Chapter Twenty Three-A Storm on the Horizon
Ninety seconds.
The dark witch tossed Tara's dead body into a heap at Morton's feet.
Eighty five seconds.
"Well, that was impressive. I didn't really think you had it in you." The warlock reached down and felt the lack of heartbeat in the blond's chest.
Seventy seconds.
"Need to double check my work? I think you will find I am a bit of a perfectionist." The dark witch replied evenly.
Sixty five seconds.
"Well done. This will go far in assuring your place at my side." Morton clapped his hands magnanimously. "Did you have something else planned?"
Sixty seconds.
The dark witch smiled thinly and looked down at the corpse. "I thought I would make this a delivery. It should completely break the spirit of the Slayer and her little band of misfits, don't you agree?"
Fifty five seconds.
The warlock laughed, his hands on his hips. "Yes, yes, delightful. You will share the tale of their anguish with me later?"
"Of course teacher. That is if I leave any of them alive." She bowed her head reverently.
Forty seconds.
"Don't take long, we have to prepare for tonight."
Thirty five seconds.
The dark witch reached down and touched the cooling body of the blond and with a word they both disappeared.
The consciousness of Willow Rosenberg cried as she watched the actions of the dark witch from a small corner of her mind. Willow knew she couldn't do what had to be done and be fully herself. When she had come to the realization of what was needed to stop Morton and understood the price that would be paid she had created this place, a prison of the mind.
The cell was small but not much space was needed to contain a consciousness. The walls were thick and solid. A door existed, but it was locked and she did not have the key. A window was in the door. The ability to see out, to be forced to witness events as they transpired, that was her punishment. She could have left the room windowless to decrease her suffering, but she deserved no mercy. So she watched from the window in her mind in misery.
As the dark witch had approached her love she cried. When she saw the tears on Tara's face as her blond beauty professed her continued trust, she felt her own tears turning her vision into a prism of pain. As the ugly hand of the dark witch caressed the soft skin of her lover's face, and then grasp her throat cutting off blood flow and air, she moaned in agony.
From her silent prison she begged the blond witch to fight, to scratch and claw and leave marks and scars that could never be obscured or forgotten. She wanted Tara to win, to strike down the dark witch and then the warlock and cry out in triumph.
But that was not in the nature of her kindhearted lover. So Willow witnessed the submission, the words of love, to which she could only respond in kind, unheard, "I'll always love you too."
As it was done she wanted to crawl to the corner of her cell, to let madness take her mind as she had let the dark witch take her body and part of her soul. But that would cost seconds, precious seconds. So she forced herself to watch, and rent the air of the prison in her mind with shrieks that only she could hear as the light and life went out of Tara's eyes.
When the dark witch tossed her soulmate's body to the floor like so much refuse, it was time. One and half minutes and counting to pass the only test that had ever mattered. Madness and grief would only result in failure, and that was not an option. She needed to be ready.
Buffy was face down on the living room floor of her house, her head spinning. As she pushed up into a shaky sitting position, she saw Faith doing likewise in the dining room. The Slayers exchanged groans.
"You Ok?" Buffy asked Faith.
"Yeah. You?" Faith found she wasn't ready for a long conversation yet.
"Did you hear that?" The blond Slayer pushed her uncooperative body to her feet and stumbled in the direction of the back yard where voices were calling out.
By the time Buffy got to the back porch Faith had gotten to her feet and followed her. The Slayers found Xander, Anya and Dawn face down in the grass of the back yard. Xander and Dawn were moaning and Anya was holding her head and cursing.
"I forgot how much I don't like teleportation." Anya could only whisper.
"Did any of you see Tara or Elena?" Buffy asked as she went to help Dawn get to her feet.
Everyone shook their heads in the negative. "Well, let's get inside and regroup. Aspirin for everyone."
Anya was helping Xander up when a thought struck her that she pointed out to the others. "We have no witches now, against a really strong warlock. That can't be good."
The dark witch appeared in the small bedroom Morton had given her with the body of the blond in her arms.
Thirty seconds.
"Isobel, where are you?" Willow had to make her own voice heard now.
"Mommy?" A small sound called out from beneath the bed.
Twenty five seconds.
"Baby girl, I need you. Your Mama needs your help. Can you come here?" It was so hard to sound like herself. The dark witch still had control.
Big blue eyes peeked out over the opposite side of the bed. "Mama!"
Fifteen seconds.
"Isobel. Take your Mama's hand. Use your magick, it's Ok, she knows how much you love her." It was so wrong, to put her daughter in this position.
The little redhead took up her Mama's hand and held it for a moment, her lip trembling.
Ten seconds.
There was nothing else to say. This would happen, it would work, or it wouldn't. Willow had set the timer in her mental prison to count down ninety seconds. She had learned in an anatomy class taken long ago the human body could survive strangulation for several minutes. But the brain was damaged if oxygen was not restored within two minutes and significant loss of function could occur after as little as a minute and a half. Willow believed Isobel could heal Tara, but only if there was time.
In her mind Willow could hear nothing but the decreasing numbers. Nine, eight, seven, six. . .
A golden light began at the enjoined hands of mother and daughter. The light grew with the passing seconds, but it was racing a clock only Willow could hear.
Five, four, three. . .
The small redheaded witch reached up with her free hand and placed it directly on her Mama's forehead as the light grew and became brighter, until it enveloped the room like the center of the sun.
Two, one.
As the timer ran out Willow waited for the dark witch to consume her completely. Her only chance of release from her self-imposed prison was based on Tara's life. That was part of the agreement she had reached with her dark self. If Tara could not be brought back, she would give herself over to the darkness and allow her consciousness to be sealed away in this place forever.
Tara was the key. If her lover lived, she alone could grant freedom. Tara could choose to release her or to leave her trapped with the dark witch that held her, sending them both to hell together. It would be her soulmate's choice, but one made later, after the dark witch had fulfilled her obligations.
Dimly Willow heard a small voice. She realized it was Isobel calling for her Mama and crying. Willow looked back through the window of her prison cell to see the most beautiful sight she had ever beheld. Tara's eyes were fluttering open as her arms encircled her daughter.
"Mama?" Isobel was curled up next to the blond on the bed, looking into her face.
"Isobel! Are you alright? Where are we?" Tara felt very disoriented. She was thrilled to be with her daughter somehow, but did not know where they were.
As Tara scanned around the room, her eyes fell upon the dark witch who had been standing silently next to the bed. The blond witch scrambled to her feet on the opposite side, putting Isobel behind her body. "Don't think I have forgotten what you did."
The dark witch slowly walked around the end of the bed towards the mother and daughter. "We must go."
Hope flared for an instant in Tara's eyes. "Willow? Can you take us home?"
The dark witch curled one corner of her lip. "Willow isn't really available right now. Think of me as her messenger."
With a gesture Isobel was back on the bed and appeared deep in sleep. Tara reached out and found she was blocked from reaching her daughter.
"I have a message, one you need to heed if you want to live. You, your daughter, the Slayers, your friends, Sunnydale, everyone will die if Morton succeeds in harnessing the Hellmouth tonight and leaving. You must be at the portal to stop him."
Tara kept glancing over to her sleeping daughter.
"Are you listening?" The dark witch looked evenly into the eyes of the blond until she nodded. "I am taking you home now, alone. Isobel cannot go yet, Morton would know something was wrong."
When Tara began to beg that her daughter needed to leave, the dark witch hissed, "You are wasting time. The warlock thinks you are dead, and when we get to the Slayer's house, you need to pretend that you are just that until after I am gone. Don't let Morton know you live." With another touch, the two witches were gone again.
Elena was in a tool shed. It was better than being exposed out in the open, but just barely. After teleporting away from Morton, she had staggered through the vineyard and back towards Sunnydale. Unfortunately, she did not know her way around and was fairly lost. In addition, she was completely exhausted from the spell.
The Light Witch thought she had seen a soldier tracking her movements through the vineyard, but could not be sure, hence the shed. Elena knew she needed to hide and concentrate on recharging her magick. Morton was right, she had allowed herself to be distracted from her responsibility here by her attraction to Willow.
She would gather her strength and find her way to the portal. Maxwiel had set a trap for them there and tonight she would return the favor.
The dark witch had carefully considered the position she wanted to arrive in at 1630 Revello Drive. Tara was limp in her arms and a spell assured she appear lifeless for the spies that were sure to be watching from hidden posts on the street.
She set the blond down carefully on the front lawn, close to the porch, but not on it.
"Slayer, I have brought you a gift." The dark witch called out mockingly.
When Buffy raced onto the porch, she saw Willow standing above the inert body of the blond witch with her hands on her hips in a posture of defiance.
"I give you a chance to flee, to take those you love and leave Sunnydale." The dark witch leaned down and swept her hand down the length of Tara's body. "I give to you the opportunity to bury your dead."
Buffy rushed to the blond's side and looked up at the woman who was once her best friend. "Willow, what have you done?"
The dark witch spoke in an exaggerated voice. "This is what will happen to all of you if you defy my teacher or interfere in his plans."
The Slayer reached out to grab the dark witch, but her hand bounced off with a shock. Instead the dark witch grasped Buffy's shirt and leaned close to her over Tara's body and spoke quickly and quietly. "If you have ever trusted me as a friend, trust me now. Tara is fine, take her inside before they see she is alive. Be ready at the portal tonight. Do not go to the Hellmouth, you must be at the portal."
Buffy found herself flung backward against the porch with a bolt of magick as the dark witch stood up. "Consider this your final warning."
Just then Faith came flying out the front door and off the porch, but found herself striking nothing but air as the dark witch teleported away.
Buffy was stunned and confused, but getting Tara inside seemed like a good idea no matter what. She scooped up the blond and asked Faith to stand watch on the porch.
The living room seemed too exposed if there truly were spies she could not see, so the Slayer carried Tara upstairs to her room and made sure all the blinds were drawn tight. As soon as she laid the blond on the bed she began to stir and mumble Willow's name. Dawn came in with a glass of water and smoothed Tara's hair back from her face. "She's not dead, right? We heard what Willow said, but I couldn't believe it."
"I'm not dead Dawnie." Tara was still quiet, but her eyes were opening. "Who is making the room spin?"
"Oh thank god." Dawn said in an uneasy voice. "I need to tell everyone."
"Hang on Sis." Buffy was starting to think about what the dark witch had said. "Willow wanted us to pretend Tara was dead. Let's let her get a little more awake and see what's going on before we start shouting around the house."
"I'm awake Buffy. I just don't know how to tell you what happened without it sounding worse than it is, if that is even possible." Tara was sitting up against the pillows and sipping water to clear her head. She had to decide whether to tell the Slayer everything or to keep out certain facts, like Willow killing her.
"I think Willow has a plan. I saw Isobel for a minute, she is fine. Willow wanted me to pretend to be dead when we got here."
"Why didn't she bring Isobel back too? What good is you 'pretending' to be dead?"
The Slayer's questions were all reasonable in Tara's mind. The blond witch knew she should tell Buffy exactly what had happened. But some part of her knew if she did the Slayer would go after Willow and would probably do the opposite of what the dark witch had asked out of stubbornness.
Tara had a bigger decision to make. Did she trust that Willow was trying to help, even when she was seemingly under the control of very dark powers? Was she willing to trust Dark Willow with her life, when she had taken it with her own hands once already?
Despite the ridiculous contradiction, the fact that the dark witch had killed her, yet brought her back, gave Tara faith that some part of Willow was still aware and still loved her. If she had wanted Tara dead, she could have left her that way. Willow must have a plan and they should follow it. Nothing they had done so far had impacted the warlock in any way. Willow must have realized she needed to do something drastic, and she certainly had.
Thoughts about what the dark witch had done and the future and whether Willow could be brought back from the darkness that controlled her would have to wait until Isobel was safe and Morton was gone.
"She couldn't tip her hand. Buffy, I think we should do as she asked. She didn't want us to sit out of the fight, she just asked us to be at the portal. What choice do we have?" Tara finally responded.
"We could go to the Hellmouth." Buffy pointed out. "Maybe this is just a distraction so they can open it without interference."
"We could go to the Hellmouth. But twice today Willow has asked me to trust her. She asked you to trust her out on the lawn. I know how I feel. I trust her with my life." Tara had found a deep inner calm that came with her decision. "Can you?"
When night had fallen, Morton called together his soldiers, his remaining dark lieutenant, and his prized dark witch. He spoke to the assembly of their impending victory and the glory and riches he would bestow. His voice rose when he promised they would return home that night at the head of a great army and rule Khul.
The soldiers were given orders and headed out from the vineyard. Willow was both frightened and relieved to see Isobel with the last squad of soldiers. The warlock promised terrible disfiguring pain to the sergeant in charge of the squad if Isobel was lost or harmed in any way before he arrived at the portal.
Once the soldiers left for the university campus, only Morton, Willow and the dark lieutenant remained. The sun had set and the lieutenant had gathered the items the warlock would need that night. With no more reason to remain at the vineyard, Morton ushered the trio into the circle and teleported directly to the Seal of Danzalthar beneath the new high school.
Willow watched as the two men began to draw an elaborate design around the Seal, setting various artifacts at the cardinal points. The dark witch laughed at their efforts.
The warlock looked at her with fury in his eyes. "How dare you laugh at me witch. What could you possibly find so amusing?"
"Your art and trinkets. They are meaningless to the Seal, and to the Hellmouth." The dark witch waved dismissively at the items.
"What do you know of opening the Seal?" Morton challenged.
"I have lived here most of my life. I have felt the power of the Hellmouth forever, and now it is a part of me. Don't you know what the Seal needs? Can't you feel it?" The witch found her body was swaying slightly the waves of dark power were so strong here.
"I know the final step. I know what must be given! Do you!" The warlock bellowed.
The dark witch turned to her teacher and found him holding an athame in his right hand, aimed at her heart.
"Blood. It is always blood. It is only blood." The dark witch's eyes were filled with roiling dark clouds as she watched Morton decide her fate.
She received her answer when the dark lieutenant suddenly cried out and collapsed onto the center of the Seal, Morton slowly removing his athame from the young man's chest.
"You are stronger. And after your demonstration of loyalty today, murdering your lover and the mother of your child, I know you belong to me. Your friends would never accept you back now."
The room started to glow a dark red color as the lieutenant's bloods seeped into the Seal.
Morton pointed down at the dying body. "That was to be you. Your blood would open the seal and I would have Isobel's power without interference. But your actions today changed my mind. In my wildest dreams I never imagined how perfectly evil you could become. You will do great things at my side Willow."
The warlock stepped off of the Seal as it started to shift, not opening so much as devouring the ground around it. A gaping maw was left in the earth and the first of the Turok-Han emerged, kneeling at Morton's feet.
"Rise, and take your brethren into the town. Kill any who stand against you. Find the Slayer and kill her and her friends. Then wait for me at the portal."
The Turok-Han rose and turned back to the opening in the earth. He released a great roar that echoed back a thousand fold. The demon army began to climb from the depths, passing Morton and Willow in waves as they headed for the surface.
Morton turned to his dark witch. "The final stage has begun. Let us say goodbye to Sunnydale from the portal." The warlock took her hand and they left the open Hellmouth teleporting together.
Once the decision was made to make their stand at the portal, Buffy was all business. She organized and distributed weapons and divided the small group into two squads. She would take Dawn and Tara as close to the portal as they could get. She hoped that Tara could find a way to disrupt or close the portal with magick and Dawn's help. Buffy also wanted to be the last line of defense to stop Morton from taking Isobel to Khul. Faith, Xander and Anya would cover the outside of the residence hall and engage any soldiers or demons.
Buffy was upset that they had neither of the Light Magick witches to fight Morton. Tara had seen Elena disappear from the cellars beneath the vineyard, but the witch had not come back to the house and they did not have time to search for her. The other Light Magick witch was not even Light anymore, the Slayer pondered. She really hoped fighting Willow was not in her near future.
The group arrived on the deserted campus well after nightfall. Approaching Fischer Hall through a wooded area, they could see soldiers guarding outside of the main and auxiliary doors.
Buffy gathered everyone in a circle. "Well, this is where we split up. Let's kick this guy's butt once and for all." The most successful Slayer in history swallowed hard and looked around at those assembled. "I love you all."
Xander touched Buffy on the arm and smiled. "We love you too."
Faith was shifting a sword and axe back and forth from one hand to the other. "Let's do this thing."
Tara leaned over to Buffy and spoke softly in her ear, "If you have to make a choice, save Isobel, understand?"
The Slayer looked at her friend and nodded but added, "I intend to keep you both safe."
"I think they know they have company. Time to fight!" Anya saw a squad coming towards the woods and raised her crossbow, taking out the lead soldier.
The five women and one man ran into the clearing to face the dark soldiers from Khul and the battle was on.
The warlock and dark witch found themselves back where they had first teleported together, the student lounge of Fischer Hall. Squads of soldiers filled the space, including the ones responsible for Isobel. The young girl looked frightened, her eyes darting around, trying to take in the chaotic scene. Willow kept behind Morton; she did not want Isobel to see her right now.
The warlock was barking out orders and several of the squads headed out the main doors to set up a perimeter. As they exited, Willow heard raised voices reporting that attackers were coming out of the woods. The dark witch strode to the open doors in time to see the small band of warriors that constituted her family and friends begin to fight.
Willow could see they were already outnumbered and out gunned by the dark magick soldiers with their heavy weapons. Glancing around, the dark witch saw her opportunity. Morton and the soldiers were distracted by the attack and not paying any attention to her. It was time to even the odds.
As a Light Witch on Khul, Willow had been trained to understand the weaponry of the Dark. They did not use bullets or other conventional projectiles. The rifles emitted an electrical beam much like a laser, powerful and accurate, that could be adjusted to the target while firing.
What Morton and the dark soldiers had not accounted for was the inherent flaw in the use of the weapons in this dimension. They were highly susceptible to interruption and failure when exposed to other strong electrical sources.
Sunnydale had not gotten its name in irony. The sun shone down on the unique California town most days, and when rain did quench the dry terrain, it was mostly in the form of showers. The climate of Khul was so vastly different that it had taken Willow several years of living there to realize she had never heard thunder. When she asked Elena about it, the Light soldier had no frame of reference, having never seen a storm that included lightning.
So it wasn't completely surprising that Morton and the Dark soldiers had not been faced with the flaw in their technologically advanced equipment during their time in this dimension. But they were about to.
The dark witch teleported with ease to Kingman's Bluff. With the Hellmouth open, her power was replenished instantly and she drew upon it to raise the spire of the temple from the ground. The carved image of the woman entwined with a serpent emerged and Willow ceased her efforts. She only needed this portion of the temple to complete her next objective.
Proserpexa had understood the powers of the Hellmouth. A minor demon, she had tried unsuccessfully to harness the dark magick leaking from the seal for her own uses. Her followers in the 1930's had finally come to understand her madness and had recruited the assistance of a local dark magick warlock to stop her plan and destroy the temple they had built to worship her.
The warlock had provided the power the worshipers needed in exchange for their servitude. Several generations later he shared his memories of Proserpexa with a powerful young witch with bright red hair in an exchange with her memories.
The dark witch had designed a spell to achieve two objectives at once. As she took increasing amounts of power from the Hellmouth, the magickal aspect of the seal narrowed into a funnel. The more dark magick she was able to focus, the smaller the aperture of the funnel became. Soon, the hordes of Turok-Han that had not yet made their way out of the broken seal were again trapped inside the Hellmouth by the dark witch's magick.
The highly concentrated stream of dark power streamed into the witch, answering her call willingly. She turned herself into a conduit, taking in all that the Hellmouth could give and immediately surging the power through her hands and into the image of Proserpexa.
The dark witch could feel the power reaching a zenith. When she had filled the carving to the point where it glowed bright in the night, she stopped the stream and capped her magickal seal over the Hellmouth. It was only temporary, but should last the night.
Willow had learned through Rack that Proserpexa held the power of transmutation. The demon had intended to acquire the dark power of the Hellmouth and alter the reality of this dimension into one in which she was a powerful Queen served by all. When Rack had defeated her, she had not been destroyed completely, but simply bound into the wooden carving and buried.
The demon part of Proserpexa was a serpent. When the dark witch called forth the infused power of the Hellmouth from the image, the transmutation allowed the serpent to fall free from the image of the woman. Willow called the demon to her and instructed the serpent on how the dark power was to be transformed. The demon readily agreed and the two approached the edge of the cliff together.
Willow could see the lights of the town below her from her vantage point high up on the bluff. The town looked peaceful, although she knew a battle was raging on the university campus and dozens of Turok-Han were rampaging through the streets between the high school and the university below.
'Time to bring a storm to Sunnydale.' The witch thought to herself and the darkness within her was pleased.