DER WEIDE DAMON

Faith and Spike had just finished pumping Willy for information when
the black convertible came roaring past them in a 35-MPH zone, going
about 90, only to make a hairpin turn and coming back up the street
to stop beside the two.

"Where is she?" Cordelia demanded climbing out of the car with a
determined look on her face. Trying to keep the growing fear for
Willow’s safety at bay, ‘rescue Wills first then have the nervous
breakdown,’ she told herself firmly.

"Slutty is at the Watcher’s" Spike replied in annoyance. ‘Just what I
need the great poof and the cheerleader in town.’ He thought in
disgust wanting to get rid of the two and go get Red back.

"Not Buffy," Angel growled his game face slipping on. "Willow! Where
is Willow?" He demanded climbing across the front seat to join
Cordelia in the sidewalk with Spike and Faith.

"Fuck me, you had a vision." Faith said, slapping her forehead in
understanding, remembering Willow mentioning it in one of her emails.

"Yes, now where is Willow?" Angel demanded again rapidly losing his
patience.

"The old Master’s lair," Faith replied with a jerk of her thumb toward
the graveyard they had been about to enter when the others had
arrived.

"Okay. Cordelia, you and Wes..."

"As if, deadboy I’m going with you guys. Wesley can deliver the
messages to the others." The ex-cheerleader cut him off; poking him
in the chest for effect before pushing past a somewhat stunned Spike
and entering the graveyard on her own.

"Well don’t just stand there, lets go get Red!" Faith said after a
moment, briefly wondering when the cheerleader had gotten so
protective of Red.

Exchanging a quick nod with the silent Watcher who had spent most of
the trip praying for his survival as Angel tried to set a new land speed

record, the dark vampire and his favoured childe disappeared into the
graveyard after the two determined women.
 
 

The Ruins of the Master’s Lair

Ethan Rayne delivered one last punch to the half-unconscious girl tied
to the makeshift alter, before turning his attention to his hired
helpers.
"All right Lads, as soon as I’m done here all of you can bag yourselves
a Slayer!" he announced gleefully. ‘Stupid vampires, as soon as I’m
done here all of you are going to be fed to my new demon army,’ he
thought smugly, an evil light entering his eyes.

Entering the corridor leading to the main hall, Spike merrily staked the

hapless minion on guard duty, almost bouncing off the walls in his
excitement. At first he thought he wouldn’t be getting any action
because of the chip in his head, after all according to Willy it was a
human that had his Red. Thankfully the human had a few minions
working for him, so Spike could take his irritation out on them all he
wanted to, kind of as a makeup for missing out on his dinner thanks to
that stupid human. He only hoped the Slayer and peaches let him
watch as they beat the hell out of the human once they got Red back.

Behind him Cordelia moved into the corridor her eyes searching for
any more minions to stake. Thankfully she had gotten her vision while
she had been in the gym, and for once she was actually wearing
sensible shoes to go sneaking around tunnels in. She had also gotten a
bit stake happy since moving to LA or it could have been her concern
for Willow’s safety, the after images of her vision still running
through
her mind. Unlike Faith, who had gotten pretty much the same images
in her dreams, Cordelia recognized all the players and understood just
how dangerous Ethan could be.

Bring up the rear; Angel put a restraining hand on Spike before he
could go charging down the corridor. "All right, this is the plan," he
said in a low voice. "Spike and I will handle the minions, Cordy your
job is to protect Willow. Faith cover her until she gets into position."

"What about that mortal git?" Spike hissed, his yellow/gold eyes
shining with hate. He didn’t want to talk, he wanted to kill something.

"Don’t worry Blondie, he ain’t leaving here alive." Faith swore,
tightening her grasp on one of the stakes Cordelia had handed to her
earlier. Once again wondering just how in the hell the cheerleader had
gotten; fire stakes, a large water gun - filled with holy water - and
two
heavy crosses all in her purse without ever once drawing any attention
to herself back in LA from the police. She was fairly certain that the
stakes would be considered concealed weapons.

Back in the main hall, Ethan had begun the ancient chant that would
resurrect a race of demons, long thought extinct, unleashing then onto
the hellmouth. Soon he would have his revenge against that annoying
little bitch Slayer by stripping away her sacred powers. He could
almost taste his impending victory, already dismissing the bruised and
battered young redhead tied to the alter. He had hoped that she would
survive long enough to watch her precious best friend fall from grace,
but needed her energy to complete the spell. No bother, the little witch

would serve as the catalyst to destroying the Slayer’s power, he could
gloat about it later as he killed the bitch.

A quarter of the way through his chant, Ethan was interrupted by a
loud ruckus that filled the hall as a very ticked off Spike made his
displeasure known to the entire room. Taking the time to growl at the
human before turning his full rage against the minions stupid enough
to rush him, Spike started to make a path toward the human bastard
standing over his Red. Behind him, he could feel Angel and the dark
Slayer making their own paths through the small gathering of minions,
all of who were too young to recognize the two master vampires. If
they had they would have had enough sense to duck out the nearest
exit and kept on running, at least until they met the second rescue
team just entering the old lair, led by the other Slayer.

Cordelia made it to Willow’s side in moments, only having to spray a
few of the vamps to get them to move into either Faith or Angel’s way
for staking, in her trek. With single-minded determination she took up
a position in front of the alter, water gun in one hand a cross in the
other, ready to fend off any stray vampire that got too close to her or
the unconscious Willow.

With Spike and Angel busy fighting minions, and Cordelia guarding
Willow, Faith heading straight for Ethan, who had stepped up his
chanting in hopes of completing the spell mispronouncing a few words
in his haste. Stopping in front of him, Faith smiles sweetly before
kicking him right in the groan effectively bringing him to his knees.
Taking a moment to enjoy his strangled cry of pain, she wings out a
booted foot kicking him in the head and into unconsciousness.

"Faith!" Cordelia called out, getting the Slayer’s attention. Turning
away from the sprawled out body before her, she moves over to the
alter and the cheerleader frantically pulling at the ropes binding the
still redhead they had come to rescue.

"Son of a…" Faith growled once she got a look at the battered face of
one of her closest friends. Willow had been beaten repeatedly, her face
covered in bruises with a cut just above her right eye and a split lip.
Faith could make out dried blood on her arms and wrists, Ethan having
tied the ropes a bit too tight. "Fang, get the other side," she grunted
to Angel who had finished off the last of his attackers and had turned
his attention to the women.

Spike had finally grown bored with beating the hell out or his last
opinion and just staked the minion, when the second rescue party
came barreling into the chamber, Buffy leading the pack with Giles
close behind her. "You’re late," Spike said smugly enjoying the look of
irritation that crossed the blonde Slayer’s face at his words.

Choosing to ignore the two, Giles made his way to the alter and the
three people who seemed very interested in it. "Dear god," he said in a
low voice once he got a good look at what was on it.

"She’s alive," Angel said absently, freeing the ropes on his side of the

alter with a quick pull. He could feel his demon trashing about inside
of
him at Willow’s battered appearance, quietly entertaining thoughts of
slowly torturing Rayne to death. Which surprised him a bit, his demon
was very angry over Willow’s abduction. Having been screaming of the
heads of her kidnappers almost from the moment he had learned of
her disappearance. Then is occurred to him that his demon had formed
a respect of sorts for Willow, since she was the one that had re-cursed
him. The demon wanted to be the one that would kill the little
redhead, not some useless mortal.

Spike forcibly shoved Angel out of the way as he slide to a stop beside
the alter, his own demon firmly in control and very upset at what he
saw. It almost didn’t look like his Red he raged, the chip sending pain
throughout his skull at the violent thoughts he was having concerning
one mortal and several spikes. Pushing aside such thoughts for
another time, he carefully runs his hands down the side of her ribcage,
almost sighing with relief at the solid feel to most of her ribs, just
as
the action was being mirrored on the other side by Faith, although she
was frowning a bit over one area.

"I think she’s got one or two ribs cracked over here," Faith reported
turning wide eyes to Giles, silently begging him to make her better.

Giles opened his month to reply when a low groan interrupted him.
Turning sharply Faith and Spike found themselves being stared at by
one green eye. "Wills?" Cordelia questioned, breaking the silence that
had descended on the room after the groan, her eyes hopeful as she
leaned over the alter to get a better look. Angel also leaning forward
from the head of the alter one hand carefully brushing tangled blood
matted hair away from her face. Another lower groan signals Willow
slip back into unconsciousness, even as the rest of the Scooby Gang
gathered around the alter trying to get a look at Willow.

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