A/N here comes the big twist! Thanks for the reviews.
Chapter Fourteen
"This is stupid! Dawn just told you all that the person had to have died at piece with their life! Do you all really think that being turned by a vampire while not doing anything in the line of great fashion or helping someone constitutes dying at piece?" Harmony looked at the four people and found that only Faith and Xander were not giving her the death stare.
"I want answers and I want them now!" Buffy said as she came bounding into the room with Dani, Robin, Kennedy and Amy. The four had looks of irritation plastered on their faces. They, firstly, had little to no knowledge of the current situation. Lastly, they were left totally out of the plans.
"We're in the midst of figuring out who among us is involved with the sorceress and have concluded that it's Miss Kendall!" Giles shouted and Dani went for the vampire straight away. She had not trusted Harmony from the get go and now had the reason that she needed to end her sorry excuse for a life.
"You don't have to be the divided soul to be involved!" Dawn shouted and got to her feet. "Xander said it is not a leader and it was concluded that a shape shifter could have done the job!"
That statement even sounded crazy to Buffy because she knew that vampires were not shape shifters and so did everyone else in the room. "Hold on guys. That can't be right." The voice of reason, Buffy Summers, said in an exasperated tone.
"Wow," Amy said and stepped into the middle of the room. "There are some things going on here that most of you are not aware of. Seeing how you all are so quick to sell someone up the river, I see we made the right choice in keeping you all in the dark."
"I think Xander was nuts for bringing you aboard to begin with and so we don't need your input!" Kennedy said in a sharp tone of voice.
"All right, this is enough!" Andrew shouted over the quarrelling gang. "If you all will be quiet, Xan here can enlighten you as to the goings on behind the scenes from all of us that were in the know!" He spoke with pride in his voice and a big smile on his face.
"Andrew, Faith and I have been working our own angle with the help of…" a shrill scream interrupted the one-eyed man before he could finish his little speech.
- - - - - - - -
"If I am Tara, I wish that I could realize it so that I could know how to help you better Willow." Tracy said in a soft voice, as Willow allowed her mind to fully relax. "It appears that this vampire has really did a number on you and I am so sorry about that. I'm glad that you trust me though Willow." Tracy continued in a low soothing voice.
"Tara sang that very song to me Tracy." Willow said in such a soft voice that Tracy could barely hear her. "I know for sure that you are Tara." The look on Willow's face was one of total piece as she finished speaking. Somewhere, in the back of her mind however, other thoughts tried to surface.
Tracy's face formed a small smile, as Willow turned her head to give the woman a small kiss. Though with hesitation, Tracy leaned down and allowed the redhead to kiss her. "It's all going to work out for the best Willow." Tracy said as Willow's head jerked backwards and her eyes went the color of Cordelia's. As her eyes were Changing, Willow managed to break away from the kiss long enough to let out a scream.
Before Cordelia or Tracy could speak, Harmony came bursting into the room. "What the hell is going on!" The vampire shouted and got a good look at Willow's eyes as Buffy made her way into the room.
"We're saving her from you!" Cordelia spat indignantly. "Buffy, they're on the right track! You've got to get rid of the vampire so that the others can freely seek out the sorceress." Willow's voice was full of worry and urgency as she spoke to Buffy. Oddly, Buffy could hear the difference in it from Willow's usual tone. There was an arrogant tone in her voice that only Cordy had.
"Are you indicating that maybe Amy is the sorceress?" Buffy questioned in a confused tone. She wanted to stake the vampire and follow Cordy's lead for the most part. There was a small part of her that made her hesitate and scope out the situation a bit more before she jumped the gun and ended the vampire's undead life.
"I am not on their side and am not out to hurt Willow!" Harmony shouted at Buffy who backhanded her against the wall.
Harmony knew that she could not win an all out fight with the legendary slayer and decided to try another tactic. "Buffy, whoever this fake Cordy is wanted me in on the plans and not you! She knew that you would be smart enough to figure it out before their plans could come to the surface! Giles said that she told some truths to hook us all in and one of them was, a blonde and brunette were to help Willow. They thought Core was the brunette and that is obviously wrong! They thought that Tara was the blonde and that's wrong because she's not Tara! You are the blonde Buffy, it makes total sense and that is why she wanted you out of the loop!"
Buffy's face showed utter confusion as Cordy prepared her retort. "Buffy, she has the Gem of Amara and tricked Willow into helping her get it. She needed that to move about freely during the day to get everything in place."
"Buffy, whatever their plan is, something tells me that we're running out of time. You always make the right decision at the last second so go with your gut and help me free Willow!" Harmony shouted in a last ditch effort to get the slayer to listen to her.
"Buffy, they played with her mind." Cordy spat back in a calm voice, as Tracy wiped tears from her eyes. "The sorceress messed with Willow's mind to make her think that Harmony did this vampire ownership ritual with her. When in fact, she did no such ritual!"
- - - - - -
"There is a barrier around the edges of this room!" Giles shouted in a rage-filled manner. "I can't get out!"
"Let me just explain this and then we will worry about getting out!" Xander shouted with a hint of panic in his voice. He was glad that Faith made her way outside before the barrier was put in place and could only hope that she could get into Willow's room.
"We're running out of time!" Amy shouted with a look of borderline terror on her face. "I'll start working on the barrier and you hurry up and get this mess through their thick heads!"
Xander pulled out a cell phone and flipped it open. He quickly searched the pictures until he came to the portrait of Willow and Tara that hung in the kitchen. "What does that have to do with anything?" Robin questioned in a worried tone of voice.
"This is Tracy's cell phone and in her house," Xander made a sweeping motion over the room with his arm to indicate their searching efforts. "We found this very same picture. It had been copied from the cell I'm presuming. So this divided soul thing…"
Andrew cleared his throat and stood up from his chair. "Dawn is correct on the divided soul being at piece with their death. The item that you all failed to research was this. A divided soul is two halves, one good and one evil. The only way that the evil half can properly come forth is if the good half is pleased with the life that they lived. In addition, their life has to be cut short. It allows for a mourning period before the good half can fully cross over to a place of peace. Tara had her mourning period and has now crossed over. Tracy just so happened not only to be Tara's divided soul; she looks like her and is the sorceress. Therefore, it was probably Tracy who caused the shooting to enable Tara's life to be cut short. So now Tracy has the Tara connection, which was to fool us all and the sorceress powers which helped her make this all happen!"
Dawn and Giles had looks of disbelief on their faces while the three who did not know Tara showed no emotion minus sadness for Willow. "We've got to get in there!" Kennedy shouted and jumped to her feet.
"I don't believe it, any of it!" Dawn shouted and made a dash for the barrier but was thrown backwards instantly. She landed in a heap on the floor with tears gushing down her cheeks.
"Demons and vampires are in the building!" Sarah, the young slayer who had grown close with Dawn, announced with a horrified look on her face. "The others are out there alone fighting them!"
"How did you get in here and we can't get out?" Xander questioned with a look of anger on his face.
"That's easy enough," Amy said. "It's a targeted barrier. Sarah, you have to go in Willow's room and help Harmony. Faith is out there somewhere and can help the other slayers until we can get free."
"Maybe she can distract the sorceress enough so that we can break this barrier." Giles stated with renewed hope in his voice.
"How is it a targeted barrier?" Xander asked hurriedly as Sarah ran off towards the room.
"She's a young sorceress and is concentrating a lot of energy on Willow. She targeted those most likely to go help Willow and stopped only us from going in. This means, Sarah is the Brunette that is to help and Harmony is probably the blonde."
Amy frowned and took a sip of water. "She probably wants to weaken Willow's essence so that being pretending to be Cordy can use the body to help her magically. I think the demon ran world is a sad miscalculation on your part." Amy looked at Giles and continued to speak. "This sorceress is using demons to get what she wants, probably world domination." Amy said with a yawn as they'd all been there before.
- - - - - - -
"Harmony what the hell is going on here?" Buffy questioned in a frustrated manner, as Harmony noticed that Willow's eyes started to look weak and tired. She knew that she had only one option now and hoped that Willow cared enough for her to come back before it was too late. She also knew that Buffy would have to take the Gem of Amara from her before she could kill her, which was a plus sign for the vampire. "Who cares what I did and didn't do! Your witch isn't looking so well!" Harmony shouted and the slayer lunged at her straight away.
The two began a battle for the ages with Buffy in search of the gem as she finally began to beat the vampire down. "Buffy no!" Sarah shouted as she ran into the room.
"Damn it!" Cordy shouted from Willow's lips.
"It's a ruse Buffy! Tracy is…" an energy bolt that was meant for Sarah hit Buffy square in the chest.
Tracy felt a ripple in the barrier and grew angry. "We are losing time!" She shouted and shot fire from her fingertips at the vampire.
"Harmony look out!" Sarah shouted as she bravely rushed the sorceress with a right hook to the jaw. She prepared to hit the woman again but was knocked through the window with a strong wind.
"Willow damn it snap out of this!" Harmony shouted and barely ducked out of the way of the fire as a demon came sailing through the window and knocked her to the ground.
"Get the Gem so that we can kill her!" The Cordy-like being shouted at the demon.
Tracy returned her concentration to the barrier with a smug smile on her face. She could tell by the noise downstairs that the battle was in full swing. She could also feel a strong power and knew that they had been duked. Willow indeed had her full powers at her disposal and was fighting against the weak being that was dwelling within her body. She knew that time was of the utmost importance now and that she had to move quickly with no mistakes.
Before Harmony could recover, the big demon was on her. It began to rake its clawed hands over her arms and stomach. The black blood was flowing fast from the vampire. The demon had found a way around the Gem's immunity assistance. "Willow please, you've got to help us." Harmony said as she tried to kick the large demon away from her.
"Do you think that you are of such high regard in her life that she can fight my control because of you?" The cordy-like being said in a mock tone. "Tara is the only one that she could ever care for in that way you stupid vampire!"
"Willow," Harmony continued on speaking with no attention being given to the words that Willow's mouth was producing. "Willow, you trusted me enough to let me have control of your mind until you regained your powers to control it on your own. Please Willow, help me." Harmony begged as the demon continued its assault by fisting her in the face several times.
As the demon placed its ugly hand on the gem, with Harmony now to weak to stop it, an arrow flew through the window and pierced it in the back of the neck. "Hang on Harmony, I'm coming back for more!" Sarah shouted and climbed back in the window with blood all over her.
"Damn you little slayer!" Tracy hissed and launched another assault on Sarah, who fell to the floor in no time.
"Now it's your turn," Tracy said and the chain that held the Gem of Amara began to lift out of Harmony's pocket. "Kill her now!" Tracy shouted to the Cordy-being that was desperately clinging to her new home in Willow's body.
A/N I hope you all liked this chapter and that you were pleasantly surprised. It was my goal here to keep this twist well hid until this point. I think there will either be one or two more chapters in this one.