Chapter 22: Venus Rising
Buffy, Angel, Tara and Spike, who grudgingly carried Willow stood on the pier, all wrinkled their nose at the dank smell that pervaded over the dripping darkness. "Rack really hasn't heard of term 'location, location, location' has he?" Buffy said, glancing at the squalid atmosphere of the pier.
"Okay. Before we crash the house party, let's get started with ritual." Tara was carrying the large wooden box on a shoulder, held by a strap. Opening it, it divided into many compartments. Scanning them, she dragged out the Bublosoth amulet. "Everyone sit, forming a triangle."
Spike cleared his throat. "Uh . . . Glinda? What to do with Red?" He shifted the still unconscious Willow uncomfortably in his arms.
Tara looked up. "Just let her lean on you. We have to make a triangular force." She began to sprinkle a blue powder in a triangular pattern, with a circle in the middle. Then she sprinkled various fragrant herbs and powders, all dusting together within the circle.
"Look here, are we gonna kick some warlock ass or are we settin' up some goddamn potpourri party?" Spike growled impatiently. Tara ignored him and motioned all to sit.
"I really should have changed my clothes before I came," Buffy said, wincing as she crossed her leather-clad legs on the damp, rotted wood of the pier.
"Angel, get in the middle," Tara ordered, handing him a large dagger. Quizzically he took it along with the amulet and sat cross-legged in the middle. "While we say the chant, you have to draw blood, letting it drip into the amulet." She nodded towards a smirking Spike and solemn Buffy who began reading the chant Tara had written out for them.
"Axises, Dominum, Hectuim, Thereseum, Venitus. Ulibium, Feritia, Melanium," Spike, Buffy and Tara chanted, all gripping each others hands as Angel dragged the sharp blade against his lily-white skin, wincing at the cool touch. Blood flowed gently, easily and he held up the cup-shaped amulet up to his cut, letting it fill. Snapping it closed, Angel held it reverently in his hands. Suddenly, it began to glow greenish fire and float in mid-air.
"Bloody hell," Spike whispered, eyes wide. "That's a good light show, Blondie." The amulet continued to float in the air, growing more and more intense in color before it flashed with blinding light, so powerful that all four had shield their eyes. Then it dropped back into Angel's hand, with him gaping at the small bulb in the center of his palm. Astounded and speechless, Spike Angel and Buffy turned to Tara. She grinned proudly.
"Pretty cool huh? Let's go."
Gathering up their supplies and ready to burst in Rack's coven, they were interrupted by a hissing snarl behind them.
"Slayer," numerous gravelly voices scowled in unison. Turning to face them, Buffy viewed a crowd of witches, a mixture of goths, decked out in vinyled black and piercings and flowery hippie Wiccans whose sweetly shining faces had been replaced by glazed, menacing stares.
"That's Rack's bloody legion?" Spike snorted. "In between the paisleyed stoners and the Goth rejects, I'm thinkin' this makes for an easy win."
"Wrong," the legion eerily chimed in unison, all in borrowed voices from Rack. They roared and lunged towards the group, which scattered and began to fight.
"Tara!" Buffy called over her shoulder, battling with an irately tattooed female witch. "You and Willow go into the coven and get started with the ritual!" She threw the amulet towards Tara, which she caught.
"Right!" Gathering Willow limply over her shoulder, Tara ducked into the wobbling mystical dimension, their entrance accompanied by only a popping sound.
Buffy, Angel and Spike continued to battle the legion. Spike truly underestimated the power of the legion, for they made for a good match for the three. Previously pacific Wiccans were doling out hard punches, twirling dragon kicks, powerful roundhouses. Buffy, gasping and thrown by a silken clad, longhaired girl into a wall, scanned the scene. "Where is Xander and Anya?" she asked urgently to Spike, who stood opposite to her, doing battle with a young Birkenstocked man. Ducking from a punch that carelessly left a breaching hole in the bricked wall, Spike kicked his legs from under the man and leaned down to taser him. Just as soon, another girl growled and lunged upon his back, clawing with her nails and teeth into his skin. He howled with pain, but leaned forward so that the girl would flip and sprawl into the air, crashing into the wall.
"I dunno, but I hope they get 'ere soon. We definitely need back up," Spike was yelling as he tasered the girl and turned to fight another agitated Wiccan. "If the whelp and she-demon have stopped to shag along the way, I'll kill 'em."
"Here we are!" Xander and Anya showed up, breathless and wide-eyed when surveying the scene. "Dawn's at the hospital with Cordy."
"Good." Buffy immediately threw them a pair of tasers each and motioned that they join the fight. Xander lunged towards a spiked, black-lipsticked girl and began grappling with her. Anya shrieked with momentary fear and ducked to avoid every blow. Gingerly, she turned and avoided a kick from another witch, pointing her taser toward her. Angel was battling five witches at a time, three girls and two boys, all viciously throwing out punches and kicks. He had taken three out already, but one of the girls left picked him up and threw him up towards the wall, leaving him to crash through the stone and brick. Spike took his place, immediately punching the two girls and tasering them quickly.
"Piss and Bollocks," he mused. "Sure feels strange to be battlin' humans again. Somethin' wrong with the chip?" He asked hopefully.
Buffy threw him a sideways glare as she battled with a witch. "Don't get all excited, Spike. It's because they're possessed by a warlock, you violence-obsessed dork."
"Ooooo, sharp one Slayer, that'll sting for days." Even battling side by side, he could find a way to irritate her. He paused to glower at her while she did the same, but was soon as always, caught in an intense gaze that conveyed hidden longing, passion, lust . . . love. They maintained the glance, one only to be interrupted by Xander calling, "Buffy look out behind you!" Whirling around, she turned to face a stampede of three zealous witches storming her. Squatting down, she propelled herself up on her Slayer, springy-like legs and jumped above them. Taking them on one by one, she kicked one of the three girls, immediately tasering her, then finishing off the other two. The fight continued with a groggy Angel sitting up amongst the rubble, shaking the dust out and jumping back into battle. Slowly, painfully, and tiredly, the Scoobs had weaned down the legion until they were just scattered unconscious bodies all over the pier. Gasping, slightly bloody and very bruised, Xander and Anya crawled towards Buffy.
"What do we do now?"
"We got to see if Tara and Willow are okay in there," Buffy huffed, motioning to the boat. Nodding, all limped and gasped as they felt a cold jelly-like draft come over them as they fell into the coven.
Gripping Willow beside her, Tara desperately and meekly spat out the magical words as Rack smilingly reclined amongst silken pillows with scantily clad girls fanning and petting him.
"Osiris, Father of all Mysticism above, hold back the forces of darkness, the night's unholiest light itself, as shades intermix, separate, as black fades into white, divide, protect your humble being, vessel of good, and defend against this virulent power." Tara's eyes went as dark as night as a power coursed through her, all the while gripping Willow.
"I think the key word here is power, child," Rack chuckled. "You don't have it but I do." He lazily sauntered towards Tara. " You think you can use magic to protect your lover?" He laughed harder now, more dangerously as he leaned in towards her. "I . . . wrote . . . the . . . book . . . on . . . magic."
"Yeah, but did you write the book on getting beat down by the wise ass Slayer and her friends?" A voice asked cheerily from behind. Tara whirled around with Willow and sighed with relief as she saw Buffy flanked by Angel and Spike. Tara turned back to Rack triumphantly and held Willow with new strength.
"Spirits divide!" She yelled, placing the amulet on Willows forehead, causing her to lurch forward involuntarily. Crying out in pain, Willow opened her mouth wide, letting a stream of light flow out from it, coursing through her and spreading back into Rack, him convulsively shaking and screaming as the spirit transferred. Willow collapsed but woke as if from a deep sleep.
"What happened?" She whispered snuggling up to Tara who sank down to comfort her.
"Shhh baby, shhh. I found you," she soothed gently. "Just like me, you got lost. And just like you, I found you." She pressed a kiss to Willow's forehead as she rocked her back and forth in her arms. All the while, Rack shook off the momentary pain that the transference caused.
"Hmmm. That was fun. But tell me once again why you're here?" Rack quipped with bored annoyance.
"To kill you," Buffy snarled. Rack threw his greasy strands back, cascading over his shoulders as he laughed deeply.
"How stupid can you all be? I can't be killed. Watch and learn." Whipping out a dagger he thrust into his side then exposed it for all to see how quickly it healed, as if nothing had touched him. "I'm immortal. And I'm getting kind of restless, waiting around for the opening of the Hellmouth, as well as getting my powers back. So if you could kindly be disposed of, it would aide me immensely." He cocked his head with impatience.
"You may be immortal Rack," Buffy cut snidely. " . . . But you're still massively unattractive. Do the words 'wash, rinse, repeat' mean anything to you? Tara! The amulet!" She spun around and caught the small spherical amulet that Tara hurled in her direction. Grabbing it, she ran for Rack who stopped her by throwing her against the wall. Spike and Angel lunged at him, but Buffy pushed them out of the way and barreled his way. Fiercely, she threw a powerful punch and knocked him off his feet. Reacting, Rack threw himself back up and tried to flip Buffy over and succeeded in throwing her on her back. Catching his ankles in her legs, she twisted and flipped him over but he was too quick for her. As he struggled back up, he grabbed her wrists together with a force that Buffy could not budge from. He threw the dagger he held previously and raised it over his head, Buffy wincing from the oncoming pain. Suddenly, Spike grabbed his arm and kicked him in the gut while Angel punched him. All three fought him viciously now, but he was quick enough to take all of them. At one moment, Buffy had cornered him, poised and ready to crush the Bublosoth amulet to his skin to make him mortal, but upon seeing it, he kicked it out her hand, sending her and the amulet sprawling to the floor. Collapsing she saw the amulet that fell a few feet from her. Scrambling to retrieve it, Rack reached it first. Glowering he straightened, fingering the amulet carefully.
"You thought you could use this contraption to make me a lowly mortal?" He laughed viciously. "You probably could have, if not the unlucky fact that I now have it." He grinned devilishly and juggled it in his hands. Buffy gaped with fear and whispered to Angel and Spike, "Go get it, guys, get it from him! You have to do it now, or the ritual is ruined!!" Jumping up herself, she rushed him and kicked him in the face with such force that he let go of the amulet, it leaping into the air, nearly off the side of the boat. Angel ran to catch it just in time, hanging dangerously over the water. Buffy continued to pummel Rack who had seemingly began to give into defeat. Suddenly, he grabbed Buffy's wrists and forced them against his chest, and Buffy slumped, feeling a paralyzing chill erupt within her. He let go and threw an unconscious Buffy to the side.
"Buffy!!!" Spike yelled with rage. Looking at the love of his unlife, passed out at the hands of this chit of a warlock, he felt a bubbling rage pass through him at alarming speed. He turned his shocked glance to Rack, and slipping into demon face, he roared at him, screaming at Angel for the amulet. Catching it, he stormed Rack and let the cold metal of the amulet sink into Rack's skin. Rack began to scream with intense pain, the pain of becoming human. Spike had let go and was ready to finish him off with a spare stake, but just as soon Rack threw it out of his hands, still pursuing a fight with both vampires. Tara inched near Buffy, concerned at her state.
"What happened to Buffy?" Willow was whispering, gazing down at her friend who seemed to be in lethargic, dreamlike state. Buffy was visibly writhing and whining in her sleep, her eyelids fluttering.
"I-I-I d-don't know," Tara stammered. "I think Rack made her unconscious." She tried to shake Buffy and even ventured to slap her a couple times but Buffy hung steadfastly to her dream world. "Buffy?!!" She shook her harder now, but her eyes wouldn't budge. She brought her head down close to Buffy's and heard the distinct sound of hushed whispers all circling her head. "I can't wake her up. Something's wrong. Rack didn't just make her go naptime . . . He's inside her head." Exchanging fearful glances with her girlfriend, Tara looked back at a shaking Buffy. "We've got to get inside her head, see what Rack's doing to her. We have to bring her back." Willow nodded. Taking a deep breath, Tara placed her hand over Buffy's face and closed her own eyes, prepared to take a visit through her mind.