Your evil! Please don't keep me in suspense!!!! I love the story by the way.
Thanks.
-Angel
>From: "Jamie"
>>To:
>Subject: ::BuffyLovesWillow:: Stuck in the feedback loop (4/5)
>Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 19:34:51 +0100
>
> Author: Jamie
>Rating: PG-13?
>
>Spoilers: None, Alt-Buffyverse :smile:
>
>Notes: In response to my weekly challenge #3 on the BuffySearch boards. Willow is the Slayer and Buffy is in a rock band J Who’d have thought…Okay, I took a lil inspiration from 'Walking After Midnight' by Janine...does anyone know where she went?
>
>Archiving: Slayed, otherwise just give me a yell and I’ll say yes. Set during the gentler times of Season 1, just before ‘The Pack’.
>
>Feedback: Yes please :smile:
>
>Disclaimer: All hail Joss and the Mutant Enemies. Plus anyone else who’s bought into Buffy. I don’t own any characters, or if I do, Joss hasn’t told me yet.
>
>-----------------------
>
>
> Giles stared at the text in front of him, periodically lifting a cup of lukewarm tea to his lips and taking a sip. His eyes began to drift shut, but he suddenly snapped them open when he heard a crashing sound coming from the darkened hallway. Setting down the cup on its saucer, he retrieved a shortsword from its hiding place on the side of his desk. The librarian quietly and cautiously moved out of his office and into the main library.
>
>*Clunk*
>
>There! There it was again! Giles moved slowly towards the door, raising the sword up to ribcage height.
>
>*Clunk*
>
>*Crash!* He started at the second sound, then stopped dead still as he heard voices from the other side of the large wooden door. Looking through the small circular windows, he could only see the wall faintly illuminated by the light from the library. All of a sudden, the door flew open and Giles stumbled back. He raised the sword high, ready to strike, but stopped when he looked up and saw Willow, supporting Xander on her shoulders, shuffling in.
>
>"Are you alright?" He asked, immediately setting down the sword on the nearest flat surface and hurrying over to the pair.
>
>"I’m fine, Xander hit his head...or got scratched…" Willow said, looking around desperately.
>
>"Weren’t you with Miss Summers?" Giles asked, opening the same first aid box that was on the table last night. He hadn’t bothered to move it yet, so luckily it was within arms reach. Willow began to move frantically around, Giles handed Xander the box and strode over to her. He grabbed her by the arm and stared into her eyes.
>
>"Willow. Calm. Down." He said calmly, punctuating every word. She stopped moving, but was still shaking.
>
>"We were attacked outside the Bronze. I tried to fight…but there were so many of them…" Willow broke down and leaned forward into Giles, burying her face in his shoulder and crying. "So many…" The Watcher stroked the back of Willow’s head soothingly.
>
>"There wasn’t anything you could’ve done Willow," Xander spoke up. Giles turned his head to the boy, who was holding a small roll of gauze to the cut on his head.
>
>"No," Willow said, sniffing back the tears and taking a step back from her Watcher. "But there is something I can do now."
>
>"Willow, if you’re going to rescue Buffy, I need you to tell me a few things first." Giles ordered quietly. Inside, he was mourning for Willow. If Buffy had indeed been kidnapped by vampires, she was probably already dead. Damnit, it’s not fair, he thought and cursed whatever cruel and uncaring God happened to be listening. She was only a girl! He hurried into his office and pricked up the book carefully from his desk, making sure not to tear the page. Walking back into the main section of the library, he showed it to Willow. The red haired Slayer looked at the picture, and immediately said,
>
>"That’s him," Giles sighed and knotted his brow, the way he always did when he found out some new piece of information that worked against them.
>
>"His name is Kharkov. He is, of course, a vampire of around 250 years of age. Back in his native homeland of Germany he was known as Metzger von Unschuld – Butcher of Innocence. He is an old, and extremely powerful vampire, Willow. Not all of his strength lies in his formidable physical prowess - he possesses a remarkable, almost psychic ability to make people see what he wants to see. Every Slayer who has come up against him so far has failed." Giles finished dramatically.
>
>"They all died?" Xander asked, moving up next to Willow.
>
>"Some did. Most went insane, trapped in their own personal worst nightmare for the rest of their life." Giles replied simply. He looked back at Willow, and saw no fear in her eyes. She looked cold, determined.
>
>"Okay, so he’s big with the mojo. How can I kill him?"
>
>"I..um…standard methods should be adequate, but…" Giles trailed off as his Slayer turned and hurried over to the weapons cabinet. She practically threw it open and retrieved a crossbow, as well as a couple of stakes which she slipped into her jacket.
>
>"Hey, weapon for me?" Xander asked weakly, offering a smile.
>
>"You’re not going, Xander." Willow replied bluntly. The boy looked taken aback.
>
>"Hey, my best friend is in there with that…that vampire? Doing God knows what to her! So don’t you tell me I can’t go!" Xander quietly told her. Willow looked at him for a moment before turning back to the weapons cabinet and retrieving an extra stake. She turned back around and gave it to him.
>
>"Giles, does it say anything about his nesting preferences?"
>
>"No, but I’d suppose he’d be in the choice location. Even if someone was there before, he’d have kicked them out or killed them." Giles replied, picking up his short sword and catching a stake Willow tossed to him.
>
>"Xander, you’ve lived here the longest. Where would he go?" Willow asked, already leading them out of the library.
>
>"If I was a murderer, where would I be?" Xander asked himself. He thought about it for a moment, then his eyes flashed with the eureka moment. Willow could almost see the light bulb switch on above his head. "The old Cineplex!" He said, a little too enthusiastically.
>
>"Okay, I have no idea where that is, you’ll have to direct Giles."
>
>"Hey, we got a ride? Cool!" Xander said, again a little too enthusiastically. Willow didn’t want to quash his good mood, but it had to be done.
>
>"You haven’t seen Giles’ car."
>
>"Oi!"
>
>----------------
>
>Buffy sat uncomfortably on the chair, her wrists hurting from the rough rope binding them behind the back of the wooden seat and her skin beginning to ache from where it was being pulled back by the gag. She glared balefully at the massive vampire standing in front of her. He smiled and walked forward. Suddenly he brought his hand back and then round her face in a vicious slap. He grabbed her hair roughly and spun her head around so that she was staring right into his eyes.
>
>"Look at me again like that, and I’ll decide yer not worth holdin’ hostage." He said. His breath stank of rotting flesh and blood. Buffy must have flinched or something, because the next thing she knew, she was looking up at the ceiling whilst the vampire scraped her throat slightly with his fangs. She whimpered slightly and the thing laughed. "What’s the matter girlie? Lost yer cojones now yer Slayer’s gone?" He sniffed her throat hungrily, and licked at the drop of blood that seeped through the graze made by his fangs. "Oooh, ye’re tasty. I’m sure the Slayer wouldn’t mind if I had a little taste, do ye?" Buffy screamed as the Kharkov growled and sank his fangs into the soft flesh of her neck.
>
>--------------------
>
>"C’mon Giles! Gun it!" Xander called from the backseat. He was pretty certain those old ladies who’d passed them a minute ago had sworn at them.
>
>"I am ‘Gunning It’ Xander." Giles said irritably.
>
>"Okay, turn left here," the boy instructed. Giles followed his directions.
>
>"How far is it now?" Willow asked.
>
>"About two blocks." Xander replied.
>
>"Giles, stop the car." A few seconds later the Watcher had pulled over to the sidewalk and was disembarking from the car.
>
>"Um, excuse me, why?" Xander asked, climbing out.
>
>"They’ll hear us coming." Willow replied, before opening the boot and retrieving her crossbow. Giles picked up his sword and took a practice swing, before closing the lid. He hurried around to the driver’s side, and locked the door. Rejoining Xander and Willow on the sidewalk, he fell into pace and the trio stalked through the street towards the derelict and abandoned Cineplex. Suddenly, Willow motioned for them to back up against the wall. She turned to them and put her finger on her lips, before pointing out the sentry to Giles by the entrance, a vampire. She knelt down, and handed her Watcher the crossbow. He ratcheted a bolt, and leant the stock on Willow’s shoulder. After a few seconds of careful aiming, Giles pulled the trigger and the recoiling string sent the arrow forward with a satisfying ‘Thwappp’. The bolt whistled through the air and the vampire just had time to look in its direction, lets his eyes go wide, and begin to bring his hands up before t
he point pierced his heart, the shaft following it in. His skin crumbled to ash before their eyes, then his bones disintegrated too. Giles handed the crossbow back to Giles, and glanced at Xander, who was looking at him with a sense of awe.
>
>"That was awesome!" He breathed, and Giles grinned in response.
>
>"Boys," Willow interrupted. The three stood up and ran over to the shadow-shrouded entrance. Giles counted down with his fingers on one hand. Three, two, one. Willow kicked the door open…
>
>---------------------------
>
>Kharkov looked up, and release his hold on Buffy. The girl was crying freely now, not really surprising considering he’d practically torn her throat open. He reached out with his Gift, and saw through the eyes of one of his minions the Slayer, the boy he’d encountered earlier, and an older man who he could only assume was her Watcher breaching the building. Hmmmm, he thought. Perhaps it’s time for a little game.
>
>---------------------------
>
>Giles, Xander, and Willow stalked through the darkened theatre, with only Giles’ torch as a lightsource. Occasionally a vampire jumped out at them, but Willow gave it nothing more than a cursory glance and a staking. Giles had never seen her so focused, so calm in her attack. It was almost as if her heritage had taken complete control of her, the essence of the Slayer working through Willow’s body, so efficient was she. Suddenly they head a sweet voice singing in the shadows ahead. Giles focused his beam on the source of the noise, and revealed a small blonde girl, no older than sixteen.
>
>"Buffy," Willow breathed.
>
>---------------------------
>
>"Hey girlfriend, how you holdin up?" Buffy asked coyly. Her face was still Buffy’s, the voice Buffy’s. But the movement was totally off. She swung from left to right in a confident swagger, whilst humming bars to the tune she’d been singing earlier.
>
>"Buffy…" Willow choked out. "I’m so sorry."
>
>"Of course you are, you failed me after all," Vamp-Buffy replied. She took a small pebble off of what had once been a fast food counter and rolled it in her palm. "You know, I believed in you so much. I though ‘Nothing’s gonna happen to me if Willow’s here.’ Ha, shows what a fool I was."
>
>"Buffy," Xander began, then trailed off as the demon that inhabited his best friend’s corpse looked at him.
>
>"What, Xander? What do you wanna say? You’re sorry, you wish it didn’t have to end this way?" Buffy lashed out viciously. Xander took a step forward.
>
>"You’re sick Buffy, we can get you some help. It doesn’t have to end this way." Buffy grinned.
>
>"Oh no, I think it does." She vamped out, and Xander shrank back. Suddenly Willow was there, She grabbed Buffy and plunged the stake into her ribcage. Xander cried out, but stopped when Buffy vanished.
>
>"What. The. Hell?" Willow said breathlessly, and a more than a little confused.
>
>"Mind games," Giles breathed. "This was what I was telling you about. Willow…" The librarian trailed off as he saw Willow begin to move slowly ahead. "Willow!" He shouted. "This is getting us nowhere! Get a grip!" Willow stopped and turned around.
>
>"Get a grip?" She said slowly, staring at Giles murderously. "I have a friend who is right now either dead, dying, or in some kind of pain. I just went through that, and you’re telling me to GET A GRIP?" The read head shouted, her voice becoming slightly shrill. "YOU GET A GRIP! I’M FINDING BUFFY!" She stalked off into the hallway. Xander clapped Giles on the back and followed, holding the stake up protectively. Giles sighed in defeat, and followed his Slayer.
>
>---------------------------
>
>Willow kicked open the double doors that led into Theatre 2. Immediately she was greeted by four grinning demonic faces. She landed a solid kick to the stomach on one of them whilst she spun around and smashed her elbow into the face of another, breaking its nose. The vampire howled in pain for a few seconds before Xander came up and stabbed at it repeatedly with his stake. Eventually he found the heart and the thing exploded. He coughed and squinted briefly before he was bowled to the ground by a vamp. Giles swiped at the thing’s head with his sword and it come off, blowing away into dust before it hit the ground. Willow shoved a stake into the heart of the vamp with the broken nose, and quickly brought her crossbow to bear on the last remaining one, ending its vampiric unlife with one simple action.
>
>"That was…interesting…" Xander said, after Willow had run a hand through her shoulder length hair, brushing the vamp dust out of it. She was just about to reply when all of a sudden clapping came from the front row.
>
>"Very good," The voice said. "Really, I’m impressed." A spotlight flicked on all of a sudden and Willow could see Buffy sitting on a chair in the centre of the theatre, head lolled to one side and blood running down her top. Standing next to her was the vampire she'd fought earlier, and come so close to killing. The red head wasted no time now however, and fired the crossbow. It connected with the vampire’s heart and he disintegrated. "Nice shot." A disembodied voice came from around the theatre.
>
>"Okay, I am so getting SICK of THIS!" Willow shouted at the voice. A flash to her far left caught her attention, and when she spun around Giles and Xander were on the floor. Suddenly her throat was seized from behind in a strong grip. She gasped as her airway was closed off. Acting on instinct, Willow brought her elbow backwards and into Kharkov’s gut. He wheezed and stumbled backwards, releasing his hold on the red head. She spun around and caught him on the jaw with a roundhouse kick. The vampire sprawled backwards onto the floor, but kicked himself back onto his feet.
>
>"You’re fast, and strong." He observed, wiping blood away from the corner of his mouth with the back on one hand, whilst adopting a fighting stance. He moved quickly forward, with almost blinding speed. His fist came forward with a punch to the face but Willow grabbed it and squeezed with all her might. Kharkov howled as she broke nearly every bone in his hand, then lashed out with a kick to Willow’s stomach. She stumbled backwards, temporarily stunned by the ferocity of the blow. That was all the time Kharkov needed to land a roundhouse on her face, flooring the red head. He loomed over her and bent down, kneeling on her thighs and holding her hands to the side. Willow shouted at Giles and Xander to help but they lay unconscious, deaf to her cries. Kharkov grinned…again…and leant down to her exposed neck. Suddenly he sat bolt upright, his eyes bulging and a squelching sound coming from his back. He fell forward towards Willow, who was showered with dust as he
disintegrated. She blinked the dust out of her eyes and looked up at her mysterious saviour. There, stood in front of her, was no one! A wavering object caught her eye though, and she looked further up to see a stake hanging in mid air.
>
>Flash
>
>"I’ve been studying Wicca for about four years now, I’d like to think I could help with that"
>
>Flash
>
>Willow looked back over at Buffy, who was obviously straining to keep the stake up. Her head drooped, and it clattered to Willow’s stomach. The red head jumped up and onto the chair, using their backs as a platform to run from. She hopped over all the rows until she practically leapt onto the area between the front row and the screen. For the first time she saw the ghastly wound in Buffy’s neck…a vampire bite. It narrowed and increased in width sickeningly as the blonde breathed. Willow ripped the ropes that bound Buffy’s hands together off, and her friend fell forward into the red head, bringing her arms up to Willow’s neck and wrapping them around for support. Willow brought one arm underneath Buffy’s knees, and another around her back for support, and carried her up the stairs. Giles and Xander were just starting to stir.
>
>"Giles! Wake up! Buffy needs help!"
>
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
This is an archive of the eGroups/YahooGroups group "BuffyLovesWillow".
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" are trademarks and (c) 20th Century Fox Television and its related entities. This website, its operators and any content on this site relating to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" are not authorized by Fox.
No money is being made with this website.