Chapter 46 – Gates of
Of war and peace the truth just twists
Its curfew gull just glides
Upon four-legged forest clouds
The cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun
Though its glow is waxed in black
All except when ‘neath the tress of
Bob Dylan
The little girl’s scream
ripped through them with the ferocity of a lioness defending her cub. Everyone first turned to the child then to
where she was pointing. As the stake was
about to enter Spike’s body. Raven yelled,
launching herself toward the source of the attack, feeling her body soar with a
speed she didn’t know she possessed, hoping somehow to stop the
inevitable. She watched in slow motion
as her father turned to block the blow.
Already too late, the wood sliced through the skin of his shoulder as a
hot knife through butter. It’s downward motion still intent upon finding his
heart.
Simultaneously, two things
entered Raven’s mind, her mother’s terrified screech and the image of the
attacker and her stake flying through the air.
She froze, watching as the wayward Slayer sailed away from the vampires,
then hitting the wall with enough force to send the plaster cracking in
zigzagging patterns toward the ceiling and floor. Dana slumped to the floor,
unconscious for the moment.
“How dare you?” a thundering
voice cried out. Everyone turned toward
the sound, and several gasps accompanied Raven’s when they realized it was
Elijah. “It is not your place, nor his
time, and I will rectify the wrong before allowing you his soul.”
Except he seemed to be
possessed. His small body trembled from
head to toe, his eyes were a vivid blue, and his raised hand was still
surrounded with the blue energy that he’d sent toward Dana. The ground beneath them began to quake, a few
screamed, but Eli continued to stare beyond them. Raven turned in the direction of his stare,
and took a step away from the monster standing before them. It was the Master. He returned Elijah’s stare with the same
intensity as the two appeared locked in an unseen battle.
The ceiling cracked, causing
a large piece to come tumbling down upon the Slayers. They scrambled out of the way, shouting that
they needed to get out of the building.
Giles took control trying to move everyone out of the way. It was a whimper from a woman that still had
not conquered the fears from her youth that brought a few to their senses. Spike rushed to his wife’s side, cradling her
in his arms along with their daughter.
The Master cackled from his
perch on the staircase. “You a mere child
have no hope of winning against me in a head to head battle. He will bring about his own downfall. Events are already set in motion.”
And with that he vanished
from the room. Raven hurried to her
brother, dropping to her knees in front of him.
She cradled his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.
“Elijah, it’s over, baby,”
she cooed. “Relax for me, okay?”
It took a few moments more
before he seemed to register her presence. Tears welled up, before trickling down his
cheeks in rapid torrents before he threw himself into his older sister’s arms.
“I was so scared,” Elijah
whispered. “She was going to take Daddy
away from us…and Grandpa Angel, too. He
would have won…nothing would have balanced.”
“I know, I know,” Raven
responded, rubbing his back. “You fixed
it. Just like you’re supposed to, and we’ll have a fighting chance to win.”
~~~~~~~~
So intent upon taking care
of his wife, Spike didn’t even seem to notice the wound that was causing blood
to run down his back. Angel’s nostrils
flared at the thought of his Childe dying before his very eyes without him
being able to help him. It was only
because of Journey that William the Bloody still remained standing. He watched as Buffy pulled back to look at
the blood on her hands. Her tears
increased as the realization of what might have been hit her.
Unable to stand on the
sidelines anymore, Angel hurried over to them.
First, he took Journey away from Buffy, and kissed the little girl’s
cheek.
“Go to Connor so I can take
care of your Daddy, okay?”
Joy sniffled, but she nodded
when Angel put her on her feet, and prodded her toward Connor. He never took his eyes off the child until
she was safely in his son’s arms. It
seemed that her parents did the same because when he turned back to Buffy and
Spike, they were also watching Journey.
“She’s safe,” Angel said,
turning Spike so that he could look at his back. “This needs to be cleaned.”
“Yes, Pops,” Spike joked,
provoking a weak smile from Buffy.
It was what his Childe had
intended. To alleviate a few of his
wife’s fears. It irritated Angel that
Buffy wasn’t more in control, not only with protecting her children but in
caring for Spike. She needed to be
stronger if she were to hold onto her husband.
Despite Spike’s change to being more human, he was still a vampire with
the need for a mate that was his equal.
He wished Buffy could accept that more.
“Come on,” Angel said,
giving a smile also as he directed the couple toward the hotel office. “Buffy, there is blood in the small fridge,”
he directed. “Heat it up for him.”
“Uh, okay, Angel,” Buffy
said, nodding as she rushed off to do his bidding.
“Thanks,” Spike said,
pulling his shirt off. He took a seat on the desk with his back to his
Sire. “I probably would have bled to
death before noticing.”
“That’s what I’m here for,”
Angel responded, grabbing some napkins on the coffee side board. He pressed them to the jagged tear in Spike’s
shoulder. “Is everything okay?”
“No, but…,” Spike stopped as
Buffy returned to them.
She handed a mug of blood to
Spike and a wet towel to Angel.
“We had a fight, Angel,”
Buffy said. “The usual.”
“Yet, he’s still here for
you when you need him,” Angel stated. He
hoped that Buffy wouldn’t continue the argument between them, but instead be
grateful for her husband’s presence in
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Buffy
whispered, cupping his face between her hands.
Something seemed to break in her as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
She leaned her forehead against Spike’s while he pulled her closer to him until
she was standing between his legs with his arms tight around her waist. “I love
you.”
Neither noticed when Angel
slipped away as they comforted one another.
~~~~~~~
Would the nightmares ever
end? They kept rolling through their
lives like bulldozers over their hearts.
It didn’t matter how angry Spike was with Buffy, he knew she was terrified
facing her every fear personified before her.
He held her trembling body against his, rubbing her back, and whispering
over and over how much he loved her. No
matter what else occurred in their lives, this tiny Slayer would hold his heart
forever.
“How did he know? The First
using the Master to intimidate me,” Buffy whispered through her tears. “Oh, my god, he’ll never leave me…us alone.”
She wasn’t talking solely about
the Master who was the epitome of her childhood fears. This one was much more grown up. The First used one of her fears to further add
to his own terrifying presence in order shake her up. It was a direct hit against the Slayer who
had already driven him back twice.
“Yes, he will,” Spike
reassured her. He believed it. “Once he realizes that he won’t win in this
camp, or at this time he’ll take his games somewhere else, and for another
time.”
Buffy pulled back to look up
at him. “What if we can’t beat him? What if we lose this time?”
“We won’t,” Spike said with
more confidence than he felt. Since they
still had no idea of what the final battle would be, the First held all the
cards. But they had to have faith in
themselves, and he could only pray when the time was right that his wife would
trust him with unwavering faith. “We
can’t. We have too much at stake, Buffy;
I’ll die protecting what’s ours.”
It was the truth as honestly
as he could express it in words. Their
relationship may once again be floundering, but somehow they’d always managed
to pull through before. Spike had no
reason to believe that they wouldn’t work through it this time, too.
“I know you will,” Buffy
responded, cupping his face. “I just
want…,” she dropped her head. Her tears
fell onto her chest as she shuddered back a sob. “I’m just tired, Spike, and I want to go home
and sleep in your arms.”
In the scheme of things, it
wasn’t a lot to ask for, but it wasn’t something he could give her. Something told him that it would be a long
time before they would be at home together.
~~~~~~
The monster used the
darkness to hide itself from view.
But Max knew it was
there. Her blood laden breath stank up
the air in the small room making him want to gag. He wondered if tonight would be the night he
would die. It was too soon though. A hundred scenarios and this one was the last
one he had imagined. Prayers were habits
he’d left some where in the past. Buried
in the same grave as his wife.
“Let me make it out of
here,” Max whispered to no one but himself.
There wasn’t anyone else
there to listen to him. The quick patrol
around the Hyperion at Buffy’s request had turned into his personal nightmare. He should have gone back to obtain help
instead of getting himself into this situation, but the scream was heavy with
the victim’s terror and he had to try a rescue.
Unfortunately, the vampire before him hadn’t been alone, and the
innocent died anyway. Yet so did this creature’s companion.
“You won’t you know,” she
whispered back, stepping briefly into the moonlight that shown through the only
window. Her beauty was incomparable to
any creature he’d ever seen. An angel in
view, a demon in fact, and she wanted him.
“You think you’re such a hero, when you are nothing more than a
sniveling coward.”
“Yeah, so?” Max asked.
“What makes you such a great judge of character?”
“Because I can smell your fear,
and the sweat pouring from your hot skin,” she said, stepping closer
again. “You reek of humanity and it
sickens
He pressed himself against
the wall as she moved toward him. His
eyes darted around looking for something to use as a weapon, but saw
nothing. Nothing left but his own wits
and a lot of hope for being able to return home again.
“I will never be yours,” Max
declared. “I would rather die.”
“Really?” she asked, leaning
toward him. “You will at first,” she laughed at her own joke. “I will give you eternal life.”
It was now or never to
fight, Max reasoned, as she slipped into her game face. Moving fast, he brought his knee straight
into her groin. If it worked on men, why
not women and the startled screech she let out told him he’d been correct. Before she had a chance to react, he punched
her with his left fist, and enjoyed watching the blood spurt as her lip split.
“Don’t think so,” Max said,
keeping his momentum up by slugging into her abdomen. He skirted around her to try to get where he
could find some wood or something to destroy this thing.
She was quicker than he expected,
and with a growl that reverberated around the room she leapt onto his
back. Max hit the stone floor with a
loud smack that left him breathless.
“Mine,” she roared, just as
her fangs tore into his throat.
It was then he realized
there was someone else in the room. They
weren’t alone, and he couldn’t tell if it was an enemy or someone who could
help. Combined with the fact he wasn’t
ready to give up, he lifted himself with his hands to try and dislodge the
vampire. He didn’t have to. In the next second he was enveloped in a
cloud of dust that was all that remained of her.
“Mate, you do get yourself
into some predicaments,” a familiar voice said.
Max rolled over onto his
back, and found himself staring up at Dylan.
A hand was held out to him to help him off the floor. As much as he hated it, Max was grateful that
the punk had shown up when he had. He
accepted the hand up, while his other held his neck where the blood was still
flowing.
“What are you doing here?”
Max asked.
“Doing what I do best,”
Dylan smirked, with a shrug. “Demon
hunting…and you?”
“Actually I was patrolling
around the Hyperion when I heard a scream,” Max explained, wincing at the
pain. “Unfortunately, I was…”
“Out vamped,” Dylan
said. “You’ve had a lot on your mind
lately. Can’t say I blame you.”
“I can,” Max muttered,
turning to leave the room, but a wave of dizziness overcame him. Instantly, Dylan was there, helping him. “Thanks.”
And surprisingly, he meant
it as they headed back out onto the street.
Maybe there was room for a friendly truce. How much could you hate someone who just saved
your life? If Dylan had wanted him out
of the way, he could have just slipped away and left him for dead. Perhaps he had an ulterior motive, but Max
was too tired to figure it out. For now
he would accept his help.
~~~~~~~
The family was still
divided. The Slayers stood huddled
together away from the faculty, and from the little boy with immeasurable power
and his family. If measures weren’t
taken, even without Dana’s interference, the whole system they’d created would fall
apart. It was his job to set things
right before this mess escalated any further.
Giles rubbed his weary eyes,
and then quickly moved over to the fallen Slayer. Kneeling, he pressed his fingers to her
throat, then sighed. Dana was thankfully
alive, but still unconscious. He turned
to Wesley.
”Call upstairs,” he instructed. “Get
Kate down here immediately. Tell her we
need her to bring a sedative.”
“What? You just going to
drug her?” Rona hissed, rushing over to
kneel next to her fallen comrade. “Maybe
she had a reason for attacking Spike.”
“There was no valid reason,”
Giles barked, standing again. “No reason
other than the First was using her as a means to further his cause. We,” he waved his hand toward the adults,
“have no plans for you and the other Slayers except to help you fulfill your
purpose. It is up to you to choose as to
whether or not you wish to accept our academic and physical training. If you think you can make it out there on
your own, then I suggest that you go back and read some more of the chronicles
of past Slayers. Most of them did not
survive long enough to even reach your age.
Now, make a decision, stand with us so that we may get through this, or
leave now.” He turned around to face everyone.
“And that goes for all of you.”
No one answered him, but he
could feel the resentment in the air.
Even after the presence of the First among them, they still refused to
accept what was happening to them. What
was happening to them all? He’d failed
them. It was his job to make sure they
were prepared, and he hadn’t done it.
Shaking his head he looked down at the floor.
Kate slipped past him to
examine Dana. He’d gotten soft since
he’d married, and his son had come along.
Fatherhood had become more important to him then his duties. What had happened tonight was his
responsibility, and he needed to accept that burden.
“I’m not going anywhere,”
Tanja said, taking a place by Giles’ side.
She looked out to the other Slayers.
“I spent weeks living with Buffy in her house, I’ve trained with them, together
we went down into that cave filled with all those monsters, and I
survived. I keep having nightmares, and
every morning Mr. Giles asks me about them.
Not just to learn their meaning, but because he cares. Like my father would have. I’m staying.”
Slowly, others stepped
forward until they were all together again.
Giles felt someone staring at him, and looked up to meet Buffy’s
gaze. She smiled at him, and he realized
that his role as a father figure over the Slayers was just as important as
being their teacher. He swore that he
would find a way to bridge the gap between him and Buffy again. By whatever means possible at his disposal
~~~~~~~
Anger coursed through his
being. All of his plans for this night
were destroyed. From ridding himself of
the vampire’s, to the division of the Slayers, and the rescue of the lamb. The latter made him the angriest. Dylan was his, signed and sealed, and he’d
been amongst the ones to ruin things.
Those disgusting flesh wearers were getting to his toy. Tonight he would pay the price for that
betrayal. With a grin, the First slipped
into the guise of Marguerite and prepared to wait for the moment. Torturing Dylan would help to assuage his
bitter disappointment and help to lift his spirits.
to be continued…
