The door at the top of the steps burst open, and Alex could see Spike flying down the stairs, in just his jeans and tennis shoes, and skid to a halt near her feet. She gasped, realizing that her mother wasn't there. It was just her, against the cold concrete wall, and Spike, standing, breathing heavily, wide-eyed, near her feet, standing at the ready. She scrambled to her knees, and looked around, trying to find her mother. She was no where in sight.
Spike dabbed the wet cloth against the cut on Alex's forehead, and she sighed, hunched in her chair a little.
"What happened down there, Alex?" he asked. She shrugged.
"I'm not entirely sure…I was looking for a memory of my mom that couldn't possibly turn evil and scare me…I was six, and she took me to the fair to ride a pony. It wasn't until she took me off that she turned and looked at me…not the little me, but the me that was watching it happen…and I heard her tell me she was right there…I spun around to find her dead, bloody, rotting corpse behind me, and she said she wanted me to pay for what I've done…and then she reached out for my throat…and you came downstairs, and she was just…Gone. Poof, without a trace…" Spike set the cloth down, and pushed a band-aid over her cut. She flinched, and reached up, rubbing the band-aid. He sighed, and shook his head.
"Are you positive that everything is okay with you? Its just nightmares?" he asked, touching her cheek. She reached up, and placed her hand over his, looking up at him.
"As positive as I can be…" she said, and stood up. "I think I'm going to go to bed now…is that okay?"
"If that's what you want…" She nodded, and started out of the room, but paused near the steps.
"Where were you planning on sleeping tonight?"
"Not sure yet…"
"You wanna stay with me?"
"Might be best…for you, anyways." She stuck her tongue out at him as he opened the front door.
"Where are you going?"
"Checking on the sky…seeing the weather…" He peeked up at the clouds, and closed the door. "Looks like rain…" She nodded, and walked to her room, pushing the door closed behind Spike. "You gonna be okay?" he asked, running his hand over her hair, and turning her to see him.
"I'll be fine…" she replied, nodding. Glancing at him one more time, she turned, and climbed underneath her blanket, clicking her light off before letting her head fall to her pillow.
Alex stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, and glanced over at Spike's darkened figure. The curtain's were down, blocking much of the moonlight, and there weren't any lights on in her room, so she was somewhat struggling to see him in her room. He was facing her, eyes closed, dead to the world, and she couldn't help but smile. Sighing, she rolled away from him, and pulled one arm under her head, closing her eyes.
"Let me sleep, God…Please…" she muttered, and took a deep breath, clearing her mind and stopping much of her movements. She was only laying like that for a few moments before the image of her mother flashed in her mind. She jumped off the bed, and looked around. Nothing there but the still darkness. She hunched down, sitting on the end of her bed, and rubbed her eyes. The image itself was gone, but she was still left with the feeling it held. She opened her eyes, and moved over into the corner of her room, removing a book and a little book light from her bags.
Spike rolled over, and threw his arm over the empty place on the bed where Alex should have been. Opening one eye, he looked around, and saw the soft glow of the book light in the corner.
"Alex?" he grumbled, lifting his head. She was gone: her book light sat atop her book, but Alex was not there. Spike looked around again, but nothing seemed really out of place. Standing, he exited her room, and headed to the front door. It stood partially open, and the light from the living room was still on. He stepped into the living room, and looked around. No sign of her, but there were rumpled blankets on the couch, signifying that she may have laid there for a time. Pulling the door open, and closed behind him, Spike stepped outside, and looked around. No Alex. "Alex?" he called, still a bit groggy.
"Spike?" He turned his head, and saw her standing, a little confused, behind him, in the foyer. He nodded, and stepped back inside.
"You alright? I woke up and you were gone…" She faintly smiled.
"I'm fine…Just had to use the bathroom…"
"What was with the book and the light?" he asked as they went back into her room.
"Couldn't sleep, so I decided to read." She turned the lock on her door, and moved back to the bed, laying beside him. Spike slid his arm around her waist, and pulled her back against him.
"Well…Sleep…It's probably not good for you to keep getting up," he said, faintly smiling. She shrugged, and rolled towards him, burying her head in his shoulder as she closed her eyes. He smirked, and closed his eyes, too, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Spike rolled over, falling right off the bed, the next morning. He groaned, and rubbed his head, which had hit the nightstand on the way down.
"Damn table…" he muttered. He looked over, and noticed the bed was empty, though this time he was not as worried. The clock on the wall read 11:47. Shaking his head, Spike stood, and walked out of the room, and into the bathroom for a shower.
Buffy was down in the basement, and Dawn was curled up on the couch when Spike finally came out of the shower. He walked in, tugging his shirt down to his waist.
"You okay, Dawn?"
"Where's Alex?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow.
"Thought she was out here…She's not sleeping. Why?"
"She's not in her room, the bathroom, any of the other rooms, or the basement. Willow's sleeping, we got Xander coming over, and Buffy is double checking the basement…have you seen Alex this morning?" she asked, letting her feet fall to the floor.
"No…last time I saw her was…really early, a few hours ago, I think…Not sure…But it was still dark out."
"Did she seem odd?"
"No…Just…Well, she hadn't slept yet, and we'd gone to bed about four hours earlier, I think." Dawn nodded, and Buffy came back up the steps just as Xander came thru the door.
"It's probably nothing to be too worried about, but something just doesn't feel right, her being gone this morning…" Dawn nodded. Willow came out into the living room, and looked around, confused.
"What's going on?"
"Alex is gone…Willow, can you do a locator spell?"
"Yeah. Sure, of course…"
Willow glanced over her shoulder at Buffy and Dawn and Spike and Xander.
"Alex is at the cemetery…" Spike nodded.
"Why would she be there?" Dawn asked. Spike, Xander, Buffy, and Willow looked at each other.
"Probably to visit someone…" Willow lowered her eyes, biting her lip.
"Willow? Do you know something?" Buffy asked. Willow stood up, nodding.
"Well, a couple days ago, she wanted to ask me a hypothetical magic question…"
"Which was?"
"How to make things right again if all a person felt is remorse for something they had no choice but to do…"
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her that there were a bunch of spells…but the one she seemed interested in was redemption spell…"
"How does that one work?" Xander asked. Willow motioned them to follow her, and she pulled the book from the cabinet in her room, showing them.
"Like this," she replied, pointing it out.
"Willow, if someone with less magic powers than you tried this, they could die, you realize this, right?" Buffy asked. She nodded.
"Well, I didn't think anything of it at the time! I was going along with the hypothetical question!"
"But why the cemetery?" Spike thought for a second.
"That's where she had to kill her mother before she could be transformed into a vampire…" They all looked at each other, and Willow tossed the book to her bed.
"We have to stop her…"
"Let me go…I'll go first," Spike said, and, grabbing up his jacket from a chair in the living room, headed out the door.
Alex kept her hands out of her pockets, eyes fixed on the tomb she'd seen in her dreams so many times. In one pocket of her coat were a few stakes, in the other a candle and a lighter. She continued up the small hill, past the graves, towards the tomb.
"Alex! Stop!" Spike called, running up behind her. She didn't. He ran up, and grabbed her shoulder. She stopped, and spun, slamming her fist into his face. He turned away, but when he turned back, his face was formed into the vampire he was. "Shouldn't hit me, Alex…" he growled, and stuck out his hand to grab her throat. She knocked it away, anger in her now blood red eyes, and slammed her hand against his chest, knocking him into a gravestone, and then to the ground, where he had to struggle to sit up.
"Don't get in my way, Spike…I have to do this or she'll never leave me alone!" He grabbed her shoulders.
"I won't let you…" She shoved him back into the stone, her hand enclosed around his throat.
"You can't stop me…You've fought me once, and I almost killed you, but I chose to spare your life, do you remember?" she hissed, squeezing.
"Yes…" he choked out.
"Good…now back off," she said, throwing him back into the ground, and moving towards the tomb again. He began to cough, and watched her, helplessly, as she shoved open the door to the tomb. After a moment of being unable to move, he pulled himself up with some help from the stone. Turning his head, he saw Buffy's car pull up down the hill. He stumbled over to it.
Alex looked around the tomb. The candles, the casket…all like what she'd seen in her dreams. Exactly like what she'd seen.
"Alright…let's see…" She removed her jacket, tossing it over near the steps that brought her to the solid floor of the tomb, and rifled thru it, removing her candle, and her lighter. Walking around, she lit all the candles, and, after setting hers on top of the casket, lit that one, as well. After pulling her finger off the lighter, she blew on it once and tossed it to her jacket. Taking a deep breath, she stood in the exact center of the tomb, and closed her eyes, her hands in front of her, formed like she was praying.
Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Dawn quickly got out of the car, and Spike led them up the hill, towards the tomb.
"God, I hope we're not too late!" Dawn cried, as they ran.
Alex took in another deep breath.
"Redirme poinē. Redirme dēath. Redirme heorte acan, heorte brecan. Forgiefan mē. Forgiefan eall. Redirme. Forgiefan. Redirme…Redirme…" She kept her eyes closed, but she did feel the wind begin to blow.
Xander shoved the door open, and the five of them shielded their eyes from the amazing light erupting from inside.
"Alex!" Willow called. No answer. They took a breath, and charged in, only to find the light surrounding Alex. She was up in the air now, her arms stretched out to her sides, and her legs still together, slightly, slightly resembling Jesus on the cross.
"Alex, stop this!"
"She can't! She's already started, she can't stop," Willow groaned.
"Well, can we stop it?" Dawn called.
"I don't know!" Willow called.
"You should know! She can die up there!" Xander called. Willow sighed, thinking really hard. Alex began to twitch up in the air, and Buffy, who stood in front of her, looked at her for a second before crying out.
"What?"
"She's dying up there! Willow, think of something!"
"I'm trying!" she cried, and grabbed her head, trying to conjure something up. Alex began to groan, and her head was rolling about on her shoulders. Spike's eyes widened when the single drop of blood rolled off her lower lip, and splattered onto the ground.
"Think harder!" he exclaimed.
"If you keep pushing me, Spike, I'm gonna kick your ass," she snapped, and looked up at Alex. After a second, it hit her. "I got it!" she cried, and ran around in front of her. Buffy moved off to the side, and Willow raised her arms up.
"Cancellus espeller. Cancellus effectus. Salvāre hire! Salvāre hire!" she cried, her eyes wide, concentrating hard on Alex. Alex cried out, once, and the lights stopped. The wind stopped. Alex fell, and Xander reached out, catching her, and set her down, carefully, on the concrete. She rolled her head to the side, eyes closed, but didn't wake up. A drop of blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, and over her cheek. Buffy kneeled beside her, pushing her hair back.
"C'mon, Alex, open your eyes…look at us…" The wind picked up rather quickly, and they turned at the scream.
"NO! You will not take my daughter from me! SHE IS MINE!" Emilia came at them, in the horrifying form that Alex had seen her as in her dreams, and in the basement. Willow jumped up, holding her hands to the spirit.
"Bēon gān, yfel spīritus! Bēon gān, daimōn! Bæc to hwǽr ēow cuman!" she cried. The spirit screamed, and flew back into the wall, disappearing along with the wind. It was now just Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Spike, and a still unconscious Alex.
A/N:
What I wrote in the quotes beside the 's, don't check me on them. I'm just using the words in the form of their roots, which aren't all the same language. DON'T CHECK ME ON IT! Here's the translations:
Redemption for pain. Redemption for death. Redemption for heartache, heartbreak. Forgive me. Forgive all. Redemption. Forgiveness. Redemption…Redemption.
Cancel spell, cancel effect. Save her! Save her!
Be gone, evil spirit! Be gone, demon! Back to where you came!