Okay, so it's finally here - though I'm not sure you'll thank me when you've read it.
Won't say too much about it other than: I hope you don't absolutely hate this part because there will be more... when I get round to it.
Thanks immensely for the feedback... it's a very lovely thing...
CHAPTER TEN:
"All done!"
Dawn emerged from the training room with a giddy bounce and a wide grin plastered on her face. Buffy looked up from her pacing. Dawn's excitement wasn't infectious enough to calm the greedy nervous energy that eating away at her gut. Her eyes settled on Tara.
"Did it work?" She asked, her nerves tightening painfully with anticipation.
Tara smiled and held out a small fossil to Buffy. The rock glowed green momentarily as it passed hands and then reverted to its natural grey, scaly form. Buffy stared at the rock and traced the spiral ammonite imprint with her finger, entranced by its stark yet beautiful simplicity. She'd never looked closely at anything like this before, never seen them as anything more than old rocks but now it so much more. A symbol for everything they all hoped for - an end to this nightmare. If this worked then...
"Are you sure that Glory won't be able to use this?"
"Like I said, it's not the *actual* essence of The Key, more like a... photocopy." Willow and Tara - like Dawn - were still buzzing from after effects of the spell and swayed against each other like two halves of a perfect jigsaw puzzle of happiness.
"Yeah... But are we *sure* that it won't work just the same? It's not like... having a spare key cut?"
Giles came forward and inspected the fossil. Buffy was half-surprised when it didn't glow, but she reasoned that the after-effects of the spell had abated. It was a lot more convincing as a Key if it didn't give itself away with a suspect green light whenever you went near it.
"From what I've read a-and what The Council has told me -" He was momentarily lost to the hypnotic spiral until he shook himself out of his daze. "The Key... i-it has to be pure - undiluted and untainted."
"You think this will be enough to fool her?" She spoke quietly, afraid to let any twinge of hope into her voice. Afraid to jinx this chance they had.
Giles stared back at her and spoke just as quietly. "We can only try."
That was all the encouragement she needed. "Xander - you have the address?"
"Yep, them new apartments up by the park. The insano hell goddess sure does like her luxury."
The adrenaline was in full flow now. Her heart thumping, her veins throbbing and her whole body buzzing with restless energy. This is what it cam down to. Every time.
"Giles, Xander, Willow - you're with me. Tara - take Dawn somewhere safe and do a protection spell." She paused for thought. (Where is safe? Where does Glory not know?) The answer came, as it so often did, in the face of one of her friends. "Xander - you're apartment?"
"What about it? ... Oh, yeah." He tossed the keys to Tara with a smile.
"Thanks. Right... Giles - weapons. I know they're pretty useless against Glory, but I don't trust those minions as far as... Xander could throw them -"
"Hey!" All eyes turned to Xander. "I know what you say is true and I recognise the emergency we have wailing here, but I still feel, on behalf of my bruised male-ego, that I'm entitled to a 'Hey!'... And now I'm done."
Buffy grinned. "We still love you, Xandy."
"What about me?" Anya asked from behind the counter.
"Er, we love you too?"
"No, and *eww*... No, I mean - what do I do while you're out putting my Xander's life in jeopardy?" She said and Buffy understood her concern. Only too well.
"Well Anya," Giles began, "it is of imperative importance that you stay here and... look after the shop."
"You mean, do what I always do?"
"Exactly, carry on everything as normal - oh and Anya?"
"Yes?"
"As of now, consider yourself promoted."
Anya grinned widely and patted the cash register enthusiastically, before her thoughts turned back to Xander and her face fell. She gravitated over to him and looped her arms around his waist.
"Come back and be proud of me?" She asked, looking up at him with her chin against his chest.
"Wild horses... et cetera." He smiled down at her, wrapping his arms around her and enfolding her in a squeeze of a hug.
Buffy allowed them their moment and then turned to Giles.
"It's time."
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"Take me to Glory."
"You have the exchange?"
"Yes."
The minion did nothing to hide the look of self-satisfied conceit on his face. He rubbed his hands together, muttering something about how pleased Glory will be with him. The other minion who had visited the shop joined him and they whispered in conspiracy for a few moments. They glanced back at Buffy, once, twice, before indicating for the three of them to follow.
Buffy did a quick sweep of the foyer - noting the stairs and looking for other escape routes. She shared a look of unity with Willow as they followed the minions into the elevator.
"You lot in there. We shall meet you on the forth floor. *Don't* try anything. Glory would be most upset and when she is upset she tends to... take her frustrations out on others." They shot her a meaningful glare and scurried off towards the stairs.
The doors closed and the four of them were shut in the confined space. She was so glad none of them were claustrophobic, but still she had the distinct impression that someone else was in there with them. Her eyes scanned the faces of her friends and she frowned, still sensing something else. That was when it hit, when she realised.
He had been in here.
She faltered and teetered on her spot as all breath left her body and her eyes fell to the floor.
And then she saw it.
"Giles." Once she had his attention she simply pointed. To the blood. "Spike's"
"H-how do you know-"
"I *know*. I just know."
Xander hovered over the bloodstain. "You've got to have expected this, that you might not get him back intact... in one piece even." He lifted his head to meet Buffy's glare. "Oh, come on, this *is* Glory 'I could squash you like a bug' we're talking about here -"
"Xander, you're *so* not helping." Buffy silenced him.
"Yes, please do shut up." Giles said in his quietly sardonic manner. The elevator lurched slightly as it reached its destination and Giles pushed at a button to hold the doors to. "Buffy, are you ready?"
She took a deep breath, checked her crossbow and nodded.
"Xander, Willow?" They both nodded and Giles released the button. The doors opened to reveal the anticipatory gazes of the minions. Buffy gulped down the urge to fire the crossbow into one of their smug, ugly little faces and followed them, in silence.
The minions scuttled away, taking turns to over-take each other as they hurried down the corridor, each wanting to be the first to Glory.
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"Blessed Glorificus, She that shines so blindingly bright with beauty. The Slayer is here to see you."
"Uh-huh." When the minions moved away, they revealed Glory to be lounging self-importantly on a throne-like sofa whilst having her nails filed by another one of her servants. She sipped from a flute glass before handing it to the manicurist minion with a dismissive wave of her hand. She examined her hand for a moment and, satisfied with the results, she finally glanced up at Buffy.
"So she is - and look - she's bought her little chums and some toys for me to play with. Ooh, isn't this just so quaint." She said, excitedly drumming her fingertips together.
"You know what we're here for, Glory. Where is he?" Buffy eyed Glory with a look designed to conceal her nervous fear. (Please, let this work. Let us all get out of here alive. Let him be OK.)
"Straight to business?" Glory pouted with mock-petulance. "But I was hoping we could have a nice chit-chat and get to know each other first. I just *love* a good gossip. Love to hear what's going on inside people's heads." She waggled her fingers suggestively while staring at Xander with a look of pure hunger. He paled visibly and gulped.
"Giles, The Key." At the mention of the object of her desire, Glory's eyes snapped to Buffy to see Giles hand her the rock.
The fossil flashed green once more as it passed to her and Buffy questioned Giles with her gaze. He too frowned with wonder at why the rock only seemed to respond to her, but shrugged it off, indicating with a nod in Glory's direction for her to get on with the plan.
Buffy held up the fossil up for Glory to see, squeezing it hard to disguise the shaking of her hand and make sure she didn't drop it. "One Key, for one Vampire. That was the exchange right?"
Glory gazed at the fossil, her eyes glazing with unshed tears. "Can it be? Can it really be?" She asked breathlessly.
"There's only one way to find out."
"Why is it so... ?"
"Simple? Plain? Ordinary?" Buffy supplied for her. "I guess those monks knew you pretty well," she glanced suggestively around Glory's sumptuously decorated apartment, "knew you'd never look twice at a little grey rock. The Key - something so infinitely old contained in a really *old* fossil. It's quite ingenious, really."
"Give it to me."
"Give me what's mine first." (Mine?)
Glory responded with a simple smirk that twisted something in Buffy's gut. She indicated with a nod to something behind them and Buffy filled with dread as she turned round to face it. Him. It.
"*There's* your Vampire."
Silence hung all around them and weighted the air, the pressure pushing against Buffy's lungs, making her struggle for breath.
"Well at least I *think* that's all of him. My minions really are quite scrupulous with their sweeping up. I told them, 'every last speck, I want my carpet spotless again'." Glory sniggered and Buffy flinched as the sound grated along her spine.
One of Glory's servants stepped forward and held the urn out towards her. Buffy numbly handed her weapon to Willow and took the urn, the cool porcelain stinging at her fingers that were raw from gripping her crossbow.
She was aware of the hands of her friends on her and their muffled voices of concern as she stared down at the intricate pattern that decorated the urn. It occurred to her that she should check. That this wasn't real until she saw for certain.
Lifting off the lid, the contents of the pot confirmed everything. Vampire ashes, she had enough experience to tell it apart from ordinary household dust. In fact she had less experience with household dust. She had an urge to run the ashes through her fingers and imagined herself up on a hillside, letting the dust flow through her fingers into the wind -
"You can keep the pot thing, really. It goes with none of my outfits."
Buffy spun round, her eyes burning with rage. "How could you?" Even though her body was shaking with anger, her voice was small, almost silent.
"How could I? How could I *not*?" Glory let out a derisive snort as she rearranged the gold bangles on her wrist. "He was a very annoying Vampire, with that 'bloody' accent and what was *with* that hair?" She asked rhetorically. When she looked back up from her jewellery her face was hard, demanding. "Now give me my Key."
"No."
"No?" Glory laughed. "Oh, Buffy, that's a good one."
"The deal's off." Buffy indicated to the others to back away, but as they turned to leave they were stopped by a blockade of minions. There was a blur before her and Buffy felt a shot of pain glare up her arm as her fingers were wrenched back on themselves with a sickening crack of bones. She clenched her eyes closed to the agony and when she opened them Glory was stood before her with the fossil. Panic flared in Buffy and she was forced to remind herself that it wasn't real. If she could just keep it together a little longer then -
"I was going do this the nice way, but seen as you're not in the mood to co-operate..." Glory strutted away. Holding the fossil against her cheek, she sighed softly with contentment. "It sings to me. Oh, how it *sings* to me." Her face took on a look of pure ecstasy as she pressed 'The Key' between her palms. "Well hello again! It's been forever, hasn't it?"
"What do you want us to do with the Slayer and her friends, oh most bountifully beauteous and powerful one?"
Glory's attention didn't falter from the fossil as she spoke. "Oh, let them go. I have all that I ever wanted... all I could ever need."
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"Here, let me take this off you."
Buffy didn't fight Willow as she took the urn out of her hands and placed it on the mantle piece above the fire. She immediately felt a pang cut through her at the loss, and her eyes remained fixed upon the urn as Willow took her hands and tried to guide her out of the lounge.
"No."
"Buffy?"
"No, I want to stay here." She moved towards the sofa and slowly lay herself down on her side, clutching her broken fingers protectively against her chest.
"Are you going to be alright?"
Willow's concerned voice was almost too much to bear and Buffy clamped her eyes shut to stop the tears. She couldn't let herself cry because she couldn't say for sure what the tears were for. Him? Her mother? Just another death she couldn't prevent? Herself? Relief that Glory was fooled? Dawn?
"I just want to sleep."
"OK, I'll go phone Tara... check on Dawn."
"'Kay." Buffy whispered without opening her eyes. She held her breath as she listened to Willow's footsteps fade away.
(Okay, don't shoot me please :-))
Won't say too much about it other than: I hope you don't absolutely hate this part because there will be more... when I get round to it.
Thanks immensely for the feedback... it's a very lovely thing...
CHAPTER TEN:
"All done!"
Dawn emerged from the training room with a giddy bounce and a wide grin plastered on her face. Buffy looked up from her pacing. Dawn's excitement wasn't infectious enough to calm the greedy nervous energy that eating away at her gut. Her eyes settled on Tara.
"Did it work?" She asked, her nerves tightening painfully with anticipation.
Tara smiled and held out a small fossil to Buffy. The rock glowed green momentarily as it passed hands and then reverted to its natural grey, scaly form. Buffy stared at the rock and traced the spiral ammonite imprint with her finger, entranced by its stark yet beautiful simplicity. She'd never looked closely at anything like this before, never seen them as anything more than old rocks but now it so much more. A symbol for everything they all hoped for - an end to this nightmare. If this worked then...
"Are you sure that Glory won't be able to use this?"
"Like I said, it's not the *actual* essence of The Key, more like a... photocopy." Willow and Tara - like Dawn - were still buzzing from after effects of the spell and swayed against each other like two halves of a perfect jigsaw puzzle of happiness.
"Yeah... But are we *sure* that it won't work just the same? It's not like... having a spare key cut?"
Giles came forward and inspected the fossil. Buffy was half-surprised when it didn't glow, but she reasoned that the after-effects of the spell had abated. It was a lot more convincing as a Key if it didn't give itself away with a suspect green light whenever you went near it.
"From what I've read a-and what The Council has told me -" He was momentarily lost to the hypnotic spiral until he shook himself out of his daze. "The Key... i-it has to be pure - undiluted and untainted."
"You think this will be enough to fool her?" She spoke quietly, afraid to let any twinge of hope into her voice. Afraid to jinx this chance they had.
Giles stared back at her and spoke just as quietly. "We can only try."
That was all the encouragement she needed. "Xander - you have the address?"
"Yep, them new apartments up by the park. The insano hell goddess sure does like her luxury."
The adrenaline was in full flow now. Her heart thumping, her veins throbbing and her whole body buzzing with restless energy. This is what it cam down to. Every time.
"Giles, Xander, Willow - you're with me. Tara - take Dawn somewhere safe and do a protection spell." She paused for thought. (Where is safe? Where does Glory not know?) The answer came, as it so often did, in the face of one of her friends. "Xander - you're apartment?"
"What about it? ... Oh, yeah." He tossed the keys to Tara with a smile.
"Thanks. Right... Giles - weapons. I know they're pretty useless against Glory, but I don't trust those minions as far as... Xander could throw them -"
"Hey!" All eyes turned to Xander. "I know what you say is true and I recognise the emergency we have wailing here, but I still feel, on behalf of my bruised male-ego, that I'm entitled to a 'Hey!'... And now I'm done."
Buffy grinned. "We still love you, Xandy."
"What about me?" Anya asked from behind the counter.
"Er, we love you too?"
"No, and *eww*... No, I mean - what do I do while you're out putting my Xander's life in jeopardy?" She said and Buffy understood her concern. Only too well.
"Well Anya," Giles began, "it is of imperative importance that you stay here and... look after the shop."
"You mean, do what I always do?"
"Exactly, carry on everything as normal - oh and Anya?"
"Yes?"
"As of now, consider yourself promoted."
Anya grinned widely and patted the cash register enthusiastically, before her thoughts turned back to Xander and her face fell. She gravitated over to him and looped her arms around his waist.
"Come back and be proud of me?" She asked, looking up at him with her chin against his chest.
"Wild horses... et cetera." He smiled down at her, wrapping his arms around her and enfolding her in a squeeze of a hug.
Buffy allowed them their moment and then turned to Giles.
"It's time."
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"Take me to Glory."
"You have the exchange?"
"Yes."
The minion did nothing to hide the look of self-satisfied conceit on his face. He rubbed his hands together, muttering something about how pleased Glory will be with him. The other minion who had visited the shop joined him and they whispered in conspiracy for a few moments. They glanced back at Buffy, once, twice, before indicating for the three of them to follow.
Buffy did a quick sweep of the foyer - noting the stairs and looking for other escape routes. She shared a look of unity with Willow as they followed the minions into the elevator.
"You lot in there. We shall meet you on the forth floor. *Don't* try anything. Glory would be most upset and when she is upset she tends to... take her frustrations out on others." They shot her a meaningful glare and scurried off towards the stairs.
The doors closed and the four of them were shut in the confined space. She was so glad none of them were claustrophobic, but still she had the distinct impression that someone else was in there with them. Her eyes scanned the faces of her friends and she frowned, still sensing something else. That was when it hit, when she realised.
He had been in here.
She faltered and teetered on her spot as all breath left her body and her eyes fell to the floor.
And then she saw it.
"Giles." Once she had his attention she simply pointed. To the blood. "Spike's"
"H-how do you know-"
"I *know*. I just know."
Xander hovered over the bloodstain. "You've got to have expected this, that you might not get him back intact... in one piece even." He lifted his head to meet Buffy's glare. "Oh, come on, this *is* Glory 'I could squash you like a bug' we're talking about here -"
"Xander, you're *so* not helping." Buffy silenced him.
"Yes, please do shut up." Giles said in his quietly sardonic manner. The elevator lurched slightly as it reached its destination and Giles pushed at a button to hold the doors to. "Buffy, are you ready?"
She took a deep breath, checked her crossbow and nodded.
"Xander, Willow?" They both nodded and Giles released the button. The doors opened to reveal the anticipatory gazes of the minions. Buffy gulped down the urge to fire the crossbow into one of their smug, ugly little faces and followed them, in silence.
The minions scuttled away, taking turns to over-take each other as they hurried down the corridor, each wanting to be the first to Glory.
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-
-
-
"Blessed Glorificus, She that shines so blindingly bright with beauty. The Slayer is here to see you."
"Uh-huh." When the minions moved away, they revealed Glory to be lounging self-importantly on a throne-like sofa whilst having her nails filed by another one of her servants. She sipped from a flute glass before handing it to the manicurist minion with a dismissive wave of her hand. She examined her hand for a moment and, satisfied with the results, she finally glanced up at Buffy.
"So she is - and look - she's bought her little chums and some toys for me to play with. Ooh, isn't this just so quaint." She said, excitedly drumming her fingertips together.
"You know what we're here for, Glory. Where is he?" Buffy eyed Glory with a look designed to conceal her nervous fear. (Please, let this work. Let us all get out of here alive. Let him be OK.)
"Straight to business?" Glory pouted with mock-petulance. "But I was hoping we could have a nice chit-chat and get to know each other first. I just *love* a good gossip. Love to hear what's going on inside people's heads." She waggled her fingers suggestively while staring at Xander with a look of pure hunger. He paled visibly and gulped.
"Giles, The Key." At the mention of the object of her desire, Glory's eyes snapped to Buffy to see Giles hand her the rock.
The fossil flashed green once more as it passed to her and Buffy questioned Giles with her gaze. He too frowned with wonder at why the rock only seemed to respond to her, but shrugged it off, indicating with a nod in Glory's direction for her to get on with the plan.
Buffy held up the fossil up for Glory to see, squeezing it hard to disguise the shaking of her hand and make sure she didn't drop it. "One Key, for one Vampire. That was the exchange right?"
Glory gazed at the fossil, her eyes glazing with unshed tears. "Can it be? Can it really be?" She asked breathlessly.
"There's only one way to find out."
"Why is it so... ?"
"Simple? Plain? Ordinary?" Buffy supplied for her. "I guess those monks knew you pretty well," she glanced suggestively around Glory's sumptuously decorated apartment, "knew you'd never look twice at a little grey rock. The Key - something so infinitely old contained in a really *old* fossil. It's quite ingenious, really."
"Give it to me."
"Give me what's mine first." (Mine?)
Glory responded with a simple smirk that twisted something in Buffy's gut. She indicated with a nod to something behind them and Buffy filled with dread as she turned round to face it. Him. It.
"*There's* your Vampire."
Silence hung all around them and weighted the air, the pressure pushing against Buffy's lungs, making her struggle for breath.
"Well at least I *think* that's all of him. My minions really are quite scrupulous with their sweeping up. I told them, 'every last speck, I want my carpet spotless again'." Glory sniggered and Buffy flinched as the sound grated along her spine.
One of Glory's servants stepped forward and held the urn out towards her. Buffy numbly handed her weapon to Willow and took the urn, the cool porcelain stinging at her fingers that were raw from gripping her crossbow.
She was aware of the hands of her friends on her and their muffled voices of concern as she stared down at the intricate pattern that decorated the urn. It occurred to her that she should check. That this wasn't real until she saw for certain.
Lifting off the lid, the contents of the pot confirmed everything. Vampire ashes, she had enough experience to tell it apart from ordinary household dust. In fact she had less experience with household dust. She had an urge to run the ashes through her fingers and imagined herself up on a hillside, letting the dust flow through her fingers into the wind -
"You can keep the pot thing, really. It goes with none of my outfits."
Buffy spun round, her eyes burning with rage. "How could you?" Even though her body was shaking with anger, her voice was small, almost silent.
"How could I? How could I *not*?" Glory let out a derisive snort as she rearranged the gold bangles on her wrist. "He was a very annoying Vampire, with that 'bloody' accent and what was *with* that hair?" She asked rhetorically. When she looked back up from her jewellery her face was hard, demanding. "Now give me my Key."
"No."
"No?" Glory laughed. "Oh, Buffy, that's a good one."
"The deal's off." Buffy indicated to the others to back away, but as they turned to leave they were stopped by a blockade of minions. There was a blur before her and Buffy felt a shot of pain glare up her arm as her fingers were wrenched back on themselves with a sickening crack of bones. She clenched her eyes closed to the agony and when she opened them Glory was stood before her with the fossil. Panic flared in Buffy and she was forced to remind herself that it wasn't real. If she could just keep it together a little longer then -
"I was going do this the nice way, but seen as you're not in the mood to co-operate..." Glory strutted away. Holding the fossil against her cheek, she sighed softly with contentment. "It sings to me. Oh, how it *sings* to me." Her face took on a look of pure ecstasy as she pressed 'The Key' between her palms. "Well hello again! It's been forever, hasn't it?"
"What do you want us to do with the Slayer and her friends, oh most bountifully beauteous and powerful one?"
Glory's attention didn't falter from the fossil as she spoke. "Oh, let them go. I have all that I ever wanted... all I could ever need."
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-
-
"Here, let me take this off you."
Buffy didn't fight Willow as she took the urn out of her hands and placed it on the mantle piece above the fire. She immediately felt a pang cut through her at the loss, and her eyes remained fixed upon the urn as Willow took her hands and tried to guide her out of the lounge.
"No."
"Buffy?"
"No, I want to stay here." She moved towards the sofa and slowly lay herself down on her side, clutching her broken fingers protectively against her chest.
"Are you going to be alright?"
Willow's concerned voice was almost too much to bear and Buffy clamped her eyes shut to stop the tears. She couldn't let herself cry because she couldn't say for sure what the tears were for. Him? Her mother? Just another death she couldn't prevent? Herself? Relief that Glory was fooled? Dawn?
"I just want to sleep."
"OK, I'll go phone Tara... check on Dawn."
"'Kay." Buffy whispered without opening her eyes. She held her breath as she listened to Willow's footsteps fade away.
(Okay, don't shoot me please :-))