Possessed

Horror filled Dawn like black oil, weighing her down and sickening her. She was standing outside the gates of the Council property, roughly two hundred feet from the mansion itself. Standing beside her, his hand thoughtfully on her shoulder, was Spike. To her sides were Buffy and Xander. Behind Dawn, her ever-present guard, was Illyria, watching the unfolding events with an unwavering expression of neutrality.

Dawn had witnessed a great deal of death in her short lifetime – and even more in her former incarnation. The sight before her should not bother her so, but it did all the same. Salty tears ran over the curves of her face; she bit her lip to dispel her emotional reaction and could not help but taste her tears.

"When did this happen?" Dawn asks, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper.

"Wesley found the body just a while ago during his afternoon run," Buffy informed her in a crisp voice. The slayer had seen so many dead bodies in her twelve years of service that sometimes the only way she could get through all the death was to develop a clinical perspective in discussing it. This was a characteristic that had just developed over the last few years, after the battle against the First.

"Was there a note?" Xander asked. His eyes roamed the area restlessly, in part to ignore the dead man in front of them and in part to be aware of outside observers.

"No," Buffy murmured. She looked back to the house and grimaced. "I'll get a clean-up team to take him back to his parents."

One of the Council institutions they had maintained – albeit reluctantly, in the beginning – was to maintain a cleaner team to dispose of bodies in a way that would not have the authorities become suspicious. This included innocent humans killed by demons as well as the gooey demon-y parts that would get left over after a slayer or two had her way.

Dawn swallowed deeply and forced herself to memorize the sigh in front of her. It was her fault, after all.

RJ Brooks was not a guy she had kept in contact with after school. After Xander and Spike destroyed his letterman jacket he had lived a rather unremarkable life. From what she had heard, as a Sunnydale refugee he obtained a scholarship at a state school and was studying business.

Mostly, he meant nothing to her. He was neither her friend nor ever her lover – even if she had desired that in the duration of the love spell's affects.

But clearly, that did not matter to Lucifer. To go after someone who had touched her intimately on the dance floor? Someone that had tricked her, even if it had been unconsciously, into developing feelings for him? Lucifer had clearly wanted – and gotten – revenge. She did not know howher husband learned of RJ but she knew how clever Lucifer was.

RJ's pale naked form lay on the ground, a stark contrast to the brilliant green grass, and it had clearly suffered torture. Stitch mark traveled over his body like a winding snake, and his body looked thinner than it should be, suggesting that he had been cut open and things had been taken out before Lucifer put him back together again, like a morbid Humpty Dumpty story.

"It's my fault," Dawn whispered. "He did this because of me. Because I betrayed him."

Buffy grabbed her arm and wrenched her around to look at her. Dawn winced from the use of strength and the fierce gleam in Buffy's eyes. "You are notto blame for this, Dawn. If everything we've heard is true, then this is the kind of thing Lucifer does for fun and games. What you did was right. And if you had any doubts about turning away from him, then this show of cruelty should prove just how right you were."

Dawn nodded dumbly, in a state of shock after the passion of her sister's voice.

Buffy was right. Her Light Bearer had to be stopped.


During the next two days many of her companions had pressed for her to start recruiting an army comprised of 'good' demons that could effectively maintain Lucifer's hell spawn demons for a time, at least until a method had been discovered to stop Lucifer. However, Castiel and Gabriel had yet to return from their mysterious journey and Dawn did not want to make any decisions until Gabriel was back. She felt so utterly alone without her Lucifer – regardless of the humans (and vampires) in the Council mansion with her. Only Gabriel made her feel slightly less alone.

If only her brother was here.

Growling, she slammed the book on Divine Magic shut, feeling victorious as the loud clap echoed through the library. Sometimes she really couldn't believe herself. Adanal, the selfish one, the arrogant one, had betrayed her eons ago and now she wanted him back? Her twin, the one who rejected her? After she had been the one to rescue them from their dying world? It was utterly preposterous, this flitting thought of hers, and it angered her to no end. Her heart picked up speed and shooting adrenaline made her hands tremble, wanting terribly so to hurt something, to killsomething.

She looked up, her head rising slowly like a cautious predator. Peering across her study table, she spotted several humans near the front of the room. The Slayer and the Dark One whispered quietly, gesturing at a book, and the god king stood like a sentry at the door.

A low hiss escaped her lips. The Slayer and Dark One did not notice her, too embroiled in their own conversation. However, the god king did. Its piercing blue eyes gazed at her, transfixed. Puzzled, almost.

Ignoring the god king, she mused to herself for a second as she began to get lost in the raging emotion of bloodlust. An idea struck her, like lightning does a tree, cracking her mind in half as if it were simple bark, and she looked at the Slayer and the Dark One in a new light. Yes, they would be the ones to die by her hand. With the death of her blood kin in this useless human body and the blood sacrifice of the blessed witch, she would come into her powers.

She would become whole. She would be Lailah once again.

Jumping gracefully onto the table, she bent down, coiled herself like a spring before pushing off and flying through the air like a falcon, talons extended.

"Great Mother?" the god king called out in a questioning tone.

The Slayer and the Dark One looked up, confusion etched onto their faces.

"Dawn?"

She did not answer to the human name, the worthless name she had been cursed with. Instead, she landed smoothly in front of the slayer and struck with her fist. The impact made a tiny cracking sound as she broke the Slayer's cheekbone and the Slayer flew backwards at the force.

"Dawnie!" the Dark One called out fearfully.

She looked towards her next. The woman's aura was one of purity, one that had been blessed with the earth magics as Eve once had, but her will was made of stronger material, forged through great loss, pain, and suffering. Manipulation would not be possible with her. But it did not matter. Her death was worth more than her life.

Less than a second later, her hands reached for the witch's throat, but then something barreled into her body, causing her to fall.

Tiny hands encircled her wrists and forced her arms to the floor while her attacker's legs straddled her laps. "Dawn! What the hell are you doing?" the Slayer called.

Slayer…sister

No!She had only a brother. A brother that had betrayed her, forcing her essence to be raped of its power over the millennia before being imprisoned inside this bag of meat and bones.

She had to be returned to her former glory. And the death of the slayer would do that.

Grunting, she thrust her legs up, curved them around the Slayer's mid-section, and slammed the woman down, while flipping herself up at the same time. Her palm struck out, breaking the Slayer's nose, and blood began running in rivulets down her throat.

A part of her did not understand why she did not go for the kill. Why waste her time on such a meaningless hit?

Whatever…she aimed her next strike at the Slayer's neck, but the woman grabbed her arm and twisted it. "Dawn! Stop this!" Her voice shouted in alarm and it was tinged by delicious fear.

With a feral growl, she easily batted away the Slayer's hand and grabbed her by the throat, and began squeezing. The Slayer's green eyes widened in alarm and she raised her arms to beat her, but it was nothing more than gnats upon an elephant.

Then, suddenly, she was yanked upwards. Two red leather-encased arms were locked around her chest, constricting around her like a jungle snake. Red spots blossomed into her vision as she realized that her air supply was being squeezed out of her. The Slayer's face came into view, both weary – from the fight – and wary of what she was capable of.

"Dawn? Dawnie?" The Slayer's voice was tearful and barely squeaked past her tight throat. Weak. She laughed mirthlessly at the pathetic human reaction.

A warm hand cupped around her cheek as she struggled against her captor. "Dawn. Come back to me. Be my sister. Stop…stop this!"

If she could breathe properly, she would toss out a vicious reply, but one phrase stuck inside her skull, fluttering around like a captured firefly. It lit up a section of her mind that had been darkened, a newer part of her soul but one that was important. That, she knew.

Be my sister.

A choked sob issued from her mouth. "Buffy!" she whimpered before she lost consciousness, her world as dark as her mind had become.


"You were weak," Adanal judged her in a harsh tone.

Lailah stared at her twin in wonder. How could their lives have come to this? The wrath polluting his once-gentle voice, the violent vibrations of his grace…this was not the brother she had escaped her home world with.

"Weak would be abandoning my husband based on the orders of my brother," Lailah spoke back, her voice quavering because as much as she believed she was right, she also knew she was wrong. But she was still angry.

Sometimes she wondered if she would ever stop being angry at Adanal.

"I am not just your brother, but your god, Lailah. This world is mine. Lucifer was my creation. When he disobeyed the highest of laws I had no choice but to expel him. Do not fault me if you made the judgment to follow his path."

Lailah jerked in her celestial chains that bound her in the most remote aspect of Heaven. Lucifer was gone, plunged into a box of madness and darkness down below, and she was her brother's captive.

"You were never *my* god," she spat fiercely. "You seek to mold yourself into something strong than Father, but even you were attacked by your own, just as he was. You are no greater than him, no matter how hard you try."

Something struck her, cold and sharp like an icicle. Lailah cried out in pain, but then quickly sought to control her emotions. Adanal was responsible for locking up her husband. She would not give him the satisfaction of her pain.

"Do not speak of Father," Adanal warned, his voice curling around her like fog, blinding her from everything but him.

"Just take me to Lucifer," she begged, opting to appeal to her brother's mercy. "Please. I need him."

"You cannot see him again. Not as you are." His expression became somber. "You must learn the foolishness of your sins."

"If you seek to punish me, place me in the box!" she offered. Lailah knew as long as she had Lucifer, she would be alright. More so, she knew that he *needed* her. Her mate had suffered so much since the fall and she hated to see how he was locked away with only his mind for company.

"No." Adanal's denial struck her like lightning and grief consumed her.

"You are selfish and wicked," Lailah snapped, her powerful voice echoing through this earth. "You speak to me of holiness yet rarely deliver it to others."

Adanal gave her a pained look. "Lucifer has twisted you so, Lailah. I hate what you've become."

"It was you who did this to me."

"Was it I that compelled you to create the Hellmouths and form your army of demons? Was it I that slew the Heavenly Host with your forces?" Adanal quietly stated. "No. It was Lucifer who brought you into this state."

"It is your fault," she argued after a brief hesitation. Yes, Lucifer had encouraged her to take those steps. No, she had not wanted to kill any of her brethren. But…what else was there to be done? She wanted revenge against Adanal and was angry at him for disrupting their happy family.

Adanal gave her a piercing look and she felt his power begin to wrap around him like a cloak. Suddenly she was fearful of what he meant to do. Her powers were currently bound by him but even if she managed to escape she could never defeat her brother. This was his world, his creation, his domain. It would always provide him with more power.

"I cannot kill you. I cannot lock you with Lucifer." He paused, his eyes raking over her heavenly form. "I can only give you time. Time to grow and regret your mistakes."

Lailah struggled and began screaming cruel taunts to her brother. She could feel his power swelling and did not understand what he was about to do unto her – but she did not want to know, either.

His power hit her full force, wrapping around her like a cocoon. She could feel the very essence of her being changing, re-forming. And then, her consciousness began to recede until she was no longer aware of her being.

Lailah was gone.