Part 8 A Willowy perspective
Willow was sitting on her bed staring at the pile of cash in front of her. Who knew raiding vampire nests could be so profitable. Counting the bundles again she reached the same total. One hundred thousand dollars! What was she going to do with that kind of money? She could pay for the rest of her university or she could buy a place of her own. So many options, she couldn't decide right now.
Maybe Anya would be able to give her a few pointers. Reaching a decision she put the money in a shoebox and slipped it under her bed. Anya the happy little capitalist would be able to help her figure something out.
Looking around the house she noticed Buffy wasn't back from her job of the week so she waved goodbye to Giles and the potentials and headed out.
Willow had plenty of time to reflect on the events of yesterday as she walked to the Magic Shop. It had started with Dawn's phone call shortly after her last class of the day.
"So Willow what have you got planned for the rest of the day? You up for a little excitement?"
"Well I had planned to research my Poli. Sci. paper, but I could put that off it's not due for a couple of weeks. What do you have planned?"
"Well Alex and I got some information yesterday on a couple of nests. We were thinking of taking them out this evening before patrol."
"Nests, how are you planning on taking out nests? You don't want me to do magic do you, because Buffy still won't let me cast any spells?"
"Well maybe a few small combat spells, but nothing that should be a problem. We are more hoping you will lead the backup team.
"Tell you what. Alex has dropped some prints off here why don't you come over and we can go over Alex's plan."
She wasn't sure if it was Dawn's acceptance of her magic use or the leadership role that snagged her but she found herself agreeing to join in the raids.
The planning had been nothing like what she was used to.
Looking over the blue prints Dawn had outlined her plan "Ok we are going to enter through the sewers. Each location has two sewer access points. Alpha team, that's Alex, Riley and myself, will enter through this point.
I want you and whatever potentials we get sitting here. Where the two exits meet. You should only get vampires coming out from one access but some may slip past us so keep your eyes open."
"How many do you expect at each location?"
"Our source claimed only a dozen at each location. So we can expect roughly twice that. Likely around twenty give or take. With only three of us attacking I don't expect any to head your way until we've destroyed two thirds or more. Even once they've broken Riley will be picking them off with the rifle. You shouldn't get more than three at any one time."
"You plan on attacking twenty plus vampires in their nest! Are you insane? Where is Buffy during all this?"
"I think we can pull this off without much effort. We will be using the big guns for this one, which will even the odds out. With Riley covering us with the sniper rifle the only thing we really have to worry about is bad luck.
"Buffy is not playing a part in this for two reasons. One she can't handle a gun so couldn't be part of the lead team and you know she would insist on being in the front. Two she doesn't trust Alex and he's leading this. We can't do this with someone who can't trust us."
Willow nodded in understanding. "If she doesn't trust you she's not likely to follow your lead. This looks to be difficult enough without fights for command. Without the guns or Buffy assaulting a nest of twenty vampires would be almost impossible." Willow paused and looked over the blueprints. "Couldn't you use someone as cleanup coming behind you and staking the vamps you take down?"
Dawn offered Willow a small smile pleased with her understanding of their strategy. "Good idea, but I don't think we'll use it this time. With that many vampires we'll have to put a lot of lead in the air to take them down. It's too easy for the backup to be hit by a stray round."
"Ok, so I'll watch the junction with the potentials and we'll take out any runners."
"You'll also want to have someone watch your back incase of late arrivals. Let the potentials do the work. They need the experience more than anything. If it looks like they are being overwhelmed or are getting into trouble feel free to step in then.
"If you need it don't hesitate to use a few incindres or a little telekinesis. But don't go overboard. We want you to lead not crush the vampires yourself the goal is to give the girls some experience. Observe their technique so you can offer pointers to them later. I'd like to use Chao-Ahn to watch your back she's a lot more observant than most of the potentials. Do you think you could find a translation spell or something?"
"I know one that should work, but it only lasts fifteen minutes."
"That's perfect, the raids shouldn't take more than that. If you cast it before each raid she'll be able to understand your instructions."
While the planning had been very interesting the assaults on the nests had been quite dull. She had been forced to incinerate a few vampires when they came out in groups but she left most of them for her potentials. She found the magic easier to control than she remembered and despite the joy of casting again she didn't feel the addiction that she thought she would. Still she limited the spells she did cast, not wanting to abuse the trust Alex and Dawn had shown her.
Her team had performed well. Riley told her roughly twenty percent of the vampires had tried to escape past her. Higher than the ten to fifteen percent they had expected.
Chao-Ahn had watched their backs and she caught one late arrival sneaking up on them while Molly and Vi tackled the vamps trying to escape taking out 5 of them. Not one of the vamps trying to escape survived which earned her and her team a job well done by both Alex and Riley.
The safe house had been interesting. Riley managed to pull sewer duty on this one, as there was only one sewer access in the middle of a long straight tunnel. They got to guard the back.
When a Fyoral demon burst out the back door she tried to warn the girls about the mucus. She was a little too late and Vi got slimed before Molly gutted the creature and Chao-Ahn hamstrung the beast. Things still could have gotten unpleasant if she hadn't carried a silver dagger. It was a force of habit. Oz had given it to her to use as a last resort and she'd been carrying it as a memento for years.
That brought her back to the money again. Her and Riley had received a hundred thousand each while Dawn had counted out ten thousand for the potentials. Her instructions were amusing.
Staring at an immobilized and mucus covered Vi, Dawn handed over the money to Molly and Chao-Ahn. "Share this with the others. Use it to buy some new clothes and things. Lord knows slaying is hard on your wardrobe and we don't want you running around naked."
Alex perked up, "I don't know it might be kind of interesting."
Willow gave him a poke in the chest. "None of that now you're engaged mister."
"Hey I didn't mean it like that. I meant it might distract the vampires making it easier and all. They'd make much better bait that way too."
"True, but half their attackers would be human. It would be a serious pain sorting out the demons from the lust crazed boys." Said Dawn
Alex smirked, "You've got a point. Girls go shopping, buy clothes we don't need to fight off an army of teenage boys in addition to the demons and vampires."
Riley looked on amused as the two English speaking potentials flushed in embarrassment.
Breaking out of her thoughts she spotted the Magic shop. Let's hope that Anya doesn't have any customers.
Entering the magic shop Willow immediately noticed that there were no customers in the store. The second thing she noticed was that the person behind the counter was not Anya.
"Amy, what are you doing here?"
"Working what's it look like." With a panicked glance around Amy continued, "Sorry I mean how can I help Willow. We have a special on spider silk. Twenty percent off regular price."
"Umm. I'm not actually shopping today I was hoping to talk to Anya."
"Sorry she's out on business. She should be back soon though if you want to wait."
"Thanks I think I will."
As the silence dragged on Willow tried some small talk.
"So Amy how long have you been working here?"
"Almost two weeks now. Anya really needed a hand around the place, and when Buffy quit she found she that she didn't have time for both jobs and the magic shop was suffering. She wanted someone who understood magic and wouldn't sell real items to the dabblers."
"So you applied and even with the magic abuse she accepted you?"
Amy flinched "She didn't seem concerned about that. She laid out several rules for me on how to run the store but restrictions on magic use weren't included."
Willow frowned in concentration. "You know everyone talks about how magic is an addiction. But I went months in England only using it when Giles allowed me too and even longer here without using it at all and I never suffered any withdrawal symptoms. They mistook my grief for withdrawal I think."
Amy shook her head slightly. "You never had any real training did you?"
Willow replied with a shake of her head, "Tara was trying, but I didn't listen very well."
"Well I actually had years of instruction before my mother snapped. One of the things I learned is that magic is not addictive. However the power it gives you can be.
"Don't want to do your homework, make the teacher think you've handed it in. Can't afford a new dress, magic one up. Someone disagrees with you, change their memories or simply kill them. Like they said in that Spiderman movie 'With great power comes great responsibility.'"
Willow sighed, "I see what you mean. I had the power to do anything I wanted so I did. No one else's opinion mattered because I was stronger then them. When they tried to stop me from doing magic I was upset. Not because they prevented me from casting spells, but because they took away the part that made me special, made me powerful."
Amy nodded, "You had spent so much time being the witch of your group that you forgot that you had other skills. Anya was telling me that a lot of witches who don't have proper instruction often abuse their abilities.
"She's training me now and I'm understanding more and more. You know how we used to feel so good, so powerful after a visit to Rack?
Willow nodded frowning at the unpleasant memory.
Well Anya explained that, he was forcing our magic. We were gaining power faster then we were capable of handling it and it was slowly driving us mad. He couldn't raise us above our potential peak, but he could get us there sooner than we were ready for. The rush of the extra magic feels incredible. But then you know that."
Willow nodded her head a sad smile on her face. "So your saying that other than the rush we got nothing from our visits to Rack?"
"Well not nothing, we did get our strength in magic sooner than we otherwise would have. Then there is the fact he was slowly driving us mad. You can't say he didn't do anything for us." Amy finished with a sick look.
"What about that whole black eyed veiny look I get when I cast dark spells. Is that because we pushed our powers? Is it a symptom of the madness?"
"It's not the madness leaking through, but your partly right. You get that because you didn't have enough ability or strength to power the spell so you were pouring yourself into it. The more the spell exceeds your ability the more of yourself you have to feed in. First your eyes, then hair and skin pigment, then blood, then tears. If you push it enough eventually there is nothing left and you just cease."
"You mean I could kill myself by trying to cast to powerful a spell?"
"No. You cease to exist. You would have fed your body and soul into the spell and you would simply no longer exist."
Willow struggled trying to understand the concept. She had always known she would die someday and move on to whatever afterlife awaited her. Buffy's return was proof that there was life after death. But to hear that she could lose her chance at heaven (slim though it was) because of magic deeply disturbed her.
They settled into an uncomfortable silence for a while.
Finally after fifteen minutes Amy jumped like she had been poked and broke the silence.
"Did you know D'Hoffryn was going to offer you the job Anya got?"
"What? He was going to offer me another chance to be a vengeance demon?"
"Well yah, he was kinda impressed with how you handled Warren. You blew it though when you attacked your friends. With that and trying to end the world he felt you weren't a suitable candidate."
Willow furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought he was a demon isn't that something he'd want?"
Amy gave a light laugh, "D'Hoffryn try to destroy humanity, you're funny."
Looking back at Willows confused expression she said, "You really meant it didn't you? You've been researching and fighting demons for six years and you still don't really understand them."
Amy took on a patient expression, "Ok you know D'Hoffryn is a demon lord of vengeance right"
"Well yeah Anya is a vengeance demon and answers to him, so I guess that's right."
"Ok. So who does he seek vengeance for humans or demons?"
"Well Anya has only talked about granting wishes to humans so I'd say …
"Wait are you telling me that all the demons that work for D'Hoffryn grant wishes strictly to humans. That his power is derived from humanity?"
"Exactly. Not only that but all his 'girls' were formerly human. D'Hoffryn is linked to humanity so strongly there is no way he would or could let it be extinguished. Now since you were going to end the world with the limited power you had he felt you couldn't be trusted with the power of the wish."
Amy stared into Willows eyes. "It takes considerable strength of character to be able to handle the power he grants as well as survive in the world for hundreds of years. Despite his claims that there are always many more girls out there he doesn't grant power to just anyone. They have to earn it first and then they have to show that they are strong enough to handle the power. You've managed the first, but have a long way to go in proving the second."
Trying to discretely edge away from Amy Willow asked her, "Your not one of his girls now are you? I mean you seem to know an awful lot about D'Hoffryn and Anya trusts you with her store…"
"No. Well not yet anyways. I hope someday to but for now I'm still Amy the rat girl. I've just had a lot of conversations with Anya what with her teaching me magic and all."
"Oh."
They lapsed into silence again before Willow spoke up.
"I suppose I should go. I need to grab some supper before patrol. Say hi to Anya for me."
"It's been nice talking to you Willow. Stop by again maybe we can practice some of the spells Anya has been teaching me. Well if she approves."
"If she approves! You need Anya's approval to practice magic with me? Is she still afraid I'm going to go bad or is it you?"
"Nothing like that Willow. It's just that I'm Anya's apprentice and I need her approval before practicing new spells. One of her conditions to teaching me."
"Oh." Willow blushed in embarrassment before turning and fleeing the store.
As she left a second figure shimmered into being.
"Nicely done Amy. You have given her a great deal to think about. Perhaps she can yet be salvaged. She'll never be a true Wicca but perhaps we can show her the shades of gray and teach her some responsibility. In time she may even be worthy of Lord D'Hoffryn's offer."
Bowing her head Amy replied, "Thank you Anya. I tried to be honest as you instructed me, but it was difficult. I still want to rip her hair out for the things she's done. She had everything I ever wanted. Friends, power, respect and she didn't care. She attacked her friends, abused her power and lost any respect people had for her."
"Enough of that." Anya laid her hand on Amy's shoulder. "Come along apprentice we'll close up the store and we'll work on that invisibility spell you were so curious about."