Family Ties II
Chapter 12
Mano y Mano
As soon as the Jct'ar had been knocked off of him, Xander scrambled to the still form of his fiancée, fear gripping him faster than the blood pouring from the gashes in her stomach.
"Ahn, baby," he said and failed to keep his voice from cracking. He sat with his legs out in front of him with Anya's upper body resting in his lap. He had taken off his shirt and pressed it into her stomach to staunch the blood flow. He ignored the seemingly useless gesture as the blood soaked the shirt and continued to run.
"C'mon, Ahn," he pled, the panic in his voice rising with each moment. He maneuvered the hand holding the back of her head to her neck to check for a pulse and a wail escaped from his lips as he felt its strength dwindling.
"Baby, no. You can't do this to me," he cried, "you gotta wake up. You've only been in my life three years, you can't go now. You just can't." The tears ran freely down his cheeks and his body heaved in frustration and pain. He glanced around the room absently, his mind too far gone to notice that the remaining Bronzers had fallen to the floor, unconscious, or the unmoving forms of Giles and Willow. He did register for one quick second Tara holding the bloodied head of…who was that?
"Faith," he spat, his anger surging at the girl. Everything had been fine until she had showed up with her stories about a future that would never happen. He would never marry Anya and it was all because of Faith. Grief at Anya's dying form blinded him to rational thought and all he wanted was to hurt the young blond that Tara cradled so lovingly. This is all her fault, a voice growled in his head. If she had never come…But before the voice could finish its irrational tangent, something slammed into the back of his head and all he saw was darkness.
"Faith!" Willow yelled as she watched in horror as the Jct'ar brought the ax down towards Faith's exposed head. Time slowed for the redhead and she only saw Faith raising her head and the point of the ax before everything disappeared save for the bladed edge that would be the young woman's executioner.
The decision was made instantly and, before she could think, Willow concentrated all her focus on the weapon and the spoke in a voice that resounded throughout the Bronze.
"Lavaeis." As the word flew from her lips, Willow's body stiffened. The raw power that coursed through the witch slammed as an unseen force into the ax. As it made contact with Faith's head, it shattered into a million pieces and Willow watched as the domino effect snaked up the handle to the arms of the Jct'ar. In less than a second, his body had crystallized and the impact with Faith sped its aftershocks through the demon before reducing it to nothing but jagged shards of ice. And following in the Jct'ar's footsteps, Willow crumbled to the ground, albeit decidedly whole.
"Willow," Tara yelled and slid to the floor next to her lover. But her attention was divided between the downed Wicca and Faith. The blond lay face down, her head turned to the side. A sheet of red stained her strawberry blond hair like a bad dye job and Tara didn't need a closer look to know it was blood.
"Oh my God," she whispered as tears fell down her cheeks. Though she was concerned about Willow, the Wicca's pulse was steady and Faith's injuries seemed to be more severe.
Crawling over to the unconscious slayer, oblivious to the icy remains of the demon that bit into her knees and palms, Tara saw out the corner of her eye Xander cradling a bloodied Anya in his lap. It didn't look too good for the ex-vengeance demon but Tara wiped that thought from her mind, concentrating on Faith.
"Faith, baby," she cooed, tenderly turning the young woman onto her back. She winced when she saw the gash in the girl's head. Checking the wound diligently, she sighed her relief, determining that the injuries weren't fatal. Faith's heartbeat was strong and her breathing was even. Tara stroked the young woman's head, her lips curving into a teary smile as Faith leaned into her gentle caresses.
"That's it, sweetie," Tara encouraged as she rocked Faith back and forth in her lap. "Come on, Faith. Wake up, honey." Tara focused what little magick she could muster through the dampening field into her palm that stroked the unconscious woman in her lap. The heat suffused through her hand, a golden light radiating from her that slowly began to envelop the petite girl.
So intent Faith, Tara barely heard the rustle behind her. When she did acknowledge it, her heart fluttered, hoping it was Willow and she turned to her lover.
"Willow. Are you...?" But she never finished the sentence as a large fist smashed into her face and Tara joined the other Scoobies into the realm of unconsciousness.
**
Stay conscious, Buffy ordered herself as another punch slammed into her jaw. The pain coursing through her body was paralyzing and it took all the slayer's mental resolve to stay awake. In actuality, she would have welcomed the shroud of darkness that invited to wrap its arms around her but she was intent on completing the plan and she didn't think that could be done with her resting fitfully.
Okay, so there would be no fitful rest for a few days after this beating but that was beside the point.
"Had enough?" Seth asked jovially before licking his blood stained knuckles. "Cuz, I gotta tell ya, it's hard damn work pounding your face in like this. I mean, the last time I messed up someone's face like this was," His eyebrows knotted in contemplation as one hand rested on his hip and the other was fisted under his chin. "Oh yeah," he said brightly, "that slut of a daughter of yours." He laughed at the outrage that marred the slayer's face though he leaned forward when the slayer nearly bucked him off of her.
"Whoa, now, babe. Didn't they tell you never to shoot the messenger? I'm just trying to inform you of the suspicious and highly immoral actions that firecracker of a daughter of yours likes to partake in." His face grew serious. "I think you may need to organize an intervention, because at her age you'll find it difficult to talk to her."
"Fuck you," Buffy spat through her cracked jaw.
"Watch the language, Missy," he said, slamming his fist across her face. "Don't want little miss Faith to hear her mommy using such naughty language. Or maybe that's the problem," he chided, leaning towards the defenseless slayer, his fists resting on either side of her head. "Maybe she's just trying to emulate her mommy's penchant for being a whore to vampires. I mean, you've fucked, what, two of 'em? And you're a slayer for God's sake. Not what I would call a good role model for an impressionable daughter."
"Like you're one to talk," Buffy forced out before she spat a mouthful of blood onto Seth's shirt.
"You wouldn't know good if it jumped up and bit you in those mangled balls of yours." Buffy cried out when Seth's hand violently wrenched her left breast.
"You know, I'd watch that mouth of yours. It's liable to get you into some shit you can't get out of. Especially considering that you are pretty much useless without your backup."
"You think?" she asked through a pained smile.
"Well, look at the evidence. You, underneath me, bleeding like a stuck pig, friends getting their asses kicked by my boys and—lookie here—you're boyfriend's not in sight. Guess it's true then."
"What?"
"That slayer's always end up alone." He smirked at her but it quickly faded when he saw the relief in her eyes.
"Not this slayer mate," the clipped British voice said from behind him and before Seth could turn all the way around, a metal stool cracked him in the head, sending him flying off of the slayer.
"You alright, luv," Spike asked, concern and love shining in his eyes. He bent down; cupping Buffy's swollen jaw lightly in his hand while his other hand lovingly stroked her hair.
"Do I look okay to you?" She asked curtly, rolling her eyes. Spike couldn't help but to laugh at her annoyance and he leaned down, planting a chaste kiss on he split lip.
"I love you, Buffy." Buffy's eyes watered at the total sincerity in his voice and her good arm snaked around his neck bringing him down for a passionate kiss, pain be damned.
"Now," she said between pants, "Go and kick that fuckin' wanker's ass for me."
Spike smiled at the fire he saw blazing in her hazel orbs and his chest swelled with pride.
"That's my girl," he said before kissing her on the forehead and stalking over towards the rising Seth.
"Always," Buffy whispered to herself as she watched his retreating form. "Always."
***
"Rack," Jennifer's voice sounded through the giddiness that was the warlock's head. The power rush he had gotten from the spell that sapped the strength from the dozens of Bronzers had reminded him of the sheer bliss when he had tapped into his Strawberry witch. Of course, nothing would ever be as charging as that. But this would do.
"Yeah, Sweetness," he replied, swaying back and forth on his feet like a drunken partygoer.
"I thought that guaranteed spell of yours was supposed to take care everyone, including the slayers and their cohorts." The venom in her tone sobered up the warlock and he leaned over the balcony to survey the crowd. Though several of the Scoobies had been incapacitated, the slayer and her pet vampire, who was locked in a battle with Seth, were still conscious.
"The Jct'ars took care of the other ones," she answered his unspoken words. "And that redhead witch of yours broke through the dampening field you said would incapacitate her."
"Well, she was a bit more powerful than I thought…"
"That's what I don't allow you independent thought, you moron." She interrupted and Rack winced at the strength of her reprimand. "Now, I don't care what you didn't expect, but as long as everything is in order in the next five minutes, then I won't kill you." Rack shivered uncontrollably at the malice of her words and the images she threw into his mind. He could only nod his assent.
"Oh, and Rack?"
"Yes?"
"If anything happens to Seth, and I do mean anything, you will pray for me to kill you."
***
"That all you got, 'mate'?" Seth mocked as he was driven back by another punch to the face. He had yet to throw a punch, intent on feeling out the vampire. He saw the barely contained rage the peroxide blond held in abeyance and Seth knew that Spike wasn't giving his all.
"No," Spike replied calmly, smashing a knee into Seth's gut, doubling him over. He followed up with a punch to the back of the tattooed vampire's head, sending him to his knees. Spike knelt down and grasped Seth by the back of the neck, lifting his head up. "Point of fact, mate, is that I'm just getting started," and he punctuated it with a forearm to Seth's face.
"What the fuck is it with you people?" The downed vampire asked. "Always going for the noise. That is so not cool."
"Well," Spike said through gritted teeth, feeling his anger seeping through, "do something about it."
"Oh," Seth replied as he stood, "I intend to. And," he cocked his head to the side and winked at Buffy who was leaning against a pillar, "after I'm through with you, I think that maybe I'll have some fun with that slayer of yours. You should have seen it, Spike, the way she got aroused when I squeezed those peachy tits of hers, got me quite hard. Just like that little girl of yours did for nine months…" he trailed off, smiling inwardly as he watched Spike's anger snap the tether that was holding it in place.
Even when he was bound to the wheelchair and had been forced to listen to Angelus pleasuring Dru night after night, Spike had not felt an anger this savage, distinctively primal and it threatened to consume him whole. Forgotten was Buffy and Dawn, forgotten was Faith and the Witches. All that he knew was the creature before him and Spike wanted nothing more than to rip Seth apart with his fangs.
Wasting no time, Spike lunged haphazardly and the other vampire dodged it and sent the Big Bad sprawling into a table with a kick to the back.
"Mighty sloppy of you there, Will-yum. Hmm, that's a neat name. Will-yum. You know, I wonder if that pretty little girl of yours said it like that when she was growing up," he shrugged indifferently. "Course I'd be surprised, considering it's two syllables. I mean, the only words I remember her using were 'Please', 'no', 'stop', and uhhh, 'yes' when I asked her if it hurt. I think she called for her 'mummy' and 'daddy' a few times too."
Spike roared and even Seth cringed slightly at the fierceness of it. Were it not for Spike's blind rage, the other vampire would have been concerned about the outcome of this fight but knowing what he did about people and demons alike, massive rage like this only clouded the person's abilities.
His theory was confirmed when Spike threw a powerful haymaker and Seth ducked it easily and countered with a punch to the gut and then one to the kidney of the vampire.
"Oh, you would have loved the way she screamed. She begged me for hours that first time not to hurt her, you know?" Seth parried another right hand and jumped over Spike's head when he aimed a thrust kick towards his gut. Before Spike could turn around, Seth clamped his arm around Spike's neck and sent him to his knees with a kick to the back of the leg. Spike struggled with both hands, clawing at the flesh of the undead monster though he knew it was pointless. Seth was much stronger than the Jct'ar and he had no illusions that this vampire could twist his head off without a second thought.
"I bet you're probably wondering, 'was that five punches I missed or six?' And to tell you the truth, in all the excitement of whoopin' your British ass, I plum forgot," Seth sighed dramatically before laughing in Spike's ear. "The point is, you know and I know, that no one here has balls big enough to beat me. And even if they did, Faithie girl over there already knows that with the Mark on me, I can't die. So, basically, I win by default."
"You sure do talk a lot, mate," Spike choked out.
"Yeah, I know. Sometimes I even tell myself to shut the fuck up. But do I listen? But your girl, Faith, she…" Seth stopped as he saw the Jct'ars dragging the unconscious forms of Faith and the others over to the center of the Bronze. "And speaking of your darling little girl." He wrenched Spike's head to the side, forcing him to look at the bloodied form of Faith. "And it looks like the little miss there has a boo-boo on her head. Can't wait to lick it off her." Spike intensified his struggle only to have Seth's arm tighten. Spike felt his larynx about to give way and he ceased his futile efforts.
"That's better. Now, as I was saying, I really can't wait to lick all that delicious blood off of her. I used to do it all the time, you know? I'd take that knife I had earlier and carve little stick people into her body and lick the outlines. When I got tired of that, I'd pour holy water in 'em. Did you know she has a reaction to the stuff?" He cocked his head over to look at Spike and shrugged when the vampire rolled his eyes. "On her bare skin, it acts like a minor burn, but pour it in a cut…oh you should see the way she screamed. It makes her scar, too. But I'd wager you know that already."
Spike had known that his anger towards Seth had crippled him, causing his attacks to be telegraphed. Now, at the mention of Seth's purposeful scarring of Faith, a strength that he had never felt coursed through the vampire. His fingers found purchase in Seth's flesh and he squeezed.
"What the?" was the surprised vampire's response before his arm was wrenched from Spike's neck and an elbow caught him in the sternum.
Spike used the other vampire's off-balanced frame of mind to up his attack. He landed several right hands to Seth's face before connecting with successive spinning backhands. Spike had never hit anyone or anything with so much force and still Seth refused to fall.
"You're like the Energizer Bunny, mate," Spike quipped through his rage, landing a kick to the gut followed by and spinning jump kick to the face. On that, Seth dropped to one knee, and he expelled unnecessary breaths, trying to shake off the blows.
"You're not so bad yourself," Seth replied and he truly meant it. Though he had fought the other slayer once and knew that she was stronger than Spike, the impacts of Spike's blows were much harder than Faith had ever managed. Seth attributed that to her youth and the burgeoning anger that pumped through Spike's veins.
A hard kick to the back of the head sent Seth to his face and before he could rise, a knee slammed into his back and he was momentarily too stunned to get up. He registered the telltale shattering of wood before he was slung onto his back, a vamped out Spike hovering over him, table leg in hand.
"Believe that I wanna torture you so bad that I can taste it. But I won't. Only because I don't want my girls to see your undead face again," Spike growled. Even as he demon demanded pain and suffering, he didn't want to expose Buffy or Faith to this evil creature a second longer.
Seth only smiled, and clasped his head behind his neck. "Uhh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, buddy boy."
Spike sneered, before raising the stake, "But you're not." And with that, he slammed the wood home.
To say that nothing happened would have been inaccurate. More to the matter, nothing happened to Seth. For Spike, it was a whole other thing.
Once the wood had penetrated its target, Spike's chest erupted into a maelstrom of pain and he flung himself off of Seth.
Seth watched in amusement as Spike convulsed in pain before he pulled the stake from his chest. Although he had seen the effects on living entities, never had he seen what would happen if a vampire tried to stake him. He got to his feet casually, brushing the dust from his pants and blocking out the pain in his chest where the stake had been before clasping his hands behind his back and walking over to Spike, studying the writhing vampire intently.
"You know," he said after a minute, "that looks like it really hurts." He squatted next to the vampire. "That's what you get when you don't listen. I heard that about you though, stubborn as all get out. Your daughter was like that until I broke her. Then she was quite the docile one. Well," he amended, "that's not quite true. She tried to fight but her heart was never in it after that first time."
Spike heard Seth's words but the pain that was slowly receding in his chest was still enough to block out any other emotion. In all his years, Spike had never felt something as mind numbing as what he had just experienced. Even Glory poking holes in him for hours didn't compare and that was a hell god. He didn't know what it was, but Seth seemed to have been telling the truth about not being able to die and that didn't bode well for the good guys.
"What the bloody hell," Spike choked out, not surprised when he spit up several mouthfuls of blood. He grunted when Seth grabbed a fistful of his hair.
"See, what did I tell you? I. Can't. Die. Do you need me to beat it into that peroxide poisoned head of yours?"
Despite the pain, Spike chuckled. "Look who's talkin' mate. Don't think you came by that mop naturally. And might I add that that's a very tacky job you did on it."
"Well, I guess that's just another thing we have in common."
"Other than the fact that we are both vampires, I have nothing in common with a wanker such as yourself."
"I'm hurt Spike, really I am," Seth commented quite insincerely. "But, honestly, you don't wanna know what we have in common?"
"Not especially," he said, rolling his eyes. He wanted to attack but the jolt--no--the jagged white-hot, indescribable lava pain that had coursed through his chest had sapped Spike of his energy and though he could feel his strength slowly returning, he was no match for Seth at the moment.
"Well, too bad, you're gonna listen. Now, aside from the aesthetic, our relationships are quite similar. I mean, I already have the love of that little bit of cuteness, Dawn." On Spike' murderous glare, Seth replied, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. When we had her holed up, she attacked me. Practically raped my lips with that virgin mouth of hers. It was something to behold." Seth covered the pang of emotion that went with knowing the Dawn that kissed him wouldn't exist after tonight. Shaking it off, he continued, his eyes locked on Spike.
"But that's not all." He leaned into Spike's ear as if he harbored a vital secret. "We've both fucked slayers."
Spike's energy surged in outrage and he lunged for the other vampire's exposed throat only to be thrown down viciously. Seth held him tightly around the neck and the blood from the wounds Spike had inflicted slid down Seth's tattooed arm.
"Truth hurts, don't it? How about this truth. After this little ritual is complete, and Emerald is mine once again, I may have a go at it with your slut of a slayer." Seth stole a glance towards Buffy who had passed out against the pillar she was leaning on earlier.
"Think she would like me? From what I read, she is a whore for vampires. Come to think of it, Gabriel did tell me that Angelus was the first to break her in. Guess him and me have something in common what with me breaking in Faith. Did you know she was a virgin when I took her? I'd go into details but, you know, we're kinda running out of time…"
Just as his words were spoken, a shimmering light signified the return of Jennifer. Seth took a moment to study the feline grace of his lover who was now shrouded in an overflowing black robe that trailed several feet behind her. She glanced over at him and smiled. It was time.
"Well, lookie, lookie. Time to get this show on the road." Seth pulled Spike to him and smiled viciously. "I'll wake you up when we get to the good part.
"Wha…?" But before Spike could finish, Seth slammed his head into the floor and stars flooded Spike's vision until there was nothing.
***It's not looking too good for our heroes. Everyone is down for the count, some worse off then others and now comes the Enjoining. Will Jennifer succeed and complete the transformation into Emerald and wipe Dawn from the mix? Will Spike or Faith wake up in time to stop it? Guess you have to wait and see. Tune in next week, for the next chapter, Reunion: Redux.