Chapter 2
The moon seemed to chase the car down the deserted road as the gang sped toward town. Xander's heart pounded against his rib cage, much like the pistons of the engine which were causing the steering wheel to vibrate under his gripping fingers. The choking lump in his throat he couldn't compare to mechanics. He swallowed and felt Tara's trembling body squeeze between the two front seats to examine her unconscious girlfriend. With gentle shaking fingers she opened Willow's eyelids. Dead black pools in her eye sockets.
"Should we take her to a hospital?" Xander wasn't sure if it was he or Anya who asked the question.
"No," said Tara. "This is mystical. They couldn't do anything for her there. And," she felt Willow's small body, "nothing seems to be broken, as far as I can tell. We'll take her to the Magic Box -- see if we can find anything there to help her."
"What if that thing follows us there? And destroys the shop?"
"Anya."
"I'm pretty sure it lost our scent when we got in the car."
"What was that thing, anyway."
"I don't know," said Tara. "Scary though. And demon-y. And hungry. It definitely looked hungry."
"So…" Xander paused. "You think that thing ate Buffy."
"Don't be stupid, Xander," snapped Anya, wincing. "That thing was Buffy."
"N-no," Tara said, though she had been thinking the same thing herself.
"Big surprise. Another one of Willow's spells gone wrong --"
"Hey!" Tara said indignantly from her crouching position in the back seat. She stroked Willow's forehead, where beads of sweat had formed. "She did amazing."
"Wait a sec," Xander said as Anya rolled her eyes and reached for her ankle. "What do you mean that was Buffy? I know leather pants are one of the Slayer's trademarks, but last time I checked -- leather skin -- not."
At the Magic Box, they laid Willow on the research table, supporting her with assorted throw pillows.
"Revival potions on that shelf," Anya pointed in the right direction as she slumped in a cushy armchair. "Who knows what that thing is going to do running loose in Sunnydale." She looked toward the magic shop window as if expecting to see the monster peering back at her through the glass. "Wee need--"
"Buffy, I know" interjected Xander.
"I was going to say a plan, or someone strong." Xander looked slightly affronted. "Oh, it's not that you're not strong as far as carpenters go, honey, but I mean supernatural strong. And now that you mention it, Buffy would be a great asset to have right now." She glanced sideways at Willow's slumbering form. "If only the spell would have gone right."
"I told you," said Tara defensively from the bookshelf. "It wasn't her fault. I think something was interfering. The snake that Willow, you know, coughed up. It represents resurrection. So we know the spell was going right until then at least. But then that bird…"
"Made it into a chew toy?" Xander suggested.
"Aha!" Tara seemed to find the potion she was looking for and began gathering materials. Anya for once neglected to object to the larceny of the store's inventory and, on her way to the restroom, merely ambled past the witch who was pulling ingredients from the shelves . Soon the shop was fragrant with the brume of the potion Tara was concocting. The constituents bubbled soothingly and Xander felt slightly guilty that the smell of the potion was comforting to him as it was magic that had got the Willow and the rest of the group into this plight in the first place.
As Tara was finishing up the purple brew, Anya returned, still limping. Xander, who's nervous system had been on fire what seemed like the whole night and was finally ebbing to an ember, finally noticed the discord in her step. He looked at her questioningly.
"Twisted it running in the woods," she said, gesturing to her left ankle.
"Ok, I think it's ready," Tara propped the head of flaming hair up and tipped a goblet of the fragrant potion at the chapped lips of her lover. They all held their breath, expecting Willow to cough and sputter and ask for a glass of water, and when she did, they would breathe again. However, Willow's form remained as still as ever.
"This might be a bit of a stretch," Anya said after a while, "but I've heard of some mystical comas that can only be cured if the afflicted is kissed by someone who truly loves her. I know, Mr. tall, dark, and scary wasn't exactly cupid. And those claws definitely weren't cute little cherub arrows, but it's worth a shot."
"Oh, yeah, I've heard of those, too," Tara agreed with a slight tone of doubt in her voice.
The three of them surrounded the table like they had surrounded Buffy's grave a mere few hours before. Tara stood at Willow's head, watching her small face. It looked peaceful despite the beads of swear that formed on the forehead. If it hadn't been for the blackening of her eyes, representative of the magic that trapped her, beneath closed lids, she might have been sleeping. Tara bent so that her long hair tickled the cheeks of the prostrated girl and tears formed behind her eyes. And when their lips touched, several salty droplets fell onto the sleeping face.
Willow did not stir.
Tara laid her head solemnly on the table, dirty blond hair mixing with red. Xander paced the length of the sales counter and the gestures he made with his hands ranged from hopelessness then to looking like he was on the verge of revealing an epiphany then back to hopelessness. Anya moved to her usual spot on a stool behind the cash register, trying to ignore the pain in her leg. She picked up the cordless telephone as she watched Xander continue to shake his fists and gesticulate to no one in particular.
"Giles isn't answering," she said and started to punch more numbers into the phone.
"Giles!" Xander burst. "Oh God. What is Giles gonna say?"
"Probably that we're blithering fools who don't know sage from Lethe's Bramble," Anya suggested, cradling the cordless on one shoulder. "Only in much more British terminology."
From across the shop, a yelp was heard followed by the thuds of a chair tumbling to the carpet. Xander whipped around to see Tara standing at the research table. Her eyes were fixed downward on Willow and her breath came in shallow, shaking gasps.
"Tara?" Xander rushed over to hold her steady.
"Willow," Tara swallowed. "Her eyes…"
Xander turned his gaze to the face of his prostrated friend, Willow's expression remained unchanged.
"No, her eyes were open…and th-there was blood."
Xander contemplated Tara wearing a fearful expression and then looked back at Willow's pale resting face.
At that moment, the lights went out, causing them both to jump.
"Let's get out of here," said Anya from the light switches.
The bell over the shop's front door rang loud and coldly in the disturbingly quiet road. Xander carried his best friend precariously over the pavement, his eyes deliberately avoiding her visage. Anya leaned on a staff she had swiped from the Magic Box inventory and staggered toward the sedan which was parked haphazardly on the curb.
Clouds drifted over the bright moon, causing the pavement to reflect varying degrees of light. The shadows writhing on the ground gave the impression of figures moving in the sky. As Anya eased herself hurriedly into the front seat, a nightmarish bloodcurdling shriek sounded in the night. Anya glimpsed upward, wildly searching the black sky, thinking absurdly for a moment that the creature hovered above her very head. She slammed the door and yelled "Drive!" but before the words even reached her lips the car was squealing down the street.
Xander frantically attempted to close the distance between the Magic Box and the Summer's home in as little time as possible. It was after the sedan skidded around a particularly sharp corner when the car's interior was flooded with red and blue pulsating light.
"Shit," Xander swore.
"What are you doing?" asked Anya as Xander proceeded to veer onto the curb. "Keep moving!"
Xander looked at her incredulously.
"High speed chase! I've seen it on Court TV."
The engine groaned to a halt and the colored lights continues to rotate silently behind. Xander thought about how they would look to the officer that would soon be walking up to his window. 'Good evening officer. Oh, that's just my girlfriend and her huge magical Gandalf staff. Oh, and the unconscious girl in the back?'… Silence buzzed around them and Xander tapped the steering wheel anxiously with his fingertips. Looking into the rearview mirror only burned a blinding red, white, and blue glare into his retinas.
After a few moments, Anya spoke up. "What's taking this guy so long?" she peered into the side view mirror. "Doesn't he know there's a -- Ahhhhh!"
With the force of a diving bird of prey (in this case, a considerably large bird) something smacked against the windshield. Blood poured down like a river and its many tributaries in the newly formed cracks in the shattered glass and two round blue eyes ogled at the passengers of the sedan. It took only a moment for them to recognize the blood stained uniform of a Sunnydale police officer and in an instant realized that the man sprawled on the hood of the car had just a minute before, inhabited the still-running vehicle behind them.
The interior of the car became filled with a cacophony of outbursts as Tara screamed and Anya shouted commands at Xander, who babbled incoherently. Such was the commotion that no one noticed the black pools that blazed on Willow's countenance.
In a frantic hurry to start the engine Xander inadvertently knocked the wiper blade switch and a horrible grinding sound added to the noise. Blood smeared on the windshield and the wiper blades swatted comically at the police officer's face. He slid slowly down the glass, leaving a trail of blood along the car not unlike a snail leaving his trail on a sidewalk, his flabby cheek squeaking all the way until finally his form slumped onto the pavement.
Xander turned to look at Anya and at that moment several long claws plunged through the ceiling of the car centimeters in front of his face. Snarling noises came from above them as the glistening claws twisted and shredded and dripped.
Instinctively, Anya wielded her staff and commenced to beat back the claws that threatened her fiancés visage. Magical sparks flew from the tip of the staff as well as natural ones as it clashed with the creatures sharp weapons. They bade back slightly but did not fully retreat. Instead, the other set punctured another spot in the cloth and metal of the roof.
At this intrusion, Xander brought the car to life and tore down the street, hoping that no one happened to look out their living room window. 'And why would anyone?' he thought. 'It's not like I'm playing Speed Racer on their street with the worlds loudest demon attached to my roof.'
Anya continued to beat the demon's claws with her staff and just as Tara was thinking that it looked as though she looked like she was playing a game of Whack-A-Mole Xander skidded around a corner on two wheels. The three conscious passengers feared for a second that the beaten-up sedan would tip on its side. This caused the demon standing atop the car to lose grip and slip sideways down the side of the car. Hanging onto the roof still by one of its massive hands, its face was no almost level with the backside passenger window and Tara managed to see a glimpse of its hideous head before it drew back its remaining fist and punched straight through the glass.
The rushing sound of the wind filled the car. The wind blew Tara's hair and stung her eyes but she shielded Willow from the monster. It snarled, and its yellow eyes stared into Tara's, who gaped paralyzed by fear. Its hand crept slowly into the car as it struggled to stay attached to the swerving vehicle. Gray-black skin stunk even in the rushing wind and its clawed glistening hand closed around Willow's ankle.
"No!" Tara screamed, but without reason because as soon as the monster made contact with Willow's skin, it let out one of its deathly shrieks that swallowed up the cry of the girl. It jolted as though shocked and immediately let go. It kicked and screamed twisting its claw in the roof of the car trying to extricate itself. And, taking a chunk of the roof with it, it detached itself and disappeared into the night.
Arriving at the Summer's home, Anya threw open the front door, allowing Xander to carry Willow in. She watched he and Tara scramble up the steps with Willow in tow. She turned around and jumped.
Spike was shuffling in from the living room, looking tired and pasty, even by vampire standards. "What's going on," he inquired, peering up the steps.
"Um, nothing," Anya replied. Then she abruptly put on a show of yawning and stretching. "Xander and I are just going to sleep here tonight and, uh…we plan to have sex."
"Alright, then," he said, donning the characteristic leather duster.
"You can go now," said Anya, standing awkwardly in the hall.
And, giving her one last doubtful glance, he opened the front door and strode into the night.
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Author Note: If you like this story, please review. I would really like to continue it and your reviews might be just the motivation I need to. On that note, also please feel free to let me know if you dislike it and why :]