Continued...

"But Warren, you can’t just…." Jonathan began but Warren just glared at him, and he went quiet.
"Lay down here, on this table." instructed Warren.

"Now what ‘r you gonna do?" asked Spike. He wanted to be sure this git knew what he was about, after all. Didn’t want him messin’ up his brain.

"Well, I’ve been thinking about this since our meeting, and have decided that the best course of action would be to reduce the waves being received through the proton charged core." said Warren.

"What?" asked Spike. The dirty look he shot Warren made it quite clear that layman’s terms would be preferred during this conversation.

"Well, it would be like erasing a cassette tape with a magnet. You know, erasing the information in the chip that allows it to control your behavior. You’ll have like a clean slate so to speak." replied Warren.

"Cool." was the reply from Spike, and he settled down on the table eager to become his old self. "Let’s get started."

"So if we know we need to reduce the Mer-whatever energy, is there like a spell or something that we can use?" asked Buffy.

"First we need to be able to disassemble their outer field before we can disrupt the signals they take in." said Liz.

"Huh?" Cordelia looked blankly at Liz.

"They have a force field type shield surrounding them, we need to break it down in order to disrupt the signals they read." said Liz.

"Will, why don’t you call Xander and Anya and have them meet us at the Magic Shop so we can start researching, maybe there will be some kind of spell in that book that you read." said Buffy as she calmly gave out instructions.

"No problem." Willow gave Buffy a smile.

"If we do find a spell, we will need supplies and more magical power, than I alone possess. We need another witch" said Liz. Unconsciously, all eyes turned to Willow. For a moment she was silent, then smiled and said,

"The Magic Shop will have all the supplies we need, and I’ll go call Tara and she can meet us there. She’s a pretty powerful witch, she’ll be able to help you." said Willow. Buffy inwardly sighed with relief. ‘Good for you, Will,’ she thought.

"Cordelia, will you stay here with Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"Oh…..uhh….sure." replied Cordelia.

"Fred, maybe it would be best if you stayed here with Cordelia too, I don’t want anything happening to you." said Gunn with a small grin on his face. Fred just shook her head in agreement, matching his dopey lovesick grin and gave him a quick kiss before she turned and walked to the living room to join Cordelia. She was happy to stay out of the way, she wasn’t much for demon fighting anyway.

"Wesley, Gunn you take Willow and make your way to the Magic Shop. Liz, you can go with them too. And Angel, you need to come with me." said Buffy. "We’ll need to hurry, it will be daylight in a couple of hours, so we’ll need to move so we can set up at the shop."

"So how we doin’ back there mate?" asked Spike as he lay face down on the table. He was so excited to think of what he’d soon be able to do that he could barely hold himself still.

"Well, according to the x-ray, the chip is located in the inner cerebral cortex and attached to about a thousand nerve endings." replied Warren.

"And?" asked Spike.

"And that means that it is going to take a bit longer with the proton neutralizer than I had anticipated." said Warren.

"Now if you are back there just screwin’ with me the way that government doc did, then I’m gonna have to have my boys hurt you." warned Spike.

"Oh, no. I’m just saying that it isn’t going to be like, one zap and you’re done. This may take about a half an hour or so." said Warren.

"Yeah, whatever, just get your little zappin’ thing goin’ ‘cause I’ve got some business to attend to when this is over." was Spike’s reply. He was bored with the details.

"Okay, here it goes." said Warren.

"Now be careful with the hair! I got a lot of time invested in it, make sure you don’t mess it up!" said Spike.

"Not to worry my peroxide buddy, everything will be back to normal in a little while." Warren sing-songed as he charged up the proton neutralizer.

"I hope they hurry." said Willow as she, Wesley, Gunn and Liz stood waiting patiently outside of the Magic Shop.

"Anya is the owner of this establishment now?" asked Wesley. He’d been trying to catch up on the Sunnydale happenings while they waited.

"Well, not exactly, she is just sort of running it while Giles is in England." Willow told him.

"So why did Giles decide to go back to England anyway, I can’t imagine there being anything there for him now?" asked Wesley.

"Well, he mostly decided to go when Buffy died…..he was having a hard time dealing with her death, so he left. I guess he figured that there wasn’t much more for him to do here." Willow said quietly.

"Buffy died?" asked Liz. No one had mentioned this to her.

"Yeah, long story, but she saved Dawn’s life by doing it." said Willow.

"So you performed the ritual that brought her back?" asked Gunn, trying to make a little small talk with his new acquaintance. The look on Willow’s face at this question made him stammer,

"Uh, I mean, look…..I’m sorry…" he sputtered out helplessly.

"Yeah, but my magic kind of got out of control after that, so I’m taking it easy now, you know, kind of wiccan rehab." She bit her lip for a second. Brightening up, she added, "But if there is any magic to brew, Tara is the wicked wiccan witch to call!" She smiled, just as she did every time she thought of Tara.

"Okay guys, just so you know, you have to pay for everything you take. You know that right?" asked Anya as she and Xander approached Willow and the others.

"Anya!" said Xander in a stern voice. Sometimes he really wished there was a time delay on his girlfriend, like they had for live TV.

"So what’s up? Do we have some heavy researching to do?" he asked, eager to help.

"Yes. We need to find as much information as we can on the Palkees Tribe, and the Merhandra energy that they use. Also any information on the Merhand demons would probably also be beneficial." said Wesley.

"Where’s Buffy?" asked Xander.

"She should be here soon. She needed to talk to Angel about something first." replied Willow.

"Listen, I know that things haven’t been so smoothly with us lately, but I hope you know that I’d never come here just to hurt you." said Angel as he and Buffy walked alone down the street toward the Magic Shop.

"I know." she said quietly. She sighed, stopping in the street for a moment. "I’ve just been a little crazy lately, with trying to keep Dawn out of trouble and with work and everything I just jumped to a lot of bad conclusions back there. That’s really why I wanted to talk to you alone. I wanted you to know that I was sorry." she continued. "I’ve not always had the opportunity to tell people that when I needed to." Angel pulled her closer, wanting to be sure that not only did she hear what he was about to say, but that she believed it.

"I want you to know that nothing has ever happened between me and Cordelia." He paused, he really did love her, as much if not more than he ever had. As he looked into her eyes, he simply had to tell her everything. "I…I just said that to make you think….I wanted your new chance at life to be better. Free from me weighing you down, for you to get over me and have a chance at a relationship with someone that can be there for you. I thought it was the only way." he said. Buffy turned away and began to walk again. She new she was going to have to tell him, but this wasn’t the right time.

"I understand. We all say and do things that we think is for the benefit of others, and sometimes it just doesn’t work right. All is forgiven, we just need to get to the shop and help the others." she said. She flashed him her best smile.

"Right." Angel agreed as he followed her. He’d decided to keep his other news to himself for now. He wanted to tell her the truth about everything, including Connor, but it wasn’t right, not now, ‘I’ll wait until this is finished.’ he thought to himself.

"Okay." said Warren.

"Okay, what?" asked Spike.

"Okay, as in okay, you’re done." replied Warren. Spike was quiet for a second.

"You’d better pray that you did it right." said Spike.

"Or what?" snapped Warren. "It isn’t like you’d be able to hurt me if it doesn’t work."

"I may not, but why do you think I brought my friends along for! They’d be happy to break your neck right now!" replied Spike smiling sweetly.

"Listen, there’s nothing to worry about. Everything went as planned, so there’s no need to be all mean and big man threatening about this." said Warren. Spike sat up on the table, adjusting his coat so it would be just right.

"Now, lets see, who shall I try my old self out on? ….You, come here!" Spike said as he pointed to Jonathan. Jonathan got up, stumbling as he backed away from Spike.

"Hey! Now you promised not to touch any of us, if we helped you." said Warren.

"I just want to see if I can hurt him. It’s not like I want to eat him or anything." explained Spike as he motioned for the two Kalthon demons to bring Jonathan to him. The look on Jonathan’s face was priceless. God, Spike thought to himself, he’d missed this so much. He pulled his right arm back, and with one swift blow, Jonathan was on the floor, and no blinding headache appeared. Spike grinned.

"Well all right then." said Spike. "Looks like you three book types may get to see the light of another day after all." Spike turned to the two Kalthon demons, "Let’s go boys, we have some business to attend to." Warren quickly helped Jonathan back up off the floor as they watched Spike and the others climb the stairs and head out toward an unsuspecting populace.

"Xander, see if you can find a book called ‘Demons of the Mind,’ it should have something in it on the Merhand demons." said Willow as she read down through a list of books that Giles had left. "Anya, do you know where ‘Magicks of the 6th Century’ is? I know I saw it somewhere." Willow continued as she began giving out instructions to everyone.

"Willow is it?" asked Liz.

"Yeah." Willow replied.

"Your friend will be here wont she? I really do need the extra help." said Liz.

"Oh, don’t worry, Tara will be here." replied Willow trying to sound confident, and as she said that the front door opened.

"Willow?" called the familiar voice that she loved to hear so much.

"Tara! That’s Tara now, I told you she would be here." said Willow as she ran to the door to greet her friend. Willow took Tara by the hand and led her to the large table at the back of the store where her new friends were gathered. "Tara, this is Wesley, Gunn and Liz. Liz is Angel’s friend that I told you about. She’s the one that needs your help." Tara took a seat next to Liz and asked,

"Wh…what do you need me to do?"

"What do you think they are going to do, about that Bangola creature?" asked Fred.

"Oh, I don’t know. Hopefully they will find some kind of spell in those books. Those are Giles’ books you know. You would have liked Giles." said Cordelia as she smiled to herself. She would have never let him know how much she admired him, but she did and she missed him not being around when things were going wrong. "He was a very smart guy, but not quite as stuffy as Wes can be at times." Fred just smiled as she walked slowly around the room looking at all the pictures of Buffy and her family.

"Did I ever tell you about…" Cordelia was about to tell Fred more stories from the past when a noise startled them. There was a loud bang on the kitchen door. Cordelia and Fred rushed to the kitchen to see what had happened. The back door had been kicked in and Spike stood in the doorway, a wicked grin on his face.

"Hey, you can’t come in here like that!" said Cordelia.

"Oh but I can luv. You see the Slayer has let me in….and I don’t just mean into her house!" replied Spike, winking at Fred and Cordelia.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Cordelia.

"Where…is…she?" spat Spike as he peered over Cordelia’s shoulder trying to get a glimpse of the one he had came after. "I want the Slayer!"

"She’s not here, Spike." said Dawn who had been woken up by the loud noise and wandered into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"I’m just going to ask this one more time. Where is she!" Spike repeated his demand again, this time with a more evil tone to his voice. Dawn narrowed her eyes at Spike. Something wasn’t right.

"Dawn go back to your room." said Cordelia.

"I don’t have to do what you say. I don’t even know who you are!" replied Dawn in defiance.

"I’m a friend of your sister’s, and you need to go back to your room and stay there." said Cordelia, now becoming panicked.

"Spike can’t hurt you. He has some kind of chip in his head. He just likes to try and scare people sometimes. Don’t you Spike?" said Dawn. She waited for his friendly cavalier smile to come and replace this new one. She felt her heartbeat start to race.

"I’m not here just to scare anyone ‘bit. I need a word with your big sis, well actually I need a few words with her but that’s really a matter of semantics." replied Spike.

"She’s taking care of something important, you’ll have to talk to her later!" said Dawn.

"I don’t think later will do. I think you are going to tell me where she is right now!" said Spike as he vamped out. Dawn stood motionless, staring at his face. She’d seen his vamp face before but only when it was in defense of her or one of the Scoobies. This was different.

"I think it is time for you to leave now. You will just have to….to talk to Buffy another time. Like when she’s home." said Cordelia as she gave Spike a great big push out the door and slammed it quickly to try and keep him out. She didn’t have time for this crap. ‘Freak,’ she muttered. Still, she wanted to try and stay calm, she didn’t need Dawn and Fred to realize how unsure of herself she actually was.

"What are we going to do?" asked Fred.

"Dawn, call Buffy, she’s at the Magic Shop. Hurry!" said Cordelia. Dawn dialed the phone frantically, now completely scared of Spike. The fact that she trusted him and saw him as a friend and now felt so scared of him troubled her.

"Hello. Magic Box." said Anya annoyingly into the phone.

"Anya, Anya this is Dawn."

"Dawnie I thought you were supposed to be sleeping!" said Anya. She wanted to practice this "tell the young human what to do’ thing for the future and relished any opportunity to do so with Dawn, to the younger girls consternation.

"Anya! Tell Buffy that Spike is here, and he’s….." Dawn didn’t have time to finish. All Anya heard after that was a shrill scream through the phone.

"Who was that?" asked Willow.

"It was Dawn. Spike was there." said Anya.

"Great, all we need is that bonehead getting into the middle of things." muttered Xander as he looked up from his research book. Anya made a face.

"No…..I think something was wrong. I mean I think something is wrong with Spike. Dawn said to tell Buffy that he was there and that he’s, and then she screamed and the phone went dead." said Anya. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. Looks of concern flashed across everyone except Liz’s face.

"You don’t think…" said Willow as she looked at Xander. She didn’t even want to say it.
"That he’s found a way to de-chip himself. Well, I wouldn’t put it past him." said Xander.

"Fred! Did Dawn say anything about Fred or Cordy?" asked Gunn, now becoming very upset at the prospect of his girlfriend being attacked by a vamp.

"Uh, no, I don’t think so." replied Anya.

"What do you mean you don’t think so?" asked Gunn as he stood up from his seat at the table, knocking the chair back on the floor.

"Hey, don’t talk to my girlfriend like that!" said Xander.

"Well, MY girlfriend is the one being attacked by something, not yours! I want to know who this ‘Spike’ is, and what the hell is going on over there!" exclaimed Gunn.

The door to the Magic Shop opened, and Angel and Buffy stepped inside.

"Buffy! Something happened!" Willow said as she rushed toward Buffy.

"What kind of something?" Buffy asked. In Sunnydale "something" wasn’t anywhere near specific enough.

"Dawn called." replied Anya.

"What did she want?" asked Buffy.

"Well…..we don’t know….exactly." Willow said hesitantly. Buffy just stared at her.

"So what do you mean she called, but you don’t know what she wanted?" Buffy was now becoming concerned.

"She said to tell you that Spike was there, and that he was…" Anya’s words stopped there. No one else said a word.

"And that he was WHAT?" asked Buffy. A sick feeling started to grow in her stomach.

"That is what we don’t know exactly." said Willow, "The line went dead after that."

"But not before I head her scream." added Anya. Helpful. That was good. Being helpful was a good thing. Anya thought to herself. Willow just turned and glared at Anya, as she was trying to avoid telling Buffy about that part of the conversation. Buffy was confused, Spike had done nothing but protect Dawn. ‘Why would he hurt her now? And how could he harm her? It didn’t make any sense.’ she thought to herself. She stopped herself. Going into action, she realized that there was no time for deep contemplation, they needed to get to Dawn, and quickly.

"Run!" shouted Cordelia. Dawn, Fred and Cordelia raced through the house, and up the stairs to Dawn’s bedroom. Cordelia slammed the door as quickly as she could and flung all of her weight against it. But the strong fists of Spike’s were quickly busting through the door. They could hear him laughing.

"Go! Get out of here! Fred take Dawn through the window, hurry!" Cordelia said, trying not to be too loud and risk Spike hearing her, as she leaned against the door trying to keep him out.

"What about you?" asked Fred. She looked terrified.

"Don’t worry about me, just get out of here. Try to find Angel and Buffy." said Cordelia, "Go!" Fred and Dawn looked at each other and then at Cordelia before heading to the window and opening it quietly. Cordelia mouthed "GO!" again at them and they ducked out into the night. In a matter of moments they were on the lawn.

"Come on, this way." said Dawn as she led Fred down the street and through a neighbor’s yard. Fred looked back toward the house one more time, hoping Cordelia would be able to hold Spike off, before turning and running after Dawn.

"I have to go to Dawn." said Buffy, now fully panicked at the thought of all the unpleasant scenarios the situation presented. She headed toward the door.

"I’ll go with you." Angel said, following her.

"Buffy, is there anything we can do?" asked Willow.

"Stay here and keep researching, and if you hear from Dawn again tell her that we’re on our way." replied Buffy.

"I’m going too!" said Gunn, running to catch Angel and Buffy as they opened the door, "I’m not letting some Spike creep hurt Fred. Or Cordy for that matter."

"Fine, just come on." said Buffy, as the three ran through the front door and down the street. The door slammed behind them with the familiar jingle of bells and Xander and Anya, Willow and Tara looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Liz said nothing at all.

* * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 9 –

"Go Away!" Cordelia shouted as she struggled to keep the door closed. She was getting tired and sore as the door pounded into her back over and over.

"I ain’t goin’ anywhere until I talk to the Slayer!" Spike shouted back as he drove his fist through the door once more, barely missing Cordelia’s head.

"She’s not here, and obviously if you need to resort to measurers like these, she doesn’t want to talk to you….Now leave!" cried Cordelia but it was too late. With one last swift kick, the door flew open, and Cordelia was thrown across the floor. Dazed for a moment she saw him in the doorway. Obviously the door attack hadn’t slowed him down in the least. She hurriedly scrambled to her feet and grabbed the small lamp that was sitting on Dawn’s desk.

"If you come any closer, I’ll….." Cordelia warned, hoping she sounded more intimidating than she felt. She’d seen him fight Angel, and while Buffy had certainly slapped him around a few times, Cordy wasn’t quite the superhuman fighter.

"You’ll what luv? Throw that at me? You’ll attack me with a leopard spotted lamp? That thing’s so flimsy I’m surprised it didn’t break when you picked it up." Spike taunted.

Cordelia surveyed the room, trying to find a way to escape.

"Oh, I don’t think so pet." said Spike as he watched Cordelia’s eyes scan across the room, "There’s nowhere left to run my pretty. It’s just you and me." He locked his eyes on Cordelia and walked slowly and deliberately towards her. Suddenly he stopped, "Hey, wait a minute! Where’d the ‘lil bit go, and that other lovely?" He looked around the room, taking his eyes off of this catch.

‘It was now or never’ she decided, and so with as much strength as she could muster, Cordelia swung the lamp and smashed it on the side of Spike’s face. He was knocked back, a bit off balance, as he was not expecting the strike. Cordelia made a dash for the window.

"Bloody hell!" said Spike as he grabbed the side of his face. He laughed a little to himself. He didn’t think that she had it in her, that one. He remembered her being all posh and hand flailing. Never thought she’d actually hit him.

"Ouch!" cried Dawn as she slowed to a stop in the middle of the street.

"Are you okay?" asked Fred, now almost completely out of breath from running.

"I think so, I must have stepped on something." replied Dawn breathing as heavily as Fred was.

"How much further?" Fred asked. She hoped it wasn’t far. She thought she’d gotten the ‘non-demon fighting’ assignment for tonight and was still a little overwhelmed by what had happened and how out of the blue it had been.

"I’m not sure, but we have to hurry!" said Dawn as she continued to lead the way down the street, limping as fast as she could.
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