Red Right HAnd

Red Right Hand

By Bridget

Title of Story: Red Right Hand
Author: Bridget
E-mail: [email protected]
Content: S/W, S/O, B/R, X/Anya... and some surprises coming... heh
Spoilers: The Initiative with some rather sharp changes
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Buffy universe, nor do I own the lyrics to
"Red Right Hand". That honor goes to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Summary: Following the events of "Temptation Waits", Buffy is held
responsible for Walsh's death by the Initiative.
This part: Forrest is in for the fight of his life.
Authors Note: This is the sequel to "Temptation Waits."
Feedback: Please. Flames will be answered by my evil legions of terror.

One

***
Take a little walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms,
like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires,
in the humming wires
Hey man, you know
you're never coming back
***

Forrest felt himself being pushed down and the prick of teeth on his throat
in the darkened room.

Using all of his body weight and a healthy dose of adrenaline, he rose off
the ground, forcing his attacker back. the unmistakable snarl of a vampire
could be heard in the dark room. Instinctively, Forrest went for his gun,
only to find it wasn't there. Why would he have one? It was early morning in
the university office. The place wasn't exactly crawling with the uglies of
the night.

Well, it was now.

The vampire rushed him, sending both of the over onto the professor's desk.

He picked up a paperweight and blindly lashed out. It made contact with what
he guessed was its forehead. There was a low thud and silence.

He hoped so. Damn it, how had it gotten inside? This part of the school was
extremely secure, given how close it was to the entrance of the underground.
His first thought was that maybe another hostile had made it out, but he
dismissed it immediately. They would have gotten word.

Cautiously, he got off the desk and looked around in the dark. He could feel
warmth on his throat. Great, he was bleeding, probably from the bite. He was
so not in the mood for quarantine...

A hand grabbed his ankle and he was promptly pulled down onto the ground...

***
Past the square, past the bridge,
past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes
a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
a red right hand
***

Willow was feeling a little bit better. She still felt dizzy, only not quite
as much. She just had to remember not to move too fast. Once she had already
forgotten that when she was going to make a call and her entire world swam.
She refused to let Giles or Oz see it. They treated her like fine china
enough as it was. Xander, of course knew better. He remembered what she was
like when people made too much of a fuss. The rest seemed to have forgotten.

She set the phone back down in the cradle. Still no response. She really
wasn't expecting Buffy to be at the dorm, but it was better than not trying.

"Anything?" Xander asked.

"No, not a word," Willow said, sighing and leaning against the counter.

Xander shuffled his feet, looking down. He didn't like this any better than
she did. This waiting, the inability to do anything was killing them both
inside.

"You should eat something, Wills," Xander said.

"I'm not hungry," Willow said, sounding more tired than she was.

"It will help. You won't feel quite as dizzy." She started to protest, but
Xander held up a hand . "You should. You won't look ready to topple over as
much and they will leave you alone and I promise I'll leave you alone."

"Liar."

"Hey, I wouldn't be your friend if I didn't worry."

"I'm touched."

"You should be.”

An awkward silence came over them as each delved into their own thoughts,
both thinking the same thing.

Buffy was still out there. Alone.

“Think Giles will find her?” Xander asked.

“I hope so. Either that or she gets over here and fast. The sooner she’s
over here, the better.”

Xander nodded, handing her a sandwich from the fridge. Considering it was
something of Giles, he wasn’t too sure on how good it would taste. It
smelled like some form of salami, a meat he knew Willow wasn’t too keen on,
but she had to get something in her system.

He frowned and looked at the floor. Willow almost died last night and where
had he been? That one could be answered real fast. He had allowed himself
and Anya to get caught up in themselves. It was his fault. He had wanted to
get away from the fear and he had when he should have helped to protect her.
Giles would argue the point, saying that nothing could be done, but he
couldn’t prove that. He could have done... something.

“She’ll be okay, Xander,” Willow said, misreading his features.

“Yeah,” Xander said, still looking down. He walked off into the next room to
sit next to the snoring Oz.

***
He'll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
***

Riley was still sitting on his bed, looking at the floor.

"Buffy... how could you," he said aloud, feeling the weight on his own
dejection in the sound.

He wanted to believe Forrest. He wanted to think that she had nothing to do
with what happened to Walsh, but he just couldn't do it. He tried and
failed.

Failed... He failed Walsh. He should have been there. It was part of his job
to protect her and keep the compound safe from this sort of thing. If he
hadn't gone out to clear his head, he never would have left the underground.
If he had been there, maybe he could have stopped the hostile from making
off with Willow, too. thank goodness she had been found and taken to a
hospital. He didn't think he would have been able to handle two gruesome
deaths in a 24 hour period.

He pounded his fist against the bedpost. This shouldn't have happened! The
hostile shouldn't have escaped and Buffy should not have been able to
get in.

Wait... Had they been working together? Buffy hadn't gone to the emergency
room to have her wounds treated. She had gone straight to Willow's room. She
had known right where she would be and he had found her in there with
Hostile 17.

"Oh damn," Riley said, pulling his coat and on racing out the door.

***
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you're
never ever coming back
He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name
through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand
***

Giles cursed as he drove. He blinked his eyes a few times, amazed at his own
vulgarity. This was a new arrangement of words, even unusual from his days
as "Ripper". It had to be from the complete lack of sleep and the continuing
stress. It was wreaking havoc on his good nature.

Where was she?

It wasn't exactly a big town, there weren't all that many places she could
hide.

Unless of course something had happened. He didn't want to think that. He
wanted to believe that she was recouping somewhere that the commandos
wouldn't be able to find her. Buffy was a clever girl. She wouldn't allow
herself to be caught.

At least, that's what he hoped.

If he didn't find her soon, he was going to double back and let someone else
take over. He desperately needed some sleep if he was going to be able to
form coherent thoughts. He also wanted to be back to help on the protection
front. He had his doubts the Spike would redo the same ploy, but he couldn't
be sure. in this case, he wasn't going to take his chance.

He frowned at the hood. Damned soldier boys. The car was in bad shape as it
was.

***
You ain't got no money?
He'll get you some
You ain't got no car? He'll get you one
You ain't got no self-respect,
you feel like an insect
Well don't you worry buddy,
cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
and the bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his
red right hand
***

Buffy leaned her head against the cool stone beneath the overpass. Wow, that
felt good.

She looked down at her leg. Things were looking up. The wound wasn't
bleeding anymore. A definite plus right there, but she was still worried.
Her skin felt hot and her head was light. She worried the wound might be
infected. After alot of painful prodding, she came to the conclusion there
was no bullet in the flesh. That brought her very little comfort. She
couldn't tell if she had been shot with a regular gun or some kind of tranq
because she felt sick to her stomach.

She crawled over to the stream and splashed her face. She looked up as the
rumble of a car passed overhead. Angrily, she told herself to calm down.
Jumping at each sound was not going to help her. Not ever peep was the
commandos.

She kicked a stone from her position on the ground. The commandos... Riley
had been one of them. To make matters worse, not only were they now after
her, but were somehow involved in Willow's injuries. If she found out
exactly who had been involved with that... Well, best not get into something
that bloody when her head felt the way it did.

How could he be... She trusted him... She even was beginning...

... to feel something for him.

She lowered her head. Why couldn't things ever work out to be happy and
sunny for her? Did it always have to be vampires, death, and destruction?
Couldn't she ever have one, nice normal relationship?

Apparently not. However, she did have someone blame for this. None of this
would happen if Spike hadn't decided to make his grand reappearance. Well,
the next time she saw him, she was going to kill him.

She sighed. At least Willow was safe now. Still, she would feel better if
she was with her friend right now. First though, she was going to have to
have this looked at.

Wincing, she got to her feet. She knew just where she was going to go.

***
You'll see him in your nightmares,
you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he ain't what he seems
***

Willow made a face as she ate. Just how long had Giles left this in his
fridge... and why had Xander given her something this vile to eat? It was
out of concern, she answered to herself. He wanted her to feel better.

She wanted to feel better, but it was more than the healing properties of a
week old sandwich.

Spike had taken her. She shivered uncontrollably. Thank God no one saw her
do that. She wouldn't be left alone again for days. Wait, now that she
thought of that, she didn't want to be alone. The last few times she had
been alone had resulted in blood loss. She was not in the mood for a repeat.

It was bad enough she saw his face whenever she closed her eyes. That
hunger, that desire, all focused on her shook her right down to the core. In
a bizarre way, it was touching to be wanted, but not like that. She didn't
want to die and most of all, she did not want to die and come back to kill
everyone she loved.

She stepped over to the doorway. Oz was still sleeping and Xander looked to
be close to it. A soft smile touched her lips. Oz had been there when she
couldn't fight back, even with the risk of going up against such a strong
vampire. He endured bruised ribs for her. She wished he hadn't, but he had
been there.

She heard to door open and looked around, expected to see Giles... or Buffy.
Instead it was Anya with a brown bag.

"Giles said that the junk food wasn't good for you, that I should get food
with a lot of iron in it."

Willow nodded, still smiling. Anya leaned over to peek. Soon, she was
smiling, too.

"They are cute when they are sleeping, aren't they?" She paused. "Oz
snores?"

***
You'll see him in your head,
on the TV screen
And hey buddy, I'm warning
you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god,
he's a man, he's a guru
***

Forrest groaned as his head hit the floor. Quickly, he rolled to the side
while kicking the hostile in the face.

Again, he left to his feet and again it attacked him, this time forcing him
up against the wall. He struggled against it, but it was no easy task. This
was quite the strong vampire.

With one hand, it turned his face to the side, tilting his neck to just the
right angel where it could...

Forrest shoved it off him and punched blindly into the air, going by sound
and dim shapes alone. It had contact and he heard a groan. Yes!

He took the offensive, going by the moan of pain, and brought his leg up to
a roundhouse kick. He heard a thud farther away, then a scrambling sound as
it got up to its feet.

He had no plans to give it a second go. He jumped for the shades and pulled
them back up, bathing the room in sunlight.

There was a scream and alot of smoke. Before he could even make a move, the
door swung open and it ran.

Sighing loudly, Forrest leaned against the window. He looked up at the
ceiling, smiling, happy to have survived. He couldn't wait to tell Graham
how he had whooped its ass in the dark unarmed... leaving out a few detail.
Like the part where it had taken him by surprise and pummeled him for most
of the story.

He felt his neck and cursed. The hostile certainly had a good set of fangs.
He really hoped they wouldn't stick him in quarantine over this. The last
thing he wanted was to be in the same compound watched in a less intrusive
way than the demons were.

Suddenly, he laughed.

"Son of a bitch screams like a woman," he laughed.

***
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan
***

Spike stomped through the tunnels, making it no secret of how foul a mood he
was in.

She had slipped right through his fingers. He had her! He had her, but the
bloody slayer had shown up at each occasion. And when he had managed to
elude her, those soldier boys had shown up. He couldn't decide which he
wanted to kill more.

He was not a stupid man. This was not a job he could handle alone, the
latest battle proved that much.

He grinned through the throbbing pain in his limbs. It looked about time to
bring in the big guns.

He walked through the sludge and still water with a swagger to his step...

...while elsewhere in the state, an Irishman clutched his head in blinding
pain.

***
Designed and directed by
his red right hand
***

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Read Temptation Waits