“I’m here!” Tara panted, barging through Buffy’s front door, into the living room. “What’s going on?”
“Hey Tara, come sit down, ok?” Buffy said softly to the gentle witch.
Tara nodded and came over to the couch, taking a seat next to Dawn.
Buffy wasted no time with formalities, launching straight in. “Willow called us this morning, from the mall. She said the town had gone crazy, but the mall was especially nuts. We went to meet her there, but she never showed. We searched the entire mall for her and came up trumps, so we came back here. I know it’s easy to say this, but Tara, we want you to try not to worry yet. It’s only been a few hours and we need you - Willow needs you - to keep a clear head, ok?”
Tara nodded again, dumbfounded. “Do you h-have any idea where she might be?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh… So what do you need me to do?”
This was where Giles came in. “Tara, I don’t know if this is possible for you, but if you could try, it’s imperative that we find a way to stop the chaos that has broken loose across Sunnydale. I was wondering if you would feel up to casting a freezing spell. I understand that it would be temporary, but just to hold it for as long as you can would be extremely helpful.”
“Wow. The whole town? That’s some pretty hardcore magic. I m-mean, obviously I’ll try, but I’ve never cast a net that wide before. I don’t know if I’d be strong enough to hold it for very long. Magicks like that are more Willow’s strength than mine, she’s a much more powerful witch,” Tara declared, feeling the pressure to be able to live up to Willow’s standards in her absence.
“I understand that it will be gravely difficult,” Giles responded sympathetically. “However long you can manage it will be very much appreciated. If we can stop the people of Sunnydale from tearing it apart, even temporarily, it will minimise the ultimate damage factor considerably, I would think.”
“Ok. Then what? Is there a plan where Willow’s concerned?”
“Well, actually, that’s something we could really use your help for as well,” Xander jumped in, suddenly. “We were thinking that before you start on the freezing spell, you could do a locator spell on Wil, see if it shows up anything. You know, instead of using tinfoil and jello.”
Everyone looked at him strangely, Tara included.
“Or hommus,” he added as an afterthought.
The scoobies stared at him in further confusion.
“Uh huh. And after this is all over, we’ll get Xander a brain transplant,” Buffy commented, poking him in the arm.
Anya crossed her arms over her chest sulkily, muttering under her breath “and he says I’m the weird one in this relationship.”
“Ok, so I’ll do the locator spell now, I just need the ingredients,” Tara jumped in, not wanting to waste anytime. “I’m sure Willow would have everything I need… So, if one of you could, you know… get them for me?”
Buffy placed a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Tara, it’s still your room too. You’re the only person who’d know where all the right ingredients are, anyway. Go ahead and get what you need, ok?”
“O-ok then, if you’re sure.”
“Of course I’m sure.
Tara removed herself from the couch and went upstairs to find what she needed.
* * *
Willow’s gaze moved over her surroundings, taking everything in. The ground beneath where she was hovering was like an altar of some sort; raised up from the ground and circular shaped. In the opposite corner of the cave the was an odd netting strung out between two boulders, the wall across from it and the ceiling. It looked like the web of a giant spider. There were candles lit at random, on rocks and in holders on the walls.
Willow gasped as she noticed something large and black emerging from the giant web.
‘Score one for me, it actually is a giant spider,’ she thought to herself as she watched two other spiders follow the first. They were huge. The size of horses, maybe. The sight of them raised the hair on her arms. This could, in no way, be good. As she watched on, Willow was more shocked at what happened next. The first spider morphed into a human woman, right before her eyes. She blinked. That totally had not just happened. Yeah, it had. The other two did the same. They were now young, attractive twenty-something women.
Willow eyed them warily. ‘Maybe someone put crack in my latte. ‘Cos this is weird, even by my standards,’ her brain was telling her.
The three ex-spider women approached the dais where she hovered, smirking with wicked intent.
The first one, who had quickly established herself to Willow as the leader of this mutated trio, stepped forward. “Hello, witch.”
Meh, she’d been called worse.
“I’m sure you’ve got questions for us, but since you can’t speak, I’ll just fill you in, start to finish,” she/it said. Her voice was low and raspy and Willow noted, kinda sexy. She spoke with a thick accent, but it wasn’t easily recognisable. And she was striking to look at. They all were. All three shared the same emerald green eyes and full red lips, pale skin and long black hair, that fell down their backs in waves. In some strange sense, they looked vaguely spiderish, even as humans. Then again, maybe it just seemed that way to Willow because she’d seen them change…
“We are Arachardim. Our race is an ancient one and not often found on these planes as we exist in another dimension. Our world is several away from this one. Jurakai was once a beautiful place, where life thrived, but now it is quickly becoming another hell dimension. There have been many wars between various races, which has led to famine and drought, among other things. Vegetation is sparse. Races are dying out, which is throwing out the entire food chain. Sounds like our homeland is all but doomed, right?”
She eyed Willow, as if expecting a response, despite knowing that Willow couldn’t give her one.
“Wrong,” she answered her own question. “There is one person in Jurakai who can fix everything; make it as if the first war that was waged never happened. Not to mention the ones after that. He is a powerful sorcerer, but the powers required to perform such magicks would kill him. In order for him to successfully save Jurakai, he needs to devour the brain and the heart of the most powerful witch in the earth dimension.”
Her eyes swung up to capture Willow’s gaze again. “And if our searchings have led us correctly, then that would be you.”
* * *
“Can you try again?” Buffy asked impatiently, then felt guilty for taking out her frustrations on Tara.
Tara looked forlorn. “I can, but it’s a basic spell and I know I did it right. Willow’s not on the map.”
“Pffft,” Xander scoffed. “What kind of locator spell is it when it can’t even locate someone?”
“A pretty pointless one, if you ask me,” Anya agreed.
“Well,” Giles began, leaning forward, frowning. “It can mean one of two things. Either Willow has been taken outside the boundaries of Sunnydale, or her location is being cloaked by other magicks.”
“Ok, so how do we find out which it is?” Buffy asked.
“We could try a revealing spell to find out if she’s being hidden by magic,” Tara suggested.
Buffy nodded. “Ok.”
“I’m going to need a lot more supplies for this. Anya, can we get whatever Wil doesn’t have here from the shop?”
“You will be paying with cash, yes?” came Anya’s eager response, her eyes shining with dollar signs.
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Ignore her, Giles doesn’t care, do you Giles?”
“Of course not Tara, whatever you need WE will happily give to you,” the watcher replied, shooting daggers at the ex-vengeance demon.
Anya leaned back on the couch, muttering again. “Sure, fine, just take whatever you need. You know, it’s not like we’re trying to run a business or anything.”
“It’s FINE,” Giles reiterated firmly.
“Ok, I’ll see what Willow’s got, cast the freeze out over town and then I can go over to the Magic Box to get what we need to unmask any potential cloaking spells. Wanna come with, Dawnie?”
“Sure. I’ll help you go through Wil’s stuff first.”
They both went upstairs, leaving the others to their own devices.
“It’s getting pretty late guys. I should be out patrolling and it’d be a good way to see if I can find out anything about where Wil could be too. Help yourselves to whatever you want in the kitchen… which isn’t much,” Buffy declared, getting to her feet and stretching.
Giles nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea Buffy, you should go ahead. I’m sure we can fend for ourselves for a while.”
“Although we might have to order in pizza, if your fridge is anything to go by,” Xander chimed in.
“I’ll find out if there’s any new Big Bads in town, there might be a link to Wil that we don’t know about yet,” Buffy added, ignoring Xander’s comment. She headed for the door, grabbing her coat on the way out. She could hear Anya berating him as she went out into the night, “Xander, you’re always thinking about food. I think you have an obsession” and Xander’s sarcastic comeback, “what, like the one you have with money?” Buffy shook her head as she walked down the driveway, buttoning up her coat as she went. That comment was bound to open a can of worms.
* * *
Since she was already going past Restfield, Buffy told herself that it was business, not pleasure, that took her inside the gates. She wasn’t thinking of Spike, no, not at all. Who was she kidding, she was totally thinking of Spike. She started chanting under her breath, “Must avoid hot bloodsucking fiend. Must not think about hot bloodsucking fiend. Must concentrate on turning all other bloodsucking fiends into small piles of dusty goodness” and it soon became her mantra. She should have seen the black silhouette under the tree, the burning tip of the cigarette, the smoke curling in tendrils up towards the clouds. Unfortunately, she didn’t. And she was soon met with mocking laughter that she knew without a doubt was accompanied by a self-righteous smirk. Buffy stopped and sighed, turning back to the tree under which Spike stood.
“You know, hiding behind trees at night, following girls that walk past, could easily be misconstrued as stalking,” she threw at him.
Spike laughed again. “Oh, don’t go gettin’ all high and mighty ‘cos I caught you talking about how hot I am, Slayer.”
“Believe me Spike, that’s the least of your worries.”
“What, you goin’ to stake me good and proper?”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “No. You know I won’t stake you, Spike.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I know it.”
An awkward silence filled the air - the kind that was practically foreign between the two as they were usually trading barbs with each other.
“So…” Spike began.
Buffy raised her eyebrows questioningly. “So what?”
“You going to apologise to me, or what?”
“Apologise for what exactly?” She asked innocently, although she knew what he was referring to.
Spike took a step towards her. “For bein’ a self-righteous bitch today, that’s what.”
“Spike…” Buffy looked at the ground, more ashamed of herself than she cared to admit. “You know I am,” she said softly, unable to meet his gaze. “The things I said to you today were… not of the nice. But still, you could lay off the ‘self-righteous bitch’ line from time to time and, you know, throw something new into the mix.”
His eyes lit up with the little half smile he attempted to cover. He was trying to be mad at her afterall. But he couldn’t help it; she was adorable. He didn’t realise how that little smile had caught her attention. A genuine smile on Spike’s face was almost as rare as a vampire strolling the streets during daylight; it just didn’t happen. Instinctively, Buffy’s hand reached up to his face. For a moment he thought she was going to give his nose its weekly punching, but instead her fingertips grazed his prominent cheekbone, before sliding down to his jaw and moving along towards his chin. Her eyes were locked with his the entire time. He held his unneeded breath in anticipation. Her soft touch caressed his lips and he couldn’t hold back anymore. He leaned forward, capturing her lips with his. The kiss was soft and sweet and Buffy felt the rest of the world fall away. Everything that was going on, the fact that Spike was a vampire, all the pressure she was under, even her own self loathing. It all disappeared, until there was nothing left but them and this moment and the undeniable connection that they shared. She felt his hands in her hair, on her face, the small of her back. She couldn’t remember ever having experienced a moment so beautiful and tender in any of her three lives. Her hands traced the contours of his face and arms as the kiss deepened, becoming more and more intense, his tongue dancing with hers. This was the closest she’d come to Heaven since actually being there. And the realisation frightened her. She pulled away abruptly.
“Spike,” she gasped.
His eyes were still glazed over, a picture of desire mingled with pleasure. “Yeah?”
“We can’t be doing this, I can’t be doing this.”
The spell was broken. Spike rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell Buffy, if the last two minutes are anything to go by, we’re damn well meant to be doing this.”
She shook her head, backing away from him. “It’s not right, I can’t do it, I-”
“Calm down,” Spike said firmly, seeing her distress. He stepped forward and place his hands tightly around her arms. “What’s the problem, luv?”
“The problem? I don’t even know where to start with the problems. Willow’s all MIA and-”
“Red’s still missing?”
Buffy eyed him sardonically. “Uh, duh.”
“Bloody hell,” he said again. “The bint could be anywhere by now. Why didn’t you say something before?!”
“Ok, for starters, there was the mocking me thing. Then you went and got all with the swoony and - and then with the kissage! When exactly was I supposed to say something?!”
“Oh, I don’t know, before all of that, maybe?”
“Before I saw you? Spike, you and sense so do not go hand in hand.”
He chose to ignore her last comment. “So what’re the scoobies doin’ about it then?”
Buffy sighed. “Tara tried a locator spell, it didn’t show up anything, so now she’s getting together some supplies to do another spell that’ll reveal whatever magicks are (theoretically) being used to cloak Wil’s whereabouts.”
Spike raised his eyebrows. “And that’s it? That’s your plan?”
“Well, I’d like to see you come up with something better,” Buffy retorted defensively.
“Yeah, wouldn’t be much of a challenge love. Let’s go,” he replied, tugging her arm to make her follow.
“And where would we be going, Mr Big Plan?”
“For starters, we’re hittin’ Willy’s. Sodding rat would know if there’re any newbies in town. Might lead us somewhere. We’ll go from there.”
Buffy nodded her consent on his strategy.
“And just so you know, Buffy, after all this is over, we’re gonna sit down, you and me. Gonna talk about all this - and by this I mean us - and gonna get to the core of what is and isn’t goin’ on here, yeah?”
Keeping her eyes on the ground in front of them, Buffy nodded again. “Ok.”
She didn’t have to look at Spike to see the glimmer of hope in his eyes.
* * *
Willow was panicking in a big way. If she could open her mouth, she would have been screaming her lungs out. ‘Yeah, screaming them out of me and right into some evil sorcerer’s mouth,’ came the added sentiment.
The Arachardim were in a frenzy, morphing in and out of their spider shapes, organising for the “big event”. Willow watched them work, fascinated, despite her own fear. They moved with graceful precision, their long black tresses swishing from side to side. There was no denying how stunning they were to look at. Yet, Willow knew she would have found them more attractive if they weren’t planning to steal her vital organs.
She was fully aware that time was of the essence in that there wasn’t much of it left for her. She had no idea how to get out of her predicament, there was only so much she could do when she was bound by magic to not move or speak. And apparently Arachardim were completely unaffected by and oblivious to mind control, since she’d already tried that. There wasn’t much else she could do without the use of her voice.
Tears of desperate frustration pricked the corners of Willow’s eyes. She was utterly helpless and no one had a clue where she was. Buffy was her only hope, so she concentrated solely on that. Buffy would come. She always did… except that this time she would have nothing to go on, nothing to lead her to the dingy cave where her best friend was imprisoned. And that thought chilled Willow to the bone.
* * *
“Ok, i-it’s done,” Tara sighed. The anxious looks of Giles, Anya, Xander and Dawn relaxed visibly. “It’s n-not very strong. It should last an hour, two at the most. I know that’s not long, b-but what I actually did was set the freeze and then sent out calming, soothing emotions. T-that way when the freeze fades out, people will feel really sedated, relaxed, you know?”
Giles put his hand reassuringly on the young witch’s shoulder. “Thank you, Tara, that was a stroke of genius. You’ve done very well.”
Tara nodded, embarrassed at the praise.
“Sedated huh?” Xander raised his eyebrows. “Kinda like cost effective, side-effect free Xanax.”
Tara frowned, missing the humour. “Sort of.”
“Xander, that’s really not the important issue here,” Anya scolded him. She was still annoyed at him for his earlier (and slightly true) comment about her obsession with money.
Dawn could see that the pair were headed for yet another argument. “So what now?” She asked Tara, forcing Xander to withhold whatever snarky comment he’d been about to make.
“Well, I g-guess you and me go to the Magic Box and get the supplies. You know, for the revealing spell.”
“Yes, it would be best to go now, while the freeze is still in effect,” Giles stated, nodding his head.
Dawn jumped up, eager to get moving. “Ok, let’s go Tara,” she said, pulling her up from where she was kneeling on the floor. “You two, try to stay, you know, calm and stuff. As in, don’t kill each other,” she added, looking pointedly at Xander and Anya.
“I’m not the one who’s the problem,” Anya said haughtily.
Xander made a ‘pffft’ sound under his breath. “Sure you’re not.”
“Hey, I heard that!”
“Well, that was kinda the point, you know, when I opened up my mouth and said the words.”
Giles sighed, letting his head fall back onto the top of the couch ledge. “Please let me lose the ability to hear sounds,” he murmured.
All three jumped up in fright, as the door slammed behind Dawn and Tara.
Anya frowned. “Why are people always leaving in the middle of our conversations?” she asked her fiancé. “Are we not enjoyable company?
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As always, thanks for feedback, it's what makes me keep posting =).