Sanctuary

Session Summary

3.18 - Sanctuary

The scoobies stare in horror as the column of fire in the sky fades. Where it peaked, they see a glowing mark - the slowly revolving heads of a dog, a horse, and a bear [or a dog, a snake and a lion, Kat can't remember which one Jen went with]. But these aren't just ordinary animals - they're all sporting fangs. With the glow in the sky mocking them, the group races for the headquarters of Cernunnos Grove, which is clearly where the fire was coming from.

* * *

Rive throws a heavy beam off of herself and sits up. Immediately springing into action, she starts tearing at the rubble looking for Rachel. She finds her huddled in the fireplace, protected from the collapse by Rowan's interference. Rachel is in near hysterics as she looks around the room, finding figure after motionless figure trapped under the heavy stone. Desperate to move the rubble as quickly as possible, she asks Rive if she can "borrow" her strength for a spell. Rive is reluctant at first since she has no idea what else may be coming along with that freaky symbol in the sky, but Rachel's panicked expression changes her mind. Linking hands, Rachel's eyes blacken as she uses Rive's physical strength to telekinetically lift and launch the shambles of the building, forming a circle around the perimeter. There's utter quiet from the women lying scattered and broken on the floor.

Rive's phone goes off merrily in the stark silence as she hunts for survivors. She answers to find Chase quizzing her at ninety miles an hour about what happened. She fills her in, and Chase and the gang are already on their way there. Deaver has called Richard and the police force is mobilizing. Rive hangs up and hears a sob from behind her. Rachel is kneeling in the chaos, bent over her mother. Rive runs to her side and check's Darla's pulse - it is faint, but still present.

The scoobies arrive on the scene. Geoff heads straight for Darla and Rachel while Rive points Chase to the other survivors, Rowan among them. There are only a half dozen or so. Rowan is unconscious, but breathing. Chase sets Rive and Nathaniel to work collecting materials to use as makeshift splints and bandages until reinforcements arrive.

Deaver takes Rachel aside and gently questions her. Rachel tells him about her meeting with Gabe, and that she thinks this was done through HER. She brought some kind of spell in with her. Rachel swears then and there that the next time she sees Gabe, there won't be any hesitation on her part.

Nathaniel stops working for a moment and looks more closely at the forest around him. He frowns, and tells the others that this ground was not only sacred to CG, but also to his people in a far distant time. It is holy ground, and has been desecrated by this act of violence.

About then, the reinforcements show up. With professionals on the scene, the gang regroups to discuss their next steps. Doc calls the Watcher's Council in England and tells them of the apparent pact between the witches and the vampire clan and the doom it spells for McKennit. Giles is quick to remind him that magic has inherent checks and balances - there will be a price to pay for violence committed in a sacred place, and re-sanctifying the site may have an adverse affect on those who defiled it. Ending his call, Deaver throws that nugget to Rachel, who thinks on it for a while. She tells them that Giles is absolutely right, and that the re-sanctification of this place would seriously affect the DoH and Alumni members who dare to enter it, probably rendering them a lot less powerful. Sanctification, though, is complicated, and requires an important event like a birth, natural death, wedding, or an initiation ceremony as an integral part of the ritual.

Nathaniel points out that as Geoff and Simone are engaged, perhaps they could get married on the site. There's general shock at this announcement, since none of the regular crew had heard anything about it. Geoff intervenes, telling the group that that plan won't really fly since he and Simone broke up last week. He awkwardly avoids meeting Chase's steady stare. They start brainstorming other options, like hauling a pregnant lady out of the hospital and into the woods ?

Suddenly, phones start ringing. All hell is breaking lose in McKennit. The dead are rising - the whole morgue is crawling with ickies and Stefan gets a tip that there's trouble at the graveyard.

They take off for town. At the morgue, the employees have barricaded themselves in the office and barred the door to the examination room. Rachel, Geoff, and Chase head outside to man the small window out of the morgue proper that vampires inevitably use. The rest of the troops go in the front door. There's a big fight with a breed of vampires the scoobies have never really run across. They're fast, strong, single-mindedly focused on food, and dumb as rocks. Deaver sends an oxygen tank sans regulator freewheeling through the morgue, shutting the door and ducking. It eventually strikes something causing a spark, and the examination room goes up in a white-hot flash fire. Poof, vamps be gone.

Once the smoke clears, they go in to make a thorough inspection. It looks like every last body in house turned into one of those things, even those that Chase knew hadn't been bitten. Pieces start to come together. Rachel wishes aloud that Rowan was with them, and tells the group about her mysterious last words. Geoff in turn tells the group about the chemical compound he received from her at the party, and that Rowan wouldn't tell him where it came from. He hasn't had much time to study it, but it contains traces of non-human blood cells along with one of those strange McKennit-only magical, chemical binding agents that are usually hallmarks of Eric's work. Suddenly they put it all together - the substance Geoff is studying is tap water. Bannon's managed to get vampire blood into McKennit's water supply. Everyone has therefore drunk of the blood of vampires, and therefore turns when they die, regardless of whether or not they've been bitten. As citizens die, they'll feed on more citizens, exponentially increasing the size of Bannon's brute army until the whole town is engulfed.

That's probably not a good thing.

Richard calls Stefan and tells him that they're having trouble at graveyards across town. While Geoff and Chase head to his place to try to dissect Rowan's tap water compound further, the others answer Richard's call.

* * *

The battles are fierce, and crowds of confused citizens are gathering to watch the chaos. When Stefan and Rive start cleaning house, there's actually smattered applause. The crowds get larger and more appreciative as the night stretches on. Used to working in the shadows, the two of them can't quite believe that people are noticing them and what they do ?

* * *

Late, late, late that night, Geoff and Chase are still bent over the table in his basement lab. Geoff is falling asleep where he sits, but his sleepy smile indicates he's perfectly happy to keep her talking instead of leaving. Chase starts to bring up Simone ? and a few other things ? but chickens out and tells him to go to bed instead. She'll be back tomorrow and they'll chat then.

* * *

The next morning, Deaver starts placing phone calls. He fills in both Giles and Richard on exactly how the dead are rising and why. They make arrangements to be sure the CG women who tragically died don't rise. Knowing they'll need it, Doc, Nathaniel, and Stefan spend the rest of the day working combat drills.

* * *

At Geoff's place, Chase reappears on the doorstep mid-morning. He's barely out of bed, but they settle back down to work. When there's a lull in the science talk, Chase spits out what's really on her mind. She tells Geoff that he damn well should have told her about Simone so she could tell him she was still in love with him without the associated guilt. But regardless, she is, and she just wishes that she could have a second chance. Start over. Geoff smiles at her, and says he'd rather not start over. He kinda liked right where they left off. Still smiling, he leans across the table and kisses her.

* * *

Later that evening Deaver is buried in books as he redoubles his efforts to reintroduce Nikki to her soul. There's a knock at his door. The young teenager on the step introduces himself as Bryant, and says that he's been having some weird experiences the last few nights and was told Dr. Deaver might be able to help him. Nikki bounds into the foyer, takes one look at Bryant, and delightedly calls out "Puppy!" She and Deaver take the young man into the house, trying to explain lycanthropy. The boy is taking it all pretty well when the moon begins to rise. He doubles over in pain and starts to transform. They hurriedly escort him down into the basement, which in the Boyd-Townsend manor has a few built-in cages for convenience. Deaver calls out to Nathaniel and Stefan for aid as he helps the boy down the stairs. He shoves Bryant into a cage and has the door almost locked ? but almost isn't enough as wereBryant throws himself against the bars, knocking Deaver backwards as the cage door swings wide. The wolf lunges for the professor. Stefan grabs him as Nikki yells at the demon hunter to stop scaring the wolf, he's going to make it worse ? ignoring her, Stefan gets a hold of the animal but it somehow wriggles out of his arms. Lunghing at Deaver, the wolf bites down hard on his shoulder. Nikki, still yelling at Stefan, takes off back up the stairs. Stefan and Nathaniel tear the beast off of Deaver and force him backwards towards the cage. Nikki comes back down the stairs with a large hunk of meat. She manages to calm the wolf down. She and Nathaniel gently get the wolf into the cage and lock the door, while Stefan slooooowly picks up the unconscious Deaver and moves him upstairs and straight to the hospital ?