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banner by the amazing edgehead


Author's Chapter Notes:
fifth time of trying to post, missed a forbidden word C**L.. ugh
no flames for where this leads please this has been the destination from the beginning. Only one or two chapters left to go, depending on my Muse. Hope you enjoy this longer than usual chapter.
They had all gone to bed early the night before, the emotional atmosphere leaving them all exhausted and drained and in need of a good rest. Spike cursed his enhanced vampiric senses, he could hear every muttered word and every stifled sound. Captain cardboard was snuggling with Sam, little William was snuffling and whimpering for his supper. He could hear Clem settling Chana down for the night and he could hear Dawn sneaking into Martin’s room. Dawn sneaking along the corridor to Martin’s room; that he had to put a stop to. Spike pulled his arm out from underneath Buffy and reached for his jeans that were discarded at the end of the bed. He rolled out from under the covers and headed for the door, waking Buffy in the process.

‘Where are you going?’ she mumbled.

‘I’m going to kill that wanker,’ he growled, his golden eyes glinting in the dark.

‘Wha? Which wanker in particular?’ she asked. ‘Has Giles escaped?’ She started to panic, she really couldn’t face another battle tonight.

‘No, not Giles, that Martin bloke: Dawn’s just gone into his room.’ He opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

‘William the bloody, don’t you dare!!’ Her voice followed him out of the door. ‘If you leave this room now, don’t bother coming back: Dawn will never forgive you if you disturb them, they‘ve been planning this for days – well, she has.’ Buffy could growl as well, he realised. Buffy could be really scary when she wanted to be and then he thought about what Buffy had said. She was right as usual, his niblet would never forgive him if he did something permanent or nasty to the doc. He sighed deeply and went back to his own place in his lady’s bed. He could always kill the bloke in the morning if his girl was upset in any way. It took him some time to stop Buffy being so angry, mind you he was pretty sure she was putting it on, but better safe than sorry he thought as his talented fingers found the hidden spot in her body that had her creaming all over his hand.

Next morning saw a happier and more awake crowd. Xander and Morgana had kept themselves busy in the kitchen organising a team to prepare breakfast for everyone there. Plates of pancakes and syrup appeared as if by magic, and vanished just as quickly. Dawn seemed a little shy in the morning, but Martin was extremely attentive, pulling out her chair and fetching her breakfast. Spike watched his every move, a predator stalking his prey. Martin could feel his eyes on him at all times; Clem and Riley watched, waiting for trouble. They both had babies that would need removing from the danger zone if there was violence. Dawn knew what was happening: she wasn’t stupid. Buffy had already offered to step in and have a word, but Dawn had refused. She would sort this in her own way.

Andrew made his way unsteadily towards the breakfast table. He was still having problems walking, and he hated the colostomy bag that had had to be fitted to save his life. He felt useless and a complete waste of space. He didn’t even enjoy Star Wars at the moment, he just wanted to c-u-r-l up and die. Spike had managed to get him a mint Bobba Fett but even that hadn’t raised a smile. He was still apprehensive of how the Scoobies and slayerettes would treat him once he was stronger; they weren’t the most forgiving bunch and he had betrayed them so often. He had even told Spike that Buffy was seeing the Immortal and not killing him. Andrew just couldn’t believe he had been stupid enough to trust Giles. He hadn’t even been able to remember Ethan until Willow had released him from the memory spell.

Spike was still watching the Doc when Dawn came back from the bathroom. She walked past Spike and deliberately belted him across the back of the head as she passed him by.

‘Ow, what’ch do that for?’ he complained.

‘Because you are behaving like an arse: leave him alone, Spike.’ She hit him again to make her point.

Martin looked up at the noise to see a master vampire being hit around the head by Dawn. Whatever was going on he was determined to back his lady up. He got up and made his way past the slayers towards Dawn and Spike but Willow stopped him.

‘Leave them to it. Spike won’t hurt her, he gave his life to keep her safe. She’s just his baby sister, and she needs to spread her own wings; she can easily deal with him.’

The third hit was the clincher:

‘Niblet: stop that or I’ll bite.’

‘Yeah right, as if. You don’t scare me, William James Richard Pratt, and unless you want me spilling all the stories about the summer you babysat you WILL back off from my boyfriend!!’

Spike wasn’t sure which bit hurt the most, the taps on his head or the fact that she had used his full and proper name. He looked up at his bit and saw the Summers’ fire in her eyes. He knew when to back down, hadn’t lived nearly 200 years by being stupid!

‘If he hurts you...’ he started.

‘If he hurts me Spike you still won’t have to do anything, ‘cause believe me I will take all the lessons you taught me and I will do him some damage,’ she softened her stare at Spike. ‘I am a Summers, remember.’

‘Yes, bit, I remember.’ He rubbed his sore head, it was good to know his girl could protect herself, in fact he felt a bit sorry for the poor man. If he upset a Summers he would have to pay hell to escape their wrath.


Breakfast was quite riotous after the little incident. Martin kept looking over at Spike and grinning. It didn’t help Spike’s mood but he thought about it more carefully. It wasn’t like Dawn to be so protective of another man so she really must be serious about Martin, and Spike had to admit to himself that a doctor would at least be a decent profession for a future husband for his girl. He looked across at the man again and started grinning back. If Martin played his cards right, he could end up family, and Spike was loyal to family. Spike concentrated on drinking his warm blood and stopped tormenting Martin. Dawn could be really scary sometimes: he still remembered the threats about waking up on fire if he hurt Buffy. He sipped his blood again and smiled at the taste; some nice person had slipped some otter into his morning drink, it spiced it up nicely. The slayers were sweet to him.

When everyone was ready and fed, they went into the huge foyer to start discussing what to do with Giles and Ethan. Buffy chaired the meeting and tried to ensure that everyone had a fair chance to have their say. Clem suggested leaving him outside for a passing vampire to eat, but before Buffy could complain Spike pointed out that poisoning vampires with contaminated food wasn’t exactly a white hat thing to do. That raised a laugh around the room and broke the overly tense atmosphere.

Buffy was just calling the meeting back to order when Cordy turned up in a blinding flash of light. She was smiling a huge Hollywood smile, and dressed from head to toe in haute couture, she was even wearing high heels instead of sandals. It seems that the woman, angel, had finally earned her first Chanel outfit.

‘Hi, lower beings,’ she gushed and looked over the heads of everyone sitting in the room as she literally floated down the stairs. She smiled very brightly at Chara who was trying to eat Dawn’s hair. Baya had offered to take the baby back, but Dawn had refused, she loved holding onto at least one of the infants and giving Martin very pointed looks. Spike grinned, his bit needed no help in torturing the poor man. He had taught her well: the lump on the back of his head said too well.

Cordy descended regally down the stairs and joined the self-elected committee below. She flicked a finger at the air and a chair appeared beside the ones that Buffy and Faith were sitting in. Slightly higher of course. The slayers smiled, she was just playing her old tricks and they would let her get away with so much before putting her down.

‘Sorry people, but we need to talk. Your decisions today will have ramifications for centuries to come and I have to make sure you choose correctly.’

‘Hey, the cheerleader has swallowed a dictionary!’ Xander grinned at Willow. Kennedy laughed out loud, snorting and earning a frown from Cordy.

‘I can’t tell you what to do…’

‘Yeah I’ll believe that one,’ Faith said with derision. Robin looked across at his slayer and then back at Cordy: this might get nasty. He moved closer to the women to step in if needed.

‘Ooh cat fight,’ Xander squeaked with joy. Anya hit him on the arm.

‘You will not share your perversions with others Alexander Harris, unless of course you let me join in as well.’

Cordy sat down gracefully and looked around her. ‘I know it’s hard to hear but if you can listen to me for a few minutes?’ She was getting nowhere, everyone was talking at once, the noise getting louder and louder. She looked at Buffy and then Spike. Spike watched as Buffy lifted her fingers to her mouth and quickly stuffed his fingers in his ears as she let out a shrill whistle that loosened the earwax in every head in the room. Chara started crying and fussing. It had been scared by the noise.

‘I just need you to listen for one moment.’ Cordy continued she looked at Chara who was still snivelling and waved her hand, causing the infant to start giggling and laughing again.

‘Now that’s better; as I was saying, your decisions here today will affect the future in ways you can’t imagine and you need to choose carefully. I know it’s very tempting to just torture Giles and Ethan to death, or feed them to a passing demon but if you do that it will be your souls who will be hurt, damaged and although I know you want to rip them apart with your bare hands Spike, and I know that Riley and Xander would be only too happy to give you all the aid you wanted, trawl through your history books and pull out the iron maidens or the hot shoes, brand them, smash their joints then make them walk on those same shattered ankles to their own executions, where you could burn them, or hang draw and quarter them, or beat them to death with a flagell, or boil them in oil, or even just soak them in cold oil until their skin just melts away. History has given you some wonderful and imaginative ways of killing off your enemies, but everything you do will reflect on your souls, and there isn’t a being here who could take that sort of Karma.’

Faith started to talk but before she could get a word out Cordelia Chase gave her a look that shut even the brunette slayer up.

‘No Faith, not one, even Clem would be tormented for the rest of his life. I’m NOT going to tell you what to do, that’s not my place or my right. All I am asking is that you think about your actions very carefully.’

‘How about just killing the wankers, ripping their heads off?’ Spike just had to ask.

‘You have killed before Spike, and you could easily kill again, especially if you were protecting the ones you love, but killing isn’t torture.’ She looked straight at Riley. ‘Torture destroys your soul, you really have to work hard to repair that sort of damage.’

Riley felt the shame rise up in him. He had tortured so many beings during his work with the Initiative, even Spike at one time, and he still felt the pain of what he had done and Sam knew the number of times he had woken up in a cold sweat just remembering what he had done. He knew exactly what Cordelia meant.

‘So let’s get this straight,’ Faith stated. ‘We can kill them, but we can’t torture them?’

‘That’s right; well, not unless you want to suffer as well.’


‘Can we imprison them?’ Riley asked, thinking about the special prison the government had built for demons and other unnatural felons.

‘Oh yes, but you have to think about the future as well. Do you want them let out, ever, or would you let them die in prison?’

Cordy sat back and let her words sink in. She knew what was the likely outcome of these discussions and she was really having to bite her tongue not to just give them their instructions. It would make her afterlife so much easier if she could just tell them all what to do.

Andrew watched everything from his corner: the Angel scared him a little, but then everything scared him. He listened quietly to all the arguments about what to do with Giles and Ethan. The majority of the slayers and soldiers had left the meeting already. They had nothing to add and wouldn’t really be needed to make the choices that were before the meeting. Faith and Buffy, Kathy and Kennedy represented them quite well enough. Anya and Xander stayed, as did Willow and Morgana. Septamus went back to his books: his main aim was to find and deliver the letter that had been passed down in his family for more than 100 years. Dawn’s outburst earlier had confirmed his belief that William the Bloody really was his ancestor.


Giles and Ethan were dragged up from their impromptu prison and brought before the tribunal. Both looked like nothing more than old, broken men. But the decision had been made. They could not be permitted to live. Spike and Riley felt they had enough blood on their hands anyway and they would do the dirty deed, quickly and as painlessly as possible, but they would free them from the mortal realm. Ethan was already crying as he came up the stairs. He had always escaped from the consequences of his actions, but not this time. This time he would have to pay for his crimes. Rupert Giles didn’t even have the energy to fight the soldiers who held his arms. He hadn’t slept well on the cold stone floor and he dreaded what was going to happen to him. Buffy looked wan and drawn. She hated the fact that she had to condemn her old watcher to death, but she was The Slayer and it was her duty.

As Giles and Ethan were brought through the silent crowd Andrew started shaking and trembling. He felt sick at the sight of the man who had tortured his mind and destroyed his body. Before anyone could stop him, Andrew managed to find strength from somewhere and ran towards Giles. He grabbed a knife that Kennedy had been sharpening and stabbed Giles in the stomach. The guards had been taken completely by surprise and were too slow to react. Giles looked at the knife imbedded in him and laughed: he actually laughed. The men let go of his arms as he fell to the floor. Martin ran to try and help, as did Buffy and Faith. Xander started clearing the room, Riley shouted at his men, Spike went forward to try and stop Andrew and watched in horror as Giles removed the knife from his stomach and slammed it into Andrew’s heart. Andrew died in Spike’s arms, his last sight was Spike’s eyes filling with tears at the death of such a brave young man. Cordy felt the tears well up in her eyes. She knew this was going to happen but knew that it must. This was written.

Ethan watched the actions unfolding before him with dread and fear. He could feel something evil in the air, and wasn’t surprised when the Demon Lord, Eyghon, appeared in a cloud of sulphuric fumes. Those who normally breathed started coughing and choking until Cordy, who had been watching the whole of proceedings with disdain, waved a hand and cleared the fug from around the slayers and Eyghon. She stood and walked up to stand before the demon. She looked up into his eyes: they were red and glowing as though the fires of hell shone out from them.

‘Go away, Eyghon, you’re not wanted or welcome here.’

‘I come for the souls I’m owed,’ he growled out from behind his misshapen teeth.

‘You are entitled to them, but no others and there are none here you can claim. They are under my protection.’

‘Even the demons?’ the monster questioned, staring lustfully at Anya and then Spike.

‘Even them, in fact especially them. Now take those with whom you bargained and leave before I let the light of heaven shine here and burn you to dust.’ She turned her back on the monstrosity who made his way over to Ethan. Picking up the screaming man in one hand he looked down at Giles, who was near death on the floor. Giles managed to scream as red fire danced along his wound and the demon picked him up in his free hand and vanished back into hell with the men screaming and begging for mercy.
Cordy looked at the cloud of sulphur as it formed after the disappearing demon and tears fell from her eyes.

‘They will never escape. They are doomed to be his playthings for ever and I don’t think I can even feel truly sorry.’

She looked at Spike who was still holding Andrew’s body. ‘There is nothing you can do for him William,’ she said softly, ‘let him go.’ She held out her hand for Andrew. They could all see the sight as Andrew’s soul walked over to her. Hand in hand they vanished into a swirl of bright lights and were gone.





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