3.16 Anger Management

At dawn, Rachel, Deaver, Chase, Rive, and Stefan are gathered somberly in the grove. Rachel, newly "priestessified", leads a memorial ceremony in Gabe's honor. The alter has Spring's first flowers, a bell, and a small fire in a bowl. One by one, the somber scoobies read a part of the ceremony, and give their own tribute to Gabe, with a pledge to help send him onward by destroying the demon that is using his body and ensnaring his soul.

Rachel and Chase show up at Rive's office to pick her up for their lunch date. They arrive just in time to see a devastated girl with a nasty black eye leaving. Rive emerges in a foul mood. She announces that what she really wants for lunch is a drink – a rare thing for Rive, who never touches alcohol. Luckily, Lone Star now serves lunch, so the girls take off for Shannon's place. Kelly waits on their table while the ladies catch up.

Rachel is finishing up her priesthood work and confides to Rive and Chase that she's considering opening up a magic shop in McKennit. She figures as long as she and Stefan stay together, they'll be "lifers."

Rive tells her girlfriends one of the reasons for her rotten humor -- she had another instance of her recurring nightmare last night. Only this time, there was a "fuzzy blue bear" in it that was watching, and laughing at her. Something about it completely pissed her off. Concerned, Rachel asks if she's talked to Deaver about the dream -- after all, the last time someone random showed up in one of her dreams it ended up being Lilith. Rive tells her that she hasn't yet, but that yeah, she'll go see Doc after lunch.

Kelly brings drinks over, and asks the girls casually if they've seen today's paper as she sets the local news rag down on their table. Mentions that it is kind of creepy, and that Richard is working on it. She gives them a look and strolls away. On the front page is an article entitled "Violence in the Forest". It reads:

"Last night four students were murdered near Prospect Point. According to an inside source at McKennit PD, eight students had set up camp for the night yesterday evening. Three hours later, one of the students returned to town and led police to the scene of the crime. The students is now at McKennit PD under questioning. One survivor is in the hospital. Two students are still unaccounted for."

Folded into the paper is a computer printout of a grainy photo of a young woman entering the McKennit police station (Kelly probably "found" it online). Rive recognizes the woman almost instantly -- her name is Zelda Bryant. She has been a client of Rive's for a few weeks now. She's been worried about her boyfriend's ability to manage his anger, but he hadn't hit her. Yet. Chase knows Zelda for a completely different reason. Zelda is a DoH and the younger sister of Kyp Bryant, who some rumors say Chase killed a couple of years ago during the ritual to raise Zolor. While that's not completely accurate, it isn't completely INaccurate either (long story), so Chase tends to avoid the whole subject. All that being said, Chase heads for the hospital to check out the post mortems on the four deceased students and question the surviving one while Rive takes off to find Zelda at police headquarters. Rachel gets stuck with lunch doggie bags and the check ...

Rive shows up at the police station and politely bulldozes her way in to see Zelda.The girl is scratched and bruised and a little shaken. She tells Rive what happened in the woods. There was a group of eight of them -- Herself, her boyfriend Bryce, Clint, Trisha (Yes THAT Trisha), Max, Catie, Dotti, and Thom. It was a couplesy type thing, part setup for a few of their friends, and they were camping in one of the larger clearings in the woods just outside of town. She and her boyfriend got into a little spat, nothing major -- he had disappeared for a while and she was worried and scared. He told her to just get over it, and she told him that he needed to straighten up or she was leaving. They got angrier and angrier and suddenly Bryce was hitting her. There was screaming and yelling and he started to hit her again when she pulled out her athame and cut him with it. Which freaked her out, since that is absolutely NOT something you're supposed to do with a ritual knife. Her friends realized what was happening and got involved, Peter scolded her, and then everything escalated. She doesn't remember exactly what happened, only that she looked around and saw so much blood ... so she ran for help. She didn't know they were all dead ...

Zelda breaks down and Rive tries to comfort her. She's terrified she'll get in trouble for knifing Bryce. Rive reassures her and starts gently giving her instructions on who to call and what to do.

Four dead college students, brutally murdered,makes for another average day at the McKennit morgue. Chase greets her colleague at the desk and weasels her way in to check out the corpses. Only two of the four actually have a positive ID. Quick once-overs reveal a myriad of random injuries. Knifelike claws, a vampire bite (probably old, and probably Trish's boyfriend), one body that is a little roughed up but with no (medically) discernible cause of death, and one poor girl who ... well, is unfortunately likely to remain a Jane. Getting and ID on her will be almost impossible.

Heading upstairs, Chase uses Owen to get her in to see Max, the hospitalized survivor of the previous night's ill-fated camping trip. Owen tells her he was brought in unconscious, but with no apparently trauma or wounds. Max is a bit wary of Chase at first but finally agrees to talk. He tells her that he was in a tent talking with Catie when they heard noises outside. Catie got outside before he did. When Max emerged from the tent, he found Zelda threatening Bryce with some kind of weird knife, and Catie all psycho and slinging people around without touching them, just by gesturing with her hands. Max tried to stop Catie, but she was freakishly strong, then Thom or someone pulled a knife on her. And then Dotti magically tied Max to a tree right before he blacked out. That's all he remembers. Chase thanks him for the info and takes her leave, promising him that she'll let him know what she finds out. She checks the clock and makes her way to Geoff's room for her last hospital errand.

After calming Zelda, Rive heads straight for Deaver's place to discuss what is going on and to tell him about her dream. Doc hasn't read the paper, but Rive's story is hauntingly familiar. Between the campers and the "fuzzy blue bear", Deaver realizes that the Berzerker has somehow escaped its cave again. It causes people to grow irrationally furious whenever it is around. And it's in tight with the Wendigos, who use the anger as a distraction to bring them easy prey. Doc and Rive get on the phones to call a meeting ...

Owen enters Geoff's room with a resigned expression on his face. Geoff opens eyes and looks at him. "Hey."

Owen's expression changes to surprised. "Oh! You're awake."

"Yes."

"OK." Owen pauses awkwardly. "Well... how ya feeling?"

Geoff yanks on the blankets. "Not bad. Ready to not be here. No offense."

Owen smiles at him. "None taken." Heading back towards the door, he continues, "I'll just, uh..."

Geoff just looks at him. "Owen."

Owen turns. "Uh, yeah?"

Grinning, Geoff asks, "Did someone ask you to check if I was awake?"

"Uh..."

"Tell Chase I'm asleep."

Visibly uncomfortable now, Owen stammers, "Oh. Well..."

Geoff closes his eyes, still smiling. "Tell her."

Owen leaves. A few seconds later, in comes Chase, closing the door quietly behind her. She looks him over for a moment, then goes to read through the chart at his feet.

Geoff opens his eyes again. "What, no heartfelt monologue (as in one) that I get to listen to while pretending to be asleep? You're no fun."

Shocked, Chase spins around to face him. He's good-humored, considering that the last time he saw her, she was practicing calligraphy on him with a vial of acid. He tells her he's really relieved she's not dead, and tries to weasel out how much of what she said was vampire mind games and how much of it she might have actually meant. She stammers and evades with a lame Simone crack, and Geoff looks at her.

"Huh. I'm not particularly noble, Chase. If I want something, I charge for it. And when it doesn't work, I figure out a Plan B. And I move in a new direction. The way I understand it, if you want something -- really want something -- you have to make that charge. No matter what. If you're capable of not trying -- well, you can't want it that bad, can you?"

After a really brief pause, he changes the subject to Rachel and how pleased she was with the ceremony for Gabe. Geoff is really proud of everything she's accomplished. A few minutes of small talk later, he boots her out the door, telling her that he'll see them all next week. At the door, Chase turns and tells him she did mean some of what she said. And then ... another lame Simone joke later, she's gone.

The entire group meets up at Deaver's to discuss the situation. Deaver and Chase both recognize the circumstantial evidence of the Berzerker demon they trapped in its cave their first year in town. Apparently, someone has let it out again, and that someone is probably Trisha Boyd-Townsend.

Chase calls Jade to find out how to cast that spell she and Gabe used to solidify Nat-un-hai, the Indian spirit that guards the Berzerker. When Jade explains the spell and mentions that Gabe can easily cast it himself by now, Chase tells her the unpleasant news about what happened to their friend two weeks ago. Jade is shocked, and her reaction reveals that she's seen him since then. The phone call quickly ends.

The group figures that Trisha intended to let the Berzerker loose on the Cernunnos Grove meeting that is scheduled in the grove that evening. They call CG to tell them to cancel the meeting, and to ask if they can borrow robes to pose as members themselves. Rowan readily agrees to help them any way she can.

Back at Doc's Ð recollection of the Berserker, and the formulation of a plan. The Berserker has a way of influencing others near him. They get angry and even violent, sometimes against each other. So... on the night that Tricia B-T is out in the woods, the spell barrier breaks down and the Berserker is freed? Shock & awe....
They decide to explore the berserker cave for more clues, with the hope of knowing the effects of the berserker will help them guard against it.

[Ok I missed a big chunk of stuff as I was readying my big entrance.]

They call Jade about the spell used to solidify the spirit of the Indian-Guardian. Nathaniel is made whole again, and tells them what he saw last night. 4 boys and 4 girls. One of the boys was a wendigo (they figure that it was Bryce). They freed the Berserker, and proceeded to bargain with him. The Berserker agreed to meet with the wendigo and the girl (Tricia. Duuuuhhhhh). At the Sacred Grove tonight. Rachel is concerned. CG is scheduled to have a big meeting at the Grove tonight.

They formulate a plan. Concerned about "keeping calm" under the Berserker's presence, Chase acquires some minor "mood-altering" drugs.

Entering the Grove, they all begin to feel the effects of the Berserker. Stefan sees some magic effect nearby, and Nathaniel chases after it. The rest of the scoobies are a little miffed at their new ally just leaving them. Then they realize that he may have had a good idea to confront the Berserker ASAP, and that they are also already under the influence of the anger-vibes. They fan out in the direction of Nathaniel's trail. As fortune would have it, Chase and Doc stumble upon the Berserker, along with Trish and some other vamp. Instead of retreating, Doc holds his ground until they are almost upon them, then at the last moment he reveals the sunlight box and activates it. Two vambitches dust, Tricia takes a serious sunburn, and the Berserker is blinded. Chase and Doc then RUN back into the clearing. Stefan comes upon Max, surprisingly, who is sporting big long claws and long sharp teeth. It doesn't go well for Max, who loses his head. Chase loses her wits, and gets angry at Stefan for killing Max before she had a chance to smack him. Then Doc reminds her that Tricia is still nearby, and she stalks after her, Doc in tow. Nathaniel engages the Berserker, and Rive gets to work on Bryce the wendigo. Zelda yells at Rive to get out of the way. Bryce proves to be a little more than she expected, and he grabs her and they wrestle. Nathaniel solos the Berserker, and in a flurry of axe, defeats and kills it.
Meanwhile, Rive gets a hold of the wendigo/Bryce's head and is about to give it a mean twist, when he manages to smack her. They continue to wrestle, while Zelda flays him via magick from nearby. Working together, victim and her counselor kill the wendigo Bryce. Zelda, black-eyed, breaks down crying, and Rive comforts her.

The remaining scoobies continue on the trail of Tricia to now avail. They seem to have lost her. After some grousing, they turn back and make their way into the clearing.