CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: a darkness within

Tara watched the play of muscles as Buffy began to face off against Travis and groaned thinking about how only minutes ago she had been pressed up against them. She shook her head and forced herself to pay attention to what was happening.

At the moment the Slayer was only swinging at the most obvious of openings and dodging the majority of his strikes by simple evasion. It was easy to see that she was holding back and the thought made the blonde Wiccan smile. The boy really didn't stand a chance. She almost felt sorry for him…well almost.

"Common Buffy is that all you got?" Travis asked beginning to become slightly winded as the blonde caught another one of his punches. "You're hardly even a challenge."

"Oh really?" Buffy said pushing him back and tightening her stance.

"Yeah really." He threw a couple jabs hoping to catch Buffy off guard with a round house. Buffy smirked at Tara already reading the move and caught his leg mid arch sending him spinning to the floor. Tara couldn't help but laugh as Travis pulled himself off the mats looking infuriated. "Lucky shot." He grumbled regaining some composure and rubbing at the side he had landed on.

"Whatever you say." She winked at Tara then turned back to Travis. "Oh I'm sorry did I hurt you?" she asked sarcastically. He scowled at her then wiped his arm across his face.

"You wish." He said deciding to pick up the pace a little bit. He had planned to take it easy on her but at this point he figured she could handle her own. And if she couldn't then…he grinned. "If this is all you got then I hope you don't mind long lines. The cinema is rather crowded on Saturdays." Buffy rolled her eyes. "And I'm done holding back so why don't you just give up now before you get hurt." Buffy shrugged at him, then looked to Tara who was trying not to snicker.

"If you honestly think that's supposed to scare me than you've got another thing coming." Travis smiled circling Buffy tauntingly.

"Big words for such a girl."

"Not just any girl." A voice said from the bottom of the stairwell. The three turned their heads in the direction of the voice and saw Lucinda standing at the foot of the stairwell followed by Giles, Joyce and Carmen. "Oh don't stop on behalf of us." She said motioning for them to continue and taking a seat next to Tara.

When she had seen Buffy pass by earlier she had noticed a change in the girl, a glow so to speak and had a sneaking suspicion as to what could be causing it. She hadn't voiced her opinion yet but when Travis had announced boastfully that Buffy had thought she could beat him in a round of sparring her curiosity had won out. Buffy looked to Tara questioningly and shrugged.

Giles's looked at his Slayer carefully and caught a glimpse of the fire he hadn't seen in years lighting her eyes. He glanced at Joyce who had her head tilted in much the same way as if she were trying to figure something out.

"Looks like we have an audience." Travis noted after the group had situated themselves. "Why don't you just give it up before you humiliate yourself." Buffy brushed some hair out of her face then looked at him squarely.

"I don't think I'm the one that should be worried about that Travis." Carmen laughed to herself at that. She had to admit the girl was pretty gutsy.

"Again with the big words…" Buffy grinned swiping his legs out from under him and stood in one fluid movement.

"Not just words." She said lightly. "Skill." Travis stood quickly as Buffy backed away cautiously, then tensed at the laughter he heard coming from the corner. "As I said before." She began getting in a dig at the now overly offensive antics of her opponent. "I'm not the one who should be worried about their ego here."

Without warning his leg flew out aimed at Buffy's head. Buffy narrowed her eyes at him becoming a little more serious as she rolled out of the way. It's not that she had felt threatened by the kick. Not by any means but had it landed, it very easily could have done some damage. Especially if she wasn't a slayer.

"Goddess Trav'!" His sister exclaimed after Buffy had maneuvered out of the way. "Take it easy." Lucinda looked to Carmen surprised that her young pupil couldn't sense it. The power radiating off the blonde was almost palpable. True Travis wasn't exactly playing nice but from what Tara had just explained to her it was probably because he was embarrassed if anything.

"Let them be Carmen." She said silencing her niece.

"But he could really hurt her." Lucinda shook her head at the girl.

"Just watch." Carmen looked at her Aunt skeptically then over at Tara who seemed rather amused by the whole situation. Seeing as how Tara and Lucinda didn't seem too concerned for the blonde's safety did little to calm her nerves. She knew Travis well enough to know that he could easily get out of hand. Especially when he thought he was going to loose.

"Come on Buffy!" Travis said cocking his head arrogantly as Buffy backed away from another hard kick to the midsection. "What? You can talk big but can't back it up?" He swung a couple hooks then thought better of it when Buffy caught one and gave him a hard crack to the ribs. He recovered quickly enough and began a different tactic. "What is that all you got?"

"Careful Travis, I think you've gotten into more than you've bargained for with this one." Lucinda warned as her nephew continued to taunt the slayer. He ignored his Aunts warning and continued to egg her on slowly purposefully backing her into a corner.

"Your not getting scared are you?" Even Giles had to chuckle at this by the look on Buffy's face she was anything but scared. "Because if you are you can still back out." He smirked realizing she was only about a meter from the wall without anywhere left to go. If she backed up she'd be blocked in.

"Not a chance." He simply shrugged at the expected refusal and made a lunge for her legs. His eyes shot open in surprise as Buffy rolled onto her back and jammed her heal into his midsection tossing him over her head and into the wall behind her. He groaned as he hit the wall and collapsed to the floor. Buffy looked at him with a little sympathy then flipped herself off the mat. The walls and floors were padded so she wasn't that worried about if he had broken anything besides his big head. "I think it's safe to say I won." But just as she said the words Travis was pulling himself off the ground. The group laughed in approval, all but Carmen who began to get a sinking feeling at the bottom of her gut. As he stood he turned a pair of angry eyes upon the Slayer who was in the process of performing a mock bow.

"No I don't think it is." He growled. Buffy paused taken back by the underlying threat in his voice and took a couple steps back away from him. Lucinda looked from her nephew then to Buffy not liking the looks of it.

"I'm calling this to an end." Lucinda declared standing up.

"No you are not." he touched the blood that was beginning to drip from his nose. "It's not over until I say it's over." Buffy looked to Tara silently asking her what to do. If Travis kept on like this she might be forced to actually hurt him. Giles's glanced at Travis who now after the twenty minutes bruised and scratched up in more than one place while Buffy seemed to remain untouched.

"Lucinda." The older man said getting the woman's attention. He lowered his voice so no one else would hear him. "You could restrain him if need be correct?" Lucinda nodded a little uncomfortable with the situation but already seeing the same thing Giles had just now noticed. "Let's let them go for a few minutes longer."

"Very well. You may continue," she stared at Travis seriously who didn't seem to be listening. "But Travis I'm warning you now, keep your temper or I'll remove you myself." He nodded slowly not really hearing what she was saying and locked his sight on Buffy, who was still looking at Tara unsure of how to handle the situation. Travis sneered at the sight and began to charge towards her.

"B-Buffy!" Tara screamed catching the movement out of the corner of her eye just as Travis leapt into the air in a flying side kick aimed at Buffy's back. Buffy seeing the fear in Tara's eyes reacted out of pure instinct. For the first time in the entire fight, allowing the Slayer in her to take over.

With a speed that no human eye could follow she whipped around. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. When she realized exactly what he was planning she couldn't suppress the growl that ripped from her throat.

The group stared in disbelief as Buffy quickly pushing past the leg that was now level with her chest like it was some type of annoying insect while reaching up one handedly to catch the seething youth around the neck, halting his movement in mid air.

Lucinda and Giles both shared a look while the other three were left to stare in wonder. Tara was now standing watching the boy cautiously…something about the look on his face making her skin crawl. She quickly enabled a defensive shield around her and Buffy.

Buffy ignored the mixed looks she was getting and focused on Travis who she still held off the ground. "I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely Travis." She said her voice a dead calm. "Its over." She was just about to release her hold when she felt him start to shake. She looked up and realized he was laughing. Tara tensed at the sound and felt the air crackle with power.

"You think you won?" he asked grinning madly before bringing his hands together a black mist forming around them. Buffy's eyes widened and he cackled. "You should have taken me up on my offer Buffy. But now I'm afraid you're too late-" Before anyone had time to react Travis flew out of Buffy's grasp and slammed into the stone wall lining the staircase.

All eyes turned to the black mist that was poised in front of the now stock still Slayer then to Travis who was crumpled in a heap on the floor.

Lucinda looked to Tara in a state of aw at the power the young woman had just exuded. She herself hadn't even had a chance to utter a word let alone a spell that would have been that strong at such a short notice. Her look of aw changed to that of outrage as she eyed the black orb floating in place in front of Buffy. She had never thought Travis was capable of dabbling in the dark magics and betraying her teachings in such away but then again she supposed after the events she had just witnessed she hadn't known her nephew at all.

"Carmen." The older woman said pulling the girl out of her state of shock. "Get your mother and tell her to get her son out of my house. I will not have the Black Arts in my home." Carmen nodded quickly then moved up the stairs not even giving a glance towards her brother. She had known that he had changed a lot. But the person she just saw wasn't her brother anymore.

"What just happened?" Joyce said having a hard time with what she had just watched unfold.

"Tara lower your shields." Lucinda ordered noticing the slight blue halo radiating around the two blondes.

"Not until that thing is gone." She stated firmly. Lucinda nodded her understanding.

"What's going on?" Joyce said again looking at the fallen boy then back to Lucinda. "Shouldn't we help him?"

"Leave him." Lucinda growled stepping up to her nephew's fallen form. "I should have done this years ago." She put her hand against his pale face and began chanting, slowly stripping him of any magical powers he had ever possessed and allowing them to purify through her before sending them back into the earth. "You my child," she whispered. "Never deserved such a gift." Giles stood stunned as he watched the blackened energy leaving the boy's body turn to a light green before seeping into the ground.

"Astounding." He muttered never realizing that Lucinda was capable of such a task.

"What is that?" Joyce asked pointing towards the green aura seeping out of Lucinda's hand and disappearing beneath the floor.

"Lucinda is stripping Travis of any and all his powers and placing them back into the Earth. In an ancient blood line such as this it's a form of exile." He explained quickly.

When she had finished she turned her attention back to Tara.

"Now will you please put them down. I need to be sure there isn't any other stray magic floating around down here." Tara reluctantly nodded seeing the spell finally dwindled away and disperse into nothing, its power source stripped. Lucinda looked at the group solemnly. "Giles I want you to take Joyce upstairs. I'll join you in a minute."

As Tara released the shield she had over her and Buffy the reality of what had almost happened sunk in. She leaned against the wall her body shaking, she had almost lost her again.

"Tara?" the sight of the Wiccan crying snapped the Slayer from her frozen state in the center of the room and propelled her to the woman's side. She wasn't sure what all had just happened but could sense that the Wiccan had just saved her life. "Tara look at me." She said running her hand across the woman's face. The blonde instantly looked up through teary eyes at hearing the Slayer's voice and leaned into to her touch allowing the comfort Buffy offered to wash over her. Buffy released the breath she hadn't known she had been holding and welcomed the woman into her arms.

Alright everyone tell me what you thought!!!! gets on knees PLEASE!!!!! Okay chapter 19 will be up in a few days so stay tuned.