The Natural Order of Things

Chase [while staking vamps]: "Ah, summer in McKennit."

[Geoff gets bit by a blonde girly vamp]
Chase: "Man, you and blondes ..."

PeanutGalleryGabe [to the tune of Mr. Roger's Neigborhood]:"Won't you be my slayer?"

PeanutGalleryChase: "They get light, we get lit! I like this plan."

Chase [upon hearing about the cave in]: "Did you meet any Chinese? Or did something get in your way?"

Chase: "Okay, we now have a dead body in the sun."
Deaver: "Gee, that'll smell great."

Chase: "I mean, if we're going to die, we might as well be thorough about it."

Raveena: "Wow. You are definitely gonna lose your deposit."
Chase: "S'okay. It's Geoff's deposit."

Geoff: "What are we supposed to do?"
Raveena: "Um. Don't be furniture?"

Brandon: "Well, thank you M ... Mrs. VanGarren."
[Geoff escorts him out with alacrity]
Chase: "He. Can't. Stay. Here."

Unidentified Scoobie: "So what do we do with him now?"
Chase: "That will depend a great deal on whether he was a willing or an unwilling sacrifice."

The Scooby gang is finally back in town three weeks before the beginning of classes at Phillipi College in beautiful McKennit, Maine. Having returned from a few weeks back at home in the Ozarks, Raveena is flipping through the course schedule for the Fall ? and notices Deaver's name on the listing, How odd - he's supposed to be in England for another six months. After everything went down with Zolor, Raveena and Deaver discussed her need for a Watcher, and he went off across the Atlantic in search of the famed Watcher's Council.

Raveena receives a note from Cernnunos Grove, alerting here that there is some minor evil activity in the area; judging by the timing, Raveena determines that it is the bi-annual alumni initiations. She picks the posse off with alacrity, but it is very likely that this year's proud alumni rep (who was not among the vamps) will just make a new bunch of minions, and Raveena thinks she knows the next likely burial site - a clearing in the woods outside McKennit. About a month later, she calls in the gang to give her a hand with the second crop of alumni flunkies. Pleased (or resigned, as the case may be) to be back in business, the crew does a little catching up. Chase is still temporarily living at Geoff's apartment, working two jobs to put enough back for school and rent - she's still working in ER/trauma at the hospital, as well as bartending for Shannon at Lone Star on her off nights. Things continue as usual with Geoff and the morgue, and Gabe has been hanging out in McKennit, still working for the Botany department and saving up for a new skateboard. He's also been hanging out with Rachel, the Cernnunos Grove Junior with a rebel attitude and a black belt in Jujitsu. But they are NOT a thing. She's along for the fun this evening, as she'll take any excuse to punch something.

The pleasantries end abruptly when four vamps start their climb up from the deep. They are quickly dispatched, and the crew decides to go for a beer at Lone Star. Raveena hesitates, and says she will go on patrol instead. Geoff mentions that one thing at the morgue is both as usual and UN-usual: Matt "how many of me are there" Cogen has turned up for a third time. Nothing to physically set him apart from the first two (except that he was knifed almost to pieces - serious overkill), and [thankfully] no tattoo to be found. The discussion of Matt fades off into the darkness as the group heads for Lone Star, and Raveena turns back to her patrol. Before she moves so much as a step, a shadowy figure emerges from the woods. Raveena turns to face ? Deaver! They start chatting about the shambles of the Watcher's council, Raveena's visit to her mother ? when Raveena sees rising behind him yet another vampire. Raveena shoves Deaver out of the way and goes on the offensive; Deaver joins in the fray, and they dust the guy.

As they catch their breath, Deaver and Raveena also lose their footing. The ground underneath them shifts, made unstable from the recent eruptions that spewed forth a flood of icky vamps. The turf gives away completely and the two unlucky souls find themselves sliding into an 8-foot deep hole ? where they land abruptly atop a cool slab of stone. Feeling beneath them in the dark, they realize that the stone slab has writing on it. The language isn't English, but they can't pin the letters with their fingers in the gloomy moonlight. They decide to go to Lone Star so Deaver can say hi to everyone. As the group finishes their drinks, Deaver reveals why he has come back so early - a seer in England revealed to him that he should return to McKennit quickly, as a "great evil will soon be uncovered". As the watcher's council was in complete disarray anyhow, he thought it would be best if he heeded her warning. The story reminds the group that they just happened to uncover something in the clearing, so they head to Geoff and Chase's apartment for shovels and flashlights.

Back in the clearing, Rachel pegs the inscription of Hebrew. She tells the group that it is a prayer praising the demon Belial, asking him for abundance and influence. The mojo-enabled say the spell is still in effect, and that tampering with the stone will probably negate the offering. The stone slab doesn't top any kind of sarcophagus, but rather than open it in the middle of the night, the crew decides to come back in the morning. In the meantime, Rachel heads back to CG to tell them what's going on, Gabe and Chase hit the books (where they don't find much of interest; offerings are anything from fruit to living humans, the bigger, more wriggly, and more closely related to you the better), Raveena continues her patrol, and Deaver goes home to sleep off his jetlag.

In the naked light of morning, the gang decides to lift the slab and peek underneath. They date the stone marker as at least 100 years old, maybe more. They can't help noting that it could correspond very nicely with the start of the Townsend's rise to power - the Boyds were the town name in the marriage, and the Townsends were the money. The union happened in 1823. Raveena hefts the stone up, and reveals a glass coffin, containing the perfectly preserved body of a man in his mid-twenties wearing black ceremonial robes, eyes closed as though he was only asleep. Chase slips down into the hole to take a closer look, and a glint of gold catches her eye. The man is clutching a bell in his left hand, his robes strangely sticking to the surface. Concerned that the coffin may hold a vampire, Raveena and Geoff haul it out into the clearing in the full sunlight. Nothing happens. Chase and Geoff are mystified by the preserved state of the body, and Chase opens the coffin for a closer look, sliding the glass panel off the top. She pulls the robe off the bell and removes it, inspecting it in more detail. It is filled with now-crystallized honey, keeping the clapper from making contact with the bell. Someone obviously doesn't want it rung. Gabe tells the group that bells are often associated with magical spells, and demands that Chase hand it over; which, naturally, results in a game of keep-away. Geoff examines the body again, and asks Chase if he can borrow her knife. She hands it over, and he makes a careful, shallow incision at the back of the man's wrist. It slowly begins to bleed, a sure sign that this body is not a "body" but still a living person. Adding everything up, the group determines that ringing the bell will wake the man.

Unsure what to do, Geoff and Chase remove the man from the coffin and put him in Chase's car, to sneak him into the morgue. In the meantime, Raveena places the coffin back in the ground and tries to lower the stone slab back on top of it, but she loses her grip and it falls to heavily, smashing the coffin beneath. Oops. Raveena announces she will stay behind to fill in the gaping hole, Gabe heads back to the library to do some further research on the potential ramifications, and Rachel goes to report in to CG.

At the library, Gabe learns what they had already figured out. The man was the sacrifice. Ringing the bell will completely end the spell. However, since they've already damaged it by lifting the stone, better to end it completely than leave it in this unstable middle state. He also realizes that a spell of this magnitude will have

Geoff gets the body into the morgue, only to get a phone call from Chase with an apology asking him to get the body back out again. Geoff brings the guy back to his place, and lays him on the sofa. To mollify him, Chase lets Geoff play with chemicals to deduce the best means of removing the amber-like blob of honey from the center of the bell. He disappears momentarily, eyes alight. Geoff returns in a few minutes with the still-fizzing bell, carefully holding the clapper away from the bell itself. The group positions themselves around the room - Rachel is with them. Raveena is armed to the teeth, and Chase sits in a chair easily visible from the sofa so that the first thing that the poor guy sees won't be Raveena armed to the teeth.

Chase takes a deep breath, and rings the bell.

* * *

The effect is immediate. A black cloud of magical essence roars out of the body, hitting everyone like a punch to the gut. As it slowly dissipates, the body starts to shake violently. As the shaking escalates, arcs of lightning shoot out from the man, melting anything they touch - the walls, the coffee table, the light fixture. Rachel reaches out to restrain the body, and suddenly her eyes go black. She gasps for a minute, releases the body, and turns to Gabe: "Gabe, you have to see this". She is giddy, practically high. She turns back towards the sofa, and blows out the windows behind it, raining glass down on the writhing figure. Lightning is still arcing from the body, and Chase runs to the bedroom to get a blanket to try to contain the damage. Gabe resists Rachel's invitations at first, but suddenly realizes that when Rachel touched the body, the tremors subsided slightly. He tells the gang the observation and then gives in to Rachel's pressure and gingerly touches the man on the leg. Magic courses through him, and he holds on.

Hearing Gabe's comment and realizing he's right, Chase drops the blanket and approaches the man, laying a hand on his face. Even she begins to feel an almost electric high flood through her body. Geoff starts towards her out of concern, but when she whispers something about freefalling and looks at him with black eyes, he blanches and backs away. Chase cant' hold on as long as Gabe, and falls backwards, knocking into the coffee table, and melting it at her touch. She stays on the floor, dazed.

Rachel wanders the room, black-eyed, idly fixing the damage to the apartment with a wave of her hand.

With Chase's defection the tremors pick up again, so Raveena gives Geoff a helpless look and touches the body herself. The same power affects her. She holds on, and after a few minutes, the body gives off another black cloud of energy, and stills.

They back away.

Having checked on Chase, Geoff moves hesitantly towards the body and checks for a pulse. No spark hits him, and he finds what he's looking for - the man is alive. His eyes begin to flutter open.

Gabe's eyes are the color of jet, and his coat is fluttering in a breeze no one else feels. Without a word, he levitates and floats out through the shattered window.

Rachel watches him go with concern, and gets Chase and Raveena centered enough to follow what is going on. They are both sorcerers for the moment however briefly, and between the three of them, they should be able to stop Gabe. And they have to stop Gabe. Rachel has a feeling that Gabe's greedy streak might get the best of him ?

Rachel floats out the window as well, but Raveena and Chase take the door. Geoff gives them a panicked look as they leave, left alone with the barely conscious man.

Gabe heads straight for the biggest bank in McKennit, shattering a window on the ground floor with just a look. He floats inward and touches down. With a forceful wave of his hand, he rips the vault door off its hinges, bringing the alarm screaming into action.

Rachel and the girls reach the bank only a short distance behind Gabe. They run in through the shattered window to find Gabe in the room, money from the vault floating in the air around him. Rachel sends the money flying back into the vault, and Gabe looks at her, sending her flying backwards into the wall. As she skids to a halt and looks up at him, it seems to shake Gabe out of his magic-induced haze. He realizes that as much as he craves wealth, this isn't the way to do it. He leaves the bank with the girls, and Rachel repairs the bank before they leave, and before the sirens arrive.

Back at the apartment, Geoff and the man (who has told Geoff his name is Brandon Townsend), are sitting nursing beers and staring uneasily at each other. The mojoed group returns, and they make a brief introduction to Brandon. Brandon looks dazed and confused [yuk yuk], still absorbing the fact that this is 2004 and not 1823. Just the sight of the summer clothes on the ladies present is enough to make Brandon blush up to his hairline. Chase shoots Geoff a look - they have a spare room, and Geoff takes his cue and offers it to Brandon for the night. Geoff gets a groggy Brandon settled and the gang takes their leave, unsure of what they'll do when their unexpected guest wakes up ...

FINIS.