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"Where IS the bloody thing?!"

The house was filled with running men and their frantic bellows, no one could find the Gem of Amara. Searching had been done high and low, and now Rex stood in the kitchen, staring at the refrigerator like it was an enemy. He remembered leaving the bracelet up there. He also remembered how fucking loud Spike could be in times of panic.

The vampire was in the living room, tearing apart his home and snarling and swearing, all in the name of finding the Gem as quickly as possible. Dylan and Blake were upstairs on their hands and knees, while Ace covered the basement.

It had been about fifteen minutes since that phone call, fifteen minutes since they'd all learned exactly where they could find Buffy, and fifteen minutes of desperate seeking.

Rex had already looked all throughout Spike's car, and yes, there was some damage done to the upholstery.

Just as the thunderbird was considering how best to take apart the refrigerator in front of him, Dylan entered the room and spoke to him almost coldly. "Did you lose it, Rex?"

"You saw me put the thing up there yourself, jagoff."

Dylan looked at where Rex pointed, then back to the thunderbird he wanted to beat right now. "If you lost it..."

"Damn it, Dylan!" Rex yelled. "I didn't LOSE it!"

"He's right." Stevo entered suddenly, with hair a wild mess and a dust bunny stuck to the denim of his jeans; he'd searched just about everywhere a mouse could hide. "I realized something. We all saw Rex put that bracelet up there, excluding Spike." He faced Rex. "I know you didn't lose it, and if it isn't in the kitchen, then it had to have been taken out of the house."

Rex frowned, understanding the man was thinking within reason, but still lost. "But no one-"

"No one in this house has held it, since you put it up there," the gypsy pointed at the fridge, which had been moved earlier in order to search behind it. "No one, IN THIS HOUSE."

Realization dawned, and at once Rex and Dylan both bellowed for Spike.

The vampire came rushing in like a hurricane wind. "Did you find-"

"Buffy has it."

Blue eyes widened with a cold rush, and he knew well that Dylan wasn't joking.

"It has to be why we can't find it," he said. "She must have put the bracelet on before she was taken."

Spike swallowed hard, running shaking fingers through his hair and nearly ripping it out. His nerves were on fire. "How come the witch doesn't know what it looks like?! If Buffy has it, then so does she- She has no reason to keep Buffy alive if-" His voice got desperate.

"She might not know what it looks like," Stevo interrupted. "It took us quite a while to find that picture, and it wasn't in a place we had ever thought to look. Dylan happened upon it by near chance."

It was times like these when the truth felt something like a wrecking ball hitting you in the chest. Ace came in from the hall and said he'd written in the note left to Buffy and Spike that the Gem was on top of the fridge, it made sense she had been curious enough to pick it up again.

"She's not stupid... she won't tell the witch she has it if Antonia doesn't recognize it." Spike was talking to his hands, looking down at them where knuckles clenched over skin and bone vibrated like tuning forks.

"What if she's screwing with us," Blake suddenly stepped in, words reluctantly leaving his lips. "What if she knows Buffy's wearing the Gem, and she wants you, Spike? What if there's another agenda?"

He shook his head. "Buffy would've warned me somehow, and unless Antonia is fucking with her too, Dru's visions paint a clear picture."

"It's still possible," Stevo conceded.

"Which is why we need a plan," Rex said brusquely, irritated with slowness and strategic graphing at this point. "And a backup plan, most likely."

"Well, assume she knows what all of us are," Blake said. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms, looking like a hardnosed general. "We don't have a jump on her then. Not with any of our powers or tricks."

"Do you really think she knows every detail about us?" Ace said doubtfully. "She's been too damn focused on Spike to bother giving a crap about any of us."

"Still, we can't take a chance," Stevo said.

"Rex is right, we need a battle plan," Spike said. "Christ knows whether they'll hand Buffy over without a catch, an with Flora close..." The vampire shook his head. "No, it's not gonna be simple. That bitch wants to see me rot worse than I think Antonia the Wicked wants the bleedin Gem."

"They..." Dylan mumbled to himself before announcing: "The vampires we've been fighting are Flora and Antonia's lackeys. The idea of going up against a powerful witch isn't a fun one, but her plus a crowd of vamps is even worse."

"She's probably depending on them." Ace groaned inside his head, recalling strategies and old battles, trying to come up with a solution- Or at least an idea that might lead to one.

"We can't just assume she's a moron," Spike said. "She's going to have a backup plan, too, in case we try an ambush."

"Oh, we aren't ambushing," Stevo said. "We'll need to attack from the sidelines, get inside and find Buffy, THEN make a move. We simply need a good one."

"What if we did just give up the Gem?" Blake asked. "You think that's enough to stall Flora's bloodlust?"

"Fuck no," Rex interjected. "That she-vamp will have a knife against Buffy's throat during the exchange, then she'll slit it the second Antonia has the Gem and gives the go-ahead."

Spike winced visibly at the description but grit his teeth to stay silent.

Stevo crossed his arms. "You do think Flora's more of a helper than anything else in this. That Antonia's running the show?"

"Didn't we already discuss this?!" Rex replied irritably.

"We're wasting time!" Spike suddenly screamed. The room was getting smaller, and his heart felt constricted by barbed wire. He needed Buffy safe, now. "Look," he started, eyes closed and thoughts running on a treadmill, "no matter how prepared this witch is, power always runs out. If we can cause a huge battle or somethin, somehow drain her... Then maybe we can weaken her enough to get to Buffy first. But we've gotta make sure Flora's nowhere near my mate."

Stevo strode to the counter where his journal sat open and taking up space; he quickly started flipping through it, fingertips blurring along the paper edges. "I just might have a spell."

"Is it strong enough?" Dylan asked.

"I'll have to amplify it," he said, considering, "but I think..." Stevo smiled as he looked down at the page, "it'll work."

Ace moved to peek around the gypsy's shoulder. "I'll get you the herbs."

"What can we do to cause commotion?" Dylan asked. "Just something to distract her from the hex being placed on her. It has to be something big, though, I think."

A grin slowly spread across Blake's lips. "No matter how prepared the witch-bitch is," he said, looking at Rex and sizing him up, "I don't think she'll be expecting a thunderbird."

Ace was rummaging through cabinets and grabbing jars. "Better get ready to suit up then, Tweety."

For once, the tall brunette with an attitude didn't snap, and instead, only smirked.

Stevo already had out his mortar and pestle. "Let's get our girl back."

***

It had been an hour since the phone call and the space of her captivity felt colder. Her skin was clammy from sweat. Buffy had been counting the minutes to pass the time and ignore physical pain. The water the witch had given her wasn't enough to quench her thirst, so she'd asked for two more glasses but only one had been delivered. Buffy wasn't worried about being drugged simply because there wasn't a reason for it, and frankly, water was more important to her at the moment.

She knew Spike was coming for her, she just didn't understand why he was taking so long. The whole group must be formulating a plan, and while she tried to think of things to do in order to help, Buffy felt more like a sitting duck than any kind of asset.

Flora was outside, lurking beyond this room like a cat hunting its prey. Buffy should have been frightened, but the more she thought about it, Flora pacing back and forth trying to control the urge to kill, the more Buffy wanted to see the vampire's bruised up face. She wanted another go at her, despite the knowledge that failure was the most likely outcome.

She couldn't sense Spike anymore, their connection resembled a crackly radio station, eighty percent static. The moments she felt him, it was like salt crystals sprinkling her skin, tiny little specs of awareness along her nerves. Her body could have been frozen or on fire and all Buffy would feel was her blood trying to escape her skin. She'd never been pulled to someone in this way, she'd never felt like there was a hook yanking at her, scarring her, hurting until she relented to the tug. Yet she couldn't relent, she had to sit still.

Suddenly, the invisible door opened again. Flora stepped in. She glared at Buffy with inhuman eyes and an unheard snarl on her lips.

The brunette let the wall close behind her before approaching; Buffy stood her ground. Looking at the vampire's crooked nose, she knew her own face had to look even worse. Her eyes were half swollen, her stomach had light blue marks that would surely darken, and her head ached; Flora must look a pretty picture compared.

"I've been wondering when you'd come back in here," Buffy said. The bravado in her tone wasn't faked, she was too tired and angry to put on a show.

The vampire ran forward and grabbed her arms, shoving her into the nearest wall before spitting words at her. "The witch is asleep," she talked like Antonia was a curse, a poison. "Which means you're mine."

Buffy's eyes widened while apprehension started to pulse through her veins, and her emotions were suddenly shared again. Clearly. The connection was ignited as if by an electric shock as one mate was placed in danger again, panic the trigger.

Flora backhanded her and pain exploded behind Buffy's eyelids. "You are good for one of two things. One: I can kill you," Flora gripped her chin with harsh fingers, "Two: I can use you to bring Spike to me."

Buffy wanted to claw her face and tear her apart, but she was immobile against the wall. Confusion and knowledge, caution, it all held her quiet and stilled in place.

Flora said, "I think I'll take you out of Antonia's greedy hands first."

Buffy almost asked what she meant, but then a grim smile fell upon Flora's strangely sallow face and the girl didn't want to speak. The vampire looked desperate, and that was either useful or dangerous.

"There is a way out of here, it's guarded, but I can fix that," she said, her tone a whisper. "There's another door in the wall. This one," she knocked against the stone behind Buffy's head. "I'll pull the lever outside. Then the wall will open and you'll follow the little passageway down to the second floor. There, I'll be waiting for you, and we're going to leave."

Another door. A secret... passageway? Seriously? A lever? What the actual hell, was she in a fantasy novel right now? "Okay." Somehow, Buffy managed not to clench her jaw when she spoke.

Flora smiled again, this time actually showing some teeth. "Good. In ten minutes, you go through that door."

"What about the witch?"

The question came after Flora had pushed off the wall, after she'd headed toward the exit and was about to leave. When Buffy's voice hit the air, she'd stopped, and at the question turned around. In the ensuing silence, Flora listened to the human pulse, knowing she couldn't bite the mate of another, and her mouth watered and her hatred grew. "Don't worry about the witch."

She left. It was anticlimactic and Buffy didn't have to calm her heartbeats.

Flora was going to kill her, or use her as bait. She didn't question why Buffy was so cooperative, she didn't suspect any problems from the already bruised up little human. It was insulting, it was the vampire's only way out, it was a choice that bordered on the psychotic.

Antonia must really not know about this, and Buffy wondered why her gut was telling her to take Flora's threatening escape plan rather than wait for Spike. She wondered why she hadn't been scared when Flora told her exactly why she wanted to sneak her out of here. She wondered, but received no answers.

Buffy pulled the stake out of her back pocket and turned the thing around in her hands. This was a secret, so were the manacles, but those she couldn't hide on her person. Sighing, the girl turned and faced the wall which was supposed to open up.

She couldn't believe it, she'd looked everywhere; there was honestly no way out? Each door had to be opened from the outside? The room must have really been a dungeon at one point.

Buffy ran her hands through her hair and winced at brushing a sore spot on the back of her head. She needed to think, needed to figure out a good angle on Flora's plan then use it against her. Spike would be here soon, the two hours was almost up.

That meant Flora was in a rush, if Antonia was asleep, the witch wouldn't be for long.

Flora was in a rush... Hmm...

She might be able to push that to her advantage. When in a hurry, you always forget something.

***

Antonia had been resting for no more than ten minutes. Half an hour to the two hour deadline, and she'd gone to rest on a settee.

But rest included tossing and turning and sweating. She was exhausted. The power she'd been using recently really was too much, she should have conserved a bit more.

The urge to see the Gem for herself, now that it was so close, was hard to ignore. She simply wanted a glimpse, and once she cast her spell, she'd never have to worry about saving up energy again.

However, now was not that time...

Honestly, what was that banging?! Her brain kept throbbing inside her skull, which never happened unless she had used up nearly all of her strength. She didn't think... No, she couldn't have.

Antonia rubbed her temples and groaned when the door of her quiet room flew open. Irritation ran through her veins. "What is it?" she demanded.

A nervous looking vampire stood with his hands behind his back, a stammer in his deep voice. "I think... Well, ma'am, I believe Flora is- She told me to leave my post, ma'am."

Antonia popped open one bright eye, ignoring the creature's gasp. "Why would she do that? And why did you LISTEN to her?"

"I-I- Well, I thought I should t-tell you-"

"Stop the stutter."

"Yes. Sorry, ma'am, I uh... She told me she wanted to guard the exit."

In a flash, Antonia was off of her settee and striding towards the hallway. To her left, down a stone staircase and around a corner of crumbling rock, she found Flora making for the second door which lead to Elizabeth's room. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

Flora spun and stared. Antonia was no longer in her gold gown, but instead she was wearing black, the long bell sleeves of the dress were lined with deep blue velvet that matched her glowing eyes and her feet were bare. There were charcoal pictures on the backs of her hands, and Flora frowned, realizing she'd never seen the witch look so out of sorts. "What happened to you?"

"Answer me!" she shouted.

The vampire blinked and swallowed. "Is this," she waved a negligent hand, "what you're wearing for the ritual?"

Flora yowled the next moment, her knees hitting the floor and her head throbbing while Antonia's eyes glowed with an even more powerful flame. "ANSWER MY QUESTION!" she bellowed. It wasn't a shrill noise, nor was it unsteady, but there was a strain to the words that managed to shake Flora's nerves.

She grit her teeth. "I'm guarding the other exit."

"You're trying to best me, you foolish child."

Flora let her gaze widen. "No! I'm not crazy! Why would I-"

"Because you've never been the patient sort!" Antonia walked slowly up to the vampire as Flora stood up again, and looked down her nose while she breathed in deep gulps. Her teeth nipped at the ends of her words like a shark ready to eat. "Tell me a lie, I dare you."

Flora swallowed hard, her gaze steady. "I'm not lying."

Dust particles met the air in a whoosh, a head and body disintegrating along with a well worn jacket and jeans. Flora's teeth, eyes, kneecaps and fingertips, fell on the floor in a grey pile, Antonia's feet right beside them.

The witch dusted off her hands as she leaned against the wall. Her head hurt even worse. The little power she used... it never lasted anymore! Ever since that earthquake, she'd felt somewhat drained, and she hadn't been able to get back to her norm for unknown reasons. Her patience had waned nearly as thin as Flora's, and maybe it was age, maybe it was apprehension or maybe stress, but her endurance was nearly up.

Antonia walked away rubbing her temples again, sighing with a twinge of regret. If she had known that killing the vampire would make her headache worse, she might have fought harder for self control.

Well, at least she wouldn't have to worry about the idiot causing problems anymore.

Antonia turned the corner and headed back to her awaiting settee, never knowing that just a little farther down the hallway, past the ash lying on the ground, there was a lever pushed slightly out of place.

***

Buffy thought she'd be ready but she still jumped when the wall moved. Running forward, gripping her stake between sweaty hands that weighed heavy with impatience, she knew she was either making a huge mistake, or finding her way out.

Buffy had to assume Flora would be ready for anything she was willing to try, so she had to think outside the box, do something the vamp would never consider. She pressed against the wall and wiggled inside the dark passage, descending immediately and praying to anything or anyone that would listen, that she got out of this alive. If not for herself, then definitely for Spike.

She knew the facts. If half of a mated pair died, then surely the other would follow. She swallowed hard and pushed away the thoughts which plagued her mind, instead choosing to focus on her footsteps. Quiet and even, one in front of the other. The walls were so close together that she probably couldn't fit two of herself in here.

Buffy slipped the stake under her shirt hem. It was Spike's black T, which meant it was big enough on her to conceal the weapon fairly easily. She had another, a frailer and shorter piece of wood tucked between her waistband and lower back, as well.

The ground suddenly started to shake beneath her feet, and Buffy moved faster. She ran down through the long passage and thought to herself, *It can't be another earthquake. If it is, I owe Rex twenty bucks.*

She cursed when she saw a thin stream of light ahead and a large shadow against the opposite wall. The end of the passage was five unsteady steps away, and even with the walls shaking, she didn't want to go forward. Flora would end her. Antonia was moving now, and Flora was going to take her life to get back at Spike.

Buffy closed her eyes. *Fuck!* she shouted in her mind, then plowed into the lighted hallway.

Warmth hit her face and she realized it was because there was a torch just beside her cheek. She jerked away and spun around.

Right into the arms of a vampire. One that was not Flora, one that was much taller, male, and about as big as a truck.

He held her in a concrete grip, and Buffy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming.

***

Thunderbirds, they've always been the temperamental sort.

Spike smiled up at his friend as Rex finally finished with beating his wings and shaking the building.

Antonia's bright-eyed face showed in a window high up, to which Spike raised the bracelet in his hand above his head. It was Buffy's nightmare charm.

Stevo and Dylan stood beside him, the others already inside. They knew where Buffy was, they also knew, the witch was not well.

Stevo said that once they had gotten inside the boundary which caused all their earlier tracking spells to fail, and Rex started the "commotion," he'd locked onto Antonia with their draining one. It had only taken a minute. The witch was already weakened from her own overuse of magick, soon she would be feeling quite desperate for some juice.

Spike was hardly calm, but knowing Ace and Blake's locations were hidden, and he could sense Buffy, managed to keep him from raging inside. There was a plan, they'd cooked it up and then added four backups to follow. Spike had his weapons, an axe strapped to his back and his fangs, which would be all he needed.

He was getting his mate back, and no doubts were present. He refused to let them be.

Two vampires opened the thick wooden double doors of the building. Spike walked forward and entered, and when the guards tried to hold Stevo and Dylan back, they were promptly staked, out of sight from the windows. Stevo and Spike closed the doors hurriedly.

They were in a room empty of anything besides two open doorways and one set of stairs. They immediately strode towards the ascending level and made it to next floor two within five seconds. They were met by twenty vampires, fangs barred and fists made.

Stevo withdrew the little knife he'd slipped underneath his shirt sleeve and shot a grin Dylan's way, who removed his glasses. "Let our friend pass," the gypsy said, pushing Spike forward until he nearly bumped chests with a fellow vamp.

Spike's eyes turned amber yellow as he sent a toothy smile up at the beefy jock of a vampire in front of him. "Might wanna let me through, mate. I'm expected."

***

Buffy didn't respond when the vamp asked her what she thought she was doing. She just shook her head and began to cry.

Fake cry, that is. She wasn't an easy crier, remember.

He rolled his eyes and pressed her against his chest, and she had to choke back a gag. Being this close to another male, especially a vampire, was not very comforting to the claim.

She wriggled in his arms enough to seem like she was trying to get away while he carried her, bodily, down the hallway. She kept quiet.

Her stake was pressing into her stomach and her fingers, rough wood scratched her skin. She ground her teeth and let him carry her, until finally she pretended to fight for air. Buffy gasped, "C-Can't br-breathe."

He loosened his hold only a little but it was enough for her to grab her stake fully and remove it from the waistband of her jeans. He dropped her when he saw it, and Buffy hit the floor with a groan.

"Little bitch..." he muttered, taking a step closer. She stayed still, being sure to cough and act very much like a weakened, helpless female.

Buffy had to bite her lip not to smile when his bruising grip wrapped around her arms again. Her stake lay useless on the ground.

The other found itself imbedded in the vampire's heart, already tugged from the crevice between her jeans and spine before she plunged it through his chest. She watched that fangy face crumble into dust before her own.

Buffy fell as her sluggish captor blended with the air. She grabbed the other piece of wood on the ground and thanked the Gods for miracles, and gullible males.

***

Antonia stormed into the empty room, standing beside two very confused henchman of the vampire sort. She looked at the open wall across from her, into an empty room.

Her resounding scream of anger had all of the vampires on that floor covering their ears.

Her eyes were vibrant hued sapphires as she left the place where a set of manacles lay rusted on the floor.

***

Spike walked into an open room filled with vampires standing along the walls, men and women of different sizes and statures, nearly all of them with their arms crossed over their chests looking more important than they actually were. Surely they were being paid or promised things, for they seemed to want to be there.

It unsettled Spike knowing Buffy had been near so many enemies, but he fought down the worry. Things had to go smoothly now-

A scream of outrage reverberated overhead, and Spike looked up to where there was a balcony. The room was all open, lacking in any furniture and filled with dust, the stone walls bare except for the monsters lining them. Lights above were all nearly broken, making the air look dim and glittery. He stared at the doorways above him, the third floor was busy with noise and discontent.

He searched for Buffy's soul in the absence of his own, meeting with barely any feeling at all, but he could tell she wasn't being hurt. That made him relax, yet only marginally.

A tall woman with glowing blue eyes and thick black hair blowing behind her ran out to lean over the balcony.

*So this is Antonia,* Spike thought, his demon snarling beneath the surface even as he scowled at her with a face of ridges and fangs. The colors of the bracelet he held collided with the demonic flare of his gaze as he raised the trinket up high. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?!"

The shout brought Antonia's attention, and she stared at the bracelet with longing. She ignored the feeling of a hammer banging against the inside of her head and sent an order to the minion nearest to Spike. "Get it from him."

The blonde clenched the bracelet closer to his chest and demanded, "My mate first."

Antonia's face twisted into an unsympathetic sneer. "Your friend has cast a spell on me, I can feel it. If I weren't so weak already, I'd be able to deflect it."

Spike's eyes widened but he held his tongue.

"Unfortunately," Antonia said, in a tone filled imperiously with impatience, "even without your draining spell, I haven't been as up to par as I'd like to be, so you see, it really is a vicious circle."

Where was she going with this?

Suddenly, the bracelet in Spike's hand was yanked at by an unseen force. He held fast and cursed. "Give me Buffy, or you don't get the Gem!"

"You haven't played fairly, Spike," she declared. "Once the spell is lifted, I will give you Elizabeth. Or, once I have the Gem. I have nothing against you. Trust me, you aren't worth the time it would take to kill you."

Spike clenched the bracelet in his fist. This wouldn't do. He needed to see Buffy in his sights before any exchange was made. *Where are you, kitten? Come on out for me... Please.*

***

Buffy stared down from the shadows. She was fighting every instinct that screamed at her to run to her mate. Spike was right there, but she was still so far away.

She weighed the options in her head. Should she reveal herself? Spike didn't look ready to budge, he needed to know she was nearby before he gave the "Gem" up, and Antonia would no doubt figure out it wasn't the real thing once she had it in her hands.

Buffy took a deep, silent breath.

A slow step forward brought her closer to leaving the quiet hallway where she hid, a second brought her into the light covering the balcony floor.

It was as if he'd sensed her, for Spike turned around and looked directly at Buffy as she made her presence known without making a sound. She smiled tremulously at him and didn't hear Antonia shout an order to a vampire on the same floor as she, to retrieve her.

Spike did, and was momentarily distracted long enough for Antonia's powers to lift the bracelet from his hands. It floated up to her and as the little amber stone glinted as it flew, Spike bolted for the stairs.

He'd noticed it behind the vampires along the wall just in front of him, and knew they had to lead up to the third floor. At first, no one stopped him.

That is, until Antonia had the bracelet in her hands, and she ogled the stone with reverence... and felt it barely hum with magickal power. Softly, she caressed it, while a frown trailed along her lips.

She realized quickly, that what she held was nothing more than a little charm, not the Gem of Amara.

It nearly cut into her skin with as tightly as she squeezed the bracelet. "Stop him!"

The vampires reacted at once.

Spike moved frantically. He threw a punch into the first face he encountered and ran like lightning along a wire from the others behind him.

It was the moment. Stevo and Dylan were quickly dispatching of the vamps near the entrance and Ace and Blake were breaking out of their hiding places on the third floor, running headlong at the first opponents they faced.

Rex changed, and with his clothing still intact he was able to scale down the wall to a nearby window on the second floor in a moment. The sound of breaking glass resonated in the wide open room. Vampires left and right looked at the man and stared. Rex smirked, twirling a little dagger with a pointy wooden handle around in his fingers.

Blood pumped in her ears as Buffy ran the opposite way of an approaching vamp. She caught sight of two more coming from the other side of the balcony. With a gulp, Buffy stared uncertainly at the fifteen foot drop to the floor with vampires abounds and... Rex.

She smiled. The gang was here.

Spike was bombarded when he made it to the balcony. Six vamps came at him, throwing punches. He took a clip to the jaw and his head snapped back with the blow. In quick decision, he jumped high and gripped onto the edge of the doorway. Kicking out with inhuman strength knocked four vampires to the ground, and he dropped to his feet to deliver a roundhouse kick to another. He received a punch in the abdomen, then turned on the deliverer to leave her with a bloody nose and one less tooth.

Rex was slicing and dicing. He jumped above the heads of the vamps coming for him and used them like stepping stones. Dropping to the floor again, he hit three at once with a kick and took a stake wound in his shoulder. "Son of a bitch!" He whirled and sent the vampire down with one punch. "Fuckers can't even- ugh! -tell if they're fighting-" a backhanded hit sent another opponent to the floor, "-one of their own or not!"

Dust particles began decorating the hectic air, by the time Ace had sprung into the fray from a stairwell hidden by an alcove, Rex had already staked five vampires. More came. Ace threw his axe with his shoulder muscles jerking at the force of it, passing through two jugulars, one directly after another.

Spike pushed through the ash and left the hallway empty. Pounding footsteps of ascending vampires sounded behind him, but he ignored them and ran ahead. Antonia stood silent and fuming in the corner of the balcony, he barely spared her a glance. His eyes locked onto Buffy's nervous form, a room's width away. She was surrounded, vamps on each side.

He bolted to his left. There were fangs awaiting him, wanting to clash and dust. Spike staked as fast as he could. He had to spin around and face five more that came from the stairwell at his back. His nerves zapped as if short circuited. He wasn't going to get to her in time, he was delayed too long, Buffy was already meeting with her own opponents and-

During a quick glance, Spike saw her pulled into the dark hallway imbedded in the wall and nearly threw himself over the railing as he shouted her name. Then Blake sprung out from the shadows and took aim with a crossbow.

The empath had blood dripping down his forehead. He moved with speed that was hard to see, and ducked and landed an uppercut to the beefy vamp approaching his left when he ran out of arrows. Spinning, he kicked another in the head and the vampire flew backwards. Ducking, Blake dodged a punch and delivered three in return. He staked two more vamps in a blink.

Turning, he grabbed Buffy's wrist from the darkness of the hallway. She looked at him with wide eyes and laughed, "I'm glad you're fast."

Blake smiled at her. "You're the first woman to ever say that to me." He turned around, eyeing Spike taking out vamps in the distance. "Wrap your arms around my neck."

Buffy did as she was told. "Why?"

"Because we're about to jump."

"Wait- What?! Spike is up-"

Her protest was cut off as Blake leaped over the railing. The landing was stumble-y but she managed not to lose grip. "Why'd we come down here?!"

"It's closer to the exit, dollface." Blake took two stakes out of his back pockets and tossed one to her. Buffy caught then frowned when he pointed at the crowd of riled fighters. "There's Stev, Dylan won't be far behind." He threw a glance at her. "I've gotta get you outta here, keep close."

She threw an anxious look up at Spike, who was still fighting on the balcony, but before she could blink, Blake was moving. Shoving and staking, he maneuvered like an impatient boxer through the throng, jabbing and ducking and shielding her.

Spike coughed on ashes and leaned over the railing as he looked down. Mayhem swirled around in a pattern of dusted vampires and five lone fighters, and his mate, following one through the fray. Blake kept the vamps at a distance from her, but Buffy was still enclosed.

Spike hopped off the balcony and landed on a vamp who was gunning for Dylan's spikey form. Quickly, he bashed the vamp's face in and then threw a stake into its heart. He was at a dead run before the dust settled.

Buffy felt him behind her before he was ten feet away. She turned around and met his blue eyes, an anxious feeling running over her just before a vampire pounced in between them.

Spike blinked as the she-vamp suddenly burst into gray specs, her ashes falling to the ground. There in the cloud of dust, with a picture of fists flying and axes beheading in the background, Buffy stood with a stake in her hand at eye level. She smiled at him and Spike sped to her.

He enveloped her in his arms and lifted her up, Buffy had enough time to press an urgent kiss to his fangs, but then they were at odds again with their surroundings. Her feet met the ground. Rex went down in the distance, three vamps piling on top of him before Dylan could rush forward to take one off. The thunderbird staked another, and kicked the third off towards Ace.

The black-eyed man dusted absentmindedly before landing a punch to the jaw of another. Blake barely touched the ground, he threw kick after kick at the approaching vamps. Dylan staked the one that landed closest to his feet.

Spike kept Buffy at his side, he punched as hard as he could at the crowd, staking vamps in their backs and taking cheap shots as he fought to get her out.

Buffy couldn't hide from every vampire eye, though. She kept her stake down low and only used it when the aim was good and chests were close. She threw her stake into the hearts of two more undead, one fist always gripping the back of Spike's coat as she followed him.

Numbers were depleting. Antonia, still on the third floor balcony and as observant as an angry hawk, watched in dismay as her little army went to war against five men and slowly fell to dust. With her eyes blazing indigo, and the vibrations in her brain, rage pulsed through her veins; she dropped the little trinket in her hand to the floor.

Looking at her captive quickly making way through the crowd, Antonia ground her teeth. Her eyes narrowed. This wasn't going to work, she would have to reset her plans, get the Gem some other way. She was too weak to use much power, an old spell was making it worse, locked onto her body with invisible claws and sucking her dry. She almost had respect for that tough fighting gypsy down below, the magick pressing down on her was no doubt his work.

Antonia stared heatedly down at them all, thinking of her backup plan. It wouldn't work now, not with the chaos ensuing. She did have one more option, but it was hard to tell if-

Abruptly, something shiny caught her eye, something glowing from a slender wrist in the thinning swarm. Another bracelet, on Elizabeth's wrist, Antonia had seen it before, yes, but... It was nearly... identical to the one currently laying at her feet.

Buffy threw her arms up in attempt to dust a vampire on her right, but too quickly her wrists were enclosed in slender hands. She kneed the female in the stomach and got no more than a grunt. Buffy lunged forward and bit the hands holding her own captive as hard as she could. The vampire lunged back, releasing her grip. Buffy threw a punch out of pure anger before dusting.

Spike wrapped his arm about her torso and hauled her off her feet away from the falling ashes. Buffy was stepping after him when abruptly, she got ripped away.

The lurch on her arm made her curse. Spike's head whipped around.

Antonia had Buffy. She held a small dagger up to her throat to keep her still, glowing eyes locked on the bracelet.

She knew... Buffy gulped, staring at the way the witch held her hand, harsh yet somehow cautious. Antonia knew what it was she was wearing.

"This is the Gem, isn't it?" she said for Buffy's ears only, her tone coated with desperation. "I can feel it."

Spike lunged forward and was tackled by a lone vamp. Antonia backed up with Buffy as her hostage. Spike threw his opponent off of him and Buffy watched Stevo stake it the next second. The room was still in chaos, the fight still raging. Blake looked tired, he had bruises on his face and a rip in his T-shirt. Dylan was against a wall taking punches in the stomach, blood dripping from his lips, before Rex stepped in and staked the assailants. Ace was fighting five opponents at once.

"Let her go!" Spike screamed.

She saw him staring at Antonia's knife pressing into her throat. Buffy swallowed slowly and masked her fear as best she could, she could sense the panic from Spike. It reverberated around her like a thick storm cloud. There was thunder somewhere inside of her, and cold rushed through her insides.

The witch planned to simply take her Gem and then get out. She didn't need revenge or death, she just wanted her treasure, the real win. She told Elizabeth to undo the bracelet and watched as the human moved to do so very slowly.

Buffy's eyes locked with Spike's. She tried to gauge his emotions beneath the turmoil and fear. Did she do as the witch said? Should she undo the chain? Give up the real Gem of Amara? Her gaze stayed steady on her mate as her fingers met with the cool metal around her wrist.

A vampire sprung up behind Spike and plunged a stake through his heart, the pointed tip intruding into his chest cavity like a hot skewer; Buffy's scream deafened the arena of fighters and the world knew the sound of only tragedy.

Her chest exploded in pain and she threw her head back into Antonia's face; the witch went down. Buffy ran, picking off those in her way and staking them, throwing them. Her face became wet as she whipped around bodies and obstacles, she shoved and she threw herself into them like a wrecking ball. Buffy's strength became inhuman, her grief could be tasted.

Spike fell to his knees when she finally reached him, and around her, the fight ended.

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The next chapter will be the last, please review and let me know what you thought. I so so appreciate all of the attention given to this fic and every review and read, thank you all! *hugs*





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