Part Five

Blood

For all her preoccupations with the Slayer, Elizabeth had come to Sunnydale for a purpose other than vengeance.

As much as it consumed her, the master vampire was not foolish enough to allow it power over her. For four hundred years, she had sat in her prison, dreaming of vengeance while fighting to remain sane and she had crafted a beautiful and elegant vengeance that when delivered would be complete and damning. Her confidence in being able to bring about what no other vampire, since the beginning of the long battle between light and day, had managed to accomplish was next to supreme. She knew that she would have the Slayer, of this there was no doubt in her mind. Already the pieces for this particular gambit had been set in place, awaiting the rest of the board to be similarly prepared in order for the game to begin.

In this instance, the board was the Hellmouth and to begin the game, she need only roll the dice.

The spell was older than time and its exact origins were beyond the memory of even the most ancient recordings of human civilization. She had come upon it in the days when she was still human, when she dabbled in the dark powers and collected oddities from the far corners of the earth. Her servants went far and wide searching for what they did not know, only compelled to find the most bizarre and exquisite for her. The Grim Moire was unlike any other in existence, mostly because its pages were made from human skin and the language was little more than a primitive cuneiform.

At first she had nearly driven herself mad attempting to find someone who could translate this long dead language. Locked in its pages, she was certain was the darkest secrets of magic craved by all who practiced the arcane arts. Yet, it was denied to her because the tongue in which it was spoken was a language lost to the world. Elizabeth was beside herself in frustration when an accident with a smashed cup during one drunken fit of anger, suddenly gave her the answer. She remembered the gash that had been cut across her hand from the broken fragment of ceramic, how it had trickled down her hand and landed on an open page. She expected to see an angry stain, obscuring further what she already could not read. However, there was no such blight upon the old, leathery surface

The blood had seeped into the page and suddenly the words became clear. The book in itself was alive and it was hungry. To offer her the world, it needed a sacrifice in blood.

It was a need Elizabeth was more than capable of satisfying, even before she took the journey into sunless lands and became a creature of the night. In truth, becoming a vampire was the culmination of a journey that she had been travelling all her life. While some might find it devastating to be strip of humanity, Elizabeth found it liberating. In one instance, she had everything she would ever want, immortality and eternal beauty, she accepted that power was something she would have to acquire herself. The Grim Moire would be the key in which she used to rule the night.

And feed it she did during her reign as Countess of Csejthe. With ignorant peasant girls ripe for the purpose of feeding her and the book, she had almost been able to fulfil her desires to split the earth in two and release those within its darkened innards that would worship as its master for the freedom she had delivered to them. It would have been a glorious new age, a testimony to Armageddon. She had been on the verge of making it a reality when her preoccupation to her cause had allowed a Slayer to enter her fortress and defeat her.

There were rules as old as time between hunter and prey and who was who when she and the Slayer faced each other was unclear but she accepted that she could be killed, that defeat was possible. She was a daughter of a Magyar clan who understood all too well that death came when one was weaker than the Enemy. If the Slayer had just killed her, Elizabeth would have accepted it. But the Slayer did not do that and even by vampire standards, what the Slayer had done to her was a living hell from which she spent the next four centuries trying to escape.

The Slayer had broken the rules and so would Elizabeth.

When she opened the Hellmouth, the Slayer would be her offering to her new minions. She would offer the eternal soul of the Slayer for their feasting pleasure, to ensure that the young woman named Buffy who was a vampire slayer would also be the last of her kind.

Tonight however, was not about the Slayer. Tonight was about the Hellmouth.

Sweeping into the remnants of what used to be the Sunnydale High School, Elizabeth was confronted by a vision of destruction. According to her human agent Alexander, this chaos had been the result of a battle between the Slayer and the Mayor of Sunnydale. The Mayor who aspirations of ascension into demonhood had died a quick death when he was lead through the labyrinth of the school halls to several tones of explosives. Elizabeth had little sympathy for a man who would spend the last two centuries preparing himself to ascend to a new level of existence and then risk the entire procedure by making his final transition in front of the entire student body and the Slayer.

"So this is the gateway to the Hellmouth?" She asked, her gaze moving across the destroyed library. Blackened fragments of paper and binding littered the floor with debris that was composed either of rock, plaster, wood and even ashy remains of the Mayor.

"This is it," Xander replied, kicking a piece of wood out of his way as he followed her to the large fissure that ran through the floor of the room. "This is where the magic happens." He said nervously.

Elizabeth studied him for a moment and noticed that there was genuine fear in his eyes and she could very well understand it. She sensed the power emanating from deep within the earth beneath her. It whispered to her, drawing her to its darkness, the way it had no doubt drawn so many creatures to it in the years of past. The human named Xander was finding it difficult to be in this place, not simply because it was the mouth to hell but also because of its place in his memory. He had told her that this was the hub from which the Slayer and her friends launched most of their assaults upon the demons and vampires of Sunnydale, much of their time was spent here in the wall of this library. When it had been destroyed at the end of their high school year, it had not merely been an ending but a symbol of the youth they were leaving behind.

"I thought you weren’t ready to open the Hellmouth," Spike asked as he saw Elizabeth pause near the crack, with one of her minions standing behind her, holding the book she claimed carried the spell needed to open the Hellmouth like a ripe egg.

"I can open it whenever I like," Elizabeth said coolly, becoming accustomed to his sardonic manner to know the question was not meant to be derisive. "I only do so if it is worth my while and that is what we are here to find out."

"How do we do that?" Spike asked, almost afraid to ask.

And frighten him she did. As much as he wanted her, as much as he would kill anything in this room, even to tearing open the Hellmouth with his bare hands for her, she did scare him. Very few things frightened Spike and Elizabeth with all her power, with her striking beauty capable of bending any man’s will to suit her needs, certainly fell into that category. He knew that part of the reason for his conflict was that tiny human voice inside of him, that had become very quiet when he had faced Buffy in the tunnels, as if it had withdrawn in horror at what he had done. He should have been thrilled to submerge the humanity in him at long last but he was not. He felt this uneasiness clawing at his inside, growing malignant with each breath he drew. He did not understand and he dared not confess it to Elizabeth, in case she thought him weak.

So many things around him were becoming harder to tolerate. Watching Xander staring vapidly at Elizabeth, his eyes so full of adoration that he had helped one of her minion’s lure a girl into captivity. A promise of a date and a smile had brought a teenager, not that much older than Dawn into Elizabeth’s grasp. The young nameless waif was presently resting on the dirt covered floor of the destroyed library, unconscious and mercifully unaware of what awaited her tonight. Spike saw Xander and felt this inward twinge to do something to snap the human out of it even though it made no sense that he should. After all, he did not even like the human and tolerated him because he was one of Buffy’s friends.

Buffy.

Each time the name surfaced inside his mind, there was that feeling of disquiet that would not go away. When they had faced each other in the sewers, he could have killed her and he still did not understand why he did not. For sure, he had given the excuse that Elizabeth had plans for her that would be ruined if he killed the Slayer but since when did anyone’s plans get in the way of his desires? He had done worse in his life and risked the wrath of Angelus and even the Master himself, by his recklessness and that never stopped him. He had loved Buffy, he had been willing to do anything for her but she had not cared. She had rejected him again and again, he had every reason to kill her and he could not.

But that was going to change, he told himself resolutely. He was no longer anyone’s creature. He had a new lady in his life and she was going to make things better. She was going to make this chip in his head disappear and return him to what he was. He was going to be the Big Bad again and no remnant of humanity or love for a Slayer was going to change that.

Elizabeth had not answered his question because she had retrieved her Grim Moire from her minion. She opened the book next to the fissure, spreading apart the leathery pages. Spike could smell the faint odor of the flesh the book was made of. It brought to mind the smell inside the crypt. When she had allowed him a glimpse of the much guarded book, Spike had been unable to read anything. The language was beyond him and he was the product of a gentleman’s education with something of an understanding in languages. She had not told him how it was to be read but judging by the presence of the human offering Xander had brought her, Spike suspected they were about to find out.

"Bring her," Elizabeth spoke to the tall, European vampire named Vargas. He was clearly of East European descent, with an inclination towards Ukraine regions. Big and fierce looking with heavy eye ridges even for a human, Vargas was as formidable as he appeared and he was completely loyal to his Countess.

"You need the girl to open the Hellmouth?" Spike asked again, hoping he would receive a more satisfactory answer than what he had so far acquired.

"Patience my love," Elizabeth replied as Vargas brought the girl to her. She was still unconscious, oblivious to the dark proceedings in which she was about to have a most central role. Elizabeth had kept her in something of a stupor, claiming that it was so much expedient if they did not have to worry about the fuss that came with unnecessary screaming and struggle. "All will be revealed soon enough."

Vargas propped the girl up on her feet though she was incapable of standing upright without his assistance. She was a pretty thing with blond hair and peaches and cream skin. Spike tried to ignore that she bore a little bit of resemblance to the Slayer because it would only make what was about to happen all the more difficult. At her feet was the Grim Moire and as she stood over it, held upright by the vampire behind her, the first stirrings of life began to return to her limps. Her eyes flew open at the return of her senses but it was a futile awakening.

No sooner than she opened her eyes, Elizabeth’s lovely face changed into a vampiric mask and the Romanian countess sunk her teeth into the girl’s neck. She reacted with pain but the scream never left her lips and as Elizabeth drank enough to ensure that she would not live, the vampire stood back and let the flow from the torn jugular spill out from her ruined flesh onto her clothes. Wiping the spurts of blood from that powerful artery, Elizabeth stepped back and saw the crimson tide seep down the body of its owner, running down in thick streams to her feet before culminating as pregnant drops against the page. The blood trickled steadily and suddenly the book seemed to change right before their eyes.

Old and worn became new and crisp.

Words that were unintelligible became clear and a sound that could have been the satisfied groan of something that had been terribly hungry echoed through all their ears. Elizabeth was smiling as her victim died in front of her, each drop of blood giving strength to the Grim Moire that was her source of her dark magic and the instrument in which she was going to bring about Armageddon. Spike watched in mesmerized horror as the book took on a life of its own and he wondered what it origins were and then prayed he never found out because the thing scared the hell out of him. By the time Vargas had dropped the girl to the floor, the book was slowly absorbing every drop of blood that had been spilled out of her veins.

Once it was done, Elizabeth bent over and picked it up. She did not even look at its pages as her hands cupped the covers on either side as if it were a hymnbook and she was about to utter a prayer. Her eyes did not cast its gaze upon heaven. She had something else in mind. In a language that Spike could not understand, Elizabeth began to speak, not merely reading from the book by channeling the words through her being. Her eyes began to glow with red fire and the cool indigo darkness inside the room warmed with amber radiance.

In the name of the dark powers

Through the barrier that separates the worlds

I reach into the chaos to seek the One

The one to whom resides as master beyond the Gateway

I call to Thee!

For an instant there was nothing and Spike almost though the spell had failed for all the chillingly spoken words that came from Elizabeth. There was a stillness so overpowering that Xander found himself pressed up against the wall of the library, his heart pounding so loudly that to any vampire in the room, it could have been church bells ringing. Vargas and the other vampire whose name Spike had not bothered to learn appeared similarly apprehensive but their fear had largely to do with the fact that their mistress eyes were glowing like embers of hot coal. Spike had seen powerful magic being performed and while it was nothing like the conjuring he had seen Willow performed, he had to confess that he was a little anxious as well.

The air was charged with something but for a few minutes after Elizabeth had uttered those challenging words, nothing had happened and Spike began to think that this was all some big exercise in futility. Suddenly, there was an earth shattering sound that made the dilapidated walls of the library shake from its intensity. Pieces of mortar and debris that had not been dislodged during the initial explosion that had reduced the structure to its present state, crumbled to the debris covered floor. Xander drop to his knees, preparing to throw himself on the ground and shield himself in case the unsteady ceiling chose to make its final descent. There was another explosion of sound and the space in the middle of the room, before Elizabeth started to shimmer. The fissure leading to the depths of the sealed Hellmouth began to discharge something akin to smoke though the stench was death and brimstone.

Through the shimmer, Spike something forming. Its dimensions filled the room and to look at its face, they had to look up. It was hard to describe what it was exactly except that it was the embodiment of the Hellmouth and the darkness that it seemed to attract. He saw teeth that would have cleaved a person in half and eyes that glowed with as much hellfire as Dante could have ever written about or imagined, its hands were claws and its body misshapen and clearly something that lurked in the corners of every nightmare. Looking at the creature made Spike want to turn and run. It was the first time when running away seemed like the most sensible thing to do.

However, Elizabeth stood her ground as she faced it fearlessly, a smile on her lips as she waited for the creature before her to make the opening bid in her negotiations.

When it spoke, it felt as if the thunder had developed speech. It was a low, resonating sound that seemed to make the walls as well as their bones shudder in reaction.

"Who summons me?" It asked.

"I do," Elizabeth replied, "I summon thee oh great lord of the underworld."

"Who are you?" It looked down at her with near impatience and Spike was almost tempted to run, but not without dragging Elizabeth away from this place as well. "Who are you half breed, that you dare to summon the hosts of hell like a servant?"

"I am the one who can open the gateway," Elizabeth replied confidently.

It stopped short for a moment, pulling its massive head backwards until it almost knocked itself against the ceiling.

"We should go pet," Spike warned, not about to leave her as the creature considered her words. He moved towards her slowly, trying to avoid capturing the notice of the thing she had summoned from beyond the Hellmouth.

"Another half breed," the denizen of the underworld snorted, pivoting its head slightly as it examined Spike with its fiery eyes. "This one is an even lesser being than you. Worthy to be tortured but not worthy to carry demon blood."

"He is mine to do with," Elizabeth declared haughtily. "I summoned you here because I have a proposition."

"A proposition?" The thing laughed, as if highly amused by the whole notion of being able to need anything that a vampire could furnish. "What is it do you think you have half breed, that might warrant my attention?"

"The gateway is closed to you," she replied coolly, ignoring Spike’s attempts to reach her. "I can open it."

Naturally, the hell beast did not believe her and laughed even harder. It was rife with derision and Spike half expected to see Elizabeth react to the obvious contempt at her abilities but she did nothing of the kind. Instead, she closed her eye and uttered a few more words and the ground beneath her started to quake with such violence that Spike had trouble remaining on his feet. The building continued to express its protestations with an increase of falling debris until Spike was no longer certain that it would be able to remain standing if the violent tremors were allowed to continue. However, the fissure itself suffered the most effect as it began to widen slightly.

The creature that Elizabeth had summoned from beyond the Hellmouth started to have substance, instead of mere wraithlike consistency. The more the two worlds began to connect, the more it became real in the world above. The beast appeared to examine its clawed hand by making a fist and then swinging it through a light fitting that had miraculously managed to remain hanging despite bomb and fire damage. Unfortunately, this investigative effort proved to be the more than the beleaguered object could tolerate and the slight nudge was all it took for it to plunge to the floor and land unceremoniously with a noisy crash. However, it destruction was a point well made to the creature attempting to test the credibility of Elizabeth’s words.

"That is only the beginning," Elizabeth cried out now that she had its complete and undivided attention. "I can bring all of you to this plane of existence and give you rite of passage to do as you will."

"And what is the payment for this?" The beast asked, its glowing eyes fixed on her now. "What would you want from us in exchange of this passage?"

"I want to rule this world," Elizabeth said icily. "If I give your passage, will you make that possible?"

The beast seemed to consider it for a minute before replying. "Anything is possible. If you open up the gateway, the hosts of hell will be more than happy to make this realm a fiefdom and there is always someone in need to protect our interests here. That person could be you."

"That person will be me," she said sharply. "This is not a negotiation. These are my terms. You will comply."

"Maybe its not such a good idea to make demands of it luv," Spike finally found his voice enough to say.

Neither Elizabeth or the beast paid any attention to him and for a few minutes, nothing but silence followed. Xander had risen off the floor and was standing next to Spike. Perhaps with everything taking place around him, he needed to be near someone familiar, even if that someone was Spike. They watched Elizabeth and the beast from hell staring at one another, trying not to show weakness. Elizabeth appeared confident however and Spike knew even if the silence was might lead them to think otherwise, that in the end she would have her way. The beast was just trying to find the right way to tell her that she had won. After all, image was everything.

"The terms are acceptable," the creature finally rumbled, its head held high as if it had made a concession to the vampire witch, not force to oblige her because it craved badly what she offered, a chance to maim and pillage a new world. It was a world full of fresh ripe soul, all pure and untouched by demons, which would suffer the ecstasy of agony and sing it songs in delightful arias of screaming.

"You will open the gateway and the hosts of hell will see to it that you are placed at the head of our fiefdom," the beast responded.

"I will open the gateway two days from now," Elizabeth replied, a broad smile crossing her face, full of triumph. "There is a matter I must deal with before you and your kind are freed to walk this earth."

"What matter is important enough to delay our arrival?" The beast hissed in demand. Its eyes blazing ones again and the anger it is voice make the wall tremble further.

"The Slayer."

The beast sucked in its breath even though it was mostly incorporeal and had no breath to speak off. "We know of the Slayer. We see all from even these depths. We know that she is the reason the gateway remains barred to us. Kill her for us and we will reward you with more than you have ever dreamed imaginable. Destroy the Slayer and the world will be yours."

Elizabeth smiled, "I will present you her body when the gateway is open. This I promise you."

"Two days past," the beast growled, "or we will see it to it that you know our displeasure."

And with that, he disappeared. The shimmer in mid air through which the beast was given form faded away from sight, like smoke evaporating into the air. The ground stopped trembling and the scent of fire and sulfur abated for the moment. The book at Elizabeth’s feet seemed to grow old and withered once more but there was no longer any blood on the floor. Not one drop of it remained after it had flowed from the dead girl’s veins. The room returned to its iridescent darkness as Elizabeth’s eyes lost their amber fire and all for the moment anyway, seemed back to normal.

"Pet!" Spike hurried to her when he saw Elizabeth swaying unsteadily on her feet. Vampire or not, the conjuring she had just performed was powerful magic indeed and it would have taken its toll upon her. Spike caught her in his arms and though she did not collapse, he noted that she accepted his support without question. Vargas and the vampire also approached but they gave Spike the freedom to act, aware that he was the Mistress’ favorite for now.

"I am fine," Elizabeth replied, stroking his face gently as he provided her with his strength for her time of need. "It appears that the time has finally come to kill the Slayer."

"Kill the Slayer?" Xander asked anxiously. Spike could not tell whether or not his fear was based on his loyalties for Buffy or his fears for Elizabeth.

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded once her strength returned to her and she was able to disengage herself from Spike to stand on her own. "Its time for your Buffy to meet her destiny but not yet, I have to prepare for our eventual meeting. I will need a few things."

"What sort of things?" Spike asked, remembering that her plans for Buffy did not merely mean killing the Slayer but destroying the essence of her so that she would never be able to resurrect herself in the body of another girl.

Elizabeth stared directly at him and Spike knew he was not going to like the answer.

"Blood," she replied. "I need her blood."

**********

Deciding that it was best to remain in the one place after what both she and Anya had endured at Spike and Xander’s hand respectively, what remained of the Scooby Gang gathered at Buffy’s house. After her grievous miscalculation regarding Xander, Buffy was not risking any more of her friends or her family by playing odds. She had hoped Anya’s insistence to keep Xander at home would have sent her spell enchanted old friend straight into the arms of his master. It had never occurred to her that Xander would be so violent. After all, he had not behaved in such a manner when he had become Dracula’s agent. Whatever spell Elizabeth had used to make Xander her creature did not alter the fact that Buffy had placed Anya’s life in danger and the Slayer was not about to make that same mistake again.

Despite the Slayer’s ability to heal rapidly, Buffy found that there was no way she could go to work with the injuries she had sustained during her battle with Spike without a number of uncomfortable questions begin raised at how she had acquired them. Somehow, she did not think her supervisor was going to accept the explanation that she had fought a vampire under the sewers of Sunnydale who also happened to be her lover, with any kind of rationality. Who could blame her, Buffy thought ruefully as she walked down the stairs later that evening after spending most of the day in bed, she could scarcely believe it herself.

The day had passed by lazily after the chaos of the morning with Dawn being forced to stay home from school because Buffy feared her roaming about alone when Spike and Xander were out there. As much as it pained her to admit it, she feared Xander almost as much as she did Spike, more even because he had no chip preventing him from harming humans like Spike did. Dawn had not protested much about staying away from school for the day but Buffy could not help thinking that she was going to pay for it the next time a welfare worker chose to drop by and evaluate their living arrangements. This would all be so much simpler if Dawn was eighteen.

She could hear the chatter of others emanating from the kitchen downstairs and the smell of what appeared to be macaroni and cheese, the only meal that Dawn could safely claimed to have mastered. Her stomach leapt at the prospect of a warm meal, even if it was macaroni and cheese, anything was better than double meat burgers which had become a staple of the Summers household lately. She entered the kitchen to see Anya resting on the sofa, appearing a good deal healthier than Buffy had last seen her. Although she appeared rather sedate, still recovering from her brutal treatment at Xander’s hands, it was good to see Anya up and about.

Dawn and Tara were bringing out dinner to the living room from the kitchen and Buffy ran straight into Willow who was emerging into the hallway.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed when they almost collided

"Hey Will," Buffy greeted.

"I was just coming to get you," Willow explained as they looked at each other. "Dawn and Tara’s made dinner."

Willow’s expression was one of clear happiness and she was practically glowing from the fact that Tara was here. Buffy was glad that the relationship between the two was on the mend, especially when the reason for it was due to Willow’s attempts to curb her addition to magic. Buffy was glad for Tara’s presence because her knowledge of magic and spells would prevent Buffy from turning to Willow for the source of her answers. Elizabeth’s spell over Spike and Xander was based on magic and as much as she wished she could stake the vampire like all others she had encountered, Buffy knew the spell had to be lifted first or they might be trapped by it forever, even after her death.

"Dinner’s good," Buffy smiled as she returned into the living room with Willow and saw that the others were gathered around the coffee table, either on chairs on the floor, preparing to dine informally on the meal. If the situation were not so dire, Buffy would almost call it a slumber party of sorts.

"Hey Buffy," Dawn smiled, glad to see her sister joining them. "You feel better?"

"Yeah," Buff nodded. "I’m good."

It was true. The injuries still ached but for most part she was more or less fully healed. Buffy was in better shape than Anya who still sported a multitude of bruises not to mention the bandages over the cuts and lacerations she had incurred when Xander had threw her through to glass coffee table. So far Anya had deigned not to tell them what Xander had said to her other than the fact that he was going to Elizabeth. However Buffy could tell that there was some private anguish that she was keeping to herself and if Buffy’s own encounter with Spike was any comparison to the emotional wounds she had suffered, Buffy imagined she had good reason for her silence.

"Here," Dawn came to her with a plate of food. "Fresh from the stove."

"Thanks Dawnie," Buffy gave her little sister a loving smile and stroked her hair gently, remembering that in her life so filled with darkness of late, there were glittering moments and Dawn was one of them. Buffy took the plate and sank to one of the floor cushions next to the coffee table while Dawn returned to her own place.

"I can’t believe I slept for most of the day," Buffy looked out of the window at the darkness in the street outside.

"I called the Double Meat and told them you had the flu," Dawn said helpfully.

"Thanks," Buffy smiled, thinking that Dawn was becoming more grown up by the day and realizing for some reason, she was not as happy about that as she thought she would be.

"There’s been no sign of Xander or Spike," Willow said softly.

"You haven’t been out there looking?" Buffy stared at her in shock, not wanting any of her friends out there alone.

"No," Anya responded quietly. "Willow just made a few calls to Xander’s work."

"He’s probably with her," Willow volunteered. "After what happened with Anya, she wouldn’t be dumb enough to let him wander around, not when he could lead us back to her."

"This vampire is using magic?" Tara asked.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "Some kind of heavy mojo that affects both humans and vampires."

"That’s pretty damn powerful," the Wiccan stated. "There aren’t many enchantment spell that could take both humans and demons. Most of them are pretty specific."

"You should have seen them," Dawn retorted since she was at this point the only one who had ever actually seen Elizabeth. "They were all over her, like puppies. Spike too but Xander was just out of it."

Buffy saw Anya flinch instinctively at Dawn’s description. Dawn noticed it as well and quickly faltered in her speech, not wishing to hurt Anya’s feelings any more than it already was.

"Well if it’s a spell we should be able to break it," Tara replied.

"But its going to be hard finding the right one," Willow said hesitantly. She had thought the same thing but she had no wish to be the one to attempt it. It had taken this long for her to reach this level of resolve in her efforts to abstain from the use of magic. In order to lift the spell from Xander would require active participation and she was afraid that if she made the attempt, she would not be able to stop. "And then someone’s going to have to actually perform the dissolution ceremony. I don’t…."

"I’ll do it," Tara said firmly so that there was no mistake on this issue. Willow exchanged a grateful look with her former lover before Tara spoke again. "It won’t be easy though. We need one of them here."

"Xander is probably easiest to handle," Willow remarked.

"What makes you say that?" Anya immediately declared, her eyes full of anguish and frustration.

"Well he’s human," Dawn retorted.

"That makes him the most dangerous of all," Anya returned. "None of us will hurt him because we still think that’s he’s the Xander we love." Her voice cracked a little and the though mask she had been wearing started to waver. "He’s not. He’s a stranger that’s not afraid to hurt any of us. At least Spike has the chip, the only one he can hurt is Buffy. Not Xander, he can come in here and kill anyone of us if she tells him to do it."

"She’s right," Buffy put a stop to Anya’s tirade before it got any more heated. "It can’t be Xander. It has to be Spike. If Spike fights us too much, we can stake him. We can’t stake Xander."

"I don’t want you to stake Spike!" Dawn exclaimed staring at her sister in dismay that they were even contemplating such a thing. "I want you to make him better, not kill him."

"Dawn, it may not be possible," Buffy argued, wishing once again that the vampire had never come near her sister. Spike did not deserve Dawn’s devotion and it infuriated Buffy that she should cared so much for him, even now.

"It may not be possible to save Xander but you’re not talking about killing him." She pointed out.

"Xander’s human," Buffy pointed out.

"Spike may not be human but he’s my friend and I don’t want to see him killed. I want us to help him too." Dawn replied, refusing to believe for one second that Spike’s lack of soul made him undeserving of mercy. The man who had kept her safe all summer, who held her when she was afraid and who tried to be there for her in the days following Buffy’s death would never be a monster to her, no matter how much Buffy disliked him.

"Look this is pointless," Buffy sighed. "We’re not doing anything just yet. We don’t even know where they are." It was an effort to diffuse the situation because she did not want to have to force the reality of their predicament down Dawn’s throat until the time came for her to act against Spike.

"If she wants revenge, why hasn’t she came after us yet?" Willow asked, trying to change the subject. "I mean she grabbed Xander but so far she hasn’t come after Buffy."

"What about Spike and what he did to her?" Anya pointed out.

"No, I get the feeling Spike was only there because I was following Xander," Buffy mused, seeing the point that Willow was attempting to make. "I mean I know that she’s got to want me dead. After what the Slayer back in Translyvania did to her, I’m not surprised. Frankly if someone locked me up for four hundred years in a dark smelly cave, I’d be pretty damn pissed off too.

"Maybe she’s here for something else?" Tara suggested.

"Like what?" Willow asked.

Tara was about to respond when suddenly there was a wild knocking on the door.

For an instant, none of them spoke and they all exchanged glances, sending signals across the room at who could that be at this late hour and whether or not they should be answering the door to let it in. Buffy rose to her feet first, gesturing the others to be silent as she padded silently to the door. She cursed the fact that her stake was upstairs in her weapons chest and she had not the foresight to leave it down here in case of instances like this. Telling herself that if it were a vampire, it would not be able to come into her house without an invitation and Tara had done a de-invites spell for Spike the minute they had brought Anya over this morning.

Taking a deep breath, she wondered what new danger awaited her and opened the door.

The danger was not at all new. It was very old in fact, one with whom she had been courting for some time. Spike stood at the doorway, not bothering to enter, appearing as if he knew that he was not welcome. His eyes softened at seeing her and Buffy took an instinct step backwards as he swallowed thickly, appearing as if he had no idea what to say to her.

"Buffy," he said softly.

"Come here to kill me?" Buffy asked venomously. "You’re not going to get the chance. I am going to do what I should have done ages ago. I’m going to kill you."

"I don’t blame you," he met her eyes. "I almost killed you."

"You never came close to killing me Spike," Buffy retorted. "You just got lucky."

"You’re probably right pet," he admitted readily. "I love you, I always have but I don’t know what happened. Suddenly, she became the only thing I cared about, I couldn’t think of anything else. I wanted her so badly; I was willing to do anything to have her. Slayer, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was on my way out of town, I was going to leave you, to let you get on with things and then I saw her and everything got muddle up. I didn’t know what came over me."

"Spike, I’m not buying this," Buffy retreated into the doorway. "I don’t know why you’re here but you can crawl back to your hell bitch and tell her that I’m going to find her and rip out her heart before I stake it."

"I want to help you Buffy," Spike pleaded with her earnestly. "I don’t want to hurt you any more but she’s got plans Buffy, big plans. She wants to open the Hellmouth and I’m not sticking around to fall under her spell again. I’m leaving before I become more of a threat to you than I already am. I just came to say goodbye."

Buffy did not know what to do. Every ounce of reason inside her body told her that this was a trick. This was the vampire that had almost killed her in the sewers earlier today, no matter how she might try to deny it to him or to herself. He had almost defeated her once and for all and yet, now she was expected to believe that the spell that had made him a killer again was gone? That he was himself again and the vampire who was devotedly in love with her? She watched him turn away when she did not respond and her heart felt that similar anguish when she had entered his crypt and found that all traces of him had vanished.

"Spike," she halted him in his tracks and stepped beyond the threshold of the doorway, aware that she was probably going to regret this bit of foolishness.

He paused and turned around. "Yes, luv."

"You should go," she admitted softly. "You’re still dangerous while she’s around. I don’t want to stake you."

Spike took a step back to her and was encouraged by the fact that she held her ground. He crossed the small space between them and they were staring at each other, face to face. There was real affection in Buffy’s eyes when she pressed her lips against his and for a second, nothing of the life and death struggle they had engaged in earlier today remained as they kissed each other. She felt his arms slide around her waist felt her arms encircle his neck and for the first time, Buffy really kissed him and tasted him. Before it had only been sex a hard driven lust that was more sensation that real emotion. It wasn’t like this. She felt her head swim. When she had first taken him, she had felt like this and the feeling had never repeated itself since.

When she pulled away, she stared into his eyes and for a second, she saw the love he felt for her surface in shades of color that turned his blue eyes into all the colours of the rainbow. However, the glittering starlight reflected in them soon faded away into nothingness and he started to smile.

"Got you Cutie."

This time he pulled her to him and there was nothing emotional about it. The kiss was hard against her mouth and Buffy heard movement behind her. In an instant, she understood with soul crushing anguish that she had been tricked. Tricked utterly and completely. Letting out a strangled cry, she tore her lips away from him and spun around, just in time to see Xander disappearing through the door.

"Bastard!" She screamed, tears running down her eyes.

"Oh Slayer," Spike grinned. "Did I ruin that pretty little moment for you?"

Buffy did not bother to answer, running toward her house and hearing an explosion of sound that was unmistakable in its sharp, mechanical resonance. Buffy jumped startled as it tore through her ears and the screams she heard following it, made her bolt through the doorway, leaving Spike beyond the door, laughing even harder.

Buffy ran into the house and found Xander standing behind Dawn, holding a gun to her head. Willow lay on the floor, clutching her shoulder. There was blood flowing from the wound as Tara tried frantically to stem the bleeding. Anya was weeping openly while huddled into the corner of the sofa, watching the unfolding drama with horror and shock. Dawn on the other hands was surprisingly calm even though her eyes were trying to catch a glimpse of the barrel pressed to the side of her head.

"Stay right there Buffy," Xander ordered and Buffy had little choice but to obey.

"Xander don’t hurt her!" Buffy pleaded, more tears running down her face.

"That’s entirely up to you," he said coldly. "You can think you move fast enough to keep me from pulling this trigger?" He taunted her by jabbing the cold steel against Dawn’s skin with even more insistence. Each reaction from her little sister made Buffy’s heart skip another beat.

"No!" Buffy quickly responded. "I won’t try anything! Just take it easy!"

"Xander stop this!" Anya wept, trying to reach him on some level but they all knew that it was impossible. Whomever this stranger was standing before them, it was not their Xander.

"Do you know what the best thing about all this is?" He glared briefly at Anya, the gun never wavering in his grip. "Is the fact that I never have to listen to another whiney thing you say again."

His venom drew out a strangled sob from Anya, who was once again reliving the terrible thing he had said to her today. She continued to weep harder and Buffy ached for her, understanding how she felt perfectly because she had been just as hurt by Spike and his deception.

"What do you want Xander?" Buffy demanded. "You want me is that it?"

"Don’t flatter yourself," Xander retorted. "I’m not really that much into vamps leftovers. I’m here because she sent me."

Buffy swallowed thickly, forcing the sting and the rising humiliation of his vicious words away from his mocking gaze. Right now, the only thing that mattered was Dawn. "What do you want then?"

"Blood," he hissed, rifling through his coat and tossing a small jar in her direction.

Buffy caught it with one hand and stared at him in astonishment. "What?"

‘You heard me!" He barked again. "Fill her up?"

"You want Buffy to give you blood?" Tara stared at him.

"Hey look decided to join the party," he said sarcastically. "What’s the matter couldn’t stay away from all the fun?"

"What do you want with my blood Xander? Buffy asked suspiciously. The last time someone had needed her blood it was Glory to lower the dimensional walls. Spike had muttered something about Elizabeth wanting to open the Hellmouth. Was this why she needed it?

"That’s for me to know and for you to find out," Xander giggled deliriously as he strengthened his hold on Dawn. "NOW DO IT!"

Buffy jumped at the force of his words and debated what she could do. "Xander, please," she stared at him almost begging. "Don’t do this."

"Didn’t you learn your lesson with Spike?" He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "I’m not your Xander anymore. Not good ol’ reliable Xander who’d come through no matter how much you looked the other way, no matter how many monsters you picked over the man? I’m through running after all of you!" His eyes swept across the room, briefly connecting with the faces staring back at him in shock. "Now fill that jar up or I swear I’m going to splatter her brains all over your nice, clean walls!"

To prove his point, he cocked the gun and forced a cry of fear from Dawn’s lips. Dawn was staring at Buffy helplessly, uncertain whether or not she wanted her sister to do as Xander asked because the reason for acquiring the Slayer’s blood could only be for the purpose of evil if Elizabeth wanted it so badly. Yet Dawn was also terribly afraid. Despite how she had came into existence, she was real as any being born of the womb and she wanted to live just as badly.

"Buffy," Dawn swallowed and found herself speaking. "Don’t do it. Don’t give him what he wants."

"SHUT UP!" Xander snarled in her ear and jammed the gun against her skull making everyone in the room flinch. "Don’t try me," he glared at Buffy. "I shot Willow, don’t think I couldn’t do it little Dawnie here."

Buffy saw her sister in Xander’s grip and knew that she could not allow this to happen. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, cursing her weakness, wishing Giles were here so that he could tell her that the choice to save a life over the fate of the world was wrong because she could not make the distinction herself. She had been unable to do it when Glory had required Dawn’s blood to bring about dimensional collapse and she was unable to do it now.

"I’ll do it," she whispered softly, anguish etching her face as she saw Tara lying there, trying to stem the blood flowing from Willow’s wounds, Anya’s devastation as the man she loved committed unthinkable acts with equally unthinkable words to wound them all. She saw her sister, the only thing that was left of her mother and knew that she could not let any more harm come to them. Sucking her breath, she reached for the letter opener on the table and held it to her wrist.

"Buffy no!" Dawn cried out.

"Do it!" Xander silenced her with that sharp bark.

Buffy closed her eyes and tore open her palm, watching the blood spill out of the sliced skin. A scarlet trickle ran down the contours of her cupped hand, running a thin rivulet into the jar given to her for the purpose.

"That’s it," Xander said with a triumphant smirk. "That wasn’t so hard was it?"

TO BE CONTINUED...