The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind: Chapter 18 concluded - Demons
by Gaius Petronius
The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind

Chapter 18 - concluded
"Demons"
by Gaius Petronius

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox and Mutant Enemy, Inc. This story can be read on its own or as a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" from which the Ancient Ones, the Shining Trapezohedron and the character of Robert Blake are derived.

The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind is set roughly in mid-season four shortly following the death of Doyle but before the creation of Adam and the death of Maggie Walsh.

Content Note: This part is rated PG-13 for a little raunchy language.

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Willow and Giles were still seated at the breakfast table in the kitchen alcove, their teacups now replaced by a small stack of books piled up beside them. Spike and Anya remained clustered together on the couch watching the Soap Opera Channel. Suddenly from outside came the sound of angry voices getting louder and louder by the minute.

Willow and Giles looked up and stared first at each other and then towards the door.

"What the bloody hell?" he muttered.

"Giles, I don't think they're gonna knock," Willow said.

"Is that . . . ?"

"Yeah . . . " Willow answered the question before Giles could finish it. "Angel must've found Buffy. Actually probably the other way around."

The door slammed open as Buffy stormed in, followed by Angel, Kate and Cordelia.

"Well, you were the one that walked out on me, remember!" Buffy yelled over her shoulder at the vampire.

"What fun! A brawl!" Spike announced as the action snatched his attention from the screen. He held his hand up to his mouth as if he were speaking into an invisible microphone, "And now we go live to . . ."

"Shut Up!" Buffy cut him off.

"You know we couldn't go on like we were!" Angel said firmly to Buffy, "It's just I was the one who had to say it!"

"We also agreed to stay out of each other's lives!" she shot back, "You remember that little detail, too?! And now you show up with some blond babe in tow . . . " Buffy still struggled for words.

"I already told you," Angel explained for what seemed like the twentieth time, "Kate's with the LAPD. She's worked on a lot of cases with me. She's here to help."

"Get ready. It's your turn, honey," Cordelia whispered sarcastically to Kate.

"Listen, Angel! You don't have to throw her in my face," Buffy was almost screaming now, "I've got a new boyfriend, too, ya know! He loves me. I love him. I've moved on! I can take care of myself!"

"Buffy, you don't understand!"

"No, I understand all too well!" the Slayer snarled as she turned to confront Kate Lockley.

"Just what the hell are you doing here anyway?!" Buffy glowered at Kate, "This isn't LA. This is Sunnydale! You have no idea what we're up against! And yet you come breezing in here like you're gonna show me how to fight this thing."

"Buffy, please, listen . . ." Angel begged as he struggled to contain her boiling temper.

"No! You listen! I'd like to know just what the hell is going on between you two?"

"Let her talk," Kate answered coldly, finally fed up with being Buffy's verbal punching bag, "It's time everybody knew the score."

"Angel, some woman cop from LA who's got the hots for you isn't gonna do us any damn good!" Buffy shouted but this time she didn't look Kate directly in the eyes but aimed her insult at Angel.

Angel, incredulous, only stared at Buffy. Spike leaped up from the couch in front of the television and slithered into the kitchen alcove to get a better view of the action. Giles, finally detecting a break in the argument, dared to slip a word in.

"Uh, good evening, everyone," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hi, guys!" Willow waved from the table.

"Yeah, whatever!" Buffy barked back.

"Hi, Giles!" Cordelia sang out in a cheery voice from the back of the group.

"Hello, Cordelia," Giles replied with exaggerated politeness.

"Hello, everyone," Spike cooed sarcastically as he waved effeminately from the kitchen alcove. "Hello, Rupert!" he whispered seductively as he turned to Giles.

"Shut up, Spike!" the Watcher snapped back, restraining the urge to plant his fist squarely in the middle of the vampire's face.

"You have no idea what I face every night!" Buffy lectured Kate after finally catching her breath, "Have you seen what's left of Sunnydale High? We've got more dead friends than you police have donuts! And now this 'Haunter' thing is coming after me trying to use my power to let itself loose in the world. You've already seen what the hell it can do, and I'm the only one who can stop it! I fight big time demons, lady, not pickpockets and two bit muggers! That's what I do, so pack your bags and head back to your little safe precinct 'cause you're way over your pretty blond head here!"

There was a long pause as Buffy and Kate glared at each other. Then Kate grinned slightly and shook her head as if she were preparing to interrogate a particularly obnoxious witness who required some delicate but firm handling.

"You are a little hothead," the policewoman said calmly to Buffy, "In fact, you remind me of someone I used to know real well. Let me just share one thing with you, though."

Kate paused for a moment. She took two steps forward to stand directly in front of Buffy. Her tall figure loomed over the diminutive Slayer.

"Ooo, look out! Big Blondie's gonna throw the first punch!" Spike whispered to Willow.

"Yeah, you kill demons and vamps," Kate continued, "And you're good at it, and it's made you tough. . . . But it's also blinded you. You see, your demons are all the same. You can't mistake 'em. They're ugly, some have horns, others spikes. Nasty claws, scales, bad breath, B.O., the usual. You can't miss 'em. And they're all into the same evil type things. Open a Hellmouth, end the world, that kind of stuff."

Buffy began to shift uncomfortably as Kate spoke.

"But you see, what you don't get is I fight demons, too," Kate said, her voice cool and professional, "Every day, every night. But my demons, you can't tell them apart from normal people on the street. They dress nice, wear aftershave, have styled hair. Most of them got good clothes, Versacci, Tommy Hilfiger. They drive fancy cars. Then . . . all of a sudden I've got on my hands some wife or girlfriend beaten senseless, sometimes dead with her throat cut. Or an ordinary single woman, a mother, and she shows up in the emergency room with her six month old baby with a cracked skull or a broken neck."

Buffy fidgeted and began to look down at the floor.

"Or then there's the decent looking kids," Kate continued, "Younger than you most of them. Nice and normal until some morning one of my men finds the torched corpse of a homeless man behind a dumpster in an alley. Or I get a frantic call from some high school secretary screaming about somebody running loose in the halls with a semiautomatic and there's a body or two in one of the classrooms."

Buffy couldn't look at Kate any longer. And still the LAPD cop wouldn't let up. She told her tale not with any vindictive tone in her voice but with her simple clarity which was far more chilling and effective.

"And I still can't tell whether they're demons," she announced, "Cause, unlike yours, they're not in any book describing exactly what they look like and what they do. So I gotta rely on my own wits and profile 'em. And just when I think I've seen them all, the bastards dream up something new to throw at me, something so twisted and God awful that everything that came before seems tame by comparison."

"Kate, you don't have to . . ." Angel protested.

"No, Angel, she's gotta hear this! This guy," Kate said turning directly to Buffy as she thumbed at Angel, "Your ex boyfriend here, he is special to me. In more ways than you can imagine. He and his secretary there, they give me my only edge. They can spot some of the worst of these demons before they actually do their thing. He's even saved my ass a bunch of times. Do I got feelings for him? You bet! 'Cause without him . . . it's just me and the demons . . . and, babe, at least I'll admit when I'm badly outnumbered and I'll take any help I can get. So, get over it, Buffy! . . . Oh, and one other thing."

For the first time, Buffy looked up at Kate.

"What makes you think you're the one this Haunter entity is after?" Kate said with a finality that sent chills down the spines of several of the Scooby Gang, "From what I hear, you're not the only Slayer in this stinking little burg."

"But I've been confronting this thing for over a week now!" Buffy sputtered defensively.

"She's probably right, Buffy," Anya piped up from the sofa, "It wouldn't matter to Nyarlethotep which Slayer it is. It's the Slayer's life force it's after."

For a moment, Buffy shuddered.

". . . Faith . . ." she whispered in fear, realizing her tactical error.

"I hasn't been sizing you up . . . " Kate said driving the verbal stake in deep, "Just keeping you busy while it moves in on its real victim. Your comatose slayer friend there, Faith."

"Oh Dear God! . . . " Giles exclaimed, "And It's imprisoned in the realm of the unconscious . . . along with her!"

"All this time . . . she been fighting it . . . alone," Buffy exclaimed with growing horror, "Giles, the look in her eyes! She tried to tell me! That's what it is! . . . she's been pleading with us! Begging us to find a way to help her!"

"Where is she now?! Is anybody watching her?" Kate said trying to direct the group towards a plan of action.

"Easy! It's okay," Anya smiled confidently, "Xander was stopping by on his way here. He'll keep an eye on her."

Buffy and Giles, their mouths open and their expressions bordering on panic, stared at Anya, then at each other.

". . . uh . . . my car's out front," Giles finally said with a restrained urgency, "Anya, you'd better come along. You seem to have had some experience with this entity."

Giles scrambled out of the kitchen alcove and snatched his jacket from the coat hook as he, Buffy and Anya moved quickly to the front door.

"You guys gonna follow us?" Buffy called out to Angel.

"Right behind you!" he answered. For a moment, it seemed like all the rancor had suddenly vanished, leaving a hazy vision of old times.

"Angel . . . I'm sorry," Buffy said quickly.

"I understand. Later," Angel answered gently. He turned to Kate and Cordelia, "Come on, we gotta move it! You guys are with me."

"Where?" Kate asked all business as she slipped in beside Angel on the way out the door.

"Sunnydale Convalescent."

"Hey! Don't I get to tag along?" Spike called out in a whine.

"Giles! What about me!" Willow exclaimed.

"Willow, sorry, your turn to babysit," Giles yelled from outside the front door, "Spike, today's GH tape is in the VCR!"

As Giles, Buffy Anya, Angel, Kate and Cordelia left, the front door slammed behind them. For a moment, Willow and Spike glared at each other. Willow then got up from her chair, walked over to the VCR and loaded in the tape. She plopped down on the couch in disgust.

"This sucks!" she complained to herself.

Before she realized what was happening, Spike bounded out of the alcove, leapt over the back of the couch and landed down right beside her. Although she knew Spike couldn't harm her because of the Initiative implant, his close proximity still made her nervous.

"Well now, isn't this cozy, just you and me," he said threateningly.

"Don't you get any funny ideas now," Willow popped back, not the slightest bit intimidated.

"Why not? You know you'd love it!"

"Oh yeah! Right!" Willow answered, rolling her eyes at the same time.

"No, really! You know you've thought about it," Spike pressed on.

"Spike! It's not gonna happen!"

"Can't we just pick up where we left off in the dorm? Just one little bite, for old times' sake?"

"No!" Willow insisted as her voice slipped into a silly sarcastic tone, "We're just friends now. That's all it can be."

There was a long pause. Willow realized she couldn't resist the insistent stare of Spike's eyes. Unable to avoid him, she finally turned away from the action on the VCR. Suddenly she was staring into his eyes. Then Spike leaned slowly forward towards Willow's neck. She saw his approach and, for a moment, she started to tip her head back, revealing the soft bare skin between her shoulder and jaw. As he was about to place his mouth and lips on her neck, Spike instantly yelled out in pain as the Initiative implant did its work.

"AAAHHH!"

Holding his forehead in his hands, Spike rolled around howling on the couch.

"I told you . . ." Willow grinned with a conspiratorial look.

Seeing he had been conned, Spike growled at Willow.

"Bitch!"

"Oooh . . . don't stop!" Willow cooed back with phoney passion, "I love it when you talk dirty!"

After a few moments more, Spike recovered, sat up next to Willow and sulked.

"You'd think you'd learn by now," Willow reminded him, "Spike, there just can't be anything between us. I mean, look at me. I'm a college girl, studying to be a full blown Wiccan. And you, you're just a washed up old vampire. What could we possibly have in common?"

". . . love? . . ." Spike looked up expectantly at Willow.

"Oh, Please!" Willow rolled her eyes again as she picked up the VCR remote and turned on the tape.

Both focused their attention on the soap opera on the tape. Muffled dialogue from the television filled the room.

"I never could get into this stuff," Willow said after a few moments, "What's going on?"

"Well, AJ's telling Helena to stay away from Carly who he thinks is pregnant with his baby," Spike began explaining the complex soap opera plot line, "What he doesn't realize is that the father is actually Sonny Karinthos, and Carly's been hiding it from him all along."

Willow and Spike watched the show intently for a few more minutes.

"But didn't Carly already tell Bobbie it was Sonny's baby?" Willow asked.

"She did?! I must've missed that. It was in yesterday's eppy. That explains a lot. Hey!" Spike suddenly grinned suspecting he had been conned again, "Wait a minute. I thought you didn't watch this trash!"

"Sshhh!" Willow snapped, "This is important! I can't hear."

Again, Willow and Spike stared at the television screen.

"I think Luke Spencer's kinda hot," Willow mused.

Spike turned to her in surprise.

". . . What? . . ." Willow exclaimed, not liking the the look on the vampire's face.

Spike snuggled in closer.

"I knew it!" he said seductively, "I always knew you had a thing for older men!"

Willow pulled away and glared at Spike in disgust while he leered back at her.

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