The minions broke away from their captives as the slayer
and Angel came
through the door. The nearest lashed out at Buffy, throwing
his
rock-hard fist against the slayer's left eye. She slammed
into the wall
and kicked out at her attacker as Angel wrapped an arm
around the
vampire's neck and snapped it effortlessly.
Wesley took advantage of the open door and fled into the
darkness. From
inside the house came the sounds of splintering furniture,
shattering
glass, and cries of defeat, as the slayer and her friends
dusted the
minions with swift efficiency. The watcher briefly considered
running
back in to assist, but thought he might better observe
from the front
yard so as to be able to critique Buffy's technique when
the attack had
concluded.
When the last of the underlings had vanished in a haze
of ashes, the
slayer turned her rage on Spike.
"You bastard!" she shouted at him. "I hope you enjoyed
turning Sunnydale
into your own personal chessboard and using us as pawns,
because it's
the last time you'll ever fuck with any of us!"
"Buffy," Willow said from beside Spike.
"Shut up," the slayer snapped. "Your words mean nothing to me."
"Buffy," Angel spoke softly.
"She chose to leap into the fire. Let her deal with the
ashes," Buffy
said as she advanced on Spike.
"Oh, damn," Xander moaned as six more vampires appeared
from the
corridor.
Oz was lifted into the air and flung against the wall
as one of the
vampires went after the slayer. Xander's eyes settled
on a heavy iron
doorstop sitting uselessly three feet away from the unhinged
front door.
He grabbed it up and headed for Spike, who had turned
to push Willow out
of harm's way.
Willow watched in horror as Xander raised up the doorstop
to bring it
down on Spike's skull.
"Xander, no!" she screamed as she moved to shield her
lover from the
force of the oncoming blow.
The weight of the heavy object brought Willow to her knees,
and she
collapsed under its impact. Xander went numb, and he
dropped the weapon.
His mind barely registered the cold, strong hands that
grabbed him by
the neck as one of Spike's boys drew the man away from
his master.
Spike knelt beside Willow and scooped her still body up
in his arms.
Dark, sticky blood flowed from an open gash just above
her left ear. He
glanced over at the slayer, who was fighting off yet
another attacker.
Leaving his minions to fend for themselves, he moved
down the corridor,
into the kitchen, and out the back door.
Wesley turned from where he was standing on the front
lawn to find
himself staring into the evil, amber eyes of Spike's
demonic visage. The
blonde vampire curled his lips back from his long, lethal
teeth and
snarled a deep, low, murderous growl. The watcher wailed
and scurried
out of Spike's path.
Spike lowered Willow's limp form onto the front seat of
the car and
moved in beside her. He turned the key in the ignition
and glanced over
at the house as a vampire came sailing through the door,
swirling into
ashy nothingness before his body ever hit the porch.
Spike shook his
head and pulled away from the house.
***
"Where's Spike?" Buffy's breath came in long gasps as
they stood in the
empty room.
"I killed her," Xander whispered.
"What?" Angel asked.
Xander looked around at the trio behind him, "I didn't
mean to. I was
going after Spike. She got in the way. I didn't realize--I
couldn't stop
it. I killed her."
Angel stepped forward and stared down at the bloody stain
on the floor.
Buffy looked at Xander in shocked silence. Oz walked
wordlessly out of
the house.
"I didn't mean to," Xander repeated.
End.