DER WEIDEDAMON (3/?)

As most of the Scooby Gang gathered around the makeshift altar to get a
look at their
friend, Wesley moved over to the sprawled form of Ethan Rayne. Taking a
moment to
check for a pulse, he noted his Slayer’s work with a touch of pride.
Only Faith would hit
someone below the belt then kick them in the head, recalling the last
time she had done
such a maneuver during the graduation ceremony. Although why she had
decked the
principal was still a bit of a puzzle to him. Granted while Snyder could
have been
classified as a demon, if you used the Xander Harris Demon
Classification system, he
still didn’t see the need to attack the annoying little trollkin. Of
course Wesley had
decided years ago not to ask too many question about his Slayer, some
things he was just
happier not knowing. Like how Faith’s bank account suddenly gained
several thousands
dollars right after the mayor-snake got blown into little pieces.

Once satisfied that Rayne would indeed live, even though he would regain
consciousness
with the world’s worst headache, Wesley turned his attention to an old
book laying not
far from the alter. "Giles," He said raising to his feet and turning
toward the other former-
Watcher. "Does this look familiar?" He questioned, flipping through the
ancient text with
a frown. Something was tugging at the back of his mind, telling him that
the book was
important, in fact quite dangerous in the wrong hands.

Stepping over to the younger man, Giles accepts the book with a frown of
his own. After
a few moments, "Dear god, man. What where you doing?" He says himself,
wondering if
his old friend had taken leave of all of his senses after all, and not
just the hundred or so
brain cells he had originally thought Ethan had lost in their misspent
youth. Closing the
book, Giles makes a quick decision. They needed to research the book,
there was no
telling what spell Ethan had been attempting. Even if they did there may
not even be a
way to reverse it. "We need to get out of here." He said getting
everyone’s attention.
"Angel, if you don’t mind taking charge of Ethan," he continued his mind
all ready going
into research mode.

"Hey why is deadboy bringing him along!"? Xander demanded after a moment
finally
tearing his eyes away from the sight of his best friend lying on the
altar. He had been
silently entertaining thoughts of feeding Ethan to that bog-beast that
was passing through
town – the one that had slimmed Agent Finn and all his little commando
buddies last
week in front of most of the Scooby Gang. Xander just wished he’d had a
camcorder at
the time, the look on the commandos faces when their little ray guns
only seemed to
annoy the bog-beast as it slimmed the lot of them, was classic. He had
never laughed so
hard in his life, especially after Clarence the bog-beast just turned on
his heel and
departed into the night whistling a happy little tune.

Hoisting Ethan over his shoulder, "He’s going to tell us exactly what he
did to Willow."
Angel vowed, nodding briefly to Wesley and Giles, before heading for the
surface. "Even
if I have to beat it out of him." He added lowly, feeling his demon
moving toward the
surface, eager for the fun to begin. A part of him, the part that felt
remorse and had a
conscience, was strangely not voicing any objections to the acts of
torture his demon half
was all ready envisioning.  Then it occurred to him that for the first
time in countless
decades, his soul and demon were actually in agreement. Angel wasn’t
sure if he should
be glad that his two halves had finally found some kind of common
ground, or terrified
that such an event had actually occurred. Granted his demon and soul had
radically
different reasons for wanting to inflect massive amounts of pain on the
person of Ethan
Rayne over a long period of time. The demon annoyed that Rayne had
touched someone
that ‘he’ had made long term plans for. Plans that included turning and
molding Willow
into a vicious vampire to help run his little empire he was planning to
build over the
hellmouth. While his soul was enraged that Rayne had kidnapped and
beaten someone
‘he’ thought of as a younger sibling. Either way, both halves were
screaming for Ethan’s
blood.
 
 

Shrugging off his trademark duster, Spike carefully wrapped Willow in
it, before picking
her up and wordlessly following his sire out of the old lair. He could
feel his own demon
thrashing about inside of him, demanding the head of the worthless
mortal that dared to
touch ‘his’ Red. ‘She’s mine!’ the demon fumed. ‘Mine to punish and
bruise, as I see
fit…not some lowly human.’ Pushing down his rage as the pounding in his
head
increased, Spike shifted his dark musings to other things. Like finally
being able to get
Red into his bed, where she belonged. Because there was no way in
Sunnyhell he was
going to allow her out of his sight anytime soon, not until he was sure
she was under his
full protection and that wouldn’t happen until the chip was removed. Red
would be
moving into the Kelly Street mansion with him, he decided firmly.
Granted a bit sooner
then he had originally planned and under different circumstances, but
she would be where
he could properly look after her.

"He’s up to something." Faith dryly noted before following the
retreating vampires. She
didn’t like the look of possession Spike had been giving Willow, not one
little bit. ‘May
have to do something about that,’ she said to herself.

"You THINK!" Cordelia commented, putting her prized water gun back in
her purse, and
joining the rest of the little group heading for the surface.

Taking one last look around the old lair, a place she had hoped to never
see again, Buffy
Summers let out a tired sigh and joined the others. The events of the
last few hours
weighing heavily on her mind, even before Giles rang to meet him back at
his flat, she
had been out looking for Willow. It wasn’t like her roommate to miss
class, hell as long
as she has known Willow, she had never once missed or cut class. It was
one of those
annoying little quarks in Willow’s personality that really got on her
nerves. Well that and
the redhead’s ability to understand Wesley and Giles when they go into
their "Watcher
speak".  Which tended to totally confuse the hell out of all those who
had not had an
incredibly boring childhood, or where the offspring of Watchers to begin
with. In Buffy’s
opinion, there was just something totally wrong with Watchers being
allowed to
reproduce…it just seemed unnatural somehow.
 
 

Later – Kelly Street Mansion

Willow drifted toward consciousness as Spike carefully placed her on the
couch in the
main room, he had refused to allow anyone else to hold or carry her from
the moment he
first picked her up back in the lair. Not wanting the Watcher or the
Slayer to get any ideas
about taking Red away from him. With a low, animal-like groan she opens
her eyes only
to find herself staring into a strange face.

Xander was leaning over the back of the couch; reluctant to let Willow
out of his sight
while Spike was so close to her, when she opened her eyes. His moment of
joy was cut
short however, as Willow jerked away from his smiling face and scrambled
off the couch
as fast as she could toward Cordelia’s waiting arms.

Cordelia held the trembling form in her arms, trying to calm the redhead
down. As long
as she had known Willow Rosenberg, never once had she seen that type of
reaction out of
her toward Xander. "Shhh, its all right," she cooed gently rocking the
figure that seemed
like it was trying to curl itself into her body.

Exchanging confused looks with one another, each trying to figure out
just what the hell
was going on with their friend. They could only stand there in stunned
silence as the little
drama plays out in front of them. Sharing a look with her fellow Slayer,
Faith makes the
first move, determined to get to the bottom of this whole weird little
mess that surrounds
the shy hacker. Crouching down in front of Cordelia and tentatively
reaching out, she
pushes down the jealousy threatening to overwhelm her at seeing Willow
in Cordelia’s
arms. That annoying little voice in the back of her head, the one that
shares a room with
her "inner Slayer voice" – which was just as annoying – growling that
Cordelia had no
right to be comforting Red like that.

"Hey Red, it’s all right, you’re safe now." Faith said putting a
comforting hand on
Willow’s shoulder. Giving a reassuring smile, which on the dark Slayer
doesn’t always
have the intended effect, as the redhead turned to regard her with eyes
that seemed to
glow from within as they bore into Faith’s own dark ones. For one
fleeting moment she
could have sworn that she saw Willow’s normally green eyes flash red
before returning to
their rightful colour. Little knowing that at the exact same moment her
own eyes flashed
the same colour. However, she did notice something else, almost equaling
important
about the redhead. "What the…" she said in a near whisper, watching in
disbelief as the
cuts and bruises begin to close and fade before her eyes.

Faith had little time to dwell on this new development as Willow climbed
out of
Cordelia’s arms into her own. ‘Did she just purr?’ the dark-haired
Slayer asked herself,
once Willow had settled herself into a comfortable position.

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