RC 2018: NEW CHAPTER 7/7/07

[Sheridan]

Hmm well I can answer a couple of the questions Russ without giving anything away.

Quote:

---

if Willow didn't finish the spell, how did Erin gain slayer powers?

---

The transfer had taken place but the ritual had to be 'signed and sealed' so to speak. Since it wasn't that leaves a loophole...

Quote:

---

Is embryonic LJ communicating with Tara, or is her adult self reaching back through the mists of time to help her parents, or both?

---

In tersm of boosting Tara's powers that's the embryonic LJ, the advanced spellcasting is LJ loaning Tara some future knowledge but she has to give it back afterwards.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Well 'Inheritance II' is finished, just needs editing and should be up after the weekend. Then theres just three more stories to go...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Title: Inheritance II

Author: Mike Mullen

Rating: NC-17/18 because of violence and adult themes.

Spoilers: None what so ever

Disclaimer: All the original BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME, everyone else in the stories are my personal slaves.

Summary: Willow and Tara are still trying to save Buffy but they seem to be having as much trouble with their friends as their enemies.

Authors notes: You can get off that cliff now.

Feedback: Just add your comments at the end of the story.

Inheritance II

1. "Talking To Yourself"

Willow was a little surprised to find herself lying on the sofa in the Summers house; she had imagined she would wake up in her own bed back at the apartment, assuming she woke up anywhere at all. As much as she might wish they weren't Willow's memories of the debacle in the clearing were vivid. They had been set up by the First; tricked into creating some sort of dark Slayer. The only glimmer of light Willow could see was that she hadn't finished the spell, though she wasn't sure how much help that would really be. She had felt it was important enough that it was the last thing she had said to Tara before she blacked out, or at least she thought it was the last thing she said, it could easily have been garbled beyond recognition; she needed to get her butt into gear and figure out what they were going to do next.

        As soon as she swung herself up into a sitting position Willow groaned, not out of pain but because she realised that the walls and ceiling of the living room were absent; the furnishings of the ground floor of the Summers house were scattered across a misty plain, "Great, I'm dreaming." Somewhere out in the real world Tara was probably standing over her worrying herself sick, while I'm wandering through some surrealist dreamscape.

        Willow took a deep breath and found the air felt cold. That was unusual for a dream; she ran her hand over the arm of the sofa and could feel the texture of the material, again this was extraordinarily vivid for a mere dream, and Willow couldn’t help thinking there were other possible explanations, "I am not dead, because this is way too weird for heaven and too cold for the other place,” she told herself firmly.

        Having settled that issue Willow could smell something in the air; a faint scent of brewing coffee. Since she could definitely use something to wake her up Willow decided to track it down.

        The components of the kitchen of the Summers house were all set out in the correct relationship to one another, there just wasn't any room holding them together, which was really disturbing when she looked at the wall cabinets simply hanging in thin air. There was indeed coffee brewing besides the kitchen sink but Willow forgot about it when she saw Buffy leaning against the counter watching a TV, "Hey Buff, you got stuck here too?"

        The Slayer didn't even twitch, "So maybe you aren't here." Willow muttered, feeling foolish. She was curious as to what was so fascinating on the screen and edged round the impassive Buffy to take a look.

        The screen was showing a scene of the Hellmouth with everyone there including Willow herself. The unsettling part was that Buffy was standing facing the others with Bringers flanking her and a cruel sneer twisting her face. The Willow on the screen unwrapped something and the image zoomed in on to reveal an ancient looking spear with runes carved along the shaft. The image drew out and the spear leapt from the TV Willow’s hand and slammed right through Buffy. As it tore out of her back it vanished and the screen was filled with brilliant light before going dark.

        Now Buffy turned to Willow, "Is that it Will? Is that setting me free?" The words were chilling but they were delivered with all the emotion of a department store mannequin.

        Far from being distraught Willow was annoyed. She looked above her at the swirling fog, "You couldn't just say, 'don't stab Buffy with spear'? I mean couldn't you just talk to me?"

        There was no answer, though from the way the fog closed in around her she was guessing the higher powers weren’t thrilled with her critique.



        Tara was watching Willow anxiously, that she had begun talking in her sleep was something of a relief, it meant she wasn't in a coma or brain sucked or some such. Willow stirred and Tara leant closer to her. She felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders as Willow's eyes opened, "Am I really awake this time?" she asked.

        Tara answered the question with a gentle kiss on the lips, "I'll take that as a yes," she murmured.

        As pleasant at would have been to stay right where she was Willow sat up and saw she was stretched on a mat in the Magic Box's training room. "How much do you remember?" Tara asked.

        "Everything up until I passed out, got to admit this wasn’t where I expected to wake up."

        "I opened a hole and we stepped through to the Magic Box." Tara explained succinctly. Seeing Willow's puzzled expression she expanded, "I saw how to fold up the space between here and there so they were the same place."

        Willow had read about the idea in physics books, and quite a few sci-fi novels, "How exactly did you do it?"

        Now Tara looked puzzled, "I knew how to do it at the time, now it's just gone."

        "I suppose it's one of those things no one knows how to do, yet." Willow suggested.

        That fitted in with Tara’s guess, she had been loaned the knowledge for an emergency and now it had been put back where it belonged, “It was just an emergency loan.”

Willow nodded, "So what else have I missed?"



        Back on the shop floor Anya was facing down Elias, "The key to the weapons belongs to Giles; and as a matter of fact the weapons belong to him as well. I am not going to just give them to you."

        "Giles is probably dead you dumb bimbo and I'm damn sure he'd like us to avenge his death." Elias explained with a lack of tack that left even Anya breathless.

        Xander was about to explain that Elias couldn't talk to his fiancée like that, possibly using his fists for punctuation, when he was saved from a pounding by a voice from the training room door, "I don't think Giles is dead."

        Everyone turned to see Willow standing there with Tara besides her. "Will, your Ok." Xander was relieved, not just because Willow was alright but it had just occurred to him that Elias would reduce him to pulp in a straight fight.

        "More or less." Willow was still working through the quick summary of events that Tara had given her.

        "What makes you think Giles isn't dead? The First can only impersonate people who are dead, remember?" Elias demanded impatiently.

        Because I saw him with us in a vision, Willow decided that wasn't a convincing argument, "Back in the graveyard when Giles was almost throttled to death I don't think it was almost, I think it did kill him."

        Willow had already mentioned this theory to Tara and it sounded plausible; "the demon stopped his heart and then shocked him back to life."

        Elias was far from convinced, "Seems a little elaborate, especially when they could just ambush him on the highway."

        "If they knew he was going to be leaving Sunnydale in advance, yes. Otherwise it was the only way the First could be sure if it wanted to force that ringer on us and use Giles knowledge for something else." Willow was more or less thinking out loud.

        "Even if you're right that's just all the more reason to go after the First; we need to rescue him and Buffy." Elias putting Buffy after Giles wasn't fooling anyone, his first priority was the now ex-Slayer.

        “So you know where they’re being held?” Willow asked curiously.

        Elias thought she was being sarcastic until he remembered she had been unconscious, "Not exactly," he admitted reluctantly.

        "So what we need to do is figure out how to fight it and where it is." Willow decided this was a good moment to take charge again.

        "And we need a way to stop another rogue Slayer." Dawn added pointedly.



        Giles had been fervently hoping that the First was simply playing psychological games with its claims about Buffy. The sight of her being carried nonchalantly into the cave crushed that hope. He desperately wanted to rush over to her when she was dumped unceremoniously on the cavern floor. His bonds meant he couldn't do more than wriggle towards her painfully slowly, "What have you done to her?"

        "She passed out, right after she gave her power to me." Erin explained. She demonstrated her new gifts by hoisting Giles up and dumping him next to Buffy.

        The pain was awful but he fought to contain it by focusing on the new Slayer, "I've seen you before."

        Erin gave him a sour look, "In the watcher records, probably with a big red 'NO' stamped across it."

        Giles thought it through, "Erin, yes I read your file."

        "And you weren't impressed."

        "The incident with the other little girl; the authorities may not have had the evidence to connect you to her death but the Watchers were aware." It was yet another failure of Watcher policy in Giles' opinion. The council had evidence that could have led to Erin being convicted of manslaughter at the very least. The parents of the classmate she had killed in a fit of pique deserved that much but they had been denied it by the Watcher’s policy of simply observing and not interfering. Of course if they had passed the evidence to the proper authorities Erin might have been helped instead of being left to fester all these years, or if the American penal system couldn’t manage that at least she wouldn’t be wandering the streets. Either way Giles and Buffy wouldn’t be in their current predicament.

        "It was a mistake," Erin insisted defensively and unconvincingly, " you didn't have the right to deny me my destiny,” she seemed to feel she was on stronger ground with that statement.

        "The First told you that I suppose." Giles surmised.

        "And a lot more besides. It showed me what a bunch of hypocrites and relics you were. Sure the Slayer can kill but only when and where you want, and god forbid they should ever show any sign of independence or thinking for themselves." Erin's whole demeanour was self-satisfied.

        “That’s a gross exaggeration.” Giles didn’t have the nerve to call it a lie; what Erin had been told came uncomfortably close to the truth.

        Erin could tell she had hit a nerve, “Right that’s why Faith’s in jail and they just abandoned Buffy when she wouldn’t do as she was told,” she commented condescendingly.

        Giles was tempted to slap her in the face; it was probably just as well the ropes prevented him from trying. He was spared anymore of this painful conversation by the appearance of the First. It was extremely unnerving to see his own face staring at him. After a moment it slipped into the visage of Buffy, which was hardly any better, "Getting acquainted are we? That's nice."

        "If you've harmed Buffy I will do nothing to help you." Giles stated firmly.

        "You will if I start slicing pieces off her. Besides you have her little witch friends to thank for this." The First told him with relish. The entity was doing its best to see the witch’s power in a positive light since they had worked to its advantage but there was something about them that made it uneasy, especially Tara. That one seemed to have some higher connection that the First couldn't get a grip on. The entity dismissed the thought and concentrated on Giles again, "I'm prepared to remove your bonds; provided you’re prepared to use your skills to aid me."

        Giles wanted to tell the creature to go to hell but he didn't have the luxury, "If you'll let make sure Buffy isn't injured."

        "Hey I can be generous." The First gestured to a Bringer holding a knife, who swiftly sliced through the ropes holding Giles. The Watcher ignored the pins and needles in his hands and checked Buffy's pulse. It was strong and regular and Giles couldn't detect any broken bones or head injuries. Nonetheless he couldn't wake her up either.

        "Alright you've checked her, now let's get down to business." The First gestured and another Bringer approached Giles. Once again it spread the chart out before the Watcher and this time Giles had no choice but to study it; he had to buy time for Willow, Tara, and the others to come up with a rescue plan. He was under no illusions, the First might hold back from harming Buffy for the moment but his gut told him sooner or later it was going to turn on the pair of them; he just had to hope Willow and Tara could work more quickly than he intended to.

2. "Battle Plans "

Anya looked pained as the gang ransacked the Magic Box. They were emptying out shelves and reducing her store to total chaos. She thought of it as her store even though Giles hadn't signed the partnership papers yet, and might never get a chance now. That horrifying thought had her pitching in right besides Tara, "Is there anything specific you need?"

        "Good defence spells, anything with information on the First, a way of fixing this mess." Tara sounded a little perturbed.

        "It wasn't your fault, the First is very sneaky; it's fooled smarter people than you." Anya was trying to be comforting and failing in her own special way.

        Tara wasn’t annoyed by the comments because Anya had misinterpreted what was bothering her; that in the face of all evidence to the contrary she still felt positive about the situation, as if it was all for the best and things were going according to plan. Tara just wished she knew what the plan was. She had considered the possibility that everything she had experienced was some sort of First inspired delusion. The more Tara thought about it though the more certain she was that it couldn't be. There was a distinct 'feel' to the First and an equally distinct one to LJ; there was no way they could be confused. Of course that meant the plan belonged to LJ and this was somehow the better option.

        Willow had made a rapid trip to the apartment to retrieve her laptop and begin poking through the Watcher's records. Tara returned carrying a couple of volumes, "Baby did you find the 'Journals of Knossos'?" Willow wondered

        Tara shook her head, "No sign of it. You think the Watchers held it back?"

        "Not deliberately, I think there are volumes that are so rare or delicate, that they weren't part of the regular archives."

        "And the rare books are probably where the information we need is kept." Tara saw where this was headed, "I guess that means that someone is going to have to go to Watcher HQ."

        "And I guess I know who it will be, unless you're going to do more of that space origami between here and England?" Willow was curious to see what this folding actually looked like.

        "Sorry," Tara apologized with a smile, "It's off the menu right now."

        "Ok then I get to go on a road trip." Willow didn't like leaving Tara on her own but then her better half could more than take care of herself, "I think you should concentrate on the First's little helper." Willow didn’t try and hide her bitterness towards Erin, the casual way she had been willing to slide into the evil camp made Faith look positively cuddly.

        "I'm sure there's something we can do." Tara was quite certain of that and it had nothing to do with any outside help. With the spell not completed properly there were bound to be magical loose ends; pull on the right one and the whole thing would unravel.

        Willow got up and hugged Tara, then released her and vanished from the room. "Now where the hell has she gone?" Elias demanded.



        Thompson was examining the front doors. The carpenters had done a remarkable job on them; no one would know they were days rather than centuries old. "They did a really nice job of fixing this place up." Someone behind him commented.

        Thompson didn't respond immediately to the sound of Willow's voice; on some irrational level he was hoping if he didn't turn around she might simply disappear.

        Willow waited a couple of seconds and then walked between Thompson and the doors. That not only forced him to pay attention to her but cut off his most obvious route of escape. "Miss Rosenberg. How, um, well here you are," he simply couldn't bring himself to say nice to see you.

        "I'm promise I'm as happy to see you as you are too have me here." Willow was under no illusions about how the Watchers viewed her. They had no choice about her interfering in their business and unsurprisingly the Watchers didn’t like being watched.

        "Well what can I do for you?" Thompson decided being business like was the best approach,hopefully something simple so you will leave quickly.

        Thompson's hopes were dashed as Willow outlined the situation. The Watcher didn't know which part to be appalled at first, the fate of Giles, the reappearance of the First, or the creation of a dark Slayer. He decided to go with the latter, "We've had rogue Slayers before but they were the product of trauma and misfortune. If this Erin is the First's choice we have to conclude she is simply evil."

        "I know that." Willow responded impatiently; unwilling to dwell on something that might be her fault, "But I think my friends back home can deal with that. I want to find a way to fight the First."

        Thompson was tempted to ask if she had any idea what an undertaking that was likely to be. He decided that would be condescending, and while he rather enjoyed being condescending they had just spent this years maintenance budget for the building. Given that and the drastic situation Thompson realised he would have to come up with some way to help Willow, and try as he might he could only think of one option, "There is one place where we might find something useful. I would be grateful if you didn't discuss it with anyone on the Council however."

        Willow was intrigued enough to agree, and it wasn't as if she spent a lot of time talking to the Watchers Council anyway.

        Thompson led the way into the main library. There were several other Watchers there but they found other places to be as soon as they spotted Willow. That suited Thompson who walked over to one particular stack and reached for a book. Instead of coming out of the shelf the spine simply swung open to reveal a lock. Thompson produced an ornate key and slipped into the lock. It turned with a click and the section of shelving swung out to reveal a short passage.

        After turning on a light Thompson beckoned for Willow to go first and locked the door behind them. There was a second door at the end of passageway and the same key opened it. Beyond lay the Watcher's library in miniature, "This is the Apocrypha."

        The word sounded vaguely familiar to Willow but she wasn't sure, "It sounds sort of biblical."

        Thompson couldn’t resist giving a lecture on one of his pet topics, "It is. The Bible is not one clearly defined document, there differing versions of some books, others that don't fit in with the chronology, still others that simply didn't fit the tastes of the author of a particular version. This excluded material is referred to as the Apocrypha in certain circles."

        Willow made the connection instantly, "And this is the Watcher's Apocrypha, all the stuff that was excluded from the official records," she was astonished just how much of it there was. It was century’s worth of documents and objects that had simply been shunted aside; erased from history but not from existence.

        Thompson walked over to a shelf and ran a finger along a series of half a dozen identically bound volumes, "I think this is the one. Officially this particular series of journals was turned into a bonfire by the Watcher who wrote them."

        "You've read them." The way Thompson had headed straight for them told Willow that.

        "There are a few of us who are expected know what's in here; just in case." Thompson sounded a little defensive. Willow didn't really care. She simply took the offered volume and began to speed read.



        Tara was wondering if it would be out of order to work some sort of silencing spell on Elias. She wasn't normally prone to such uncharitable thoughts but his constant complaining was really getting on her nerves, if I were ever attracted to boys this would have cured me. "We need to be taking action, not sitting around here running a book club."

        "Elias we need to find a spell to help us fight Erin." Tara reminded him for the twentieth time.

        "We wouldn't if you hadn't handed her Buffy's powers in the first place,” he snapped in response

        That cut Tara deeply, it was true but Elias seemed to be ignoring their reasons for doing it, and the fact that Buffy was free of her powers and still alive. She tried to remind herself that Elias didn't have that deep down certainty that this wasn't as bad as it seemed and that things were going to work out. Each time he complained and sniped that got harder, "We need to deal with things as they are; which means we need a weapon."

        "An M-16 works for me." Elias snapped.

        "That isn't a solution, she'd be more likely to kick your ass and take it from you. Even if it worked the power would revert to Buffy and we’re back to square one." Tara had run out of reasonableness, "Why don't you go check the basement? See what there is that might be useful?" Before I do something I might regret.

        Elias stormed away downstairs and Tara breathed a sigh of relief and set herself down for a moment. "He's just wired about Buffy." Dawn commented obviously but sympathetically.

        "I know but he's really wearing out my sympathy."

        "And you feel kind of guilty." Dawn observed.

        "That too." Tara conceded.

        "You did your best, and Buffy wouldn't blame you either."

        Tara patted her hand, grateful for the support. She turned her attention back to her research and was unhappy to discover that her reprieve lasted barely fifteen minutes.

        Elias slammed a box of what appeared to be random junk down on the table in front of her, "We have a some sort of totem, a dagger, some creepy looking electronic parts and a crystal ball, maybe you can use it to find a clue."

        Tara picked up the crystal sphere, "It's not a crystal ball. It's an orb of Thessalius, Willow used it to..." Tara had to resist the powerful temptation to try and kick herself in the butt and settled for muttering a couple of curse words that Dawn had never heard Tara say before.



        Giles was looking over the chart. It consisted of ornate icons with small squares of writing besides all bound together by a network of lines. It was a map the Watcher had decided but a highly abstract one, probably akin to the maps of the London Underground but of course many centuries older.

        "Have you made any progress?" The First demanded.

        Giles had been so engrossed in his studies that he had forgotten the presence of the entity and his predicament; so the work offer some practical benefit, "I have identified the meaning of the central icon, it appear to represent the Hellmouth."

        The First snorted, "That I could have worked out for myself. I really think you need some additional motivation."

        Giles looked anxiously at Buffy but instead the First summoned Erin, "I think we need to round up some more company for our Watcher; go and see if you can persuade a few more of his friends to come visit."

        "I might have to damage some of them; especially that bonehead soldier boy." Erin sounded as though she relished the prospect.

        The First shrugged, "Just so long as you get some of them back here, especially Buffy's little sister. I'm sure Mr. Giles would enjoy that touching family reunion." The First fixed Giles with a look that dared him to protest. Instead the Watcher turned his attention back to the map with renewed urgency.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

3. "In The Trenches"

It was a while before Tara could stop berating herself and focus on finding out everything she could about the orb and the original Gypsy curse. It might not be a lot of good for what they wanted but it was the only thing they had on how to actually use the orb. Tara considered calling Willow but she suspected her other half was already deep into her own research, besides Willow was so organised that finding her records of the spell wouldn't be hard; it was just a matter of getting the right book, "You could just teleport over, or open up one of those holes in space again." Elias suggested. He had shifted from recrimination back to impatient demands for action.

        Tara didn't find it an improvement, "I can't teleport and I don't control the power to open a gateway."

        "You could teleport, take the chance." The words were out of his mouth before Elias really thought about them.

        Dawn was sat across from Tara and couldn't quite read the expression on the witch’s face, which was unsurprising given that she had never seen Tara furious before, "No I couldn't."

        Elias shivered. It wasn't just the tone of Tara's voice; it was the way the air around him seemed to have turned cold and heavy.

        Dawn felt uncomfortable and looked away, "Uh Tara has the book you want got a black fabric cover with a yellow label on it?"

        Tara didn't take her gaze from Elias, "Yes it is.”

        “With 'Willow's Magic Notes Volume I' written on it." Dawn added.

        “Yes.” Tara still wasn’t really paying attention.

        "So it's this book." That did pull Tara's attention towards Dawn who held the book up triumphantly.

        Tara took it from her, "Where did you get it?"

        "I just looked at the table and it was lying there." Dawn didn't need to mention that the book hadn't been there a minute before.

        Tara was looking at the book and wondering. When LJ intervened Tara usually felt a surge of power. This time there hadn't been any such thing. Tara had just been thinking about the book and where it was right before she got so angry with Elias; maybe this was all her own work, after all it was just reverse teleportation, if Mohammed won’t come to the mountain... She decided to put that to one side just for the moment and check the contents of the book. As she had suspected the invocation the gypsies used was fairly straightforward and generic; it wouldn't take much to bend it to a new purpose.

        Xander had fallen back into his usual place in the gang; which meant he was the one who was dispatched to fetch the coffee and donuts. It was actually a relief to get away from the tense air in the shop and do something so ordinary. He was worried about Buffy but he also had faith in Willow and Tara, they would fix things, they always did. He was lifting the tray of donuts out of the passenger seat when he spotted a cloaked figure ducking back into an alleyway. To his credit he remained calm and simply walked into the store looking as nonchalant as he could.

        As the door shut behind him Xander dropped the donuts, "Guys I think we've got company," he quickly explained what he had seen.

        "Probably wanted to make sure we were all here before they moved in." Elias observed grimly while he pulled out his flame gun and checked it.

        Tara couldn't argue with that point, she handed the orb to Dawn, "Wrap it up and put it in a box, and make sure you keep hold of it," she put Willow's notes in her bag while she spoke. Dawn had barely managed to get the carefully padded piece of crystal into her backpack when the door of the Magic Box came flying off its hinges and landed in the middle of the shop.

        Before anyone could react Erin walked into the store and looked around, "I hear you guys do the Slayers grunt work. So I guess that means you’re working for me now."

        Tara didn’t dignify the remark with a response, she concentrated on feeling out where the evil Slayers backup might be. Despite Erin's brash air Tara's could see streaks of cowardice and brutality running through her aura; she wasn't the sort to fight by herself.

        Dawn didn't have Tara's detachment and felt compelled to rise to the bait, "Buffy was a Slayer; you're just a freak with superpowers."

        Erin flushed with anger, "I may have to bring you back but nobody said it had to be in one piece."

        The back door of the shop flew open and Bringers stormed in. More emerged from the training room obviously the plan was to intimidate the gang into surrendering. That it was a flawed plan became obvious when one of the Bringers found itself minus a head as Anya swung an ax, she was sick and tired of people damaging her shop and she wasn't going to take it anymore. Erin dropped back and another pair of Bringers came through the front door, Dawn skewered one of them with a crossbow bolt and Xander threw a chair at the other one. With a single fluid move Elias closed with the Bringers at the back of the shop and raked them with the flame gun. Their robes proved flammable and they rolled back through the door in disarray.

        Erin was very unhappy too see the miserable performance of the Bringers, it never occurred to her that it was her total lack of planning that was to blame. She decided to take care of things herself, the witch bitch should make a decent hostage, she decided, which was her second mistake.

        Tara could see the move coming a mile off and waved her hand through the air; Erin flew back through one of the shop windows, "Sorry," She offered as Anya gave her a horrified look. Anya turned her anger on to the Bringers who were now summoning up reinforcements. Faced with Anya twirling her ax like a baton they backed up

        "I think we should be leaving.” Tara suggested to Elias. He simply nodded and laid into the Bringers by the door with Dawn in support. Tara concentrated her energies again and a small whirlwind sprang up and threw the rest of the Bringers around the shop. With the way open the gang raced out the back door and as soon as they were out Tara threw up a barrier across the opening while the gang laid into the handful of Bringers caught by surprise in the alleyway. That they had trashed the Bringers was undoubtedly a good thing, not to mention avoiding the prospect of winding up as hostages of the First. Tara couldn't pretend to herself it was a victory even if the others looked pleased with themselves, there was no way they could get back into the Magic Box and that meant they had lost most of the supplies.

Dawn seemed to read her mind, "I still have the crystal." Tara nodded gratefully; she just had to hope it would be enough.



        The journal was all handwritten in a script that would have done a doctor proud. Even so Willow had deciphered it and could understand why it was amongst the Apocrypha, "Giles isn't the only Watcher to become attached to his Slayer."

        "It happens more than the Council would like to admit. They believe a cool detachment is essential. I think that journal supports their position." Thompson felt compelled to support the Council in spite of everything.

        "Actually I think it does the opposite. The Council was more concerned with manners than fighting the fight against evil." Willow countered.

        Thompson had been forced to question some of the Council's decisions lately, especially as it was clear some of them had simply chosen to turn a blind eye to Quentin Travers activities. They were however still his comrades and superiors, "We do have to try and see the bigger picture; we can't do that if we become overly involved in our personal feelings."

        The statement did nothing to convince Willow but she wasn't inclined to continue the argument right now, "I need to speak to the Watcher who wrote this."

        "I thought you might, Cavendish retired after the events in the journal but we kept track of his whereabouts."

        Willow nodded, "Of course you did. I don't suppose you have any photographs of his 'whereabouts'?"

        "We may do, why exactly would you want them?"

        "Because I figure it's going to be way to far to walk." Thompson felt foolish and a little unnerved; it was all too easy looking at this young woman to forget the power she commanded. Reminded of it he was all to eager to aid her if it got her away from his precious library.

        As he locked up the Apocrypha it occurred to Thompson to check one thing that concerned him, "Your, um, friend, Miss Maclay."

        "We're married." Willow interrupted him and held up her hand so he could see her ring finger.

        It hadn't come up on their last visit to the Watcher's headquarters and next to everything else that had happened it seemed positively prosaic so Thompson took it in his stride, "Congratulations, but I just wondered if she would be joining us?" Willow’s visit had done nothing for his nerve and Thompson wanted to be spared any more surprises.

        "I wish she was," Willow admitted, "but she's busy back home." And I hope she's making faster progress than I am.

4. "To Live And Die In Sunnydale"

The room looked as if no one had been in it for years. There were dust and cobwebs everywhere until Tara unleashed a little magic and it all blew out the front door in a small dust storm. "What the heck is this place?" Xander demanded.

        "Just some old storeroom I found on a map of the campus." Tara explained,

        "You mean you've never been here before?" Xander’s implication was clear; so what are we doing here now?

        "No and neither have Buffy or Giles. So there's no way the First could squeeze our location out of them." It was the best chance Tara could see of avoiding another confrontation before they were ready.

        The 'squeezing' part didn't improve Elias' mood. He was more cautious after the incident at the Magic Box but no less upset, "It seems a little light on supplies, and weapons."

        "It will just have to do for the moment." Tara stated flatly, she wasn't inclined to listen to anymore of Elias' complaints at the moment.

        Elias grumbled quietly and familiarized himself with the layout of the room. Tara decided that wasn't really good enough, she needed to concentrate and that would be tough with him staring over her shoulder. Fortunately there was a solution. Tara rested her bag on a box and extracted three small jars. "There is something more we can do to protect ourselves."

        That got Elias' attention in spite of himself, "What do you have in mind?"

        "You remember I used a spell to prevent Willow finding me when I was trying to stop the Fire."

        "Hard to forget, Willow getting in over her head with magic." The implication that she had done so again was unmistakable.

        Tara let it pass, "Well I want you to scatter these jars around Sunnydale."

Elias examined the jars and considered it, "Maybe I should add some of my blood as well, in case they don't just try looking for you."

        Tara shrugged, "Can't hurt."

        Elias walked away with the jars and produced a hunting knife from his jacket. A couple of minutes later he walked out of the door with a piece of cloth wrapped around his thumb. As soon as he was gone Dawn decided to ask a question she hadn't wanted to bring up in his earshot, "When did you fix those up? Because you seemed kind of busy with the curse back at the store."

        "I didn't." Tara explained succinctly, "I got the jars but I never got a chance to get the other ingredients for the potion."

        "Then what was the point of sending him out there?" Dawn wasn't Elias' biggest fan but she understood what he was feeling about Buffy; she just had more faith in Willow and Tara's abilities than he did.

        Tara knew it might sound a little petty but she gave Dawn an honest answer, "The point is he's out there and not here annoying me. I need to work on adapting this gypsy curse, and I'm worried enough about Buffy, Giles, and everyone else without him making it worse."

        "Well I suppose it makes sense,” Dawn conceded uneasily, “as long as he doesn't run into any trouble."

        Now why did she have to say that? Tara wondered as she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She was tempted to call Elias back but decided that her need for quiet outweighed it, at least for now.



        The village of Middleton was classic olde English; simply a pub and two lines of house running down either side of a narrow road. It was charming if a little hazardous, the cars that raced down the road seemed to be going too fast to see the speed restriction signs never mind obey them.

        Willow watched the traffic nervously as she walked on the narrow strip of tarmac that flanked the road and searched for the cottage in the picture that Thompson had given her. Since there weren't that many houses it didn't take too long; of course finding the place was the easy part.

        The knock on the door brought Eric Cavendish on to his porch to confront a small American woman who was barely out her teens by the look of her, he wasn't sure whether he found her age or nationality more irritating, "If you're with the Mormons you are going to be sadly disappointed."

        "Me and the Mormon's don't really have a lot in common," Willow assured him, "I just need to talk to you about your old job."

        That put Cavendish even more on edge, "I doubt there's anything in my career with a provincial newspaper that would be of interest to you."

        "I mean your real career." Willow decided subtlety wasn't working, "I need to talk about Slayers, the First Evil, and ways to fight it."

        Cavendish made to slam the door in her face. Willow placed a hand on it and froze it in place half closed, I really need to talk to you; people I care about are in danger and you can help me save them. The dual display of magic seemed to way Cavendish, or at the very least persuade him that he couldn’t get rid of Willow without talking to her.

        In Cavendish's sitting room Willow settled into a deep chintz sofa while the ex-Watcher busied himself making tea. Willow wasn't thirsty but Cavendish needed to take the time to gather his thoughts. "I thought the journals were long gone," he offered as he returned and sat opposite.

        "They kept a copy." Willow hadn't mentioned the Apocrypha; she saw no need to betray Thompson's confidence.

        "And you were looking for a way to fight the First."

        "Right, and you can't fight something so evil when you can't even touch it. We need a way to make it tangible, vulnerable." Without any of my friends ending up speared.

        "We weren't exactly a runaway success, or you wouldn’t having this trouble now." Cavendish pointed out.

        "Which is why I needed to speak to you. The journal doesn't quite explain your method, or what went wrong."

        "You think you can make it work?" Cavendish asked sharply.

        Willow considered her answer, "I think I might be able to find away, or some people I know could."

        Cavendish sighed, "That's what we thought, my little cabal, or coven, or whatever you want to call it," he didn't really seem to be aware of Willow's presence as he spoke. "It was nineteen sixty nine and there were five of us. Each of us had been entrusted with a Slayer and each of us had watched her die. All of this in less that eighteen months mind you. The Council dismissed it as bad luck, and there was always another Chosen one. I didn't see it that way; there were too similarities, too many coincidences. I talked the others into opening their journals discussing things amongst ourselves in precisely the way the Council discouraged."

        "You figured out it was all connected, all the work of the First." Willow was eager to move the story along.

        Cavendish was annoyed for a moment and then recalled, "That was in the journals, sorry. We couldn't fathom the why and I honestly didn't care; I simply wanted to get my hands on the creature and make it pay. I persuaded the others to go along and we pieced together a spell that would give the First form, make it solid, at least that was the idea."

        "So what exactly went wrong?" This was the nub of what Willow needed to know.

        "We simply didn't appreciate the sheer energies involved. Commanding them was simply beyond us, perhaps beyond anyone," he looked at Willow sharply as he said it, he needed to be sure if Willow’s assurance was just bravado or if she really did have a chance.

        "We'll find a way to make it work." Willow responded unflinchingly.

        Cavendish nodded almost imperceptibly; there was something in her voice and demeanour that persuaded him, "I'll write it all out for you, I just hope for your sake you aren't exaggerating your abilities."

        Willow concentrated on what was being written, while devoutly hoping the same thing.



        Tara was studying her notes and tapping her pencil absently against the back of her hand. The gypsies curse was simple, robust, and a lot more flexible than a lot of the spells Tara had worked with. The invocation of the spirits was the core of it; the rest could be restructured depending on what you needed from the spell. Of course when you were dealing with spirits you had to be doubly careful about not offending them with a slip of the tongue. That was why Tara was working with a pencil and concentrating fiercely on every dot and comma.

        It was also why Tara lost track of time, "It's been over an hour and a half." Dawn commented loudly.

        It had the desired effect of breaking Tara's concentration, "An hour and a half?"

        "Since Elias left."

        Tara glanced at her watch and saw Dawn wasn't exaggerating, "Did he take his SUV?"

        Dawn was getting a little irritated now, "Of course he did; that's why I'm worried."

        The teenager had now succeeded in getting Tara's full attention. Even if Elias was driving conservatively, and if he decided to set out the jars at the distant edges of Sunnydale it shouldn't have taken more than forty-five minutes. Tara began to wonder if she really had fooled Elias earlier, maybe he was just looking for an excuse to get away and pursue his own plans. There was of course only one way to find out, Elias are you ok?

        More or less[/i], Elias answered, but I don't think your jars are going to be very effective.

        Tara felt a little guilty but decided telling him the truth right now would just start another row, magic is never totally certain.

        Especially not when a couple of demons spot you planting it. Elias admitted grimly.

        You were seen?

        And followed. I didn't want to lead them back to you so I've been driving around Sunnydale. I knew you'd contact me sooner or later; though I did think it would sooner rather than later.

        If Elias was trying to make Tara feel bad he succeeded, I'm sorry; I got caught up with the spell. She hesitated for a moment and then continued; in fact it's ready, head back here.

        Are you sure about that?

        Positive, I'm sure Erin will want to get even. I don't know if here being closer will make any difference but it can’t hurt.

        And it means we'll find out if it worked practically right away. Ok I'm on my way; ETA fifteen minutes.

        Tara let go of the psychic link, "Dawn get the orb, we need to set up the spell as quick as we can." Dawn didn't argue, she just grabbed her backpack and unwrapped the crystal.

5. "Decision Making"

Erin was in a barely contained rage. It was all she could do to restrain herself from grabbing some passerby and demonstrating her newfound power on them; she wondered if it really was possible to snap a human being in two. Only the First's firm command to get the job done this time kept her from trying the experiment, she could have fun later; she had to work right now.

The First’s sarcastic tone and the implication she wasn't performing up to expectations was what had placed Erin in her foul mood. The one thing she couldn't tolerate was being made to look foolish, and that blonde witch had made her look like a complete loser. This time things were going to be different. She had pulled up every Bringer and other demon that could work in daylight available and used them to ring the building. She had also made sure that they actually had weapons this time. Even so Erin didn’t think much of their chances of survival, the best they would do was to drain the strength and ammunition of Buffy’s little gang; then she could move in and round them all up. That would prove her worth to the First and maybe get the entity to open up about its big plan. So far the entity had only hinted and teased about its final goals, Erin was determined that whatever happened she was going to carve out a big chunk of the spoils for herself.

       

Elias appeared from the stairwell clutching a pair of binoculars, "Can't be sure if the bitch is with them but I'm definitely starting to feel like the 7th cavalry; there's a hell of a lot of demons out there."

        "Erin's there," Tara said it with assurance even though her attention was on the makeshift altar she had put together. It was nothing more than a couple of cardboard boxes with a piece of metal shelving resting across the gap between them. It was the symbolism that counted; or at least Tara hoped so.

        Elias didn't say anything in response to her comment; he simply drew his automatic pistol and thumbed the safety off. The gun worried Tara far more than the spell at this point. Yes everyone else was brandishing weapons but there was something different about the firearm. Tara decided it was a matter of association. When she looked at the crossbow or the sword she saw a weapon for fighting demons; when she looked at the handgun she just saw a machine for killing people, and she had a fair idea which person Elias had in mind.

        "Do you need this yet?" Dawn offered the orb; still wrapped in crumpled paper that might have been a book report at one time.

        Tara looked disapprovingly at it but took it nonetheless, "Didn't you have any blank paper?"

        Dawn just shrugged and turned her attention back to her crossbow; homework just didn't seem very important at the moment, and Tara couldn't argue with that.

        Tara placed the orb in the middle of the shelf and arranged the other pieces she had gathered around it, "Time to start," she announced.



        Erin was watching the building from the shadows when she felt a presence besides her, "What are you waiting for?" The First had slipped into the form of Rupert Giles, probably so it could project an air of smug superiority.

        "I want to get the everything in place, I don't want them just walking through your Bringers again."

        Given its disguise it was hard to tell if that had needled the First or not, "You can't wait, they're planning something."

        Erin wanted to ask what but suspected the First didn't know, and pointing out the being was less than omniscient was guaranteed to anger it, "In that case I guess I'm just going to have to interrupt them again." and this time the witch isn't going to knock me on my ass or escape through some hole in the air.



        "Restore that which was stolen, return to the light that which was lost in the dark. Spirits of the old ones I beseech you, answer my call!" Tara chanted the words carefully and insistently.

        Dawn was watching closely as Tara worked the spell. When Willow had worked this it had been pretty freaky, especially as someone or something else had clearly spoken through her. If that happened now it was going to be pretty crowded in Tara's head.

        Tara could feel something answering the call but it wasn't trying to take control, it simply opened a doorway and Tara could feel something beyond, something ancient and restless; a thing of war and destruction yet it some how still seemed noble and pure. Tara realised that she was looking at the essence of the Slayer.

        Dawn was startled when Elias tapped her on the shoulder, "We have company," he whispered. Dawn cracked open the door and peered out. Demons were emerging from half a dozen places; not just Bringers, there were several other types mixed in with them and behind the advancing line one very human looking female figure, "I guess she's not going to rush in this time."

        Elias nodded. Dawn's tone was contemptuous but Elias feared that Erin, or something else, was being smart. The demons could soak up all their ammo and once it came down to a hand to hand combat with Erin she could pound them into the dirt; probably laughing while she did it. Elias kept the tactical analysis to himself, "I'll take the upstairs, and you watch the door. When they get close we'll go outside; it'll surprise them and we might be able to escape."

        Dawn noticed the word 'might' but stayed quiet and took up her position.

        Tara reached to the power, it seemed to be calling out to her, summoning her. Not me, she realised, someone close to me. It's not her time, Tara wasn't sure the power had any real awareness but she had to try, it won't be for years yet.

        The energy seemed to understand and folded in on itself. Tara seized the moment and shoved the power towards a place of safety.



        Giles was startled by a groaning noise next to him, and was overjoyed to see Buffy sat up rubbing her head.



        The bright glow behind her pulled Dawn's attention away from loading the bow. The orb was filled with a silvery light that Dawn thought looked incredibly beautiful. The crack of a bullet being fired and the shriek of a demon reminded her of their predicament. She hastily finished loading and dropped a Bringer just feet from the door.

        Looking at the orb Tara could see she had succeeded, she was just too drained to feel elated. The sound of feet pounding on stairs announced the appearance of Elias, "I'm out of ammo. Time to go."

        Tara pulled herself to her feet and picked up the orb, "Dawn you better pack it away again," she held it out Dawn and as soon as the teen touched Tara could see her something in her eyes. Tara knew what was about to happen and still she simply let Dawn scoop the crystal out of her hands.

        Dawn turned to where her pack was lying. Instead of reaching for it she swung her arm round and slammed the orb into the wall, reducing it to splinters. The contained energy flowed out along Dawn's arm and through her clothing. For a moment she shone with a silvery radiance.

        As the light faded Elias was going to grab Dawn and shake her, "What the hell did you do?"

        He didn't quite manage it because she grabbed his hands and effortlessly held them apart, "I took back something that belonged to my family. Anybody else want to complain?"

        Tara shook her head, "Not as long as you’re the one who explains it to Buffy."

        That gave Dawn an uneasy moment before she answered, "No problem."

       

        Any further discussion was avoided as a Bringer crashed in. Dawn grabbed it, spun it against a wall, and jammed a crossbow bolt through its chest, "Didn't someone say something about getting out of here?" Xander asked anxiously.

        Tara could feel energy flowing into her and washing out the tiredness, "I seem to remember something about it."

        Elias took the hint. He grabbed a sword and made for the door. He was almost out of it when he stopped and gestured for Dawn to go first. She hefted an ax in her left hand while balancing her crossbow in her right and walked out.



        "Get in there!" Erin shrieked. The demons were hanging back; none of them keen to stop the next crossbow bolt or nine millimetre round. Erin was no more eager herself but that didn't stop her berating the hapless minions. Only when the Slayer realised the shooting had stopped did she step to the front, and was rewarded by the sight of Buffy's little sister stepping into the open. It wasn't the witch but she would do for now.

        "Hey little girl want to go see your sister?" she called out smugly as she made to grab Dawn.

        Dawn fired her crossbow at a demon and dropped her weapons. Erin piled into her and was quite astonished to find Dawn coming out on top, she had been so full of rage and adrenalin that she hadn't even felt Tara's spell wash over her, "Guess what?" Dawn informed her, "You're strictly ex, and I will see my sister but if you see her first say 'hi'." Dawn twisted her arm and couldn't help feeling a little satisfied when she heard it crack.

        Seeing that Dawn had Erin under control Tara decided to clear away the demons, who were hesitating to press their attack with Erin eating gravel. She stretched her arms skywards and lightning arced down to the ground and hung there in a writhing pillar that captured the attention of everyone in the vicinity, until tongues of electricity leapt out from it and began to zap the demons. It was a matter of moments before they were scattering in all directions.

        Dawn leapt up off Erin and joined Tara, "You could have left me a couple."

        "I could call them back if you want." Tara offered, and was worried that Dawn seemed to seriously consider the offer.

        Finally she shook her head, "Nah, lets get out of here and hope Willow has found something so I can slap the First in the face.”

        Tara nodded but thought, I'd settle for her just getting back here.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

6. "The Last Thing"

Buffy was sat against the cave wall rubbing the bruised knuckles on her right hand, "I did try to tell you." Giles reminded her.

        "I know, I know." Buffy's tone made it clear she could have lived without it, "But I had to try." The annoyance made it easier to cover her sense of embarrassment and bemusement. It was one thing to be told that she wasn't the Slayer it was quite another to know it.

        A loud shrieking told Buffy she wasn't the only one who was unhappy around here. The unearthly mass of pulsating flesh that materialized made no sense to Buffy but Giles had a pretty fair idea of what it was, "Suffered a setback?"

        The First coalesced into the more recognizable form of Joyce Summers but remained incandescent with rage, "The idiot child threw it all away! I warned her but she's just like all the others. Ruining every plan, giving away what belongs to me! Condemning me to carrying depending on incompetent subordinates!”

        "This was never about subverting the Slayers, this was about creating a vessel for you." Giles had suspected it earlier now his guess was confirmed, he also knew this might be his best chance to extract information.

        "Of course it was," the First snapped, "you can't imagine how tedious it is to see all your plans laid waste by the incompetence of one minion after another. The time has come for me take direct action, and why would I settle for anything less than a Slayer?"

        "Guess you didn't mention that to Erin." Buffy observed.       

        The smile on the First's face was pure malevolence, "Hardly. She was the means to achieve the larger goal. Now I'll simply have to resort to my backup plan."

        Giles could tell the First was recovering its composure, "What is the backup plan?"

        "Well if your pet Slayers friends hadn't been sufficiently ingenious I was simply going to torture her until I drove her out of her mind, then occupy the vacancy, now I'll just have to turn to your replacement." The creature turned its unpleasant smile on Buffy, "Luckily for you that means I still have some use for an ex-Slayer, and I haven't forgotten your task Giles, remember she can suffer far more now she's awake." With that the First left them alone in the cave.

        "Sounds like it’s expecting someone to come to the rescue." Buffy commented optimistically.

        "Almost inevitable really." Giles pointed out.

        Buffy nodded and then one question occurred to her, "Giles where did they get another Potential at such short notice?"

        Giles had been hoping she wouldn't ask that since he had already guessed the answer, "I can only think of one way."

        Buffy nodded, "That's what I thought. Willow and Tara are in so much trouble the next time I see them."



        "I could put this by the window if you want, then you could watch the street." Dawn suggested while lightly handling the heavy armchair.

        "It was fine where it was, really." Tara knew this was just Dawn testing out her new found powers; that didn't make it any less trying. As soon as the chair touched the ground Tara lowered herself into it and let out a sigh. It was just good to relax, as much as she could with half a dozen hyper people running around her apartment. Dawn wanted to do 'something cool' with her powers, Anya was jittering about the Magic Box, Xander was getting edgy about Anya, and Elias was building up to demanding they go after Buffy again.

        Hey baby where are you?

        Tara was immensely relieved to hear from her soulmate, back at the apartment, we've been doing a lot of moving around.

        That doesn't sound good but you can tell me all about it, "When I get there." Willow finished as she appeared in the living room.

        Tara suddenly found she had plenty of energy. She jumped out of the seat and embraced Willow, planting a long kiss on her, long enough that the others began coughing and shuffling in embarrassment.

        Tara finally released Willow, "I guess that cliché about absence is true."

        "Definitely." Willow agreed, "So did I miss much?" she said with such an innocent air that Tara gave her an astonished look.



        When Tara had finished explaining it was Willow who felt the need for a sit down. Dawn was eager to demonstrate her newly acquired abilities. "It just feels so good, Buffy never mentioned that." Dawn enthused.

        "Power usually does," Willow commented cautiously, "The trick is knowing when not to use it."

        Dawn was going to shrug the remark off when she noticed the serious look on Willow's face; if anyone knew about the dangers of unrestrained power it was the witch, "I promise I'm not going to turn into another Faith."

        "So no sleeping around or attempted boyfriend stealing." Anya just wanted to be clear on that.

        Dawn gave her a look that said how gross that was and Anya decided to busy herself elsewhere.

        "So while we were busy making a new Slayer what were you up to?" Tara decided to get off the topic altogether.

        "Found a way to turn the First into something we can pound." Willow pulled the notes out of her pocket, "If we don't frazzle ourselves trying it."

        Tara took the notes and began to pore over them. Elias had stopped listening after the word 'pound', "How long will it take to set this spell up?"

        "Forever, because we can't do it." Tara commented distractedly.

        "Now suddenly magic is a problem?" Elias complained.

        "The spell is flawed." Willow stated bluntly now she had Tara's confirmation of her own assessment.

        "I'm guessing it was put together from medieval sources." Tara suggested to Willow.

        "Could be." It was purely a guess based on the fact Cavendish hadn't struck her as a big innovator; he almost certainly went where any Watcher would go for a spell, old books and the older the better.

        "No appreciation of relativity or matter energy equivalence," Tara murmured.

        "I didn't think you appreciated the physics stuff either baby." Willow commented with a mixture of amusement and uncertainty.

        Tara pulled her attention away from the notes, "It just seemed obvious; isn't it obvious?" she looked around the room, "Not obvious."

        "No it's not." Elias confirmed.

        "Let me explain in terms you can understand." Willow offered, "An atomic bomb releases a few percent of the energy of twenty or thirty pounds of material. You do understand what an nuclear weapon can do?" Elias remained silent, "Well here we're talking about enough magical energy to make one hundred, maybe one hundred and fifty pounds, of human being."

        Now Elias responded, "And your saying you can bend space and time but this is beyond you?"

        Tara shook her head, "We could but if you concentrate that much magical energy in one place then reality would melt like a Dali painting."

        Willow hammered the danger home, “That’s what happened when Cavendish and the other Watchers tried it; it's why Cavendish is the only one left of the five who were involved."

        "There could be a way around it but it will take a little figuring out." Actually she was counting on some inside help; she just hoped that certain someone had worked all the bugs out.

        Elias remained defiantly unimpressed, "So you spend more time playing around with your spells and rituals while we sit on our butts and wait? That's great, we don't what state Buffy and Giles are in and you just want to leave them wherever they are."

        Willow had reached the end of her tether, "So what do you want us to do?" she demanded.

        "Find out." Finally asked the question Elias had no doubt about the answer, "I want you to find out how they are, where they are, and then I want to rescue them. After that I'm all for pounding the bad guy but we get Buffy and Giles back first."

        Willow looked to Tara, who clearly agreed with Willow’s thought that it was not so much a bad plan as an unworkable one. They had to deal with the First, well, first. When she looked at the others however they kept ducking eye contact, "You all agree with him don't you?"

        "We all know that your doing your best," Xander began soothingly, "but maybe you are getting carried away. Maybe the simple approach would be best."

No, no, NO! Willow wanted to scream it at them but she restrained herself. All she had was a weird vision and her own self-belief, and that had gotten her into trouble before. She had to offer the gang something, "Alright I'll try calling them telepathically."

        "You can't do that!" Now it was Tara who was irate.

        "I have to baby." Or the others are going to go and do something stupid.

        This is also stupid; the First is going to be watching for exactly that.

        Willow agreed wholeheartedly but didn't see any choice; we can't just let the others walk into an ambush.

        I'm not so sure about that, Tara was looking at Elias.

        "I'm going to do it but I'll be careful." Willow commented out loud.

        Tara could see further argument was pointless; she fixed Elias with an icy stare, "Alright I'll watch over you, in case anything goes wrong."

        Willow mustered a smile, "I know you will." With that she sat down, closed her eyes and cleared her mind of everything except the thought of Buffy and Giles.

7. "Planning Permission"

Normally telepathy was like picking up a phone, if anything more reliable since you never got a wrong number or a busy signal. At least that had been Willow's previous experience; people might choose to ignore you but you always got through. This time it was more like some had put their receiver down without hanging up properly; you could hear what was happening on the other end of the line but they couldn't hear you.

        Right now Willow couldn't be sure who she was hearing or seeing; she just had to focus and try and grab anything that made sense. There was a flash, annoyance, and helplessness, how could they let Dawn do that? The fragment of thought suddenly leapt out loud and clear. It left Willow in no doubt, Buffy was in one piece, not exactly happy but awake and aware. That just left trying to find out what was going on with Giles. No sooner did the thought run through Willows mind than she was staring at a piece of parchment; a series of symbols and accompanying text connected by a criss-crossing maze of lines. The image seemed to be burning itself into Willow's brain; she wanted to break away but then she felt a familiar presence, [/i]Giles[/i]. There was no answering thought, just the image of the chart and the clear sense that it was important. It hung in Willow's mind for a couple of more seconds before it disappeared in flames.

        "What do you think you're doing?" Buffy was stood before Willow looking angry. For a moment Willow thought she was back in the dream world but the lack of mist said otherwise.

        "You know your impressions are terrible don't you?" Willow wasn’t going to be intimidated by the First.

        The entity closed the gap and made to slap Willow in the face. Willow didn’t flinch, which made it all the more painful when the creature connected, "And do you know that in this realm I can pretty much do what I want?"

        Willow recovered quickly. She balled her fist and when the First looked towards it she stamped her heal down on faux Buffy foot.

That had the First backing away, hobbling and cursing, "Seems that cuts both ways." Willow observed, "And I'm betting you don't have a high pain threshold."

        Now the First smiled, "Sorry but experiencing sensation, any sensation is actually quite refreshing."

        Willow considered that, and decided to take the First at its word about being able to do anything here. She imagined a baseball bat in her hands, "Then why don't you come over here? I'll sensation you to a pulp."

        The First shook its head, "I think I'll just wait and enjoy the satisfaction of watching you crumble when I slaughter you friends."

        Willow waited for a follow up but got only silence, "That's it? No deals? No offers?"

        The First shook its head, "Not for you, and not for your lover. You two have caused far too much harm to be allowed to continue. Come what may you two, forgive me, you three, are going down for good and all."

        "You or us, well that makes it nice and simple." Willow refused to be goaded by the First and was probing for a way to break the psychic connection.

        The First appeared to see things differently, "It certainly does." The image of Buffy dissolved and a tangled mass of flesh launched itself at Willow. The witch could do nothing to defend herself. She could feel all the hate and loathing the entity contained within itself and it left Willow paralyzed.

        WILLOW!!! The psychic shout was compelling and Willow turned to look for the source. The moment she did so she found herself back in her own living room.

        Willow sat blinking in the light and staring at Tara, "Thanks."

        "I could see your aura sort of collapsing in on itself." Tara explained worriedly, "I knew this was a bad idea."

        Willow wasn't going to argue with that. "Are you sure you're ok?" Elias asked.

        Willow was going to reply politely until the sharp edge to the words struck her and she noticed that his hand was resting near his holster, he wasn’t convinced that she was still herself, "I'm fine," she said hollowly.

        Elias didn't look convinced, "She's fine." Tara stated resolutely.

        That forced Elias to relax his stance though he still looked unhappy.

        Willow was still feeling a little shaky as she thought about what she had experienced, that brought an image to the surface and she felt the need for a pencil and a piece of paper. She found a large pad that Tara had used in an art history class and began to draw. Tara was curious but kept quiet since she could tell Willow was concentrating furiously

        Anya took up a place behind Willow and next to Tara so they could both see what Willow was doing. To Tara it could have been a map of the New York underground. Anya on the other hand began to recognize it, "Where did you see Covarius' map?"

        Willow stopped drawing, "I saw it in Giles head."

        "So the First has it?" Anya sounded far from happy about it.

        Tara looked at the ex-vengeance demon, "This is not a good thing."

        "That," Anya pointed to the centre of the map, "is the Hellmouth. The rest are all the other places on earth where the hell dimensions could leak through."

        "There's more than one Hellmouth?" Tara was horrified.

        "Not really, these are places that could become Hellmouthes if you could open them, they all connect to the original. Covarius mapped out all the connections to figure out a way to open them. Of course he didn't." Anya finished reassuringly.

        "But the First thinks it can." Willow commented as she turned back to finishing the chart.

        "Well that's just great, the First is planning to blow up the world and I'm guessing its using Giles to figure out how and Buffy to make him figure it out." Elias commented grimly.

        From what Willow had picked up it seemed a good guess, "It also means the First needs them alive, that gives us some time."

        "And what are we going to do with that time, what are we going to do now?" Elias wanted to know.

        "Leave." Tara blurted out. Everyone looked puzzled, "I mean we're going to stay and work on the spell but Elias I want you to leave. You’re a guest here and you've done nothing but insult and harangue us so I want you to get out. If we need you, or you decide to apologize then you can come back."

        Elias was too stunned to answer. He looked around for support but the others attention was conspicuously elsewhere. With no intention of apologizing and knowing that a refusal was just going to mean a humiliating display of magic by the witches he walked out the front door.

        As soon as he was gone Tara felt weak at the knees, "Sorry but I just couldn't stand anymore of his attitude, guess I kind of lost it."

        Willow reached up and took her hand, "I thought it was pretty impressive," she commented and practically purred the word impressive.

        Willow used her free hand to draw the last line in the chart, "If that is the Hellmouth then the rest of these are places as well but I have no ideas what these markings mean; they seem to be made up of several different alphabets. That means it’s not a language, it's some sort of code."

        "The kind of thing Giles is good with." Anya commented.

        "And the kind that could take us a long time to solve." Willow's tone suggested she wasn't planning on trying.

        "We should concentrate on the spell." Tara agreed.

        Xander had been fidgeting since Elias walked out and finally decided to speak up, "Uh guys I don't want to get thrown out of here but if we do make the First solid what exactly is the plan after that?"

        "Knock it out and lock it up until we can exorcise it or something." Willow hadn't really thought about it, mostly because there seemed to be a lot of obstacles to overcome before they got anywhere near having to make that decision.

        "Couldn't we just slay it?" Dawn suggested with bloodthirsty simplicity.

        "I don't think that would be a good idea," Tara responded carefully, "it might just set its essence free again."

        "But hitting it would ok right?" Dawn just wanted to be clear on that and was satisfied with a nod from Tara.

        "Doesn't matter anyway, because trying this spell would be suicidal anyway." Anya had picked up Cavendish's notes. She gave the witches a, ‘tell me I'm wrong’ look when they stared at her.

        "That's what I was trying to get to earlier, we won't just summon up magical energy; we'll use the spell to channel physical energy, turn matter to energy and back again." Tara explained, making it sound simple and logical.

        That didn't make Xander feel any better because he remembered what Willow had said, "That sounds a lot like juggling nukes."

        "That's because it is; but it's a lot safer because physical energy is bound by physical laws. Magical energy exists outside of them. At a fundamental level of course they merge into one; that's why we should be able to make this work." Tara finished her explanation and saw she was getting those lost looks again, "Sorry but it just seems to make so much sense."

        Willow was trying to catch up, and finally found a handle on it, "Sounds like the Unified theory physicists are looking for."

        "Yes that's it exactly." Tara was relieved that Willow had finally put a name to the thing that was bouncing around in her brain. She knew it worked, she knew it made sense; it was just frustrating not to know how.

        "Well if you two are sure." Xander commented uneasily.

        "I'm sure it's our only shot.” Willow pointed out; putting a full stop on the discussion.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

8. "Map Of The End Of The World"

Buffy was watching Giles pore over the chart and make occasional notes. Her instinct was not to interrupt when he was working. Then it occurred to her that this was a situation where he needed to be interrupted, "Are you making any progress with that thing?"

        "Some." Giles mumbled without stopping his writing.

        "And do you think that's a good thing?" Buffy asked sweetly.

        That brought Giles to a halt, "Perhaps not but I think we need to know what the First's plans are and this is the only clue we have." And I can't bear to think of the consequences if I refuse. Giles wasn't going to remind Buffy of his main reason for co-operating.

        Buffy didn't need reminding, "Ok, ok, but what is it?"

        "A map basically, these markings identify places, some are cities others are ritual places. They seem to be all over the globe." Giles explained.

        Buffy stared at the script next to each of the icons, "You can read that?"

        "Actually it's a code. When I realised that the iconography was medieval I suspected that the language would be Latin and this was a simple substitution code." Giles flourished his notepad with a list of names.

        Buffy couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a lot of left over characters at the end of each name, "Your sure you got it right?"

        Giles looked offended by the suggestion, "Certain, the writing in the middle translates as Hellmouth. The other characters are some secondary code."

        "So Sunnydale really is the centre of the world." Buffy didn't sound convinced, "Doesn't make me feel any better about being stuck here," she realised Giles had stopped listening.

        "The centre of the world," he muttered, "of course arrange them relative to the Hellmouth." he looked at the chart and then at the list and began to write out the spare characters in a new order. He stopped after he had written out a couple, "Yes, arranged by distance from the Hellmouth it makes sense."

        "That's very good Giles." The Watcher snapped his head up to see a second Buffy standing there, "I knew I could count on you."

        The real Buffy gave Giles an exasperated look, "Ever heard the expression; 'too smart for your own good'?"



        Elias' escape route hadn't taken him very far, because as it happened there was a bar only a few minutes walk from the apartment. He had slapped down a bill, demanded a beer, and settled into a resentful silence while the other patrons formed an exclusion zone around him.

        As he sank the beer his thoughts began to take on a coherent shape, mostly centering on ways of carrying out a one-man rescue mission. Since he had only consumed the one beer none of the schemes convinced him. He didn't like it but as far as Elias could see to have a chance he would need the others; worse, he would need magic. Considering that he decided what he really needed was another beer.

        Before Elias could call the bartender back a figure slid into the seat next to him. He turned to get rid of them and halted when he found he was looking at Buffy Summers. "I thought we should talk, I've spoken to the others and gotten nothing but abuse. I figure you'll be a lot more civil, especially as I'll take it out on your girlfriend if you aren't."

        That latter comment forced Elias to choke down the string of invective he had been about to unleash, "Whatever it is you want I can't help; I wouldn't be here if I had any influence."

        "Now you see that's just wrong; who has more to lose than you?" The First sounded warm and sympathetic.

        It took an act of will for Elias to remember this wasn't the real Buffy, "The others are going to rescue her."

        "They'll try but will it really be a do or die effort?" The First wondered, "If one of them has to take the bullet for Buffy are they really going to put her first?" The entity seemed to be relishing its topic; "I mean Tara has an excuse but what about Willow, Xander, Dawn even? Are any of them really going to sacrifice their futures for hers, for yours?"

        The worst part of it was that the First was echoing the thoughts that Elias had been having himself, which made him wonder if it was getting inside his head, "If they won't I will."

        "Well that brings up the other problem. Whatever happens, whatever they do you aren't getting a happy ending, I promise you my last act will be to kill your girlfriend." The First made it sound like a friendly reassurance.

        Elias had no doubt the First meant it, why it was sharing it with was another matter, "Are you telling me this just for fun?

        "Anguish is always a pleasure to observe but I did feel you had a right to know the price of the witches actions, especially since it won't be them who pays it."

        Again it was exactly the thing Elias feared and it was what fueled his anger. It was suddenly crystal clear what the thing wanted; for him to turn on the others, because it knows their going to make a move but it doesn't know what, it's afraid of them.

        Something in Elias' expression gave away his thoughts, "Another hero." It commented disgustedly, "Ah well I'll tell Buffy goodbye from you."

        Elias blinked and he was sat alone again. He stole a glance at the clock on the wall. He was going to have to go back and apologize to Willow and Tara but he was damned if he was going to do it just yet.



        Tara had been working on the adaptation and Willow had to admit she was having trouble following it all; she had the feeling that if Tara could write out the underlying principles she would probably be in line for a Nobel prize. As she progressed Tara had realized there was one vital ingredient missing and so Willow had been dispatched along with Xander and Anya to fetch it.

        "I don't see why I have to do this." Anya complained.

        "Because you’re the one with the company chequing account, and you’re the only one who can sign the cheques." Willow was doing her best to be patient. Anya had agreed to go along with it so they could tolerate a little whining. Ideally she would have paid for it herself but what they wanted turned out to be surprisingly expensive.

        Anya accepted the point but came up with another complaint, "Did I have to actually come in here? It's smelly and unpleasant."

        This from the woman who once boasted about turning a man inside out? Willow wondered; though she had to agree their surroundings weren't exactly congenial. There were animal carcasses hanging all around them and despite the refrigeration there was a faint scent of dead flesh in the air. Willow decided to find something else to pay attention to before she was put off hamburgers for life.

        Tara's big idea had been that though energy was energy as far as physics went but where magic was concerned similarity was always useful. That meant flesh for flesh in this case so here Willow was looking to buy a cattle carcass.

        Willow had allowed her attention to drift for a moment and saw that Anya was staring at her impatiently, "Ok we'll find the guy and get out of here."

        "And then we do the spell." Anya sounded even more dubious.

        "You don't think it will work." Willow couldn't help being accusatory.

        "I don't know, I don't understand any of this. I have a thousand years of experience and none of it means anything."

        The ex-demon was clearly feeling lost and Willow felt a rare surge of sympathy, "Hey it's kind of confusing for me too."

        "But you believe it will all work out, even with everything that's gone wrong you still think it's all going to be fine and I don't understand why."

        Willow was going to shrug it off until she realised Anya wasn't just being annoying, she was entitled to an answer; assuming Willow had one. As she thought about it Willow decided she did, "Because it's been too much hard work to end here and now."

        Anya hardly looked convinced, "Willow just because you put a lot of effort into this spell…”

        "I didn't mean my effort, or Tara's." Willow added hastily before Anya could get the wrong idea again, "I mean ever since that crystal zapped me through time it’s been like something has been moving things in a particular direction. There's some bigger plan and I don't think we're even close to the end of it."

        Anya considered that for a moment, "Ok then, let’s go buy meat."



        Tara looked over the spell, or equation, or whatever it was. It seemed complete and whole, though Tara couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't really understand it. Someone somewhere had put in a lot of work on taking magic to a higher level. With the thing completed Tara separated the two pieces of paper it was written out on and laid one on the table and added a couple of notes.

        We have the cow baby, got a few odd looks loading it but we've got it. Willow’s thought slipped into Tara's brain.

        That's good honey; I have the spell ready.

        We'll be there as soon we can. Willow was anxious to get this done regardless of whatever higher powers might be on their side.

        I'll have everything ready. Tara also felt that they needed to act quickly.

        When Willow broke the connection Tara turned to Dawn, "It's time to go."

        Dawn was puzzled, "Are we going to meet up with Willow?"

        "No, we're going to go find your sister." Tara explained.

        Dawn wanted to find Buffy but she wasn't happy with this approach, “I don't think Willow is going to like that."

        "That's why we have to go before she gets here. I have to work the spell," she rubbed her belly, "We have to work the spell and Willow really won't like that. The only way to avoid a long pointless argument is to leave before she gets here, and if you come with me then I should have all the bodyguard I need."

        Dawn knew she was being flattered but it worked anyway, "Ok, just make sure you turn me back when she finds out; Buffy told me being a rodent was no fun."

        Tara was glad to see Dawn was able to retain a sense of humour until she noticed the serious expression, "I'll try, at the very least I'll make sure you get one of those deluxe hamster runs."

        Now it was Dawn's turn to wonder if Tara was joking.

9. "First And Last"

Buffy wasn't enjoying her trip, mainly because she was bound and being dragged along by a Bringer. Overall she was still doing better than Erin. Buffy hadn't imagined she could ever feel anything but rage towards the treacherous wannabe Slayer but right now she couldn't muster anything but pity for Erin. The young woman was being carried like some trophy animal; wrists and ankles tied to a pole and moaning with every bounce as the Bringers marched briskly along. Every inch of exposed skin was bruised and her eyes were swollen shut, which could have been a blessing. It seemed the First had vented its frustration and anger on the temporary Slayer through the Bringers, and it had a lot of anger.

        Giles was unbound and the First was strolling along besides him in Buffy form as if they were heading for a picnic, "Shouldn't you do something for her?" he waved in the direction of Erin.

        "Oh her pain will end soon enough."

        Giles didn't need a second hint to guess what the loathsome creature had in mind; "There is nothing in the ritual that calls for a blood sacrifice."

        "I know but I've seen a ritual yet that didn't improve with a little blood letting, kind of like mustard on a hotdog." Giles tried not to react to the callousness. He turned his attention back to trying to devise an escape plan, which was frustrating but distinctly less appalling. To date all his schemes had foundered on the twin difficulties that Buffy didn't have her powers and they wouldn't get very far carrying Erin.

        The Watcher moved closer to Buffy, "Any good ideas?" she enquired, not bothering to keep her voice down since she was fairly sure of the answer.

        "Beyond hoping for Willow and Tara to appear? No." Giles admitted.

        "It would nice to see them, and then kick their asses." Buffy couldn't help adding.

        Giles shook his head, "Now we don't know the circumstances, we can't even be sure that Dawn is the new Slayer."

        "Of course she is," Buffy riposted, "she was practically begging to jump in my shoes, the ones she hasn’t already stolen from my closet anyway."

        Giles knew that Buffy's annoyance with Willow and Tara was simple displacement; she was feeling guilty that she had offloaded her burden onto her sister.

        The area near the Hellmouth was entirely deserted; a good thing since any other option would mean a bloodbath. Buffy was relieved at that but still worried on another score, "Giles that spell could it actually do what you said? Open Hellmouthes all over the world."

        "In principal yes." Giles admitted.

        "But most of the would be in the middle of nowhere right? Right?"

        "Actually although some of the names were archaic I did identify a number of large cities, and those that weren't when it was written..." Giles let the thought trail off and Buffy didn't want to know anymore.



        "Well you guessed right." Dawn commented.

        "I figured this would be easier than trying a locator spell, especially if the First tagged it with a counter locator." Tara explained.

        That was a new one on Dawn, "Counter locator?"

        "Sort of a long distance firebolt."

        "Oh," was all Dawn could muster as a reply.

        Tara watched as Buffy and the others disappeared through the opening, her instinct had been to try a rescue but she couldn't persuade herself that it would actually succeed; it would be far too easy for Buffy or Giles to wind up dead, and besides having the First in the confines of the Hellmouth should give her the best shot of working the spell

        Tara Maclay where are you? Willow's thought was irate.

        At the Hellmouth. Tara had been expecting this.

        Then I'll be there in a second. Willow insisted.

        And who will work the other half of the spell?

        The fact that Willow didn't appear next to her told Tara she had made her point, Ok then we switch places. Willow wasn't going to concede just yet.

        That forced Tara to be blunt, you can't do this part, I have to.

        That was the thing that Willow had been afraid Tara was going to say, and arguing won't change that.

        No it won't. Tara confirmed.

        Then just, 'keep this channel open'.

        That I can do. Tara assured her.



        The ground clearing work had done nothing to improve the atmosphere around the Hellmouth and Buffy could still see the traces of an earlier spell in the dirt. It had to be the one that Willow had told her about, yesterday? The day before? Time had blurred for Buffy. Though right now it was crystal clear. Erin was unceremoniously dumped on the remains of the old spell with a moan of agony. Once again Buffy tested her bonds. Slayer or not Buffy couldn't just stand around while even the likes of Erin was sacrificed.

        Giles felt the same, "This is wholly unnecessary, what can it possibly achieve?"

        The First shifted into Giles' own form before replying, "Think of it as a mercy killing; you and your protégé on the other hand will be forming a welcoming committee for what's waiting on the other side."

        Giles took a step forward and founds himself held by a pair of Bringers. The First gestured and another Bringer unfolded a piece of paper in front of it, the completed version of Giles translation. Another Bringer stood poised over Erin with a long serrated blade.

        The creature incanted the words in Giles ringing tones and then watched the Hellmouth expectantly, the Bringer beside Erin poised to strike. It remained poised and the First kept watching and then frowned. It repeated the incantation with an even more clipped tone without any improvement in the results.

        "Why isn't this working?" It screamed at Giles.

        "Well you know how it is with Latin, get the least little thing wrong and you change all the tenses." Giles answered mildly.

        "You knew it was listening." Buffy accused him, "You figured it out before I said anything!"

        "Yes but you did help to sell the thing." Giles consoled her.

        The First cut through the exchange, "You are both going to suffer for deceiving me!"

        "As opposed to suffering for not deceiving you?" Giles pointed out. In reality he had been hoping that the cavalry would arrive. As he thought it they appeared, not as if by magic but precisely by magic.

        Dawn and Tara marched in from the opening and a couple of Bringers struck without hesitation. Their initiative found them both flying into the far wall of the cave, one sent by a wave of Tara's hand the other by a spinning throw courtesy of Dawn, "Hope we're not too late for the party."

        "I think I would call it fashionably late." Giles commented.

        "But always good to see you." Buffy added.

        The First was looking Tara up and down, "I can't believe you are truly this suicidal."

        "I can't believe you haven't figured out that we aren’t." Tara snapped.

        The First was going to tell Tara what it thought of that but it saw something in the witch's eyes that made it suddenly feel very old and tired.

        With the First hesitating Tara seized the opportunity, now honey.



        Willow had laid the carcass out in the living room with a series of symbols drawn on paper and laid out around it, I hear you baby, she responded to Tara's call. Willow began to walk around the circle; as she passed each symbol she enunciated the meaning, "Light, air, void, water, chaos, earth, flux, flame," and as she passed flame she halted for a moment and intoned, "unity." It was unlike any spell Willow had ever tried before with none of the rhythm or cadence that was usually so important, she just had to trust to Tara and the future.



        The First had heard the spell Tara was incanting years before and it had seen the consequences. If Tara had decided to immolate herself why should it stop her? The entity had just reached that conclusion when the spell took a right turn that the First wasn't expecting and the magical energies took on a completely different flavour; one that the First had never tasted in all its near eternal existence, something new, it realised and tried to command the Bringers to stop the witch but found it was transfixed and could do nothing.

       

        Willow watched as strange columns rose from the magical symbols, a straight section of rainbow reached up from light, a tightly contained whirlwind stood above air. Light and the four elements she understood, void, flux, and chaos were altogether other, though she had a suspicion that chaos was some sort of fractal. Her time for contemplation ran out as the columns bent towards one another and merged into a cone of, 'something' over the carcass, totally cool spell baby.



        Tara wanted to smile at the comment but she couldn't even spare that much concentration. She had to direct the energy that was flowing towards her, condense it back into matter.

        The First felt like the weight of the entire planet was trying to settle on it. The being could sense what was happening, and it was the classic case of being careful of what you wish for. The First wanted to be fleshly but not on the humans terms, not weak and helpless. It fixed its baleful glare on Tara, and found an inspiration.

        Tara watched as the First's form shifted at the last second before the spell grabbed hold. For a moment it was just an amorphous blur and Tara was afraid it was going to stay that way; the next moment she wished it had. Tara stared into the First's eyes, "Mom," she whispered.

        The face of Ellie Maclay formed into the parody of a smile, "Your magic, my choice."

        The insolent look disappeared as a rock bounced off its shoulder, "Man I am so tired of listening to you." Dawn announced as she hefted another rock. She knew that it might upset Tara but she was not going to let the First take control of the situation.

        "I think so too." Willow announced as she materialised, with the spell complete there was no way she was staying back at apartment.

        As soon as Willow put an arm around her Tara pulled herself together, "Dawn knock her out now!

        Dawn let fly but the First vanished in a flash of light, "It doesn't just look my mom, it has her power." Tara explained; it had taken her just too long to realise the First's choice was more than just an attempt to taunt her.

        Willow was sympathetic but there were still a bunch of Bringers to deal with. The First's minions however seemed more interested in locating their mistress than taking on the gang, especially after Tara's earlier demonstration of power.

        Dawn was tempted to go after them but was stopped by a call from the corner of the cave, "Could someone going to undo these ropes?" Buffy demanded.

10. "Countdown"

Willow had been persuaded to get Erin to the hospital the fast way; so she had teleported out and dumped the girl at the door of the ER. It wasn’t callousness so much as the desire to avoid a lot of awkward questions. She returned to see that Dawn was in the middle of untying Buffy. Both her and Tara decided to stay back, they were fairly sure Buffy was joking about kicking their asses for letting Dawn become the Slayer but it didn't hurt to be careful.

        "Buffy they didn't make me, they didn't ask me, I took it." Dawn explained.

        That didn't make Buffy feel any better about, "Why did you do it?"

        "Because it’s who I'm supposed to be, it's part of me like it was part of you." Dawn was anxious that Buffy wouldn't be able to accept the situation but she settled for giving her little sister a hug.

        With a sense of relief Willow turned her attention to Giles, "You sabotaged the spell, I kind of thought you were up to something when I scoped you out."

        "Well I wasn't going to just hand something like that over." Giles commented with quiet satisfaction.

        Tara had found the piece of paper the First had been reading from, "Giles how exactly did you alter this spell?"

        "Simply swapped the tenses of a few words, shuffled them into the past and future senses." Giles was still pleased with his efforts, at least until he noticed the expression on Tara's face. He had assumed she was still disturbed by the First's choice of form, now though it was obvious that she was worried about something else.

        Tara turned to face the wall of the cavern and made a few quick passes. A thread of light shot out and began to weave itself into a complex, ragged shape, the Hellmouth Giles realized. In all their time spent battling this thing Giles had never actually seen the substance of it.

        Everyone else seemed equally fascinated by the web of energy, and equally horrified when for a moment it leapt out to fill the cavern. No one dared to breathe until it suddenly shrank back and became quiet again.

        The light faded out and the Hellmouth disappeared from view again, "What was that?" Buffy asked, "I mean it was the Hellmouth, but what was that thing it did?"

        "That was the Hellmouth reaching out to all the other weak points, like a volcano rumbling just before it erupts." Tara explained, doing nothing to make the others feel any better.



        Elias had bounced from the witch’s apartment to the Summers house trying to find any of the gang. He was reaching the point of outright panic when they marched through the door, with Buffy in the midst of them. Elias practically knocked the others to the floor as he grabbed her and pulled her close, "Are you ok?"

        "In desperate need of a bath and a change of clothes but I'm in one piece," she reassured them.

        Elias was elated and was about to offer an apology to Willow and Tara when it struck him that he was the only happy person in the room, "Ok everyone's alive, the world hasn't blown up, why aren't we popping champagne corks?"

        "Because the world hasn't blown up yet." Dawn responded, and proceeded to fill him in on the details.

        Mentally Elias tore up his apology, "So basically this was all for nothing; sooner or later the Hellmouth is going to blow and rip open all the others in the process."

        "If we don't stop it." Willow didn't like the implication that they were just going to stand around and do nothing.

        "Great, I'm so filled with confidence." Elias didn't even try to hide his bitterness.

        "You're way out of line." Willow snapped.

        "Why? Because I have the nerve to question your brilliant magic? The fact is that protecting Buffy and even the whole world came second to your own selfishness."

        Tara saw Willow's eyes turn to darkness; she wanted to stop her other half but could see Willow was past listening. The only thing that saved Elias was Buffy stepping into the line of fire, "Yes they were selfish," she admitted as she looked Elias, "they were selfish because they wanted to save me."

        That cooled Willow's temper and left Elias too baffled to respond.

        Tara wasn't far behind him, "What exactly do you mean Buffy?"

        "The First told me about Plan B. If you two didn't come up with spell it would settle for driving me crazy and setting up house in my head."

        "And to stop it we would have had to kill you." Willow recalled her vision and now she saw it in a new light, not a warning but an encouragement. However bad it looked right now it could be worse.

        Buffy nodded, "So maybe I'm being selfish but I think we're way ahead of the game here."

        "You would still have been captured, the First would still have forced me to do the translation, and I would still have sabotaged it." Giles was basically talking to himself, weighing things up, "Overall everything would probably have come out the same but we would have lost Buffy."

        If Buffy and Giles could accept the logic then Elias supposed he had to but he wasn't really convinced.

        Willow could see it in his eyes but decided the best course of action was to ignore it. "What we need to do is figure out how to beat the First."

        "And close the Hellmouth." Tara added.

        Willow nodded, "Right, but I have a hunch if we solve one problem we'll solve the other."

        "A hunch or something more?" Giles was uneasy about precognition and prophecy, then again they were usually predicting doom and destruction so it was hard to think of them positively.

        "I'm not sure, depends if something actually exists or not." Willow was trying to recall what she could about the spear she had seen in her dream; it might be allegorical but then again...

        "Until we have something we need to keep the First away from the Hellmouth; when it finds out what's going on its bound to try and set it off sooner rather than later." Tara felt it was inevitable the entity would discover the truth, especially since it has magic of its own now. Tara tried to shake off the creeping sense of horror she felt over the First's choice of form; that was what the monster wanted.

        The quiet that settled over the room was a bad thing Willow decided, "Hey what are we all standing around for? We've got a fight to win and lives to get on with haven't we?"

        Willow was looking right at Buffy as she asked the question. The now ex-Slayer smiled, "Absolutely."

Tara slipped an arm around Willow and together they started to figure out how they were going to save the world.

Continued in…



‘Spear’ and ‘Shield’



Concluded in…



‘Last Dance’

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[tstcloud]

Wonderful update! Can't say I'm feeling the cliffhangers but it's an amazingly exciting read.



Is this the same staff that the BtVS crew found in the final season? If so are we about to see a ton of slayers running around?

[Grimaldi]

loved the update



Elias really needs to watch his attitude seeing as Willow and Tara aren't happy with him now, and if he keeps it up even Buffy might want to smack him around.

I'm not stealing, I'm just taking things without paying for them. In what twisted dictionary is that stealing?
Why do we have to resort to non-violence? Couldn't we just kick their asses instead?

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

Is this the same staff that the BtVS crew found in the final season? If so are we about to see a ton of slayers running around?

---

Actually tstcloud I never saw any ep after CWDP so definitely not the same weapon and no more potentials; Dawn's not good at sharing.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Karmah]

Thank you for another incredible update this fic is just well wow. To say you have an absolute gift for story telling is beyond redundant, so I will say you have done a remarkable job and I am eagerly awaiting an update.

Arron

You don't love a woman because she's beautiful,

She is beautiful because you love her.

~ by Anonymous ~

[Sheridan]

Karmah the only response I can muster to that is ...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[jessan15]

Let me just say, I wanted to be teleported into this story solely for the purpose of knocking Elias on his ass for annoying Tara.



This is the man Buffy is going to spend the rest of her life with? It's times like these I am so proud to be a lesbian.



Dawn's the slayer huh? So can't see it. Understand it, just can't picture it.



And the First turning into Tara's mother...didn't see that one coming...Nice Twist.



Another rocking installment...can't wait for the next one.

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

Let me just say, I wanted to be teleported into this story solely for the purpose of knocking Elias on his ass for annoying Tara.

---

I know he's being an ass Jessan15 but he will redeem himself during 'Spear'. As for Dawn we will get to see her being more Slayery in 'Shield'. Just to make it clear those two stories run in parallel so what might seem like missing scenes in 'Spear' will be explained in 'Shield'.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[The Rose24]

I finally got around to reading this update. Your updates are really long, and I have put them off until I have time to read them.



I am kind of late, so I don't want to repeat what everyone else has said. I 'll just say excellent update. I am really pissed off at Elias, and I really wish you had kept Riley in this story instead of him. I look forward to seeing how they deal with The First. It is unclear on the actual show what becomes of The First.

Tara: My heart doesn't stutter.


Tara: Willow, I got so lost.

Willow: I found you. I will always find you.

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

I am really pissed off at Elias, and I really wish you had kept Riley in this story instead of him. I look forward to seeing how they deal with The First. It is unclear on the actual show what becomes of The First.

---

Well Elias will redeem himself at least a little in 'Spear' and trust me the First will be very definitely dealt with.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

'Spear' is finished, give me a couple of days for editing and it will be posted right here.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Title: Spear

Author: Mike Mullen

Rating: NC-17/18 because of violence, adult themes, and sex.

Spoilers: None what so ever

Disclaimer: All the original BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and ME. Certain other parties answer to a Mr. Bruckheimer but everyone else in the stories are my personal slaves.

Summary: Willow has to take a road trip in search of a means of fighting the First, and finds herself tangled up in a dangerous game of cops and robbers

Authors notes: One half of a turbulent few days, Tara’s part will be in ‘Shield’.

Feedback: Just add your comments at the end of the story.

Spear

1. "Attack"

The tinkling of the doorbell pulled Willow's attention away from the book she was working her way through. She looked up and was disappointed to see it was just Xander returning with supplies. Willow had practically set up camp in the Magic Box, which meant Anya and Xander had been shoved into support roles. Tara had gone to make sure Giles and the Summers sisters were recovering from their ordeal with the First, and to make sure that Buffy and Dawn were adapting to their changed circumstances, given Tara’s empathic nature it made sense, that didn’t mean Willow had to enjoy it.

        Xander took the seat opposite Willow, "How's it going?"

        "Slowly, there are an awful lot of weapons in these," she gestured at the stack of books next to her.

        Xander nodded sympathetically. He would have offered to help except that Willow was the only one who had seen this whatever it was and Xander wasn't entirely convinced it was real. On the other hand the witches premonitions had proven scarily accurate lately so the only way to be sure was to plow through every book in the place, "If there's anything else I can do," he offered. Willow just nodded, her attention already back in the book. Xander got up and went back to talk to his fiancée.

        Willow knew she had been kind of rude to Xander but this was important and the days when he was the most important thing in the world to her were ancient history, practically a parallel universe given how alien the idea seemed now. Before she could think on it any further Willow realised she was looking at a familiar engraving, "That's it, I'm sure it is."

        Xander and Anya wandered back over and looked at the picture that Willow was pointing to, "Oh that old thing." Anya commented dismissively.

        Willow stared at her wide-eyed, "You knew what this was?"

        "Not really." Anya answered defensively, "It sort of sounded like the Spear of Odin but I wasn't sure."

        Willow was annoyed but that was Anya for you and there were more important things to worry about, "It's real? It exists?"

        "Well I haven't seen it for a few hundred years but it was very big with some of the Viking tribes. I mean I don't know if it ever actually belonged to Odin but it was seriously powerful. Of course with a whole bunch of Vikings believing in it and making sacrifices to it that was bound to happen.” Anya explained casually.

        Willow knew that in theory making blood sacrifices to an idol or totem could imbue an object with magical properties. Given the reputation of the Vikings Willow believed Anya when she said it was 'seriously powerful', particularly as it would have to be to do what it did in Willow’s vision.



        The doorbell tinkled again and this time Willow wasn't disappointed, Tara appeared in the doorway with Giles in tow, "Hey baby how are Buffy and Dawn?"

        "Taking a rest between rounds." Tara sounded a little exasperated.

        "I thought Buffy was ok with what Dawn did?" Willow had hoped the issue was settled.

        "She is, problem now is she's trying to give Dawn the benefit of her Slayer experience."

        "And driving Dawn nuts." Willow guessed.

        Tara nodded and sat next to her, she spotted the picture Willow was studying, "Hey you found the spear?"

        "Uh huh." Willow laid out what the book said and what Anya had told her, "Basically if we can find out where it's been for the last eight hundred years we're all set."

        Tara knew that even though Willow was trying to play it down she was excited, at least now they knew it was a real thing, "You really think this thing can take out the First and the Hellmouth?"

        "Think is the operative word. I mean anything pointy and heavy could take out the First," Willow hesitated to see how Tara reacted to that, given the form the First had taken and was relieved to see her other half took it in her stride, "but I'm not so sure how it would affect the Hellmouth."

        Tara pondered what Willow had told her about the spear, "Maybe it's like a magnet and the Hellmouth is the iron filings."

        Willow smiled as she listened, from someone whose recent spellcraft had pushed back the boundaries of magic and physics it was a quaint suggestion. Of course that didn't mean it was wrong, "Could be, makes more sense than anything I'd come up with."

        "Glad I could help." Tara smiled as she spoke, which suddenly degenerated into a frown.

        "What's the matter baby?" Willow had seen that look before; Tara was having an inspiration.

        "Sorry honey but I'm going to have to run out on you again." Tara announced as she got up from the table.

        "I could come with." Willow suggested.

        Tara patted her on the shoulder, "Trust me what you're doing is way more important."

        Willow reluctantly accepted that, "Just yell if you need me."

        Tara turned to Xander, "Can you give me a ride?"

        "Hey I'm here to serve," he said it so flippantly that it was hard to be sure if he really was ok with it or not, either way he produced his car keys and opened the shop door for Tara,



        As soon as Tara and Xander left Willow went over to Anya who was bent over a computer screen, "What are you doing?"

        "I thought if the spear still existed it must have been bought or sold sometime."

        Willow knew that Anya might be tactless but she wasn't stupid. Even so Willow was taken by surprise that she had come up with such a good idea, "And what have you got?"

        "I found an Urn of Osiris on E-Bay." Anya offered brightly.

        "Which does what exactly?"

        "Well it would be very useful if you wanted to resurrect someone."

        Willow fixed her with a dubious gaze, no one in their right mind would mess with raising the dead, "I don't think that's going to help."

        Anya was spared admitting that she didn’t think so either by a flashing icon, "Here we are, the spear was bought at auction just a few months ago."

        Willow almost knocked her out of the way to look at the screen. There were several images on the auction house's website and they certainly looked like the weapon in her vision. The web page didn't give any details of the purchaser but that was where Willow's own computer skills came into play, as long as they didn't just pay cash and take it with them there's got to be a record in here somewhere.



        When Tara came back Willow was alarmed. Her hair was askew and there was dirt streaked on her clothes, "Good grief what happened?" Willow demanded as she steered Tara towards a chair. Elias, Dawn, and Buffy strolled in behind Tara, and they all looked just as disheveled. Xander was clean but looking far from happy.

        "You really, really, don't want to know." Elias told Willow as he slumped against the counter.

        Willow wasn't just going to accept that but Tara gestured to let it go, "Well those of us who weren't rolling in the mud have come up with something."

        "You found the spear." Tara couldn't imagine it was anything else.

        "We found it," Willow gestured towards Anya, "It's owned by a collector in Las Vegas."

        "I smell a road trip," Xander piped up enthusiastically, "but I guess it'll be witches only," he added when he saw Anya's expression freeze.

        "It will be one witch only." Tara corrected him.

        That caused Willow to do a double take, "I figured we could go together, I think we can afford an extra day to go the ordinary way."

        "That's not the problem Willow, one of us needs to cover Sunnydale." Tara pointed out, "The First isn't just going to sit around while we figure out how to destroy it. Besides if you go without me it means you can teleport there and back, and every second counts."

        The arguments made sense and Willow knew she was going to have to agree, that didn't mean she had to be happy about it, "When you put it like that I guess I have to do it."

        "You could wait till morning though." Tara suggested sweetening the pill.

        That made Willow a little happier, then Elias piped up to sour her mood again, "I'll go along to watch your back."

        The two witches looked at one another; they had no good reason to turn him down and having someone to provide Willow with backup made sense. However they both knew that Elias' offer was less generous than it looked. The ex-soldier didn't trust their magic and this was his way of making sure they didn't 'screw up' again as he saw it, "That's very generous Elias but you really don't have to." Tara demurred.

        "I think someone has to and I'm the best candidate." The way he said it made it an ultimatum. Tara looked to Buffy; she was clearly unhappy but wasn’t going to intervene. Dawn had to guard the Hellmouth and that meant Buffy wasn’t going to let the brand new slayer out of her sight. From Buffy’s perspective if neither her, nor dawn nor Tara could go Elias was the best choice. With no protest from Buffy Willow and Tara had to concede the point, at least Elias doubts should keep him vigilant, just so long as he was watching the bad guys rather than Willow. Tara kept the thought to herself.



        Willow rubbed the soap into Tara's back and picked off a piece of grass that had slid down from her hair, "Elias has a lot to answer for," she commented as she let her fingers move down Tara's spine in small circles

        Tara just enjoyed the sensation for a few moments before she responded, "He thinks everything is spinning out of control, and it's making him obnoxious."

        "And that's being polite." Willow slid her hands over Tara's butt before turning her around. She let her fingertips stray over Tara's belly, "Are we going to have privacy issues here?"

        "I think she's taking the evening off." Tara reassured her. She had become so used to that other presence that she hadn't even noticed when it wasn't there. Clearly LJ had decided to be discrete.

        Willow didn't need to hear anything else; she pulled Tara close and kissed her, letting her tongue explore Tara's mouth as their bodies entwined.

        Tara pressed Willow against the wall of the shower. Willow was happy to let her take the lead; she was the one who could judge how 'energetic' they could be. As it turned out Tara was inclined to be very energetic.

        She took Willow's arms and pushed them above her head until Willow's fingers laced around the showerhead. With Willow stretched out Tara worked her mouth down Willow's body; biting her nipples, licking her belly and mapping out every ridge and fold of her pussy.

        Willow wriggled and moaned until she could stand it any longer. She slipped down the wall and wound up in a tangled heap on the floor of the shower stall with mouths and fingers reaching everywhere and all their troubles banished in a burst of raw ecstasy.

2. "Harder Than It Looks"

Just get back as soon as you can. Willow knew that Tara's last words to her were more than just the desire not to be apart any more than they had to be; she was also worried that the more time they took the more likely the First was too try something.

        Elias had been brooding silently when they met up at the Magic Box, for which Willow was grateful since she could live without another argument. It may simply have been that he didn't want to disturb her while she was trying to find a focus to teleport to in Las Vegas. In the end Willow had found a website selling holidays and picked out some pictures of a hotel in Vegas, she just had to hope that the room was empty when they appeared.

        As it happened their luck was in, the room had clearly been recently vacated, "Let's get out of here before housekeeping turn up." Elias suggested. Willow didn't argue though she didn't like the way he was trying to take charge.

No one paid any attention to them as they made their way to the lobby; it was a big hotel and they just blended into the crowd, "We need to find a phone book." Willow stated firmly.

        "Are you planning to phone this collector?" Elias wondered exactly what Willow was planning.

        "Yes we are." Willow stated emphatically, "We aren't just going to break in and steal the spear. If he knows about the black arts then maybe I can talk him into handing it over. I mean it won't be much use to him if the world goes boom."

        "And what if he doesn't believe you? Or turns out to be one of the bad guys?" Elias was uncomfortable with relying on the good will and common sense of a stranger.

        "That's the point at which we steal it." Willow responded dryly. She wasn't naive about the chances of the collector co-operating; it just seemed fair to give the man a chance to play ball.

        The collectors phone number was right there in the phonebook; getting him to answer proved more difficult. All Willow got when she called was an answering machine message. She decided against leaving a message partly because she couldn't think how to phrase things but mostly because she just hated talking to the things. "So if we can't talk to him then maybe we should go over there." Elias suggested when she filled him in.

        "Just to do some reconnaissance, right?" Willow insisted and Elias nodded reluctantly.

        The ex-soldier sought to reassert himself on the trip over to the house. Since it went on his credit card it was natural that he would be the one to drive the car, it was just a plain old power trip to insist on navigating as well.

        Willow was considering using a spell to make Elias lose his way just to take him down a peg or two when her thoughts were interrupted by the shrill sound of an ambulance siren. Elias pulled over to let it pass and was about to pull out when a police car whizzed past, "They could be going anywhere." Willow was trying to reassure herself more than Elias, she didn't succeed on either count.



        The yellow police tape had blocked off a large house in the middle of a block of similar detached properties. As was inevitable it exerted a powerful draw for any passers by, all of whom were speculating, rubbernecking and generally getting uptight when the police expected them to move back and let them work.

        Willow could feel Elias' eyes boring in the back of her head but she wasn't going to turn around and confront him. The cordoned off house was naturally the one they had been coming to visit, Willow tried to persuade herself that it was fortunate that whatever disaster had befallen the house and its owner hadn't happened after her and Elias had been and gone. It wasn't much of a consolation but it was all she had right now.

        Not being the tallest person in the world Willow was having a hard time getting a good look at what was going on, and really she needed to be an awful lot closer, "I'm going to go in." Willow murmured to Elias and worked a concealment glamour before he could comment. Willow was glad she had settled on the more traditional approach rather than trying to phase because it was impossible to reach the tape without bumping into people. Their reactions ranged from simple bemusement to cross words with innocent neighbours, which helped to draw away some of the police and opened a gap in the tape that Willow slipped through.

        Making for the front door Willow almost ran into a pair who had emerged from a recently arrived Humvee. The man was tall with wavy greying hair and a penetrating gaze that made Willow wonder if the glamour was still working. Besides him was a younger dark haired woman doing her best to match the mans serious air, although on her it was clearly still a work in progress. As Willow let them pass she saw the initials, 'CSI' stenciled on the back of their blue jackets. The forensics team, Willow realised. She had always been a little fascinated with that branch of science and decided that tagging along with them would be a good way to find out what had really gone on in the house.

        The call from the cops on the scene had described the crime scene as 'odd'. As hard as she tried Sara Seidel hadn't been able to avoid getting a little excited by that. Grissom had pointed out that anything that didn't fit in with the police's expectation of a nice neat shooting or stabbing was going to be seen as 'odd'. Still on this occasion it seemed that the detectives hadn't been exaggerating. The house was crammed with glass cases full of antiques. Not the usual vases and classical statuary; this collectors taste seemed to run to the more exotic. There were what looked like meso American animal figures, African masks, and a host of other items that Sara couldn't place but would guess were connected with the rituals and religions of other cultures. In the daylight it was simply unusual, she could only imagine the effect if you walked in here at night with the lights turned down.

        The main crime scene was in what had previously been a large dining room but had been converted by the current owner into a study to accommodate row upon row of floor to ceiling bookcases and a cluster of freestanding glass cases. That was where Sara's inspection of the room came to a halt because the side of one of the cases had melted. There were rivulets of glass running down the legs of the wooden table that supported the case and a pool of glass on the floor beneath it.

        Grissom bent down and gently tapped his fingers against the pool, "Completely solid."

        His expression gave little away but his voice told Sara that his curiosity was peaked.

        Willow was watching over their shoulders as the man called Grissom carefully chipped away samples of the melted glass. Willow couldn't see any signs of scorching or acid damage.

        "No visible sign of heat or chemical attack." Grissom's comment startled Willow who was afraid she had spoken out loud.

        "Would you mind taking a look at the body?" The sardonic request came from a balding detective, whose harassed look said that he was in charge here.

        Willow walked behind the scientists as they moved to the body; and really wished she hadn't. The man was slumped in leather office type chair that had rolled back against the wall. Something had ripped open his belly.

        With a detachment that Willow found enviable at the moment Grissom crouched down besides the man and checked him out. "There's also a large penetrating wound emerging from the back. I would surmise the killer ripped him open and then shoved the weapon through the wound."

        "You know the impression in the padding of the empty case looked like some sort of weapon." Sara suggested.

        Grissom of course was already that one step ahead, "A spear I'd say."



        Elias had retreated to the hire car to watch the comings and goings at the crime scene, "I'm back." Willow's voice behind him made Elias start involuntarily. He turned and regarded her warily. Before she could react he reached out and pinched the back of her hand, "Hey!" Willow protested.

        "Just wanted to make sure you were solid," he explained.

        Willow shook her hand to dispel the pain; "The First is flesh and blood now. And if was the First I would probably have just zapped you for that." Willow pushed her annoyance aside, "Anyway we've got other things to worry about."

        Sat in the car Willow laid out the scene in the house to Elias, "So the First beat us to it," he responded grimly.

        Willow frowned, "I don't think so. What was done to that man seemed sort of personal. Besides if the First knew what the thing was and had stolen it I don't think it's whole evil vibe could resist raining little pieces of spear down on us just to see our reaction."

        Elias wasn't convinced by Willow's first point; the second rang true though. Given the First's penchant for torture and taunting it wouldn't be able to resist rubbing their noses in the fact they had failed, "Ok so the First doesn't have the spear, any clue who does?"

        "Not yet," Willow admitted, "but they might," she pointed to the front door of the house; where Grissom and Seidel had just emerged.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Day Three: CSI

To access the police investigation Willow had decided to go with a tried and tested approach, hacking into the police computer system. Unfortunately the effort confirmed what Willow had long suspected, that Sunnydale PD was a Mickey Mouse outfit. It wasn't just that Las Vegas PD had better computer security; they also had a much more complex and extensive system all around. She could find the information but not without disrupting the system and setting off all manner of alarms. In the end Willow decided that she would have to work things the other way round.

        The receptionist at the CSI building looked up to see Willow walking in, "Can I help you?"

        Willow took a breath, "Miss Rosenberg here to see Mr. Grissom," she had done a little web surfing and found out Gil Grissom was a top man in the field of forensics and the man in charge here at Las Vegas’ crime lab.

        The receptionist looked puzzled for a moment and then smiled, "Of course, do you want me to call him for you?"

        "No I'm sure I can find him." Willow was mightily relieved that the glamour was working right. Making people imagine there was nothing there was easy, people had a habit of ignoring anything that didn’t immediately concern them. The concealment glamour simply amplified that tendency to the nth degree. Making them believe they knew you was harder, it required inserting a sense of familiarity and encouraging the mind to fill in all the blanks.

        Willow’s plan was to avoid contact as much as possible, find a computer terminal and put in a backdoor that would let her keep an eye on what the police had learned. When she walked into the maze of glass walled offices and labs however Willow couldn't help being distracted; it was techno heaven. Willow's inner nerd could feel the call and she stood and soaked up the atmosphere for a few moments. "Can I help you miss?"

        Willow turned to see a tall good-looking man with a pleasant smile on his face; well here goes nothing, "I'm Willow Rosenberg, the expert on the occult and ritual practices."

        Again there was that moment of puzzlement on the mans face. Again though it passed, "Right, guess your looking for Grissom?" Willow had no choice but to nod, "I'll show you the way." The man thrust a hand out, "Nick Stokes."

        Willow shook the offered hand, "Thanks, so what's it like working here?"



        Confronting Grissom was the last thing Willow wanted to do. He still wore that penetrating look that made her nervous about the glamour. The spell though did its work, probably because the investigator was more interested in pumping her for information than in any vague uncertainties about her presence. Grissom sat Willow down in his office and launched straight into grilling her, "Does this fit in with any ritual scheme your familiar with?"

        Willow did of course have an extensive knowledge of mythology and the occult after years of helping fight off supernatural evil of every form, and she had spent hours looking up the spear, Vikings, and Norse myths just in case, "I think it's an obscure Viking rite, especially given the weapon that was used. I can't imagine any burglar going to so much trouble to steal the spear and then using it to defend themselves. This was making a point."

        Grissom nodded slowly, "That fits in with our own conclusions."

        Willow felt deflated, "You already figured this out?"

        Grissom gave her a small smile, "Only that this was personal, the ritual element was just a guess. Can you fill us in on the background of this spear?"

        Willow saw her chance, "If you can give me access to an internet connection."

        Grissom was studying the web pages Willow had found. She was standing beside him with her hand resting casually on the computer. Willow let her magic reach out and subtly manipulate the computers connection to the outside world. With that done Willow knew it was time to go but it was hard to tear herself away from the investigation. The computer search was interrupted when young man wearing a lab coat walked in. He looked like he would be more at home at a rock concert, "Grissom we have a problem with the DNA from that impaling," he seemed to relish the gruesomeness of the crime.

        "What sort of problem?" Grissom wanted to know.

        "There definitely was another blood group mixed with the victims but there's some sort of contaminant disrupting the pattern, hello." The latter was directed towards Willow.

        "Hi." Willow nodded.

        Grissom cut off any further conversation, "Do you have any idea what the contaminant is?"

        "Never seen it before." Greg admitted.

        Willow had gotten a look at the printout and had to bite back commenting that she had seen it. When they broke into the Initiative computers years before Tomarov's readings of demon 'genes' looked like the contaminant, whoever the killer was they weren't wholly human.



        Sitting alone in the hotel room Elias was going quietly mad, or madder anyway. Practically since the discovery of the threat to Buffy he had been short tempered and abrasive. Deep down he knew he was being more than a little unfair to Willow and Tara but he couldn't help himself. There was just a powerful sense of frustration; and something he could barely admit to himself, the sense of being useless. Even though Buffy was stronger and faster than he was he could still contribute when they went patrolling, watch her back, help out when the bad guys had the numbers on their side. Even when it had come to hunting in a parallel universe for Dawn he had still been able to contribute. As this latest crisis had escalated into a battle of spells and witchcraft it had become increasingly clear that his role was to stand around and watch, it wasn't a case of not wanting to help, it was that he simply lacked any of the right skills. He couldn't help thinking back to when he applied for a posting to Special Forces. There had been a training course designed to sift out those with potential from those who were just wannabes. He remembered the looks on the faces of the guys who were giving it their all but not making it; the look that said they knew they were inadequate to the task and hated themselves for it. Recently he had begun to see that look in the mirror when he was shaving.

        He had resolved to try and rein it in when Willow got back but the upbeat and excited look on her face when she walked in pushed his buttons, “Since your so happy I'm guessing you know where the spear is?”

        That knocked some of the air out of Willow but she wasn't prepared to be brought all the way down, “No but I did tap into the police system and meet some interesting people.” Willow had to admit she had enjoyed her time at the CSI office maybe more than she should have. She wondered if perhaps her choice of cover had some long term potential; after she was an expert on the realm of magic and the supernatural, maybe there was a way to make that work in the ordinary world.

        Elias could see she wasn't really paying attention, “And did they happen to tell you anything useful?”

        “That our suspect is part demon, which means it wasn't the First, her DNA would be pure human. I also think the cops might have a suspect but I'll need to hack in to find out exactly.” That gave her a good excuse to ignore Elias and get on with things. She quickly powered up the laptop and accessed her link into the police system. With the information Grissom and Greg had furnished it wasn't hard to access the relevant case files. It helped but not quite as much as she would have liked, “I think we are talking suspects plural.”

        “How many exactly?” Elias braced himself for the worst.

        “Four. They found letters from some lawyer offering to buy the spear for increasing sums of money. There were a bunch of e-mails from some cult group claiming the spear was a holy relic, an answer phone message from some casino about the collector reneging on a deal, oh and after I pointed them to the auction they found he had a bidding war with another Las Vegas based collector; apparently they didn't get along.”

        “Great and there's nothing to narrow things down?”

        “Well they have DNA but since they think its contaminated they can't use it. Besides if it's the cult or the casino it could be anyone of a bunch of people.” Willow was trying to work it out for herself, which was the most likely candidate. Based on the evidence however there was nothing to separate them.

        “And we're sure this isn't some minion of the First?” Elias was still focused on the monster, even if it technically had no use for Buffy anymore he was still concerned it would try and deliver on the promise it had made in the bar.

        “I called Tara, the First is still focused on Sunnydale.” A little too focused for Willow's comfort.

        “Alright so I guess we split the suspects and start digging.” Elias half expected Willow to say no; his every other attempt to make himself useful had come to nothing.

        Willow surprised him by agreeing, “We need to work quickly so it makes sense. I think you should start with the cult. They seem to be some sort of Nordic Aryan setup so you'll fit in a lot better than I would.”

        Thanks.” Elias answered uncertainly.

        “And since we're looking for an inhuman fiend I'll start with the lawyer.” Willow offered. She checked the name the police notes again, Lindsay Macdonald, formerly a hotshot for an LA firm called Wolfram & Hart. That name set off some alarm bells but Willow didn't share with Elias. There was only one place she could go for info about that outfit, and it wouldn't make Elias any happier.

Day Four: Night And The City

Angel picked up the note lying on what had been the hotels reception desk, 'threw out old blood, fresh in bottom of fridge.' It was in Fred's neat handwriting. "Good thing you have someone taking care of you." Willow commented.

        Angel turned to see her sat on a sofa in the middle of the room. He felt a certain unease given the tumult that had accompanied her last visit but she seemed a little more relaxed this time "Willow, have you been here long?"

        "Just got here and discovered there was no one around." Willow explained.

        "They've all decided to get lives lately." Angel observed dryly.

        Willow smiled, "I know how that goes, you should try it sometime."

        "That's still a little tricky." Angel reminded her.

        Willow was going to suggest that the problems weren't insurmountable and then decided against it, rewriting the rules of peoples lives was what had gotten them into their current situation "I needed some information, about Wolfram and Hart."

        That worried Angel, "Are they causing you trouble?"

        "Not exactly." Willow gave a brief account of events in Sunnydale and Las Vegas, emphasizing the role of the lawyer and playing down the part about Buffy’s change of status.

        Angel was bemused, "You think Lindsay has this spear?"

        "Do you?" Willow asked pointedly.

        "When he left town I thought Lindsay wanted to forget all about the law and the supernatural. Then again he never could decide which side he was on and he could have talked himself into something."

        To Willow that kept Lindsay firmly on the suspect list, "I guess I had better find out."

        "You need some support? I have a lot of experience dealing with Lindsay." Angel offered.

        "Honestly if you want to help you should probably go to Sunnydale, I think things are going to get ugly around the Hellmouth." Willow was a lot more worried about Tara and the First than her little problems in Las Vegas.

        "Ok I'll round up the others and get on the road but if you need help..." Angel suspected Willow might be underestimating things, especially if Lindsay was working for Wolfram and Hart again.

        "I'll keep it in mind." Willow assured him, and teleported out.



        If Elias had known this choice had involved being up on a hillside at dawn he might have thought twice about it. It wasn't so much the dawn part as the strangeness of the people he was mixing with. Elias might regard magic with a certain suspicion but he had been immersed in it enough over recent years to tell the difference between a genuine ritual and mumbo jumbo. This was definitely a bunch of baloney.

        Getting invited along wasn't that hard, the members of the 'church' were all crew cut muscular types who looked like they would be more at home in some mountain retreat waiting for doomsday. The ritual on the hillside involved a huge bonfire and greeting the dawn with the waving of weapons. There were a lot of shouting and screaming as well, which Elias managed to join in without looking too embarrassed.

        Once it was all over coolers were broken open and beers distributed. Elias throat was raw after the ceremony so he took one enthusiastically and then began looking for the group's leader. 'Erik' as he was known was easy to spot, wearing what appeared to be a wolf skin vest over dark coloured combat fatigues. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Erik looked distinctly Nordic, or Aryan, Elias thought cynically.

        Erik spotted Elias almost at the same moment Elias saw him and strode over, "Your our potential recruit." Erik stated assuredly.

        Elias took his hand and returned the firm grip, "I am interested, the last couple of years I've wondered if there isn't something we've forgotten about in these older rites." That at least was true, coming face to face with magic and mad gods you had to wonder how much of the old myths were just stories and how many were simply colourful retellings of actual events.

        Erik seemed to like the response, "Quite right, these pagan rites embrace the reality of human nature, the good and the bad."

        "Right and wrong?" Elias probed carefully.

        "A Christian invention, an attempt to cage human nature." It might just have been a sales pitch but the way Erik's eyes lit up made Elias think otherwise, a genuine class A nut



        "What's going on?" Willow muttered groggily. She had returned from LA to an empty hotel room and after a long day decided to grab a few hours sleep; Lindsay wasn't likely to be in his office for some time. Now she had been jerked awake by a slamming door and the brightness of the room lights.

        Elias had been going over the details of his encounter with the Viking wannabes and forgotten all about Willow, "Sorry."

        "We really need to get separate rooms." Willow commented.

        "Which takes more money." Elias reminded her.

        Willow decided to change the subject, "Anything useful from your dawn vigil?"

        "Their leader is a true believer, didn't see any actual magic but I wouldn't be surprised. The guy definitely has killer potential." Elias was guessing about the magic but killer instinct? That he knew.

        Willow nodded, "According to Angel the lawyer used to be hip deep in Wolfram and Hart's dark stuff. Oh and Angel is going to take his group to Sunnydale to help the others."

        "Oh, right, good." Having more manpower had to help but having it provided by Buffy's ex was less than ideal.

        Willow could guess what was bothering Elias, "I'm going to go interrogate the lawyer, maybe you should look at the casino."

        "Maybe we should do that together," Elias countered, "one of us snoops while the other works the tables."

        Willow took a second to get the point, "You're suggesting we cheat?"

        "Well if they're bad guys why not? Unless you like sharing a room?"

        Willow's law abiding nature warred with her desire for privacy, "We'll see," she answered in a rather weak tone.



        The alleged law office looked more like a music studio to Willow. There were tape recorders and a mixing deck shoved against one wall and a guitar case propped against the desk. Lindsay himself could have been quite charming, if you didn't know what he had done in the past. "Well Miss Rosenberg I don't see how I can help you," he commented affably, "in fact I don't know how you found out my connection to this case."

        That was clearly intended to unnerve Willow, it didn't even come close, "Well you can probably figure it out, I'm sure Wolfram and Hart found out all sorts of things they weren't supposed to know."

        Lindsay's little effort had failed, Willow's was right on the mark, "What do you know about them?"

        "Just what Angel told me." Willow twisted the knife a little.

        Lindsay pulled open a drawer. Willow didn't wait to see what he was going for, She simply gestured and the drawer tore itself out of the desk. It turned over in the air and emptied its contents on the floor. Everything seemed to be ordinary except for a small figurine. Willow turned her right hand over and the figurine jumped into the open palm. It was a totem, some sort of magical protection, "Kind of low grade, wouldn't do much good if I was some sort of 'hit witch' for your old employers. Luckily for you I'm one of the good guys."

        Lindsay had come to the same conclusion, if Willow wanted him dead he would be a grease spot by now, "What do you really want?"

        "Exactly what I said, I want to know who sent those letters."

        Lindsay hesitated for a moment, "I sent them," he could see that annoyed Willow, "I mean I was approached to send them, by the guy who wound up dead."

        Willow considered whether Lindsay was dumb enough to try lying and decided not, "He wanted you to send letters asking to buy the spear?"

        "One at a time over a few weeks, and to invoke client confidentiality if anyone wanted to know where they came from, it's also what I fell back on with the police."

        It was bizarre but it would make sense one way, "Someone wanted to buy the spear and our dead collector tried to boost the price with a phony competitor."

        Lindsay nodded, "It was reasonable money for minimum effort."

        As long as you didn't mind swindling someone. Willow didn't bother to mention it to Lindsay; she wasn't his conscience, "Whoever it was found out."

        "Or just didn't want to pay that much." Lindsay shrugged. As far as he was concerned the collector had played and lost, anything that happened was his own fault.

        "And no one approached you?" Willow wanted to be sure Lindsay was saving any little tidbits for possible blackmail.

        "No, and now you know what I know."

        Willow decided she did, she threw the totem back to Lindsay and got out of the chair, "If I were you I'd invest in something a little more heavy duty, I know an ex-vengeance demon who can do you a deal."

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

Edited by: Sheridan at: 10/17/03 11:05 am

[Sheridan]

Day Five: The Sting

Las Vegas boasted casinos modeled after New York, Venice, Ancient Rome, and now Norse legend. Willow had to imagine that if the Viking gods did exist this place would have gotten a thunderbolt by now. The 'Valhalla' appeared to be a slice of cliff face with a waterfall and some sort of great hall rising above it. There were a pair of long ships set either side of the main entrance, which like everything else were composed of plastic and Styrofoam, though the Valkyrie were sort of interesting, they were all blonde and leggy wearing nothing much more than a gold coloured breast plate and a pair of wings, your a married woman, quit staring, Willow reminded herself. She turned to Elias and noticed he had been just as distracted as she was, "Buffy would never wear that you know."

        Elias jumped and looked decidedly embarrassed, "Just doing recon."

        "Right, how about we check out the tables?" Willow suggested and Elias hastily agreed.

        The casino looked pretty much the way Willow expected, banks of slot machines surrounding the more traditional games of chance; except there wasn't a lot being left to chance here. Willow could feel a magical vibe running through the place and not a good vibe. It threaded around the tables and the machines, casting some sort of spell over the gamblers. Willow doubted it was intended to increase their winnings. That settled any reluctance Willow might have had about using magic to boost their cash balance, she would just be fighting fire with fire.

        Willow laid a hand on Elias' shoulder and focused her magic into him while quietly uttering a spell.

        Elias felt as though the world around him had suddenly shifted ever so slightly to one side, "What the hell was that?"

        "Just a pat on the shoulder for luck," Willow explained with a hint of exasperation, “maybe you should go roll some dice or something."

        Elias took the hint and set off into the body of the casino. Willow went in the opposite direction, looking at the Viking crap they had on the walls. As cheesy as the casino was the Viking emblems and weapons looked oddly authentic. She gravitated to one cave like area with 'Temple' etched in the fake stone above it. The signage around it suggested none to subtly that you pray to the gods for luck and then get back to the slots.

        Willow walked in and had to stifle a gasp; there was the spear hanging on a wall. It was just as well Willow suppressed her excitement because up close it was just a plastic imitation but it was exact, right down to the inscription. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to add authentic touches in amongst the Las Vegas razzamatazz, which added to the magic on the main floor suggested someone here might be interested in the real spear as more than just a marketing gimmick.

        Walking back out onto the main floor Willow saw a knot of people gathered around one of the gaming tables, plus several smartly dressed, heavily muscled men converging on it. Willow raced over to find precisely what she had suspected; Elias with a big pile of chips in front of him and some very hot dice in his hand. Doing a quick count suggested that he had gotten a little carried away.

        Before Willow couldsaw what seemed to be a heat haze rising from the table; it shimmered and twisted in a way that should have alarmed the customers except they seemed oblivious to it. There was something more to the magic than just bending the odds around the gaming tables, "How much have you made?" she asked Elias.

        He did a quick count, "Three or four thousand."

        Given how little time Willow had given him it was no wonder the security men were circling, "I think you've pushed your luck far enough,” she murmured and nodded ever so slightly behind her.

        Elias looked at her askance and only then noticed the security men looking over his shoulder, "Yeah maybe its time to call it a night."

        The pair turned to walk away when another well dressed character approached them, this one was tall and almost impossibly thin with a shock of silver hair, "Had a good evening?" he asked pleasantly.

        "Yes thanks." Willow responded and tried to move towards the exit.

        The newcomer somehow managed to get in the way, "My name is Drakken, I'm the manager and I always like to congratulate big winners in person."

        Willow had a prickling sensation that said he was doing more than just congratulating them, he was feeling them out magically, and doing it rather clumsily in Willow's view, "Well I hope we haven't dented your profits too much."

        Drakken took on a rather pained expression suggesting that his effort to read Willow wasn't getting anywhere. He smoothed it over with a thin smile, "No, no, as long as you don't do it too often.

        "We'll try not too." This time Willow grabbed hold of Elias and swerved around the manager.

        Out on the street Elias checked the bundle of cash, "Should be able to get a second room, hell probably a couple of suites if we wanted," He noticed that Willow was brooding, "alright what did I miss?"

        "A lot of magic." Willow explained, "I thought it was just loading the odds in favour of the house but I think there was something more going on."

        "So we can't cross them off the list." Elias observed, "I hope we pin it on this last guy because right now I have no idea who has the spear."

        Willow reluctantly had to agree; the casino and the cult were both vaguely suspicious but just because they were up to no good didn’t mean they were involved in the disappearance of the spear.



        After changing their sleeping arrangements at the hotel, which got Elias some pitying looks when explained that the woman he arrived with wanted a separate room, both Willow and Elias wanted to take advantage of their newfound privacy. Willow wanted to soak in the bath and Elias; Willow decided she didn't want to know what he did with his time. He was still being a pain in the butt, especially as he had developed an annoying habit of checking his watch every five seconds.

        It was after lunch before the two of them set out for the last of their suspects. As much as it irked her Willow had to admit she was as worried about how much time was passing as Elias was. If the Hellmouth, Hellmouthes, ripped open would the spear still do any good? Or should they be working on a backup plan? Willow decided against it, they needed to be totally focused on what they were doing. If they started chasing after alternatives the chances were that they would end up with a lot of half finished plans just about the time the world ended.

        The last target lived at the end of a dirt track just outside of Vegas. It was hardly a promising location until the car rounded a curve and Elias jammed on the brakes. Set in a hollow in the ground was a veritable oasis. Lush grass and trees surrounded by a wrought iron fence periodically supported by stone pillars. Set in the middle was a two-storey house with two long wings stretching out from a square centre that resembled a Greek temple.

        “I am actually seeing this right?” The whole setup seemed so incongruous in the middle of the desert that Elias had to consider the possibility that it was a mirage.

        “We're seeing it but I can't be sure how real it is.” Willow was looking at the fence. The stone pillars seemed odd, rather rough hewn for such an immaculate place, then she noticed the carvings, and the way the fence formed a circle rather than a square, “They're megaliths,” she realised.

                Elias didn't want to look stupider than he had to but there was no getting around asking, “What's a megalith?”

        “A standing stone, like Stonehenge in England.”

        That at least Elias had heard of and now that he had the image in his mind he could see what Willow had noticed about the fence, “This guy has built his own little version.”

        “Yeah, and I bet that's why this place is so lush, he's channeling energy from the earth to maintain it.” Even the hollow the building was set in was probably for more than just privacy; it was all part of a ritual setting.

        “Well at least that moves this guy up the suspect list.” Elias suggested hopefully.

        On the contrary young man it clears me. Elias and Willow were somewhat used to telepathy but they both jumped as the thought entered their minds.

        “He can hear our thoughts?” That made Elias very unhappy.

        “I don't think so.” Willow pointed to a discrete security camera mounted beside the main gate. It was staring right at them, “He can probably read lips though.”

        Quite. Why don't you come in and I'll see if I can put your minds at rest. The gate swinging open accompanied that thought.

        Elias looked at Willow uncertainly, she shrugged, “Hey it's why we came here.”



        The inside of the house reminded Willow a lot of the other collectors, a lot of magical paraphernalia only of a higher quality that the dead mans. It all said one-upmanship to Willow. Two men trying to prove which of them had the most toys; not very edifying but was it a reason to kill? Maybe if one had a toy the other couldn’t beat.

        The owner of the house was distinctly bald and rather than try and hide it with a comb over or toupee had decided to accept it and remove the rest himself. As a result it was hard for Willow to be sure just how old he really was; she guessed fifty something but she couldn't be sure.

When Willow and Elias entered his study he was gracious, “Welcome, I'm Peter Remus. Not what it says on my birth certificate but I decided I need something more striking than a simple 'Smith'.”

        “Uh Willow, Willow Rosenberg and that is what it says on my birth certificate.”

        “Elias Carter, likewise.” Elias' tone made it clear that he wasn't impressed with the bonhomie.

        Remus simply smiled, “I gather you aren't very comfortable with magic,” he turned to Willow, “you though I gather are more than familiar with the dark arts.”

        “I know a little.” Willow decided this was no time to boast about her talents.

        “Enough to be interested in the spear,” Remus observed shrewdly.

        “What makes you think that?” Willow wasn't really trying to be evasive; she just wanted to find out how sharp Remus really was.

”Well you're friend described me as a suspect and the only crimes I've been connected to lately are the death of my unlamented competitor and the theft of the spear. You don't look like members of his family and he didn't have any friends so I don't imagine your trying to bring his killer to justice. That means your interested in the spear.”

        It was a good analysis and Willow decided she might as well be direct, “So do you have it?”

        Remus didn't seem offended, “No I don't. I might have stolen it, I might even have killed off that wretched nuisance but as it happens I didn't.”

        “And we just take your word for that?” Elias asked sharply.

        Remus gestured and a ceremonial dagger rose from a stand on his desk and hovered in front of Elias, “Yes,” he let the dagger drop, “ because if I wanted him dead it would have been very simple to arrange it in such a way that there was no suspicion of murder, and I would have had a nice legal bill of sale for the spear waiting if anyone inquired.”

        It was cold blooded but logical, “Then I guess we should be on our way.” Willow announced.

        “Now don't be so hasty, perhaps we could share information. Once the spear is retrieved we could bid for it openly, may the best person, or the one with the biggest cheque book, win.”

        Willow shook her head; she didn't for one minute think Remus would play fair. He might be a pleasant and upfront bad guy but he was still a bad guy, in fact he reminded her uncomfortably of the late unlamented CEO of the Milner Corporation, “Sorry but our need is urgent, we find it we keep it. You find it, well then things would get kind of messy.”

        Remus' smile didn't flicker but his eyes turned cold, “I understand completely.”

        Willow wished they had teleported to the magician's house however difficult it might have been, because in the car Elias was back in full on pain in the butt mode, "Your just going to take his word that he's not involved? One witch to another?"

        "I'm taking his word because he's right, if he wanted to he could have tortured the collector to death without leaving a mark, and created a paper trail that would make him look like the legal owner of the spear."

        Elias shot her a hard look, "Are you sure that's what he could do and not what you could do?"

        “He didn't steal the spear.” Willow fell back on the flat assertion because Elias was uncomfortably close to the truth. Willow was basing her judgment on what she could do, or rather what she had nearly done when she had the power of the Fire.

        Elias knew he had been right but also knew that Willow knew what she was talking about, “Fine so that leaves us with two suspects, religious lunatics or a casino that wants to get its theme just right. I know which one my moneys on.” Willow frowned at his confident assertion, “Oh come on you can't be going to disagree with me this time. What is it? 'Elias says it's so therefore it must be wrong'.”

        Willow's tether had been stretched as far as it would go, she swore she could hear an audible snap, “Stop the car.”

        This was hardly the response Elias was expecting, “What?”

        “I said; stop, the, car.” Willow enunciated each word very slowly.

        Elias pulled over on to the shoulder and Willow climbed out of the car. With her hand on the passenger door she leaned back in, “Now you can go.”

        “Willow you're being ridiculous, you can't just walk from here.” Elias was bemused by Willow's action.

        “Next time you want to offer an opinion you might want to think how ridiculous the last thing you said was.” With that Elias was staring out at the desert, completely alone. He was glad of that because it meant no one saw the beetroot red colour embarrassment turned his face.



        Willow materialized in her hotel room feeling hot and sweaty. Uncharacteristically she simply tore her clothes off and threw them across the room; later she would feel guilty about the untidiness but right now it was a good way to vent her annoyance. She should have turned Elias down flat when he said he wanted to come along, Willow could have said no and taken Dawn, or Buffy, heck even Anya would have been less annoying. Because they would just accept your decisions without question? The thought wormed its way through Willow's anger and she had to consider exactly why she had agreed.

        Usually Willow had Tara to bounce ideas off and to tell her, in Tara's own sweet way, when she was just plain wrong. It pained her but Willow knew that sometimes she needed that; a brake on her enthusiasm to prevent her going straight over a cliff. Trouble was Elias wasn't so much a brake as a big, heavy anchor. Willow stripped off her underwear and sighed, she couldn't just teleport Elias back to Sunnydale.

        There was a balcony outside the room and Willow suddenly had the impression of something sitting on it. Startled she looked out of the window and saw a large raven parked on the railing, watching her. Willow threw the only thing to hand at the glass. As a pair of panties slapped against the window the startled raven flew off.



        Willow was heading for dinner in the hotel restaurant even though she wasn't really hungry. It was getting late and there was still no sign of Elias. She knew she could just call him telepathically but he had a cell phone and could as easily call her in her room. If this was some childish game Willow wasn't going to play into it.

        Naturally when she was feeling down Willow had turned to Tara for comfort and as sweet as her lover had been in their telepathic conversation Willow had sensed Tara was trying not to let her know how bad things were in Sunnydale. They needed the spear and they needed to get back. Since she had no idea how they were going to do that Willow had decided she needed a distraction, hence dinner.

        Willow was walking across the lobby when Elias walked in looking back over his shoulder. Willow stood waiting for him to notice her, and almost got run over as his attention remained glued on the entrance, "Hey!"

        Elias halted and turned round, "Sorry, thought the damn thing would follow me through the door."

        "What thing?"

        "This big black bird. It seemed to be fascinated with the car and then hopped across the car park after me." Elias explained.

        Willow's gaze was wide-eyed, "A big black bird? Like a raven?"

        Elias was no ornithologist, "Black, long beak, about so high," he gestured with his hands, "wings, a bird."

        Ravens Willow grabbed Elias by the arm, "Come on I need to do some research."

        "Oh joy." Elias muttered but allowed himself to be dragged along.

Day 6: Retriever

        Elias considered the possibility that Willow was just trying to humiliate him. Just walk around the car park, she said, look casual, she said. Of course she wouldn't explain the details, she just muttered about 'hugging' and 'mooning' and insisted he walk around looking stupid long after midnight when all sensible Las Vegas dwellers were in the casinos.

        His mood wasn't improved when he heard a squawk and saw a raven perched on an adjacent car, "What? All the vultures were busy?" he demanded of it.

        "No it's just doing its job." Willow commented as she emerged from the shadows. Before the raven could move she threw some sort of powder over it. The bird wobbled, tried to take off, and slumped on to its sides, "All this so you could drug a bird? There are easier ways to get a pet." Elias commented in bewilderment as he caught the bird before it fell to the ground.

        "Hugin and Munin in Norse mythology were ravens, and the pets of the god Odin." Willow was pleased with herself.

        Elias looked uncertainly at the limp form in his hands, "You’re saying the raven is a stool pigeon?"

        Willow restrained a groan, "It's been watching us, so we obviously upset someone." And if this the same one that was outside my window it's going to join the dodos.



        Elias led the way back into the hotel grateful that Willow had taken the raven and cloaked herself with a glamour. Back in her room Willow had set up a small pentacle on the floor into which she dumped the bird, "Where did you get this stuff?" Elias wanted to know.

        "Ordered in." Willow explained, "It's amazing what room service can get if you promise a big enough tip."

        Elias wasn't sure if she was serious and decided to let it go, "So how are you going to interrogate this thing?"

        "I'm hoping it's got a connection to the person who sent it." Willow crouched over the raven and murmured an incantation. The bird flapped awkwardly to its feet and tried to fly out of the pentacle. It just went round in a small circle before settling on the floor again, "You aren't going anywhere." Willow pointed out with satisfaction.

        Elias watched as she stretched her hands over the pentacle palms down, "Are you going to try telepathy with it?"

        Willow didn't like the distraction but he was entitled to understand what was happening, "I think this thing is a conduit, I'm going to try and connect with the person who was watching through it," she settled back down and concentrated. As she had suspected the raven wasn't what it seemed, it was a conjured thing, a piece of magic still tied to whoever had cast it. The link to the raven wasn't quite telepathic but it was close enough and Willow found herself looking at the inside of a car, and from the looks of things it wasn't very far away. Willow grabbed Elias, "We have to go now."

        The ravens 'handler' was worried, the thing had gone silent except for a momentary incoherent burst that showed it indoors. He was about to drive away when the car door was yanked open and someone tried to pull him out through his seat belt. For a moment that saved him until the person who slipped into the passenger seat released it and he was unceremoniously dragged out.

        Willow moved over into the drivers seat and then back out of the car. She noticed that the handler was bulky and rather well dressed, "Doesn't he look familiar?"

        Elias didn't recognize his face but he did recognize the look, "The bouncers at the Valhalla," that left him confused, "Aren't they going a little overboard for the decor?"

        Willow grabbed the mans hand and scratched one of the fingers with her nail. A little drop of blood welled up, "If I took this to the CSI lab and compared it to the blood from the crime scene I bet I would find the same so called contamination."

        "This guy is part demon." It didn't actually explain things but adding in demons made the casino a lot more credible.

        The man hadn't spoken yet but the expression on his face had moved from indignant to uncertain, "I think we should go somewhere else and talk."

        Teleporting three people was a strain on Willow but she managed it. Elias secured the man to a chair and the raven fixed its gaze on the bouncer accusingly, "Ok so do you want me to interrogate him or do you want to try it without the broken bones?"

        Willow suspected that Elias probably could make the bouncer talk the hard way and given what the semi-demon or his colleagues had done to the collector it was hard to feel sympathy. Still Elias' approach could really make a mess of the hotel room, "Let's try it my way." But I will let him go to work on you if you don't talk, she added telepathically to the bouncer, and he used to work for the government. Me though I'm just a self taught witch. Willow usually tried to avoid remembering her experience with the Fire. Right now though they were useful since they appeared to scare the bouncer as much as they did Willow.

        "Just get out of my head and I'll tell you what to know." The bouncer pleaded.

        Willow switched back to speech, "Alright, let's start with your name, and where you get your demon heritage."

        "I am Baltan, of the Resh clan," he said it as if he expected it to mean something.

        "I'm guessing that's the demon clan you're connected to but where are they?" Willow wanted to know.

        Now Baltan looked very uncomfortable, "We are the clan."

        Elias looked at Willow who wasn't any wiser than he was, "Who is we?"

        "The employees of the Valhalla, we are the clan."

        Since all the employees had appeared human that left Willow to come to a bizarre conclusion, "There aren't any pure blooded Resh left."

        If Baltan had been uncomfortable before now he looked like he was sitting on broken glass, "The clan Resh lived in the cold north lands," his voice said this was a recitation of something that had been drummed into him, "it was not numerous but it was fierce and feared. In time a race humans arose who matched our fierceness and had great numbers, the Norsemen, the Vikings. They ranged over the seas and wrought havoc and terror upon their fellow men. The clan joined these voyages, hiding amongst the Vikings, even mingling our blood with them and saw it as strengthening ourselves."

        Baltan stopped for breath and Elias stuck his two cents in, "Sounds great if you're into rape and pillage, so what went wrong?"

        Willow got in before Baltan could, "The Vikings went soft. They started to trade and settle and become Christianized. In the end they just faded out."

        "And by then it was too late," Baltan felt compelled to seize back the narrative, he might hate telling it but if it had to be done then he was going to do it properly, "we were hopelessly entwined with the humans and all hope seemed lost. Then we heard of the spear, a thing of the great days that could restore us, purify our blood and lead the Resh back to their ancestral lands."

        [/i]They've come all the way to the desert to try and get back to the artic[/i]. Willow wasn't sure if that was sad or just plain stupid. Then she remembered what had been done to the collector; stupid maybe but nasty with it, "So you have the spear at the Valhalla?"

        "It's our sanctuary." Baltan said without any sense of how ridiculous that was.

        "I can't believe you built that place just to infiltrate Las Vegas." Elias commented.

        "It wasn't our concept but when we saw the plans it seemed like fate." Baltan offered.

        Willow dismissed it, "Whatever, I want to know where exactly the spear is and the best way to steal it back." Baltan was clearly about to protest, or else she added silently. Willow devoutly hoped Baltan would fold; she didn't want to have to choose between saving the world and torturing one helpless demon, mostly because she already knew which one she would have to pick.



        In sane parts of the world the best time of day to sneak into a place would be around three in the morning. It would be dark, there wouldn't many people around and those that were would be at their lowest ebb, Elias had explained this to Willow in great detail as they scouted out the Valhalla because it was around five in the afternoon and the sun was still blazing down. According to Baltan this was the quietest time at the Valhalla, the work shifts were changing and everyone except the hardcore gamblers was sightseeing or in their conventions.

        There was one other thing that was making Elias unhappy was Willow's plan of attack, "You don't need to go in alone."

        "Hey I haven't gone evil and crazy so far, so I probably won't today." Willow responded sarcastically.

        "I was thinking more about what Tara will do to me if I don't bring you back in one piece."

        "That could get ugly." Willow conceded.

        "There has to be something I can do here." Elias pleaded.

        Willow was about to be annoyed with his whining again but she saw the look on his face, a desperate need not to be just a spectator. She thought about for a moment, "Ok walk on down, take a quick circuit round the inside and then back out."

        Elias nodded, "Some of the muscle types are bound to follow, especially as they'll be looking for their missing buddy."

        "It could buy me some extra time to get in and get out." Willow wasn't sure if it really would but it couldn't hurt, unless they grabbed Elias and used him as a punching bag.

        Elias was perfectly well aware of what might happen and made his move before she could change her mind.

        With her doubts rendered pointless Willow watched Elias disappear down the street. Tara might do awful things to Elias if he didn't bring her back but what would Buffy do to her if she lost Elias? She might not have slayer powers but her wounded look was nearly as good.

        To Willow's relief Elias emerged a few minutes later and a pair of goons were trailing after him, just this once she hoped he had brought his gun with him. With the distraction provided Willow teleported into the one part of the Valhalla she was most familiar with. The couple taking a break from the tables by looking at the exhibit were more than a little surprised when Willow appeared in front of them, “Sorry, practicing my act.” Willow offered the first thing that came into her head.

        The couple seemed more than happy with this, “Pretty good.” The woman responded politely.

        “Thank you, and for my next trick.” Willow began to phase and slowly faded from the gaze of the couple.

        They stared at the empty spot, “Mirrors,” the man asserted confidently, “that's how they do all these things.”



        Usually when Willow phased the world around her remained pretty much the same, this time she was glad she had decided to believe Baltan and wear boots and a heavy jacket. The casino had simply disappeared and Willow was standing in something that looked like an ice sculpture of a ruined building; A series of icy pillars curving over to form arches and beyond them a trackless wilderness of snow and rock with a dark sky lit up by an aurora. The sky lent a chilly beauty to what otherwise seemed to Willow a barren spot that no one in his or her right mind would want. Still to the Resh this was the incarnation of their homeland and they had created a link to it via the Valhalla, which was the oddness Willow had sensed before out on the casino floor.

        Will turned from sightseeing to finding what she had come for. In the middle of the ruined building was a spiral of icy stairs that led down into a deep well. Torches flickered on the walls of the well but even so Willow had to step carefully, it would be more than embarrassing to survive all the magic and wannabe world destroyers just to break her neck on an icy step.

        The muscles in the back of her legs were aching when she finally reached the bottom but it had been worth the trip. The chamber she found herself in was lit by a shimmering multi hued glow, the light of the aurora somehow channeled in here to lend an ambience to the Resh holy of holies. In the centre of the chamber was a low pyramid that might have been ice or crystal; standing in it with its point aimed towards the heavens was the spear. It seemed different from the photographs on the auction website, altogether sleeker and darker with the runes more perfectly formed. The writing seemed to catch and hold the light of the aurora that bathed it and Willow could feel magic flowing around it. Hesitantly she reached out and grabbed it, as it turned out the pyramid was just a support, not some Viking incarnation of the sword in the stone and the spear slid out easily into Willow's hands, “Feel like taking out a mad god and closing the Hellmouth?” she asked it, trying to dispel the heavy atmosphere. Willow would have sworn she could feel some answering call but that might just have been the spooky nature of the place.

        The climb back up was even more treacherous than the journey down but Willow managed it with nothing more than numb fingers from placing them on the frozen wall to steady herself. She wasn't wholly surprised to emerge at the top and be confronted by a demonic form. It was large, white, it's eyes shimmered like the aurora and its plated skin shone like the surrounding ice, Willow had no doubt she was seeing what the Resh had looked like in the old days but knowing what the Resh had become she wasn't about to be intimidated, “Why don't you show me what you really look like?”

        “This is my true face.” The demon snapped back.

        Willow recognized the voice, “You're Drakken, the manager.”

        “That is simply my disguise,” the demon tried to sound dismissive but was clearly annoyed that Willow had recognized it, "and it is irrelevant, return the spear to me."

        Willow thought about that for a moment, "Ok." she threw the spear at Drakken who turned to snatch it from the air. Willow took advantage of the distraction and laid a hand on Drakken, right before she reversed the phasing spell.

        Drakken was stunned to be standing back in the Valhalla, and back in human form. Willow grabbed the spear and sent Drakken flying across the room with a mental shove. Unfortunately he had an iron grip on the spear and Willow was dragged with him, landing in a heap on the plush carpet. Drakken's physical strength now came into play and Willow found herself in a wrestling match that she couldn't win.

        It came to a halt with the sound of a gun being cocked. Willow looked up with relief expecting to see Elias, instead she was looking into the face of a uniformed policeman, "The two of you move apart slowly and then lie face down."

        Willow began to do as she was told until another figure joined the police officer, "It's alright officer she's one of us," Gil Grissom assured him, "I'm just wondering what she's doing here?"

        Willow scrambled to her feet, "It's a long story." Which I haven't made up yet.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Day 7: Object Of Desire

Elias had lost his shadows and made his way back to the Valhalla; just in time to see Willow and a large part of the casino staff being carted off by the cops. He managed to reach the hire car in time to follow and took up position outside to wait, and wait, and wait a little more.

        It was two in the morning and Elias was beginning to seriously plan a jail break when a bleary eyed Willow stumbled down the steps of the station. Elias hustled over to her, "Are you ok?"

        Willow barely seemed to recognize him, "I guess so."

        "Have they been interrogating you all this time? Without a lawyer?" Elias was naturally a law and order type but right now he felt like calling the ACLU.

        Willow shook her head, "Spent a couple of hours giving a statement, the rest was my spell turning on me."

        Elias opened the passenger door for her, "How do you mean?"

        Willow climbed into the car, "Because after I gave them my story they wanted to use my 'expertise' while they were interrogating Drakken and checked out the spear."

        Elias could see how tricky that would have been, having to play the role she had created without giving away anything that might have tipped the cops off to her real interest, "How did they get onto the Valhalla anyway?"

        "Partial license, trace evidence, whole bunch of little things. I can explain all the details if you really want to know." Willow punctuated her offer with a yawn.

        "Well if it's that fascinating I'll pass," Elias decided, "at least until you've had a few hours sleep."

        "I can't sleep," Willow protested drowsily, "we need to get the spear."

        "Which is going to be kind of tough if you fall asleep in mid heist." Elias pointed out, only to discover he was speaking to himself. Willow was slumped against the door jam, dead to the world.



        Something isn't right here. Willow decided. For one thing the room seemed to be tilted at ninety degrees. That was easily explained by the fact that she was stretched out on a bed. More disturbing was the fact it wasn't her hotel room. Sitting up Willow discovered that she was still wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the previous night. A note propped on the bedside table partially explained that;



"Willow, went to deal with our friend next door and decided to let you sleep undisturbed."



        Willow appreciated the gesture and glanced at the clock next to the note, then did it again, three o'clock. The sunlight said it wasn't three in the morning.

        The frantic pounding on the door of what was supposed to be Willow’s room alerted Elias to the fact that Willow was awake. He opened up and Willow came storming in, "Do you have any idea how late it is?" she demanded.

        "Well since I went to lunch a couple of hours ago pretty much." Elias responded calmly.

        "And you just let me sleep?" Willow was outraged.

        "I let you sleep as long as you needed yes."

        That brought Willow up short. It was only now that she felt one hundred percent again that Willow realised how worn down she had gotten the previous few days. The running around at all hours wasn't helped by the fact that she had been sleeping fitfully in the lonely hotel bed, she decided that wasn't a subject she wanted to get into with Elias, still she had the suspicion that he might have done the right thing, “Ok I guess it was me who actually did all the sleeping. What did you do with Baltan?”

        Elias Shrugged, “He was easy. Once I explained what had happened to his buddies he was only to happy to get out of Las Vegas as fast as he could.”

        Willow could well imagine, especially if he was closely involved with the theft and murder, “I'm sure if they need him the police will track him down.”

        “But we might want to be gone before that happens. If he describes you the cops are going to ask you a whole lot more questions.”

        Willow's expression turned sour, her experience in the station had definitely reduced the attraction of a career in crime fighting, “So we just have to find the spear, retrieve it quietly, and hope we're out of Vegas before anybody notices. Easy.”

        “Well compared to world saving I suppose it is.”

        Willow thought Elias was being sarcastic but the look on his face suggested that he had simply missed the irony, “You really do think we can do all this at the click of our fingers don't you?”

        The question took Elias by surprise, so he didn't get a chance to hedge his answer, “Sometimes it seems that way, that you can do anything you want.”

        Willow thought for a moment, “Maybe your right but there's a big difference between what we can do and what we should do. I was serious back when we re trying to find Dawn. There were ways of doing it which would have been quicker and easier, and maybe easier ways of beating the First but I don't think you would have liked what we would have become doing it.”

        Elias had seen Fire Willow, and the alternate Willow and yet he still had a hard believing this Willow was capable of anything like that; obviously Willow didn't. Which is probably a good thing. "Maybe I was expecting too much, or expecting the bad to even out the good sooner or later."

        Since she had been afflicted by uncomfortably similar thoughts Willow nodded and quickly moved on, "We still need to get the spear."

        "Right, I don't suppose you could just walk into the police station and take it?"

        "Tricky, they have security cameras all over the place and the concealment glamour won't erase video tape." Willow explained.

        "And we don't Sunnydale PD waiting on your doorstep when we get home."

        As useless as Sunnydale PD might be they were certainly going to move on a fugitive warrant from a major police force, and Willow wasn’t planning to save the world and spend the next few years in prison as a reward. "It wouldn't go over well with the neighbours. The best thing would be to teleport straight into the property store, except I wasn't able to get a good look at it."

        "Well what about those cameras you were talking about?" Elias suggested.

        Willow snapped her fingers, "Yeah, I still have my backdoor into the police computer system. Let's see if they have the cameras tied in."

        There was a camera pointed towards the property room, the problem was the image was on an angle and heavily distorted, "I don't think I'd want to risk going in on the basis of that." Elias commented.

        Willow tended to agree, "It's not really good enough," she switched the image and produced the floor plan of the area of the station where the property store was located. That wasn't actually much more use than the video, until an idea occurred to her. She began to hack into the CSI system, particularly their library of modeling software.

        As Willow worked Elias grew more and more bemused, "What are you doing?"

        "Making my own little breakthrough in the art of teleportation." Willow explained and called up her creation. A 3D model of the property room appeared on the screen, it was a nice piece of work but hardly convincing.

        "Do you really think you can teleport to that?" Elias didn't want to be doubting her again but this seemed extreme.

        Willow smiled broadly, "it needs some added magic," she ran her fingers across the screen and the video image flowed over the model, turning from a bare computer model into an incredibly life like recreation.

        Elias nodded, "Ok that you can probably teleport into."

        "Which just leaves the timing." Willow switched back to the police database, "There's a shift change at midnight, and if I access the fire alarm system I can setup an alarm test, say around five past. Make the cameras glitch for a couple of minutes and we should be in and out without anyone even realizing."

        "Outstanding, all we need to do is figure out what to do between now and then." Elias commented.

        Willow packed up the computer, "Well I'm going to call my wife."

        Elias had a better suggestion, "We could just go back to Sunnydale."

        Willow was incredibly tempted, "If we go back the First might latch onto us," she wanted Elias to contradict her.

        He simply accepted the point; "I guess we have enough problems without adding anymore."

        "I guess we do." Willow admitted reluctantly.

       

        Elias had gone to call Buffy the more traditional way and before Willow opened the telepathic link she decided a hot shower was in order, not to mention some food. She wound up sat on the bed wearing a fluffy towel, eating a very late breakfast; the hotel hadn't batted an eyelid at her request, it seemed they were used to people with screwed up body clocks. Hey baby are you busy?

        Well kind of, was Tara's amused reply.

        Willow could tell she was being teased; I could come back later.

        Don't you dare, Tara responded earnestly. Her mental tone shifted to reflect her true concern, how are you doing?

        I had the dratted thing in my hands, Willow admitted unhappily, and now the police have it. She went on to outline exactly what had happened.

        I'm sorry honey but at least now you know where it is, that's a lot better than a couple of days ago. Tara's psychic voice was warm and reassuring.

        Willow luxuriated in it and lay back on the bed, letting the towel slide away, you always know what to say. Willow's fingers ran along her body and she let the sensation flow down the link.

        And you always know what to do but I'm not alone, so stop it.

        Willow took pity, albeit reluctantly, this being alone was getting very frustrating, [/i]how are you doing?

        About as well as we can. [/i] Tara replied cautiously.

        That alerted Willow, is it that bad?

        Not yet, though I think we're heading for a crisis here.

        With the Hellmouth?

        Not yet, That reply lowered Willow's anxiety, Tara's next words sent it right back up, the First on the other hand seems to be taking our interfering personally.

        Honey I don't want you taking an unnecessary risks.

        Trust me, we are only taking the necessary ones. Tara promised her.

        Willow knew exactly who Tara meant by 'we' and as absurd as it was to imagine an unborn child looking after a grown woman Willow did feel better, I'm going to be back as soon as I can.

        I know love, and I'll be counting the seconds. Tara was missing Willow every bit as much as the other way round, and she wasn't enjoying sleeping alone either.

       

8. "I Fought The Law"

The insistent siren was telling everyone to get out of the building when Willow and Elias blipped in. It would have been simpler to come alone but the way things had been going lately backup was mandatory, though she had insisted on Elias swapping his automatic for a taser.

        The property cage was devoid of guards; they had all done exactly what they were supposed to and headed for their assembly area, "How long have we got?"

        "The alarm will switch off in five minutes." Willow replied as calmly as she could when her heart was pounding, she had tried being a cop now it was time to try the other side of the law. The property room was extensive but Willow had a solution for that. She pulled out a picture of the spear she had printed off and murmured a quick spell. The paper rose from her hand and began to move along the shelves. Willow and Elias followed and soon found themselves standing in front of a neatly labeled spear.

        Willow reached out for it almost reluctantly, afraid there was some extra alarm or trap. Instead she found herself simply hefting the weight and studying it for damage. The spear looked just like the photos now, its appearance in the well probably just a product of that peculiar environment, "Could we admire it back in the hotel?" Elias asked.

        Willow nodded and grasped his arm. She concentrated, and found she was still looking at the rows of metal shelving, "Anytime now works for me." Elias commented anxiously.

        Willow thrust the spear at Elias, "Hold this." As Elias grabbed it Willow disappeared and moments later reappeared. She snatched the spear back and frowned, "This thing won't teleport."

        "Why not?"

        "I have no idea." Willow admitted.

        Elias resisted the temptation to ask why not? again and settled for, "How do we get out of here?"

        Willow was thinking about that, she knew she could phase with the spear but in a crowded place like this the mere idea made her nauseous. Even the concealment glamour could be a problem with so many bodies to bump into. Still there was a way, even if it was going to be a little awkward. Willow passed the spear back to Elias, "Hold onto that, follow right, behind me, and don't touch anything, just act invisible."



        The stations staff was returning to their posts and grumbling whose idea it was to have a fire drill at this time of night? Willow ignored it and just smiled and nodded when it looked like anyone recognized her. Inside she was worrying about Elias and the concealment glamour, or more exactly the spear and the concealment glamour. Ever since they had arrived in Las Vegas it seemed like some power was working against them, it had never occurred to her it could be the spear itself. The idea of a magical object having a personality wasn't something she would have seriously considered; if she hadn't seen the Key laugh, cry and scream.

        Willow was sufficiently distracted that she nearly walked into an approaching policeman, and had to brace herself not to be knocked over when Elias marched into the back of her.

        Just to make matters worse it was someone she knew, "Miss Rosenberg, didn't expect to see you back here."

        "Captain Brass," Willow hoped she didn't sound panicked, "I just thought I would check in, see what had happened with Drakken."

        Brass nodded, "Transferred for psychiatric evaluation, if he isn't crazy he's giving a pretty good impression."

        "A true believer I guess." Willow had told enough lies to the policeman; he was sharp enough that she was afraid too many might puncture the familiarity spell.

        It was a relief when Brass replied, "The worst kind to break down."

        "Anyway captain, I just stopped in and I have to arrange to leave Las Vegas; my other half is desperate to have me home." That was the unvarnished truth.

        Brass stuck out a hand and Willow took, "Well thanks for your help, if we ever need an expert on mythology again I'll know where to call."

        Willow smiled because it was the right thing to do, inside she desperately hoped they would never cross paths again; simply because if they did he would probably be snapping the cuffs on her.



        Getting back to the hotel was a painful business. After releasing Elias from the glamour they had to find a way to disguise the spear. They finally found a twenty-four hour gift shop that supplied some heavy duty padded bags, gaudy gift-wrap, and tape. The spear suffered the indignity of being covered with bears and balloons, serves it right, Willow thought. If the thing insisted on being awkward then it could suffer the consequences; Willow was more and more convinced the thing had a malign influence over its surroundings.

        The package drew a little attention as Willow and Elias carried it into the hotel; there had been a temptation to hide it somewhere but neither Willow nor Elias were willing to let it out of their sight. They retreated to Willow's room where she booted up the laptop and began searching for flights out of Las Vegas, "Please don't get any connecting flights." Elias asked.

        "Trust me if I could get door to door I would."

        Elias placed the spear carefully on the bed so as not to tear the wrapping, "Do you really think that thing is alive?"

        "Not alive, but aware maybe. Could have soaked up more than blood over the years." Willow was really just thinking out loud, and since she was concentrating on the computer screen she didn't see the worried looks Elias was casting at their package.

        "You are going to keep it with you tonight right?"

        Now Willow picked up the tone, "Don't worry I'm going to hit it with a couple of warding spells and put it in the bathroom." There was no way Willow was going to sleep next to the spear, "And I have two tickets on a flight to Sunnydale airport at ten thirty in the morning, that's the earliest direct flight."

        "I'm good with it if you are." Elias conceded.

        “Then I guess we get a good nights sleep and then we go home.” Willow didn't try to keep the excitement out of her voice.



        Elias had rapped on the door to let Willow know he was heading down to breakfast. She pulled herself together and appeared about ten minutes later with the brightly wrapped spear in her hands, and politely refused the offer to put it someplace safe. “Any problems with that?” Elias wanted to know.

        “Not so far as I could tell.” Willow responded; all though she had tossed and turned all night she put that down to her eagerness to get home. She was still feeling unsettled so she simply ordered some juice and cereal, “Are you ready to get out of here?”

        Elias nodded, “Bags are by the door and I made sure there's plenty of gas in the car,” he wished he hadn't nodded so hard when it set his head ringing. He expected it to pass but it it just got worse.

        Willow's juice had arrived and she had the glass half way to her mouth when Elias clamped a hand to her wrist, “Hey!”

        “Sorry but I think there's more than vitamins in there,” he explained.

        Willow looked at him, she didn't have Tara's aura reading ability but given he was sweating and his pupils were dilated she didn't really need it.

        “This is all your fault.” Elias grumbled.

        Willow was going to take exception to that when she realised he was looking at the package, “Let's get you out of here.”

        Elias agreed but found it difficult to actually stand up. Willow moved to help him and knew they were in deep trouble if he couldn't move under his own steam. She hated to do it but there was only one way she could think of to pep him up. She placed a hand on his chest and zapped him. Elias practically snapped to attention as the bolt hit him, he still looked like death warmed over but at least he was moving. They swept out of the restaurant and almost immediately came to a halt, “I recognize those two guys, “Elias explained, “they're from the cult.”

        “Al right we'll go another way.”

        Elias shook his head, “that's probably what they want, they're far too obvious.”

        Willow wasn't giving up, “Then I'll conceal us, or phase.”

        “And if I pass out midway? No I'll distract these two, then you get out and do your disappearing act.” Before Willow could come up with anything else Elias lumbered towards the pair lurking next to the entrance. The cultists were so taken by surprise that they took a moment to deiced what to do; by the Elias had staggered into them and all three men fell to the floor.

        Willow wanted to pull Elias out but she didn't think she dared zap him again, and if one of these thugs got the spear…

She ran for the door and turned smartly to head down the street. As she did so a car parked opposite started up, Willow didn't hesitate, she ducked into an alley and in a few seconds all the occupants had to look at was thin air.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

9. “Popularity”

Staying cloaked Willow walked for a good fifteen minutes before she dared reemerge and catch her breath. There was still time to make it to the airport and get the plane to Sunnydale and for one brief instance Willow actually considered it. Elias had been in full on hero mode and would probably tell her to complete the mission whatever the cost; get the spear back, beat the First, close the Hellmouth, and then worry about him.

        The moment passed, even if it saved the world Willow wasn't able to just abandon Elias, she was taking home everything she had brought with her, clothes, toothbrush, best friend's boyfriend, everything. She decided to start with a visit to a drugstore.

        Willow phased straight through the hotel room door and dropped the spear on the bed before running into the bathroom. To her relief the travel sickness pills did the trick and her nausea passed without her being revisited by any of yesterday's meals. Back in the bedroom Willow noticed there was a light flashing on the phone; someone had left a message for her, "Miss Rosenberg you know what we want. Bring the spear to the hillside before sunset if you value your boyfriends life."

        In spite of the serious situation Willow laughed out loud. If the cultists were counting on a frantic Willow doing anything to save 'her boyfriend' they were going to be seriously disappointed. She was going to rescue Elias but she had absolutely no intention of parting with the spear to do it.

        She had been worried that the cultists would be able to counter or see through her concealment glamour but the didn't seem to be very knowledgeable about the art. That suggested they had found out about her and Elias the old fashioned way. If they had been keeping a watch on the collector's house they might well have seen Willow and Elias amongst the crowd, and then recognized Elias when he started snooping around their ceremony. Given how preoccupied her and Elias had been it was entirely possible they had been put under surveillance and when they were getting ready to check out the cultists gambled on being able to knock the pair out and snatch the spear, especially if the cult assumed her and Elias were sleeping together and would probably arrive together.

        If the cult really were witchcraft illiterate that gave Willow a huge advantage, if nothing else she could put the fear of god into them, or maybe fear of the gods.

        A knock at the door startled Willow if it was the hotel staff they would accompany it by identifying themselves. Willow looked through the spy hole and recoiled, Remus the magician was standing outside. She took the spear into the bathroom and cast a quick ward over it, "What brings you here Mr. Remus?" she asked when she finally answered the door.

        "I know you've acquired the spear Willow." Remus replied casually.

        "Everyone seems to know that." Willow responded dismissively, "And don't bother to ask for it."

        "I thought that would be the least I could do, offer you the chance to just turn it over."

        Willow didn't think it would do any good but she decided to try and explain, "I couldn't even if I wanted to, we need it to stop a major bad guy and save the world from demons."

        "Of course, save the world." Remus wasn't remotely convinced.

        "If you won't believe me then I don't think there's anything else to say." Willow closed the door on a sorrowful looking Remus and dashed to the bathroom to pull the spear out of the bath, she was quite sure that Remus wasn't just going to give up. Reluctantly she re-engaged the phasing spell and dashed into the next room. Behind her the door of the hotel room vibrated and popped open. Remus wasn't surprised and stretched his hands out. A shower of sparks rose from them and spread out in every direction, passing through ceilings and floors as well.



        Willow didn't drop the spell until she was on the staircase and practically out into the lobby. The stair door was in the far corner with a small potted plant set next to it. As Willow walked past the plant lunged towards her and tried to wrap itself around her ankles. She placed a hand on it and visualized a blazing sun, the plant turned brown and crumbled as Willow tugged herself free.

        She dashed across the lobby and saw the other plants stirring as she approached them. She wrapped herself in a shield and dashed out of the doors. On the street she spotted a cab passing by, STOP! Her telepathic command brought the vehicle to a halt and she bundled into the back before the driver could recover from his puzzlement, "Take me to the Strip." It was the only thing she could think of, go somewhere she could disappear into the crowd.

        When they reached the hub of the casino and hotel district Willow thrust money at the cabbie and climbed out. She had hoped to come up with some sort of plan enroute but she found herself stood on the pavement in a daze, she almost jumped out of her skin when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Willow spun round ready to fight for her life and found herself staring into her better half's face.

        For a moment Willow just stared, not quite sure she wasn't just imagining things, "You look like you could use some help." Tara commented. Willow smothered any further words with a kiss.



        Sat in a nearby bar Tara could see that Willow was frazzled. She made a firm decision not to tell Willow about what was happening back home. According to Willow their deadline was sunset, which meant she could get back to Sunnydale in time for the war.

        Willow was finishing up her story, "I was so freaked out I didn't even think to call you."

        "Just as well someone else let me know." Tara suggested.

        Willow looked at Tara's belly, "We'll never be able to ground her you know, she's got so many get out of jail free cards."

        Tara laughed, "Well we could just not tell her."

        "Somehow I don't think that's going to work, she just knows too much." Willow shook her head, she wanted to just sit here and talk with Tara about their daughter but she had to come up with a plan, and from the way Tara kept surreptitiously looking at the time Willow guessed she was on a deadline as well, "I think we need to try and keep this thing safe," she gestured at the spear, whose wrapping paper was beginning to look tatty.

        Tara had been half expecting an inspiration about how to take the spear back with her but it seemed that there was no help coming from that quarter, "We can put it somewhere out of the way and wrap it with all the protection wards we can come up with."

        Willow nodded. It was the sensible thing to do but she still felt uneasy about the weapon, it had proven far too slippery for mere chance, "At least then we'll have room to maneuver, and they won't be expecting me to have back up."

        "Shouldn't be too hard to get Elias back."

        "Right but that's not enough," Willow responded grimly, "I don't want these bozos chasing us all the way back to Sunnydale, we need to scare them so much they won't come within a thousand miles of us."

        Tara gave her a wicked smile, "I think we can do that as well."



        Erik was maintaining an air of calm but the truth was he was getting more than a little irritated. When Elias had regained consciousness and Erik expressed the hope that his girlfriend actually cared about his fate the man had responded with a fit of laughter rather than apprehension and then asked if Erik's had accident and illness cover because he was probably going to need it. Erik knew that was pure bravado, it also appeared to be infectious since the Rosenberg woman had been almost equally self assured over when she had agreed to the meeting, she hadn't even bothered to try and set any preconditions, simply checked the time and the place and seem happy to assure him that she would be there promptly. Erik had a dozen followers standing around plus several more concealed with automatic weapons all arrayed against one small woman, so why couldn't he suppress that nagging sense of doubt?

        A very good reason why emerged as Willow and Tara simply materialized on the hillside, “Which one of you bozo's is Erik?” Willow demanded.

        The cult leader cursed as several of his followers swiftly pointed him out. In response Erik gave the hand gesture to shoot. Bullets lashed out from the hidden positions, and the cultists found themselves diving for the ground as they ricocheted off the barrier that surrounded Willow and Tara.

        Erik Was spitting out grass when he became aware that Willow was standing over him, he looked round for his gunmen and saw that they were scattered as if a giant hand had picked them up and thrown them through the air. The cult leader was going to curse Willow when he got a good look at her eyes; they were pools of darkness.

        Willow could tell from the expression on Erik's face that Elias had been right, the cult leader was arrogant and egotistical but he was also a true believer. She reached out into his mind, you thought the old powers talked to you, well they don't. Guess who they do speak to?

        Erik couldn't even form a coherent thought; he just lay there paralyzed with dread.

        Willow switched back to conventional speech and looked at the rest of the cultists, “I want my friend brought out here, and I want it now!”

        Tara backed up Willow's demand with a quickly uttered spell and a bolt of lightning lanced down from the sky and cracked a boulder lying on the hillside. Cultists scurried away to comply.

        Elias tried to shrug off the attempts to assist him out of the van the cultists had left him in but found that an inability to stand dictated otherwise. Erik had decided that he needed to be taught a lesson for violating their sacred ceremony and had done a thorough if amateurish job.

        Willow and Tara were horrified when they saw him. One eye was swollen shut, he was limping, and the way he kept wincing suggested there were other injuries concealed by his clothing. The two cultists dragging him along rapidly let go as Tara advanced on them. She grabbed Elias before he fell to the ground and without thinking energy flowed through her and into him.

        Willow had jolted Elias back in the hotel to keep him awake; this was completely different and he suddenly knew he had seen this power before even if he hadn't felt it. He had a vivid recollection of LJ crouched over Buffy and healing a lethal wound, literally pouring the life back into her. Elias looked into Tara's face and just for a moment he could have sworn it was that of a girl with long red hair.

        Watching Tara work Willow also suspected the healing power was coming from someone else. She turned her attention back to the cultists, "You've seen what we can do. I'm going to give you a ten minute head start, then I'm going to start throwing lightning bolts at anyone I can still see."

        The cultists didn't hesitate, they all began to run. Erik tried to scramble to his feet but Willow froze him in place, "You don't get off that easy. I don't just want you out of here I want you out of Las Vegas." Willow couldn't turn him over to the cops, she had neither the time nor the inclination to explain the circumstances, so this was as much punishment as she could deal out without getting into the realms of torture.

        "And allow me to add my personal recommendation." Elias announced, right before slamming a fist into Erik's gut.

        "If you've hurt that hand I'm not going to fix it." Tara told Elias, who shrugged; it would be worth it.

        Willow wouldn't admit it but she sort of approved of what Elias had done. His bruises had disappeared and he seemed full of energy.

        Erik suspected what Elias would do with that energy if he got the chance. Almost doubled over in pain the cult leader stumbled off down the hillside.



        The alleyway was dark and grimy, not a place the denizens of Las Vegas were apt to visit unless they had to. That had made it a workable place to conceal the spear with the addition of a few well chosen warding spells. Elias looked at the spot where Willow and Tara had concealed the spear, “I don't know which is worse. That it's gone or that I'm not surprised.”

        Willow looked at the empty space and nodded; even when they were concealing it Willow hadn't been entirely convinced it would be safe. She bent down and saw a couple of green leaves lying in the dirt, “At least this time we can be sure who has it.”

        Tara was looking out of the alley, watching the sun set over Vegas, “Will I hate to say this,” she started.

        Willow cut her off, “You have to get back,” she said it calmly. She knew if Tara wanted to get back she probably needed to get back urgently, “Just make sure you don't take any unnecessary risks.”

        Tara shook here head, “Look whose talking.” The pair hugged and when they broke loose the entrance to the alleyway rippled and they found themselves staring into an unfamiliar building. Willow held back the almost overwhelming temptation to step into the space and after a second it and Tara were gone.

        Elias gave her a moment before he asked the obvious question, “So what do we do now?”

        Willow had already thought about that; their opponent was a powerful magician but maybe he relied a little too much on the art? “We're going to see if you make yourself useful again.” Elias frowned at the statement; then when Willow explained what she had in mind he smiled, a lot.

10. “Dividing Line”

The sunrise over the conjurors mansion was actually rather beautiful. Willow just wished she had more time to enjoy it, instead of ruining it.

        The previous night had been a flurry of activity. Willow had used her tap into the police computers to find out where Erik and his cult had their headquarters. With Elias she had ransacked the place and was gratified to discover she had judged the cult leader correctly; he had a stash of heavy weapons salted away for a rainy day. Elias had sorted through them and selected what he thought they might have a use for.

        There were a couple of things that Erik didn't have in his arsenal and they had filled in the gaps with another visit to the gaming tables. It might be a touch unethical but given that the casinos made a living feeding off the gullible and desperate Willow found it remarkably easy to brush those qualms aside.

        Fully equipped the pair had made their way to a point just outside of the bowl that surrounded the mansion and lugged all of the gear to the rim to wait for first light. Willow was concentrating on the ring of stones around the mansion. When they had been here the last time Willow had senses a little magic flowing through them now there was so much power channeled through them that it practically made her hair stand on end, "I don't think I could phase through that, its shifting and oscillating too much."

        "How about teleporting?" Elias wasn't giving Willow one hundred percent of his attention; he was looking for weak points of his own.

        "I think I could but I don't trust him being that sloppy."

        Elias nodded, "He would know there are only a couple of parts of the house you saw enough of to teleport into. Probably booby trapped."

        That was what Willow suspected, assuming she even materialized in the house, "So do you think you can make the barrier disappear?"

        Elias opened a khaki bag next to him, "Well we can find out."

        To Willow the thing was a missile launcher. With the kind of exactness that Willow used when she was discussing magic Elias had explained it was a rocket propelled grenade, quite different from the anti-tank weapon Willow had seen before. Willow didn't care, it fired things and made big explosions but she had a suspicion that was how Elias felt when her or Tara were explaining as well.

        Elias gestured for Willow to move away while he balanced the RPG on his shoulder. He lined up on the standing stone next to the gate and aimed at the top. The grenade disappeared with a boom and exploded against the stone. It blew out a flurry of rock chips but more importantly knocked it over to an alarming angle. As Willow scrambled back up beside Elias she could feel the barrier was compromised. She reached out with her mind and pushed the stone. It toppled over and shattered as it struck the earth, ripping out a section of fence as it went.

        "Big enough hole for you?" Elias asked, he had a couple of spare grenades just in case.

        "Oh yeah." Willow assured him happily. All they had to do now was to walk across that lawn to the front door, how hard can that be?



        The lawn of the mansion was dotted with topiary; large bushes carefully cut into the shapes of animals. Willow didn't have access to LJ's future knowledge but she didn't need it to guess what was going to happen next. The bush closest to Willow was carved into the shape of a dragon, it began to rustle even though there wasn't a hint of a breeze. The greenery stretched and tore its roots out of the ground. The leafy wings fanned out and the pseudo dragon launched itself into the air.

        Near Elias was a bush clipped into the shape of a rampant lion. The front paws had struck the ground and the thing was stalking towards him. He glanced at Willow, who was concentrating on the circling dragon without looking especially concerned. Elias took that as a good sign and held his ground as the lion advanced on him. The topiary might look like a lion but it moved like a bush, if bushes moved, a sort of loose, spongy walk that said it wasn't bound together very strongly. Elias dropped and rolled coming up beneath the pseudo beast. He pulled the flame gun from his jacket and jammed it into the greenery and pulled the trigger. He swiftly rolled out from under as smoke began to billow out and the lion began to turn in circles, like a dog chasing its tail.

        Willow watched for the dragon to swoop down. As it did she brought her hands together as if in prayer and uttered a few syllables before she spread them wide apart. A shimmering silvery thread stretched between the palms and then rose into the air. It rippled and shimmered in the sunlight, stretching out as it moved until it passed right through the descending dragon. It seemed harmless, until the top and bottom of the shrubbery began to move in different directions.

        Moving to join Elias Willow dodged the remains of the dragon as it crashed into the lawn. It turned out to be a mixed blessing as hers eyes began to water from the smoke coming from the burning lion. There were several more pseudo animals in the garden but they seemed to be reluctant to come anywhere near the flames, "I don't think we're going to be bothered by the plant life anymore."

        Willow nodded, "And it could have been worse." Elias gave her a puzzled look, "He could have been into Venus flytraps."

        Elias thought about that, and then decided he didn't want to.



        The front door was locked against them. Willow took a step back and let magic flow into the wood, they creaked, groaned and resisted but Willow wasn't backing down and Elias only had a couple of items left in his bag of tricks, besides she wanted the magician to know which of them was stronger. Willow put in everything she had and the doors hinges screamed and parted. The doors landed in the lobby with a shuddering crash.

        Willow walked in with Elias a couple of paces behind. Something dark and spindly rose from the floor. Since this was one of the places Willow might have teleported into she had half expected there to be something. She threw a warding spell at the entity and it was pinned against the far wall among a collection of masks hanging there, clawing them off their hooks.

        Elias watched her work and as soon as the hallway was clear he pulled out a carefully wrapped package, yanked off a pad on the back and slapped it against one of the pillars in the hallway. Willow passed her hands over it and a small barrier sprang up around the package.

        Remus walked out of his study to confront the disaster area that had been his front hall, "Stop right there." Willow warned him.

        "I'm disappointed, I didn't expect you to resort to such low methods." Remus commented disapprovingly.

        Willow shrugged, "That's because this isn't a game to me, people's lives are at stake, I want the spear."

        Remus' demeanour didn't change, "What if I still refuse to give it you?"

        Willow gestured for Elias to answer that. He pointed to the package, "That's what's commonly known as C4. If I set it off your whole collection will wind up buried under what's left of this house.

        Remus gave Willow a pained look. She was unrepentant, "I told you, not a game, spear now."

        The magician considered the pair and seeing no hint of a bluff he went back into the study. Willow followed and watched as he crossed over to a blank section of wall. He made a pass and it turned into a glass case, in which the spear was resting amongst what Willow guessed were other 'unofficial' parts of his collection. Remus carefully extracted the spear and placed it in Willow's hands.

        With nothing more than a nod of acknowledgement Willow marched back out into the hall. Remus couldn't help following but was halted by Elias' palm pressed against his chest, "It might have occurred to you that you can still try and get it back. Before you do that you might want consider what a hassle it will be having to walk everywhere."

        "What are you talking about?" Remus snapped.

        "I'm talking about the fact that if you ever cross my path again you'll never dare turn over a car ignition for the rest of your life, however long that might be." Elias turned and walked away, leaving Remus trying to decide if he was bluffing.

       

        The rental car had gone back to the agency. It's replacement was a clunker but it was all their own, they could drive it all the way back to Sunnydale, no trains, no buses, no airplanes, no stops if they could possibly avoid it. Elias popped the trunk and Willow laid the spear in it. Elias took a length of chain and wrapped it around the weapon before padlocking it in place, the spear wasn't going anywhere this time, "We have a full tank of gas right?" Willow was anxious that there were no more screw-ups.

        "Full tank," Elias assured her, "and I checked the oil and the tyres."

        "Then I think its time to say good bye to Vegas."

        "Yeah I think I've had as much fun as I can stand." Elias agreed.



        The large dark green truck drawn across the road into Sunnydale wasn't going anywhere; neither were the pair of National Guard soldiers drawn up in front of it. They watched the approaching car with only casual interest since it didn't have much choice but to stop.

        Willow climbed out of the passenger seat and walked over to the nearest guardsman, "What's the problem?"

        "Town is sealed off ma'am."

        "What do you mean sealed off?" Willow had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

        "Don't really know ma'am, this is as close as we've been." The soldier admitted.

        That just reinforced Willow's sense of foreboding. She got back in the car and Elias turned it around. As soon as they were out of sight he pulled over and they both got out, "I'll go see what's going on." Willow announced and teleported out. He was still nodding in response when she reappeared. Elias had to catch her as she staggered backwards, "I bounced off. There's some sort of barrier."

        "Around the whole of Sunnydale?" Elias found that hard to believe.

        "Something very powerful has closed off the whole town." Willow could only thing of one source of that much power, and one person who could have directed it, she just couldn’t figure out what had driven Tara to do it. She stared towards her home town and then went to the trunk of the car and undid the spear, she could swear she heard the sound of laughter, yeah well we’ll see if your still laughing when I get you past that shield. Now the distant laughter came to a sudden halt, Willow just had to figure out how she was going to deliver on her threat.

The fight for Sunnydale told in:

'Shield'



The final battle with the First in:

'Last Dance'

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[tstcloud]

Loved the update. I must say that I'll definitely miss this story when the final segments go up.



I really liked seeing Grissom appear in the tale and also the use of Willow's skills as a police advisor.



I was looking forward to seeing Elias "redeem" himself for his psychotic behavior but it appears that I'm still looking. Either way--I prefer him about 100x as much as I could ever bring myself to like Riley.



Love your writing--can't wait for the update.



T

[Grimaldi]

loved the update, looking forward to the next part

I'm not stealing, I'm just taking things without paying for them. In what twisted dictionary is that stealing?
Why do we have to resort to non-violence? Couldn't we just kick their asses instead?

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

Loved the update. I must say that I'll definitely miss this story when the final segments go up.

---

You won't have to miss it too much tstcloud there is the brand new 2018 series to come...

Quote:

---

loved the update, looking forward to the next part

---

Thanks Grimaldi, 'Shield' will explain why Tara put up the barrier, and in 'Last Dance' the answer to why a spell didn't work...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

Edited by: Sheridan at: 10/16/03 2:03 pm

[evilmookow]

Where do I start? That was sooooo much better then a good update, it completely kicked butt.



I'm don't intend on disecting the whole story but there were a few thing I really liked:



The CSI cross over, I had no idea it was coming and so it was a cool suprise. On a side note the original CSI (IMO) is heaps better then Miami, I love the characters.



The self aware spear was a nice touch because it meant Willow could be super witch but still had to jump through a whole pile of hoops which made for a good story. Also I kept thinking of the spear as evil in a Discworld kind of way, and that was just funny .



Finally it was just a really good story, and very well written. After spending the day editing bad grammer it was nice ot sit back and enjoy.



There's going to be more story after this? Woohoo!

[dslagel64]

Hi Sheridan,



Thank you so much for a another "episode" of your Reality Check series! It was a a lot of fun and I loved the crossover bit you had with C.S.I.



I was wondering if a part of your story was missing. In the "Day Four: Night and the City" chapter, a conversation between Elias and Erik seemed to be rather abruptly cut-off.

Was it intentional?



__________________________________________________



Erik seemed to like the response, "Quite right, these pagan rites embrace the reality of human nature, the good and the bad."

"Right and wrong?" Elias probed carefully.

"A Christian invention, an attempt to cage human nature." It might just have been a sales pitch but the way Erik's eyes lit up made Elias think otherwise, a genuine clas





"What's going on?" Willow muttered groggily. She had returned from LA to an empty hotel room and after a long day decided to grab a few hours sleep; Lindsay wasn't likely to be in his office for some time. Now she had been jerked awake by a slamming door and the brightness of the room lights.

__________________________________________________



Never the less, your latest installment was great fun and I am really looking forward to the next part where we find out what Tara was up to back in Sunnydale!



Dave

[Sheridan]

dslagel64 thanks for spotting that. The last sentence should, and now does, read, 'a genuine class A nut.' A missing / in a italic command cut the last couple of words off. Glad you enjoyed it in spite of that!

Quote:

---

Finally it was just a really good story, and very well written. After spending the day editing bad grammer it was nice ot sit back and enjoy.



There's going to be more story after this? Woohoo!

---

Actually evilmookow about a page or so back in this thread there's an outline of the first 'season' of the 2018 saga to give you an idea what's coming, and you will somewhere along the line find out what the 'Pathfinder' mentioned back in 'Legion' is amongst many other things...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

Edited by: Sheridan at: 10/17/03 11:17 am

[Rocktoddy]

Dear Sheridan,



Wow. Simply wow.



Over the last 15 months or so I've been reading this story silently, watching it grow and develop into the amazing and thrilling epic that it is right now.

Since Rosenberg Squared was first posted, I thought, "Holy shit dude! This is gonna be one freaking cool fic!" and it has done everything and more to proof my theory right.



From time-traveling to LJ to The Fire to Dawn becoming the Slayer, it's all good!



Since this journey is nearly coming to an end, I felt you deserved to know that you've got a reader in me and that many sleepless nights have been filled with this marvellous story. So I just wanted to thank you for that.



Thanks.



Oh and I think LJ is the coolest. She belongs right up there amongst all my other all-time favourite W/T kids.



I just can't wait for 'Reality Check: 2018'! Willow and Tara and the gang in their forties? Wow. I probably will be needing some adjustment to that image. Heh. Anyway, the summary at least has made me very very curious.



I've said my say, now I think I'll just go back to reading this already classic fic silently in the background.



Thanks again Mike.

[Sheridan]

Quote:

---

I just can't wait for 'Reality Check: 2018'! Willow and Tara and the gang in their forties? Wow. I probably will be needing some adjustment to that image. Heh. Anyway, the summary at least has made me very very curious.

---

As inadequate as it seems all I can say is thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you've enjoyed it. At the moment I have a rough out line for the years 2018-2021, with four or possibly five stories per year, at the moment I have rough ideas for about sixteen and a detailed outline for the first from 2018, so I'm going to be here a while yet...

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Sheridan]

Just to let everyone know that I've finished 'Shield'. With a few days for editing should be up sometime over the weekend.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am