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Chapter 26

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Buffy woke with a scream. She leapt from her bed and stood, panting, in the middle of her room. Her mind was hazy, vague, as thought a mist was swirling through her thoughts. She could not make sense of anything. Who she was, where she was, what she was doing; it was all a great confusion of thoughts, faces and words…

And then it was clear. With a sudden rush everything came back to her. The Slayers, the Watchers, the school, the dreams…

Her latest dream hit her and she clutched her head, trying to make sense of it all. The girl had been a Slayer, obviously, and must have been called in the eleventh century or something like it. It had seemed so familiar, though, as if she had seen it before. She realized that she had heard of it before, and remembered with sudden clarity Lorne's class. She had dreamt the entire night, but that was not all. Buffy had been the girl. Lucy, her name had been. Buffy had been in her body, had run when she ran, felt what she felt, thought what she thought. It was frightening when she recalled the girl's final moments.

I was with her when she died, Buffy though, shivering at the idea.

She tried to remember everything in the dream, when a face flashed through her mind. It was the Watcher, the face that peered out from beneath the black cloak as they fled while Lucy died. Buffy knew that face. Buffy had seen it only a few hours ago.

With a speed that Giles would be proud of, she snapped back into reality and hurtled from the room, along the corridor, down the stairs, and skidded to a halt in the door of the hall. Taking a few steps into the hall, she searched frantically for Angel or one of the other teachers, but found only the students who were munching contentedly on the dinner and were blissfully aware of the danger they were in. Her heart began to race as realized that they had been in danger all along. A hand clamped over her shoulder, and she spun around to find Angel and Spike standing behind her. Spike avoided her gaze, preferring to look over her shoulder instead.

"Angel!" she cried breathlessly.

He instantly narrowed his eyes, detecting the fear in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"You need to get all the teachers and hunters now!" she cried, oblivious to the fact that the entire hall had fallen silent at her out burst.  

"We can't," he replied. "They've all gone to an overnight training camp. They left after classes finished for the day."

Buffy suddenly felt cold. A tingle shot down her spine as she finally realised the trap they had been led into.

"How did you know about this camp?" she asked softly.

"Why does it matter?" Spike asked, staring at her intently.

"Because I know who's been spying on us," she said. "I know who's betraying us. I know who has hired the Watchers under Traver's control."

Angel and Spike's expressions would have almost been amusing had it not been under such dire circumstance. They stared at her, eyes wide, mouths slighting open.

"Well who the bloody hell is it?" Spike bellowed when she didn't continue.

"It's…"

"Me."

Buffy froze, recognising the voice of the Watcher in her dream. It sliced through the fear clouding her mind, and made her heart skip a beat. This was one of those times she had always snorted at the movies. Right when the main character was about to reveal who the bad guy is, said bad guy turned up. Coincidence much? In an extremely inappropriate moment, Buffy swore never to doubt chance and coincidence again. Then she slowly turned to confront the face of all her fears and troubles.

"Ah, Buffy dear," the Watcher said.

Buffy raised her eyes and looked into the eyes of her enemy.

"Miss Kirly."

Miss Kirly laughed; a loud, bitter laugh that rang through the hall. "Yes, Slayer."

"But you're…" she murmured, trailing off. "But Lorne and Post and Spike were supposed to be-"

"Those three?" Kirly chuckled again. "Lorne is so busy organising his pathetic karaoke club that he doesn't see anything strange right next to him. And Gwendolyn is not evil- just a bitch. Now, Spike, there's a man with the potential to be evil. But you see he just didn't have it in him. It's all that soul business…So passé these days."

Why?" Buffy managed to choke out, unable to belief she had been played so well.

The Watcher's eyes darkened. "Because I have waited too long."

Buffy was assaulted by a familiar pain. With every second that passed it grew, until it was an insistent pain screaming at her. She knew what this meant.

A lot of trouble.

She managed to dive at Spike and knock him to the ground before a wooden arrow slammed into the wall where he had been leaning. There was a moment of silence, and then all hell broke loose. The high windows smashed and black figures flew through them, landing gracefully on the ground below. They instantly headed for the students, who screamed and tried to get out of the way. Buffy watched as the black figures herded the students towards the centre of the hall and realized that they were pushing them into a trap. She glanced helplessly at Angel and Spike, and they all knew that they couldn't protect all of the students at once.

Buffy knew that wouldn't stop them anyway. Without another thought the three of them jumped into the fray; kicking, punching and hitting anything that moved. She moved in and out of the black bodies, dodging flailing limbs and ducking wild blows. She kept an eye on both the vampires fighting alongside her, making sure that neither of them dug themselves in too deep.

She saw Spike's blonde hair disappear, and her heart leapt into her throat. Twisting away from another wild punch, she glanced desperately to where she had last seen him. Four black clad figures were concentrating on something beneath their feet, clobering it with their fists. With a roar, they were thrown back and scattered across the floor. Spike jumped to his feet, looking all the world for one pissed off vampire.

Her racing heart slowed only a touch at the sight of him, and she prayed to whatever higher being were watching to let them all get out of this alive.

She felt a sharp blow connect with the back of her head and she stumbled forward. Landing in the arms of a brunette student, she quickly shot him a grateful glance before steadying herself and heading for the man who had hit her.

Buffy was surprised when she hit an invisible barrier, preventing her from reaching the man.

"What the..." she muttered, touching the wall. Her first thought was that the Watchers had a sorcerer, but that thought was disbanned as soon as she saw the confusion in the rank of the black figures. They were uncertain of what to do, and she saw that the barrier was in fact forming a protectice wall against the Watchers. Spike was also touching the wall, a scowl crossing his feature. She turned around, frowning when she saw Angel's relieved smile.

Tara stood in the middle of the frightened students, both hands out in front of her, palms facing forward. She had her eyes closed, and her lips were moving as she muttered incantations under her breath.

Buffy raced over to where Angel stood, grabbing his arm forcefully.

"We need a plan," she said.

He nodded, shooting Spike a glance as he sauntered over.

"What's with Glinda?" he asked. "When'd she get here?"

"Teleported in a few moments ago," relied Angel. "The apocalypse in India was averted about half an hour ago."

"Good to know," Buffy said. "But what're we gonna do now?"

Angel closed his eyes, his forehead creasing as he thought. "I can't believe... Miss Kirly."

Spike snorted. "Didn't think the stuffy old bint had it in her."

"How?" Angel continued. "I had everyone's background checked. There was no way-"

"I need to tell you something," Buffy said, capturing the attention of both vampires. "She isn't just an evil Watcher. I had a...a Slayer dream or something, and she was in it. The weird thing was, I was dreaming about the eleventh century. She's not human. The other thing...wanna know who Traver's master is?"

"Kirly?" Spike exclaimed. "She's the Big Bad we've been lookin' for?"

"Nope. She's just the minion."

"But I thought..." Angel began.

"There's an even bigger bad. And I'm talking BIG."

"Not to hurry you, pet, but we ain't got a lot of time."

Buffy opened her mouth to speak when a hand landed on her shoulder. Spinning around she gripped the wrist, freezing when she recognized the blonde witch.

"Tara..." she breathed. "But what about the barrier?"

Tara pointed to where a familiar redhead stood, chanting in the same position as Tara. There were another six students chanting beside Willow, all touching a part of her body.

"What happened?" she asked. Buffy tore her eyes away from the sight of her best friend and listened as Angel quickly filled her in on the Watcher's attack.

"Guys!" Buffy interrupted. "Miss Kirly is working for the devil!"

The three of them stared at her.

"The devil! Satan! Lord of the Underground! Whatever you want to call him. She is his minion. And she is going to raise him tonight if we don't stop her."

"Very good."

Buffy turned slowly at the familiar, taunting voice. Miss Kirly smiled back at them from beyond the barrier.

"And how do you propose you will stop me from your little protected dome?" She cackled, obviously enjoying the fact that she knew something they did not. "As we speak my men are scouring the building for the last ingredient. In a matter of minutes I believe I shall have it, and then where will this pathetic world be?"

Buffy let this knowledge sink in, and behind her stoic facial expression her mind was whirling.

"Why would you think this thing you're looking for is in this building?" she asked slowly, feeling her skin crawl when Miss Kirly turned to look at her.

"Because this is the same building I hid it in all those years ago."

At the ex-Watcher's words Buffy's head began to spin. She knew where it was, and she knew what it was.

She realized now that the terrifying dream she had after being rescued from Traver's clutches had been her in Lucy's body. She had seen what Lucy had seen as the Lord of the Underground came towards her. All the other dreams slowly became revealed, and she was hit with a barrage of pictures and words and emotions. The Watchers, the dreams, the memories, the crow…

It was like a veil had been lifted from her mind and all the pieces of the puzzle slid into place. She knew what she had to do.

Turning abruptly away from the others, Buffy found Xander and pulled him aside, whispering furiously in his ear. He nodded and followed her to the others. Buffy noticed in relief that Miss Kirly had joined the Watchers in the search. There was a circle of armed men surrounding the circle of students, but she wasn't concerned. They would not prove a difficult obstruction to get through.

"I know where it is," she told them.

"Where what is?" Angel asked, a frown creasing his forehead.

"What Kirly's looking for."

"What's she-"

"Doesn't matter," she cut Spike off, waving a hand to dismiss any more questions. "I can get to it, but I need help."  

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