A/N : Apologies for the cliffhanger, but hey, it's keeps you all reading! Here's the next chapter, and there will be just one more after this.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 23

"Oh God" Xander gasped, just trying to get oxygen into his body. He was finding out just how fast Illyria could move and it turned out it was way faster than he himself could manage. He stopped momentarily, bending at the waist and sucking in lungfuls of air.

"C'mon Illyria" he said to himself since she would never hear him at this range, "Can't you slow up for just a second?"

As if she'd heard him, Illyria immediately stopped moving and turned back, calling to him. Xander was just thinking how weird that was, wondering vaguely if perhaps she had enhanced hearing to go with her strength and running abilities, when suddenly Lyri fell to her knees.

"Illyria!" he yelled, dragging himself up and hurrying to her, his lack of energy and breath forgotten when he realised she was in pain, "Illyria, talk to me" he urged her as her hands went to her head and she writhed in terrible pain on the ground, "Is it a vision?" Xander checked, not entirely convinced. This seemed much worse than the episodes she'd had before.

"I...can't... make out..." she gasped out before screaming loudly and making Xander physically wince.

He dropped down beside her and tried to hold her but she pushed him away, trying to concentrate on the images that flashed through her mind and finding it impossible. All she could feel was the pain and suffering of so many, all she could see was bloodshed and horror. She forced her eyes open and found Xander still with her, looking so concerned. He was stunned and worried to see an orange light that swirled behind the usual bright blue of her eyes. Something wasn't right here, this was so much more than just a vision.

"This is not the Powers That Be" Illyria confirmed, moaning in agony for a moment before she found the strength to continue, "Something... is inside my mind" she gasped out, "It means to frighten... it shall not succeed" she said panting for air as Xander held onto her, wishing there was something, anything he could do to help her.

"Xander" Buffy called as she caught up to them, "What's happening?"

"I don't know" he shook his head, "Something's wrong. This isn't just the visions, something's making it worse"

The Slayer looked down at the girl with the blue streaked hair with worried eyes who held her head and tried to breathe through the sheer agony that shot through her whole being.

"Oh God" Buffy gasped as blood ran from Illyria's nose, and Xander tried to hold his girl, ripping at his shirt so he had something to catch her blood with.

"It has to be Luisa" he realised, yelling over the noise of Illyria's painful screams, "Some kind of spell or something... Buff, we have to do something"

"No" Illyria coughed, breathing hard, "You must go, save your children" she told the Slayer, "You must go" she repeated and Buffy didn't need to be told again. As much as she hated to see her new friend suffer, her babies were in danger and they had to come first right now.

"Go, Buffy" Xander agreed, knowing it was the right thing, "I'll stay with Illyria"

The blonde nodded once before running off in the direction of the hotel, only hoping she could make it before Davy did, or that the gang wouldn't let him through the barrier until she arrived.

"Don't cry sweetie, it's okay" Willow told the baby in her arms, but poor Chloe was inconsolable as if she sensed the terrible situation she and her sister, and indeed the whole Scooby Gang were in. The adults tried to reassure them and keep them calm, but they were a little panicked themselves, wondering if their friends would make it through the fighting.

Dawn went to Ellie who had picked up on her sister's distress and joined in with the screaming and crying.

"Come on, Buffy" she said to herself as she looked out of the window, "All of you fight, please" she said, offering up a silent prayer to the Powers That Be that her sister and her friends would come back alive and in time to keep the kids safe too.

A frantic knock on the door made everybody jump and Giles told them all to be quiet as he went over and called through to the hallway.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It is me, Davy" said a panicked voice, "Luisa, she is insane. She knows I told you things about her plans and she wants me dead, you have to let me in!" he cried. They couldn't see that the expression on his face was far from anguished, merely straight and plain. His eyes glowed a strange green colour as the effects of the thrall really took hold. Luisa had used threats alone to keep Davy under her control till now but when her prize demon warrior had been killed by the Slayer and her band of followers, she knew she needed more guarantees where Davy was concerned.

"We can't let him in" Andrew said nervously, "Can we?"

"I don't know" Dawn shook her head, "I mean, he could really be in danger"

"But we don't know that we can trust him" Giles pointed out, "He's been working with Luisa, we have no guarantees that it was against his will, only his word on it"

"Please, I beg you, do not let her catch me" Davy begged, "At her hand I will surely die for my betrayal"

"Oh God" Dawn gasped, feeling awfully mixed up. He'd been so good for Buffy after Spike was gone, and they seemed so happy. Now they found out he had betrayed them, but whether he'd been forced or not was unclear, as was the fact of his possible evilness.

"We can't risk it" Giles told them as the children screamed, "If he is still on Luisa's side..."

"I can tell you" Willow realised as she passed the still crying Chloe over to Andrew, "The barrier will hold everyone and everything out for at least another hour, but the spell can penetrate it without making a hole" she explained as she came towards the door and gestured for Giles to move aside. Closing her eyes the witch concentrated, the palms of her hands hovering near the surface of the door.

"Black for dark, white for light" she muttered, "define and show us, wrong or right"

A mist appeared between Willow's hands and the door glowing a variety of colours from red to blue, and green before finally settling to grey.

"Define and show us, wrong or right" she demanded more loudly as the mist swirled violently. It soon became obvious it was becoming darker and darker, till it was black as night.

"He's bad" Andrew whispered, "He's bad, he's evil, he'll kill us all!" he almost shrieked and Dawn snapped at him, telling him to calm down because he was only upsetting the children more.

"You must let me in!" Davy wailed, continuing to pound on the door as Dawn and Andrew held Chloe and Ellie tighter and backed away from the door.

"It'll be alright" Giles assured them, "Just so long as the barrier holds, he can't get further than the door" he said as Davy made attempts to break it in.

"If the barrier holds" Willow said worriedly, "There's no way to know exactly what Luisa has done to him" she told the Watcher, "If he can channel her power somehow..." her sentence trailed away but the look on her face told everyone just what she meant.

Each person in the room stepped back from the door, all hoping and praying that whatever was happening with their friends and Luisa that it would end in the Vampire/Slayer's death, and very soon.

"Talk to me, Xander" Illyria begged of him as she lay on the ground in the alleyway with her head in his lap, shaking and writhing at intervals when the pain became to much and caused her whole body to spasm, "Your words keep me here" she told him as tears ran from her eyes and blood from her nose.

Xander himself felt like bawling as he held the girl as best he could and stroked her hair in what he hoped was a comforting way. If this went on too much longer, he was worried he was going to lose Lyri either mentally or completely. He couldn't lose another woman, not after the tragic loss of Anya and even Cordelia. He'd known Illyria such a short time but already he had deep feelings for her, maybe love at first sight wasn't such an unbelievable thing after all.

"Sure, talking" he said, trying to sound as upbeat as he could, "Shouldn't be a problem, I could talk for my country. Willow and Buffy said I should get medals for the rambling, shame it's not an Olympic event" he smiled painfully as Illyria yelped from pain once again and shifted awkwardly in his arms.

"But y'know I can be action man too" he told her, saying anything just to try and keep her grounded, "I can fight, beaten my share of demons down. Sure Buffy helps, and Willow, and Giles, hey even Spike when he got all non-evil, but I always did my part. Did I tell you the story of how I lost my eye? That was some fight"

"Tell me now" she gasped and coughed before continuing, "Tell me your heroic tales, I wish to hear all" she told him, "I want to know everything, and time will not last forever"

To Xander it sounded as if she might be giving up and he wouldn't allow that.

"Time lasts longer than you think" he told her, "Hey Spike's been around like a hundred years, that's a way long time, and Angel he was like two hundred and forty something. I knew a girl once that clocked over a thousand years" he ended more quietly than he'd begun and Illyria noticed the waver in his voice.

"One you loved?" she guessed, trying to look up at him but finding it almost impossible to raise her head at all.

"Yeah, one I loved" Xander agreed, still stroking her hair, "She was special... just like you are"

"You believe I can be special to you?" Illyria gasped as pain shot through her being once again.

"I already know that you are" he assured her, "and when all this is over you and me are gonna be special together, for a long time yet" he said firmly, "Least we could be, if you wanted"

"In this moment" Illyria swallowed hard, "I want nothing else"

Xander closed his eye and prayed to any Power that would listen that she would come through this intact, and that Spike could kill Luisa before it was too late.

"You were spoken of as such a great warrior in times past" Luisa yelled at Spike as they fought, "The mighty William the Bloody, and now reduced to this, a pathetic human" she smirked, "The only thing you shall be known for now is dying at my hand"

"Not bloody likely!" Spike yelled back at her as he jumped and grabbed the light fitting, swinging forward and kicking her square in the face. Luisa went sprawling but Spike knew he had just micro seconds before she was back on her feet. Blood running into his eyes almost blinded him but it didn't matter. Reaching out a hand he caught the edge of the thick material at the window, and as he fell to his knees he pulled the covering away, just as Luisa made a dive at him.

The scream she let out was beyond anything Spike had ever bore witness to, so loud and pain filled it nearly deafened him as the sun burnt Luisa's flesh until her body crumbled to ash before his eyes.

"It's over" Spike gasped, not quite believing it as he breathed heavily from the exertion of the fight. As tired and broken as his body felt from the awesome battle, he got to his feet once again and ran to the door. He belonged at Buffy's side, with his children. Though he knew he must've killed Luisa before Davy got to his kids, he still needed to see they were safe before he could fully believe it, before he could truly relax and say the right side had won.

To Be Continued...