Cherish The Day
Chapter One
Buffy was totally unprepared for what she was about to face. Giles had warned her that the group of Arakor demons inhabited Sunnydale and that they were extremely dangerous. Buffy didn’t exactly plan on running into them but it just sort of happened.
After staking four vampires, the demons seemed to appear out of thin air. She turned around to see six of the human-formed demons surround her. They all had straight, deep purple hair and pale white skin. Giles’ words resonated in her ears.
‘There isn’t much written about them, because most of the people that they have battled against seem to disappear.’
"Well isn’t this cute." Buffy started sarcastically.
"You will be our biggest challenge, Slayer. We will appease him. We will send you to him." They droned on in unison.
Buffy felt a little nervous as their raspy, uniformed voices left their mouths simultaneously.
"And where is this *him*? We doesn’t he come and get me?" Buffy quipped trying to sound confident as the cemetery began to fill with a light purple mist.
One of the Arakor demons grabbed her from behind and she threw him off of her back, using all of her Slayer strength. The demon hit a tree, snapping its neck. The next thing she saw was the demon desolving into a pile of purple slime.
“Well that wasn’t too hard,” Buffy thought as two others tried to grab at her. The remaining three began to chant something. Buffy was shocked as she heard the words.
"The Slayer we have brought to you; our damnation shall cease. We shall be human again. Let this be to us. Your vortex. Your home. Let you feed off of her for eternity..."
Buffy felt herself being pushed to the ground. As she stood up, the mist had parted where she stood. She felt the earth beneath her move. Buffy quickly jumped out of the centre of the mist, realizing that this space was the vortex.
Buffy grabbed the demon closest to her and threw him into the vortex. It disintegrated almost instantly. The chanting suddenly stopped.
Buffy pulled the other demon toward her and snapped its neck easily. She finally looked up to see why the chanting had stopped.
Spike had knocked one of the demons with a punch to the head and it had crumpled to the ground instantly while the others scrambled to finish the chant, realizing that their fragile bodies might not last too long, especially after viewing the others’ demises.
"She will come to you whole. The conceptual silence shall be yours. You will feed from the..."
The Slayer and the vampire each grabbed one the demons. Before Buffy knew what happened next, one of the demon threw a container of white dust on her shirt. Buffy looked down on herself and punched the demon in the face. The snapping of its jaw was sickening and its left eyeball exploded from the force. Spike quickly snapped the other demon’s neck.
"Well that was easy." Buffy said cautiously, "Almost too easy."
"Yeah, Arakor demons are fragile beasts. They don’t get into fights much but...if they’re dead, then why hasn’t the fog gone?"
"Who knows?" Buffy shrugged. Spike shrugged his shoulders in agreement and began to walk toward his crypt. "Spike, wait!"
Spike stopped mid-stride and turned toward Buffy.
"Thanksforthehelp." Buffy added quickly.
"Yeah, whatever, Slayer." Spike turned back but something from the corner of his eye stopped him. His vampiric senses went haywire. He spun back around but before he could even get her name off of his lips, the demon was already finished.
---
Buffy heard a faint gasp and some words.
"Let’s this be our reward. Let this be her end...in this time." The demon gasped.
Buffy suddenly felt herself being pulled down into the ground. Her arms desperately tried to grab for something as the earth engulfed her.
"SPIKE!!!!"
Buffy quickly felt his strong hands around hers. As he tried to pull her up, the earth around him began to give and he could feel the texture change as she was struggling to get out.
"Help, Spike. PLEASE!" Spike held on to her arm but he couldn’t pull her up. "SPIKE, do something."
"God damnit! What the hell?" Buffy became heavier and heavier as he tried to pull her up.
"Spike, don’t let me go! Please, Spike!" She begged as she felt something pull her legs downward.
Spike panicked as Buffy’s hands became slippery from sweat. "Buffy, please just hold on. I won’t let you go."
"Just please don’t let me die like this." Buffy cried and she felt something yank on her ankle.
The next thing Spike knew, her hands had slipped from his. The sheer terror in her eyes tattooed itself on him, as her body disappeared into the ground.
Spike looked at the untouched earth in shock. He then ripped and clawed at the ground trying to find her. The Arakor demon laughed slightly, still lying on the ground.
Spike spun around at it and hauled it off the ground, "Where is she? Bring her back!"
“Your slayer is dead.” It rasped smiling before it disintegrated in Spike hands.
---
Everyone in the Magic Box spun around as the door burst open.
"What the hell are you doing back here?" Giles blared at Spike.
"It...It’s the Slayer..."
"You stay away from her. She wants nothing to do with you and if you persist with this..."
"She’s GONE!" Spike yelled at Giles, "We were..."
"What are you talking about?" Xander asked, stepping in front of Giles, "What did you do?"
"She’s gone." He croaked. His throat felt like there was a lump in it.
"Do you really expect us to believe anything that you say?" Willow asked, "After you fooled us with that robot? I never thought that I’d say this. But this is even too pathetic for you. She doesn’t want you. Get it through your thick skull."
"Willow?" Tara tried to stop her.
"Look, witch, I...”
Spike fell backward from the blow that he received from Xander. He sat stunned on the ground as he felt the blood run down his chin. Xander advanced on him but Tara grabbed his arm.
"No, Xander, just let him leave." The witch pleaded with him.
Spike picked himself up slowly and walked defeated toward the door.
"You’ll find out soon enough." He choked out, barely whispering.
---
Tara kept her gaze on the floor trying not to look at the accusing eyes of the Scoobies.
Suddenly the phone shattered the silence in the room. Anya picked it up quickly, then looked at Giles and handed him the phone. "It’s the Council."
Giles looked puzzled for a moment then took the phone.
"Yes? Ah, Travers...what? But no...that can’t be." Giles sunk into a chair, his hands shaking as he continued to listen to Travers on the other end.
"She went on patrol tonight, her first time in weeks. I--I can’t believe it you’re saying that...."
Silence.
"Are...are you sure that another has been called? Are you sure it isn’t Faith? Positive...oh, God, no. It can’t be." The clattering of the phone shocked everyone; they all knew by his reaction that something was wrong.
Anya picked up the phone and listened to the other end. "Giles can’t talk he’s...what?"
She placed it gently on the receiver and began to cry. "Not again."
Xander and Willow stood motionless, like prisoners awaiting sentencing.
"Another Slayer has been called." Giles blurted out
"So what does that mean?” Tara asked, looking around the room.
Willow fell to her knees, crying. Xander sat down in a chair, staring at a spot on the floor as tears rolled down his face.
"That means Buffy is dead." Giles replied softly as a tear trickled down his face.
---
"This can’t be happening." Xander muttered as Anya held onto his waist and cried onto his chest. "First Joyce, now Buffy."
"Oh my God, poor Dawn." Willow cried out as Tara held her shaking body.
Giles finally emerged from the training room, his eyes red and puffy. "I’m going to talk to Spike."
"Dawn. Someone should tell her and Olivia." Xander suggested.
"I’m going with Giles." Willow looked at Tara, who nodded her head in agreement.
They all solemnly left the shop.
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