A/N: Agghh! Turns out there was a bit of an error in the last section.
The Master's name wasn't Aurelius, it was Heinrich Nest. A big THANK YOU
to Jason for watching my back and pointing that out to me!
As penance, I'm giving you a new chapter today. Also, I've reposted Ch. 18 with a few corrections. Feel free to re-read the whole thing if you want. If not, here's the Cliff Notes version: I changed the initial exchange b/w Buffy, Anya, and Father Mike about the Master's true name to reflect the correct name. I added a hint that Anya knew and/or at least knew of the Master from her vengeance days. Aside from that, I changed the exorcism scene so Father Mike uses the correct name when commanding the Master's demon to leave.
+++++
Doesn't Anyone Stay Dead Around Here?
Chapter 19
Buffy looked from the dart sticking out of Spike's chest back to Tara who was lowering the tranquilizer gun.
"I th-th-think we should take a break," the blonde witch said. While she hadn't understood the specific references behind most of what the Master had said to Buffy, she could tell the words had seriously affected the girl. Based on what Buffy had told Tara about her relationship with Spike, the witch suspected the Master had been alluding to times when Buffy had been especially hurtful to the vampire.
Buffy nodded as she walked over to the bed and sat down, examining her hands with a sudden interest.
"We'll wait for him to wake up, and we can try again," Father Mike suggested. "I think it was close."
"No." Although her voice was strong, the tears she had been struggling to contain slipped free and coursed down her cheeks as Buffy spoke. "Spike doesn't give up. If he says he can't do it . . ."
Her back straightened and she removed the stake she had replaced earlier. Buffy took a deep breath as she turned it over in her hands. "I know what I have to do."
***
Upstairs, Dawn slept curled up on the couch, Spike's duster pulled across her as a blanket. Willow and Xander sat on the sarcophagus, facing one another, a deck of cards forgotten between them. They had tried talking, but found it easier to sit and wait in silence. Years of practice waiting in places like their high school library, Giles' apartment, the Summers' living room, and hospitals coalesced to form the pattern they now fell into.
Both turned as the trap door pushed open and Anya's head popped through the opening.
"You need to come," she said before descending again.
Xander looked at Dawn as he stood.
"Let her sleep," Willow said. "At least till we find out what's going on."
Xander nodded and the two old friends approached the hole in the floor, dread growing within each of them. While Anya's summons hadn't sounded overly dire, that fact reassured neither Willow nor Xander.
When they joined the others in the lower level of the crypt, both of the original Slayerettes were struck by the oppressive atmosphere in the room. Spike hung unconscious from the chains against the wall. Buffy sat on the bed, playing with one of her stakes, Tara next to her as if offering support. Father Mike stood off to one side, obviously trying to stay out of the way. Anya was waiting at the bottom of the ladder and took Xander's hand once he had both feet on the cavern floor.
Tara looked up and in a quite voice explained how they had tried the exorcism and the Master and Spike had fought for control. Her voice cracked when she repeated Spike's final plea.
Willow looked stricken; she, like the others, had put a great deal of faith in the vampire's tenacity and strength of will. To hear that he had begged for Buffy to kill him because he couldn't win reverberated deep within her. She hadn't realized how much she had accepted and come to expect the vampire's strength and presence in their lives during the past year. It was as if one of the beams that supported her worldview had been damaged, she mused. If it fell, how much of the way she looked at the world would fall with it?
"We can't," the redhead said decisively.
"I have to." Buffy's soft voice was hollow and filled with sorrow. "He can't survive this way, and we can't let the Master go."
"Maybe there's another way," Tara offered.
"There isn't. He doesn't give up, so if he's giving up . . ." Buffy features hardened and she added in a derisive voice, "Not like I haven't done it before."
"You're right," Xander said, encouragingly. "It's just like all the other vamps you kill on a nightly basis."
Willow elbowed him and whispered, "She means it's like Angel."
"Why?" he whispered back. "It's not like she loves him or even likes him."
"Still . . ." Willow responded. "She knows him."
Xander sighed and raised his voice to volunteer, "I'll do it."
"No," Buffy said. "I'm the Slayer. It's my job." She had heard Willow and Xander's whispered conversation and briefly debated telling them how close to the truth Willow's appraisal was. She dismissed the idea, without fully realizing why. Buffy wasn't certain she could kill Spike. Last year, when she'd learned that the only way to close Glory's portal once it opened would be to kill Dawn, she'd told Giles that she didn't have it in her anymore, to kill someone she loved. While Buffy wasn't sure if she loved Spike, explaining and acknowledging her affair with Spike to her friends would make it real. And then, she would never be able to kill him, even to help him.
Buffy stood and walked to the ladder. She motioned to Spike and said, "Say your good-byes. I'll go tell Dawn."
After the trap door closed behind Buffy, Tara spoke.
"We need to be sure there's nothing else we can do."
"Why?" Xander asked. "Why should we save him when he doesn't want to be saved?"
"Because it'll destroy her," Anya said with certainty.
"What?" Willow asked.
"It will," Tara confirmed. "She's just getting over the post-heaven depression. Not to mention losing her Mom so soon after Riley left . . . It's a lot. If we can find another way, we should."
"Joyce and Riley," Xander began. "I mean that was a bad time, but it was nearly a year ago. And she's been back for almost six months. Shouldn't she be over it by now?"
"You have to remember, Xander," Tara replied. "Riley left, and her mom died and then all that stuff with Glory. And then she died. We had all summer to grieve but she didn't. None of us were as close to Riley or Joyce as she was, except maybe Dawn."
"And then we pulled her out of Heaven and dumped all our problems on her again and didn't even think how all that must have piled up." Willow finished Tara's thought in a horrified whisper.
"Oh man . . ." Xander trailed off. Then, remembering the focus of their discussion said, "But still, it's Spike."
"I think she's been spending time with him since she came back," Tara offered timidly, trying to make Xander see without revealing Buffy's secret.
Seeing that Xander was about to dispute Tara's statement, Anya said, "Think about it, honey. When she came back, you had me and Willow had Tara. Giles left and she has to take care of Dawn. Who else was she going to turn to?"
"We can't let her kill him," Willow agreed, expressing certainty and determination both in her voice and her features. "See? Resolve face."
Father Mike had silently listened to the exchange. He was in agreement that the girl should not have to kill her lover, even if he was a demon. Someone else maybe, but not her. He had not felt it was his place to intrude upon the conversation. However, Tara and Willow had said something he could not ignore.
"Excuse me, did you say that Buffy died?"
***
Dawn woke to her sister gently shaking her shoulder. When her eyes came into focus, the younger girl first noticed that Buffy's face had the same hallow look she'd worn when she came to Dawn's school with news of their mother's death. She immediately sat up, worried.
"What? What is it?"
"It didn't work, Dawnie," Buffy replied, near tears again. "I'm sorry."
"What do you mean it didn't work? Spike's going to be okay, right? He has to be okay!" With each statement the teen's voice rose and she spoke faster.
"He . . . he said he couldn't beat the Master," Buffy explained with a catch in her voice. "He asked me to . . . kill him."
"NO!" Dawn's voice rose to near screaming and tears started flowing down her cheeks. "You can't! I can't lose him, too!"
Buffy enveloped her sister in a hug. "I know. I know. But . . . I have to, Dawnie."
"No!" Dawn's protest was muffled by Buffy's shoulder. "There has to be another way!"
"It's not fair to him . . . to leave him in there with the Master controlling him." Buffy began to rock them back and forth, trying to calm her sister, as well as herself.
"Ah, isn't this a cozy scene." A sarcastic female voice came from the crypt's door interrupted the sisters' grief.
Buffy quickly let go of Dawn and jumped into a fighting crouch in front of the younger girl. Recognizing the figure standing in the doorway, the slayer relaxed her posture.
"What do you want?"
"Is Spike here?" she asked, ignoring Buffy's question. "I want to talk to him."
"He's not really in the talking mood," the slayer answered and moved to intercept the other woman as she headed for the trapdoor.
"What? You have him all chained up downstairs?" she responded, laughing at Buffy's surprised look. "Isn't that an ironic turn of events. I know what happened. I just wanted to know if I could have his crypt once he's gone. I mean, the Master's not going to stick around this hellhole. He's–"
Her voice cut off as she found an enraged slayer's hand around her neck, pinning her to the wall.
"You're not going to need a crypt when I'm done with you, Harmony." Buffy threatened. "You're not even going to need an urn."
"You can't kill me," Harmony replied, grateful that vampires didn't need to breath.
"Why does everyone keep saying that tonight?" Buffy asked, rolling her eyes. "First the Master and now you. Why, pray tell, am I not going to kill you?"
"Because," the blonde vampire smirked, knowing that despite what Buffy might think, she had the upper hand. "My boyfriend knows where I am."
Buffy just looked at Harmony when the vampire didn't continue.
Shrugging, Buffy said, "I'll kill him too."
"You can't. He's human." Harmony paused. "Plus, he has a video tape I'm sure your friends would be very interested in."
Buffy's hand tightened around Harmony's neck and her glare intensified. "What kind of tape?"
"Let me go," Harmony commanded. When Buffy didn't respond, she continued, "I know you don't think I'm very smart. I'm no Einstein like your friend, Willow. But I do know one thing, and that's social standing. It's a tape of you . . . fighting a vampire just outside here, last night."
"So?" Dawn spoke up. "We already know Buffy's the Slayer. And it's not like anyone else is going to believe it's anything but special effects."
Buffy, however, remembered the one and only vampire she had dusted the previous evening. It had been in front of Spike's crypt and she and Spike had been kissing before and after the attack. Buffy hated being blackmailed, especially by the likes of Harmony, but she had to admire the subtlety Harmony employed to convey her message. It showed much more intelligence than Buffy would have bet the other blonde possessed.
She abruptly released Harmony and vampire fell to the floor. "Fine. Go. But you can not have the crypt after . . . Move in here and I will kill you, tape or no tape. Got it?"
"What?" Harmony said, surprised. "I really just wanted to see what was going on. I figured since Spike's all white-hat these days you guys were going to fix him."
"We tried. It didn't work." Buffy sighed and gestured to the trapdoor. "You want to say good-bye, now's your chance."
tbc
+++++
A/N: Again, thanks for the reviews! They really make my day. I think this story is going to end up with somewhere between 22 and 25 chapters. I'd also like to finish before the next new episode. (No promises signed in blood, though.) The previews have me a little scared and if I end up mad at and/or disappointed in someone when it's over, I won't be in any mood to write.
As penance, I'm giving you a new chapter today. Also, I've reposted Ch. 18 with a few corrections. Feel free to re-read the whole thing if you want. If not, here's the Cliff Notes version: I changed the initial exchange b/w Buffy, Anya, and Father Mike about the Master's true name to reflect the correct name. I added a hint that Anya knew and/or at least knew of the Master from her vengeance days. Aside from that, I changed the exorcism scene so Father Mike uses the correct name when commanding the Master's demon to leave.
+++++
Doesn't Anyone Stay Dead Around Here?
Chapter 19
Buffy looked from the dart sticking out of Spike's chest back to Tara who was lowering the tranquilizer gun.
"I th-th-think we should take a break," the blonde witch said. While she hadn't understood the specific references behind most of what the Master had said to Buffy, she could tell the words had seriously affected the girl. Based on what Buffy had told Tara about her relationship with Spike, the witch suspected the Master had been alluding to times when Buffy had been especially hurtful to the vampire.
Buffy nodded as she walked over to the bed and sat down, examining her hands with a sudden interest.
"We'll wait for him to wake up, and we can try again," Father Mike suggested. "I think it was close."
"No." Although her voice was strong, the tears she had been struggling to contain slipped free and coursed down her cheeks as Buffy spoke. "Spike doesn't give up. If he says he can't do it . . ."
Her back straightened and she removed the stake she had replaced earlier. Buffy took a deep breath as she turned it over in her hands. "I know what I have to do."
***
Upstairs, Dawn slept curled up on the couch, Spike's duster pulled across her as a blanket. Willow and Xander sat on the sarcophagus, facing one another, a deck of cards forgotten between them. They had tried talking, but found it easier to sit and wait in silence. Years of practice waiting in places like their high school library, Giles' apartment, the Summers' living room, and hospitals coalesced to form the pattern they now fell into.
Both turned as the trap door pushed open and Anya's head popped through the opening.
"You need to come," she said before descending again.
Xander looked at Dawn as he stood.
"Let her sleep," Willow said. "At least till we find out what's going on."
Xander nodded and the two old friends approached the hole in the floor, dread growing within each of them. While Anya's summons hadn't sounded overly dire, that fact reassured neither Willow nor Xander.
When they joined the others in the lower level of the crypt, both of the original Slayerettes were struck by the oppressive atmosphere in the room. Spike hung unconscious from the chains against the wall. Buffy sat on the bed, playing with one of her stakes, Tara next to her as if offering support. Father Mike stood off to one side, obviously trying to stay out of the way. Anya was waiting at the bottom of the ladder and took Xander's hand once he had both feet on the cavern floor.
Tara looked up and in a quite voice explained how they had tried the exorcism and the Master and Spike had fought for control. Her voice cracked when she repeated Spike's final plea.
Willow looked stricken; she, like the others, had put a great deal of faith in the vampire's tenacity and strength of will. To hear that he had begged for Buffy to kill him because he couldn't win reverberated deep within her. She hadn't realized how much she had accepted and come to expect the vampire's strength and presence in their lives during the past year. It was as if one of the beams that supported her worldview had been damaged, she mused. If it fell, how much of the way she looked at the world would fall with it?
"We can't," the redhead said decisively.
"I have to." Buffy's soft voice was hollow and filled with sorrow. "He can't survive this way, and we can't let the Master go."
"Maybe there's another way," Tara offered.
"There isn't. He doesn't give up, so if he's giving up . . ." Buffy features hardened and she added in a derisive voice, "Not like I haven't done it before."
"You're right," Xander said, encouragingly. "It's just like all the other vamps you kill on a nightly basis."
Willow elbowed him and whispered, "She means it's like Angel."
"Why?" he whispered back. "It's not like she loves him or even likes him."
"Still . . ." Willow responded. "She knows him."
Xander sighed and raised his voice to volunteer, "I'll do it."
"No," Buffy said. "I'm the Slayer. It's my job." She had heard Willow and Xander's whispered conversation and briefly debated telling them how close to the truth Willow's appraisal was. She dismissed the idea, without fully realizing why. Buffy wasn't certain she could kill Spike. Last year, when she'd learned that the only way to close Glory's portal once it opened would be to kill Dawn, she'd told Giles that she didn't have it in her anymore, to kill someone she loved. While Buffy wasn't sure if she loved Spike, explaining and acknowledging her affair with Spike to her friends would make it real. And then, she would never be able to kill him, even to help him.
Buffy stood and walked to the ladder. She motioned to Spike and said, "Say your good-byes. I'll go tell Dawn."
After the trap door closed behind Buffy, Tara spoke.
"We need to be sure there's nothing else we can do."
"Why?" Xander asked. "Why should we save him when he doesn't want to be saved?"
"Because it'll destroy her," Anya said with certainty.
"What?" Willow asked.
"It will," Tara confirmed. "She's just getting over the post-heaven depression. Not to mention losing her Mom so soon after Riley left . . . It's a lot. If we can find another way, we should."
"Joyce and Riley," Xander began. "I mean that was a bad time, but it was nearly a year ago. And she's been back for almost six months. Shouldn't she be over it by now?"
"You have to remember, Xander," Tara replied. "Riley left, and her mom died and then all that stuff with Glory. And then she died. We had all summer to grieve but she didn't. None of us were as close to Riley or Joyce as she was, except maybe Dawn."
"And then we pulled her out of Heaven and dumped all our problems on her again and didn't even think how all that must have piled up." Willow finished Tara's thought in a horrified whisper.
"Oh man . . ." Xander trailed off. Then, remembering the focus of their discussion said, "But still, it's Spike."
"I think she's been spending time with him since she came back," Tara offered timidly, trying to make Xander see without revealing Buffy's secret.
Seeing that Xander was about to dispute Tara's statement, Anya said, "Think about it, honey. When she came back, you had me and Willow had Tara. Giles left and she has to take care of Dawn. Who else was she going to turn to?"
"We can't let her kill him," Willow agreed, expressing certainty and determination both in her voice and her features. "See? Resolve face."
Father Mike had silently listened to the exchange. He was in agreement that the girl should not have to kill her lover, even if he was a demon. Someone else maybe, but not her. He had not felt it was his place to intrude upon the conversation. However, Tara and Willow had said something he could not ignore.
"Excuse me, did you say that Buffy died?"
***
Dawn woke to her sister gently shaking her shoulder. When her eyes came into focus, the younger girl first noticed that Buffy's face had the same hallow look she'd worn when she came to Dawn's school with news of their mother's death. She immediately sat up, worried.
"What? What is it?"
"It didn't work, Dawnie," Buffy replied, near tears again. "I'm sorry."
"What do you mean it didn't work? Spike's going to be okay, right? He has to be okay!" With each statement the teen's voice rose and she spoke faster.
"He . . . he said he couldn't beat the Master," Buffy explained with a catch in her voice. "He asked me to . . . kill him."
"NO!" Dawn's voice rose to near screaming and tears started flowing down her cheeks. "You can't! I can't lose him, too!"
Buffy enveloped her sister in a hug. "I know. I know. But . . . I have to, Dawnie."
"No!" Dawn's protest was muffled by Buffy's shoulder. "There has to be another way!"
"It's not fair to him . . . to leave him in there with the Master controlling him." Buffy began to rock them back and forth, trying to calm her sister, as well as herself.
"Ah, isn't this a cozy scene." A sarcastic female voice came from the crypt's door interrupted the sisters' grief.
Buffy quickly let go of Dawn and jumped into a fighting crouch in front of the younger girl. Recognizing the figure standing in the doorway, the slayer relaxed her posture.
"What do you want?"
"Is Spike here?" she asked, ignoring Buffy's question. "I want to talk to him."
"He's not really in the talking mood," the slayer answered and moved to intercept the other woman as she headed for the trapdoor.
"What? You have him all chained up downstairs?" she responded, laughing at Buffy's surprised look. "Isn't that an ironic turn of events. I know what happened. I just wanted to know if I could have his crypt once he's gone. I mean, the Master's not going to stick around this hellhole. He's–"
Her voice cut off as she found an enraged slayer's hand around her neck, pinning her to the wall.
"You're not going to need a crypt when I'm done with you, Harmony." Buffy threatened. "You're not even going to need an urn."
"You can't kill me," Harmony replied, grateful that vampires didn't need to breath.
"Why does everyone keep saying that tonight?" Buffy asked, rolling her eyes. "First the Master and now you. Why, pray tell, am I not going to kill you?"
"Because," the blonde vampire smirked, knowing that despite what Buffy might think, she had the upper hand. "My boyfriend knows where I am."
Buffy just looked at Harmony when the vampire didn't continue.
Shrugging, Buffy said, "I'll kill him too."
"You can't. He's human." Harmony paused. "Plus, he has a video tape I'm sure your friends would be very interested in."
Buffy's hand tightened around Harmony's neck and her glare intensified. "What kind of tape?"
"Let me go," Harmony commanded. When Buffy didn't respond, she continued, "I know you don't think I'm very smart. I'm no Einstein like your friend, Willow. But I do know one thing, and that's social standing. It's a tape of you . . . fighting a vampire just outside here, last night."
"So?" Dawn spoke up. "We already know Buffy's the Slayer. And it's not like anyone else is going to believe it's anything but special effects."
Buffy, however, remembered the one and only vampire she had dusted the previous evening. It had been in front of Spike's crypt and she and Spike had been kissing before and after the attack. Buffy hated being blackmailed, especially by the likes of Harmony, but she had to admire the subtlety Harmony employed to convey her message. It showed much more intelligence than Buffy would have bet the other blonde possessed.
She abruptly released Harmony and vampire fell to the floor. "Fine. Go. But you can not have the crypt after . . . Move in here and I will kill you, tape or no tape. Got it?"
"What?" Harmony said, surprised. "I really just wanted to see what was going on. I figured since Spike's all white-hat these days you guys were going to fix him."
"We tried. It didn't work." Buffy sighed and gestured to the trapdoor. "You want to say good-bye, now's your chance."
tbc
+++++
A/N: Again, thanks for the reviews! They really make my day. I think this story is going to end up with somewhere between 22 and 25 chapters. I'd also like to finish before the next new episode. (No promises signed in blood, though.) The previews have me a little scared and if I end up mad at and/or disappointed in someone when it's over, I won't be in any mood to write.