Bargaining Undead - Chapter 2


Black Eye

"Are you the spawn of hell sent to annoy me or something?"

Spike gave a baffled look. "Um, no." He grabbed her arm, "If you'd stop for just a second Dru and explain to me—"

"Why do you keep calling me her? I'm not." Buffy was extremely disturbed. She was obviously in some hell dimension that was trying to torture her by making everyone think she was that lunatic vampire Drusilla.

"You are." Spike realized that the logical approach was not going to work on his ex. "Will you just stop," he said losing patience and he tugged on her arm a little harder.

She whipped her gaze at him and leered. "I – Am – Buffy. Buff – Ee. Do you have eyes? Do you see the blonde hair?" She grabbed some locks on her shoulder and held them at his face. But her eyes widened in shock to see her hair was a dark brown. No no no! What is this? It's a nightmare! She touched her face in a panic, feeling her cheeks and mouth, and finally her forehead. Well at least I have no ridges. Yet. "If this is your idea of torture, it's a really sad attempt!" she shouted to the sky.

Spike figured something extremely bad must have happened to her to make her this crazy. "Okay Buffy," he said playing along, "Did someone try to hurt you, did someone cast a spell on you?"

She was tired and frustrated, "I'm dead!" she shouted to the air. "Fine! Whatever! Have your way with me you demon! But don't expect me to wallow in fear and beg for the pain to stop because it aint happening!" She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "So, what torture game we playing first?"

Spike nervously put both hands on her shoulders. "You . . . need to come with me. When's the last time you've had blood to drink?" he said looking concerned.

"Blood? Vampire. Well since I'm in hell I might as well give it a go." She looked at the girl standing behind him. "Dawn?"

Spike moved to block her sight of the girl. "No, love, we don't feed on our sisters."

"I wasn't going to eat her," Buffy spat. "You know, even though she isn't real, she still looks like my Dawn."

The words stun Dawn and she looked to the ground. Spike shoved Drusilla forward. "It isn't safe out here. We'll hide in my crypt."

Buffy laughed, "You're going to hide from the biker demons? Wow you're even more pathetic here than up there." She started walking ahead of them with heavy and careless steps.

"What reality is that girl processing?" Dawn whispered. "She never talked like that before. It was always more, metaphoric."

He gazed after Drusilla. "I know what you mean. Hey," he lowered his head to level with hers, "you alright?"

"Yeah," she smirked, "I guess something reminded me of my past life as a key and I . . . It's all past me now, no big deal."

He returned the expression feeling glad she was showing signs of growing up. "Let's go. Maybe being inside the crypt will bring back her memories of our time together—killing people and stuff," he added quickly.

"Yeah," Dawn said sarcastically, "good times."

. . . .

"What now?"

Anya's words ran deep into Willow's mind ripping away what hope lingered inside. What do I do now? The urn was destroyed, the last urn of Osiris. Nothing. I can't do anything to bring Buffy back now.

Xander slammed a fist on the cashier counter of the Magic Box, startling everyone.

"Well, don't we go out and slay some bad demon guys like we always do?" Tara said scanning the room nervously for consensus. "Willow?" She gazed at the only person still maintaining her composure. Their eyes met but Willow said nothing.

"Alright," Xander said, "everybody grab something pointy or sharp enough for slicing off heads because we aren't going to stand around and let our town get taken over by the Hells Angels." He took a longsword from the cabinet for himself and handed a crossbow to Willow, which he set down on the counter from a lack of response. "Someone has to check on Dawn . . . and Spike—"

"What? We're splitting up? Well I call Xander. We will go check on Dawn and the two witches can poof away the demons. Right? I mean you're still strong enough to make them go back to the stink hole they came from right Willow?" Willow was clearly lacking any spirit or will to put up a fight at the moment.

"I'm feeling a little drained, but Xander's right. Maybe if we can kill the leader, the rest of them will scatter." Her eyes fell to the gashes on her arms from the ritual. They weren't as painful as they were really itchy. I feel so weak. She remembered reading a passage in an ancient text about a witch who could steal the life force of every demon she encountered, giving her limitless power in a world plagued with mystical creatures. It was a power she knew she could have for herself if she took the time to harness it, but for the moment, it would have to wait. What I need right now is a quick pick-me-up. She scanned the room and noticed a red orb gathering dust on top of a bookshelf. She looked at Anya, "Is that a blood stone?" Not waiting for a response, she walked over to the shelf and grabbed the stone. It was fairly heavy.

"Yes, meant to temporarily hold the power of a half breed demon," Anya looked at the others, "like if you were a demon and wanted to look completely human for a day so you could go on a date with some hot guy or girl—yeah this is what you would use." She gave Willow a curious look, "Why? I really don't see how that thing is going to help us. Unless you wanted to make the demon leader human so he's easier to kill, but the whole thing is really complicated and he'd probably kill you before you could finish the ritual. . ." Anya's words trailed away as she saw the orb explode in brightness in Willows hand. The witch's red hair was flailing wildly and her eyes were turning jet black. There came a high-pitched screeching sound and everyone in the room put their hands over their ears.

"What she doing!" Xander shouted but Anya only shrugged and shook her head.

Tara was staring at Willow in horror as a red and black swirls wrapped her body and then entered her mouth. "Willow!" She could feel the power, it was immense and it was now one with her lover. Tara felt the spiritual air, but she could not feel the presence of the sweet red headed girl anymore. Instead, a dark power, a sinister evil had merged with her.

"Wow," Willow gasped in exhilaration. There was another voice speaking at the same time as her, a deep demonic one. "I feel great!"

"Yeah well you look like the exorcist girl," Xander said.

"Shut your hole you pathetic human," the demonic voice said overpowering Willows. "What? No—don't say that, shut up."

The three of them exchanged confused glances.

"It's the demon," Willow strived to speak, "the bastard is strong—trying to take my body." She was gripping her head so hard it looked like she was digging her nails into her scalp. "I'm in control! You will obey me!" The demon's voice was fading from speech.

Tara slowly crept towards her, noticing her demeanour was calming. Willow reached out and gently took Tara's hands and smiled. "It's good don't worry," the demon's voice was completely gone, "I'm in control of it now. Oh man does this feel great!" As long as I stay focused, I can do it. I know I can. Just gotta stay focused . . . .

Tara touched Willow's cheek and was looking very worried, "Willow what did you do?"

"What I had to," she said looking overjoyed.

"Where'd the orb go?" Xander muttered.

"So biker demons going to go poof now right?" Anya said.

"Not just that," Willow's smile widened, "I'm bringing Buffy back."