Chapter 14
Xander, Buffy, and Angel were helping move things into Willow's room, Buffy's old room. Xander was talking about Anya.. again.. And Buffy was doing her best to listen. Conner and Dawn were helping Willow fold clothes and put other things away.
"Have you talked to her lately?" Buffy asked.
"Not since that night with the Gnarl demon. And that wasn't exactly the kind of 'how have you been' kind of talk. More of the 'pierce its eye with something sharp' kind of talking. I'm thinking I should call her." Xander replied.
"I just don't want you to get your hopes up."
"Hopes? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. There are no hopes. Anya and I are done. I love being single. I'm a strong, successful male who is giddy at the thought of all the women I will no doubt be dating in the near future."
"Strong, successful males say 'giddy'?" Angel asked with a smirk.
"I just worry about her, that's all."
"Anya?" Conner asked.
"Yeah, she seems so sad."
"She should try acting like everybody else more." Dawn said.
"Apparently it's what all the kids are doing nowadays." Willow said.
"Well, I'm not sure I get the sad vibe, but there's definitely a vengeance vibe worth worrying about." Buffy said.
"Oh, that? No, no. I don't worry about that. She was hurt and she just turned back to what she knew when I.. you know. But that's not her anymore." Xander said.
"I hope you're right."
"Well, she turned that worm guy back before any real damage happened, right? It'll just take some time. I really think she's coming around."
"I hope your right."
Xander clapped his hands together. "So, are we done here?" Willow looked around. "Pretty much. I can finish the rest by myself."
"Conner, you ready to practice throwing that pigskin around?" Xander asked.
"Ew! I don't want to throw pigskins around! That's disgusting!" Conner said.
"Sweetie, he didn't mean actual pigskins. He meant a football. It's what some people call them for some odd reason." Buffy said.
"Oh! Sorry."
"It's ok." Xander said. "Living on the Hellmouth makes you cautious. It's a good quality. Angel, you wanna join?"
"I don't know." Angel said.
"Come on dad! Please?" Conner asked.
"Buffy?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm not your mother. I'm his." Buffy said, pointing at Conner.
"Come on dad!" Conner said.
"All right." Angel said.
Conner, Angel, and Xander left and went out to the backyard. Dawn followed the boys, wanting to maybe join in the little game. Buffy and Willow looked at each other and then followed them out. When they got outside, Dawn had actually joined in on Xander's team. The two sat down on the back patio steps and watched them play.
"Are you still mad at him?" Willow asked.
"Who?" Buffy asked, turning to look at Willow.
"Angel. Are you still mad at him for that whole smooch?"
"A little. We made up a little more last night, but.."
"I heard and 'but' what?"
"I don't know. It's just.. I love him so much that seeing him with his mouth on another woman's.. another beautiful woman's mouth, it just set off alarms in my head that I can't compare to her."
"Buffy, that girl has nothing on you. You hold Angel's heart. He loves you and you only."
"He's been with a lot of women. Women that were much more gorgeous than me. Take Darla for example."
"Darla was so not prettier than you!"
"I only meant that a couple of years ago, when he was a little depressed and hitting rock bottom, instead of coming to me and talking to me.. He chose to sleep with Darla."
"She just happened to be there. All she was to him was a convenience, Buffy. He staked her for you. Do you know what that means in the vampire community? That's a huge deal. Not to mention that they were involved for 140 something years."
"Comfort talk Will, comfort talk."
"Sorry. I was just pointing that fact out."
"It's ok. He's working his way back up. I can't stay mad at him forever. Probably cause I don't have forever like he does." Buffy said as she watched Angel and Conner laugh and high five each other after Conner made a touchdown.
"They've gotten pretty close, huh?"
"It's exactly the way I wanted them to be." Buffy smiled a little. "You go back to college tomorrow, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Are you excited?"
"Yes and no. I'm a little more nervous than what I thought I'd be."
"You'll do fine!"
"My last Sunday before school. It's crazy."
"Yeah. I'm back in High School and you're in college again."
"Only, you guys don'ts have school this week, right?"
"Fall break. Thanking the Powers for that one!"
Willow laughed and Buffy joined in. Conner waved at them to join in on the game. The two women stood and walked over. Buffy joined Angel and Conner's team and Willow went over to Dawn and Xander's team.
"No fair! All the superpowers are on that team!" Xander said.
"You have a witch!" Buffy retorted. "She can teleport the ball for a touchdown."
Willow chuckled as Xander patted her on the back and told her to do just that at least a couple of times. The game went on for a while before Xander decided it was late and he needed to get home. He left and the rest of the gang curled up in the living room to watch "Queen of the Damned" on DVD.
Buffy finished putting the last dish into the dishwasher just as the phone started to ring. She turned off the water and dried her hands yelling, "I'll get it!" Buffy picked up the phone in the kitchen just as Angel walked in. "Hello. Willow, hey! Is everything.. A spider demon? Wh.. h- hold on. A-are you all right? Like how?" Buffy grabbed a piece of paper from the message pad to write something down. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Wait, ok, go ahead. No, no, no, no, no. It's all good. I'll get Angel to go. But seriously, you just.. Whoa. Ripped out the heart? My God." Buffy paused and then brightened. "Hey, did you get that physics class you wanted? Cool! What? Oh. Ok. Later." Buffy hung up the phone.
"Spider demon?" Angel asked.
"Yeah. Willow was attacked in a fraternity house by one after finding the bodies of the whole frat with their hearts ripped out."
"Sounds dangerous."
"Let's grab some weapons and go. You write a note telling where we're at just in case Dawn and Conner come home from town before we get back."
An hour later, Buffy and Angel were trekking through the woods, searching for the spider demon. They were silent most of the way. That was until Angel tripped over the body of a boy's body.
"How big did she say this thing was?" Angel asked.
"She didn't. But I can't imagine she'd send us out if it wasn't.." Buffy looked down. "The heart is completely ripped out. This is our guy."
"What's this black stuff?" There were black stringy things hanging off the nearby tree. Angel reached out and touched it. "Ah! Sticky!"
"Willow said it was a spider demon. Maybe it's its webbing.
A noise came from the tree above them, like something moving around in it. "Angel."
"Is that it?"
"I can't tell. There is definitely something moving up there."
"Maybe we can somehow lure it."
One of the sticky black webs shot down from the tree, landing on Angel's shoulder. He dove out of the way.
"Angel!"
The spider jumped out of the tree, knocked Buffy down to the ground, and landed on top of her. She squirmed, but couldn't get free as the spider demon's second mouth came out to try and bite her face. She pushed it off, and it scurried away. She grabbed her battle-axe off the ground and looked up in the tree for the spider demon.
"Are you ok?" Angel asked.
Buffy examined where the demon had cut her. "I'll heal."
Angel looked at one of the cuts on Buffy's back. "I think we need more swords."
"Uh-huh." Buffy was looking up in the tree.
"I say we go home, pick up more swords and then we come back, and.." Buffy who had never stopped tracking the spider demon in the tree, threw her battle-axe up into the treetop. The spider fell to the ground with the axe in it. "Or, we do that."
"I vote the ladder." Buffy said.
"Let's get you home and bandaged up."
"I'm fine."
"Humor your husband."
Buffy rolled her eyes and they walked back to the van. Angel drove them home and found Xander's car parked out front and he was just getting out. They got out and met Xander at the steps. Xander asked what had happened and Buffy explained the spider demon.
They walked in, Buffy saying, "I'm more concerned with where that thing came from. If there are more of those spider demons running around, we need to know about it. We should hit the research, find out if.."
"I know where it came from." Willow said. She sat in the comfy chair waiting for them.
"Where?" Angel asked.
"Anya. She summoned them."
Buffy and Angel moved to sit on the couch while Xander sat down next to Buffy, who sat in the middle.
"How many?" Buffy asked.
"Ten, twelve."
"When were you planning on telling us?" Xander asked.
"I'm telling you now."
"Great. Thank you. Willow, it's Anya. How could you let us.. How could you not have told us?"
"Xander.." Buffy said.
"How could you not have told me?"
"Xander. It's ok. She didn't tell us for a reason. She didn't tell us because she knows what I have to do." Buffy said. Xander looked from Willow to Angel and back to Buffy. "I have to kill Anya."
"What!? No!"
"She's not the Anya that you knew, Xander. She's a demon." Angel said.
"That doesn't mean you have to kill her."
"Don't act like this is easy for me. You know it's not." Buffy said.
"There are other options."
"I've considered them."
"When? Just now? Took you all of ten seconds to decide to kill one of your best friends?"
"The thought that it might come to this has occurred to me before. It's occurred to you, too."
"But we can change what she did. Fix it. These are mystical deaths, right? There has to be something."
"I don't have anywhere near that kind of power. I didn't have that kind of power when.. And I-I don't think I trust the power I do have." Willow said.
"It's ok." Angel said to Willow.
"Xander, I know this is hard for you to hear, but it's what I have to do." Buffy said.
"Hard for me to hear? Buffy, you wanna kill Anya!" Xander said.
"I don't want to."
"Then don't! This isn't new ground for us. When our friends go all crazy and start killing people, we help them."
"She's sitting right here!" Willow said.
"I'm sorry. But it's true."
"It's different." Buffy said.
"Because you don't care about her the same way I do. Buffy, I still love her."
"I know. And that's why you can't see this for what it really is. Willow was different. She's a human. Anya's a demon."
"And you're the slayer. I see now how it's all very simple."
"It is never simple."
Xander stood angrily. "No, of course not. You know, if there's a mass- murdering demon that you're, oh, say, married to, then it's all gray area."
"Sitting right here." Angel said.
"I think we're being ignored." Willow said.
"Do not talk about him that way! He's helped in so many more ways than you could ever imagine. He's saved YOUR life more times than I can count." Buffy said.
"He had no choice." Xander retorted.
"And Anya did! She chose to become a demon. Twice."
"You have no idea what she's going through."
"I don't care what she's going through!" Buffy stood up too.
"No, of course not. You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt.."
"I killed Angel! Do you even remember that? I would have given up everything I had to be with him back then. I still would. I love him more than I will ever love anything in this life. And I put a sword through his heart because I had to."
"And that all worked out ok. Cause, you know, here you are." Willow said to Angel.
"Do you remember cheering me on? Both of you. Do you remember giving me Willow's message: Kick his ass." Buffy asked Xander.
"I never said that!"
"This is different."
"It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law."
"There has to be another way."
"Then please find it."
Xander took his coat and left. Buffy went to the tool chest and grabbed a sword. She looked at Willow, wanting her to follow, but Willow didn't move.
"I can't. I'm sorry." Willow said.
Buffy left, slamming the door. Angel sighed and went after her.
Xander, Buffy, and Angel were helping move things into Willow's room, Buffy's old room. Xander was talking about Anya.. again.. And Buffy was doing her best to listen. Conner and Dawn were helping Willow fold clothes and put other things away.
"Have you talked to her lately?" Buffy asked.
"Not since that night with the Gnarl demon. And that wasn't exactly the kind of 'how have you been' kind of talk. More of the 'pierce its eye with something sharp' kind of talking. I'm thinking I should call her." Xander replied.
"I just don't want you to get your hopes up."
"Hopes? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. There are no hopes. Anya and I are done. I love being single. I'm a strong, successful male who is giddy at the thought of all the women I will no doubt be dating in the near future."
"Strong, successful males say 'giddy'?" Angel asked with a smirk.
"I just worry about her, that's all."
"Anya?" Conner asked.
"Yeah, she seems so sad."
"She should try acting like everybody else more." Dawn said.
"Apparently it's what all the kids are doing nowadays." Willow said.
"Well, I'm not sure I get the sad vibe, but there's definitely a vengeance vibe worth worrying about." Buffy said.
"Oh, that? No, no. I don't worry about that. She was hurt and she just turned back to what she knew when I.. you know. But that's not her anymore." Xander said.
"I hope you're right."
"Well, she turned that worm guy back before any real damage happened, right? It'll just take some time. I really think she's coming around."
"I hope your right."
Xander clapped his hands together. "So, are we done here?" Willow looked around. "Pretty much. I can finish the rest by myself."
"Conner, you ready to practice throwing that pigskin around?" Xander asked.
"Ew! I don't want to throw pigskins around! That's disgusting!" Conner said.
"Sweetie, he didn't mean actual pigskins. He meant a football. It's what some people call them for some odd reason." Buffy said.
"Oh! Sorry."
"It's ok." Xander said. "Living on the Hellmouth makes you cautious. It's a good quality. Angel, you wanna join?"
"I don't know." Angel said.
"Come on dad! Please?" Conner asked.
"Buffy?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm not your mother. I'm his." Buffy said, pointing at Conner.
"Come on dad!" Conner said.
"All right." Angel said.
Conner, Angel, and Xander left and went out to the backyard. Dawn followed the boys, wanting to maybe join in the little game. Buffy and Willow looked at each other and then followed them out. When they got outside, Dawn had actually joined in on Xander's team. The two sat down on the back patio steps and watched them play.
"Are you still mad at him?" Willow asked.
"Who?" Buffy asked, turning to look at Willow.
"Angel. Are you still mad at him for that whole smooch?"
"A little. We made up a little more last night, but.."
"I heard and 'but' what?"
"I don't know. It's just.. I love him so much that seeing him with his mouth on another woman's.. another beautiful woman's mouth, it just set off alarms in my head that I can't compare to her."
"Buffy, that girl has nothing on you. You hold Angel's heart. He loves you and you only."
"He's been with a lot of women. Women that were much more gorgeous than me. Take Darla for example."
"Darla was so not prettier than you!"
"I only meant that a couple of years ago, when he was a little depressed and hitting rock bottom, instead of coming to me and talking to me.. He chose to sleep with Darla."
"She just happened to be there. All she was to him was a convenience, Buffy. He staked her for you. Do you know what that means in the vampire community? That's a huge deal. Not to mention that they were involved for 140 something years."
"Comfort talk Will, comfort talk."
"Sorry. I was just pointing that fact out."
"It's ok. He's working his way back up. I can't stay mad at him forever. Probably cause I don't have forever like he does." Buffy said as she watched Angel and Conner laugh and high five each other after Conner made a touchdown.
"They've gotten pretty close, huh?"
"It's exactly the way I wanted them to be." Buffy smiled a little. "You go back to college tomorrow, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Are you excited?"
"Yes and no. I'm a little more nervous than what I thought I'd be."
"You'll do fine!"
"My last Sunday before school. It's crazy."
"Yeah. I'm back in High School and you're in college again."
"Only, you guys don'ts have school this week, right?"
"Fall break. Thanking the Powers for that one!"
Willow laughed and Buffy joined in. Conner waved at them to join in on the game. The two women stood and walked over. Buffy joined Angel and Conner's team and Willow went over to Dawn and Xander's team.
"No fair! All the superpowers are on that team!" Xander said.
"You have a witch!" Buffy retorted. "She can teleport the ball for a touchdown."
Willow chuckled as Xander patted her on the back and told her to do just that at least a couple of times. The game went on for a while before Xander decided it was late and he needed to get home. He left and the rest of the gang curled up in the living room to watch "Queen of the Damned" on DVD.
Buffy finished putting the last dish into the dishwasher just as the phone started to ring. She turned off the water and dried her hands yelling, "I'll get it!" Buffy picked up the phone in the kitchen just as Angel walked in. "Hello. Willow, hey! Is everything.. A spider demon? Wh.. h- hold on. A-are you all right? Like how?" Buffy grabbed a piece of paper from the message pad to write something down. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Wait, ok, go ahead. No, no, no, no, no. It's all good. I'll get Angel to go. But seriously, you just.. Whoa. Ripped out the heart? My God." Buffy paused and then brightened. "Hey, did you get that physics class you wanted? Cool! What? Oh. Ok. Later." Buffy hung up the phone.
"Spider demon?" Angel asked.
"Yeah. Willow was attacked in a fraternity house by one after finding the bodies of the whole frat with their hearts ripped out."
"Sounds dangerous."
"Let's grab some weapons and go. You write a note telling where we're at just in case Dawn and Conner come home from town before we get back."
An hour later, Buffy and Angel were trekking through the woods, searching for the spider demon. They were silent most of the way. That was until Angel tripped over the body of a boy's body.
"How big did she say this thing was?" Angel asked.
"She didn't. But I can't imagine she'd send us out if it wasn't.." Buffy looked down. "The heart is completely ripped out. This is our guy."
"What's this black stuff?" There were black stringy things hanging off the nearby tree. Angel reached out and touched it. "Ah! Sticky!"
"Willow said it was a spider demon. Maybe it's its webbing.
A noise came from the tree above them, like something moving around in it. "Angel."
"Is that it?"
"I can't tell. There is definitely something moving up there."
"Maybe we can somehow lure it."
One of the sticky black webs shot down from the tree, landing on Angel's shoulder. He dove out of the way.
"Angel!"
The spider jumped out of the tree, knocked Buffy down to the ground, and landed on top of her. She squirmed, but couldn't get free as the spider demon's second mouth came out to try and bite her face. She pushed it off, and it scurried away. She grabbed her battle-axe off the ground and looked up in the tree for the spider demon.
"Are you ok?" Angel asked.
Buffy examined where the demon had cut her. "I'll heal."
Angel looked at one of the cuts on Buffy's back. "I think we need more swords."
"Uh-huh." Buffy was looking up in the tree.
"I say we go home, pick up more swords and then we come back, and.." Buffy who had never stopped tracking the spider demon in the tree, threw her battle-axe up into the treetop. The spider fell to the ground with the axe in it. "Or, we do that."
"I vote the ladder." Buffy said.
"Let's get you home and bandaged up."
"I'm fine."
"Humor your husband."
Buffy rolled her eyes and they walked back to the van. Angel drove them home and found Xander's car parked out front and he was just getting out. They got out and met Xander at the steps. Xander asked what had happened and Buffy explained the spider demon.
They walked in, Buffy saying, "I'm more concerned with where that thing came from. If there are more of those spider demons running around, we need to know about it. We should hit the research, find out if.."
"I know where it came from." Willow said. She sat in the comfy chair waiting for them.
"Where?" Angel asked.
"Anya. She summoned them."
Buffy and Angel moved to sit on the couch while Xander sat down next to Buffy, who sat in the middle.
"How many?" Buffy asked.
"Ten, twelve."
"When were you planning on telling us?" Xander asked.
"I'm telling you now."
"Great. Thank you. Willow, it's Anya. How could you let us.. How could you not have told us?"
"Xander.." Buffy said.
"How could you not have told me?"
"Xander. It's ok. She didn't tell us for a reason. She didn't tell us because she knows what I have to do." Buffy said. Xander looked from Willow to Angel and back to Buffy. "I have to kill Anya."
"What!? No!"
"She's not the Anya that you knew, Xander. She's a demon." Angel said.
"That doesn't mean you have to kill her."
"Don't act like this is easy for me. You know it's not." Buffy said.
"There are other options."
"I've considered them."
"When? Just now? Took you all of ten seconds to decide to kill one of your best friends?"
"The thought that it might come to this has occurred to me before. It's occurred to you, too."
"But we can change what she did. Fix it. These are mystical deaths, right? There has to be something."
"I don't have anywhere near that kind of power. I didn't have that kind of power when.. And I-I don't think I trust the power I do have." Willow said.
"It's ok." Angel said to Willow.
"Xander, I know this is hard for you to hear, but it's what I have to do." Buffy said.
"Hard for me to hear? Buffy, you wanna kill Anya!" Xander said.
"I don't want to."
"Then don't! This isn't new ground for us. When our friends go all crazy and start killing people, we help them."
"She's sitting right here!" Willow said.
"I'm sorry. But it's true."
"It's different." Buffy said.
"Because you don't care about her the same way I do. Buffy, I still love her."
"I know. And that's why you can't see this for what it really is. Willow was different. She's a human. Anya's a demon."
"And you're the slayer. I see now how it's all very simple."
"It is never simple."
Xander stood angrily. "No, of course not. You know, if there's a mass- murdering demon that you're, oh, say, married to, then it's all gray area."
"Sitting right here." Angel said.
"I think we're being ignored." Willow said.
"Do not talk about him that way! He's helped in so many more ways than you could ever imagine. He's saved YOUR life more times than I can count." Buffy said.
"He had no choice." Xander retorted.
"And Anya did! She chose to become a demon. Twice."
"You have no idea what she's going through."
"I don't care what she's going through!" Buffy stood up too.
"No, of course not. You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt.."
"I killed Angel! Do you even remember that? I would have given up everything I had to be with him back then. I still would. I love him more than I will ever love anything in this life. And I put a sword through his heart because I had to."
"And that all worked out ok. Cause, you know, here you are." Willow said to Angel.
"Do you remember cheering me on? Both of you. Do you remember giving me Willow's message: Kick his ass." Buffy asked Xander.
"I never said that!"
"This is different."
"It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law."
"There has to be another way."
"Then please find it."
Xander took his coat and left. Buffy went to the tool chest and grabbed a sword. She looked at Willow, wanting her to follow, but Willow didn't move.
"I can't. I'm sorry." Willow said.
Buffy left, slamming the door. Angel sighed and went after her.
