The cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his forehead; several sharp pebbles were digging into his kneecaps where he knelt on the ground. The sun was facing him forcing him to keep his eyes lowered to the ground and causing sweat to pour over his forehead.
The voices that were yelling around him had faded into dull beats in the background of his mind. His entire world was focused on the cold barrel of the gun, the needles of pain in his knees and the sweat tickling his cheeks as it ran down.
Rupert Giles could taste his own death and he was terrified.
Not of the possibility of death.
Death didn’t frighten him.
It was what might come after death, which scared him.
Even after all he had seen and all he had done, the fear of oblivion held him in it grip.
He knew that his time was coming close. Was this it? Was this how he was going to die after all this time? On his knees, close to the Indian border, by some common Revolutionary?
They had stopped earlier than he had really wanted to, but it seemed that everyone was beginning to feel the stress of being cooped up together. Personally, the constant bickering between Pixie and Cat was about to drive him up the wall. It was eerily reminiscent of the arguments that used to rage between Buffy and Cordelia, only even those two took a brake from the sniping.
This was a whole different story.
So, it had been a relief for everyone when they had stopped.
Giles tried to set up the equipment to call Dawn, but hadn’t been able to get a signal. He moved a little bit away from the road, thinking maybe, the field a short way off would have better reception. He had crossed through a small line of trees and entered the open area. There was no noise; except for a few birds he saw flying overhead.
He looked back towards the vehicles and saw the others stretching and quietly talking to each other.
He was slightly exasperated when he noticed Xander and Cat had moved off by themselves away from the others. He looked towards Willow, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on that situation, but he found her meditating near the side of the road. Mioko and Raven were working on some excursuses to keep their muscles from getting sore due to inactivity. Of Pixie there was no sign.
Giles shook his head.
‘This wasn’t going to do.’ He thought to himself. ‘Willow and Xander need to be more on task. They needed to know where Shadow’s people were at all times. Willow still had not come up with a way to keep tabs on the sprite and while Xander always knows where Cat is, I doubt he still regards her with objective reasoning.’
Giles moved towards the center of the field determined to get in touch with Dawn and see how things were going on her end. Since their outing to the opium den, Dawn had done an about face.
She was no longer the lost and abandoned young woman. Now Dawn seemed to be very competent and together. She hadn’t made another complaint about having to stay in Katmandu. Also, she seemed to be handling her work with the Shadow’s computer tech remarkably well, considering how annoying the boy was. But then she also worked well with Andrew.
Giles wasn’t sure what had happened to make her grow up seemingly overnight, but he was thankful for the change, no less. It was nice to know there was one area he didn’t have to worry about.
He set the infernal computer on the ground and for a moment he was tempted to kick, just on principal. He managed to resist and instead opened it up and started the communications program. As it searched out a signal he looked around the surrounding area.
That’s when he noticed them.
Off behind him, were several jeeps with quite a few armed men. Several had binoculars out and were looking off in the direction of his team.
The computer dinged to indicate that it had managed a strong enough signal to communicate with Dawn. He looked back and saw one of the scouts from the men seemed to have noticed him. He quickly began to speak into the microphone at Dawn as the men rushed towards him, but whether or not she heard him he was unsure, static was his only response. He continued to try and let Dawn in on his position right up until the moment they shot the computer.
“I swear, if that winged harlot is still alive by the time we reach Bhutan, it will be a miracle!” Helena growled out.
Xander gave a nervous little laugh, disconcerted that the sight of her fangs didn’t frighten him so much as excite him a bit.
God, he was losing it.
“Yeah, well at least you aren’t stuck with the Willow’s constant chanting.” He tried to commiserate with her and not concentrate on her full lips as they closed back over her fangs. “The worst part of that is she doesn’t even know she does it. She’ll tell you she doesn’t need to chant to achieve a higher consciousness, but as soon as she goes under the chanting starts.”
Xander ranted on. “And its not like you can play music or talk to try and drown out the noise. Noo, because that breaks her ‘zone’. Whatever THAT means.”
Helena laughed. “Maybe the next leg we should ride together with the two Hogoshas. Leave your Watcher with the other two.”
“Sounds good to me.” Xander agreed. Then there was an awkward silence as both of them tried to keep on task and ignore the growing attraction between them.
“Hey!” Xander said a little too loudly. “You said you’d teach me that hold you used on the Army dude.” He was happy he had come up with a safe topic of conversation. “You barely had to apply pressure to keep him down.”
“Of course.” Helena agreed. They both got into a fighting stance.
“Its like this.” Moving fluidly, but slow enough so he could see it coming, Helena swept her leg against his knees. She pushed him backwards, but had an arm around his back so he didn’t just fall; instead she guided him down to the ground.
Xander to tried to watch exactly where she had placed her hands without getting distracted by the feeling of said hands. However, before he knew it he was lying on the ground and instead of being pinned in a hold he seemed to have a very clingy Cat in his arms.
“Somehow I remember this move being less personal.” He breathed, noticing just how close those full lips were to his own.
Was this how Buffy felt when she fell for first Angel, then Spike? This attraction combined with a more than slight fear. At any moment Helena could kill him. She could even open those luscious lips and rip his throat out.
A shiver ran through Xander.
True, he always fell for the women who wanted to kill him. But usually he was smart enough to break things off once he realized they might want to kill him. This time, even though he knew he was in danger, he found himself craving her presence.
He was no longer the awkward teenage boy. Through his travels he had his share of woman and it didn’t take long to discover that thanks to Anya, he was more than capable of satisfying any one of them.
However, he hadn’t loved any of them. Usually, they were just women he met when he was passing through their town or city. They were all nice, usually intelligent, and well to do, a couple had even been royalty. But he hadn’t been able to get serious with any of them. He had finally just assumed that part of his heart had died along with Anya.
Then he met Helena, and it was like an electrical jolt went through him.
Part of him resented the way Willow and Giles assumed that even after all this time he was still the naïve and goofy young man. He knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t lose sight of the big picture. He was very well aware that at any moment Helena could turn on them and he would have to face the very real possibility that he would have to kill her. Even still, to have the opportunity to be in love, if only for a moment, wasn’t that worth the pain that would come after.
Only Buffy would really know the answer to that. And it seemed that Buffy was no more.
“I may have tailored it a bit for you.” Helena’s voice purring at him interrupted his thoughts.
Making up his mind, Xander leaned farther up towards her, intent on kissing him.
“Move it Pussy Galore, we have a situation. Code Red.” Pixie’s voice made them both jump up quickly.
“Code Red!” Helena growled. “This better not be a trick.”
Just then gunshots rang out from beyond the line of trees in front of them.
“Giles!!” Xander yelled out. Helena had already started running. Xander pulled out the gun he always carried and followed after her. He saw the Hogoshas and Willow move forward out of the corner of his eye.
As they cleared the line of trees Xander was suddenly aware they weren’t going to make it. He saw a man put a gun to Giles’ forehead so he stopped and tried to line up a shot. Helena was the closest out of all of them, but even if she tried to leap right then, she wouldn’t be able to stop the gunman.
A spark of light ran past him, a burst of power from Willow, but even still Xander cringed in anticipation of the shot he knew was coming.
Then there was a blur of brown knocking Giles out of the way and the gunman to the ground. Cat threw herself at the brown blur, Xander heard the first gunman yell once and then he was silent. Then loud growling noises came out from where Helena had jumped.
The spark from Willow hit a group of gunman running towards them, instead. It knocked them to the ground and Xander could see another group of men approaching.
By this time, Willow had made it Giles’ side, but he seemed unharmed. Xander pointed his gun at another group of men running towards them, with guns pulled. He didn’t fire, however, when he noticed the second group jump start attacking the ones with guns. Suddenly, it was chaos and he didn’t know where he should fire.
A loud screech brought his attention to where Cat was still rolling on the ground with the brown creature. Fur had started flying up as well as some spots of blood.
Willow raised her hands as said something in Latin and the two flew apart. Xander immediately rushed to Cat’s side, while keeping his gun now trained on the other creature on the ground.
The creature growled and stood up.
Willow’s eyes widened. “Oz!!”
The Hogoshas had run past Giles and directly into the fighting. Raven kicked one of the gunmen in the stomach to prevent him from getting a shot off at Willow. Then she noticed the second group of men. They were all barefoot and carried no weapons, yet they seemed more than skilled to take out the gunmen. After a few seconds Raven recognized their style of fighting. It identified them as an ancient order of Monks.
Her study of the monks almost led to her death.
She suddenly noticed a man in front of her with his gun pointed straight at her. She cursed herself for getting distracted. She saw Mioko, out of the corner of her eye, racing towards the gunman, but she wasn’t going to make it.
Raven prepared herself for the blast that was about to come, when suddenly there was a flicker of light.
Standing in front of her was a beautiful woman, naked.
The gunman obviously saw her too, because his mouth dropped open and his grip on his gun relaxed, giving Mioko the time she needed to arrive and dispatch him with a carefully placed kick.
Raven watched as the woman began to glow and then it was Pixie standing before her.
“Men are so easy.” Pixie said derisively, then giggled a light, tinkling giggle. It sounded very cold to Raven.
When she turned Raven noticed her usually bright eyes seemed to glow even brighter.
“Thank you.” Raven said, somewhat shakily.
“Oh please.” Pixie said with a vicious smile. “That was fun.” She looked around. “Unfortunately, it looks like the fun’s over for now.” She pouted prettily.
Raven looked around and saw that the monks had managed to subdue all of the gunmen. The sounds of arguing brought all three female’s attention back to the center of the field.
“You cannot murder that man!” Giles yelled.
“This man would have murdered you!” Helena yelled back. The man, they were fighting over was gripped tightly in her arms; her claws were poised to rip his throat out.
“I don’t care!” Giles yelled. “Aside from the fact we will get more information from questioning him, than killing him, there is the fact WE DON’T KILL HUMANS!”
“No, but you wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, would you?” Helena growled out. “Probably on even less evidence than this one.”
“That really isn’t the point here.” Giles said.
At the same time Xander said. “That isn’t true.”
Xander looked at Giles with surprise and anger when he realized what the other man had basically admitted.
Giles met Xander’s gaze levelly. “I have more than my share of blood on my hands. I am by no means a moral bigot.” He tilted his head at Xander. “I’m also certain, at this point you do as well.” He said without censure. “However, that doesn’t mean I will kill without cause or reason whenever the mood takes me. There is no reason to kill that man and I won’t allow her to do so.”
Xander and Giles stared at each other for another moment. Xander knew perfectly well, that Giles had avoided the issue of Helena in that statement. It wasn’t the time or the place for that discussion.
Xander also knew that Giles was right, there was no reason for the man to die now.
“Let him go, Helena.” Xander said, with just a hint of warning in his voice.
Helena eyes narrowed visibly. “You think you will be able to trust him? There is a darkness within him, you should not underestimate this one.”
“These people aren’t in the business of underestimating ANYONE.” Oz said, with emphasis on anyone. He was fastening a pair of pants one of the monks handed him after he transformed back into his human form.
Helena threw the man away from her violently as Pixie walked up with the Hogoshas. Pixie looked down at the man, then up at Helena questioningly.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Helena said, meeting Pixie’s eyes defiantly. Then she turned and stormed off, missing the musing look on Pixie’s face before she followed after her.
Xander knelt down to and began to tie up the prisoner. “So what’s new with you, Oz?” Xander asked conversationally. “I hope you brought your own transportation. Our vehicles are getting smaller by the minute.”
He pulled the prisoner up, threw him over his shoulder and began to carry him back to the vehicles.
Willow drank in the sight of Oz, unprepared for the giddy, happiness that filled her.
“You’re really here.” She said with wonder.
“You asked me to.” Oz said with a small smile.
“Yeah, I did.” A smile broke out across her face and she opened her mouth to say something else, but Giles interrupted her before she could.
“If we are finished ogling each other, maybe we could get around to the tedious business of the Apocalypse.” He said dryly, before softening his gaze and his tone. “It is good to see you Oz. I hope don’t come to regret you’ve come.” He turned to head back towards their vehicles, but stopped when he noticed the shot computer equipment.
“I can’t believe I didn’t get to shoot that damned thing.” He muttered before moving on, leaving Willow to introduce the Hogoshas on the way back.
Meanwhile, at the vehicles Pixie and Helena were engaged in another argument, only this one was much more serious than their usual spats.
“You saw the medallion.” Pixie hissed. “And yet you were still prepared to kill him.”
“He obviously failed, I didn’t want him alive to tell who planned that attack.” Helena spat back.
“Are you sure?” Pixie insisted.
Helena didn’t answer her question. “You know what this means.”
“Better than you obviously. You tried to warn them.”
Helena turned her back on the other woman, but Pixie just blinked and appeared in front of her.
“The time is coming to choose sides, Kitty Cat. Make sure you choose wisely.”
Helena jerked her arm away. “I know where my loyalties are.” Helena growled, before storming away.
“That’s what worries me.” Pixie said to her back.
Illyria had only just decided on a course of action when she felt his turmoil. Then the first whimper came to her. Even though she had decided to do what she could to help him she was unprepared for the reality that was ‘now’.
When the feelings of fear and pain rose dramatically she realized the time for decisions had passed and it was time to act, or he would cease to exist. She grabbed the knife that one of the soldiers had left there, just in case Spike got out of control, not that she really needed it for what she had planned, and moved towards him at the end of the dark tunnel.
Even in the blackness she could make him out clearly, his eyes were wide open with fear staring sightlessly forward. The cords on his neck were standing out as he struggled with something inside himself.
Again, Illyria hesitated. She believed that what she was about to do would be for the best, but she was uncertain to what the actual outcome would be.
Yet, that seemed to be the way these humans and half-breeds handled their affairs. How many times had she watched as Willow, Angel or even Giles acted, only to have the results turn out poorly. The point seemed to be that through acting was how they showed they cared, even if it did not end well for the one the cared about.
Spike let out a ragged gasp and Illyria didn’t need her superior senses to let her know it was his last.
She grabbed the knife, willed a separation in her armor in the meaty part of her arm, and swiftly cut into her flesh. Powerful blue blood, that fueled the vessel, poured down, over her arm. She thrust the bleeding arm into Spike’s mouth and grabbed his throat with her other hand forcing his muscles to swallow.
Almost immediately she began to see results as his body began to jerk and heave, however, she held his mouth tightly against her arm and just continued to force him to drink down her essence.
The skin near his hairline began to turn a shade of blue, then turned back to the pale white again as he fought against the overpowering entity of the Old One.
This was what worried her.
She hoped he was strong enough to maintain his sense of self.
Her blood shouldn’t have been strong enough to change him; he also didn’t have a unique personality trying to take over. She was hoping it was just strong enough to give him enough strength to gain the respect of the Slayer he loved so desperately.
She hoped.
Hope.
Such a human concept.
She removed her arm and watched as he twitched and rolled on the ground in front of her. She heard yelling behind her, and looked back to see Angel racing down the tunnel towards them.
Illyria stepped back as Angel ran towards the younger vampire. He must have sensed the change through the family line.
There was nothing he could do.
It was all in Fate’s hands now.
The Vampire aspect grabbed him around the throat as the Slayer grabbed his waist. It took no time to drag him into the training room. His struggles did nothing to even loosen their grasp on him a little bit. They threw him on the floor of the training room and held him down.
He looked up to see Buffy in all her logical glory standing above him with a stake. He realized this was going to be the end of him. He drew in a deep breath preparing for the pain of the stake when suddenly everything changed.
It felt like red-hot steel was pouring racing threw his veins.
The yell of pain, combined with powerful, uncontrollable jerking of all his limbs shocked the two holding him so much they released their hold on him.
Spike felt changes to his body as the powerful substance race through his body. Alien voices and thoughts crowded into his brain along with images from a time long since past. He fought the voices as they tried to take over, completely forgetting the facets of Buffy looking down at him.
Over and over again he resisted the call that was echoing through his blood into his soul. He focused his mind on all the moments in his life that impacted him the most.
He grasped at the memory of Drusilla turning him.
The murder of his mother, even as painful as it was, he held close to him, to remember himself.
The first night with Buffy, he reached for it and grasped it, trying to keep himself together as the elements within him warred with the alien presence.
Finally, the pain began to subside, as did the internal attack on his personality. His eyes began to clear and instead of feeling like he was just in the fight of his life he felt strong, powerful.
He lifted his head, intending to stand up and test this new powerful feeling inside of himself, when he was shoved roughly back to the ground. The growl that erupted from him was more instinctual than conscious, as was the jerking of his arm that sent the Slayer flying.
He looked up at the Logical Buffy standing before him and saw the shock on her face. He pulled himself upright, shaking the Vamp Buffy’s hold easily.
He opened his mouth to say something, when he felt another strong tug at him. He looked around, but saw the Slayer was now keeping a weary distance from him and the Vampire was looking at him like she wasn’t quite sure what he was.
The pulling came again. This time accompanied by a voice.
“Spike!” Angelus. “Dammit, Spike, wake up!” No, that was Angel.
“Spike!” The training room started to blur and then before he knew it he was sitting on a cold hard floor with Angel shaking him roughly.
“Knock it off you wanker. ‘Got me one ‘ell of a headache right now.” Spike snapped, and was relieved when Angel immediately let go of him.
“Spike, what’s happened to you? What have you become?” Even though he let him go, Angel’s voice was still urgent.
Spike shook his head trying to figure that out himself. He was stronger, much stronger. And he couldn’t just hear the fear in Angel’s voice he could hear it pouring out of him, much stronger than the familial bond.
Who knew Angel cared so much about what happened to him?
He could also feel the concern of someone else. Mimoko?
And beyond that he could feel another presence. Its emotions were alien and primitive, yet very familiar. He looked up and met Illyria’s eyes and suddenly he knew.
“Your eyes!” Angel’s voice again interrupted his thoughts. This time shock radiated out from the vampire.
“What about them?” Spike demanded. “Its not like I can look in a mirror.”
“They look…” Angel began. “They are just like…” Again he didn’t finish, just looked helplessly up at Illyria.
Just then there was a clamor. Spike knew she was coming long before she made the turn into the tunnel.
“What is the meaning of this?” Buffy demanded. Shadow followed close behind her. The soldiers might have been following Simon, but his presence blocked any sort of view into the tunnel behind him.
Spike cracked his neck and made a show of standing up slowly.
“Looks like the Big Bad is finally back, sweetheart.” Spike said with a toothy grin, vamping out. “And you better watch your arse, the days of you kicking me around are over.” Even while vamped his eyes kept their icy blue appearance, there was no white in them at all just an ice blue color that matched Illyria’s eyes. The cold grin, made him look absolutely terrifying. “Unless of course its foreplay.” But his voice and the emotions in it were still Spike.
Buffy looked from him to Illyria, then back to him.
“This changes nothing.” She said before turning and walk away, the effect was slightly lost when she struggled to get around Simon.
“That’s where you’re wrong, luv. Everything’s changed.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Two chapters in less than a month. That almost qualifies as a miracle. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it really helped to get this one moving.
I'll try to get another chapter out in about a week. Thank you!
I'll try to get another chapter out in about a week. Thank you!