[Reviews - 15]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 641 times

- Text Size +




Downstairs an air of unease had pervaded the tension. Giles and the Scooby Gang were researching like little busy bees. However, so far they’d come up with a grand total of zip and nada.

The Watcher was starting to worry that there was no way to undo this. The way the spell was worded had made it clear that no reversal spell would work on it. It seemed like his Slayer was doomed to fade away, perhaps the worst kind of death for a Slayer, especially one as talented as Buffy.

“Hmm, this is i-interesting,” Tara muttered shyly, shattering the disquieting hush of the room.

“Have you found something?” asked Giles, raising his eyes from his book to look at her.

Tara nodded unsurely, blushing profusely when she realized all of the attention was suddenly focused on her.

“This incantation, the one that W-Willow used, it s-seems to act as a c-cleansing spell. It l-literally s-strips the person of their memory, and then takes away their e-essence. It took Buffy b-back to the m-memory of when she was under W-Willow’s s-spell and now she’s p-progressing farther to the p-point where she doesn’t even remember who she i-is. W-without a way to stop it they just f-float away and d-dissolve into…nothing.”

Giles sighed. “Hmm, I know that Tara. What we need is to find a way to reverse that.”

“Well that was a huge load of non-help,” Xander remarked rudely, still smarting from his earlier chastisement.

“Shut up Xander!” Giles said sternly. He was reaching the end of his rope with the boy. “I don’t see you offering anything more.”

“Well we already know what the spell does, G-man. I don’t need a re-run of that.”

“Maybe you should have known what the spell did before you actually decided to use it!” Giles pursed his lips and glanced at Tara. “I take it you hadn’t quite finished when you were so rudely interrupted.”

The mousy girl ducked her head and nodded slightly. “There’s more,” she agreed.

“Let’s have it,” Giles requested kindly.

This time Xander managed to keep his mouth shut.

Tara cleared her throat and lowered her eyes to the scrawled passage in front of her. “T-There was a case similar to this one back in the 1840’s. In P-Paris, a y-young girl was cursed by a jilted lover. He wanted to ‘tear out her very essence to punish her for condemning him to an eternity without her love’.”

“He was a vampire?” inquired Xander with distaste. “I mean…the ‘eternity’ thing stinks of undead. Not to mention the whole cursing thing. Undead stenchiness right there.”

“No.” Tara shook her head. “I-I don’t think s-so. He was a h-human.”

“It’s likely the ‘eternity’ comment was figurative, Xander,” clarified Giles, before turning back to Tara. “Please do go on.”

“She started to regress, her m-memory faded quickly and within a week she d-didn’t even remember her own n-name and she was as weak as a k-kitten. W-Well, the girl’s sister was h-heartbroken at her beloved s-sister’s demise. According to this b-book she’d dabbled in the occult before and she was able to t-trace the source of the spell. S-so she did her own spell to tie their essences together. The s-sister acted as an anchor and their life f-forces were connected. It was a s-success and they were tied t-together until they died.”

Tara lifted her gaze and shyly glanced around at all the expectant faces, blushing deeper at being the continuing center of attention.

Giles looked positively ecstatic. “Of course! The spell is whittling away Buffy’s memories and life force, but if we can anchor her essence then that should break Willow’s original spell and bring her back to herself. In fact, I believe that if we can find an anchor then her memories may all be restored too.”

The redhead stifled a whimper at Giles’ somewhat accusatory tone when he referred to her spell. She still didn’t think this situation was totally her fault, having just done what was clearly best for Buffy in this situation. Trust Giles to be stuffy and not think about anyone else but his Slayer. Willow had to admit that she could feel the slight sting of jealousy in her veins.

“So we just need to find someone to anchor Buffy to,” Giles declared.

Xander rose to his feet and smirked. “I’ll volunteer,” he announced proudly, desperately ignoring the scowl that formed on his girlfriend’s face when he made his declaration.

“That could work,” Willow agreed. “And bonus! Xander and Buffy are best friends so we know that he’s the best choice of anchor there could be.”

The two old friends shared an indulgent smile and simultaneously preened themselves.

“Hah!” Anya scoffed. Four pairs of eyes whipped toward her but she merely shrugged and casually took a bite out of her jelly donut. “What? That would never work.”

“And why might that be?” Giles probed, taking note of the boy’s dark expression.

Anya sighed and rolled her eyes. Sometimes she couldn’t quite fathom how these people had survived so long when they were clearly missing a few lemons in their proverbial fruit basket.

“Buffy’s a Slayer…a supernatural creature,” she explained slowly, as if she was talking to a crowd of children. “Her essence is far stronger than a human’s. Tying her to Xander would be like trying to anchor an anvil with a feather,” Anya informed them.

“Don’t be silly Ahn,” Xander responded sulkily. “My essence is very hard!”

“No, it’s not Xander. Your penis is often very hard, yes, except for when you suffer that unfortunate condition that you told me happens to every man.”

Xander choked, his cheeks turning a prominent shade of raspberry. “Ahn! Remember that conversation about things we never ever say in public.”

Anya continued, unfazed. “You know I always enjoy your nice hard, penis, especially when it gets as hard as steel after I do that thing with my tongue that you love so much, but your essence couldn’t be…softer. It’s just as weak as any other human’s. I was a demon for eleven hundred years. I do know something about this.”

“Well quite!” nodded Giles, the frown returning in full force to his haggard visage. He would pretend that he never heard any of the disturbing sex talk, but Anya’s other words were quite informative. “That would make sense.”

“Oh Goddess!” Willow exclaimed, clasping a shaky hand over her mouth. “So what can we do?”

“More research, I guess,” suggested Xander, his gut still roiling at the rejection. Deep down he’d hoped that if Buffy had been tied to him then he might have been able to realize some of his high school wet dreams for real. Then his stupid girlfriend had to go ruin it all.

“Or instead of spending hours on more research you could spend your time finding a supernatural being to anchor her to,” Anya interjected, munching on a mouthful of her donut. “That would make more sense.”

“Right, because we keep a closet full of supernatural beings just for emergencies like this one,” Xander said sarcastically.

“W-we do have one…u-upstairs,” Tara piped up in a small voice, leaning forward so her hair covered most of her face.

“You mean Spike?” Giles asked her and she nodded.

The Englishman considered her suggestion. Spike was a soulless vampire who’d been one quarter of the Scourge of Europe. He’d spent more than a century terrorizing the world with unfathomable evils, but Giles hadn’t missed the way this supposedly evil vampire had worried about the Slayer. He’d even professed words of love for her that he no doubt believed to be true. And he did have the chip in his head to restrain him.

Could Spike really be the savior of a Slayer he’d tried to murder numerous times?

“Well I can’t say he’d be my first choice for an anchor for Buffy but perhaps he wouldn’t be the worst choice in the world,” conceded the Brit wearily.

“No!” Willow and Xander exclaimed in unison.

“The whole point of this spell was to get her away from Evil Dead!” Xander chimed in angrily surging to his feet. “And you want to tie her to him?”

“I want to save her bloody life!” Giles yelled.

“That won’t save it,” Willow shouted. “It would ruin it. She’s always hated Spike.”

“I don’t think she hates him,” Anya said bluntly with a shrug. “When she was sticking her tongue down his throat in Restfield the other night she didn’t look very hate-y. In fact, she looked like she wanted him for an orgasm friend.”

The young brunet man looked even greener around the gills as he absorbed his girlfriend’s frank words.

“Even if she doesn’t despise his bloodthirsty, murdering guts,” Xander continued, hostile and incensed. “He’s a vampire! He’s one of the creatures that Buffy was born to kill!”

Giles shook his head angrily, his temper finally snapping. He loved these children as if they were his own flesh and blood but he couldn’t condone their behavior any longer. His eyes flashed fire as he glanced between Willow and Xander.

“You two idiots have nearly killed her off and you still think it’s your place to dictate her life. I suggest you both stop and think about what will happen if we don’t anchor her to…Spike.”

“I didn’t think you were a Spike fan, G-man,” Xander said coldly.

“I’m not,” he whipped his glasses off his nose and began to polish them. “But I love Buffy as if she were my own daughter. And for that reason I must do whatever it takes to save her life, even if it seems objectionable in the interim.”

“I forbid it,” yelled Xander, his skin turning the color of a damson plum. “You can’t do this! She would hate to be tied to that thing.”

“You don’t have any authority to forbid anything,” Giles said incredulously.

“Shouldn’t we be asking the Slayer what she wants?” another, rougher British voice piped up.

Every pair of eyes whipped up to see Spike standing tensely at the top of the stairs. His cerulean eyes were still slightly hazy with sleep, but the raised voices had woken him. The vampire had clambered out from his space next to his Slayer in order to find out exactly what was going on. This research seemed to be taking way too long and he’d never been a patient man.

He ambled down the steps and came to a standstill at the bottom, a murderous expression etched on his otherwise stony face. As his gaze flickered over Xander and his little witchy pal his eyes glowed a deep shade of amber.

“Spike, we were just discussing our options,” Giles said explanatorily.

“I heard,” the vampire said flatly, his tone betraying nothing of his true feelings about the suggestion. However, the stony set of his eyes made him look every inch the predator that he really was.

“I understand it may not be the best option or the most sensible but it may be the only choice we have,” Giles assured him, wishing he could read his fellow Brit. However, Spike’s face was carefully schooled into indifference.

“It’s not even an option,” said Xander, butting in once again. “I won’t let Buffy be tied to…to that thing.”

“What makes you think I want to spend the rest of my eternity bound to a Slayer?” Spike asked even as his heart leapt painfully beneath his ribs. The thought of having Buffy by his side for an eternity was almost too much to hope for and he didn’t want to put his heart on the line once again only to have it crushed.

“We don’t think you would, Evil Dead, except for some…nefarious reason,” Xander spat. “That’s why I offered.”

“I believe Anya already explained why that’s not an option,” Giles said irritated at the boy.

“Anya doesn’t know everything,” retorted the dark haired man, ignoring his girlfriend’s hurt look. “She was just a demon, not a freakin’ supernatural expert.”

The blond vampire didn’t miss the hurt that flickered across the former demon’s pretty face, even if her boyfriend didn’t pick up on it. “You might want to shut your gob if you fancy ever getting your pin sized dick wet again,” chuckled Spike, reveling in the boy’s discomfort at his comment.

Apparently he’d struck a nerve there.

Big ego, small…

“Shut the hell up, Spike,” Xander bit back lamely.

Spike merely laughed again. “Your demon bird isn’t looking too happy right about now. You better start getting acquainted with Mary Palm and her five sisters, mate.”

“I’m not your mate!” Xander sizzled.

Eager to avoid a knock down duke out Willow coughed loudly. “Maybe Xander’s right and Spike isn’t the best idea for this,” she said thoughtfully.

“Then who do you suggest?” asked Giles, wearily removing his glasses from his face. Absently he began to polish them with a handkerchief.

She swallowed and glanced down at her suddenly fascinated fingernails. “Uh, well…what about Angel?” suggested Willow, ignoring the probing gaze of his grandchilde. “Maybe we could bind her to him. At least she loves him.”

Spike flinched imperceptibly but squared his shoulders before anyone could notice. “Oh yeah that’s a bloody genius idea,” he scoffed scathingly. “Let’s bind the Slayer to a vamp with a dicky soul! What a brilliant plan! What happens if his soul goes bye bye, Red? Buffy gets really dead really fast, that’s what. Either that or she has to kill him. And guess what happens then if her binding partner goes poof. Oh yeah, she gets dead.”

Willow glowered at Spike’s words, even if she knew they were true. But the veracity of his speech wasn’t the point! With Buffy out of action Willow was supposed to be the default leader of the group except for Giles and yet that annoying vamp thought he could infiltrate them and take away her control.

Giles stood up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think it can be widely acknowledged that Angel isn’t an option.”

“Neither is Spike!” Xander growled. “If he gets the chip out he’s just a mini Angelus!”

“I’m nothing like that buggering sod,” Spike assured the boy coldly. “Angelus is a sadist. Even with this chip he’d have found a way to bathe in all your blood. Every single one of you would be vamp chow if he was in my situation, chip or no chip.”

“And you wouldn’t just love to kill us?” Xander scoffed.

“I’d love to kill you, you stupid, annoying git. But I wouldn’t, even if I got the chance.”

“Why not?” Xander asked with a smug look, clearly not believing a single one of Spike’s words.

“Why not?” He exhaled heavily, titling his head heavenward, wondering how the Slayer put up with this raving buffoon. “It’d hurt the Slayer to lose you lot. Even you, Monkey Boy. No matter what a bunch of morons you can be, she loves you. And I wouldn’t hurt her that way.”

“But you hate Buffy,” Willow pointed out, letting out a quiet ‘eep’ when Spike shifted into game face.

“No, I don’t hate her, Red,” he roared. “I love that woman. I love her more than my own unlife and I’d do anything for her, even if it means giving up being evil. So yeah, I’m a pussy-whipped git and even worse than that souled ponce Angel. You can all laugh at how pathetic ole Spike is. But I don’t give a flying fuck. Because Buffy’s my girl and I won’t hurt her. And I won’t let her die because of your incompetence. If the only way to save her is to bind her to a damned creature like me then that’s what you’ll bloody well do. You got it?”

He didn’t wait for a reply. The vampire whirled around and stormed back up the stairs leaving five stunned faces staring after him.





You must login (register) to review.