Summary: In a land divided and at war between man and demon, what happens when one does the unthinkable and falls for the enemy?
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own the BtVS and AtS characters. There is no intention of copyright infringement or monetary gain in the borrowing of characters. They are used only for entertainment purpose.
Previously on Enemy Mine: Angelous and his Childes enter the scene. Tara's cloaking spell breaks down. Angelous hears Oz' name and goes after him. Cordelia tries to protect Oz and attacks Angelous, only to end up meeting Spike. Oz comes up upon the barrier and the Werewolf and the Vampire General clash.
Ch 12 Wounds upon a Knife's Edge
Giles could do nothing but watch in horror as their teams separated in their struggle to protect each other. He knew Buffy's call was the only one if they were going to try to retrieve Willow, but now Oz was gone as well as Cordelia and Buffy went to go after them soon thereafter. Their strongest were gone. Xander and Wesley could not keep up much of the pace the vampires were putting them through for much longer.
As Xander kept shooting, one vampire passed through and lunged at him. Xander stumbled and almost fell with the weight of the vampire. The vampire missed the neck but bit through to the shoulder. Xander screamed in pain but brought up the rifle and twirled it in his hand. Putting as much strength in his blow, Xander cracked the butt of the riffle against the vampire's head, effectively dislodging him but taking a huge chunk out of his flesh with him.
As soon as that vampire was dislodged another came at him while he was disoriented and occupied, grabbing the riffle, intent on disarming him. Xander kicked him away at the same time that he dislodged a special grenade of holy water and firewater from his belt and threw it at the cluster of vampires that had come almost upon Giles and Tara. The vial exploded and began to burn and lick away like strips of fire the flesh of the vampires. Xander spun toward the Watcher and Wicca and kicked and hit with rifle the burning vamps away.
By this time, Xander was breathing heavily. His muscles were burning with exertion and fatigue was quickly setting in. He was losing blood from the wound and he could feel his shirt sticking to the left side of his torso were the blood was dripping down.
There was no time to rest though.
Giles looked over at Wesley once Xander resumed to return fire. The younger Watcher had unholstered his gun and was shooting with one hand while he hit with the other hand holding the empty crossbow and kicked the vamps away.
"Fuck."
Giles turned back at Xander's exclamation. He had run out of ammo and was in the process of reloading. A vamp got too close and Xander kicked him away. Knowing he didn't have the time to lose, he hit another vampire with the rifle while he unholstered his gun. He dropped the rifle when another tried to take it away and switched hands holding the gun. Two were coming at him from wide angles and he just had enough time to shoot one down while he dusted another when he released a thin stake from his wrist brace.
Unfortunately, his aim was off and the bullet went wide and only grazed the vampire's shoulder. He lunged and landed on Xander, making him topple to the ground. His claws dug into Xander's upper arms, puncturing his skin and making him bleed. The vampire reared back to strike, but before he could, Giles kicked out and sent the vampire off Xander.
"Shield." A shield of energy immediately went up on Giles' command and enveloped the Watcher, the passed out Wicca and the wounded soldier.
Xander gingerly sat up and looked on in amazement at the magical shield which crackled in bolts and sparks of electric blue and hot white as the vampires came up against it and were scorched back.
"I'd say that's some nifty trick," said Xander, panting. "One of the coven's special?"
"Um, not quite." Giles managed to sound both serious yet embarrassed.
Xander looked up at the Watcher questionably but got no further explanations. They turned abruptly at Wesley's sudden cry of pain when a vampire got through his defenses and plunged a sword through his thigh.
Xander jumped to his feet and shot at the vampire but the moment the bullet hit the shield, it disintegrated.
"What the..?" Xander exclaimed.
"Oh, no," muttered Giles in horrified comprehension.
"What's going on?" demanded Xander.
"The shield is being boosted with the residual energy that Tara had drawn up from the land . . . And its having consequences."
"Well, do something," Xander ordered as he watched with worry the younger Watcher dust the vampire that had wounded him. He was bleeding profusely and staining his black clothes even darker as the pant leg became saturated.
"Bring it down, now!" demanded Xander as he saw Wesley's leg give out.
As Wesley fell down on one knee…
"Bring it down, Giles!"
…his gaze locked with Xander's frantic one…
"GILES!"
…in bleak realization of his fate.
Giles was muttering something under his breath, his whole body shaking with the effort of trying to control the energy that had strummed throughout his body when it was channeled through him from the land to Tara. His own magical reserves were now warring with the chaotic energy he had inadvertently used to fuel the emergency shield.
"Oh God, no. . ."
Snapping open his eyes but without relenting his internal battle, Giles could do nothing more than watch in horror at what had Xander furious to take down the protective shield.
Wesley had dropped to one knee, his face drawn tight with pain and strain. His chest heaved as he tried to take in breath to compensate with his exertion. His empty crossbow had been wrenched away and his gun had run out of ammo. Before trying to reload, he had staked the vampire who had gotten close enough to take the empty weapon away with his arm brace but the action was futile if desperate in a last ditch attempt to gain a few more precious seconds of life.
The Specialist's Watcher knew he had no time to reload before he was taken down. Time stopped for him as his mind tried furiously to think of a way out. Dozens of scenarios were weighed and discarded in a single heartbeat. Moves and offensive magic-spells flitted through his mind too fast for any one to grasp and use.
There was no time.
A calming sense stole over Wesley as he could do nothing but watch as the vampires neared for his death.
His thoughts stopped.
His racing heart slowed.
And he took one last breath.
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Rage like he had never felt before coursed through his being. The wolf was in complete control now and Oz' consciousness was banished before the torrent of such stark and intense emotion.
As the vampire had lunged at Oz, the wolf was already in the process of taking control. Not even his strong and powerful will, years of intense training and dedication could quell the beast that co-habited the man. As he went down under the weight of the much larger vampire, his body shifted and transformed. Angelous' fangs savagely embedded on his throat yet the vampire's painful attack was eclipsed amid the fury of the transformation. He gripped the vampire as his nails became claws and punctured and slashed Angelous' back.
Angelous' fangs shredded the werewolf's neck as he reared back in pain.
The werewolf gargled a howl in agony as his almost ripped-out neck dripped out blood in rivulets down his brown pelt. As soon as the vampire had reared back, he swatted him away from him and turned his body in a crouched position, ready for attack.
No sooner had the vampire landed on the ground that he was back on his feet and lunging at the werewolf.
Both came together in a clash of fangs and claws and with the speed and strength that only supernatural beings like them possessed.
The werewolf tried to repay the vampire, doing his utmost to grab a hold of his neck with his snapping jaw of razor-sharp teeth. The vampire had a grip on the side of his head trying to keep him away from him.
Angelous' arms were locked in place and his muscles rigid with strain as he struggled to keep the werewolf away from him. Long and deadly fangs were only inches from his face and he could feel every exhalation of hot breath on his skin.
As a claw came down to swipe him, Angelous twisted sideways with all his strength, simultaneously and effectively pushing Oz away.
Yet the werewolf was not deterred and he took no more than a second to stop his momentum away from the vampire, twist and renew his attack. He landed on the vampire as he was straightening up.
The heavy weight of the werewolf was slowly crushing Angelous' chest as he felt it grind down with the pressure. He bucked and twisted and barely managed to dislodge him as he threw the werewolf off him.
The werewolf snapped back and before Angelous could pick himself from the ground, the werewolf lunged again and sank his fangs deep into the Vampire General's left side.
A pain-filled roar broke from Angelous' throat. He blindly grabbed one heavily muscled appendage and pulled. There was a loud pop and then a horrendous howl.
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All three stood still, as if time had stopped solely for them and left them in a vacuum. Everything else receded in the background, fuzzy and unimportant.
Cordelia was sure that something momentous was taking place right before her eyes. Sucked into the tableau by circumstance yet acting as both a key-player and a witness nonetheless.
The Slayer and The Slayer of Slayers were staring at each other, mesmerized. The Seer was staring at them, taking in their situation and cataloging it in her mind as the Seer and special Council member that she was. The whole event had a feel of unreality to it; frozen in a moment of intense clarity, blinding in its brilliance.
Buffy felt like she had been sucker-punched by something incredibly powerful. Her chest constricted and it seemed like there was not enough air for her suddenly starving lungs. He was not what she expected to come up against - ever. To come in contact, to meet, to exist. Her senses, finding themselves suddenly on overload, only captured moments - though sharp and intense - to come to the foreground of her perception. Shocking white-blonde hair. The infamous eyebrow scar. Pronounced cheekbones. Velvety-smooth, translucent skin. A full pale-pink lower lip. Long, black, leather coat. A black belt seated low on lean hips and a flash of steel - a sword strapped to it. Muscular legs encased in leather. And power. So much power that it had her Slayer senses reeling in a conflagration of internal tingles that shivered deep under her skin throughout her whole body. Simultaneously, a deep pull in her womb and in her chest were warring with each other. One that told that she knew him, another that she desperately needed him, both glaringly expressing a connection to him.
His eyes drank her in, taking in her presence whole and simultaneously observing individual details. Long, blonde hair that he fleetingly thought much akin to what he supposed looked like unadulterated sunlight. Startling large hazel eyes. A small nose with an upturned end. Full, glistening, pink lips. And dark clothes, like the others, in her petite yet powerful frame. Spike felt like he had been dealt an incredible blow. His chest constricted and if he had to breathe, he was sure he would be gasping for much needed air. She was not what he expected to come up against - ever. To come in contact, to meet, to exist. He knew her. He knew her. His body pulled to hers and for a moment - one unadulterated, confusing moment - he was back in his delusions, drowning in 'her' essence.
Cordelia warily watched the vampire in fascination as his gaze lost focus for a moment and then snapped back into the present with a flash of amber. A subtle vision entered her mind, and she got the distinct impression of a sinuous entanglement of gossamer limbs and hair of threaded gold. Strange. As quick and ephemeral the vision had entered her mind, so it had left. No muss, no fuss. God, if only they were all so easy. It was a vision nonetheless, and thus somehow important. How, she had yet to figure out. Her instinct was telling her it had to do with William the Bloody, and she was betting that with Buffy as well.
Spike snapped back into himself. In the recess of his mind, he had felt a pull. His sire. Somehow Dru knew what was happening and yanked him back to the present. His pupils dilated and then contracted back in place and his nostrils delicately flared as he took a steadying breath in as he came to. Scents immediately assailed him and he frowned in confusion.
He looked at the dark-haired girl and then at the petit blonde. Both had rich, powerful scents, but where one was darker and fuller, the other was sweeter. He looked at the sword gripped in the dark-haired girl's hand and then at the stake an unexceptional sword gripped in the blond one's. He breathed again to confirm and the churning in his gut intensified. The blond one was the Slayer!
"Bloody hell," Spike breathed out in shocked surprise. He didn't understand why the darker girl held the sword that a past Slayer had used on him and managed to wound. When he'd seen her fighting Angelous, he had assumed she was the Slayer. But she wasn't. The scent confirmed the blonde's identity. Not only had Angelous reeked of it when he had come storming back into the castle, but the dark, full scent - special mixture of woman, demon, blood and fire - exclusively only to Slayers, belonged to her.
'But how?' his mind screamed.
Without his leave, his body took one step toward her, but before he could do anything more, a pain-filled roar broke out from the direction of Angelous, quickly followed by a terror-filled human shout from the opposite direction.
His head snapped to his grandsire's direction, his loyalties and responsibilities coming to the fore of his being and pushing everything aside for the moment. Without more thought to the Slayer and the other, he turned and sped away to the Vampire General's side.
Broken from the spell holding her captive by the blonde vampire's presence, Buffy turned to Cordelia. "Go," she ordered, jerking her head toward where Xander's distinct shout to Wesley had come from.
And without waiting if the Seer had moved, the Slayer ran after William the Bloody. . . and inevitably Angelous and Oz.
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To be continued: Ch 13 My Dark Unexpected
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A/N: You have no idea how hard it was to finish this chapter. I practically obsessed on how all these characters would meet and the magnitude behind it. Didn't help that I've been super busy and wanting to type was the last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day. If it wasn't for all of your wonderful support I might have postponed the chapter -if not the story- for a MUCH longer period of time. But you guys have been great, and every time I get a review, I am reminded not only that my story is being read but that it's being liked as well. You guys are awesome.