Chapter Twenty One-The Reality of Darkness
"What the Fuck just happened?" Faith was the first one to reach the now empty spot that had previously contained both Willow and Maxwiel.
"Teleportation. Morton teleported himself and Willow away." Elena answered quietly, staring at the floor in shock. She was completely drained and now had several bruises courtesy of the lounge tables and chairs.
"Is everyone else alright? Tara, Anya, Xander?" Buffy called out.
"I'm fine. It looks like Xander hit his head, but he's breathing." Anya answered.
Tara came crawling out from under a table. She didn't bother getting up and simply crawled to the space where Willow had been and curled up at Faith's feet.
"He took her. Oh goddess Buffy, he took her." Tara was clutching at the floor and crying. "He'll hurt her, he's hurt her before."
"How far could they have gone. Can he just teleport her anywhere?" Faith seemed to be the first to regain her senses.
This was one Anya could handle. "It depends on his power level. Teleportation is difficult and the further you go, the harder it is. Taking someone else with you multiplies the difficulty. He probably didn't go far, maybe a mile even if he is really strong, but by now he could be in a car driving away."
Buffy had gotten Tara into a chair and was checking on Xander who was starting to come around. Next she went over to the lieutenant and found him with his hands still tied behind his back face down on the floor. She left him there for the moment until they decided what to do. Now each of them seemed to have found a chair and they sat staring at each other uncertainly.
"He knew. He knew we would make a play for the lieutenant guarding the portal and left him vulnerable. He's been waiting for us to make a move." Elena was furious with herself. It was just like Morton to let them walk into his trap and then attack. He had done it with ease.
Now Willow was his captive yet again and she alone understood the full import of that fact. She knew the terror the redhead secretly held for the warlock and the physical and emotional pain she had suffered at his hands. Apparently Willow had shared some of that with Tara, but no one in Sunnydale had seen the broken woman she had rescued from the twisted evil man. She wasn't sure Willow could survive any more of Morton's treatment.
"We need to start searching and we need to get information from this guy." Buffy kicked at the young man tied up at her feet in frustration. "Can we do anything about this portal Elena? Close it, alarm it?"
"We could put up an alarm, but it would just tell us what we know, that Morton is using it to bring soldiers here and send demons to Khul. Unless we plan to try to stop him, I don't see the point in expending the energy right now." The Light Witch answered wearily.
"Fine, let's get this guy to the cage and see if he wants to talk. Elena I guess we are going to need you there to translate. Faith, Spike and I can take turns trying to persuade him to help us." Buffy had never been so angry. Protecting the witches was her responsibility and she had allowed herself to become distracted by watching the spell instead of checking the perimeter and keeping watch.
"Why Willow?" Tara's voice was so quiet no one quite made out what she was saying.
Faith leaned over and touched Tara gently on the arm. "What T? We couldn't hear you."
This time she spoke strongly, but her voice was still trembling. "Why Willow? She can't use dark magick and frankly Elena is a more powerful witch and enemy. So why does he want Willow?"
Xander had been listening as well as his headache would allow. He had been thinking along the same lines as Tara, why did Morton want Willow? Then he remembered the demon in the yard, the Grappler, telling Willow that his employer wanted her as well as Isobel, but that the child was the more important one.
"He has always wanted Willow, each time we've been attacked. But mostly he has wanted Isobel." The dark-haired man pointed out.
"Isobel, who is at the house right now alone with Dawn." Buffy was in full alert mode. "Tara, you and I will go to the house. Elena and Faith, take the ex-lieutenant to the cage and get some information out of him. Anya, make sure Xander is Ok and join us at the house when you can. Let's go."
Willow came to consciousness facing a cold stone floor. Her head was spinning, she felt nauseous and she was shaking with chills. The first thing that came into her vision was a set of black boots. Her groan was greeted by a hand reaching down to grasp the front of her shirt and haul her to her feet.
"Good, you're awake. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see your pain when I did this."
Willow opened her eyes enough to look at the speaker. Maxwiel, as they say, had not aged well. His hair was black, long and stringy. He had age lines and dark veins running over his wrinkled face. His eyes were the pitch black of a dark magick abuser. If she thought about it, the warlock now bore a strong resemblance to Rack.
As her limp form was nearly suspended in the air, she did not see the soldier approach from her side until he handed Morton something. When she saw what the soldier was holding, she tried to kick away, but her spinning head left her weak and uncoordinated and Morton simply ignored her efforts.
"Forced teleportation is a bitch isn't it? Especially when you are already drained. Well, you'll be getting power back in no time, and we can't have that, can we."
He nodded at the soldier who grasped Willow's hands roughly and slapped the magickal binders onto her arms. Morton reached down to click the lock in place himself. The last sound Willow heard over her own screams was the resounding laughter of Maxwiel and his men as she collapsed to the floor unconscious yet again.
The next time she awoke, Willow found herself again face down, this time on some type of bench. She could feel that the binders on her arms were secured to the sides of the structure with chains rendering her immobile.
When she opened her eyes she could see half of the room in the direction her face was turned. It was a large chamber with smooth stone covering the walls and floor. The ceiling appeared to be stone as well, but rough cut. There was a large chair on a dais, almost like a throne. She could see no door, but that was probably behind her. She could detect no movement or voices.
Several minutes went by and her head continued to clear and she thought about Tara. She hoped that Morton had left her lover and the rest of the Scoobies unharmed. Of course that meant Tara would be distraught with worry. She needed to figure out what the warlock wanted and how to get out of here as soon as possible.
Almost as if on cue, Willow heard voices approaching. Morton was instructing his lieutenant to set up a table in the redhead's field of vision. A young man with dirty dark hair placed the table down, covering it with a red cloth and then retrieved several items which he set reverently on the cloth.
Morton came into her vision. Now he was wearing a long black hooded robe with dark red embroidered runes covering the back and sleeves. "Feeling a little less foggy I hope?"
"What do you want Maxwiel. You should know by now I will never help you." The words seethed through Willow's clenched jaw.
"We will see about that little witch. I have waited a very long time for this. I planned patiently, carefully and now those plans are finally coming to fruition. Not everything has gone perfectly of course, but we all know plans go awry, don't they?"
As he was speaking, the warlock retrieved a short blade with a ceremonial handle from the table. He placed the blunt edge at the base of Willow's back and sliced upward, cutting her shirt and bra off in one stroke.
"Is that what this is about? You have some creepy sexual fantasy?" The redhead was angry now.
"Oh Willow my dear, this is not sexual. Although someday I imagine you, and every other woman, will be begging for my favors in that way. No, I have something more important to do and it requires me to have unrestricted access to your lovely back."
The warlock again reached over to the table and grasped another implement. "Your tattoos are beautifully done. The Colonades always could afford the best artisans."
This time he ran a gloved hand over her skin as he spoke. "You are about to undergo a unique transformation, one that puts you into a select group. Only five others have achieved the exalted state I am about to bestow on you. I first performed this spell on myself, then on three of my lieutenants, one of whom you recently bound. Shame really, but he was the weakest and sacrifices are sometimes necessary."
The warlock paused as he made some adjustment to the device he was holding.
"That is only four people Maxwiel. Math not your strong suit?" Willow could not stop herself from lashing out.
"Feisty, I like it. You were never like that before. No little witch, the first one to use this method was your old friend Rack. Actually I should give him the credit, he originated the first crude version. You see it allowed him to access certain sources which led to his other interesting talents. I've made some improvements on his original design, primarily making it much more powerful."
For the first time Willow was feeling real terror start to well up but didn't want to show it. "How is Rack anyway, did he make the trip with you?"
"No, unfortunately Mr. Rack is no longer among the living. After staying as my guest for several years, much longer than you did, his mind gave out and I had to end his suffering." The warlock explained flatly as if he had put down a rabid dog. "His contributions were essential, though."
"Is that your goal? To finish destroying my mind?" Willow's voice was losing confidence quickly.
"Willow, for a smart girl you're not paying attention. I told you this is a gift. You forget, I know you. I know exactly what you are capable of and I'm going to help you achieve greatness. Remember, I'm your teacher."
Before she could say another word, Morton stood and began an incantation which silenced her. Willow could now see the object in his hand clearly. It was a metal rod with a small square plate at one end. As the warlock's chanting increased the runes on his robe began to glow and the redhead saw that a similar rune was raised on the flat plate at the end of the rod. That rune was also glowing red.
Willow had time to realize that even a complete city girl like herself could recognize what the object in the warlock's hand looked like now. It was a branding iron and it was headed directly at the tattoo at the top left of her back. Her first tattoo, the one that blocked her access to dark magick sources.
Buffy and Tara had raced home only to find Dawn and Isobel playing happily in the living room. Dawn reported to her panicked sister that the morning at the house had been completely uneventful. Tara had simply scooped up her daughter and was hugging her tightly as tears squeezed out of the corners of her eyes.
"Buffy, you guys are scaring me. What happened?" Dawn asked quietly.
"Let's go into the kitchen and I'll tell you." Buffy beckoned Dawn in and got herself some water.
In the living room, Tara was trying to settle herself down to keep Isobel from getting upset, without much success.
"Mama? What's wrong?" Isobel asked with wide blue eyes.
"I was worried about you. I'm so glad Aunt Dawn kept you safe here." Tara answered as truthfully as she could for now.
"We played games and ate snacks." The young girl stated innocently. "I was going to read Aunt Dawn a story and you came home."
Xander and Anya arrived at the house and Anya headed for the kitchen to get some aspirin for her husband. Xander sat down in the living room and watched Tara with sad eyes. "It'll be Ok."
"It has to be Xander. It has to be."
Tara thought she might be in mild shock as she sat on the couch with her daughter. She kept replaying the events at Fischer Hall over and over again in her mind. Watching Maxwiel Morton approach Willow as he was talking. Seeing her lover's green eyes become wider and wider with fear, then searching around, finally locking gazes. The connection, their souls communicating without sound, 'I'm frightened' and 'I love you'. Then he touched her and she was gone.
Tara had done nothing, frozen. Her magick wasn't like Willow's; she had nothing with which to attack the evil warlock. Because of that her lover was again his captive. Was she hurt, was she being tortured right now? What did he want with her?
Just that morning her lover had been upset, awakened for two consecutive nights by nightmares. Had she subconsciously known what was going to happen? Willow had wanted to talk to her, but they were distracted and it hadn't seemed a priority. Now she would give anything to know what Willow had dreamed and if there was anything she could do to help set her free.
Faith had shoved, pulled and half-carried the ex-dark magick lieutenant to the location of Oz's old cage with Elena walking in a stupor beside her.
"Spike better have this ready." The Dark Slayer growled as she pushed their captive down the stairs.
"It's ready luv, been ready since last night. This our guy? Well, welcome, now get your arse inside." The blond vampire shoved the young man who stumbled behind the bars and sat down in a heap.
"Everything went alright then?" Spike asked.
Faith glared at the vampire. "Yeah, too easy. Right up until the bad ass warlock waltzed in and took Red right out from under our noses."
"Two Slayers and you let him get Red?" Spike was incredulous.
"Don't start with me. Just get this guy to spill everything he knows, and now. Elena is here to translate." Faith snapped back.
Neither Faith nor Spike had noticed the Light Witch had the lieutenant up against the bars and was holding a fireball to his face, slightly singeing his eyebrows.
"Whoa there, how about we see if our guest wants to talk first, before we start with the fire play!" Spike exclaimed as he pulled Elena away from the cage.
"Fine, but let's get started. What is your plan? Because we don't have time to wait." Elena's voice was quiet but full of anger.
"Ok, Ok. How about Faith and I go inside with our friend there and you stay out here and translate." Spike decided to try a gentler approach with the woman from Khul. "We'll get what we need, no worries."
The vampire turned to Faith. "Slayer, if you would be so kind as to secure our guest from behind, I would like to get up close and personal, see how he does with my true nature."
Faith entered the cage and held the young man up by the arms behind his back again and waited for Spike to approach.
"Tell him he needs to tell us everything he knows about Morton; where he is, what he is doing here, how many troops he has and why he wants Red and the kid." Spike spoke calmly to the man who looked quite shaken at this point.
Elena dutifully translated and the trio was greeted by an obstinate silence.
"Point out that his leader has clearly sacrificed him to the cause, probably thought he was the weakest and most disposable. Now he is alone and defenseless."
As the translation took place the young man's chin slumped a little towards his chest, but he still did not speak.
"Now explain that if he doesn't talk I will allow the Slayer to break every bone in his body before I drain every drop of his blood for lunch."
The man from Khul's eyes became wide as Elena relayed the vampires words. He was looking younger and more afraid with each passing moment.
Spike raised an eyebrow to Faith who tightened her grasp to just short of breaking an arm. Then she tilted the lieutenant's head to the side. Spike had turned toward Elena during the last of the translation. When it was complete he spun back in full game face, fangs bared, stopping just short of breaking skin.
Two things happened at the same time. First the young man began to speak in a terrified stream of words which continued unabated for several minutes. Second, a stream of another kind flowed down the inside of his leg and pooled yellow around his feet.
Willow was getting tired of losing consciousness. She was at three times and counting today and each had been from increasing levels of agony. This time at least she woke in a new and far more comfortable place. She was in a bed, tucked under covers. Which was a good thing since when she looked under the blankets she was wearing only panties. Her upper body ached, but the binders were gone and there was bandaging wrapped around both her arms and on her upper back.
She sat up leaning against several pillows while clutching the covers to her chest and evaluated her surroundings. The room was small and windowless. There was a single wood door. In addition to the bed, there was a small dressing table with mirror and a chair.
Clothing was draped over the back of the chair, but it was not what she had been wearing. It appeared to be a black camisole and black leather pants. Glancing over the edge of the bed, she saw a pair of black boots to complete the ensemble.
Deciding clothing of any kind was better than nakedness, Willow slipped out of the bed and approached the chair holding the clothing. Before she could pick up the first item, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and lost her balance. She grabbed the back of the chair and sat down, staring at a terrible version of herself she had thought she would never be faced with again. Her hair and eyes were black, her skin white. No veins were visible, but her skin was unnaturally pale.
Anger coursed through her and without trying she found electricity tingling through her fingertips and forming small red waves of power that she was forced to ground in order to get dressed. After standing to pull on the leather pants, she peeled away the bandage from her back, peeking over her shoulder into the mirror to see what had been done. Her first tattoo was still partially visible, but was now mostly obscured by an angry red rune burned into her skin. She carefully re-covered the new wound and pulled the camisole over her upper body. It was tight and sleeveless, leaving little to the imagination.
As she was pulling on the boots, the door to the room opened and Maxwiel stepped inside.
"Good, you are up and dressed. We don't have much time and you still have something important to do today. Shall we discuss it over lunch? You are probably hungry."
He turned to leave and Willow found her magick was back and strong with barely a thought. She wondered if she could simply strike him down from behind and fight her way out of wherever this place was.
"Before you try it and force me to put the binders back on, your magick won't work on me now. I gave you the dark power, but also a little extra that prevents you from harming me. You can try if you want. You can also hurt my troops; for my own reasons they are not protected from you. But if you use magick against anyone without my orders, I will have to keep you in the binders whenever you are not doing my bidding. The choice is yours." The warlock simply continued walking away.
Willow saw no reasonable choice but to follow him. She was a mass of conflicting feelings and emotions, and she needed information to help sort them out. For now, Morton was the only source.
They traveled down a short hall that contained several more wooden doors and into a dining area. Food was set up on the table and two place settings were present. A single soldier was stationed at an open entrance opposite the one they had come through.
"Sit, eat. I'm sure you have questions." Morton waved magnanimously with his hand. He immediately began to fill his plate with a variety of dishes.
"I remember you always did appreciate a good meal." Willow commented. She noticed even her voice seemed to carry a different timber, lower and with a slightly menacing tone. She took her plate and selected a few items before sitting next to the warlock. "Not that I was often the beneficiary of that hospitality."
"Let me apologize for my previous treatment. There were things I did not understand at that time. I was naïve. I can provide you with a much more powerful and enriching education now. One that can be mutually beneficial. Wine?" He poured himself a glass and set the bottle down at the witch's declination.
After eating several bites, the redhead found she could stomach no more. There were questions she needed to ask, but wanted to be careful in her presentation. "Beneficial how? And why me?"
The warlock took a long sip of wine and settled back in his chair. "Let me start with your second question. You are more unique than you know. Your power, when properly sourced, is nearly limitless. You chose to foolishly restrict yourself by becoming aligned with the Light, but I have removed that restriction permanently."
The warlock sipped yet more wine before continuing. "As to the benefits, well to be honest, they will be primarily mine. I intend to rule Khul, and by extension Sunnydale. My authority will be unquestionable and my power supreme. For reasons we will get to shortly, I anticipate my reign will be, in human terms, forever. The benefits that could accrue to you are more of the carrot and stick variety. You have experienced many times the pain I am willing to inflict, so let's focus on the carrot. Untold wealth and power. You could be a queen, both loved and feared. I care not for the adoration of little people, you could fashion yourself their protector if it pleased you."
"And if royalty does not appeal to me? You should know that wealth and power do not motivate me." Willow answered truthfully.
"You could be my dark assassin. Live in the shadows and thrive on the darkness that feeds you so readily if you care not for the world of people." Maxwiel offered.
Willow found his words touched the newly turned blood in her veins, singing out the truth, calling her to feel the dark power. She warred internally with this reality, needing to see if her family could be protected.
"There I those I care for more than others. I would need to know they are safe."
The warlock suddenly leaned forward and grabbed the arms of her chair, black eyes locked together.
"Ah, and so we come to it finally. I will have Isobel under my control. That can be with your assistance and therefore under your protection, or I can take her myself, without your help. Her treatment would then be part of your punishment. As I said, carrot or stick."
"Why do you want Isobel? You know my daughter has two witches for parents, but why all this effort to kidnap her?"
"Willow, now that you do not represent a threat to me, I will share with you that which I have told no one, why Isobel Maclay is the lynchpin of my future." The warlock was now so excited he stood and began to pace around the table.
"You see, your former friend Rack shared a crucial piece of information with me, on his deathbed. You know he had obtained the power to transfer his essence into a new male child, his own type of renewal. When he began the process with your lover he started as he always did, by transferring his magickal abilities first. But you came along and rudely interrupted him and took over, substituting your own essence into the now female child."
"I know this, I was there." Somehow Morton's excitement was filling Willow with dread. His knowledge about Isobel's conception was disconcerting.
"Yes. But you simply took over, you didn't remove what Rack had already done! He hadn't implanted any of his genetics or personality, but he had transferred his unique magickal abilities. I have since learned that those abilities manifested in a female, the product of two witches will be, shall we say magnified."
When Willow cocked her head at Morton in confusion he raced over to her and touched her chin raising her face up to gaze into his ebony eyes.
"Your daughter will make me immortal."
As the sun was still out, Elena and Faith left the lieutenant in his cage with Spike guarding and returned to the house. They gathered everyone together leaving Xander with Isobel in the girl's room. She was reading a story to her Uncle while he recovered from his most recent blow to the head.
Elena relayed the information the lieutenant had provided. He had explained how he came in contact with Morton several years ago as a young member of the Light. Maxwiel had convinced him to break his Light bond to access strong dark sources. He had been convinced that Morton's leadership would be good for Khul, and he had been promised a high position under the warlock. Morton had told him they needed to be in Sunnydale in order to access a powerful dark source and to recruit a demon army that would be sent back to Khul.
When the lieutenant had voiced concern over allowing demons into his home dimension, Morton had stationed him in the vulnerable position at the portal. He had been told that the witches and the Slayer would come for him, but had been assured that he would be protected. He had seen at least two dozen additional soldiers come from Khul and many demons and vampires return in trade.
Faith added that despite further 'aggressive' questioning, it was clear the young man did not know that Morton was after Isobel. He also did not know where the warlock was holed up; he was kept at the residence hall.
"So it's the Hellmouth. Again." Buffy spoke wearily. "Do you think he needs Willow to help open it?"
"She couldn't do that, it's dark magick." Elena responded.
"How did this young man break his bond to Light Magick? Was it voluntary? Did he say?" Tara asked quietly.
"Shit T, we didn't ask that. You thinking this Morton guy can do that to Red against her will? Make her go dark to help him open the Hellmouth?" Faith had only heard a little of what had happened with Willow four years ago and that was scary enough.
"We need to ask him. Let's think of any other useful information he may be able to provide and someone can go back over to the cage and question him again." Buffy was trying to formulate a plan. "It seems we have two fronts, the Hellmouth and the Portal. I say we focus on the Hellmouth as it gives us our best chance of finding Willow. If Morton needs her power, he'll take her there. Tara, any spell you can use to find your honey?"
Tara shook her head. "I already tried. Wherever she is magick is blocked. It's probably underground, that would be an easy location to shield."
"Ok. Faith and Elena will go back to question the lieutenant. Tara, you, Isobel and Dawn need to stay here. Xander is in no condition to go anywhere." Buffy summarized for the group. "Anya, you look like you want to say something."
"I don't get it. This is way too much trouble for a power grab. Why the Hellmouth? How does that help him in another dimension? We still have too many holes in what we know and I just don't like it." The ex-demon had a scowl on her face.
When nobody had a good answer, Faith and Elena decided to eat a quick lunch and headed back to the cage. Anya took Xander downstairs to rest and Buffy recruited Dawn to help inventory weapons.
Tara walked slowly up the stairs and into her daughter's bedroom. She did not want to have this conversation. But Isobel was a smart child and Tara could tell she knew something was wrong. She couldn't keep Willow's absence from her for long.
"Can I have a hug?" Tara asked as she scooped up her daughter and sat on the bed.
"Mama, everyone is talking loud and fast, is something wrong?" Isobel asked her blue eyes sad.
Tara needed to balance the truth with her daughter's age and innocence. "Yes, a bad man is out there, but Aunt Buffy and Faith and everyone else is going to catch him and put him in jail."
"Aunt Buffy and Mommy always protect us. Is Mommy catching the bad man?" Isobel asked.
"Yes Honey, Mommy is helping. Because of that she might be away from us for a little while." Tara answered struggling to keep her eyes dry.
Isobel smiled suddenly and pointed over Tara's shoulder. "Mommy isn't gone. She's right behind you!"