PART TEN:

Spike woke up when Nareia began tossing and turning. He calmed her by putting his arm gently over her chest. Nareia, upon feeling his strong arm envelope her, sighed softly, and drifted into a deeper sleep.

Spike gazed at her for a moment, before putting his head back on the pillow.

Soon, Nareia was dreaming, about her past, when she was human, just before she got turned.

She was visiting family in London, and she'd gone to a party. It was there that she saw him. A man of just above average height, his hair slightly mussed, and he wore small reading glasses. He appeared sensitive and caring, and was busy scribbling on a piece of paper. Nareia was drawn to him, but before she got a chance to talk to him, he got up. As he walked past some of the other guests, the paper was grabbed out of his hands, and the culprit mocked him, reading off the poetry that the young man, William, had written.

Nareia winced, it was pretty dismal, but, seeing the hurt look on William's face, she knew it was written from the heart. As he was derided, Nareia's heart went out to him, and, after he had snatched the paper out of the man's hands and walked out, she said clearly and pointedly to his tormentor, "Clearly he is much more of a man than you will ever be, sir, to stand with dignity under such a honourless rebuke to his heart. And, for your information, effulgent is a beautiful word, it means 'shining brightly.'" Turning away without waiting for an answer, Nareia caught the eye of William, who had paused when he heard her speak. Their eyes locked for a moment, and Nareia felt as though she had looked into her future. Then he turned away, and went into another room. Nareia looked after him for a moment, and then swept out, leaving the party.

Spike awoke with a jerk, an astonished look in his eyes. He looked down at Nareia, who was still sleeping peacefully, with a small smile on her face. "So you remember, do you, pet? I never forgot that moment when I first saw your brown eyes either," he stroked a stray lock of hair from her face. "Just don't tell anyone about it, or I'll break your pretty little neck," he growled softly into her ear, before kissing it, and laying back down to sleep, missing Nareia's smile widening as she felt him snuggling up to her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, Willow, what happened last night? I was little out of it," Nareia asked, later that day.

She and Spike were seated together on one of the sofas, their arms around each other. Willow thought that Spike was unlikely to ever let go of the little vampire ever again. She and Angel were on the other sofa, and Xander and Anya were sitting at the table.

Willow looked a little uncomfortable, and hesitated before answering, "Well, I cast a spell, to shine sunlight into the room. I've been working on it for a while, hoping it would help Buffy," she added eagerly.

Xander frowned, "But that doesn't explain how these three weren't toast."

Willow grimaced, "Well, I sort of put a spell on them too, before they left, while everyone was asleep. It was a good spell, though, and it worked."

"A protection spell," Angel supplied.

Willow nodded, "Yeah. It was to protect against nasty magic. It wasn't powerful enough to stop you being dusted if you'd been staked, but I was quite proud of it."

Nareia nodded in understanding, "You should be. I don't think I would have lasted as long as I did if it hadn't been for the spell. Thank you." She smiled at the nervous redhead, who smiled back shyly.

"So it protected us from sunlight? How long does this spell last?" Spike asked, a glint forming in his eyes.

"It doesn't protect you from real sunlight, only that brought about by magic. Sorry," Willow answered. "You'd last a bit longer than normal, but you'd still be a flaming torch after a while."

"Well, this is great news, but, what about Buffy and Giles? Aren't they going to be just a little bit pissed?" Xander pointed out.

"Oh, I forgot, I know how to reverse the curse!" Willow said excitedly.

"How?" Angel asked, sitting up.

"All you have to do is destroy the talisman that was used to trigger the curse." Willow pointed at the cylinder Angel had grabbed from Buffy earlier, "Hopefully, that's the talisman."

Angel picked it up and examined it. "Let me see," Nareia asked, sitting up with difficulty. Angel passed it over to her, looking worried when she grimaced, reaching out for it.

She turned it over in her hands, not noticing the look that passed between Spike and Angel. "It is," she confirmed finally. "These runes are part of a transformation spell."

"Great, so now all we have to do is destroy it," Xander said cheerfully. "What?" he asked as everyone looked at him.

"It's not as simple as that," Angel said cryptically.

"We have to find out how to destroy the bloody thing," Spike clarified.

Nareia sucked on her left canine. Willow had noticed that she did that when she was thinking. "And it does have to be destroyed. Throwing it into the Hellmouth would reverse the curse, but it would leave this thing lying around to be used by some other demon with a bloody ego." She gazed at it a while longer, and then suddenly waved her right hand. All the candles and lamps went out, leaving them in complete darkness.

"Hey!" Willow exclaimed, and said curiously, "How'd you do that?"

"Umm, as much as I don't trust you guys, I don't like being in a pitch black room with three vampires," Xander protested.

"Xander, shut up," Anya told him.

Nareia then muttered a word, and a wan light appeared over her head, spreading it's silver light throughout the crypt. "Wow, that's beautiful," Willow whispered.

Spike smiled in understanding, "Moonlight, to read the scroll." He saw Xander looking at him ignorantly, "Some writing can only be read by moonlight."

Nareia smiled wryly, "It's the same spell that Willow used, only I never had much use for the sunlight one. Didn't fancy myself as another case of spontaneous combustion." She held the cylinder up to the light. Everyone unconsciously leaned in, and jumped when she laughed. "I think someone is definitely laughing at us, Spike."

"What? What does it say?" Xander asked breathlessly.

"Basically, to destroy it, one must 'place the vessel in the direct path of the Sunne when it is effulgent,'" Nareia answered, smiling, and turning the moonlight off and the candles and lamps back on.

Spike snorted, "I never thought I'd hear that bloody word again." He and Nareia exchanged a meaningful look.

"Huh?" Xander was getting more and more puzzled.

"It means "shining brightly," Willow answered absently. "So all we have to do is to put it in the sun?"

Nareia nodded, "Yeah, but there's a snag. No-one human can touch this; otherwise they'll be cursed too. So it has to be one of us."

Everyone looked at each other. "Can't we just run out, and thrown it down before we bloody fry?" Spike asked.

"Or throw it out a window?" Xander asked. Anya tugged on his sleeve, and swept her arm round the crypt. "Oh, right, no windows."

Nareia shook her head, "It needs to be at midday, since it's the middle of winter now. And it needs direct sunlight, there wouldn't be enough bloody time." She growled in frustration.

Angel turned to Willow, "Can you work that protection spell to protect one of us in full sunlight? Just for a few minutes?"

Willow frowned, "I might be able to. Could you help, Nareia?"

The vampiress nodded doubtfully, "It's our only hope."

"If you hadn't destroyed the Gem of Amara, we wouldn't have this bloody problem," Spike pointed out to Angel.

"Spike," Nareia said warningly, before Angel had a chance to reply. "This isn't over yet."

Willow got up, and helped Nareia to stand. They walked over to the table, and began a whispered conversation. Spike glared at a disinterested Angel, and got up to get a drink.

Spike, Angel, Xander, and Anya sat in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for Nareia and Willow to come up with the right spell.

After a few hours, they turned to their waiting companions. "We've got it, but it won't last for that long. Angel, come here," Willow beckoned the dark vampire.

"Hey, why not me? I'm just as bloody capable as he is," Spike protested.

"You're injured, Spike, you almost got dusted not too long ago," Willow pointed out. "This spell needs someone stronger, I'm sorry," she added softly, so only the vampires could hear her.

Nareia smiled slightly. Willow could see a lot deeper than perhaps her friends knew. Spike sat down again with a small growl, but he knew that she was right.

Willow stood up as Angel came to stand before her, and she whispered in Latin to him, as she put a necklace on him.

"There's no time to lose, it's almost midday now," Nareia pointed out.

"Here mate," Spike picked up the cylinder, and tossed it to Angel, who caught it deftly. Taking a deep, unneeded breath, he strode up the stairs to the door. Spike came to help Nareia move away from the table, as the sun would shine right down onto it.

Willow, Xander, and Anya followed Angel up to the door, and watched him as he walked nervously into the light. "Well, he's not burning, he's not even sizzling," Anya observed.

Spike and Nareia listened from the sofa as Xander said, "He's starting to smoke, is he meant to do that?"

The two vampires looked at each other, and Willow's voice came drifting down to them, "Hurry, Angel, it won't hold much longer."

They heard running feet, and Angel appeared at the doorway, smoking slightly. "It's done. It disappeared in a flash of green light," he reported.

Nareia nodded, "Yes, it's done. Now all we have to do is hope that there weren't too many real vampires left down in the sewers."

Xander shut the door behind him with a slam as he followed Angel, Willow, and Anya down the stairs. Everyone looked grim as they realised the meaning of Nareia's words.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy woke to find herself lying in sand. Sitting up, and shaking the sand out of her hair, she looked round, frowning, before everything that had happened the previous night came surging back to her. She groaned, and stood up slowly.

Giles heard her moan, and heaved himself up, "Buffy, Buffy. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, apart from a lot of aching muscles, I'm peachy," she replied with forced cheerfulness.

"Well, that's great, because I think we're in trouble," he answered, walking over to her stiffly.

She looked round. The vampires that had been cursed were all back to their human selves, and were looking round curiously, trying to remember what had happened. Either that, or they were being the next meal of the few real vampires that had survived Willow's spell.

These feeding vampires looked up from their victims, and, upon seeing Buffy standing in the middle of the amphitheatre beside her Watcher, dropped the drained bodies, and descended on them.

Part 11