Birth, Death, Love and Hate by Connor Kubrick

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All characters that have appeared in the series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Joss Whedon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. Neither the author nor any sites this story may appear on receive any compensation for the story.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Spoilers: All of season 7 of Buffy and season 4 of Angel.
Feedback: Yes, but I can't guarantee a reply. And it's my first fic, so be lenient!
Author's Notes: Few things you should know. At the time of writing, Buffy has finished, Cordelia is in a coma, Angel is the only one with a memory of Connor and Spike will somehow be resurrected in LA. This story is set one and a half years after 'Chosen', and everything that has happened in both shows are regarded. However, since then (in my wacko fanfic world) Cordelia has woken up and is back to her not evil, yet not wanting to date Angel ways, Connor is still gone with only Angel's memories as proof of his former life, Spike is still a vampire with a soul (and dislike for Angel), Giles has gone back to England and the new slayers have disbanded, fighting evil around the world. Despite everything in the story that may seem confusing, ALL will be cleared up, I swear! One last thing, I'm English, so you'll encounter my English spellings for some things, but I'll really make an effort when American characters are speaking/thinking, I swear! Okay, really the last thing now, as I am human I don't like all characters equally, and hence subconsciously may put these characters in negative or threatening (by which I mean dead) positions. Of course it's all subconsciously. I have no control over it.
PS: There really is a drink in England called Sunny-D (Sunny Delight). Dunno if they make anywhere else. Just thought it was funny. Which it isn't.

Pairing: Willow/Tara
Summary: A fatal attack on Willow brings about the Slayers' deadliest foe.

"Look, Tracy, I…yeah I know that but…" Jack sighed away from the phone, careful to keep the girl on the over side from hearing the noise of his impatience. He hadn't seen his girlfriend in months, having been hundreds of miles from her at different colleges. Even though they were now both home for the holidays, he'd spent today with his family. He missed them, although he'd never admit such a thing to anyone. But this didn't sit well with his girlfriend at all who, as much as he loved her, was notoriously paranoid, and thought he'd met someone at college and was avoid her.

After knocking lightly on Jack's door, his dad peered into the threshold. "Dinner." He whispered, following his son's motioning to be quiet. Once he'd informed his son, he left again, after Jack had nodded and motioned again that he'd be done in a minute by holding up his index finger.

"Trace, I swear to you, you're just being paranoid, I didn't…I didn't mean it like!" Jack groaned in annoyance, something which was picked up by his girlfriend and attacked back at him. "You know I didn't mean…no, Trace…Tracy! Tracy!" When he heard the dial tone, confirming she'd hung up, he did likewise and tossed the cordless phone onto the bed with a louder and longer groan of frustration. Giving up on his girlfriend for the time being, he left his room and trotted down the stairs, jumping the last six and running straight for the table where the rest of his family; his mother, father and two younger sisters were already sitting. However, by their untouched food and lack of conversation, or more accurately, arguments, Connor determined he'd missed very little and took his place.

"Tracy still giving you a hard time?" His dad guessed as he moved to dig into his food.

"WAIT!" His wife stopped him from the other side of the table before he could put his food filled fork in his mouth. "We have to say grace."

"Honey," Her husband spoke, not putting his fork back down. "We haven't spoken grace before a meal in years."

With a sigh, he dropped his fork and brought his hands together and closed his eyes as the rest of the family did likewise, conceding instantly. Their mother had spoken in a certain tone of voice-the tone of voice that told them that she was going to have her way on this one. They knew they weren't going to win.

Dinner had gone well enough, with plenty of talk of what Jack had been up to in college. When his parents asked him a question, it was about his academics, or when he was going to cut his long hair. When one of his sisters asked him a question, it was whether or not he'd hooked up with anyone, or how many times he got drunk. Though Jack didn't complain, he felt a little bit like he was back on the phone with Tracy. Conversation soon turned to his girlfriend, with his dad trying to give his son advice between the girls' own thoughts of the girl, which included, among others, her being pretentious for being a vegan two years prior, and now not even being a vegetarian.

Now, however, Jack was in the back garden, leaning against the porch railing with his dad and a beer in his hand, peering into the darkness. It wasn't much at all, but it made Jack feel a lot better. It was quiet moment between father and son, and Jack couldn't imagine it any other way; just him and his dad, with a few beers and jokes.

Once the laughter from one of his dad's jokes about Tracy had died down, he turned toward his son and put his hand on his shoulder, allowing a moment of intimacy into the scene. "Look, son. Just talk to her. Let her know that you've been good to her these last years and let her make the next move. It's all you can do."

Jack smiled at his dad's advice. He weren't too bothered about the Tracy thing; they'd drifted apart this last year anyway. However, it was nice to get a bit of fatherly advice. "Thanks dad." He patted his dad's hand that still lay on his shoulder.

After returning his son's smile, Jack's dad withdrew his hand, retained his beer from railing and cleared his throat. Jack smiled at his dad's actions, almost as if he were afraid to allow anyone to see the two displaying a moment of intimacy; as if it made them lesser men. However, Jack knew his father better than that; it was the man he grew up, the man who raised him, and he was indeed a very compassionate and friendly father.

After allowing the moment to finish, Jack's dad sighed, "I'm gonna go in. You coming?"

"No." Jack smiled back at his dad before returning his gaze back to the dark. "I'm going to stay out here a little longer."

Jack stared into the abyss of darkness. They lived a few miles away from anywhere else, and having shared a dorm for the better part of the last two years, he enjoyed being back home, with the serenity of isolation. He breathed in a deep lung full of fresh air before blowing it back out, and staring back into the dark.

Jack spun around at the unfamiliar voice, which held an English accent. However, the holder of the voice was even more unfamiliar; he wore a cloak, was slightly taller than Jack and had long (much longer than his own), jet black hair covering most of his face, which itself was quite pale, contrasting starkly with the hair that attempted to conceal it.

"Lucius Aurelius." The man offered his hand with a smile. However, Jack didn't take it, and instead stayed silent, surveying the strange man and gripping the bottle in his hand, prepared to attack this Lucius should the need arise.

"Fair enough." Lucius concealed his hand back in his cloak with a shrug, but didn't allow the smile to leave his face. "I don't exactly need an introduction from you anyway. Jack." Lucius smirked and lent in slightly at his name.

Jack shifted slightly, more prepared to attack, and frowned as he pierced Lucius with his stare. "How do you know my name?" He asked coolly, raising his chin to try to appear intimidating.

"I know all your names." Lucius brought his hand back out and ticked the names off his fingers as he listed them. "You've been Jack. You've been Steven. And, oh yes, you've been…" He lifted his eyes to look straight into the boy's own. "Connor."

"But it's not your names I have interest in." Lucius smiled again at Jack's frown. "It's your soul. Or, as it will be soon, my soul."

Having had enough, Jack attempted to run past Lucius and through the back door into the house. However, Lucius found no trouble in stopping him, casually grabbing his neck with his right hand, and pushing Jack's back into his chest, holding him with hand, which Jack now noticed was, as well as being exceedingly cold and pale, were also very claw-like. He had no escape.

"Now, now. None of that." Lucius teased into Jack's softly. He bent his head gently to whisper into the boy's ear. "You have no idea how important you are, do you? You are one of my ingredients. The strength of my power. My line. You're my anomaly." He crooned into Jack's ear. Jack wanted to protest, to tell him that he had the wrong guy, after all, none of this meant anything to him. However, Lucius was gripping his throat too tight to form words. "Do you want to know a secret?" Lucius smirked. "Your soul…it will destroy the world. Your friends…your family…you will kill them all." Jack's face was now a picture of horror and anger, and if Lucius weren't holding on to him so tight, he'd have started attacking the guy long ago. "Think about that." Lucius finished off, breathing the words into Jack's ear before running off effortlessly with the boy in tow, carrying him by the throat.

Willow shifted nervously in her seat for the third time in the same minute. Her hand was intertwined with Tara's, who sat to the right of her. Giles, having been awoken hours before, was asleep in the aisle seat to the right of Tara. Karen was sitting further up the aisle with another slayer they'd gotten hold of in England, a northern girl called Yvonne.

"You uncomfortable, sweetie?" Tara whispered. Despite their plan to take things slowly, she had no intentions of foregoing niceties such as 'sweetie', and maybe the occasional 'baby'. She'd always loved being Willow's baby.

"A bit." Willow groaned, although managed a smile through it to tell Tara it wasn't too severe. "I never liked planes. At least last time I was unconscious the whole time."

"Giles is lazier than he wants people to think." Willow chuckled, before shifting in her seat again.

"Maybe a little." Willow responded, glancing down at the floor, with a small smile in confirmation.

"It's okay, Will, I think nerves are to be expected." Tara lifted Willow's chin to look her in the eye to assure her.

"Well," Willow stammered. "You're not all shifty, nervous gal. And you've got more to be nervous about than me." Willow frowned at how that sounded. "Not that I'm saying you should be worried or anything." She added quickly, not wanting to worry the girl.

Willow frowned, rubbing her thumb over Tara's hand in an attempt to soothe her. "You don't look it." She offered.

"You're all fidgeted when you're nervous." Tara explained. "My stomach just do flip flops and I go all stuttery." Looking down at the intertwined hand, Tara smiled. "Except when you're with me."

Willow grinned, and shifted up to snuggle up to Tara. "Well, then you'll be okay then. I'll be with you the whole time." She emphasized her point by bringing her other hand to cover her and Tara's, completely encompassing Tara's hand.

Tara couldn't help but grin at how much better Willow's energy made her feel, as she felt the warmth of Willow's hands envelope first her hand and then move up through her whole body, leaving her ocean-calm. With that in mind, she too shifted closer and rested her head on Willow's shoulder, pleased when Willow responded in kind by resting her head against Tara's Feeling at ease, Tara closed her eyes, leaving her smile on her face, and relished in the feel of being snuggled up to Willow.

Buffy stayed sitting on the seats of the airport as she scanned the passengers entering the building from the plane from Heathrow. Despite her slayer strength and stamina, she was exhausted, what with the flight to LA, the battle with the big demon, general slayage, and worrying around the clock. And now, on top of all that, she had to wake up to greet Giles and Willow. Although, she really didn't mind about this; the sooner she had Giles and Willow in her sights, along with the two slayers Giles promised to bring along, she'd feel a lot better. Plus, of course, she was very eager to find out what this big surprise was, and it was these two things that were keeping her excited enough to actually stay awake. Just.

With the pull of sleep beckoning her, Buffy decided to play it safe and crossed the boarding lounge to the coffee maker. In a few moments she had received a paper cup of black coffee. She grimaced at the taste, but decided to keep hold of it as she'd probably need the caffeine. She almost dropped the coffee when she felt a tapping on her shoulder, and spun around quickly.

"Giles!" Buffy flung herself into Giles' arms, hugging him as well as she could while still holding the coffee in her hand. "I missed you." She spoke into his chest.

Buffy shrugged. "That's okay. I'm just glad you're here." She smiled, realizing her drowsiness had instantaneously disappeared. "And these must be my new slayer pals." Buffy guessed, noticing the two girls on either side of Giles, but no Willow in sight.

"Yes." Giles chastised himself internally for leaving the girls from the conversation before introducing them. "Buffy, this is Yvonne and Karen." He gestured to each girl as he introduced them. "And this is Buffy."

"Hey." Buffy smiled, reaching to shake first Yvonne's hand and then Karen's. "It's always nice to meet another slayer. Assuming you don't try to kill me." She added with an afterthought.

Both girls glanced up at Giles for some help as to what she was talking about, but Giles merely shook his head as a way of telling them not to worry about it. "It's nice to meet you." Karen smiled.

Buffy smiled in response, but her mind was already elsewhere. "Where's Willow?" She asked, feeling the need to reassure herself that her best friend is safe.

Giles glanced behind himself hesitantly, knowing that his height obscured Buffy from what was behind him, as if it didn't her reaction would've been quite different. Glancing back at Buffy, he took a deep breath before stepping aside.

This time Buffy really did drop her coffee, although she couldn't feel the hot liquid burn at her feet, which were exposed in the scanty sandals she wore. After all, she couldn't feel her feet at all. Or any part of herself, actually. Without Giles obscuring her view, she could clearly see Willow. Her red-haired best friend looked fine. In fact, she looked better than fine, she looked better than Buffy had seen in years. Not since…that day. Following her friend's arm, she could clearly see why. She had her hand firmly locked with someone else's. A girl's. A blonde girl. Very beautiful. Slightly taller than Willow. Sea blue eyes. A sweet but nervous smile. It was unmistakable, yet…it couldn't be…

"Tara?" Buffy asked after a few moments that seemed to drag like months, once her voice had returned. "Tara?" Her brow knotted in confusion. She knew it couldn't logically be, yet all her instincts were telling her it was. After all, it was far from completely impossible. She herself was living proof of that.

Seeing Buffy's reaction and Tara's rising anxiety, Willow decided to speak up. "It's her, Buffy. Really." She stressed, gripping Tara's hand tighter to reassure her.

Tara turned, recognizing her love's attempts to lessen her anxiety, and smiled at the girl's thoughts. However, once she'd shown the girl her attempts were wholly appreciated and welcomed, she returned her gaze to the blonde slayer staring at her, and stared her back in the eyes.

At the way Tara was looking at her, her nervous smile and the way Willow and Tara interacted in that oh-so subtle yet oh-so obvious way that only the two of them can pull off gave Buffy hope. Realizing she needed answers, Buffy suddenly came with a fool-proof plan to get them. "Giles?" If all else fails, ask Giles.

When he heard his name, Giles stepped forward, wanting to put the girls at ease. "It's true, Buffy." He assured her, pleased when Buffy responded by turning her head to look into his eyes, begging for confirmation. "I'm not entirely sure how it happened." He shrugged. "I rescued her from the watchers' council two days ago. I believe she'd been in their possession since her resurrection, which couldn't have occurred more than a day after I rescued her." Stepping forward, her pierced Buffy with his gaze. "It is her Buffy, I can promise you. Not a vampire, not the First. Tara."

When Buffy spun set her sights back on her, Tara took a deep gulp before stepping closer to Buffy, keeping her hand connected to Willow's. She felt without it she'd have a heart attack. She nodded at Giles' point. "It is, Buffy. I swear." She was quite proud of herself for getting through that without stuttering. She was certainly nervous enough, and was quite sure it was Willow's calming energy that was helping her out.

"Really?" Buffy asked, feeling like a small child. However, she didn't really care, and did nothing to stop the lone tear from rolling down her cheek. She really had missed Tara, and had shed more than a few tears for her, unbeknownst to anyone else. After all, she had to keep up the big strong slayer image.

No sooner had Tara nodded her head did she feel herself encompassed in a near bone crushing hug with the slayer.

"Oh God, Tara." Buffy hugged the girl for dear life. "We've all missed you so much."

Tara didn't let go of Willow's hand, still needing the contact with the girl. Unfortunately, Buffy's hug made it difficult. That wasn't the only thing Tara was finding difficult. Breathing was quickly becoming a chore for the Wicca. "Buffy…slayer muscles." She gasped.

"Oh God!" Buffy's eyes widened and she jumped back from her old friend hastily as she realized what she'd done. "Are you okay?" It was as if she'd just realized Tara was made out of priceless china.

Tara grinned and nodded her head in assurance, pleased to see that the slayer at least hadn't attacked her. She glanced back at Willow, who was also grinning at the interaction between the two.

Buffy returned the girl's grins, finally comprehending the situation. Tara was here. Really here. She'd hugged her. She wasn't cold or go-through able. Just human. Tara. "It's so good to see you again, Tara." She smiled, feeling another tear replace the one that'd dropped from her cheek earlier.

Despite her and Giles' insistence that she was fine, Buffy held onto one of Tara's arms as they went into the hotel and Willow held onto her other. While Willow was doing it out of a sign of intimacy, Buffy felt obligated to. Even though the drive home also served the purpose of filling Buffy in on everything they knew, she still felt as if Tara was in some way injured or needed her protecting.

Even though she could see how much Buffy's coddling was unnecessarily annoying Tara, Willow didn't make a move to stop her; just smiling at the slayer's antics. She'd felt exactly the same when she'd seen Tara for the first time. 'Well, the second first time…' She corrected herself, and then frowned as her overactive brain babbled on to how her thought was paradoxical. Sadly, as was usually the way with Willow-babble, internal or not, it meant that she was oblivious to all the goings on around her. If she was concentrating, she would've noticed the figure in the corner of the lobby sooner, and would've acted to get Tara out of sight without them seeing her. However, instead, she unconsciously moved further into the lobby, and by the time she, and Buffy, noticed the figure, they were already moving to greet them.

Willow's momentary panic was transformed into a sigh of relief when she focused on the approaching figure and realized it was only Angel, whom they planned to inform anyway. Plus, he'd never seen Tara anyway, having only heard of the witch, and hence wouldn't be shocked until they actually tell him who she is. 'Even so', Willow's mind shifted back into babble mode again, 'Angel isn't much of the shocked kinda guy. Plus, people being back from the dead not so big for him; Buffy did it twice, and so did he…plus, Darla did it like a million times!'

"What?" Willow jumped from her reverie, instinctively gripping Tara's arm harder at the shock. Looking around she saw that everyone wore confused expressions, except Tara, who was trying hard to keep her amusement obvious.

"Oh, fine." Willow breathed out, before internally chastising herself for mind-babbling. 'It already almost cost you a big ol' explosion of surprise if it'd been anyone but Angel, and now it's got everyone thinking you're a complete loon. Well, everyone except Tara. She's just grinning at me! Oh God, she's adorable.' Willow's eyes begun to glaze over as she dropped in a short-lived dreamy expression. 'Oh, STOP!' She picked herself up on her babbling. 'No more babbling! In fact, no more thinking, PERIOD. Got it? Good." Willow straightened herself out and got a determined look on her face, for all of two seconds before it frowned again. 'Well, not no thinking completely, because what about sub-conscious thinking? Like breathing? And standing up right and not dribbling? I don't wanna dribble 'cause then I wont look good. Well, Tara will say I do, because she always says I do. But that's just because she's Tara; Willow-feel-betterer-extraordinaire! Oh God, life's gonna be so much better again now! We can go skipping in the daisies and have picnics and make love all night…OH MY GOD, YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN! I MEAN, I'M DOING IT AGAIN! Wait, is it me or is it you? Is there a difference? GOD I'M A BABBLE-AHOLIC!'

Tara saved Willow through the babble-abyss by leaning into her ear and whispering. "You're having a babble-fest in there, aren't you?" She smirked, knowing when Willow wasn't responding what the calm expression mixed inexplicably with one of utter concentration meant. Willow-mind babble. And she absolute adored it.

The sweet feel of Tara's warm breath on her ear made all thoughts in Willow's head shut up, and Willow felt her heart pound in her chest once again. With all the pounding that heart had done over the past few days, Willow was surprised it hadn't burst straight out of her chest. When she heard Tara's guess, she grinned inwardly. Her girl always knew exactly what was going on, especially when it came to Willow stuff.

Willow, of course, knew what had brought on the explosion of silent babbling. The roller coaster that was the past couple of days, when her mind had failed to comprehend anything, had finally caught up with her in a sea of mindless sentences strung together with little to no thought. Plus, her babbles were added to by the fact that she was very nervous at the prospect of returning to her friends, re-introducing Tara as not dead to them all, breaking up with Kennedy and general not dying. All of these nerves clenched at her vocal cords, meaning she couldn't actualize the babbles begging for escape. But it didn't stop the babbles from jumping about in her head. And giving her one hell of a headache in the process.

"…but most of them are pretty nice." Angel concluded to the group. Emerging from her babble state, Willow only caught the tail end of the conversation, and cursed herself when she realized that she'd completely missed out on whether or not Tara has been introduced to Angel. Based on the fact that Angel wasn't too freaked out, but was none the less eyeing Tara suspiciously, along with Karen and Yvonne, she deduced that she hadn't missed it.

Tara turned to travel up the stairs, but didn't get far as she was still attached to Willow, who was staying firmly where she is. "Willow?" Once she had Willow's attention, she went on. "Are you coming?" She asked with some amusement.

Willow turned to Buffy, who could also sense that she'd zoned out on much of the conversation and decided to fill her in. "I'll explain to him." She assured her under her breath, nodding towards Angel.

Smiling gratefully, Willow turned to follow Tara up the stairs, trusting that at least Tara knew where they were actually going.

Crashing into the room, Tara tried (unsuccessfully) to keep her giggles at bay. Willow came in afterwards, quickly closing the door to avoid alerting anyone.

"Shush." She tried to quieten Tara, laughing herself at Tara's giggles, and watching as the girl collapsed in a fit of giggles on the sofa. "It's not funny." She laughed out.

Tara couldn't help laughing even harder at this. "I'm sorry, but it really is." She giggled. "You heard absolutely nothing anyone said, did you?"

This pushed Tara into another fit of laughter, which consequently brought Willow out of her pout and rushing onto the sofa to drop down next to the girl. "Stop laughing at me!" She tried to mock being stern, but couldn't keep the big grin off her face.

Tara smiled at Willow, and decided to direct her gaze on her eyes to center herself. She was soon captivated by the majestic green of her iris, and it eventually brought her uncontrollable laughter into occasional giggles. "Sorry." She managed to giggle out. However, she did nothing to hide the grin from her face, which easily matched Willow's in it's magnitude.

Once she had the girl in a position where she could form coherent sentences, Willow rolled her eyes. "Okay then, what did I miss."

After another moment of giggling, induced by the memories Willow's question brought up, Tara recomposed herself. "Buffy just asked where a nice room is where no one really goes. He said there's one on the fifth floor."

"Which explains why we're in a nice room on the fifth floor." Willow nodded, looking around at the room, which was indeed nice. The door led immediately into a large living area, complete with sofa, coffee table and a very old television. On the left wall was two doors; the first into the bathroom, complete with an actually bath, unlike most of the other rooms, and through the second door was the large bedroom, with a double bed. 'Something which may pose a problem at bed time.' Willow though as she noticed the bed through the open bedroom door. 'Then again, we slept in the same bed lots of times before we actually started going out, why should this be any different?' She asked herself. 'Because this is different. You were going out before. Now you're going slow. Slow does not entitle sleeping in the same bed…does it?' Willow decided to let Tara set the pace at bedtime. However, one thing's for sure, she was definitely not sleeping in a different room of the hotel. That was just not an option. As she continued her inspection of the room, Willow noted that this room also had a kitchen, although it was small. It was on the right wall before the sofa she and Tara now sat on. However, the piece-la-resistance, in Willow's mind, were the glass doors at the end of the living area, which opened up onto, from what Willow could see was a beautiful, and quite large, balcony. Obviously, when still used as an actually hotel, this was one of the prize rooms, and the reason none of them use it now is probably because it's too high up.

"Yeah," Willow frowned as she remembered how high up they were. "The fifth floor. What's up with that?"

"Remember, we want to stay out of the way?" Tara reminded her. "Why, did you get tired?" She asked with a smile, which threatened to spill into another round of giggles as she remembered how Willow tried to pretend she was holding onto Tara so hard to support the girl, when in fact it was Tara supporting Willow.

"Don't look at me like that; I was helping you up." Willow followed Tara's train of thought around when she spotted the look of amusement in her eyes.

"Stop laughing at me!" Willow giggled, playfully smacking Tara on the arm. As she thought about it, though, she realized how much she didn't want Tara to stop laughing at her. "I like this."

Tara's grin evoked one from Willow the second the redhead saw it. "You laughing at anything." Her smile turned into a frown as her thoughts strayed further. "I missed you laughing."

Willow's words had had been successful in getting Tara to stop laughing at her. However, it didn't last long as Tara quickly formulated a plan to lighten the mood. Sure it was silly, probably the lowest form of entertainment, but still…'If me laughing makes her happy again…'

With that thought in her head, Tara gave Willow a sharp shove, upsetting the redhead's balance. As she realize she was in real danger of falling from the sofa, Willow's waved her arms around with utter lunacy to try to regain her balance, which only succeeded in enticing Tara into a stronger fit of laughter than she would've guessed from her little ploy. As the blonde laughed, Willow could do nothing to stop herself from slipping from the sofa and landing with an echoing thud on her behind, breaking Tara into her endless hysterics.

"What'd you do that for?" Willow pouted half-mockingly, half hurt that the girl she loved had seemingly did something just to hurt her bottom. 'Which in all fairness, worked.' Thought Willow as she stood back up and rubbed her buttocks, watching over Tara, who was now lying on her back laughing.

"You said you like me laughing." She gasped out between giggles, looking up at Willow through teary eyes. "You looked like a loony waving your arms around." She burst out, mockingly waving her arms before the strength of her laughter forced her to bring her arms back down and support her aching chest.

Willow's hurt feelings instantly dissipated as she realized the intention behind Tara's actions were to pull her from her momentary lapse into 'not-so-nice-land', and grinned in response before coming up with a retaliation plan. "So that's how you want to play it, huh?" She asked before jumping onto Tara, tickling her to bring the girl to produce even more hysterical laughter.

For a second, when Tara's laughs got immensely loud, Willow worried about alerting others. However, this thought was soon wiped from her mind when she saw Tara's face through her long hair. Right here, right now, the two of them and the fun they were having was all that mattered.

The conversation with Angel had been fairly typical. Buffy and Giles had explained everything they knew, as well as the fact that Willow and Tara want no body else to know quite yet. He knew he shouldn't be that shocked; after all, this was just another in a long line of people he knew who'd returned from the dead. However, this Tara girl was human. Also, he'd heard things of how close her and Willow were, and couldn't help but be a bit worried about Willow, as well as everyone else-after all, an unhappy Willow could be very dangerous indeed. However, as he didn't know the situation as intimately as the others, he didn't feel it was his place to voice the thoughts.

It wasn't the part about Tara coming back from the dead that surprised him most about the conversation. It was the mention of the Goddess of the Slayer, and the fact that both Willow and Tara bear her mark. By all accounts, no one is known to be able to harness or channel the Goddess of the Slayer's power, and as such many even doubt her existence. She is a myth; one Angel had no real opinion of one way or another.

"If we don't tell the others about Tara, they could end up researching the wrong thing." Angel realized.

"Well," Giles begun, having thought about the same thing a number of times, "I'm hoping that just telling them about Willow and the Goddess will give us enough to go on until Willow is ready to tell people."

"Well, Lorne has a connection to the Powers." Angel voiced his thoughts. "I'd guess he's our best bet at information on the Goddess." Angel went on. "Wesley should be able to help you out with getting information about the dagger."

"Would you know anything about it?" Giles asked. He'd been quite hopeful a worldly man (or vampire) like Angel would know something that could be to their advantage.

"I don't recognize the name." Angel shrugged. "But I could've seen it. Or inscriptions of it in a different language."

"Well, see if you recognize it." Giles reached into his hand luggage, not trusting to put it, nor the Tome of the Gods, anywhere else, and braving the airport security. He'd been quite surprised, after September 11th, that it hadn't been more difficult.

Once he'd removed the dagger, Giles carefully passed it to Angel, holding it in both hands, and pleased when Angel responded with the same kind delicacy. "The symbol on the blade is that of the Goddess. Both Tara and Willow have the same on their palms-although curiously enough Tara's is on the right while Willow's is on the left." Giles didn't seem to notice that both Angel and Buffy-who'd leant in closer to examine the blade-had stopped listening once the spotted the symbol.

"This is the symbol of the Goddess of the Slayer?" Angel asked Giles, looking up to meet eye contact with the older man and letting him see the urgency in his eyes. "Are you sure?" He asked again when Giles nodded.

"I assure you." Giles replied with a frown. "It has it in the Tome of the Gods."

"It's the Tome of the Gods, Buffy." Giles began, thinking this would be enough. Upon realizing Buffy would need to know what this meant, he went on. "It is never wrong. It was written by the Gods themselves. No prophecy in it does not come to pass, no fact is untrue and no spell fails." 'Unfortunately' Giles grimaced silently.

Buffy turned to look at Angel urgently, seeking confirmation. "It's true." Angel nodded.

"A demon." Angel sighed. "There was a strong demon. Stronger than most. It seemed incredibly fixated in killing me and Spike."

"Anyone else join in and he'd fight them off, but he wouldn't actually try to kill anyone except Angel and Spike." Buffy confirmed, watching as Angel went behind the counter, knowing what he was retrieving.

"Well many demons target vampires." Giles reasoned. "What makes you think this one is any different?"

"This." Angel dropped the demon head they slew yesterday onto the counter, and paused until Giles had crossed over to the lobby to the counter. "Check the symbol on the forehead."

Giles, predictably enough, took his glasses from his pocket and assigned them to the bridge of his nose before leaning in to inspect the aforementioned symbol. "Good Lord." He gasped out.

"So what does this mean?" Buffy asked impatiently. Having Tara back meant that she wanted to make sure any danger on the horizon was dealt with before it had the chance to kill her. "That this guy was a Goddess's lil' helper?"

"Then why would it try to kill me?" Angel asked with a frown. "I mean, I work for the powers now. Not evil."

"Well perhaps, as this demon is connected to the Goddess of the Slayer, it just hunts out vampires. And you and Spike being the most dangerous in the area, it chose to fixate on the two of you." Giles guessed with a shrug.

Buffy frowned. "But isn't that just the slayer's job? Why send a demon to do it? And why now?" Buffy asked, thinking certain things just didn't add up.

"I'm not sure." Giles shook his head. "I'm not even sure it did. For all we know this demon is an enemy of the Goddess and was just attacking those it saw to be aiding her."

"Do you think there'll be more of these things?" Angel questioned, eager to know. After all, they weren't the easiest of all the demons he'd faced.

Giles shook his head, sighing. He was tired, a combined effect through the explosive events of the last couple of days, lack of sleep, a long plane ride and the nightmares, along with the resurrection of someone quite dear to him. On top of all that, he now had a new potential danger on top of all the others. It was quickly taking it's toll on him. "Unfortunately, I haven't a clue. Which is why I'd like to jump into research before we are hit with any unexpected surprises."

Giles and Buffy turned to the sound, and felt their spirits drops. It was Kennedy. And now that she knew Giles was back, she'd soon ask… "Where's Willow?"

Angel, Buffy and Giles glanced between each other, silently begging one of the others to answer convincingly. Realizing Angel didn't know the situation well enough, and Buffy was just too much of a coward, Giles cleared his throat before hesitantly going in. "She's…um…she's…she's tired. I think."

"Um…" Giles began again. He'd hoped she'd just leave it at that, but Kennedy was just too persistent. "Upstairs…somewhere."

When all she got is uncomfortable looks between the three of them, she decided none of them knew and, with a loud groan of annoyance, stormed upstairs in a sprint, eager to find Willow.

"Stupid snake." Willow grumbled as she slid her green token across the board, careful to actually follow the snake's path from square 91 to down to 54. "Why is it snakes and ladders anyway? You cant slide down snakes."

"It would've been silly if they'd called it icy hills and ladders." Tara grinned as she retrieved the die.

Willow watched as the girl cupped the die in both hands and shook it. "Silly, but logical." She reasoned. She watched as Tara dropped the cube and it bounced before resting to show five dots on the top side-exactly the amount the blonde witch needed to get to the hundredth square.

"Yay!" Tara clapped her hands before moving her counter across the five square distance to the end.

"Okay, that's it." Willow began. "You've won three times in a row and you beat me at ludo! I'm starting to think you're cheater." She mock sternly waved her finger and scowled at the blonde.

"With your eyes." Willow smiled, gazing blissfully into the blue orbs in question. Tara mirrored Willow's actions immaculately. The two held the silent moment in content for a few seconds before it was violently ripped away…

"Kennedy!" Willow gasped, jumping up at the sound of her girlfriend's voice reverberating down the corridors of the hotel.

"I'll hide in the bedroom." Tara reasoned, getting up and darting towards the bedroom. Her progress was halted when Willow grasped her arm and pulled her back towards her.

"No!" Willow demanded. "That's like we're having an affair or something, and we're not. We're not even really going out yet, we're taking it slow. And I'm gonna break up with her anyway."

Tara brought her hand to Willow's hair, entwining her fingers through the red locks to calm the girl. "But not like this." Tara shook her head. "Wait until later. You've only just got here."

Both girls turned to Kennedy's second call. When Tara turned back to the woman she loves, she used the hand that had drifted from her hair to her cheek to pull her towards her. For a second she contemplated kissing her on the lips, but, trying her hardest to remember their plan, settled on bringing her lips to her cheek in reassurance before turning away into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Willow braced herself with a deep breath, and then moved across to the door and opened it. She stuck her head out the corridor, glancing around for the brunette. She didn't have to wait too long before she found her. The second Willow was facing her, Kennedy flung herself onto her girlfriend, fusing their lips together and pushing Willow back into the room, slamming the door closed behind her with her foot.

"God I missed you." Kennedy murmured before pushing forward to claim the girl's lip again.

"Whoa." Willow pulled away before Kennedy could catch her lips. "Kennedy…I…"

Meanwhile, Tara, upon hearing sounds the smacking sounds of them kissing, couldn't help herself but look through the small crack of the slightly open door she hadn't closed properly at the proceedings.

Kennedy crooked her eye brow at Willow for a moment, before smirking and moving her hand up past her breasts, being sure to push them up provocatively on the way to reaching to her top button. Once there she began looking Willow straight in the eyes and slowly undoing the button there before moving onto the below. "So you want to go straight to the good stuff, huh?"

"No!" Willow burst out, covering Kennedy's hands with her own to stop her from revealing any more of her chest. "Kennedy, I'm tired…I…I just want to go do some research before someone tries to kidnap me again." She giggled nervously.

"Okay." Kennedy rolled her eyes. "But tonight, you and me have got ourselves some catching up to do." She winked, turning away and out of the door. "I'll see you down there. We can mess around under the table."

Willow laughed back nervously again. "I'll be down in a second, just let me change my clothes." She closed the door before rushing back to the bedroom.

Throughout Kennedy's short stay, Tara couldn't help but feel the pang of jealousy more than once. Firstly, she was jealous, or more threatened, by how Kennedy looked. In her eyes, her own figure was little to be desired, and she was far from attractive. Kennedy, meanwhile, was much more athletic yet still curvaceous, with full lips, a pretty face and just generally sexier than Tara. Also, of course, Tara was tall; taller than she'd like, and Kennedy was at a much more attractive petite height. Also, as the exchange between Willow and Kennedy went on, Tara couldn't help but realize that they obviously had a very full sex life, which only served to churn Tara's stomach as she got mental images of Willow and her in the throws of passion…her bringing Willow to orgasm.

Tara was brought from her thoughts when Willow threw open the door to the bedroom and took Tara by the hand, leading her back into the main area of the room. "You okay, sweetie?" Willow was extremely worried that Kennedy's show of affection and her talk of sexual escapades had upset Tara.

Tara nodded, not trusting herself to actually voice her lies. She knew she had no right to think this way, she couldn't expect Willow to be lonely forever past her death, but logic doesn't seem to work as well as it should when you're in love.

Fortunately, Willow could sense this. Mirroring Tara's earlier actions she ran her fingers through the girl's silky blonde hair, closing her eyes as she relished in the heavenly feel of the woven gold wrapped in her hands. "Just so you know, there'll be no nothing under the table. And no kissed, neither."

"Willow…" Tara sighed in protest. However, before she could get it out Willow caught her bottom lip between her own lips and sucked on it gently, and with that all of Tara's reserve to do the right thing crumbled away. She wanted Willow. And she didn't want to share.

Willow was about to deepen the kiss when suddenly her brain brought reminded her that they were being slow, and kissing her in the first place in breaking the rules; deepening it would be too much. 'Stupid brain' She thought grouchily before pulling away from the kiss with deep reluctance. However, she wasn't quite ready to give up all contact with this beautiful woman, and kept her hand on the girl's cheek, softly caressing her cheek bones through her delicate, pale skin.

"I'm breaking up with her tonight." Willow stared deep into Tara's soul as she said this, making it a promise, and one she was going to keep.

"O-okay." As much as she wanted to regain her noble role, Tara loved Willow far too much to tell Willow to allow some time to think about whether she really wanted to break up with Kennedy. She'd already been through it all with Oz, but somehow the idea of not being with Willow now hurt even more than that same prospect all those years ago.

Hours later, everyone-besides Tara-were set up around the lobby, researching through books and the computer. Giles had told them everything they needed to know, including showing them to photograph of the monster back in England and Willow's mark of the Goddess, although of course they left out the Tara parts. Unfortunately, in spite of Angel's hopes, neither Wesley nor Lorne, or any of them, had any information. Lorne was on the phone to his contacts, but the ones he got hold of either knew nothing or were too scared to talk.

Willow noticed, as she worked, that Kennedy would always make sure she was sitting right beside her, and would constantly squeeze her leg, or caress her forearm. The whole thing made Willow very nervous, and she was sure that soon enough Kennedy would realize her discomfort, or at the very least that Willow wasn't reciprocating.

With a glance at his wristwatch, Gunn suddenly spoke up. "Hey! It's getting close to sunset. Vita will be open soon."

"Local demon bar." Lorne explained with a tint of grudging on the edge of his voice. "Stole all my customers when Caritas closed its doors."

"Well it seems we need any piece of information we can get a hold of." Wesley sighed, peering up from his book.

"I'll see what I can do." Gunn dropped his book on the floor without any regard for how unique or valuable it may be and went straight for the weapons cabinet, taking out a crossbow and slipping a knife into his jacket pocket.

"Mind if I come with?" Xander asked, stretching up from his spot sprawled across the sofa. "Research is always more fun with less books and more weapons."

"Sure." Gunn stood aside to allow Xander to see all the weapons on offer. "What's your arsenal?"

Gunn snatched one of the two broad swords from the display cabinet and tossed it at Xander. "Good choice. Though I'm more of an axe man." He illustrated his point by picking out an axe before walking up the stairs and out of the lobby, followed by Xander.

"Gotta respect a man with an axe." The others heard Xander say as he left their view.

The hotel once again descended in silence for a few minutes after the men left until Kennedy spoke up, standing for her place beside Willow on the computer as she did so. "I've got a headache. I'm gonna take a nap."

"I'm fine." Kennedy smiled, reaching down and rubbing Willow's upper arm in comfort. "But can you come up and see me?" She asked, glancing at the clock on the computer. "at nine?"

Willow's eyes left the screen again as she frowned at Kennedy's ominous proposal. "Is it serious?"

"Kinda." Kennedy smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see." Deciding to leave her girlfriend salivating in anticipation, Kennedy walked away, swaying her hips as she went. 'I just know Willow's looking at my ass.' Her smirk grew wider.

In reality, the second Kennedy started walking away Willow breathed a sigh of relief and brought her attention firmly back to the computer screen, with all thoughts of what Kennedy was implying out of her mind. Without Kennedy there, Willow would be able to concentrate harder, and as whatever this thing is may be dangerous to Tara, Willow was determined more than anything in her life to stop it.

"How do I know it's really Buffy and not someone who's switched bodies with her?"

Opening the door, Buffy's eyes instantly found Faith sprawled across the bed, her legs wide open in her typical fashion and her eyes glazed over; evidence enough that the research book she was looking at did little for her.

"The only thing more boring than this book would be Giles explaining it." Sighed Faith.

Buffy allowed a smile to taint her otherwise frown filled face. Since her arrival yesterday, she hadn't really talked to Faith, and she hadn't seen the girl since the Sunnydale battle. While the air was cleaned between them back then, she still felt awkward being around her.

Sensing Buffy's discomfort, Faith decided to take the initiative. "So what's up, B? Break through on our God?"

"Boston was fine." Faith shrugged, having not looked at Buffy throughout. "Turns out vamps don't like tea parties so much so there wasn't too much trouble."

"Good." Buffy searched her brain frantically for another topic, desperate to have a conversation with her so that when she tries to argue with herself that she's ignoring Faith she'll be able to say 'I had a conversation with her' in response. "Where's Robin?"

This struck a nerve with Faith, something that made the Faith flinch visible and her hard exterior break. "Uh…Robin…he…uh…he's busy." She finally turned her head to Buffy, but only for a moment before the tension became too much to bear and she turned back towards the book.

"Why? What's he up to?" Buffy questioned, thrilled to find something to have a conversation over.

"Mostly?" Faith sighed. If Buffy wanted the truth, she'd have the truth. Gulping down her own emotions, Faith turned back to Buffy and forced herself to hold her emotionless stare. "He's been hanging out in a box six feet under ground for a few months."

It didn't take long for Buffy to realize what Faith meant. Not that it was a hard code to decipher, but it wasn't the sort of way most people would tell someone that someone they knew was dead. But Buffy instantly recognized of Faith's way of dealing. Detach herself and deny any emotional involvement.

"It's okay, really." The dark slayer shrugged and turned back to her book, feigning nonchalance. "We weren't really that close anyway. Just the odd screw, you know."

Gulping down the dread of Faith's obviously dangerous way of coping with Wood's death, Buffy went on. "You know…if you want to talk about it…" She trailed off, unable to deliver the actual words when she knew Faith was most likely to shrug them off anyway.

"Yeah, whatever." Faith shrugged, keeping her eyes locked to one word on the page without moving so much as the next one.

Her fears confirmed, Buffy realized she couldn't stand the tension anymore. With a smile and a nod, neither which were seen by the girl on the bed, she turned and left quietly. Even after she knew Buffy had gone, Faith still didn't break her stance or non existent eye movement for over a minute later, fearful of what the change might do to her emotions.

Once Willow-for the fifth time-had checked on Tara while she was meant to be researching with the others, she decided to make a drop off at Kennedy's, suddenly remembering she wanted her to anyway. After all, she was only five minutes late.

As soon as she walked through the door, Willow was hit by a wave of recognition at the scene, only this time viewing it from the opposite angle. Soft lighting, Kennedy dressed in a red dress and even Barry White on the stereo! 'This is my seduction of Oz!' Willow realized with shock. 'Oh no! Kennedy's trying to seduce me!'

Kennedy took Willow's speechlessness as a good sign and slowly walked up towards her, swaying her hips again. She'd been worried this morning, noticing Willow's strange behavior in research. Willow was never one to be too strong with the touching, that was always Kennedy, but she never looked so uncomfortable with it. So Kennedy had decided to make Willow feel better after her ordeal, and soon faked a headache to get the room tidy and nice looking for her big surprise…

When Kennedy was only inches away, Willow realized she needed to have 'the talk' with Kennedy. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to begin. The situation was a whole lot more uncomfortable than she would've liked. "Uh…" She gulped down her nervousness. "You're…you're dress…" She tried to ask the quite foolish question of why she was dressed how she was, but couldn't find the words.

Smiling seductively and batting her eyelashes, Kennedy resisted the urge to ravish the hacker right there and then. "There'll be plenty of time for you to take that off later." Taking a deep breath, se forced herself to go on. "But right now, there's something I really need to do."

"What?" Having known Kennedy for a few years, Willow knew very little in the slayer's life takes precedence over sex.

"This." Kennedy smiled. "I love you." Closing her eyes to compose herself, Kennedy dropped suddenly to the ground. By the time Willow's eyes had realized where the girl had gone, Kennedy was already on one knee holding an open box with a ring inside in one hand. "Willow, will you marry me?"

Willow suddenly felt like she was going to be sick. She knew she was about to break the young girl's heart, and she hated herself for doing it. Staring straight into Kennedy's hopeful eyes, Willow found tears reaching her own eyes. Forcing herself to be strong, she tried to make her answer loud and clear, but in actual fact it came out as little more than a squeak. "No."

As quiet as the response was, Kennedy heard it well enough, and it completely through her off. She'd planned this since she'd faked the headache, and not once in any of her plans did Willow say no. She didn't know what to do. "What?"

"No." Willow made sure she made the next one clearer, and illustrated her answer with a shake of her head. The last thing she wanted to do is lead her on with false hopes. "No. I can't marry you. And I can't go out with you anymore. I'm sorry." She added with complete sincerity.

"This is a joke." Kennedy surmised, her eyes suddenly baring none of the caring they held only moments before and instead cold and hard. "You're joking."

Trying to compose herself and rid the bubbling anger from her system, Kennedy stood up and forced herself to relax. "Okay, I get it. You're not ready. But we don't have to break up."

"I'm sorry, but we do." As much as she hated saying the words and hurting the girl, Willow knew she had to do it, and kept reminding herself that a life with Tara is her reason for it. Which made it a whole lot easier.

Kennedy's anger was making it much easier for Willow, reminding her of why she loved Tara so much. Tara would never react in anger. "Because we do." Willow tried to turn away, but felt Kennedy's strong grip clamp around her arm.

"NO!" Kennedy screamed, not realizing how hard her grip was. "Tell me why!" She demanded, fuming with rage.

The grip of Kennedy's hand and the intense pain it was causing shooting through Willow's arm was the final straw for the redhead, and in that instant of looking into Kennedy's eyes and seeing only hate; no compassion, pain or even recognition that she was hurting Willow, she lost all her feelings of trying to break it to the slayer gently. No matter how much she hurt Tara, her love would never hurt Willow. Kennedy had no idea how easy she was making all this for Willow.

Her reservations lost, Willow just screamed out her response. "Because I don't love you!"

Suddenly, for a few seconds that dragged on for weeks, the room fell silent, and they just stared into each other's eyes. Kennedy to gauge Willow for any sign that she was lying, and Willow to ensure Kennedy that she wasn't.

Having had enough, Kennedy pushed Willow aside with a violent shove, knocking the girl to the floor. Without even noticing, Kennedy left the room, slamming the door behind her, and leaving Willow alone in the room with only the dying echoes of the door hitting it's frame.

The bar was a lot like any other-only full of demons and vampires. Xander and Gunn both hid their weapons underneath their coats, being careful to avoid and unwanted attention. Following Gunn's lead, Xander made his way over to a large gray skinned demon chugging on three bottles of beer at once at the bar.

Turning slowly, Flagra regarded the two. They both looked quite strong for humans, but as neither were slayers or vampires, he wouldn't have any trouble of dispatching them. However, considering what he was known for, it was more than likely they didn't come here looking for a fight. "Depends who's asking." He replied in a deep, rough voice. "What you want?"

"I could be," His demonic expression didn't change in the slightest, showing the men that he was used to doing this business. "If the price is right."

Staring down at the for a moment for any sign of an advantage and finding none, Gunn reached into the inside of his jacket, coming out holding a wad of bills and holding it out for Flagra, only to pull it away when Flagra tried to snatch it away. "The Goddess of the Slayer. Tell us what you know."

Flagra was surprised by the men's unflinching stature, but was determined to have the money before the information. Too many tried to get away without paying. Launching himself of the bar stool he sat on, he clamped his gigantic hand around Gunn's own and held onto the money while Gunn did the same. They both stood there, staring each other out once again. Eventually, Flagra caved in, but didn't loosen his grip on the money. "That blonde over there." He nodded to a blonde girl sitting in a booth with her back to them, talking with a brunette. "She's looking for The Goddess too. She might know something." With the human's attention diverted to the blonde woman,, Flagra saw he chance and pulled the money from the black man's hands before walking out of the bar.

Having given some information to them, neither Gunn nor Xander saw much need to retrieve the money. Anyway, they were now much too preoccupied with the blonde who now may have the information they needed.

As they approached the girl, they could hear the conversation she was having with the brunette, and Xander felt his heart wretch at the sound of her voice…

"…he's probably over there laughing at you right now with that new girlfriend of his. I tell you, he isn't fit to have a penis! Don't you just wish…"

It was unmistakable. The words, the voice, the gentle, but oh-so unsubtle prodding at getting them to wish for something, and the complete lack of tact. But the clincher was when she turned to face him. Unlike last night, she looked like how he remembered her: human; beautiful and human.

An hour since Kennedy had stormed out of the hotel, everyone was still researching in the lobby, although Faith had offered to go after the angry slayer (figuring it'd be more fun than researching). Willow had since checked on Tara for twenty minutes, upset at how it went, yet in another way relieved it was done. However, she knew it was going to be harder once Kennedy knew Tara was back. Now in the lobby, Willow found she couldn't concentrate on researching, and just wanted to get back to Tara.

"Buffy?" She tapped the slayer on the shoulder to get her attention. "I'm going to check on Tara again." She whispered.

Smiling at her best friend, Buffy covered the girl's hand with her own in understanding. "Will, we're not getting anything here. Just stay up there."

"Give Tara a hug from me." Buffy nodded and widened her smile, which was only matched by Willow's own.

With acceptance from Buffy, Willow crept across the lobby, careful to avoid making noise and breaking this gentle silence that hung over the room, to the stairs. As she passed the front doors to the hotel, the whole room-which was filled with hardened warriors who daily fought deadly beasts from the pits of Hell-jumped and squeaked in fright as the immaculate silence was broken in the shape of Spike smashing through the front doors wrestling with a grayish demon. Willow jumped away from the scramble to where everyone else was crowded and watched as Spike took the demon's head in his hands and twisted until the neck gave way. Angel recognized the demon as a Grappler; strong but not exactly a deadly threat.

"My fights?" Spike laughed. "I'll have you know this whole bloody place is filled with these blighters."

Following Spike's directions, everyone were shocked to see a dozen more Grappler demons standing over them. A growl brought their attention across to the other balcony, where just as many were also standing.

"Hey!" Spike suddenly found himself flung towards Angel and the others by one of the demons who were piling through the front doors. As fifteen more Grapplers charged through the room, the others on the balcony took this as their signal and jumped down, before slowly descending on the group. In a manner of seconds, the demons had all of them surrounded.

"What do we do?" Willow squeaked. Every fiber in her being was screaming at her to find Tara and assure herself that she was fine, and the sooner the demons were dealt with the sooner she could do just that.

"I don't think that's a very good idea." Came a voice from the darkness of outside the now broken doors. A voice many of them, especially Giles, knew and loathed.

More then dozen men filed into the room, dressed all in stealth black and gripping their rifles. The Sccobies and Angel Investigations watched helplessly as their situation was upped from bad to worse as not only were they surrounded by demons, but more than ten highly trained men had taken positions on the stairs and had their guns aimed straight at them, ready to fire.

However, Giles' eyes were still fixated on the figure he could still just make out in the darkness of outside, and what he believed to be that person he hated so much. He watched as the figure moved closer into the light, before stepping in…

"Tara!" Willow gasped, being held back by Buffy so that she wouldn't try to break through the demons herself.

There he stood. Dressed in black, his stature prouder than ever before, and holding Tara tightly to his chest. He had his hand clamped over her mouth, and seemed to have no trouble with her struggles, which even though were weak, would've proved difficult one-handed.

Giles felt the bile reach his throat at allowing the silent vow he made while Tara was sleeping to not only break, but be broken by his own nemesis. "Ethan."

The room was the epitome of the calm before the storm; the quiet before the explosion. Everyone remained motionless, finding the only thing they needed were their eyes. From across the room, Ethan and Giles searched each other's souls through each other's stare, and found the same thing; memories of ill deeds done, the friendship they once had, and the decisions that led them here, in this hotel, on this night as enemies.

Beside Giles stood Willow, shaking in her concern for her love, and her mind going through a thousand possible ways to save her and coming up with none. Her eyes stuck to Tara's, silently struggling to communicate a calm to her which didn't even exist in herself. As a matter of fact, it was Tara who was calming Willow, her eyes piercing Willow's eyes and spreading warmth through Willow's heart.

Buffy's first instinct was to comfort Willow, sensing the fear explode from the redhead in waves. A sense of protection then washed over the slayer, and her eyes went to Tara, needing to assure herself that, even if she wasn't entirely safe, the girl was fine for the time being. She wasn't surprised when she saw Tara and found that, not only was the girl indeed calm, having stopped struggling, but her calmness washed off on Buffy herself. It was a trait very few possessed, but Tara definitely had it, and always did. Now at ease, Buffy didn't even notice that her eyes had wandered until they met Ethan. Suddenly, the calm was replaced with hatred, and a desire to kill. However, none of this she could communicate to the man, as his eyes were firmly planted on Giles. Following Ethan's gaze to the ex-watcher, Buffy shuddered at the rage that roared through the watcher's posture. The Ripper was in there, forcing its way out. Realizing she was going to be the logical brain in this stand off, she shifted her gaze to the danger before them. There were twenty-plus demons. They didn't look extraordinarily tough, and she was certain that under any other circumstances they could take the demons. However, it would take a good five minutes at the least. Plus of course, this wasn't any old fight. Tara's life was on the line. As a matter of fact, all their lives were. Buffy's eyes finally came up to the men lining the stairs, crouched down and waiting to fire. Making a move right now would be suicide, and Buffy knew it. She was helpless. And that was not a feeling Buffy liked.

Everyone else's (except Angel's) eyes flew all around the room, searching for some kind of clue as to what was going on. Dawn and Spike, the only two who actually recognized Tara, in particular were wide eyed, and were frantically searching Buffy's, Giles' and Willow's eyes for answers, and were frustrated that none were offered.

Her quest for explanations lost, Dawn brought her eyes to rest on the woman she considered in many ways to be her second mother, a woman she loved like a mother, and a woman who she'd missed terribly. "Tara?"

"What the Hell is going on?" Spike, spurred on by Dawn's gentle voice, decided to break the silence, and start the countdown to eruption.

"Who is that?" Rona asked, referring to both Ethan and Tara, but ready to accept an explanation to either.

"Willow's old girlfriend." Buffy let her eyes rest on Ethan, figuring if anyone was going to make a move, it'd be him.

Having broken from his initial shock, Giles finally regained composure and remembered the situation he was in. Out of everyone, he had the most information, and it was his nemesis who held the girl he'd sworn he'd see no harm come to. Things needed to be set in motion. Answers had to be given. "What is this, Ethan?" He seethed, never breaking his stare on the snake.

"Exactly what it looks like." Ethan replied, calmly. "Twice you stole the council's property. I'm just collecting."

Giles fumed at Ethan's words; calling Willow and Tara the council's property just encapsulated exactly how the council viewed things. "For what price." Giles forced his overflowing volcano of rage further down.

Ethan allowed a slimy smirk to slither onto his face. "What else, Ripper? Power."

Chastising himself for asking such an obvious question, Giles pushed himself into exposition mode. "What is this all about, Ethan?" Giles growled, unable to keep a hint of Ripper from his voice. "What do the council want with Tara?"

"You mean you don't know?" Ethan asked, genuinely shocked. "Tut, tut, tut. I'd have expected so much more from you, Rupert old boy."

"I'm not here for that, Rupert." Ethan shook his head. "I've already explained why I'm here." He continued, turning toward Tara and gripping her tighter. "To collect the council's property."

Seeing the repulsive way he glared at Tara and gripped her tightly, eliciting moans of pain from the blonde shot through Giles, but it was Ethan repeating his earlier words that caused Giles to erupt. "She is not their bloody property!" He bellowed, his face red at the rage that boiled his blood. "And this is none of your concern!"

Unfazed, but rather amused by Giles' break in calm, Ethan continued his own tone, only now with a tint of precedence at having driven the man to breaking. "Now, now, Rupert. I'm afraid you're a bit wrong there. This is precisely my concern. Once the council have the girls, I get my freedom and power."

"This isn't really your choice, Ripper." Ethan explained. "Tara here will be drained of her magic for hours, I made sure of that myself. Now the redhead," He nodded to Willow "is coming with me under the same terms. In return, you all get to live."

Searching his façade for weakness, Giles decided to call Ethan's bluff. "You don't have that kind of power."

Ethan smirked, pleased that Giles challenged him. "Oh no?" He then turned his gaze to Tara, and poured his energy through the hand that was holding her, shocking her. He watched for a couple of seconds as yellow energy pulsated around the girl, making her flail about as if being electrocuted and scream against his hand, coming out only as muffled cries of pain.

"TARA!" Willow shrieked, almost vomiting at the sight of her love in such pain and helpless to do anything to help. She suddenly forgot about the guns pointing at her and the demons surrounding them and pushed forward to save the girl, only to be held back by Buffy. "NO!" She cried out in more agony than Tara herself.

"You bastard!" Giles roared, mimicking Willow's thought process to charge forward and kill Ethan, but found that he too was being held back by Buffy. The slayer was having a very tough time from keeping them both from going after Ethan, particularly as a large part of herself was aching to help them out.

After a few seconds, following Willow and Giles' cries, Ethan stopped the magical flow, allowing her to go limp in his arms for a second before she gathered her strength and straightened herself up. Ethan couldn't help but keep the throaty chuckle at bay that reverberated through his ribcage at Giles' outburst and the girl's pain. "You didn't think the council would assign me such a crucial job with no power at all, did you?" He smirked at Giles, who was panting at the heat of his fiery rage and Ethan knew it. Getting back to business, he turned to the redhead. "So, what do you say?"

"Let her go." Willow demanded through clenched teeth, not attempting to hide her tears but allowing her strength and determination to show through them.

"Sorry, love." He replied, expecting the demand. "I'm taking both of you. Your choice is come now or wait until I've tortured the witch a bit more and then come."

Turning towards Buffy, Ethan addressed her interruption in an equally calm manner. "Let the girl decide for herself."

"She's not going." Giles repeated, stepping forward slightly and piercing Ethan with his gaze.

Willow let her neck droop and screwed her eyes tightly shut, allowing the tears to fall easily from them as she summoned her courage. "Yes I am."

Giles head span around at Willow's defiance, his eyes studying the hopelessness radiating from the girl. "What?"

"Will, no!" The blonde slayer, took hold of Willow's hand, begging her not to conform to Ethan's plan.

Despite Giles and Buffy's reactions, Willow felt resolved, and lifted her head high and proud; proud of what her unrivalled love for Tara has given her the courage to do. She stared the hated man straight through his eyes, ready to make her acceptance. "You can take me." She stated, clear and composed, the words meeting no resistance from the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"No!" Buffy refused, staring at Giles for a help, but finding only the same panicked expression she had.

Tara, meanwhile, once again struggled against Ethan's hold, ignoring the pain it cost since Ethan's demonstration of power. She tried to scream to Willow against the hand that was clamped around her hand not to accept Ethan's offer, but knew even if her cries weren't muffled it was unlikely Willow would stop. The hacker was focused, and Tara knew without a doubt she'd act the same way.

"Good girl." Ethan grinned, before directing his attention to one of the Grapplers beside the petite girl. "Bring her here."

The demon grabbed Willow's left arm, dragging her behind him towards Ethan while the others kept Buffy away. "Willow, No!" Screamed the slayer, but Willow wasn't listening. The only thought in her mind was to save Tara of pain. By any means necessary.

"Don't worry, love." Smirked Ethan, his words vile and sickening to Willow. He reached out and rested his left hand on the crown of her head while his right one held Tara. "I'm just gonna drain you for a few hours."

Once Willow closed her eyes, dreading what was about to come, Ethan allowed his energy to suck at her. Visibly, it was much the same of what happened to Tara, with yellow sparks shooting up and down Willow's body. However, although it was making Willow exhausted it caused her no pain, so her limbs didn't fly about like Tara's in agony. This was because he wasn't actually stealing their power, just stopping them from using it from a while. The council wanted their power in their bodies. This fact disappointed Ethan. There was no known way of extracting magic without killing the person painfully.

Within about ten seconds, the deed was done, and Ethan took his hand from Willow's head, allowing her to drop to her hands and knees in exhaustion. Feeling she was of no danger, he released Tara, pushing her towards her love. Predictably, Tara immediately dropped to her knees and inspected Willow, embracing her with one arm as she did. Addressing the two closest gunmen, Ethan pointed to Willow and Tara. "Take them to the van."

The two men immediately went about their business, each one taking one of the girls and manhandling them out the door. Meanwhile, the other gunmen joined Ethan at the door, while Ethan himself stared at Giles. Personal vendetta getting the best of him, he strolled at a leisurely pace towards his old friend until they were only a few meters apart.

Ethan held an expressionless gaze for a moment, merely staring at Giles. "Sorry, old friend, you're past it." With that, Ethan released a powerful bolt of yellow energy at Giles, hitting the watcher in the stomach and launching him backwards until he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air that the blast had forced from his lungs. "This is my time now."

Feeling victorious, Ethan turned away from Giles, moving past his colleagues and pausing at the door. He craned his neck around to glance at the Grapplers, who were looking at him expectedly to instruct them. "Kill them."

With the gunmen behind him, he strolled out of the hotel, relishing in the sound of the demons growling; ready to pounce. He knew that Buffy and the others were more than capable of killing the Grapplers, but not without slowing them down, giving Ethan a chance to escape with the goods. Also, if he'd have left the killing up to the gunmen, there was a chance Buffy could have defeated them, leaving him with no one to guard him in bringing the bounty back to England. After all, there were many people-and things-after the council's property…

Just as it had in the hotel, time had stopped. The entire bar fell into silence, although neither Xander nor Anya had noticed. All they saw was the eyes of the one they loved. At that time of recognition, the world was built for the two of them and them alone; theirs to manipulate and twist at their will. And right now, it was their will for all hands on all faces to stand dormant and allow them this moment. This moment of wonderment, for any second now the spell would inevitably end and reality would seep into that world they controlled, and they both knew it.

It was Anya who snapped out of her reverie first. It was understandable, as Xander wasn't the one who was supposed to be dead for the past two years.

"I have to…" She didn't even finish her excuses before she made a break for the exit, leaving Xander staring into space for a second before his brain caught on to the fact that the woman had left his field of vision.

"Anya, no!" He darted after the girl out of the bar, not looking back to see if Gunn was following or not. In fact, he'd long since forgotten the demon hunter was even there. He caught up with the blonde in an alleyway, grasping her arm and twisting her to face him. His eyes widened at the feel of her flesh under his fingers and her face so close to him. "God, Anya. Is it really you?"

"No." She smiled nervously. "I'm…Anna, Anya's evil twin. I'm not a vengeance demon, I'm married and I hate money and orgasms!"

"God, it really is you." Xander shook his head, never allowing his eyes to leave the girl before him. Only Anya could come up with such a ridiculous story and tell it with such falsifying enthusiasm. She developed an art for it when the watchers' council came to Sunnydale with information on Glory. "How?"

"You can't say?" Xander shouted out. "You can't say why you happened to come back from the dead over a year after you died?"

"I'm sorry." She truly was. Keeping things from Xander just seemed unnatural to her. "I just can't." She turned away from her, somewhat ashamed of herself.

Xander didn't know what to do. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs in frustration and weep in joy. He wanted to deny he was seeing anything and run away and he wanted to fling his arms around Anya and never let go. He was a critical mass of conflicting emotions, and it brought him to melt down, just staring at Anya unflinching.

"Wolfram and Hart." It was Gunn who stepped up, having heard all he had to know to come up with the most liable explanation.

Anya's head shot up to regard the black man for the first time. "How did you…?"

"You s'pose to be dead. Not allowed to talk about it. It's got those lawyers written all over it." Gunn had seen them Wolfram and Hart do the same sort of thing before with Lilah. "They've got you running around doing their dirty laundry, am I right?"

Xander regarded Anya's defeated dropped head and knew the black man had been at least partially right. "Anya?" He probed, begging for an answer.

"D'Hoffryn." She spoke the name as if that was all the explanation that would be needed. However, she lifted her head to fully explain herself. "While we were figuring out how to fight the First, he was busy getting revenge on me for turning my back on him. D'Hoffryn has always been very big on getting his vengeance-hence his line of business." She shrugged sadly. "I was stupid to think he'd just send a bunch of demons after me. No, D'Hoffryn had bigger plans for me."

"When I was made a vengeance demon, D'Hoffryn owned my soul. He gave it back to me the first time I lost my powers, but the second time…" She hesitated, gulping down the tears. She was more angry at herself than upset at her situation. Angry that at the time, she hadn't thought D'Hoffryn would do such a thing. "The second time, when he gave me back my soul, he still actually held his possession of it. It was still his. So he sold it to Wolfram and Hart."

"He made a blood oath with one of their shamans." She explained. "I have my powers back, but they control me. They can teleport me away at any time I want, and if I step out of line, they…" She didn't go on. The memory of the one time she tried to resist was fresh in her mind.

"They make you do whatever they want you to?" Xander gasped, his face paling. "How long."

"I'm already dead, so I can't die." She paused, going onto what he really meant. "They have me forever. My soul was supposed to go on to the afterlife, but D'Hoffryn made Wolfram and Hart my afterlife."

"Oh God." Xander had the sudden need to vomit. His face had lost all of it's color, and he was arched forward, studying the floor. He always told himself that Anya was in Heaven, her reward for choosing good over evil in the end, even at the cost of her own life. To know that in fact she wasn't, and had been busy for the past two years working as a puppet for an evil organization with no hope of the escape she deserved sickened Xander. The worst fact was that Anya had been pulled back into that same evil she gave up at the cost of everything.

"What do they want you to do?" Gunn decided to become exposition man, as Xander wasn't in any state to do it. He didn't know exactly who Anya was to Xander, or much of what she said, but he knew enough, and by the way that Anya and Xander were now not even looking at each other, Gunn summed up that they were lovers. "The guy in the bar said you were asking about the Goddess of the Slayer?"

"Yeah." Even though she weren't supposed to talk about this, it was a welcome distraction the agony that was implanted on Xander's face. "Well, they still want me to grant wishes. Chaos and everything. But they also thought I might be able to find the amulet Spike wore in Sunnydale."

"The amulet?" Xander followed Anya and Gunn's lead, forcing himself to play the Scooby role and deal with his own emotions later. "Why do they want that?"

"They wont tell me much." Anya replied, pleased by Xander's decision of switching the conversation. "But something else is after it. Something big. And it has something to do with the Goddess."

"I don't know." She had barely enough time to get out the words before she teleported away, exactly in the same manner as Xander had seen her do in the few months he knew her as a vengeance demon. However, this time she wasn't the one behind the power.

"Whoa!" Gunn stepped back and the blue light which seemed to vanish just as soon as it appeared. He turned back to Xander, who was staring at the now vacant space the blonde occupied earlier. "What now?"

Xander stood staring, jaw clenched and fists by his side. He knew what he needed to do.

The van was bullet proof, and was surrounded by six cars containing Ethan's-or rather the council's-men, guarding the van. Ethan was at the front, although Willow didn't know whether or not it was him driving or not. Four of the gun men were in the back with her and Tara. From the back of the van, it was impossible to deduce that it was a van at all, except from the movement that told them they were moving. It was almost pitch black, with no windows or lights. Willow was in a cage, feeling like an animal being brought back to the pound. Only worse. The cage consisted of two walls of vertical bars going from the top of the van to the floor. As she was backed into the corner, this contained her completely, and across from her, Tara was in the exact same situation. As a matter of fact, only one wall of bars stood between them, and it was possible for them to hold each other through them. Or it would've been, if not for the fact that Ethan had taken extra precautions. Willow's arms were held in place either side of her head, pinned to the wall of the van by metal rings that were already installed in the van, which told Willow that kidnapping was the vehicle's primary purpose. Lower down on the same wall were shackles that held Willow's legs in place, keeping her from kicking against the bars, or at least very well. On the wall opposite her, Tara was in the exact same position, and it was very difficult to keep her eyes from the dim outline of the woman she loved, restrained in the same manner as Willow, and she knew that Tara was also having a hard time keeping her eyes from Willow. Willow couldn't kid herself that Tara was completely fine, as they were in the exact same position, and she knew how uncomfortable it was. Also, Tara was taller than Willow, and would undoubtedly by finding it even less uncomfortable. Willow would've talked to Tara, would've attempted to sooth her with words of her undying love, but, just as Tara, her mouth contained a ball gag. It made Willow wretch slightly, ached her jaw and brought her to the edge of vomiting. More than once, the only thing that saved her from losing the lunch she didn't actually eat was the knowledge that the gag would just mean she'd have to swallow it back down. The ball gags reminded her of a certain scene of Pulp Fiction, but this thought only brought on more nausea so she soon forced it back down. Just the knowledge that Tara was going through the same thing less than two foot away from her was enough to allow the silent tears to trickle down her cheeks and the whimper to escape her lungs, only to get lost in the rubber of the gag.

It took her a few moments to get used to the darkness of the room, but soon her eyes adjusted and fell on the familiar sight of Ms. Kayla, one of the Wolfram and Hart executives who would often send her on a mission. All the missions she'd sent her on so far had been small and fruitless, but all connected in some way to the Goddess of the Slayer. When she was alive, she thought the Goddess of the Slayer was a myth. Judging by the amount of effort Wolfram and Hart were putting into it; Anya assumed she was myth-taken.

Ms. Kayla and herself were the only people in the room, and her superior was facing away. "Anyanka." She addressed within seconds of Anya's appearance, without even turning to greet the demon. "We have an assignment for you."

"What is it?" Anya learned the hard way to swallow the bile in her throat and play nice rather than argue.

"The watchers' council of Great Britain are currently in possession of two women and are transporting them to a transatlantic vehicle. We are tracking them at this precise moment. We need you to head a team to obtain the women." She turned to face Anya, but her face showed little more than her back did.

"The council?" Anya gasped. From what she'd heard of the new council, they were particularly dangerous.

"This is an extremely important assignment." Ms. Kayla underlined. "Having those women could mean endless possibilities for this institution, and the same for the council; they will have them under high security. It is for this reason, and the fact that you have a connection with the situation that I have chosen you for this assignment. Don't ask me what that connection is; I wont tell you." She volunteered the refusal before Anya had a chance to ask.

For a moment, Anya thought she saw a ghost of a smile appear across Ms. Kayla's face, but quickly assumed she was hallucinating. "We wouldn't expect you to. There will be two teams. You will head the team for obtaining the van where the women are held-however; I do not want you looking at them. Someone else will be heading the offensive team, allowing you and your team to do you bit."

"Someone with more magic power than you, hopefully enough to combat the man the council have put in charge, who to my knowledge is some kind of sorcerer. Like you, she also has a connection to the situation."

Without breaking the illusion of motionlessness, Ms. Kayla pressed held down a button on her desk and spoke clearly and slowly. "Agent, could you come in here?" Redirecting her eyes to Anya, she went on. "Anyanka, allow me to introduce you to your colleague in this assignment." She spoke as Anya craned her neck around to see the person at the door that had just opened behind her.

The Hyperion was currently witness to a battle ground. A couple of the Grapplers had fallen, and there were no major casualties on the good guy's side. However, Ethan's plan of distracting them had certainly worked. They were much too busy to even attempt to go after Ethan, Willow and Tara. Even with four slayers, two vampires, three experienced demon fighters and Fred and Dawn (who were both more research people and stayed out of the fray, only attacking if a demon went near them), they were having trouble dispatching of the demons as fast as they'd have liked.

Somehow, Buffy found herself alone on one of the balconies unarmed and with four Grapplers coming charging at her. She ducked under the first one's punch and threw an elbow back at it, catching it off guard and bringing it over the edge onto the ground floor below. She hoped it didn't hit any of her comrades, but had no time to check as the next one was coming down on her. Noticing the last one in the line was holding out a sword haphazardly (though she didn't care to guess how it'd got it), she ducked down just before the next demon got to her, reached between it's legs and swung up, pushing the demon up over her head and behind her. She didn't give much thought as to what gender it may be; the move would get the demon out of her way nonetheless. Standing again, she jumped up as the third demon came upon her and delivered a kick into it's chest, knocking it back into the sword the demon behind him was holding, and toppling both demons over onto the floor. Turning around, she weren't surprised to find the demon she'd tossed behind herself back on it's feet and barreling down on her. Fortunately for Buffy, it was a clumsy demon, and she saw it's poorly executed punch coming a mile off, allowing her to grab the wide arm and twist it behind the demon, much like she'd do with any no good human. Pushing the Grappler onto the railing of the balcony, she looked over it's shoulder at the fray below her and saw that right below them was Spike, who'd just taken care of a demon with a sword. "Spike! Sword up!" She yelled as she forced the demon over the railing, not caring at the crack of it's arm breaking. She watched it fall down, and was satisfied when she saw that Spike caught on to her instructions and pointed his sword up, allowing the demon to fall onto it perfectly.

She turned her head left to the clumsy sword demon, and was pleased to note that, although he was now charging towards her, the friend he'd accidentally impaled did die. With no time to think, Buffy jumped back at the demon's horizontal swing, escaping the dangerous arc with only a shallow slice into her torso. However, it was one of her favorite winter tops, and the demon was not going to get away with it. She quickly jumped into a back flip before the demon could swing again, kicking the Grappler in the face as she went and forcing it backwards. Back on her feet, she ran up to the demon, who'd yet to have regained it's composure, and delivered a flying kick into it's torso, knocking it back further until it eventually tripped on the corpse of the Grappler it'd stabbed. Jumping back up, Buffy ran over to the demon and forced her heeled shoe down into it's neck, chocking it. She kept up the pressure until she felt it's struggles slow and eventually stop and then went back down onto the ground floor to help the others. The sooner they sorted this out, the sooner they could save Willow and Tara. She just prayed they weren't enduring the same sort of situation she was.

Gunn's one word exasperation summed up the scene as well as any other word in any other language could. Even after what they had just seen, neither of the men expected to see such a sight on the way back to the hotel. It was all happening in the middle of a Los Angeles road. Gunn had been down it more times than he could count. He had seen it full of vampires, zombies, and demons. But this was just something else altogether. It was a complete and utter war zone.

Six jet black cars were in the middle of the road, one of them in flames, surrounding a black van. Everywhere there were men dressed in black, shooting their high powered machine guns at each other. It was impossible to tell who was fighting who. While there were mostly humans, there were the odd demon joining in as well, although they might've just come along for the carnage. Despite the destruction and noise the whole thing spread across this area of the city, there was no sign of police oppression in any way. More than likely a result either of the institutions' power over the local authorities or merely cowardice on the side of the LAPD; they weren't known for going to great lengths when things such as vampires, demons or magic were concerned. There were a couple of dead bodies, some human, and some demon. Of the human bodies, just as many were in black covert clothing as civilian. It wasn't hard to believe that many innocent bystanders had died in the crossfire, after all the screams of civilians were all around them, running in every direction in fear like headless chickens. By the amount of magic going on between two people in particular, there was every possibility a stray bolt could hit them and they'd be transformed into poultry.

Several feet away from the discarded vehicles stood Ethan, his back to the van and yellow magic crackling around his skin. He had every intention of killing this young magic user, who was obviously the head of this operation. He knew it was Wolfram and Hart. They just intercepted Ethan in the middle of the road and started attacking. Ethan knew why they were there, but he had every intention not to let them get what they want without a fight.

Opposite him stood Amy, dressed in her black suit and red magic crackling around her just like Ethan's. However, unlike Ethan, Amy's pupils were dilated profoundly while not entirely black. A telltale sign of an amateur sorcerer with more power than they should really have.

With a quick rise of his hand, Ethan shot another strike of yellow magic out at Amy, knocking her three foot high up into the air and further away from Ethan like an immensely powerful uppercut punch. The only difference, of course, being Ethan didn't even have to touch her.

Now on the floor, Amy muttered an incantation as she watched Ethan slowly descend upon her. Once the Englishman was looking down on her, Amy finished her chant and held her hands out in front of her. "Hudamanei!"

Ethan curved his body to avoid the two bolts that shot out of each of her hands, and smirked when they missed him completely. "You must work on your aim, little girl." Amy watched as the bolts, now behind him, performed a U-turn and headed back towards the man, hitting him in the back and knocking him forwards past her.

"Watch who you call little girl!" She spat out angrily as she rose from the cold, concrete floor.

Across from Amy and Ethan, Gunn and Xander were using the weapons they brought with them as well as they could, but both wanted to avoid killing humans, even if they were trying to kill everyone in sight, and their weapons simply couldn't do anything against bullets, so they were mostly resigned to finding cover from the onslaught.

"What the Hell is going on?" Gunn panted as they ducked behind one of the dark cars.

"A whole lot of badness." Xander replied, glancing quickly in Ethan and Amy's direction before withdrawing his head back behind the car before he was hit. "There's a couple over there fighting with magic. One of them is Ethan Rayne, English guy with a strange passion for trying to kill us. The other is Amy Madison. School girl turned rat turned evil bitch with a magical addiction problem and vendetta against Willow."

"That's less good." Gunn agreed. "These guys look like Wolfram and Hart. I think we need to get back to the hotel."

"I second." Xander raised his hand quickly. With a silent count to three, they jumped out from behind the car, ready to run from the carnage.

Elsewhere, Anya was making her way towards the van, ducking and weaving to avoid being hit. Although she couldn't technically die, she could still experience pain. And her body could die. While being in the clutches of Wolfram and Hart, she'd lost three bodies, and each time it felt like dying. Really dying. Although Wolfram and Hart, with the blood oath they had from D'Hoffryn, could just make a duplicate body, it was something she didn't like doing. At all. Therefore, death was most definitely to be avoided.

She was pleased to notice that Amy had Ethan completely occupied. She didn't know what'd happened to her team, but she didn't care anyway. Anya's plan was to wait until no one was looking, and then hijack the van. It may be primitive, but it seemed to be working; everyone was far too busy fighting for their lives to notice the van. 'Now's my chance.' Shooting a few people on the way with her standard issue handgun, and hiding from many more, she finally got to the back of the van. With the back doors staring her in the face, begging to be opened, Anya could not quench her curiosity, despite her superior's demand not to look. Figuring it was most likely locked anyway; she pulled on the handle of the right door. By the time she'd realized that the door was open, she was on her back several feet away with 11 bullets in her.

"Spread out!" One of the gunmen called. During the battle, they had kept their positions in the back of the van, and were prepared to pour their bullets into anyone who may approach. Anya was the only person who succeeded, but they were ready for her. Two of the gunmen walked towards Anya's body to make sure she was indeed dead while the other two went off to the sides to join the battle.

Hearing the footsteps echo into her ears only feet away, Anya decided she'd feigned death long enough. Now she'd so them it takes more than a few bullets to kill Anya Christina Emmanuelle Jenkins (so long as it was one of the times she was a vengeance demon. Fortunately, now was one such time)! With a councilman on either side of her, she flipped herself onto her feet. Before either of them could react, she grabbed their heads and smacked them between the other's effectively knocking them both out. Noticing the other two councilmen who were defending the van had gone, presumably fighting somewhere, Anya took her chance to see it is she went through getting shot for.

She ran the short distance to the van and leapt into the back. The light coming through the now open doors was orange from the car that was aflame. The light was dim, but it certainly didn't keep Anya from seeing who it was. Tara and Willow. Chained up and gagged in separate cages. They were they were held up against the walls of the van meant they didn't see her. For once, Anya was speechless. However, the severity of the situation and the danger surrounding them at this very moment was not lost in her, and caught her before she could slip into complete bewilderment. It was definitely Tara and Willow, she was sure of it. It would explain why all this was going on; something big had brought Tara back or something.

Anya's mind quickly jumped to Wolfram and Hart; if they get hold of them, Willow and Tara will be stuck forever, exactly like her. They'd probably have to endure painstaking tests and be used to the institutions evil ends. And the same would happen if the council got them. There was only one chance. However, it held many problems. Firstly, the obvious one. The assignment was obviously pivotal; much larger than anything else they'd made her do. The punishment, therefore, would be all the more worse. Even if she was to do it, she wouldn't get very far before they realized what she was doing and they teleported her back. She couldn't drive them to safety.

As she brought her gaze over the grief stricken face, she was suddenly awash with memories. She never saw eye to eye with Willow, not completely, but Tara had pretty much been her best friend. She always understood Anya's curious nature and didn't seem to mind the fact that she spoke her mind. When Glory attacked her mind, Anya had cared for Tara for over an hour while Willow was in Buffy's mind, and cried a great deal. She always cared more for Tara than she'd ever let on, just as she did for all the Sccobies. And she knew how much agony Willow went through when she lost the blonde. She suspected it was Willow's losing Tara that made the redhead nicer to Anya. She tried to become someone Tara would be proud of, including the magic and being nicer in general. Anya saw Willow's need to make amends to Tara's spirit in everything the girl did in those nine months between when she returned to England and Anya's death. Suddenly, the pain she'd have to endure seemed trivial. For Anya, the worst thing about being used in Wolfram and Hart's games was always a fact that even though she'd died for the fight for good, she was still an instrument of evil, and that she had no control over. Now, she finally had the opportunity to do something. She'd died once for good. And she was prepared to endure pain for good as well.

Her mind made up, Anya quickly realized she still had a problem of who was going to drive the van for her. Wanting to do her best to keep the girls safe, Anya left the van and closed the doors behind her before scanning the war zone. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, came two figures. 'It's Xander! And…that other guy!'

Xander's head spun around at Anya's voice rather than her calling him, and he ran towards the sound. "Anya!" Not thinking about rights or wrongs, he flung his arms around her. "God, Anya."

Anya closed her eyes, fighting back the tears at the feel of the familiar embrace. After indulging herself for a couple of moments, she pulled away, remembering there was a job to be done. "Xander. The van. Willow and Tara are locked up inside."

He nodded, not recognizing the words but merely the voice which carried them. However, after a moment his brain locked onto what she said, and he was knocked out of his reverie. "Wait, what?! Willow and Tara?"

"That's what all this is about." Anya nodded, finally noticing Gunn, who'd been there since she broke from the embrace. "The council took them, but Wolfram and Hart want them. I don't know what brought her back or why they want them but you need to get them somewhere safe, now."

"Jeez, does anyone in the world just stay dead nowadays?" When in doubt, make a joke. It was always Xander's tactic for bizarre situations, and this was as bizarre as they come.

"Xander!" Anya grabbed his attention. "You have to get them safe, right now. I'll hold them off."

"Wait, what?" Xander asked, his joking demeanor shattered. "Anya, no. You're coming with."

"The second I go they'll teleport me back, or worse trace me to you." Anya reasoned. It surprised Xander; Anya was not usually the voice of reason, but he assumed she must've changed after her death. "At least this way I can help keep them away from you as best as I can. I can't die, remember?" She added when she saw how troubled the affair made him.

He couldn't deny her, and Xander knew that. Plus, it was his best friend and the love of her life on the line (even though he still didn't quite understand that situation completely). Deciding now was time to for logic and saving Anya could come later, Xander pressed his lips against his love's own for a moment, telling her in those short few seconds that he still, and always would, love her, and he'll free her. But now is not the time.

With a glance back at Gunn, the two ran to the driver's side of the van, not glancing back at Anya, who was left gob smacked at Xander's actions. Quickly remembering she had some diverting to do, she quickly went about fighting while Gunn hotwired the van, which he found he could do in seconds thanks to his rogue days years ago. The skidding of the van tires as it reversed back and out of the carnage brought a hail of gunfire down on the vehicle. Luckily enough, the council were nice enough to provide Ethan with a van that was impenetrable to bullets. Anya watched as the van sped away, only satisfied once it'd left her view. Almost as soon as it had, she felt a sensation she was use to…as if someone was tugging at the edges of the universe…and seconds later, she was gone in a flash of light.

"NO!" Ethan screamed as he watched the van speed out of sight. His momentary lapse in concentration allowed Amy to hit him with another bolt in the back, knocking him face first into the concrete road. His patience had now officially worn thin. Rolling onto his back, he fired out two bolts of magic, not caring at the intense pain it was causing his system. He watched with glee as the girl was flung back before connecting with a lamp post. Now once again standing, he shot another stream of magic at the girl, that this time wrapped around her like a cord at one end and stayed connection to his hand at the other. Once it was wrapped around her, he made a gesture as if tugging on a rope, and Amy was flung towards at great speed. In less than a second, Amy was in his arms, and he had his hand on her chest. "Don't play with adults, schoolgirl." He seethed, before sucking her magic into him. She thrust her chest into his palm, and he felt exhilaration at the great power entering his system.

While he felt intense power, Amy felt nothing but intense pain, as if she was burning from the inside…in fact she was sure she was…and pretty soon she couldn't think at all. Such as sleep, she wasn't aware of the time when she crossed the line from the living into death.

With magic jumping around his skin and a pile of ash that used to be a young woman at his feet, Ethan rose, and a smirk covered his face. He felt more powerful than he had ever felt in his life.

Anya emerged in the room she'd visited in her nightmares. They would take her here whenever she disobeyed orders. The office of Hundi.

It looked just like any of the other offices in the Wolfram and Hart complex. The blinds were always closed, as Hundi never liked light. A large desk. Bookcases. Monitors. The surroundings were very modern; a contradiction of the person who worked there. Hundi stood in front of the desk in his orange robes. He was dark skinned, short, bald and with round glasses. He reminded Anya of Gandhi, except whereas Gandhi was all about the non-violence, Hundi was violence central. The worst thing about him, was that you didn't know when he was going to strike. He punished with telekinesis rather than physicality; a power he possessed over all the souls that were property of Wolfram and Hart.

"You disobeyed orders yet again." He spoke as if he'd only just grasped the English language; slow and surely.

In a raise of his eye brows, Anya was sent staggering back as she gripped her head at the all-absorbing intense pain breaking her skull apart. She dropped to the floor, screeching, with tears rolling down her face, brought on by the bulging of her eyes.

"I don't have the patience for excuses. You must learn that disobedience is not acceptable"

When he finally gave up his treatment, her head dropped to the ground as if it had just been released from a vice grip. Her face was chalk white, shiny and sticky from sweat. Her cheek was resting on the cold marble floor, and her eyes were crossed. As she returned to this plane, nausea washed over her, pushing her last meal up her throat, through her mouth and spilling onto the floor, some of it washing over her own face. It felt to her that she was vomiting her out brain, which had been reduced to porridge.

"Anyanka," With another simple gesture, she was flung from the floor to the wall behind her. This time, he brought the pain across her entire body rather than just focusing on her head. "Do not vomit on my floor." He clenched his hand into a tight fist, ready to deliver his strongest stuff.

"Really?" Xander asked. He wasn't prepared for any more shocks just yet. "Nothing else you keeping from us? Because I really feel like getting caught up in another war zone with absolutely no idea what's going on."

"Yes, I'm sorry about that Xander, but it was Willow's decision." He gestured to the nervous redhead sitting on the round sofa in the lobby. "And I really thought it was her and Tara's to make."

That shut Xander up. He glanced at the blonde witch in question, sitting as close to Willow as humanly possible on the sofa. Him and Gunn had conformed to Anya's wishes and got back to the hotel with minimal hassle, just as the gang there were finishing off the last of the Grapplers. Everyone was relieved to find that Willow and Tara were safe, but they were demanding answers. Once the girls were free, Angel volunteered to fill the van with the corpses of the Grapplers and was currently driving it into a river somewhere; they didn't know whether or not the van had some kind of tracer or self-destruction device, and they didn't want to risk it. Now, in the lobby, Giles, Buffy, Willow and Tara were explaining to Spike, Dawn, Xander, Rona, Gunn, Fred, Cordy, Lorne and Wesley the whole story, from the watchers' council to the strange demon at Woolworth's.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me." Wesley spoke up, directing his anger at Giles. "A resurrection changes everything. You had us researching while withholding vital information. We may have overlooked something because of it, something potentially very dangerous."

A lone droplet was rolling gently down Dawn's cheek as she slowly moved towards Tara in awe. "Tara?" She asked, sounding almost as small and vulnerable as Willow did when first setting eyes on her since her resurrection. "It's really you?"

Tara nodded with apologetic eyes. "It is. I'm sorry we didn't tell you right away Dawnie." She barely had time to finish her apology before Dawn had her arms around her and her head on her shoulder in a tight hug. So urgent was Dawn's hug was that Willow had to jolt her head out of the way as Dawn's hand almost caught her eye.

"It's so nice to see you again, Dawnie." Tara tightened her hold against the girl for a moment before loosening it to allow Dawn to draw back so she could properly regard her. Dawn was no longer the girl she remembered; she was now a woman. "Look how much you've grown up."

"You still sound like a mum." Dawn giggled out, only spurred on when Tara tickled her in retaliation for a few moments. "Okay, I give in!" She chuckled out, wiping the tears that were brought on by happiness at the Tara's return and the witch's tickles. Once Tara speared Dawn, the brunette had a chance to look into Tara's eyes a see that woman she loved like a mother. She smiled at the familiarity.

"No." Angel glanced at the room, or more importantly at how everyone in the room was trying to subtly look at Tara, but not being subtle about it at all. "So, everyone knows now?" He guessed.

"Everyone here, yes." Giles confirmed. "Although, Faith and Kennedy are still out."

"Kennedy!" Xander gasped. "Where does she fit in now?" He asked, turning to Willow.

Just as Willow was about to answer, Spike saw the opportunity to jump into the conversation and steer it away. "Before we get into lesbian soap opera land, I think we have more pressing issues. Evil institutions and Gods, for example."

"I'm not sure." Giles took off his glasses to rub his eyes before addressing Xander. "You say Wolfram and Hart are after them too?"

"Big old war zone." Xander nodded. "Watchers versus lawyers. And it has something to do with Spike's amulet."

"Will they bloody let it go with that amulet!" Spike threw his arms in the air. "I haven't got it! Why can't they just accept it!"

"Demon." Xander answered quickly. "At Vita." He smiled internally as he realized that it was technically true. When Gunn gave him a questioning look, Xander returned a gaze that told Gunn to play along. Just as Willow, he wasn't quite ready to reveal his resurrected lover to the group yet. "Also, I noticed something at the war zone. Ethan was there. Fighting someone with magic."

"Oh God." Willow blanched. It was lucky that Tara was soothing her, or else it was more than likely she would've started hyperventilating.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked, confused. "Sure she was annoying. Bumped into me in cheerleading and such but she's no big threat, right?"

"Well while you were busy getting visions, being evil and getting in a coma, Willow de-ratted Amy." Xander reported. "And she rewarded Willow's generosity by getting the Willster hooked on a black magic warlock and then putting hexes on her!"

"We determine who out of Ethan and Amy won." Giles shrugged. "And hence, who're after us."

"I'll give you a hint." Everyone's head shot around at the familiar, slithery voice, which was now crackled as if coming over through electrical interference. In homage to his earlier stance, Ethan stood dominant at the front door, with red and yellow magic crackling around him, jumping about like grasshoppers. "It wasn't Amy."

Giles charged at him, only to be forced back by a bolt of yellow magic. Angel came next from the side, by Ethan disposed of him with a gesture similar to a backslap, shooting red magic out at the vampire and into the marble pillar.

"And killed her." Ethan smirked. He brought his eyes towards Willow and Tara. "If you wont come alive, I can preserve your magic long after your hearts stop beating." He launched a ball of magic at the girls. Willow pulled Tara down to the ground with her, ducking under the ball that flew over their heads and destroyed a large section of the wall into Angel's office.

Buffy and Spike tried to best Ethan by taking him on at different angles at the same time, but the Englishman just reacted with two attacks, one red and one yellow, flinging them backwards. Rona charged at him, but didn't notice the knives that were flying towards her, controlled by Ethan's magic. Luckily, Karen did and managed to tackle Rona to the ground before they connected. Gunn came at him with an axe, and got closer than anyone else; but only because Ethan wanted him to. Ethan shot a bolt of magic at him, momentarily paralyzing his arms in place so he couldn't take a swipe at Ethan. Once he was close enough, Ethan used him magically enhanced strength to grab the axe Gunn was still holding and swing it round, throwing Gunn through the glass doors which, thanks to earlier on, no longer had any glass. Only a split second after obtaining it, Ethan span himself around and flung the axe at Angel, who was coming back at him. The axe embedded itself in Angel's torso, instantly flooring him. Although it wasn't fatal to a vampire, it was still a nasty wound.

"ANGEL!" Buffy attempted to run past Ethan to get to Angel, but Ethan wouldn't allow it. With another bolt of magic, he sent her flying over the length of the lobby over the counter and crashing onto the hard floor on her side.

Seeing how their best warriors had been taken out in a blink of an eye, Willow and Tara felt hopeless. Both hands were intertwined with the other's, left against right and right against left, the hand with the symbol on against the other girl's symbol. They were crouched on the floor, against the counter, looking fearfully into each other's eyes, searching the other's soul for calm. "Willow…" Tara gulped out.

"It's okay." Willow sobbed out. This was it. Only days after having found her again, Tara was going to die. But Willow was damned if she was going to let her die alone. "I love you. I have always loved you."

"I love you too." Tara sobbed out. Neither of them noticed that their hands which contained the symbols, which were still intertwined, were glowing with a brilliant light. "I will always love you."

"Always." Willow repeated, bringing her lips to Tara's. As they shared a passionate kiss, one they feared and believed would be their last, the glow enveloped them, making them burn with a blinding light with an intensity of a thousand watts, lighting up the whole room. Only Willow and Tara were oblivious to it. Even Ethan watched intently with confusion and a hint of fear. No attacking was taking place. All eyes were on Willow and Tara.

Giles' attention was broke when a book flung itself onto the counter beside him. He struggled to get up, still in pain after Ethan's attack, but resolved to inspect the book. He was shocked to see that the book was the Tome of the Gods. It was glowing with the same light as Willow and Tara, and what's more it was open, flicking through the pages in much the same way it did when he activated it. Finally, it rested on the same page he saw at his house, with the inscription of the Goddess of the Slayer. Although the whole book was glowing, this inscription was glowing brighter than any other part, so much so that it hurt Giles' eyes to look at it. Without warning, something else flung itself onto the counter-the dagger of the Goddess.

By now, everyone, except Willow and Tara, who still seemed oblivious to what was going on and were still kissing, had noticed the strange goings on which Giles was investigating. As he inspected the book and the dagger, which was also glowing, he thought briefly where he actually left them. However, the insignificant thought was pushed from his mind as he concentrated more on the dagger that was begging him to pick him up, hypnotizing him with it's majestic glow, pulling his hand ever closer. Finally, his urges succumb to, Giles grasped the dagger and held it up. Suddenly, from the inscription of the symbol of the Goddess, the light surrounding the Tome shot out to connect with the glow surrounding the dagger. As he brought his eyes back to Willow and Tara, who were still oblivious, or rather more like frozen in time, he noticed that the Tome had also connected it's light to theirs, making a chain of light from Willow and Tara, to the Tome, to the dagger in Giles' hand. All of a sudden, Giles could feel a change occurring in the dagger. It was becoming new…stronger…Giles felt connected to the dagger. First he thought his eyes were deceiving him, but he soon knew better. With a glow still surrounding it, the dagger was shedding it's rust, becoming shinier and it's blade sharp again. The blade itself grew longer and longer, and Giles had to adjust his grip to accommodate the added weight. Eventually the changes stopped, and the dagger stopped glowing, although both Willow and Tara and the Tome were still shrouded in a light which connected the two. Inspecting the dagger, Giles noticed it hadn't actually completely stopped glowing; the symbol of the Goddess still glowed. However, now it wasn't a dagger. It was a sword, with razor sharp edges and a mirror finish. Giles stared at it in awe.

Ethan was the first to break out of his shock-induced state. The turn of events was worrying him. However, the fact remained that with everyone's attention away from him, the targets were wide open. Summoning the magic coursing his veins, he conjured the magic up to his palms, making his hands shake in the intensity. With a glance at the two girls, still encapsulated in light, he let go of the magic, shooting a stream of magic out at them.

It may have been the magic in the sword. It may have been the intensity of the situation. Or he might just know Ethan better than he thought. Nevertheless, Giles anticipated the attack and, out of pure instinct, plunged the sword in the way of the magic, and watched as it hit. He held on as Ethan's magic fought against the sword, but kept his grip. A stream of red and yellow magic now flowed between Ethan's palms and Giles' sword, fighting for dominance. Giles felt the strength of Ethan's power building up against him, but unfortunately everyone else was far too captivated by what was going on to even move.

Just as he thought he had no more strength inside, the Tome once again shot it's light out, this time encapsulating not only the sword but Giles as well in it's glow. Ethan's eyes widened at what was going on, fearing what may happen. Suddenly, Giles started shouting in a language no one recognized, not even Giles himself. It clearly wasn't Giles talking.

Ethan shrieked an unholy shriek as he felt the power leaving him, tearing at his insides. The magic left him, and shot out to the sword. However, although the magic was gone, Ethan's heart kept beating. As the dark sorcerer collapsed in an unconscious heap, the sword absorbed the Ethan's magic before Giles finally stopped glowing. After that, the Tome followed, and finally Willow and Tara.

They didn't know what had just happened. However, they knew the Gods themselves had made themselves known.

This was it. This was the Hellmouth. Or what was the Hellmouth. Lucius moved around the crater formerly known as Sunnydale. He didn't know what had possessed him to take a trip to the destroyed town, but he was glad he did. He could smell something. It took him a few moments to determine what it was, but eventually it struck him like a bolt of lightning.

Rising up and out of the crater, Lucius followed his nose to find the source of what he smelt. Eventually he was up to what was previously ground level, more specifically it used to be a warehouse. Now it was thin air. However, one thing remained.

Someone had done magic. Someone, years ago, pulled something out from another dimension with a temporal fold at this point. That temporal fold weakened the wall between the dimensions. Still, no one could break down such a barrier. Or almost no one…

Drawing back his fist momentarily, Lucius punched at nothing. However, his fist connected with an invisible barrier; the dimensional wall. Only few could touch it. Fewer could break it. Lucius could do both. Provided it was weak, like this one. Pushing his fist further into the invisible barrier, and blue light suddenly started pouring out, telling him it was breaking. With another push of his fist, a portal opened up suddenly, forcing the atmosphere around it away in a tidal wave. A sonic boom crashed through the trees on the outskirts of the crater. However, Lucius was hardly fazed. Without a second thought, he moved into the light and into another dimension, curious as to what he'd find…

The other side of the wall was madness. The stench of blood hung thick in the air. He could almost see the red blood cells in the air, taste the platelets that he breathed in and hear the blood gushing from the wounds. It was paradise. This was a world of mayhem. The sort of world Lucius dreamed of.

Everywhere he looked he could see vampires feeding on humans and humans attacking vampires. Dead bodies and vampire dust littered the floor. He could feel something as well…kinsman ship…these vampires, they were his children…

Where he was standing, where the temporal fold was created and where he appeared, was just in front of a large wooden cage. It was broken, with a large piece of wood sticking out. Straight ahead of him he could see a redhead. She was turned away from him, but his instincts told him that she was a vampire; one of his vampires. But there was also a new feeling about her. One he had never had before, and one he couldn't explain. She wore a black leather corset ensemble, a typical 'bride of Satan-esque' look. He could also see a short-red-haired boy in front of her, charging at them. He wasn't a vampire, yet the predatory glint was still in his eye. He was a vampire hunter.

His instincts to defend the vampire, despite not knowing anything about her other than that she is from his line, motivated him. Before the boy got the vampire, Lucius pushed her and himself out of the way, dodging the boy's charge. The hunter realized his prey had escaped and only stumbled forwards a couple of steps before righting himself; just before reaching the broken cage. However, he wasn't quick enough. As he turned back towards his intended prey, Lucius delivered a strong kick into the boy's chest, forcing him backwards and impaling him on the very wooden plank he planned to kill the vampire with. After chocking for a few moments on the blood in his own throat, the boy fell limp, held in place by the plank running through his torso.

He turned back to see the vampire facing him, moving towards Lucius in awe. "You…who are you…?" She was in a state of wonderment. Suddenly, Lucius realized what the feeling was that he was feeling. It was HER. Only, she should be alive; certainly not a vampire. That could mean only one thing: this is an alternate universe, one not supposed to be in existence, and probably brought about with magics. The temporal fold opened a gateway to this world that was never meant to be.

Suddenly, Lucius felt giddy. Alternate universes are unstable, and often brought new dimensions to his powers, usually making them stronger during his stay. Also, this girl could be a valuable tool. Now all he needed was the other one…

"I don't recognize you." The redhead vampire brought him out of his thoughts as she pouted accusingly. "And I know everyone in Aurelius."

Lucius smirked inwardly at her words. 'Oh, darling,' he thought, 'I am Aurelius.'

"The Master?" Lucius frowned, trying to remember why that was so familiar. It didn't take long, after all there weren't many vampires he'd sired who'd have the power to organize such a massacre-only one. At that instant the memory almost millennia old came back to him like a film reel playing on a projector. That cellar underneath the streets of Frankfurt was brought to the surface of his mind as that night played back:

'He saw the role this boy would play in the centuries to come, and knew somehow it would fit together and usher in his own revival. Drawing in all his power, every piece of strength he had in his soul, he had offered him his purest blood, and in that moment he was spoken to by the prophets, and instantly came down to record what they were telling. He now knew what this new childe, this Heinrich Joseph Nest, would become.

"You will start it all." He crooned to the pale corpse, brushing his large hand over the Heinrich's short, brown hair affectionately. "With your power, the lesser ones will bow at your feet, and replenish our Brethren. With the power I have infused in you, your face will soon shrug off this disgusting you wear now and the demon will show itself. You shall be stronger than any other. In time they shall call you Master. I shall train you, allow you to become what I have dreamed you to be, and then you shall leave me, betray me." He grinned, and leaned further in to whisper to body. "But there in lies the joke. You'll think you are leaving me for dead, betraying me while you set off to open the Hellmouth. But I've heard it all. You will find these words I've written, the Anointed shall rise, shall lead her. And then you shall split the line. You yourself shall fail yourself, but will appease me. The split you create will start it all. The second slayer shall die, the Goddess shall be born, the Goddess will die, and I shall be revived."'

Those prophets were correct. Heinrich had indeed betrayed Lucius, taken control of the Brethren and was now known as The Master. And in the real world, The Master did split the slayer line and did attempt to open the Hellmouth, but failed. It seemed things went differently here.

Turning to where the redheaded vampire was looking, he saw him. He was fighting a small blonde girl, who Lucius assumed was the slayer. He looked slightly more deformed than the last time Lucius saw him; five hundred years ago. Heinrich was the most Turok-han out of all normal vampires in existence; the demon in him still fought against the human shell, but not at the expense of his mind. The result was that in just a few centuries, by the time he betrayed Lucius, Heinrich was already similar to a Turok-han in appearance.

He watched as Heinrich got an advantage over the girl and twisted her head around until the neck cracked under the stress. He thought of how, in the real world, the slayer had returned to life and killed The Master. Although they were technically not the same beings, there was a kind of righteousness to the killing, like The Master was getting his vengeance. At this last thought, a wicked idea crossed Lucius' mind. While Heinrich's betrayal was ultimately to Lucius' benefit, it didn't mean justice had been done. Now, in this universe, he too had the opportunity for vengeance.

"Good show, Heinrich." Lucius bellowed out, his voice echoing throughout the warehouse. It was near empty now, void of any human life. The humans there either fled, or were killed and were currently being drained. All the vampires turned to Lucius' call, annoyed at him interrupting their meals. However, the moment he called out to him, The Master felt something he wasn't use to. Fear. Very few creatures knew his real name; even he was beginning to forget it.

The second he laid eyes on Lucius, he couldn't believe it. It had been half a millennium since he left him for dead in a flaming opera house in Rome. The whole thing was orchestrated; he had long had his designs on taking over the Order of Aurelius. Since then, he had heard nothing on him, and assumed he died in the fire. Evidently, he was mistaken. Despite his shock, The Master was not scared. He had killed Lucius once. He could do it again.

"And there I thought I'd killed you." The Master scoffed, facing Lucius straight on. "I better right that wrong."

The Master took three confident strides towards Lucius, moving at a leisurely pace. Once he'd reached his sire, he snatched the long haired vampire with one hand, gripping his throat tightly and lifting him a foot in the air. "Heinrich is a mortal name. I am The Master." He flung the ancient vampire across the warehouse, watching with satisfaction as Lucius span in mid-air and hit the ground soundly face first, the thud echoing throughout the room.

The Master walked back up to him, with the intent on continuing his attack on his former teacher. However, Lucius had had enough. Faster than a blink of an eye, Lucius launched himself up, pushing his elbow backwards to connect with The Master's face. The impact shocked The Master-he was simply not expecting Lucius to be so powerful. The attack flung The Master backwards with great force.

Seeing their master attacked, the rest of the vampires launched into attack mode. All at once, they charge at the vampire from all directions at once. Willow was the first one to get there, from just behind him. Without breaking a stride, Lucius kicked her in the stomach, launching her backwards. He could've killed her easily, but he had no intention to. He had great plans for her…

With Willow out of the way, Lucius decided to show off his power. He started moulding his magic to the shape of a sword, long and sharp…within a blink of an eye, the sword was solid, it's blade fine enough to swipe through the air it once was with no resistance. With three vampires bearing down on him, Lucius swung the sword horizontally at shoulder level, decapitating all three in one swipe. With the vampire directly in front of him now falling to dust, he could see past to the vampire running up to him. Thinking fast, Lucius somersaulted over the approaching vampire and plunged the sword into his back. The vampire now stunned, Lucius removed the sword and performed a 360 degree turn, holding the sword out. By the time he was once again facing the Master, the vampire behind him was dust.

By now the Master was unnerved. Lucius was indeed a lot stronger than he'd remembered. And where'd that sword come from? "You're stronger. But not strong enough. Kill him." He roared to the three minions still in the warehouse and alive. However, only two of them actually obeyed, as Willow was watching Lucius intently. She could feel something about him.

Lucius decided now would be the perfect time to test out how his power has been affected in this unstable universe. As the two vampires charged at him from both sides, Lucius held out his arms towards them and focused his power. Hit by Lucius' invisible power, the two vampires stopped dead in their tracks and their chests lurched, as if their heart was trying to break free from their ribcage. Willow and the Master watched, captivated, while Lucius had his eyes shut calmly in concentration. All of a sudden, he screwed his fists up tight and brought his hands back towards him sharply. At the exact same moment, the skin of the vampires bulged and tore, making way for their skeletons, which were forcing their way out of their bodies. The bones ripped out of vampires' bodies, through their skin and flew towards Lucius, dropping in front of him. Meanwhile, the vampires' bodies were now a pile of skin and organs. The ancient vampire grinned inwardly as he thought how he'd turned killing vampires without dust into a twisted art form.

Lucius raised his eyes to gauge The Master's reaction, and was pleased to notice he now wore an expression of sheer terror. "You…you don't have that kind of power. How?"

Willow watched, gob-smacked as she watched The Master reduced to what she thought she'd never see from him; begging.

"To leave me in a burning opera house?" Lucius asked angrily. However, the anger was feigned. He'd long since got over Heinrich's betrayal, and he was having far too much time for anger right now.

"I've waited five hundred years for this moment." Lucius ignored the Master's pleas with joy, although his face feigned rage. Without lifting a finger, he bound the Master's hands behind his back with invisible, unbreakable bonds, and fastened his feet to the ground. "I'm going to do to you, what you couldn't to me."

Willow approached from behind Lucius' shoulder, watching the Master as he struggled without success. "Who are you?" She asked in a sultry yet suspicious voice. When Lucuis turned to look her in the eye she went on. "No ordinary vampire has that much strength. Not just anyone can take on the Lord of Aurelius."

Her mouth and her eyes widened as she took in the meaning of the words, and drew back in a gasp to look in his eyes. "You mean…"

Willow's mind was awash with the implications of what this meant, and she was suddenly very excited about it all. "What about him?" She asked, glancing past Lucius' shoulder and nodding to where the Master was still bound.

With a smile, Lucius drew the sword he had dropped in order to remove the vampires' skeletons from the ground into his hand with his mind. With eye contact with Willow, he gently placed the sword's handle in her pale hand and squeezed her fingers around the shaft. "Hasn't there ever been a time when you wanted to hurt him?" He questioned. "To wait for a time when he is bound and stab him over and over, relishing in his pain?" She peered into his dead heart, asking for confirmation. "Do it."

She tightened her grip and walked slowly up to the captive vampire, whose struggles increased with every step she took. Behind her stood Lucius, watching what she'd do. "I am your master." The Master reminded her through clenched teeth. "If you touch me, you are a traitor." He seethed the last line.

Willow frowned momentarily before breaking into a small, but unmistakably predatorily and insane grin. "Nuh-uh." She shook her head melodically like an infant. "You forget. I serve Aurelius." She turned her neck to look at Lucius, who was reflecting her grin acceptingly. "I'm just obeying orders."

She turned back to The Master, with her eyes firmly on her target; his torso. Less than a second later, the sight had changed to accommodate the sword cutting all the way through him and poking out through his back. She raised her eyes to meet the Mater's, both shocked that she'd actually gone through with it. After a second, The Master broke off the eye contact as the pain finally washed over him, and he howled out loud.

Bringing her eyes back down, she pulled the sword back out of the vampire; only to plunge it back in again. And again. She stabbed him over a over, taking out every piece of anger that had pent up in her. 'This is for Xander!' she screamed silently. 'And this is for my puppy!' With an extra hard stab, pushing the sword all the way in until the handle hit against the skin, she screamed, not even aware that it was out loud. "And this is for Willow Rosenberg!" She ripped the sword back out and stepped back, panting.

Lucius was impressed with the girl's viciousness. He had lost count of how many times she stabbed him. She was doing it with such vigour and speed that she was practically a blur. She drew back, hypnotized by the Master's futile flailing towards Lucius. He broke her out of her stupor with by placing his hand on her shoulder. "Very well done." He smiled.

"You…" The Master panted, raising his head gradually to see Willow and Lucius. "You…Judas…"

Lucius stepped once towards The Master, away from Willow with his eyes fixated on the wounded immortal before him. "This isn't about betrayal." With a click of his fingers, a flame burnt over his thumb like a match. "It's about showing you how it's done." He brought the thumb to his mouth and blew. Like an aerosol can to a lighter, his breath ignited the flame into a raging fireball, spreading across the immediate air and covering the Master in flames. As he stopped his blowing and flicked the magic flame from his thumb, the fireball disappeared, leaving only the bound vampire shrieking in flames as evidence it was ever there.

"What is your name?" Lucius asked, reluctantly tearing his eyes from the pleasing sight of the Master dying to Willow at his side, who was gob smacked.

"Willow." Her eyes only left the intriguing sight of her former Lord burning briefly to turn to her inquisitor before returning.

He snaked his hand downward, slipping his fingers in between Willow's and squeezing her hand gently. "I can so you a new world." He crooned softly into her ear while both of them watched the Master intently. "Let me show you."

His words seduced Willow. She watched as the flames finally took the Master, his flesh descending into dust, leaving only bones behind. Lucius had released his hold on the Master at the time of his death, allowing the skeleton first to drop to it's knees and then, after wavering for a second, the rest of it's body followed suit. Part of to skull shattered under the impact into the concrete. Willow was now truly alone. She had asked her mortal self from the other world to send her back, but she didn't know this world any better than the other any more. Everyone she knew, loved or even hated seemed to be dead. She was alone. 'Not quite.' She reminded herself. This mysterious, extremely powerful vampire was offering to show her a whole new world. Even if she weren't alone it would be a tempting offer. The fact that he was the only one she had left only made more tempting. Even as a mortal, she had a curious nature, and it was that instinct that was fuelling her right now.

For over an hour Lucius and Willow roamed the streets of Sunnydale, causing death and destruction wherever they went. One particularly fun spot had been at the house of Willow's old school librarian, Rupert Giles. To both Willow and Giles' surprise, Lucius didn't need an invitation into the watchers' house, and just strolled in, grabbed Giles and threw him back out so Willow could join in the fun. He also grabbed a few weapons that they could play with from the house. The only downside to the death was it happened all too quickly, as evidently someone had already beaten him up tonight. It was Anyanka, who was furious when he tried to destroy her power centre to change the world. When it didn't work, she beat him up within an inch of his life. Of course, it did really work, but Lucius' arrival back into the world carried the world further along, as Willow was about to find out.

Willow constantly grew more and more impressed with his powers, although he had yet to tell her anything of how he possessed it. However, for Willow it was academic. The mere fact that he was so old and The Master's sire constituted his great strength, and his majesty meant that she just didn't feel worthy to push him for detail. He had evaded her questions once; she wasn't going to push.

She watched as Lucius beat a young woman to death with the corpse of her own ten year little boy. It was Lucius' idea; he always enjoyed coming up with new, devastating tortures for people he didn't even know. He reminded her of what The Master had told her about her puppy that way. Before he got neutered.

Lucius held the mother, making sure she had her eyes open throughout by removing her eyelids, while Willow drank from the boy, oh-so slowly. With the blood of Lucius' disfiguration to her face, it was hard to tell whether the mother was just bleeding or if the blood was mixed with tears. Either way, she certainly started when, just as the boy was about to lose consciousness, Lucius ordered Willow to break his neck. When she heard the twig of a neck snap soundly, the mother gave an almighty wail that was closer to a siren. It was Lucius' idea once again-the sound of the snap breaking the mother's spirit. Even Willow hadn't anticipated what he'd do with the child's body; he swung it around smacked the mother repeatedly with it like it were a wet fish. With every hit she could hear the bones shattering in both bodies, particularly the boy's frail corpse. By the time the woman was on the floor the child's limbs twisted in ways like they were never meant to. It was sickening blissful.

Yet, at the same time it filled Willow with a sense of gloom. All this destruction and death just reminded her of what was lost. She missed Xander; their nightly hunts were unrivalled in Sunnydale, so much so that they had an honourable reputation of being the most notorious vamps in town-after the Master, of course. Xander would've loved the scene of gruesome torture Willow was witnessing, and it wretched at her heart strings to think that she'd never be able to recapture those nights when they would come up with such things. While she'd never met a vampire like Lucius, and felt a connection to him that went beyond simple ancestry, he was her superior, like The Master-not the companion that Xander was. Willow needed a companion.

When the mother had lost consciousness, Lucius ended up spearing her of her life, opting for ruining it instead. He left her in an abandoned warehouse, stripped her naked and covered her body in the organs of her child, leaving the skin shell they used to be in hanging from a hook in the wall.

They now strolled down the deserted Main Street, ignoring the sheets of newspaper that wrapped themselves around their legs in the wind and stereotyped the desolate street. Without any warning Lucius attacked a newspaper dispenser and stole a copy USA today. He stared at the front page before thrusting it into Willow's hands.

"Something you should know, love." They began walking again. "This world. This universe. None of it's real. It's what's called an alternate dimension. Created by magic. Probably some kind of wishing demon…"

"Anyanka?" Lucius searched his mind for the familiar name before coming up trumps. "Oh, that's right; the patron saint of scorned women. One of D'Hoffryn's girls." He frowned and turned back to Willow. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"They accidentally sent me to that world." Willow explained. "It was horrible. That slayer bitch was there. Puppy was running all over the place. The Bronze was totally different. There was even another me. A fuzzy me."

Lucius smirked. 'A fuzzy Willow. That must be the one…the Power half…' "When did all this happen?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"Actually, it happened six years ago." He explained. When he caught onto Willow's confused look, he elaborated. "You see, when they brought you to the real world, they created a portal between the two dimension; they thinned the dimensional walls. That's how I got here. You see, I can cross the dimensional walls if they're thin enough, and the temporal fold into this world made it just that-it made the walls weak so I could cross through. However the thing about temporal folds is that they don't only create a doorway into a place, they create a doorway into time. You follow me?"

"I think so." Fortunately for Lucius, Willow still had her brains from her mortality. Even if she does go a little crazy from time to time.

"When they sent you back here, they preserved this dimension in a time separate from the real world's. So, whenever someone enters the portal through the real world, they will always appear at the exact same time you reappeared, and in the same place."

"Exactly." Lucius nodded. "The interesting thing about alternate realities is that they were never supposed to exist. No one is properly maintaining them, so therefore they're extremely volatile. My powers differ in this world than in the other world in ways I could never imagine."

"Oh, I'm nasty alright." Lucius grinned. "My power is just as strong in the other world, only it acts differently."

It was a couple of silent minutes before Willow spoke up in a depressing tone. "I wish they hadn't sent me back."

"I asked to come back because I missed this world." She explained. "I missed how we kept people in cages and rode them all we wanted. I missed my puppy." She sighed. "And I missed Xander."

"He made me." Willow's eyes shone in the memory of being awakened. "We were the Master's favourites, after Darla and Luke died." In actual fact, they killed them. They didn't like how everyone looked up to them, so they set them up and locked them in a cage in the back of Willie's bar. The sun took care of them, and for all anyone else knew, the white hats took care of them. She whimpered at the beautiful memory of them relishing the kill in such a calculated manner. "I miss having a companion."

This was the opportunity Lucius was waiting for. "What if I could give you a new companion?" Lucius asked, staring straight ahead as they walked on, but glancing to the side to gauge her reactions. "Someone even better than Xander?"

"No one can replace Xander." She snapped instantly, angry at the nerve of him, but trying to hide that anger to save herself.

"Really?" Lucius stopped and turned to look her in the eyes. "I want you to see someone. I think you'll change your mind."

Willow watched sceptically as Lucius drew some kind of sacred circle on the floor with some coloured sand. She wasn't really convinced in anything magical, even after everything she'd seen. They were in the magic shop, one of the shops along the high street. They thought it would be one of the many deserted shops around town, but they had been mistaken. However, the shop girl didn't put up much of a fight, and was a very yummy treat. Plus, Lucius didn't even want to share, being too busy setting up the spell, so it was all for Willow.

"I wont be happy if it turns me into a frog." Willow scowled as she stepped into the circle. Even evil immortals can have frog fear.

Lucius looked up at her with an assuring smile to put her at ease. "You wont feel anything. It will just find one of the many people in your destiny that you were meant to meet up with."

"What if I don't like them?" Willow demanded, not believing that it was possible to find someone she cared for like Xander.

"Just turn them first." Lucius told her warmly, showing her his much hidden gentle nature. "If you don't like them as a vampire, you can kill them in any way you want."

"I want them to keep their face." He smiled. "That doesn't happen when I sire. Not anymore." He added, reminding himself that he finally had his power back.

"Ever seen Nosferatu?" He turned away and picked up the book and a vial before turning back to her. "Are you ready?"

The second she opened her mouth, Lucius rushed forward and held her face while he shoved the vial in her mouth, pouring the deer's blood down her throat. "Goddess Thespia, I command you! Bring me her heart. Her light. Bring me her soul, so I may blacken it!"

Willow felt sick as the deer's blood-which she'd been forced to drink (and wasn't at all pleasant, as it had been magically enhanced)-forced it's way out of her body and back up her throat, as if the vial was sucking it up! In fact, it was the vial sucking it up!

Lucius wretched the vial away and looked at the dark red liquid while Willow coughed and cleared her throat. "You said I wouldn't feel anything!" She gasped, piercing him with a furious glare.

"You don't play nice." Willow looked up at him, pouting. However, this pout was anything but playful or sexual.

"But I got the job done." He answered half-heartedly, inspecting the liquid in the vial.

"Job?" Willow spat. "What the fuck kind of job was that? What did you do to me?"

"Temper." Lucius feigned a frown momentarily before it broke into a maniacal chuckle. "The blood went into your destiny, and I ordered Thespia drag the soul of the person back out with it."

"You're not supposed to command Gods. Unless you want to be crispy-fried." Willow scowled.

Willow shrugged off his comment. 'If he's stupid enough to blaspheme the more potent of Gods, who am I to stop him?' She thought. "She didn't do it very well." Willow observed smugly. "There's just the two of us."

Lucius waved his finger. "You can't count." He pointed his finger at Willow and counted, "One," then pointed it at himself, "two," then at the vial, "three."

'They're in there!' She realized. "How do we get them out?" Willow asked nonchalantly, putting her hand on her leather-clad hip.

"Like this." Without warning, Lucius threw the vial straight at Willow's head. As he had anticipated, she ducked at it smashed on the wall behind her.

When Willow straightened herself back up, she was about to interrogating Lucius on just what he was playing at. Before she got the chance, however, the deer's blood, which was now splattered all over the wall, shone with a brightness that hurt her eyes. Eventually she had to turn her eyes away, but it still got brighter. For a moment she feared it may actually be the sun on Earth (only much, much smaller), but she quickly dismissed it; this light had a blue tint, but wasn't hot. When the light retracted into nothing and Willow could turn back, the sight took her absent breath away…

Cowering on the floor was a girl around Willow's age. Since becoming a vampire, Willow's brain hadn't gone in for poetry much, and her internal visages would usually send a child running to the bogey man for comfort. However, this girl's beauty made Willow feel as if the soul that was torn mercilessly from her body years ago once more held precedence in her, and it was singing. The girl's hair, which was covering most of her face, was like the sun, so much so that Willow could almost afraid to touch it for fear it would singe her skin…

In fact, the more she looked at her, the more afraid of touching her she became. She felt as if her touch would corrupt the girl. After all, she was a monster. By comparison, Willow could practically feel this girl's soul, it's purity was crashing against Willow wave after wave, and it completely floored the vampire. All she wanted to do is wrap her arms around her and protect her from the whole world. The irony of her instinct was not lost on her.

Willow was once more amazed when the girl lifted her head, allowing her to see her face in full. She was truly an angel, one Willow felt she had no right gazing upon. Yet Willow's eyes deceived her beliefs, as she couldn't tear them away from the girl's delicate features that made Willow breathe deep breaths-despite the fact that oxygen had long since stopped becoming an issue. Her blue eyes were watery, obviously crying for some unknown reason before having been teleported here. However, they did not distort the magnitude of what lay before them in any way. Her eye's were deeper than the oceans they borrowed their colour from. Her face was so pale, like Willow's own. Of course, Willow came across that look by other means. The girl's skin looked deliciously soft, yet not in the way Willow was used to seeing things as delicious. The thought of causing this girl harm made Willow heave. And this was why, when she lifted her head, Willow felt something else towards the blonde-revulsion.

Not revulsion at the girl herself, of course, rather the state she was in. Of all the things Willow had seen, and caused, for her, this was the most horrific. The girl was absolutely terrified. The shaking was evident immediately, and it probably didn't help being teleported to somewhere with two strange, extremely pale, very oddly dressed people. People whose plan it was to eat her. But Willow had noticed that the girl was shaking before she even seemed to realize that anything out of the ordinary had happened. When she lifted her head, Willow knew why. Marring her perfect face was purplish-black bruising around her right eye, swelling it and meaning that she almost had it completely shut. There was also a trickle of blood escaping from her voluptuous lip, which had been split. Willow felt angrier than ever before. She wanted the people who did this to her to know pain like never before-and lord knows she's the one to deliver it.

Lucius stepped forward, watching from behind Willow. 'And this is the Benevolent half' he smirked, regarding the blonde. "Isn't she a dish?" He hissed out the last one, making sure she got the double meaning behind it.

She did. And at that moment, Willow almost burst into tears at what she was, what she had planned to do. She was going to take away the purist soul she had ever seen. That was something Willow wasn't prepared to do. 'And I wont.' Willow added to herself when she saw the fear in the girl's eyes and the tear drip down her cheek in a serene manner that seemed to contradict the whimper of fear that accompany it. "No."

"What?" Lucius turned to face her, shocked, as was the girl on the floor. Little did Willow and Lucius know, she knew exactly what they were.

"I'm not hurting her." She never turned her eyes from the trembling form in front of her. "I can't." She dropped her voice, ashamed to have thought such a thing in the first place.

When Willow took a step towards the blonde, Lucius grabbed her arm and spun her around, leaning straight into her face. "We had a deal." He growled dangerously.

Although she was scared at what this deadly vampire could potentially do to her, Willow was damned if she was going to let anything happen to the girl, and she forced up her courage. "Not anymore. Now let her go." She spoke the last sentence slowly, showing him she meant business.

He examined her confidence for a second before snickering softly. "If you think I'm letting her go, you're very much mistaken." He sneered. "One way or another, she's gonna die tonight. Now, either she dies, gets buried and the worms eat away at her for the next couple of years, or she lives for ever. Now what shall it be?"

Rational thought had left her mind. Only one thing filled her mind-anger. "This." She punched him as hard as she could in the face. Her attack knocked him into the air and backwards several feet. She was surprised to see him staggering to get back up, thinking he'd be able to shrug off such an attack. However, she decided not to dwell on such things and grabbed Tara by the arm, dragging the beautiful girl with her.

The effects of the Mater's death and the arrival of such a potent new vampire in town had already begun to show in Sunnydale. The vampires had loosened their hold over the town, and the streets were safer-just. However, Willow still wanted to find shelter quickly. Despite the fact that she could protect the girl from any vampire that comes along, she couldn't necessarily do anything about a gang of vampires. Or one extremely powerful and pissed off vampire-one she'd recently punched, for example.

They finally found somewhere to hide-a crypt. Although not original, Willow felt it would do. "We should be safe in here."

The redhead could see the girl's anxiety easily, and it ate her up. She decided small talk might be the best way to put her at ease. "What's your name?"

"Willow." Willow offered hand, which Tara gingerly accepted. She took a sharp intake of air when the coolness of Willow's hand covered her own, and immediately drew it back.

"How do you…?" Willow gasped, trailing off as she studied the girl. "How do you know about vampires?"

"I heard there were a lot here." Tara explained. She knew should be running for the hills, but she couldn't help but feel a little safe the vampire. She backed up and sat on the stone tomb that dominated the crypt. "My family told me about them." Her voice dropped slightly at the mention of her family.

Willow turned back to face her. "You should be scared of me." Willow told her, arching her eyebrow in confusion. "Vampires kill people."

"You didn't." Tara reminded her softly. Willow turned away again. "Why didn't you."

Willow turned back to her and smiled slightly. "I don't know." She shrugged and laughed rueful. "It'll probably get me killed now."

Willow lifted her head to look her in the eyes. "Your soul." She explained softly. "It's so sweet and beautiful. I can't take it away. I just can't." Tara turned around embarrassed, and Willow also turned away, upset, and looked down at her hands in disgust. "You don't deserve to be like this. You're too good to be evil. I'd never let that happen."

Tara swallowed. She debated whether telling the vampire her hideous secret or not. In normal circumstances, she wouldn't even think about telling a virtual stranger such an intimate secret. Although, on the other hand, Willow obviously knew something about evil, and would probably understand a little of what Tara was going through. "This is Sunnydale, isn't it?"

"I was here a month ago. I was going to start college here in the Fall, but yesterday I got a letter saying the college had closed." Tara grimaced at the memory.

"There were too many deaths on campus." Willow filled in. She herself was responsible for a number of said deaths. "Why would you want to go to school here, anyway."

"Because of the Hellmouth." Tara explained. When she saw Willow's eyes widen in shock at the realization that Tara knew about the Hellmouth, Tara summoned her courage. "I have demon in me. I found out about the Hellmouth and hoped I'd be able to get rid of it here." She looked back up at Willow. "So you see, I'm not so good and pure."

But Willow knew differently. No matter what Tara thought she was, Willow was adamant that Tara wasn't evil. And she had a pretty good idea of why she'd think she was. "Who hurt you?"

"Please." Willow wasn't used to begging, but she was more than prepared to do it for the truth.

"My dad." Tara swallowed the wave of tears. "And D-Donnie, my b-b-brother. When they saw the letter from UC Sunnydale they got…" She trailed off. The memory of what Lucius' teleport saved her from just upset her all too much.

"I was gonna tell them, they were just angry that they just had to find out through a letter." Tara sighed shakily. "I-I-it was my fault…t-they do it because of the demon, to control…"

Willow cut Tara off by throwing a statuette of the virgin Mary into a wall behind her, smashing it in her anger. "Bastards!" Willow cursed, screaming.

"They were hurting you!" Willow was so infuriated that tears were streaking down her face. In a small part of her mind it registered that only a few hours ago she would've never talked or acted like this. She was used to dialogue which included riding and ponies. However, in just a few moments of knowing her Tara had changed her. "Before we brought you here, they were hurting you, weren't they?!" She made it sound more of a statement than a question.

"And they made you think…" Willow swallowed in an attempt to curb her anger; the last thing she wanted was to scare Tara. "They made you think it was for your own good. As if you are evil."

"No!" Willow roared and threw herself across the room to Tara to grasp the blonde's face in both her hands. She pinned Tara in her gaze a spoke deep into her soul. "Listen to me. You are not evil."

The way Willow was saying it, the sincerity of the words gave Tara hope that there may be hope. However, she couldn't allow herself to hope. "No, you're wrong." Tara was having a hard time focusing being this close to the beautiful vampire.

"No I'm not." Willow spoke softer than she had in years and drew her face even closer until they were only inches away, breathing in Tara's scent. It intoxicated the vampire in ways even the freshest of bloods never could. "You're sweet and beautiful and…"

As she spoke, their faces drew closer until Tara took the plunge and brushed her bottom lip softly over Willow's, begging her to accept it into her mouth. The vampire didn't disappoint; she sucked the puckered lip into her mouth and ran her tongue over it, tasting the sweetness of the girl's strawberry lip balm. Tara responded by running her hands up Willow's arms, up to her neck and cupped her cheeks just as Willow was doing to hers. After a few seconds, she gave up the captive lip and the blissful sensation it brought with it. "…and I think I'm in love with you."

"I think I love you too." Tara gasped. "It's crazy…I don't know you but…" Willow pushed forward to bring their lips together again. "Oh God." She gasped as Willow brought her lips away from Tara's and kissed up her cheek to nibble on her ear.

"Willow…" Tara's gripped the girl's red hair, pushing her towards her neck. She had long since forgotten about the dangers of doing such a thing. "Make love to me." She pleaded.

Her reservations lost, Willow flung herself and Tara around and onto the floor, being sure to land on top with her right leg separating Tara's thighs and pushing her own thigh onto her heated centre through her skirt. While they fell to the floor, Willow never allowed her lips to leave Tara's jugular.

Consumed by hunger, Tara took hold of Willow's hair and brought her face back down to her own, an overpowering urge to explore the vampire's mouth taking hold of her. While she caressed the blonde's cheek, Willow brought her other hand down to Tara's thigh and caressed the bare skin there, which had been uncovered when the skirt rode up in the fall. Tara's left hand was entwined in Willow's fiery hair while her right tickled it's way down the vampire's back until it cupped her leather-clad behind.

Willow brought her hand down from the girl's cheek, caressing her neck with her knuckles, and brought her fingers to rest on the buttons that kept the blonde's cleavage from being revealed to her. She fumbled blindly with one button before going further down to the next. She could've torn herself away to quicken the process, but the feel of Tara's tongue as it rolled about her own brought sensations she had never had before.

Finally, when Willow searched for another button but found only the material of Tara's skirt, she deduced the fact that the blouse was finally open. She brought her hand back up across her silky smooth abdomen, over her ribs until she met her bra. Willow found her arousal increase tenfold at the sensation of her fingers over the breast. The second she felt it, she knew she had to feel how it felt without the restrictions of the material. She quickly brought her cool hand over the curve, brushing her fingers over the erect nub pushing against the bra's material. She moaned into the Tara's mouth and the exact same time that Tara did the same. For a moment, Willow wondered whether or not the girl's apparent arousal was caused by the sexuality of the situation or of Willow's lack of body heat chilling the body she lay upon. However, as she regarded for the first time her own nipples, with were also painfully hard and struggling for freedom against their prison of hard leather, she realized that it was impossible to be in this situation and not be this aroused.

Grasping at the silk of Tara's bra, Willow pulled at the lingerie, pulling the straps that went over the Wicca's shoulders as she did. Eventually, after many frustrated grunts and pulls from both of the girls (who were unprepared to break the lip-lock they were in), Tara brought her arms out from the straps without unclasping the bra before returning her hands to their previous positions. Willow, meanwhile, took advantage of the bra's broken constrictions and hastily dragged the silk up and over her generous curves until the material was left bunched up under Tara's cleavage. Her task down, Willow brought her slender, icy fingers back over the soft flesh of her right breast and cupped it, feeling it's weight and caressing the side with her fingertips.

A chill that ran through her sensitive flesh at the touch of the immortal shook Tara to her soul, and reminded her that she hadn't made a move, other than the slight rock of hips that mirrored Willow's own. As she brought her hand down from Willow's hair to her shoulder blades, Tara felt a zip dividing the leather corset. It didn't take too long before to pull the zip down and open the top part of the ensemble part. She'd thought Willow's whole suit was one-piece, but evidently she was mistaken. She was quite disappointed to realize she was wrong-now she'd have to go through the arduous task of removing Willow's leather pants. Tara was going to push Willow away so she could peel the open leather from her, however, before she got around to it she was reduced to a quivering mess of whimpers unable to form coherent thoughts.

Willow had stopped cupping Tara's breast and brought her fingers to Tara's nipple and pinched it lightly. She drew out Tara's mewls of pleasure into her own mouth by rolling the nub between her thumb and index finger, pulling on it lightly. She was content that her ministrations, added with the iciness of her fingertips were playing havoc with Tara's body. And she was right.

Eventually, Tara had gotten out of her reverie by her need for release, and, realizing getting Willow naked was probably the best way to go about it, once again pulled at the leather still covering Willow's own breasts, although it was futile while they were still locked together.

Realizing Tara's trepidation, Willow, with great reluctance, pulled her lips away from Tara's and her fingers from her breasts. With her zip undone, Willow only had to shrug the garment off as she looked into Tara's diluted pupils. She waited for a long while to allow Tara time to drink the sight in, something the blonde did instantly. While her right hand refused to move from it's position on the redhead's derrière, Tara brought her left hand around from Willow's cool back to her front. She carefully ran her hand across both breasts lightly in a figure of eight, avoiding her nipples. She smirked lob-sided at the thought of causing Willow's sharp pants of breath, despite not even needing to fill her lungs. It crossed her mind that it may be a reaction that was subconscious rather than a biological need for oxygen. Whatever it was, it increased when, mimicking Willow's own actions to her, Tara pinched at Willow's nipple gentle, then twisting it more roughly. She alternated between the two extremes, being sure to take note of the vampire's squeals of pleasure.

Willow, just as Tara had, was getting frustrated, and decided to make the next move to get to the climax she had so desperately desired since the moment she laid eyes upon the beauty she was on. She lifted herself up slightly, being sure that Tara could still reach her breasts and used the hand that rested on Tara's hips to drag the material of both Tara's skirt and panties down her slender legs. Fortunately, Tare bent her legs for her which meant that she didn't have to move to fully get rid of the clothing.

With her venture finished, Willow descended back upon Tara, only this time brought her mouth onto Tara's left nipple, sucking it into her mouth, while her left hand returned to caressing her right.

"OH GOD!" Tara gasped out breathlessly, holding Willow's head down, pleased to note it was impossible to suffocate her with her cleavage while she played with where leather met skin at the bottom of Willow's spine, debating with the idea of pulling them down.

Willow's right hand, meanwhile, moved back up her left leg, darting from the inside from the outside, teasing Tara into guessing which side it'd end up on when it reached the top. It was on the inside. However, Willow wasn't about to allow Tara release quite so soon, and so moved around Tara's heat, casually brushing her lips on the way to brush her fingers through her short golden hair, eliciting a quiver of pleasure to quake through her body.

Tara had had enough, and pulled on the leather pants, running her hand over Willow's naked cheeks as she dragged it down. Willow helped as well as she could by squirming her legs up and down, often inadvertently hitting Tara's centre, meaning the girl constantly yelped in bliss throughout the task. However, eventually Willow had the leather low enough down so that she could kick them off her legs. Since becoming a vampire, Willow had abandoned underwear.

With them both naked (except for the blouse and bra Tara had technically not yet removed), they began rocking their hips in synchronicity. Succumbing to her desires, Tara reluctant brought her hand away from Willow's naked behind and round to her front. She didn't have the willpower to go through the teasing Willow was with her, and immediately parted her folds with two fingers and plunged them into her passage, pushing her palm onto her swollen nub.

Willow's eyes shot open at the sudden penetration. Tara's boldness convinced Willow to foregoing the teasing and help Tara out. Bringing her hand back down from Tara's pubic hair, Willow gently ran her fingertips along the her outer lips momentarily and then pushed her middle finger gently into her tight passage. Her initial instincts that Tara would be a virgin were proved right. She slowly thrust the finger in and out a few times, rocking her hips as Tara mimicked her almost precisely, but with two fingers. She carefully brought her fingers back out and kept them out this time, bringing Tara whimpering in frustration. However, she started screaming instead when Willow's thumb found her clitoris after just a few seconds of searching a massaged it gently. Willow began thrusting her finger again, adding her index finger when she felt the blonde would be able to take it. She soon felt Tara clenching around her fingers, and it made her delirious, a sensation that was only increased when she felt Tara add a third finger to her and rub her palm harder into Willow's folds.

As she felt the climax building up in her, she lifted her mouth from Tara's nipple and devoured the blonde in a passionate kiss, absorbing the blonde's blissful cry as the muscles Tara's slick tunnel clenched around Willow's fingers tightly. She could feel the flesh vibrating around her fingers, and it brought about her own release.

In a flurry of Nevada based bliss, Willow lost all thought. She retched her lips from Tara as her orgasm manifested itself in the shift in form of Willow's face. Her fangs lengthened and her face contorted, but neither of them noticed. Devoid of any conscious thought, Willow bit down into her jugular, and sucked up the ambrosia that poured out of there.

The danger, the blood and the eroticism of it all brought wave after wave of pleasure through Tara, pushing away any rational thought that should've surfaced about what was happening. They both kept their fingers in each other as Willow drunk. Soon, Tara was feeling even more light-headed, and on the urge of collapse. As she felt the girl beneath her droop, Willow pulled away. As she kept her eyes locked with the beautiful girl she lay upon, Willow brought her razor sharp nail to her breast and made an inch long incision just above the areola, allowing the cold blood the roll slowly from the cut and down her breast. She smiled inwardly (for no muscle in her body worked) as she saw Tara watch the blood with longing. Willow drew her arms forward to Tara's head, and pulled her to her breast. Willow gasped in pleasure as she felt Tara suck greedily. It was unmatched, however, to the sensations she felt when Tara's fingers began thrusting again, only this time her thumb rubbed fiercely on her clitoris. The friction made Willow numb from that point down. But it was Tara's blood running through her system and the blonde sucking on her own that pushed Willow over the edge. Once Willow began her earth shattering peak, Tara's head fell from Willow's breast and dropped to the ground limply. Her amazing view of Willow in unrivalled bliss dimmed and blurred as she lost her grip on this world and fell into unconsciousness. At almost the same instant that Tara had dropped from consciousness, Willow's eyes rolled back into her head, and her body fell beside Tara's.

When Willow awoke it was still dark outside. However, by lifting her head only slightly, she recognized she was no longer in the crypt, but on the floor of the magic shop she was in earlier with Lucius. She could also feel the leather on her skin, indicating that somehow she'd been dressed. Finally, the memory of how she got naked in the first place caught up with her, and with it the realization of what happened just before she passed out.

"Tara!" She gasped out. She never meant to bite her, but it was the only thing in her mind at the time. Right now, Willow hated what she was more than ever before. "Tara!" Willow called louder as she jumped up to her feet, intending to find the blonde girl. However, the second se was up, a million thoughts…no, memories jolted through her mind.

Although she recognized none of the memories, almost all were deeply disturbing. Willow's head spun as the images shot through her mind…facing off against puppy, Darla, a bleached blonde vampire and a brunette vampire…killing a large, blue, sword wielding demon…fighting for her life in a burning theatre…seeing The Master as human…a crucifixion of a priest…primordial, vicious, deformed vampires…drinking the blood from a prehistoric black woman…walking in sunlight…a demon called Turok'na…G'lakhi…Nudeeri…

Willow's legs gave in and she fell to the ground in a heap. The images smashed against each other, struggling to find some place to fit in. None of it made any sense to Willow, but she knew they were Lucius' memory once she saw the memory of The Master. Based on the memories, she regretted hitting him; he was truly one she should fear.

"You're awake." She saw Lucius' legs making their way towards her from the backroom; she couldn't lift her head any higher as the ferocity of the memories tore at her brain like parasites. "I must say, it wasn't very nice…what you did to poor Tara." He walked behind her crouched form.

Willow could only just hear him, as the memories in her head were begging for answers. "G'lakhi?"

"What?" Lucius' head spun around at the mention of the word. Suddenly, all the smugness of his voice dissipated. "What did you say?"

But Willow's mind had already came up with a question it felt was more potent. She turned her head up to meet his eyes. "Who's Nudeeri?"

Lucius' eyes told a story of shock first, before they darkened into undiluted rage. Willow didn't have a chance to miss Lucius' kick to her torso, that launched her across the length of the shop into the wall. Defeating the rules of physics, Lucius got there before Willow, and pinned her against the wall with one hand around her throat. "You do not speak that name!" He roared into her face. "How do you know it?"

"You." She breathed out. Everything was suddenly becoming clear to her as small parts of the memories found their places. "I have your memories…because you were controlling me."

Lucius loosened his hold on her as regarded her suspiciously. "You have my memories?"

"You made me kill Tara." Willow seethed. She now knew this vampire was extremely dangerous, yet that wasn't enough to mute her rage.

Lucius dropped Willow and turned away, grinning. "That's right." He turned glanced over his shoulder at her. "You didn't honestly think that little punch of yours really knocked me out, did you?" He turned away again, leisurely strolling around the shop as he explained with glee what he did. "I can control any vampire directly down my line just by touching them-provided they don't have a soul."

Willow struggled back up to her feet. "You made me…with her…?" She began through clenched teeth. The idea that he made her declare love for Tara seemed wrong.

"Oh, no." Lucius chuckled. "I was just laying in wait in your mind, seeing what you saw, feeling what you felt." He smirked as he saw Willow's scowl become more pronounced. He was really getting under her skin. "And the when the time came, I made you bite her and got her to drink." He turned away from her to muse to himself, not noticing the anger that was burning through Willow like holy water. "It's never given the vampire my memories before, though. That must be one of those unprecedented alterations to my power in this unstable universe."

"You bastard." Willow heard none of what he was saying. The only thing she was thinking was that this thing made her kill Tara-it was going to die! "I'm gonna fucking kill you!" She screeched and ran at Lucius.

He knocked her back into the wall with mere gesture, and began walking back up to her. "I was just keeping our deal." He nodded over to the door to the backroom. "And I still am."

Following his gaze, Willow gasped at the sight of Tara. She was still wearing the same outfit, yet she oozed of confidence, her neck was high and she swaggered slightly as she moved a couple of steps further into the room. Willow walked away from Lucius, captivated by the beautiful girl in front of her. However, she wasn't a girl, not anymore. She wasn't any paler, but Willow knew without doubt that the creature in front of her was a vampire. And vampire meant no soul. That beautiful soul that Willow saw and fell in love with instantly. She didn't deserve to be a vampire.

"Oh, Tara." Willow chocked out as she reached the beautiful, newly risen vampire and stroked her long blonde hair. "What has he done to you?"

"It's okay, Will." Tara smiled crookedly, just as she would when she was human, and brought Willow's hand from her hair to lips to kiss her fingertips gently. "We can be together now…forever."

"No." Willow breathed out. She was crying for the first time in years. "You don't deserve this."

Tara chuckled slightly at Willow's words. "I'm okay." She assured her, caressing the redhead's cheek. "I'm stronger now…they can't hurt me anymore…and I can stay with you." She smiled sweetly at the leather bound girl in front of her.

Willow didn't know what to do. It was all she wanted to accept Tara's words and spend forever with her, but she couldn't help hating herself at what she'd done, even if it wasn't really her who consciously did it. She suddenly became aware of the stake that was being pushed into her hand by Lucius, whom was standing beside her. She glanced down at it and then to the ancient creature by her side with questioning eyes.

"I said I was keeping our deal." He smiled and squeezed her fingers around the shaft. "And I am."

As Lucius moved from her side to behind her, Willow brought the stake up to her face, examining it, and then looked into Tara's eyes, looking for some sort of answer to her trepidation.

Tara's sweet voice broke Willow's cold heart. Her mind was screaming at her to kill her-it told her that this wasn't Tara, and raised her stake up to where it'd have to be to plunge it in Tara's heart. However, Willow knew the second she heard Tara's whimper and saw her flinch when she raised her stake that she couldn't do it. Whatever this was, it still wore Tara's face. Willow could never bear to never see it again.

Willow shivered at the horrid voice whispering softly in her ear from behind her. The same monster that had done this in the first place. She suddenly had an idea, and spoke out through clenched teeth. "Yes I can." In break of motion, she swung round and embedded the stake deep into his heart!

Willow and Tara watched wide eyed as Lucius staggered back a few steps, clutching the stake in his chest. They waited for the dust to come. It didn't. After a few seconds of his act, he looked up at them both and laughed. "Sorry, girls." He carefully removed the stake from his heart and glanced down at the wound. The girls couldn't believe their eyes as they saw the wound close itself up. "Takes more than a stake to kill me." He pierced Willow with an angry glare as he spoke. "Tara, on the other hand…"

With a quick gestures, Tara was flung across the room into his arms, her back against her chest as he held the stake he'd just removed above her heart. If you blinked, you would've missed it.

"You move any closer and she dies!" Lucius bellowed out. Willow froze for a moment before stepping back. "Now, I have a job for you both. If you do it, you both get to live."

"You bastard." Tara whimpered out, which only elicited a chuckle from behind her.

Seeing the girl she'd instantly fallen in love with being held with her life on the line, even if she was a vampire, brought Willow to desperation. "What kind of job?"

"Come back to the real world." He grinned. "A couple of doubles like you will cause hate among my enemies."

Willow finally caught on. 'He's trying to kill the fuzzy me and the slayer!' It wasn't a thought that particularly bothered the vampire. "Why do you want them to hate each other?"

"Because hate is the most powerful weapon in the world." He smirked, and glanced at the stake with the blood on it. "It makes people do crazy things. It tears them apart. Destroys them. Hate is what I am." He looked up into Willow's eyes. "I'm sure you'd agree."

Willow looked between both sets of eyes before her. One belonging to the one she loved more than anyone in the world, the other belonging to that who she most hated. And out of the two, it was the hate who was holding all the power. Willow could do nothing but nod, defeated. It was certainly true in her experience-hate had won over love.

"So, will you come?" He asked, impatiently. "Only I want to get out of here soon. This universe was never meant to exist, and it's likely to collapse soon. Sending everyone in it out of existence, so I'd like to get out of here quickly."

Lucius' words made up Willow's mind. In the real world, she and Tara could be together-forever. She swallowed down her resentment and closed her eyes shut.

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Birth, Death, Love and Hate

by Connor Kubrick

Copyright © 2003

deaf_jazzman@hotmail.com