CROSS ROADS
Part 20
Scully could not believe her eyes.
The Sunnydale Mall was a place of terror. Men, women, and children were running for their lives and screaming out of fear. There were so many things that Scully had seen throughout her years on the X-Files and she thought that many of those things could be explained whether Mulder wanted to except that or not. What she was seeing now could also be explained, but not in the way she would have expected.
She could not deny what her eyes were telling her.
The villains chasing after innocent lives were clearly not terrorists. And they were not people whose bodies were being ravished by some unknown plague or sickness.
They were vampires.
Scully stood at the top of the stairs and she stared in horror as a vampire sank its teethe into a young woman's throat. The woman had been screaming, but now a blank look crossed her face as the vampire fed from her.
Giles grabbed Scully by the arm and he shook her. "Deal with your disbelief later!" he exclaimed. "For now, pick a target and aim for the heart!"
Scully nodded as she brought up the crossbow she had been holding and it was already loaded with a wooden bolt. Giles had given it to her to use as they had neared the Mall and at first, she had thought it to be a bit too extreme and outdated. But now she understood the need for it.
She even approved of it.
Below them on the main floor, Buffy was fighting off three vampires. Scully was amazed at the Slayer's fighting ability's. The girl was fast on her feet and quite deadly. As Scully raised her crossbow and sighted on her first kill, Buffy had already staked two, turning the blood-sucking leeches into dust, and was working on the third.
Giles leveled his own crossbow and he fired. The bolt hit its target and a vampire turned to dust. Side by side, Giles and Scully began to pick off vampires one by one.
"I'm quite impressed," Giles told her as he reloaded his weapon. "You haven't missed a single one of your targets."
Scully reached for another bolt. She was getting into this. "You're not too bad yourself...even if you did miss one shot."
Just as she was saying that, Giles fired off a shot. The bolt sailed through the air and stuck into the vampires left eye.
"Make that two." Scully fired as the wounded vampire looked up at them with its one good eye. The bolt from Scully's crossbow struck its heart and ended its miserable existence.
Giles frowned. "I-I didn't realize we were keeping score."
The Watcher was impressed with something else besides the Special Agents superb marksmanship. He noticed that there were several people who refused to run from the impending danger...that they had no desire to become victims then or at any other time. Many of them turned the tables and actually began to attack the evil villains. Giles watched in amazement as four teenagers dragged one vampire to the floor and they proceeded to stab it repeatedly with crossbow bolts they had retrieved from the floor.
One of those teenagers was a boy named Jonathan. He was the one who finally hit the heart. When the vampire turned to dust, he looked at the floor in amazement. Then he joined the other teenagers and they sought for another target.
"They're running off!" someone shouted.
Buffy had just slain her seventh vampire and turned it into dust when she heard the shout. She looked around and discovered that it was true. The remaining vampires were fleeing. She had the strangest feeling, however, that their sudden departure had nothing to do with their victims fighting back. Something else was going on. She could feel it.
"Buffy!"
She spun around. She was surprised to see Cordelia running toward her. There was a look of fear and anxiety on her face.
"Cordelia!" Buffy called out as Giles and Scully joined her.
Cordelia ran up to Buffy but then she had to sit down to catch her breath. She reflexively brushed her hair back and Giles, Scully, and Buffy stared at what they saw. Cordelia's neck had imprints of a hand, as if a large hand had been around her throat. There were bruises and her skin was an angry shade of red.
"Oh, my God!" Scully exclaimed as she began to look closely at her neck. "What happened to you?"
"H-he picked me up and choked me!" Cordelia responded in a rush. "H-he squeezed my throat...I couldn't breathe." There were tears in her eyes and she was still shaking from the experience. "I-I couldn't stop him. H-he picked me right up from off the f-floor and I couldn't stop him!!"
Giles looked at her with concern. "Who did this?"
"T-the Heir!!"
Buffy put her hand reassuringly on Cordelia's shoulder and she sat next to her. "I'm so sorry, Cordelia. I should have been there. Are you okay?"
Cordelia shook her head as she tried to control her breathing. "No. I'm not okay. He said he wanted to feed but that he would come back for me at another time. He wanted me to give you a message first."
"What message?" Buffy didn't like the way this conversation was heading. She had a very bad feeling that it was only going to get worst.
Cordelia looked at Buffy. "I saw Miss Calendar, and then I went back to see Willow. He was taking her away. The Heir was taking Xander and Stacy, too!" She hesitated. "I couldn't stop them! You could have, but not me!"
Buffy was already blaming herself. "No one's blaming you, Cordelia," she said softly.
Cordelia looked at Buffy and she realized that what she had said made her sound like she was casting blame. She shook her head and would have said something, but Scully also realized what Buffy was thinking. "No one's blaming you either, Buffy," Scully told her. "This is the Heir's doing. Not anyone else can take the blame for these actions."
"The Heir let you go, Cordelia," Giles said as he removed his glasses. "It's quite obvious that we are meant to go after him to free Willow, Xander, and Stacy."
Buffy shook her head. "I must go, Giles. No one else has to. I'm the Slayer and that's what I do."
"He has an army, Buffy. You'll need back up."
"Giles, I--"
"Buffy, if you go alone, you will fall alone. And we will eventually join you. If we go with you, we have a fighting chance." He paused as he regarded her. "You are not meant to fight this battle alone."
Buffy didn't know what to say.
"Our only major obstacle right now is in locating his lair."
She threw her hands up into the air in frustration. "I don't know where he took them, Giles! I haven't a clue as to where the Heir's lair is! How are we supposed to find it?" She let out a weary sigh. "They could be anywhere!"
Scully grabbed her cell phone and used the speed dial to pull up her partner's cell phone number. She hit send and looked at the others. "I know where the Heir is taking them. I've seen his lair."
Everyone turned to look at her, surprise evident on their faces.
There was a look of determination on Scully's face as she put her phone to her ear. "Mulder...It's me. We've got a problem. Do you remember that large chamber we saw deep below the quarry?" She paused for affect. "We have to go back!"
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Willow was full of despair.
She was forced to wear a collar around her neck, a collar she had tried in vain to remove. The collar was attached to a leash, which only increased the despair she was feeling. The leash itself was secured to a metal ring inserted into a pillar far above her head, out of her reach. This forced her to remain on her feet at all times. She could not sit down for the leash did not give her any room to maneuver. All she could hope to do was stand next to the pillar and lean on it for support because her body could only take so much. She had been standing for almost an hour in her hospital gown and her body was trembling with fatigue and stress.
It was a humiliating experience.
She leaned back against the pillar and looked at the altar on the raised platform. She herself was near that altar. She could look down from the platform and below, there were several vampires standing about. Most of them were leering up at her with malicious grins. They were envious of the Heir, but they would not disobey him. In spite of that, they dreamed of draining her blood.
She quickly looked away from them and tried to control her breathing.
"D-don't hyperventilate," she told herself. "Breathe...breathe...Think h- happy thoughts."
Then she looked over the altar and at the far wall on the other side of the chamber. She could see Xander and Stacy chained to the wall. Even though she had a clear vision of them, they were too far away from her for them to be able to talk with each other.
Xander didn't like the distance either. He periodically gave his chains a yank, trying to pull them free from the wall, but he kept on failing in his quest for freedom. He slumped against the wall for what seemed to be the hundredth time and scowled. Then he turned his head and he saw that Stacy was watching him.
He let out a weary sigh. "Did I mention to you that I hate terrorists and vampires?"
Stacy nodded. "Yes. You did mention that a few times."
"Well...I still do."
"Xander, I know this looks bad," Stacy told him as she looked across the chamber at Willow. "But we will be okay." She saw Jeremiah standing beside Willow.
Willow and Xander were unaware of Jeremiah's presence.
Xander looked at Stacy and frowned. "I'd really hate to be the bearer of bad news, Stacy, but this not only looks bad...it is bad." He saw the love of his life suddenly stumble and she nearly fell. "Willow!!"
Willow put her hands on the pillar and steadied herself as a wave of nausea and dizziness passed over her. She looked toward Xander and Stacy. "I'm- I'm okay!" she called out to them.
Xander angrily gave his chains another tug. He braced his feet against the wall and pulled with everything he had. But the chains would not budge.
"Xander, that won't do any good," Stacy said softly.
He let out another sigh. "I know. I know. It's just that I can't stand to see Willow treated like this!" He looked over at Willow, suddenly aware that she was watching him. He tried to give her a reassuring smile but realized that all he was doing was showing her a grimace.
Willow, however, smiled back at him.
Her smile alone touched his heart and he yearned to be near her. He smiled back without the grimace. It was a smile for Willow like she had a smile for him. He didn't understand why but he thought that it was the most precious thing in the world just to be sharing something so simple as a smile with the one he truly cared for. Someone he loved.
Stacy watched them. Then she said, "She has a very strong spirit, doesn't she?"
Xander nodded his head. "Yes, she does." He hesitated, "But will it be enough for what the Heir has planned for her?"
Stacy didn't answer. She didn't know what the final outcome would be. She only knew and believed that it would be okay. Finally, she said, "You love Willow, don't you?"
Without hesitation, Xander answered, "Yes. I do."
"Let her know it."
Xander turned to look at Stacy. She smiled encouragingly at him.
He looked over the altar at Willow. Willow smiled at him and kept her eyes focused on him and him alone.
He put his finger at the corner of his eye. "I..." Then he crossed his hands over his chest as if to hug himself. "...love..." He pointed at Willow. "...you."
Willow stared. Then she stumbled and caught herself. Her vision blurred as the tears came.
"Oh, Willow!" Xander cried out. He glanced at Stacy. "I'm a bad boy!! Bad! I made her cry!"
Stacy shushed him. "Xander, it's okay. It's not a bad cry. It's a good cry."
Xander looked over at Willow and she saw that she was giving him the same sign as he gave her. But she added one more at the end by spreading out her arms wide. Then she leaned back against the pillar and smiled.
"What was that?" Xander asked Stacy. "At the end, she added something."
Stacy smiled at him. "She loves you more."
Xander grinned.
Willow smiled at him from the pillar.
"Why do you smile, pet?" inquired a voice.
Willow spun her head and she saw Julius walking up the stone steps toward her. She froze with fear as he drew closer. He stopped before her, looked down at her, and regarded her.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Xander shouted.
Julius laughed. "There shall be entertainment here tonight!" He turned to face the lower chamber, where his followers had gathered to adore him. They cheered him. "This is a glorious night! And I can only promise that it will get better." He glanced at Willow. "I highly recommend that you go out and find yourself a human. However, you must refrain yourself from feeding. They make wonderful pets."
His followers laughed.
"As for the Slayer...she will soon meet her end." He turned to regard Willow. "Where is your Slayer, girl? Why has she abandoned you?"
Willow didn't respond.
"She will not save you, you know. No one will save you. You will remain here with me until I grow weary of you, and then you will die." He paused as he watched the tears form in her eyes. "You have only yourself to blame for your situation."
She looked puzzled. "What?" she asked hoarsely.
"You were using your computer to access information about Michael Lenox, weren't you?"
She stared at him. "How did...?" She stopped. She was trying to make sense of what Julius was telling her.
"The Iranian Liberation Front has its own computer hackers and I can assure you, they are much better at their jobs than you are. You allowed them to trace your own inquiries about Lenox. We knew who he was. We know that he is a man who is given free reign to hunt us down and kill us like animals. But you didn't know. When you began to look on the Internet, you opened up a trail that led us right to you. We broke into your files, Willow. We learned about the things that you learned about Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. We learned about everything...from you."
Willow was in shock. She stood against the pillar and trembled. "I-it's my fault you came here?" she whispered.
Julius nodded. "Yes." He pointed at Stacy. "Now look at her."
Willow did.
"Did you realize that because of who she is and who her husband is, she has more enemies in this world than you can possibly imagine? Each of her enemies would do anything to have her in their clutches." He smiled. "Perhaps I can contact them and sell her to the highest bidder!"
"No...please..."
"And then we come to the matter of your boyfriend." He looked over at Xander. "I have thought of a most suitable way to kill him for you. And it will be slow and quite painful, I can assure you."
Xander pulled on his chains. Then he spun around and glared at Julius. "You're a coward!" he shouted. "You think that by keeping us chained up makes you feel like a real man!"
Julius turned to face him, his face was bulging, his eyes were yellow, and he revealed his fangs as he growled menacingly at Xander. He began to approach his captives.
Xander swallowed a lump in his throat. "Okay, I take that back. You couldn't possibly be a coward...with a face like that. Grotesque, maybe. But not a coward."
Julius put his hand around Xander's throat and picked him up without any effort at all. "You want to play, little man? Then play we shall!" He released Xander and he pulled out a key. He unlocked the manacles, and before Xander knew what was happening, the Heir picked him up and walked him to the edge of the platform.
He tossed him.
Xander hit the ground hard, and he felt his breath rushing out. As he caught his breath and got to his knees, he found that a large gathering of vampires had formed a circle around him. He looked up at them and knew that he was going to be very dead very soon.
Julius smiled as he turned to look at Willow. "Watch as your boyfriend gets torn apart."
"Xander!!" Willow screamed.
Phhhhtt!
Phhhhtt, phhhhtt, phhhhtt!
Four vampires suddenly turned to dust right before Xander's eyes. He got to his feet and something just brushed past his ear. Another vampire turned to dust.
Julius frowned. "What have you done?!" he demanded.
Three more turned to dust just as one of the minions pointed up to a hole in the wall above them. "There!" he shouted.
All eyes turned and Xander blinked. Giles and Scully were firing bolts from crossbows.
Suddenly, there was the wild sound of Tarzan doing his wilderness call. Vampires turned to one of the entrances and one of them immediately turned to dust as a wooden pole was thrust through his heart. Fronk whipped the pole aside and speared another one.
"'Here he comes to save the day!!'" Fronk sang out. "'Mighty Fronk is on the way!'"
Behind Fronk, Lenox and Barrington charged in with their silver swords at the ready. Mulder, Spike, and Angel charged out from another entrance and Mulder gripped a sword.
Mulder swished the sword through the air. "Wahoooo!" he exclaimed.
Spike ducked. "Hey! Watch it with that thing, you dolt. I am on your bloody side."
Mulder laughed. "Sorry about that, Blondie. But I've never experienced an X-Files like this." He shook his head. "Fighting with vampires while teamed up with two vampires? Hell, forget aliens! They'll lock me up and throw away the key after this one!"
Julius stared in astonishment as he watched the battle begin. Xander had taken the opportunity to try to get up the stone steps intending to get to Willow but two vampires got in his way. Ignoring them, Julius decided that in his rage he was simply going to kill his beloved pet. It was all her fault anyway.
"Willow," he began as he turned to look at her. His back was to the altar. "I think it's time for a treat."
"I've got your treat right here for you, Heir," said a voice from behind. "I would have thought that you liked your steaks raw and juicy, but all I could get you was this nice pointy, wooden stake."
Julius turned around.
Buffy was standing on the altar with her hands on her hips. "Let's just get to the point, shall we? When you see the Master right after I send you to Hell, you can give him my regards."
"You think you can defeat me?" Julius growled.
"Let me think..." Buffy nodded. "Yep. I can. In fact, Heir today, gone tomorrow sounds just about right to me. Actually, let's make that gone tonight!" She swung her foot and caught the Heir below the chin, throwing his head back. Then she dove off the altar and the real fight began.
Buffy got in a lot of good hits when the fight started. She spun and kicked him several good ones, but then he began to block her blows. He gave her several hits of his own and she began to worry. She realized that he was barely hurt from what she had dished out and yet her body was aching horribly from his blows.
Willow watched in horror as she, too, realized that Buffy was not going to win this fight. Buffy was going to lose.
Buffy was going to die.
Willow shook her head. "No..."
As if in slow motion, she saw Julius send a blow to Buffy's face. The Slayer's head turned with the blow and blood flew from her lips.
Willow looked toward the lower chamber and saw two vampires trying to kill Xander. He threw punches and kicks at them, but they were wearing him down. It was only a matter of time before they...No! There had to be a way. There just had to be a way!
Suddenly, the collar around her neck slipped off and fell into her hand.
She stared at it. Then she looked up and she saw Jeremiah.
He put a hand upon her shoulder. "Willow..." he said with a reassuring smile. "Believe. The most powerful force on earth is to have faith and use it."
Willow turned and saw Julius holding Buffy by the throat. He had her above the ground and he was laughing as he squeezed. Buffy was unable to breathe.
"Noooo!" Willow shouted.
It was at that moment when a sudden feeling of calm came over her. She knew without a doubt that somehow she was going to win this battle. She looked at Julius with a new determination as she slowly approached him.
"Let her go, demon!" she commanded.
Julius didn't let Buffy go, but he did turn his head to look at Willow. He opened his eyes to say something, but he stopped when he saw Willow's face.
There was fire in her eyes.
"I said...LET HER GO!" Willow shouted. She raised a hand.
Something pried Julius' fingers from Buffy's throat and she dropped to the ground. She gasped for breath, and she looked at Willow. Willow was completely engulfed in a white light, and yet her features could be seen clearly. Her hair whipped around her head by as if caught in a wind.
Julius spun around to face her. "How can this be?! You are not strong!"
Willow's hands went to her sides and she had her palms facing Julius. "Back, demon!"
All motion seemed to stop. The fighting below ended as everyone seemed to sense that something powerful was happening. They saw Julius flying across the entire length of the chamber where he collided into a wall. He fell to the ground, groaning. As he staggered to his feet, he was aware that all eyes were upon him.
Willow was standing on the raised platform with her hands still at her sides and her palms facing out, and she was looking out toward Julius with her head bowed low. Bright colorful spots were spinning around her head.
"I will look upon my enemy, and I will cast him into the void. I will send him to the blackest depths of Hell where he may never return." Her voice echoed loudly throughout the chamber. "He will be bound and cast into outer darkness! There shall be wailing and gnashing of teethe!!"
Suddenly, it was as if all of their eyes were opened.
Everyone stared as seven large angelic creatures appeared from behind Willow. They dove onto Julius with a fury and the struggle began. He shouted and cursed as he tried to fend them off, but they were upon him and they would not be so easily defeated. The angelic creatures began to bind him with heavy chains and they lifted him up off the floor. In fact, they were all floating up from the floor.
Lenox and Xander ran up the steps to reach Willow. But they stopped suddenly as the ground began to shake.
Buffy looked down at the lower chamber. "GET OFF THE FLOOR!" she shouted.
Angel, Spike, Mulder, Fronk, and Barrington managed to make it to the raised platform as the ground literally began to tear open directly below the vainly struggling Julius and the angelic creatures. Several vampires fell into the hole and they screamed as they vanished into it. A horrible sound omitted from that hole. There was screaming, and the sounds of a roaring fire. Julius continued to struggle but it was no use. The creatures dropped him into it and the earth closed, swallowing him whole.
The angelic creatures vanished.
The shaking stopped.
Even all of the vampires were gone with the exception of Spike and Angel.
Giles and Scully had joined the others from their hiding place from above, but everyone was looking at Willow. She had collapsed onto the platform and was lying still.
Xander reached her first and he held her in his arms.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at him. "Xander?"
Xander smiled at her. "Will...are you okay?"
"I-I think I'm going to fall...will you catch me?"
He didn't want to tell her that she had already fallen. "I've got you," he assured her.
She paused. She looked at him with her green eyes. "I-is it over?"
"It's over."
"Oh...well, good. Because I th-think I'm going to p-pass out." She closed her eyes. Then she opened them. "Y-you don't mind, do you?"
He shook his head. "No. I don't mind, Willow." He kissed her on the cheek. "You rest, and I'll take care of you."
She looked into his eyes. "You won't let me go?"
"Not in a million years."
She smiled. Then she closed her eyes and she lost consciousness.
Xander kept his promise. From that day on, he didn't let her go. And he never would.
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NEXT, THE CONCLUSION...
Part 20
Scully could not believe her eyes.
The Sunnydale Mall was a place of terror. Men, women, and children were running for their lives and screaming out of fear. There were so many things that Scully had seen throughout her years on the X-Files and she thought that many of those things could be explained whether Mulder wanted to except that or not. What she was seeing now could also be explained, but not in the way she would have expected.
She could not deny what her eyes were telling her.
The villains chasing after innocent lives were clearly not terrorists. And they were not people whose bodies were being ravished by some unknown plague or sickness.
They were vampires.
Scully stood at the top of the stairs and she stared in horror as a vampire sank its teethe into a young woman's throat. The woman had been screaming, but now a blank look crossed her face as the vampire fed from her.
Giles grabbed Scully by the arm and he shook her. "Deal with your disbelief later!" he exclaimed. "For now, pick a target and aim for the heart!"
Scully nodded as she brought up the crossbow she had been holding and it was already loaded with a wooden bolt. Giles had given it to her to use as they had neared the Mall and at first, she had thought it to be a bit too extreme and outdated. But now she understood the need for it.
She even approved of it.
Below them on the main floor, Buffy was fighting off three vampires. Scully was amazed at the Slayer's fighting ability's. The girl was fast on her feet and quite deadly. As Scully raised her crossbow and sighted on her first kill, Buffy had already staked two, turning the blood-sucking leeches into dust, and was working on the third.
Giles leveled his own crossbow and he fired. The bolt hit its target and a vampire turned to dust. Side by side, Giles and Scully began to pick off vampires one by one.
"I'm quite impressed," Giles told her as he reloaded his weapon. "You haven't missed a single one of your targets."
Scully reached for another bolt. She was getting into this. "You're not too bad yourself...even if you did miss one shot."
Just as she was saying that, Giles fired off a shot. The bolt sailed through the air and stuck into the vampires left eye.
"Make that two." Scully fired as the wounded vampire looked up at them with its one good eye. The bolt from Scully's crossbow struck its heart and ended its miserable existence.
Giles frowned. "I-I didn't realize we were keeping score."
The Watcher was impressed with something else besides the Special Agents superb marksmanship. He noticed that there were several people who refused to run from the impending danger...that they had no desire to become victims then or at any other time. Many of them turned the tables and actually began to attack the evil villains. Giles watched in amazement as four teenagers dragged one vampire to the floor and they proceeded to stab it repeatedly with crossbow bolts they had retrieved from the floor.
One of those teenagers was a boy named Jonathan. He was the one who finally hit the heart. When the vampire turned to dust, he looked at the floor in amazement. Then he joined the other teenagers and they sought for another target.
"They're running off!" someone shouted.
Buffy had just slain her seventh vampire and turned it into dust when she heard the shout. She looked around and discovered that it was true. The remaining vampires were fleeing. She had the strangest feeling, however, that their sudden departure had nothing to do with their victims fighting back. Something else was going on. She could feel it.
"Buffy!"
She spun around. She was surprised to see Cordelia running toward her. There was a look of fear and anxiety on her face.
"Cordelia!" Buffy called out as Giles and Scully joined her.
Cordelia ran up to Buffy but then she had to sit down to catch her breath. She reflexively brushed her hair back and Giles, Scully, and Buffy stared at what they saw. Cordelia's neck had imprints of a hand, as if a large hand had been around her throat. There were bruises and her skin was an angry shade of red.
"Oh, my God!" Scully exclaimed as she began to look closely at her neck. "What happened to you?"
"H-he picked me up and choked me!" Cordelia responded in a rush. "H-he squeezed my throat...I couldn't breathe." There were tears in her eyes and she was still shaking from the experience. "I-I couldn't stop him. H-he picked me right up from off the f-floor and I couldn't stop him!!"
Giles looked at her with concern. "Who did this?"
"T-the Heir!!"
Buffy put her hand reassuringly on Cordelia's shoulder and she sat next to her. "I'm so sorry, Cordelia. I should have been there. Are you okay?"
Cordelia shook her head as she tried to control her breathing. "No. I'm not okay. He said he wanted to feed but that he would come back for me at another time. He wanted me to give you a message first."
"What message?" Buffy didn't like the way this conversation was heading. She had a very bad feeling that it was only going to get worst.
Cordelia looked at Buffy. "I saw Miss Calendar, and then I went back to see Willow. He was taking her away. The Heir was taking Xander and Stacy, too!" She hesitated. "I couldn't stop them! You could have, but not me!"
Buffy was already blaming herself. "No one's blaming you, Cordelia," she said softly.
Cordelia looked at Buffy and she realized that what she had said made her sound like she was casting blame. She shook her head and would have said something, but Scully also realized what Buffy was thinking. "No one's blaming you either, Buffy," Scully told her. "This is the Heir's doing. Not anyone else can take the blame for these actions."
"The Heir let you go, Cordelia," Giles said as he removed his glasses. "It's quite obvious that we are meant to go after him to free Willow, Xander, and Stacy."
Buffy shook her head. "I must go, Giles. No one else has to. I'm the Slayer and that's what I do."
"He has an army, Buffy. You'll need back up."
"Giles, I--"
"Buffy, if you go alone, you will fall alone. And we will eventually join you. If we go with you, we have a fighting chance." He paused as he regarded her. "You are not meant to fight this battle alone."
Buffy didn't know what to say.
"Our only major obstacle right now is in locating his lair."
She threw her hands up into the air in frustration. "I don't know where he took them, Giles! I haven't a clue as to where the Heir's lair is! How are we supposed to find it?" She let out a weary sigh. "They could be anywhere!"
Scully grabbed her cell phone and used the speed dial to pull up her partner's cell phone number. She hit send and looked at the others. "I know where the Heir is taking them. I've seen his lair."
Everyone turned to look at her, surprise evident on their faces.
There was a look of determination on Scully's face as she put her phone to her ear. "Mulder...It's me. We've got a problem. Do you remember that large chamber we saw deep below the quarry?" She paused for affect. "We have to go back!"
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Willow was full of despair.
She was forced to wear a collar around her neck, a collar she had tried in vain to remove. The collar was attached to a leash, which only increased the despair she was feeling. The leash itself was secured to a metal ring inserted into a pillar far above her head, out of her reach. This forced her to remain on her feet at all times. She could not sit down for the leash did not give her any room to maneuver. All she could hope to do was stand next to the pillar and lean on it for support because her body could only take so much. She had been standing for almost an hour in her hospital gown and her body was trembling with fatigue and stress.
It was a humiliating experience.
She leaned back against the pillar and looked at the altar on the raised platform. She herself was near that altar. She could look down from the platform and below, there were several vampires standing about. Most of them were leering up at her with malicious grins. They were envious of the Heir, but they would not disobey him. In spite of that, they dreamed of draining her blood.
She quickly looked away from them and tried to control her breathing.
"D-don't hyperventilate," she told herself. "Breathe...breathe...Think h- happy thoughts."
Then she looked over the altar and at the far wall on the other side of the chamber. She could see Xander and Stacy chained to the wall. Even though she had a clear vision of them, they were too far away from her for them to be able to talk with each other.
Xander didn't like the distance either. He periodically gave his chains a yank, trying to pull them free from the wall, but he kept on failing in his quest for freedom. He slumped against the wall for what seemed to be the hundredth time and scowled. Then he turned his head and he saw that Stacy was watching him.
He let out a weary sigh. "Did I mention to you that I hate terrorists and vampires?"
Stacy nodded. "Yes. You did mention that a few times."
"Well...I still do."
"Xander, I know this looks bad," Stacy told him as she looked across the chamber at Willow. "But we will be okay." She saw Jeremiah standing beside Willow.
Willow and Xander were unaware of Jeremiah's presence.
Xander looked at Stacy and frowned. "I'd really hate to be the bearer of bad news, Stacy, but this not only looks bad...it is bad." He saw the love of his life suddenly stumble and she nearly fell. "Willow!!"
Willow put her hands on the pillar and steadied herself as a wave of nausea and dizziness passed over her. She looked toward Xander and Stacy. "I'm- I'm okay!" she called out to them.
Xander angrily gave his chains another tug. He braced his feet against the wall and pulled with everything he had. But the chains would not budge.
"Xander, that won't do any good," Stacy said softly.
He let out another sigh. "I know. I know. It's just that I can't stand to see Willow treated like this!" He looked over at Willow, suddenly aware that she was watching him. He tried to give her a reassuring smile but realized that all he was doing was showing her a grimace.
Willow, however, smiled back at him.
Her smile alone touched his heart and he yearned to be near her. He smiled back without the grimace. It was a smile for Willow like she had a smile for him. He didn't understand why but he thought that it was the most precious thing in the world just to be sharing something so simple as a smile with the one he truly cared for. Someone he loved.
Stacy watched them. Then she said, "She has a very strong spirit, doesn't she?"
Xander nodded his head. "Yes, she does." He hesitated, "But will it be enough for what the Heir has planned for her?"
Stacy didn't answer. She didn't know what the final outcome would be. She only knew and believed that it would be okay. Finally, she said, "You love Willow, don't you?"
Without hesitation, Xander answered, "Yes. I do."
"Let her know it."
Xander turned to look at Stacy. She smiled encouragingly at him.
He looked over the altar at Willow. Willow smiled at him and kept her eyes focused on him and him alone.
He put his finger at the corner of his eye. "I..." Then he crossed his hands over his chest as if to hug himself. "...love..." He pointed at Willow. "...you."
Willow stared. Then she stumbled and caught herself. Her vision blurred as the tears came.
"Oh, Willow!" Xander cried out. He glanced at Stacy. "I'm a bad boy!! Bad! I made her cry!"
Stacy shushed him. "Xander, it's okay. It's not a bad cry. It's a good cry."
Xander looked over at Willow and she saw that she was giving him the same sign as he gave her. But she added one more at the end by spreading out her arms wide. Then she leaned back against the pillar and smiled.
"What was that?" Xander asked Stacy. "At the end, she added something."
Stacy smiled at him. "She loves you more."
Xander grinned.
Willow smiled at him from the pillar.
"Why do you smile, pet?" inquired a voice.
Willow spun her head and she saw Julius walking up the stone steps toward her. She froze with fear as he drew closer. He stopped before her, looked down at her, and regarded her.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Xander shouted.
Julius laughed. "There shall be entertainment here tonight!" He turned to face the lower chamber, where his followers had gathered to adore him. They cheered him. "This is a glorious night! And I can only promise that it will get better." He glanced at Willow. "I highly recommend that you go out and find yourself a human. However, you must refrain yourself from feeding. They make wonderful pets."
His followers laughed.
"As for the Slayer...she will soon meet her end." He turned to regard Willow. "Where is your Slayer, girl? Why has she abandoned you?"
Willow didn't respond.
"She will not save you, you know. No one will save you. You will remain here with me until I grow weary of you, and then you will die." He paused as he watched the tears form in her eyes. "You have only yourself to blame for your situation."
She looked puzzled. "What?" she asked hoarsely.
"You were using your computer to access information about Michael Lenox, weren't you?"
She stared at him. "How did...?" She stopped. She was trying to make sense of what Julius was telling her.
"The Iranian Liberation Front has its own computer hackers and I can assure you, they are much better at their jobs than you are. You allowed them to trace your own inquiries about Lenox. We knew who he was. We know that he is a man who is given free reign to hunt us down and kill us like animals. But you didn't know. When you began to look on the Internet, you opened up a trail that led us right to you. We broke into your files, Willow. We learned about the things that you learned about Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. We learned about everything...from you."
Willow was in shock. She stood against the pillar and trembled. "I-it's my fault you came here?" she whispered.
Julius nodded. "Yes." He pointed at Stacy. "Now look at her."
Willow did.
"Did you realize that because of who she is and who her husband is, she has more enemies in this world than you can possibly imagine? Each of her enemies would do anything to have her in their clutches." He smiled. "Perhaps I can contact them and sell her to the highest bidder!"
"No...please..."
"And then we come to the matter of your boyfriend." He looked over at Xander. "I have thought of a most suitable way to kill him for you. And it will be slow and quite painful, I can assure you."
Xander pulled on his chains. Then he spun around and glared at Julius. "You're a coward!" he shouted. "You think that by keeping us chained up makes you feel like a real man!"
Julius turned to face him, his face was bulging, his eyes were yellow, and he revealed his fangs as he growled menacingly at Xander. He began to approach his captives.
Xander swallowed a lump in his throat. "Okay, I take that back. You couldn't possibly be a coward...with a face like that. Grotesque, maybe. But not a coward."
Julius put his hand around Xander's throat and picked him up without any effort at all. "You want to play, little man? Then play we shall!" He released Xander and he pulled out a key. He unlocked the manacles, and before Xander knew what was happening, the Heir picked him up and walked him to the edge of the platform.
He tossed him.
Xander hit the ground hard, and he felt his breath rushing out. As he caught his breath and got to his knees, he found that a large gathering of vampires had formed a circle around him. He looked up at them and knew that he was going to be very dead very soon.
Julius smiled as he turned to look at Willow. "Watch as your boyfriend gets torn apart."
"Xander!!" Willow screamed.
Phhhhtt!
Phhhhtt, phhhhtt, phhhhtt!
Four vampires suddenly turned to dust right before Xander's eyes. He got to his feet and something just brushed past his ear. Another vampire turned to dust.
Julius frowned. "What have you done?!" he demanded.
Three more turned to dust just as one of the minions pointed up to a hole in the wall above them. "There!" he shouted.
All eyes turned and Xander blinked. Giles and Scully were firing bolts from crossbows.
Suddenly, there was the wild sound of Tarzan doing his wilderness call. Vampires turned to one of the entrances and one of them immediately turned to dust as a wooden pole was thrust through his heart. Fronk whipped the pole aside and speared another one.
"'Here he comes to save the day!!'" Fronk sang out. "'Mighty Fronk is on the way!'"
Behind Fronk, Lenox and Barrington charged in with their silver swords at the ready. Mulder, Spike, and Angel charged out from another entrance and Mulder gripped a sword.
Mulder swished the sword through the air. "Wahoooo!" he exclaimed.
Spike ducked. "Hey! Watch it with that thing, you dolt. I am on your bloody side."
Mulder laughed. "Sorry about that, Blondie. But I've never experienced an X-Files like this." He shook his head. "Fighting with vampires while teamed up with two vampires? Hell, forget aliens! They'll lock me up and throw away the key after this one!"
Julius stared in astonishment as he watched the battle begin. Xander had taken the opportunity to try to get up the stone steps intending to get to Willow but two vampires got in his way. Ignoring them, Julius decided that in his rage he was simply going to kill his beloved pet. It was all her fault anyway.
"Willow," he began as he turned to look at her. His back was to the altar. "I think it's time for a treat."
"I've got your treat right here for you, Heir," said a voice from behind. "I would have thought that you liked your steaks raw and juicy, but all I could get you was this nice pointy, wooden stake."
Julius turned around.
Buffy was standing on the altar with her hands on her hips. "Let's just get to the point, shall we? When you see the Master right after I send you to Hell, you can give him my regards."
"You think you can defeat me?" Julius growled.
"Let me think..." Buffy nodded. "Yep. I can. In fact, Heir today, gone tomorrow sounds just about right to me. Actually, let's make that gone tonight!" She swung her foot and caught the Heir below the chin, throwing his head back. Then she dove off the altar and the real fight began.
Buffy got in a lot of good hits when the fight started. She spun and kicked him several good ones, but then he began to block her blows. He gave her several hits of his own and she began to worry. She realized that he was barely hurt from what she had dished out and yet her body was aching horribly from his blows.
Willow watched in horror as she, too, realized that Buffy was not going to win this fight. Buffy was going to lose.
Buffy was going to die.
Willow shook her head. "No..."
As if in slow motion, she saw Julius send a blow to Buffy's face. The Slayer's head turned with the blow and blood flew from her lips.
Willow looked toward the lower chamber and saw two vampires trying to kill Xander. He threw punches and kicks at them, but they were wearing him down. It was only a matter of time before they...No! There had to be a way. There just had to be a way!
Suddenly, the collar around her neck slipped off and fell into her hand.
She stared at it. Then she looked up and she saw Jeremiah.
He put a hand upon her shoulder. "Willow..." he said with a reassuring smile. "Believe. The most powerful force on earth is to have faith and use it."
Willow turned and saw Julius holding Buffy by the throat. He had her above the ground and he was laughing as he squeezed. Buffy was unable to breathe.
"Noooo!" Willow shouted.
It was at that moment when a sudden feeling of calm came over her. She knew without a doubt that somehow she was going to win this battle. She looked at Julius with a new determination as she slowly approached him.
"Let her go, demon!" she commanded.
Julius didn't let Buffy go, but he did turn his head to look at Willow. He opened his eyes to say something, but he stopped when he saw Willow's face.
There was fire in her eyes.
"I said...LET HER GO!" Willow shouted. She raised a hand.
Something pried Julius' fingers from Buffy's throat and she dropped to the ground. She gasped for breath, and she looked at Willow. Willow was completely engulfed in a white light, and yet her features could be seen clearly. Her hair whipped around her head by as if caught in a wind.
Julius spun around to face her. "How can this be?! You are not strong!"
Willow's hands went to her sides and she had her palms facing Julius. "Back, demon!"
All motion seemed to stop. The fighting below ended as everyone seemed to sense that something powerful was happening. They saw Julius flying across the entire length of the chamber where he collided into a wall. He fell to the ground, groaning. As he staggered to his feet, he was aware that all eyes were upon him.
Willow was standing on the raised platform with her hands still at her sides and her palms facing out, and she was looking out toward Julius with her head bowed low. Bright colorful spots were spinning around her head.
"I will look upon my enemy, and I will cast him into the void. I will send him to the blackest depths of Hell where he may never return." Her voice echoed loudly throughout the chamber. "He will be bound and cast into outer darkness! There shall be wailing and gnashing of teethe!!"
Suddenly, it was as if all of their eyes were opened.
Everyone stared as seven large angelic creatures appeared from behind Willow. They dove onto Julius with a fury and the struggle began. He shouted and cursed as he tried to fend them off, but they were upon him and they would not be so easily defeated. The angelic creatures began to bind him with heavy chains and they lifted him up off the floor. In fact, they were all floating up from the floor.
Lenox and Xander ran up the steps to reach Willow. But they stopped suddenly as the ground began to shake.
Buffy looked down at the lower chamber. "GET OFF THE FLOOR!" she shouted.
Angel, Spike, Mulder, Fronk, and Barrington managed to make it to the raised platform as the ground literally began to tear open directly below the vainly struggling Julius and the angelic creatures. Several vampires fell into the hole and they screamed as they vanished into it. A horrible sound omitted from that hole. There was screaming, and the sounds of a roaring fire. Julius continued to struggle but it was no use. The creatures dropped him into it and the earth closed, swallowing him whole.
The angelic creatures vanished.
The shaking stopped.
Even all of the vampires were gone with the exception of Spike and Angel.
Giles and Scully had joined the others from their hiding place from above, but everyone was looking at Willow. She had collapsed onto the platform and was lying still.
Xander reached her first and he held her in his arms.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at him. "Xander?"
Xander smiled at her. "Will...are you okay?"
"I-I think I'm going to fall...will you catch me?"
He didn't want to tell her that she had already fallen. "I've got you," he assured her.
She paused. She looked at him with her green eyes. "I-is it over?"
"It's over."
"Oh...well, good. Because I th-think I'm going to p-pass out." She closed her eyes. Then she opened them. "Y-you don't mind, do you?"
He shook his head. "No. I don't mind, Willow." He kissed her on the cheek. "You rest, and I'll take care of you."
She looked into his eyes. "You won't let me go?"
"Not in a million years."
She smiled. Then she closed her eyes and she lost consciousness.
Xander kept his promise. From that day on, he didn't let her go. And he never would.
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NEXT, THE CONCLUSION...