AN: Hey everyone, I'm loving this story but I would love to see reviews pretty please :)
Warnings and Disclaimers: I tend to write pretty intense stuff so if you can't handle the lady lovin' or just regular lovin' I suggest you turn away. On that note, I'm just borrowing these awesome characters, they belong completely to Joss Whedon.
The Redeemers
A Small City
Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, Robin, and Kennedy walked into the city. Each one of them had a weapon ready to fight the alleged Witch-Demon who caused this much damaged.
Buffy led the way and Faith covered her back. Kennedy stayed behind the entire group watching all of their backs. They didn't want to bring anymore slayers until they assessed the gravity of the situation.
"If this really is a Witch-Demon, I'm not sure I'm strong enough to stop her," Willow said, "what if her magic is stronger?"
"Don't sell yourself short Will, you are a the one who saved the world," Xander said.
"I just activated them, they're the ones who saved the world," Willow said bashfully.
"No Red, I think Xand here has a point," Faith agreed, "we wouldn't have won if you hadn't activated them. There's no way me, B, and Spike would have been enough."
"Let's..." Buffy interrupted, "not talk about Spike."
Faith raised her hands, "sorry B."
"You miss him huh Buffy?" Xander said.
Buffy glanced at him then nodded. Only Xander got away with saying things like that mostly because he could see things others couldn't even with his one eye.
"That battle was intense," Robin said attempting to change the subject since the mood was heavy, "but look at our lives now. We're much happier."
"Ah Wood, always the optimistic one," Faith said sarcastically.
"I wish I would have been your Principal Faith, I would teach you a thing or two about that attitude," Robin said.
Xander suddenly whirled around and firmly said, "we DON'T make wishes!"
Robin jumped back in surprise and confusion. "Whoa relax Xander," Kennedy said.
"Xand he doesn't know," Willow said calmly.
"Know what?" Robin said.
"There are demons who grant wishes, three times we've almost been screwed over by a wish, though one of the times we don't remember," Buffy said.
"Oh yes the vampire Willow," Willow said shaking her head.
"Whoa Red, there's a vampire version of you out there?" Faith said, "now that's a fight I'd like to have!"
"She was accidentally pulled from another dimension," Xander explained as they continued walking, "Buffy and I really thought they had gotten Willow, we started crying."
"Oh so there were two of you!" Robin said his voice full of mirth, "that must have been interesting."
"She was a crazy lesbian," Willow said.
"And that has changed how Red?" Faith teased.
Willow blushed, "I'm not a CRAZY lesbian!"
"I beg to differ," Kennedy said.
Faith howled in laughter, Robin and Xander shifted uncomfortably, Willow turned so red she looked like a tomato, and Buffy wasn't at all surprised.
"It's the quiet ones you gotta look out for huh Red?" Faith taunted walking backwards to look at Willow. She liked watching her blush.
And Willow gave her what she wanted by blushing deeply.
Kennedy smirked as she put in her input, "she'd rock your world Faith."
"Why do I doubt that?" Faith teased.
Willow's eyes narrowed and though she was embarrassed she said, "I wouldn't if I were you."
"Ooo Red," Faith said, "getting ballsy on me huh?"
Buffy's laughter ended their banter, "guys, as entertaining as this is, let's try to focus."
"Y-yeah focus," Xander said gulping.
Robin chuckled and shrugged.
"Faith started it!" Willow accused.
"Did not!"
"No actually, I started it," Kennedy said.
It was in the corner of her eye that Faith saw the flash in the alleyway between two burning building. On instinct she reached out towards Willow and grabbed.
Her hand closed firmly around a metal tipped arrow that was inches away from Willow's face.
"Whoa!" Kennedy cried.
"There's the shooter!" Robin exclaimed.
"She's running! Come on!" Xander cried.
Buffy ran after her but not before calling back to Faith, "nice catch."
Faith simply moved the arrow away from Willow surprised that she even caught it. Willow was still a bit stunned when she said, "thanks for saving me."
"Hey no problem, let's go," Faith said.
"There she is!" Kennedy cried shooting an arrow from her crossbow at her. The demon skillfully dodged the arrow and pushed Xander away as he swung at her with a long sword.
Robin attacked at full force extracting his metal fists as he swung at her. He got a good punch in that made her stagger back. She retaliated with a kick that Robin barely dodged.
Faith and Kennedy ran towards her and she turned her body with another kick and hit Robin in the face.
Buffy, however, got there first tackling her from behind. She turned the demon around and her brow furrowed, "hey this is a vampire!"
The vamp quickly punched Buffy in the jaw, knocking her off of her.
Faith and Kennedy lunged forward with stakes in their hands. Willow's eyes widened as she saw the vampire, "she looks familiar, I know her!"
The vampire raised her hand and released a magical burst that sent Faith and Kennedy flying back. Then raising her hand Xander's sword connected with a yellow barrier instead of her hand. She moved her other hand and shot out a burst of purple electricity towards Robin. Buffy yanked him out of the way barely on time.
"Oh my God!" Willow cried.
"Ah I see you recognize me," the vamp said with a sadistic smirk.
Willow let out a small growl and shot out a burst of white electricity towards her. The vamp deflected it with her arm.
"So she's not a Witch-Demon, she's a vampire-witch!" Xander cried.
"And not just any vampire-witch," the vamp said changing from the ridges to her normal face, "one you know."
"Amy!" Buffy cried.
"You sadistic bitch, you got yourself converted on purpose!" Willow cried shooting another energy blast.
Amy caught the blast with an evil grin and shot it towards Faith, "that's for saving her when I shot her!"
"Faith!" Buffy and Robin cried at the same time.
Kennedy's foot shot out and kicked Faith's thigh making her move to the side. It was just enough so that the blast hit her shoulder instead of fatally on her chest.
Willow let out a distressed yelp as Faith fell to the floor howling in pain.
Amy smirked, "Willow, are you hurting your friends again?"
Willow let out a feral growl and her hair turned white. White electricity crackled around her and her pupils turned black.
"Shit! Move move!" Kennedy said tackling Xander away.
Buffy pushed Robin away hard then crouched down to the floor protecting Faith from the stray blasts with her body.
Amy stepped back looking terrified as Willow lifted her hand and shot out an electric blast so strong that it completely destroyed Amy's shield. She shrieked in pain as the electricity covered her entire body.
"Willow! Stop!" Xander cried.
With a growl Buffy grabbed Faith's stake and flung it at Amy. The stake hit her in the chest but missed her heart. Faith, who had just recovered, ran to Willow and shook her out of the spell as Kennedy threw her stake at Buffy. Buffy caught it swiftly and ran towards Amy who was staggering on her feet sobbing in pain.
Willow's knees went weak as her hair went back to red and her eyes went back to green. Faith caught her firmly, "whoa Red, easy there."
"Faith," Willow said weakly looking at the nasty burn mark on Faith's arm, "I hurt you."
"No you didn't Amy did," Faith assured.
Buffy raised her arm and lunged forward the stake Amy one and for all but a burst of energy pushed her back and enveloped Amy. Amy looked confused and terrified, "what's happening!"
Buffy turned and saw that Faith was supporting a weakened Willow, "it's not me."
"Then what the hell is going on!" Buffy cried.
"Buff look! Amy's disappearing!" Xander said.
Everyone watched in horror and confusion as Amy disappeared yelling out, "someone help me!"
"What the fuck?" Kennedy breathed standing up.
"No one put a spell or curse or anything?" Robin asked.
"No," Willow answered.
"We need to see Giles," Buffy said, "something bad is afoot."
...
A Hell Dimension
"No, no! Please no!"
"Anya," Spike said shaking the woman, "wake up!"
"No!" Anya cried waking up while punching Spike in the cheek.
"Ow!"
"Sorry," Anya said, "I still have nightmares about the torture."
"I know, I do too sometimes," Spike said, "this is a great hiding place. We've been hiding in the vents of every dimension we've gone to for 36 years now."
"I'm surprised we haven't been caught in all this time," Anya said with a sigh.
"Doesn't mean we haven't had some good rumbles," Spike said.
Anya looked at the scar on her arm, her calf, and she knew she had one on the side of her neck. Spike being a vampire recovered mostly, but even he had permanent scars. A lot of them were on his chest and stomach where the demon-guards had tried to stake him. They all looked like little scratches while Anya's looked like long disgusting gashes. The only gash Spike had was the long gash on his temple.
"Do you think they heard me waking up from the dream?" Anya said worriedly.
Spike looked out the vent holes and saw the demon-guards searching each other, looking for the fugitives in disguise.
"Damn, we need to leave this dimension now," Spike said.
"But this is the human Hell dimension, the last Hell dimension, we don't know where the portal will lead us," Anya said.
"If we stay here they will catch us," Spike said, "we need to sodding leave."
"What if it takes us back to the beginning like a circle?" Anya said.
"Then we'll go through it again and try to find other portals," Spike said, "they're coming, we have to go!"
Anya grabbed her things and waiting for Spike's cue to start running. "And if it takes us out of the Hell dimension and into something worse?"
Spike sighed, "that's the thing with you Anya you were always scared to take a risk."
"I did at the end, that's how I ended up here," Anya said.
"I know, so what's the worse that could happen? More torture? Being killed out of existence? That's better than being here," Spike said. "We haven't been fighting for 36 years to just give up."
Anya took a deep breath and said, "let's go."
Spike nodded and prepared to jump out of the vent. "Just jump out after me and run. Run and don't look back. Run directly to the portal and jump in no hesitation."
"Right, they will shoot at us so any hesitation means the end," Anya said.
"Ready? One, two...THREE!"
Spike jumped out first and Anya followed quickly behind. They ran as the demon-guards cried, "there they are!"
Suddenly demon-guards were running out from everywhere. Spike punched one away and tugged Anya away from another who jumped at her. Arrows started flying at them so they started running in zigzag, unpredictable lines.
They were passing the jail cells where the tortured evil humans started yelling at them.
Warren reached out and almost grabbed Spike yelling out, "take me with you! Don't leave me here!"
"Fuck you asshole!" Anya said swatting his hand away.
"You'll never make it!" Wilkins yelled from another cell. The mayor hadn't gone quite as deliriously crazy as Warren.
"Yes we will snake-boy," Spike growled, "don't listen to them Anya."
"I'm not supposed to be here!" Ben screeched as they passed him, "it's her fault!"
His body changed into Glory and she yelled, "get me out of here!"
"Stop them!" A demon-guard shouted.
Two guards jumped in front of them, Spike ducked under a flying arm and the other grabbed Anya. Spike punched his guard so hard he turned around and when that happened he grabbed his neck and snapped it.
The demon-guard who had been holding Anya released her and tackled Spike down.
"Spike!" Anya cried.
"Go! Into the portal!" Spike yelled struggling to get free.
"But Spike..."
"Go!"
Anya moved to run but she knew she couldn't make it without Spike and he was doomed if she left. Summoning up her courage she grabbed a pipe and hit the demon-guard on the head. Spike wiggled free as another guard punched Anya hard. He caught the pipe as she dropped it and slammed it against the demon-guard's chest.
Then without hesitation he grabbed Anya's hand and ran to the portal. They jumped in narrowly missing the demon-guard's hand that tried to grab them.
They were falling in an abyss. Surrounding them was a stream of purple and red and at the bottom of the pit was pure darkness.
"We're falling into nothingness!" Anya cried.
"What?" Spike yelled.
"I heard about this from Dehafran! There's a portal that leads to nothingness where you cease to exist and everyone who ever knew you will forget you!" Anya cried.
"No!" Spike yelled.
"It was nice knowing ya Spike," Anya said as tears spilled from her eyes.
Spike grabbed her hand, "we had a good run girl."
As they fell a door from the top of the abyss opened.
"What the hell is that?" Anya said.
A female voice yelled out, "take my hand!"
Two different hands stuck out from the door. "Grab on!" Spike yelled at Anya.
"What if it's a trap?" Anya cried.
"It's better than this," Spike said. Spike grabbed one arm and Anya the other. They let go of each other's hands to grab on to the helpful hands of two women. It took quite a struggle but slowly Spike and Anya were pulled up.
The door shut behind them and they looked at their surroundings. They were on some sort of cloud and the entire area was white, like if they were inside a cloud. Spike and Anya looked at their saviors and gasped.
"Tara!" Anya cried.
"Mrs. Summers!" Spike cried.
"Call me Joyce please," Buffy's mother said with a brilliant smile. She was simply glowing wearing that white dress. Tara looked just as peaceful and happy.
"Tara where are we?" Anya asked pulling the woman into a hug, "Willow has missed you ya know."
"I know, and she refuses to move on," Tara said, "she has to let me go."
"And Buffy is taking the mother role so seriously she's missing out on her own youth," Joyce said, "we've been watching you."
"I knew you were," Spike said.
"You two have made valiant sacrifices," Joyce said.
"And the gods have agreed to grant you amnesty," Tara said.
"Meaning we can spend eternity in Heaven instead of Hell?" Anya asked hopefully.
"Not quite," Tara said.
"You still have demons in your core," Joyce said, "but there's another option."
"It's a form of punishment for your past sins which you obviously regret," Tara said, "but also your form of redemption."
"And what is that?" Spike asked.
"You will lose the demon at your core and it will be replaced with the power of light," Joyce said.
"Meaning you will be guardian angels," Tara said, "you will have magic, strength, and speed to keep the world safe. You will spend the rest of eternity on Earth as their guardians."
"We will go back to life?" Anya said excitedly. Everyone knew how much Anya loved life and feared death, this must have been a dream come true for her.
"That's where the punishment comes in," Joyce said. "You are completely immortal and indestructible until everyone you've ever loved and cared about passes away. Once they are all gone you can be killed."
"That's why you two didn't take the job for yourselves huh?" Spike asked.
"I would love nothing more than to be with my Willow but I can't watch her age and die and Joyce can't see her daughters do that too," Tara said.
"Besides the power cannot be kept by a human, it has to be someone with a demon core," Joyce said.
"So I will no longer be an ex-vengeance demon?"
"And I won't be a vampire?"
"No," Joyce said.
"I don't see a negative side to this, I've already seen a lot of people age and die in my lifetime," Spike said, "I'll just be happy to be with Buffy again."
Joyce smiled, "she meant what she said ya know."
"What?"
"That she loves you."
Spike shook his head, "no, she said it because she knew I was gonna die."
Joyce grabbed his hand and looked firmly into his eyes, "no. She didn't."
Spike blinked in surprise. His heart swelled and he couldn't stop the smile that crept onto his face.
"Let's do it," Anya said, "I need to be with Xander again and this time I don't even care if he marries me or not, I just wanna be with him."
"The moment you came in here you were granted your powers," Tara said, "now the task is getting you back to Earth."
"I figure that's the hard part," Spike said.
"Anyone who died by natural causes can never get out of here, but you two died fighting at the Hellmouth, which is mystical," Joyce said.
"So we can get out of here!" Anya said happily.
"Not without risk," Joyce said, "we have to get someone powerful enough to open a portal. This means that the person opening the portal will gain extremely dangerous magic."
"It also means that someone who is soulless has to do it," Tara said.
"So that person will kill people," Anya said.
"I can see the downside," Spike said, "is it the only way?"
"Yes, that makes your job even more important," Joyce said.
"You must jump out of the portal fast and destroy the monster before she kills anyone," Tara said.
"If she kills a single person the portal will never be closed," Joyce said.
"You say 'she,'" Spike said, "do already know who it will be?"
"We will summon her now," Joyce said.
"You will give her the spell and convince her to open the portal," Tara said.
"Easy, she's evil, more power will not be something she'll deny," Anya said.
"True, it will be very easy to do so," Spike said.
"She's here," Tara said.
Amy appeared in the room, but it was only a holographic sort of image, in the real world she was in an abandoned dark factory the location of the portal opening.
"Where am I?" Amy cried bringing out her vampiric ridges.
"She converted," Spike said in surprise.
"A vampire-witch," Anya said, "not usual. So what do we tell her?"
"We will send her the spell book she needs," Joyce said.
"You just convince her and tell her the book is in the drawer," Tara said.
"She'll recognize my voice," Anya said, "go for it Spike."
Spike walked to the vision and started speaking to her, "Amy..."
Amy nearly jumped out of her skin looking around the dark factory and seeing nothing, "who's there?"
"I am a demon from the other side," Spike said.
"What?" Amy said in confusion.
"I've been observing you," Spike said, "you seem to have a problem with Willow Rosenburg."
Amy scowled, "I hate her."
"She doesn't even work half as hard as you and she's more powerful than you by miles," Spike said.
Amy growled in anger.
"Don't you wish you were more powerful than her?" Spike said.
"It's the only thing I want," Amy seethed.
"I even tried to control Willow by making her evil but she beat me," Spike said.
Amy's eyes widened, "that was you?"
"Yes," Spike said smirking as he realized Amy was completely under his spell.
Amy knelt down on one knee, "then I live to serve you."
Spike glanced back at Anya who smiled victoriously. He looked back at Amy and said, "there's a way to bring me out of where I am. See I was cursed and locked here. I tried to use Willow's power to open the portal but I failed."
"And you want me to open it?" Amy said, "if Willow couldn't do it..."
"If you couldn't do it I wouldn't have summoned you," Spike said.
Amy smirked, "and if I do so you will kill Willow?"
"Better, by opening the portal you will gain an insurmable amount of power, you will be powerful enough to kill her yourself," Spike said.
Amy smirked, "what do I need to do?"