The Family We Choose

Ch 6 – Buffy Vs. the Lei-Achs

As Giles came back from the rear office with a large gift-wrapped box, Buffy once again felt a shiver cross over her skin and down her back. She peered around the shop, puzzled, but again things seemed quite normal. Willow and Anya were sniping at each other over which name tag design should go on Buffy's gift; Dawn was fiddling with her hair and rolling her eyes at them. Giles, of course, was the first to sense his Slayer's mood and shot her a questioning glance. As she met his eyes, she gave an imperceptible shrug of her shoulders, but her eyes revealed she was antsy about something.

Once, Giles might have (no, he would have) simply told her she was being paranoid. But now, with Buffy's increased meditation exercises and her experience he had a new respect for the intuition she'd displayed more than once. Without alarming the others he quieted his own mind and movements and tried to 'feel' the room. Even without supernatural senses of his own, he'd been a Watcher long enough to know when he was being watched. Again he met Buffy's eyes and this time gave her an imperceptible movement of his own. A simple flick of his head in the suggestion of a nod and he could see Buffy getting ready for trouble.

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Tara rushed toward the Magic Box, afraid that her father would preempt her admittance that she'd made a mistake by placing a spell on her friends. Lord knew she loved him, but he could be mighty headstrong when he was angry and once Beth blabbed her big mouth it was likely he'd rush to the store and rat her out. He'd see it as his duty to warn them, but Tara also recognized that he probably would expect that they'd help run her out of town and back to Bayou Country once they knew the truth. And he was probably right. In fact, she deserved to have them shut her out. She just wished that she hadn't hurt Willow, like this.

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In the shop, the Lei-Achs looked to their leader for instructions. They couldn't speak or hiss, for they didn't know if they were also shielded to sound or not but with a few gestures he'd make his plans known.

The head of the three was deep in thought as he watched the Slayer so close, not to mention the young one. He could scent their brains and the wonderful bio-chemicals they produced and the thought that they were there for the taking was more than he could stand. And when he could spread that he'd been the one to slay the Slayer…well, what more could a demon on this world want?

Of course, that would be directly ignoring his instructions by the Hell-bitch, but she wasn't here right now, was she? And couldn't they get out of town long before she found out what they'd done? And really, she was a god! Surely, she could find some other way to locate her hellish key than the old 'spy and report back' plan?

He looked over at his two compatriots and realized that they would have already torn into the humans if it wasn't for their respect toward him. The hunger in their eyes was palpable and only served to further inflame his own. He gave a silent and ghastly smile and a nod of the head to let them know that the plans had changed. They had anticipated as much and both nodded back in agreement. With another nod of his head, the leader sent one of them to the front door, where he quietly turned the lock, unnoticed.

When he'd returned to the main floor, the demons closed in on their prey. The leader would get to feed on the Slayer of course. His number two would enjoy the girl and the third of the trio chose to stand behind Giles.

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As Tara approached the door to the shop, she faltered just a bit as she ran through her mind exactly what she'd say. She had to get this right; had to make them understand that she'd never hurt them or allow her demon-self to hurt anyone. She'd take their accusations and she'd remain strong. They'd at least listen to her as long as she didn't fall apart and could get her point across. And then, well…then the chips would fall where they would.

At the same time, Spike arrived outside of the alley door of the Magic Box and gave the door a try. As per usual when Buffy was there, the door was unlocked. She often took breaks during research to come out here and pace or do breathing exercises and when she wasn't being really pissy, he'd join her and smoke.

Or at least that's what used to happen, Spike thought bitterly, before I ruined it with that…well, never mind. The important thing is I'm working my way back in and if I can help with the Lei-Ach deal, maybe I won't be a pariah anymore.

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Buffy felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise and felt all of her muscles tense in anticipation. She gave Giles a look and indicated that Dawn was his responsibility while she was otherwise engaged. He acknowledged that he understood. There was no need for it actually, as he was already inching his way in the younger Summers'/Key's direction.

When Giles heard the faintest hiss of breath behind his left ear, he immediately and without thought drove his elbow behind him, feeling a solid impact as something grunted in surprise and he hoped pain. Yelling for Anya and Willow to get down, he snatched a yelping Dawn from her stool and took both of them into a roll to the floor.

In the meantime, Buffy let her instincts direct her as she brought her own elbow up and back, solidly connecting with something that hissed so loud, everyone clearly heard it above the general din. She followed this with a low kick and this too connected, but she still couldn't see anything.

Anya screeched and fumbled with the axe behind the counter wanting to know what was going on. Willow for her part was urging Giles to get Dawn to safety; something he was already doing to the best of his ability.

Picking up the teen, Giles dragged her up the two steps toward the front door. Once there, he grabbed the round table on which sat some books displayed, and yanked it hard. Tugging Dawn down with him, he placed himself and her into a makeshift defensive corner using the bookshelf now behind him and the front wall of the shop to his side. The table was brought down with a crash in front of them, limiting the space that the mysterious attackers could approach him from.

As Dawn alternated between peeking at Buffy and hunching down and yelling for an explanation from anyone who would answer, Giles was fumbling behind his back. Yanking the bottom row of musty gothic romance novels used as a cover from the bottom row of shelves, he pulled the wickedly sharp silver dagger he'd had stowed there for just such an emergency. Once armed, he hissed at Dawn that they were under attack and she needed to be quiet so they could hear their invisible foes. Dawn, bless her, quieted immediately and curled her self into as small a ball as possible to make her less of a target.

Behind the counter, Anya was swinging the hand ax randomly and wildly. She nearly hacked off her other hand with one wild swing and almost beheaded Willow twice before the witch was able to grab her and pull her to the floor with her. Once there, Willow hissed at her to shut up and let Buffy focus. In the meantime, Willow was raging at herself for not being able to remember a 'yank the cloud back' spell. She knew the meditation spell Buffy tried when she thought Joyce was being hexed could have helped, but she also knew trying to meditate while your life was in danger was way beyond her.

Buffy grabbed a quick look to see where Dawn was, and saw Giles point down behind a table he was currently crouched behind. Her breath of relief was cut short when something with a hell of a punch sent her to the floor. With the weight of something humanoid pressing down on her back, she didn't think she had the leverage to get it off of her, but she struggled anyway.

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Spike was just crossing through the training area at the rear of the shop, when he heard the commotion start in the main shop area. Throwing caution to the wind, as he always had, he barreled onto the main floor to see Buffy being straddled by a brain-sucker. Not slowing down, he crashed into the beast, sending both of them flying onto the steps. The thing recovered faster than Spike would have liked under the circumstances. With the Bit in the place, he didn't have time for fun, but the thing was ready for him and led him into a wrestling match.

"Don't worry Slayer, I got this one! Grab the one going for the Bint and Red!"

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Buffy was lying on the floor struggling to get free of whatever had her when she felt the weight suddenly release. Not delaying to think, she immediately leaped to her feet and gave a round house kick, but got only air.

She heard Spike yell for her to get to Willow, but then two clawed hands grabbed at her wrists and she head butted forward catching something and knocking it back. It had felt like she'd hit the thing's chest, which meant she needed to start aiming a little bit higher.

Unseen by any except Spike, one of the Lei-Achs was behind the counter and menacing Anya and Willow. And though he could hear the girls' heavy breathing, they didn't appear to be putting up any fight. He yelled at Buffy to get to them, but before she could react, he saw her get shoved by a third demon. It was a hard shove and she flew into a shelving unit then began to punch wildly at the air. There was not time for him to wonder what the hell she was doing though, because his own fight was starting to go badly.

Outside the shop, Tara screamed, already well aware that the attackers were demons and because of her spell no one would be able to see them. Unfortunately, without the ingredients she used in the spell she couldn't break in from outside. She needed to get in and get close to at least one of the affected. Grabbing the door she found it locked and yelled at Willow that there was one right in front of her!

Willow and Anya both turned to see Tara screaming at the door and trying to get it open. They immediately caught that there was a demon in front of them, even though they couldn't see anything.

Anya swung her ax again and caught something, which hissed in either pain or anger. She couldn't tell which. And then she was picked up and thrown over the counter to land painfully on the floor.

Willow was busy chanting any words that would come to her trying to convince whatever powers that be to just let them see clearly. In mid chant she felt a blow to the face and then things went gray as she lay stunned.

Just as Tara got herself together and chanted for the door lock to open, Spike was on his feet and across the short distance to the counter. Yanking Willow's attacker over it, he quickly broke the thing's neck.

Tara rushed in only to be confronted by the demon that Spike had been wrestling, getting up from the floor. She swung her fist clumsily and it was just luck that she'd managed to hit. The thing only stumbled backward half a step and more in surprise than pain, but it was enough and it went tumbling down the two steps behind it, losing its balance. On the floor, Anya barely had time to roll out of the way to keep from getting body slammed.

Buffy's attacker had followed her and was busy slamming her face first into the Scooby research table. After the fourth blow, she was pissed off and with Slayer strength grabbed behind her at the things wrist. She felt an instance of satisfaction as she felt a bone snap and then another blow caught her in the face and sent her careening into the hideous sofa.

As Tara stood for a moment in panic, Giles called out to her to join him and Dawn in relative safety. Seeing her chance to put an end to the gang's handicap she ran over to them. Grabbing Giles' pro-offered hand, she chanted quickly, "What Cadria was beseeched, let her no longer impart. That which was hidden, is now revealed."

The demon on the floor had just stood up and was trying to decide between the vampire (now in full fang mode) or helping with the Slayer when it heard the new witch chant something. With a sinking feeling in its stomach, it looked again at the Slayer who was suddenly whaling on their leader. Choosing the better part of valor it made a dash for the door, but was tripped up when the little blonde lying there grabbed it by the ankle and tripped it. A moment later and Spike had embedded the thrown ax from behind the counter into its head.

It was barely two minutes after that and Buffy had her opponent's head twisted at an awkward angle. She stood a moment huffing breath before yelling out Dawn's name and looking frantically for her sister. Dawn was fine though and Buffy hugged Giles in 'thank you'.

"What the hell," they heard from the doorway. Unnoticed in the excitement, Tara's family had entered.

"D-daddy!"

"So, it's true. Beth told me, but I said 'no'. I said my little girl may not know what's best for her, but she wouldn't be hexing her friends."

"I-I didn't! This isn't my fault. I mean, it is…but the demons aren't. I didn't bring them here," Tara glared at Beth.

"They were probably drawn by you and you know it," Donnie yelled at her.

"Wait! Could we all just calm down a moment, please." Giles looked at Tara and the strangers that had entered, "Can I assume you have some idea of what has happened here?"

He directed his comment at what was presumably Tara's father, but it was Buffy who answered.

"I have a suspicion that Tara can answer that question."

"I-I-I'm sorry. I'm just; I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to cause any harm, I swear! I would never hurt anyone!"

"Tara," Willow said timidly. The look on her face was confusion and a little fear. "What wasn't supposed to cause any harm? Do you know these demons?"

"No! I just…I needed to hide. I'm sorry," Tara started to cry before she could go on. All of her carefully rehearsed speech was forgotten upon realizing what she'd almost caused to happen.

Willow couldn't stand to see her girl so upset and crossed the distance between them. Placing her arms around her, Willow assured her that whatever it was, they'd work it out. The intimacy between them didn't escape the scrutiny of Mr. Maclay and if it was possible, his features grew even more severe.

"Tara! You've caused these fine people enough trouble. Let's go."

"Wait," Buffy said. "I still want an explanation. And I want to hear it from Tara. You nearly got us killed, you owe us that much."

Tara straightened up to meet Buffy in the eye. She was right…about all of it and she did owe them the explanation at the very least.

"I was trying to hide my d-demon half. Just until I could figure out how to explain why I'd never brought it up. I…I was hoping that it would never come out. I just wanted to stay a part of you guys, I wanted to stay with Will."

"That's where her magic comes from. It's Hell-sent and it'll destroy her just like it did her mother and anyone else around her. This is partly my fault; I never should have let her leave home," her father said angrily.

"Tara, we would have understood," Giles said. "In fact, that sort of makes you fit in even more, if you know what I mean." He gave her a small smile and he was so understanding that she couldn't believe that she hadn't trusted him in the first place.

She hadn't trusted any of them even after hanging around a vampire and Xander-possession and how easily they accepted Willow and her as a couple, at least after the initial surprise. Sometimes she really was stupid, she decided.

"So, the spell you cast," Buffy interrupted, "it was just meant to hide this demon part of you. It…you didn't know about these things?"

"Lei-Achs," Spike inserted, "Nasty buggers. Big on the brain-sucking."

"I swear to you on everything I love, Buffy, I only meant to hide myself. I just…I wasn't careful enough."

"It's okay, Tara," Dawn said quietly. She hugged the older woman close and told her it was just a mistake. Now that they knew what was happening, they could help her.

"Help her with what exactly," Anya wanted to know. "I mean, what type of demon manifestation can we expect?"

"W-well, uh…I don't think that matters, young lady. What matters is that she has evil in her and she needs to be at home with those that can care for her and protect her from herself. Otherwise, there's going to be more 'incidents' like this."

"Well, I'm not at all sure that's true," Anya insisted. "I mean, except for turning them invisible. That was pretty dumb, but I mean, not all demons are 'crush, kill, destroy'. Some are even pretty helpful. So let's just narrow things down a bit. What type of demon was in her mother?"

As Tara flinched at the mention of her mother, Willow glared at Anya for a moment. Her attention quickly turned back to Tara's father who seemed to be awfully unsure of himself for someone who was committed to keeping his daughter's evil away from the world.

"Look, I don't think this is any of your business. It's a matter for us and Tara. Tara? I told you it was time to go."

"I think I smell a rat in this room, and it ain't the white Wiccan," Spike said. Naturally he paused for dramatic effect as well as to light a cigarette. "For somebody looking to 'protect the world' you sure don't seem to know much about this alleged evil she's infected with."

I was just thinking that, Willow thought.

"I was just thinking the same thing," Giles whispered next to Spike.

"In fact, being acquainted with the dark corners of this, our wonderful world, myself I find it a bit strange that I've never sensed this evil right under my nose."

"Why are we still talking, daddy. Tara, get that butt of yours out to the camper right now, or so help me, I'm gonna drag you out," Donnie menaced, even taking one step toward her.

"Wait, wait…" Willow insisted, "Let's hear what Tara wants. Tara, listen…we're not mad about the spell. We just need to know what you want; do you want to go home."

Tara shook her head no at Willow, but her eyes remained steadfastly on her father. Willow could see the fear on her face, but determination as well.

Spike could also smell the fear from Tara and he thought to himself that her clan folk must be a work. It was too bad he was trying so hard not to be evil anymore, or he could have liked them.

"I've had enough of this," Mr. Maclay said as he took a step down. "Tara, your brother's right. It's time for this defiance to end."

"Hey, Mr. Maclay," Buffy said. "You want Tara, she's all yours."

"Buffy, wait…" Dawn tried to interrupt, but Buffy held a hand up to silence her. As she turned her eyes on Tara, she already knew she wasn't going anywhere.

Maybe the reason you didn't say anything, Tara, was because we didn't…I didn't make you feel like part of the family. That's a mistake I'm going to make up for.

Buffy turned back to Tara's father and let her dislike of the man take hold. "You just have to go through me," she said. She heard the gasp of genuine surprise from Tara, but she didn't let her attention waver.

Tara's father let out a bray of shocked laughter before growing serious again. "Are you kidding me? Is this some sort of joke?"

"I'm not joking. Whether Tara is a demon or not doesn't matter. You want to rip a grown woman away from the life she's chosen for herself; you just gotta get through me."

"And me," Dawn added.

"Well, this is tense," Anya muttered. "I wish I had popcorn."

"Daddy, I can take care of this," Donnie said as he hopped down the two steps to stand before Buffy in an attempt to intimidate her.

"One more step, junior, and I'm gonna break both your arms." Buffy held her gaze for a few seconds and then smirked internally as Tara's brother broke the standoff and took a step back. Just what I thought.

"Y'all don't know what you're doin'," Beth spoke for the first time. "She's evil. She's gonna hex you as soon as your back is turned!"

"You're a liar," Tara said heatedly.

"Look boys and girls, let's clear this up right now, shall we," Spike said stepping up to Tara. Without giving anyone the chance to react, he balled a fist and hit her in the face. Not too hard, because he expected what was going to happen. Even being ready for it, the chip went off and the surge of pain caught him unable to keep the yell from being voiced.

Willow was indignant of course, as he also anticipated. And as he suspected, she quickly forgot her outrage when she realized that he was far more hurt than Tara was.

"He hit my nose," Tara giggled.

"Yeah, he did. And it hurt! Uh…him, it hurt him."

"So much for the whole, "she's a demon' spiel. So you wanna show yourselves out, or should I give you a hand. And possibly, a foot," Buffy said while crossing her arms and giving a cock of her hips.

"I think your business here in concluded, Mr. Maclay. I'd like you to leave my store," Giles added.

Not to be outdone, Anya piped up, "Yes. The Magic Box doesn't desire your patronage."

"Tara," Mr. Maclay said, "if you do this, don't ever bother coming home at all."

"Daddy? Please, just go."

"I don't believe you're letting her get away with this!" Beth still wasn't ready to give up the argument, despite the fact that the two male Maclays were stomping for the door. In desperation, she turned back to the assembled group and glared, "Who the hell do you people think you are!?"

Buffy looked at her up and down with nothing but contempt, before pasting the phoniest smile she could manage. "We think we're her family."

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End Ch 06