|
The sight which welcomed Spike when he arrived to the nearby
graveyard, made rush what little blood
he had left to his ears, for a moment.
There were demons, everywhere. The air in the graveyard was thick
with vampire’s dust and the stench of killed demons’ blood.
Buffy, Giles, Willow, Anya and Xander were all fighting. Seemingly
from nowhere demons and vampires kept appearing.
Spike looked around, recognizing the demons…he was sure Giles was
having a field day, seeing first hand almost all the demons he had
studied at the Guild.
Buffy saw him and she managed to say while fighting a vampire,
“Did you come to gloat, Spike?”
“Actually” he said, breaking the neck of a demon that had attacked
him, “I’m here to help…”
“Cool…let’s help, then!” She said, before staking another vampire.
Spike shrugged and got close to Buffy, kicking and punching demons
and vampires who got in his way.
They kept fighting, backing each other up,
trying to protect the others.
Truth was the demons and vampires were just too many for them and
he wasn’t sure whether they could hold their own for much longer.
For the first time in longer he cared to remember Spike was
scared.
~~*~~*~~*~~
"Oh my God...how many of them, still?" Buffy asked without looking
behind her shoulders. She sighed; trying to ignore the pain she
was feeling and turned looking at her friends.
They were all so tired and hurt. Xander's left wrist was broken,
yet he was keeping fighting, Anya was by his side; her clothes
were shredded and dirty with blood and slime. She was holding a
stake in her shaking hand, ready to defend herself from the
vampire that was approaching her.
Giles was fighting against an ugly-looking
green demon, his movements with the sword almost too quick
for the eyes to catch. He was bleeding from various wounds, yet he
almost didn't seem to care about it.
As always he was covering her back.
Willow was lightly apart from all of them, she was slowly
chanting, yet she was holding a crossbow in her hands. She had
been unarmed.
Spike was by her side, she could have sworn he was panting, just
like her.
"Too many, ducks..." Spike said in a low voice, "too many"
Buffy turned and looked at the vampire. He was bleeding too, he
was hurt, she could see it.
There was a strange look in his eyes, a humanity she had never
seen before. She briefly wondered why he hadn’t run, why he had
stayed with them and had fought by their side.
Blood thirst wasn’t an excuse.
She shrugged, deciding she was going to have a long talk with the
vampire if they survived the night, and asked, "Too many, uh?"
Spike just nodded at her words. Buffy almost smiled when she said,
"Well...that doesn't mean we will go out without a fight!"
Spike couldn’t help grinning at her words. He looked around and
said, “Not bloody likely, ducks."
Buffy suddenly turned and kicked a vampire that was behind her,
quickly staking him.
She looked at Spike, then pointed at her friends with her eyes and
said, "Watch their backs..."
Spike just nodded at her words. Buffy took some steps forward, and
took a deep breath before spin kicking a demon which attacked her.
Buffy looked at Spike, he was fighting trying to protect her
friends. He was fighting as if he cared for them. He shouted when
a demon suddenly grabbed Willow from behind her shoulders.
Spike charged the demon with an animalistic roar, she was about to
join him when he heard a cry.
A masculine, sharp cry of pain.
"Giles...” she whispered recognizing the cry’s source.
She turned. Giles was being held by a demon, it was gripping his
shoulders. She aimed the crossbow at it.
The demon looked at her and she surprised her almost making her
drop her crossbow, when it spoke, "Drop it...or I'll rip him in
two"
To prove its point, the demon gripped Giles’ arms and began
pulling at them.
She let fall the crossbow, and hissed through clenched teeth, "Let
him go..."
She heard Spike saying the same things to the demon that was
holding Willow. She looked at Xander and Anya, vampires were
holding them too.
She briefly wondered why they were still alive, why they hadn't
just drained them and discarded their bodies on the ground.
Adrenaline and fear were humming in her blood and she was sure the
vampires and the demons could feel, hear
it.
She took deep breaths and looked at Giles, he looked back at her,
and incredibly he smiled at her, a pained smile, but a smile
nonetheless.
She smiled back at him but her smile quickly faded when Giles
nodded and mouthed, "Do it..."
She nodded back, tears glistening in her eyes, while taking a step
forward, ignoring his cries of pain as the demon began pulling at
his shoulders.
Slayer!
Buffy turned toward the voice, ignoring the sudden excruciating
pain in her abdomen and the Goosebumps which had covered her skin,
all her skin.
A purple halo radiated from the figure who was calling her, that
voice radiated evilness.
Buffy couldn't help swallowing, though her throat was dry.
The voice spoke again, saying something in a language she didn’t
understand, she saw Spike growling at those words and answering in
the same language.
I'll kill you…both of you
The voice said. Buffy wasn't able to see through the purple halo,
she stepped back when it got closer to her. She had never been
that afraid.
But not now…
The voice continued, amused. A purple mist suddenly surrounded
them all. She looked around trying to break free from it, but she
found out she couldn't move.
She heard the others' screams, and deep laughters. A wave of
nausea hit her and she closed her eyes. She needed to breath but
she didn't let herself breathe in that purple, thick, mist.
Her eyes suddenly flew open. The mist had disappeared and with it
the vampires, the demons and that voice.
Her knees gave out; she knelt on the grass taking deep breaths.
She looked around and spotted Anya and Xander, they were lying
unconscious on the grass; she crawled toward them and let out a
relieved sigh when she realized they were both alive.
"Giles?" she called looking around. She slowly stood up walked
toward the point where Giles had been held. His sword was on the
grass and so were his glasses. They were shattered.
"Oh God..." she whispered kneeling and taking the broken glasses
in her hands, "Oh, God..." she repeated, blood stained one of the
lenses.
"I don't think *God* fits into this picture, Slayer."
Spike's cold voice said from behind her shoulders. She got up and
turned around, Spike glared at her, he was in full game face. His
yellow eyes sparkled in the night when he said, "They've taken
him."
Buffy was surprised to detect an expression akin to pain in the
vampire's face and in his voice when he added, "They've taken Red,
too..."
Buffy looked at the blonde vampire, she had never seen him looking
that scared.
She clutched the glasses against her chest and asked, “What’s
happening, Spike?”
Spike shook his head, no matter how much he wanted to reveal his
real identity he couldn’t do that. His suspicions had been
confirmed. Someone knew about the Eletti.
The entity behind the purple mist had talked to him in ancient
Greek, reciting him the oath the Eletti in training, took before
being activated.
Heta7tanatos had begun.
|