Disclaimer:

Gargoyles belongs to Disney, and BtVS is property of Joss Whedon 
and Mutant Enemy Productions. "TGS: Pendragon" is the work of the 
staff of The Gargoyles Saga. This fic has nothing to do with my 
Gargoyles series, nor does it have a thing to do with TGS... it's just 
for fun. For those who care about timelines, this occurs in the 
interval between "What's My Line?" and "Surprise" for Buffy, and after 
"My Lady Fair" in Pendragon.

Notes for nitpickers: I took some SERIOUS license with the Unseelie 
vampires from TGS in this fanfic. I know for a fact that much of it 
goes against the series' portrayal of them, but otherwise the fight 
scene would have been much, much longer and more painful to write.


Asking for Directions
by Amanda Ohlin



"We should've pooled for cab fare," Willow Rosenberg said, glancing 
up and down the London street anxiously. It was just after sunset, 
and the afterglow of the absent sun was quickly fading from the 
western sky. London wasn't Sunnydale, true, but anyone with common 
sense knew that sunset still would bring danger, supernatural or no.

"Why?" Xander Harris asked. "Hey, we're almost there. Another left 
and we'll be back at the hotel in no time."

Cordelia Chase was inspecting her nails. "You said that the last 
two times we walked down this street. We're lost, Xander. Admit it."

"We're not lost. Just turned around."

"Then why can't you turn us in the right direction so I can get a 
SHOWER?" Her voice rose to a pitch as she spoke, causing the others
to wince.

"Let's have a show of hands," Buffy Summers spoke up. "All in favor
of lost?" Willow, Buffy, and Cordelia raised their hands. "Majority 
rules. Get it over with."

Xander blinked. "With what?"

"Ask directions," Buffy said, and Xander shook his head vehemently.
"Xander, it is not that hard."

"What is it with men and asking directions anyway?" Willow
wondered. "I thought that was limited to driving."

Cordelia snorted. "It's not."

"I don't need to; I know where I'm going," Xander answered, and 
suddenly three pairs of eyes were staring at him. "Down this street."

Buffy smiled despite herself as Cordelia and Xander launched back 
into argument. It was only their second night in London, and already
both of them had gone back on their promises to lay off the bickering. 
In a way, it lent a needed bit of normalcy to the whole thing. 

Despite Snyder's objections, the school board had agreed 
to support a four-day trip to Europe for two of the junior year 
English classes to tie in with the unit on British literature they
were currently in. Snyder had been having fits the entire week after 
he found out. Of course, the students' parents had to make a donation 
in order for their kids to go and pass the course, and while the hotel 
was decent, they'd been crammed in with four students per room. 

Even weirder was Giles' reaction to the whole thing. Instead of 
vehemently insisting that she stay, he was eager for her to go,
muttering something about certain portents and a need to consult 
with some old colleagues. So he'd managed to get on the trip as 
a chaperone. 

Which meant that there was probably something wicked coming their way,
and it wasn't going to be a vacation. She sighed and turned back to 
her friends. Xander and Cordy were seething at each other. "Great," 
she muttered to Willow. "They're on the verge of full make-out mode 
now."

Willow looked disgusted. "I wish Oz was here." 

Biting back her own sentiments, Buffy turned away, forcing her thoughts 
away from Angel. Her attention was drawn instead to a nearby alley. A 
faint cry, followed by sounds of a scuffle, could be heard from the 
shadows. Since they weren't on the Hellmouth, Buffy was briefly 
tempted to ignore it. But her "Slayer-sense," as Xander liked to call 
it, was going crazy. And it was a perfect excuse to get away from 
Xander and Cordelia.

Willow saw her stiffen, and recognized the look on her friend's 
face. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

Buffy slipped a hand into her coat pocket, her fingers closing around 
the stake inside. "Duty calls. Stay here. I'll be right back." 

She started towards the alley, leaving the three of them at the 
corner. Seeing her go, Xander and Cordy broke off their argument. 
"Where is she going?" Cordelia demanded. 

Willow shrugged. "Slayer stuff. She told us to stay here."

"Why?" Cordelia demanded. "So we can stand out in this damp air for 
another hour? My hair is losing all of its body out here!"

"You've got plenty of body left over," Xander quipped.

Before they could launch into another cat fight/makeout session, Willow 
cleared her throat. "Well, you two can - can stay here and make out, 
but I'm going to go help Buffy." Reaching into her purse, she pulled 
out a stake and headed after the Slayer. 

"You know," Xander commented, "this is taking 'be prepared' to a 
whole new level." He sighed and followed his two friends towards the 
shadows.

Cordelia opened her mouth to protest, but seeing that it was futile, 
shrugged. "I wonder if she's got any hairspray in there?" the May 
Queen wondered idly as she headed towards the alley, keeping her 
distance.

******

Rory Dugan sighed.

He'd been walking the streets for hours, trying to get back to the 
main offices. It wasn't that he didn't know his way - on foot, it was 
a long haul. Hailing a cab was out since he didn't have enough to 
pay the fare. Not that he would have anyway. Either way, the others 
had probably made it back hours ago. 

"It's me own fault anyway," he murmured, running a hand through his 
red hair. An odd case of a disappearing husband and a suspicious 
wife had sent them out in the first place. He'd insisted on staying 
and checking the rest of the pubs on the list of possibilities when 
the others had started back. 

Now he was coming to regret it. The sun had set, leaving a damp chill 
in the air. Rory pulled at the collar of his jacket and shuddered, not 
from the cold, but from the persistent sense of danger that nagged at 
him. There were worse things to worry about than Lucius' Minions 
lately. He was tired, cold, and fairly hungry, and was beginning to 
think that the few leads he'd gotten weren't worth missing out on a 
ride in Kevin's van.

The staff in his knapsack thrummed almost encouragingly. Rory smiled 
despite himself. He had his reasons, though. Leba and Dulcinea had 
been bickering over petty things for several streets before deciding 
to pack it in. Any more of that and he would have gone insane. 

But he did feel sorry for Dulci, at least; another number from "Man 
of La Mancha" and he would have hidden away Leba's guitar for good.

Besides, although he hadn't told them, he was also hunting for 
Unseelie. Not directly, of course - he'd learned better than that by 
now. But one could pick up plenty of stray gossip in pubs, especially 
when it came to strange patrons. He'd avoided the Arms, of course, 
but even so he'd picked up quite a bit. 

That last look that Medb - no, Maeve, he corrected himself - had given 
him at Cairn Chullain still remained fresh in his memory. After two 
thousand years, the rage in her eyes had been as bright as ever. For 
all he knew, he was probably still up there on her hit list. 

He sighed, reaching into his knapsack and pulling Luin out. The warmth 
from the spear was reassuring, and he felt better with Luin in hand. 
To the common observer, the spear looked to be an oaken walking staff,
something that the police wouldn't automatically stop him for. If 
anyone asked, he could say he'd been hiking. It was the truth, in a 
way.

As he crossed the street, a jolt ran through his arm from the spear. 
(danger)

Rory blinked, glancing around. The spear in his hand was humming like 
crazy, radiating a feeling of warning. "Trouble?" he murmured in a low
voice.

In response, Luin jerked in his grip, almost tugging him towards the 
alleyway up ahead. It was then that Rory could hear the sounds of a 
scuffle from the shadows.

He hefted the spear and started towards the alley.

******

"Maybe I'm wrong about this," Willow cried as she ducked to avoid a 
blast of green light and dived behind some crates, "but I don't think 
these are your garden-variety vampires!" She tossed the blackened 
stump that had once been a stake away, testing the slats of the 
crates to see if any were loose. They wouldn't budge.

Cordelia was already crouched behind the crates. "What was your first 
clue?" She was crouched in a tight ball, refusing to let her clothes 
touch the asphalt or the wall or the crates. "At least they don't 
have prune faces."

Willow rolled her eyes, casting about for a weapon. The vampires had 
pretty much forgotten about them and were focusing on Buffy, the one 
who seemed capable of giving them a beating. 

Two of them rushed the Slayer, only to be downed by a solid punch in the 
face of one and a roundhouse kick to the jaw of the other. The 
kick literally sent the vampire flying backwards, and he landed on his 
back several feet away.

Meanwhile, a pair of vampires had Xander cornered, toying with him 
as an excuse to keep from being pounded by Buffy. The only reason 
he hadn't gotten fried was that while he couldn't pack a punch to save 
his life, Xander had become quite skilled at dodging. "Look at this 
bloke, Will!" the vampire chortled as he fired off a few shots of that 
weird green light at Xander, who dropped and rolled out of the way. 
"Quick little rotter, ain't he?"

"Oh, yeah," Xander muttered as he dodged another shot. "'Normal' they 
ain't."

Buffy grabbed one by the collar, slamming his head into the wall twice 
before pulling the stake out of her pocket and driving it through his 
chest.

He convulsed a bit, staggering backwards in shock, staring down at the 
point sticking through him. "W-will? Robby?" the vampire gasped 
weakly, his face looking almost human. The other vampires froze for
a moment, giving Xander the chance to get out from between them. 

Then he crumpled to the ground in a heap. Green light surrounded the 
body before it suddenly collapsed into ash.

"Bloody hell!" one of the vampires yelled. "You can't do that!"

"I don't care how she did it," Will snapped. "She killed Patrick!" 

He lunged at her, forgetting about Xander. Blinded by rage though he 
was, Buffy was already occupied with two more out to avenge their 
fallen comrade. Trying to compensate for their added abilities, she 
had left her right side open. 

Willow didn't have a great arm for batting, but a two-by-four in the 
face was enough to stop his charge. He growled and grabbed the end of 
the two-by-four, snapping it like a twig and tossing his chunk away. 
Willow was left with a splintered piece of wood. "Nice try," he 
hissed, grabbing her by the throat.

But he left her arms free, still clutching the piece of wood. Willow 
promptly drove the jagged piece of wood into his chest.

Buffy kicked one of her attackers away, but the other one wised up. 
The bolt of energy sent her flying into the wall with a force that 
would have knocked a normal person out cold. It was still hard enough 
to daze a Slayer.

She staggered to her feet to see three of them surrounding her. 
"Tough, are we?" one of them said, grinning. "You want 'er, Robby, 
or do we do the honors?"

Robby grinned, his eyes glowing green. "Fry 'er."

Before he could act on his words, he went down hard as he was struck 
from behind and his legs were knocked out from under him. Taking 
advantage of the distraction, Buffy regained her balance, dealing a 
swift kick to the gut of the vampire nearest her. An uppercut to the 
face followed, and the vampire violently shoved her off before she 
could seriously pummel him. 

With a backflip, Buffy landed neatly on her feet, stake at the ready.
She finally got a glimpse of her "rescuer," a tall redheaded young 
man with a wooden staff. It was only a brief glimpse, for a few seconds
later, the vampires surrounded him, shifting all their focus onto 
the newcomer. He vanished from her sight into the crowd of vampires.

Buffy blinked, shrugged, and joined the fray, grabbing the nearest 
vampire by the collar and staking him from behind. As she literally 
staked her way through the crowd, she wondered idly why they hadn't 
fried him with one of their energy blasts. 

The vamp she was about to stake turned to dust, and she found herself 
staring down the length of a polished spear. A streak of green light 
flew their way, but the young man spun on his heel, turning the 
spear in his hands. It deflected the blast easily as he kicked one 
of the vamps in the stomach. Another vampire met the point of the 
spear and dissolved almost instantly, instead of turning into dust.

She barely had time to consider the implications as she found herself 
fighting back to back with him. "I guess you didn't need my help 
after all," she quipped as her foot made contact with a fanged jaw.

He snorted, deflecting another blow and knocking another vampire to 
the ground. "Could say the same for you," he replied, and Buffy 
started as she recognized the Irish accent. A few more kicks and 
blows, and they were side by side. "Name's Rory."

"Buffy," she managed before dropping to the ground and kicking out 
at the feet of the nearest vampire. Green energy sizzled abvoe her, 
and she thanked her lucky timing as the vampire went down. She 
hopped to her feet and staked him as Rory plowed into the other 
three like a madman. Surprisingly, he didn't question whether that 
was her real name - a first. 

As they dispatched several vampires, more came from the shadows. 
"Blast," Rory muttered as he blocked a new volley of energy. 
"This was planned."

Somehow, that didn't make Buffy feel better in the least.

******

"Another night, another mad bunch of halflings," Griff remarked as 
the two gargoyles alighted on the roof of the building. "Almost makes 
me miss following Arthur all over Britain."

Michael chuckled at the griffin-like gargoyle's discomfort. "Usually 
I'm the one in the foul mood. Something troubling you?"

"Just a sore back, and the evening's only begun," Griff sighed. 

"Married life taking its toll already?" Michael asked, and Griff 
stared at him. "I know what it's like. Leo's given me quite a tale 
of life with a pair of newlyweds."

Griff rolled his eyes skyward. "Just for that, I don't think I'll 
tell you any more about Victoria."

"Now that's not fair!" Michael exclaimed with mock indignation, 
chuckling nonetheless. "If I weren't leader, I'd -" He was cut off 
by the sounds of fighting in a nearby alleyway. "Bloody hell. Not 
more of them." Opening his wings, the English gargoyle slipped back 
into leader mode. "Perhaps this will have to wait. Shall we?"

"Right behind you," Griff answered as the two swooped into the alley.

******

"Forget playing," the vampire attacking Xander hissed. Faster than 
the eye could see, he shot out an arm and grabbed Xander by the throat, 
pushing him into the wall. "I'm hungry." 

"Ever think about going on a diet?" Xander quipped weakly. "My 
doctor says my cholesterol is kind of high."

A brick sailed through the air, striking the vampire squarely in the 
small of the back. "Excuse me!" Cordelia shouted as the vampire 
winced in pain, dropping Xander to the ground. "I didn't fly 
over the Atlantic so my boyfriend could get a permanent hickey!"

Xander stumbled to his feet, his attention suddenly drawn elsewhere. 
"Will! Behind you!"

Willow spun, but she didn't have time to fight back as the vampire 
lunged for her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, opening his mouth to 
expose his fangs. Willow promptly kicked him in the stomach, knocking 
him back a step as he dropped her to the ground. The splintered wooden 
beam flew from her grip, skittering a few feet away. He regained his 
equilibrium, moving towards her.

And crashed to the ground as a massive winged form literally divebombed 
on top of him, slamming him against the pavement. "Really now," the 
bird-headed... whatever it was... commented, "there's better ways to 
meet girls."

The vampire managed to shove his attacker off, stumbling to his feet. 
He wavered, as if considering helping his companions, then took a good
look at the bird-creature and thought better of it, bolting into the 
night.

The griffin stood up, brushing himself off. "Smart chap," he commented, 
glancing in the direction the vampire had vanished. With that, he 
turned back to Willow, who was still half-sitting, half-lying on her 
back. "Are you all right, milady?"

Dumbly, Willow nodded, gaping at her savior. He was a good seven feet 
tall, dark green in coloring, with feathered wings and the head 
of a bird, a long tail and huge clawed feet. Noticing her discomfort, 
he offered a four-fingered hand with an almost sheepish grin. Willow 
allowed herself to be pulled gently to her feet, "I'm - Fine. Thanks."

"Griff!" Rory shouted, breaking the moment. "It's about time!"

Yet another of the creatures, a brown eagle-headed male, swooped 
into the alley at that moment, landing in the middle of several 
vampires and knocking one to the ground. "If you don't mind, Griff, 
you could help me here," he said conversationally as he threw one 
of the vampires over his shoulder and into the brick wall. "Or I'll 
tell Brianna how you've been getting on with the ladies."

Griff rolled his eyes and sighed. "Right-o," he answered, stepping 
between Willow and the vampire who was about to make a second try at 
dinner. 

Temporarily forgotten, Willow blinked a few times and shook herself 
all over before picking up her makeshift stake. "No, this is not 
normal," she murmured.

******

Rory sidestepped his attacker's lunge and dealt the vampire a blow 
in the side with the staff, sending the halfing sprawling. This 
bunch was bloodthirsty indeed, but fairly inexperienced. Still, 
if not for Michael and Griff, they would be hard pressed to deal 
with the sheer numbers. 

Three of the other teenagers seemed to know what they were doing, 
or at least had the wits to defend themselves. The fourth, a slim 
brunette, was edging her way along the wall, trying to get out of 
the alley unmolested. _Good luck,_ he thought. Rory was surprised 
that the stake through the heart actually worked on the Vampyres,
but it wasn't the time to question.

He barely managed to dodge the bolt of green light that leapt from a 
female halfling's fingers. It streaked past him, missing the brunette 
girl by inches and searing the brick wall instead. 

She spun, a look of shock in her eyes as she grabbed at her hair. 
The bolt had singed a bit of her hair on one side, just fraying the 
edges. As she examined the ends, the shock melted into pure rage.

"My hair! She shot my hair!" The brunette cast around, finally 
turning back to the crates and kicking a slat free. Snatching it up, 
she advanced on the female Vampyre menacingly. The fury was 
practically radiating from her as she cried, "Do you have any idea 
how much I paid for this HAIRCUT?!?!?"

With that, she attacked the halfling with a vengeance, pummeling the 
female furiously. The Vampyre was so surprised that it was all she 
could do to fend off the human girl's blows, much less get in some 
of her own.

Rory glanced over at Buffy. The blonde girl shrugged. 

Griff, meanwhile, pulled a Vampyre off the dark-haired boy. "Is that 
normal?"

The boy shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "She's got her good 
points."

******

Buffy had staked her seventh vampire when she realized that the 
numbers of them were dwindling. The one that Cordy had attacked 
was out cold, Rory had taken out a good portion, and the two 
birdlike creatures were giving the rest a pounding. 

She turned to face the next vampire, but he hesitated, his gaze 
flicking around to take in the battle around him before focusing 
again on the barely winded Slayer before him. "Forget it," he 
muttered, turning and running for the shadows.

Several others were following his lead and fading into the night.
"'Ey!" one of the bigger ones shouted as he grappled with one 
of the bird-creatures. "Where do you blokes think you're going?"
None of them answered, and with a grunt, he threw off his attacker 
and scrambled to his feet. "Blast it. Retreat!"

The few still committed to fighting were only too happy to obey, 
throwing off their attackers and making a break for the shadows. 
Buffy managed to catch and stake one, and was about to go after 
the others, when someone grabbed her arm. 

She turned, ready to flip whoever it was over her shoulder, but 
stopped. Partly because of the seriousness in Rory's piercing green
eyes, and partly because his grip was strong enough to give even a 
Slayer some trouble. "Don't," he said, shaking his head. There was 
an edge to his voice she couldn't place, and something strange 
about his eyes. "They're not worth it."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, contemplating telling him off, 
throwing him to the ground and going after the rest. But common 
sense told her that probably wasn't a good idea. Those weren't 
ordinary vampires, and their rescuers were anything but ordinary. 

Slaying could wait. Right now, she wanted answers. 

[And that's where it ended. The story was getting too serious, and I
realized I couldn't continue without dragging it on for pages on
end. Which defeated the purpose of this crossover, and once I got on TGS
the idea kind of stagnated. --Mandi]