Part 16

Willow settled into the plush velour seat of the luxery car that was speeding them away from London.
"Where are we going?" she mumbled drowsily. The car had terrific tinting-- it was difficult to see out of the windows.
"I don't actually know,"Jonathan said, shrugging. "Only the driver does-- it's easier to prevent leaks like that."
"Can't you find out?" Willow asked. "I'm not so sure I like being driven out to God-knows-where by someone I don't know."
He smiled at her reasurringly. "Of course." He tapped on the window that was seperating them from the front of the car. "Hey, Jakob! Why don't you tell the little lady where we're heading?"
The driver turned around slowly and Willow's body cramped as she saw his face.
"Gee, boss," he said around a mouth full of fangs. "I was leaving that one up to you."
***
"Oh, God," Angel moaned, feeling sick. "Something's wrong."
Giles didn't respond, only pressed the gas pedal harder.
***
"No," Willow whispered as Jonathan's handsome face shifted into a mountain range flesh. "How could I be so stupid?"
"There, there," he said, voice full of pride. "It wasn't entirely your fault. I had you under a little bit of a spell."
"I would have known," she said numbly.
"Not neccessarily. I'm a pretty talented dabbler. Afterall, I completed the spell to become a Daywalker Vampire-- and those are very rare and *very* powerful, by the way. It was quite a challenge, actually, finding the right spell for you to fall in love with me-- and you are, by the way-- because I had to get around that slayer sense of yours, not to mention your nauseating undying love for that pathetic excuse for a creature of the night."
Willow closed her eyes <Angel> as tears slipped out of them. "Where are you taking me?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out."
"I hate you," she hissed.
"I doubt that, very much." He leaned in and kissed her, a gentle, brushing kiss. "Did you hate that, Willow?"
She spat in his face.
"I think it's time for you to take a nap," he suggested as he pulled a hankerchief from his pocket. Her eyes felt heavy all of a sudden. "Afterall," he said, brushing his hands over her hair as she slumped forward into his lap. "I want you well rested for tonight."
***
It was the power that drew her back to conciousness. She could feel it thruming out from the earth beneath her in powerful vibrations. She realized she was being layed down on an altar and thrashed out with all her strength. Cords still managed to find their way around her wrists and Willow realized dismally that they were bast-- made from the inner bark of trees. She couldn't break them and it would slice Angel's hands to shreds if he tried.
"What are you going to do?" she demanded as he began to circle her with smoking herbs.
"Don't you remember your own prophecy?" He tilted his head sardonically as if reciting something memorized in childhood. " ' The Child will form a union with the Daywalker and pierce the veils of the World of Soul's and the Demon Dimension when the moon draws them together.' " He grinned and Willow's blood ran cold. "Now, about that union. . ."
***
Angel watched as shadow began to move across the sun. Screams reverberated through his head.

Part 17 (conclusion)

Angel approached the clearing with a guarded and controled manner. Giles silently flanked him, serious and cold.
Rage rolled through his stomach as he observed the scene taking place in the unnatural darkness.
Willow lay in Jonathan's arms on a stone altar, silently crying as he buried his fangs in her neck. Something primitive in Angel, the part of him that felt it owned Willow, screamed at this insult. How many times had he wanted to, how many times had she offered it, but never had he lost control enough to feed from Willow, not even to achieve the deep psychic bond between hunter and prey it formed.
Despair rose in his throat as he saw her obvious pain. <Oh, Willow. . .I would have been gentle. . .>
Beside him, Giles was panting heavily, torment and hatred tearing at his features. In one accord, the two men stepped into the clearing.
***
Jonathan ripped back from Willow's warm form with one hand raised to the sky in triumph.
"Oh, the power!" he gasped like something from a B-movie. Out of all that he had done to her, his cheesy language only added insult to injury. "Was it good for you, dearest?" He smiled down at her colapsed form, both sickened and thrilled by her weakness.
"No,"she whispered, and suddenly light flamed in her eyes. "But it will be."
The yellow of his eyes flashed as her realized just how much danger he was in.
"You can't stop me," he said. "It's already begun." He was right, she could see the flux where the veils were overlapping.
Willow got to her feet slowly, painfully. She looked to her right, where the ceremonial daggar he had used to cast the circle lay. Though it took a good amount of strength, she managed to levitate it. He gave a wild laugh. "Stupid girl. You can't hurt me with that! You can't hurt me at all! I'm a god now!"
"Yeah, you're wrong about that one, boyo," Angel snarled as his fist connected with Jonathan's temple. He made a strange whelping sound and went down.
Dagger in hand, Willow slit the cords binding her and walked calmly past the struggling men, not seeing them.
Giles stared at her, knowing she was on a different plane than the rest of them. He couldn't see the demon dimension, but he could feel it and he knew it was close.
She walked like she was asleep, but power rolled off her in waves. She gave off an aura that fluxed unstable in colors but chilled Giles to the bone. He wasn't looking at Willow, not any more.
She stood before the flux with her hand raised and began to chant in a voice that echoed out of her mouth like wind chimes. The words were unfamiliar, recognizable only by primal human fear.
Angel and Jonathan stopped fighting and stared.
After an eternity, Willow sank to her knees and it was obvious that her body was giving out. She still sang the incantation, though, and the waves in the air seemed to dissapate slightly.
The moon began to move out of the sun's path.
Giles stepped forward, to where the two vampires lay staring, shocked. There were tears in his eyes as he drove a stake into his sister's only child.
He helped a dazed Angel to his feet. Willow was still chanting.
"It's killing her," Angel said, stepping forward.
Giles made no move to stop him, only pointing at the sun rapidly emerging form. "You'll die," he said simply.
Angel swallowed, nodding, and stepped towards her.
***
Everything in him wanted to turn away. The sunlight, the close proximity of the hellhole he had spent hundreds of years in, all screamed at him.
He was still drawn to her though. No desire for self-preservation could match his instict to protect her.
He sank to the ground beside her, wrapping himself around her, giving all his strength. He closed his eyes as warmth and light engulfed him. <There are worse ways to die,> he thought as he nuzzled against her neck and waited for the darkness.
It seemed to take an eternity. He could feel the heat on his skin, a bizarre sensation, and he heard Willow's voice stop chanting somewhere far away. The pain didn't come, though, until he opened his eyes.
It was like someone was driving nails into his retinas.
"Shh, lie down." He felt Willow's small but steely hands guiding him onto the grass. Her touch felt blessedly cool over his searing eyes.
"Willow?" he said, panicking. "What's going on? I-I can't see. . ."
"I know. Don't try to open your eyes; you'll blind yourself."
"Am I dead?" he demanded irrationally, his voice high. Before Willow could answer, they heard the wind-chime voice of the goddess whisper to them.
"Your service to me is appreciated, as is your sacrifice. I have rewarded you with the one thing both your hearts longs for. Angelus, Son of Night, welcome to the world of the Daywalkers."
Then it faded out and they were both asleep in each other's arms in the warm grass.
 
 

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