A/N thanks for the reviews, here's the next chapter.
Ending of chap 11:
"They still try to protect you as if you are that geeky schoolgirl." Harmony said more to herself than Willow. "What do you want me to do Willow? Would you like me to go check this woman out?"
"No," Willow said as she laid her head tiredly on the vampire's shoulder. "I just want someone to love me unconditionally like Tara did. If that is Tara, I want her to know me and remember what we had. The only one who wants to help me can never love me. I'm so afraid that if I don't make her see who she is that I will never be loved. Could you just bite me and end my sorry excuse for a life? Just make sure that I don't come back as a vampire."
Harmony smiled evilly at the thought of turning Willow. It had been something that she occasionally pondered since her failed attempt a few years back and now Willow was asking her to do it. "I have a plan Willow," the vampire said in a whispered voice as she wiped the tears from Willow's face. "You have to follow my lead and protect your mind at all cost."
Chapter Twelve
The sun had risen early that morning and Giles was glad to see it. He had a long night with the gang and trying to figure out what was going on. "Hey G-man," Faith said and sat down next to him. "You look as bad as the rest of the crew. What's up?" She poured herself a hot cup of coffee and leaned back in the chair.
"I need someone to help me figure this mess out and everyone is so hell bent in their own grief that I can't get anywhere." Giles said in a defeated tone.
"What you got in way of anything to figure out?" Faith asked as Dawn joined them. "D, we're gonna be talkin' business here. Are you up for that?"
"I've got to be," she said with a haggard look on her face. "We've got no other choice but to stop this mess. There is nothing we can do about Willow and Tara and it's obvious that Willow will be of no help to any of us right now."
"What if that's the plan?" Faith asked as she lit a cigarette.
"Precisely my thoughts," Giles added and straightened up with a more hopeful look on his face then when Faith had first entered the room. "Willow told me that this Secaura woman had tried to tell her that something was watching her before she died. She had also told her that a blonde woman and a brunette would be of great help to her. We could have many choices there but my point here is, we haven't located this sorceress and what if she is the one watching Willow."
"That's obvious but how do we know who she is?" Dawn asked in a somber tone, as her face twitched uncontrollably and then her eyes changed to the familiar gaze of Cordelia Chase.
"I know who the sorceress is but am not permitted to tell you. Let me just say this, that Tara Maclay is an important key to the outcome of this entire ordeal. If you have not heard of something called a divided soul, I would suggest you get researching it. What the three of you come up with must stay between the three of you, Willow and Harmony Kendall. It's imperative that you move with caution and slowly. Once those in charge have rid the world of the slayers and other demon fighters, they will slowly overtake daily life as we know it. This is not some half-baked end the world plot but rather a plot to make the world be ran by demons. Either way, it's not good so be careful of every step you take and there are a couple among you involved." Having finished her speech, Cordelia flashed out of Dawn and disappeared in a spray of sparkling white lights.
Everyone sat quietly for a few moments and then Dawn stood up. "Someone has to convince Harmony to help us and I suppose that's me. By the way, I'm guessing the brunette who will help Willow is Cordelia and the blonde, Tara?" Dawn was not fully sure on her latter choice but it made sense since Cordelia had mentioned Tara's importance to the situation.
"Great news guys!" Dani said as she raced into the room. "Tracy has agreed to spend some time with Willow just in case, by some freak of nature, this is all true and she is Tara." It hurt Dani deep inside to think that Tracy was Tara because her feelings ran strong for the redhead but she would be willing to sacrifice her own feelings for Willow's happiness. "Why aren't you all doing the happy dance about now?"
"That's great news!" Dawn piped up in a mock tone. "I disagree with it because if it's not her the letdown for Willow will just be prolonged."
"It aint' gonna happen," everyone looked to see that Harmony had entered the room dressed up in something that looked like it just came off the latest wealthy fashion review.
"Harmony, can we talk?" Dawn asked cautiously. "It's really important and sorta private."
"I don't care what you all have to say. That woman is not playing with Willow's head." The vampire's eyes gleamed yellow as she spoke.
"You don't have the authority to make decisions around here!" Dani barked angrily.
Harmony laughed and batted her eyes at the slayer. "When a vampire mates, it's for life. I just so happen to have done it with a human! Granted, it was a little messy for my taste but she wanted it so I granted her wishes."
"Dear god no!" Giles shrieked and got to his feet. "If you have taken advantage of Willow in such an emotional time for her, one of the slayers will not have to stake you Miss Kendall!"
"What's this mating gibberish about?" Dani asked and turned to Giles for an answer.
"During love making, the vampire gets some of the um juices in their mouth. Then they ask permission to take the other vampire and if it's given, they bite the other and suck just a small bit of blood. It mixes it with the person's juices and they hafta kiss. It's sorta like blending together. It's kinda gross but that's how it was told to me by Angel." Faith said and shook her head. "Of course we don't hafta recognize it if we kill the vampire!"
"There has to be some sort of emotion there such as what Spike and Dru had." Giles added in disgust. "Of course look how that turned out, Dru broke his undead heart."
"So you forced this on Willow last night?" Dani asked with a look of rage on her face but she managed to keep her composure. Helping Willow through this mess with Tara or whoever she was, was the single most important thing on Dani's mind right now. She would deal with the vampire at a later date.
"She wanted me to turn her. So I charmed her by showing her what I did just for her." Harmony said and lifted the gem of Amara, which garnered a look of disbelief from Giles. "Even if that is Tara, she scarred Willow bad yesterday and since I'm the only one who wants to help her, her words not mine, she gave herself to me."
"Cordelia spoke through me again." Dawn offered up in way of stopping Harmony's bragging.
"You're an opportunistic bitch Harmony," Faith said with a chuckle. "I like that," she turned to Dani. "You look like you could use a work out, come with me."
As the two slayers left, Harmony turned her attention to Dawn. "What did Core say?"
"She says that she knows who the sorceress is and that Tara plays an important role in this entire mess. She also said that me, Giles, Faith, Willow and you were the only ones who could know about whatever plans we came up with. She wants us to research divided souls, whatever that is. She says that these characters want to kill off the slayers and other demon fighters then slowly let the demons run things. They don't want to end the world but make it more demon friendly." Dawn rattled off everything that Cordy had told her with a look of utter disgust on her face. "I don't know if I will allow myself to work with the likes of you now!"
"Well demon's running the world is not a bad plan," Harmony grinned sheepishly as she spoke and gave Dawn a look as if her long explanation were too much for her to comprehend.
"A demon-friendly world in the way they're going about it will lead to destroying the human race in the end." Giles said flatly with the knowledge that the vampire could care less about the human race.
"Secaura said that Willow's powers were within her. That means it's psychological unlike Buffy's little minion slayers. That is where I want to start while you guys research this soul thing. She also said something that doesn't match up though. She asked me to leave because my aura was to dark and the last I knew, soulless beings did not have an aura." The vampire said and strutted off as if she owned the world and in fact, she did because Willow was the center of so many in that little group's world.
"We'll let Buffy deal with her when the time is right. In the meantime, we must get moving on this soul research." Giles said and wiped off his glasses. "I just hope it's not to late to save Willow from whatever evil is out there and that vampire."
"I won't let them hurt her." Dawn said sadly, as a tear trickled down her face. She had seen so much over the years, been on the weaker emotional end of so much, but this time she planned to remain strong and do everything she could to stop the evildoers.
- - - - - - -
Willow lay in the bed and rubbed her eyes. She was sore yet again and knew it was from another night of sex with Harmony. She couldn't believe that she allowed the vampire to do this with her with Tara possibly being alive. Then it all came crashing back to her. She had laid her head on Harmony's shoulder and wept until she didn't think she could cry another tear. The vampire had wiped the tears from her face and kissed the tip of her nose, her cheeks and then her mouth. She had told Willow that she felt strongly for her, as strongly as a soulless creature could feel and then showed her the gem of Amara. She told her that this would enable her to go on picnics, take walks through the park in the sunlight and that she would never deny her affections. The vampire then displayed honesty in that she did not know if she could be totally good or faithful but Willow would always be her main priority. Then the vampire began kissing her again and due to Willow's weak resolve at the time, or maybe something more, she allowed Harmony to give her pleasure as she had done so many nights before.
During the pleasure-filled event, Harmony had lifted her mouth from between Willow's legs with yellow eyes boring into her soul and said, "I want you for my life-mate Willow." Willow wasn't sure what this meant but due to her over-heightened passion, or something more, Willow agreed and the vampire finished the ritual. "Harmony?" Willow questioned softly with a hint of fear in her voice for what she had done.
"I'm right here Willow." The vampire answered, as she came in the door with a plate of hot breakfast. "How are you feeling this afternoon?" Harmony asked and set the plate down on the nightstand.
"Sore, a little weird and sorta confused." Willow admitted honestly, as the vampire handed her a glass of cold juice. "After what we did last night, what am I supposed to do about Tara? I mean will you kill her if…"
Harmony handed Willow the plate of eggs, bacon and buttered toast with a smile on her face. "We have some things to discuss Willow but not right now. I want you to enjoy this breakfast and take a nice long walk with me. The snow has melted and it's a beautiful day out there. I want to breathe life again and you to join me." The vampire allowed her emotions to shine through her eyes momentarily, whether they were real or a calculated plan was unknown to Willow. "You know Willow, all I ever wanted in life was to be happy and I am that most of the time now. I only wanted someone to love me for who I am and not because I'm with Delia or they're afraid of my fangs. I tried to have something with Spike but he was to into Buffy. If I truly believed that woman was Tara, I never would have mated with you because frankly, getting kicked around hurts."
"I don't know, I feel pretty weak from all the energy I spent crying yesterday." Willow said but knew the vampire would not take no for an answer. "Did you cook this? It's a little more spicy then Andrew fixes." Willow hoped that she could get the fact that she was trying to ignore Harmony's revelation passed the often times dense vampire. She then felt guilty because Harmony had done nothing but help her. Sure she complained about her various makeup and manicure mishaps but tried to see that Willow was pleased. "Harmony, I tried not to like you and probably shouldn't but I do. My head is just so confused and if that is Tara…" Willow trailed off and didn't look at the vampire's face, which displayed that she knew what would happen.
"I like spicy," the vampire said and licked her lips. Spike got me up on the taste of spicy foods. They're not so bland to us vampires and if we make them just a little rare, it hits the spot on a…" Harmony stopped her description with a smile having decided to stop the current serious line of conversation.
"Did you love Spike? I mean, though she ended up running out on him, I think he and Dru loved each other as much as they knew how." Willow rambled as she attempted to sort out her current situation.
"Absolutely not," Harmony laughed and moved closer to Willow. "One night while we were bored in his crypt, he shared what made him go all evil. When he selfishly turned his mother to keep her with him and then regretted it deep down. It hurt him once he'd saw the monster that she was and knowing that he created her, dried him up on the inside. He went evil to stop the pain and anguish he had brought upon himself by turning his mother and then staking her to keep her from having to be that monster. I think Buffy uncovered that softer side of Spike that he only allowed his mother to find, she made him not want to be evil. That's what you do for me Willow. I don't think I can fully stop it but I want to stop being evil because of you."
"But you made the decision to not be evil before we even hooked up." Willow said in weak protest though inwardly something moved within her to have such honest words spoken to her, if they were honest.
"Yes but there is a difference. I wanted to be who I was before I died and if a little evil came my way, so be it but it wasn't my priority. Now I don't want it at all because I know it will hurt you. I don't want to hurt you the way I saw you hurting yesterday. I know this deep down but I can't promise you that I won't screw up because, when the demon gets an idea, it acts because there is no soul. Do you see what I mean?" Harmony pulled the redhead close to her and looked into her eyes, as she placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Yeah, Spike didn't want to try to force Buffy into having sex and grieved over it right away but he couldn't stop himself because of the demon." Willow smiled as the vampire kissed her. Part of her wanted to believe Harmony's words for what they seemed to be, while another part of her felt it was a warning as to what her demon would do if Willow tried to cross her. 'Harmony, I love Tara with all my heart and always will. I don't know if I could ever fully let go of her. I mean, whoever this woman is aside, Tara will always be a major part of my existence." Willow spoke honestly as she looked at the blonde vampire. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she would be doing the things she was doing with harmony Kendall. She had high school fantasies about the once popular girl but never thought they would come true.
"Tara is part of who you are Willow. I understand that and I would want you to feel comfortable speaking of her. You don't have to be afraid that I will go off and have a fit or hit you. I know who you are sleeping with at night and you've not once called out Tara's name. You have nothing to worry about Willow," something moved from deep within Willow as harmony spoke. It was as if a door had been unlocked, a door that locked when Kennedy had hit her and she discovered that her powers were gone. "It's different then with Spike Willow because I don't believe that Tara is here to take you away from me, you're all mine."
The vampire saw the change in Willow's eyes and deduced that Willow had locked herself away when Kennedy hit her for some reason. "Can you feel it Willow?" Harmony asked and pulled her into an aggressive kiss. "You're awaking the demon within because it craves power and baby you got power." She kissed the redhead again and pushed her back on the bed.
Willow seemed turned on more quickly than before to the demon's aggression and figured that it was because of the mating occurrence. "Harmony wait," Willow gasped, as her body disagreed again and pressed hard against the vampire. "I can feel my powers but I don't understand," she was cut off by Harmony's hands as they found her desire-filled places and knew that this conversation was going to have to wait a few hours. "What if that is Tara?" Willow managed to moan out between sharp breaths of pleasure.
"Tara was pure, she would feel you somehow. It's not her." The demon said and continued her quest for a little romp with her new mate. "Protect your mind Willow, they're watching you."
- - - - - - -
Dawn slammed down her book a couple of hours later. "Giles, look at this." She said and reopened the book.
Giles read the page three times, each time being careful to find that little something that made everything fit together. "Dawnie, I think you've got something here."
"Better stop the vampire before she gets to involved with her mate up there." Faith said as she sauntered into the room.
"We've got a handle on a divided soul." Giles said as Buffy and Tracy came in.
"She's here to talk to Willow," Buffy said with a smile. She had feelings for this woman but was now certain that she was Tara. There was no way that she would stand between them and would not allow anyone else to do so.
A/N the twists are coming up in the next couple of chapters.