Consequence

Chapter 2 – Barrage

After I left the cafeteria, I could tell it wasn't Nelson trying out an unwise spell that was making me feel sick. Something else, some stranger was pulling on me, pulling on my magical energy. Oh, hell no!

Stumbling, I made my way through the Command Room and into the space beyond. Lined with comfy couches and tables, with a big work space in the middle and bookshelves covering one whole wall, this was my place. This was where I taught magic and where my students and I tended to convene during times like this. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure only I knew something was wrong. And everyone else was eating dinner.

Sitting down and closing my eyes, I poured more energy into the wards around the castle, wondering how someone was getting through them. But, the more energy I gave, the more that stranger pulled, trying to steal it. Grr.

I pushed back against him, strengthening my own personal shields. This was no good at all.

The two of us pushed and pulled over and over again, fighting in a medium only we could feel and see. I wanted to call out, I wanted to tell someone, anyone, we were under attack, but every time I divided my attention to do so, the edges of my vision dimmed dangerously. And then, I pulled a little too hard, the stranger let go, a backlash of energy slammed into me, and everything went black.

I woke with a start, the alarms blaring and someone shaking my shoulder. "Willow! Willow? Wake up!"

"Huh?" I said, my eyes fluttering open to worried blue eyes and spiked blond hair. "Andrew? What happened?"

"I don't know," the guy said, helping me sit up. "Everything just went ah-oo-gah and Xander asked me to find you. There's all this lightning outside and I think I heard something about demons at the gate."

Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs, I told Andrew, "Someone tried to steal my magic. I couldn't even tell anyone."

"Steal your magic?" Andrew asked. "Whoa, that's not cool."

"It really isn't," I replied, standing up and leading the way back to the Command Room, which was now buzzing with activity.

"So, did they, like…" Andrew asked, right on my heels.

"Get my magic?" I asked. When he nodded, I replied, "No. They didn't." Feeling steadier on my feet, I ran up to Xander, putting a hand on his arm to get his attention away from the monitors and asking him, "What's going on?"

"Major attack," he replied, his eye still on one of the monitors that showed a security-camera view of the main gate. And hell was breaking loose. "See those bright streaks in the sky?" he asked, pointing to the screen.

"Yeah?" I nodded sharply. "Magic?"

"Uh-huh," Xander replied. "Bethany's leading the defense from the top of the West Tower. I think she might want you to get up there."

"Thanks, Xan," I said, patting his arm and hoping he was doing okay. He'd been having trouble focusing since Renee left, but maybe a crisis like this was just the thing to get him over it, to remind him how valuable he was around here.

I ran from the room, heading for the stairs up the tower. Briefly, I considered finding and jumping out the nearest window to fly up there, but I'd probably just get zapped. Better to stay inside and undercover until I knew what was going on. It was a good twenty feet before I realized Andrew was following me.

"Andrew?" I asked, a little winded from all the physical activity. My lungs sure missed the semi-regular Sunnydale patrols and running-for-our-lives.

"I can help," the boy called up at me. "I can, I don't know. Like, hijack some of the demons or something."

"Yeah, good," I nodded, panting as we climbed the cut-stone stairs two at a time, clinging to the railings Xander had installed during his free time.

Lungs burning, heart pumping up in my throat, and leg muscles quivering, I made it up to the top, Andrew not too far behind me. He'd been training with Xander and the Watcher students, and it definitely showed, since he wasn't nearly as winded as I was.

"Beth!" I cried when I saw her, finding at least ten of my students and colleagues up there with her, hurling whatever magic they could muster from the open windows. The witch in question was panting, bent over with her hands on her knees and sweat damping down her long braided brown hair. "What's the sitch?"

"At least five sorcerers," she told me, pointing toward the window. I hurried forward to get a good look. "Over the south wall, to the right, there," she continued, joining me, her brown eyes flashing in the light of the spells cast by our coven. "They're good. Big damage to the stonework outside already. We're having a bitch of a time bringing them down."

"Over there?" I pointed, seeing a few figures in the shadows beyond the wall. The sparks and orbs attacking us seemed to come from that direction.

"Yeah," she nodded, stumbling backward and sitting heavily on the floor. I noticed then that a few more of our witches and warlocks were laid out on the ground, and I prayed to every deity I could think of that they were just resting, that none of them were dead.

"This has to end," I said, more to myself than anyone else. Whoever these guys were, they couldn't hurt my friends and charges. They couldn't hurt my people.

Because I was Willow.

And I could destroy them with a thought if I wanted to. And holy crap, did I want to!

But, I couldn't go down that road again. I couldn't let go like that. I had to stay in control. So, I mustered my abilities, closing my eyes and gathering my strength before whispering a spell and sending an explosive ball of energy screaming toward that group of sorcerers. They thought they were safe, sticking together like that, but they weren't. They were fish in an effing barrel.

How scary is that?

"What's going on?" I asked Buffy as she led me away from Spike and into the castle again. Before stepping over the threshold, I took one last look back to see my boyfriend throwing himself into the fight head first, and I longed to be down there next to him, if only to make sure he wouldn't do something stupid.

"Not sure," Buffy replied, "but they got in first over the wall and onto the garage. Laney found one of the little slayers half-dead and sounded the alarm. We have no idea how many got in before we got up there and pushed them back. It's our job to find and eliminate any that might have gotten through."

Suddenly very worried, I followed Buffy through the hallways, heading towards the back of the building and the service entrances. "The injured slayer? It wasn't ...?"

"No," Buffy told me to my great relief. "Rita's fine. I think Xander sent her toward the dorms to rustle up more help."

"Good," I nodded, letting out an unneeded breath I'd been holding. Rita had taken the job as my assistant, helping me out with the paperwork in between school and training with Dawn, her Watcher. We'd been working together for about a week, and she was really starting to grow on me, so much so that I worried about her safety. Also, I certainly didn't want to have to replace her so quickly.

"Up ahead," Buffy whispered, stopping me with a hand on my arm and nodding toward the storerooms behind the kitchen. Now that I knew they were there, I could smell and hear the intruders clearly.

"Vampires," I told Buffy, who nodded and patted the stake up her jacket sleeve to make sure it was there, hefting her sword again, rebalancing it. I did the same, checking my weapons, and followed Buffy into the room.

"Hey, guys!" she cheerfully greeted the four of them, none very old. At her voice, they all looked up from a pile of paper-wrapped blocks they had stacked up around one of the support columns. Something told me this was not good. Not at all.

Then, one of the vamps went for a device sitting on the ground near them, but I was quicker, throwing my sword through his chest and rushing up to kick him brutally. Now, standing right over the device, I protected it from the others, dusting one vamp right away while Buffy took on the biggest and oldest of the lot.

One of the vampires pulled my sword from his friend's chest and came at me with it, trying to take my head off. Luckily, he had no idea how to use the damn thing. So, I took it back from him, returning the favor and smirking when his head turned to dust before it hit the floor.

Just two left, and one of them was badly injured, easily staked as he made a last-ditch effort to scramble for the device at my feet. The other one though, looked to be giving Buffy some trouble. Every time she hit him, he would stumble, and then come back at her twice as vigorous as before. I got closer, wanting to help, but the two of them danced together so perfectly that there were no openings for me.

Damn.

Just the way Buffy moved, it made me wish I was the one fighting her so I could feel the power behind those fists, feel the way her body shifted and twisted as she fought. So I could feel her again.

But in the next instant, Buffy spun and drove her stake into the vampire's chest, just a fraction of a second faster than he was. She watched as his face contorted open in surprise and then dissolved away into dust. I wondered if Buffy ever had to kill me, would I be surprised when it finally happened? Would she?

As the last of the dust fell, the girl grinned up at me, stowing away her stake and joining me. "You good?" she asked.

"What?" I asked, clearing my throat when she touched my arm. "I mean, yeah. I'm fine."

"What's this?" Buffy asked next, crouching down next to the device.

"Oh," I said, shaking myself out of it. "I'm guessing it blows up the building."

Carefully backing up, she laughed. "Let's not do that! Any idea how to disarm the thing?"

"Well," I told her, explaining the bricks all around us, "they're plastic explosives. If we take out all the detonators …"

"You know about plastic explosives?" she asked, smirking at me. "How?"

"I…" I said, thinking about it. "Spike likes certain movies and TV shows."

"Ones with lots of explosions?" she laughed.

"Yeah," I replied sheepishly, wondering why I'd ever said anything in the first place.

"Well forgive me for questioning your expertise, Angel," she continued. "But I think I'm gonna call Fred for a second opinion."

"Oh," I nodded in agreement, thinking Fred was definitely the person to call, given her and Illyria's previous experiences building bombs, "that's probably a good idea."

Shaking her head and shooting me a beautiful smile, Buffy dialed her phone, spoke for a few seconds and turned toward the nearest stack of bricks, tearing away the paper. "Grayish, I think," she said. After a few more seconds, Buffy told Fred, "Silvery sticks, connected by wires …" Following said wires around the room, Buffy bent down to examine the box they all converged on and sighed, "There's lots of wires here, Fred. I don't think it's a good idea for me to just start pulling on them."

Buffy bent over further to get a better look at the box while Fred spoke to her, and I realized I was staring at her ass, watching her hips shift and twitch when she shuffled over to get a better look. God, I couldn't help but look, knowing what it felt like, touching her. Knowing that if I just said the word, she would be mine again. Knowing that if I wanted, I could bend her over and take her, have her screaming my name …

Fuck.

I loved Spike! And we had sex all the time. There's no way I should be this … nostalgic over Buffy. I shouldn't want her this much. Even if Spike wanted me to want her this much. Even if he would egg me on, whispering in my ear and biting my neck as I took her.

Christ!

This is what happened when Spike got me all worked up and then we got interrupted. I would have been fine if he hadn't sat in my lap like that, whispering in my ear, wriggling against my crotch, kissing me with those lips. Which were currently out on the battlefield outside, damn it.

"Please make it," I whispered, suddenly imagining all the ways Spike could dust when I wasn't there to do anything about it. And then it would be just me and Buffy, and that thought was scarier than all the other thoughts.

"Okay," Buffy said into her phone, standing up and throwing me a questioning glance over her shoulder. Shit, I'd still been staring. I'd been staring at Buffy's ass and worrying about my boyfriend. There was no precedence for how to feel about that.

"What does she say?" I asked, trying to turn my mind back to the situation at hand.

"That we should start at the end of each wire, and pull the pins in order heading toward the detonator box," Buffy replied, bending back down and following one of the wires out. I did the same on the other side, moving away from Buffy with each step.

Then, at the top of one pile of explosives halfway around the column, I found the last pin. "Ready?" I asked Buffy.

"For what?" was her reply.

"To start pulling."

Buffy chuckled. "Angel, I've already pulled like five of them."

"Without warning me?" I cried. And I thought Spike was foolhardy!

"Would a warning really have helped anything? I didn't think it mattered."

"Just," I muttered, aiming for the first pin I'd found and pulling it, "be careful."

"Don't worry, sweetie," Buffy smiled. "I won't blow you up. I promise."

I shook my head and pulled the next pin, making my way around the column. Buffy and I worked in silence, and I found it difficult, keeping my eyes on my work and my hands steady when Buffy smelled … well, good enough to eat.

When we were all done, she smashed the detonation device with her fist and asked, "Do you think this is the only one they set up?"

"I don't know," I replied, sniffing the air. "I could try to backtrack them by smell."

Buffy scrunched up her nose with a smile and nodded, saying, "Let's get –" interrupted by her phone ringing. "Yeah?" she asked. "Okay. See you in a minute."

I gave Buffy an expectant look and she told me, "Xander says the battle's over. They found one more bomb and disarmed it. He doesn't think there are any more."

"Does he know who or what attacked us?" I asked, leaning back against a storage crate, trying not to call and check on Spike right away. He'd just tease me for it. And besides, Buffy would have told me if anything had happened. He had to be fine. Right?

"Nuh-uh," Buffy replied, sitting on a barrel across from me. "But there was lots of magic involved. Willow's going to be pretty out of it for awhile."

"And we were down here, disarming a bomb," I pointed out. "We should have –"

"Hey!" Buffy cried, pointing at me with a teasing glint in her eye. "We saved the whole building, I'll have you know."

God, she was beautiful. I stood up and went to her, holding my hand out to help her down. "You're right."

"Damn-skippy, I'm right," Buffy replied, taking my hand and pulling me closer instead of hopping down. And damn it, I let her.

I had been letting Buffy in like this, slowly getting used to her again, for the past few months. It was a lot like before, except this time I was the hesitant one, unsure of how far I should let things go. Not really knowing whether or not I was leading her on.

Buffy pulled me closer, her hands on the small of my back, her knees spread and flanking my hips. She was gentle, but I had no illusions. She was trying to get me back; trying to convince me that it would work this time around; trying to convince me I could be with her and keep my soul; trying to show me she knew how much I wanted her.

God, as I touched her face, tilted up toward mine and catching the light just right, she felt so warm, so thrumming with life, her heartbeat accelerating as I bent down to kiss her. Kissing her was so unlike kissing Spike. Where he was hard and cool and demanding, she was soft and warm and inviting. Her lips pressed and sucked at mine, her tongue caressing my bottom lip, summoning mine in. Then, Buffy pulled me in even closer with her legs. Closer and closer until …

"Whoa, sorry," someone said from the doorway, fleeing before I could get a good look. However, I did have time to get a good smell, despite how Buffy's arousal clouded my nostrils and sent my head spinning.

"Another vampire," I told Buffy, tearing myself from her arms as I went after the figure. God damn it!

Part of me was infuriated that I'd been interrupted in a romantic position for the second time in an hour, but a bigger part of me was relieved for that interruption. The way things had been heading with Buffy was still too much. And there was no way I could forgive myself for doing anything major with her when Spike wasn't in the room. I was his and even though he'd given me free reign to get close to Buffy, I doubt he'd feel anything but slighted if something serious happened and he wasn't included. Fuck, he might get angry enough to leave me if that happened.

And I wouldn't survive that. How could I?

I caught up with the intruder just down the hallway, since she was very young and still almost human-slow. Angry and frustrated, I slammed her against the wall harder than might have been wise, cracking open a big wound on the back of her head. "Who are you?" I asked, growling at her with my demon's voice in my throat so she knew I wasn't fucking around.

"Li–Lily," she replied, her accent clearly British, probably London. The vampire's eyes flicked over as Buffy joined us. "Lily Miller."

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, shaking her against the wall again with one hand gripping either shoulder.

"I'm sorry …" she whimpered, her eyes flashing yellow. "I was supposed to watch the corridor, I know! But there's all these slayers around, and one of them hit me!"

I stared at the girl for a moment before laughing, a little cruelly. "You think I'm on your side?"

Lily's eyes went wide, flicking over to Buffy again, watching the slayer nod in confirmation. Lily started panicking then, her demon's face surging forward as she tried to break my grasp. It was annoying to say the least, so I flipped her around, wrapping one arm around her neck and using the other to clasp both her hands behind her back. "Let's try this again," I growled in her ear, carefully not meeting Buffy's eye. I hated when she saw me like this. "What are you doing in this castle?"

"I just go where he tells me to go!" she cried.

Shaking her again, I asked, "Who? Who tells you where to go?"

"I'm not sure, but I think my sire," she gasped and sobbed, "called him Belial."

"Belial?" I repeated, thinking the name sounded familiar somehow. The vampire in my arms nodded vigorously, probably because she was hoping I'd let her go. Instead, I looked up at Buffy and asked her, "Wanna take this one?"

"Sure," she nodded, her stake falling from her sleeve and into her waiting hand.

"Not too deep," I reminded her, suddenly very aware of how my body was lined up behind Lily's.

Buffy looked the girl in the eyes, shrugged and said, "Sorry," just before plunging the stake directly into her heart. Within a second or two, my hands and arms were full of dust and Buffy smiled at me. "Almost like I know what I'm doing, huh?"

"Almost," I said, brushing my hands together to clean them and smiling when she laughed. "We should go find the others."

"Sure," she nodded, sounding a little disappointed. The tone in her voice plucked at my guilt and who knows whether I was making things better or worse, but I grabbed her hot little hand, holding it in mine as we walked. She grinned up at me with all those pretty white teeth, and I silently promised that I would fuck Spike into the mattress, or the floor, or the wall, or maybe all three, before I let myself kiss Buffy again. It was just too dangerous otherwise.

A/N: Chapter two, up and running!

I'm guessing that since it's finals season, that's why I'm not getting a lot of reviews. But, if you do get a chance, please let me hear from you. I love knowing you guys are still reading and enjoying this series. :)