Part 7: Close to Home
Giles sat at the table, cup of coffee in one hand and a large book in the other. The others had gradually drifted off to sleep, leaving him alone to do the research and wait for Buffy and the others to return. He had tried on several occasions to rouse them, but all seemed to be in a rather deep sleep. Must have been exhaustion; he knew he had been feeling the initial effects of it earlier in the evening. Less than an hour ago, he could hardly keep his eyes opened, but a strong cup of coffee had cured that and now he felt refreshed and ready to go. Amazing what a little caffeine will do.
Well, at least he didn't have to listen to Xander and Cordelia bicker any more.
Anya, who had fallen asleep curled up in one of the chairs, snorted loudly as she shifted her body, causing a small pad she had been writing on to fall to the ground. Giles smiled wearily at the girl. She really could be cute, when she wasn't awake anyway. He placed the book he was reading on the counter next to his coffee, and went to retrieve the item that Anya had lost in her sleep.
"Will that be cash or charge?" the ex-vengeance demon murmured in her sleep as the Watcher bent down and picked up the pad. Even in her sleep, the girl was trying to sell something. That just confirmed that he had hired the right person to work in his shop, not that he'd ever had any doubt.
Giles scanned over the paper and found that the young woman had been compiling a list of all the items that Tara and Willow had used that night, along with the prices at the side. Indeed, he hadn't realized that the two witches had accumulated such a large total in debt. Perhaps he should listen to Anya and rethink the whole 'not charging of his friends' concept.
Why, the ingredients alone to the potion that gave them their voices back had cost him well over two hundred dollars. They had used two bags of teal wing, half a jar of Hattiesburg deer root, a bottle of black water mist, a teaspoon of yellow quartet dust-Wait a minute. Black water mist?
"That can't be right," Giles said to himself as he headed to the shelf where he kept it.
He inspected the shelf where the bottle was located and indeed found it to be missing. That was odd. Black water mist was used for nothing else except for a new age sleeping agent. It was very effective, usually giving the person a full eight hours of sleep if taken correctly. The only down side to it was that just the littlest bit of caffeine would counter act the effect. So, why on earth would Willow and Tara need it?
A juvenile giggle tore him from his thoughts. "No, Ahn. You play the naughty bank teller this time," Xander muttered as he smiled in his sleep.
Giles' eyes widened as he looked around the room. They were all asleep except for him. Anya, Cordelia, Jessie, Xander, Tara. If Tara's asleep, that means she must have not known the water was in the potion, which meant…
"Oh, dear Lord. Willow," he said to himself as he hurried over to the phone.
He jerked up the phone and found the line was dead, confirming his suspicions even more. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He had to warn Joyce! He had to find Buffy!! Grabbing his coat off the rack, Giles headed into the rainy night, praying it was not too late.
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Angel and Connor looked up when they heard someone charging down the stairs. Spike looked as if he were ready to kill the next person he saw as he headed out the door and into the night. Angel had guessed what Willow had done, and, by the way his grandchilde stalked out of there, he figured he had been right.
"Shit," the elder vampire muttered, getting up off the floor next to Joyce, leaving her with a confused Connor. Angel was barely out the door when he yelled, "Spike! Wait!"
"Go away, Peaches," the bleach blond warned in a dangerous tone as he stormed across the lawn. "I don't have time to deal with you right now."
Angel ran after him and grabbed him by the shoulder. "I said stop!"
He expected the punch and the growl that came with it. Angel took the hit, then came back around in full game face with his own punch. Before he knew it, the two Master vampires were on the ground, trying their best to beat each other to a pulp. Probably to some of the Summers' more curious neighbors, they looked like a pair of school-age boys engaged in a fist fight over some girl. He just hoped that none of them called the cops.
Angel managed to get on top of his grandchile, and hit him hard across the face.
"For once in your life, listen to me, William," he bit through his clutched teeth. The use of his given name seemed to stop the younger vampire momentarily, but Angel could clearly see the heat behind his yellow eyes. "Going off half cocked isn't going to help anyone." Spike struggled to get up, but his grandsire slammed him back to the ground. "It won't! Trust me. I know."
"You know," Spike sneered. "What you did finally got you Connor back!"
"No. Not Connor. It got me Steven." Angel slipped out of his game face and stood up, letting the younger vampire up. Spike's demonic features also melted away before the older vampire continued, "I love my son, I really do, and when he was taken I tried to do the exact same thing you are. But you can't go off and face her alone."
"Why the bloody hell not?!"
"Because you and I both know how powerful Willow really is! And that…thing inside of her has control over it. Do you really think that she'll even bat an eye if it came to killing you? To killing Dylan because of you?" His voice became low. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone, William. Not even you, and especially not Buffy! But you know if you go after Willow right now she would kill you, both of you! Is that what you want?!"
He watched as Spike's body became tight from anger. "I have to do something, Angel!"
The older vampire drew in an unneeded breath. He knew exactly how Spike felt and suddenly felt himself identifying with poor Lorne that night he had tried to get Connor back. There was nothing he could say that would stop the father in his quest, except maybe…
Angel bit down on his tongue as he forced himself to say, "Then go be with Buffy."
Spike blinked at that. "What?"
"Look, she lost her daughter tonight, too. Since you're the…father, she's going to need you to be there for her."
The bleached blond growled lowly to himself, knowing that Angel had found the one thing that would make him stay put for the time being. "So, what are we supposed to do? Sit back and wait for Red to show up again?"
"No. We get the others and come up with a plan," Angel told him. He turned and headed back into the house. "Until then, I suggest you go be with the mother of your child."
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Marie sat Indian style in the middle of the circle, the tiny black pot in front of her smoking as she prepared to perform the spell. In just a few more minutes, the witches' powers would be bound, and then maybe she could get a much deserved rest from all this. She flipped the old book a couple of pages, and began to read and follow the instructions.
"Child from light, cannot be dead.
The darkness within, has been fed."
The black-haired woman took the maple root, crumbled it up, and let it fall slowly into the smoking pot.
"Her spirit is strong, her flesh is weak.
A demon control, through her it does speak."
The pot gave out a large pillar of smoke as she reached over and picked up the small clump of red hair Eric had collected for her. She held it over the pot, and readied to drop it after she spoke the last of the spell.
"Bind her magic, so she may do no harm,
So that the demon cannot be-"
The door to her hotel room slammed open, causing Marie to stumble back from surprise. Her hand smeared the circle as she backed away, ruining the spell. The figure was floating at least a foot off the ground, the tips of her toes barely dragging the ground. She came inside.
"Nu uh," Willow said in a singy type voice. "Little girls shouldn't be playing with magic like that."
Marie gave a panicked looked towards the door that separated her room from Eric and Van's, praying that the little boy didn't come to see what was happening. The black-haired woman scrambled to her feet only to be knocked back hard against the wall by an invisible force. The sheetrock cracked from the impact as she slid down to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Did you really think you could get rid of me so easily?" Willow asked, lowering herself to the ground, then slowly walking towards the woman. "That you could simply chant a few words and *poof* I'd be gone? You gypsies really are stupid, you know that right?"
The shorter red head reached down and lifted the woman up off the floor by her collar, holding her up a little higher than her head so Willow had to look up at her. Willow cocked her head to the side as she studied the woman she held. "You know, you really are a pretty thing."
Marie's eyes flared. "Abi!"
The more powerful witch flew back, dropping Marie back to the ground. She moaned in pain from the contact as Willow began to chuckle, pushing herself away from the wall she had crashed into and wiping away the blood that trickled down from the side of her mouth. "Oh, looks like puppy wants to play."
Marie scrambled for the still opened door in hopes of fleeing, but the plywood slammed shut in her face.
"Uh huh," Willow said. "Puppy needs to know who her mistress is."
The red head shot her attention to the mirror above the dresser, shattering it with a thought. But the broken pieces didn't fall to the ground. Instead, the larger ones flew across the room at the black-haired girl standing at the door. She did her best to dodge them, but one very large piece cut straight through the palm of her hand, nailing it to the wall.
Marie yelped in pain as several other shards cut her, but she mainly concentrated on the one that held her in place. Her other trembling hand reached up to try and pull it out of the wall, but just touching the bloody reflecting glass sent pain through her. She was crying softly to herself when she heard the other woman walking towards her.
Willow bent down and picked up a long sliver of the mirror, playing with its sharp edges with the tip of her finger. Slowly, she lifted her now black eyes up to the young gypsy, an insane little smile playing on her lips.
"Now, puppy, let's play."
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Okay, it's kinda short like the last chapter, sorry. The next chapter is longer, promise. And, once again, please review. I love hearing from you guys and knowing what you think.