REPOST: Der Weidedämon (1/?)

["Shadow" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Since I've had quite a few requests for the earlier parts I've decided to do
a repost of the first six parts. Just to refresh everyone's minds on what
is happening, while I finish rebuilding my bookmarks what should have where
everything is archived at. ::the result of a damn virus that wiped out my
poor computer last month:: enjoy!

Title: Der Weidedämon (1/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx - or - Tankesly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated
with Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they are used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended.
Pairing: Willow/Spike - thought I'd mess with a few minds out there
on the list. Although there is an Angel/Cordelia pairing in later parts
among other things.
Summary: Rayne is back and he's kidnapped Willow to do a spell, now
There's a twist. Only Spike objects to Willow being used in a sacrifice
and does something about it...and, oh yeah, somewhere along the way
Willow becomes a demon. Well sort of...oh just read it. ? Also the
title "Der Weidedämon" is German for "The Willow Demon" - so I
originally wrote it in German sue me. <rotfl>
Archive: The usual places; all others ask first.
Spoilers: Spike has lost his bite and is helping the gang...beyond that
no major spoilers that I know of.
Dedication: To Kimber and Jinn...who put up with my constant plotting
no matter how strange I get, and are still willing to talk to me. You're
the greatest...even if I do drive you both nuts most days. ?

Der Weidedämon (1/?)

Spike was worried, well maybe not quite worried, more like irritated
actually. He was a demon. He didn't get worried, he got irritated. He
told himself forcible, scowling for good measure. It was all Red's fault,
she knew she was suppose to bring him some blood while he hid-out
in the old Kelly Street mansion from the commando boys looking for
him. It wasn't like he was going to go back to the Crawford Street
mansion, too many memories of Dru and Angelus for his taste, and
the crypt had proven somewhat unsafe.

"Where is she?" he growled prowling the main room like a caged tiger.
"She should have been here by now." He added, continuing to stalk
through the lower level, trying to contain his growing 'irritation'. It
wasn't that he cared for the girl. She just served a purpose for the
time being while he had the chip in his head. She brought him blood
and helped to keep the commando boys away from him, and for that
she would get to live once he got that annoying piece of metal out of
his head. Well maybe not exactly 'live', he would have to turn her
once he broke her in properly; make her into his little plaything for all
of eternity.

He had such big plans for his little Red, couldn't wait to introduce her
to his brand of affection...sure he'll keep her mortal for a few years or
so- just until he had her well trained to his touch, and then...then they
would rule the night. He could almost taste all the things he would do
to her; as he stripped away her sense of self and remade her into his
favourite little fuck toy.

Pushing aside such thoughts, he focused on Red's continued absence
from his side. Time enough to punish her later once the chip was out
of his head. He would have plenty of time then to express his
displeasure of her willful acts of defiance and of her association with
the Slayer twit. Some things would not be tolerated, and once she
was his, the Slayer and the moron being two things that would
immediately be removed from his presence.

**********************

Meanwhile at the Sunnydale Bus Station -

Faith wearily climbed off of the out-of-town bus, trying to restore
some kind of circulation to her right leg that had fallen asleep
somewhere outside of Los Vegas. It was just her luck, the only
nonstop bus from Vegas to Sunnydale had to be the oldest, if not the
most useless, bus in the history of modern transportation. But it had
been worth the nightmare ride to get back to Sunnydale. She couldn't
explain the sudden need she had developed a few weeks ago to return
to the hellmouth. A part her had hoped to never see the misleading
little town - with its barely closed gateway to the neither world, or it's
endless supply of vampires and other night creatures - ever again.
But fate and two nerve-wrecking prophetic dreams convinced her that
she should give up her soul-searching journey and get back to
Sunnydale as fast as she could. She just wished she hadn't of been in
Southern Florida when she had gotten the first of the aforementioned
prophetic dreams.

Shaking her head as she collects her one battered duffel bag, she
recalled Red's last email. The one recounting the latest and somewhat
undesired addition to the Scooby Gang: one bleached blonde vamp
named Spike. Faith wasn't too sure if she liked the thought of a bunch
weird of commando groups running lose over the hellmouth. There
was too great a chance of Red being picked up by one of the soldier
boys one night while she was out saving the world with B. She would
just hate to have to break into a highly classified government
installation to kill a bunch of people because they had hurt Red. She'd
do it, but she was sure she would have at least one or two sleepless
hours because of it.

'Red,' she thought shouldering her duffel and setting off for Giles' flat,
no one knew she was coming back and the walk would do her some
good. At the very least it would get her leg to wake up before dark.
Before she'd maybe have to do a little slaying. 'Eight months on the
road and I still haven't figured anything out regarding her.' She said
to herself, shifting the duffel on her shoulder a bit. Shortly after
graduation, the dark-haired Slayer had left town, after talking things
over with Wesley, something that she was still a bit in shock over.
She had actually gone to her Watcher for advice and the hellmouth
didn't open and suck the entire world into hell. Who would have
thought it? Although, there was no way in heaven - or the hellmouth -
that she was actually going to admit that Wes had given her some
pretty sound advice. It would offset the whole Slayer/Watcher
dynamic for generations and B would never forgive her.

While she was no closer to figuring out her relationship with Red, she
had found a few answers. Like Oz's death hadn't been her fault. He's
the one that chose to side with the nut mayor damn near getting Red
killed in the process. That she had been defending herself that night
she had gone to reason with him; trying to get the cure for whatever it
was he had poisoned Fang with. It had taken her six thousand miles
and one hell of a barroom brawl to sink that little fact into her thick
head. If she had known that was all it would take, she would have
stayed in town and torn apart Willy's a few dozen times. However, she
was still no closer to figuring out just where she stood with Red, the
one person who had ever took the time to really get to know her,
warts and all. She excepted Faith like no other ever had. If she
thought Fang and/or B wouldn't have nailed her hide to the nearest
wall, she would have been chasing after Red form the moment she had
first seen the quiet redhead in the library. "Oh god, I'm beginning to
sound like B!" She swore to herself with mild disgust, deciding that
the bus ride had addled her mind somehow if she was beginning to
channel the other Slayer.

***********************

Two hours later, Faith found herself at Giles' front door, patiently
waiting for someone to answer her knock. The walk from the bus
station took a bit longer then she had first thought, but that was only
because her leg had refused to wakeup for the first ten minutes.

She pulled her wondering thoughts together as the door opened and
she found herself standing before B's Watcher...well former Watcher.
Although it really didn't matter, G-man would always be B's Watcher,
just like Wes would always be her Watcher...rather she liked it or not.

"F-faith," Giles said by way of greetings, covering any other discomfort
he might have had at her unannounced appearance on his doorstep.

"G-man," she replied, once again pushing down her irrational fear of
librarians. Every since the fourth grade when her class had gone on a
field trip to the public library back in Boson, she had had an
unexplainable fear of all librarians. It wasn't something that she could
easily explain, but librarians creeped her out more then vampires or
demons ever did. And there was no way in hell she would ever admit
to said fear. Although she was certain that G knew all about her little
fear, 'He probably has it written down in that damn Watcher's diary of
his,' she ruefully thought for the thousandth time.

"Oh! Would you please come in?" Giles replied after a moment,
stepping aside to allow her to cross the threshold his mind already
working. Taking in her overall appearance as he followed her into the
living room, he noted the worn duffel bag over her shoulder, "I take it
you are back from your road trip?" He asked trying to make small
talk.

"Got to Florida and ran out of coastline," Faith replied dropping onto
the couch with a tired sigh. "Figured I'd head back here and see if the
place was still in one piece or not." She couldn't help but add with a
smirk. Running a hand though her dark hair, "I've been having a few
dreams that pretty much say I have to be here." She added after a
moment, suddenly finding something of real interest on the floor to
study.

The reaction was almost immediate as Giles shifted from host to
Watcher in the blink of an eye. "Really? Just what have you been
dreaming about?" He asked his total attention focused on her, his
mind racing. 'If Faith is having prophetic dreams, why isn't Buffy?' he
asked himself wondering if there was something he may have missed
with his own Slayer.

Taking a deep breath she collects her thoughts for a moment. The
dream images still making little sense to her even after having two
weeks to think about them as she made her way back to California.
"Its confusing, I see Red, Fang, and who I think has to be Spike. I
just know it's a bleached vamp with them and...Red is feeding off
them." She says raising her head to stare into his eyes. "But she's
not a vamp...I don't know how but she's not."

For possible the first time in his association with the dark Slayer, Giles
found himself looking into her terrified eyes. Not even when faced
with the snake-like mayor trying to kill her, had he ever saw such an
emotion ever enter her eyes. And then it struck him: she was not
scared for herself, she was scared for another...possibly the one person
she held above all else - even herself. She was scared for Willow.
"Tell me exactly what you saw." Giles commanded in an even voice,
already well into full research mode.

"Not much to tell. I'm in one of the underground lairs, not sure
where...but Blondie is with me. I think we're there looking for Red...but
I'm not sure." Faith begins; suddenly getting up to pace the living
room restlessly. "Fang and the cheerleader are there too...we're
fighting a bunch of vamps trying to get to Red. And there is this
human there, never saw him before, but he's...." she continued,
stopping and turning to the still seated Watcher. "He's the one hurting
her...the one I'm going to kill." She finished coldly, her eyes hard and
determined.

**********************

About an hour outside of Sunnydale

Angel had the gas pedal planted firmly on the floor as he drove like a
madman down the highway toward the hellmouth...or in the very least
like a vampire possessed anyway. Beside him, Cordelia set ramrod
straight in the seat; her eyes focused intently on the road ahead,
almost as if she was willing the vehicle to go faster. She had not said
much since her mind-shattering headache, a little over an hour ago
back in Los Angeles, other then that they had to get to Sunnydale
immediately. Willow's life depended on it.

There really hadn't been anything else to say, not when she had
recognized a few of the people surrounding the redhead in question.
She wasn't quite sure when Faith had gotten back into town. She
knew Willow would have mentioned it in one of the emails the two of
them had been sending each other since graduation if she was already
there. And so as long as the dark-haired Slayer wasn't in town, they
still had time to save Willow...and kill Ethan Rayne.

**********************

Spike was on his twelfth circuit through the lower level of the mansion
when he heard the front door open. 'Finally!' he growled making an
immediate course change and heading directly for the main room; he
had a redhead to see. 'Time she start learning her place,' his demon
fumed, 'chip or no chip she will learn to obey me!' Only to stop in his
tracks as he stepped into the room and found the Watcher and what
felt like a Slayer stand there, both looking around intently.

"Where's Red!" Faith demanded taking a menacing step toward Spike,
immediately recognizing him from her dreams.

"Faith, calm down." Giles interrupted; stepping between the two
before anything got out of hand. "Spike, is Willow here?" He asked
turning his attention to the vampire, trying to remain calm for her
sake. Once she was safe he would gladly let the two of them growl at
each other all they wanted too.

"What?" Spike asked momentarily thrown by the question. "No the
little chit hasn't been 'ere all day...she forgot to bring by my blood."
He continued with an offended look.

"You bleached idiot...Willow doesn't forget things, she's missing!" Faith
growled trying to push past Giles and knock some sense into the
vamp.

"What!" Spike demanded; his demon pushing forward and the damn
chip going off in his head at the aggressive turn of his thoughts. No
one touched his Red, she was his...or would soon be once the chip was
gone. Then he could claim her and wipeout the bloody Slayer and all
her little friends. Forcing down his demon, he tries to calm himself, to
think things through until he got his Red back, then he could work on
getting back at the dark Slayer. 'Yes. Get Red back and kill whatever
foolish git touched her in the first place,' he firmly decided.

"Enough! This is getting us no where." Giles roared; effectively
getting both the vampire and Slayer's undivided attentions. "Faith tell
Spike what you saw in your dreams. Maybe he can recognize the lair
you saw." Giles directed. "And you," he added letting a bit of the
Ripper show through to the vampire. "Shut up and listen, apparently
you two are suppose to find Willow together. So do it and not another
word about your damn blood or I'll stake you out to watch the sunrise
myself." He threatened, before taking a seat and waiting for them to
get on with their respective orders and find Willow.

*******************

Ten minutes after sunset found Spike and Faith prowling the streets
looking for information and ducking any stray commandos they
happened across. Giles has retreated back to his flat to gather the
rest of the Scooby Gang and organize the search, once he had been
certain that Spike and Faith had focused themselves on the task at
hand and not arguing with each other. Once the two of them had
gotten down to business they had immediately sensed the other's
affection for Red and were willing to put they differences aside until
they got her back.

'At least, I'm not stuck with the blonde twit,' Spike told himself
scanning the shadows for anything that shouldn't be there, like one of
the commando boys trying to recapture him. He had more important
things to do then put up with their nonsense, and since he apparently
had the support of a rather ticked off Slayer, he was pretty sure a few
of the commandos would be winding up in hospital if they did try
something.

End Part One:


Shadow --
Dir. of Pub. Safety of the SECoLGA and Chief Dungeon Keeper. Vampire Teddy
Bear and Flying Fox {Fruit Bat} of the Woods Outback. The Big Bad and
Little Comma. Mistress of Mischief, corruptor of the innocent, tormentor of
Quindolyn. Founding Member of the Get Willow and Buffy Naked Society.
{GWBN -- Hey, its a way of life.} Dark Mistress of Weirdness. Yang to
Alex's Yin. Charter Member of the Hand of Chaos, member of the Order of the
Silver Claw of the Highland Werewolves of Gaia. :{