***"Goddess... help me heal this kindred soul..."***
 

Part Five

Willow thanked Amy and set out into the unusually quiet town. Her friend had been rather hesitant to let Willow go out by herself, but Willow was happy to know that Amy knew that she could handle herself well enough to go out by herself. Her Adidas sneakers made no sound on the pavement, making everything more surreal. Her dark blue jeans had been cuffed on the bottom but she could still hear them scrape against the sidewalk. She had spent an hour before school getting ready for today. She had on a dark red shirt and her dark jean jacket, and her spell book rested comfortably in her hands.
 

She noticed with an eerie sense of reality that no one was out. Not a single other living person was out on the streets. She began to walk faster, a sense of foreboding flooding through her. The feeling did not go away, and Willow began to run.
 

Her harsh breathing filled the silent streets and the pounding of her feet echoed in her ears. Dropping her books, she saw what she had been afraid of. An ugly demon; oozing a green substance that drew steam as it dropped onto the sidewalk. Her eyes widened in fear and she RAN.
 

Fear filled her bones as she heard his roar, she kept her mouth tightly closed to prevent screaming and almost breathed an audible sigh of relief as she neared her house. She turned her head to see where the demon was and turned her head around just in time to meet and fall in a heap over a garbage can. Her head smacked against the pavement and she saw nothing.
 

*
 

Spike sighed as he walked down the street. His wayward childe was silent, feeling his sire's bad mood. Spike wanted to see Willow and was disappointed when she didn't meet him at the cemetery like she said she would have. Spike had been angry at first, but his mood at calmed down after a vicious kill. He couldn't help the feeling of something be wrong. He sighed and took in an unheeded breathe through his nose, before stuffing out his cigarette. Then his brain caught up with what he was smelling. Willow's unique scent filled the air, and something else was mingled in with the smell of vanilla and sage... it was very familiar to Spike's nose.
 

Fear.
 

Willow had been afraid of something here, not too long ago. He felt a growl rumble in his throat when he thought about someone hurting her. His childe looked to his sire to found out what was troubling him when Spike began to stalk after the scent. Dathan stood still for a moment before hurrying after his sire.
 

Spike's eyes were tinted with gold when he found Willow's books. Her spellbook and a simple notebook was tossed haphazardly on the sidewalk, and his nose was filled with another scent. It smelled putrid, and he noticed the bits of cooling goop in the side walk. The damned Kinhg demon was going after his Willow.
 

Spike followed both of the scents finding some garbage cans turned over. His nostrils were filled with the scent of blood, and right away he knew it was Willow's. He almost let out of howl of rage when he took another sniff of the air. Willow was somewhere around here... he knew it. He noticed a few feet away one of her sneakers and ran over to it, then he noticed the other shoe by a tree and went over there just as fast. Attached to the other shoe was a foot. Willow's foot. Attached to that was the rest of her. Her face was marred with burns, and some of her clothes were slightly singed. Spike deducted that the Kinhg demon tried to take Willow, but after burning her just finally left her instead of hurt himself.
 

Dathan watched his sire dart from place to place, studying his sire, and the girl he had just bulled out of the bushes and his behavior. A cold hand caressed the girl's face, who's lips were chapped and bleeding. "Sp...i...ke" the human stirred, and then she moaned in pain as her lips blistered.
 

Spike swept her up in her arms, holding her slight form close to his chest. His sire's eye were tinged with gold, and his cold, angry gaze turned to Dathan. "Where is Alellia?" he barked out.
 

"She's at home, sire." Dathan said and began to walk to his home. Spike followed him, his eyes skimming his human witch for any other bruises. Spike wondered how and why the Kinhg demon cornered her and sighed.
 

*
 

Alellia closed the book with a sigh. She stood up and dumped the rest of her coffee out into the sink. She left her textbook open on the table, wondering when Dathan would get home. He had driven to Sunnydale to see his sire, which she noticed he had been doing a lot of recently.
 

San Francisco was an hour away from Sunnydale when you drove wisely, and a half an hour if you were William. She stepped out of the kitchen and began her trudge up the stairs to change into her pajamas. She had just slipped on the huge flannel shirt when she heard the door bang open. "Alellia!" William's voice called out and Alellia ran downstairs, worry feeling her bones. She didn't know what she would do if either of them were hurt, and she nearly tripped over the stairs in her urgency to get down there.
 

She eyes scanned over both the vampires quickly and she sighed in relief. William showed her the slight girl in his arms, and Alellia gasped. She ran over to the girl and sighed. "Oh goddess... bring her to my bedroom."
 

William started up the stairs, careful not to jostle the girl in his arms. The moment he disappeared Alellia looked over at Dathan. "Love, are you all right?" she asked and gasped in surprise when he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a rough hug. He rested his face in her warm shoulder, putting his ear to her pulse.
 

She put a kiss on his temple, and took his head. "I'm not going to die. I never can, remember?" She kissed his forehead and followed William up the stairs. As she walked up the stairs she wondered when her life got some complicated.
 

Probably around her second reincarnation.
 

Part Six

***"Fellow witch. William shows a large interest in her. Friends with the Slayer and a Watcher…"***
 

Willow woke groggily, curling up on her nice warm flannel sheets. What? She didn't sleep on flannel sheets... Her eyes shot open, and then quickly closed against the blinding light. "Oh, I'm sorry!" A warm voice filled her ears and Willow managed to croak out from her sore voice. "Where...?"
 

"Drink this. It'll help your throat." A cool clear liquid went down her dry throat and Willow sighed in relief. "Thank you."
 

"I'm Alellia, a friend of William's." The voice said, a warm hand touching her forehead. Willow felt a soft spell of healing flow through her, and almost smiled. A fellow wicca.
 

"William?" Willow asked, her voice was more clear this time.
 

"Um… William the Bloody? I honestly don't know what he goes by today..."
 

"Spike? He brought me here? You're friends with him? Do you know he's a vampire? Are YOU a vampire? No, you can't be your hand was warm, and you were in the sunlight. And I thought and know that vampires can't go out in the sunlight and have warm hands, unless you've just fed from a human. And that would be icky and I don't think the Goddess condones that kind of things... but I could always be wrong. For all I know - "
 

"Willow," the voice interrupted, "You've been here for a day. I think you've made a full recovery but I'd like to see if I'm right. So, please open your eyes and try to get up." Willow opened her slightly, and her eyes swam in the darkness, wondering briefly if she should trust this person. Her aura was filled with the Goddess and it seemed… nice, eternal. If Willow had bothered to look at the color of the girl's aura she would of noticed that it was blood red - the color of immortality and death.
 

Willow stood up and saw the mirror in the corner. She checked herself in the mirror and gasped at what remained there. Her face was mostly clear of the horrid burns she knew had marked her pale face and the blistering on her body was gone. She ran a pale hand over her face, and her eyes focused on the girl in the mirror. No vampire here.
 

The girl looked around her age, with simple brown curly hair and dark green eyes. Her aura was wavering, and Willow realized how much of a strain that the girl must have gone through to heal her. "You look good, and you can walk rather well. I think that tomorrow morning you should be able to attend school. I had William call school and tell them you were out sick for the day."
 

The girl stood and smiled before exiting the room. She heard footsteps on the stairs and Willow's eyes glimmered in hatred at what did this to her. The damned Kinhg demon... Buffy said she had killed it!
 

Her quick eyes alighted on the nicely furnished room, and was very pleased to note of what the room had in it's storage of weapons.
 

She made quick study of the katana, noting it's slender form and smooth edge. The sheath was in beautiful condition... sleek black, highly polished, very used... She swung it around briefly in the air, listening to it swoosh and cut the air. She could imagine what she could do with this... kill vampires in a nice sweep motion by decapitating them... ramming the sleek blade into a random demons heart...
 

Her thoughts of glory were cut abruptly short when a young man entered the room. She recognized him from Halloween night - Spike's companion. His cool ice rested on her and then on the blade. "You're holding it completely wrong. You wouldn't be able to kill a fly with that stance. Not even with a sakaba..."
 

Her eyebrow raised as she watched the man fix her hands. He showed her the proper motion of swinging, encouraging her to use her back muscles. She smiled slightly, thanking him in her own way. "You must be hungry. Please follow me, I believe Alellia has breakfast cooking." He quickly sheathed the katana, and began to walk out. She quickly followed him, and asked, "Alellia?"
 

"The witch who healed you." Was his curt answer, and she nodded. "Ah." They began to walk down the stairs and Dathan stopped for just a second, his eyes travelling over a picture. As he continued to walk forward, Willow looked over at the picture. A beautiful woman sat under sakura trees, her face complimented by the pale kimono that she wore. The woman's eyes were closed and a beautiful smile resided on her face.
 

Willow walked after him only puzzling over how the woman was obviously in Japan, sitting in front of a Japanese tea house, yet she had no oriental features. Her thoughts came to another abrupt halt as a pair of familiar arms encircled her slim form. "Pet, I'm so glad you're okay."
 

She smiled into Spike's chest and giggled. "That's rich!" She said and squirmed her way out of his arms and into what she assumed to be the kitchen. The kitchen was done in dark blue and blacks, with the occasional white. It was beautifully furnished, simple yet elegant, and Willow frowned. What the hell was she thinking? She was no interior designer - she could care less!
 

She sat down in a vacant seat, and found pancakes, fruit and pie sitting in wait for her. Alellia smiled at her, "I hardly ever get visitors that eat real food. Please enjoy." She looked over at Spike sipping contentedly at his blood, and Dathan's drained cup sat on the table. Willow began eating at a semi-normal pace and then her appetite found her. She began to eat everything in sight, much to the amazement of the two vamps.
 

When she had finally eaten her fill, Alellia had long since finished and how already begun drying all of the plates. Willow didn't know what to make of Alellia. Dathan she had a general idea about: silent, unobtrusive, thoughtful... much like Oz; Alellia: no clue.
 

Alellia finished drying and smiled at Willow. "Would you like to change? I bet you some of my clothes would fit." Willow nodded and followed Alellia. The room she led her into was very big, it held a king size bed, a simple desk with the finest and most expensive computer on the market sitting on top - right next to a whole complete set of Webster's Pocket Reference Set. Book cases filled to the brim lined the room, and Alellia walked into a walk-in closet. "I had this house specially made for my tastes. William often came to visit sometimes with that Drusilla, sometimes without. I never know when I'll meet Dathan again…" Her voice trailed off and Willow silently wondered what she meant by that.
 

Alellia let her pick out and keep anything she wanted. Willow had opted for a cute black skirt with a nice long sleeve shirt but Alellia suggested purple leather pants and a beautiful silk spaghetti top. The girl had taste. But then, she lived in California - and most people did have good taste... because supposedly this was the fashion capitol of the world; and she was babbling to herself again.
 

Willow dressed up in the clothes and smiled at her reflection. "Would you like William to take you home now, Willow?"
 

"Please." Willow said and waited until the girl left. Willow's eyes traveled over the girl's book collection and silently whistled. Giles would KILL to have some of these books. Her eyes founded a red dictionary by Webster and she noticed how big it was. It must of been 2000 pages!
 

She opened up the book to a random page and blinked in surprise. In a neat font a detailed description of a spell was laid out. It was called "Seek" and Willow noticed that it was to search for a certain kind of demon. She flipped through the pages finding things about random demons, witches, vampires, and included spells, rituals... she spotted Spike's name, William, frequently. The most recent entry was Willow herself, equipped with the basic healing spell used on her. Willow only had time to read some of it when Alellia came in.
 

"Willow -" her voice stopped as her eyes spotted the book.
 

Willow blushed and apologized. "I'm so sorry! I thought it was a dictionary!"
 

The book flew out of Willow's hands and landed in Alellia's. "This book had lasted decades - it wouldn't do for it just suddenly be missing." Alellia's soft voice said and she opened the door. "William is waiting outside. The sun has just set."
 

Willow nodded and began to leave. "I'm sorry…"
 

"I heard that your curiosity was insatiable but I didn't know you'd look through my books." Her voice was slightly teasing, and Willow smiled in relief. "I bet you're wondering about all of this, my earlier slip up… I'll tell you about it on the way to Sunnyhell."
 

"Er..." Willow blushed, "It's SunnyDALE. Spike only calls it Sunnyhell because it resides over the Hellmouth."
 

"Oh. I thought they had named it after the Hellmouth."
 

"No..."
 

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