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TITLE: Lullaby For The Lost
AUTHOR: Ragna (WritingGoddess@...; SpikeGrrl1@...)
RATING: PG, so far.
CLASSIFICATION: Mentions of Graham/Other.
SUMMARY: Xander and Graham have to help Xander's cousin/Graham's ex. But it's
a lot more than a simple stalking...
SPOILERS: Set sort of in the future.
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I
write it, you can post it. Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me
know.
PREVIOUS PARTS/ARCHIVED AT: http://www.envy.nu/allthepain/index.html
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If
you do, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB own it or
them. Various friends of mine are holding characters hostage. You may see
them by appointment only. The places mentioned are actual places in
Oceanside, CA.
FEEDBACK: Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking in the spiderwebs so leave
a message and I'll call you back...in other words, I want it. Don't care if
it's onlist or not, but I prefer offlist since I have quite a few lists on No
Mail.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I changed the name from "Lullaby For Lost" to "Lullaby For
The Lost."
~*~*~
Xander brought the cup of chamomile tea to Dani, who was sitting in her
living room. Trophies were on shelves at one end of the room between pictures
of family and friends. There was a computer on a long desk next to that wall,
covered in dust and papers. There was also a magnificent view of the beach,
where the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.
"Is your computer working?" Graham asked.
Dani shook her head. "No. This virus hit it, destroyed the hard drive." She
sighed, curling up into the Mexican blanket. Graham recognized it as the one
he got when they went down to Tiajuana together. "But there's another one in
my room you can use."
Graham nodded, leaving the room and heading into Dani's bedroom. Xander
turned to his cousin. "What happened?"
"I saw him. I mean, he was walking, and I saw him, and then he disappeared
into the crowd again." Dani pulled the blanket around her tighter, trying to
use it as a shield of some sort to keep the bad man away from her. "I mean,
it's like he just melted away into...nothing."
Xander sat next to her, putting his arm around his cousin. "Mom and Dad and
Aunt Dahlia never really said what had happened the first time. I had no
idea."
Dani hugged Xander. "I would have told you. I mean, I should have. You're the
only one who understands me and...this," she said, pulling out of the hug and
indicating her surfing trophies. "I just want him out of it. Out of my life.
I don't want to be afraid anymore."
***
Graham sent a quick e-mail to his commanding officer, who told him who to
report to at Camp Pendleton. He had known something wasn't quite right about
this entire thing the first time, and the feeling just got worse. Especially
after what had been found out about Scott Captra while he was in jail.
Scott had been a loner, with a tendency to fixate on things he could never
have through normal means. That included belongings, cars...and people. Dani
wasn't the first athlete he'd stalked.
But whereas normal stalkers were human, Scott was not. Not completely,
anyway. He was part shadow demon, which allowed him to blend into shadows
easily, to get around without being seen. The Initiative found that out and
had him registered.
That was how he'd known Scott had escaped the special psych ward he'd been
sent to. since he was human, there was no chip implant. And when the call
from Dani had come, which Graham had figured it would, he got permission to
leave his post and investigate.
It was also up to him to tell Dani the news about Scott's demon heritage. He
couldn't keep it from her; she had every right to know. But would she believe
him?
He sighed, leaning his head on his arm by the keyboard. Graham knew she
didn't believe in anything supernatural. Xander, on the other hand, was a
Scooby. He helped Buffy, who Graham disliked for what she did to Riley or
caused him to do to himself. He knew she was the Slayer, and all her friends
not only believed in the supernatural but helped her fight it.
He also knew that Dani would probably be more inclined to listen to Xander
than to him.
And that was the problem! They acted like nothing had happened, that Graham
hadn't broken off their engagement to go join The Initiative. That their past
was just a simple thing, not as complicated as it had really been. And, of
course, Graham had lied to Dani until he was safely in Sunnydale.
When he was there, away from her, he told her the truth. And that was the
most cowardly thing he'd ever done.
Maybe now he could make up for it in some small way by giving Dani back her
life.
Graham sat up again, picking up the phone to make a call, one he had never
imagined making. He needed help, and only one group of people could give him
the research he would need to either recapture Scott Captra permanently or
kill him.
"The Magic Box, this is Rupert speaking, how may I help you?"
***
Xander stood up when he was sure Dani was asleep. He took the freezing cold
cup of tea into the kitchen, bumping into Graham. "She's asleep."
"That's good." Graham yawned slightly. "Xander, I need to fill you in on some
things."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that what we're dealing with isn't completely human, and that
this time he might try to take Dani away." Graham sat down at the kitchen
table where a cup of steaming coffee and a pile of papers sat. "I called your
friends in Sunnydale. No one can come down here, but Rupert said he'd try and
send me some research."
Xander nodded. "What are we dealing with?"
"A shadow demon and human hybrid." Graham shuffled the papers, looking for
something in particular, and upon finding it handed it to Xander. "The
Initiative had him registered. We only found out about his demon lineage for
about three months before he escaped. He's more dangerous than we thought."
"And how do we get rid of him?"
"I don't know. We may just have to kill him, or something like that."
Xander got his own cup of coffee and sat down across from Graham. "She told
me what you did. How you left to join the Initiative and you lied to her."
"I thought she might have."
"Did you have a good reason?"
Graham thought for a moment. "At the time, I thought I did...but now I know I
didn't." He shook his head. "I'll tell you more later. Right now--"
A muffled scream came from the other room. Both men jumped up and ran out,
looking around. Dani's blanket was crumpled on the ground, and the window was
open. A man was trying to climb out the window with an unconscious Dani
thrown over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Dani!" Graham yelled, and the man turned around. He had a .38 caliber pistol
in his hand. Taking careful aim, he pulled the trigger.
Graham sank to the ground.
Xander looked from the man to Dani to Graham. Then he started to advance on
the man. "Leave her alone."
"Or what? You'll hurt me?" The man laughed, a sick sound like nails dragged
on a chalkboard. "I'd love to see you try." He aimed the gun at Xander and
fired again, but Xander ducked and the bullet missed.
While Xander was down, the man got onto the windowsill and jumped in a fluid
motion, melting into the shadows as he did. Xander sprang up and ran to the
windowsill, helplessly watching as the man headed to a car and sped off.
"Xander..." Graham said weakly. "He got me in the chest."
Xander nodded, running into the kitchen. He picked up the phone, dialed 911
and waited. "There's been a shooting..."
***
Xander had good reason to dislike hospitals. After his years of helping
Buffy, he'd seen many of his friends in them as patients, some more than
once. There was Buffy's bout with the flu and the whole bloodsucking
incident. There was Willow's coma and Anya's broken arm and Giles' numerous
concussions. But all of them were received in some sort of battle or fight.
Now, he was at Tri City Hospital, waiting to see if the only other person who
could help him get his cousin back would come out of surgery okay. He'd been
shot in cold blood by the same man who'd shot him in the leg years earlier.
Graham had to be pissed.
The doctor came out. "Mr. Harris?"
Xander's head popped up from the cold cup of coffee he'd been staring at in
his hands. "Yeah?"
"Mr. Miller's surgery went just fine. No major organs were punctured, though
the bullet was less than an inch from tearing through his lung. He's asleep
right now, but he'll be fine." The doctor smiled. "I'm sure you're glad to
hear that."
Xander nodded. "How soon till he wakes up?"
"Probably a few hours. I suggest going home and telling his fiance that
things are going to be fine. I'm sure your cousin would like to know."
"I know she would," Xander said, standing up. "Thank you."
"If you hadn't called and done some simple first aid, Mister Harris, he would
have died. He should be thanking you." The doctor turned and left at the
calling of his name while Xander headed towards a pay phone.
He wasn't about to call his Aunt Dahlia to let her know her only child had
been kidnapped, and he wasn't going to be able to return to Dani's apartment
until the police were done. There was only one more place he could call.
"Giles, he got her," he burst out before Giles could finish saying hello. "He
shot Graham and he got her."
"Calm down, Xander. Who has her?"
"The half human shadow demon thing," he said, lowering his voice a bit. "He
came in and jumped out of the window with her and took off."
"Do you have any idea of the type of car he was driving?"
"A VW Bug or something. Not a new one, an old one. It was blue or black. I
couldn't tell because it was in the shadows." He rested his head on the metal
part of the pay phone. "He just disappeared into the shadows."
"Shadow demons do that." Giles paused for a moment. "Is Graham all right?"
"Yeah. Surgery went okay. He'll be awake soon."
"Good. Now listen to me. His military group knows of the threat of the demon,
and he had contacted them earlier this evening. When he wakes up, get the
information and go see them. You still remember some of your military
training?"
"Some of it."
"Then that is a plus. Inform them of Graham's injury if they do not already
know. I'll try and get Buffy or Anya down to you by tomorrow, but it's not
certain. Glorificus is starting to make her move."
Xander thought for a moment. "Keep them there. You're going to need all the
help you can get."
The operator interrupted the call, saying he only had a minute more unless he
inserted more money.
"Xander?" Giles said quickly when the operator was done.
"Yeah?"
"Be careful."
And then the connection was lost.
***
Dani first felt the dull aching pain in her head. she tried to reach up to
see if there was a bump, but found her hands tied behind her back. She then
felt the rope around her ankles and the cold floor under her.
And it was so dark...
"You woke up."
Dani froze. That voice...she knew it from somewhere. "Who are you?"
"You mean you don't remember me? I thought the flowers of the doll might have
brought it back."
"You..." She stopped. "Scott?"
"Amazing. You *do* remember." She heard a rustling to her left. "You look so
different."
"I...I let my hair grow," she said, trying to swallow the lump rising in her
throat. A cold hand touched her cheek and she flinched.
"You did more than that." The hand stroked her cheek, and finally Dani
realized she was blindfolded. "You're tan. You've been living a life." The
hand moved away from her check, traveling down to the nape of her neck. "I
can't be in the sun that much anymore."
"Wh...why?"
"Because, my demon half doesn't like it. It likes the cold, the shadows...it
loves the dark."
Demon? Was he really insane? "But I saw you!"
"And wasn't I in the shadows? I saw you with that boy you had been engaged
to, and someone new." He almost spat the word "boy." The hand moved from the
nape of her neck and a single finger trailed down her collarbone and traced
the V-neck of her shirt. "I finally got him, though. Right in the heart, or
somewhere around there."
"No..." she whispered. "No..."
She felt a cheek touch her cheek, and stale breath whisper a single word.
"Yes."
***
"I'm going to kill him!" Graham tried to sit up, but clutched his chest in
pain.
"You aren't going to kill him," Xander said.
"Want to bet?" Graham sank back into the cushions.
Xander shook his head. "You can barely move around without hurting, Graham.
You can't go after him. Giles said he'd try and send Buffy down here, but
they can't afford to have her here, so we're all Dani's got." Xander shook
his head. "No, I'm all she's got."
"We're not all," Graham said. "Go on base, through the rear gate. They let
civilians on base, especially since we used my car. It has the decals on it.
Go to the commandant's office. He can get you in touch with my CO and the
person I was supposed to work with on base."
"Are you sure they'll listen to me?"
Graham nodded towards the closet where his clothing was. "Take my wallet. My
special ID is in there. If they haven't heard--"
"Tell them, I know. Giles said the same thing." Xander walked over to the
closet, fished out Graham's wallet and put it in the opposite back pocket.
"Anything else I need to know?"
"Only talk to the commandant. No one else knows about the Initiative or their
experiments on that base except him."
Xander nodded. "I'll be back."
Graham sat up, wincing but forcing himself to do it anyway. "Xander, get her
back. there's things I need to tell her."
"I will."
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