Title: The Final Link in the Chain (6/8?)
Author: Northlight
email: uzenet@videotron.ca
Summary: Spike helps Willow out of an awkward situation and gets drawninto an even more dangerous one.
Warning: Slight language, and even less violence. *And fights are notmy thing.*
Distribution: If you already have any of my stuff, go ahead.Otherwise, ask and I'll say yes :)Also available at"http://members.spree.com/sip1/northlight12/will/index.htm"
Disclaimer: Joss owns all.
Written: Aug. 3 - 4, 1999
Feedback: makes me happy. And I need happiness now to help fight thepre-university terror that I'm presently caught up in :)
Note: I'm rushing through this for at least two reasons. First, Idon't think that this would be all that much better even if I did spenda huge amount of time with it. Secondly, hurried is better than never -especially considering that in a mere month, I'm heading off to my firstyear in university and who knows how much time I'll have to write then.

Willow shrieked and tumbled forward, her skin crawling where the heavycloak of Ilianer's power had settled over her. She rolled down theslight incline that she had been descending when he caught up with them,yelping as her loosely tumbling body impacted with rocks and roots thatspread out upon the ground. Spike wobbled when Willow slammed into hislegs, but remained standing.

He pulled Willow to her feet even as golden eyes warily scanned theirsurroundings. "How the fuck are we supposed to fight something thatisn't here?" he growled, sharp senses noting the slight wavering whenhis eyes met where Illianer's power pooled, and the stench of death thatwas strongest at that point.

The air rippled and solidified, and Willow found herself facingsomething that looked like a bigger, uglier cousin of a werewolf. "Thathere enough for you?" she said, her voice cracking with fear. Duringher years working with the Council, and with Buffy before that, Willowhad come up against more dangerous creatures than she cared to recall.But then, she'd been prepared with weapons, knowledge, or plans. Andshe'd very rarely had another life dependent on her actions -- eitherher companions were capable of handling themselves, or she was facingthe creature alone. At that moment, Willow was acutely aware of thelife she was carrying.

The beast howled and sprang forward, thrusting forward with it'spowerful hind legs. It bypassed Willow, concentrating of removing Spikefrom the equation. The vampire cursed and jumped away from thecreature's flashing claws. His lips peeled back into a warning growl asthe two predators stalked around each other.

Willow tore her eyes away from the two combatants when they met in aflurry of growls and blows. She wildly scanned the ground in search ofsomething that would allow her to play a larger and more constructivepart in the fight than that of 'helpless damsel'.

'Big sticks. Rocks. Something! Goddess, how hard can it be to findrocks! I ran into enough of the way down,' she thought. Making surenot to attract the beast's notice, Willow slowly dropped into a crouch.Her hands ranged out, probing at the damp, leaf covered ground in searchof a weapon.

She cast a quick prayer of thanks towards her Goddess when her questinghand latched onto a suitably large rock which had been neatly concealedby the thick layer of fallen leaves. Willow rose cautiously, meagerweapon in hand, and watched for an opening.

Spike made a sound halfway between a growl and a scream and torehimself away from the beast. His shoulder was bleeding, the bit woundshowing clearly against his pale skin where the layer of coat and shirthad been torn away. Rage settled across his features, proclaiming thatthere would be no strategic running from this fight. The injury hadwakened a primal need for retaliation.

Scenting blood in the air, the beast growled, stalking forward in whatseemed a deliberately threatening manner. 'Can't let Spike have all thefun,' Willow told herself firmly as she broke free of her terrifiedparalysis and lunged forward, hoping that she wouldn't do something asdeadly as trip and leave herself completely open to the creature'sattack.

Putting every bit of strength she possessed into it, Willow drew herarm back and shot the rock at the beast. She cursed when her weapon didnothing more than harmlessly bounce off of one of the creature's massiveshoulders. It's head twisted, crimson eyes pinning her in place.

"You were supposed to run!" Spike snarled, wildly clutching at thecreature as it turned away from him in favour of Willow. His handswound around it's thin, wiry tail, his shoulders bunching as he foughtto pull it back. 'I didn't go through this just to see my investmentget herself killed!'

Willow didn't answer, as at that moment, running appeared to be a verygood option, afterall. 'I want my gun back!' she thought, rememberingthe vast array of weaponry the Council had provided her with in the daysbefore Erik, their child, and a certain power hungry ancestor.

"Good God!" a startled, rather faint sounding voice exclaimed from thetop of the incline that Willow had fallen down, mere moments earlier.Willow swirled around, and found Marcus staring down at them, his wideface looking strangely pinched. His eyes rolled wildly as he stumbledback a step.

Willow's frantically racing mind latched onto a thought at theWatcher's appearance. Watchers didn't usually carry weapons, but ifMarcus was looking for her, which he certainly was, then there was agreat possibility that he might just have one. No matter what side hewas on, a gun would have come in useful -- either to kill her, or toensure her cooperation until he got her back into the hands of theirsuperiors.

"Do you have a gun?" she shrieked.

He looked at her blankly for a long, drawn out moment before her wordsfinally penetrated his fear clouded mind. His hand fumbled beneath hisjacket and awkwardly pulled the weapon out. He fumbled with it,obviously not at ease with the feel of it, and promptly shot a tree.

"Over here!" Willow screamed. "No! No shooting!" she exclaimed whenhe shifted, the weapon pointed towards her. Willow risked a quickglance in Spike's direction, and immediately regretted it. The two ofthem were a mess of blood and unnaturally twisted body parts. Unlessshe was mistaken, the odd bent to Spike's left arm was signalling thatit had been broken.

Her heart pounding in fear, and her throat tight with a burst ofinappropriate, nearly hysterical laughter she was bitting down on,Willow inched away from the twisted, snarling forms of her attacker andunexpected protector. She scrambled up the slight hill, easily pullingthe weapon from Marcus' limp white hand.

Bracing herself against one of the numerous roots she had hit earlier,Willow wound both hands around the gun. She took in a deep breath,trying to still the trembling in her hands. She bottled away heremotions, focusing all of her attention on the beast's furry head asit's curved claws, streaked red with Spike's blood, slashed across thevampire's chest.

The shot was loud in Willow's ears, overriding their snarls and thesickening sound of tearing flesh. The creature shuddered as the firstshot hit it's immense, fur covered haunch.

The beast howled and turned, it's lips drawn back to revealdistressingly large teeth. Aiming a final strike at Spike's body, thebeast rose off of the vampire and stalked towards Willow and Marcus onwobbling legs.

"Goddess help us," Willow whispered as she took careful aim once more.The creature watched her with alien crimson eyes and bounded forwardwith unexpected speed. Willow shrieked, desperately pulling the triggerin the desperate hope that she'd do enough damage before the creaturelanded on her and stripped away every advantage the weapon gave her.

Sounds gained in volume, unreal and overwhelming -- Marcus' hystericalscreaming behind her, the creature's whines, the sound of the gun, herheartbeat, her breath -- only to shatter apart when a massive bodycollapsed on top of her, knocking Willow back into the ground. Theworld went black around her.

"Are you sure it's dead?" a worried voice inquired, piercing the thickfog of pain and exhaustion that hovered around Willow.

"Yes, I'm sure the bloody dog is dead! And unless you want to join it,help me pull it off of her!" an angry voice snapped back. It seemedfamiliar and oddly comforting.

She felt something shift above her, and found that she could once againbreath. Willow cautiously opened her eyes, and found Spike peering downat her. "We win?" she coughed out.

Spike nodded, and helped draw her into a sitting position.

"Yes, well. That is well enough," Marcus said, sounding breathless andrather wobbly, "but what exactly are we to do now?"

~End part 6~
Like I said, I'm racing to an end. I didn't have much of an idea forthis one after the first part or two, anyhow, so the speeded up endingshouldn't hurt it too badly. And besides that, I'm tired of not havingany *finished* fics to my name! :)