The Slayer And The Witch - Chapter 17/? - To The Limit, And Beyond

["Stefan Akerblom" <nagarek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All.

Well once again apologies for the lateness of this, it seems to be
getting worse! :o( Let's just say I've been a little bit busy again,
time has this habit of slipping through my fingers these days. But
enough with the excuses, here's Chapter 17 ('FINALLY!' I hear). It has
only been cursorily beta'ed, so any glaring errors and mistakes are
purely my own. It's been so darned long since I updated, I think nobody
will remember where the previous chapter left off. Anyway, enjoy.


Stefan Akerblom
nagarek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ICQ: 156764542

The Slayer And The Witch - Stefan Akerblom - nagarek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critique: Yes please, but no flames (I'm flammable)
Warning: Building to NC-17, f/f & possibly f/f/f relations, maybe f/f/m
(let's see who reads these headers)
Characters: Willow, Buffy, Xander, Anya, Giles, Tara, Angel, Dawn,
Spike, Wes, Cordy, Oz (?), nurse Becky Chapel, nurse Erin Lonsdale,
Main Pairing/s: Willow, Buffy & possibly Tara, maybe Giles/Becky/Erin -
who wants to see that? :o) (not sure yet about Anya/Xander ... maybe)
time will reveal all!
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns all in the Buffy Universe, I have merely
played and embellished, not claimed any rights, apart from a couple of
nice nursies!

Brief: Buffy and Willow have both recently lost their partners, Willow
is hospitalised and Buffy is almost paralysed with guilt over it, both
Willow and Buffy realise how much they really mean to each other, they
embark on a voyage of discovery and figuring out a way to break their
new relationship to their friends while keeping the minions of the
hellmouth from taking over. Meanwhile solutions present themselves which
can have far reaching effects on Buffy and Willow's future.

Distribution: BuffyWantsWillow and MegaWitches (www.megawitches.net) get
automatic rights, anyone else who likes it enough to host it, just
please give me a link to where it's hosted

Many thanks go to:
Crys Loch (pagansoul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) for answering my email, and a lot
of inspiration and much encouragement (you said just the right things to
make me think while I channeled Willow),
Dan Spector (danspector@xxxxxxxxx) for some much needed help with
authenticity,
Casandra (jeepy91@xxxxxxx) for answering some silly and some very
awkward questions, you're very special
AmberBensonFan (amberbensonfan@xxxxxxxxxxx) for lots of additional help
and support and being there and just being a good friend
Thanks also to all the other great people on BuffyWantsWillow, you make
this worth so much to me,
and to Cairo (played at ear-splitting volume) for setting the mood.
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Chapter 17 - To the limit, and beyond

The door to the bedroom opened and Buffy stepped in and closed the door
behind her. She turned and her shoulders were slumped and her face a
mask of tiredness. Willow was lying in bed reading an old book from the
Magic Box that she had brought home with her. She looked over at Buffy
and frowned, her brow creasing with concern. She closed the book, using
her finger as a bookmark.

"You were gone a while, anything wrong?" Buffy began unbuttoning her
shirt and looked back to Willow, her face lifting and her smile
appearing as out of ice. Although she smiled, Buffy saw Willow wasn't
fooled. The smile melted away.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's just ... Dawn, she's ... well she's ..." Willow's
eyes shot open.

"Ohh ... oh is she ... you know ... not ok with ... us? You and me us,
I mean? Is she upset with me ... she might be cos of what happened ...
you know ... Rack and ..." Buffy looked up sharply and cut off the
red-head with a thin smile.

"Oh god no Will ... no, she's fine with you ... better. In fact she's
... she is so happy you're back here ... now." She faltered and
shouldered her way out of the shirt. "No, she's just a bit ... we ...
we've been adjusting to us, to her and me, trying to get closer, and ...
well she's not happy with this fight, she doesn't want me to go after
Rack." She tossed the shirt into the corner of the room, and sat down on
the edge of the bed, and began pulling off her ankle high boots. She
dumped them unceremoniously beside the bed, socks followed after. She
sighed deeply, her voice barely a whisper. "Looks like Xander has an
ally." Undoing the belt and pulling her pants open, she shrugged them
off her hips and threw them down carelessly. Every action belied intense
tiredness and something else that Willow could sense, sadness,
hesitation. Willow put the book down on the night table and leaned back
on her piled up pillows. She spoke in quiet soothing tones. Buffy's mind
relaxed and drank in the beautiful sound of her lover's voice.

"Then why go after him Buffy? Uh ... maybe ... maybe Xander's right,
leave him alone, get someone else to go after him, or ... or leave him
there, just ..." Buffy sighed and stood up, dressed only in her panties
and a sports bra. Her eyes looked into Willow's with determination and
resolve, her voice quiet but sincere.

"No Will, he ... touched you, he hurt you. I can't forgive him for
that, I could never forgive anyone for that. And neither should you.
He'll pay for what he's done. And he'll pay with interest." She turned
to the dresser and began pulling out the drawer to get her pyjamas, but
Willow stopped her with her voice, very soft, and sultry.

"Uh ... Buffy, no need for them, come to bed." The slayer turned and
looked, and noticed for the first time Willow was naked under the
covers. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the pinkness of Willow's
blush creeping down to her shoulders. She smiled, and putting her hands
behind her back, unclipped her bra and tossed it on top of her pants,
then slid the satin panties down her legs. She stepped out of them and
onto the woollen rug beside the bed, feeling it's cool but soft fuzzy
texture beneath her toes. Willow grabbed the covers and pushed them
aside to let Buffy in. The blonde saw the red-head's perky nipples
briefly as she lay down and pulled the covers over herself and leaned
back on her own pillows. Sighing deeply she rolled onto her side and
looked at Willow. She cast her vision around the red-head's face, her
lips, her now pink and almost completely unbruised cheeks, her eyes, her
stunning red hair. She smiled.

"How did I deserve this?" Willow smiled crookedly, her eyes crinkling.
"God Will, you're so gorgeous, how did I ever deserve you?" Willow
blushed, but she beamed.

"Hey you, it's me who's asking that, I'm a ... a nobody, how do I get
the unbelievable luck to have THE Slayer?" Buffy looked at her as if she
was about to poopoo her. Willow quickly shook her head "No, it's true,
you're a ... a hero, you're in books, and prophecies and legends. I'm
... nothing." She reached out a hand and stroked the side of Buffy's
face, brushing her hair behind her ear. "How do I have the incredible
gumption to believe I deserve you, huh?" Buffy smiled a bit sadly and
leaned into Willow's touch, closing her eyes.

"You deserve more Will, you deserve far more. You deserve someone who
will always be there, who will always be by your side, to grow old with
you, to care for you and to be taken care of by you in your old age. I
can't do that, one day ..." her voice cracked slightly ... "One day
Will, one vamp too many ..." Willow put her hand over Buffy's mouth.

"Hush ... that's not gonna happen, I won't let it! You'll grow old and
grey, uh ... you'll live a ... a long time. I didn't bring you back just
to let you die. And you're not going to." Willow looked at her own left
hand, still recovering from it's injury but castless. "You'll be the
only Slayer ever to die of old age, I don't know how I know ... I just
know it." A silent tear slid down her cheek. Buffy looked at her and
frowned.

"Hey ... why the tears Will, something wrong?" Willow took back her
hand and wiped it across her cheek and sniffed.

"Oh it ... it's nothing ... just ... I'm happy ... I ... it's ok, I was
just ... today in the shop ..." she stopped herself babbling. She sighed
and looked at Buffy. "It ... it's just ... well something ... Erin ...
she uh ..." Buffy frowned, her eyes turning to slits.

"Did she say something to upset you Will, cos if she did ..." Willow
looked up.

"Uhm ... no Buffy no she didn't ... well yes, but no ... not really ...
but sort of ..." sighing again she rolled her eyes. "God, why is this so
hard? She did upset me, but not directly, not intentionally, she didn't
mean to, it's just ... just something she told me that I began thinking
about, and it's nagged at my mind all day since."

"What was it Will, what did she say? Do I kick her ass for you or
what?" Buffy's eyes were now wide with concern, her eyebrows ridged high
on her forehead.

"Noo Buffy, god no, it ... it wasn't like that. She said ..." the
red-head gulped and sighed deeply again. "... she said you'd been
touched ... by a demon." Willow looked up into Buffy's eyes, and saw
confusion. "She said ..." Willow saw Buffy's eyes go wide, a look of
panic in them that told her she finally understood.

"She ... told you ... about me, about what I've been doing ..." Willow
nodded slowly. Buffy's eyes closed, she bit her top lip, and swallowed
hard. Willow breathed deeply and plowed on.

"Was ... was it ... Spike?" Buffy lay silent for moments, her eyes shut
and she moved her head so she faced away from Willow. Willow pulled her
face back in line with her own, Buffy opened her eyes, they glistened
moistly. Willow spoke in a hoarse whisper "It was, wasn't it?" Buffy
blinked back the tears, and nodded once. Willow dropped her hand away
from Buffy's face, a look of horror in her eyes. "Why? Why didn't you
..."

"Tell you I was sleeping with Spike? That I was having sex with the one
thing in my life that is truly evil? That I was ... going to him and ...
and we were ..." her voice broke, so she stopped speaking.

"Why Buffy? Is it ... do ..." Willow's eyes opened wide. "Ohhh ...
you're in love with him ..." Buffy shot her a look of amazement.

"Oh god no Will, no way ... I ... he ..." She felt her heart losing
it's grip, her mind losing it's resolve. She felt herself falling
because she was about to tell Willow about the loathing she felt in
herself for having done what she did. "I ... used him. A ... and he used
me, we both ... used ..." She tried to steady her voice. "I ... was ...
afraid, and pain ... in pain, suffering." She felt her tears begin to
flow afresh, afraid to let them flow but having no control over them.

"Pain? From being brought back? Or ... or you're in real physical pain?
Are you now ..." Buffy shook her head.

"Pain from being torn ... out, from being taken away from ... from,
being taken away by my friends, by you. Pain Will ... and anger, so much
anger ..." Willow looked at her.

"Anger? I know you were mad at me Buffy, I could feel it sometimes ...
when you looked at me. I could feel how you ..." Buffy cut her off.

"I hated you Will!" Willow's eyebrows creased and her eyes looked
incredibly sad. "I hated me for hating you, because I could not hate
you, I could only hate you because I was so mad at you, I wanted to hurt
you, I wa ..." Buffy's voice faltered. Willow blinked and looked aghast.

"You ... you wanted to hurt me?" Buffy looked into Willow's sad eyes
with glistening tears welling over, rolling freely down her cheeks. She
nodded.

"I wan ... wanted to hurt you, to make you pay for taking me away ...
for taking me from heaven." Willow's face cast down to the bed, her eyes
roaming the bedsheet.

"Do ... do you ... still feel that way? Do you want to hurt me still? B
... because if you do ... then I would understand, I'd let you ..."
Buffy lifted Willow's face, cupping her cheek in her hand. Her eyes
looked deeply into the soul of the red-head, her heart and her sincerity
pure and plain.

"I couldn't ... I couldn't do that Will, ever ... because I love you. I
am ... so much in love with you ... I love you way too much to ever hurt
you, to ever see you hurt or in pain. That's why I ... that's ... I
took it out on Spike, I used him." She closed her eyes tightly. "I hurt
him instead. I had sex with him, to let out my own frustration, to let
out the energy, to deal with the pain and anger ... but I hurt him ... I
... I hurt him a lot. Sometimes when he would come here, he ..." she
sighed tremulously. "Some of the injuries and hurts and bruises ... he
... he got them from me. I beat him, some ... sometimes until he blacked
out. I hit him so hard sometimes ..." She looked grief stricken into
Willow's green glistening eyes. "I used to hurt him ... sometimes for
hours ..." She began to openly wail. "And he just took it, he'd let me
hurt him ... he could have tried to stop me because the chip wasn't
working with me but he didn't, he just ... let me. He knew cos I told
him ... I told him I'd been in heaven, and now I was ..."

"And you couldn't tell us Buffy, you couldn't tell me what you were
dealing with?" Willow's voice had grown a little harder and sadder. "I
was the one who had brought you back, why didn't you ..."

"Tell you? H ... how could ... how could I tell you I was in agony? How
could I tell you I hated you and was furious with you all?" Willow
nodded slowly, her eyes glistening, her brows creased in sadness and
disappointment.

"We're your friends Buffy, we're the people who love you more than
anyone ... you should ..." Buffy closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I know Will! I know what I should have done, and I know I should have
told you, out of all the people I should have ..." She sniffed back her
tears. "I know it should have been you I went to and ... but I couldn't,
all I could feel was that I was hurt and angry and wrong, and the only
thing I could do was rant and vent and beat and hurt. I could never do
that to you Will, I couldn't then, and I couldn't before and I certainly
couldn't now. Can't you see, I was confused, I was so frustrated, I was
convinced something was wrong, I felt wrong. I ... I came back wrong
Will. Something ... something in the spells you used changed me, changed
my body, my mind. I could feel it, and I knew I was wrong when Spike
could hit me." Willow's eyes shot open and she gasped.

"Spike hit you? And what?"

"Yeah, Spike could hit me, and he didn't feel anything from the chip. I
was wrong Will, I came back changed a ... and ... wrong." Willow stared
open mouthed at Buffy. "I thought that I had somehow ... changed, become
evil or something. I ..."

"You could never turn evil Buffy, I ... well at least I don't think you
could, I ..." her voice dropped away to silence.

"No, I didnt think so either, but if Spike could hit me, and he can
only hit evil things, then that tells me ..." Buffy sniffed away the
tears. "So I asked Tara to look into the spells, to research the books
you had used ..." Willow's eyes flashed a panicked look, but Buffy was
not looking at her at that moment, Willow tried to compose herself. "...
and she told me I was ok, that all I had was a sort of ... spiritual
sunburn ... I was normal, I was sane, I wasn't evil ... I was just ...
me, just Buffy." She began to wail again, her eyes flooding with tears
that ran in torrents and dripped onto the bed. "A ... an ... and that
made it worse, because ... how could I do that, how could I let him ...
let him do that, those things ... and how could I do the things I ... uh
... unless I was ... wrong?" Willow looked at her best friend and lover
as she cried bitter tears. Somehow she couldn't understand why Buffy had
done what she had done, but she was her best friend, sho would try to
understand.

"Buffy, do you ... I mean are we still, you know ... can we ... uh ..."
Buffy looked up at Willow, her eyes glistening, her cheeks red and wet,
she sniffed.

"Dhoo ... uh ... are we all right?" She ran a finger under her nose,
her breath coming in catching sobs. Willow leaned away from her, to her
bedside table, plucking several tissues from a box, she turned back to
Buffy who nodded and took them and wiped her nose and eyes dry. Willow
spoke softly, almost whispering.

"I don't know Buffy, are we ... all right I mean?" She looked at her
blonde lover as she tried to recover her composure. "Do you still feel
the way you did before, when ... with Spike ... and me, you ... still,
do you still ... want me?" Buffy looked up at Willow almost as if she
had been struck in the face.

"Will? How can you ask me that?" Buffy dabbed away at the the tears
which kept flowing. "I ... god I can't describe the way I feel about
you, how ... how much I want you. Why do you think I'm going after Rack,
if ... if I didn't love you?" She reached out a hand to Willow's face,
stroking her cheek softly. "You're everything to me now, everything I
could ever want, and ..." she cast her eyes sideways briefly, then
returned them to look deeply into Willow's eyes. "... if something
should happen tomorrow, I couldn't be happier, because I finally found
you, I found us. I ... I've ... heaven had nothing on this Will."

Willow reached out to Buffy's hand and took the wad of tissues. She
gently smudged them across Buffy's eyelids, and when Buffy looked up,
Willow stroked the tissue under her nose, a little playfully, tickling
the tip. Buffy laughed haltingly, still breathing hard from before, the
tears beginning to stop. She leaned forward, hesitantly, not sure if it
was the right thing to do, expecting a rebuttal. Willow looked at her
for a moment, not moving. Her eyes roamed Buffy's face, looking at her
eyes, her mouth, the overly pink nose.

Buffy's breath caught when Willow didn't move, but then her heart leapt
as Willow slowly leaned forward, eyes open, looking straight into
Buffy's. As Willow made contact, Buffy's mouth opened a little,
tentatively. Willow kept eye contact, watching as Buffy looked at her,
confusion on Buffy's face as the brows creased. Then Willow smiled into
the kiss and closed her eyes, opening her lips, tongue tip protruding
slightly, tickling Buffy's top lip softly. Buffy sighed deeply and
pressed forward into the kiss, opening her mouth and letting her tongue
roam out, pressing into Willow's mouth. They lay there for minutes,
tongues gently caressing each other in silken strokes, passion and heat
building, breathing quickening, hand finding hand under the blankets,
fingers linked, grip tightening, bodies leaning forward more, edging
towards each other, skin touching, taut nubs touching as their breasts
softly collided.

The blonde pressed forward, but Willow pushed her back and took the
dominant position. She pushed herself on top of Buffy, pressed her into
their mounded pillows with her weight, and pushed her chest into
Buffy's, as she inched herself forward to drape a leg over the slayer.
Her lover accomodated the redhead and opened her legs slightly, as she
felt Willow edge her knee between her thighs. Willow kept up the
forward movement until she lay completely on top of Buffy, one leg
pressed firmly into the blonde's center, and made her moan into Willow's
mouth. Their kiss grew hot and torrid, tongues parried and pressed
rapidly as their temperatures soared, their breath came in panted moans.
Buffy briefly wondered if Dawn heard them through the walls, but the
thought disappeared when Willow pressed her hand in between her knee and
her lover's groin; the hand cupped the mound and a middle finger slipped
in deeply. Buffy's moan turned into a throaty growl and she pushed
herself forward, pressed Willow's finger in further, and wiggled her
hips to maximize the contact. She thrust upwards and sideways and
rotated her pelvis to a sensual rhythm played by Willow's hand. Buffy's
breath increased; her growls raised in pitch until she softly howled
into the kiss. Willow's palm rubbed over her lover's mound, her finger
buried inside, and pressed up and in, the slayer's clit pressed firmly
by the slender fingers, which gyrated within her.

Buffy felt wave after wave of intense pleasure come crashing through
her belly, up through her pussy, spreading out through her body like
explosions of passion, ripples of pure pleasure pounding through her
body, until it felt like it would send her over the edge of
consciousness. Buffy was squealing into Willow's mouth, her breathing
coming in locomotive breaths, her eyes scrunched up, brows drawn
together, until finally she almost screamed out as the climax overtook
her, the pleasure roaring through her and throwing her over a cliff into
darkness, a void where she fell and knew that she died and was reborn.

Several minutes passed as she lay and breathed hard and deep, trying to
bring herself back over the edge, to climb the cliff she'd dropped over.
Finally she turned to Willow and looked at her, the red-headed witch
beaming a smile at her and the gorgeous green eyes gleaming with
pleasure.

"Seems I've still got it!" Willow said softly as she leaned forward to
kiss Buffy's nose.

"Got it?" Buffy panted. "Got it?? Phewww! I'll say you've got it, and
you got me. God I don't think I can move a muscle." She tried to turn
towards Willow, but the red-head pressed her back down.

"Then don't Buffy, just relax. Unless of course you're not planning on
going to ... on the mission tomorrow." Buffy slowed her breathing, her
smile falling away, eyebrows creasing.

"I ... I can't Will, I have to do this." Willow's smile also faded
slightly. She sighed and seemed to try to brighten.

"Well then, the slayer must get her rest if she's gonna do any good,
it's nearly midnight and you gotta get up in a couple of hours. Best if
we go to sleep." She reached over Buffy's body and switched off her
light, then turning to her own side, she turned off her own lamp, and
scrunching down beside Buffy, she lay down and wrapped her arm across
the blonde's belly, her cheek pressed into the hollow beneath the
slayer's arm.

"Will?" Buffy's voice was a soft whisper in the darkness.

"Mhhmm?"

"I love you, so much." Willow sighed and patted Buffy's tummy softly,
the fingers caressing the soft skin.

"I love you too Buffy, more than you will ever know." More than you can
possibly have any idea of, her mind finished off for her. She turned her
head and kissed Buffy's ribs, and returned her head to lie pressed into
the crook of Buffy's arm. She smiled in the darkness and closed her
eyes.

------------------------------

Buffy tiptoed through the dark corridor, the walls covered in panelling
of mildew and mold encrusted wood, dampness and decay seeming to be a
part of the decoration. Stake at the ready and a wicked wavy bladed
dagger in her other hand, she crept silently beside Becky in the dim
light. So far so good, nothing had greeted them yet, but they had only
just gone through the magickal barrier, the shield that kept prying eyes
out of Rack's domain. Becky held a long thin bladed sword in one hand,
and a slim oriental twin bladed dagger in the other, she carried herself
as if she'd been doing this for years, Buffy admired the taller girl,
she seemed sure and confident of herself.

A creak of timber startled them both motionless, the noise seemed to
come from an intersecting corridor, even darker than the one they had
been treading so cautiously.

-------------------------------

Giles and Wes had just left Erin at the designated point, as she began
setting up to become one of the poles of power. Carrying his provisions
of magick, Giles twitched his chin silently towards another darkened
corridor. Wes nodded in assent, pushing his glasses up his nose, he
adjusted the grip around the axe in his hand, and pressed on, a step or
two ahead of Giles.

---------------------------------

Xander stepped silently in the darkness beside Anya, he was so much
wishing she had stayed in the car with Willow and Dawn, but Anya had
insisted on coming along. No other demon would touch her Xander, she
would be there to protect him, even if she would wind up needing his
protection. She knew she wasn't acting logically or rationally, but love
is love and you do what you have to, to protect the one you love. Xander
felt badly enough, he would not stop her coming with him, in fact
paradoxically though he wished she wasn't there, he felt much better
knowing she was with him, she needed his protection, he would keep her
safe, with every cowardly bone in his body. He licked his lips in the
darkness. A strange noise noise made him stop and throw a hand
backwards, which caught Anya across the nose with a crack.

"Aohhwwhh ..." he pushed his hand across her mouth and silenced her.
She could only dimly see the finger pressed to his lips in the murk of
the dark corridor, but she did see it and nodded that she understood,
holding her left hand over her injured nose. Xander motioned for her to
stay still, and he turned back around and pressed forward, stepping one
cautious step at a time. He fingered the handle of his double bladed axe
with a sweaty palm. Anya's own small axe shook in her grasp as she
adjusted her hands to hold it tighter, her hand letting go of her nose
to hold the axe in a double handed grip.

---------------------------------

Wes hunched forward, his body folding up as he sat down beside the
brazier. He began pulling out the ingredients from the cloth sack at his
belt and looked up to Giles. Nodding silently, Giles licked his lips and
turned around to walk down another dark tunnel, his back vanishing into
the shadows and darkness. Wes felt a drop of sweat run down to the end
of his nose, and he flicked it away with a gesture of annoyance. He
began laying out the leaves, powders and other concocted ingredients
into the order they were meant to be used. He ran over the chant he had
to say in his mind, the words at once both foreign and familiar to him.
Being a scholar in the service of the Council all those years had paid
off handsomely in knowledge and power. It was not power won easily, nor
knowledge found swiftly, but in the long term, he had an arsenal of
strengths he could draw on, and on occasion had been forced to recently.

Whilst in the employ of Angel, his services had largely been purely as
backup and research, but since taking over the company, his powers as a
sorceror had grown dramatically, if not in scope, then certainly in
power and confidence. He still had troubles with certain rituals and
incantations, but this one was such as needed no large amount of effort,
warding magick was largely repetitive and ritualistic, a casting of a
curtain of banishment, either inwards or outwards, to either keep
something in or out, as the need expressed itself. In this case, Erin
would be casting the main part of the spell, his would be an
augmentation, he would feed power towards the center of the triangle,
the spell calculated to keep Rack and his minions on the inside of a
large sphere of containment. Afterwards they would wipe out all the evil
that lay inside the field, at least that's how the theory went, if
things went to plan. If not ... Wes swallowed and didn't dare think of
that, it would all go to plan, it had to, they couldn't afford to lose,
not with someone like Rack.

He checked the glowing green numerals on his watch and waited for the
second hand to begin it's final sweep. He began his incantations.

----------------------------------

Erin looked at her watch in the darkness, the hands barely visible, but
she saw the second hand sweep towards the designated time. She began to
prepare herself mentally for the task at hand, she would be the primary
source, the carrier of the tripole of power. Her hand flicked over the
ingredients, then stopped, it would not do to telegraph their presence
by using excess magick before the ritual, she had to do this all
manually, no tricks, no shortcuts, they had to use all stealth possible.
She sighed and began crunching up leaves into the brazier, white powder
sprinkled between fingertips into the brass bowl, she mouthed a silent
prayer and opening a box of matches, she struck one and set the mixture
afire, the leaves sputtering loudly in the silence, dark oily smoke
billowing up, lost in the shadows above.

"Spharum, iaxolom, deneriatum, bene tleiax varus benerium ..." The
ritualistic speech came rolling off her tongue as of old, she was
speaking a dialect of latinized language almost never uttered in over a
thousand years.

----------------------------------

Buffy felt it, her slayer senses registering the change in the air,
there was a certain thickening of the atmosphere.

"Feel that?" she hissed softly in the gloom. Becky looked at her and
nodded, not sure what it was she felt. "The spell's starting ..." Buffy
tiptoed on silent shoes in the dark murk. Coming to a crossroad in the
corridors, she walked several steps ahead of Becky, down the left part
of the cross. Neither of them saw or felt the two red glowing eyes
peering out of the darkness of the corridor opposite the one they'd just
walked into. A scaly red hand with monstrous black claws clutched the
air a moment later as the owner of the eyes stepped silently after them.

----------------------------------

"I can feel them." Anya squeaked. Xander again pressed his finger to
his lips, and silenced the ex-demon. She nodded, and Xander nodded back.
He whispered softly, almost silently.

"I can too, An. The air ... feels like it's got thicker, heavier. God
he's sure to be able to feel it as well ..." He gulped air and swapped
the axe over to his other hand, wiping his sweaty palm on his jeans. He
used the edge of his shirt to wipe the handle dry, and slowly began to
edge forward, both hands now on the axe in a baseball-bat grip, the
blade over his right shoulder. Anya looked nervously at the metal in
front of her, and decided to walk a step further back, she'd been bashed
once in the nose already, no reason to have it cut off as well.

----------------------------------

"... resurgum, mostas defendum, perditas meculum, moradin merialta,
spherum sphagnalum ..." Wes was chanting largely from memory and hoping
to god the order was right, one slip of the words, one term or phrase
out of place and the spell would be undone before it was finished. But
the thickening of the air around him felt like it was all going to plan.
Just a few phrases more and they would be done. "aelum, arum, agulum,
porsaltum obviatus moriatumendum ..."

----------------------------------

"... delapsu, fargulum, resurgum, mostas defendum ..." this felt very
strange, it had been some time since Giles had last used ritual magick
like this. "... perditas meculum, moradin merialta ..." he hoped his
skills were up to the task, this depended heavily on all their input,
Erin would be the one who cast the final incantation. She bonded their
power together into a coherent sphere of magickal energy, her wicca
teachings channeling the powers of the white magick of the earth. Her
incantation being one devised by ancient English druids to bind the
elementals who tried to break through on the days of power, on the
winter solstices and the summer equinoxes of times gone by. The spell
was meant to bind the elementals to do the bidding of the druids, who
would then supplement the castings with ones of compulsion, making the
elementals perform their tasks, rain or heat, or whatever was the need
at the time, bringing bounty to the farmers around the lands. Of course,
these days there were no need for virgin sacrifices, or at least Giles
hoped there wasn't. He wasn't sure he knew any virgins even if it did
become necessary. His mind flicked to Dawn and in an instant he rebuked
himself for even entertaining such a thought.

"... spherum sphagnalum, aelum, arum, agulum ..."

----------------------------------

Dawn leafed through an old fashion magazine she'd found in the back of
Buffy's car, aiming it to catch the feeble amount of street lighting
that entered through the rear passenger window. It was an old and
tattered magazine, cast in there haphazardly among old bottles and
styrofoam containers having once contained what laughingly passed for
food. She glanced down at the smiling cow and chicken on the top of one
of the containers, and shuddered involuntarily, returning her gaze to
the magazine. She briefly looked up to Willow who sat silent in the
darkness in the seat in front of her. She was sitting stock still
looking out into the street, away from Rack's. Dawn didn't feel like
striking up conversation at this early an hour of the morning. Yawning
she returned her eyes to looking through the ancient magazine, which
showed last months fashion tips.

Both of them had reluctantly agreed to stay in the locked car in the
alleyway where Rack's place was tonight. It had mainly been through plea
and promise of broken limbs that both of them had assented to stay put,
but that didn't mean they had to be happy about it. Personally Dawn
thought, this was a ridiculous time to be up attacking Demons, why
couldn't hell creatures keep regular times, like most things did? Why
did they have to bother you in the middle of the night? Couldn't they be
like other regular blood suckers, like banks and solicitors, who at
least kept nine to five schedules?

Willow sat staring silently through the windshield of the jeep. Dawn
hadn't disturbed her, for which she was thankful, she didn't have to
explain anything then to the teenager. Anyway, how could she explain ...
how could she tell Dawn what she was doing. Her eyes stared into the
night, the entire surface of her eyes completely black, like twin wells
into the darkness of hell itself. She focused her mind. Please be
careful Buffy.

----------------------------------

Erin wrung the last of the fluid out of the root into the brazier and
tossed what was left of the pulpy mess aside.

"Aiee, agolos, aspirtanus nuoculum, spiritus incarceratum grenz spherum
modiaterum, moculum actinodis, spheum, pharmium grenez." The brazier
glowed green with flame which died back to a deep green glow. There
settled over the area a silent thrumming, a feeling of spiritual
heaviness. The spell was cast, the incantation was complete, and she was
satisfied it would now hold for several hours. Standing up, she wiped
her hands together, and turned to go back towards where she knew Buffy
and Becky had gone. A shriek was all she got out as the huge red scaly
paw with black claws smashed into her face, sending her cartwheeling
through the air, crashing through a thin panel wall. She made a small
grunting noise as she landed hard, and lay still as darkness enfolded
her.

----------------------------------

The scythelike claws clanked down metallically on the axe and Anya
shrieked out. Xander picked himself up, the pain in his shoulder ebbing
away as he saw Anya under attack, he barely knew he was bleeding. The
blow had happened so suddenly and so swiftly, he'd barely registered
that he was falling before he struck the floor, the claws slashing
through the cloth of his jacket and shirt so rapidly they were like
icicles of pain, not truly painful, but intensely cold and just there.
He picked up the axe and hurled himself forward, he smashed the axe down
at the green skinned demon with all his strength and felt the blade
thunk deeply into the back, severing neck and spine, almost completely
decapitating the creature. It fell to one side, spurting green ichor
from the gaping wound. Anya stood before him looking small and
vulnerable and scared. He reached out for her, his eyes wide and
searching.

"Oh god An, are you ok, did it hurt you anywhere?" He ran his fingers
swiftly over her body, searching for injuries. Finding nothing amiss, he
stopped his quest, and as he looked down on her, his mouth sought hers
suddenly, their embrace tight and their kiss hot and primal, desperate
in the knowledge they might both be dead soon if fate so decreed. Anya
ran her hands over his shoulders and felt the wetness. She broke off the
kiss and looked aghast at his blood soaked shirt.

"Oh God! You're hurt, oh Xander, sit ... does it, can I ..." He shook
his head, and smiled.

"Can't feel a thing, it's not that bad, just a scratch, nothing we
can't fix later. Let's find the others and see how they're doing."

"Bu ... but ..." Anya continued to protest, but he led her through the
maze of corridors into the darkness, shushing her as they went, leaving
the green mess behind.

----------------------------------

Wes licked his lips nervously, he'd set up the incantation, finished
his recitation and done the final part of the ritual. It should all be
set now, Erin should have finished her part of the magick. Suddenly from
out of the darkness ahead of him, from where Giles had walked, he heard
the clash of steel on steel. Standing up awkwardly after sitting on the
cold floor, he trotted into the corridor searching out the sound of
battle.

----------------------------------

Giles was facing a vaguely man shaped creature wielding a large thick
bladed sword, much heavier than his axe. He hoped his relatively smaller
body and the lighter weapon would give him an edge, but this creature
although manshaped, was enormous and hugely muscular, as well as speedy.
Giles fended off jarring blow after blow from the demon, parrying as
best he could the arm-snapping smashes the creature used, trying to find
a position he too could strike through. But the blade of the sword
whirled past like a propeller, nicking shirt and coat on their way past,
almost cutting into Giles' wrist as he was backed into a wall.
Frantically he tried edging out of the way as the whirling blade kept
coming relentlessly. Then suddenly the blade caught the side of his
glasses, sending them careening away in the darkness to smash and tinkle
in the distance somewhere. The pull of the spectacles momentarily
stunned him, and caught him unaware, his vision blurred as his eyes were
suddenly forced to readjust in the darkness. As his sight cleared, he
saw the arm raised high ready to strike down, the gleam of the
creature's teeth glowing in the murk, the evil glint of victory in the
demon's eyes, Giles' death within the demon's grasp.

Giles distantly registed a meaty chonk and saw the sword come sweeping
toward him, and he flinched and ducked. The tip of the sword hit the
floor and embedded in the rotten wood, the blade waving back and forth
near his face. He vaguely realised that there was a hand still holding
the sword, and the creature stood up and roared in pain, the stump of
it's arm spurting blood far and wide. The monster grasped the end of
it's ruined limb as it tried to stop the blood flow, and as it turned
away from Giles, it was struck by a whirled axe blade that caught it
under the chin, splitting the head open like a ripened watermelon, the
ruined mess of it's head spraying gore to all corners of the room. Dead
before it knew it, the monstrous creature spun from the impact and
toppled forwards, collapsing with a heavy wet slapping noise as it
landed facefirst on the floor.

Giles looked through dim eyes, and saw the figure of Wes standing over
him and the body of the dead monster. Leaning on the axe, Wes was
breathing heavily in loud panting sobs, and in spite of the dark gloom,
Giles thought Wes had turned a pale shade of green.

----------------------------------

Becky cried out, and Buffy turned around. She saw the blonde try a
roundhouse kick in the confining corridor and was swatted out of the way
easily by the meaty paw of the monstrous demon before her. She flipped
past Buffy and landed in a tangled heap in the room behind them. Buffy
backed into the room, letting the creature follow, it's pace matching
her own, slow. As she entered the room she caught the full horror of the
creature, horns nearly two feet long standing out from the broad
forehead, the vaguely lizardlike features grotesque and alien, the skin
red as raw meat and scaly. three enormously thick fingers on each hand
with vicious black claws. Muscles bulging under the scaly skin, it
flexed it's brawny arms and roared at her. Buffy blanched, this was not
merely a normal little demon, this was something quite deadly, and it
was now feasting it's redly glowing eyes on her, two hot coals of pure
menace. She glanced sideways and saw Becky lying like a broken rag doll
in the corner of the room.

Without warning, the creature lowered it's head, and quick as lightning
ran straight towards her. Buffy almost got caught on the end of one of
the long horns as the creature dived right at her. As she ducked out of
the way, the demon overshot and charged headfirst into the wall,
timbers and plaster caving in under the impact, the sheer weight of the
beast cracking the wall apart and causing it to stumble. But it quickly
freed itself. Buffy thought for a moment about diving down the corridor
to escape and maybe double back on it, but she realised it would then be
free to kill Becky and she'd be unable to stop it. She lunged at the
thing with her dagger, trying to stick the point into the monster's eye,
but it moved it's head away swiftly from the blow, and batted her
sideways with a heavy clawed fist. Buffy flew through the air, slamming
hard into the wall, sending shards of plaster from the wall and ceiling
raining down on herself and the creature. She was momentarily stunned at
how hard she'd been struck, not since Adam had escaped from the
Initiative had she been this badly mauled. She knelt in front of the
beast as it lumbered towards her.

Diving sideways she slashed upwards as she rolled, the blade sinking in
deep and cutting a swath through the horny hide of the creature's chest.
But the demon barely registered the blow, instead scooping upwards with
it's head, trying to catch Buffy on the deadly horns. The points
whistled through the air barely an inch from her face and she reeled
back, trying to catch her balance. She again slammed into the wall, and
tried to escape by diving under the outstretched arms. One hand caught
her ankle and sent her spinning end over end to the other side of the
room. This was almost a stroke of luck as she rolled and righted
herself, attacking from behind. But the creature whirled on her, again
as quick as lightning and charged at her, trying to pin her to the wall.

Vaguely Buffy saw Erin stagger through the hole in the wall, she'd not
noticed the hole before, things were a little hectic still and she
wasn't having much success with this gigantic bull horned lizard thing.
Buffy knew she was in a lot of trouble. She saw Erin reach out her
hands, clawed fingers sending a crackling black and white lightning bolt
scorching through the air to hit the demon full blast. Buffy saw Erin's
face was covered in blood and reminded her of when Willow had been hit
by the car, the cheek black and bruised and the eye almost swollen shut.

The creature roared out in pain as the ebony lightning struck it full
in the back, but to Buffy's horror, the lightning ricocheted back at
Erin, sending her again flying backwards through the hole in the wall
she'd just stepped out of, disappearing into the darkness beyond with a
thud and clatter of broken rubble.

"ERIN!" Buffy screamed out. Distracted momentarily, she didn't see the
deadly horn come rushing towards her, pinning her to the wall. The demon
had rammed her with all it's speed and strength, the horn tearing
through her jacket and shirt, and straight through her shoulder, muscles
and bone and sinew crushed by the massive impact, the horn embedding
itself in the plaster wall behind Buffy. She roared out in agony as she
realised she'd been skewered, stuck to the wall like a bug in an insect
collection. Blackness flickered around her eyesight as she felt the horn
rip through the bone of her shoulder blade and bury itself in the wall
behind her, the creature's foetid breath coming close to her face as it
tried to catch her with it's sharp teeth, the forked tongue lashing out
and slapping her wetly in the face as it tried to crush her in it's
jaws.

----------------------------------

"BUFFY!" Willow screeched out loudly. Dawn jumped, startled at the
sudden outburst. She pressed her hand to her heart and threw the
magazine down on the floor of the car.

"God Willow! What's the matter with you? You scared me to death, can
you warn me if you're gonna do things like that?" Dawn ran her hand
across her chest, feeling her heart beating like a trip hammer.

"Uh ... Buffy, she .. she's hurt, I must go ..." Dawn looked at Willow.

"I want to go too but you heard Buffy, she said 'stay here with Dawn'
like I'm some sort ...." she got only that far as Willow gestured with a
sweeping hand.

"Sleep!" Dawn slumped sideways and fell to silence, her eyes closed and
her rant forgotten. Willow ran her hand gently across Dawn's cheek, she
looked down sadly with ebony eyes. "I'm sorry Dawnie, I have to go to
her." She opened the door of the jeep and climbed out, slamming the door
shut. She gestured again and all the doors locked with a staccato
clatter. That should hold her in case she wakes up, and it should keep
out most things wanting to break in. Willow turned and ran down the
alleyway, and anyone watching would have seen her vanish into thin air.

----------------------------------

Anya and Xander met Giles and Wes coming the opposite way, they all
heard Buffy's scream of pain from off in the distance somewhere. They
all poured on the energy to reach her as quickly as possible. Suddenly
from out of nowhere, several demons swarmed towards them and they had to
halt in their tracks, swords and axes and blades swinging, meeting horn
and claw and fang in deadly combat.

----------------------------------

Buffy tried to wrench herself free of the pinning horn but only
succeeded in causing herself more agonising pain, the monster simply had
her skewered to the wall, unable to bite but she was also unable to
escape. The demon batted and swatted her painfully with it's clawed
hands, rending the flesh of tops of her arms, tearing through the fabric
of her heavy denim jacket and cotton tee shirt. She was losing strength
rapidly, the blood loss from the wounds on her arms and the one through
her shoulder taking a heavy toll on the slayer. She had a lucid moment
where every thought seemed to crystallize in her mind. Everyone had been
right, this had been a bad plan, this was the day the slayer dies. And
she'd been too stubborn to stop and think about it. She'd argued them
all into corners, ignoring her own danger and theirs, and for what, for
vengeance, for a noble cause? No ... for Willow, she'd been adamant that
Willow would be free of any possible touch that Rack may still have over
her, and that meant either banishment back to his demon dimension, or
his death. And those were the only possible options she'd considered.
She had ignored the fact that this ill conceived plan might result in
her own death. That was always a possibility so it was always something
she disregarded. Been there, done that, got the headstone to prove it!

Dimly as her eyesight began to fade to grey from the bloodloss, she
noticed through the haze of her pain someone walking up behind the
monster, someone she vaguely recognised ... was it ... could it be ...
oh god no!

Willow stood behind the scaly red demon and her hands were reaching out
before her, clawed fingers raising crackling arcs of black and white
lightning, thicker and noisier and sparking, her energy enormously more
powerful than Erin's had been and she was powering up to let go with
both barrels. Buffy screeched out in panic.

"WILL, NOOO!!!!" But too late, Willow's bolts of lightning struck the
demon in the back and the room seemed to go black with the sudden energy
release, then the backflash of the lightning struck Willow full in the
chest, the blast sending her smashing through another section of wall to
vanish into the darkness beyond. Buffy registered the demon howling in
agony and the smell of charred and burning flesh and hair from Willow's
attack, the creature dropped and sagged sideways. Buffy fell to her
knees on the floor, the horn pulling free like a shard of glass through
her shoulder. The sudden grating icy pain as the horn slid out of the
wound, tearing backwards through the shattered bone of her shoulder
blade, made Buffy collapse and without warning, her stomach emptied
itself suddenly on the floor.

Retching and vomiting as the searing agony overwhelmed her, Buffy
finally brought herself under a measure of control. She was almost
delirious from the pain. Her arm hung limp and useless at her side, but
she had to find out what happened to Willow. The demon lamely tried to
claw at her as she scrabbled to get past it. She found the sword Becky
had been armed with and picked it up in her left hand. Creeping sideways
past the half cooked beast, she went behind it and smashed the blade
down through it's throat, severing it almost to the spine. the
struggling creature stopped moving, it's head lolling to one side, held
on only by fragments of flesh. The blade fell from her numb fingers.

Dragging herself limply across the floor, Buffy crawled awkwardly
through the hole in the wall that Willow had made on her forced exit of
the room. She found the red-headed witch lying in a spreading pool of
her own blood. And Buffy collapsed on top of her in panic and grief.

"HELLPPPP PLEEEAAAASEEEEE!!!" she screamed out, her lungs filling with
air to screech out at what she saw. "Please anyone, help me!!" She
howled and tried to lift Willow in her lame arms, trying desperately to
stand and lift her and carry her out of the chamber of horrors. The
slayer collapsed under the weight and awkwardness of trying to lift her
lover with only one arm, and they both tumbled to the floor. Howling and
whimpering she tried again and again to rise, but by now the shock was
setting in from the grievous injuries, and her tortured limbs were
beginning to refuse to work for the ruthless mind that drove them beyond
the excruciating pain.

A grating laugh tore through her consciousness then as she tried a last
desperate time to rise from the floor, the load sliding from her one
good hand as her system began shutting down. Her eyesight fading almost
to nothing as her mind began finally to fail, sliding into
unconsciousness. She sensed the voice close to her, the breath hot in
her ear, the menace dark and terrifying to her in her state of
helplessness. She was sure she was dying again, and for all she knew, so
was her lover and their new friends. She registered the gravelly voice
almost subconsciously and knew that this was someone who could make her
soul suffer, even if she died and went beyond the veil, this was someone
who could trap and destroy her as nobody had before. The voice was soft
and menacing, and yet coarse and harsh, it tore through her senses as
she looked up into the darkness, eyesight by now virtually useless as
her mind slid further and further into the abyss of her own
unconsciousness, all she registered were vague shadowy shapes of light
and dark. She saw the unkempt hair like a nest of snakes on the head,
she saw the black flashes of lightning coursing up and down the arms and
from hand to hand. She knew fear unlike any she had ever known before,
because not only was she going to die this time, her lover would die
with her. Her heart crashed into a million fragments of sadness as she
realised she had nothing left, she couldn't protect Willow.

"Well looky here, what have I got myself? If it aint the slayer and my
little girlfriend! What were you thinking to come breaking in here? Who
did you believe you were messing with, little girl?" the horrible voice
tore through Buffy's mind like a rusty sword scraping through her ruined
shoulder. "What were you thinking to cast combat magic in here, when you
must have known I would have safeguards against it ..." he bent lower to
Buffy and sniffed, then moved towards the prone form of Willow's body.
"Ahhh ... and you STILL smell like ... strawberries!"

To be continued in:

Chapter 18 - Til death do us part