to do is find the body, salt it and then burn it. The problem will be solved at that point.”
“But not the larger problem. Can you describe the demons to me?”
Bela shut her eyes and thought for a moment. “About my height. Human looking, except they had red skin and all black eyes. They only had three fingers, like a thumb and two others. It looked as though the knives they had were made especially for them.”
“And the altar?” Buffy asked.
“It wasn’t raised very high up. It looked as though it was made of ornately carved metal with a section for collecting the blood that flowed from the victim. And it was raised up on stones, and they looked heavy, but the demons were able to dismantle it with ease.”
“Any idea how they got there? Or how they got away?”
She shook her head. “No clue.”
Buffy was quiet for a moment. “Tonight or tomorrow, I think I’ll go looking for them. If the sacrifice didn’t work they may try again.”
“And if it did work?”
“I don’t think it was meant for opening the Hellmouth, not with only one sacrifice. There must be some other reason. I’ll see if I can steal Sid away tonight to do some more research on it, and if we figure out who they are tonight, I’ll take Connor and we’ll go after them.”
“What about the ghost?”
“You said Jessica has a lot of experience with this, right?”
Bela nodded slowly. “Yes, she does.”
“Then have her be in charge, and bring Danny and Flack to be the muscle to dig the body up.”
Bela smiled slightly. “It may be dangerous giving her complete control over both of them for this, Buffy. You know Danny is an alpha male type of man.”
Buffy grinned. “I know. It’s wrong that I want him to suffer slightly, but he’s gotten in the habit of being bossy lately. And I know a hell of a lot more about this stuff than he does, despite the massive amount of things he’s learned over the last year or so. It all started after we got engaged, too.”
“Don reminded me today he’s been doing this for nine months now,” Bela said thoughtfully.
“Danny’s at about a year and four months, I think. Something like that. I know it’s over a year now.” Buffy paused. “But I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, so I have everyone except Jess trumped by that. Jess, while not a Slayer, has been hunting since she was a teenager and she’s older than me.”
“She’s told me about that,” she replied. “It must have made for a most unusual childhood.”
“Your childhood wasn’t all that normal either,” Buffy pointed out.
“True, but I didn’t get into thievery until I was closer to eighteen. You were fifteen when you got called, right? And Jessica has been a hunter since she was fourteen. Both of you have vast amounts of experience over me. Besides, I stole things. I didn’t actively hunt.”
“But you were learning,” she said. “You got to know all about the talismans you stole and what powers they had, things like that. And you learned about the world of hunters and what they did. You racked up some pretty impressive knowledge by the time you started helping us.” And then she smiled. “And your grasp of Latin beats all of ours. Once Bobby gave us that book with exorcism spells you became one of our biggest threats to the demons that Jess has faced before.”
“That is true,” Bela said with a widening grin. “At least I’m helpful to you all.”
“You really are,” she said with a nod. “Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t,” she replied. She glanced at her watch. “I need to contact some former associates of mine to see if I can get my hands on some more protection talismans. If I have any more dreams that affect you, I’ll call you.”
“Thank you,” Buffy said. “I’d appreciate it.” Both women got up and Buffy walked her to the door. When Bela had left, Buffy looked at her phone, debating whether to call Hammerback or Giles first. She had this debate in her head sometimes. Giles may have been her Watcher, but Hammerback was the Watcher she dealt with now. With a sigh, she went to the phone and dialed Hammerback’s cell phone. This was just another indication in a long list of instances where the gulf between her and Giles was widening, and the space between her and Hammerback was getting smaller.
--
“At least we have the fact that it’s still a crime scene in our favor,” Danny said, shifting his hold on the shovel he was carrying. Flack had a shovel as well, but he also hadn’t spent the last five minutes complaining about how heavy or awkward it was.
“Look, sooner we get this done sooner we can get out of here.” Flack glanced at Bela, who was carrying a canister of gasoline and a box of rock salt. “Any of this look familiar?”
She looked around and nodded slowly. “It’s closer to the building, maybe fifteen feet away.”
“Look for recently disturbed ground and we’ll find it,” Angell said, hefting her wrought iron poker slightly. “Unless there are dogs scratching at the ground all the time, of course.”
“You with the poker is very distracting,” Danny said. “I keep thinking you’re going to hit me with it.”
“Keep up the complaints and I might,” she said with a smirk. “And I know how to make it really hurt, Messer.”
“Why are you carrying it, anyway?” Flack asked.
“Because if the ghost comes out to bother us, iron will deflect it,” Bela said before Angell opened her mouth.
“And the only other thing I could think of bringing was my shotgun loaded with rock salt,” Angell said. “I don’t think we want anyone hearing gunshots, though, don’t you agree?”
“Smart move,” Danny said with a nod. “Fire may attract enough attention as it is.”
“Not around here,” Flack said. “Deserted building that’s supposed to be haunted, remember? Only stupid kids come out here.”
“Let’s hope they all decide to stay home tonight,” Angell replied.
They walked a little further before Bela nodded. “It’s somewhere around here,” she said.
She and Angell shined their flashlights over the ground. Angell spotted the area first. “There,” she said. “Start digging, boys.”
Danny mumbled something under his breath as he started digging. Flack grinned to himself and began to dig as well. Bela sat the canister and box down as she trained her flashlight on the dirt. Angell kept watch. Not even five minutes later Angell moved away from them.
“Where are you going?” Flack asked.
“Something’s going to happen,” she said, dropping her flashlight and holding the poker with both hands. “Whatever happens, keep digging.”
Bela began to respond when she saw the ghost come out of the building quickly. “Jessica! To your left!” she shouted.
Angell turned and swung the poker at the ghost. He faded out of existence, and Angell took a step back towards them. “See any body parts yet?”
“Not yet,” Danny said. “They must have dug a deep hole.”
“Keep digging,” she said. Then she took two steps away and swung the poker at the ghost, who’d come from her right side. She missed, and he got close enough to touch her. She ducked out of the way and got him with the poker before he got to Danny. The men kept digging and every time the ghost came back she swung the poker.
“We’ve got something!” Danny said after the fifth time the ghost attacked. The men quickly cleared the dirt away from the box.
“Get it open,” Bela said, grabbing the salt. Flack broke it open with his shovel and Bela recoiled slightly at the mostly decomposed body parts. Swallowing quickly, she sprinkled the contents of the box over as many body parts as she could see. She went to reach for the gasoline when a strong wind knocked her over. She looked up to see Angell on the ground and the ghost advancing on them.
Danny moved over to Angell and grabbed the poker, taking a swing at the ghost. It disappeared and the wind stopped. “Get the gasoline on it,” he said to Flack as Bela got herself up. He moved over to Angell and helped her up. “What happened?”
“Tripped on a damn hole,” she muttered.
Flack grabbed the canister and emptied the contents on the body parts as another gust of wind came out of nowhere and the ghost appeared again. Danny took another swing and missed. He took a second and missed again. The third swing hit its target. “Matches?” Flack asked Bea once the wind died down.
Bela pulled the matches out of her pocket and lit up the entire book, dropping it into the hole as the ghost reappeared. Suddenly there was an inhuman wail and as everyone watched, the ghost burst into flames. When it winked out of existence the wind stopped. All four of them looked where the ghost had been, and at the fire going on in the hole. “I think we’re done here,” she said quietly. “Now all we need to do is wait for the flames to extinguish and fill the hole back up.”
Danny sighed. “I had the sinking feeling we’d have to put all that dirt back in,” he said, handing the poker back to Angell.
“Look at it this way: you’ll be getting some exercise,” Angell said, clapping Danny on the shoulder before moving over to her flashlight and picking it up.
The flames went out about ten minutes later and the two men began putting the dirt back in the hole. “I was thinking about something,” Flack said a few moments later.
“What?” Angell said.
“How is Hammerback going to explain those two deaths?” he asked, pausing for a moment from filling the hole up with dirt.
“He said it looked like they’d had a heart attack. Both of them were older homeless men, so there isn’t anyone to notify,” Angell said. “We got very lucky.”
“If it had been a kid, it would have been a lot harder to explain,” Danny said. “And Hammerback can’t lie about cause of death because everything is documented. But heart attacks can happen at any age, and the kids family would probably be satisfied with it.”
Flack nodded and began filling in the hole again. “Makes sense, when you think about it,” he said. “Ghosts scare you to death and boom, it looks like your heart went out.”
“Some ghosts are a lot more vicious,” Bela said. “They don’t all simply scare a person to death.”
“Then I hope I don’t run into any more ghosts,” Danny said with a slight shudder.
“I’ve had more than enough in my lifetime,” Angell said.
“How many, exactly?” Flack asked.
“This one makes seven,” she replied. “Or eight. Not really sure.”
Danny whistled. “Wow. Just…wow.”
“Once I almost got caught in the cemetery over an open grave,” she said with a slight grin. “Body was still burning, too. Thankfully the guy patrolling the place turned out to be a friend of Mom’s who knew what was going on. He even took over putting the dirt back in. I was incredibly lucky that night.”
“How old were you?” Danny asked.
She thought for a moment. “Seventeen or eighteen.”
“Impressive,” Flack said with a nod as he put his last scoop of dirt in.
“What’s even more impressive is that it was my second ghost. I went along with my brothers and helped with a ghost when I was fifteen.” She looked at the whole and then walked around over it a few times. “Our work here is done. See you two at work tomorrow?” she said to Danny and Flack.
Danny nodded, but Flack shook his head. “I have tomorrow off, but I’m on call,” he replied, putting an arm around Bela’s shoulders. “So there’s a chance.”
“Then see you later,” Angell said with a wave, heading to her car. Danny followed her, leaving the two of them alone for a moment.
“So, plans for the night?” Flack asked.
“Well, you are in dire need of a shower,” she said with a smile. “And then I thought I might have my wicked way with you, since you promised me I could this morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin.
She smiled back as he moved his arm from around her shoulders and held out his hand. She took it, and the two of them headed off to his car. Even with the digging and the corpse burning, she was sure that, in the end, she’d have a pleasant evening after all.
Author: Ragna (
afteriwake)Fandom: CSI: NY/Supernatural/Buffyverse
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: None of the characters from any of these shows belong to me.
Author's Notes: This is my answer to the
spook_me ficathon. I picked the creature prompt of ghost, and was also inspired by the second prompt of “Dead, Man, Dead.”--
Flack was on his cell phone when Bela finally left the bedroom and headed into her kitchen. He’d left the bedroom to let her sleep, but lack of warmth beside her and a particularly disturbing dream had woken her up nonetheless. She usually did not eavesdrop on his phone calls, but she heard him say the word ghost and she paid closer attention.
“So you mean to tell me the monastery’s really haunted? The 1-2-2 has got two deaths there, and Hammerback suspects a ghost? That’s got to be interesting.” There was a pause as he shook his head. “No, I have another case to take care of. Is this one you’re working on your own?” There was a much shorter pause this time. “Yeah, well, if it’s just you and Jess we can all take care of it pretty quickly.” He turned and saw Bela standing nearby. “Need to go. Bela’s up. Talk to you at the labs later.” He hung up and looked at Bela. “Didn’t mean to wake you up,” he said.
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t you, not completely. Prophetic dream and all.”
“Anything important?”
She nodded slightly. “It may have to do with your ghost. I think that the ghost may have been the victim of a human sacrifice. If we do not get a handle on the problem it could become much worse.”
“What did you see?”
“Not much, only because I woke up before it finished. I saw some demons, Buffy’s variety, in an abandoned building doing the sacrifice. I don’t know who the victim was. All I know is that it was a young man in his mid twenties or so, with blonde hair.”
“Did you see how they killed him?”
“Slit his throat and stabbed him a few times. It was almost as though they wanted to drain him.”
“I’ll let Danny know when I see him to ask Hammerback about any deaths with a vic matching that description.” He went over to her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “You hadn’t had a dream in a couple of days. You okay?”
“This one was not as disturbing as the ones I’ve had about Sam have been,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “But still, human sacrifice is not a pretty sight.”
“I can imagine,” he said, putting his arms around her completely and kissing the top of her head. He held her there for a few moments before letting go. “I need to leave for work in about an hour. Anything you want to do in the meantime?”
She was quiet for a moment. “I’d like to try and get some more sleep. Would you mind lying down next to me for a while?”
“No problem,” he said. “I can do that.”
She smiled at him and took his hand, leading him back to her bedroom. They settled in and she shut her eyes as he pulled her close against him. “Don?” she asked after a few moments.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“If I do end up having more of that dream, should I just call Danny?”
“I think that would be a good idea,” he said. “It’s his case. But call me too, okay? I want to know you’re okay.”
She smiled slightly. “I will.” She started to drift back into sleep, feeling safe and secure for the moment. She knew he would leave the bed eventually, but for now he was there and if she had the dream she could tell him immediately. There was a real sense of comfort in that, and she found she needed it more and more.
--
She woke up just as he pulled on his coat jacket, breathing hard. “Bela, you okay?” he asked, concerned.
“They chopped up his body into pieces, put it into a wooden box and buried him somewhere near the building,” she said, feeling ill.
He sat down on the edge of her bed near her. “You need anything right now?”
“I think I may be sick. I saw everything, Don. And I tried my best to stay asleep as long as possible.”
He moved closer and pulled her closer to him. “Need me to be late for work?” he asked quietly.
She almost nodded, but after a moment or two the feeling began to fade, and she shook her head. “No. You need to speak with Danny, remember? As long as we get this taken care of tonight I don’t think it will be a problem anymore.”
“What do we need to do, exactly?”
“Find the body, salt it and burn it. After that the ghost will disappear.”
He nodded. “I’ll tell Danny and Jess when I see them today.”
“And I suppose I could talk to Buffy. The more people we have looking for the body the better.” She sighed. “Sometimes some of the things I see are so damn senseless.”
“We know demons are trying to open a Hellmouth here, and it’s been happening more and more frequently. The things they do are always going to be senseless.” He leaned in and kissed her softly, and she felt herself relax against him. He always seemed to know exactly what to do or say in regards to the dreams she had. When he pulled away he grinned at her slightly. “We’ll get it taken care of.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling back at him. “I suppose I should get dressed and pay her a visit.”
“Might not be a bad idea. Danny said something about Buffy having the day off work.”
“Perhaps I’ll call first, though. If she’s sleeping in I don’t want to wake her.”
His grin grew. “Now, I bet nine months ago you wouldn’t have cared if you woke her up or not.”
“Nine months ago, you would have been right.” Then she paused. “Nine months…has it really been that long now?”
He nodded. “I’m kinda keeping track of it. When I hit a year, I’ll reexamine my life and see if I’ve gone off the deep end yet.”
She laughed and put a hand on his face. “I doubt you’ll go off the deep end, Detective. Not with the support system you have.”
“I have you,” he said somewhat seriously. “That’s important.” She leaned in and kissed him again, a slow, lingering kiss. When she was done, he looked at her. “Just remember you have me now, too. You’re not alone anymore.”
“I know,” she said with a nod, moving her hand off his face. “You should go now, before I decide to have my wicked way with you.”
He laughed this time and got off the bed. “Feel free to have your wicked way with me tonight. I’ll see you later.”
She watched him leave and only left the bed when her front door closed. She got dressed slowly, thinking about their discussion. If it had been nine months since they all started working together, then that meant it had been almost six months since she started dating Flack. She had never had a relationship go past a month. Point of fact, most of the time she never had relationships to speak of, only one night stands.
But here she was, almost six months later and she was still with the same man. A solid, reliable, caring man, someone who was the complete opposite of all the other men she’d been with before. She had been so used to using men that this still struck her as something unusual and very, very special. And, the more she thought about it, the more she had a sinking suspicion that she had fallen in love with her Detective. This was a new feeling for her, and its scared her.
She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about those things. Now was the time to get dressed and pay a visit to the main Slayer in residence.
--
“Damn it,” Buffy muttered after Bela had told her the whole dream. “And you’re sure we can take care of this?”
She nodded. “All we need to do is find the body, salt it and then burn it. The problem will be solved at that point.”
“But not the larger problem. Can you describe the demons to me?”
Bela shut her eyes and thought for a moment. “About my height. Human looking, except they had red skin and all black eyes. They only had three fingers, like a thumb and two others. It looked as though the knives they had were made especially for them.”
“And the altar?” Buffy asked.
“It wasn’t raised very high up. It looked as though it was made of ornately carved metal with a section for collecting the blood that flowed from the victim. And it was raised up on stones, and they looked heavy, but the demons were able to dismantle it with ease.”
“Any idea how they got there? Or how they got away?”
She shook her head. “No clue.”
Buffy was quiet for a moment. “Tonight or tomorrow, I think I’ll go looking for them. If the sacrifice didn’t work they may try again.”
“And if it did work?”
“I don’t think it was meant for opening the Hellmouth, not with only one sacrifice. There must be some other reason. I’ll see if I can steal Sid away tonight to do some more research on it, and if we figure out who they are tonight, I’ll take Connor and we’ll go after them.”
“What about the ghost?”
“You said Jessica has a lot of experience with this, right?”
Bela nodded slowly. “Yes, she does.”
“Then have her be in charge, and bring Danny and Flack to be the muscle to dig the body up.”
Bela smiled slightly. “It may be dangerous giving her complete control over both of them for this, Buffy. You know Danny is an alpha male type of man.”
Buffy grinned. “I know. It’s wrong that I want him to suffer slightly, but he’s gotten in the habit of being bossy lately. And I know a hell of a lot more about this stuff than he does, despite the massive amount of things he’s learned over the last year or so. It all started after we got engaged, too.”
“Don reminded me today he’s been doing this for nine months now,” Bela said thoughtfully.
“Danny’s at about a year and four months, I think. Something like that. I know it’s over a year now.” Buffy paused. “But I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, so I have everyone except Jess trumped by that. Jess, while not a Slayer, has been hunting since she was a teenager and she’s older than me.”
“She’s told me about that,” she replied. “It must have made for a most unusual childhood.”
“Your childhood wasn’t all that normal either,” Buffy pointed out.
“True, but I didn’t get into thievery until I was closer to eighteen. You were fifteen when you got called, right? And Jessica has been a hunter since she was fourteen. Both of you have vast amounts of experience over me. Besides, I stole things. I didn’t actively hunt.”
“But you were learning,” she said. “You got to know all about the talismans you stole and what powers they had, things like that. And you learned about the world of hunters and what they did. You racked up some pretty impressive knowledge by the time you started helping us.” And then she smiled. “And your grasp of Latin beats all of ours. Once Bobby gave us that book with exorcism spells you became one of our biggest threats to the demons that Jess has faced before.”
“That is true,” Bela said with a widening grin. “At least I’m helpful to you all.”
“You really are,” she said with a nod. “Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t,” she replied. She glanced at her watch. “I need to contact some former associates of mine to see if I can get my hands on some more protection talismans. If I have any more dreams that affect you, I’ll call you.”
“Thank you,” Buffy said. “I’d appreciate it.” Both women got up and Buffy walked her to the door. When Bela had left, Buffy looked at her phone, debating whether to call Hammerback or Giles first. She had this debate in her head sometimes. Giles may have been her Watcher, but Hammerback was the Watcher she dealt with now. With a sigh, she went to the phone and dialed Hammerback’s cell phone. This was just another indication in a long list of instances where the gulf between her and Giles was widening, and the space between her and Hammerback was getting smaller.
--
“At least we have the fact that it’s still a crime scene in our favor,” Danny said, shifting his hold on the shovel he was carrying. Flack had a shovel as well, but he also hadn’t spent the last five minutes complaining about how heavy or awkward it was.
“Look, sooner we get this done sooner we can get out of here.” Flack glanced at Bela, who was carrying a canister of gasoline and a box of rock salt. “Any of this look familiar?”
She looked around and nodded slowly. “It’s closer to the building, maybe fifteen feet away.”
“Look for recently disturbed ground and we’ll find it,” Angell said, hefting her wrought iron poker slightly. “Unless there are dogs scratching at the ground all the time, of course.”
“You with the poker is very distracting,” Danny said. “I keep thinking you’re going to hit me with it.”
“Keep up the complaints and I might,” she said with a smirk. “And I know how to make it really hurt, Messer.”
“Why are you carrying it, anyway?” Flack asked.
“Because if the ghost comes out to bother us, iron will deflect it,” Bela said before Angell opened her mouth.
“And the only other thing I could think of bringing was my shotgun loaded with rock salt,” Angell said. “I don’t think we want anyone hearing gunshots, though, don’t you agree?”
“Smart move,” Danny said with a nod. “Fire may attract enough attention as it is.”
“Not around here,” Flack said. “Deserted building that’s supposed to be haunted, remember? Only stupid kids come out here.”
“Let’s hope they all decide to stay home tonight,” Angell replied.
They walked a little further before Bela nodded. “It’s somewhere around here,” she said.
She and Angell shined their flashlights over the ground. Angell spotted the area first. “There,” she said. “Start digging, boys.”
Danny mumbled something under his breath as he started digging. Flack grinned to himself and began to dig as well. Bela sat the canister and box down as she trained her flashlight on the dirt. Angell kept watch. Not even five minutes later Angell moved away from them.
“Where are you going?” Flack asked.
“Something’s going to happen,” she said, dropping her flashlight and holding the poker with both hands. “Whatever happens, keep digging.”
Bela began to respond when she saw the ghost come out of the building quickly. “Jessica! To your left!” she shouted.
Angell turned and swung the poker at the ghost. He faded out of existence, and Angell took a step back towards them. “See any body parts yet?”
“Not yet,” Danny said. “They must have dug a deep hole.”
“Keep digging,” she said. Then she took two steps away and swung the poker at the ghost, who’d come from her right side. She missed, and he got close enough to touch her. She ducked out of the way and got him with the poker before he got to Danny. The men kept digging and every time the ghost came back she swung the poker.
“We’ve got something!” Danny said after the fifth time the ghost attacked. The men quickly cleared the dirt away from the box.
“Get it open,” Bela said, grabbing the salt. Flack broke it open with his shovel and Bela recoiled slightly at the mostly decomposed body parts. Swallowing quickly, she sprinkled the contents of the box over as many body parts as she could see. She went to reach for the gasoline when a strong wind knocked her over. She looked up to see Angell on the ground and the ghost advancing on them.
Danny moved over to Angell and grabbed the poker, taking a swing at the ghost. It disappeared and the wind stopped. “Get the gasoline on it,” he said to Flack as Bela got herself up. He moved over to Angell and helped her up. “What happened?”
“Tripped on a damn hole,” she muttered.
Flack grabbed the canister and emptied the contents on the body parts as another gust of wind came out of nowhere and the ghost appeared again. Danny took another swing and missed. He took a second and missed again. The third swing hit its target. “Matches?” Flack asked Bea once the wind died down.
Bela pulled the matches out of her pocket and lit up the entire book, dropping it into the hole as the ghost reappeared. Suddenly there was an inhuman wail and as everyone watched, the ghost burst into flames. When it winked out of existence the wind stopped. All four of them looked where the ghost had been, and at the fire going on in the hole. “I think we’re done here,” she said quietly. “Now all we need to do is wait for the flames to extinguish and fill the hole back up.”
Danny sighed. “I had the sinking feeling we’d have to put all that dirt back in,” he said, handing the poker back to Angell.
“Look at it this way: you’ll be getting some exercise,” Angell said, clapping Danny on the shoulder before moving over to her flashlight and picking it up.
The flames went out about ten minutes later and the two men began putting the dirt back in the hole. “I was thinking about something,” Flack said a few moments later.
“What?” Angell said.
“How is Hammerback going to explain those two deaths?” he asked, pausing for a moment from filling the hole up with dirt.
“He said it looked like they’d had a heart attack. Both of them were older homeless men, so there isn’t anyone to notify,” Angell said. “We got very lucky.”
“If it had been a kid, it would have been a lot harder to explain,” Danny said. “And Hammerback can’t lie about cause of death because everything is documented. But heart attacks can happen at any age, and the kids family would probably be satisfied with it.”
Flack nodded and began filling in the hole again. “Makes sense, when you think about it,” he said. “Ghosts scare you to death and boom, it looks like your heart went out.”
“Some ghosts are a lot more vicious,” Bela said. “They don’t all simply scare a person to death.”
“Then I hope I don’t run into any more ghosts,” Danny said with a slight shudder.
“I’ve had more than enough in my lifetime,” Angell said.
“How many, exactly?” Flack asked.
“This one makes seven,” she replied. “Or eight. Not really sure.”
Danny whistled. “Wow. Just…wow.”
“Once I almost got caught in the cemetery over an open grave,” she said with a slight grin. “Body was still burning, too. Thankfully the guy patrolling the place turned out to be a friend of Mom’s who knew what was going on. He even took over putting the dirt back in. I was incredibly lucky that night.”
“How old were you?” Danny asked.
She thought for a moment. “Seventeen or eighteen.”
“Impressive,” Flack said with a nod as he put his last scoop of dirt in.
“What’s even more impressive is that it was my second ghost. I went along with my brothers and helped with a ghost when I was fifteen.” She looked at the whole and then walked around over it a few times. “Our work here is done. See you two at work tomorrow?” she said to Danny and Flack.
Danny nodded, but Flack shook his head. “I have tomorrow off, but I’m on call,” he replied, putting an arm around Bela’s shoulders. “So there’s a chance.”
“Then see you later,” Angell said with a wave, heading to her car. Danny followed her, leaving the two of them alone for a moment.
“So, plans for the night?” Flack asked.
“Well, you are in dire need of a shower,” she said with a smile. “And then I thought I might have my wicked way with you, since you promised me I could this morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin.
She smiled back as he moved his arm from around her shoulders and held out his hand. She took it, and the two of them headed off to his car. Even with the digging and the corpse burning, she was sure that, in the end, she’d have a pleasant evening after all.
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