Mutant Enemy Television, Inc. owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My use is in no way meant to challenge any established copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned, or any other, copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.
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IX – Where Angels Fear to Tread"Thanks for meeting us here," Willow said to Lucy while standing in the imposing shadow of St. Michael's Cathedral. "I guess you're Jamie," she added, looking toward the young woman who had come along with Lucy. The girl nodded, and Willow made a quick round of introductions.
"Are you sure he's here?" Lucy asked.
"We ran into him last night," Willow explained. "He made sure to mention where he was staying. I think he wanted us to come here. He's setting us up."
"And we're going anyway?" Lucy asked.
"I wish we could get a hold of Buffy," Anya said.
"Good luck," Xander grumbled. No phones out there in the state park. You'd be left to search thousands of square miles of forest all by yourself. We really have no choice but to do this ourselves. I'm just really pissed we couldn't get a hold of Giles. I'd love to know if he knows anything about this guy."
"I'll bet he does," Willow suddenly said, overcome by a wave of inspiration. That's it, she realized. Raine was waiting for this moment. He had to have known that Tara and I are friends with the Slayer and her Watcher. Only when they were both out of touch did he make his move.
"So what's the plan?" Lucy asked.
"Let me go in first," Xander offered. "I could try to reason with him."
"No, Alexander," Anya said sharply, knowing that by calling him 'Alexander' her boyfriend would immediately know that the subject was not open to debate. "You're not going in there alone."
"I'm not a witch," Xander pointed out. "He has no reason to kill me."
"You consort with witches," Anya shot back. "Just like Henry in my story. He wasn't a witch, either, but Raine killed him just the same. He's a zealot, and you can't reason with zealots. If we want Tara back, we're gonna have to take her by force."
"Fine," Xander said. "Then I guess we're all going in at once." He checked his crossbow and dagger, and then led the group toward the church. They all walked up the stone stairs and reached the door. Xander opened it slowly, scanning the area inside before actually entering. "It looks clear," he said.
"Then let's go," Willow stated, hoping that they would be okay. I wish Buffy were here, she thought for about the fiftieth time since leaving the campus.
They all walked in and looked around the empty, dimly lit church. "Where now?" Xander asked.
"In my dream there was some kind of dungeon," Willow said. "I don't know if I was dreaming of this place or not, but it's worth a try."
Xander nodded and started to walk toward the back right corner of the building. He then followed the walls, searching for any sign of hidden doors. The rest of the gang followed suit, and eventually Willow found herself alone in the sacristy. She opened the closet and moved several robes and cassocks aside, and came face-to-face with a door. "It's in here," she called out. Moments later everyone was running into the small room.
"No light switch," Lucy said after a quick search.
"Then make way for Mr. Maglite," Xander said as he produced a large metal flashlight from a pocket he had sewn inside his jacket. "That's right, it's Mr. Maglite," he said with a surly grin. "Not only does he make a handy dandy source of light, he also puts in double-duty as a club. Buy one at a Home Depot or Wal-Mart near you."
"Just get going," Willow said harshly, hoping that Xander's performance hadn't alerted anyone waiting in the basement. Part of her knew that Raine was likely already well aware of their presence. He had, after all, made it possible for them to find him. It was unlikely that he would then lower his guard knowing that they would be coming by eventually.
The group descended the spiraling stone stairs in single file, guided only by the light from Xander's flashlight. It seemed to Willow that they descended at least a hundred feet when Xander suddenly stopped at the head of the line and turned off his flashlight. There was the faintest glow from below, and Willow could hear a slight moaning which she could recognize as being Tara.
"Why don't you simply repent?" a man's voice asked. Willow recognized the gruff voice as being Raine's. "You friends will be coming in at any moment," Raine continued. "I'll have to devote much of my time to them. If you haven't been cleansed by then, I might have to simply cut my losses and kill you."
"No!" Willow called out from the staircase. She saw Xander turn around to face her, and could only guess at the expression he had. No doubt he wasn't exactly expecting that, Willow concluded. She was about to apologize when Xander turned quickly and raced down the stairs. Willow presumed that he'd decided to try to get down the rest of the stairs quickly enough to surprise Raine. Willow doubted it would work, but nonetheless took off after Xander. She could hear the others racing down behind her.
Willow ran off the steps and into the same torture chamber that she'd seen in her dream. Tara was shackled to the pillar in the center of the room, and Raine was standing next to her with the cat-o-nine-tails in his hand. Tara was stripped to the waist and curled up in a fetal position on the floor, displaying a back covered with bruises and slashes as she wept pitifully. Xander was already on the floor, apparently unconscious, and Willow was left to guess at what had happened to her friend.
"Xander!" Willow heard Anya call out behind her.
"Welcome to the house of God," Raine said evenly. "I have, of course, been expecting you."
"Ojo nocta," Willow heard Lucy call out behind her. There was a faint shimmer in the air around Raine, and a moment later Lucy shrieked in panic. "I can't see!" she cried out in terror. "He made me go blind."
"I simply turned your spell back against you," Raine said casually. "I'm a bit older than I look, my dear. I have come to understand my enemy enough to make certain that I cannot be affected by the spells granted unto you by Lucifer."
"Lucifer?" Willow asked in disbelief. "There's nothing demonic about our powers. Look at her," she said, pointing to Tara. "You think she's evil?"
"Evil sometimes wears a pretty face," Raine replied coldly. "You are yourself evil, my dear. You are an instrument of Satan. But don't worry, I will cleanse the taint from you."
"And then use the same magic you disdain to drain my life from me," Willow spat. The surprise etched on Raine's face was unmistakable, and gratifying.
"You've heard of me," he said calmly, seeming to recover his composure in a heartbeat. Willow caught a flash of motion from her right side and diverted her gaze enough to see Jamie running at the inquisitor. He turned at the last moment to meet her rush and sent a kick up at her head. The force of his attack snapped her head back as her lower body continued forward, and she was almost flipped completely over as she crashedf to the floor. Her head hit the hard stone with a sickening thud, and Willow could see blood running freely from beneath the girl's curly blonde hair. Seeing how easily Raine dispatched of Jamie, Willow was beginning to understand what had probably happened to Xander.
"Anyone else?" Raine asked confidently. His gaze settled on Anya, who was bent over Xander, completely oblivious to what was going on around her. Willow didn't even have time to shout a warning. A flash of light erupted from Raine's fingertips, and a moment later Anya was encased in what seemed to be a shimmering red forcefield. Willow had never seen the spell before, but she could guess from Anya's look of agony that it was meant to cause pain as much as subdue an opponent. She wanted to stop everything and gather her friends around her safely, but she couldn't focus enough to formulate a plan of action. She'd already seen one spell bounce off the priest, so she didn't want to risk using magic. After the way Raine had beaten down Lucy and, presumably, Xander, she doubted she could overcome him through brute strength. She looked at Anya again and gritted her teeth, racking her mind for any sort of strategy, when she caught a slight bit of movement next to the girl. Willow smiled and then went about undertaking the course of action she thought would be best.
"Enough," Willow said, turning back to the inquisitor. "What do you want from us?"
"I want conversion," Raine said. "I want to cleanse you."
"And then?" Willow asked.
"And then you will be sent to the Almighty, to free you from the chance for further temptation."
"So you'll kill me," Willow surmised.
"I will free you," Raine corrected.
"And you believe that I'll be sent directly to heaven if I repent right now?" Willow asked.
"Yes," Raine confirmed.
"Then I'll surrender to you if you let my friends go," Willow offered. "I won't resist."
"No deal," Raine shot back. "I could defeat you easily, and you know it. If you had even a chance to win, you would continue to try. I am not without mercy, though. If you surrender to me, I will let him leave," he said, motioning toward Xander. "The rest of you have been tainted, though. I can feel it."
"Not her," Willow said, motioning toward Anya. "She's not a witch."
"You expect me to believe that?" Raine asked with a smile. "I can feel the magic coming from her, child."
Okay, so she's not a witch, Willow silently admitted. She just happened to be a demon for a thousand years. "So Xander can go, though, right?"
"Yes, Xander will be free to go," Raine agreed.
"Fine, then I surrender to you," Willow said. Raine approached her slowly, and once within arm's reach he grabbed the sides of her head.
"Open your mind to me, child," he commanded. "Do you really want to surrender?" he asked.
"Yes," Willow said.
"You lie," Raine muttered. "You're still up to something. What is it?"
Willow could feel his eyes start to bore into hers. She felt the most uncomfortable sensation she had ever experienced in her life. He was inside her mind, burrowing around, searching her thoughts. "No!" he screamed, suddenly pulling back and turning toward Xander. Willow heard a slight twang, and at the same time Raine stumbled back several feet and fell to one knee. A crossbow bolt protruded from his neck and blood was erupting in spurts, spraying across the stone floor. A blue light immediately began to glow around the wound, and his look of pain started to ebb slowly.
"I don't think so," Xander said, and a moment later he lunged at the centuries-old priest.
"Xander, no!" Willow yelled, but it was too late. Her friend had buried his dagger up to the hilt in the inquisitor's chest, impaling the man as he would a vampire. Raine let out a tired gasp, and then stopped breathing.
"Merci beaucoup, madmoiselle," a young woman's voice said next to Willow. She turned but saw no one. "Thank you," another voice said. Each voice was followed by another, and another, until the room was almost shaking with the sounds of disembodied voices expressing their thanks to Willow. The witch looked back at Raine's body and could actually see it crumbling to dust before her eyes. Xander looked to be in shock, but a moment later the forcefield around Anya dropped and the young woman ran over to console her boyfriend.
Willow made a move to go to Tara, but saw her companion looking not at her but at Jamie, who was lying completely motionless on the stone floor.
"I can see," Lucy suddenly called out from the entrance to the room. "Oh my God, Jamie," she said almost immediately. She ran over to her fallen friend, and Willow joined her a moment later. The floor around Jamie's head was now covered in a pool of blood, but the girl was still breathing.
"We have to get her to a hospital," Lucy said.
"She has a head injury," Willow pointed out. "We shouldn't move her. It could only make things worse."
"Don't worry," a voice whispered in Willow's ear. "We can take care of her." A blue light, eerily similar to the one that had been around Raine's throat, began to glow around Jamie's head, neck, and shoulders. After a minute, Jamie's eyes opened up and she looked at Willow's and Lucy's concerned stares.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Healing magic," Lucy muttered.
"I thought that was impossible to use right," Jamie muttered, obviously coherent but still not seeming willing to risk moving.
"Seems ghosts can use it properly," Willow said softly. The air around the three girls was dancing with light, and it then moved and started to dance around Tara just as Willow moved over to her lover. Jamie had seemed to be the more critically injured person, but now that she was okay, Willow would devote all of her attention to her partner.
"We have to get out of here," Anya said, giving voice to the same thought that everyone else was having.
"Help me with Tara," Willow directed, and Lucy walked over, joined by a hesitant Jamie. Once they were all freed and on their feet, it was a short trip back to the surface, and freedom.
To be continued..................................