Chapter 50
**
Previously:
“A rhyme,” she said as she closed her eyes and looked into her memories. “Fifteen in all, five groups of three. Eternally gifted to protect the key.” Joyce blinked a few times then looked directly at Giles. “And then some strange man asked me if I wanted cheese.”
**
“How are you feeling this morning, Buffy?” Penny asked as she entered the living room of 1630 Revello Drive.
As a group, they had decided to have a meeting about the prophecies even though four of them were unavailable at the moment. Tara had been insistent that the subject be addressed.
“What? You mean the whole being kidnapped by the insane-o vamp, or maybe it was the band candy revisited thing I walked in on? ‘Cause, gotta say, it’s a toss up which one is giving me more ick factors!” Buffy snorted loudly, making her displeasure clear.
Joyce shook her head at her daughter’s antics, at least one daughter seemed to be taking her budding relationship with Rupert well. Both Joyce and the watcher had been a little perturbed by Dawn’s snickered comment about being in the room when Spike found out. Or maybe it was out of the room? Teenagers had such a strange way of looking at things.
“Oh, please, are you trying to tell me that you would prefer to see your biological father macking on your mother?” Penny snorted derisively.
“NO!” Buffy replied, horrified by the visuals. “Does she have to mack on anyone?” she whined.
“Do you?” Penny lifted an eyebrow as she stared down the petulant slayer.
“Why can’t you let me stay in Egypt? This facing facts thing is so not fun.” Buffy grumbled and pouted unhappily. Mean doctors that made you face up to your mother having as much right to a life as you did just totally sucked.
Penny winked at Joyce as she snickered at the disgruntled blond.
~*~*~
Tara took a breath to steel herself. She knew that some of what they needed to discuss was still open to changes, because the L.A. contingent still had to make their decisions. She hoped that they would decide quickly, things would soon make their missing places obvious. Until they decided, Dawn was at risk.
“There are a few events that have been changed from what we would have faced. Some of them are referred to in my mother’s journal and others were events that Penny saw in her own dimension.” Tara stated strongly. All vestiges of the shy young Wicca were gone.
Willow watched her love in awe. She had always known that this side of Tara existed, deeply buried beneath years of abuse at the hands of her family, but seeing it- in the flesh, so to speak- was making her knees weak with desire. Damn she was hot!
“Because Buffy decided to welcome her slayer side completely, we now have an Immortal Slayer, which means the other slayer has lost her powers and there will never be another slayer called.”
Giles’ eyes widened as the implications of what the blond guardian was saying sank in. “The council will not be happy to discover this,” he warned them all.
“We have a little time before they realise what’s happened, Mr. Giles,” Tara assured the agitated watcher. “It will be the start of the prophecy that Anya mentioned, but we’ll look at that in a minute, okay?”
Giles gave a short nod of agreement. He would wait…for now.
“The change in the slayer line means The First can’t gain access to this plane anymore. Which means that we basically have two years with no major problems to face, so we can concentrate on the prophecies,” Tara told them all with a smile.
“Ooh, speaking of prophecies…well, okay, not so much. I just wanted to say I’ve decided to accept Doyle’s gift. So what do I do now and does my totally cool decision help?” Cordelia felt prompted to interrupt. She knew or thought she knew that her decision had nothing to do with what they were discussing, but she had been unable to stop herself from speaking.
“I’m with the prom queen. I’m in for the long haul,” Gunn added his acceptance to the group.
“Me too. With the helping and fighting. Well, maybe not the fighting, unless someone can teach me how. I really like to build things, so maybe I can come up with something that would be of help and you know…help,” Fred offered inarticulately, but her innocent smile and hopeful expression caused every person in the room to smile at her indulgently.
“I would also like to take the opportunity to confirm my own affirmation to the forces for good.” Wesley’s quite voice was seeped with steel.
Tara smiled in relief. The players were now in position.
“Cordelia, I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you say that. All of you. You’ve just made the prophecies that much easier to be fulfilled,” Tara told them all, her relief evident in her voice.
“How so?” Giles asked, intrigued.
“I promise you, I will answer that in a moment,” the Guardian assured the curious watcher. Turning back to Cordelia, Tara preceded to inform the seer what changes her decision would enable.
“By accepting your calling, your life is no longer under threat from the visions. There will be no more debilitating migraines. The fact that you have chosen this means that the evil higher being that was planning on using you to enter this plane won’t be able to use you in her plans. You’ve also opened the door to the upper realms, allowing another of the Power’s champions to re-enter this dimension and aid your team. We weren’t allowed to tell you before, Cordelia. The decision had to be yours.”
“Hello, Beautiful.”
~*~*~
“I don’t understand it. Why aren’t I bloody poleaxed with guilt?” Spike asked in confusion. His hand reaching out to play and the vampire watched the sun dance over his outstretched digits. He sincerely hoped that he never got to the point of taking the sun for granted. He never wanted to lose the feeling of peace that it gave him as it caressed his features.
“Angel’s guilt is a result of the curse, dear heart. We chose to change our natures and fight for our souls, so they are a reward – not a punishment. We celebrate that which he lamented.” Drusilla smiled as she gently enlightened her puzzled childe. No, not childe. She wondered briefly what he was to her now that he was no longer her childe. Her introspective smile brightened as she came to the only conclusion there could be. “Do you remember saying that I was your saviour; that I delivered you from mediocrity?”
Spike tilted his head to the side as he regarded her. Nodding slightly, he urged her to continue.
“This time, you saved me. You delivered me from evil. Your example is what got me here, sane and ensouled. How do I thank you for that?”
Spike blushed at her praise and Xander snickered at him. The brunette carpenter found the whole idea of Spike blushing hysterical.
“I can still bite you, Harris!”
The blond vampire wasn’t overly surprised when the ex-vengeance demon clipped him on the back of the head.
~*~*~
Doyle kept his eyes firmly on the beautiful brunette seer, drinking her in like a man that had been lost in the desert and dying of thirst who had suddenly found himself in an oasis.
Cordelia stared back with awe, unconsciously moving closer to the man/demon that she had loved and lost.
The two embraced, oblivious to the witnesses of their reunion. Tears and vows of love were exchanged emotionally, before they settled down enough to rejoin the rest of the group.
Before Tara could address them though, Doyle had a little apology he needed to make. “Sorry about the wedgie, Blondie.”
Buffy looked at him in wide eyed shock. “You’re Spike’s ghost?”
“Let’s just say the PTB’s have a sense of humour,” he cryptically replied with a smirk.
“Oh he is so gonna kill you!” She smirked back.
“As to the prophecies - there are three in particular that we need to look at.” Tara started, bringing the group’s attention back from their laughter to the matter at hand.
“That seems to infer that there are more than three to be faced?” Wesley questioned intently.
“There are, but only three that are important right now.” Tara clarified. Each of them had been told what exactly it was that they were choosing, but none of them were aware of what the others had chosen. She needed to get to that now. They deserved their gifts.
“There are a lot of prophecies that refer to the ‘Warriors of light’, you may all think that that means Buffy and Spike, but actually it means all of us. That’s why you had to choose and now you all need to know what your choices mean. We all chose to continue to fight, in essence we became the ‘fourteen immortals’ of prophecy.”
“You’re an immortal too, right?” Cordelia hurriedly asked brunette on whose lap she had placed herself.
“Yes, lass, I’ll be makin’ a nuisance of m’self for the duration.” Doyle’s light Irish brogue danced around the room as the half Brachen demon grinned happily.
“You better, buddy.”
“Who is the last one? Number fifteen?” Dawn asked curiously.
Tara grinned at the young teen. “The first prophecy refers to the joining of the Eternal Champion, the Immortal Slayer, and their child, who counts as number fifteen.”
“I’m going to be a grandmother?” Joyce squealed in delight.
“Not yet, mom.” Buffy grinned at her mother’s excitement.
Tara smiled happily; this was going much better than she had hoped. “The second prophecy is the one that involves the council, and as Buffy has accepted her immortality and reclaimed the Slayer line, that particular prophecy has already been fulfilled – the council just isn’t aware of it yet. However, I do think that when they find out they are going to react badly. We have to be ready.”
“How was it fulfilled, Sweetie?” Willow asked curiously.
“What purpose will the council have if the only slayer there will ever be refuses to work with them?” Tara grinned cheekily.
A plethora of slow smiles spread over the inhabitants of the room as realisation hit them. Buffy’s shone brightest of them all. She heard Penny’s words repeated in her head ‘The fruition of the prophecy requires more than just a slayer though. It requires a slayer that not only understands her origins, but can tap into all her powers’, and her smile widened even further.
“And finally, we have the prophecy of the fifteen. ‘Fifteen in all, five groups of three; eternally gifted to protect the key’. Now we need to talk about your gifts.” Tara stated calmly as she inwardly danced with joy. This was going to be so much fun.
“Gifts? Gifts are good,” Cordelia quipped.
“First off; Dawn is still the Key and she will be able to tap into her powers eventually. Buffy, in your slayer dream you said there were five mirrors. We’ll look at the Earth mirror first.” Tara told her decisively. “Who did you see within the mirror with the tree frame?”
“Oh, um, you, Fred and Xander,” Buffy replied after a moment’s concentration.
“Well, that should please Anya,” Tara replied cryptically before continuing on to explain what it meant. “Our gift is a shield. We can call it up at will to shield whoever we want to protect, including ourselves. Primarily, our mission is to protect the Key. Dawn. But for the most part it will be to protect the champions in each group. Fred will be going back to LA with their team and she gets to act as a protector of innocents while the rest of the group fight. Here, Xander and I will have that same job.”
Fred sat back in shock. She hadn’t expected this. Not. At. All. The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Before, her thoughts had been chaotic, floundering. She wanted to help, but she was a little overwhelmed by the experience of the groups. She didn’t think her little inventions would be a huge help, but she didn’t doubt that they would be some help at least. This gift would allow her to play a much bigger part. She would be integral part of the team. Necessary. After five years in Pylea, necessary felt really good.
“The Mirror of Air, Buffy?” Tara prompted the still reeling slayer.
Buffy was still trying to get her mind around the fact that her friends and family were now as immortal as she was. She wouldn’t be losing anyone. The only one in the group who could be in danger was Dawn, and with fifteen immortals acting as her protection, the danger factor seemed to be pretty low.
“Oh! Um…Penny, Giles and Mom.” Buffy supplied quickly.
Tara giggled; they were going to love this one. “They get to fly and be invisible.” Turning to Giles and Joyce, she grinned conspiratorially. “You know you’re going to be able to torment Spike unmercifully now.”
“Hey!” Buffy shouted indignantly. “That’s my job,” she added with a grin.
“So not fair, why do they get to fly?” Dawn pouted. All she got to be was a glow-y bit of green energy. Well, that just sucked.
“Dawnie, your gifts will come, sweetie. And when they do, I don’t think you will be complaining about not being able to fly.” Tara gently informed the emotional teen.
Dawn lifted an eyebrow, showing an eerie resemblance to the missing blond vampire. She said nothing, content to wait to get the Wiccan alone to badger her about upcoming gifts.
“The Mirror of Fire?” Tara again returned to questioning the blond slayer.
“Wills, Cordy and Dru,” she supplied.
“Drusilla?” Tara asked with concern.
Nodding her head, Buffy wondered about the significance of the nutty brunette vampire…well, the female one anyway.
“Um, Okay,” Tara said, her voice laced with uncertainty. She was definitely going to have to ask the Powers about this one. “The three ladies have power over fire. They can call up fire balls at will.”
“Wow!” Willow exclaimed. “But isn’t that kinda dangerous for Drusilla? What with the combustiness and everything?”
“Whose team will she be with?” Gunn asked, seriously not loving the idea that he would probably be dealing with another crazy vampire.
“She’ll be with us,” Doyle let them know. “She’s gonna be the one to keep the leash on tall, dark, and broody when he’s returned.”
“WHAT?!!” Cordelia shouted.
“You failed to inform us that we would be forced to deal with Angel again,” Wesley accused Tara, still furious about the comments the vampire had made to him. The fact that they were repeats of earlier words didn’t make them any less painful.
“That’s not her fault, so don’t be blamin’ the girl. The Powers only took him for re-educational purposes, he was always coming back. He has to learn what it means to be a champion and we’re gonna be his guides. He’s got his own destiny with Drusilla and that girl ain’t gonna be putting up with any of the shenanigans he’s tried before.” Doyle spoke decisively. He needed them to understand. They needed to help Drusilla, not necessarily her intended beau.
“Each of those gifted with fire need an anchor of water, someone to keep them grounded; someone to give them control, some one to stop them.” Tara pulled the conversation back to the subject at hand. Once the others had returned to their home in LA they could sort out the mess with Angel. “Who was in the Mirror of Water, Buffy?”
“Wesley and Gunn for the L.A. team, and Anya for us.”
“Wesley and Charles; you will need to stand behind the fire bearer and let out your senses. You will feel them; understand all that they are going through. You will hear their thoughts and feel their motives; communicate telepathically with them. You’ll need to follow your own conscience, aid them and watch their backs.”
“I believe we will need to practice that,” Wesley said with a laugh.
“Laugh it up, English, ‘cause I’m callin’ dibs on Cordy.” Gunn smirked at the ex-watcher.
“You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type,” Doyle flashed his gameface of blue skin and spikes at the joking street fighter.
“Dude…nice tan!”
~*~*~
“I’m not bloody well wearin’ it, Harris!” Spike crossed his arms stubbornly.
“You are if you’re coming with me to organise the supplies for the trip home,” Xander shot back with equal force and his own version of Willow’s resolve face.
“Oh, for God’s sakes, it’s just a hat, you stupid vampire. Put the damn thing on and leave. Drusilla and I have things to do.” Anya rolled her eyes at the vanity of the bleached blond. One look at his reflection for the first time in over a hundred years had turned into two hours of preening and the ex-demon seriously needed him gone for a while. He was driving her as nutty as Drusilla had been.
“William, Sunshine will be cross with you if you arrive home burnt from the sun and unable to touch her.” Drusilla offered her own brand of manipulative wisdom.
“Right then; where’s m’ hat? Move it, Xan, we got blood to buy.” Spike picked up the required safari hat and marched outside leaving the chortling brunette to follow.
~*~*~
“And the last mirror?” Dawn asked the question that the all wanted to know.
“Spike, a baby, and me,” Buffy offered.
“Life,” Tara smiled serenely. “The fifth Mirror is of Spirit, of life. It shows the champions that protect and create life.”
“But they don’t have a kid,” Gunn felt it necessary to point out the obvious.
“Not yet, but once the mating claim is in place, Buffy and Spike will be able to have a child. The birth of the child completes the prophecy.” Tara answered the unasked question.
“How come none of these prophecies are uber bad?” Buffy felt pressed to ask, her own experience with the Master had left her with a bad feeling about all things prophetic.
“Well, they’re bad for the Council of Watchers and the minions of evil,” Cordelia observed with sarcasm directed at those affected by the prophecies rather than those in the room. “Pretty sure Faith’s not doing a happy dance either.”
Buffy snorted in a very unladylike manner at the brunette slayer’s loss. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person as far as she was concerned, her usually forgiving nature nowhere to be found in the case of the girl who had tried to steal her life.
“So, what happens now?” Fred tentatively asked.
“Your team needs to go home and prepare for Drusilla’s arrival and ultimately Angel’s return. Cordelia or Drusilla will know if you need to come back here to protect Dawn. But until then, you need to be the champions that you know to be.”
“We’re gonna need a bigger office,” Cordelia spoke with practicality.
“Check out the Hyperion Hotel. It has a Thesulac paranoia demon that you’ll need to get rid of, but it’s been abandoned for ten years, so you should be able to buy it pretty cheaply. Oh, and get David Nabbit to help you with financial advice,” Penny suggested easily. She loved it when the details just came to her.
~*~*~
The Sunnydale Scoobies waved goodbye to the L.A. team. The group had been uncharacteristically subdued. On some level, it felt like they were losing a part of themselves. Cordelia had shown them all a side of her they had never known. Doyle’s playful nature had captured all their hearts. Wesley had changed so much that they almost didn’t recognise him, and all the changes had been for the better. Fred and Gunn had joined them as unknown entities and had left as family.
Tara watched them go, knowing that Gunn too would find his eternal partner, but first he had to find himself. She hoped his journey wouldn’t be too hard.
~*~*~
With a goal in mind it didn’t take long to get all the information they needed on the Hyperion. Wesley, Gunn and Fred found the spell they would need to vanquish the demon and gathered the ingredients that would be used. Cordelia contacted David Nabbit and once the millionaire discovered that Doyle had access to the funds required, the purchase of the hotel was finalised within a few hours. It was amazing what money could do. Cordelia was ecstatic and proceeded to make a list of office equipment she wanted to buy, followed by a list of what would be needed to refurbish the hotel, and finally a list of all the shops she wanted Doyle to take her to- Tiffany’s being top of the list. She had no intention of letting him get away a second time.
~*~*~
Spike pulled the Desoto up to the entrance of the old hotel. “You sure this is the place, Harris?” he asked sceptically. He couldn’t imagine the cheerleader in a place like this.
Xander shrugged. “Seriously doubting it, but it is the address they gave me over the phone,” he replied as he exited the car and automatically moved to help the two ladies from the back seat as Spike moved to the trunk and unloaded Drusilla cases.
Drusilla sighed in joy and lifted her arms high in the air before gently spinning in the dance they had all become familiar with, her free spirited nature openly enjoying the night air and the hint of jasmine it carried with it. Without a word she floated towards the front doors of the hotel.
Anya followed the vampiress without question, leaving the two males to follow in her wake.
Once the initial greetings were out of the way, Spike spoke up about his immediate concerns. “This place gives you no protection. Dru and I just walked in, no invite needed. You’re gonna have to do something about that.”
“Any suggestions?” Cordelia was quick to ask, a little pissed that none of them had thought about vampire access to a hotel.
Spike thought for a minute. “There’s a bloke around here that has a nightclub – Caritas. He’s got a sanctuary spell on the place. That might work here.”
“Lorne!” Wesley exclaimed in relief.
“I’m on it,” Cordelia commented as she picked up the phone.
“You’re gonna need it soon, just in case the poof comes back.”
“The poof?” Gunn asked, completely lost.
Xander snickered. “One of the many monikers old blues eyes here has for the broody one.”
Cordelia snorted derisively as she waited for the green empath demon to come to the phone. “The Powers got pissed at his kidnapping of the Golden Girl and bumped his ass upstairs for re-education.”
“The Golden Girl?” Spike asked suspiciously.
“She’s fine, man,” Gunn hastily assured the volatile blond vampire. “Just pissed that she wasn’t allowed to kick his ass.”
“Buffy? The bloody great poof kidnapped Buffy?” Spike snarled his question.
“William, she’s fine.”
“You knew? Bloody hell, Dru, why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded, outraged. Spinning on his heel, he faced Xander and Anya. “We’re leavin’.”
As he moved towards the front doors, he was halted by the imperious command of the ex-vengeance demon.
“Not so fast there, mister. Call her if you need to be sure, but you are not starting that accident-waiting-to-happen again until you’ve cleaned off the windows.”
If there was one thing the vampire had learned over the preceding weeks, it was that trying to ignore an Anya directive was an exercise in futility. The girl had no qualms about threatening to get in touch with her contacts in the vengeance realm and wishing for something nasty to happen to his manly bits. Some of her threats were enough to make a master vampire cringe in fear. He was bloody well telling the slayer when he got home. There had to be some sort of rule against that sort of thing.
Snatching Xander’s offered cell phone in a display of childish pique, Spike moved away to call his girl. Mumbling petulantly all the while about pushy bints and their tendency to be control freaks.
The soft smile on his face when he returned was enough to tell the rest of them that the slayer had managed to calm the panicked vampire down. He passed the phone back to his friend and grabbed the bag of cleaning supplies Anya thrust in his direction.
Anya hid her grin as she turned to the love of her life and let him know who was boss. “Why are you smiling, Xander? Go help him!”
“But, Ahnnnn,” he whined as he followed the master vampire out to clean off the windows of the Desoto. He didn’t seriously argue, though. He recognised her don’t-mess-with-me voice.
Cordelia lifted a delicate eyebrow in question at the ex-vengeance demon.
“Eleven hundred years as a vengeance demon has its benefits,” Anya offered smugly.
As Spike and Xander worked they heard the tinkling of laughter from inside the hotel.
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