Warnings and disclaimer in chapter 1. Enjoy.
"Buffy?" Joyce called for what seemed like the hundredth time. Buffy ignored her and continued to pace in the cell, her shoulders tense. She hadn't let anyone get near her since the second branding, and Joyce was getting desperate to inspect the burn and help in any way.
"Kate and Gunn should be at the school by now," Angel said, joining Joyce, Giles, and Faith as they waited for the next burn. Both groups had spent the day trying to find a way to spare Buffy this pain, but so far nothing had worked. Giles had the first aid kit ready, along with several cold packs. The only problem was Buffy was being extremely uncooperative.
"Buffy?" Joyce tried again. This time her daughter snarled at her as she passed. Joyce sighed. "I don't understand. I've always been able to get through to her by now."
"It's not your fault Joyce," Angel said gently. "It's that place. They broke her."
"Actually they didn't," Daniel spoke up. "My father never completely broke the Slayer. He left the tiniest thread that still connects her to reality. Her relationship with her mother." He looked at Joyce. "That is why she still connects with you. Everyone else is just half formed thoughts she doesn't even know she's having."
"Why?" Joyce asked, paling at the thought of having inadvertently caused her daughter even more pain.
"Azeroth needed a willing sacrifice to bind his Horsemen. A broken mind is not able to be willing."
"Why me?" Joyce demanded, watching as Buffy continued to pace.
"You were with her when she was taken. You were convenient."
"You will not believe who I just saw down at Willy's bar," Spike said, barging into the conversation. "One of the Horsemen came recruiting demons for his army."
"Conquest," Giles said offhandedly.
"Right," Spike agreed, "only thing was, as soon as he walked into the bar I felt defeated. Like he had won without even picking up a weapon or starting a fight. Then as soon as he left the feeling went away." Giles started questioning Spike, but Joyce tuned them out, instead focusing on her daughter. Buffy had become even more restless, trembling from head to toe, with a fine sheen of sweat covering her skin.
"Ya know," Faith said as she stood next to the older woman, "If I didn't know better I'd say B was in withdrawal."
"What?" Joyce asked, noticing Giles and the vampires were watching intently. Faith shrugged.
"You see it in the slammer all the time," she told them. "When they're in the police station they're fine, but by the time they get to the prison enough time has passed where they usually start going through withdrawal. Some of the girls would try to hide it from the guards, thinking if the cops knew they were high it would hurt their case. Buffy's acting just like they did."
"But Buffy's not addicted to anything," Joyce protested. "I would know."
"Actually she is," Daniel told the group. "My father got her addicted to demon blood, but I didn't think her reaction would be this strong this quickly."
"What?" Joyce asked, looking to Giles to see if this was true. He, in turn, was intently studying his Slayer. "Rupert?"
"It's possible," he admitted, "but incredibly rare. Some demonic blood does act as a drug for humans, an incredible high with a near certain addiction rate, but many demons are reluctant to let a human feed off them for them for any extended periods of time. A demon willingly donating their blood to maintain an addiction of a human is almost unheard of."
"But possible?" Joyce screeched, causing Buffy to sink to the ground and cover her ears. "I'm sorry," she said gently, trying to reach her daughter once again. "I'm sorry. It's okay."
"It was one of the ways my father controlled her. Azeroth decreed that any demon could drink from her, but only my father and his family could feed her. He could drag this withdrawal out for months. Ultimately it's how Azeroth coerced her into willingly offering herself for the Bloodsharing Ritual."
"They would drink from her and she would drink from them, thus forging the bond," Giles surmised, before something Daniel said caught his attention. "You said Azeroth would only allow members of your father's family to feed Buffy. That means you're a Horseman." Angel and Spike vamped out, coming up to the younger man, but Daniel just shook his head.
"No, but my four older siblings are. I am the disappointment of the family." Everyone stood there in shock at the revelation, until Buffy started whimpering. "She needs blood," he said evenly.
"I'm a demon," Spike said, slipping back to his human visage, "she can have some of mine."
"No!" Giles shouted, looking between the two vampires. "You have both drunk from her. Even if vampire blood would help with her condition, you two will never be feeding her."
"You drank from her!" both Angel and Spike said at the same time, before charging at each other, knocking each other back against the wall. Faith sighed, preparing to go break up the fight when Buffy let out an ear curdling scream.
"Famine," Daniel said as her back once again lit up in flames. Joyce rushed in, unable to simply watch, and grabbed her daughter's hand as she writhed on the floor.
"It's okay. I'm here. It will be okay," she continued to repeat, even as Buffy blindly latched onto the hand with a bone shattering grip. Giles and Faith quickly approached, doing what they could for the two women. After what seemed like hours, but was probably minutes, the flames died down and Buffy collapsed to the floor, barely able to breathe. Joyce turned a desperate look to Daniel. "Can you help her?"
"I can feed her," he said, trembling as much as the Slayer, "but I've never done it before. I don't know how much it will help."
"Anything is good right now," she said, glancing desperately at Faith.
"You sure?" Faith checked. Joyce nodded and Faith walked out of the cell and over to Daniel. "You try anything and you'll be dead before your body hits the floor." He nodded and she quickly unchained him. She led him back to the group, Angel and Spike watching his every move along with Faith.
"I'll need a knife," he said, as he knelt in front of the cataleptic woman. Faith reached into her boot and pulled out a small knife and handed it to him. He reached down and gently cupped Buffy's head until she looked at him. "I'm sorry," he told her, before dragging the knife over his wrist. The blood flowed immediately. Buffy's response was equally immediate. She stretched out her body, getting as close to the blood as she was able to. She reached out to grab his arm, weakly pulling the bleeding limb to her mouth before quickly latching onto the wound, drinking as deeply as she could.
It wasn't as glamorous as the vampires could do, but everybody was transfixed by the sight. Daniel kept his eyes on Buffy, while Buffy's continually danced between Daniel's eyes and his wrist until Daniel's eyes rolled up and he fell limply. "Okay. That's enough," Faith said, dragging Daniel's limp body back from Buffy's suddenly vice like grip. Buffy was momentarily stunned before she started looking around in confusion.
"Mom?" she asked as she spotted her mother beside her. She sounded like herself for the first time since she returned. Then she noticed her Watcher kneeling on her other side and looked him in the eyes for the first time. "Giles? What's going on?" she asked, before her eyes rolled up and she passed out.
"I think I might have found a way to defeat Azeroth," Wesley said as he wandered down the stairs, never taking his eyes of the book he was reading. "He can only be killed by family, so I was researching different ways to adopt him into one of ours." He stopped when he sensed the tension in the room. Looking up he saw the shocked group inside of the cell. "What happened?" he demanded, closing the book with an audible snap.
"Nothing," Giles said quickly, wiping some blood from Buffy's lips and chin before turning his attention to her back. "Joyce," he said, and she quickly helped him turn her daughter onto her stomach. He ripped the shirt she was wearing in two, exposing her back for all to see.
"Here," Joyce handed him the burn gel while she carefully used the washrag to clean the new burns. The whip marks were finally starting to fade, leaving only the deepest still marring her flesh. Across the cell Faith was holding gauze over Daniel's arm, the faintest sight of blood staining the white material.
"What's going on here?" Wesley asked again. "Did he escape?"
"No," Giles told him quickly as he bandaged her up as best he could. "And I've already looked into that ritual. It won't work. He must willingly accept us as family, and I doubt he will do that." Sometime during the branding or the feeding right after she had soiled herself again. He looked at Joyce, who promptly nodded. He gathered his Slayer in his arms, carefully carrying her to the bathroom.
"Spike," Joyce asked as she followed him, "could you please go grab some fresh clothes for Buffy?"
"Right," the blonde vampire said, before running up the stairs. Angel took the unspoken suggestion and began gathering up the soiled blankets, piling them in a corner while he quickly cleaned up the cell. Faith gently moved Daniel back to his corner, holding the chains uncertainly.
"Chain him Faith," Angel told her. "We can't have him free." She reluctantly did as she was told.
"Something happened here," Wesley said with certainty. Joyce had stripped her daughter, giving her an impromptu sponge bath while Giles held her upright. Spike returned with some clothing, which he dropped off inside the door before hovering outside. "I demand to know what it was. As your employer…"
"Stop!" Angel shouted in anger. "You are not my employer! Not now!" Angel threw up his hands, growling, and turned to remake the makeshift bed, shaking the blankets a little harder than usual. When he was done he stared at the wall for a few minutes until Giles carefully brought Buffy back in. He laid her on her side, with Joyce following her daughter into the bed. Finally he turned and spoke to the ex-Watcher. "I made a mistake. I know that. And I've been trying to make it up to you by working for you. But this is not just another case we're working here. This is bigger than any one of us. And you need to get passed your own self-importance to see that we need to work together as a group. If you need someone in charge, we'll put someone in charge. But it won't be you." Angel passed by him without saying another word, climbing the stairs silently. Spike followed.
"I'll check out that demon army the Horseman was recruiting for," he told them before vanishing from sight. Giles stood to leave but Joyce reached out and grabbed his hand.
"Rupert," she said pleadingly. He nodded.
"I'll do some research," he told her softly.
"Research?" Wesley spoke up, his shocked silence finally leaving him. "Anything I can help with?"
"No," Giles said harshly, as he made his way across the room. "It is a private matter. Why don't you continue researching ways to bring Azeroth into the family?"
"You've already pursued those avenues," Wesley said, understanding dawning on his face. "Why didn't you tell me I was wasting my time?"
"You might have found something I missed," Giles told him, "plus, as Angel pointed out, you're not really working as part of the team right now. And I have no intention of working for you." Wesley sputtered for a moment. "Faith?" Giles called out as he reached to door.
"I'm good G. I'm gonna crash here tonight." Giles nodded in understanding before climbing the stairs.
"Are you sure I can't help with the research?" Wesley asked as they headed up the stairs. Giles just glared at him.
Joyce didn't mean to fall asleep. She was just going to lay down with her oldest until she fell asleep. Just to make sure she was okay. Her body had other ideas. She jolted awake when Buffy began twitching in her sleep. "Buffy? Wake up honey." Joyce reached out to shake her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't receive another black eye for her trouble. Buffy bolted upright at the slight touch.
"What?" she mumbled, looking around at her surroundings before focusing on her mother. "Mom?"
"Buffy," her mother replied calmly, sitting up slowly so she didn't startle Buffy.
"What?" Buffy asked again, eyes scanning her surroundings before she saw Daniel. He had woken up at her movement and was staring at her. Slowly Buffy put her fingers to her lips. "I drank?"
"Yes," he told her, "but you didn't complete the ritual."
"Oh God," she exclaimed, repeating herself as she pulled her legs up and curled into a ball. She began rocking back and forth. She tried to put her hands over her ears but her mother stopped her.
"Buffy!" Joyce said sternly, grabbing both of Buffy's hands and holding them firm. "Look at me baby. I know you're scared and you want to go back to your safe place, but I need you here. Stay with me baby."
"I can't," she cried. "He broke me."
"No he didn't," she told her. "He didn't because you're still here. You're stronger than he thinks you are. You can beat this. Just stay with me." Joyce looked up as Giles rushed into the cell, kneeling next to his Slayer.
"Giles," she said, tears running down her eyes as she reached for him. He took her in his arms, holding her tightly. "He did things to me. I let him do things to me. I've done things."
"I know" he told her gently, "and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me or your mother or your family. The only thing we care about is you're home now. We love you and will help you in any way we can, but you have to be strong now. Don't let him win. Not when we're so close."
"It hurts," she admitted, sobbing in her Watcher's arms. "It hurts so bad." Her mother wrapped her arms around both of them, enveloping both in much needed comfort.
"I know," she soothed her daughter. "I know it hurts, but you can overcome this. You're so much stronger than even you know. We'll be here every step of the way. Just stay with us."
"I'll try," she told them, before burying her face in her mother's shoulder. She soon had cried herself to sleep, but they were reluctant to let her out of their hold.
"I didn't expect her to be so lucid," Joyce admitted when she finally released her hold on them.
"It's an after effect of her feeding," Giles said, gently laying the girl down. "Reality is sharpened, at least temporarily. Azeroth would probably use this time to begin her torture again, using the brief time she was mentally brightest to further break her."
"So this lucidity will fade?" she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Yes," Giles admitted, "but to what degree I'm not sure. She has a strong mind. It's possible she will regress completely to the state she was in before, but it's equally possible she will manage to hang on to that thin string on sanity they left her. Only time will tell, though I suspect your presence will help significantly."
"I'll be here," she promised. "What about the addiction?" He winced.
"The few sources I was able to find tell of a long and painful path ahead of us, and that was just from short exposures. We have no way of knowing how long she has been addicted, but it could be years." He sighed. "I'm hesitant to contact the Council with this news. They may decide to simply terminate her, as they tried to do with Faith, but I'm out of my league."
"Talk with Ben," Joyce suggested. "He's a doctor. He might have some insight. Plus he knows all about us so the supernatural aspect shouldn't be that difficult for him to understand."
"I didn't think of that," he admitted. "It's worth a shot." He quietly got to his feet. "Will you be okay?"
"No," she answered honestly, "but I'm strong too. I can hold it together for a while longer. It's what mom's do best." He smiled before he headed to the door.
