"That's not fair Daddy" she said as she took the big stake into her little hand.

"I never told you it would be fair" Giles said as he picked her up and set her down on the floor. "Now crawl under there and kill the monsters."

As she crawled under the bed she could see the glowing eyes and the big fangs on the monsters face. She started crying again but she kept crawling nearer and nearer to the monster because Daddy said she was the Slayer and she had to do it to save the world. When the monster jumped forward and bit her she screamed and screamed as she stabbed it again and again with the big wooden stake.

*********

(Saturday, 6AM)

Giles picked Tara up early to go to Spikes crypt to deliver more nutrient bags for Buffy's IV, fresh blood for Spike and to cast the cleansing spell again. Tara was taking a triple amount this time and a larger smudge pot for burning the herbs. She had already told Giles that if Buffys emanations kept getting stronger she would need a bonfire and bags of the ground up powders to cast the cleansing spell before long. They were a block away from the cemetery and could already feel the influence. By the time they got to the gate Giles was already feeling sick and having irrational urges to strike out at someone. Tara was chanting quietly under her breath to protect herself, but the nausea was growing within her also.

Giles stopped the car on the road, he couldn't drive any closer to the crypt. Tara got out with the box full of medical supplies and blood and carried them to the door of the crypt. She had to come back for the smudge pot, herbs and powders for the cleansing spell. Giles was on his knees outside of the car throwing up in the grass. She hurried back to the crypt and started beating on it. Spike had wedged it shut and she didn't have the strength to force it open. She had been beating on the door for several minutes when Spike opened it from the inside. She pushed the box of medical supplies and blood through the open door with her foot and carried the smudge pot and ingredients for the spell inside. The effects of Buffy's emanation were so strong that she was having difficulty walking.

Tara told Spike that she had to get near to Buffy to use the crystal to read her aura. Even though the effects of the dark emanations could be felt at a distance, she had to be close to use the spell to capture her aura in the crystal. Spike helped her down the ladder and had to hold on to her as she moved down the hall to the vault where Buffy was lying. When she got to the bed, Spike had to hold her up while she got out the crystal and spoke the word of magic. The snow white crystal turned black immediately and it had red streaks through it that were twice as thick as they had been the day before. Spike picked Tara up and carried her from the vault and up the ladder to the upper level.

Tara had to take several minutes before she was able to prepare for the cleansing spell. Spike had to leave her and go below, pulling the stone slab over the hole, before she could start. She lit two white candles, started a large bundle of herbs burning in the smudge pot and started chanting. As she chanted she sprinkled handfuls of the ground up powders over the burning herbs. Each time she sprinkled a different powder the color of the smoke changed. She had been chanting and sprinkling the powders for twenty minutes before the smoke finally turn white. As soon as it did she spoke the three magic words, three times. The smoke spread around the room quickly and had the strong scent of new mown grass. Tara could feel the affect immediately.

With the spell cast she covered the smudge pot and blew out the candles. She left the candles and smudge pot behind, only taking the bags of powders and herbs with her as she left the crypt. She was feeling very weak as she walked back to the car. Giles was still on his knees in the grass, but had stopped vomiting. Tara helped him to get into the passenger side of the car and got in on the drivers side herself. She slowly drove away from the cemetery, not trusting herself to drive any faster. They could both feel the difference in the area surrounding the cemetery, but neither one of them knew how long the spell would work this time. Tara had cast the spell using twice as much of the powders and herbs as she had used the day before and it had taken what seemed like forever for the smoke to turn white and cleans the area.

By the time they got back to Buffy's house Giles was able to get out of the car on his own and walk to the house. Tara was in better shape than he was, even though she was much more sensitive to the emanations. Her abilities as a White Witch gave her a great deal of protection and using the chants and casting the spell increased her immunity to some degree. Once inside the house Dawn and Willow joined them at the kitchen table where Tara showed them all the crystal she had used to read Buffy's aura. She pointed out the red streaks and told them how much thicker they were than the day before and that as the red streaks got thicker the emanations became stronger and more difficult to counteract. Tara also told them that if they didn't find a way to wake Buffy up, or counteract her emanations, the effects would eventually spread over greater and greater areas of the town. If the red streaks grew large enough the emanations could cover the whole town.

Xander showed up at the house after dropping Anya off at the Magic Shop to work. They showed him the crystal and explained the seriousness of the situation. They all agreed that they needed to go back to the Magic Shop and search for a stronger spell. While Willow and Dawn were getting ready Tara took Giles to the back yard and told him quietly that if they didn't find something to stop the dark emanations soon they would cover the whole town and everyone in it would start acting just like the people did at the hospital. She also told him her greatest fear, that if the crystal should ever turn more red than black the emanations would probably kill Buffy, and possibly a lot of other people too.

*********

(*Nightmare*)

"It's time to wake the little dolly up now, don't you see. It's no fun if she keeps her eye closed" the voice said.

A searing pain ran across Buffy's stomach and she screamed as her eyes popped open. A woman with a burning piece of wood in her hand stood in front of her, the pain was fierce. When she looked down at herself she could see dozens of blistering and charred burns all over her naked breasts, stomach, hips and legs. The woman was holding a shawl in front of her face and Buffy couldn't tell who she was at first. When the woman stepped forward and held the burning wood against her breast she bucked against the chains that were holding her up and screamed and screamed until the woman stepped back from her again.

"Mustn't put the dolly back to sleep, can't pay attention if she's sleeping" the woman whispered quietly. She waved the piece of wood in the air until the hot coals were flaming again, then stepped close and touched the flame to her stomach. Buffy bucked against the chains and let out another scream. The woman pulled the flames away and started giggling. As she giggled the shawl slipped off her head to her shoulders and revealed her face, it was Drusila.

"Got your attention now, don't I little slayer" Drusila said as a smile spread over her vampire face. "Going to listen for awhile, then scream some more, that's what your going to do."

Buffy gasped from the pain that wracked her body. "What do you want Drusila" Buffy choked out between waves of pain?

"Why, to make you pay dearie, for all the hurt you've done to me" Drusila laughed out. She stepped forward again and held the burning wood against Buffys leg until the smell of burning flesh filled the room. Buffy screamed and screamed as she tried to pull her leg away from the flames, but the chains held her in place. "Oh yes, you have to pay and pay and pay."

When the pain eased and she could focus again Buffy lifted her head. Tears were running down her face and as the tears dripped down onto her breasts the saltiness of them made the burns burn even more. Drusila was still standing in front of her, smiling at her. "What did I do" Buffy gasped out?

"You took my family away dearie" Drusila said in an almost sane tone of voice. "You took them all away from me."

"What do you mean" Buffy said as she gritted her teeth against the pain. "Your family has been dead for hundreds of years."

"Not that family" Drusila said angrily as she stepped forward and held the flame against Buffys breast. "My real family!"

When Buffy became conscious again her full weight was hanging from her arms and the pain in her breast was so severe she didn't know how she could stand it. With her head hanging down she opened her eyes and could see that the nipple on one of her breasts was nothing but a charred mass of flesh. She slowly lifted her head and looked around. Drusila was sitting on a stool next to a charcoal brazier, there were several metal rods and knives heating up in the coals. The piece of burning wood was lying on the ground smoldering. Drusila had extinguished the flames by holding the piece of wood against Buffys flesh for to long.

"You shouldn't make me angry" Drusila said to her quietly. "Make me forget you have to pay for being a bad little dolly."

"Tell her what she's paying for Pet, she'll never understand if you don't" a familiar voice said from the right of Buffy.

When Buffy turned her head to see who was speaking she saw Spike sitting cross legged on top of a coffin. He was smiling at Buffy as if he was at a party where everyone was having fun. Spike jumped down from the coffin and walked over to Drusila and put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Go on now Dru, tell her, be a bad little girlie" Spike said just loud enough for Buffy to hear him.

Drusila looked up at Spike and smiled at him. "Alright love, but she's going to have to pay even more for the explanation" Drusila said with a giggle in her voice.

Drusila got up from the stool and stood in front of Buffy. "You have to pay for what you made Angelus do to Darla. Then you pay for what you did to him, and then you pay for what you been doing to my poor William" Drusila said quietly. "Is that what you wanted" she asked as she looked back at Spike.

"No, No, Pet. You have to make her understand what she did. It won't be any fun if she doesn't understand why she has to pay" Spike said with a smile on his face and a note of amusement in his voice.

Drusila walked up to Buffy and started explaining why she had to pay. First for making Angelus kill Darla who was just trying to bring him back into the family. It wasn't right that Buffy made him do that, Darla was his sire and had loved Angelus for hundreds of years. Buffy had no right to make him do what he did, even if he wasn't Angelus when he did it. It was still her fault.

The second reason she had to pay was for killing Angelus. It didn't matter that he wasn't dead anymore, because he wasn't Angelus anymore either, he was Angel again. She had spoiled all their plans when she killed him, and she had made Spike betray them too.

And that was the last reason she had to pay, for what she had done to Spike. She had made him fall in love with her and now he was just a little puppy that followed her around and let her kick him whenever she felt like it. Drusila pointed at Spike and the happy smiling face faded away to be replaced by a beaten and battered face that had a look of sadness in his eyes.

"Do you understand what that means" Drusila asked Buffy? "It means he will love you till 'the end of time' or until you 'kill' him. He loved me that way once, but you spoiled all that and made him fall in love with you. Now he's just a poor beaten puppy that would die for you if you wanted him too."

Drusila walked over to the brazier and lifted a long knife from the coals that was glowing white hot. She walked back to Buffy and using the flat of the blade held it between her legs against her vagina. As Buffy screamed and screamed, Drusila said "That's why you have to pay!"

********

All of them had been at the Magic Shop since early morning looking through every book that was available trying to find a spell or charm or something that would neutralize Buffy's dark aura and make it possible to help her. They hadn't found anything yet, but were determined to keep looking. Xander had been looking through the journals of past Watchers to see if anything like this had ever happened to a Slayer before. He came across a couple of pages that didn't have anything to do directly with a slayer, but the Watcher had made a note of something that had happened in France during the thirteenth century that sounded similar. He showed it to Giles who read it carefully and then went to his private library and found something in a different book. When he was finished reading his face was very pale and the others gathered around him to see what he had found.

Giles told them that in the early thirteenth century a young woman, who was a very powerful witch, fell in love with a local nobleman's son. The nobleman arranged for a marriage between his son and the daughter of another nobleman. The young witch became despondent and withdrew into a local woods where she was determined to take a poison and lie down to die. Because of her powers as a witch she did not die, but slipped into a deep sleep. As she slept her despair grew and grew until the effects of it spread out from the woods over the surrounding lands. Violence broke out amongst the peasants and a number of men and women were killed. When the nobleman sent his son to quell the disturbance he was attacked and killed. The nobleman sent soldiers in and killed all of the peasants who had attacked his son. But the witches despair infected the soldiers and they went on killing, first all of the other peasants in the area, and then each other. For ten years anyone who came within a dozen miles of the woods where the witch laid sleeping were overcome by her despair and either killed themselves or attacked each other until all were dead. The curse was finally broken when the elder nobleman died. The next day a forest fire swept through the woods and destroyed the sleeping witch. Apparently, with the death of the nobleman who had taken her love away from her, the protection that had surrounded the witch disappeared and the dry and withered woods burst into flames giving her the death she had sought in the first place.

They all sat quietly thinking about the effects of Buffy's dark emanations on the hospital staff and how it had affected them also. They knew that the power of the emanations were growing and spreading out more and more. If the story of the witch was used as an example, all of Sunnydale and the surrounding country side could fall under the influence of her emanations and make it a death ground for all but the demons and vampires that were already drawn to the Hellmouth. It could even grow bigger than that if the emanations were to start feeding off of the Hellmouth itself. The need to find an answer became even stronger than before and they all returned to their research with determination.

***********

(*Nightmare*)

"I'm so pleased with you My Dear" the Master said to Darla, "we haven't had one of these in centuries. A slayer turned vampire, how exquisite."

"Thank you Master" Darla replied with a smile. "It really is true you know, what they say, about a slayer tasting better than normal humans, she was delicious."

"Yes, I've heard that myself" the Master said sadly. "I've always wanted to taste one myself, but the opportunity never arose."

"I'm sorry Master, I would have brought her to you" Darla said as she bowed her head before him. "but I had to take her when I could or let her get away."

"That's alright My Dear" the Master said as he reached out and petted her head like a little puppies. "You did well and I'm very pleased."

Buffy knelt before the Master listening to his conversation with Darla. Being a newly turned vampire, she was still a little confused, but she knew that would pass soon. When she had been The Slayer she had always tried to catch the newly turned as they rose from their graves. They were much easier to kill then because they hadn't gotten use to their new strength and powers yet. But possibly because she had been a slayer she wasn't having any difficulty adjusting to her strength and speed. The one thing that was truly different was that she was no longer troubled by fears or concerns for others. The only overwhelming emotion she had was a need to kill and feed. Darla had promised her that as soon as the Master was done with her she would be able to go on the hunt and feed as much as she wanted.

"Well little one" the Master said to Buffy as he reached out with his hand and lifted her bowed head so that he could look at her new vampire face. "What shall we do with you now? You caused me a lot of trouble when you were a slayer you know. Disrupted a great number of my plans. Took the life of many of my children."

"I'm very sorry Master" Buffy said to him and attempted to bow her head again.

"That's alright my child" the Master said in a pleasant tone of voice. "I'm sure that you will make everything up to me in a short time. Darla has told me that you haven't fed yet, you must be getting hungry. Have you thought about who you would like to feed on first?"

"Oh yes Master" Buffy replied with a smile that made her new fangs show prominently. "I have some old friends I would like to pay a visit to before they find out about my change. They will be so surprised." Buffy started laughing.

"Yes child, they will most definitely be surprised" the Master said and laughed with her. "Especially the little Witch. I want you to be very careful with her when you turn her, I feel certain she will have a lot of potential as a vampire, her and that young man who helped you so many times."

*********

(*Nightmare*)

"It's wakey, wakey time" Angel said as he slapped Buffy hard across the face. "It's time to open you eyes and see your surprise!"

Buffy shook the pain off and opened her eyes to see Angel standing next to her with a grin on his face. She tried to roll toward him, but found out immediately that she was chained down to the top of what appeared to be a stone alter.

"Like your new bed" Angel asked as he continued to grin evilly at her. "Not the one you expected is it? Probably thought you'd wake up in a soft wedding bed surrounded by roses. But, this is what you get, I'm sure that before the nights over you will learn to love it."

"Angel, why are you doing this" Buffy asked in confusion?

Angel slapped her hard across the face again. "It's Angelus, lover, try to remember that."

Buffy's eyes widened and she whispered to herself "Angelus?"

"That's right lover, this is what you get when you spread you legs for a vampire with a curse. Make him happy and he comes back and bites you. Figuratively speaking, that is" Angelus said with a smile spreading across his face.

"I know I could just rip out your throat or drain all your blood or even turn you into a vampire yourself. But that wouldn't be any fun, would it?" Angelus said as he started fondling Buffy's naked breasts then ran his fingers gently down over her stomach to between her legs. As he jammed his fingers into her pussy brutally, he smiled at her again and said, "But you know me, I'm a fun loving guy."

Buffy twisted in pain from the abuse Angelus was inflicting on her and tears started running from her eyes.

"Oh, I love to see the pretty girls cry" Angelus said as he twisted his fingers inside of Buffy's pussy again. "It makes me feel all warm inside."

Buffy gasped from the pain and tried to move away from his hand, but the chains held her in place.

"But I'm not going to do that" Angelus said as he shrugged his shoulders and stepped back from her. "I had this idea that came to me, that you did such a wonderful job of fucking me and making me my old self again, that maybe you could do the same thing for others." Angelus motioned with his hand and two demons stepped out of the shadows where Buffy could see them. "What do you think lover" Angelus asked? "Do you think if you fuck these guys you can turn them into something too?"

Angelus stepped to one side of the alter and watched as the first demon stepped up to the foot of the alter. He was a big demon with bluish green skin and short horns growing out of his face and forehead. He also seemed to ooze out a kind of slime that covered the surface of his skin. He was wearing a robe that looked as if it was made of old dirty rags. When he threw the robe off he was naked under it and he had a huge erection. His cock was standing straight up with excitement as he lifted himself up onto the alter between Buffy's chained down legs. He moved forward and laid himself down on top of her. The slime on his skin burned her as if it were acid. He guided his cock between her legs and in one brutal movement he rammed the full length of his cock inside of her. Buffy screamed and screamed from the pain the demon was inflicting on her. The whole length of it's cock had little sharp burs on it and every time it moved itself in and out of her it tore her flesh. A large pool of blood was running down the alter and dripping onto the floor before the demon ejaculated inside of her. As intense as the pain had been while the demon raped her, the acid nature of it's cum inside of her made her scream even louder and longer than the rape itself.

When Buffy regained consciousness the pain she was feeling inside her pussy was like hot coals burning from the inside out. The first demon was gone, but he second one was licking up the blood from the alter between her legs. When it lifted it's head she could see her blood all over it's lips and face. It grinned at her and she could see that it had rows and rows of very small razor sharp teeth. Angelus was still standing at the side of the alter watching her with a beatific smile on his face.

"Well lover" he said to her, "no luck with the first one. It's the same as it always was, big, mean and ugly. Will have to see what you can do for the next one. You should try a little harder with this next one though. You didn't really give the first one your best, with all that screaming you were doing I think you may have hurt his ear drums a little."

The second demon was very pale in color and seemed to have very small scales all over it's body like a fish. It didn't appear to have any ears and there was only a small slit above it's mouth that may have been it's nose. But the mouth was large with big lips and dozens of teeth. When it started to climb up onto the alter Buffy tried to twist her body with all her strength, but the chains held her in place. The demon didn't have any burs on it's cock, but it was very long. When it positioned itself and rammed it's cock inside of her she could feel it rip through her vagina, cervix and uterus all in one quick thrust. The overwhelming pain knocked her into unconsciousness and she didn't even feel the rest of the rape that ripped her insides apart.

Buffy had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but it was the pain that woke her up. When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Angelus only inches away from her with his vampire face on.

"There you go" Angelus said as a smile returned to his face. "I thought I was going to have to turn you to keep you from dying on me. Wouldn't want that to happen, it would spoil all the fun. I kind of had it figured that those demon boys might hurt you a bit, but I was pretty sure that with your Slayer powers they wouldn't kill you. It was close though, I'll have to admit. Will have to stick with vampires in the future I think. Less chance of them killing you just by fucking you. And who knows, maybe your powers only work on vampires anyway. I'll let you rest up a bit and think about that while I go out and round up a dozen or so of the boys and bring them back here for some fun." Angelus turned away without another look and started whistling a happy little song as he walked from the room.

Buffy laid on the stone alter chained in place as the pain in her body wracked her. As she laid there she knew than Angelus was right about one thing. If the demons raping her hadn't killed her, she probably would start to heal because of her Slayer powers. She laid there thinking about Angelus returning and cursed the day she had become "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

*********

(*Nightmare*)

When Buffy walked through the door she was grabbed by the arm and flung across the room where she smashed into the wall. When she looked up from her crumpled position on the floor Glory was standing there with her hands on her hips smiling at her.

"Well hello little girl" Glory said with a smile "long time no see. Well it hasn't really been all that long, not in the way Gods measure time, but hello anyway."

Buffy climbed to her feet slowly, she had been shaken up by the impact with the wall and needed to pull herself together. She tried to stall for time and asked Glory "What are you doing here, your suppose to be dead."

"Silly girl, you can't kill a God, didn't anyone ever tell you that" Glory asked? "I'm back for a rematch. Can't let some puny assed slayer get away with beating me. I'm going to kick your ass good, and this time I've got the Key on my side." As she said this Dawn stepped out of the shadows.

"Dawn, get away from her" Buffy yelled and stepped forward to put herself between Glory and Dawn.

Dawn grabbed Buffys arm and with the same strength that Glory had shown, she threw Buffy across the room into the wall. Buffy crashed halfway through the wall before she stopped and crumpled to the floor.

As she laid there on the floor with blood running from her nose and mouth, Buffy stared over at Dawn not comprehending what had just happened. Dawn didn't have any super strength and she should be running like crazy to get away from Glory, not standing next to her smiling. What did Glory mean when she said the Key was on her side now. Dawn wasn't the Key anymore, that's why Buffy had died, to make Dawn a normal human girl.

"You thought you could make me a nothing didn't you" Dawn asked Buffy with a look of rage on her face. "You took away my power and thought I should be grateful. Well I wasn't and I'm not. I was the same as a God, all I needed was some time to learn how to use my powers. But you tricked me, you made me think I was helpless and powerless, so you could steal my powers and defeat Glory. But I know better now. I have my powers now and I'm going to kick your ass when Glory gets done with kicking it first."

"Dawn, what are you talking about" Buffy asked as she tried to climb back to her feet. She fell back once and had to use both hands to pull herself up the broken wall. "I didn't trick you or steal any power from you. I gave up my life to save you. I love you Dawn, I wouldn't hurt you."

"Yeah, and that's why your alive now, right" Dawn asked with a sneer on her face. "Glory already told me it was because of the powers you stole from me that you came back. Willow didn't have anything to do with it. You stole my powers and used them to come back on your own."

"That's not true Dawn" Buffy cried out in despair. "I didn't want to come back. Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander made me come back. I didn't have anything to do with it."

"So you admit it. You didn't want to come back. You never did love me." Dawn yelled at Buffy. "All those lies about loving me, that's all they were, just lies."

"They're not lies Dawn. I do love you, I'll always love you" Buffy said as she choked on her tears. "I gave up my life to save you. How much more can I do to prove I love you?"

Dawn did a spinning side kick that was to fast for Buffy to block or dodge and kicked her in the chest knocking her completely through the wall. "You can stay dead this time" Dawn screamed at her as she and Glory advanced on Buffy with murder in their eyes.

**********

(Saturday, 6PM)

It had taken all day, but they had a plan. They weren't sure if it would work or not, but they had to try. Tara had mixed up all the ingredients in the Magic Shop and split them into six bundles. She had then rehearsed Willow, Anya and Giles on the chants and the magic words until she was certain they knew them by heart. What they were going to do is approach the cemetery from four sides. When they got as close as they could stand it without getting too sick or acting in an irrational way they would each light a smudge pot of herbs and use the cleansing powders to clear an area of the emanations. If that part worked, then Tara would continue on to the cemetery to do a cleansing there too. That would leave one bundle left for her to go to the crypt and do a final cleansing there. The hope was that if they couldn't cleans the emanations from the center out, they could work their way into the center. The only major drawback of the plan was that even if it worked they had no idea for how long it would work, and they were going to be using all of the ingredients they had available at one time.

They closed up the shop and made Dawn stay behind. It was the safest place they could think of to leave her. Xander drove Anya, Giles drove himself, Willow drove her car and Tara drove Buffy's. They timed it as best they could so that they came from the four directs at the same time. They were more than two miles from the cemetery in any direction when they started feeling the effects of the emanations. Xander had been listening in on a police band radio all afternoon and there were dozens of reported incidents of violence and irrational behavior by people all over the west end of town near the cemetery where Spikes crypt was located.

At the given time each of the four got out of their cars and placed the smudge pots on the ground and started the herbs burning and lighting the white candles. They all started sprinkling the powders on the burning herbs while they chanted. It took awhile, but eventually the smoke turned white at all four locations and they spoke the three magic words. The smoke spread out over the neighborhoods with the smell of new mown grass. The effects of the emanations could be felt to fade away almost immediately.

While the other three returned to Buffy's house to wait, Tara drove to the gate of the cemetery. When she got there she was surprised to see a demon walking around out in the open in the direction of the crypt. Tara ignored the demon and placing the smudge pot on the ground she started the herbs burning and lit the white candles. She started chanting and sprinkling the powders on the burning herbs and after ten minutes the smoke turned white. Tara spoke the three magic words and the smoke spread out over the cemetery taking the smell of new mown grass with it. As the smoke spread Tara heard a beastly scream of pain and rage. She saw the demon running across the cemetery as if it's skin were on fire.

Tara drove from the gate, up the road and across the grass to the front of Spikes crypt. When she got to the door she found it half way open with a dead demon lying in the entrance. She stepped over the demons body and entered the upper level of the crypt where she found three more dead demons on the floor. The slab had been moved from over the hole leading down below. When she looked down the hole she saw another dead demon at the bottom of the ladder. She yelled for Spike and he stepped out of the shadows with a crossbow in one hand and a sword in the other. When he saw that it was her he climbed up the ladder.

Tara explained what they had done to get her to the crypt and told Spike that she needed to go down below and burn the final cleansing spell in the same room as Buffy so that she would be able to breath in the scent of the cleansing spell and hopefully help her with the emanations that were radiating off of her. She explained that she needed to do this, but was also afraid that when she did this the effect of the cleansing spell could be harmful to him. Spike told her not to worry about the affect the spell would have on him. It was more important that the spell have an affect on Buffy. He told Tara that he had been fighting off demons for three hours and that there were two other dead demons further down the hall to Buffy. If Tara could do anything to keep the demons away, that was all that counted. He also told her that with nightfall coming soon, vampires would be out and if they were drawn to the crypt in any large numbers he wouldn't be able to hold them off by himself.

Spike helped Tara down the ladder and half carried her down the hall to the vault where Buffy lay unconscious. Tara set everything up for the spell, but first pulled the white crystal out of her pocket and held it over Buffy. She spoke the magic word and the crystal turned black. As they both looked at it they could easily see that the red streaks had gotten thicker than they had been that morning. Tara sat down at the table because she felt to nauseated to stand on her own and started the smudge pot burning and lit the candles. Spike sat down on the floor with his back against the wall. When Tara started sprinkling the powders onto the burning herbs she was using larger amounts than usual. It took fifteen minutes before the smoke turned white and she could speak the three magic words. The smoke spread out through the entire lower level of the crypt and the smell of the smoke was a strong scent of new mown grass.

Spike started gagging immediately and fell to his side on the floor. Tara started to go to his aid, but he just waved her away. She covered the smudge pot and blew out the candles. She was feeling very weak, but the affect of the emanations was greatly decreased. She went to Spike and helped him to his feet. They both stumbled down the hall, for different reasons, and climbed up the ladder. Tara helped Spike drag the dead demons outside, he then wedged the door shut behind her, climbed down the ladder part way, pulled the slab back over the hole and climbed all the way down to the floor. For the next fifteen minutes, between gagging and dizziness, he dragged the dead demons down below to and empty vault. He then went back to his vault and sat down in a chair next to the bed so that he could be near Buffy and watch over her. Spike was experiencing continuous nausea and dizziness, but if what Tara had done was going to help Buffy that was all that really mattered to him.

Tara got into the car and drove back to Buffy's house where the rest were waiting for her. They got into their cars and drove back to the Magic Shop to be with Dawn. When they got there, Tara asked all of them if they had any of the powder left over. Between the four of them there was just enough for Tara to cast the spell again. She told them that the spell had the side effect of driving off demons and vampires. Since they were all going to spend the night together at the Magic Shop, she might as well keep the place as safe as possible.

*********

(*Dream*)

Buffy looked up from the book she was reading and saw her mother standing at the door watching her. Her mother was kind of greenish yellow looking and had a glow around her edges. She didn't speak to Buffy, but she smiled at her with all the love in her heart coming through to her. Buffy felt warm inside as her mother smiled at her. She glanced down at the book to see what she was reading and saw that it was about past Slayers. When she looked back up her mother was gone, but the warm feeling in the room was still there. She got up from the table and walked into the living room. Willow, Tara, Giles, Dawn, Anya, Xander and Spike were all sitting around the room talking quietly. They all looked very sad and she could tell that Dawn had been crying. They didn't seem to notice that she was there and she walked closer to hear what they were talking about.

As she stood there listening she could hear them discussing what they were going to do to keep the vampires from finding out that Buffy was dead. Giles seemed to be in a state of shock and wasn't coming up with any ideas at all. Willow finally suggested that if she could get it to work again, she could try to reprogram the Buffybot in the basement to take Buffy's place. Dawn started crying again and Spike got up and walked away to pace the floor. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't have a better one. They all agreed that they needed to continue with Buffy's patrols and not let the vampires and demons in town find out that the town was unprotected by the Slayer anymore. If the word got out the vampires and demons would tear the town apart.

The conversation made a turn and without any warning they were all talking about how much they had loved Buffy and how empty their lives were going to be without her. Sure life would go on, but it wouldn't be the same without her. Anya made a comment about how nice it would be if they could just make her come back like Angel did when he came back from the demon hell dimension he had been sent to for over a hundred subjective years. Dawn was the first to ask if they thought Buffy was in a demon hell. Because of the way Buffy had died it was a possibility. Dawn was very upset by the idea, and Giles tried to reassure her. But they all had the thought planted in their minds and became even sadder. The idea that Buffy might be in a demon dimension greatly upset Willow and she started crying silently.

Buffy walked from the living room into the kitchen. Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander were all sitting together talking about Buffy being in a demon dimension and how they had to do something about it. They couldn't leave her there forever. Willow swore to them all that she was going to find a way to bring Buffy back somehow. Tara tried to caution Willow about trying to raise the dead. But Willow insisted that because Buffy had died the way she did, her death wasn't a normal death and there might be a way to do it. Xander didn't say much, but he made it clear that he would be willing to do anything if it would bring Buffy back to life. Anya agreed because she knew how much it meant to Xander. Tara finally agreed, as long as they could find a safe way to do it without putting all their lives in danger. They all promised to keep it a secret until Willow could do the research to find out if it was possible.

Buffy found herself in the Magic Shop next where Willow was reading one of the magic books on the Dark Arts without Giles knowledge. She was making a list of ingredients and artifacts that would be needed and with Anyas help they could order.

Since Buffy's death Giles and Dawn and Spike and Dawn had been spending a lot of time together. This made it convenient for the rest of them to work out a plan to bring Buffy back to life. On a certain night that was coming up soon, Willow told them, it would be the perfect time to make the attempt. She only needed a couple more ingredients to cast her spell.

They had the Buffybot working and with all of them working together they had kept a lid on the knowledge that Buffy was dead from the local vampires and demons. Giles had to be out of town for a few days during the time when the spell had to be attempted. They made arrangements with Spike to take care of Dawn while they were all suppose to be doing something else.

Buffy found herself standing next to her own tombstone as Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander made a magic circle and Willow cast the spell to resurrect Buffy. Buffy had never know what Willow had gone through or the danger she had put herself into in order to cast the spell. From watching the spell and what happened to Willow, Buffy knew that Willow had risked everything to bring her back, including her own soul, by using Blood Magic.

When the motorcycle demons crashed through their circle and disrupted things, they all thought that the spell had been spoiled and had to run for their lives. None of them were there when Buffy had to batter her way out of her own coffin under the ground. They didn't see how confused and disoriented she was or how hard it was for her to see clearly. They didn't know that they had pulled her out of heaven and not a demon dimension. But as Buffy followed the resurrected Buffy through the town and watched the Buffybot being destroyed and the resurrected Buffy fight for her life while she was so badly confused. It occurred to her that even if they had known she was in heaven, their need to have her back alive and with them may have been enough to make them try the spell anyway. The love of Willow and Xander, the support of Tara and Anya, the sadness of Dawn and Giles, the guilt that Spike felt for failing to protect Dawn and save Buffy from death, may have made them do it anyway. Buffy wandered off as her friends celebrated her return to life and their joy in the love they felt for her.

***********

(Sunday, AM)

Giles had left the evening before and drove all the way to L.A. to pick up a large supply of the needed herbs and ingredients to make the magic powders for the cleansing spells. The regular delivery would have gotten it to the shop on Monday, but they all knew the town wouldn't last that long. He got back to Sunnydale a 6:30AM and could already feel the effects of the emanations. Spikes crypt was four miles from the Magic Shop and the emanations were just starting to be felt in town. As soon as he got to the shop, under the careful supervision of Tara, they started grinding the ingredients into powder and making up bundles of various herbs for the smudge pots. By 9AM they had enough to make an attempt to beat back the emanations again.

Before leaving the Magic Shop, Tara performed the cleansing spell. She hoped that she could clean most of the area around the shop and make it safe for Dawn while the rest of them went out to try to cleans the rest of the town. A second purpose was to clean out any of the affects the emanations was having on them before they had to go further in toward the center of the effected zone. Tara made them all breath deeply of the cleansing smoke before they left the shop.

Xander and Anya left first, they had the farthest to go since they were going to have to go out beyond the effected area and approach it from behind to the east. Willow and Giles left next, going out a distance and then coming back from the north and south. Tara was the last to leave since she was coming from the shop which was from the west and already inside the effected area.

Using their cell phones they kept in touch with each other so that they would all start their chants and cleansing spells at the same time. They knew they had to hurry, but they had to be safe about it too. When all of them were in position for the first cleansing they got out of their cars and worked their spells. When they could feel the effect of the emanations were lessened they drove in further toward the center and performed the spell again. It took longer and more of the powders to beat back the effects this time, but it finally worked, the effects of their spells were starting to overlap each other.

Anya was the most affected by the emanations, possibly because of her past as a demon. As soon as she finished her second cleansing Xander drove her back to the Magic Shop going the long way outside of the effected area. As he drove her back to the shop he could see the influence the emanations had on the people around the town. He saw several buildings that had been burned to the ground, because people were performing random acts of irrational vandalism and because the fire departments weren't responding to the alarms. He also saw windows broken out of dozens of buildings and homes and a large number of wrecked cars on the streets that had been abandoned.

Giles, Willow and Tara continued on toward the cemetery from three sides. They were each about a mile from Spikes crypt when they stopped their cars and performed the cleansing spell for a third time. The emanations were stronger toward the center and it took much longer and a lot more of the powders and burning herbs before the smoke turned white and they were able to speak the three magic words that activated the spell. They could all feel the cleansing effect of the spells, but they could still feel the effects of the emanations too.

When they arrived at the gate to the cemetery Giles and Willow each started performing the spell again. Tara continued on to the crypt and performed her spell just outside of it. When the three spells had been performed the overlapping effect seemed to cleans the whole area. But as Tara approached the door to the crypt she found that it had been forced open again. She cautiously entered the crypt and immediately saw that the slab had been moved away from the hole leading down to the underground vaults. The dark emanations of Buffy's aura were coming up out of the hole like a poisonous fume.

Tara went immediately to the large smudge pot she had used the day before and performed the spell again. She used a large quantity of the herbs and handfuls of the powders to enact the spell and when she finished the upper level was clean of the emanations and the effect of the cleansing spread out and overlapped the previous spells that she, Willow and Giles had performed.

Tara heard a noise and turned around in time to see Spike poking his head up through the hole in the floor. She could see immediately that he had been wounded and rushed to him to give aid. Spike waved her off as he gagged on the aroma of the cleansing spell. He was wearing his vampire face and his yellow eyes were full of blood. Tara approach him cautiously, not knowing if he had finally been overcome by the dark emanations or not. Spike shook his head vigorously and was finally able to morph back to his human face. He gave Tara a sick kind of half smile and excepted the bag of fresh blood she held out to him. He bit into the bag and sucked the blood down his throat. He seemed to gather his strength and held out his hand to help her down the ladder.

Once she was underground, and fully enveloped in the dark emanations, Tara could hardly stand or walk. Spike had to half carry her down the hall to the vault where Buffy laid in her bed. Tara first tested Buffy aura again with the snow white crystal. When she spoke the magic word the crystal turned black with large red streaks running through it. The crystal was almost half red by now with black streaks running through the red part of it.

Spike sat down on the floor while Tara performed the cleansing spell again. Tara had moved the table next to the bed so that it would be as close to Buffy as she could get it. It took longer than ever before for the smoke to turn white and she had to speak the three magic words three times before the smoke spread out to every corner of the underground vaults with the smell of new mown grass. Spike started vomiting up the blood he had just drank down and his face morphed back to his vampire face. He continued to vomit for several minutes while Tara finished the ritual and covered the smudge pot and blew out the candles.

Spike couldn't get up to help her, so she left him doubled over on the floor and left the vault. She went up the ladder and set a small ice cooler with more fresh blood in it next to the hole at the top of the ladder. She knew that as soon as he was able Spike would come up the ladder to close the hole and find it. Tara was so exhausted by her contact with Buffy's dark emanations and the performing of multiple spells that she could barely drag herself out of the door. She pulled the door closed behind her but was unable to wedge it shut. She knew that Spike would do that too, once he was able. She got into the car and slowly drove back to the cemetery gate. Giles and Willow were waiting for her at the gate and followed her back to the Magic Shop in their cars.

All the way back to the shop Tara kept going over in her mind how much of the herbs and powders it was taking each time to activate the spell. Each time they performed the cleansing spell it was taking more and more of the ingredients and the spell was lasting for shorter and shorter periods of time. Even if she worked for the rest of the day mixing more powders and a new shipment of herbs and ingredients arrived from L.A. tomorrow, she knew that they could only stave off the effects for a couple more days. After that there wouldn't be anyway to stop the emanations from engulfing the whole town and surrounding area permanently. Unless Buffy died.

**********

(*Nightmare*)

As she walked through the gloomy cemetery she heard the fighting before she could see it. She rushed toward the sound and as she came around a stand of trees she saw a large group of vampires attacking a smaller group of people. She pulled a wooden stake from her jacket and rushed forward to join the fight. As she got nearer she realized that the people being attacked were her friends.

Tara was down on the ground with a seriously bleeding wound in her throat. Willow was standing over her throwing fireballs at the vampires that came near her, but each time she threw one the one after it was smaller and weaker in power. Xander was swinging a large ax back and forth as he tried to hold the vampires off from Anya who was trying to stay behind him, she appeared to have an injured leg and was having difficulty moving around. Giles was down on the ground and she couldn't tell if he was dead or alive, he had a bleeding wound to his head. Dawn had her back to a large tombstone, but she had a wooden stake in each hand. In front of her to one side was Riley. He had a stake in one hand and was using every commando trick he knew as he fought with three of the vampires. To the other side in front of Dawn was Angel. He didn't have a weapon in his hand, but he was in vampire mode and was fighting with four vampires at one time.

As she rushed forward she realized that she wasn't getting any nearer to the fight. The more she moved forward the more she stayed at a distance. Something was happening that wouldn't allow her to come to the aid of her friends. She stopped trying to approach her friends and watched helplessly as a vampire jumped Anya from behind. As it pulled her to the ground and fastened it's teeth in her throat Xander turned around to attack it. When he turned around to help Anya he was jumped by the vampires he had been holding off and was dragged to the ground. As she watched she saw a vampire rip out his throat and start to feed off the blood. Two other vampires started feeding off of him too, while another joined the one feeding off of Anya.

With a sputter Willow ran out of fireballs and three vampires jumped on her and pulled her to the ground. Two of them started feeding off of her while the third one started feeding off of Tara. Tears were running down her face as she watched helplessly as her friends died.

A lone injured vampire crawled on the ground over to Giles and started feeding off of him. As it sucked the blood from his throat it seemed to heal and stood up to join the attack on Riley and Angel. A vampire had climbed up the back of the tombstone that Dawn had her back to and jumped off of it to grab Riley from behind. Dawn rushed forward and stabbed the vampire in the back turning it to dust, but the vampire had knocked Riley off balance which gave the three vampires he was fighting the chance to jump him and pull him to the ground. They started feeding off of him immediately.

Angel was the only one left fighting and he backed up to put himself directly in front of Dawn. Six vampires surrounded them from three sides and charged him all at once. When they wrestled him to the ground one of the vampires stabbed him in the heart with a wooden stake and turned him to dust. Dawn was the only one left to fight against over a dozen vampires.

She screamed her rage and tried to move forward again, to no avail. She watched helplessly as one of the vampires knocked the stakes from Dawns hands and pulled her to him as he fed from her throat. At the point of death the vampire pulled Dawns mouth to his throat and made her feed off of him before dropping her to the ground.

With everyone dead the vampires started yelling and celebrating the deaths of those they had just killed. Over half of the attacking vampires had died in the attack but none of them showed any regret or remorse over the loss of the others. They each went around and fed off the last of the blood in their victims, all except Dawn. As she watched, Dawns eyes opened and her face morphed into that of a vampire. She sat up slowly and was cheered by the other vampires to come join the feast. Dawn crawled across the grass until she was next to Giles and started feeding off of him. When she looked up she stared straight at Buffy and smiled with blood all over her teeth and lips.

All of her friends, lovers, and Dawn had died because she wasn't able to help them. She sat down on the grass and cried her heart out.

********

(*Nightmare*)

When she entered the house the silence was overwhelming. She turned toward the light in the living room and saw Faith sitting on the couch playing with a large knife in her hands.

"Hey B" Faith said as she smiled at Buffy, "I heard you let all your Scooby friends die without even helping them."

Buffy choked on what Faith had just said to her and tears of pain ran from her eyes. "I didn't let them die, you bitch" Buffy choked out "something wouldn't let me help them, it wouldn't let me get near them to help them."

"That's what I said, you didn't help them" Faith replied without taking offense to Buffy calling her a bitch.

"What do you want Faith" Buffy asked in a dead tone of voice. She was feeling to much pain in her heart to really care what Faith wanted from her.

Faith stood up from the couch and walked a few steps toward Buffy. She looked down at the knife in her hand and a small sad smile passed over her lips and was gone. She looked back up at Buffy and flipped the knife up into the air and toward Buffy. Buffy reached out and grabbed it out of the air.

"I just thought that since you let everyone else who loves you die, maybe you'd like to make a clean sweep and kill me too" Faith replied with the sad smile on her lips again.

Buffy stepped forward a step holding the knife in front of her and demanded from Faith "What do you mean by that? When did you ever love me? All you ever did was screw up my life and try to kill me and my friends."

"I've always loved you Buffy" Faith replied in a quiet voice that seemed to fill the whole room. "From the first day I met you, I loved you. But you didn't love me back. That's why I hated you so much. You gave your love to everyone but me and I couldn't stand it."

"I didn't know" Buffy said in shock.

"Of course you didn't know. What was I suppose to do, get down on my knees and beg for your love?" Faith asked with regret in her voice. "I would have done that you know, if I had thought it would have made a difference."

"If you loved me so much" Buffy asked quietly "why did you turn against me?"

"I guess it goes back to that old line 'You always hurt the one you love'. You had Angel and your friends, you didn't have room for me in your life" Faith replied as tears started to run from one eye down her cheek. "I thought that if I couldn't have you I didn't want anyone else to have you either. I know that was stupid, but sometimes people do stupid things when they love someone."

"Faith" Buffy said hesitantly, "I did love you! Maybe not the way you wanted me too, at least not then, but I did love you. When you turned against me I turned my love for you into anger and never let you see what I really felt."

"Just like you did to your friends" Faith said as the tears continued to run down her face. "They loved you so much that they couldn't live without you. When they brought you back, you couldn't forgive them and let them die."

"That's not what happened" Buffy cried out in pain. "I didn't let them die. I couldn't stop it. Something wouldn't let me near them. I couldn't help them."

"You couldn't help them because you couldn't forgive them" Faith said as she looked into Buffy's eyes. "All you had to do was wake up and they would have been safe."

"Wake up" Buffy asked in confusion? "What do you mean?"

"It's all a dream" Faith said as she stepped nearer to Buffy. "All you have to do is forgive them and wake up. They all love you so much they would die for you. They were willing to risk dying to bring you back. Just forgive them and wake up!"

"I can't" Buffy screamed as she plunged the knife into Faiths heart.

**********

(*Nightmare*)

"You know Buffy" Joyce said, "you really ought to get out more. Go out and meet people, make some friends, have some fun for a change."

"I don't want to make friends Mom" Buffy replied. "All I want is to be left alone."

"But we've been in town for a whole month Buffy" Joyce replied with concern "and you haven't talked to anyone. I know moving here has disrupted your life, but we had to move, there wasn't any choice."

"I know Mom, I know" Buffy said as she rolled her eyes. "Burn down the gym, have to leave town. I know. But it wasn't my fault. It was an accident."

"Buffy, it was more than burning down the gym and you know it" Joyce said with irritation in her voice. "You told everyone that there were vampires at the dance. They thought you were crazy. They wanted to lock you up. At the best they wanted to put you into a 'special school' for 'special students'. That kind of thing would have been on your school record forever. We had to move to where you could get a fresh start."

"I know Mom, I'm sorry" Buffy said to her mother as she looked down at the floor. "I promise, no more fires, no more vampires, no more trouble."

"I just want you to be happy" Joyce said as she wrapped her arms around Buffy and hugged her. "I love you more than anything else in the world. I just want you to be safe and happy."

"I know Mom, I know" Buffy said as she hugged her mother back.

***

"Hi, I'm Willow Rosenburg and this is Xander Harris. We know that your new in school and we wanted to say 'Hello' and 'Welcome to Sunnydale High'."

"Hi, I'm Buffy Summers and your right, I'm new in school, and 'Thank You' for the welcome."

"You know something Buffy, I think were going to be friends" Willow said with a big smile on her face. Xander was standing beside her and he was smiling too.

"You know something, I think your right, 'Best Friends', both of you" Buffy said as she smiled her biggest smile back at them.

***

"Buffy, when you ran away you left me all alone. I worried about you every day. You didn't call. You didn't write. Were suppose to best friends and you didn't say anything" Willow said with tears in her eyes.

"I know Willow, but I couldn't. I had to leave. You don't understand what I was going through" Buffy said as she wiped tears from her own eyes.

"But you didn't give me a chance to understand Buffy, you just left" Willow said as she stood there crying. "Were suppose to be best friends and you just left me!"

***

"She's my best friend in the world and I won't leave her in a demon hell forever" Willow said to Tara, Xander and Anya with a very determined look on her face. "You can either help me or not, but I'm going to find a way to get her back."

"I'll help Wil" Xander said quietly. "I'll do anything you want. I want her back as much as you do."

Tara looked at Willow and nodded her head "I'll help, just tell me what you want me to do."

Anya looked at Xander and saw how upset he was, she knew how hard Buffy's death had been on him. He had cried almost every night for a month after she died. "I'll do whatever Xander wants, I miss her too."

"Were going to get her back" Willow said as she looked at the others "no matter what, were going to get her back."

***

"If you really want to know the truth, I'd rather be alive than dead" Joyce said as she smiled at Buffy. "I'd give anything if I could be back with you and Dawn. Being dead is just that, being dead. Being alive is so much better."

"But I think I was happy Mom" Buffy replied. "No more pain, no more killing, no more fighting for my life or having to save the world again and again. I think I was at peace."

"Yes, and no more love, no more friends, no more of anything" Joyce said as she walked over and brushed her hand through Buffy's hair. "No more touching the ones you love, no more being there to hold them when they need you, no more laughing when your happy or crying when your sad, no more making a difference. Buffy you act as if saving the world wasn't important, but it was, it is. Think about all the people you have saved. Think about what the world would be like without you. I know it might not seem fair that you have had to do so much, but who do you think could have done better? And what about your friends? Without you they would all probably be dead by now, and without them you would have died years ago and the Hellmouth would have taken over the world. You needed them, and they needed you, they couldn't go on without you so they brought you back, what's so bad about being alive?"

"But I'm not happy. I feel like I'm living in hell. Everything is so hard. I have to carry the burden of saving the world around with me all the time. Every day it gets harder and harder. I feel so alone." Buffy said as she looked into her mothers eyes for understanding.

"Did you ever think that it might not be so hard on you if you'd just share the burden with your friends" Joyce asked as she hugged Buffy to her. "They have been there with you every step of the way, from the very beginning. They have shared the burden of saving the world with you every time. Sure, you have always had to do the really hard things, but your 'The Slayer', you had to do the things they couldn't do. But did that ever stop them from being right in there with you? They love you Buffy. They would fight for you, they would die for you. What else do you want from them? Why can't you forgive them for loving you?"

***********

(Sunday, 6:00PM)

From about 3PM on there had been police radio reports of irrational vandalism, fights, car accidents and fires. About a hour ago the police reports had stopped, occasionally there was static on the lines, but nothing else. They had all worked hard all day grinding up the ingredients to make the powders for the cleansing spells. The grinding and mixture of the ingredients had to be precise or they wouldn't work. The mixing together and bundling of the herbs had to be in the proper proportions. Everything had to be right or the spells wouldn't work. Tara was exhausted from her need to constantly supervise the others as they helped her. She had to make all of the final mixtures herself, it was too important to risk a mistake.

By 6PM they had enough of everything to go out and attempt to push back the emanations again. They each had double the ingredients that they had used that morning, which had been double what they had used the day before. Each time they invoked the spells it was taking double what had been used before and the effects of the cleansing was lasting less and less. Also, just like at the hospital, the residual effects on the people affected by the emanations was causing them to behave abnormally even after the cleansing had taken place.

Xander and Anya left first again so that they could drive out beyond the effects of the emanations and come in from behind them from the east. Giles and Willow left in their cars to come in from the north and south. Tara worked the spell at the Magic Shop to cleans the immediate area around the shop, then drove from the west end of town heading east. They used their cell phones to coordinate their actions and started their first spells at the same time. The cleansing took longer than before and used a double amount of ingredients. They each moved in again from different sides and performed the spells again. They moved again and did the cleansing again. Each time they performed the spells they cleansed a smaller area than before.

After three cleansing Anya was as near to the center of the emanations as she could go. She started having hallucinations and talking irrationally. Tara told Xander to get out of the affected area and get Anya back to the Magic Shop. The three remaining cars moved in toward the center and performed the cleansing for a fourth time. After the fourth cleansing Giles told Tara that he didn't think he could go in any further, he was having irrational thoughts about crashing his car into a tree. Tara told him to go back to the shop. Tara and Willow continued in toward the cemetery where Buffy was located, they got to the cemetery gates at the same time.

Willow was sweating profusely and was very pale. Tara would have sent her back to the Magic Shop but she needed her extra support in casting the cleansing at the gate. They both set up their smudge pots at the same time and started the ritual. It was almost dark and they needed to hurry before the vampires could come out into the open. They had all seen demons walking around in the open as they moved in toward the center and knew that the cleansing were having less and less effect on them. With the fifth cleansing completed Tara told Willow to go back to the Magic Shop, Willow was to sick to argue and drove away.

Tara drove the rest of the way to the crypt and as she got out of the car she could see that the door had been completely ripped off of it's hinges. When she entered the crypt she saw the dead bodies of four demons lying on the floor around the hole leading down below. Tara performed the cleansing ritual for the sixth time and cleared the upper crypt and surrounding area of the emanation. She could still feel the darkness rising from the hole in the floor and knew she had to go below and do the cleansing again.

When she called down the hole it took a couple of minutes before Spike appeared. She could tell immediately that he had been injured again in his fight to keep the demons away from Buffy. Tara had to climb down the ladder on her own, Spike didn't seem able to climb up to help her. He was in vampire mode and his yellow eyes were filled with blood. When she tried to approach him Spike waved her away. Using the walls to help her stay on her feet she worked her way down to the vault where Buffy slept. When she entered the doorway the emanation were so strong she fell to her knees and vomited on the floor.

Tara crawled on her knees over to the table next to Buffy's bed. With difficulty she worked her way up into the chair and set out the spell ingredients. When she had everything ready she pulled out the snow white crystal and read Buffys emanations again. The crystal changed, but this time it was more red than black. Instead of being black with red streaks running through it, it was blood red with thick black streaks running through it. The site of the crystal made Tara feel even sicker than before, she knew that when the crystal turned all red there wouldn't be any chance of further cleansing or anyway to save Buffy.

Tara had to use all of her remaining powders to cast her final cleansing and was very afraid that she was going to run out of the powders before the smoke turned white. When it did she said the three magic words, three times, and three times again before the smoke spread around the room and took on the aroma of new mown grass. When she put the lid on the smudge pot and blew out the candles she felt totally drained. She had to sit for ten minutes before she could get out of the chair and stumble down the hall to the ladder. Spike was lying on the floor at the foot of the ladder doubled up in a fetal position. When she tried to help him he waved her away and motioned her to go up the ladder. When she got above she used the last of her strength and a piece of pipe she had picked up below and slowly wedged the stone slab back over the hole leading down below. On her hands and knees she crawled out of the crypt to the car.

As she slowly drove back to the Magic Shop she knew that no matter how much of the spell ingredients arrived in the morning from L.A. or how ever hard they worked to prepare more powders they wouldn't be enough to get her back to the crypt again. They might be able to clear some of the emanations from parts of the town, but she would never have the strength to work her way all the way back to the crypt again. It was all up to Spike now. He had to keep Buffy safe on his own until she woke up. If she didn't wake up, Sunnydale was doomed, and maybe the world.

************

(*Nightmares*)

There were visions of demons and vampires walking the streets attacking people and each other.
Fires were burning everywhere.
People were attacking and killing each other.
The Hellmouth beneath the old burned out high school opened up and monsters beyond description crawled out of it and spread across the land.
Men in black robes were making human sacrifices and using the blood to cast dark magic spells.
The ground was splitting open and lava was boiling up.
Monstrous beasts were coming up out of the sea and attacking the cities.
Tidal waves were crashing into the coasts destroying everything inland for miles.
Tornadoes were appearing out of nowhere, destroying buildings and killing thousands of helpless people.
Poisonous gases spread across the ground, when people breathed the fumes they started couching up their own blood and died.
People walked the streets unaware of where they were or what was happening around them as demons, vampires and monsters fed on them.

A circle of fire formed and in the center of the circle all of her friends and loved ones were gathered together to fight the encircling darkness. Her mother was there glowing all white, looking like an angel. Giles, Willow, Tara and Joyce were holding hands forming a square around someone lying on the ground as they chanted to hold back the dark. Xander, Anya, Dawn, Cordy, Fred, Gunn and Wesley were standing around the four with weapons in their hands to protect them. Angle, Faith, Kendra, Riley and Spike were at the line of fire forming a first line of defense and were fighting with the dark monsters as they tried to cross the line of fire into the circle. When a monster broke through, the second line would attack them and destroy them. The circle kept getting smaller and smaller forcing everyone into the center of the fire. Bolts of lightning struck her friends knocking then to the ground. Injuries were taken, but they forced themselves up and continued to fight. They were all willing to die to protect whoever was at the center of the circle. They would fight 'until the end of time'.

The vision cleared and the person they were all defending came into focus. It was a young woman who appeared to be sleeping. As the vision zoomed in on her face it became clear.

It was Buffy!!!

**************

(Monday)

During the night Tara performed the cleansing spell several times inside the Magic Shop to push back the effects of the emanations. All outside communication had been cut off during the night. The local radio and TV stations were shut down, the cell phones no longer worked, even the regular phones were out. Radio and TV stations outside the effected area were reporting strange happenings in Sunnydale but no one that had tried to enter the area to make a report had returned. A fleet of Highway Patrol cars had been sent into the area and not heard of since. The Governor had activated the National Guard and they were mustering outside of the effected area and were suppose to move in sometime the next day. Other reports said the National Guard wasn't going to move in, but seal the area off to prevent anyone else from entering the area. No one outside the area knew what was going on inside, and no one inside was reporting out.

Giles got into his car and drove out the highway in the direction of L.A. at first light. The vampires had gone back undercover for the day. There were demons out but they all seemed to be moving east toward the cemetery and left him alone. The greater danger to him was coming from the people in the area that were under the influence of the emanations. Twice men had run out into the street in front of his car and had tried to open the door to pull him out. He had been able to drive through them without having to run over anyone, but it was close. Just as he got to the highway someone had started shooting at his car and had shattered his rear window. When he got on the highway he only had to go two miles before he saw the truck he was looking for off the side of the road in a ditch. There were no cars moving on the highway from either direction. He drove across the grass median and pulled up behind the wrecked truck. The driver was missing, but the keys were still in the ignition. He used the keys and open the back of the truck. I took only a minute to find the three large packages he was looking for in the truck. He loaded them into his car and headed back to Sunnydale. When he parked the car at the backdoor of the Magic Shop Xander hurried out and helped him carry the packages inside. He had been gone for less than and hour, but an hour out in the emanations without the protection of the cleansing spell had made him terribly sick and he had started to have hallucinations. It was only by force of will and concentration that he had made it back at all.

While Giles rested, Tara performed the cleansing spell again using the very last of the prepared ingredients. For the next four hours they all worked furiously to grind and prepare more of the powders and mixed bundles of herbs. Twice during that time they had seen a demon walking out in the open, but none had approached the shop. Gunfire was also heard in the distance and once it sounded very near. When they peeked out of the windows they could see the smoke of at least a half dozen fires, and that was only in the direction they could see, there were without a doubt many others.

************

(*Nightmare???*)

When Buffy felt the arms tighten about her she opened her eyes and stared up at Angels face. He was smiling at her and bent his head to kiss her. The kiss went on and on and her passion rose with each moment. When he started moving she could feel his hard cock inside of her. She brought her legs up and wrapped them around him and started meeting him thrust for thrust. As the rhythm increased she could feel herself nearing orgasm. Angel continued to thrust his hard cock into her without pause. Buffy felt the bliss of the orgasm spread through her loins, followed seconds later by a second one. She could feel it when Angle came inside of her and a sense of joy spread through her. As she looked up his face started to change.

Riley bent his head to kiss her lips, the side of her face and her throat. He thrust his hard cock deep within her and she thrust back. She could feel the orgasm start and could feel him cumming inside of her. She kept thrusting against him and felt herself have another orgasm. Riley kissed her lip as his face started to change.

Faith kissed Buffy deeply for an eternity, then slowly kissed her way down Buffy to her breasts where she kissed and licked and sucked on her nipples until they were completely aroused and hard. She continued to kiss her way down Buffys body until she had herself down the full length of Buffys body with her face just inches from Buffys hot wet pussy. She bent her head forward and pressed her lips against the lips of Buffys pussy, let her tongue peak out of her mouth and slowly brought it up between the lips tasting the sweet nectar as it flowed out. Faith fastened her mouth more firmly to Buffys pussy and probed between the lips deep into her, using her tongue like a cock to fuck her with it. Buffy could feel the orgasm burning through her body and squealed with the joy of the moment.

When she looked down Willow lifted her face from Buffys pussy for just a moment as she looked up to see Buffy smiling back down at her. Willow returned her mouth to Buffys pussy and used her tongue to bring Buffy to another massive orgasm.

Buffy had closed her eyes during the orgasm, when she opened them Tara continued to lick and suck on her clitoris as she worked her finger in and out of her pussy. Orgasm after orgasm rippled through Buffys body taking her breath away.

When she opened her eyes Anya started kissing her way up Buffys body to her breasts where she stopped to lick and suck on her nipples making them hard and erect. She then continued up until their lips were locked in a deep kiss.

When the kiss ended Xander pull back a little as he adjusted his position and slowly pushed his hard cock up inside of her hot wet pussy. He thrust the full length of it inside of her, then slowly worked it in and out. Buffy thrust against him meeting his every thrust, again and again. The orgasm tore through her making her gasp for breath, she could feel him cumming inside of her as she wrapped her arms around him.

When she loosened her hold Giles started fucking her again as he kissed her lips and the side of her face. Orgasm after orgasm brought her to a fevered pitch as she felt Giles cum inside of her. Giles slowly moved himself up her body until his hard cock was at her mouth and pressed the head of it against her lips. Buffy opened her mouth and took his cock into her mouth as she licked and sucked on it. When he spewed his cum into her mouth she swallowed it all.

When Xander spewed his cum into her mouth she swallowed it all.

When Riley spewed his cum into her mouth she swallowed it all.

When Angel spewed his cum into her mouth she swallowed it all.

When Spike spewed his cum into her mouth she swallowed it all.

When she caught her breath and opened her eyes her lips were just and inch away from Willows pussy. She kissed it and licked it and started sucking on her clitoris as she worked her finger in and out of her pussy. She could feel Willows orgasm start and locked her mouth to her pussy, thrusting her tongue deep inside of her and tasting the cum as it flowed hotly across her tongue.

She continued to kiss and lick Taras pussy until she brought her to orgasm.

She continued to kiss and lick Anyas pussy until she brought her to orgasm.

She continued to kiss and lick Cordys pussy until she brought her to orgasm.

She continued to kiss and lick Fred's pussy until she brought her to orgasm.

She continued to kiss and lick Faiths pussy until she brought her to orgasm.

She continued to kiss and lick Dawns pussy until she brought her to orgasm. Dawn buried her face in Buffys pussy and licked and sucked and thrust in and out with her tongue until Buffy had multiple orgasms. Dawn moved herself around on Buffy until they were face to face and kissed Buffy deeply. Their tongues intertwined as Buffys love and passion for Dawn increased. She pushed Dawn over on her back and kissed her way down her breasts, licking and sucking on her nipples, then down to her pussy where she licked and sucked until Dawn had an orgasm and she sucked the cum into her mouth.

She lifted her mouth from Faiths pussy with the taste of her cum still in her mouth and moved up to kiss her lips in a deep long kiss of passion. Faith/Willow/Dawn/Tara/Anya/Cordy/Fred said 'I love you'.

Her mother standing next to the bed smiled at her and said 'I love you'.

As their lips parted Angel/Riley/Giles/Xander said 'I love you'.

As the orgasm rippled through her and she felt Spike cumming inside of her, he said 'I love you, till the end of time'.

She could see them all around her, smiling at her. She could hear them all say at once 'Will always love you Buffy, till the end of time'.

************

(Tuesday)

As her mind came into focus she could hear the sounds of fighting. She tried to move, but felt to weak. She opened her eyes and the small amount of light in the room hurt her eyes. She wasn't sure where she was at for several moments until she realized that she was in Spikes crypt for some reason. The sounds of the fighting grew louder and she saw Spike back into the room. He had a short sword in one hand and was using it to hold off two demons as they tried to force their way into the room. One of them fell to the floor as he ripped its throat open with the blade. Another demon took his place and she could see that there were others behind the two at the doorway. Spike was in full vampire mode and was fighting with all his strength to keep the demons out of the room. She noticed in a dream like fashion that Spike was wounded in several places. One of his arms was hanging down uselessly and blood was dripping from it. She could see that his t-shirt was ripped open as if by a clawed hand and a dagger was sticking out of his left leg. But he continued to fight as if her were protecting the most important thing in the world.

As her mind became more clear and focused she noticed that the demons behind the two at the door trying to get into the room were backing away. As Spike killed one of the two he was fighting the other one backed out of the door. Spike stood motionless for several moments waiting for the next rush on the door. When it didn't occur he moved to the doorway and saw that the demons were withdrawing down the hall. His head whipped suddenly in her direction until he was looking directly at Buffy and could see that her eyes were open. He let a big sigh out as he dropped the sword to the floor. He reached down and pulled the dagger from his leg. Buffy could see the blood as it oozed out of the wound. Slowly he limped over to the chair next to the bed and sat down tiredly. His face morphed back into normal as he shook his head from side to side. He sat there looking at Buffy without saying anything for several minutes. When he finally spoke his voice was so low and raspy that she had difficulty hearing him say 'Until the End Of Time Buffy, Until the End of Time'.

***********

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