Solstice by SLynn

Chapter 6: Déjà vu

A strong since of déjà vu crept over Xander.

'Where in the hell am I?' he thought as he tried, unsuccessfully at first, to open his eyes.

"Buffy?" he croaked. His throat was dry and his mind was frantically try to pull the pieces of the fight he knew he'd been in back together.

That Narissa, whatever she was, had attacked him just as Eamon attacked Buffy. Beyond that he couldn't remember.

"Buffy?" he called out, this time louder, stumbling to his feet.

"I'm here," he heard her call from the darkness.

Xander made his way over. He was in some kind of cell, barred this time, with Buffy in one beside it.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Are you okay?" she asked at the same time.

"I'm fine," he assured her, "You?"

"Fine now. I was worried. I've been up for hours waiting..."

"I'm okay. Really, see," he said taking her hands through the bars with his.

She took his face into her hands, caressing his cheeks.

"I..."

"Don't," Xander said softer, "please don't."

Buffy nodded and put her hands back into his.

"What happened?" he asked again, desperate to know the truth.

"They came at us and we fought. Eamon's strong, but he's nothing compared to her."

"She took me out that quick huh?" Xander said with a faint laugh.

"Not really," Buffy countered, "You held her off for some time."

"But..."

"She did knock you out."

She didn't seem to want to say more.

"Then?" he asked.

"Then Eamon said I could go with him or..."

Xander understood. He let go of her hands and sunk to the floor, his back to her.

"There was no choice Xander."

Xander just shook his head in silent disagreement.

All of them had been too late to help but Angel took that fact the hardest.

Each set had suddenly run into lots of trouble, the fanged kind, at just about the same time as Buffy and Eamon were being introduced.

Angel, suspecting as much, had done his best to get away only to witness from a distance Eamon slipping into the sewers.

Against Giles advice he'd followed him as far as he could, careful not to lose his way in Sunnydale's elaborate underground system. He'd been lucky. Knowing it was only reconnaissance that without back-up there was no chance of getting either Buffy or Xander out alive, Angel stayed put and learned all he could.

It wasn't much, but could be useful.

The ritual was to be done that night at midnight, before the solstice. There they had been wrong, but it was no surprise. Only they had the incantation, there was no way of knowing that it specified that it must be done between the summer and winter solstice, not on it.

Angel also learned that Eamon did have the cup. He'd gotten from the hettic demon in his company, a she-demon named Narissa. There was no telling how she obtained it.

Most importantly, he found that Buffy and Xander were alive and being kept near by. He hadn't actually set eyes on them, but believed it was true.

With this new information and the knowledge that time was short, he returned to Giles and company for a plan of action. Whatever they did, it had to be quick. In less then a day, Eamon would perform the sacrifice.

It had been hours since Buffy and Xander had spoken. She knew he was mad that she'd gone willingly, that once more he was being used as a pawn, but it didn't change her mind. She'd have done it again in a heartbeat.

"It's time to start getting ready," Eamon's voice called from the passage way in front of the cells.

Both of them got to their feet as they heard the cell door click open. Buffy felt Xander pull her as close to him as the bars between them would allow.

"You're not taking her," he said defiantly.

"Why would we?" was the reply. Xander realized it was much closer then before. Eamon wasn't in Buffy's cell, but his.

Buffy must have known it too, because at that moment she clutched his arm with both her hands.

"No!" she yelled as she kicked the bars in frustration.

Xander felt Eamon's hands on his forearms, pulling him out of Buffy's grasp, pushing him towards to other vampires he hadn't seen.

"Where are you taking him?"

"To get ready," Eamon said smoothly, "He's the star of the show. Didn't you know that?"

"I thought..."

"Sacrifice of the slayer? No, not this time. The actual wording is 'blood of one who has sacrificed for the slayer'. But don't get your hopes up, it does require a lot of blood. You may want to say goodbye now."

Buffy shook her head. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. Not again. She couldn't risk losing him again.

"Xander," she called out.

"Buffy, I..."

It was all she heard, they'd already pulled him from the room.

"Just think slayer," Eamon continued, "you're going to be on hand for the end of this world. Not everyone can say that. And in here, you know, you'll be out of the way."

"Go to hell," she called out as he turned to leave.

"We all will soon enough."

The bags were packed and it was time to go. Giles had shut the shop down and they had concentrated solely on the plan of attack. Willow, computer whiz that she was, managed to hack in and get a map of the sewers and catacombs underneath the water works. Angel, using the map, had pinpointed where exactly he believed Buffy and Xander were being held. All that was left to do was to go.

"At all costs," Giles said very seriously to each of them, "we must stop Eamon from completing the ritual. No matter what."

Each nodded, knowing what it meant. Knowing that 'all costs' might mean one or more of their lives, but willing to risk it.

Hordes of vampires they'd been prepared for, the stench of the sewer they hadn't.

"Oh bleh," Willow said, covering her mouth and nose, "what is the attraction of this place?"

"Easy access around town," Angel said as if it was perfectly normal, "plus they can travel in the daytime. No sunlight down here."

"Or air fresheners," Willow added.

"Let's keep in down some," Giles put in.

"Good idea," Angel agreed.

"No use in letting them know right where we are."

Buffy was frantically searching the cell. It wasn't large and didn't take long, but still she looked. She looked for something, anything that may help her break out. She'd already tried the door several times without luck.

Buffy kicked at the door again without luck.

Something in here had to give. It had too. There was no way it could end like this. Buffy shook her head and sighed, trying desperately not to give up. No, there had to be a way.

Checking the door more carefully this time, she saw something she hadn't noticed before. It was on pins. Better still, they looked like they were coming out.

Again, she kicked the cell door.

The noise, loud and ugly, she'd just have to risk.

Buffy kicked the door harder this time. This time it shook, really shook. With it came noises from the hallway. The unmistakable sound of footsteps.

Harder and harder she kicked at the door, forgetting about the noise and the pain now coming up her leg as the bottom pin popped out of place.

"What's that in there?" a voice snarled from just outside.

Buffy gave it one last good hard kick and the door opened part of the way at the bottom, half on and off its hinges. She was outside the cell before the vampire even made it through the opposite door. Before he'd gotten very far at all he'd found him self flying backwards through the air as Buffy planted an equally hard kick into his chest.

Rushing into where she'd just sent the vamp flying, she quickly checked for anything that might do for a stake. She was in luck, beside the entrance was a chair.

"How'd you..."

"No time for talk," she said breaking and scooping up a leg all in one nearly seamless movement, "I've got other things to do."

He didn't disagree. He was dust.

Xander now found himself gagged and chained, arms behind him, to a wall. He hadn't struggled or moved much, just watched as Narissa prepared elaborate designs on the floor. When she'd finished, she proceeded to paint her cheeks and face and then his.

It was all very surreal, or would have been, if it hadn't actually been taking place.

As time passed she placed off to the side the cup of Aeacus and what he assumed was the blade of Osiris.

Not long after wards, Eamon came in.

"Almost ready?" he asked and then continued on as if he'd been answered, "Good. Perfect. The slayer isn't going anywhere. We've got everything we need and soon everything we've wanted."

Narissa continued her work as Eamon strolled over to where Xander stood.

"So you're the one? I'd imagined you to be different. I'm sorry you won't get to see the glorious opening, but take comfort in the fact that your friends will get a very close look."

'I'm not afraid of you.' Xander wanted to say. It was true. He stared right back at him, unblinking. This thing, this vampire, didn't scare him. The hellmouth hardly scared him anymore. He knew what real fear was now.

Eamon sensed it somehow and did something odd. He stepped back.

"To bad you didn't say goodbye," Eamon said, trying to recover, "I'm sure..."

Involuntarily, Xander pushed himself back into the wall at the sight of a sword, the very blade of Osiris in fact, pushing through Eamon's chest.

The vampire let out a scream of rage and tried to grab hold of it, finding himself instead being pulled backwards by the force of the blade wielder.

He was quickly spun round to see her face to face.

"It's time," Narissa said wearing a rather nasty smile.