If Destiny Wills (9/?)

[keeper444@xxxxxxxxx]

Okay Guys
Since I've griped at everyone else about updates I guess it's time I
followed my own advice.
This is the first for tonight.
So on with the show.
Later
Alex 
.............................................. 
Title: If Destiny Wills (9/?)
Author: Alex P.
Feedback: Please any comments or suggestions to: keeper444@xxxxxxxxx
Archive: Whatever or whoever Just tell me
 Summary: Sequel to A Higher Power, Confessions and Plans
Spoilers: Starts where Next Illogical Step leaves off. Still in college 
Still near future. 
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy Willow Giles and any others from 
BTVS are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy etc. No
infringement of any kind intended and no money made. 
Warning: Contains scenes of a loving relationship between two consenting
women. If you have a problem with that (why are you here?) or it is
illegal where you live (I sugest you move quickly) then PLEASE DELETE
THIS NOW !!!!!
Rating: PG
Pairing: B/W
Dedication: To Diana my source of inspiration,
Miss your wit, miss your wisdom, miss you.
Hope you are better and back soon.

Notes: This wouldn't be here if not for my beta Ralf, thanks bunches.
Also a big thanks to all of you that contiue to send feedback, it keeps
the motor running. ~A~
   <>thoughts<>
   *****flashbacks**** 
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Title: If Destiny Wills (9/?)
Author: Alex P. 
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Kresis was enraged, so enraged in fact he'd lost control, something he
rarely did. As soon as Helas emissary had arrived at his door he knew
he'd been played for a fool by his ex once again. 

Once the black skinned demon had suffered enough, he finally confessed
to his part in her conspiracy. The Count had become nearly insane with
rage. Kresis was so enraged he'd torn the already terrified demon into
small pieces, all of which were scattered all around the throne room. 

Several of his servants were attempting to clean up the torn bits of
flesh and the thick green goo that had passed for the demons blood from
the floors, walls, and furniture. 

"I see my lords temperament hasn't improved since we were last
together." said a confident voice from across the room. 

Kresis looked up and saw a tall muscular figure leaning against the door
frame casually. He knew only one being in this realm that dared address
him in such an insolent manner. 

"Caladin, is that truly you my old friend." the Count shouted, what
passed for a smile spread across his face. "Thank the Darkness you are
here." 

The only one there that didn't cringe when the Count flashed his razor
sharp teeth with fangs was the tall heavily muscled warrior. The
mercenary leader pushed himself off the door jam, and approached his
sworn liege lord and long time comrade. Caladin strode straight up to
the Count and took the offered hand. Kresis threw his other arm around
the big mans shoulders and took the in a fierce yet friendly embrace. 

Caladin stepped back surprised that his old comrade and commander would
show such familiarity in a public place. He studied his face for a few
moments and saw the weariness and frustration clearly written on the
normally emotionless face. 

"You seem to be troubled my lord." Caladin said quietly so that only
Kresis could hear him. "Is there anything I can do? My men and I are at
your service as always." 

"As always my old friend, you have read the situation perfectly." Kresis
said, placing a taloned hand on the battle scared warriors shoulder. "It
is time I took control of this entire fiasco and now that you are here I
may even get out of this alive. Let us adjourn to a more private place,
we have some serious strategy to discuss." 

The Count led his battle scarred friend from the room down a narrow
hallway to a small room that had a heavy wooden table and six chairs. On
the wall was a large highly detailed map of Sunnydale and the
surrounding area that contained far more detail than any normal map. The
detail, and the fact that the map was printed on cured human skin, led
Caladin to think that no ordinary human map maker was involved in its
creation. 

Caladin went to a small bar in a corner of the room and found the
ingredients for the Counts favorite drink and a large bottle of his
favorite Irish whiskey (Bushmills). As Caladin made each of them a
drink, Kresis briefed his best strategist and warlord on the entire
situation leaving nothing out, including how he'd been fooled into
coming here by his ex, an adversary Caladin knew well. 

"Well Caladin what do you think?" Kresis asked as he accepted the drink
the battle wise veteran brought him. "After all, besides me, you are the
only one I know of that has gone up against Hela and lived." 

"Not by much, as you will recall." Caladin said tapping the empty socket
where his left eye had once been. "And that was a minor skirmish. The
bitch means to destroy you this time my lord." 

"Yes well, be that as it may." Kresis said, doing his best to smile and
shrug. "If I don't receive word from Tarsus by tomorrow then I'll be
forced to join her in tomorrow nights ambush and going by our past
record, I will not fare well." 

"Then it would be safe to assume that you have a contingency plan." the
cunning old warrior said smiling slyly. "And that plan will make use of
my men and I." 

"Exactly my mercenary friend." Kresis said returning the smile "Only I
know of the existence of you and your mercenaries and I have cooked up a
little surprise for our dear sweet Hela. If it works out I'll have
vindicated myself with the darklord and the council, and our little lady
friend will pay the price for betraying me." 

Caladin closed the door. It didn't open again for over six hours. Then
the two comrades shook hands and went their separate ways smiling at the
thought of getting revenge on their mutual long time enemy. 
................................. 
Same day early morning. 
.................................. 
Giles was in his kitchen making his breakfast when he heard his front
door slam open. Grabbing a revolver with specially made ammunition from
a drawer, he cautiously entered the hallway and with the handgun at the
low ready position he approached the front entry-way. 

"Stay where you are!" he ordered as he leapt into the small entrance
hall and found himself pointing the gun at Buffys face. 

Buffy was standing there holding Willow in her arms. She looked
exhausted and, while Willow was unconscious, Giles couldn't see any
obvious injuries. 

"Damn Giles, who are you tryin' to be?" Buffy exclaimed surprised to be
facing her watcher with a gun. "Englands answer to Dirty Harry!?" 

Giles lowered the gun and stood speechless starring at the girls. 

"Come on Giles, either shoot me or get out of the way." Buffy growled.
"Even a Slayer gets tired and my little sweetheart here is getting
heavy." 

Once he stepped aside Buffy carried her precious burden into the living
room and laid her gently down on the oversized couch. She sat down next
to Willow and scooted over so that her red haired loves head rested on
her lap. 

"What happened?" Giles asked worried about the two girls welfare. "Is
Willow alright?" 

"She's just exhausted." Buffy explained wearily. "We ran into another
ambush, I don't know how many. I kept killing and killing and they just
kept coming. Willow was doing her best, but she keeps coming up against
some kind of higher dark magic that takes nearly everything she's got
just to hold it off. Between that and supporting me through our bond
she's drained almost completely. She collapsed just at sunrise." 
Buffy broke down becoming almost hysterical. 

"I thought...I wasn't...Oh Giles I was afraid she was hurt again." the
Slayer sobbed, heart broken by her inability to protect her red haired
lover. "I thought I'd failed her again but she woke enough to tell me
she's just tired and had to shut down to recharge then she passed out so
I carried her here. Giles you have to help us, this is just too much, I
can't do it any more." 

The compassionate man sat on the coffee table facing Buffy and took her
hand then looked directly into the young Slayers blue-green eyes. His
first instinct was to scold the distraught young woman for not keeping
him informed but was stopped by the haunted look in those too old eyes. 

"Fill me in Buffy." he began softly. "This is what the fourth or fifth
ambush in the last six weeks and I would say that was unusually high at
any time but even more so considering this is summer and activities
normally decrease during this season not increase. Further I have come
to the conclusion that this has something to do with your upcoming
nuptials. For some reason the dark side seems determined to stop them,
which would appear to be all the encouragement we need to see that they
go off without a hitch." 

Buffy smiled at Giles ability to belabor the obvious, and his left
handed way of saying he approved of her and Willows making public their
commitment to each other. 

"Okay, give me a minute will ya." She began resigning herself to
spending the next few hours bringing Giles up to date on what was going
on. 

Buffy felt a twinge of guilt for not keeping Giles better informed, then
showing up on his doorstep expecting instant results. 
It wasn't fair to Giles, especially when she knew he would now spend his
every waking moment trying to find a suitable solution for their
problems. 

Knowing what Giles needed to know Buffy began back at the very first
ambush in June right after Litha. She described each ambush in as much
detail as she could recall, how each ambush was worse than the last, and
was harder to fend off. 

She told him how Willow was being forced not only to face various demons
and vampires but she also had to fight an unknown assailant that used
very powerful dark magic was coordinating his attacks with that of the
others and judging by the strength of his magic this unknown force was
more than likely the leader. 

Buffy also told him of the latest twist in demon strategy, how they
would use human hostages to lure them into the trap then while they
watched unable to help the demons would butcher the innocent victims.
How it had started with the teenage girl that had been taken from the
Bronze, and that it happened again last night to some poor couple whose
only mistake was picking the wrong tree to make out under. Including how
the slime demons had ripped their living bodies to shreds right in front
of the two girls. 

Buffy laid her head back and closed her eyes, she could still hear the
young couples screams ringing in her ears, tearing at her soul. 

"Please Giles you've gotta help us." Buffy pleaded her voice cracking as
she wept quietly. "We're in way over our heads here. Willow's been
wonderful, but look at her Giles, this is killing her." 

Buffy gave her friend and mentor an anguished look. Even through the
pain and fear Giles could easily see her determination. 

"She wasn't meant for this." the Slayer croaked her voice tight with
unreleased emotions. "I will not allow her to be hurt any more because
of this destiny thing." 

"I'll die before I permit anything happen to her again." The petite
blonde straightened up her back stiffening with her resolve. "It's gotta
stop Giles. People, innocent people are dying." 

Giles leaned forward and placed his hand on the Slayers shoulder giving
it a light reassuring squeeze. He looked deep into her red rimmed eyes.
The stress and horror of the last several weeks were clearly written in
her pain filled windows to the young girls soul. 

Giles felt the tightness in his chest, wishing he could take her burdens
on for her, but he knew the only way he could help Buffy was to help her
cope with the dark realities of her life and support both her and Willow
in any way he could. 

Giles was determined to perform that task to the best of his abilities. 

"Okay Buffy." the ex-watcher said in that soft reassuring tone he
reserved just for his Slayer and her witch. "You and Willow stay here
and relax." 

Giles rose from his seat and began pacing, causing Buffy to smile
slightly recognizing the familiar sign of the watcher's mind focusing on
a problem. 

When he got this way she knew he wouldn't rest until he found a
satisfactory solution to their problems. 

"If you get hungry, call for some delivery." Giles added
absent-mindedly. "The numbers are by the telephone, just have them
charge it to my account. If you want a shower go ahead. You already know
where everything is, probably better than I do. I'm sure the two of you
have at least one change around here somewhere. I want you to stay here,
so if I come up with something I will be able to find you." 

"Alright, I didn't want to wake Wills up anyway." Buffy knew he just
wanted them to stay so he could watch over them. "I think we'll stay
right here on the couch for now. Wills looks comfortable, and I'm not
leavin' her right now for any reason." 

"That's fine Buffy." he said. Then giving her an inquiring look asked
"Is there anything else I should know before I get started?" 

"Ah...no nothing I can think of right now." Buffy said not wanting to
tell him about the dreams, the sleep walking, and the self-mutilation. 

<>He has enough to worry about.<> she told herself rationalizing her not
being completely honest with Giles. 

"Okay then I will get to work." Giles said frowning, he had known Buffy
long enough to know when she was holding back something. 

<>She will tell me when she is ready.<> he reassured himself. 

Giles headed for his study, leaving the girls to rest on the couch. He
would need all his resources to find the cause of these latest attacks
on the slayer and her chosen mate. His only hope was that whatever the
Slayer wasn't telling him was not something that could prove fatal
before she felt safe enough to share it with him. 
                  
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End 9
TBC 
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