Author note: Another Wednesday, another chapter. I nearly forgot (horror of horrors) but a nifty alarm on my phone reminded me! This is the chipper chapter six. And that was sarcasm. This chapter expands on the dark themes introduced in chapter five, and I have to say it's probably one of the darkest chapters in the whole fic.

Again, I'm using creative license to twist the magic in my little world to fit my needs. This is the only chapter it's really mentioned, so for those of you who sweat the small things, don't have a heart attack.

As usual, reviews, comments, and questions are welcomed. I try to respond to every review (on it's harder because I can't remember who I've responded to) and answer every question that doesn't spoil the end of the fic.

With November coming up, fanfiction will be put on the back burner. I participate in NaNoWriMo and I'm the co-ML of my region so I have a few more responsibilities than dishing out a 50,000 word novel in a month. That means I will not be working on the possible sequel that I don't know if I'm even going to do. It's still a big if.

Last, but most certainly not least, dedicated to my lovely beta Jacy. This chapter, along with chapter five, was an absolute mess when she got them. She helped straighten out the kinks and encourage me through the dark parts. You're lovely and I owe you like no other.

……………….

Willow did exactly what Draco told her—get everyone out of the house except her and Buffy—but she had no idea what was going on. When Giles asked, all she could say was that Draco sounded absolutely furious. She left out what happened before he left, and Giles didn't ask. Dawn did, though, and was quickly silenced by Buffy and sent out the door to stay with Xander.

The house was quiet now; the only noises came from Willow nervously drying dishes and putting them away. She laid out the silverware meticulously on the island, fiddling with each piece until it sat perfectly in a row. Buffy let her work in silence, occasionally glancing outside to the backyard.

Draco had been gone for nearly twenty-four hours, which was something new. He hadn't left the house since he arrived, not even when he was invited along on patrol. The excuse was he didn't want to leave Willow, but he had left her quickly yesterday. It made both Buffy and Willow anxious.

"What do you think made him so angry?" Buffy asked, her head in her palm. She was leaning on the island, watching Willow putter around nervously.

"I don't know," Willow replied, her voice more high-pitched and she started to clean the silverware harder and faster. "Who knows what's running through his mind?"

Buffy's eyebrow went up. "Willow," she said warningly. She was about to attempt to get Willow to open up, but her friend caved before Buffy could open her mouth.

"Okay! Draco said there was something stopping my magic from healing, and that it had to do with Amy, and then he found something and then he just left." One of the forks she had in her hand dropped and tears started to form in Willow's eyes. "He said he was going hunting. But what was he hunting?"

A loud pop sounded from the backyard and Buffy was off of the stool and at the doorway in a heartbeat. Her hazel eyes widened at the sight. Willow quickly dropped the dishes into the sink and rushed behind Buffy to see Draco's return.

Her jaw dropped. Now they knew what, or more accurately, who Draco had been hunting.

Draco was dragging a bleeding and bruised Amy Madison by the arm. His face was clearly showing his disgust. Amy said something, too low for them to hear, but Draco whipped around and said something back, also in a low voice. It made Amy's face close off and she gritted her teeth as she was yanked forward again.

Buffy was the first to speak. She could hear Willow taking in deep breaths beside her.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Draco just became more irritated and dragged Amy up the wooden stairs. He brushed past them with Amy in tow, forcing her onto a stool. When he removed his hand, she hissed and pulled it towards her. All along her arms were dark handprints.

He glared at her and pointed in her face. "Don't. Move." Turning to the two women still frozen by the door in shock, his expression didn't let up. "Stay there. I'll be back." He disappeared with a loud crack, one that made everyone in the kitchen wince.

Buffy quickly walked over to her and grabbed Amy's arm, causing her to grimace in pain, then glare at the Slayer. Buffy returned the glare.

"I want to look at them and see if you need any medical attention."

The laugh that came out of Amy's mouth was void of humor as she looked down at the bruises mottling her arms. "They aren't normal bruises. Don't bother. Your little first aid kit won't do any good against these."

Buffy touched one and immediately pulled back. The handprints were like ice on Amy's skin. The witch laughed again, and pulled in towards herself. Buffy just looked at Amy, horrified.

"What did he do to you?"

Willow came up behind Buffy and looked at Amy with sorrow. "This is because of me isn't it? It's because—"

"It's because you didn't have the decency to become consumed with your magic! I was out of town after I heard you killed Rack. I fully expected you to rise, but instead you turned your back on your magic," Amy hissed, making Willow take a step back. She was shaking her head 'no'.

"What I was doing was wrong, Amy. I know that now."

"You know nothing," she scoffed. "We were born to use magic, and you were on the path to use dark magic. You haven't embraced it." Amy stood and narrowed her eyes. "I can help with that."

Buffy suddenly stood in front of Willow, her stance defensive.

"Like hell you will."

Amy scoffed. "Oh really? And what are you going to do about it, Slayer? You won't be able to touch me when you've been thrown across the room."

Buffy started to make a move towards Amy, whose grin turned sinister. She bowed her head and started chanting. Willow's eyes widened as she heard the words, and she tried to grab Buffy's arm before the chant was finished.

There was no need. With a sudden crack, Draco was in the room and his hand slammed against Amy's bowed head, forcing it into the island with a thud. She winced and put her palms on the hard surface to push away, but his hand was stronger.

"I thought I told you not to move?" he asked in a calm, cold voice. He clenched the hand on her head slightly and Amy screamed. Willow immediately scrambled away and her back hit the refrigerator. Buffy tried to rush forward but she was magically stopped in her tracks. When she looked up, Draco's eyes were glaring at her, and they were turning a darker grey the longer Amy screamed; they were gradually turning black.

Buffy's jaw dropped in shock. "What are you doing?" she asked harshly, not flinching at Draco's glare. Amy stopped screaming, and Buffy found she could move again. Amy was taking deep, gasping breaths. When Draco smiled down at her, Buffy tried to remember that this was a human and he hadn't killed anyone. Yet. She took another step. "I asked you what are you doing? Can't you see you're seriously hurting her?"

"Your concern is touching and not needed," Draco replied. Buffy nearly flinched at Draco's icy cold tone. This was not the same person she had welcomed in her home a few weeks ago. This wasn't the carefree, funny Draco who was helping her best friend. This was someone new. And different.

It made Buffy take a step back.

Willow looked at the situation with confused eyes. She was still pressing herself against the refrigerator. "Why are you doing this? I… I don't know why she's here."

"Or why you're trying to kill her," Buffy injected.

Draco let go of Amy's head, and she reared back. In her hand was a knife that had been laid out to dry. She immediately tried to stab Draco, but his hand caught hers and squeezed until he heard bones snap. With a sharp cry, she let go of the knife, but her cry was short lived when he forced her into the wall across from the island.

He leaned towards her face and hissed, "If you move, I will gladly take a glass dagger to your neck."

Buffy heard Willow's sharp intake of breath and spun to face her, noticing her now pale face and horrified expression. "What—"

She was interrupted by Draco. "I want both of you in the basement this instant."

Both he and Amy were gone with a crack, and Buffy's face was a thundercloud. "Willow, what is going on? Who is this? That… thing, he's evil. This is not the Draco who has been around here."

The witch slowly sat on a stool and looked at the knife that had been in Amy's hand, and nearly in Draco's heart.

"It is," she replied in a dull tone. "He just never showed this side. And please," Willow said quickly before Buffy could interrupt, "I don't want to tell how I know. It's not my story to tell."

A muffled thump came from the basement. Buffy looked down with a sigh. Something was going on and she had no idea what it was. "What did he mean when he said that stuff about the glass dagger? It freaked you out, didn't it? I saw Amy's face when he said it, too."

Willow twisted her hands in nervousness. "It's complicated if you don't know true facts about magic, but the basics are that's a serious threat to magic users. He basically said he'd gladly take her life's blood unwillingly from her. It's called life's blood because, well, it's where humans receive their life. Our food and water pass through our throats, and our air, too. One twist of the neck and we die. It really is life's blood. The glass dagger is the purest thing there is in magic. To say he'd take her life's blood with a glass dagger—it meant he'd take her blood for evil, and she'd be powerless to stop it."

Her face was pale, her mouth was in a thin line. Still, Willow refused to look Buffy in the eye. "You have to understand that dark magic isn't evil magic. Evil magic, true evil, is rare. Life's blood taken forcefully is only used in evil magic. End of the world, 'burning from the inside' evil. For someone with magic, even a heavy dark magic user, to have that happen, it's…"

Her voice trailed off and a tear slid slowly down her cheek. "It's a one-way ticket to the worst hell you could imagine. Because even though you'd be dead, your spirit would know eternal torment, and would be tortured over it."

Buffy had remained impossibly still during Willow's explanation. The threat had rolled off his tongue moments earlier without pause. It was familiar to him. Draco had done nothing but help them, even though he'd been a huge pain in her ass, and Giles trusted him enough to bring him into her home. She just wondered if Giles was aware of Draco's dark side.

"Why would he say that? Why would he consider doing it?"

Willow shrugged, clearly holding back more tears. "I don't know. I don't know why he's doing this, but he's doing this because of me." She looked up at Buffy, her eyes shining. "I don't know what I've done!"

Buffy pulled Willow into a tight embrace, which was returned as she sobbed. Thoughts were zooming through her head as Willow's frame shook. Buffy knew she needed to seriously reevaluate the situation with Draco. She'd have to ask Xander to keep Dawn, because she didn't come back from the grave to have a madman try to kill her little sister again.

Willow sat there, being held until she caught her breath and pulled back. Neither of them noticed that the door to the basement had been opened and Draco was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, staring at them.

"Buffy, I need to speak with Willow. Madison is bound and gagged, but I'd still like for you to watch her."

The slayer kept an arm around Willow's still-shaking shoulders and stood slightly at a defensive stance. She had battled many evil magic users before, and she would do it again. This time it would just be harder. "Not until you tell me why you're throwing Amy into walls and threatening to kill her."

"It's not a threat," he said with a wicked grin. "It's a promise."

All the air left her lungs as if someone had thrown her against a wall. The look on his face was one she had stared down on many a vampire. It was one that promised pain. It terrified her to see it on Draco's normally peaceful face. "Damn it, what are you doing? Who are you?" she shouted, walking towards him. "And why the hell are you doing this? Can't you see it's upsetting Willow?"

Draco shoved off the wall and met the small woman halfway. His eyes didn't stray from her face, even when Buffy pointed at Willow during her outburst.

"It's because of her I'm doing this!"

"You don't have to kill anyone!" Buffy said, trying to plead with him.

"Yes, I do!" Draco shouted, making Willow jump. She got off the stool and came over to where Draco and Buffy were staring nearly toe to toe. They didn't notice her.

"Why? You're not an executioner." The Slayer's hands clenched into fists as she asked the question. "You don't have the right to decide who lives or dies."

That caused Draco to scoff and give Buffy a condescending grin. "I'm not an executioner? I do believe you forgot to tack on 'like me' at the end. Just because you were chosen doesn't mean the rest of us don't have our own jobs to do, and this one is mine." He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.

"Look, there's darkness in me, and sometimes it escapes. I pushed myself too far last night, and I'm sorry, but there's only one way to battle with her, and that's fighting fire with fire."

This time, when he stared at Buffy, his eyes had lightened. The gleam almost reminded her of Angel's when he had gained his soul back. It was animalistic and dangerous, but she could see he was keeping it under control. With narrowed eyes, Buffy stepped back and relaxed a bit, clearly disagreeing.

"Fine. Do what you want, but do it away from here. I refuse to hold someone down while you send them to their early graves."

He laughed, making Buffy stop at the harsh sound. "It's either you hold down Madison as she dies, or you'll be doing the same for Willow in a few months. You don't have a choice."

"What?" Willow whispered in horror, the first time she'd spoken since he had arrived back in the room. "What do you mean? I'll, I'll die?"

Draco's glance wasn't as cold as the one he had been sending to the other woman. "You can feel it, can't you? Every time you use your magic, it burns you. It has since you went to Rack. It's called an incendia substrictus. It's a fire tunnel on your magic. The more magic you use, the more it will constrict and burn, until your magic literally burns you from the inside out."

Buffy caught Willow as she lost her footing in shock and maneuvered her to a stool at the island.

"With as much power as you have, your magic will gain a mind of its own if you don't use it, it will kill you, regardless if you never cast a spell again."

Willow couldn't wrap her mind around that knowledge. She was going to die because of her magic, even if she never used it ever again. A part of her was going to destroy the rest.

She'd made such a good start on getting her magic to talk to her. She was able to cast small spells without worrying about whether or not she'd try to end the world again. The newness of using magic in an innocent sense was a refreshing change. It lightened the darkness in her, and Willow was really getting better. Hearing that the same magic that helped heal a cut or helped a flower bloom would burn her until death nearly destroyed her. Tears poured over her cheeks as that reality sunk in.

"W-w-why?" she stuttered, her whole body shaking in shock.

"Rack did it as blackmail. If you ever got too out of control, he'd tell you and threaten to tighten it. Only problem is, you absorbed so much power that the incendia substrictus didn't have a chance to grow, and you killed him before he had a chance to control you. It's still there, and technically, he's the only one who can get rid of it."

Buffy tried to hold Willow still so she wouldn't shake herself off the chair. With a slightly less cold stare, she questioned him. "Why do you need Amy if Rack is the only one who can get rid of it?"

Crossing his arms, Draco sighed. "Because Amy was there when it was in place, and she knew what he was doing." Willow's head shot up and her eyes widened. "You had no idea what Rack was doing when he took his little tour, did you? He didn't just poke around; he left a present."

Before Willow could truly comprehend what he meant, Buffy interrupted the terse silence. "So Amy—"

"I can use her memory of the time when it happened to find the incendia substrictus and channel my magic through her to destroy it."

Again, Willow quickly looked up at him. "That's what you meant when you said you promised to kill her. No one could survive that much power going through them. The magical backlash will kill her."

That made Draco angry, and the air around them chilled. His light eyes started to darken again. Buffy's grip tightened on Willow's shoulders, ready to bolt if things got too out of hand again.

"It's either your life or hers, Willow! Make up your damned mind so I can stop wasting my time arguing with you! Either one of you will die, or both of you. I may be the executioner, but you're the judge."

Willow collapsed in on herself, shaking her head. Taking a life reminded her of the person she was when she killed Warren. There was no way she was going to go back to being that person. "I can't do that. You can't ask me to do that. I can't condemn her!"

"She did it to you," Draco said coldly.

The kitchen was once again quiet, except for Willow's sobs. Buffy broke the silence when she leaned down to hug Willow. She could clearly see how this was affecting her friend, but sometimes they had to choose the lesser of the two evils. She pulled herself together and made the tough decision for her friend.

"I nearly lost you once, Willow. Please don't play the martyr here. I'd rather have you alive and healthy than in pain and dying." Almost immediately, Willow broke down and started to cry heavily. Buffy pulled her up into a tight hug.

"You can do this, Willow. Please. I… I don't know if I could live without you. Dawn couldn't, and neither could Giles. Think of Xander, Will. What would he do without you? He nearly gave up his life to save you from yourself. Don't you think you could return the favor?"

Her tears came on stronger, but instead of shaking her head, she was nodding now. Satisfied, Draco walked back towards the door leading down to the basement.

"Get yourselves composed and come down here as soon as you can."

He went down the stairs and closed the door, leaving Buffy and Willow in the kitchen. Slowly, Willow untangled herself from the hug and wiped her face on her sleeve, trying to put on a brave face. Buffy squeezed her hand, and they walked towards the basement door.