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“Stop!” Tara shouted and Buffy froze in mid air just before she hit the wall.

Buffy looked down wide-eyed and gulped. “Get me down?”

“Descend… slowly,” Tara ordered and Buffy floated to the ground with the greatest of ease.

William ran to her and gathered her in his arms. “All right, luv?”

Buffy nodded, “Fine…just tweeked out a bit.” Pulling out of William’s arms, she marched forward. “What do you want?” she demanded of Edina and Darla.

“Haven’t you figured that out already, you ungrateful bitch,” Edina sneered.

“You’re not getting the house. It was never yours. And, it never will be!”

“Big words,” the buxom blond said next to her with a smirk. “Auntie, why don’t you have Pritchard take care of her now?”

Glaring at them both, Edina said in a deep booming voice. “Destroy them Pritchard!”

It was at that moment that Buffy and Tara started the protection chant. Buffy hit William on the arm and he started to too.

“You bitch,” Darla spat at Tara, marching up to her, “You think you can fight us? Don’t you know how we got here? I felt your little binding spell last night. You’re so predictable Tara, that’s your problem, you always have been predictable. We dug up that damn box – you think I wouldn’t figure out where you’d bury it too?”

While this was happening, and Edina was frantically trying to command Pritchard the Ghost, who was making himself known as a gigantic centaur before them, black, and as tall as the room, stomping it’s hooves and heaving black smoke from its nostrils that flared as it stomped, Buffy dropped back toward the circle that contained her ghosts and her sister.

Dru was staring at her, seeming to sense what she was about to do, and nodded her encouragement. Staring at Dru, Buffy started the chant to release the ghosts. “Nos unbind vos ex vestri carcer , solvo vos quod paro vos solvo.” She placed her hand over the vortex that contained the trapped ghosts and watched in amazement as a hole, like a tear started to form. Dru was smiling brilliantly at her, nodding her head and Buffy continued on, the power surging through her, starting at her feet and surging up, up, up to encompass her entire body.

A bloodcurdling scream came through the room, coming from Edina, Buffy noted as she turned her head to see and she pointed at her, sending Pritchard the Beast after her. When the Beast started coming, Tara screamed, “Buffy!” and started the chant for releasing the ghosts. Understanding dawned immediately, and Buffy started doing the protection chant. William, seeing Pritchard, was by her side in an instant, taking her hand and pulling her to his side. Buffy looked at William and said quickly, “Keep chanting, and do not stop! Do not let go of my hand.” And she started the release chant while William continued the protection chant, holding onto her tightly.

Pritchard stomped and snorted, railed and wailed and to no avail. By holding her hand, William was protecting her. When Edina pointed at Tara, Tara bolted over to William and Buffy, and took William’s other hand.

Darla and Edina were screaming and pointing – and started to argue amidst the chanting, the stomping and nostril flaring.

Buffy couldn’t help but smile, thinking Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Yet she spoke too soon. With a mighty roar from Pritchard, the three were separated, sailing through the air. Buffy landed with a thump that she was sure was not helping her tail bone at all.

But then, it didn’t matter. The obstacles a second later because the vortex the ghosts were held in burst, blanketing the room in a myriad of colors, the sound of a mini-explosion reverberating in the room and echoing through the basement. Buffy shut her eyes from the brightness and when she opened them, the room was in chaos. Ghosts – hers – were spinning the room, moving Pritchard, Edina and Darla into the circle. Once Pritchard met the circle, he was obliterated and black particles of what seemed like dust were flung out and scattered until there was just…nothing. Tara was there, in the midst of all that, chanting something that sounded like Latin that Buffy could hardly make out. Edina and Darla were screaming at her, and Tara just continued on.

“Buffy.”

Looking up, she found William standing before her with a cut on his forehead and blood seeping out. “Luv, are you all right?”

She nodded and jumped up, touching the cut gently. “Are you?”

“I’m fine, how’s your back?”

“It’s…all right, I—“

“Buffy.”

Looking over William’s shoulder, Buffy’s eyes welled up in tears. Dru. Lunging at her, she met dead air and started to cry in frustration.

“It’s all right, darling,” Dru said. “Even if you can’t touch me, I’m still here.”

“Will you stay? Will you stay with me, here?”

Dru smiled sadly, “For as long as I can…I hear there are plans for me.”

“I need you, Dru, I need you with me,” Buffy told her tearfully.

“You have me anytime you need me, even if I was sent away. Besides,” her sister said grinning broadly and nodding towards William. “You have William now.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to say goodbye.”

“I know how stubborn you are…and I know you love me little sister.”

“What is going on?” Buffy asked, watching Tara contain Darla and Edina, both of who were wailing in misery.

“She’s trapping them in that circle and stripping their power. They will have nothing left after she is done.”

Buffy and William looked on in fascination while Tara seemed to be doing the real live version of the binding spell. Blue and white chunks of light were repeatedly wrapped round and round Edina and Darla and just as soon as they were wrapped like mummies, the light disappeared inside them. Soon, they were mute, sinking to the ground as if in a trance and slumping onto the cool ground, asleep.

Tara’s eyes rolled up in her head and she fell to her knees. Buffy and William went to her, Buffy letting Tara’s head fall into her lap.

“She’s exhausted,” Dru murmured.

“How did you know what she was doing, Dru?” William asked.

“Just because I’m a ghost, doesn’t mean I can’t have my secrets,” Dru teased.

“Dru,” William said warningly.

“Let’s just say I know a little something about magic,” Dru smiled.

“I’m learning I do too,” Buffy commented.

“We are cut from the same cloth, sister.”

“What’s going to happen to them when they wake up? William asked.

“Most likely,” Tara murmured, opening her eyes slowly, “They will have no memory of what happened.”

“How far back will their memory be wiped?” Buffy questioned, helping the girl sit up.

“As far back as when this all started,” Tara said. “They’ll only have vague memories of it, but they’ll feel as though they were dreams. Hopefully, they’ll have experienced enough trauma from all this to not try again, and if they do, they will not be able to do a thing. Ever.”

“I thought after she found that box, we were done for. I didn’t think anything we had would be able to stop them,” Buffy admitted.

”Oh ye of little faith,” Dru tsked.

“Don’t you know good always prevails?” Tara teased. “The two of them could not go against the three of us.”

Looking up, Buffy found her ghosts – all twelve of them, lined up. Men and women in various garbs, hinting at the different time periods they came from. They smiled at her, waved and dissipated.

“Thank you!” Buffy called to them. She looked up at Dru. “Did they hear me?”

Dru smiled, “They know, darling, they know. They thank you too.”

“Maybe we should get Dumb and Dumber over here upstairs to further reinforce that this could have all been just a nasty dream?” William suggested.

“Good idea…hey…what happened to Pritchard?” Buffy asked.

“He has been released. Hopefully to find peace now,” Tara explained. “He wasn’t really sent anywhere specific, but he’s most definitely gone. Ghosts don’t like to be controlled at all, so trust me, he’s gone.”

“Hey Dru,” Buffy began, “Sure our last name isn’t, say, Addams by any chance?”





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