Title: Am I Evil? (12/16)
Author: Kylia
Email: kylia_bug@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me, unfortunately. They belong to Joss & Mutant Enemy, and a few other people I don't know.
Rating: R
Spoilers: Everything up to "The Initiative". The story starts during the dorm scene from The Initiative; it's my own twisted world after that.
Category: Willow/Spike
Summary: What if Spike had never been implanted when he visited Willow in the dorms?
Distribution: Fire & Ice, WitchFanFic, Of Sire & Childe, anyone else, ask, and you shall receive
Author's Notes: having a bit of Writers Block. Hoping this will help.
Dedication: To Inell, who knows how I feel.

Buffy stood in her doorway, staring in shock. "Willow? Is it really you?" She stepped out onto her porch.

Willow looked at the Slayer, appraising her carefully. She had come here intending to kill the Slayer, but Angel's words had caused her to rethink her plans. Maybe it was enough to destroy the initiative. Maybe it wasn't necessary to kill the Slayer. Maybe not. Their lives were not in the Slayer's hands. To kill, or not to kill. It all depended on her. She wondered briefly how long it would take for Buffy to realize what she was. She doubted that she would figure it out as quickly as Xander had.

Willow smiled in what she supposed was a semblance of a 'Willowy smile'. "Buffy. It been…an age."

"Oh my God! I thought I'd never see you again. Come inside." She walked back into her house, motioning for Willow to follow. "It isn't safe outside. Cordy said something about a crazed vampire coming here." She turned back to Willow, who had just entered her house, "Will Cordy be alright? I thought… I thought she was a vampire." She paused, something in her mind clicking into place. "Cordy she isn't human, is she." She froze. "You." She pointed frantically. "You're the one she warned me was coming. Aren't you?" She spoke the last words in barely above a whisper.

Willow smiled wickedly as she took a look around the house. She noticed Riley start to leave the safety of the living room out of the corner of her eyes. Reaching out with her mind, she caused his body to slam against the far wall. He dropped to the ground, his head throbbing uncontrollably while he tried to remain conscious.

Willow turned her cold gaze to Buffy. "You have forgotten who you are. Who you used to be." She spoke calmly, but Buffy could detect the hint of rage in her words.

"People change. We change." She spoke honestly, her mind trying desperately to figure out what had happened to her old friend. When had she been turned? Had she been a vampire all this time? If she had been, why had she come back sooner? Surely she would have delighted in the taunting of her friends, as Angelus had done. Perhaps, she wasn't evil. Perhaps she had a soul.

Willow laughed, a cruel sound. "Don't delude yourself, Slayer. I have no soul. Haven't had to deal with that pesky annoyance for nearly a decade now." She stared menacingly at Buffy, her eyes growing gold. "Do you think yourself so important that I would spent every waking moment thinking of how to destroy you?" She laughed again, the sound sending a chill down Buffy's spine. "I think not. My grandsire may have found that game amusing. I had more important things to do."

Buffy steeled herself, refusing to appear weak in front of the demon that wore her friend's face. She tried not to think too hard about her words. Tried not to add up the obvious clues to find out her sire had been. Tried not to wonder how it was Willow had been able to read her thoughts.

"Why are you here? What was so important to bring you back now?" She asked, hoping she sounded less afraid than she was. She didn't know if she would have the strength to kill a demon with a friend's face.

Willow turned towards Riley's slumped body. "You're vermin have invested this town. I aim to take it back."

"You want to take over the Hellmouth?" Buffy asked incredulously, her voice getting stronger as her Slayer instincts started to kick in. "I'll stop you!"

Willow turned back to Buffy. "You? You who allows evil to roam free? You who has forgotten what it means to be the Slayer? You who has allied herself with an evil far worse than I? I doubt it. But, you're welcome to try." Willow turned towards the door. She stepped over the threshold and then turned back to Buffy.

"If you're smart, you'll take your family… and leave. You won't get another chance." She walked down the walkway, towards the street, only to be stopped by Buffy's voice.

"Wait!" Buffy called as she ran out to join Willow in the driveway.

Willow turned around but didn't say anything.

"Why warn me? Why care? There must be some part of you, inside that's till remembers that we were friends. Still cares."

Willow looked at Buffy carefully, a small smile playing over blood red lips. "Wrong. I warn you not for your family, but for mine. Angel doesn't wish to see you destroyed, so I leave the choice to you." She stared hard at the slayer, her face morphing, causing Buffy to step back. "But do not think that my love for Angelus and his mate wills top me from doing what is necessary. I warn you, for him. It is now up to you. Choose wisely."

Willow disappeared before Buffy could say anything else. She was sure if she actually vanished before her eyes, or if she just moved so quickly she didn't see her. She sighed and reentered her house, unsure of what she was going to tell Riley, or whether she would take Willow's advice.

Cordelia lay back on the bed, looking at the ceiling, replaying everything the Oracles had told her, trying to make some sense of what they wanted, no needed them to do.

She turned to Angel. "What do we do?"

"Help her close the Hellmouth, I guess." He turned to his lover. "Even if it means sacrificing this town and everyone in it."

Cordelia caressed his cheek lovingly. "What about Buffy, and her family? How do you feel about that?"

Angel sighed uselessly and leaned over her, placing a tender kiss on her lips. "Our history is done. I don't want to see her dead, but… she isn't who she once was. She isn't the Slayer anymore. She has stripped herself of her sacred duty." Angel climbed out of bed, pulling his pants on and began walking around the room.

Cordelia reached out into his mind, trying to find what he was trying to tell her, in an effort to make it easier on him. She looked surprised when she found what she was looking for. "You asked her not to kill them? Do you think she listened?"

"I think she was prepared to kill them all tonight. I don't think she has… yet. But, she will not give up on her plan to retake the town. If Buffy gets in the way…"

"And she will" Cordelia snorted.

Angel turned to glare at her, but the expression on her faced caused him to break out into a grin instead. He tossed her a pair of clean clothes. "Will won't know what happened until she returns, unless… could you check?" He asked her, knowing she hated invading other peoples heads.

Cordelia climbed off of the bed and began dressing. "I could… but it wouldn't do any good. Willow's mind is too focused. I'd only get in if she wanted me too, and then I would only see what she allowed me to see."

Angel nodded and left the room, hoping Willow would return soon. They knew more about there purpose here than they did when they had arrived, but not enough to know exactly what they were supposed to do.

Rhianna could feel the fire. It was raging, bodied being burnt, flesh charred. The feel of the fear was intoxicating. The mortals, they begged for a savior to come. The demons, they screamed that someone would pay. Rhianna laughed. The arrogance they had. Did they not know that nothing could be done? They were damned. Their souls, if they had them, would be lost for all time. Eternal damnation among those that had destroyed them.

She laughed as she moved through the mingling bodies, returning herself once more to the street. She turned around and found herself watching as the building started to come down around her.

"Rhianna? What have you done?"

Rhianna turned around. "Father. Mother was angry. I could feel her rage. It made me tremble. I came to help." She hugged her father tightly.

Spike shook his head. "Trevor is gone." He looked at her closely. "You?"

Rhianna nodded sadly. "He was taken from us before then." She smiled brightly. "But, I have a new brother. I felt him. He is wicked. He will help Mellie."

Spike smiled. Rhianna never ceased to amaze him. She wasn't his childe, But Willow's. Willow's first in fact, but her embracing had not been typical. Nothing about her had been typical.

Rhianna had been with Drusilla when Spike and Willow went to Brazil shortly after Willow had been turned. Rhianna had an unusual connection to Drusilla. She shared Dru's psychic abilities, suffering from frequent visions. Drusilla transferred her power to Rhianna before she died. Power that Rhianna learned to harness after Willow had embraced her. Rhianna learned to control what Drusilla could not. She was Willow's first, and favorite childe. And now she had come home to help her mother take back a town that had fallen prey to the enemy.

Rhianna turned back to the building, which was now little more than ruble. "Come, Mother is waiting. She has given the Slayer a choice. If she chooses wisely, no more shall die."

"And if she doesn't?" Xander asked as he approached the pair. He had been drawn to this woman. She called to him. He knew, instinctively she was family.

Rhianna smiled wickedly. "Then, baby brother, the ground will be covered with corpses, their blood calling to us, demanding a peace we shall not deliver."

"Sunrise is coming." She spoke softly.

Spike left the group and headed in the direction Willow had run to. After several minutes he found her walking down the street. He felt her rage coming off of her.

"Red, luv, what happened?"

"Delia went to warn the Slayer, got staked for her trouble."

Spike eyes glowed gold at the idea that one of his families had been injured. Willow lay a cool hand on his cheek. "She's fine. No doubt shagging Peaches senseless right about now." She grinned.

"And the Slayer? Rhianna says you gave her a choice?"

Willow nodded. She had felt her daughter enter the city. "She has until sundown tomorrow. After that, I will start the ritual. Anyone who remains here, will not live long enough to regret it."

She smiled evilly and claimed his lips in a passionate kiss. The night events had left her craving the touch of her mate. She pulled away from him and grabbed his hand. Taking of in a dead run, she dragged Spike behind her.

They reached the safety of their home just minutes before the sun rose. Spike pushed her savagely against the wall, stripping her clothes off. Willow devoured his mouth hungrily, tearing his own clothes from his body. Soon all that could be heard from the room was the sounds of flesh against flesh and the sated growling of two animals restaking a claim that had been made a decade ago.




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