A/N thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.(I changed the dream sequence in chapter two because, as this story developed, I thought of going in a different direction and so I want to use that dream sequence for another story. I do not want to be very repetitive on my plotlines so, for those who have read chapter two, the dream sequence near the end is totally different. For those who are reading the story completely for the first time, disregard this note.)
Chapter Four
Willow, Buffy, Faith, Dawn, Robin, Xander and Giles sat in the main office just after sunset that next evening. They had spent the day getting back to headquarters, relaxing and trying to come up with a plan as to who was behind the current situation. Willow had got some information from the disk that indicated members of Wolfram and Hart were indirectly involved but not the leader. The disk also detailed a flexible timeframe in which to dismantle the current status of the slayers. A crucial piece of information was missing however, that of how they were doing the dismantling and a more exact timeframe. "How did you get the disk?" Buffy asked, as she tried to comprehend just what this all meant. "I mean, you told us earlier that Angel's gang were all dead. One of them had to get to you somehow?"
"That's a good theory," Faith said sarcastically, as Buffy glared at her.
"You two are as bad as Kennedy and Dawn." Giles said in a distressed tone. He too wanted the information but felt now was not the time for the constant jabbing some of the members of this group had gotten used to.
"There is supposedly a sorceress involved also," Willow continued unfazed by the question from Buffy. "Dawn I want you to get on the computer and see what you can come up with that pertains to sorceresses involved with Wolfram and hart. Buffy and Faith, would you mind poking around the city to see if you can find out anything while Xander helps Kennedy keep an eye on the other slayers?
Faith nudged Buffy back to the conversation. She had drifted off in her own little moment of grief over the loss of the two vampires that she had grown to love. "Sure we can handle that," Faith said and pulled Buffy up by the arm.
"Am I right to assume there is a reason that you left the other two Watchers out of this little discussion?" Robin asked as he kept his gaze away from Faith.
"Yes, at this point, nobody is to be fully trusted. You and I will be working closely with those two, myself with Bev and you with Philip. Before anyone asks, I am taking Beverly because Robin tends to let his pants get in the way." Giles added and got up from the table. He smiled at Faith who smirked and then he ushered Robin out of the room.
As everyone left for their various duties, Willow went to the basement of the school. She was surprised that Harmony was still there waiting and had not made an escape when the sun had set. "Here," Willow handed her a glass of mammal blood to which Harmony accepted. After drinking the liquidy badness, Harmony proceeded to wash out her mouth with mouth wash then brush her teeth in the small wash basin that Willow had brought to the basement earlier in the day. Willow tried hard not to laugh but couldn't help herself. "You've got to be the cleanest vampire I ever saw."
Harmony looked at the redhead in her classic snob look, "I retained some of my values after being bit. Angel told me that was a bit off the wall and probably what kept me from becoming pure evil."
"How did he get you to change?" Willow asked and settled herself on a chair. She felt it was most likely Harmony's lack of brains that had stopped her quest for evil but decided to see what Angel had saw in the former snark queen.
"He didn't do this," Harmony laughed. "I decided several months before I hooked up with his crew that I wanted to get a normal life. It's mind over matter really and someone with the stature that I held while alive, should easily be able to do it and so I did it."
Willow found it odd that a soulless creature could make such a change. It took Angel receiving a soul to want to change and Spike had to be neutered with a chip to form a change. That was neither here nor there, Willow knew, as she was no longer dealing with the two vampires. They were senselessly killed because of whatever they were dealing with currently. She tried to stop a tear from falling but the former cheerleader saw it. As Willow composed herself, she wondered if harmony did have a soul, how much of an asset could she be to the gang? She then wondered why she bothered to wonder such things of her former tormentor who had made a jab or two since coming to the headquarters. "Harmony, I do believe you and I just hope I don't regret it." Willow said, as her face began to pale.
"Willow?" The blonde vampire asked with not much sympathy in her voice. Willow's face had gone white as a ghost, her hands were trembling and the veins in her forehead began to bulge.
- - - - - -
Faith and Buffy walked the streets of Cleveland in search of a clue as to what was going on. They had found an out of the way demon bar ran by none other than Willie but no leads came from him. He had just set up shop and hadn't the time to gain the trust of his new clientele and offered to help them out in the future. Both slayers were frustrated beyond normal for many reasons. The main ones being the size of this place compared to Sunnydale made it more difficult to scope out leads. Also, they were both in their own private grief over the losses of the vampires. Faith's grief was for Angel only but was as palpable as Buffy's nevertheless. "B, this really sucks y'know? I thought more slayers would mean easier times for us."
"It seems to have only gotten harder," Buffy commented and looked at Faith. Her features were worn and tired with utter devastation in her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder when it will all end."
"I just hope we didn't tip the balance to far in one direction with releasing all the powers like that." Faith said as she lit a cigarette. "I mean, it was what was needed at the time but was it supposed to be a permanent thing? Good and evil has to keep a certain balance, like remember Whistler? If there is to much good, someone has to do something bad to balance it out whether or not they're really a bad being."
"I see what you're saying and it must have some validity to it but the thing is, the distribution of powers to the potentials was slowed way down after Sunnydale caved in. So I figure that was part of the balancing out." Buffy offered to the conversation in wonderment as to how she came up with that response.
As they turned towards a small eatery, Buffy stopped dead in her tracks and did a double take. There walking out of the diner with a few other people was someone who looked identical to Tara. "Oh my god," she mouthed in a voice so low that Faith barely heard it.
Faith looked in the direction that Buffy's eyes were fixed in and too had a look of shock on her face. "Let me go check it out," she said and quickly headed over to the girl. "Hey excuse me, do I know you?"
The blonde looked Faith over, she was a very attractive woman but she couldn't recall having seen her before. "Um, no I don't think so. My name is Tracy Willis." She extended her hand to the slayer then looked passed her to the blonde who stood on the sidewalk trying to not look at them. Something stirred inside her, a familiar feeling though she could not place it.
Faith pulled out her wallet and pointed to a picture of she, Buffy, Willow and Xander from their high school days. "Recognize the redhead?"
The blonde studied the picture and couldn't place any of the people in the photo but the blonde, again, gave off a familiar vibe from deep within her. "I'm s-s-sorry." She said and lowered her gaze.
Faith walked back over to Buffy who was clutching her stomach and struggling to breathe. She was losing it and Faith moved quickly. She pulled the blonde slayer up and lifted her face up towards the sky to help the cool night air hit her. In a short time, Buffy seemed to settle down a bit. "Faith, she has the stutter and everything! I can't believe this!"
"We have to check this out before we talk to Red B. We don't want her going off the deep end again and have it not be Tara." Faith said and received an uncertain agreement glance from Buffy.
- - - - - - -
Harmony got to her feet and approached the shaking redhead. "It's magic withdrawals," Willow managed to get out in between ragged breaths. "Something's wrong, I haven't done this in nearly a year."
Part of Harmony wondered what evil deeds she and the big bad Willow could accomplish, while the smarter part of her decided this was not good. Harmony figured that if the big bad Willow didn't like her, and she most likely would not, she would be vaporized in a flash. "How do you get yourself out of these predicaments?" The blonde vampire enquired, as blood began to flow from Willow's nose.
Willow had enough sense about her to notice the struggle of the vampire. The smell of human blood was intoxicating to the demon that controlled Harmony for certain but she fought the urge to try anything. In game face, she wet a cloth and gave it to the redhead then stepped back quickly. She then picked up Willow's purse and handed it to her in hopes there was something in there that could help her. "Could you help me please?" Willow questioned, as she fought her own battle to stay in control.
Her eyes darted from green to black in a flash and it happened over and over again. Harmony found this a little weird but surmised weird things always happened with these losers. "Sure but don't get blood on me." The socialite acting vampire barked, as she held Willow's forehead back. "You're mighty brave Willow," Harmony continued in a low voice still in game face.
"What happened to Cordy?" Willow asked in a shaky voice. She wanted to find something else to focus on with hopes it would help her direct her mind elsewhere and stop the urges to use magic for the time being.
"She was tricked into going to this higher being place," Harmony began. "She ended up combined with this brilliant evil being that tried to destroy everything. The only way to get rid of it was to kill her or put her in a permanent coma. So they chose the coma and then an image of her helped Angel get on track and she died in her sleep." Willow watched harmony's expression as she spoke but there was nothing there. She almost felt sad for the vampire who used to torment her so much in their younger days. Even harmony would have cried for the loss of her friend. This reminded Willow that she had to watch her close; a vampire without a soul was void of any real emotion and could not be trusted fully.
In turn, the vampire scrutinized the redhead with her gaze as she told the sad story of Cordy. "You know, those visions she had were killing her. They were destroying her brain yet she kept on. She truly was a hero and I was glad she allowed me to keep contact by phone. After I almost bit her, she wouldn't let me come back around but she didn't stake me. I guess she truly did care about her friends." There it was, Willow noticed evidence that maybe these creatures did harbor feelings but she doubted they ran very deep. Harmony Kendall was the rudest and most stuck up member of their little band of snobs next to Cordy before she grew up.
"It worked," Willow said in hopes that the vampire didn't know she had other motives besides calming her desire for magic. "Thanks Harmony," she said and shakily stood up.
"Don't get used to it," the vampire said briskly. "Just because Cordelia chose to fraternize with you all, doesn't mean I ever would." Harmony stood back up also and looked at the redhead. "I've done my job here and suppose I should be on my way."
"Wait," Willow said in a hurried voice. She didn't quite know why she was doing this but it came out nevertheless. "Look, I may be the stupidest person on the face of the earth for doing this but, I don't want the gang to know I'm having trouble again with magic. They get all wigged out and afraid I'm going to go all evil, would you stay a little longer and maybe help me? I mean, it's not that I want you to help me but I need help and maybe you could do this for Cordy."
"For Cordy," harmony echoed softly. "She did let me live, I suppose I could do her a favor seeing as she was all into helping the helpless and you were pretty helpless there for a minute."