The Dark Rose

By darkmagickwillow

Copyright © May 2003

Chapter 4 (Dreams and Revelations)

"I-I think there's a way we can, hmmm..." Tara said to the red-haired girl, stuttering on the first word, and reached for a book on her cluttered desk. The curtains were tightly closed, leaving the softly glowing lamp on her desk and the tiny fairy lights along the walls as the only illumination. Finding the tome she was searching for, Tara continued, "The passage to the nether realm. There-there's a ritual. If you can find Buffy there, you should be able to see." Even as she said the words, she felt puzzled. Who was Buffy?

"If it'll help her," the green-eyed girl said. Her hair seemed fiery in the darkness of the room. It wasn't a red like the other reds of the room, of her shirt, of the carpet. It was brighter, more alive.

Tara frowned, knowing that there were complications.

"What?" asked the redhead.

"Well, the nether realm exists beyond the physical world," Tara explained. "Accessing it is... I-it-it's kind of like astral projection. It's very intense. I'd have to be your anchor, keep you on this plane." Tara wondered why she was stuttering. She never had before.

The redhead nodded. "I trust you," she said.

Tara felt warm at the expression of trust, but it wasn't that simple. She tried to make her friend understand, saying "It-it's not like anything that we've ever..."

"I trust you," the redhead said again, her eyes open and shining with trust as she smiled at Tara.

Tara's heart swelled with warmth and love for this woman who trusted her so much. She knew that she would do anything for her.

They sat crosslegged side by side facing opposite directions near the fringed edge of the red patterned rug. Their eyes were closed as they chanted "The inward eye, the sightless sea. Ayala flows through the river in me." As they began chanting, Tara felt the tingling and warmth of the magic in her fingertips.

They repeated the phrase and the warm sensation flowed up her arms to her shoulders. Again they repeated the chant and the warm tingling surged through her body down to her legs. Her heart sped up and her breathing quickened. With the fourth repetition, her body was filled with the warmth and light of their power. When the fullness inside her seemed almost too much to bear, the magic emerged from their hands as light, joining to form a flaming circle around them.

They slowly raised their hands and touched palm to palm. Tara had to fight to keep from crying out as the electricity of their contact surged through her body, her nipples hardening in response. She felt her breathing deepen in synchrony with her partner's as their merged power floated the circle of light up from the floor. Wave after wave of their conjoined energies crashed through them, floating the incandescent circle higher and higher. The intensity of the sensation was far beyond that of any spell they'd done before.

As the waves reached their crescendo, Tara opened her eyes and gazed into the green eyes of her partner, seeing an ecstasy in them that matched her own. Then the redhead slowly fell back, closing her eyes as her hand fell away from Tara's and her spirit left her body. The circle of light rose still higher as Tara focused entirely on her partner--holding on with all her strength and love so that the redhead would find the way back to her.

Tara woke up from her nap, murmuring a sleepy complaint at losing the amazing connection she'd felt in her dream. The intensity of sensation she'd experienced in her dream was almost unbelievable. Could casting together really be that good, that intense?

Did it create that soul-deep connection that she'd felt in her dream or was it the other way around, the love and the connection producing those intense sensations as they worked magic together? She wished again that she had someone to cast with, to experience that intensity of feeling, but everyone she'd met at the campus Wicca group was just a blessed-wanna-be.

More strongly than that, Tara wished that she had someone to love. She had dated a girl in high school, but she'd never actually been in love. There hadn't been anyone at university for her either. Was there something wrong with her that she couldn't find someone to fall in love with?

Of course, her nightly activities weren't the best social opportunities and they would make it difficult for her to open up even if she did meet someone. Maybe her dreams were a guide to the person she was meant to be with. She'd never seen anyone like the slender flame-haired girl of her dreams though.

She didn't feel as lonely here in Sunnydale as she had in high school. Here she had Spirit and Mr. Giles, but their friendship was all caught up in the slaying and she wanted something of her own, something like the connection of her dream, two hearts joined in perfect synchronicity. Making the world safer for humanity was great, but it didn't keep you warm at night when you lay awake in your bed wondering if anyone would ever come along to fill that empty space in your heart.

Tara shrugged off her blankets, yawning. She stretched like a cat then sat up. No more time for conjecture. Tara had to meet Spirit for patrol tonight.

Willow sat high in the tree, dangling her legs and thinking while waiting for Tara. She'd watched Tara every night this week and was beginning to figure out her schedule. She knew Tara would walk by the tree in the next few minutes. Watching Tara was a mixture of pleasure and pain.

It was wonderful to see her love alive again, but it hurt to see her without being able to talk with her or touch her. How could she recreate what they had lost? What could she say to her? "You don't know me but we were deeply in love in your past life" didn't seem to be the best way to start a conversation. Why did it have to be so hard?

It was still difficult to wrap her mind around the idea of Tara's reincarnation. She had read about reincarnation, but she had never studied it the way that she'd studied the magicks of the resurrection. Reincarnation wasn't something that she could command or control so it hadn't interested her.

Even in what she had read about reincarnation, she had never read about a case like this. Tara must have been reborn almost immediately after her death, and she was where she had died, looking almost the same and bearing the same name. Willow couldn't explain it. Despite all her studies, there was still much about magic that she didn't understand.

She saw Tara climb over the hill top she was gazing towards, a little earlier than usual tonight. Willow could make out every detail with her dark eyes that drink in every beam of light that struck them, allowing nothing to escape to betray their presence. Tara was dressed as usual in her black leather jacket and blue jeans, though tonight the jeans were stained with mud and grass. Willow felt a surge of worry, quickly glancing over Tara's body looking for injuries. She sighed with relief when she didn't find any.

Tara was accompanied as usual by a young Asian girl who Willow knew was Spirit the vampire slayer. She was truly the Chosen One. Both the slayers Willow had known were dead. She didn't care that Faith had died in prison, but each time she thought about Buffy's death, she wished that she had returned to Sunnydale earlier. Somehow Buffy's death hadn't bothered her before now. Forcing her thoughts away from her friends of the past, she looked at Tara again.

Willow fingered the soul gem as she regarded Tara and thought--there was a solution. She could remove Tara's soul from her current body and restore it to her old one. Willow knew the spells of protection and preservation she'd placed on Tara's corpse so many years ago were still active. She had known that Tara's body might be necessary for her resurrection so she'd layered it with her strongest protections before departing Sunnydale.

Willow shook her head as she watched the young women carefully walk through the maze of tombstones and monuments that made up the cemetery, looking carefully for lurking vampires and commenting to her friend. How could she think such things? Transferring Tara's soul wasn't just another spell. There were consequences. It would kill the beautiful woman she watching.

That was Tara there before her eyes, not a pale substitute for her love.

She couldn't do anything that would harm her.

If anything, Tara had a better life than before. Willow had done a great deal of hacking and investigating to learn about Tara's new life, past and present. She hadn't had an abusive father and brother telling her that she was evil all her life. She had friends. She could fight the dangers of the night herself as she'd demonstrated so dramatically in their first meeting. Did she even need or want a partner? But even if Tara's new life hadn't been better, Willow still couldn't take it away from her.

Willow's interactions with people for the past nineteen years had been very intense though usually rather short. She thought back to her experience with Wolfram and Hart. She had learned about how they had brought back Darla. After failing with rituals that weren't as dark as theirs, Willow had gone to them for help.

Their price had been high, but she would've paid anything to have Tara back. Everything had gone fine in the dark crypt where they were performing the ritual of resurrection until a brilliant flash of light following the sacrifice of the five vampires.

Willow rushed to the crate where Tara was supposed to appear. It was empty. She turned to Lilah, her dark eyes flashing with fury. "Where is she?" she demanded.

Lilah, the law firm's special projects agent who was working with Willow, appeared calm in her expensively tailored suit. She looked at the Vocah demon beside her, shrouded in shadows that even Willow's eyes could not pierce. "Well," she said. "What happened?"

"Her soul is not available to be returned," it answered in a deep, hollow voice.

"What does that mean?" Willow asked in a cold voice, full of barely repressed anger.

"She cannot be resurrected," the Vocah said from the shadows. "My job here is complete." The shadows dissipated, revealing nothing but empty air with the demon had once stood. The crypt was now empty save for Willow, Lilah, and her security team.

"I paid your price," Willow said softly as she stepped closer to Lilah. "I want my resurrection in return as we agreed."

"We performed the ritual as agreed," Lilah said. She made a gesture with her hand and the six members of the security team brought their guns up, ready to fire. They were well protected against magical attack, physical or mental. "I'm sure you don't want to argue with that."

"Don't I?" Willow asked with a grim smile. Then she dissolved into a cloud of thick, black smoke that exploded outwards to fill the entire crypt.

Shrieks and screams followed by gunshots filled the darkness as Lilah rushed to the exit. Nothing could be seen in the darkness as the sounds faded away. The black cloud swirled around her, then coalesced into the form of Willow, blocking the exit. Six thuds as bodies hit the stone floor confirmed the death of every member of the security team.

"Now," Willow said sweetly. "What were you saying about our agreement?"

Lilah had been exceedingly helpful after her little demonstration, providing Willow with a number of books and artifacts that had proved useful in her search. However, that experience like most of those of the last 19 years didn't offer any ideas on how to go about meeting Tara.

Willow couldn't imagine simply walking up to Tara's room and asking to see her. For one thing, Willow would be terrified. For another, Tara would be terrified too as black clad witches at your door generally didn't mean well. And Willow definitely was not ready to reveal her face and let Tara see her inhumanly dark eyes.

She watched as Tara and Spirit strolled out of sight and sighed. If she couldn't meet Tara at home, she'd have to meet her at work. Willow jumped gracefully out of the tree. She landed on her feet, absorbing the impact of the thirty foot drop without a sound, and began her walk home. She had research to do.

Tonight had been another bust.

They hadn't been able to find anything about the new Master vampire in any of Mr. Giles' books. He kept complaining about the small size of their library compared to the Council's library in his early days as a watcher. Tara didn't think that would matter as she wasn't sure that there was a new evil to discover. She and Spirit had been encountering fewer vampires rather than more in their nightly patrols. Shouldn't there be more vampires if a master vampire was in town?

Tara heard footsteps behind her. She thought, Of course, maybe I'm wrong and there's a group of vampires was following me right now, as she readied a stake. Glancing over her shoulder, Tara could only see a small figure shrouded in shadow walking towards her.

She increased her pace to reach the street corner just ahead of her. The footsteps behind her sped up to match her pace. Tara darted around the street corner and raised the stake in her right hand, ready to strike the vampire's heart the moment it rounded the corner.

As the black-clad figure rounded the corner, Tara swept her stake towards its heart, stopping at the last moment as she finally recognized who her stalker was.

It was Willow. She was dressed in black leathers as she had been the night that they had first met. Her face and hair were hidden under the cowl of her cloak. Tara could only make out the pale shadows of a face, but she couldn't discern any color of eye or hair under the cowl. Perhaps it was because of the darkness of the alley way they stood in.

Tara swallowed, thinking that that had been too close. She had to watch her reactions after spending too many nights hunting vampires. Willow didn't seem to be perturbed by her near-impalement though Tara wondered if she could tell with Willow's face hidden in the shadows of her cloak.

"Feeling nervous?" Willow asked, looking down at the stake hovering over her heart. She didn't feel nervous about the stake. It couldn't hurt her. But she was nervous about the person holding the stake. Tara could wound her deeply with a few simple words. This conversation had to go right.

"Sorry, yes," Tara said. "Good things don't generally follow me at night in Sunnydale." Realizing that she was still holding a stake over Willow's heart, Tara flushed with embarrassment and lowered her hand to her side. This wasn't the way she'd envisioned a second meeting between them beginning.

"I understand," Willow said. Inside, her heart leaped at Tara's words. So I'm a good thing and we've barely talked? Then she worried. Maybe she was a good thing because they hadn't talked much. What if she babbled? What if she couldn't think of anything to say? She'd only practiced the conversation a few...dozen times this evening.

"So I haven't seen you since that memorable meeting in the cemetery," Tara said. Great. That's original. Come on, Tara, you can come up with something more interesting to say to keep her around longer this time.

"I have news for you about the Master," Willow replied. "I found out from one of his vampires that he's sending a large group of vampires to kill the slayer at the school library while she's training tomorrow ... at noon."

Tara was intrigued then puzzled as Willow spoke. "At noon?" she asked, cocking her head. "But they can't go out during the day."

"There are ways to travel below the city without seeing the light of day," Willow said. "Be ready." She was pleased as she turned away, swirling her cloak dramatically around herself as she had practiced, and began walking down the street away from Tara. She smiled giddily, the expression hidden under the hood of her cloak where no one could see. She had the cryptic warning down. It had worked for Angel with Buffy, hadn't it?

Thoughts of Angel and Buffy sobered Willow. She had seen how well that had worked out, and she wanted more from a relationship than mysterious warnings and dramatic appearances to save Tara. She had to find another way to connect to Tara, but even as she thought that she wondered if she should forge a connection with this new Tara.

Tara was such a bright soul, and Willow carried so much darkness within herself. What right did she have to bring all the darkness down upon Tara's light? Angel had a terrible darkness within him, and Willow had seen how that had poisoned his relationship with Buffy. Willow didn't want that to happen to her and Tara, but what could she do about it? The darkness was who she was.

Tara raised her hand and started to say something to stop Willow but couldn't come up with anything. This was so frustrating. How could she talk to Willow when she was always disappearing? She shook her head and turned back to the library. Mr. Giles had to know about this tonight though he didn't have to know where the warning came from.

As Tara entered the school library, it was dark but she knew Mr. Giles was in from the light shining through the window in his office door. She walked to the door and knocked, saying, "Mr. Giles, it's Tara." It was always best to announce yourself at night in Sunnydale.

Giles quickly opened the door, immediately asking, "Tara, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Tara replied. "but I found out something on the way home that I thought you should know about tonight."

"What is it?" Giles asked. "Something about the Master?"

"Yes," Tara answered. "He's planning an attack on the slayer here tomorrow at noon." The warning didn't make any sense to her but the Watcher had knowledge and experience that she lacked. Maybe it would have more meaning for him.

Giles looked puzzled. "At noon?" he asked. "I know that vampires can travel through the sewers or even through the streets if completely covered, but look at the size of those windows. Even on a cloudy day, it would be too bright in here for vampires."

Tara shrugged. "I don't know how they plan to do it," she said. "I just know that they said."

"Who did you learn this from?" Giles asked. "Are you sure the information's reliable?"

Tara swallowed. She didn't want to tell Giles about Willow and she wasn't sure if she could explain why even to herself. She wanted to keep Willow just for herself even though they'd only met twice. Somehow she knew Willow felt the same, that their midnight meetings were just for each other.

"I found it out from a vampire before I staked him," she said, feeling guilty about lying to Giles but at the same time hoping that none of that guilty showed on her face or in her voice. Hopefully, he would be distracted enough by the message to ignore its delivery.

Giles thought for a minute. "Well," he said. "It might not be the most reliable of sources, but we should be prepared tomorrow."

"You're still going to be here?" Tara asked in a surprised tone. She had expected that Giles and Spirit would avoid the library tomorrow because of her warning. Shouldn't you avoid a trap once you know it's there? Didn't he believe her?

"Yes, we'll be here," Giles answered firmly. "And we'll be well armed and prepared for anything that might happen."

Tara still felt a bit nervous but said, "Okay, I'd better get some sleep then. I'll see you here at noon."

"Goodnight, Tara, and don't worry too much," Giles said. "It's probably nothing."

Tara left the library and headed home for the second time that night. She started thinking of spells that might be useful tomorrow as she trusted Willow and expected the attack to happen on time, but her mind turned of its own accord to softer thoughts of Willow that had nothing to do with vampires.

Who was that girl?

Continued...