“So – I *am* becoming a demon,” Buffy said in a flat, expressionless voice, belied by the slight tremor it carried. Her eyes were wide and quietly horrified as she stared at her Watcher, silently begging him to deny the truth of her words.
He did not say a word – could not even hold her gaze.
“But – how is that possible?” Joyce asked, her voice betraying much more emotion than her daughter’s.
“The demon is non-corporeal,” Giles began slowly, trying to explain it as he put the pieces together in his mind. “It must be, because the only kind of demon that can possess a human body is one that does not already have a body of its own. But because Buffy’s essence is already the same as its essence – it may give it the ability, given enough time, to take on her form permanently – make her body its own. In a sense, use Buffy to *become* corporeal.”
Joyce’s expression was one of horrified denial, shaking her head, though she could not find words.
“That’s why it feels like me. When I do those – those awful things,” Buffy concluded in a soft, expressionless voice. “And that’s why I can hear what she’s thinking sometimes…know what she’s feeling…”
“And why your negative emotions – fear, anger, jealousy – seem to give it more control over you,” Joyce pointed out gently, finally finding her voice, her eyes wide and troubled as they met Buffy’s.
“Yes,” Giles agreed, nodding slowly as he picked up Joyce’s train of thought with a little grimace. “It seems that whenever you feel these emotions, the demon feels them as its own, and that gives it the will, and the power, to take over.”
“Problem is – big, nasty demon doesn’t have the self-control that Buffy does in dealing with hard core emotions,” Xander pointed out grimly. “Has a tendency to get a little psychotic.”
“One thing we *do* have in our favor,” Giles went on with a hopeful glance toward his Slayer, “is the fact that the demon seems to be having difficulty in – in taking over entirely.
“Because she’s the Slayer?” Willow guessed.
“Not at all,” Giles shook his head with a grim, humorless little laugh in his voice. “No, remember, what *makes* Buffy the Slayer is precisely what we are fighting here. In this case, her being the Slayer is actually a detriment – not an asset.”
“Dawn.”
The single word, barely louder than a whisper, drew the attention of the room back to Buffy, whose eyes were focused on her little sister, staring back at her through wide, uncertain eyes. Buffy looked back at her Watcher and her friends as she explained what she was trying to say.
“Something about Dawn – makes this thing back down. She’s getting stronger – so I don’t know how long it will last. But it seems like when I start to lose control – when I – get emotional, or something, and give it an opening to take over – if I can get in contact with Dawn, we can manage to fight it back.”
“But – she’s just a little girl…” Joyce’s tone was quietly fearful, and Buffy knew that the less involved in all of this that they could keep Dawn, the happier her mother would be.
Unfortunately, that did not seem to be an option at this point.
“Yes,” Giles frowned thoughtfully. “That *is* odd. Could it be because she’s your family – your blood kin?”
Buffy shook her head slowly. “No,” she replied, “because if that was all it was then shouldn’t Mom have the same effect on it? But she doesn’t. But – but *Dawn* -- this thing sees her as a threat, somehow. Before, when I was fighting it, when it wanted to – to – hurt Dawn…” She simply could not bring herself to say the words. “She said – that if it weren’t for Dawn – she’d be free.”
“So it’s true, then. For whatever reason, Dawn is what’s keeping the demon from taking Buffy over completely,” Anya concluded, looking expectantly between Buffy and Giles for confirmation of her assessment.
Both were nodding slowly.
“How is that possible?” Joyce objected again, her voice slightly higher than usual, and trembling with fear and dismay. It was clear that the whole situation was simply overwhelming for her, and she was terrified that before it was over, it might end up claiming *both* of her daughters, and taking them away from her.
“I have no idea,” Giles admitted apologetically. “But I think I may know of a way to find out. There’s a ritual that I could do – a sort of a revealing ritual – to show us any magic that might be at work in this situation. It’s highly advanced…”
“But – isn’t that dangerous?” Willow spoke up, entering the conversation for the first time. “I mean – mixing magics like that? Doing a spell when you don’t know what magic might already be going on?”
There was a high, nervous note to her voice that drew a curious frown to Buffy’s face.
“Actually, not in this case, Willow,” Giles informed her calmly, looking equally puzzled by the redhead’s unusual state of distress. “The very point of this spell is to reveal other spells – so it’s therefore designed to be quite safe to use in the presence of other magics. Also, it’s really more of a trance than a spell. No one but myself should actually be affected by it. It just basically allows me to see freely what is beyond my natural eyes in this situation….”
“But – but don’t you think it could still be dangerous? I mean – what if Evil Buffy comes back while you’re all – trance-y?” Willow persisted with her usual knack for the English language.
“I – rather think it’d be useful if she *did* make an appearance, Willow,” Giles admitted with an uncertain little smile. “It might give me better opportunity to judge just what is at work here, if I could witness Dawn’s affect on Buffy at a time like that.” He paused, before asking quietly, “Why are you so concerned by this, Willow? I *have* been practicing magic much longer than you have. I *do* know what I’m doing.”
“I – I don’t know,” Willow stammered, some of the fire gone out of her argument – mostly because she *had* none. “I know – I guess I’m just – a little freaked. I mean – I don’t want anything to happen that might get Buffy hurt any worse. Or – or anyone else. I’m sorry.”
Giles studied her face for a moment longer, before nodding and replying with compassion, “I understand, dear. I think we all do. But I assure you that it’s – quite safe. It might just help us get a better understanding of what exactly we’re dealing with.”
“Okay,” Willow replied in a small, miserable voice, having no other choice but to relent.
“Great. So we have something we can do…but – we still have one major problem we haven’t talked about at all,” Buffy reminded the group. “The Council. They’re coming here.”
The room was quiet for a moment, as they all took that it, with varying levels of understanding of what it might mean to the situation.
After a moment, Giles said in a quiet, cautious voice, “Buffy – I still fail to see how that is a problem, *if* they are coming here at all. Perhaps they might know something useful – might be able to help us overcome this…”
“Yeah. And I’m sure they’re just dying to help me after I blew them off and they fired you. Come on, Giles, I’m outside the realm of their control, and they *hate* that. And now, I’m possessed by this first Slayer demon or whatever – I’m sure they’re *very* interested in helping *me*!” Buffy’s voice was sarcastic and skeptical.
“I’m sure at the very least, they’re interested in remedying the situation, Buffy,” Giles pointed out.
“And if that involves the sacrifice of the life of their most difficult to manage Slayer ever – well…” Spike spoke up in a low, dubious tone of barely controlled anger. “…don’t think they’re above it, Watcher.”
Buffy turned to stare at him in surprise. She did not trust the Council, but to hear their possible intention for her put so bluntly was a bit unsettling. And Spike had been very quiet, ever since her last near-disastrous, almost-return to being Evil Buffy; she was a bit surprised to hear him speak up again.
*Must have found a topic that really matters to him,* she realized with a warm sense of gratitude and affection toward her mate.
Giles, on the other hand, was feeling anything but such feelings toward the angry blonde vampire. He had not missed the tone with which Spike had spoken his title, and chose to take personal offense at the accusation against the Council.
His eyes narrowed in anger as he shot back, “If you are suggesting that the Watcher’s Council would *deliberately* harm Buffy in order to stop this demon…”
“In order to preserve the bloody Slayer line!” Spike corrected in an intense voice tinged with anger and impatience, that he was still trying to repress for Buffy’s sake. “*Think* about what you’re saying for a moment, mate! If the Council can save the whole future of all Slayers in some way that just might end up harming Buffy -- *one* girl – don’t you think they’d do it?”
Giles was silent, struck speechless by the vampire’s words. When put that way, it actually seemed to make a highly disturbing sort of sense. One girl, versus the possible fate of the world? What *was* the Council capable of?
When he finally came up with a response, it was weak at best.
“They wouldn’t kill her. They don’t want the demon destroyed – only contained again – and if Buffy dies, so does the demon. There’s no way of re-capturing the demon that would involve killing Buffy.”
Spike’s answer was immediate, calm and certain. “But if there *is* a way – you better bloody well believe they know what it is.”
The room fell silent again at the impact of his words.
“I’m sorry, Giles,” Buffy said quietly at last, meeting her Watcher’s eyes. “But I don’t trust them. I know you were trying to help by calling them, but I don’t want them to know where I am – or Dawn or Spike for that matter – until we get this taken care of …”
“But they may be able to *help* us get it taken care of…” Giles objected, his frustration evident in his voice.
“Or they may be able to help us get *dead*!” Buffy snapped. Her voice softened slightly as she added, “Giles – I understand what you’re saying – but I’m just not willing to risk getting the Council involved. Honestly, I think it’d be best if we all just get out of town for a little while.”
“We may not have a little while, Buffy! This thing is getting stronger by the hour, apparently, and could soon take you over completely. We have no way of knowing the nature of this power that Dawn seems to have over it, or how long it will last…we need to find a way to bind it! We’re wasting our time hiding away here when he could have gone through all of this at home, and could be halfway through the revealing spell by now! How can you be so sure that the Council is on their way here to *hurt* you? They could very well be on their way here to *help* you, Buffy!”
A brief silence followed the Watcher’s frustrated explosion of words, as something in his tone, some vague choice of wording, awakened a knowledge in Buffy – one she would rather not have had.
“But they *are* on their way – for sure – aren’t they?” The hard note of suspicion in her voice stopped the Watcher short.
Giles dropped her gaze for a moment before looking back at her with a calm, even gaze, defensive and determined that he had done the right thing – and she knew the truth she had heard in his voice already, before he began to speak.
“Yes. They are. To *help* us, Buffy! We are very much out of our league, here! And if there’s anyone who’d know how best to handle this situation, it’d be them…”
“You *knew* they were coming.” Buffy’s tone was accusing, hurt and angry. “You knew they were coming back at the Magic Box, when I talked to you – and you tried to make me believe that they weren’t – that Spike was lying to me…”
“Buffy – I know how you feel about the Council, and I knew you’d never accept their help…”
“Damn straight!” Buffy snapped, her voice trembling with rage as she sat forward in her seat, as if to rise, her mouth opening to say more. “I don’t *need*…”
Dawn’s hand clamping onto her arm, and Spike’s soft, sharp intake of breath beside her reminded her of why that was not a good idea, and her jaw set in anger and frustration as she forced herself to sit back again. As emotional as she was right now, it would surely only be moments before she lost control again, if she separated from her sister just to have the pleasure of getting in Giles’ face and telling him off.
Like he *so* completely deserved!
“I don’t need the Council’s help, Giles,” she continued, in a voice of forced, fragile calm. “They’ve almost gotten me killed once before. I can do without that kind of help. I don’t want them involved…”
“Buffy, the Cruciamentum was – well, you know what I think of it. It is abhorrent. It is the reason I was fired and am no longer your Watcher, Buffy – because I could not stand by and allow it to go on.” Giles’ voice was softer than usual, and he paused, struggling for control before he continued, “But I do not believe that the Council would *deliberately* attempt to take your life. And they may be all the help we can get right now. I really think you have no choice but to…”
“But that’s just it, Giles,” Buffy broke in, her voice quiet and even, a remarkable example of the control her Watcher was trying for. “I *do* have a choice.”
She allowed the words to sink in before explaining further.
“See – the Council *did* fire you. So you’re not my Watcher anymore – not technically.” Her voice softened at the visible flinch from the older man at her frank words, as she went on, “I *wanted* you to be, no matter what the Council said – but you told me just a few weeks ago, Giles – I don’t need a Watcher anymore. You told *me* that – and I hated hearing it. But – you were right. And I quit the Council last year…so…”
She paused, glancing around at the assembled, listening group, all looking to her for her decision. “…seems to me like I *do* have a choice. And I choose not to let those creepy little tweed-suits anywhere near me or my family!”
“Buffy…”
“*No*.”
The use of her Slayer-voice, although calmly – and the knowledge that there was quite a bit more power behind it in this instance than ever before – silenced her Watcher’s patient, patronizing objection before he could voice it.
“Giles, my mind is made up. I want nothing to do with those men. If they come near me or my family, I’m going to get Dawn, Mom, and Spike away from them as quickly as I can. And I’m not sure the Council’s men are going to want to face me right now, without Dawn being anywhere near me and when I’ve just been separated from my mate. If this thing in me knows what these men are to her – she’s *not* going to be pleased to see them. And if she didn’t know – she does now.”
Giles was quiet, stunned by the threat in her words. He wished that he could blame Buffy’s demeanor on the demon – but he knew that this was just Buffy, taking up for herself and the ones she loved, and refusing to back down.
He was not going to win this one – not here, anyway.
“All right, Buffy,” he quietly conceded. “You’re the Slayer. We’ll do this your way. What exactly do you think we should do?”
The challenge in his voice was nearly completely overwhelmed by his concern and affection for her. His tone made it clear – he was not at all sure that she was making a wise decision, but he was not going to push her to make the one he would have chosen for her.
“I don’t want the Council to have any idea where we are. I think it’d be great for us to all just get out of town for a few days, until we get this whole thing fixed,” Buffy began with remarkable self-assurance, the uncertainty she felt about making the decision for the whole group barely reflected in her voice.
“Where should we go?” Anya asked quietly, her expression sober and fearful. From what she knew of the Council, they did not sound particularly pleasant, and she was in agreement with Buffy. Hiding was good.
Buffy thought for a moment before she replied, “L.A. Angel.”
The chorus of protest that arose at that – coming from Giles, Xander, and surprisingly her own mother and sister – was drowned out in Buffy’s ears by the soft growl she heard, low in her mate’s throat.
She looked at Spike in surprise – and he quickly lowered the fiery sapphire eyes that had been focused intently on her, the growling ceasing the moment he realized he had been doing it.
*It’s okay,* she told him in his head, her hand at his waist gently tightening, her fingertips stroking his side in a soothing manner. *Trust me – you have nothing to worry about.*
*Buffy…* She was surprised to hear his voice in her head, uninvited, yet not unwelcome, as his desperate eyes sought hers again. *…please…anywhere but there…anyone but him…*
*Spike – don’t worry,* she insisted silently. *Trust me.*
But she could feel the insecurity, the doubt rolling off of him – knew that there was nothing that could have seemed more threatening to his standing with her, in his mind, than the presence of his sire, her former lover.
Casually she slid her arm up his back to rest her hand on his shoulder, her thumb just barely in contact with the mark on his throat; but the simple, soothing touch – and the accompanying glimpse she gave him into her thoughts – made him feel a tremendous sense of relief and reassurance.
“I know you guys aren’t crazy about Angel – but I know you’ll be safe there. It’s a hotel, guys – one far away from here, where the Council won’t think to look for us. And they may have resources that could help us. Please, guys – please just trust me.”
There was no response for a long moment. Then, finally, Giles broke the silence.
“If you think that’s best, Buffy. I *do* think that we should perform the revealing spell before we leave – find out if there are any magics we are not aware of at work here before we do anything,” Giles suggested cautiously. “Just so we know…”
To Spike, it was an obvious ploy to stall her. Giles did not want Buffy to leave town, and would be sure to find *some* reason in the results of the “revealing spell” for why it would be a bad idea. That was why her response both surprised and dismayed him.
“Okay,” she agreed quietly to the compromise. “Spike and I, Dawn and Mom will stay here with you long enough to do the spell.” She turned to look at Xander as she added, “But I want the rest of you to go ahead to L.A. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner we get out of here the better. We’ll just do the spell, and be right behind you. I’ll call Angel and let him know to be expecting you.”
“But, Buffy,” Willow protested, even as Xander was nodding his acceptance, much to Spike’s surprise. “Why can’t we just…”
“Listen to me, Will,” Buffy cut her off, gently but firmly. “I know what I’m doing – and I want you guys out of here if they come looking for us sooner than expected. I’d be sending Mom and Dawn with you too, if Dawn could be away from us right now. Please. Just go.”
Willow had no plausible reason for why she should stay – none that she wanted to offer Buffy, anyway.
“Okay,” she agreed weakly.
As Willow, Xander, and Anya headed outside to Xander’s car, Giles turned to Buffy, nodding in satisfaction. “Very good. I’ve only got to go back to my house for a few supplies we’ll need for the spell. I’ll be back very soon.”
Once the house was empty of all but Buffy’s little family, she took out her cell phone and dialed Angel’s number. After a very vague explanation of why her friends would be at his hotel in a few hours, explaining only that they needed a safe place to stay and she would contact him later with more information, she closed her cell phone and turned back toward the others, standing up.
“Okay. Let’s get our things together. Time to go.”
“I don’t understand,” Joyce frowned, puzzled, as she rose to her feet. “We’re leaving *now*? Why didn’t you tell Angel we were coming?”
“Because we’re not.”
“Then – where?” Dawn asked, fear and trust mingled in her young eyes.
“Anywhere but here,” Buffy said grimly. “Giles is going to tell the Council where we are – except I don’t plan to be here when they get here.”
[Reviews - 1135]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2761 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +