Numb and Number: Chapter Eleven

[jesterladyfic]

Chapter Eleven

Giles slammed shut his book and decided to figure out information on Illyria the old fashioned way, by guessing intelligently. So far, he’d only made one critical error in his judgment of her. It would haunt him for the rest of his life, but it made his chances of figuring it out solo that much more likely now. At least he hoped so.

Wesley practiced some sword passes in the living room. He was trying to stay fit and Giles didn’t think he
really had to worry. The younger Watcher had physically recovered one hundred percent from his ordeal. Watching
the flowing movements, Giles tried to organize his facts into lists such as: One, Illyria is the binder of all evil. Two,
no evil can move without Illyria’s say so. That would include such entities as the First, or at least Giles thought it
might and Faith’s information seemed to confirm it. Three, Illyria had used Willow’s power against her. Illyria
seemed to feed on power, but especially dark power. Lighter magics didn’t seem to hold her interest. Four, anyone
who tried to use magic, especially black magic, would be caught up into Illyria’s net just like everyone else.

Unless, Giles’ mind kicked into gear, there was a way to bypass the magic focus of Illyria by replacing it with
another focus. It would require ancient magic properties with a very specific purpose. Giles opened the books
again. This was the type of thing he could research.



***


Spike came into the apartment with a bag of groceries. A cheerless atmosphere rushed to meet him though it was met by the even colder feelings that swarmed within his soul. Willow’s actions had caused the fire in it to burn brighter, but that didn’t mean his heart wasn’t dead. Oz was obviously restless as he attempted to cook something in the kitchen. Wesley seemed a bit more focused as he practiced his patterns. Giles was apparently on the scent of something big. As he put away the groceries, Spike realized something, their lives sucked.

“We need a new place,” he said, opening the refrigerator.

Oz turned to face him with a quizzical look.

“New place for what?”

“Illyria knows exactly where we are. Willow bloody lived here. We have to get ourselves a new flat.”

“That’s actually not a bad suggestion,” Giles said looking up from his books for a moment. “This place, well, it
has had its uses and now it…”

“Hurts to be here,” Oz said.

“It does,” Wesley agreed. “Would you like me to have a hand in that at all?”

“I’ll take Dog-Boy here,” Spike said, “and scout out some places. Don’t fret, Wes, we’ll make sure it’s nice.”

“I’m sure you will,” Wesley said and nodded his head. Spike knew Wesley realized Oz needed to get out of the house.

“This wasn’t really working anyway,” Oz said, turning back to the slightly smoking pot on the stove.

“Great.” Spike clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll be back soon.”


***


After the two of them had left Wesley put away his sword and went to the table to join Giles.

“What have you come up with so far?” he asked.

Giles put down the book he was reading and rubbed at his bloodshot eyes.

“Surmises mostly,” he admitted. “I’ve got an idea, but I’ve got to back it up now.”

“Well, summarize your surmises for me.” Wesley sat down.

Giles gave a ghost of a smile.

“We know Illyria has bound all evil to herself. My guess is that she was able to do that when you all weakened
the Senior Partners enough to let her through their defenses. Everything is under her control and she’s wound her
magic so that all magic will be useless and just drain the user, giving the power to Illyria. If it’s black magic, the user
will become ensnared to Illyria, ergo Willow. Like I said before, Illyria most likely lured Willow to her, letting Willow
take away some of her powers, wanting to add Willow’s power to her own, knowing she’d receive them back at that
point. Unless we can find a way to use magic, focusing it on something other than Illyria, we won’t be able to defeat
her.”

“What something other than Illyria?”

“That’s what we’ve got to research.”



***


“Holding up?” Spike asked Oz as they walked down the street passing a couple that was arguing loudly.

“I know what you’re doing,” Oz said. Spike looked at him.

“So?”

“Thanks,” was all the answer Spike got.

Spike remembered an old museum from the last time he was in Rome. Drusilla had liked it quite a bit and he’d
gotten to know the layout well. He thought it would do, especially since there were living quarters for the staff on the
premises.

It was still shut down, though not condemned just yet. The floorboards were a little creaky, but Spike thought
the cobwebs lent exactly the right amount of ambiance needed.

The living quarters were next to what was the pre-historic tribes of Italy section. It was pretty much cleared out,
but there were a few things that lingered and made it seem like a museum still.

“Well, we’ve certainly got enough furniture,” Oz commented as they came to a room that had beds and
couches and tables and all other sorts of things stacked around the room. “This place is abandoned, right?”

“Sure,” Spike said. “People always leave junk in places owned by the city. Figure it’s someone else’s bloody
problem.”

“It reminds me of Madrid,” Oz said slowly. “I was there for a few months.”

“Didn’t really like the place myself,” Spike said as he continued on, making sure nothing else had set up
residence.

“Neither did I.”

“Why?” Spike’s face was filled with curiosity.

“I didn’t like the people,” Oz said simply.

“Does that matter with the place we’ve got here?” Spike asked, wanting to know if past horrors were going to
keep Oz from being comfortable in the museum.

“I have nightmares no matter where I am,” he answered. “I think this place is perfect.”

“Someday we’re gonna have a talk about these nightmares of yours,” Spike said, knowing now was not the time.

“Someday,” Oz agreed.

“Let’s hurry back and let the Percy pair in on the new place.”

Oz nodded and they left the museum to wait for their return.