A.N.

First off:  I'm not going to apologize for the lateness of this Chapter. It didn't take this long because I didn't feel like writing, or because I got tired of the story. Simply put: I'm a Soldier. It's my job and it's what I do. It also is coming to you from a place that is decidedly not friendly for moi at this time.

Second: This story is being posted care of my sometimes Girlfriend, sometimes Friend, sometimes Pain-in-the-ass (Who hopefully knows NOT to edit my stories if she knows what's good for her) *I'll get you for that PJ—Pol*

Third: I have NOT been able to watch Angel since January and from what Pol said it's no big loss. The Fang Gang (yea, that's right, the whole bunch) will be making an appearance. For all purposes consider last season to be the last for Angel. From what little I saw… it should have been.

Fourth: I WILL finish this. Honest. I hate stories that go unfinished and I will not let this be one.  However, it will take time as I have VERY limited computer use where I am at.

Oh, the Chapters may be a bit smaller as well in order for me to email them out decently.

Do please leave Feedback at FF.net… I would really like it.

Fifth: Some of the lines included herein are taken from the BTVS episode 'Empty Places'. They were used for the coolness factor and some of them, well, they were spot on about Buffy and what was going on. Some of them were changed by me somewhat in order to fit where I put them…

And no I did not forget: LF… I hope you're still out there 'cause I miss your emails.

*___________*_______________*

The Slayer Scythe sat in the middle of the table. Even sitting there it gave off the appearance of power, of being in motion. It was no wonder that every now and then everyone's eyes would be drawn to it.

*I knew I was right* Buffy repeated to herself for only around the 1050th time. *I knew that there was something there that the First wanted to keep me away from.*

Her constant repeat of this as a mantra almost drowned out the sight of Molly and Cho-Ahn's lifeless bodies lying on the floor of the vineyard.  The argument that she and Xander had gotten into outside of the Vineyard didn't help either. She sighed and rested her elbows on the table holding her head in her hands and tried not to cry as she recalled the scene two nights ago.

*_________________*

Xander had just finished his second trip up from the cellar carrying Molly's still body. He was tired, maxed out, and pissed off. Spike had made one half-hearted attempt at helping him carry the girls out and Xander had drawn his pistol and threatened to dust him, claiming that anyone who had lived as long as Spike had should have had the common sense the gods gave a rock to know that this had been a trap.

Buffy, Faith and Spike stepped out of the doorway with Buffy carrying the axe almost reverently. Silently they strode up to Xander's car where everyone else was waiting and tending their wounds. Xander was crouched over Robin finishing up the bandaging of his stomach and looked up at them for a moment before returning his attention back to the wounded man. It was fairly obvious from the look on Robin's face that he hadn't expected Xander to aid him in the least. Giles, with Callie helping, was quietly working on Amanda, while Willow sat holding Kennedy.

"I found it."  Buffy's quiet statement was met with silent stares. "Did you hear me Xander? I said I found it. I was right." The sound of righteousness was evident in her voice.

Xander went from crouched and facing away from her to standing and facing her in an instant. "Well good for you Buffy. We'll put that on Molly's tombstone. 'Buffy Was Right'. Does that make you feel better?"

"What do you want from me!?!" She screamed at him.

"What do I want?" Xander started to stalk towards the Slayer and Faith grabbed Spike by the arm and pulled him away from the pending argument even as he'd started to step towards Xander. "What do I want? I want you to get your head out of your ass and actually realize what you've done." Xander pointed towards the two bodies lying on the ground with Rona sitting silently crying on Dru's shoulder next to them. "You killed them Buffy."

Buffy's face paled but she stood her ground. "I didn't… Caleb did." Even in her own ears it sounded weak..

"You led us here." Callie spoke up from the side in a quiet but strong voice.

Giles and Willow looked away as Buffy tried to capture their eyes with hers.

"I - I don't understand this. For 7 years, I've kept us safe by doing this - exactly this, making the hard decisions. And now, what - suddenly you're acting like you can't trust me?"

"Hard decisions? You?" Everyone could hear the derision in Xander's voice. "Don't even go there Buff. Don't. You so do not want me to point out how all of your 'hard' decisions went." The shear cold tone of his voice caused Buffy to back up a step. "You were reckless. Again. You went off half cocked. Again. With no plan. Again. And yet again we had to save you." He paused for a moment, looking her up and down. "The difference is that this time you got other people killed and not yourself." By the tone in his voice it sounded as if Xander regretted that fact.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Shut up Spike!" Came Faith's reply as Xander didn't even bother to look in his direction.

"---" Buffy's mouth hung open but no sound came out of it.

"Yeah Buffy, you were right. There was something here for you." He commented looking down at the axe for a moment and then back up at her. "Congratulations. Molly and Cho-Ahn are dead. Rona has multiple broken ribs, Woody almost got gutted, Kennedy is barely standing upright, and Amanda and Callie both are injured bad enough to be out of any fighting for a while. 20% of your team is dead and 50% are WIA."

"I---"

"Where as if you'd taken the time to actually talk to any of us, to plan this out, using real tactics rather than 'Me Slayer-Me Kill', there's a better than decent chance we could have done this with no casualties and probably a lot less wounded. You were so obsessed with beating Caleb, you were willing to jump into any plan without thinking."

"But---"

"I told you I'd gotten some supplies and some weapons." Xander continued patiently. "You had Willow and Dru for magic support.  We could have come in masse and not had to worry about splitting our force or leaving anyone behind. Instead, you had to rush in…" Xander's voice trailed off as he just looked at her and then shook his head.

"Never mind Buffy, I can tell by the look on your face that you don't get it, that you don't or won't understand." Xander sighed and wiped his face with his hand. "You think that you're a General Buffy. You're not. You're a foot soldier. A Troop. For years the Council said that you were supposed to be alone in your battle… Take a good look around Buffy and you'll know why."

A pin dropping on the grass would have been heard in the silence that followed that last comment. Willow's mouth literally hung open in disbelief that Xander of all people had actually said that to Buffy.

"Did you ever stop to consider just why you are the longest living Slayer?" Xander stared at her for a moment as if waiting on an answer. Seeing none forthcoming he continued. "We are the reason Buffy. Because we were a team. Giles pushed and prodded us in the right directions (mostly). Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Jenny, Riley, Anya, Tara, Angel, Faith, me, even Spike over there. All of us at one time or another has contributed in the 'Keep Buffy Alive Club'. We Were a Team and we worked together." Xander shook his head, whether in disgust or just plain weariness was impossible to tell. "Now all of a sudden you've gone all 'I'm in charge and you'll do as I say' and you wonder why it's not working."

"Xander, I---"

He put his hand up and stopped her comment even as it started. "Don't Buffy… just… don't."

He turned away from her and headed over towards where Drusilla was slowly helping Rona into the back seat of the car. "Come on Woody," He said as he helped the man to his feet. "You can bleed all over my seat covers for a while. Faith, you coming?"

At her tense nod he let her help Robin into the car while he looked over at Buffy again. She was still standing there just watching him, the axe loosely held in her hand, almost forgotten while Spike walked up to stand beside her.

"Callie, you can sit in the front with me and Dru if you want to. Giles, we'll be back in a couple for the next load to take back to the house." He said not moving his eyes off of the couple facing him.

As Buffy started to open her mouth he continued "Don't worry, Dru and I will take care of Molly and Cho-Ahn."

Her mouth closed with an audible click on whatever it was she was going to say.

As he opened the care door to allow Callie to slide in he looked back over at Buffy one last time. While we're gone maybe you can try and figure out just what good your nice new toy is Buffy. I mean that Axe is going to be a real good weapon against something no-one can touch."

*____________*

Willow's sudden squeak pulled Buffy's attention back to the present and away from the unwanted memory.

"Whatcha got? Willow?"

"I might have some information about the Axe."

"Great! let me know as soon as you have something solid.. errr solider."

"Okay Buffy, can do. Just give me a couple…" Willows voice trailed off as she bent her skills towards hacking into a site.

"What are you working on squirt?" Faith asked as she pulled up a chair next to Dawn.
"Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious institutions in the last 10 years. We figured with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been."

"Yea, a guy like Caleb didn't just get in the game." Buffy interjected "He's been playing for a while, and I wanna know where. Whatever it takes. Dawnie."

Dawn looked up for a moment from the computer she was working on. "OK, here's one that stands out. It's, um, a mission up north in Gilroy."

"Annddd?" Buffy drawled out as Faith scooted around to look over Dawn's shoulder.

"The place was abandoned. Um... locals started noticing after a few days that no one was going in or out. 6 members of the order lived there, but when the cops showed up... all gone. The place was trashed. And there was a body found of a quote "Mutilated Blind Guy' Unquote."

"Oh."

"Yep. Oh cool! They even posted pics of the crime scene…" Dawn said absently. "Giles, would you come look at this please?"

Giles looked over the picture intently for a moment and then gestured at the screen. Can you make this infernal device magnify the pictures?

"Oh. Sure"

"Hmmm…" Buffy looked up at that point.

"What do you see?"

"Focus in on that wall if you would please. The back wall, A... knothole."

Slowly taking on clarity on the screen  Dawn can see an imprint of what looked like Caleb's ring in the wood on a wall next to a statue of Mary. "That's not a knothole."

The next piture showed that the wall next to the statue wasn't a wall either. The statue was swung out of the way, revealing a secret compartment behind it.

"There's an inscription on the wall." Dawn said quietly. "It looks like Caleb was beating on it a bit from all the imprints."

"Well, what's it say?" asked Buffy impatiently.

Giles looked up at her briefly and then back down at the screen "The inscription is Latin words written with Greek letters: Non tibi est. Ei solae tractare licet."

"And that means exactly what?"
Dawn looked up at her sister "It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield."

*_________________*____________*

Xander looked up blurrily from the bed at the alarm clock on the dresser. *10 A.M. Damn, it's the middle of the night and I'm waking up?* He looked over at the beautiful brunette that shared his bed in silent bemusement. *If anyone had told me a year ago that I would willingly be sleeping in the same bed as Drusilla…* The mental narration wound down as he realized that it was 'willing' and he was actually quite happy and… content to be sharing his bed with her.

Drusilla stretched languidly and then cuddled up a little closer to him as she woke. "What's wrong kitten? This morning wasn't…. tiring enough for you?" Dru may have been talking a bit saucily but one look into her eyes and it was obvious the depth of feeling that was within her for the man next to her. Her eyes misted for a moment due to the realization that never before in her existence had she been 'made love to'. She'd had sex, been ravaged, and ravaged others, but never before had it been as gentle and as loving as what had passed between her and Xander earlier that day. The bond was complete and he had Claimed her just as surely as she had Claimed him.

Upon seeing the feeling in her eyes Xander wordlessly gathered her in his arms and held her tightly.

CLAP  CLAP  CLAP

Xander and Dru's heads snapped around and looked at the figure standing at the foot of the bed. She could feel the shudder course thru his body as they looked Caleb standing there with a mocking look on his face.

"Well, look at this, Judas and Mary Magdalene in bed together. The Traitor and the Whore. Will wonders never cease?"

Even as Xander started to rise from the bed Caleb's features blurred to that of a lanky brown haired teenager.

The first thought that actually managed to make it through Xander's head was: *Oh shit. I've finally hit the big times… a visit from the First.* But, what came out of his mouth was a very plaintive "Jesse…"

End of Chapter 10

Awww… Looky, another Cliffhanger.

QSK