BETA Reading: Thanks Erin!
Part Seven
Willow woke to the dying screams of the shaman's tribe. She could smell the sweet stench of human flesh burning. She almost considered it a racial memory, considering her great-grandparents had been in the prison camps of Nazi Germany.
She continued to lay under the covers made up of animal skins and furs -- trying to get her bearings. As the last of the screams stopped, she could hear muted voices at the opening to the sacred cave that she was hiding in. The vampires didn't seem to be able to cross over the threshold of the cave. She did not know if that was because of the 'no invite' rule or if it was because of all the sacred symbols imbedded in the stone at the opening.
The young Witch decided to stay where she was for a while longer - besides, she felt the cheek where the shaman struck and she thought it had to be a vivid purple.
She must dozed for while because when she opened her eyes this time the only light she could see was the flickering fire the shaman had built before the attack. Once again, she stayed prone, listening for sounds of lingering vampires.
After hearing nothing for a few moments she decided she had to get up and see the carnage for herself. She painfully levered herself upright and staggered over to the fire. She had noticed torches next to it earlier when she had first entered the cave.
The young red headed witch was able to light one of the torches with the dying embers from the fire. She stood watching the torch slowly take hold and brighten the dark cave. She tried to take a deep breath to still her beating heart. A short bark of hysterical laughter escaped her lips, and she slapped her freehand over her mouth lest more would slip free.
How funny it was that only yesterday all she had to do was put on her resolve face -- and her friends would give in to her every desire. Now, at this time, she needed all the strength and all the resolve that she could muster just to turn around and walk out of the cave.
She knew that once she faced what the vampires did to the tribe because of what she had done, her world would be changed-utterly and completely-nothing would ever be the same.
*****
Faith woke to the feeling that something was wrong. She blinked her eyes open taking in the small alcove with a quick glance.
Nothing.
The tall slayer tuned up her hearing trying to catch any unusual sound coming from the outer chamber of their sanctuary.
Still nothing.
Buffy let out a fretful moan next to her as she felt the blonde stir under her hand. She watched as the beautiful blue-green eyes slowly blinked signaling the tiny slayer's return to consciousness.
"Hey?" She whispered to her, hoping to see awareness, coherence, or at the very least recognition in those expressive orbs.
Something -- anything -- to give Faith hope that Buffy was coming out of it.
"Vampires?" the blonde croaked. "Vampires, lots of them, close?"
"No, just me," Faith answered disappointed that Buffy still seemed slightly delirious.
"No, Faith I feel them close by, an army of the creeps." The blonde croaked out then started coughing.
Faith could tell that Buffy's throat was sandpaper dry.
"Alright, I'll go check," the Brunette answered as she disengaged herself and stood up. "And I'll get you some water while I'm at it." She remembered and that she left the water in the antechamber of their cave.
The brunette got up and left the enclosed portion of their hide-a-way. She slowly made her way to the main entrance of the cave, listening again for any sound that could indicate an attack. She wasn't really expecting to find anything-other than maybe the wolf's return--no reasonable vampire would be out hunting in a storm like the one that was currently raging.
She paused at the entrance and decided it was better to be safe than sorry-especially since Buffy was still so weak. Faith walked out into the vicious snowstorm far enough to collect her clothes and the blanket from earlier in the night, still on the alert for some fiend.
She paused again, trying to extend her senses the way Buffy could, to try and feel if there was anything out in the night-and couldn't.
She sighed and went back into the cave knowing that, as fast as the snow was falling, all evidence of her brief foray into the storm would be covered in minutes.
Faith grabbed the water bottle and even though she was only gone a few moments, Buffy was sleeping soundly when she returned.
The taller slayer couldn't help but thinking that the blonde slayer was as beautiful in repose and as she was awake.
"Oh God, have I've got it bad," Faith cynically told herself. Then she picked up her cross bow and sat on the dirt floor next to the bed. She leaned against the rock wall intent on keeping both a watch over the slayer, and a watch out for danger.
But, as before, being warm and dry lulled her back to sleep.
*****
Willow slowly pivoted and marched out to the main cavern. She was surprised at how light it was -- she could clearly see all the destruction, the smashed and burning tents, the slaughtered livestock, but what really broke her heart was seeing all the children. They were all dead.
She put the unneeded torch in a sconce and wandered through the remains of the American Indian's village in a complete state of shock.
She literally stumbled over him, falling on top of him. He was in the main pathway -- his body broken and bleeding -- his face...
Willow could tell it was him only by his wolf-coat.
He gasped out a word in his native language, the spell of understanding apparently broken. He choked on the word the second time, still it sounded familiar and the teenager recognized it as his daughter's name.
The witch thanked the gods that the shaman seemed to be beyond the physical agony of his wounds.
She realized: Crowley was right.
Then tears came, she was the cause of all this -- it was her fault, she could accept that now. She stood, there was nothing she could do for the shaman, for his tribe, and now that he was dying, there was nothing she could for Buffy. She had no idea where Buffy and Faith were or even if they were still alive.
She realized then that the neither the past nor the future was written in stone.
People had free will, things could change, and things had changed.
Crowley proved that by sending her Book of Shadows back.
The Book of Shadows was the key. But, how?
Willow couldn't think. She always thought of herself as a good person-as a kind and caring individual-but all it took was her one selfish act to destroy all these lives.
All these children who would never grow-up--never play again--never have a first date or get to see the changes that happened in the world in the next 50 years.
Dead. Gone. Lost.
She slowly looked around -- by the cavern entrance a beautiful dog was trying to stand up. He appeared to be some kind mix between a Coyote and Greyhound, but it was obvious that he would never run again. She could see, from almost all of away across the cavern, that his back legs were now useless -- something had smashed him across his back -- they were completely paralyzed.
Still the noble dog continued to crawl using just his front legs to propel him to the body of a child. For some reason Willow started towards him. She watched the dog as he made it to his dead human, he sniffed the child, and then, as if he just realized she was dead, the dog let out a horrendous howl of grief.
For some reason Willow felt self-conscious intruding on the dog's last moment with his.... What? What had the dead child been to that animal? Whatever they had been to each other--they were no more.
Her fault.
The dog continued to watch her as she approached,
begging her with his eyes to please just make it stop.
To just end the pain now.
Willow understood him exactly. And she literally and
figuratively turned her back on him. She just did not
have strength of will or character to be able to take a
life, any life. One of the few magical disciplines that
Giles encouraged her to study was Wyccan healing magic.
But, Willow just did not seem to have the healers touch.
She'd become bored with Giles' droning lectures on the
ethics and reasons behind each spell. Now, like
everything else, it was her fault that she hadn't
listened to Giles -- and understood the true essence of
what her mentor was trying to invoke -- that her magical
gifts had consequences.
A pitiful whining cut into her thoughts, and she glanced
over her shoulder at the dog; he was licking the blood
off of face of the dead little girl, as if trying to
clean her up for the journey to the other side. The
journey that Willow was too squeamish to grant the noble
dog.
Then a thought occurred to her: there were no adults.
All the bodies, besides the Shaman, were those of
children.
She quickly turned back to the dog and his child.
Why did the Vampires take all the adults, except the
Shaman? Why wasn't he drained?
Then she knew....
Gods, I'm dense sometimes, she thought. The mayor
needed an army-why not gather an entire tribe and change
them? More than likely he would only have the men
changed, and since a newly risen vampire needed to sate
its hunger immediately that meant the women were nothing
but food.
She had to do something before the slaughter happened.
Why didn't the mayor just have the vampires change the
tribe in the cave-why take the prisoners with them? So
many questions and she had no answers.
"Think damn it!" The young witch yelled at the top of
her lungs, trying to clear her head and to drown out the
whining of the dog. "The Book of Shadows has to be the
key-why else had Crowley made it a point of sending it
back with me-with the Orb?"
Willow went back to where the dying Shaman lay. He was
still alive; she see could his life force clinging to
his body.
"Why wasn't he bitten or taken as food?" She asked. She
knelt next to him, "and why did they leave you alive
when they made sure everyone else was very, very, dead?"
The shaman took a huge breath and then slowly released
it-his mouth opening wide as he did so-and Willow saw
what could only be his soul finally leave.
Then before she could react she was pinned to the ground
by the vampire that replaced his soul.
"Because they knew you were there, stuck where they
couldn't reach you! You stupid bitch!" The vampire
bragged, his yellow eyes gleaming with greed and hunger,
his ravaged face already healing and forming into the
ridges of the demon.
"How?" Willow was just able to squeak out as the vampire
pressed his weight down on her chest.
"How what, meal? How did I change so fast? It's a
simple enough spell for Vincent, the first lieutenant of
my Lord, to perform." The vampire reached down and
roughly pushed Willow's head to the side exposing her
neck.
"And once I make it back to the Lord with word of where
your two slayer friends are holed up-I will feast on
Slayer pain and blood!" He continued to gloat, drawing
out Willow's misery.
The young witch was terrified for Buffy and Faith-she
knew that the two slayers together, at full strength
would have a hard time defeating a hundred vamps, but
with Buffy in gods-knows-what kind of shape they were
doomed.
So what was the difference, Willow thought, between them
being Mayor chow or Vamp food-I still failed them. With
a resigned sigh Willow closed her eyes and waited to
feel fangs tear into the skin of her neck sealing her
friends fate.
She was totally unprepared for the Vampire's attacking
growl to change into a scream of pure rage and pain as
the pressure holding Willow's head was released. Then
she heard a different kind of growl and opened her eyes
to the incongruous sight of the paralyzed dog hanging on
to the vamp's wrist.
The vampire was shaking the dog like a ragdoll trying to
get it to let go but the dog had latched itself on to
the wrist with its teeth buried so deeply that she
couldn't see them. Her attacker released her arm from
his grasp as he tried to club the dog into letting his
other arm go.
Still Willow's valiant savior clung to the wrist of the
vampire as if its life depended on it, or, as Willow
remembered his pain, as though her life depended on it.
That thought spurred her into action, as no other could-
she would not let another thing carry the guilt of
failure into its death.
She pushed at the over balanced Vampire with all her
strength and was rewarded when he fell off of her. As
soon as she was free she rolled to her feet and was
running scared to the cave before the vamp realized it.
Despite her head start and the vampire having to deal
with the honorable canine-it was only by grabbing the
burning torch and waving it in the Vamp's face that
allowed her to finally escape.
The first thing she saw as she stumbled into the cave
was the bag with the Book of Shadows in it, along with
the Orb of Thesulah....
End of Part Seven