Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon is the genius behind these characters and whatnot, not me. Except for Spike's vampire...That would be property of me, but is in no way a representation of me.

"Tara?" Willow asked once more, her face expressing a look of pure happiness, not just happy that she was causing others pain. The look she had just moments before Tara was shot. "Baby, is it really you?"

The thing inhabiting Tara's body nodded slightly, sticking its hand out in front of it, inspecting it thoroughly. Or, at least, as thoroughly as it could without getting suspicious. "How?" it asked curiously with a slight smile at the witch.

Willow smiled, rushing over to Tara. "It doesn't matter now. You're back," she said gleefully hugging her girlfriend. "That's all that matters."

"Maybe," the thing told her. "But, Will, it's not enough."

Willow frowned in bewilderment. "What--what are you talking about?" she inquired. "I have you again."

"Not entirely," it informed the witch.

"Come again," Willow began. "Tara, you're here. Nothing else matters. Do the veins freak you out? I mean, I could get rid of them."

The Tara-thing shook its head. "They're fine and you never looked better," it tried to assure Willow. "But this isn't how things are going to work between us."

"What are you saying? Do you not love me anymore?" Willow choked as she fought to hold back her tears.

The Tara-thing shook its head once more. "No, nothing like that," it began soothingly as it touched a gentle hand to Willow's left arm.

"Then what?" Willow asked as the tears began forming. "Is there someone else?"

Again the Tara-thing shook its head. "Nothing like that either."

"Is it because I was evil?" Willow asked in fear. "I was doing that all for you."

"It's not you," the Tara-thing pledged solemnly. "I'm wrong."

"I brought you back wrong?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow. She gasped, both hands flinging up to her mouth. "Oh goddess, I brought you back wrong didn't I?"

The Tara-thing fought back the urge to groan aloud and say there was no hope in doing things according to plan, constantly reminding itself that for it to work she had to fool the one Wiccan who could possibly raise the temple. "It's nothing you could have prevented," it assured Willow. "It's justÉpart of my, um, soul is trapped in the afterlife."

Willow frowned. "Is there anything we could do to get it?"

The Tara-thing once again shook its head. "Not exactly get it, but we could go to it."

"How?"

The Tara-thing stopped for a moment, as if to give the illusion of thinking. It knew certainly that this whole thing was only a lie to keep things according to the plans from the underworld. But, if the witch knew that she might not be willing to do the required tasks.

"Well?" Willow goaded impatiently.

The Tara-thing rolled its eyes as it turned away for a brief moment. "Well," it began slowly. "There might be one way"

"What? I'll do anything!"

The Tara-thing smiled. Perfect, it thought before turning back around to face the black-haired Wiccan. "The temple...It should be around here."

"Proserpexa?" Willow questioned.

The Tara-thing nodded. "That's the one. It's the only thing that can help us," it said, its eyes filling with darkness.

"Um, excuse me, what are we doing here?" Spike's vampire asked as the two of them approached the exterior of Spike's crypt. "I thought we were going to kill the Slayer."

Spike turned as he looked at the feminine vampire, wondering what on earth had made him choose this vampire above the others. Sure, she was hot enough. Her body was slender and she had curves in just the right places. Her long strawberry blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail behind her pale face and her blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Well?" she asked as she placed a hand on her hip.

"This is my crypt," Spike pointed out as he gave the door a final kick, opening it. "We're getting it back," he pointed out as he entered, noting for the first time the assortment of snacks on the floor. "What the--" he began.

"My bad," Clem said as he stood up from Spike's television chair. "You just scared me, that's all," he added as he bent over and began picking up the various chip bits.

"Leave it," Spike commanded as he dragged his vampire girl further into the crypt.

Clem shook his head as he continued picking the bits up. "Are you sure?" he asked curiously. "I mean, I made the mess so I have to clean it up."

"I'm positive," Spike said between clenched teeth. "The rats will get it."

"Rats?" the female asked with a frown. "That was not part of the agreement."

"Jumping cats!" Clem exclaimed as he noted the female vampire for the first time. "See, there you go Spike. You have this bird so you can forget about the Slayer."

"And you could do yourself a favor and leave before we kill you," Spike grumbled at Clem.

Clem shrugged as he gathered his few precious bags of chips in his arms. "Bye," he said softly as he walked across the dirt floor and left.

Spike rolled his eyes at the demon before turning back to his vampire. "Home sweet home," he said with a slight smile as he gestured at the crypt with his right arm. "What should we do?"

The vampire returned his smile with the same amount of excitement. "I believe your exact words were 'Right after sex though 'cause Slayer's bloodÉwow'," she began, reciting his words back at him. "So are the aphrodisiac rumors true?" she asked as she advanced towards Spike, her hands going up to his head.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," he answered viciously as he pulled her up into his strong but pale arms.

Buffy gave a cautionary look out her front window before tossing a few more crosses, holy water, stakes, and other assorted weapons into an empty backpack on the couch. "Xander!" she called as she began zippering up the somewhat small carrying piece.

Her best friend emerged from the opening leading to the living room from the kitchen, half a sandwich held in his left hand. "Yes?" he asked after swallowing the bit of food in his mouth.

"Finish the sandwich," she began as she tossed the bag over her shoulder and began placing stakes and crosses into her coat pockets. "We're going patrolling before either Willow or Spike hurts anyone else we care about."

Xander nodded as the rest of the sandwich disappeared into his mouth. "Ready," he announced as he caught a stake Buffy had thrown at him.

"Good," Buffy said as she made her way to the door, opening it to allow Xander to leave before she followed, locking the locks behind her just in case Evil Willow had decided to send more demons to the Summers household.

Xander paused, waiting for the Slayer to catch up with him, which she did in an instant. "Where are we headed?" he asked curiously as the two began walking down Revello Drive.

Buffy gave a small shrug. "Probably one of the cemeteries, the one closest to Spike's place. I don't know where Willow is, but Spike probably is close to home. And we have to hurry since he's killing again," she said as she picked her pace up a little bit.

"Right," Xander agreed as he began running after Buffy.

Unknown to either Slayer or friend, someone had been watching them from behind one of the neighbor's bushes. Her eyes filled with excitement as she heard the news that Spike was killing again. "My baby's back," Drusilla said with a slight laugh in her English accent. "And the games begin."