FF: The Spiral Cage 12/?

[Carol.Clarke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Title: The Spiral Cage
Part Twelve: The Search for Justice
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Chris Carter owns the
X-Files. 
Rating: NC -17  
Pairing: Joyce/Dana the rest wait and see
Note: This story is in an alternate universe. It does not follow cannon
story lines. The people are different in places because they have lived
different lives. Dana Scully is a lot happier in this world. Dawn was there
from the beginning. And Buffy isn't the Buffy you know. Also there are many
kinds of vampires and demons, mixing them from the X-file world and BTVS,
and other myths. 
Thanks: I can't believe I forgot this: THANKS TO CHERYL HILL!

The Spiral Cage
The Search for Justice

Lilah Morgan was dumped out of the limo onto the curb in a back alley of
West Hollywood. Lilah smiled evilly before passing out in the stacked up
garbage. 

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Dana finished her second autopsy of the day. She then turned off the tape
recorder. Now she would tell the others her real findings. "Some of the
marks were made with that fake claw device but post mortem. The bodies were
also drained post mortem. That's a little trickier to see, but I think they
were drained about 10 minutes after they were dead. Still it's hard to be
accurate because they were both killed by a cut to the neck. What cut them
is the real question. It was wider than a knife, could have been a claw or
other demon something. All I can tell you is they both died quickly; the
killer stood behind them and slit their throats. The murder weapon was about
¾ of an inch wide and razor sharp."

"It all comes back to the fake claw?" Kate said looking over her notes. 

"And who wanted to frame Buffy" Mulder added looking over his own notes.

"Maybe we are looking at this all wrong. Normally we would follow up the
clues to Buffy. Maybe that's really where we need to go. We know Tara and
Buffy are innocent, so the clues were all planted. The killer had to slip up
planting them. Why don't we go to Tara's place and look it over?" Liam
asked.

"LAPD tore the place to pieces, but you may have a point, we're all missing
something." Kate said putting her notes away.

"I'll call Tara and get the key." Dana said.
 
Liam just pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and said, "Don't bother,
she always gives us a spare set. Oz is the only real family she has." 

"That's not true anymore." Dana said with a smile as she tossed off her
scrubs.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Lilah pulled what was left of her torn clothes around her body. Blue blood
dripped from a dozen different wounds sticking to the torn clothes and
holding them on Lilah's body. She struggled to stand up, she knew where she
was, and she also knew where she was heading. She staggered up the street
and then into an apartment building. She no longer had a key but she was a
demon, human locks never worked against her. 

She focused the last of her energy and opened the door just in time to fall
inside the apartment.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Mulder was alarmed as Liam shifted into full vampire face and tossed the
injured woman across the room and onto the couch. He pinned her to the couch
and punched her face once before wrapping his arms around her throat and
screaming, "What the hell do you want, bitch!"

Kate grabbed Mulder's arms to hold him back. "That's Lilah Morgan, remember
she likes young girls. Besides, Angel isn't going to kill her." Kate
whispered.

"Mulder, Kate, can you get me some wet cloths, and some scissors. And Liam
can you please call Tara, I believe she has a patient to heal." Dana said
slowly as she moved over to Liam and placed a hand on his back.

"Cute, good cop, bad cop." Lilah said sarcastically as Liam stood up and
pulled away from her.

"Actually it's more pissed-off cop, and cop who wants some answers." Dana
said as she pushed her hand into one of Lilah's deep wounds causing Lilah a
great deal of pain and the wound to re-open. "I am the cop who wants
answers. I'd advise you to give them."

"Mulder, thanks." Dana then said as she leaned back and took the wet towel
and scissors from Mulder. Kate then handed Dana a first aid kit she had
found in the kitchen. 

Dana quietly cleaned and looked over Lilah's wounds without comment for
several seconds, then as she worked she asked, "So who roughed you up?"

"Lothos, as if you didn't know!" Lilah said hatefully but she continued to
let Dana Scully work on her many wounds.

"Well the whip marks on your back are the worst, the claw marks on you
stomach look bad, but they really aren't deep. These are knife wounds?" Dana
asked as she cut away Lilah's clothes and cleaned her wounds.

"Morphed claw." Lilah replied.

"Interesting, the wounds are made by something about ¾ of an inch wide.
Mulder, Kate, take a look." Dana said quietly as she cleaned and cut away
cloths from the wounds on Lilah's breast. Mulder, Kate and Liam came quickly
over to Lilah and looked at the long cut across her right breast.

"Morphed claw, interesting!" Liam said excitedly

"I take it my cuts have solved your mystery!" Lilah replied completely
amazed. 

"Not completely, who framed Buffy Summers?" Dana asked as she went back to
cutting and cleaning wounds.

"Wish I knew. I just spent 4 days in Lothos' company being asked that same
damn question." Lilah said pulling away from Dana.

"Look, if I really did know anything do you think he would have dumped me a
block from here, alive." Lilah replied then looked at the door. "Tara's
here?"

A few minutes later Tara and Buffy came into the apartment.

"Well, you look like shit." Tara said as she walked in the room and looked
at Lilah.

"You always were so sweet." Lilah replied. Buffy moved so fast she was
almost a blur even to Liam, She had picked up Lilah by the neck and was
holding her with one hand in the air.

"She is mine, respect her or I will kill you." Buffy growled with magical
force behind her. She wasn't playing.

Lilah lowered her head to show respect and submission and said, "Yes, my
lady, I am sorry." Buffy carefully placed Lilah back on the couch. She was
actually gentle as she lowered the woman. Then she walked back to Tara and
licked her neck and said, "MINE." And then she purred.

"Has she gotten really possessive?" Kate asked Liam. 

"Buffy mated with Tara. And she is young; the young really take mating
rituals seriously. She won't hurt you as long as you don't threaten her
family or Tara. It will take a few months before she completes the mating
ritual so she is going to be a little over protective." Liam explained.

"And this doesn't upset you?" Kate asked as she watched Buffy sitting in the
corner of the room purring and Tara helping Dana clean Lilah's wounds.

"Not really, Buffy cares for Tara. Jenny was really right, they are special
together." Liam said smiling. All his brooding expression gone from his
face. 

"Dana said Buffy did it to protect Tara from Lothos. Only she had to go
through with the mating to protect her." Mulder whispered. 

"Well, Lilah, you took one hell of a beating, if you were human you would be
in ICU. I can heal parts of this but you'll need to rest and eat. Maybe call
another healer to compete your healing. I can partially heal the worst cuts
and wounds. You have a mild concussion. Can't really help you there, if you
were human, let's just say a few days of deep sleep will solve that problem.
In a few minutes you can call for your limo to take you home. I'll give you
some clothes too." Tara explained as she looked over Lilah's injuries.

"What do you need me to do?" Dana asked.

"Help me lay her on the floor on her stomach, I want to start with her
back." Tara replied.

"Beth, am I pregnant, do I have a child by Lothos inside me?" Lilah asked
Buffy, her pupils turning purple as she asked.

"No, I smell his scent on you, and his seed. He had a goodtime. My father is
a real bastard, I am sorry. I know you're as evil as he is, still what he
did was wrong." Buffy said slowly from her seat in the corner. "But you are
not carrying his child."

"Well that's good at least." Lilah replied. Carrying a Lothos child would
not be good. 

Tara's hands began to glow and she started the process of healing Lilah.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

Tara was now sitting in the corner of the room that Buffy had been in
earlier. Tara was feeding herself as quickly as possible. Buffy had gone out
for food for her earlier. Tara was shaking and hungry and her need for food
was so strong everyone in the room felt her need. Buffy sat on the ground
beside her, touching her leg and helping her eat her third hamburger. Food
was her fuel, and she had used a lot of fuel healing Lilah.

Lilah came out of the bedroom wearing sweats and a tee shirt of Tara's. 

"Your car is here." Kate said from a spot by the window. Kate looked angry
and crossed her arms as she spoke.

"Good, then I will be leaving." Lilah said, straightening her clothes. She
was bear foot. 

"Lilah, get a lot of rest, see another healer tomorrow and she can take care
of the scars. And Lilah, you don't own me anymore, Lothos does. You will be
getting a bill. I'll send it to your office." Tara said quietly before
returning to eating.

"Well that's a first." Lilah said with a laugh.

"Oh, and Lilah, I am her new collection agent, I advise you to pay the
bill." Buffy said turning her game face on Lilah. It sent a shiver threw
everyone in the room including Lilah. And Lilah didn't scare easily.

Lilah turned her head down and slouched in a submissive posse and said, "Of
course I'll pay the bill, as long as it's fair market price." Then she
waited as still as possible for Buffy to release her from the room.

"Go," Buffy whispered as she returned to taking care of Tara.

After Lilah left Kate said, "Well that was interesting. Got to say I am not
liking the new vampire you, kid." 

"And you think I like what I have become?" Buffy said flashing her game
face. I can't even protect the woman I love without biting her. I know it's
all fucked up, but I can't pretend I am not vampire, do you know how
dangerous that would be. Let myself get too hungry or horny and I really
might have killed someone. I am stronger and faster than even Liam is; I
feel my power growing every day, every minute. I feel like I am falling all
the time. If it weren't for Mom and Dana, hell, even Dawn and Will, I would
be so lost. I feel my humanity slipping. Detective Lockley, I have never
wanted to hurt anyone. It's my biggest fear."

"And my father is the rapist, I took Tara without asking. I didn't have a
choice; or rather the price of not taking her was too high. I never want to
take someone, not like that." Buffy cried hugging Tara's leg and letting her
tears stain her lover's jeans.

"Kid, I have one question?" Kate asked as she moved over and sat on the
floor and looked Buffy in the eyes.

Tara rubbed Buffy's head gently. After a few seconds Buffy turned around to
face Kate, her face was human. "What?" Buffy asked.

"If Tara wanted to be free of you, would you let her go?" Kate asked slowly.

"She isn't free, and I can't free her now. I want too. But if I could let
her go, I would. It would hurt, but if that's what she wanted then yes."
Buffy said slowly.

"And your father, would he let her go?" Kate asked slowly.

"No, he will never just let her go. No matter what he says, he will take her
back. He wants something from us. And after that, he will breed with Tara."
Buffy said carefully.

"And how did you know marking Tara, taking her, would stop Lothos?" Liam
asked taking a sit next to Dana.

"When he hit her in the cabin, I felt his arousal. He planned to beat her to
find out about Jenna, and then he would plant his seed. He can control
whether he gets a girl pregnant or not. He has complete control over that.
But he really didn't know Jenna was carrying his childe. That was a
surprise. Marking Tara was the only way to stop him from taking her. I had
to claim her. I knew I couldn't beat him so I did the next best thing."
Buffy explained her eyes had changed again, but she purred as she spoke.

"He'll kill you once he gets what he wants from you. He has to kill you to
get Tara back." Mulder reasoned.

"So we are back to having to kill the SOB. Anyone have a problem with that?"
Liam asked holding up one of his hands.

"Not until we understand what he is after. And we still have two people
dead. We need to find the killer. Because he is going to kill again. Plus
the damn Kristen issue too. If the Kristen follows his pattern he will kill
tonight." Dana said slowly. 

"Right, we are all in law enforcement. Let's look over the apartment and see
if we can find anything LAPD missed, Tara, would you and Buffy look around
and see if you notice anything our of place?" Mulder asked, his puppy-dog
look, almost shining as he spoke.
 


Carol Clarke

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