Evil tidings lurk on the horizon…Missing Heroes  

Text by Calypso Woodhaven  

Book 14: End of Days

Wes stumbled outside the blessed earth and dropped the bundle at Angelus’ feet. His fingers were caked with both dirt and blood; he’d had to dig the last few feet with his bare hands. He fell to his knees, exhausted.

Willow held out her hand and Faith handed over her knife. With a quick flash of silver in the low light, Wes screamed. He cradled his hand to his chest, but not before several fat drops of blood fell upon the bundle, soaking in immediately and looking black and ominous in the half-light.

“‘Blood of an enemy, forcibly taken’,” she murmured.

“You got the spell from Harry Potter?” Faith asked, incredulous, and then said defensively at the look Willow shot her. “What? That movie’s a classic.”

“You just have the hots for Snape,” Willow retorted.

“Ladies, can we get on with it?” Angelus complained. “This place makes my skin crawl.”

“Yeah, yeah, Party-pooper,” Willow groused, and then turned to the heap of bones and cloth. The wind stirred around them until it became a howling gale, Willow ’s eyes turned black and she shouted, “Rise,” above the din.

The bundle began to tremble and shake as it was lifted by the tempest.   Dust and bone fragments coalesced, taking the familiar shape of a man. As the whirlwind reached a fever pitch, the figure swelled as the layer upon layer of organic material was added to the frame of bone. Birds fell from the sky, littering the area with their desiccated corpses; living beings devoured for flesh, blood and sinew.

The figure drifted lightly to the ground and turned to face the trio of vampires.

Dressed like a dandy and without speaking, he retrieved two feathers from his black waistcoat pocket. He plucked a stovepipe hat out of thin air. Fastidiously he tucked the feathers into the hat band before placing it on his head.

He disdainfully skirted the bedraggled, kneeling form of the former watcher.

“Caleb,” Willow breathed.

Faith snickered behind her hand. “Pansy boy’s our secret weapon?”

Caleb smiled coldly and lifted a hand. Unholy green fire shot out of his palm, igniting a tree several feet behind Faith. She scurried out of the way of the deadly blaze, glaring at him once she’d reached a safe distance.

“Laugh all you want, girly, but I got me a score to settle.”

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