<see
Part 1 for
disclaimers>
************************
Two hours later, Willow and Tara knocked on Giles’
door and were surprised when Spike opened the door. He took one look at Willow’s pale and
pinched face and yanked both of them into the condo. The platinum blonde vampire frowned as he took in the sight of
the cast with the swollen fingers barely sticking out from the cast and sling.
“Spike?” Willow asked softly, her eyes turning immediately
to the sofa where she had last seen Buffy.
“Word’s out on the demon grapevine that the Slayer
is on the ropes and you are to be the next Ms. Werewolf Oz,” Spike said
grimly. “I bundled up and drove over as
soon as all the other little demons bedded down for the day.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Willow said simply. It was very much out of character for Spike
to offer help. Normally, whenever he
was around he just bitched about not being able to kill all of them and feed on
humans like he once did.
“Best not to say anything then,” Spike quipped and
glanced up at the hallway where Joyce and Giles exited from the Watcher’s
bedroom.
Both college students and the vampire growled when
they saw the gun in Giles’ hand and the Watcher began blushing.
“Where’s Buffy?” Willow demanded as Joyce moved
forward to hug her.
“She ate and went to check out one of Oz’ old hiding
places,” Giles explained.
“You let her?” the red-haired witch snapped. “Last night she was dying and you let her go
out looking for Oz today?”
“Willow,” Giles snapped back and then took a moment
to take a deep breath. “She woke up
this morning as if nothing had happened.
Her arm is still broken but she was insistent on going looking for
him. She promised that if she found him
she wouldn’t move against him until calling us.”
“Goddess,” Willow said in a weary voice and sat down
heavily on the sofa. Tara ignored Spike
and Joyce’s raised eyebrows as she sat down next to the witch and wrapped an
arm around Willow. The young college student,
not noticing the questioning looks, leaned into Tara’s comforting warmth. “This is so messed up,” Willow
complained. “Tara told me that Oz still
wants to trade me for Xander and Anya and that I’d know where he was?”
Giles quickly sat down on the coffee table to get a
better look into Willow’s eyes.
“Yes, that’s exactly what he said,” Giles answered
firmly. “Where would he have them? Any ideas?”
“No, I can’t think of any,” Willow fought back the
urge to break into tears again.
“Come on, Little Tree,” Spike encouraged. “He’s counting on you knowing where he is.”
“Well, the Chem. Lab where he took out Veruca is too
crowded and the library cage at the high school is gone with the rest of the
school,” Willow said thoughtfully.
Giles noticed how she was cradling her arm and could
see the pain reflected on the young woman’s face, even with the cast and sling
protecting the arm.
“When was the last time you took medication for the
pain?” he questioned.
“Not now, Giles,” Willow growled, her green eyes
flashing. “I have to be clear and
figure this out so we can save Xander and Anya and keep Buffy safe.”
“I know that but the pain can also make you fuzzy
and can cause you to lose your concentration,” he argued.
“Okay, here’s my suggestion, kiddies,” Spike
announced. “Willow stays here because
of her arm but the rest of us start searching the two graveyards.”
“Why the graveyards?” Joyce questioned.
“One, I’m betting that’s where Buffy is looking and
we can keep an eye on her,” the vampire grinned. “Two, there are lots of crypts there and I’m betting that’s where
Oz would be with his vampire and werewolf crew.”
“What have you heard about his group?” Giles asked
as he went to the closet, pulled out a trunk and opened it. Joyce walked over
to see what he was up to and found herself holding a small satchel as Giles
rummaged through the trunk.
“He’s got himself a pack, sometimes werewolves stick
together day and night,” Spike explained and easily caught the pistol and
ammunition clip Giles tossed at him.
The vampire nodded appreciatively when he looked and saw the bullets
were silver. “They’d rather live as
wolves than humans most of the time and learn to control their wolf side. It becomes easier for them to shift but the
downside is that they become more wolf-like than human. Eventually they’ll
drift to the woods or desert and live constantly in werewolf shape.”
“Oz,” Willow said softly, tears beginning to flow as
she imagined the gentle young musician, she had loved, becoming little more
than an animal.
Spike frowned as he watched Willow sink her head
onto Tara’s shoulder while being comforted by the other witch.
“Oz obviously found a pack and became their Alpha
male,” Spike continued. “Creepy,
actually. Now he’s looking for a mate
to be his alpha female. He plans on
taking and turning Willow; the pack will either settle in Sunnydale or go
somewhere else to prey on humans.”
Giles looked up from the trunk when Spike hesitated,
lost in his thoughts for the moment. “What’s wrong, Spike, missing the old
days?” he taunted.
“Actually, I was,” Spike admitted easily with a
shrug. “The vampires are helping him
because he promised them a good shot at the Slayer with help from the pack.”
“What happens if… if they find out Buffy was
bitten?” Tara asked.
“Bitten?”
Spike snapped, his face becoming a snarl of anger. “By what?” he demanded
“Oz was about to bite Willow and Buffy took the bite
instead,” Giles explained, handing a crossbow to Joyce and opened the satchel
to show her that there were arrows inside, wooden arrows with silver tips. Buffy’s Mom nodded in understanding.
“The Slayer was bitten by a werewolf?” Spike
whispered. “Not bloody good, goddamn
it!”
“No,” Giles agreed.
“She became very, very sick and we’re hoping that she fought off the
infection.”
“Not bloody fucking likely!” Spike snapped. “Especially if the wound was deep. How deep was it?”
“He broke both bones in her arm with his teeth,”
Willow answered bitterly.
“Hellfire!” William the Bloody cursed, tucking the
gun into his belt. “And you let her
go?” he shouted at Giles.
“The moon isn’t full for another month and it’s
daylight,” Giles said somewhat defensively.
“Oh hell,” Spike snapped. “And you call yourself a
scholar and Watcher. Damnit, you silly
bastard! She was bitten by the Alpha
male.”
“What do you mean, Spike?” Willow demanded, sitting
upright. The blonde vampire was
surprised and confused but brushed his questions about Willow, Tara and Buffy
aside.
“She can’t hurt the Alpha male unless she challenges
him to his right to lead the pack,” Spike tried to explain. “If Buffy runs into him, she’ll be
subservient to his will. They live like
wolves, damnit! She can’t challenge him
unless she’s in wolf form and that’s a month away and she doesn’t have control
over the wolf-side like they do.”
Giles sat down heavily in a chair while Joyce stood
holding the crossbow, stunned and trying to absorb this new information about
her only child.
“Oh my God,” Giles muttered. “He could turn her against us?”
“Yes, like Dracula commanded Renfield,” Spike
nodded. “If he gets his hands on Buffy
he could order her to grab Willow and take her to him.”
“I’ve never read anything like this,” Giles
complained.
“That’s because packs don’t interact with humans,
normally,” Spike snapped. “You’ve read
some of the tales about two or three werewolves attacking villages in medieval
times, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we always thought those were just half starved
wolves,” Giles responded, still dealing with the possibilities of Buffy being
controlled by Oz.
“They were packs and there was an alpha male and
female,” Spike said wearily, losing his anger.
“We’ve got to find Buffy before she finds Oz.”
“And Xander and Anya,” Tara added.
“Right, anything you say,” Spike agreed reluctantly.
“Spike, there won’t be enough cover at the
graveyards for you,” Giles said firmly, getting to his feet and wrapping an arm
around Joyce’s shoulder. “You stay here
and protect Willow. We’ll find Buffy
and then see if we can find where Oz is hiding.”
“Bloody hell, I want to fight!” Spike complained.
“Spike,” Joyce said. “You know how it would hurt Buffy if anything happens to Willow
and neither of you can fight today.”
“You’re right, Mum,” Spike nodded but still frowned.
“I can help, a magickal tracking spell or
something,” Willow protested.
“Not with that hand and the pain you’re in,” Giles
said firmly. “I’m taking my cell phone,
as much as I hate the contraption. If
you think of anything, call me!”
Willow looked into Tara’s eyes and saw the
compassion, love and agreement with Giles in them and the witches’ body sagged
back onto the sofa.
“I’m not going to win this fight, am I?” she
muttered.
Tara leaned over and kissed the redhead tenderly and
got up, accepting a crossbow from Giles.
“Not this time, Willow,” she agreed.
“Would someone like to fill me in?” Spike demanded
and everyone turned to him with questioning faces.
“I know that Tree there has the hots for the Slayer,
could feel that one a mile away whenever they’re together,” Spike snapped. “I also know that Willow drives Buffy crazy
but now these two are playing House?”
Both college students began blushing bright red and
Tara’s head dropped into her normally shy body language. Joyce was also alternating her glance from
the two young women to the vampire, Spike was asking the questions that she and
Giles were too polite to ask but were dying to know the answers to.
“Sod off, Spike,” Giles snapped. “Whatever happens between the three of them
isn’t our concern right now.”
“Yes it is, you old gaffer!” Spike shot at them.
“Buffy is going to need that love right now, more than ever, and no one needs
this goddamn confusion.”
“Give it a rest, Spike,” Giles growled. “First we find Buffy, get her safely back
here and deal with Oz. And don’t bother
Willow with this while we’re gone!”
“All right, all right,” Spike muttered.
Giles knelt in front of Willow and gently took her
uninjured hand into his. “We’ll find Buffy and make sure she’s safe,” he
promised. “I want you to take one of those pain pills and if you think of
anything, call me.”
“Please, Giles,” Willow said softly. “I can’t lose her or any of you.”
“I know, Willow,” he squeezed her hand reassuringly
and stood up, his manner becoming firm and one of leadership.
Tara bent down and kissed Willow’s cheek
quickly. “Get some rest,” she ordered.
“Be safe,” Willow responded.
************************
<The graveyard looked
different than it normally did,> Giles thought, as they entered the gates. <Then
again, he normally saw graveyards in the dark,> he mused. Seeing the neat rows of tombstones, grave
markers and crypts looked almost innocent and peaceful in the daytime.
“We’ll skip the newer areas and concentrate on the older crypts,” Giles informed his fellow hunters, Joyce and Tara. He hesitated, looking at both of them. “Please don’t go into a crypt alone. Vampires can’t stand the day but they can move about in the shadows and they love crypts. These werewolves might be able to change into werewolf form during the daytime too.”
“We all stick together then,” Joyce agreed, her
voice firm and determined.
Giles shook his head, mentally beating himself
up. He had no business bringing Buffy’s
mom and an untrained college student out here. They were facing horrible deaths
and possibly even worse fates than death.
<Then again,> he
thought, <he wouldn’t have been able
to keep them from coming.> It
was Buffy and the kids that were in danger and these two people were the
closest thing to family that most of them had.
As they began opening protesting crypt doors and
quickly looking inside with flashlights for recent visitors or hidden passages,
Giles reflected on how much the small group had in common.
Xander and Willow’s parents were almost non-existent
in their lives, especially now that they were out of high school. Xander’s family could actually be cruel to
the young man and Giles knew how Xander hated living at home in the basement
apartment. Willow’s family was always
gone but more attentive to their daughter, their blindside was that they didn’t
see their daughter as a young woman and also didn’t see the adult problems
their daughter was facing.
Common to all the parents, except Joyce, and the
other citizens of Sunnydale was the fact that they didn’t seem to notice the
horrors facing their families every night and even sometimes during the day:
demons, ghosts, evil sorcerers, and especially vampires.
An hour later, Giles was frustrated. There was no sign of Buffy or Oz and
everyone was tired from being tense for so long. Opening a crypt door was nerve wracking, exploring a crypt kept
the adrenaline pumping and then the dust made it miserable.
Giles called a momentary halt to the searching and
pulled out his despised cell phone to check on Willow and Spike. The Watcher frowned when no one answered his
phone at home.
Joyce caught his frown while Tara sat down on a
tombstone, brushing crypt dust off her jeans.
“What is it?” Joyce asked softly.
“No answer,” he responded slowly. “Willow is probably asleep from the meds,
but why isn’t Spike answering?”
“Should we go back?” Joyce asked.
“Willow?” Tara suddenly whispered her hand stopping
in mid-motion. Both Giles and Joyce
spun to watch her closely. Tara’s eyes
were unfocused and half closed, as if listening to some far off noise inside
her head.
“It’s Willow, something’s wrong!” she declared,
jumping to her feet and dashing back towards the car.
Giles and Joyce hesitated only a moment and then
trotted after her.
************************
It took a half-hour for Spike to finally stop
demanding to know what was up between Willow, Tara and Buffy. He let Willow retreat to the computer that
Giles had relented and bought last year, letting Willow set it up for research
and archiving.
Spike settled into a chair in front of the
television, grumbling that television was a fantastic invention but the people
who programmed it and designed the shows were idiots, especially soap operas.
The vampire merely snarled when Willow suggested
that he could turn it off and read a book instead of watching the soap
operas. The witch shook her head and
focused on the computer.
Spike became absorbed in the television and barely
noticed Willow getting up and wandering through the condo: into the kitchen,
coming back with a soda, into the bathroom, and back to the computer. He didn’t even glance up when she headed for
the kitchen again.
He continued to be oblivious until stars and
blackness filled his vision, unaware that he was crashing out of the chair onto
the floor.
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Willow said softly. “You’re not that bad, especially as vampires
go, but I can’t let you talk me out of this.”
The computer hacker tossed the baseball bat beside
the unconscious vampire and grabbed up the objects she thought she might
need. Willow bent down and groaned in
pain as she moved Spike in front of the sofa where the afternoon sun couldn’t
reach him through any possible opening in the curtains.
************************
Buffy was pissed and getting tired. She had already dusted seven vampires who
had taken refuge in some of the crypts but still hadn’t found Oz and his
captives. She knew the approximate area
where Oz had built a secure cell for himself for those nights of the full moon
when he turned into a werewolf but not the exact location. The Slayer figured that was where he’d be
most likely holding Xander and Anya and waiting for Willow.
Buffy felt her heart skip a beat when she thought
about the redhead. Not only was she
worried about all of them but she was also feeling guilty and mentally beating
herself up about it. She had no right
to even hint to Willow how she felt, not if Willow was drawn to Tara. <The
other witch had been good for the computer hacker,> Buffy
reflected. <Better than she had been,> she thought bitterly. She had been too hung up on Riley and the
Initiative to be around when Willow really needed her after the breakup with
Oz.
Buffy hadn’t been there and Willow had found someone
who was. <The Slayer couldn’t even really be jealous,> she mentally kicked
herself. Tara had drawn Willow back
into the world and had brought back the spark in the hacker that Buffy always
found adorable. Once you got past the
shy exterior, Tara was cute, intelligent, and a stabilizing influence on Willow.
“Oh God, Wills,” Buffy whispered as she leaned
against a crypt. “I am so in love with
you. I can’t come between you and Tara
though.”
The Slayer put on her ‘resolve’ face and took a deep
breath. <She’d worry about her love life later,> she scolded
herself. <It was time to find Oz, kill the little bastard and save Xander and
Anya before the insane werewolf could get his claws on her Willow.>
************************
Willow almost squeaked aloud and stumbled back
behind a large tombstone. The young
witch cautiously looked around the stone and sighed with relief, as Buffy stood
up straight and continued deeper into the graveyard. Willow was relieved that the Slayer looked determined and in
fairly good health, the computer hacker just didn’t want Buffy seeing her. One thing Willow was certain of; Buffy would
stop her from what she had planned.
The college student worked her way through the
graveyard, surprised at how easy it was.
She hadn’t been to this crypt in quite awhile, ever since that morning
she found Oz naked with Veruca in his cell.
Willow hesitated outside the entrance to the crypt
and glanced around, on alert for both Buffy and members of Oz’ pack. She angrily wiped a tear away from her eye
and opened the door.
The place was as dismal as she remembered it; Willow
hated crypts. Like most of the Scooby
gang, crypts meant bad guys, entrances to Hell, and usually very bad stuff in
general. This crypt was living up to
that reputation when Willow walked down the steps and into the den of
werewolves.
************************
Tara skidded to a stop next to the car just as
Giles’ cell phone began beeping at him.
The Watcher and Joyce caught up with Tara and Giles pulled out the
phone.
“What?” he snapped.
“Well, bloody ‘hello’ to you too!” Spike
growled. “Red brained me with a fucking
baseball bat and split.”
“You were supposed to watch her!” Giles shouted into
the phone while Joyce and Tara watched him closely, trying to decipher the
conversation just from his end alone.
“Sod off, Ripper!” Spike snapped back. “I didn’t expect her to whack me with a
chunk of wood!”
Giles clicked off the connection with a muttered
curse. He was about to start shouting
when he noticed Tara’s unfocused gaze.
“Tara?” he said softly. “Where is she? Where’s
Willow?”
Joyce gasped in surprise and held her breath as
Giles held up his hand, cutting off any questions.
“Graveyard, in a crypt,” Tara muttered. “I can see the blue.”
“Blue?”
Tara shook her head and began blushing at the
intense stares from Joyce and Giles.
“Willow did a tracing spell, I can find her.”
“Let’s go!” Giles urged.
“It’s the graveyard a few blocks away from here,”
Tara responding, jumping in the back seat of Joyce’s car while Giles dashed
around to the passenger side.
************************
“Willow,” Oz said simply, jumping down from a
sarcophagus as the rest of the pack got to their feet and began moving slowly
out of the center of the room, almost forming a circle.
“Oz,” Willow responded, her voice sounding more calm
and confident than what she was really feeling inside. Her eyes glanced over to the cell area of
the crypt and she wasn’t surprised to see Xander and Anya inside.
Xander was on the stone floor and leaning back
against the wall with Anya in his arms.
At the sound of Willow’s name and voice, both of them opened their eyes
slowly. Xander’s eyes widened when he
saw his best friend walking slowly down the stairs.
He got to his feet and rushed to the bars. “Willow, no!” he screamed as Anya joined
him, trying to rattle the door open.
“Run, get out of here! Don’t do this!”
“Willow! Get out!” Anya screamed with her lover.
Willow gritted her teeth as Oz merely grinned at
their shouting and struggles with the bars.
She risked another glance in their direction and tried not to gasp
aloud.
Both of Xander’s eyes were black and his nose
swollen and Anya had a bad cut on her forehead, above her left eye. Their wrists were raw from being chained or
tied up and bruises and scratches showed faintly through the ripped cloth of
Xander’s shirt. Willow didn’t like the
way Anya was holding her right arm either.
“Make you feel better by beating them up?” Willow
snapped.
“Actually it wasn’t me or my pack,” Oz shrugged,
keeping his eyes on his ex girlfriend.
“I had to pay the surviving vampires who helped us.”
“No,” Willow whispered and she almost dropped the
pistol she was carrying when her eyes spotted the fang marks on both Anya and
Xander.
“Its okay, Willow!” Xander shouted. “They didn’t take enough to turn us.”
“They will tonight if Willow doesn’t drop that gun,”
Oz countered.
“You know I’ve got silver bullets in here, right?”
Willow questioned and was pleased when the pack hesitated and didn’t get any
closer to her. She reached the bottom
of the stairs and put the stones to her back, giving her a clear shot at
anything or anyone approaching her.
“I figured that much,” Oz agreed. “Put the gun down already, it’s over.”
“Not until they are safely outside and I have your
word you won’t touch them or any of my other friends if I drop the gun,” Willow
snapped.
“Just give it up!” Oz growled, his scruffy beard
becoming thicker and his voice harsher.
“You’ve lost!”
“Yes, after they’re released,” Willow said firmly.
The werewolf hesitated, feeling the questioning
looks from his pack as they began to shift from human to wolf. Willow tried to ignore the sounds of
breaking bones, stretching and ripping muscles and the whimpers of pain. One of the werewolves screamed and doubled
over.
Oz finally nodded and one of the werewolves, still
in human form, went to the cell door and punched in the code to the button key
lock mechanism.
“I’m not leaving you, Willow!” Xander said firmly.
“Get Anya safe, Xander, please!” Willow begged, not
daring to look in her friend’s eyes.
She kept the gun at eye level and moving slightly back and forth,
keeping the werewolves where they were.
“Please!”
“No!”
“Xander, we must leave! We can’t fight all of them!”
Anya pleaded. “Buffy will return and
kill him and we’ll save Willow.”
“He’s going to bite her!” Xander protested. “You heard what he wants! Fucking bastard!”
The werewolf who had opened the cell grabbed
Xander’s arms from behind and held the young man back from attacking the
smaller werewolf in question. Oz merely
grinned as his eyes shifted from green to wolf yellow.
“She’s mine in the end, Xan man,” he taunted. “Get them out of here!”
Xander was dragged up the stairs, kicking and
protesting with Anya stumbling behind him as the two werewolves hauled him out
of the crypt.
Willow flinched when the crypt door slammed shut and
she could hear Xander screaming and pounding on it.
“Your turn, Willow,” Oz growled, his eyes
brightening. “Now, we can do it the
pleasant way or the hard way, which do you want?”
“I… I’d prefer neither, actually,” Willow
admitted. “What’s the easy way?”
“We go into the cell for a little privacy, have
fantastic sex and I bite you,” Oz grinned a grin that sent a chill down
Willow’s spine.
“The hard way?” she whispered.
“We grab you, throw you over that stone coffin and I
let the males have a run at you before I claim you for mine. Then I bite you,” Oz growled.
Willow fought back the urge to be sick but couldn’t
help the tears escaping from her eyes as she looked at Oz.
“Oz, what happened?” she asked softly. “The boy I loved could never have thought of
that for anyone, especially me. How can
you say you still love me if you can do this?”
“Things change and I changed,” Oz shrugged. “Hell, you’ve changed! Figure out yet that you’ve been in love with
Buffy all this time? Or is it that new
chick I saw you with?”
“Neither and both?” Willow shrugged. “What happened?” she repeated.
“I discovered a pack up north,” he began to
explain. “A group of werewolves who
have given into the beast and let it rule their lives. We give into the change and learn to control
it by living with it most of the time.
We typically stay away from humans unless we feel like having some fun.”
“Fun? You
hunt and kill for sport? I thought only humans did that,” Willow said bitterly.
“We’re still partly human. I became the Alpha male and I want you as my alpha female. Once you’re bitten and have changed a few
times, your old life won’t matter any more.”
“You’ll never destroy my love for Buffy and Tara,”
Willow said firmly.
“No, but you won’t be able to get near them again,”
Oz taunted. “You’ll be mine. Drop the gun, Willow, you swore.”
“Oz, I loved you once,” Willow said softly, her
tears flowing heavier. “It killed me
when you left but this hurts even worse.”
The young witch lowered the gun slightly and Oz
moved towards her a couple of feet, motioning the other werewolves to stay
back.
Willow’s head and gun dropped in defeat. “I can’t live with what you want, Oz, and I
can’t let your obsession with me hurt my friends.”
Oz screamed as Willow reached inside her sling and
drew something shiny out. In a moment
his scream turned to one of rage.
************************
“Willow!” Tara and Buffy screamed at the same time
and fell to their knees.
Xander and Anya turned and saw the Slayer a few rows
over from them and rushed to Buffy’s side as fast as they could.
“Xander? Anya? Where’s Willow?” Buffy whispered as
they pulled the Slayer to her feet.
“Inside that crypt!” Xander snapped, pointing at the
crypt door he had just been pounding on, attracting the notice of Buffy. “She traded herself for us!”
“Buffy!”
The small group turned and saw Giles and Joyce
helping a groggy Tara towards them.
“We heard you scream,” Giles said. “We’ve been following a spell Willow cast
for Tara.”
“She’s in there!” Xander again pointed to the crypt.
“Let’s go!” Buffy urged and was surprised when Giles
slammed his hand down on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Buffy,” he stammered. “I can’t let you go in.”
“What?” she demanded. “That’s Willow in there!
Willow, best friend, best bud, as in ‘I don’t want to live without her’
Willow.”
“I know that but you’ve been bitten by a werewolf
and we don’t know if you were infected or not,” Giles tried to explain. Joyce hugged her daughter from behind as
Buffy struggled with confusion and turmoil.
“If you face a pack after being bitten by the Alpha male, you’ll be
under his control. The only way to
break that is to challenge him to alpha status over the pack on a full moon.”
“You mean like if I was turned by a vampire I’d be
servant to my Sire?” Buffy questioned.
“Yes, I can’t let you go down there and be used
against the rest of us,” Giles said firmly, hating the situation.
“Against you?” Buffy said softly.
“If Oz ordered it, you might have to attack us,”
Giles choked.
“We’re wasting time!” Xander yelled, grabbing the
crossbow from Buffy’s hands.
“Stay here, we’ll get her,” Giles instructed his
young Slayer. “Joyce, stay with her.”
“Anya’s hurt, she stays,” Xander suggested and the
Watcher nodded, reluctantly agreeing to let Joyce accompany them into the dusty
crypt.
“Hurry!” Tara and Buffy both urged at the same time.
************************
Giles felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand
straight up and out when an enraged howl sounded through the door. The Watcher steeled himself and shot the
lock to the crypt door, thanking the fates that he didn’t get hit with any
flying wood fragments.
Xander and Tara shoved past the Watcher before the
smoke had cleared from the pistol and were dashing down the stairs, ignoring the
lack of light to guide their hurried progress.
Giles and Joyce followed quickly behind, Joyce
carrying a flashlight and trying to shine it in front of the two students ahead
of them before they hit the lighted area of the inner crypt below.
The two older adults almost ran into the backs of
Tara and Xander as they stood at the top of the stairs leading to the inner
crypt looking down.
Giles felt the pistol almost slip from his hand as
he looked down and saw Willow.
“No!” Tara screamed and rushed half way down the
stairs and then jumped the rest of the way to the stone floor of the crypt,
Xander a moment behind her.
Giles closed his eyes, trying to shut out the sight
of his kids.
Willow was lying on the stone floor with a pool of
blood spreading around her. The
computer hacker’s skin quickly turning deathly pale. Xander and Tara knelt beside her, trying to decide what to do
about the silver knife sticking out of the young woman’s chest.
Tara gently raised Willow’s head into her lap and
wiped at the blood flowing from Willow’s mouth as tears began to flow.
“No, please!” she begged quietly as Xander
reluctantly felt for a pulse at Willow’s wrist and then her neck.
“She doesn’t have one at the wrist and the one at
her neck is faint,” he said softly.
“Giles, what can we do?” Joyce asked, causing the
Watcher to open his eyes again.
“She stabbed herself in the heart with a silver
dagger so Oz couldn’t touch her,” he muttered.
“If we pull the knife out, she’ll die instantly. Another minute or two and she’ll bleed to
death anyway.”
Rupert “Ripper” Giles knew about wounds, it came
with the territory of being involved in the Dark Arts and then with being a
Watcher. He knew the different colors
of blood and what parts of the body they came from. He knew a heart wound when he saw it and knew even a full
Operation room staff of surgeons, nurses, and blood couldn’t save his young
Willow.
“Go get Buffy,” he said softly, glancing around and
noting for certain that all the werewolves were gone, probably through one of
the many underground tunnels under the city.
Joyce sobbed and ran for the stairs leading to the
top of the crypt while Giles began walking slowly down the stairs.
“Tara, can’t we help her?” Xander asked, tears
flowing down his face unashamedly.
“I don’t know,” Tara whispered. “Willow, please don’t leave me!” she begged.
Xander kept his finger on Willow’s pulse and
whimpered as it got weaker and faster.
“Giles, please!” he begged.
The Watcher knelt by the young adults he considered
his children and looked at the wound carefully and felt Willow’s pulse as
well.
“No!” Xander screamed when the Watcher shook his
head, his own tears beginning to escape his eyes.
“Willow!” Buffy’s voice caused them all to look up
in time to see the Slayer launch herself from the top of the stairs, somersault
in midair and land next to the small group.
Xander moved aside as Buffy knelt beside Willow and assessed the amount
of blood on Willow’s clothes, her mouth and the floor as well as the look on
Giles’ face.
“She used a silver knife so Oz couldn’t touch her
and change her,” he said softly.
“Buffy?” Tara questioned and the blonde looked at
the mouse-brown blonde witch, both pairs of eyes tormented. “Do you love her?”
“Of course I love her, she’s my best friend,” Buffy
snapped.
“No, do you love her?” Tara pressed.
“Yes,” Buffy whispered. “But, I…”
Tara shook her head and laid Willow back onto the
stone floor and reached out her hands to Buffy. The Slayer interlaced her fingers with the witch without a
thought or hesitation.
“Willow, think of Willow,” Tara muttered, closing
her eyes and letting her head drop back.
Buffy shut her eyes and began to think of Willow,
not as she was lying in a pool of her own blood on a cold stone floor, but as
she always thought of Willow: <the red
head glancing up from a computer keyboard, shouting with joy when she
discovered something new in an old book, Willow concentrating on a candle flame
as she began casting a simple spell to help Buffy with Slayer duties, Willow sleeping
peacefully only a few feet away from Buffy.>
Somehow Buffy knew that the hand suddenly resting on
her left shoulder was Xander and the one on her right was her mom’s. She knew intuitively that Giles and Anya had
their hands on Tara’s shoulders and they were completing a circle of love.
Absolute and unconditional love for the young woman
dying in their midst.
Buffy felt tears of sadness and joy flow down her
face as the emotion became almost solid, like a cloud flowing from all of
them. Each of them would give their
lives for Willow and each of them felt that depth of love flowing from each
other. Buffy realized that Tara loved
Willow as deeply as she did. The Slayer
also felt a new emotion enter into the whirlwind they were creating, a new
realization that startled her and almost snapped her out of the trance.
Tara loved Buffy as well.
Buffy felt the energy waver and eased her mind back
into concentrating on Willow and felt it build again.
“Channel what you’re feeling to Buffy and Tara,” Giles
instructed softly. “At the countdown
from three to one, send it all to Buffy and Tara.”
Buffy cried out slightly at the intensity of the
building energy and felt Tara tighten her hold on Buffy’s hands and the Slayer
squeezed lightly to reassure the witch.
“Three… two… one!” Giles whispered firmly.
Buffy and Tara dropped their hands at the same time,
laying them on Willow’s ribs. A moment
later, both were shaking their heads, having been tossed back into the legs of
the others behind them.
“What?” Buffy whispered and quickly regained her
balance, on her knees next to Willow, as Tara quickly began checking the
red-haired witch.
“Oh my,” Giles whispered and pointed to the silver
knife that was no longer buried up to the hilt in Willow’s chest, now it was
lying on the young woman. He quickly
bent down, pulled it away and ripped away Willow’s shirt.
Instead of a gaping wound that pierced through the
heart, there was only a slight wound that was bleeding lightly.
Xander knelt beside Buffy, one hand on her shoulder
and the other checking Willow’s pulse.
Giles had a strange urge to hug the frequently
annoying young man when he saw the familiar goofy grin on Xander’s face.
“It’s stronger,” Xander said softly and drew Anya
into his arms as she began crying with relief.
“Giles, call for an ambulance,” Joyce said softly,
wrapping her arms around him as she leaned over.
“Yes, of course,” he mumbled.
Buffy and Tara both held Willow’s good hand and were
smiling at each other.
“Thank you, Tara,” Buffy said softly, feeling
exhausted but calm and hopeful.
“For both of us,” Tara responded and began blushing,
her normal shy reaction.
“All of us,” Buffy corrected with a smile.
************************
Willow opened her eyes slowly and moaned when she
tried to move. <It felt like everything hurt!> She frowned as she tried to remember what had been happening and
then her green eyes widened when she did.
The computer geek felt through the hospital gown and wasn’t surprised to feel a large bandage on her chest. Her hand still hurt as well.
“Hey,” a voice said softly and Willow turned to see
Buffy and Tara both standing in the doorway.
“Thought we sensed you waking up,” Buffy grinned.
“Sensed it?” Willow questioned, her voice sounding
very harsh. The two young women entered
the room and Tara moved to grab a plastic cup and began filling it with water
from a pitcher while Buffy worked the controls on Willow’s bed and slowly
raised the witch to a sitting position.
Tara held the cup to Willow’s lips while she drank
slowly.
“What happened?
I feel so weak,” Willow asked softly.
“I remember the knife, it felt so strange. Like a coldness filling me, and the look of rage on Oz’s face
when he grabbed the knife and it burned him.”
“He and the pack were gone when we got to you,”
Buffy explained, taking up a chair on one side and Tara took one on the other
side of Willow’s bed. “Wills, you… you
were…” Buffy suddenly mentally cursed the tears trying to escape as she felt
her head drop, overcome with the emotion and the memory of seeing Willow on the
crypt floor.
“I was dying,” Willow said gently, wishing she had
both hands so she could touch Buffy and Tara’s hands at the same time.
“Yes, we couldn’t do anything,” Tara agreed and
moved Willow’s hand to her stomach and then reached for Buffy’s hand to join
her in holding Willow’s.
“What happened?” Willow asked again. “Not that I’m complaining that I’m here and
you’re both here and I don’t think I’m dead.
No, that would be a bad thing because that would mean you were both
dead. No, I wouldn’t like that, that
would be bad thing…”
Both Buffy and Tara looked at each other and
grinned. Willow catching the amused
look on both their faces began blushing as she stopped a trademark ramble.
“Tara did something and saved you,” Buffy answered.
Tara’s blush grew bright red as Willow turned to
look at her. “It was all of us,
somehow. I didn’t know what I was
doing.”
“What did you do?” Willow asked.
“We joined hands and ever