Fury by SLynn

Notes: Aurora and Eckles – thanks for all your reviews. Believe it or not, this story is finally close to ending. You've both really helped me to keep writing!

Chapter 17: Open Doors

"So you've found me out," a voice said from the doorway.

No one was really surprised to see Zothos there, these days anything seemed possible.

"You knew this," Buffy said jumping to her feet without hesitation, "You knew it was you and not Xander that had..."

"You shouldn't believe everything," Zothos cut in, "he is the one keeping us tied together. It's him that is the real danger here. Every moment longer that he lives, she gains strength."

"Your strength," Buffy said flatly.

"And yours," he added. "I was not lying. It is the only solution. He is the only one expendable..."

"Expendable?" Buffy asked in disbelief.

"Yes, and the only one we can be rid of. No one has yet found away to be rid of Constance, she is to strong. And you yourself are the slayer. The line no longer lies with you but if you die and the other is locked up, what would happen to the world?"

Everyone was so intent on watching the exchange that only Tara noticed Willow get to her feet, softly chanting.

"And alas, I am an immortal. You couldn't kill me if you tried..."

Buffy felt and then saw something fly past her and strike Zothos squarely on the chest. The man, as he appeared, flew back several feet before hitting the floor.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked shocked, looking behind her.

"Testing his theory," Willow answered, coming over to join her.

Zothos was already back on his feet and not looking at all pleased.

"You're not immortal now," Willow said meeting his eyes, furious and sick of lies, "You're all connected."

"I would watch your mouth little girl," Zothos said, finally showing some emotion in his voice. As he spoke he began to emit a yellowish light. "I am still..."

"Not going to touch us," Willow finished. Her eyes were still nearly solid black. "The same way Constance hasn't. Buffy was right before, he won't let you."

"I think it's time you left," Buffy said determinedly.

Zothos looked from one to the other and then was gone in a blink.

"How did you know that would work?" Giles asked in astonishment.

"Lucky guess," she said with a bit of her old humor, "but we've got to hurry. We've got to find Xander, quick. He will kill him. Xander is probably only stopping them from hurting us, he won't care as much about himself."

"What about his parents?" Tara asked, truly concerned.

"That was the Phasma's." Willow said with confidence.

"No, it couldn't of been," Buffy interjected, "they weren't what he described."

"That's not exactly true," Giles put in, "they can take whatever form the conjurer wishes."

"They feed off of negative emotions, just like Xander said. It's got to be them."

"So can we stop them?" Buffy asked.

"Was Bella Abzug the first Jewish woman in Congress?" Willow asked in return.

Buffy just continued to look at Willow.

"Yes," Willow answered enthusiastically.

Now everyone was staring.

"My mother makes me learn these things."

Constance was disturbed.

Few things bothered her. She was confident in her abilities and in her plan. But at the moment, she doubted.

Something strange had happened last night.

It shouldn't have happened, couldn't possibly be. But it was.

She knew enough about possession and power, the types of dark arts that she herself loved best, to know when they were being used against her. But that couldn't be possible. Constance considered herself beyond that kind of petty interference.

But she'd felt it just the same.

Someone was in her head last night. Someone was peering into her thoughts and her doings. And she had a good idea as to who it was, but still no idea as to how. And that was the more important questions.

Was the girl really that strong?

No, that couldn't be. If she was that meant she was stronger then herself. And Constance knew no one was stronger then herself.

She probably just got lucky.

But she couldn't count on that. She had to prepare. Constance was never unprepared. Never.

She also had a very good idea why she'd tried invading her thoughts. What she was after. It was an easy assumption. She wanted to know where they were. Wanted to make a go for herself and Xander. 'Free him' and save the day.

That was fine.

Just fine.

Better to get it over and done with. She'd delayed long enough. Xander was ready for this, the final test. She believed in him. And it would be the final test. After this, there would be no going back.

It made her smile.

"Let the witch come," Constance unknowingly said out loud.

Let them all come.

As Tara and Willow gathered supplies and knowledge of what they would need to fend off the Phasma's, Giles was giving serious consideration to the past days occurrences.

It disturbed him. One thing very much in particular that he meant to straighten out as soon as he could.

"Buffy," he said finding her in the kitchen, "may I have a word with you."

"Sure," she said, following him into the living room.

"I want to talk to you about what happened last night."

Buffy sat down; she'd been half expecting this all day.

"Tell me what you can remember about your vision."

"Okay," she said steeling herself. It wasn't at all pleasant for her, but she would try. "I've been thinking about it myself a lot today. Trying to remember if I saw anything that might let me know where she was keeping him."

"And?" he asked hopefully.

"Nothing," she said with a shake of her head, "Mostly it was just..."

She stopped un-expectantly. This was going to be harder then she thought.

"Mostly," she began again, "it was just Constance..."

"That's fine," Giles cut her off. This was clearly too much for her to relive, "That's fine. You don't have to go into specifics. I'm more interested in who you saw then in what."

"I don't see the difference."

"There is one. A big one. When you saw all of this happening, was it Xander or Constance you saw?"

"Xander."

"Uh huh," Giles said sounding a bit worried, "And did you hear his or her voice?"

"Hers," Buffy answered, not liking the look on Giles face, "What are you getting at?"

"If you'd have seen things through Xander, it would have been Constance you saw and him you heard."

"Okay, so what? I'm possessing her?"

"No," Giles shook his head, "Not possessing really. Channeling is more accurate, but still not entirely on the mark. It has to be the link. Maybe..."

Giles trailed off, deep in thought, leaving Buffy to think about it on her own for a second.

"Did she realize you were there?" he asked her.

"I don't know," Buffy said surprised. She hadn't thought about it. "She might have, I guess. I'm not sure how it even started. I was thinking about Xander and it just kind of started to fade in in front of me."

"And how did it end. Suddenly?"

"Very."

"Then she must have known," Giles concluded.

The both sat in another half minute of silence.

"There was..." Buffy began, trying hard to recall it all. "There was something. Fog horns I think. But it's so faint. I may be wrong. I may just be trying so hard to remember something. Anything."

"No," Giles said patting her on the shoulder, "I'm sure you're not. We'll start looking at the wharf tonight."

Zothos sat back in his chair with a smile.

It was easy. Very easy.

Like opening a door.

The slayer didn't have the right training to fully utilize the links between them and Constance, so sure of herself, would not give it the trouble. He alone would.

He hadn't dared tap into Constance's thoughts. She would feel it, much as she had felt the slayer. It was too risky. No sense tipping her off that things weren't going as she'd planned just now. It was best to surprise her.

And he planned too.

Once the boy was out of the way, she'd be next. Then he'd be truly free.

Free from this dimension and free of her.

She'd trapped him here long enough.

He hated doing it. No, not entirely true. Zothos was indifferent. Most immortals were. He had, after many eons, learned only to care for himself.

As soon as he had learned the truth of why he was still stuck in this place, Zothos began to watch. He watched the boy and he watched the slayer. Their friends were of little consequence, but to be safe he watched them as well. That's when he discovered the link.

The boy was tying him here and all of them together.

He'd only twice gone through his head, and both times it was before Constance's return. Zothos felt, even with Constance away, it was too dangerous. She would of course be watching him, but he'd risked it just the same.

That is when he learned of the boy's bond to the slayer.

Constance was still unaware of it. Of any of it as far as he could tell. If Constance did know of the link Zothos was positive all of them would be under her submission.

And once again her ignorance suited him fine.

Zothos had begun to watch the slayers thoughts. Through her he learned of the witches warning from the Fates.

It was perfect.

All he had to do was convince them he wanted to help in the deed, reluctantly of course, and everything would work out fine. That is until the Fates interfered.

The Fates do not like immortals. They care not for beings whom they can have no control. They almost ruined him.

But they won't win. Now he knew. Now he knew where to find the boy.

It was true that killing him would give him no joy. But it would give him release.

And to the wharf he would follow the slayer tonight.