AUGUST 11, 2009

MONDAY

7:30AM

"William! I’ll find you, I’ll find you!" Buffy awoke with a start; the same dream she'd just had a couple of nights ago having just replayed itself.

"Hnh?" he mumbled, his arm tightening around her stomach, as he pressed up against her back.

She put her hand over his arm, until her fingers found his. She raised them to face and kissed his fingertips, before letting his hand come to rest over her breast. Reassured, she closed her eyes once more and tried to think of getting through this last day before vacation. Just one more day, she told herself.

Still asleep, he shifted to accommodate her switch in positions, when she turned over. She stared at his features, so peaceful and beautiful in sleep, wishing she could freeze-frame the moment forever.

Suddenly blue eyes opened and gazed into hers, as a soft smile lit up his face. "Morning," he said, simply.

Buffy put her hand on his face, feeling the stubble as she stroked his cheek, "Have I told you how much I adore you, lately?"

His smile grew wider and he pulled her in, kissing her tenderly, "You have now. And I adore you, my luv. With all my heart."

A small sound hitched in her chest, as she rolled over on top him, kissing his lips, his neck, his ears, until he was groaning underneath her, his erection soon growing and seeking out its release in the heat and wet he could feel between her legs.

"Remember," she asked, her voice shaky, "when we first did this in Michigan, before we actually did it?"

"Uh-huh," he answered distractedly, then looked up at her, his eyes wide. "You mean...you don't want to...?"

She giggled and kissed him hard, letting her tongue dip into his warm and willing mouth, "No silly, that’s not what I mean. I was just remembering...it was nice, erotic," she said, kissing him again, "hot...I wanted you so much!"

He sighed, relieved, "Not as much as I wanted you!" he said, as his hands pulled her nightgown up over her head, catching hold of her breast, as she arched towards him. He sucked her nipple into his mouth, his tongue swirling around the tip, making her shiver in anticipation.

"Wanted you, too," she said, her breath coming in gasps, "wanted to make love to you right then and there...from the first moment I saw you, kissed you, felt you again," she whispered in his ear. She continued whispering to him, all the ways she was going to love him right then and there.

"Oh God, Elizabeth," he moaned, "you're the one, you're the only woman for me! I could never want for another! Do you know that?"

She nodded; it was the way she felt, too. He was the only man for her; the only one she’d ever loved this much, the only one who satisfied her body and soul.

She raised up and scooted back on his legs, hands reaching down to undo the snap of his pajama bottoms, freeing him from its confines. Buffy leaned over, and ran her tongue up and down the length of him. Glancing up, she saw his head loll back on the pillow, his generous lips partially open, as he moaned under her ministrations. Her hand fondled his balls, rubbing between them, as he liked.

She followed with her mouth, taking each hard sac inside her warm mouth for a little while, before turning back her attention to his cock, which was now practically shaking in need. She licked up and down the backside, over the vein that seemed to throb when he was erect. Expertly, she gently slid down the foreskin with her hand, as her tongue circled the head of his penis. She tasted the pre-cum that was there on the small slit of its head, moaning right along with him, her desire matching his, his pleasure igniting her own.

"So good, so good," he moaned, his hands gently guiding her head, as her mouth slid down as far as it could on his cock, sucking up and down. She was squirming and breathing as hard as he was, excited by his pleasure, increasing her own to an almost frenzied pitch.

Right before he came, he pulled her up. Taking her by the arms, he pulled her on top him, his mouth finding hers, one hand raking through her hair, while the other, along with hers, were busy positioning him at her opening. They both gasped in pleasure, as he slid inside her heat, filling her up. He looked up at her; and saw her love and desire before her mouth crashed back into his.

She went back on her knees and they rocked together. He clutched at her hips, making her meet his rhythm, which was hers, too. They stayed locked in each other's gazes, until the last moment, when orgasm overtook them and they shuddered and shook in pleasure, together. Buffy collapsed onto William's shoulder, until her breath slowed down.

"Could do this every morning, the rest of my life," he whispered to her, kissing the side of her face.

"Me, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:00AM

"Phone!" William called from the bathroom.

"I got it," Buffy answered, hurrying into the bedroom to grab it from her purse.

"Hello."

"Elizabeth? This is Sue; I was able to change 2 of those 4 evening appointments for you to this morning.

"You were? Oh, good. What time are the scheduled?"

"Let’s see. Okay, Jennifer Wilson and her mom are coming in at noon, and Ryan Shores and his parents are at 1:00. I’ll keep trying the others to see if I can’t get them in earlier."

"Good. Thanks a lot. I’ll be there in about 20 minutes."

"Okay, see you then," Sue said, hanging up.

"Well, that’s a mixed bag," Buffy said, realizing that the two kids left for the evening, were also the ones that she was going to have to tell their parents that Montessori wouldn’t be accepting as students this fall. At least Mrs. Carpello would also be there for the ‘good news,’ which knowing at least one set of parents, wasn’t going to go over very well at all.

"I’m leaving," Buffy called, poking her head into the bathroom, "looks like I’ll be home around 1:30 or 2:00," she said and told him why.

"Okay," he said, sticking his head out of the shower curtain, "think I’m going to have Clem run me to the auto parts store in town, and see if I can get those spark plugs. I’d like to figure out what’s wrong with the car, before we leave, if I can. Want me to stop by for lunch?"

She leaned in and gave him a kiss, "Sure, if you have time, I think I’ll be free between 12:30 and 1:00, but I’m not positive. If Sue can get a hold of those other kids and their parents...just call the school, they’ll let you know. But if you’re busy with the car, don’t worry about it."

"Okay," he said, kissing her back.

"Actually, I really hope those other kids show up this afternoon. That way we could leave this evening and spend the night at Dawn’s before we fly out tomorrow," she said, wistfully.

He crossed his fingers for luck, before closing the shower curtain.

"Bye," she called.

"Bye, luv!" he called back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12:30PM

"How’s my favorite executive assistant?" William asked, grinning, as he stuck his head in the office door.

"William! How are you? I don’t see you much anymore," Sue said, "what have you been up to?"

"Same old...working, going to school," he said, shrugging. "Is Elizabeth busy?"

Sue looked down the hall, "Nope, just got finished with her last appointment. Doesn’t have another one for half an hour. Want me to call her for you?"

"Nah, I’ll go down there," he said, and started down the hall.

Buffy had just dialed his number.

"Hello," he answered as he was walking down the hall.

"Hey, did you get your car fixed?"

"More or less, got a few adjustments to make, but it’s running better now since we put in the new spark plugs."

"Oh, good. Um...were you still coming for lunch? I mean it’s alright if you aren’t..."

"You sure? I’m sort of busy. Actually, there’s someone I was sort of planning on taking to lunch. You don’t mind, do you?" he asked.

"Oh...uh...okay, sure. You go ahead," she said, feeling let down, and a little more hurt and jealous than she supposed she should be.

"Yeah, I think I’ll do that. She’s awfully cute," he said, rounding the corner to her classroom, "especially when she’s jealous."

She spotted him across the room, grinning at her. She snapped her phone shut, and walked over to him, "Funny, very funny!"

He smirked at her and grabbed her to him; "You are very cute when you’re jealous!"

"Hmmph!" she said, although she smiled back at him. "Who’s jealous?"

"You are, but you never have to be, you know that," he said, kissing her, "the only other ‘girl,’ I would take to lunch would be Edna."

"What, no cute coeds?" she teased.

"Never," he answered, kissing her again.

They heard throat clearing and turned around.

"Hello William, Elizabeth," Mrs. Carpello said, a look of bemusement on her face, "sorry to interrupt. We just wanted to invite you to the cafeteria. The parents of our summer students just surprised us with a potluck lunch."

"Oh, how nice," Buffy said. She looked at William, who nodded. "Great, we’re in."

"By any chance, are Jennifer or Ryan’s parents here?"

"No, sorry," Mrs. Carpello said.

"Oh, well..."

"See you downstairs then."

"Thanks, we’ll be right down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had lunch with the other teachers and Mrs. Carpello, while most of the summer students and their parents served them.

Summer vacation plans were discussed over lunch. Mrs. Carpello was flying back east to visit family, while Sue and her family were going to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons to go camping over the next couple of weeks. Marilyn and her husband Joe, were going to visit their daughter in Oregon, while her assistant Lily Doler and her family were staying home to put in a new pool. William and Buffy told them of their plans for Fuller’s Resort in Michigan.

They all finished up lunch and went back upstairs.

"Bye William, we’ll miss you around here next fall," Sue said to him, before going back to the office.

"You’ll still see me around," he answered.

"I’m sure we will."

Buffy turned to him, "Okay, I got to go, think Jennifer’s parents are here now. So, I’ll see you at home in about an hour and a half, probably."

"Okay. Need me to do anything?"

"I don’t think so, at least I can’t think of anything. Oh, could you throw the towels and the sheets in the wash?"

"Thought we had some of those packed."

"Yeah, we do, this is just so these will be clean when we get home."

He rolled his eyes, "Alright. I’m going to go across the street and say ‘hi’ first, maybe check out a couple of books for the trip, then I’ll go home."

"Okay," she said, waving to him, "see you then."

Mrs. Carpello walked up to her, "You ready to talk to Jenny’s parents?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I’m ready."

"Okay," Mrs. Carpello

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2:45PM

"Hi, Clem," Buffy said, stopping the car, as his was just on the way out.

"Hey ya, Buffy. Are ya getting excited about leaving?"

She nodded, "Sure am, just wish I was able to leave right now."

"Yeah, William told me about that," he nodded sympathetically.

"Oh well, " she shrugged. "You sure you don’t want to come?" she asked.

"Can’t," he said, shaking his head. "I can’t stay in this human form all the time, Buffy. It’s just too hard, I’ve been lucky that William hasn’t caught me looking ‘normal’ any of the times he’s popped over."

"I’m sorry."

Clem looked at her, "You know, you really ought to tell him one day, Buffy."

"I know," she said, looking guilty, "I just...I don’t know..."

"Don’t want to?"

She shrugged, "Lame, huh?"

"No, I understand, I do, but that doesn’t change the facts. Anyway, I’ve got to go girl; I’m on my way to San Diego for a few hours. If I don’t see you before you leave tomorrow, have a great time and tell Dawn and John I said hello."

"I will. Xander and his family are coming, too. I’ll tell him, as well."

"Good. Don’t worry about anything, Buffy. You and William just have a good time. I’ll look after everything while you’re gone."

"I know you will, Clem. You’re a good friend."

He blushed, "You are, too. Bye Buffy."

"Bye Clem, we’ll try to stop by on our way out tomorrow."

He nodded as he drove off.

Buffy pulled up in front of the house, still thinking about what Clem had said. At times, she would think about it a lot, then things would just be going along so well between them that she would forget about it for a while, forget their past. However, it never totally left her consciousness. How could it? Maybe when they returned. Oh, but then, she really had to get busy with the wedding plans. Should she try to tell him beforehand? She shook her head, and once more, willed the elephant standing in the middle of their ‘normal life’ to disappear.

She came into the house and heard both the wash machine and dryer humming and swooshing away, so she first went into the kitchen, but William wasn’t there.

She was just about to go into the bedroom, when he opened the door and came out.

"Ack," he cried out, taken aback for a moment.

She echoed him, then looked at him and cracked up. He was wearing his old bright blue swim trunks, which Willow and Dawn had bought him last summer.

He gave her a dirty look, which only made her laugh harder.

"What’s so bleedin’ funny? He asked, not apologizing for word usage.

"Nothing. I’m sorry," she giggled, trying hard not to, as she put her hand over her mouth.

"Kind of poncy, aren’t they?" he said, starting to smile, too.

"Um...I just didn’t expect to see you in them," she said, biting her lower lip before she cracked up again.

"Just trying them on. I like the other ones you got me better," he said, nodding towards the bed, where the darker blue, with a black stripe down the sides lay.

"Maybe I should just leave these here," he said.

"No, bring ‘em anyway. If the others are wet or dirty, you’ll have an extra pair."

"Which will make you laugh?"

"I won’t. Cross my heart. Besides, you’ll still be the hottest man on the beach, no matter what you wear."

"Yeah?" he said, coming up to her slowly, then grabbing her and pulling her towards him, "maybe I shouldn’t wear anything on the beach then."

She laughed, "Well, besides getting arrested for indecent exposure, you might give all those older ladies a heart attack."

"And the younger ones?"

"I’d have to fight them off, I’m afraid. Nope, if you want to sunbathe or swim in the nude, afraid we’ll just have to go to a nude beach in Europe some time."

"We’ll do that, then. As long as nobody is there looking at you, except me," he said, kissing her. "Anyway, I heard they have one a lot closer than that."

"Oh yeah? Where’s that?"

"In La Jolla."

She looked at him, surprised. "Who told you that?"

"Clem did. Only thing is; you have to climb down a lot of rocks to get there. Guess why it’s pretty secluded. In any case, if you’re not in good shape, you won’t be going there."

"Guess that’s a good thing. There are lots of people I’d rather never see naked. In fact, I really don’t want to see anybody naked except you," she said, wondering why Clem knew this, then hoping to not find out. Maybe it was a naked demon beach. Good grief! "Did Clem...?"

"I don’t think so. God, I hope not," William said, mentally washing his mind out from the image of a naked Clem.

Buffy giggled again, and then, so did William.

"Now, what did you say about only wanting to see me naked?" he asked, seductively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES

WOLFRAM & HART

5:15PM

Dru looked over as the door to her room was opened.

"Hello Dru," Angel said, as he entered. "It's time, darling."

"Are you sending me to my William now?" she asked, clapping her hands gleefully.

"Yes, Dru. I'm sending you to your William. Only you know what I want, so don't get too attached, eh?"

She shook her head, her dark hair swishing back and forth across her face as she did.

"You want me to kill him for you. Then it will be just me and you, and no more bad dogs trying to be good dogs and saving the world anymore."

"Well put," Angel said, nodding.

"Shall we?" he said, holding the door.

She followed him down the corridor, up the elevator and to the garage, where a limousine stood waiting. The driver's impassive face belied the nervousness he felt, despite the heavy fire, bullet, and shatterproof glass that would separate him from his charges. He didn't like this job much, but what was an ex-con like him going to do for money these days?

"He's afraid," Dru said to Angel, then turned towards the driver. "Don't worry, not going to eat you."

He nodded, curtly, holding the door. She put her long fingers on his arm, making his skin crawl. She smiled, sniffing the scent of fear he was giving off. Her laughter tinkled like shards of glass being broken in the cavernous garage. Suddenly, she stopped, as she was about to get into the back seat.

"Who are these?" she asked Angel, pointing to two well-muscled vampires who sat on the seat facing out the back window.

"They're just there to help you in your task, Dru. Think of them and do with them as you would any minion."

"Don't need any minions to help me with my William," she snarled at him.

"No, but if you run across the slayer, you might."

She glared at him, but got in, settling her skirts around her on the seat opposite the other two vampires.

"Remember what I said, Dru. If at all possible, leave the slayer for me, I'll deal with her later."

Dru nodded, and blew him a kiss, as he closed the door.

Stepping away from the car, he said to the driver, "You know what you're to do?"

The driver discreetly opened his jacket up, showing him the triggering device, which would ignite the back half of the car, should Dru come back without the body of William; dead or alive. If she does bring him back, then you know what to do, when you get back here."

The guard nodded. The scenario was the same, only if the woman had the man with her, he wasn't to use the triggering device until he was back at the garage, with Angel as witness. He shuddered, hoping whoever William was, that the vampire had the decency to kill him, before he was to become a flaming marshmallow.

"Oh, and whatever you do," Angel warned, "don't get out of the car until you're back. You'll be safe from them inside."

The driver nodded.

Angel looked back once as the car headed out of the garage towards San Diego. Soon he would have the exact location. He smiled as he walked towards his viper. He took out his cell phone and opened it.

"Damn reception!" he said, noting there was none in the garage. He then took out his walkie-talkie and pressed the talk.

"Yes, Angel?" said a voice.

"Get Rayne over to the hotel in an hour. I'll meet you over there."

"Yes sir, will do."

Angel slid into the driver's seat and started the car. The motor roared to life and he smiled; it felt like power.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JULIAN

6:00PM

The alarm was going off, and the phone was ringing. Buffy reached over William to turn it off and to retrieve her purse, which was on the floor next to the bed.

William groaned, when she accidentally elbowing him in the chest on the way up.

"Sorry," she mouthed to him, as she flipped open the phone and said hello at the same time.

"Hey Dawn. It’s Dawn," she said to him.

"Hi Buffy. Are you excited? Because speaking as me, I’m excited. Oh, and John is yelling he is, too. So, are you still thinking of coming tonight? Are ya? Are ya?"

Buffy groaned, "I wish that we could, but I don’t have this stupid conference until 8:00 and by the time I’m done and get home, it will likely be after 9, probably closer to 10, actually. I hate the idea of driving to L.A. that late. It’s probably better if we just leave really early tomorrow and meet you guys at the airport."

"Or, you could come here first, then we could just all drive in one car."

"I’ll let you know. Guess it depends on what time we get out of here."

"Well, the flight’s not that early, so you’ll have plenty of time. I think you should just come here first," Dawn said.

"You just don’t want to drive to the airport yourself, admit it!"

"Well, duh, but I wouldn’t be anyway. John does that all the time."

"I’ll try to get out of here by about 7:00 or so tomorrow and get to your place by 9:00 or 9:30, that should give us plenty of time to get to the airport together."

"Yay!" Dawn said.

Buffy smiled, "Talk to you in the morning, okay?"

"Bye, Buffy. Bye William!" she yelled into the phone.

"Bye Dawn!" he yelled back.

"Ow!" Buffy said, rubbing her ear, after hanging up the phone.

"Guess I’d better get up," she said, reluctantly.

"Me, too. Better get us all packed."

"You excited?" she asked him, turning over to face him.

He nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking about it all day, about the cabin, and the lake; ‘bout how nice it was going to be to just be there again. With you."

She kissed him.

"Know the best thing about it?"

"What?" she asked softly.

"Rocky Road Ice Cream!"

She laughed, then hit him with a pillow. He grabbed it and smacked her back, and soon they were wrestling on the bed.

"Give up?" he asked, landing on top her and holding it menacingly inches above her face.

"Never!" she said. Her head was at the foot of the bed, half off.

He ticked her, making her spring up, almost bumping heads with him.

He scrambled to his side, pulling her back all the way onto the bed.

They played around for a few minutes longer, until they were both excited and panting.

"I got to go," she said, weakly.

"Uh-uh, not letting you go."

"Good, then I’ll have an excuse not to go to this damned thing," she said, kissing him hard.

"But, I suppose you should," he said, breaking off the kiss.

She looked at him, disappointed, "I guess. But I can’t go if you’re busy ravishing me. Then we could go to Dawn’s..."

William smacked her on the behind, "Get up, wanton woman! Get thee to thy meeting, so you can come home and we can go on holiday. That’s an order."

She laughed, pulling herself up, "As you wish," and threw a pillow at him, as she went into the bathroom. She smiled when she heard the pillow go ‘whoomp,’ as he lobbed it back at the closed door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES

WOLFRAM & HART

6:00PM

The doors to the cell Ethan Rayne occupied were thrown open and four armed guards entered. Two held stun guns, one had a tranquilizer gun, and the fourth held a M-16 assault rifle.

"All this for me, fellows?" Ethan asked, with a little innocent smirk.

"Up against the wall, hands behind your back," said the one with the tranquilizer gun.

One of the two guards who held a stun gun cuffed his hands together. Next, they chained his ankles.

He was blindfolded before being led out of his cell, down a corridor, into an elevator, which went up two floors, then herded into the back of a limousine.

"So, where are we going, fellows?" Ethan asked.

"You’ll find out soon enough," was the only answer he was given.

The limo drove through the city for about 30 minutes, before stopping. His hands behind him felt the shape of something in the crack of the seat. He maneuvered to pull it out. By the shape of it, it was a business card of some sort. He put it into his rear pocket for future reference.

Ethan’s door was opened and he was pulled out, and walked about 30 yards, he calculated before he heard a door opening.

The blindfold was finally taken of, and the handcuffs removed. He squinted for a moment until his eyes adjusted. He stood on the inside landing of what appeared to be an old, abandoned hotel. There was an old reservations counter in front of him, and a few couches were scattered around. His eyes narrowed, as he spotted a huge pentagram in the middle of the room.

Hands pushed him forward and he walked down the three steps and into the center of the room, stopping short of walking into the pentagram, when hands held him back.

"That’s far enough."

He shrugged.

Out of an office behind the reservations counter a door opened, and a tall, dark haired man appeared.

"I see you made it," said the voice Ethan had heard over the intercom.

He nodded.

The man snapped his fingers and two men came in from another area of the hotel, carrying two large boxes, which they set down, outside the circle near to where Ethan stood. They both looked at him warily, before retreating once more.

"That’s all you the ingredients you requested; so get on with it."

Ethan walked over to the boxes and began to pull things from them. There was a satellite map, which had the exact location of the coven, whose proper name was The Highest Order of the United Coven of Bath, pinpointed. There were also the herbs, powders, and gemstones he had requested. Especially one he was overjoyed to see; dried bloodroot.

He took out a smaller box and frowned, seeing all the stones had been lumped in together. Sighing he separated the bloodstones from the sunstones and quartz, placing the former around the circle every 13 inches until he had placed all 27 of them. In between them, he sprinkled powdered lotus and over those, placed brambles of thistle.

Next, he lit 5 citronella candles, putting one at each of the 5 points of the pentagram within the circle.

He looked into the other carton and brought out four vials, containing the DNA captured from the cups at Starbucks. He looked over at Angel, questioning.

"You wanted something personal, well this is his DNA."

"All of them?"

Angel shook his head, "No, it’s one of the four. But they’re all protected as well by the spell. Just break the spell!"

Ethan sighed. "It would’ve been easier if I knew which one belonged to the main one the protection spell was cast for, but never-the-less, it shouldn’t be all that much more difficult. There is one thing, however."

"What?"

Ethan pointed to his shackles, "The powers which I invoke use me as their conduit. These," he said pointing to his ankles, "shall stop cold, those powers, attempting to go through me. Not only is the barren metal of the chains counter-intuitive, but it also forms a circle, which is what you don’t want. You need flow - in and out for magic to work."

Angel nodded to the guard with the keys. He walked over, standing warily outside the circle, until Ethan stepped over the perimeter. He then bent over and undid the shackles.

"Thank you my good man, that’s much better."

The guard didn’t reply, just retreated back to where the other guards stood on the landing.

Ethan nodded towards Angel and crossed over into the circle once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BATH, ENGLAND

2:00AM

Sabrina woke with a start and glanced about her getting her bearings. She had arrived earlier in the day with Willow, now sleeping in the adjoining room. She had never before been in the presence of so many powerful witches before. The whole place just hummed with it, yet somehow, something didn’t feel quite right to her all night. Still, she didn’t dare mention it to them; after all, she was just a novice, and if there were something to be concerned about, they would surely know. Wouldn’t they?

She tried to go back to sleep, but finally gave up. She rose and went in search of some Chamomile Tea, hoping it would calm her nerves and obviously, overactive imagination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JULIAN

7:15PM

Buffy stared at the mirror. She had taken a shower, had dinner, and now was applying makeup for the second time that day. All the while, dreading this evening.

"Why couldn’t they just have showed up this morning?" she muttered.

"What?" William called from the bedroom, where he was going through drawers, making sure that he’d packed all that needed to be packed.

"Nothing, just talking to myself."

"Well stop that! I’m trying to concentrate out here...say, did you pack socks, or should I throw some in?"

"Don’t think I’ll need many socks. Um...and I don’t remember, just put some in, and a pair of nylons. The new ones in the package; think they’re the only ones I can be sure of don’t have a run. Thanks."

"Okay," he said, concentrating on his task.

She opened the door and stood there looking at him, until he looked up. He was about to say something, but she looked so forlorn, all he could do was stop what he was doing and go to her. "What’s the matter, luv? You look like you just lost your best friend."

She shook her head, "Sorry. I don’t know...just...I don’t know."

He chuckled softly, "Really not wanting to go to that meeting, are you? It’s the one with the boy whose parents you’re going to have to tell that little Johnny didn’t make the Montessori cut?"

"Little Ryan. Yeah...difficult kid, more difficult parents. Really, I don’t know why Mrs. Carpello even agreed..."

William looked at her worried, at the mention of difficult parents. "You want me to go with, luv?" he asked.

She looked at him, and felt guilty for all the concern written there on his face, "No, that’s alright. Besides, don’t think that you’d be allowed to sit in as my bodyguard," she said, giving his cheek a kiss.

"I know that, wouldn’t sit in your classroom, just wait for you down in the office. Really, I don’t mind. There’s nothing left here to do, except just go over everything again, and we’d still have plenty of time to do that again when we get back," he said, smiling at her.

Buffy sighed, and shook her head, "Nah, it’s alright. I just need to go do this and get it done with right? I’m sure you can find a better use of time."

"I could read a book? Really, I want to come with you..." he said, trying to convince her.

She gently let go of him, kissing him first, "I’m okay. Really. I got it."

He looked into her eyes, and wasn’t reassured, but what could he do? It was her call.

She spent a few minutes more messing around with things that really didn’t matter. She refolded a few items in her suitcase, and spent more than a few minutes telling William why it would be better to just buy a cheap fishing pole in Michigan, rather than to take a chance on the one Xander bought him, getting broken on the airplane.

Before she realized it, they had wound up by the door. She quickly glanced around her, as if looking for something else that gave her a reason to stay.

"You’d better go, Elizabeth," William said, taking her hand and glancing down at her watch, it read 7:30pm.

"I’m going," she said, opening the door. She turned back and hugged him tightly, pressing her lips to his neck; "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said, a perplexed look on his face, before turning to kiss her right and proper.

She sighed into him, finally breaking the kiss, "Okay. I’m off. Really...but I swear, if Ryan’s good-for-nothing family is one minute late, I’m coming right back!"

"Here’s hoping, then," he said, grinning and giving her the thumbs up sign.

"If not, see you in about an hour or so," she called, walking towards the car.

"Sure you don’t want me to come along?"

She hesitated for a half second, before calling back, "I’m sure. See you in a while!"

He watched as she got into the car, and waved back to her as she drove off.

"Okay, now where did I put those sandals?" he asked, as he closed the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES

HYPERION HOTEL

6:30PM

Ethan crossed his ankles and sat down in the middle of the circle. Before starting, he opened up the small bag of dried bloodroot and ritualistically, applied it to his face, arms, and chest. He then placed two fingers of his dominant right hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. His mouth moved silently as he began the ritual.

"Janus, evoco vestram animam. Exaudi meam causam. Carpe noctem pro consilio vestro. Veni, appare et nobis monstra quod est infinita potestas. Janus! Sume noctem!

Janus, I call upon your spirit. Heed my plea. Seize the night for [as] your plan. Come, appear and show us that which is power infinite. Janus! Take the night!"

The candles around the pentagram flickered. He rose as if pulled up by wires. He took the quartz and the sunstone and banged them together, then tossed them into the air. They came down as a green mist, which surrounded him, lifting him up into the air, then he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Rayne!" one of the guards called, starting to move forward, "I think he’s dead!"

"Not dead, just off to do the rest of the spell," Angel said, putting his hand up to stop the guard from desecrating the circle.

Green mist swirled around the trees in the forest, finally taking on the spectral shape of Ethan Rayne. He blinked his ghostly eyes and looked beyond the trees.

"Ah, hello ladies of the coven," he said, smiling at the similar name of an album he once owned by Joni Mitchell.

He turned his attention back to his target, and calling upon Janus and Hecate, he incanted:

‘O twirling breezes and winds of the East

Who protected this man and witnessed all feats

Who protected those he loved, near and apart

Who protected his head, his soul, and his heart

Of magic performed and all blessings poured out

We thank You for coming and gathering about

But now comes the time for protection to end

And I call on the all forces to go where I send

You back to the blustery realm where you reign

Farewell and goodbye ‘til we see You again

The air stilled around him, and every leaf and blade of grass stopped in mid sway, holding onto its kinetic energy. He started on the second part of the spell.

"Come demons, order of Rwasundi, I bid thee come nigh to this house, come and make time meaningless.

Kinetic energy was released and a great whooshing sound was heard and felt for miles around. Out of the trees, came a dozen Rwasundi, or so it seemed, as even Ethan had a hard time holding onto the present with them so close. They gathered in front of him, and his eyes played tricks. He held up his hand and bade them to wait, until he gave the signal, after his second to the last spell.

A quick prayer to Hael and the words he needed came.

"Order of Hoarashb, come and do thy bidding. Attack this coven and render its inhabitants powerless!"

A blue light came up in the eastern sky and thunder boomed, before a great streak of lightening hit the ground in front of Ethan. In its place stood a two dozen, brown and green-horned demons, their jagged teeth glistening in the afterglow of the lightening they appeared on.

Both orders of demons stood before him, waiting for his signal.

He smiled, crossed one ankle over the other, as his spectral self leaned on the nearest tree.

Like the Roman God he prayed to, and the chaos he loved, he raised his right hand over his head, made a fist, then brought it down, pointing at the coven’s sanctuary.

A roar erupted as the demons turned and charged forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BATH, ENGLAND

3:00AM

"Sabrina? What are you doing up?" Willow asked, coming into the kitchen, where the younger woman stood shivering.

"I don’t know. I...I think something’s coming."

"What do you mean?"

"I don’t know," Sabrina practically whimpered. "I just feel something."

Willow bit her lip nervously. In all the time she’d known Sabrina, she’d never known her to be upset over anything; whether it was killing vampires or demons, standing up to her parents, or the other girls.

"What does it feel like?" Willow gently prodded.

She turned to look at her older friend and mentor, "Death, it feels like death."

Suddenly, they turned trying to locate a thunderous sound, which seemed to surrounding them from all sides.

"What is it?" Sabrina gasped, grabbing onto Willow’s arm for comfort.

"We’re being attacked!" Willow said, "Go wake the others, now!"

Willow quickly ran to the alarm box in the dining room and pulled it. The windows were breaking and the doors were being pounded down as she ran towards the upper floors.

Sabrina didn’t get too far down the hall before she heard the alarm. She ran to her room, terrified. All the things she had learned, all the bravery she had been told she possessed, eluded her now, as she pulled open the window and jumped down from the second floor, spraining her ankle when she half fell into a large hedgerow.

Half-running, half-limping, she took off for the woods, heading right towards Ethan, whom she couldn’t see, since he was invisible.

A Hoarashb had heard her footsteps and turned to follow. He gained speed on her and tackled her from behind, his sharp middle claw, slicing through the thin material of her nightgown and into her stomach. She gasped, as she tried valiantly to fight him off, but her life was quickly ebbing away.

Ethan made a sudden decision. He ordered the Hoarashb to stop, sending him back towards the coven. He walked over to Sabrina, looking down at her. Well, he might survive her wounds; she was young and strong, if only he could perform a healing spell first.

He spoke a few words, and he could hear her breath becoming less labored.

She looked up and saw him there, in his white spectral form.

"You saved me," she said gratefully, trying to sit up.

"No, dear, you saved me," he said, and with all his powers he possessed, he rushed into the girl’s body, forcing her spirit out and into the netherworld.

He stood up and held out his arms first, then took a look at each slender leg, "Oh well, Ethan you old dog, guess this will have to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES

HYPERION HOTEL

7:20PM

The candles went out and in the circle quieted.

"Rayne! Rayne!" Angel yelled. "Check him, check him!"

The guards rushed in, "He’s dead," said the one who had first thought so.

"Damn! Do CPR or something!"

"What about the spell, did it work?" Knox asked, looking on as the guards worked over Ethan’s still form.

"Find out!"

Knox pulled out a map of Southern California and sprinkled a few drops from the vials he had left on them. Lights shone in 4 different places. Two near L.A., and two in Julian, north of San Diego.

"Well, I’ll be damned!" Angel said, looking at the name of the town he hadn’t thought about in over 50 years. "I should’ve known."

Angel then pulled out a map of San Diego County and had Knox do the same. This time, from just the two vials - William and Buffy’s. This time it showed him exactly where they were located.

He picked up his phone and dialed.

"Wilson here," the limousine driver answered.

"I got an address for you," Angel said.

He hung up after giving him directions and looked over to where the guards were still working on Ethan.

"That’s enough," he said, "it worked.

"What should we do with...?" asked one of the guards.

"Get rid of it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BATH ENGLAND

3:30AM

Willow limped over to where Althanea lay prone, her face a bloody mess, her arm and legs broken, but still alive. She was one of the lucky ones. They had lost a total of four of the dozen coven members that lived there, and 3 of the 5 visitors that were there for the week retreat.

Just trying to get to each other to start form a circle to repel the demons had proved almost impossible with some of the demons causing a time flux in their thinking. It was like they were all tripping on bad drugs and it had taken them way too long trying to fight off the time warping demons, when really, it was the others who were capable of the most murder and mayhem.

Finally, 15 minutes into the fight, enough of them had found there way to the secret room behind the pantry door and down into the cellar, to perform a barrier spell and sending out their own black magical forces to kill the rest of them.

As Willow was in the kitchen getting supplies, she heard a small knock on what was once the frame of their back door. She looked up in surprise, then tears poured down her cheeks, "I thought you were dead! Where did you go?"

Sabrina came into the kitchen, "I ran, I got scared. I’m sorry..." she searched for a name to use, but came up empty.

"That’s alright! I’m just so glad you’re safe," Willow said, limping over to hug the girl. She released her and looked at her strangely, then shrugged.

"What can I do?" Sabrina asked.

"Here, let me show you..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JULIAN

7:35PM

The limousine stopped just outside of the driveway leading up to house. The driver had been sent the exact coordinates over the On-Star satellite system that the car sported. He pulled the car off to the side of the road as far as he could. He saw a car turn out of the drive, heading in the opposite way, and hoped that the intended victim might actually be in it.

"You can get out here," he said over the intercom to the back seats.

"What, you’re not holding the door for a lady?" Dru asked.

"Um...sorry, Mr. Angel directed me to stay in the car."

"Doesn’t trust me, eh? How silly! I wouldn’t eat you, you know. I can’t drive."

"I can drive," said one of the other vamps.

"Me, too. I drive."

She sighed. In all her years in this world, minions didn’t get any smarter. She looked over at them and growled. "How about you opening the door for a lady, then?"

The larger vamp started to say something, but the smaller one elbowed him. They both got out and held the door for her.

"Let’s go!" she said, and started to walk towards the long drive, which would take them to the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7:40PM

Buffy pulled up in front of the front door of the school, not even bothering to use the parking lot. All the way there, she had tried to convince herself that she was just nervous about the trip and nothing else, but the farther she got from the house, the more nervous she got.

She flipped open her phone and called home. William answered it on the second ring. He asked her where the sandals were, and she reminded him to dry the towels. They hung up and she walked reluctantly got out of her car.

Walking in, she saw Mrs. Carpello, who motioned her over. "Jennifer’s parents are in your classroom," she said.

"I already talked to them this afternoon," she said.

"I know, but they wanted another word with you. Do you want me to come down?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, I’ll handle it. But it’s going to be brief. Ryan’s parents are coming at 8:00 and I really need to see them, then get going."

"I know. I’ll come down at 7:55, if you haven’t finished yet and tell them you’re expecting another student."

Buffy nodded in agreement and walked down the hall, the feeling of nervousness increasing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7:45PM

Dru and the two minions had walked about a mile, when one of them said, "What the fuck?" as he saw the road end and nothing but trees. "This is got to be wrong. Fuck! All this way for nothing!"

"Yeah, what a waste!" said the other.

Dru stopped and sniffed the air, looking up at the trees in front of her. "It’s here!" she said, walking forward. She stopped and ran her hands over the row of trees, feeling between them, until she felt the iron of the gate they were attached to."

"My William has been very sneaky!" she said, triumphantly. "But not sneaky enough!

"Huh?"

"Give me a leg up!" she ordered.

The vamp looked at her, then shrugged, locking his hands so that she could place her foot in it. She did and he raised her up, until her hands found a way through the trees and over the top of the fence.

"Well, come on!"

The vamps looked at each other, shrugged, then climbed up the trees and hopped over the other side.

"Shit! I tore my jacket, " he said, looking forlornly at his torn mustard colored leather jacket.

"Stupid!" said the other vamp.

"Fuck you, I’ll tear your jacket!"

"Shut up! Both of you or I’ll kill you here and now!" Dru hissed, putting on her game face.

They shut up.

They followed the road another three-quarters of a mile, until a small house came into view. She motioned towards it.

As they neared, they could see someone outside taking bags out of their car and carrying them into the house.

"That him?" the larger vamp asked.

"No, that’s not my William," said Dru, angered.

She slowly walked towards the house, ducking down on the side of the car that was away from view, when she heard the door open.

Clem walked to his car, looking up at the sky; it had just begun to start raining. If only he had grabbed the last bag, he could have avoided getting wet.

Just as he was getting near the trunk, Dru stood up.

Clem, startled in surprise, then in fright. "Wha...what do you want?" he asked, now seeing two other vampires moving in from the shadows to flank her.

Dru sniffed the air and made a face, not quite knowing what to make of this, ‘human.’

"I want what’s mine of course," she said, as she inched her way along the car, closer to him.

"And what’s that?" Clem said, instinctively inching the other way.

"William! That’s what’s mine. He’s always been mine."

Clem shook his head, "He’s not, he’s..." he slapped his hand over his mouth, realizing the blunder he’d made.

"Where is he?" Dru hissed into his face, her hands suddenly around his neck, as the other two vamps grabbed his arms.

His face was turning red and he was having trouble breathing. Dru was now looking at him with yellowed eyes, and her fangs were shining in the light coming from his doorway.

"Where is he?" she asked again, saying each word very clearly and slowly.

He shook his head.

"What’s that?" she asked, lessening the pressure on his larynx.

"Not. Here." He croaked out.

"You lie!" she said, lunging for his throat.

At that moment, his demon’s instinct for survival kicked into high gear and his body puffed up, as her fangs bit into his throat. Tentacles on either side of his head, slapped at hers, pulling her back by the hair, stinging her with their jelly-fish like poison.

She dropped him and the other vamps took to pummeling him. Clem fought back, his demon’s arsenal of poisons, bone cutters, and tentacles, slicing and dicing as much as they could, but the two vamps had the advantage of standing, whereas, Clem was laying on the ground, trying to fight.

The larger vamp fell back onto the car, and the trunk popped open. He glanced in, and grinned maliciously, spotting a jack. He took it and making a wide berth around the prone Clem, brought it down in a bone splitting crash on his skull.

Clem lay still on the ground.

Dru motioned to them and they all entered the house. Minutes later, they came back out, "Nobody’s there!"

Dru hissed in frustration, then saw the road they had been on went on.

"Let’s go," she said, motioning.

"What about him?" the smaller vamp asked.

"Leave him, I don’t think we’ll be needing to worry about him anymore!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7:55PM

"I just don’t see why you can’t give Jenny another chance?" Mr. Wilson said.

"I’m sorry. I just can’t. The school is set up a certain way and Jennifer just didn’t seem to make the transition," Buffy said, glancing down at her watch again. Her stomach was doing flip-flops for the last 5 minutes, and she was losing her patience.

"But why she only had 8 weeks to do so. Most of the kids here have been coming for years, surely you don’t expect a child who’s gone to public school all her life to get into the swing of things in only 2 months. We really want her out of public school. They don’t seem to teach her anything. Not like she’s learned here, from you," Mrs. Wilson said, trying flattery.

Buffy took a deep breath, partially to get her rising impatience under control, the other to calm her jangled nerves.

"I understand, I do. But most of the kids did make the transition beautifully this summer, Mrs. Wilson," Buffy said, gently, "and they all came from public schools like Jennifer did, in fact, a couple of them came from the same school, the same teacher, even. I’m really sorry. I just can’t recommend Jennifer this year."

Just then, Mrs. Carpello walked in, "I’m sorry, Mr. & Mrs. Wilson, but Elizabeth has another family that has an appointment. Please let me walk you out," she said, going over to them, as they rose.

Still arguing their point, they walked out. Buffy stood up and paced nervously back and forth then went to the bathroom, throwing some cold water over her face.

She looked down at her watch again, it was 8:00pm. She picked up the cell phone and called home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:00PM

William was just getting the clothes out of the dryer, when he thought he heard the phone ringing in the other room.

"Bugger," he said, hurrying towards the living room.

Just then, he heard a small tap on the door. He stopped halfway to the phone and listened. He heard it again.

He smiled, Elizabeth must have forgotten her keys; only he didn’t recall locking the door. He looked down at the handle, and no, it wasn’t locked. Well, maybe she was carrying something.

He opened the door and his jaw dropped, "Y...you," he stammered, looking at the dark haired woman whose picture he had seen in the attic, the woman who inhabited his nightmares.

She grinned, "Yes, William, it’s me."

"H...how? Wh...who?"

"Hhh, who, who?" she mocked. "You don’t remember me, my William?"

The phone in the living room had finally stopped ringing. He shook his head.

"Well, are you just going to stand there all night with your mouth hanging open?" she asked, leaning over a bit, intimately, hands on her knees, "Or are you going to invite me in?"

"Come in," he said, without thinking, and moved aside to let her enter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:05PM

Buffy picked up her purse and hurried down the hall as fast as she could.

"Elizabeth? The Shores have just arrived," Mrs. Carpello said.

"I’m sorry, I’ve got to go!"

"But Elizabeth...really!"

She turned to look at her for a couple of seconds, "I have to," she said.

Mrs. Carpello looked into her eyes, then nodded; "I hope everything’s alright."

"Me, too," she said, opening the door, just as the Shores walked out of the office.

"Mrs. Worthington! We’d like a word with you!"

"I’m sorry, have to reschedule!"

Mr. Shores grabbed hold of her arm, "We’d like a word with you now, at our appointed time," he said, emphasizing the word appointed.

She looked at his hand, then into his eyes, "If you don’t take that hand off of me, I’ll make sure that you never use it again," she said, coldly.

He released her hand, and she headed out the door.

"You can’t threaten me! I’m a taxpayer! You’re just a stupid teacher!" he yelled after her.

She ran the rest of her way to the car and pealed out, her tires burning rubber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:01PM

Dru walked into the living room and looking all around her, "Awfully comfy setup you have here, since the last time I saw you, Spike," she said, making his former nickname sound like ‘Spoik.’ "You remember; you, me, and the slayer, all in your crypt. Oh, and the one who called you Boo-boo, " she said as she took a step towards him.

Instinctively, he took one back and she laughed.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice weak.

"Drusilla," she said slowly, "you don’t remember me?

William shook his head.

"How can that be when we’ve known each other for over 100 years?" she asked, still walking towards him. He backed up and bumped into the fireplace. She was right in front of him, as he looked to his right and left to see which way he could most easily move.

"What do you mean? We were...involved, then? I...I saw a picture of you that I had drawn. You and there was a man and another woman," he said.

She laughed, "That would be Angel and Darla; Angel is the one who sent me, did you know that? He sent me to kill you. But I don’t want to, I just want you to be as you were, before you took up with the slayer bitch! Don’t you know you’re supposed to kill the slayer, my William?"

"What?" he said, his voice weak, his knees starting to shake.

"Oh yes, you killed two other slayers, why couldn’t you ever kill this one? Is it because of the plastic they put in your head? Because I don’t believe in science! And then you went out and got a soul, didn’t you?" she asked, as her hand came out and touched his chin, holding it strongly in her hand, making him look at her.

"What?" he said, surely this woman was deranged and he’d let her into their house. Elizabeth! He tried to glance over at the clock, but she was blocking it. He had to think what to do; he didn’t want to put Elizabeth into danger from this obviously, crazy woman. How could his past have possibly included her? And if it had, perhaps that’s why he couldn’t face it. Did Elizabeth know of it? Of her?

"You’re trying to fool me, aren’t you?" Dru said, looking into his eyes, "But you can’t fool me, I’ve known you longer and better than anyone. Even your own mum, who you wouldn’t let me eat, and who you thought would make a nice vampire; except she wasn’t so nice then, was she?" the woman rambled on.

His eyes widened at the mention of his mother, "What are you talking about? How dare you speak of my mother that way, how dare you..."

Dru’s hand struck out with blinding speed, catching him on the cheek and in the eye. He staggered back, and hit his head on the stones of the fireplace mantle.

His eye watered, and he could barely see out of it, he put his hand up to his face and it came away bloody.

Dru looked at his hand, hungrily, then put it to her mouth, sucking the blood off his fingers, while he tried to pull away, now terrified of her. She felt cold to him; colder than he’d ever felt a person feel. And when he looked into her eyes, he saw only...nothing. She leaned forward and ran her tongue up his cheek, as she licked the blood off of the 3-inch gash she put there. He tried to push her away, but she only laughed and held onto the back of his head, pulling his hair until he was sure it was about to come out in giant clumps in her fingers.

The phone rang again, and they both looked toward the sound, "Is that her? Your slayer whore looking to find out what her little defanged vampire is doing?"

She released him and he staggered away, towards the kitchen. She followed, close on his heels, "You really don’t even remember, do you? You don’t know what you are."

"I know what I am," he said, turning on the water and wetting a paper towel to sop up the blood running down his face.

"And what’s that?"

He turned to face her; "I’m a man; that’s what I am! What the bloody hell are you?"

In a second, faster than he’d ever seen anyone, she was on top him. He tumbled to the floor, as she slapped at him, slashing him with her nails. This time he fought back, he lifting up his legs and throwing her off. He just barely managed to scramble to his feet, as she advanced once again.

"You’re mine, William. You always have been mine, and no slayer whore is going to change that. No hideous soul will either; I’ll take care of that, by the end of the night. Good-bye soul, hello my old lover Spike. You remember how we used to kill every night for 100 years, don’t you?"

"You’re crazy!" he yelled at her.

"Am I? You want to know what I am? I’m the same as you were! The same as you’ll be again," she said, once more advancing on him, her face vamping out.

"I can hear your heart beating," she said laughing, a sound which reminded him of small shards of glass, as they were driven over, "100 miles a minute from across the room. I can smell your fear, just like you could smell the fear in all your previous victims, hear their heart beating, feel it stop as you took their last drop of blood; drained them dry, you did! You were such a hungry dog. You’d bring me presents, too. Nice, delectable children to eat. Me and Miss Edith love children, you remember, don’t you?"

He shook his head, his heart was thundering in his own ears, as he tried in vain to think of some way to get away from this...thing, that was no doubt, about to kill him.

She looked down pointedly at his crotch, then laughed, "Poor Willy, looks like you pissed yourself. Too bad, use to be you could do other things with that," she said, grabbing him between the legs and holding on so tight, he thought he might pass out.

His hands groped behind him on the counter, until he felt the handle of a pan. With a scream, he took it and bashed her in the head. She staggered backwards, knocking into the table and chairs, as he ran for the door, ignoring the pain in his groin. His eye watered profusely, and he shut it, relying on his good one to see his way clear. He ran to the DeSoto, but realized its keys were in the house. He staggered to the barn, hearing other footsteps in the dark. Terror now engulfed him, as he ran into the barn. He took a couple of deep breaths, willing himself to be quiet. He slowly felt his way in the dark, until his arm hit the stairs leading up to the loft.

The loft! There were weapons up there. He had to get them and take care of this fiend before Elizabeth came back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:08PM

Buffy broke every speeding law and then some on her way home. If she thought she had done so the other day, this made it look like a grandmother on her way to church in comparison.

She stopped to use the remote on the gate, when she caught sight of something yellow hanging from it. She got out of her car and pulled herself up the closest tree until she reached it. Leather!

She jumped back into her car and raced down the road. Suddenly, she slammed on the break so hard; her head hit the dashboard. Shaking herself, she staggered out of the car and ran up to the demon that was crawling in the road. It took her a moment to realize it was Clem; a very, gravely hurt Clem.

"Clem! What happened? Where’s William?" Buffy said, her voice shaking in fear, her heart in the icy grip of fear.

"Dru..." Clem croaked out. "And two other vamps...minions..."

"Oh my God!" Buffy said, running back to her car.

"Wait," Clem called out, his voice weak, "she’ll hear you...in the car."

Buffy stopped, then nodded. She ran back and looked down at him, helplessly, hesitating.

"Go! Go on," Clem said, coughing up turquoise colored demon blood, "I’ll be there. I’ll be alright. Go!"

She nodded, then took off running as fast as she could down the road towards the place she called home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:08PM

The two minions took off after William, when the smelled his fear and blood. They stopped at the barn door, arguing if they should wait for Dru or not.

She heard their commotion, as she purposely walked over from the house.

"I saw him first," said the larger vamp.

"I got here first," said the second.

"And I say, either of you lay a finger on him, and I’ll tear out your guts and feed them to you," Dru said, a hand around each vamp’s throat.

"Now, get away from this door. If the slayer shows up, do with her what you want, but Angel wants her alive. Play with her, taste her! But don’t kill her. Got it?" she said, releasing them.

They fell into a heap. Both nodded, as they stood up. She opened the barn door slowly, going into vamp face, so she could see better in the dark.

The door closed and the two vamps took up posts on either side of the door.

Dru stood still letting her senses do most the work. She looked around in the dark of the barn’s first floor, and knew William wasn’t there. She could hear his faint, but steady heart beat, coming from right above where she stood.

William held his breath, after hearing the commotion outside of the barn, then hearing the door open. He had tried the window to the loft, but there was nothing but the hard ground to fall on, some 20 feet below. He would most likely either kill himself in a jump, or hurt himself too badly to get away. He would have to stay and fight.

He had thought he’d heard the screech of tires in the distance before the commotion down below, but then nothing. He hoped that if it had been Elizabeth, that she had somehow, miraculously stopped to visit with Clem and would stay there until this ordeal was over with. All he knew is that he had to use the weapons that they had, to get rid of this mad woman and whoever else was with her.

He was crouching along the darkest wall in the loft, behind the sparring mats, which had been propped up against the wall. In his hand, he held onto the left-handed sabre, he had purchased.

Drusilla saw the stairs and glided towards them, silently. She put her foot on the first of the 15 steps, and started up.

William listened intently; his heart sped up when he heard the middle steps creak and knew she was nearing the top.

"Spike," she whispered as she got to the top, "I know you’re there, my Spike."

"Soon, we’ll be singing our little song again. You know you always liked our little song. Singing and shagging. Those were your favorite things. Do you still like to shag? Is the slayer whore good in bed? Is that why you love her?" she asked into the dark.

"Angel, he wants me to kill you. For good, this time. No coming back, no more singing! No more shagging! Know what I think? I think he wants to shag the slayer whore some more himself!"

William gritted his teeth nearly screaming in fury over her words, her lies!

"But I’m not going to kill you for good. Just enough so that you’ll be dead like me again. And you’ll be mine again, for another 100 years, just like before. Of course, I may need to find my pleasure elsewhere, if little Willy isn’t up to the task," she sing-songed, walking towards where she heard his heart pounding, where she felt the only heat in the room coming from.

He heard the soft click, click, click of her high heels, as she neared.

"I’ll chain you up, just like you used to do to me, and torture you. I’ll get long, sharp pins and I’ll pierce you in places that will make you scream," she said, giggling, then proceeded to tell him of just what places.

"As for saving the slayer bitch for Angel? I think we’ll just take her along with us. And then, you can watch as I torture her, or I’ll watch you, when you do, because once your demon is back, you’ll remember that its your duty to kill the slayer, not fuck her! Not love her!" she said, spitting on the floor.

He felt the nausea rise in him, felt the bile in his throat, as the crazy woman went on with her mad litany of terror.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:10PM

Buffy slowed down the last 100 yards or so. She didn’t want to, but she knew if the vamps were outside anywhere, they would hear her before she heard them.

Lucky for her, she saw the two minions guarding the barn door. She appraised her opponents and knew they would be easy to take out. But she had to draw them away from the door so, as to not draw attention to herself. She looked over towards the house and her idea formed.

She walked back to the rear of the house, and on purpose, knocked over a chair and gave a little cry.

As predicted, the two vamps came over to investigate. She was lying on her back, the two sharp branches she had torn off to use as weapons, as she ran down the road, lay under each leg.

The vamps approached cautiously, but soon relaxed as they saw her lying there, moaning. She opened up her eyes and looked at them, gasping in fear, which made them grin malevolently at her.

"So this is THE SLAYER?" the larger vamp said, "doesn’t seem like the stuff of nightmares," he said, licking his lips, his fangs showing.

"Please," she whispered.

"Please? Aw...she said please," said the smaller vamp.

"Okay, since you said please, then maybe we won’t kill you now. Maybe we’ll just have a little taste, how’s that?" he said, as the two of them got just the right amount of striking distance from her.

"It’s okay with me boys!" she said, pulling out the surrogate stakes, and plunging them expertly into their unbeating hearts.

The both had shocked looks on their faces, as they exploded into dust around her.

She got up, and wiped the dust off of her, as she hurried towards the barn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:11PM

"Enough!" Drusilla cried, suddenly throwing back the mats and lunging at William. He rolled over away from her, sabre above his head, and when he was on his back again, he reached up to strike her. He managed to slice her arm, but she easily kicked it away from him, then landed on his chest, with both knees, knocking the wind out of him.

Her elbow went into his windpipe, causing him to gasp. His head swam and things were beginning to go black. Can’t let that happen...

Finally, she relented, her elbow coming off his throat. He coughed weakly. "What’s the matter, Spike? Oh, I know, you’ve got that nasty habit of breathing again. Well, Drusilla will take care of that for you, take care of you in other ways, too," she cooed. She lifted up her skirt, as she held onto him with her thighs.

Leaning over, she whispered in his ear, "You remember all the nasty things we done? All the different ways?"

He shook his head, "No, never!"

She laughed, then grabbed his hair on top his head, pulling his head half-way up off the ground, "Oh yes, you do. Somewhere in that pretty little head of yours, Spike still lives. I know it, the stars told me, and the stars never, ever lie. I was the first woman you ever had, and I’ll be the last, too. Unless you did your mum first? Did you do your mum before we met? Is that why you wanted to sire her? So you could have her, even then?"

He shook his head violently; his stomach roiled sick, "Shut up! That’s sick!" he whimpered.

"You told me I was your destiny, sweet William," she said, going on as if he hadn’t spoken, "and see, here I am. Your destiny!"

Buffy had crept into the barn, and up the loft stairs. Her heart pounded, as she heard the voice of Drusilla, but at least she knew that William was still alive.

"The hell you are," Buffy said, coming up behind Dru and kicking her as hard as she could, "Get off him, you crazy bitch!"

Dru tumbled off of William, and Buffy went to him, kneeling down.

"Elizabeth," he said, in horror that she was there, and gratitude. And shame that he felt gratitude.

"Can you get up?" she asked, quickly assessing him, glad to see nothing appeared broken.

He nodded, and she pulled him to his feet, motioning for him to get the sabre.

"Look out!" he yelled to Buffy, as Dru lunged for her. Luckily, she dodged Dru’s sharp nails, which only succeeded in raking the skin below her neck.

They tumbled onto the floor, as William raised the sabre, trying to find an advantage. Dru had Buffy on her back, and was about to sink her fangs into her neck, when Buffy knocked her off. William brought the sword down, but Dru rolled, and the sabre stuck into the wooden planks.

In a second, Dru kicked Buffy in the head. She collapsed onto the floor, then she tackled William, this time her fangs finding their mark and plunging into his soft neck. He cried out, as she drew his blood greedily into her mouth.

"You remember this, don’t you lover?" she asked, her yellow eyes glistening, as she once more sunk her fangs into his neck until he lost consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8:45PM

Buffy heard William moaning and tried to move, but when she opened her eyes, she found she was tied to the old pommel horse that she’d once had Clem help her bring up here years ago.

Dru stood in the middle of the loft, between the two of them, sadly shaking her head.

"Remember when you offered to kill me, to prove your love for the slayer, Spike? You changed the game. Then, you said, that if she didn’t offer you the barest smidgen of hope, that she had some sort of feelings for you, that you would set me free and I could kill her. Well, guess who’s in control of the game now?"

"No," William moaned, "Elizabeth..."

"Over here," Buffy croaked out, "I’m okay."

"But you’re not okay! Not nearly. You’ve lost a lot of blood, my dear, but not as much as you’re going to lose when my dear boy becomes a demon again! He’ll be a hungry dog, like he always was and he’ll finish you off. But first, I’ll let you watch as I kill him and as he becomes a vampire again. And when he wakes up, he won’t have a filthy soul anymore, he’ll be ravenous and guess who is going to be the first thing on his menu?"

"Never!" William groaned, "No matter what you do, I’d never hurt her!"

"We’ll see," Dru said, advancing. William shrunk back in terror.

Buffy laughed, and Dru turned around to consider her, "He’s right you know. He never would. Even if you turn him, he won’t hurt me. He didn’t before, though he tried to a long time ago," she said, turning to look at William, who was looking back at her, as if she’d gone quite mad, as well.

"We’ll see," Dru said, going towards William again.

"Dru! Don’t you see? You’re not his destiny, I am!" she said, mockingly. "No matter what you do to William, he’s still going to be mine! Know why the world didn’t end when Angel had his grand plan to free Acathla? Because Spike came to me behind both your backs, and we worked together. That was without a soul or a chip. Spike and me, even back then. So hang it up, Dru. He doesn’t want your cold pussy!"

Dru started keening, until William covered his ears from the sound.

In the meantime, Buffy had been trying desperately to not only keep Dru from finishing off William, but to free herself.

She glanced over at the stairs and nearly startled. The face of Demon Clem looked at her from below the loft’s floor. Her eyes told him to wait, while her foot pointed him at the direction of their weapons.

"Dru, what do you say, that you just turn me, eh? I think you and I would be pretty formidable, probably cut a bigger swath through Europe than the two of you ever did," Buffy said, glancing over at William, who was staring at her, tears in his eyes. She looked away quickly, hating herself for having to be so cold and crass in the way she was talking, knowing it was the only way to keep him alive.

"Ooh, I like that plan! You and I...we’ll feed off of all the weak men in the world! Never go hungry, I tell you!" she cackled.

"I tell you what," she said, "I’ll turn you, and William can be your first meal!" she vamped out and lunged at Buffy, who had been hiding the fact that she had freed her hands. She whipped the rope around Dru’s neck, when she came close and started pulling. Dru was kicking at her and they went tumbling.

Buffy stopped, hearing William scream. He was looking at something that didn’t even closely resemble a human, a demon, and it was hideous and bleeding, too.

"It’s okay, it’s okay!" the demon and Buffy yelled to William, which didn’t do anything to persuade him otherwise.

"William, catch," said the familiar voice in a demon’s body, as it tossed the other sabre towards him.

William looked at it, and the demon, not sure what he should do.

The demon shook its head; "It’s Clem, William. I’m Clem!"

Buffy groaned, as she was losing the fight against Dru. Her fangs were inches from her neck and she didn’t have the strength left to fight as much as she’d thought. She’d already lost a good amount of blood. "Angel wanted me to take care of you himself, but I’m going to save him the trouble," Dru whispered into Buffy’s ear.

Clem collapsed from his own injuries and exertion onto the loft floor, leaving it all to William.

He rose on shaky legs and walked by Clem, careful to keep his distance. Clem looked up and whispered, "Go for the head," then closed his eyes.

William advanced on the struggling women, his heart pounding, but his hand steady.

"Dru!" he thundered.

Dru stopped her advance on Buffy’s neck and turned to face him. He looked at her with his best ‘Spike smirk’ he could muster. The ones that had always made Elizabeth respond with a special grin of her own; which made William realize was something that ‘they’d’ had in their past. Her and Spike, that is.

"Spike?" Dru asked, eyes large.

"That's right, darling," he said, reaching out for her with his left hand.

He made her reach long for his hand, and just as she was extended, he brought his right out from behind his back. The sabre sliced through the air, finding purchase with her neck in one fell swoop.

Dru looked at him shocked, for half a second, before crumbling to dust at his feet.

His knees went out from under him, and he collapsed onto the loft floor, with a loud thud.

Buffy was crying now, she crawled over to William and threw her arms around him, "Oh, God! Thank God you’re alright. You saved me. You saved us," she sobbed, holding onto him.

He closed his eye; the other one was already crusted shut. Elizabeth still clung to him, crying and William was starting to shiver from the shock setting in.

He heard moaning coming from the ‘thing’ which had tossed him the sabre. The thing...who had called himself by his friend’s name; maybe the ‘thing’ had eaten him.

"Oh, God. Clem," Elizabeth said, unwrapping herself from William. She looked at him and he looked back, dazed.

"I have to help him, William. Do you understand?"

He shook his head? He started to reach across the floor for the fallen sabre, but she put her hand over his.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "William, I know you’re going into shock...but please listen to me. This demon is our friend Clem. He’s just...well, looking like himself a bit more right now that you’re used to. And usually he doesn’t look quite so scary," she said, looking over at all the twitching tentacles and other things protruding from his neck and face. Usually he looks rather...benign. Don’t you, Clem?"

Clem tried to nod, but it only made his tentacles twitch more.

"I think this is just because he’s badly hurt. By Dru. She hurt him, too, William. But he saved us. He came by, hurt as he is, and he helped you to save us," she kept speaking low and soothingly to William, who was keeping a wary eye on Clem, although he didn’t want to.

"Do you understand me?" she asked, gently turning his face towards hers. He pulled back from her touch, though looked at her, his eye a blue pool of pain.

She nodded to him, then slowly got up, wobbling a bit herself from blood loss and went over to Clem.

"What can I do?" she asked him.

He told her what he needed from his house and where to find the supplies.

"I’ll be back as soon as I can," she said. Then she looked down and noticed a turquoise pool of blood on the floor coming from underneath his head.

She pulled off her jacket and walked over to William, "You’re going to have to do this for me, until I get back," she said.

Slowly he looked up; "You’re going to have to hold this to the back of Clem’s head to staunch the bleeding."

William shook his head, and tried to scoot back, looking for a wall he could escape to, as if that would make him feel safer. Buffy stopped him, then knelt down. "I know you don’t understand any of this right now, but please know this...Clem is our best friend, no matter what he looks like at the moment. If you don’t do this for him, he’s going to die and no matter what you feel like right now, no matter how frightened you are of his appearance, of everything...I know you William, and I know you don’t want that to happen."

She stood up and extended her hand, but William’s legs wouldn’t work. Instead, he scooted over to where Clem’s head lay. Elizabeth nodded, and he replaced her hands with his, holding the jacket firmly in place, to stop any more of the turquoise blood from squirting out.

She stopped at the top of the loft steps; "I love you. I’ll be right back. I’m going to take the car. Where’s the keys?"

William looked at her dumbfounded.

"Keys! The keys for the DeSoto? Are they in the house? Where? Bedroom? Bathroom? Kitchen? Living room?"

The last got a small nod from him.

"Good. Be back in less than 10 minutes!" she said, hurrying down the stairs.

She ran to the house, found the keys on the table next to the couch, and ran to the DeSoto and drove off to Clem’s house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William sat there dazed, holding the jacket to the demon’s head the way Elizabeth had instructed him to, not looking at him if he could help it, not looking at anything. He closed his good eye, and felt himself become dizzy. Opening it again, he noticed that the turquoise blood had seeped over to where he sat, and was getting near his pants. He shifted some, holding the jacket a bit tighter.

Clem moaned, and William lessened the amount of pressure. Clem looked up at him and caught his eye, although William had tried to avoid doing so, "It’s going to be alright, buddy," he said softly. "You’ll see. Buffy is going to take good care of us. Especially you; she loves you."

William let out a shudder and his eye filled with tears. They fell onto the floor, mingling with the turquoise blood.

"It’s okay, William," the demon said, "it’s going to be alright."

William looked at Clem and shook his head, "I don’t understand," he whispered so quietly, as if saying anything with any more volume would increase the nightmare he had suddenly found himself living in.

"I know," Clem said, reaching out his hand, but William shrunk back, as far as he could, while still keeping up the pressure.

Clem sighed, and put his hand back on the floor, "She should have told you...all this time, she should have told you...I told her to...I told..." his voice faded and he fell into unconsciousness.

"I’m turning on the lights," Buffy said, as she raced up the stairs. Somewhere in his brain, he had heard the car return, but it hadn’t registered.

Now with the lights suddenly coming on, William started to shake in earnest, as he looked down and saw what he had only seen in the dark up until then.

"It’s okay," Elizabeth said, running up to both of them. "I’m back, and we’re safe now. We’re going to be okay," she said, giving him a hug, which he didn’t acknowledge.

She turned her attention to Clem, relieving William of having to hold the jacket in place anymore. He scooted away, until he was at the farthest, darkest corner of the loft he could find and then collapsed onto his side.

"Has he been unconscious long?" Buffy called out. She got no answer.

It took her at least half an hour to stem the flow of bleeding. Finally, with that done, she used the special invisible sutures, to close the wound, finally wrapping his head in a big gauze bandage.

She couldn’t leave him there, but she knew she hadn’t enough strength of her own to carry Clem down the loft stairs. Her head pounded and she was dizzy and weak herself. If she didn’t get something in her stomach soon, she was going to pass out. Maybe that would be the best. They could just all three pass out until tomorrow...

"Tomorrow?" she said, her head wondering what it was about tomorrow....

Tears came to her eyes, as she remembered. Tears fell and she felt weak. Finally, she crawled over to where William lay and lay down next to him.

Somewhere in his mind, he heard her crying and felt her small hand on his chest, seeking comfort, but all he felt was the hard ground, and all he felt was emptiness.

END CHAPTER 140

Saturday 4/3/04: A world of thanks to my wonderful Beta Judy, who has stuck by me and this story for so long. Her help is invaluable! :)

Thanks to my readers for sticking it out and waiting so long for this update section. The next update will be much, much sooner, probably within a week. spikealicious

CONT. CH. 141 - 145

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