"I can still hardly believe it's real," TARA said, holding the book up to her nose. It held no scent of paper, though it was vaguely floral. "The Wyld's barely accessible from Earth any more, let alone Autochthonia." She sat the book back on the shelf. "I could spend the rest of my life just searching through the books here and die happy."
"Then we're probably on the wrong track," Dawn said, "cause that's a bad sign." She tossed down the book she was looking through. "I knew we'd take ages hunting through the shelves here, so I figured we'd find the right topic and the book would suck us in."
"Heard stranger plans," Spike said. "'Let's go through the Wyld instead of Heaven 'cause Heaven won't let us in' wasn't s'posed to be one of them."
"The Wyld never makes much sense except in storybook logic, Spike," Dawn told him, stepping back and studying the shelves. "The deeper in you go, the less even that applies."
"Well," Stephen said, "I'd just as soon not stay here too long. Didn't you say it turns people into stories?" He riffled through the pages of a book before tossing it aside.
"Not Exalted," TARA said, "but it can do as bad. You're not tattooed. Has your caste settled?" She glanced warily at him.
"Years ago. Apparently it's been thousands of years since the Exaltations were free." With a growl of annoyance, he shoved at one of the shelves, but it didn't budge. "Maybe it's just been long enough far from the Wyld. Of course, I grew up in Quor-Toth, and I'm demon-blooded as well as Lunar."
"It only took a couple of hundred years for them to break," TARA agreed, "and they're supposed to be near-indestructible. I can see them healing in that time."
"I think we're going to have to do something I'm not going to enjoy," said Angel. "What aren't you supposed to do with books?"
"Burn them?" Dawn squeaked, appalled. TARA hid a smile. There was something left of the girl who'd been Buffy's sister. That was good. "I guess...yeah, they're probably a temptation now that I think about it."
"Well an' good," Spike said. "Anyone got a lighter?"
"Let me try something," Dawn said resignedly. "I haven't managed to sit out all the fights, and I've had a good teacher." TARA gave her a worried look. Who'd been teaching her in this timeline?
Dawn closed her eyes and focused. Her skin flickered and shone; her hair and eyes burst alight-not just ablaze, but actually replaced by flame. She touched a finger to the pages of one book, and it burst alight like dry tinder. "Vampires behind TARA." It took only moments before the whole library was consumed in flames.
"We better be right about this," Angel muttered. Even as he spoke, though, the walls fell away in great curtains of fire and left them standing on blistering sand in the dark.
"Why's it so hot when the sun's down?" Connor wondered.
As if in response, a rumble came from behind them. TARA glanced behind them and saw a mountain with its peak and slopes wreathed in liquid flame. "You had to ask," she deadpanned. "Run!"
Chapter 56-The Flowers of Simbelmynë
"That's a First Age fleet," Xander said after a moment. "It's too big to be Luthe's. We didn't have enough ships repaired." The wind was picking up as dark clouds rolled in, but that wouldn't do much to either of these fleets.
"It's got an Abyssal in it," Willow said, eyes closed. "At least one."
"Skullstone," Fred breathed. "I sent word back to Leviathan that they'd corrupted Swims-In-Shadow, but I wasn't expecting this."
"He must've realized-or somebody he reported to did-that you and Xander were gone," Shadow murmured. "So they thought Luthe was too lightly defended to hold out."
After a moment, her double nodded. "They were right," Buffy added, "except for not knowing about Leviathan. Look at the fleet they've got."
Reluctantly Fred nodded. "I should've come back myself."
"You had other things to worry about," Willow consoled her. "Now we just have to turn the tide. And nobody say it. Unless they've got a lot more Exalted in there than we know about to counter us-"
"Yes we can," Xander said with a grim chuckle. "So...how?"
"We have two Abyssals on board," Tara said. "The Deathlords play a lot of politics, but that looks like a pretty even match."
"Someone will appreciate the help," Shadow finished. "Xander, Anya, Fred, and me-get below."
"What about Tara?" Anya asked before Tara herself could get a word in.
"Until we have an in of some kind, she's safest with me," Willow explained. "You guys are going to break for the city underwater once we get a little closer-right?"
"Right," Shadow explained. "And we're going to get you closer," she added, "by making that fleet think we're on their side. Have you figured out a way to do that?"
The Scholar looked as if she were about to say no-and at that moment, Leviathan breached, slamming an immense cruiser into the air with him, spilling bodies like matchsticks. "I know what to do," she said. "I know how to make it work. I just have to fail again."
The Scoobies gave her a strange look, then decided she knew what she was doing and hustled below decks while Shadow steered the ship closer.
Buffy stopped before reaching the hatch. "We've both spent so much time reconnecting with our friends, but...well, I hope we're friends with each other, too."
"I agreed to this thinking I was going to kill you and take over your life," Shadow said. "I'm glad I didn't have to."
Buffy winced, then nodded and pulled something out of her sleeve and unfolded it. "It's nothing special," she said. "Just...I need to get used to being one whole me as much as I need to get used to being lots of me. So I made this. You'll get something out of it and, well, I'll get more."
Shadow fastened it to her wrist. It was a holdout crossbow, sleek and dark and concealable, though mundane. "They don't have these here in most places," she said. "Thanks."
"From me to me," Buffy said, then handed her a large bundle of bolts and hurried out of sight as they neared the fleet.
A tattered figure with a twisted face turned an enraged glare at them as they approached, but Shadow flared her aura and it let them approach. As they neared the ships, though, a mohawked woman in a soulsteel bustier appeared on deck. "Ho there! I am Ebon Siaka, admiral of the Black Fleet! What business have you with us?"
"I am Unconquerable Shadow, and this is the Scholar Hanged from the Tree of Life! We bring aid from the Walker in Darkness!" Willow clasped her hand and Tara's tightly.
"Someone thinks highly of you," Ebon Siaka scoffed. "Why should the Walker in Darkness send us aid? His interests lie on the other side of Creation!"
Willow clutched even tighter as the sea began to boil. "We share one common interest," she said. It might have been a shout, but the roar of the ocean and battle made it a quiet statement.
Leviathan breached again, hurling three midsize ships into the air, and as he did so Willow spoke a few sharp words of command. Black text spiraled about her body, and the immense bulk of the Lunar whale crackled with jet lightning...and vanished. Shadow felt a sharp tug as Willow drew on her essence to share the burden between them.
Willow let go of Shadow's hand. "It didn't hurt Glory," she murmured in her ear, pointing skyward.
Ebon Siaka looked up and took a step backwards in surprise. "Never seen that before. All right, help us drive home the siege and I'll owe you one." She waved her hands about, and other ships began clearing a path.
"He might be mad at us," Tara pointed out sensibly, though it was a little late now.
"He knows tactics," Willow said. The whale above them suddenly shrank out of sight. "And I'm pretty sure he knows we can't hurt him that easily. At least I hope so."
Shadow and Tara groaned as one. Willow was far too focused these days, almost all the time. But what were they going to do about it?
"Here on Bureau of Destiny business," Cordelia said meekly to the Celestial lions. She kept her head down and schooled her face to stillness. Behind her, Gunn, Wesley, Giles, and most importantly Criosyn, all did the same. If they were really lucky, he might even pass for mortal.
They'd been hiding in the city's dark underbelly the last few days, but things were growing increasingly chaotic down there. Anya had a new staff to deal with her clientele of newly-employed gods. The idea was spreading through the Bureau as she'd hoped it might, and though several Sidereals were already working at cross purposes to her, she'd at least gotten the jump on them.
"Hmm," said the lion. "You're that mortal prophet, aren't you? You realize it's not safe out there. Maybe I should call and check for authorization."
"Oh, give over," said the one on the other side. "Who ever heard of having to stop mortals leavingYu-Shan? If they want to go, let them go. They don't belong here anyway."
That was exactly the response she'd hoped for. She bowed nearly double, hiding the shit-eating grin on her face. "My humble thanks and apologies. We won't be back unless the Exalted summon us here," she said as blandly as possible.
The lions stepped aside and let them pass. "Well," Gunn said blandly, "looks like we finally made it to Paragon."
Lindsey held the door to the Wolfram & Hart Tower open for them personally. "Lilah's hurrying back to meet with you herself," he grumbled. He didn't sound as if he were grumbling, but Harmony heard him doing it anyway.
"What's going on with this Six-Metal Prison thingie?" she asked. Lindsey's look turned patronizing. He didn't know. "Drusilla asked me personally to come here," she said in her most formal tone. "I think you should explain to me."
"Well, I don't know anything about what Drusilla wants," Lindsey drawled. "She's no one important here anyway." Formally true; actually false; but he didn't expect her to know that. He didn't expect her to know anything. "Knox can explain it better than I can."
As he led them through a complicated web of corridors, the mad vampire appeared from a side door and fell in beside Harmony, eyeing her neck. Harmony just pretended to stay casual. "How is Miss Edith?"
"The poor dear has eaten too much," Drusilla mumbled, "and now she's sure to grow fat."
Madness. Harmony nodded patiently and hoped she'd remember why she'd asked Harmony here soon. A skinny nerd was waiting at a glass door ahead of them. Knox, obviously. Harmony didn't trust nerds any more.
Knox didn't wait for preamble or introduction. "It's not that there's anything impeding the power core," he said. "Almost nothing can. It's just sitting there on the edge of the flaw, and nothing can get past it. I tried releasing a few more to see. Nada."
"It was made for one who is dead," Drusilla said dramatically, "and the dead cannot have it. The way is shut." Oh. She was just mangling Lord of the Rings quotes.
"Can you detect anything about it?" Amy asked.
"Not a thing," Knox whined. "But I do know Drusilla hit a combination that hadn't been used before. So a type of core we haven't seen yet."
"Oh," Shoat said. "Kate, there's only one of those left. Sidereal. Snd Sidereal Exaltations are tied to people by destiny, Five said."
"We don't know how that works," Kate said slowly. "But Five did say it was possible they might link to people from within the Prison and just not be able to leave. So what happens if it links to someone and they die?"
"Shouldn't it go on to a new candidate?" Amy asked.
"I'm sure they should," Shoat agreed, "but what if they don't? It could be sitting there waiting for someone who died five thousand years ago."
"She was so certain," Drusilla mumbled. "So certain her prince would come. But he never, ever did."
"Damn," said Kate. "Well...what are we supposed to do about it? Even if we wanted to help you?"
"The Exaltations have benefitted you more than us," Lindsey pointed out. "And it can't be an accident that they've been found now, with the Slayer gone."
"Um, guys," Harmony said suddenly. "What if there's a reason it doesn't move on?"
"Like what?" Amy sounded like she was being impatient, but she wasn't really. Just anxious.
Harmony took a deep breath. "What if they're not entirely gone?"
Drusilla stopped humming to herself and clapped delightedly. "She knows a thing! So many things she knows! When did that start? Now be a dear and fix it!"
"They what?" Buffy said abruptly. Anya blinked and looked at her. "Sorry. On the phone," she added, tapping her left temple. They were deep underwater right now, swimming beneath several lines of Skullstone ships. Still undetected...so far.
Iron Siaka says Mnemon's insulting me, the clone...the self she'd left on the throne said. If it was completely above board she'd have a few candidates already on the way to see who I like best.
Can I trust her on this? Iron Siaka was a reluctant advisor at best, but she hadn't just killed Buffy's double yet. She claimed to owe Anya.
Aphrodisia agrees with her. She's not from Creation, but she knows her power plays. There was a hesitation. She also says I should marry several husbands. Wives too if I want.
Well...it's not like there's not enough of me to go around, Buffy responded, laughing nervously.
Apparently it's the norm here for Exalted to have lots of consorts. Usually only one husband or wife, but as Exalted we get to make our own rules. I tried asking her if we couldn't just be monogamous then and she gave me a funny look. Not sure if Exalted look or neomah look, though.
What's Siaka suggest? She swam slowly so as not to leave Xander and Anya behind. Three more rows.
Not sure how serious she is. She suggested I propose to Mnemon. I don't think she expects her to accept, but she might be saying I should shoot for the moon, not just making a joke.
Buffy acknowledged that and closed the connection. Siaka and Aphrodisia might have a valid point. Even if just being an Exalt didn't make her oversexed-and if she was going to be honest with herself, Faith had had the right of it-how was she expecting to live multiple lives but only have one person's sex life? She quickly left instructions with the c...the self she had on research to try and find info on Exalted rulers and her party self to double down.
"Sorry guys," she said, and explained.
"Have you thought about succession?" Fred asked.
"What?"
"Even Solars don't live forever, and we could still die in a lot of ways. Part of the reason I'm having Leviathan's baby is so that, if Luthe doesn't figure out how to combine democracy with hyper-competent Exalts any time soon, I have a clear successor. You need to think about that too."
Buffy felt herself go a little pale. "I'll add it to my list." She wanted kids, she thought, but the idea of having her body swell up and her hormones go wonky didn't exactly appeal. Anyway, she had thousands of years. Probably.
"Okay, guys," Xander said, "I need space for what I'm going to try. Buffy, you especially need to be out of the way. Sorry. Let's split up."
"Normally that's a bad idea," Anya said, "but we need to hit them from all sides anyway."
"I'm fastest," Buffy said. "I'm headed for the far side. Good luck, everyone."
She took off at top speed, aiming to pass Luthe by as narrow a margin as possible, angling gradually up. Her powers seemed to work pretty much the same individually even when that meant they added up in strange ways. If she ran across the water as a giant-
Storm, said the demon in her head. Long dry time. Out! Please! Out! It had been dormant for a while, seeming bored save once when a sandstorm had struck and it had begged to stand out in it a while.
I'll be topside in a few minutes. That's the best I can do. She wasn't even sure the storm was coming this way.
Ouuut! It was equal parts demand and plea. If anything, the creature sounded even more pitiful than it had during the sandstorm.
I haven't got a way to let you out, Buffy told it, almost regretfully. That was foolish. It was a monster, not like the kinds of demon that could be good or bad. It was a predator that craved blood as certainly as any vampire.
The radeken broke down into furious howls. She could actually feel it thrashing around inside her. She broke the surface and began to run amidst the heaving ships. If she could let it free of her she-
Something shifted unexpectedly and a wave of shadow flowed over her as she ran. What good would a disguise be here? She was running on water!
And then she wasn't. Her foot came down with a splash and she toppled forward into the ocean, thrashing. Out! That was a triumphant howl, not an angry, begging one. What was-? Her face felt strange and stiff; her fingers seemed locked together; and an unfamiliar set of muscles were flexing on her back.
She lifted her...paw?!...out of the water. It had the tawny fur of a huge puma, if a drenched one. It was an illusion. It was just an illusion. The muscles on her back flexed harder; there was a rushing sound and the water fell away from her. It was an illusion. She couldn't really be a demon.
And there was no way in hell ahe was flying.
Fred burst free of her mostly-human shape, tentacles waving, and sucked water up into her mantle. Her siphon flexed and she jetted backwards through the water. The squid shape no longer felt even slightly alien to her; in fact she had missed it. Tentacles lashing, she flung zombies from every deck she passed and shook every ship light enough, but none of those were her main target.
Leviathan. Where was he? He had been in the water, slamming ships about, but now...
A gull skimmed the sea surface and suddenly grew to vast size, crushing Skullstone hulls against each other as it hurled them aside. Leviathan was fighting smarter than when she'd maddened him with rage, but he still favored his whale form-which, granted, was bigger than most of the ships here.
"Leviathan," she signaled. "I'm back with my friends. Please watch out for them. How can we help?"
"Dreamer-of-Reason." It was a mixture of whalesong and anima flare; she should have understood none of it, but his power translated into cephalopod for her. "I had begun to think you had abandoned your people. I was not pleased with you."
"I don't abandon my responsibilities," Fred flashed back. "Just...sometimes I've got too many of them. Dealing with Buffy took longer than planned, plus we had to kill Ma-Ha-Suchi."
She hadn't expected the drawn-out earshattering moan of grief. "I will trust you had reason. I know his mind was unwell. Still, I will mourn him long. You did well, if you were able to kill one of his strength. Rally your city, Dreamer. I will fight here. Go!"
Fred turned and shot toward Luthe. She was queen, and she had a people to fight for.
Approaching Obsidian Shores wasn't going to stop for him, but that was all right. The Dread Pirate Roberts didn't need it to.
A loose tow line swung past Xander, and he seized hold of it, hauling himself out of the water and running up the metal hull. He wasn't even really certain he needed it. His boots hit the deck. "Captain Redfang! Admiral on board!"
"Admiral on board!" Redfang repeated. "The Dread Pirate Roberts has returned!" The whole crew raised the cry for him, while Redfang murmured, "Actually, it's Commodore now."
"Congratulations," Xander told him. "Get ready." Where was Buffy? He'd kind of expected to see some sign of her. She was still the most powerful of them. "Get close and prepare for a boarding action."
The commodore gave him an odd look. "Against those things? As you say, Admiral. Starboard! Prepare boarding anchors!"
As the ship drew alongside one of the zombie vessels, Xander leapt onto the railing, Wavecleaver raised, and shouted his battle cry: "I am the Dread Pirate Roberts! There will be no survivors! The Dread Pirate Roberts is here for your souls!" The words boomed out across the ocean, and glowing figures manifested behind him by the score. More than a distraction this time.
He vaulted onto the enemy ship, phantom army following. Swords and arrows of light struck home, burning ghosts, searing zombies. Blazing auralight shone around him, the golden of a California sun, and the dead burned as they fell. "Take the ship for loot, Luthe, and the Dread Pirate Roberts!"
The boarding party sang and cheered as they leapt over the rails behind him. And in the distance, the thrashing form of a giant shark burned black against the sky in answer.
Anya let the crew haul her in like a drowning sailor. They were a motley mixture of Luthea Dragon-Blooded-mostly Waters-and sharkpeople. Less than a year ago this would have been impossible, but Fred and, to a lesser extent, Xander had forged them together. Granted, the ravening zombies attacking them both didn't hurt relations any.
She unlimbered her starmetal powerbow. A normal bowstring would be ruined, of course, after that little trip underwater, but the thin metal strand of this baby was perfectly fine. She'd have to choose her targets carefully; there were only so many arrows aboard this ship.
There. A twisted ghost-a nephwrack-commanded that battleship nearby. She notched an arrow, squinted faintly, and loosed, green Wood energies crackling invisibly around the arrow. The arrow arched up, fell...and pierced the howling spirit through, pinning it to the deck. She fired off a second arrow, catching it there briefly helpless, and it screeched as it faded into Oblivion.
Next target.
"Are we really going to transform Drusilla into a human again?" Oz wondered. "Just so she can be some type of Exalted we don't know the powers of? Because that sounds dangerous, if you ask me."
"Wolfram and Hart are going to do it no matter what we do," Kate said. "I'd honestly like to think this could put a stop to new Exaltations, but they're not going to let that happen."
"How do they expect to pull it off?" Amy asked. "Wasn't Harmony a fluke? And they can't put an Infernal Exaltation in her now, if they ever could have."
Kate shrugged and studied the paintings in the hall. "Lilah's convinced the Mohra blood is all there is to it, and Drusilla is going along with whatever she says. They've got a Mohra on retainer for senior staff, and they're bleeding him now." She studied her faint reflection in a darkened office window. "Is my face smoothing out?"
"You know all human faces look alike to me, Mama Bear, but Fred did say you've got several thousand years ahead of you," Lorne reminded her. "i wouldn't be surprised if you lost your laugh lines. As for the rest...I'm thinking we're only here because Her Royal Madness asked Harmony to visit. Professional courtesy, maybe?"
Lilah's screams echoed down the halls suddenly, and Kate broke into a dead run. She burst through a pair of swinging doors, past a bored Mohra on her way out, and nearly collided with Lilah sitting in the floor cradling Drusilla's body. "No, no, no...for fuck's sake, Darla, you're bleeding over-do you even know what the name he gave you means? Stop lying to yourself!-You think I'm the one who can't stop crying for her? Drusilla, no..."
Kate sank down next to her. Drusilla was breathing, shallowly but steadily, but that was all. Kate passed a hand in front of her eyes. Drusilla didn't even try to track it.
No one was home in there.
She was flying.
This was one hell of an illusion. Her imaginary wings were stroking the very real air and she was shooting away from the battle towards some stormclouds.
Stupid least gods, fooled by your illusion, heh? Storm! Catch the storm!
That storm is moving away from where we need to be, Sineya. She was the one in control. She could turn around. But the illusion was as real as ever. She could feel the faint burn of muscles in her back, the raw power in her folded, waiting legs, the shearing strength of her beak. She felt alive, felt strong, felt wild-did Fred feel like this when she changed? And she felt a craving for the storm, a hunger involuntarily denied for five thousand years or more. No wonder Sineya had just gone to sleep.
Catch, eat, use! Storm is ours!
Damn it, Sineya, I can't do it! I don't have your old powers! The radeken was bleeding through into her feelings. She knew she couldn't catch the storm, yet she wanted to so badly she couldn't stand to stop.
She plunged into the tempest. Wind screamed around her wings. Lightnings lashed at her. Rain pelted her fur.
All three vanished inside, filled her, swelled an imaginary gut to capacity. Can't can't can't liar stupid liar She felt bloated, almost lazy, but it was power she was bloated with. Hate them hate them turn and blast the dead things off their stupid ships hate them with me Buffy hate them like our mother/maker hates
Well. As requests went, that one was easy. Buffy turned and soared toward the fleet.
Ebon Siaka was in a foul mood, it seemed, and no wonder. "Where the hell are these Exalts coming from? The whale was bad enough! Archer to the north pinning down my nephwracks, Roberts of all people to the South with an 'army of light' doing his work for him, and now a squid flinging my crew into the water! You two and your pet mortal better be worth the trouble."
Where was Buffy? Never mind. "You can bet we are," Willow said coolly. She turned her gaze on the woman, feeling her eyes crackle and burn with power. "Just not to you." Black lightning shot from her eyes-she didn't even have to raise her hands now!-and crackled around...that big honking mace Siaka was carrying. Darn it!
"Why, you traitorous bitches-" Siaka bounded over the railing and ten feet of open water, landing in a crouch on the deck. "I'll have your heads for the Prince to hang on his walls!"
Shadow lifted her crossbow and fired. Siaka brought her goremaul up contemptuously, and the bolt passed right through it to lodge in Siaka's throat just above her armor. "First blood to the newbie!" she said with a grin.
"Don't be silly," Willow said as Siaka yanked the bolt free. "You're a veteran of Ma-Ha-Suchi, even if we don't count all the stuff from when you were part of Buffy." She poured on another barrage of lightning while Tara focused on holding a barrier against arrows and energy bolts from the other ship. She was getting better at the combat magics, but Willow worried about her. More and more she seemed to be tagging along just to stay with Willow. Which, well, she appreciated on one level, but it was going to get her killed.
Willow shivered. Even with all her feelings on mute, the image of a pallid black-haired Tara was disturbing. But she'd never accept. She didn't want to Exalt at all.
Siaka spun like a twister and brought down that maul at Shadow's head, but Shadow lunged aside, taking only a glancing blow to the shoulder, and Shadow drove a bolt into Siaka's butt at point-blank range. Red-black energy howled around the missile; Siaka just howled and thrashed. Pain. Pain was a good idea. Ice was another one. Willow "adjusted the frequency" on her lightnings and sealed Siaka inside a coating of it.
Siaka burst free with a roar of rage and charged at Willow. This was gonna hurt; this was gonna be fun. Those went together now.
Fred reached up with her tentacles and dragged herself aboard the flagship Future Vision, reverting to human form as she flopped onto the deck. "My queen," Tomazri called out. He rushed over, unquestionably happy to see her, but he seemed discontented as well. "I thought," he murmured as he neared her, "that you had abandoned us to Leviathan's mercies."
"Leviathan and I...came to terms," she said just as quietly. "He agreed to mind the city while I was away and not change my policies regarding you."
"He has not," Tomazri said unhappily, "but I think he does not believe in them, for he makes little effort to enforce them. Ftaghn-Vlu!"
A young Deep Sage dressed incongruously in a military uniform hustled over. "Yes, Commodore! Queen Winifred!"
"Your orders were that no family was to expel Dragon-Blooded who exalt among the Scionborn," Tomazri said, "and none do-but strangely no one will claim these orphans when they appear."
"Truly the blood of the Dragons has spread throughout Creation," Ftaghn-Vlu said sourly.
Fred grimly hung on to her straight face. "What's your aspect, young lady?"
"Air," she grumbled. No wonder she wasn't happy. She couldn't even take comfort in her powers. Poor kid.
"I will do my best to enforce those policies now that I'm back, Commodore. I apologize if I can't find everyone." She gave Tomazri a pat on the back. "I'm sorry for any trouble while I was gone. I'll see it fixed. Let's get to work."
"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la..." Amy came to a halt. "Guys, this isn't working. I can feel it."
"Is it because she's alive?" Lilah asked. She sat hunched at Drusilla's side. The slow, steady beep of the heart monitor and her shallow breathing were the only signs that the ex-vampire was now living...after a fashion. "The spell does say 'Not dead nor of the living,' after all."
"That's a good thought," Kate said, "but look at her. Would you call this life, Lilah?"
"Hardly." Seeing the woman with red eyes and a tear-streaked face was somehow profoundly disturbing.
"It's not the spell," Amy concluded. "It's me. I just haven't got the pull to make it happen."
"You are, in some sense, summoning a ghost," Five Days' Darkness mused. "Sorcery is ill-suited to that. No surprise that none save Willow have managed to ensoul a vampire in centuries. Only a rare few god-bloods and the Slayer have been able to cast Celestial sorcery, even in principle, for many thousands of years."
"Shit," Amy groaned. "Now what do we do?"
"We modify the spell in some minor ways, to fit a different set of principles," Five explained. "And then," he added, taking a deep breath, "we find ourselves a necromancer."
Harmony's eyes bugged out.
She needed a hell of a lot more arrows for this, damn it! Anya wished she'd learned more combat charms that didn't involve bows, but there was more to life than fighting, and of course she'd been drawn to utility powers that'd let her do things the others couldn't match yet. Though of course they mostly had. Worse luck, apparently Sidereals were somehow the only Exalts who couldn't make up new charms. Her resplendency powers weren't much use in this situation either; she'd chosen her masks for inconspicuousness in the city.
Well, the hell with it. She leaned back into the strands of fate and let them rebound her up and over the gap between ships as rain began to pelt the decks. She knew enough to go on with. With so many of the monster ghosts down, several nearby ships were crewed by mindless zombies. She could scythe them down in minutes.
She began to tear dead flesh and crush dead bone, only to hear a monstrous roar and splash as something emerged from the sea. A...thing...nine feet tall, crusted with bone, with huge sharp fins and a shark's great toothy maw. "I am Swims-in-Shadow, little girl. I was Leviathan's ally when your grandparents' grandparents were but a glimmer in the future's eye. Run back to the city, and maybe you can run fast enough to escape my war ghosts, baby Sidereal." Anya did the only thing she could do. She began to laugh her ass off. "What is so humorous, child?"
He still might kill her dead. She didn't yet have the full power of her station. Then again... "Ma-Ha-Suchi couldn't kill me, Swims-in-Shadow. You're welcome to a go. I'm Anyanka, Patron Saint of the Scorned and Chooser of the Slain, and if anyone's thread ends here it'll be yours."
He roared and launched himself at her.
Lightning scythed down on the deck as Xander vaulted to another ship, followed now by a small contingent of Terrestrials. "Did you summon that thing?"
"I did not!" Cynis Megara said, embarrassed. "I am not a fool, to summon an unbound radeken into Creation!"
"It's not bound?" Jesus, that made him antsy! Granted, he was pretty sure he could take it down nowadays, but still!
"You poor lost fellow," Megara purred. "I could give you an education you'll never forget. Teach you the ways of demons and magic and...other things." All the Terrestrials were like this unless they were cursing him as Anathema, all the women and most of the men too, and they seemed baffled when he turned them down! Megara was big-eyed and pretty, though not exactly a knockout. Under other circumstances...
Lightning blasted a spine chain to bits, and the radeken skidded to a halt on the deck. "Xander," it growled through a skull-white beak.
He hefted the blaster pistol he'd taken from Ebon Siaka. "That's the Dread Pirate Roberts to you, demon," he growled back.
"Damn it, Xander, it's bad enough that Giles doesn't recognize me when I look different, but I thought we were friends." It stepped closer to him, mindful of the footing, and began to cough. "Damn throat!"
"That's very unusual coloration for a radeken," Megara observed. "Tawny and white, when most are grey-black."
"Yeah, yeah, dragon-lady," the radeken growled. "Long dry time. I never hear the end of it."
"Buffy?" Xander sputtered.
"In the...ahem...flesh," the demon said. "Supposedly this is technically an illusion but it feels...extremely real. Before you ask, though, yes, I'm still in the driver's seat. The kibitzing's louder though." There was a hesitation. "My throat! Sorry, Sineya, I've got to get out of this thing and talk a minute." Shadows rippled over the monster; it stood on its hind legs and, sure enough, was Buffy.
"So this is her in action?" Xander jumped as Anja dropped onto the deck in a crouch. "Seriously, Harris, what is the matter with you? Speaking as your mate and wingman, I'd tap that. Hell, one catgirl to another, I'd tap the demon but that's a Lunar thing. Tell me again why you call it tapping? That sounds too gentle a motion."
"Excuse me?" Buffy said, raising her eyebrows.
"Buffy, this is my Lunar mate, Anja Silverclaws. No jokes, Ahn's done them already." He shook his head. "Anja, this is Buffy...wait. I thought you two met at the audit."
"If by 'met' you mean I was a flea in your hair while she testified. I'm not that informal, Harris." She glanced back at Buffy. "What's this I hear about you killing my teacher Ma-Ha-Suchi?"
"What it is is he was a raving loonie-er,crazy person-who brought a horde of bloodthirsty monsters into my city. So I did what I always do to monsters. I slayed him." Buffy unlimbered the Scythe from its sheath on her back.
Anja grinned. "Good riddance. I hated being in debt to a madman. Thanks." She grabbed Buffy by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her lips. "There, Harris. That's how you do it. It's easy." She spun and kissed Cynis Megara too. "I've seen much prettier Terrestrials, but this one's a savant and a Cynis, Harris. I guarantee she's a mutant in a bag."
Xander groaned. "That's 'freak in the sack'."
Anja laughed. "However you want to say it. Haven't you noticed it yet? How after a good fight you're always hungry and horny?"
"Uhhh..." Xander glanced at Buffy. "Sometimes I crave a nonfat yogurt." Buffy facepalmed and Anja looked confused. "In-joke. Sorry."
"No worries," Anja said.
"The fight is not over yet," Megara pointed out. "And it could be hours still. I suggest we hasten the ending." She batted her lashes at...all three of them, it looked like.
"Buffy, you with us?" Xander gestured at the hatch. "We'll clear out the undead and-"
Buffy shook herself. "Um...love to...but Sineya wants to fly. If I can keep her happy in a way that doesn't involve eviscerations, I probably should." Shsdows rippled over her, and she dropped to all fours before taking off toward the stormcloud again.
"More for us," Megara giggled.
Anja stared at her. "How do you figure that?"
Anya's hands scythed through yet another bone-legged shark, sending it bleeding to the deck. Swims-in-Shadow hadn't yet deigned to face her personally, but she was starting to wonder if she should want him to. Her heart was back in its proper place, and she was slowly tiring. He seemed as vigorous as ever.
Damn the Maidens! If she was scheduled by Fate to be a Sidereal elder, why couldn't she have gotten her Exaltation on time? Well...she'd still have been a vengeance demon...which would make it impossible or else very very bad...and she'd never have met Xander...argh, there was no help for it, was there?
He was going to wear her down before she fought him at all. It wasn't time to hold back. Dark violet flashed around her hands, and she drove the edge of her palm into his throat.
His own hand came up to block it. The transformed Lunar laughed contemptuously at her. No. She had hurt Ma-Ha-Suchi; she could hurt this thing. How?
A nearly-naked girl with crystal hair appeared on the cabin roof beyond Swims-in-Shadow. Who? Ah, right, the Autochthonian man-stealer. Regrettably, she was probably here to help Anya. She hurled a spike-toothed sawblade at the Lunar and only then called out, "Anya! I'm glad I found you in time! Your death would sit ill with Alexander."
"I wouldn't be too pleased either!" Anya shouted back. She grabbed a huge, broken leg bone and stabbed Swims-in-Shadow with it as he dodged the diamond buzzsaw. Better than nothing.
Nelumbo laughed as if it were a joke. "I've been pinned up in the fighting here almost since you left. Did you catch a rogue Alchemical?" A pair of the howling spectres swirling about the ship tried to seize her, but she bodyslammed one into the other and sent both flying.
"The Architect's on our side and on her way back." Anya forced Swims-in-Shadow to dodge backward into the circling blade, and he howled in pain. "I'll explain the rest when we're done here."
Nelumbo nodded and flickered forward in a shining blur to collect her weapon and attempt to punch the sharkman in the face. He caught her fist and drew her into a wrestling hold. As if nothing were the least bit wrong, she said "I'm sorry about the confusion surrounding Xander and our various worlds' sexual mores. Here in Creation it's presumed that Exalts have many lovers, and to some extent Autochthonia is the same, though as we grow closer to the thoughts of the Machine God..." Here Swims-in-Shadow suddenly went flying. Anya couldn't tell what had happened. "...it's presumed that our passions cool. And in your world there was only one remaining Exalt and monogamy was the norm." The Lunar got back up, but Anya kicked him in the head. "As for me, I thought Xander would soon forget me in much the same way he'd already forgotren you. The Adamant caste lead very lonely lives, and I didn't know you existed because he couldn't tell me."
Swims-in-Shadow surprised Anya by diving over the side. "I guess I forgive you," she said. "I had no room to talk."
Nelumbo shrugged. "The passions of Exalted are as epic as their power, they say-Solars most of all, of course, but the rest of us in rough proportion, as I'm sure you'll discover. There are a few tales of epic chastity or epic fidelity, to be sure, but in all honesty I didn't peg either of you for that sort." She slammed one hand through the heart of a ghost, which crumbled to mist, then nothing.
Anya raised an eyebrow. "Anyanka at your service, patron saint of women scorned."
Nelumbo chuckled. "No offense intended, but you don't seem scorned to me. Alexander loves you very much. And tells me that you first propositioned him by dropping your clothing. You are clearly no asectic. If I might be so forward, I was hoping we might all get together, your lovers and his, before I depart this world again."
Anya stood there with her mouth open for what felt like a year. "We'll see. Are we just going to stand here for the duration or get back into the fight?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
Dawn slowed to a halt. Her body might be imaginary, but she sure did feel tired. "We've outrun the lava. Anybody for catching our breaths?"
"Not me," said Angel, but he grinned and began to massage his calves. Spike just grunted.
"There," TARA said. She pointed at a two-story building set low on the beach. "I think that's our destination. You said the Wyld usually makes a beginning, middle, and end?"
Dawn nodded. "After this we'll be on the ocean, but I think any fae living here will have some kind of transport, probably better than mortals would."
"What're we waiting for?" Stephen asked and set off at once for the building, which proved to have a sign proclaiming it the "Come On Inn." Dawn and TARA both rolled their eyes at that.
Behind the desk were a slender, dark-haired man and a buxom blonde woman. "In the morning you'll be able to board a ship and go on," the man said as equally-attractive attendants prepared their rooms.
"The ship is part of a freehold, though," the woman warned. "If you lie with any of the fae in the freehold you won't be able to leave."
"Lie with?" Spike asked. Dawn almost snapped at him before realizing he was being cautious rather than stupid.
"Ah...have sexual relations with," the man said. "You needn't worry about merely lying down."
"Always best to check for exact wording," Spike said as they were led away. "Huh." He looked down. "Oh hell."
"I see you've noticed," Dawn said crankily. "I figured out right away. The inn's also part of the freehold, and either we've been dosed with something or it's just the nature of the waypoint to turn visitors on." She made a face. "Lock your doors-you can't count on consent mattering in this. And do whatever you need to to stay in control of yourself. I don't know how strong the effect will be."
Stephen shrugged. "Only women around for most of my life were my stepmom and sister. You don't have to worry about me."
"We'd better not have to worry about anyone," TARA said. "I'll stay with any of you if you'd like."
Angel shook his head. "I'll deal," he said patiently. "Spike?"
"Yeah. No worries, Shiny. Everyone'll be fine."
Dawn hoped so. But this was clearly a stupid commoner trick. There'd never been any real chance of falling for it, only of succumbing. She locked her door too. Likely none of them would sleep tonight.
Harmony sat by Faith's bedside and held her hand. The Slayer...er, well, the Night...was looking pale still but she seemed to be on the mend from Lilah's supernatural poison. "They want me to do it. To ensoul Drusilla. And I'm not...I don't see why they're not freaking out that I'll fail, cause I sure am."
Faith grinned weakly at her. "Two months ago I didn't know I could fly. You'll do what you've got to do, Harm. Has Five ever let on why this is so important?"
"No," she quavered. "He just tells us the apocalypse is coming and we've got to have as many Exaltations free as possible."
"Okay," Faith said confidently. "I want you to listen to me. If Drusilla is really destined for this the way Five says it works, then she has been since she waa born. But there's no way she could've Exalted back then, so she must've been meant to be a vampire. And there's no way for her to Exalt as a vampire, so she must've been meant to be changed back. Which means this is your destiny, right now. It all got planned out, see?"
"I see," Harmony said. Not too long ago she wouldn't have been able to follow that. But there was one problem with it. "But isn't Fate all messed up now? What if it's screwed the whole thing up?"
Faith squeezed her hand. "Then you do what Exalted do. You fix it."
Shadow was keeping the pressure up as best she could. She had run out of bolts a while back-or at least Tara thought she had. Somehow or other she still seemed to have a bolt at hand whenever she reached for one, but now they were shards of blackened bone.
Willow's lightnings were getting fewer and further between. She was able to draw off energy from the creatures she struck, Ebon Siaka included, but it was never quite enough to replenish her supplies.
Both of them were better off than Tara. She'd given up the last of her magicks to Willow an hour ago for a spell. Mostly she was just clinging to a railing while the storm that had somehow teleported over here grew worse and Ebon Siaka's anima flared periodically. She was weakening, but not fast enough.
A malicious hissing filled her ears, and a writhing tangle of ectoplasm soared through the air in Shadow's and Willow's direction. Tara flung up her hand at the monstrous ghost before remembering just how useless that was. The creature turned, slowly, and fixed her in its malevolent green gaze.
"Witch-child," snarled a voice over her shoulder. Tara spun to find a woman behind her, a barbarian dressed all in furs and crowned with two silver horns. "Oops. I wasn't looking for a simpering girl. I was looking for the one who was told she had demon powers and decided to learn how to use them. The runaway. The bad brat looking for knowledge she could never use and a lover she wasn't allowed. I was looking for Tara Maclay."
Why hadn't the ghost struck her down by now? She glanced over her shoulder to see it frozen in place. When she turned back she saw, instead, a hard-faced short-haired woman in silver armor, a bow on her back. "This suit ya better? More what ya were expecting from me? Still waiting for an answer."
"I'm T-tara M-maclay," she stammered. "What do you want from me?"
"Came here to rescue your friend, huh? To protect your lover? Good job, witch-child. You couldn't light a candle with what you've got left. Weak. You're waiting for someone to come save ya and then go away, am I right? Why am I bothering with ya, Tatara Muhmaclay?" The goddess-it had to be a goddess-sneered. "You don't interest me at all."
"Stop it!" Wait. Was that her shouting? "You're not supposed to be like this! You're not supposed to treat people like this! Just stop!"
The deity seized her by the throat. "Did you just tell a Celestial Incarna what not to do?"
"I did," she managed to wheeze, meaning to apologize rather than deny, but Luna nodded and set her down.
"Maybe you are who I'm looking for. You realize you just antagonized a powerful spectre and you haven't got shit to back it up with, plus there's a deathknight just waiting to stab ya as soon as you're worth the effort. You're going to die, witch-child. I'll give your friends even odds, but they're new and running low. I got a shiny new present for ya, but you've got to give me an honest answer to one question. Do you want power?"
Tara started running through the reasons why power was dangerous. It was an obvious test. "Stop," Luna said. "The only doomed moral victors in this world are, well, doomed. Look at the situation. Your friends. Yourself. It's not a hard question. Do. You. ?"
When she put it that way... "Yes. I want power. I want to live through this and save my friends."
"Ya had me at yes," the archer chuckled. Luna seized Tara by the waist, bent her backward, and kissed her hard on the mouth. There was a flash of silver light-
A bolt of silver light from her hand struck the ghost and sent it hurtling away. Tara jumped, startled; the vision had passed. Fragmented memories spilled through her head, bits and pieces really:
-wheedling; no one could resist for long-
-towers falling as the Dragon-Blooded hurled fire and lightning-
-no, no, no! My feet!-
-rutting wolfmen-
-Buffy's enraged face as she tore him apart from the inside out-
Tara stumbled again. Too much! Obviously huge pieces had been erased but-
"You." Ebon Siaka vaulted the railings. "Can't have another of you here. No, best to end you before you get started." Willow was lying on the deck, her arm twisted behind her. Shadow raised her crossbow, a monstrous maw full of fangs looming behind her, but Ebon Siaka batted the bolt aside without a backward glance.
Tara watched her come. Step by step. Let her try if she wanted. Ebon Siaka raised her maul. Tara raised her left hand and spoke words she'd known for some time, words she'd never had the power to back up. "Goddess Hecate, work thy will. Before thee let the unclean thing crawl."
A vast scaly form flickered silver around Tara, and Ebon Siaka's mace and bustier clattered to the deck. The rat nipped Tara as she scooped it up; she made no move to stop it.
"Tara?" Shadow said, staring. "Are you-?"
Tara dashed the rat head-first against the railing, then hurled it into the tossing sea. "Sometimes," she said, almost too quietly to hear, "you just have to show the bad guys their insect reflection."
She picked up the bustier.
Xander knew he hadn't come full circle yet. There was just too much ocean to cover. Somehow, though, wherever he looked the only enemy ships he could see were captured or sinking. Essence fire from the cannons and the Dragon-Blooded still filled the air, but it seemed to be dwindling.
There! The Black Fleet was disengaging, trying to run. It still had a large chunk of the vessels it'd started with, but they'd done a hell of a lot of damage.
"They have chosen to flee like the cowards they are," said Leviathan over his shoulder. "Swims-in-Shadow yet lives. I saw him clamber aboard a ship."
"He won't get away," Fred said, coming up the ladder from the sea. "He can run all the way back to Skullstone if he wants, but he won't get away."
Xander peered curiously at her. "What're you planning?"
"Sorry," she said. "I'll tell you later when I hammer out some details." Fred stared out over the burning wreckage. Not all of it was Black Fleet. "Also...Leviathan, my friends weren't trying to do you any harm. I hope you know that."
"I'll take that into account," the ancient Lunar rumbled. "Not everything is forgiveable."
Fred's gaze swept over the retreating ships. All she said was, "I know."
Dawn lifted her foot to climb into the sailing ship. Well...she tried to. Her boots stuck fast in sucking mud that hadn't been there beforehand.
"A pity you didn't pay attention," said the innkeeper. "We warned you. You'll never escape now."
Dawn rounded on him. "What the hell-? I spent the whole night locked in my room! Which of you did I 'lie with'?" She'd gotten no sleep at all; none of them had. Stephen was yawning, Spike and Angel were pointedly not looking at each other, and Dawn herself was trying hard not to walk bowlegged. The whole night. By herself, damn it!
The commoners stared at one another. No one seemed to know anything. "But you plainly can't leave," the innkeeper said. "You must have lain with a fae in the freehold. Those are the rules."
"Dawn," TARA said urgently, "he didn't say 'of". Just 'in'."
Dawn took a moment to mull that over. "Well, crap."
The circle had been replaced with grave dirt over the doctor's objections; the candles were black. Harmony sat cross-legged on the floor to the left of the bed.
"Whatever you're going to do," the doctor said, "do it fast. Her brain activity's nil and her heart rate is falling even with adrenaline."
Of course it was. Drusilla's body was human, with nothing inside. You couldn't keep a soulless body alive forever.
"Quod perditum est, invenietur," Harmony chanted. Her memory wasn't a problem-just pronunciation. Maybe the spirits wouldn't stress over a missed syllable. "Nici mort, nici al finitei, te invoc spirit al trecerii."
Amy was watching over her. There wasn't much she could do if Harmony screwed this up, but the moral support helped.
"Gods, bind her; cast her heart from the evil realm. Let her know the pain of humanity, gods. Reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the sword." Who was it she was invoking, anyway? The Neverborn? But why would they let this happen, especially now?
Maybe they weren't going to. The beeping from Drusilla's heart monitor became erratic; an alarm began to wail. "Get the pads!" Amy shouted. "We have to shock her!"
The doctor glared at her. "I'm not going to interfere in the final moments of a brain-dead body," he said calmly. "This ritual magic business is-"
Amy shoved him aside telekinetically and grabbed the defibrillator. Everything had been prepped for this already; why was the doctor balking now? "Clear!"
For a moment the steady heartbeat resumed. "A?a s? fie cu ajutorul acestui magic glob de cristal," Harm said hastily. The beeping faltered again.
"Clear!" Someone should tell Amy that was just a warning so other people didn't get shocked. Harmony was busy.
"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie!"
"Shit! C'mon, damnit! You made it this far!"
"Acum! Acum!" The orb flared a brilliant white and vanished. The beeping halted. The alarm blared unabated.
She'd failed. She'd failed everyone. Harmony struggled to her feet and wobbled over to the bed where Amy was still futilely trying to jumpstart Drusilla's heart. "Stop," Harmony said. "It's over." She reached out and pushed the paddles and Amy's hands away.
Harmony bent over Drusilla's body. She might have been sleeping, even with her gown open down the front like that. That was Drusilla for you. "I'm sorry," she said, and kissed her gently on the forehead where her caste mark should have been.
The room flared with brilliant purple light. Harmony opened her eyes and looked up to see an immense violet unicorn rearing above her. Another light burst to life, this one green, emanating from the spot on Dru's forehead where Harmony had kissed her, and the sigil of Jupiter scrawled itself there.
Harmony was still staring up at the beautiful unicorn when a pair of hands pulled her down and someone kissed her on the lips as soundly as she'd ever been kissed.
"Of course her prince never came. There had never been a prince at all."
Harmony recoiled. "Ugh! Girl spit! Ew!"
Drusilla sat up slowly, as if testing her limbs. "What do you think was in your mouth before, dear? Don't ruin the story, or I shall have to be cross with you."
Well...it looked like everyone lived happily ever after. For now. Here came Lilah, and Darla with her of course. That secret was out at least.
Drusilla narrowed her eyes. "And to think I went through all that trouble with Eye and Seven Despairs for nothing."
Holtz stared down into the depths of the Pole of Smoke. He should never have brought Justine and Sarah with him. They were surely going to die here. But they had demanded, and like a fool he had given in.
The fumes roiled and briefly parted. Specks of light shone in the darkness like stars emerging from behind the clouds.
A voice crackled and ratcheted at his right side. "Welcome, Solar. Welcome, Daniel Holtz. Welcome to Ralacken...the Gremlin City."