Willow
glanced apprehensively around Buffy’s room. It was so different; the girly
stuff was all gone. Instead, the walls of the bedroom were a deep blue--
almost the same colour as Spike’s eyes, she realised with a start. Candles
of every shape and size were littered over every surface and the scent of
jasmine was in the air. The lush golden silk sheets were smoothed flat and a
deep crimson velvet throw was draped neatly over the foot of the bed. She
could also smell dust and leather in the air, but was puzzled as to the
source.
She’d
only returned to the house a few minutes ago, having spent the rest of the
night and morning searching for the right spell. In the end she had combined
two, but gathering the materials for the casting had been hard. Seeing no
other option, she’d used the key Giles had given her and broken into the
Magic Box, stealing what she needed. Guilt had assailed her the entire way
to Buffy’s. Willow had been positive someone could tell she was a big fat
thief and had scurried along the sidewalk with her eyes glued to the
asphalt.
“What do you need from
me?” Buffy stepped in front of Willow and squatted down to look her in the
eyes. She was dressed in black leather jeans, chunky heeled boots and a
black polo necked sweater. Her hair was pulled back into a neat bun and a
leather coat was tucked over her arm. In her waistband were several stakes
and a small crossbow swung from her free hand. Willow realised she was
dressed in her full on patrol gear, stuff Buffy usually saved for the annual
Apocalypse. It suddenly dawned on Willow how serious this was for Buffy.
“I
can smell leather and dust,” Willow said. She mentally smacked herself for the stupidity of her remark.
She wondered if she was suffering from verbal stupidity.
Buffy’s
eyes darted to the ceiling for a moment.
She’d decided that Spike’s words and thoughts were much too
precious for her to leave for Willow to snoop through, so she had carefully
boxed them up and hidden them in the attic. “Guess it’s your books?”
she lied.
Willow
nodded, completely cowed by the Uber Slayer mode Buffy had going on. “I
guess,” she mumbled and fiddled with the rucksack on her crossed legs,
unwilling to meet the determined gaze of her friend.
“So?”
Buffy leant back on her heels and waited. The hard cast to her face aged her
and frightened the frilly heck out of Willow.
“Oh,
right ,I guess -- I need to set up.” Willow shifted onto her knees and
began to empty the contents onto the carpet. Her hands paused in their task
and she looked up at Buffy, her face grave. “You swear you’ll get Tara
back for me?”
Buffy
straightened and stalked over to the window and looked out into the
afternoon sun, nodding briefly.
Willow,
thoroughly mollified, continued to empty the rucksack. “The only thing I
couldn’t get was a large mirror. I need it for the focus for the spell.”
Buffy
moved to her closet door and jerked it open.
She curled her fingers round the mirror attached to the door and
prised it off. “Is this okay?” She hefted it easily and turned to face
the poleaxed Wiccan.
Willow
raised her eyebrow and nodded. “Great, can you prop it at the end of the
bed?” She gestured with one hand as she assembled the casting circle
around her. She pulled out bundles of herbs that were held together with her
own hair plaited into twine and laid then carefully at intervals. In-between
she placed focusing crystals, quartz and amethyst-- all of which had been
soaked in salt water and purified before she brought them with her. The new
blue velvet bag of runes--individually carved on shards of a thousand year
old Gospel oak-- were laid out in the correct order and position. She had
stolen them from the Magic Box and felt sick to her stomach over taking
them. She knew Tara had wanted them but had balked at the price. So her
taking them felt like a betrayal of Tara’s beliefs and dreams. Her hand
shook as she placed Algiz in the main position for her casting; she wanted
to use it’s powers for protection against the magics that she would be
channelling. Otherwise she was worried she might succumb to the lure. It was
too close as it was; the taste was tickling at the back of her throat,
calling to her. Willow swallowed over and over, trying to ignore the
temptation.
“Buffy,
I need some matches.” Willow took a deep breath to calm herself. She
placed the four nightlights on the four points of the compass.
“Here.”
Buffy tossed the plastic lighter she used for her candles at Willow and set
about balancing the mirror.
“Thanks,”
Willow muttered distractedly as she lit the four small candles and tucked
the lighter into her pocket. Her mind was already beginning to focus on the
incantation. A calm filled her;
magic was something she was good at and this time she would get Tara with
it.
“Where
shall I stand?” Buffy rocked on her heels, impatient to get things moving.
“To
my left.”
“When
will we know if it’s worked?” Buffy moved smoothly into place.
She shrugged on her coat and then picked up the crossbow again and
stood ready. Her focus was on the top of Willow’s bent head.
“The
mirror – it’s the portal. Watch
it and when you see the right moment, jump through. I’ll keep it open and
you can bring Spike back with you.” Willow concentrated on pouring the
grey powder from the hollowed out gourd into four neat piles next to each
flickering candle and began to mutter under her breath, blessing the powder
and the candles.
Buffy
pulled the collar of her jacket up around her neck as the atmosphere in the
room began to thicken and take on a cloying feel to it. Magics always made
her a little icky, but this time she was all on board the Wiccan train if it
got her what she wanted. Everything had been taken from her and now she was
getting something back that she needed beyond life itself. Her fingers
tightened on the shaft of the bow she cradled in her hands.
All those nights imagining how she would save him were finally going
to pay off. She had her plan of attack mapped out firmly in her mind. Teeth
would die first. She’d realised that he was the one to take out as soon as
she got there; the crossbow was saved for him. Vamp on right, and then vamp
on left. She knew the stakes she had would be enough as they were soaked in
Holy Water and carved with crosses all down the shafts.
She’d spent the morning perfecting them as she waited for Willow to
come back. ‘Focus on the fight, then get Spike.
Don’t let seeing him distract you…focus on the bossman and the
goons.’ She chanted the plan over and over to herself.
Let
Houros guide me.
I
call on his wisdom and power.
Cronos,
I seek your power over time and space.
Hear
this supplicant’s plea – come and show me the way.
Incantare
Incantare – supoidio vaqucht ba man beya.
Willow reached over and
grabbed a taper she had laid out next to the circle and lit it using one of
the nightlights. Her fingers were steady as she stared straight ahead at the
mirror, waiting for it to shimmer. She tapped each pile of sand that was
poured on the four points of the compass, East to West – South to North.
The sand flared up with a golden glow and a thick greasy black smoke filled
the room.
Buffy
shifted slightly. It was
getting a wee bit Stephen King for her with the black smoke, but it was too
late to back out now. She glanced down at Willow and frowned at the sight of
her friend’s hair; it was darkening. Buffy shook her head, figuring it was
the smoke and missed the black pits in Willow’s eyes.
Cronos – show me
the passage of time
Reveal
reveal – I need to be shown.
Boaz
sho vaqucht boror backwards
Then it began.
A
faint mist flickered around the edges of the tall mirror and then it began
to move inwards, swirling faster and faster in an anti-clockwise direction.
Willow gasped and her head dropped back, her eyes staring upwards and her
arms raised as the mystical wind began to move around her. Her face was
bathed in an unearthly light and the black smoke twisted and turned in front
of her shaking form and then shot into Willow’s gaping mouth. Buffy missed
all of this as she stared at the events unfolding in the mirror; the
mystical sight of her life on rewind riveted her. All the misery from the
past month moving slowly backwards, as if it were being wiped out, the sight
filled her with hope, maybe it could all be changed.
Willow
had managed to do it. For the
first time in weeks, a genuine smile crossed her chapped lips.
Willow
grunted as the smoke began to coil through her body, changing her on a basic
level. It tingled through her
nervous system, making her body sing with power. Her fingers and toes
twitched as she let the magicks surge through her. Willow began to pant as
pulses of excitement shot from her womb to her nipples and down between her
legs. Moisture flooded her
panties as the thrill of the power sent a shock of mini orgasms through her.
This was part of magic using that very few people talked about, the sexual
peaks were so addictive and unlike anything a lover could produce in her
body. Her nipples tightened and pressed against the thin cotton of her
dress, trying to burn their way through.
Buffy’s
nerves tightened as the scenes moved backwards. Closer and closer to the
time when she had failed him. Her hands were steady on the crossbow.
She was ready.
“Here
we go, Wills,” she yelled triumphantly. The image of her running from the
cemetery home began to reverse before her very eyes.
Slowly the ashes of her Spike began to reassemble and the hand of the
vampire who staked him pulled away and downwards, tucking the weapon back in
his waistband. Spike was there, she could see him, and he was in the
mirror. Excitement filled her and Buffy leapt forward, ignoring the
ecstatic moans that were tumbling from Willow’s mouth and the over
powering scent of crushed strawberries that filled the air and slowly began
to sour.
“You
did it! Back in a few.” Hope filled her as she moved forwards.
Buffy
leapt through the looking glass and into her own wonderland. A place where
Spike was still with her; excitement thrummed through her veins. As she
leapt, her heel caught the rune Algiz, the same one Willow was relying on to
protect her. It span around, inverting the power around it.
Buffy
felt a pricking sensation as she leapt through the shimmering portal. She
landed with a thud about three feet to the left of Spike and his captors.
She shook her head, disorientated by the sight of her other self
standing in front of her. But she pushed it aside, focusing on the fight at
hand. There was a twang and thunk as a quarrel was released from the
crossbow. It struck the shark headed demon in the eye, killing him
instantly.
“One
down, two to go,” she muttered under her breath. As she spun towards
Spike’s captors, she failed to see the events unfolding in the mirror. The
rune she’d knocked out of place had left Willow open to everything she had
been channelling. Her hair was darkening to a pitch black and her skin
turned ashen with thick black veins snaking their way across it. The
swirling image of Willow began to move in a clockwise direction, faster and
faster until it was a blur of silver motion.
Buffy
moved with incredible speed.
She
slipped behind the two goons and before either one could move a muscle, the
two stakes she’d created for them dropped down her sleeves and into her
waiting hands. Spike stumbled forward and began to cough as dust showered
down on him from both sides. A pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist
and pulled him upright.
“I
got you,” a soft voice whispered into his ear. Her warm breath tickled his
senses. His hand came up reflexively and clasped hers.
He could see her in front of him and yet he knew she was behind him
as well. Both of them were so caught up in each other that they didn’t see
the horrific events unfolding in the portal.
“Slayer?”
“Yeah…Spike,
I got you. Come on, time to go home.”
With
that, Buffy pulled him with her and they fell through the portal backwards.