See Part One for disclaimer and details. A big thank you, as always, to all those people who have hit that big shiny review button at the bottom of the screen. Okay, folks, we're getting towards the end here; only one more chapter to go after this one. The stage has been set, and all the clues have been given. Can anyone guess how this twisted and convoluted plot will end in the final chapter? Please review and tell me.
Part Seven: Rite Of Passage
Giles residence, 523B Oak Park Street, Sunnydale
May 5th, 1999
Xander and Cordelia let themselves into Rupert's apartment after school for a couple of reasons. One, they were housesitting for the librarian 'til he came back and two, nowadays both teens didn't have any other place to stay anyway.
Xander could well remember that night a few weeks ago. Cordelia had shown up broken and crying on his doorstep, and Jessica had let her in and gone to get her son at once. The 18-year-old boy had then heard the whole terrible tale from his shell-shocked girlfriend.
"I-I-I'm broke, Xander. As in no more money. At all! Anywhere! Everything's been taken away, even my horse Keanu. My clothes, my cell phone, my car, all of it – because Daddy's been cheating on his taxes. For the last twelve years, apparently. Now he's gonna go to jail, and Mom's practically in a coma. I, I can't stay at home anymore, 'cause we, we, we no longer have one. What...what am I going to do?"
Harris had promised her that they would figure something out, if not tomorrow then at least eventually, and then he'd taken Cordelia to his bedroom and held the girl in his arms all night as she cried herself to sleep. There had been nothing sexual, just an offering of unspoken aid and comfort. Which was exactly what Miss Chase had needed to maintain her sanity.
The young man knew he'd have to pay for it the next day, though. And sure enough, after his father's accusations of planning to turn the house into a brothel and whatnot, Xander had been unceremoniously kicked out of the Harris home. With nowhere else to go, he'd packed his things and moved into Giles's empty condo with the use of the spare key. Harris didn't know how long it would last, but since he had Rupert's permission for it via a phone call, the male teen had invited Cordelia to stay with him rather than that place near the docks.
Ceasing his wool-gathering, Xander looked around the apartment. "Still kinda hard for me to believe we're actually staying here. Together."
"Tell me about it. I mean, how the hell Giles can still live in this place is like completely beyond me, what with the way he found Ms. Calendar murdered in here last year," Cordelia said with a shudder.
Harris shrugged away the bad memories as he dumped his book bag on the sofa. "You heard anything lately from your mom, Cor?"
"No. She's gone and she's not coming back, I can feel it," the cheerleader scowled. "There's nothing left for her here in Sunnydale anymore – not even me. And apart from you, I can SO relate to that idea. Some best friend Harmony turned out to be, that little two-faced bitch!"
Xander gestured her to sit down. "We need to talk. As in what the plan is for after Graduation."
Cordelia sat. "Well, you know how I can't afford anymore to go to any of the colleges which accepted me, I already told you that," the girl said crossly before she sighed. "Besides, you were never too hot on the idea of going to places like Colorado, Durham and New York anyway."
( For the road trip, I sure would have. And too bad how I can't afford to go all Kerouac like that now. But hey, priorities and all. ) "Okay then, so what are we gonna do? Especially once Giles arrives home and wants his apartment back. My road trip money will last us a little while, I suppose, but still. Maybe if I can get a job somewhere while you continue working at April Fools-" Xander started to say.
"Xander? I don't want to work there for even one second longer than it takes me to buy my Prom dress," Cordelia interrupted decisively. "I mean, I know my choices are really limited now and my princess days are totally over, but I'm telling you: I utterly hate that job. Mrs. Finkel so has it in for me, and those morons who come in to buy stuff don't even listen to what I tell them half the time!"
Xander smothered a grin. "So what's the alternative?"
Cordy took a deep breath and grabbed hold of her boyfriend's hands. "Once high school is over? We buy a couple of bus tickets to LA and start a new life there together. With me eventually becoming a rich and famous movie star, of course. What you become is totally and completely up to you."
Xander initially didn't know what to say. ( Whoa. Leave everyone and everything we know behind? I know I was willing to do that before for the whole college dealie, but I thought that'd just be for three or four years and we'd eventually come back home. ) Eventually he stammered, "A-are you serious?"
"Hell, yes!" Cordelia declared. "Xander, I know you still have issues about Willow and Buffy and the whole Slayage thing in general. But if you want to fight evil without the certain death aspect of it, there are ordinary people who do that outside of Sunnydale every day. Like the LAPD and LA Fire Department, for example. Not everyone fights the things that go bump in the night, which you personally proved a few weeks ago."
Reminded of that insane lunch lady, Xander said uncertainly, "Yeah, I suppose." He thought about it and then, making his decision, the young man straightened up. "Okay then, I guess it's settled. We'll tell the gang whenever you're ready, and start looking for a place we can afford to rent after we head for the big city?"
Cordelia nodded and passionately kissed him, not bothering to hide her relief as they fell together onto the couch. Even though she'd known the odds were that her boyfriend wouldn't have stayed here on the Hellmouth once she'd told him the plan, it had still been worrying in the sense that her circumstances were now way different and the dweeb still had this stupid ridiculous fear of one day turning into his father.
( It's all finally coming together now, I can feel it, ) Cordelia thought to herself much later, basking in the afterglow. ( And it's gonna be tough at first to survive as a struggling actress, I know. But as long as I have my future husband there with me, there is no damn way I'm gonna fail to succeed. )
Sunnydale High Principal's Office, Sunnydale
May 11th, 1999
"No, Principal Snyder, I haven't seen any sign of drugs or drug use recently," Wesley replied to the man's question.
"You sure? Because I know all the kids around here are currently up to something, especially the troublemakers. Wouldn't surprise me if they go into that library to make out and shoot up all the time," Snyder scowled, looking more cranky and irritated than usual. Which was probably due to his inability to target Buffy for punishment, one of the few pleasures the high school principal seemed to get out of life.
"As far as I can tell the students of this school, or at least the huge majority of them, are completely ignorant of the fact that the library even exists," Wesley replied, wisely ignoring that reference to the Slayer and her friends.
"It's no wonder then that this school's academic record sucks. And I blame the other Englishman for that, y'know. Complete technophobe," Snyder was sitting at his desk and looked at a piece of paper. "You heard from Mr. Giles lately? Because his leave time is almost completely used up. And if he isn't back within the end of the year, you can tell him that he's fired, family emergency or not."
Wesley inclined his head. He hadn't anticipated it would take so long to find another of those telepathic demons, and the Council wasn't even returning his calls about the subject anymore. "When next Rupert gets in touch with me, I'll convey the information."
"Good. And don't forget about tonight, you're on chaperone duty in the school gym. Prom night, remember?" Snyder demanded. He then gestured at Wesley to leave. Ever since the Mayor had been killed, he'd been under a lot more scrutiny from the school board and the paperwork had really started piling up.
Wes left, heading back to the library. Even after all the time he'd been here, the guidance counselor still didn't think of it as "his" library. This was Rupert Giles's domain despite the fact that the other Englishman had been absent for weeks now.
( Things'll have to change soon, ) Wesley mused to himself. ( As soon as the school year's over, perhaps. I mean the pay is pitiful, the place is far too public and I swear to God, I can't take much more of Snyder's attitude. Not without ripping out his septum, anyway. Besides, Faith isn't a student here and God only knows when Buffy will be back... )
At that moment, the library doors banged open and the Scooby gang all poured inside. Xander was looking more than a little scratched and bleeding, the result of tussling with a vicious demon at Cordelia's workplace. "Hey, Wes, you got a VCR in here?"
"Yes, the audio-visual section, near the back. Now what the devil happened to you?" the Watcher asked in surprise.
"Had a run-in with a demon at April Fools, while I was on my tuxedo hunt for the Prom," Xander said promptly. "Cordy was there, too."
"Burning a hole in Daddy's wallet, huh?" Faith smirked at Miss Chase.
"Hey, that's not nice," Willow defended her classmate and one-time dreaded social enemy. After talking it over with Oz and Tara, Miss Rosenberg had come to a hard and painful decision regarding her best male friend, and that was to let him ride off into the sunset under the best possible circumstances. Which meant accepting that Cordelia's claim on the guy superseded her own, and finally growing up – in every sense of the term.
"Right. Sorry," the Slayer nodded to the cheerleader, who merely avoided her gaze.
"So. Let's have a look at this tape then, shall we?" Wesley tried to keep things focused and professional.
Willow set up the machinery, and then the white hats watched the surveillance videotape. "You know the part that totally weirded me out? How that thing had good taste in clothes. I mean, he chucked Xander aside and went right for the guy in formal wear," Cordelia pointed to a boy in a tux that had been killed by the demon.
"Any idea what it is, Wes?" Faith asked professionally, ignoring that apparently irrelevant comment.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is a hellhound," Wyndam-Pryce frowned at the grainy image. "It's sort of a demon foot soldier bred during the Machash Wars. Trained solely to kill. They feed off the brains of their foes, which as you can all see is more than a little disgusting."
"How do I kill it?" Miss Lehane asked.
"Um, the usual slice and dice treatment will suffice I believe. I'll double-check to be sure. But the problem is we don't know who it's working for, or why it attacked Xander and its other victim earlier today..."
Oz squinted at the monitor screen. "Xander, can you rewind it a little?" The guy did so, and hit Play. A few seconds later Daniel said, "Right there. Pause it." The werewolf then pointed to someone peering through the shop's broken window with what appeared to be more than casual interest. "Who's that?"
"Hello, hellhound raiser," Harris said in satisfaction after a burst of insight. "Okay, who are you?"
A short time later, the Scoobies had identified the mystery man. "Tucker Wells. Didn't he graduate last year?" Cordelia asked, her sharp mind having a focus for such things.
"He was in a number of my classes," Oz nodded.
"Oooh, I got into Tucker's e-mail account! Listen to the message he sent to this kid named David Metz last week. 'The Sunnydale High lemmings have no idea what awaits them. Their big night will be their last night.' Not of the good," Willow shivered.
"Well, I'd say that now we know the why as well as the who. That asshole's going to attack Senior Prom tonight with his pet demon," Cordelia said with her own burst of insight.
"Once again, the Hellmouth puts the 'special' in special occasion. Why do we even buy tickets for these things, I ask you?" Xander wondered out loud.
Faith was thinking about something else though. "We gotta split up, find this guy. Wes, you said this thing eats brains. Any particular type?"
"Not as far as I know."
Willow could follow where the Chosen One was going with this faster than anyone else. "If Tucker's feeding it brains, he'd go for the easiest ones to get without arousing unnecessary suspicion. Like, say, from the meatpacking plant."
"You and Oz check it out, and see if you can get Miss Maclay to help you if you need the extra manpower. Faith, you go to the address listed for the Wells residence; it's unlikely he'll still be there, but you never know what clues you might find. Xander and Cordelia, you talk to this David Metz chap, see if he knows anything," Wesley issued orders like an Army general. "And please hurry, all of you. I definitely don't feel in the mood for being part of a massacre tonight."
Sunnydale High, Sunnydale
Later that night
Faith had had no luck as expected, the only person who had been present at the Wells house was a guy named Andrew who said he hadn't seen his big brother in nearly a week. That was before he tried to be charming to the Slayer, which quickly made the girl in question motor before Faith did something she was sure she'd later regret.
Xander and Cordelia had struck out as well. David had been openly contemptuous of them both, as Miss Chase's popularity had indeed vanished just as Harmony had predicted would happen. Xander's hand around David's throat for insulting one of his girls, on the other hand, had convinced Metz to open up; but there had been nothing new to learn. Tucker had gone underground completely and cut off all communications this late in the game.
Luckily, Oz and Willow had learned the address where the cow brains were being delivered from a worker at the abattoir, and had rushed back to the library to inform the others. Faith had then told everyone to go attend the Prom while she checked it out, and if the hellhound showed up to distract it away from the rest of the guests 'til she arrived to deal with it.
Unfortunately, what the Chosen One didn't know was that Tucker had raised and trained four such demon foot soldiers. Miss Lehane took out the one still present at Tucker's base...
The other three though were a completely different matter.
"Arrrggggh!" Amy screamed in fear as she and Michael encountered the hell beasts in the school corridor. Miss Madison was instantly convinced she was having the magical equivalent of an acid flashback, given her constant visits to Rack's little den of iniquity which no one had been able to talk her out of.
"Protect!" the male warlock shouted, as a yellow shield formed directly in front of the two humans. The charging demonic trio attacked but simply bounced off the mystical barrier, repelled by the powerful magicks. ( Yes! Go me. I don't need Rack anymore, I knew all those hours of looking up my own spells and practising the craft would pay off eventually! )
Snarling, the demon dogs looked ready to lope off towards the gym and feast on the crowd, but Michael didn't give them the opportunity.
"Klyv mat chyvma klyvma chyt!" he shouted again with a gesture, as a swirling portal opened up in the floor.
The hellhounds were not, as Wesley had hinted, the greatest thinkers of the demon world but they knew danger when they saw it. The hounds tried to run for it, but the portal was stronger and began to suck the three evil things down into the depths of the abyss.
Howling and whining the hellhounds, and then the portal, vanished just before Faith came running into the school. "Uh, hey. You guys seen any dogs tonight that mighta looked like they had a weird case of rabies?" the Slayer asked the magical couple.
"I'm seeing things again," Amy said to herself, her eyes glazed over. "Michael, where am I?"
"At the school, Amy. It's Prom night," Michael told her. He then told Faith, "I took care of all three of them, don't worry about it."
"How did you-" Faith saw a fireball ignite in Michael's hand, and abruptly remembered who and what he was. "Right, stupid question. So you guys are by five by five?"
"Five what by five what?" Amy asked vaguely as Michael extinguished the fire.
"Never mind," Miss Lehane shook her head. "You two have a nice Prom and all. And yo, butch, good job on dealing with the demon Fidos like that."
But as Michael escorted Amy to the dance, Faith's praise seemed to matter little to the young man who was still desperately worried about his traumatized date.
Abandoned warehouse, downtown Sunnydale
May 17th, 1999
Senior year was at last coming to an end, and most of the students wanted to celebrate the fact that the end of school was taking place this coming Friday. Maroon graduation gowns were being issued, yearbooks were being signed, and as Buffy Summers would have put it in another world, "the whole senior class has turned into the Sixties, or what the Sixties would have been like without the war and the hairy armpits".
All this was of no interest to the demon Balthazar, though. Ever since he had killed Richard Wilkins months ago the Slayers had become the new number one on his shit list. One of them, the older blonde had disappeared and no one had seen her for a month; the gossip at Willy's had it that she was most likely dead. But the other one, the brunette, she was making a damned nuisance of herself destroying his minions.
She had even chased him out of his latest lair in the sewers. Which, after the last three months, was something NOT to be tolerated.
"Let me tell you what I see," Balthazar hissed at El Eliminati. "I see fear...and remorse...and the pitiful look of faces that cry out for mercy. But what I don't see is what I want to see, AND THAT'S THE SLAYER'S DEAD BODY!"
"Lord Balthazar, we've tried-" Vincent started to say.
"You've tried? And what have you achieved for your efforts? Nothing! Now get out of here, go find the Slayer and kill her! Kill everyone that gets in your way! GOOOOO! GOOOOO!" Balthazar ranted at his chief lieutenant.
"Oh, please. You want to kill the Slayer? I'm the one who's gonna do that. After all, I've already killed two of them," a male British voice was heard to say.
Everyone whirled around to stare at the new arrival. "Who are you?" Balthazar demanded.
"Name's Spike," William sauntered forward. "You're that Balthazar bloke, right? Heard about you. The big noise in these parts, nowadays."
"William the Bloody," the demon grunted, finally recognizing his undead guest. "You don't have a reputation for playing well with others. Why should I be interested in your offer to kill the Slayer for me?"
Spike didn't reply. He just touched a button on the remote control hidden within his hand, and the roof of the warehouse exploded.
The multiple bomb blasts not only sent fragments of wood and tiles soaring into the air, but they also let in the lethal sunshine as the entire structure collapsed. To the last acolyte, all the gathered Eliminati erupted in flames. Balthazar looked around in shock as all his minions became dust, before exploding in rage at the enemy. Grabbing one of the swords on the floor, the demon quickly decapitated Spike with one clean stroke. In his mindless fury, it never even occurred to Balthazar to wonder why the Aurelian vampire wasn't ashes as well.
That is until the headless body calmly walked over to where the head had landed, and the British vamp installed it back in its rightful place. The bloody line where the sword had sheared his head away from his neck vanished as if it had never existed.
"How...?" Balthazar asked in befuddled wonder.
"We need to get a few things straight, mate," Spike said in a conversational tone as he came forward. "You were right about me not liking having to share my hunting ground, but you were wrong in thinkin' that I was offering to work fer you. Never said that, did I? Just said I'm the one who's gonna kill the bloody Slayers. And I will...after one unfinished piece o' business."
"What business is that?" Balthazar asked, his demon worm body instinctively moving towards the sewer access.
It was pretty obvious when a few seconds later Balthazar ended up with his skull completely pierced by a heavy jewelled blade, his body collapsing into goo after Spike moved with undead super-speed. William then looked at the green Gem of Amara on his finger, which he had finally found after months of unrelenting search.
"One down, Dru. Lots more to go."
UC Sunnydale, California
The next day
Willow and Tara had been practicing a demon-detection spell in Miss Maclay's dorm, when the blonde had gotten caught trying to sabotage it. The redhead demanded an explanation, and eventually the high school valedictorian learned to her shock that Tara was part-demon. Or that she was going to turn into a demon in the future, anyway.
"How's that even possible?" Willow wanted to know, looking quite horrified.
Tara lifted her eyes to stare at the other witch. "All I know is on my 20th birthday, I-I-I turn into a demon. It's a-a curse on the women of my family, a-apparently."
"Well, I've never heard of anything like that," Willow said, shaking her head. "So, so, exactly what type of demon will you turn into when the time comes?"
"I, I don't know," Tara confessed. "I left home before they could tell me. I, um, I didn't really want to know at the time."
Willow decided to check it out a bit further. She considered Tara a friend now as well as her magic teacher, and as such, her curiosity could not be contained. Miss Rosenberg quickly opened the spell book to a new chapter, and eventually found what she was looking for. Willow briefly familiarized herself with the incantation, and then said pointing at the other witch, "Spiritus reveale!"
Tara's outline flared white for a second. "W-what did you do?" the college girl asked, feeling totally wigged out.
"It's a spell Wesley told me about that he's used in the past. To identify a person's soul via making their aura visible," Willow replied. She recalled that particular conversation with the Watcher, who had been a bit too honest with the teenage female genius. Wesley's recollections of that demon cave in Europe, where people had been horribly tortured and their souls consumed, had made Miss Rosenberg want to throw up afterwards.
"But Tara, listen to me; whoever told you that you were a demon, they lied to you. You're pure human, I saw it just now. If there was any demonic taint within you, it would have shown up in your aura. But there was nothing there to see!" Willow insisted.
Tara was stunned. "Are, are you sure?"
"Positive."
Miss Maclay didn't know what to say. The beliefs of a lifetime couldn't be thrown out the window quite that easily, but what reason would Willow have to lie? ( My father...he lied to me? And my brother too? Even Cousin Beth? Oh. My. God. )
"Tara, are you okay?" Miss Rosenberg asked in deep concern.
"No. I'm r-r-really not," the older witch choked out. "Willow, m-my own family lied to me. They told me my mother fell victim to the curse, that h-h-her demon got out of control while I was away at school one day. She, she died barely two years ago, but I...I think now they murdered her, a-a-after she found out the truth somehow. Mom was the one who taught me everything I know about the craft, she..." Tara couldn't help it, she broke down and started crying her eyes out.
Willow felt helpless, and had no idea what to say. She knew what it was like to feel betrayed by family; the Jewish girl had had nightmares months ago about her mother dragging her back to City Hall to finish the job she had started while under that demon's influence. But this was different; her friend was the victim of a deliberate act of evil arising out of free will.
Tara finally got her emotions somewhat under control. "I'm sorry," she sniffled to her companion. Amazingly, her stutter seemed to be gone. "I simply couldn't help myself just now."
"That's okay," Willow said awkwardly. "I'm sorry, too. And if it's worth anything, I think I kinda have an idea of what you're going through. What with the way I almost got burned at the stake that night by my mom; I mean, it took me quite a while to be able to trust her again."
"Xander saved you, Buffy and Amy then," Tara recalled, using some tissues to clean up her face.
"Yeah," Willow said fondly. "Him and the others. But I remember how he personally came charging in like some kinda white knight-"
"Don't call him that," Tara interrupted, shaking her head. "Xander really hates that nickname for some reason." Off Willow's look, she added, "I know because he told me. Just like he told me what happened last year between the two of you, that whole kissing thing."
"What? You, you, you know about THAT?" Willow yelped in a panic. ( Oh my God, Xander, what have you done? I thought that particular craziness was over, done with and forgotten, but Tara knows. Who, who else knows? )
"I can keep a secret, you can relax," Tara said swiftly. By now she had buried the romantic feelings she had for Willow, figuring that the girl of her dreams was completely straight. Which was a cosmic irony on one hell of a grand scale, so to speak, even if the Tara of this world would never know that. "No one else knows, and they never will from me. Especially not Oz and Cordelia."
"Um, thanks," Willow stammered. She glanced at her watch, "Uh, y'know what? I, I think I better get going. This has been a, a, pretty weird magic tutorial session, even by my standards. So, I'll, I'll see you next week."
"I'm sorry if I've upset you," Tara sighed, suspecting that the other girl had gotten spooked enough to maybe decide never to come back here. Willow and Oz would be heading off to Oxford soon, or so she'd heard, so the odds weren't good for a future meeting. "I really shouldn't have said anything; it's just that I'm more than a bit upset right now. I think my sense of judgment...kind of isn't at its best at the moment."
"Oh, well, uh, that's totally understandable, I guess," Willow said hastily, gathering her things. "Yeah, okay, g'bye."
Tara escorted her guest to the door. "Goodbye, Willow." It was a farewell in more ways than one, both fortunately and unfortunately.
Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale
Later that night
( I still can't believe how Xander actually mentioned the clothes fluke to Tara. And I never even had a clue over the last four months that she knew all along? I really am Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel! ) Willow was then distracted from thinking about that recent conversation, when one of her magic friends was granted the floor in tonight's meeting.
"I'm telling you, Amy's in real trouble!" Michael insisted. "I caught her the other night trying to steal my entire supply of sage, for crying out loud. She's, she's completely self-destructing, and I don't know how to stop her!"
Wesley frowned and looked around at the others. Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and Faith were standing or sitting at the table, wanting to help but not knowing how. "We've talked to the girl about her problem before, both individually and in a group setting. So perhaps an intervention of some sort-" he began to say.
"That won't do any good!" the warlock interrupted frantically. "She won't listen, all Amy cares about now is getting her next fix. God, this is all my fault! I should have never taken her to Rack's in the first place!"
At that moment, the phone rang. Wesley went to answer it, "Hello?" He paused to listen, his expression visibly altering. "What? Well, what did he say? Hang on a moment." The Watcher grabbed a pen and paper, and started scribbling madly. "Are you sure that's everything? Right, well, I'll see you when you get here. And yes, hopefully we can put a stop to this."
"Yo, Wes, what's up?" Faith wanted to know.
"That was an old friend named Robson on the phone just now. He said one of the seers in London babbled out a prophecy before falling into a coma. I've written down what he said, word for word. It's about the Belial siphon spell-"
Michael was looking confused. "Uh, what's a Belial siphon spell?" he interrupted.
Wesley briefly explained but the warlock just shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry, but right now, I don't care. I'm sorry, but I just don't. I gotta help Amy." With that, Michael left the library. Xander watched him depart with quite a bit of sympathy; two years ago, he'd acted the exact same way when he'd learned Buffy was inevitably destined to be killed by the Master.
"As I was saying, the Belial siphon? Right now, Quentin Travers and the rest of them are going stark raving bonkers back in England. Apparently that damned spell is going to be taking place right here, sometime very soon," Wesley said grimly. "And all we have to go on is this bloody prophecy!"
"I hate prophecies," Xander said simply, his mind still focused on the past.
"What exactly does it say?" Willow asked, feeling terrified. ( Oh, Buffy, I really wish you were here right now. We need everyone we can get for this one! )
Wesley recited from his hastily scribbled transcript, "The one who sees everything has befriended a witch at the behest of another, the fallen one. By his actions, the fate of man is sealed; a death that never should have been will bring about the end, at the hand of one filled with grief and vengeance. Unless the whipping boy raised by mongrels prevents it. He must see beyond the seen, hear beyond the heard, and know beyond the known. And sacrifice is inevitable, lest eternal damnation occurs."
There was a brief silence. "Well, that was just nuttier than a fruitcake," Cordelia said, screwing up her gorgeous features into a grimace. "I mean, who's this whipping boy?" she asked in confusion.
"Who the heck is the one who sees everything?" Xander wanted to know.
"And who the hell's this fallen one?" Faith demanded.
"Someone's gonna die?" Willow asked tentatively. "And, and someone's gonna go all vengeance-y?"
"Not liking the sound of that whole sacrifice thing," Oz added in his own two cents.
The five teens started to hurl questions at Wesley, till the Watcher said in no uncertain terms, "Quiet, all of you! I need to think-"
"Yeah, Percy? About what?" Spike asked as he swaggered in through the library doors and everyone turned to face him. "Well, bleedin' heck. Don't I even get a hello?"
"Spike!" Willow yelped in fear as Oz quickly shoved her behind him.
"I'd say this qualifies for a worst-timing-ever award," Xander muttered, as he did likewise with Cordelia.
"This is the vamp responsible for that frickin' love spell last year?" Faith snarled, yanking a stake out from the back of her pants. She had grown in confidence and self-esteem ever since Buffy had been forced to leave Sunnydale, and was looking forward to the upcoming battle as a test of her skills and of course to rid the world of a vampire.
"Oy, now that wasn't my fault!" Spike's grin melted into a belligerent scowl. "Red here was too incompetent to get it right, can't blame me for that!"
Faith didn't reply, she just darted forward and staked Spike directly in the heart. Oddly, he made no move to try to stop her or avoid it; and then, instead of exploding into ash, William simply withdrew the wooden weapon and the hole in his chest sealed shut without a trace. The stake fell to the floor as Spike said, "Ooops. Problem, Slayer?"
Without warning he lashed out, hitting the stunned Faith with a jaw-breaking punch that sent her flying off across the library. Miss Lehane ended up unconscious after she slammed into the wall, quickly sliding down and collapsing into a broken heap.
"Faith!" more than one Scooby member yelled out, staring in horror at their fallen champion and the vampire who'd bested her.
Wesley instantly raced over to her side, and was relieved to see that his charge was still alive at least. ( Praise the Lord for the small mercies, anyway. )
"Now that's what I call gettin' up close 'n personal," Spike said in satisfaction after seeing all their faces and the results of his attack. "Right, who's next outta you lot?"
"Spike, please, don't do this..." Willow started to say desperately.
"Willow, luv, d'you have any idea how long I've been waiting to kill you?" Spike asked jovially, and Xander immediately placed himself alongside Oz as Cordelia joined the redhead behind them. "Promised you that I would that night if you failed me, remember? Well, now it's finally time-"
"Over my dead body," Oz said simply.
"Not a problem, mate," Spike said cheerfully, before his undead nostrils told him what Oz really was. "Ah, bugger, don't have anything silver on me! Well, never mind, Dog Boy. I'll just have to make do somehow."
The vampire attacked, effortlessly batting Oz and Xander away to different sides of the room. With a casual slap, Cordelia was also knocked aside and Spike grabbed Willow around the neck. "Now before I kill you, pet, I do have a question. Where's Captain Forehead and his sodding Slayer girlfriend?"
"Let her go!" Xander yelled, even as he raced to check on his girlfriend.
"Sorry, but that's not an option," Spike smirked before turning to Oz. "And you, the human mutt. Don't try anything heroic, mate, understand? Just answer the bloody question!"
"Buffy's dead," Cordelia desperately tried to bluff Spike as everyone turned to stare at her. "She died about a month ago, thanks to some way-ugly demon or another. Angel decided to step out into the sunlight the very next morning, and we sprinkled his ashes over her grave like he wanted. Happy now?"
Spike frowned at her. The information was compatible with the rumors he'd heard at Willy's lately, but still...something just didn't feel quite right about the situation. Looking around he asked, "So where's the librarian, then? Haven't seen that fella around at all lately."
"Giles left town after the funeral," Oz supplied emotionlessly. "Now let Willow go before I tear your head off."
Spike openly laughed, "You're welcome to try it, ya dumb pillock! That idiot Balthazar, he did that already. Didn't accomplish anything 'fore I took care of him and his useless bunch of gits."
Everyone looked surprised to hear that news, given how they had been unsuccessfully battling the demon and his servants for months now. Wesley got up and moved away from the unconscious Faith's side. "William the Bloody. Slayer of two Slayers, according to my research. Hot-headed, impulsive, yet very deadly."
Wes recalled the intensive study he had done on both Angel and Spike before coming to Sunnydale, and was suddenly very grateful for it. He saw the ring on William's finger and nodded once as something went 'click' inside his mind. "You've found the Gem of Amara, the vampire Holy Grail? Quite an accomplishment, I have to say. Really must give you an edge, becoming invulnerable to harm thanks to its presence."
"Who are you?" Spike instinctively growled at Wes. He didn't like his enemies having such detailed knowledge about his strengths and weaknesses.
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. You might know me better though as the man who killed Drusilla, your sire."
It was a damned huge risk for the Watcher to take, but fortunately it paid off. Throwing Willow aside in his sudden mindless rage, William screamed incoherently and charged forward to tear Wesley into little pieces. "YOU?! YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE! YOU STAKED MY DRU? I'LL BLOODY KILL YOU FOR THAT! RIP YER HEAD OFF AND PISS DOWN YOUR NECK! SHIT ALL OVER YOUR-"
But the moment he got to within striking distance, Wesley's hidden sword extended out of its wrist sheath and the weapon neatly severed Spike's left hand, depriving him of the Gem. Unfortunately for the human, the pain didn't fully distract the vampire who subsequently fastened his fangs onto the British man's neck and began to feed as fast as he could.
It was up to Xander to hit Spike over the head with the table lamp since Oz was taking care of Willow, who was unconscious after hitting her head on the floor. Wesley collapsed to the ground as the vampire growled before turning to face Harris. "I'm warning you, whelp-"
Spike then instinctively recoiled at the cross Xander shoved in his face, clutching his stump of a wrist in pain. "Argh! You annoying-"
"Cordy, smash that gem!" the male teen called out.
"NO!!!" the English vampire yelled, but it was too late. Cordelia already had the ring in her possession, discarding Spike's amputated hand with a shudder. "You so much as try it, bint, and I'll kill him! I swear, I'll even turn your boy and make 'im kill you afterwards!"
Oz got up and grabbed a stake, heading towards Spike and Xander. "Not if I kill you first."
The vampire then made a critical mistake; he glanced at the new part of the equation, and Harris seized the opportunity to press his cross against Spike's face. Howling from the unexpected agony, the soulless creature decided he didn't like the odds anymore. After grabbing his hand up off the floor, a cursing William the Bloody simply left the library as fast as he could in order to recover and regroup.
"We need to get the wounded to a hospital, now!" Xander said urgently to his male buddy and his girlfriend, who helped him gather up the fallen members of the group and head for Oz's van.
To Be Concluded...