Loosen End
Chapter 5
by Cynthia Taz (cynthia_taz@yahoo.com)
* Disclaimer and other information on Prologue.
Notes:
- Thank you for everyone's reviews. Can't do this without you! :)
- There will be more characters appeared in the later chapters, though you'll have to wait and see. Can't give out too many now, can I? Hehe...
// // = Voice
~.~.~.~
"So the basement was filled with bodies?" Willow asked as she set up her laptop on the table in the dinning room.
"Not 'filled with bodies', more like 'four vampires camping under the house'." Buffy answered as she stood at the doorway, leaning against the wall casually.
"Well, if you put it that way..." The redhead shrugged. "Have you called Giles? He may know something."
"Since yesterday. He didn't answer his calls. I contacted the Watcher Council and Travers said he'll look into it."
"Think they'll really do that?"
"Can't hurt trying." Paused. "How's the house?"
"Dusty." The redhead sat in front of her laptop and turned it on. "You won't believe how dusty a house could get after only half year of evacuate." She said, her figures tapping on the table lightly as she waited for the computer to boot. "So, demons that can do mind control on vampires?"
"Or spells. Spike said the chip didn't fire when he did all those stuff. We might have to look into that too." Willow nodded, and started typing away on the laptop. Buffy stared at her friend for a second, before opening her month, wanting to say something, but quickly decided against it. "I'll go check on Spike."
Willow nodded, still focusing on the computer screen. Only after Buffy's footsteps had disappeared down the corridor did the witch stopped and looked up at the empty doorway, frowning.
~.~.~.~
Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, watching quietly as Spike, who was still tied to a chair, shivering and gasping as he went through the human blood withdrawal. "Can I do something?" The slayer asked attentively.
Spike tightened his fists and bit his lips as he turned away and stared at the floor. "I think you should probably go."
Buffy looked at Spike for a moment, before standing up and moved towards the nightstand. Once she turned around, Spike changed into his vampire face, and jerked against his restraint. The slayer spun and jumped in surprise when she found herself facing a vamped out Spike.
~.~.~.~
"Ah..." Willow stopped all her movement and closed her eyes when she felt a familiar touch on her knee. "Tara..." She sighed.
//I miss you.//
"I miss you too." The redhead finally opened her eyes, staring at her girlfriend who was kneeing next to her, staring back at her lovely. "You know, if you continue doing that, we will never get anything done." She placed her hand on top of Tara's, stilling the movement that was aiming upwards.
Tara smirked.
//Why don't we call it a night then?//
Willow giggled. "It's still morning baby. C'mon." She held Tara's hand up and placed a kiss on the back of it. "Let me finish the search first?"
//No.//
Willow was about to let go of Tara's hand when she heard the reply. Confused, she cocked her head at the blond. "No?"
//I want you now.//
The redhead frowned as she watched her girlfriend disappeared under the table. Suddenly, cool hands appeared, drawing small circles on the warm skin of her upper tights. "Tara!" Willow protested.
Tara poked her head out.
//You continues your search, honey. It's just like playing road games. You'll love it.//
Tara grinned and disappeared under the table once again.
Willow gasped when the cool hands returned, and her eyes closed when the hands changed into lips.
~.~.~.~
Andrew stood in front of the seal in the basement of Sunnydale High he and Jonathan had uncovered, a knife holding tight in his hand.
//She won't feel a thing. Just do it. Fast.//
Warren took a step closer to Andrew from behind.
//Cut her deep. Cut her quick. It'll be over before she knows what hit her.//
Andrew swallowed. "What if she squeals?" He asked.
//Uh...//
Warren thought for a moment.
//Better go for her throat first.//
Andrew nodded and looked down, swallowing again when he saw a small pig standing there looking right back at him. "'Babe Two: Pig in the City' was really underrated."
//Don't think about Babe.//
"Right." Andrew swallowed again.
//You're Conan.//
Warren said in a dramatic voice.
//You're the destroyer. It's you against nature. You're the hunter, you're the primal; you live off the land. You're Andrew. Everyone knows you. You play by your own rules. It's kill or be killed!//
"That will do, PIG!" Andrew screamed and lunged himself at the pig. The pig squealed when Andrew landed in front of it face first, and it ran away.
//No!//
Warren shouted as he watched Andrew stumbling towards the pig.
//You gotta- you gotta corner it!//
Andrew stood and lunged towards the pig again; he landed face first on the hard floor again; and the pig ran away... again.
//Stay between it and the hall!//
Warren watched helplessly as Andrew stumbling after the pig. After couple of minutes, Andrew fell one last time, and the pig ran right pass Warren and disappeared into the dark corridor.
//This is the worst attempted pig slaughtering I've ever seen.//
"Sorry." Andrew grumbled as he pushed himself up. "I'm not very good at the stabbing." He sighed and looked up at Warren. "Isn't there some other way we can get blood?"
~.~.~.~
"Willow?"
"Shit!" Willow jumped out of her chair when she heard Buffy's voice, her leg smashed towards the table in the process. "Ow!" She cried, jumping up and down on one leg while her hands holding the other. "Owie owie owie!"
"Are you alright?" The slayer frowned and moved towards the witch.
"I'm fine." Willow rumbled as she sent a glare at the table. "You startled me is all."
"So, did you find anything?" She bended down in front of the laptop and read the screen.
"Not yet." Willow took several deep breaths before answering. "I have the computer crawl the demon database, but it may be sometime before any result comes up."
"Oh. I guess we'll just set tight and enjoy the ride, huh?"
"Ride? No ride! Definitely no ride!" Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Um..." Willow blushed, and sent another glare towards under the table when she heard giggles. "Um... yeah..." She quickly changed the subject. "How's Spike?"
"Not good." Buffy answered sadly. "He's been feasting on humans for weeks. He's having some pretty bad withdrawals. I think we need to get some blood." She thought for a moment. "May be we can get Anya's." Willow frowned at Buffy, not amused. "Kidding." The slayer held up both her hands and surrender. "Anyway, we should probably try to wean him off humans. He'll have to make do with animal blood."
"I'll go get some."
//You already got some.//
Willow blushed harder.
"You don't mind?" Buffy asked.
Willow shrugged. "There's nothing much I can do here anyway."
//So what we were doing was nothing to you?//
"Huh? No baby-" Willow's hands shot up and covered her own mouth. Buffy frowned at her with confusion. "Going now." The redhead announced before running out of the Summers' house.
~.~.~.~
"Stop laughing!" Willow pouted as she pulled her car just outside the butcher shop. "This is entirely your fault! Now Buffy's gonna think I'm crazy!"
//I still says it's quirky.//
Tara smiled.
//Besides, we should at least take a bit of advantage on the situation, now that I can touch you and they still can't see me. You don't even have to take off your clothes.//
Willow flashed Tara a naughty grin. "Yeah. It's pretty cool. Though it still feels strange." Tara looked at the redhead, a bit confused. "I mean, having... you know," The redhead blushed a bit. "With the clothes on."
//You don't like it?//
"Oh no! It's um... different."
//And very convenience.//
Tara pointed out.
//Especially when we're not alone.//
Willow blushed harder. She locked up the car door and walked into the butcher shop, no noticing as she slammed her shoulder into the man who just walked out of the shop, sending the big brown bag he was holding dropped onto the ground. "Oh Goddess! I'm so-" She looked down at the bags of blood that were now on the ground, and looked back up. "Andrew?" Her eyes widened.
Andrew's eyes got as wide as Willow's when he recognized the redhead - the one who had killed his friend, the same one who had tried to kill him not long ago... so, he ran.
~.~.~.~
"Wait a minute!" Willow shouted as she chased Andrew into the alley next to the butch shop.
Andrew stopped and spun around, holding up his hands. "D-don't kill me!"
"I'm not gonna kill you." Willow said, narrowed her eyes at the blond hair man.
"Don't torture me and send me to an eternal pain dimension!"
"Not gonna."
"Warren killed Tara. I didn't do it." Andrew continued. "And he was aiming for Buffy anyway." Willow's eyes darkened. She held up her hand, and Andrew immediately got picked up by an invisible force and slammed into the wall behind him. "Ooh." He moaned in pain.
"Shut up." The redhead waved her hand, and Andrew was dropped on the ground. She glared at him. "You're not making it better."
Andrew looked at her painfully. "You got your revenge. You killed my best friend. We're even."
"Even? You call this even?" Willow frowned at him. "You think I got satisfactions from what I did?"
"May be not, but let me keep my skin, okay? I'm not bad. I'm not bad anymore." The witch looked at him skeptically. "I'm good. I do good things now."
"Then why do you need lots and lots of blood?"
Andrew opened his month for a moment, closed it, and opened it again. "I'm bad, I'm evil," he resorted. "But I'm protected by powerful forces." He took a step forward, trying to look tough, even though in truth he looked more like a lost puppy than anything. "Forces you can't even begin to imagine, little... girl. If you harm me, you shall know the wrath of he that is darkness and terror. Your blood will boil, and you will know true suffering. Stand down, she-witch. Your defeat is at hand-"
Willow raised an eyebrow. She pointed at Andrew, and he was pushed against the wall by invisible force once again. "Shut your mouth." Andrew immediately stopped talking, looking at her nervously. "I am a she-witch, a very powerful she-witch," she paused and thought for a second. "Or witch, as is more accurate. I'm not to be t-"
"But I-"
"I'm talking!" Willow growled, and Andrew shut up again. "Don't interrupt me, i-insignificant man." She paused and turned towards her left. "Well, can't think of any other words." The redhead shrugged at the empty spot, and Andrew looked even more nervous and started looking around. Willow shook her head a bit as if clearing her thoughts before turning back towards Andrew, and took a step closer. "I'm Willow. I'm death." Andrew swallowed. "If you dare defy me, I will call down my fury, exact fresh vengeance, and make your worst fears come true." She stared hard at him. "Okay?"
Andrew nodded, and Willow immediately pulled him out of the alley.
~.~.~.~
"I don't know why I have to seat at the back-"
"Shut up Andrew." Willow growled, her eyes glared at Andrew's reflection in the rear mirror before focusing on the road again. "I can't." She whispered. "He is human... No. That's Warren. A-and I-"
"Nice car here." Andrew spoke again, his hand smoothing the vinyl cloth of the seat. "Is it-"
Willow stepped on the brake, hard. Andrew squealed as the redhead spun around, her green orbs staring at him angrily. "Shut up before I shut you up." She growled. She turned back towards the front and killed off the engine, before stepping out of the car. "Stay." She ordered, and slammed the door closed.
Andrew watched as Willow walking back and forth at the side road, her hands flying in the air as she rumbled to herself. Suddenly, she halted and turned towards Andrew. Andrew immediately looked away. After some time, the redhead finally opened the car door and stepped into the driver seat.
Andrew watched her nervously. "A-are you alright?"
"I don't like you." Willow said quietly but didn't turn around. "You might think Tara's murder has nothing to do with you. You might think Warren's death is the end of the story. But it never ends, and will never end." She inserted the key into the keyhole and turned the engine on. "Be thankful I'm only taking you to Buffy's house."
For the rest of the ride Andrew didn't say a thing.
~.~.~.~
Xander was researching at the front room with Anya when they heard the front door opened and closed. Willow appeared, holding onto Andrew's leather coat's collar as he held big brown bag of groceries, and pushed him towards them. "Look who I found?"
Xander stood and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh this can't be good."
Andrew was about to reply when he paused and turned towards Willow. "Hey! Your hair isn't even black anymore!" The redhead glared at him and smashed him at the back of his head. "Ouch!"
"Serve you right." Anya said.
"Guess who was buying mass amounts of blood at the butcher's shop." Willow pointed at the grocery bag.
Xander took a step towards Andrew, tapping the book he was still holding in his hand. "What're you doing back in town?"
Andrew eyed him up and down. "You'll get nothing out of me, librarian." Xander blinked, and quickly dropped the book back on the coffee table.
"We'll see about that." Anya finally spoke, with an evil smirk on her face.
~.~.~.~
Andrew was now sitting in the empty room of the Summers' house with Xander kneeing before him, tying his wrists to the arms of the chair he was in. "Hey! Be careful with that!" Andrew protested as he watched Anya going through the pockets of his leather coat not so gently. "It's expensive!"
Anya raised an eyebrow. "Is it new?" She asked, before throwing the coat on the floor and stepped on it.
"Hey!" He then turned towards Xander as he tightened the restraint on Andrew's wrist. "Ow!"
"Now," Xander stood and narrowed his eyes at Andrew. "We can do this the hard way. But believe me, this will go much easier if you just tell us what you know."
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"Well, then you won't mind if we ask you a few questions."
Andrew squealed in the chair. "Yeah. Okay."
Xander bended down a bit and stared at Andrew in his eyes. "Why were you buying blood at the butcher shop?"
Andrew took a deep breath. "I fell in love with a beautiful vampire girl down in Mexico and we're trying to make a go of it on the straight and narrow and put our lives back together here in Sunnydale." He said in one go.
Anya shoved Xander away and stood right in front of Andrew. "You think this is a game, junior?! People are dying!" Anya grabbed Andrew's collar and pulled him towards her. "Friends' lives are in danger!"
Xander blinked at his ex-girlfriend. "Anya..."
"Now you want to waste time on deceptions? Not on my watch!" Anya ignored Xander and slapped Andrew across his face, hard.
Before Anya could deliver another slap, Xander grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door. "Can I talk to you outside for a second?" He didn't wait for a reply as he left the room, bringing Anya with him.
~.~.~.~
Xander closed the door when he stepped out with Anya. The two looked at each other seriously for a second, before the grins broke out on their faces. "Did you see that? Did you see that?" Anya said excitingly. "I actually made him cry!"
"You were perfect! I was worried I overdid it with the whole 'easy way, hard way' thing."
"No, you were great! I wasn't sure if I should slap him, but then he made me want to slap him, so I thought, okay, slap him!"
"He'll be singing in no time."
"So, what do we do now?" Anya asked.
"Now? We let him stew in his own juices for a bit, then we give him the hard brace."
"Right." Anya turned when she saw Willow moving towards them. "Willow!"
"Hey." Willow smiled back, but the smile was somehow stained. "How's your guy?"
"The weasel wants to sing. He just needs a tune."
Xander grinned. "He's primed. I'll be pumping him in no time." Anya and Willow immediately stared at him strangely. "Um, he'll give us information soon." He quickly added.
"Good. Good."
Xander looked at his friend worried. "Are you alright?"
Anya studied Willow for a moment. "I make Andrew cry." She offered.
Willow smiled thankfully at Anya. "Thanks." She then turned towards Xander. "Look, I need to go out for a moment. Couple of hours, may be. Can you tell Buffy I'll come by later?"
"Sure. Where are you going?"
Willow paused as she heard Xander's question. "Out?" She shrugged, and then left without another word.
~.~.~.~
Buffy held up a bag of pig's blood as Spike sucked from it. Once Spike finished the bag, Buffy sighed, and threw the empty bag into the rubbish bin nearby. She sat on the bed, facing Spike, studying him for a moment. "Better?"
Spike nodded.
"Good."
"I don't remember anything."
"Nothing?"
"It's all flashes here and there, like I'm watching someone else..." He paused. "Do it. Killing people." He said quietly. "I've been losing time for a while now. Waking up in strange places."
Buffy frowned. "When did your chip stop working?"
"I wasn't aware that it had... you know? Not 'til now."
"And the losing time? How long has that been going on?"
"Things have been wonky since I got back, since..."
"You got your soul." Buffy finished it quietly.
Spike nodded. "Figure that was what it's like... it'd been so long since I had one."
"How did you do it?" Spike waited for Buffy to clarify. "How did you get your soul back?"
"Saw a man about a girl..." Spike sighed as he continued. "I went to seek a legend out. Traveled to the other side of the world, made a deal with a demon."
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
"No, not just like that." Spike snorted. "There was a price. There were trails, torture, pain and suffering... of sorts."
"Of sorts?"
"Well, it's all relative, isn't it?"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I have come to redefine the words 'pain and suffering' since I fell in love with you."
Buffy looked away. "How can you say that?" She whispered quietly.
"Apparently, I just slaughtered half of Sunnydale, pet. I'm not really worried about being polite anymore."
Buffy stood, her arms crossed against her chest. "So, what? You're feeling for yourself?"
"I'm feeling honest with myself." Spike answered. "You used me."
"Yes."
"You told me that, of course. I never understood it though. Not until now. You hated yourself, and you took it out of me."
Buffy couldn't help but rolled her eyes. "You figured that out just now?"
"Soul's not about moonbeams and pennywhistles, luv. It's about self-loathing. I get it now. Had to travel 'round the world, but I understand you now. I understand the violence inside."
Buffy snorted. "Violence? William the Bloody now has insight into violence?"
"Not the same. As bad as I was, as evil and as wretched as I was, I never truly hated myself back then. Not like I do now."
The slayer didn't answer but just staring at Spike.
~.~.~.~
Xander stepped into the room that Andrew was now in with a glass of water. "How's your face?" The carpenter asked attentively as he set the water down.
"Okay."
"Sorry about that." Xander moved closer and started untying Andrew. "She shouldn't hit you." He shook his head and handed Andrew the glass. "Go on."
Andrew accepted the glass skeptically, smelling it a bit before taking a slip. "That chick's psycho."
Xander's face darkened for a second but quickly returned to normal. "You don't know half of it. She's a vengeance demon, you know?" He sat beside Andrew. "She's bad news."
"This one time I saw her having sex with Spike." Andrew added quickly before taking another slip.
Xander's face darkened the second time but Andrew missed it again. "She killed more men than smallpox."
"Does smallpox still kill people-"
"She's killed a lot of men. She tortures them, anyone who incurs her wrath. One time she..." Xander halted, thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "No. Never mind."
"What?" Andrew blinked.
"It's not important."
"What'd she do?"
Xander leaned forward a bit. "Well... there was this one guy, he, uh, he hurt her real bad, so she paid him back. She killed him, but she did it real slow. See? First she stopped his heart, then she replaced it with darkness, then she made him live his life like that. But he still had to go do his job and see his friends and wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, but he had to do it all empty. Without anything to look forward to. Ever."
"Um." Andrew shrugged. "Sounds bad."
"Well, then she-tore-out-his-intestines-and-rubbed-it-in-his-face-and-took-pictures-of-it."
Xander shrugged as he blurred out as if it was nothing, but Andrew, on the other hand, chocked on the water he was drinking and his face turned deadly pale. "Oh God!"
"But she's downstairs now." Xander petted Andrew on his shoulder. "Don't worry about her."
"W-what if-"
"See?" Xander took the glass of water from Andrew's hand calmly. "The thing is, we've all been a little on edge lately. Some bad things have been happening, and the girls are all looking for someone to blame."
"I didn't do anything!"
Anya took the exact moment to storm into the room. "You lying son of bitch!" The ex-vengeance demon pushed the boy onto the floor. "You're going tell us what we need to know, and you're going to tell us right now!" She sat on Andrew, and started slapping him.
"Stop! Stop it!" Andrew screamed.
"Anya no!"
Xander quickly pulled Anya off Andrew. "Get off me Harris!" Anya turned around and slapped Xander hard. Xander looked at Anya dumbly, his hand covering his quickly reddened cheek. The ex-demon mouthed 'I'm sorry' at Xander before turning back towards Andrew. "C'mon, you pipsqueak!" She pulled Andrew up from the floor and started shaking him.
"GET HER OFF ME! I'LL TELL YOU! I'll TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!"
~.~.~.~
"GET HER OFF ME! I'LL TELL YOU! I'll TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!"
Buffy was staring hard at Spike when she heard Andrew's scream from the room next door. "Excuse me." She left, closing the door behind her.
Spike's eyes widened when the door closed, revealing himself who was standing there, smirking.
//Well, we've got ourselves a problem.//
~.~.~.~
Buffy pushed open the door, and paused when she saw Andrew sitting on the floor with Anya on top of him, holding his shirt's collar. Anya's arm was frozen in the air, her fist aiming at Andrew's head. Xander was half leaning against the nightstand, his hand holding his redden cheek. The slayer raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"
"Fine." Anya answered.
"Okay." Buffy shrugged and left.
~.~.~.~
Buffy was about to open the door when she heard Spike's voice from inside the room. "What do I do? Job half done? Never send a boy to do a man's job." Buffy frowned when she heard chuckles. "Don't deceive me. Never leave me."
The slayer opened the door and looked around, turning back towards Spike when she heard him humming. "I heard you through the door. Who were you talking to?"
Spike slowly turned and looked at Buffy. "Nobody." He said calmly. "I was just keeping myself company."
Buffy looked at the strangely calm and contained Spike. "Are you okay?"
"Fine. How are you?"
"Spike?"
"I'm fine, Buffy. Really. I'm just... feeling a bit puckish, I suppose." Spike shrugged and nodded at the bag of pig's blood on the nightstand. "Do you mind?"
Buffy slowly made her way towards the nightstand, her eyes never once left Spike.
~.~.~.~
Anya had now backed Andrew against the wall, a dangerous smirk on her face. "Now, you can talk, or I can keep hitting you. And believe me: I'd love to keep hitting you."
~.~.~.~
Buffy turned a bit to pick up the bag of blood when Spike suddenly vamped out. He tightened his grabs on the arms of the wooden chair, breaking it, and jumped onto his foot. Buffy immediately let go of the bag and ran towards Spike, but the vampire shoved her away before charging towards the opposite wall.
~.~.~.~
Andrew stood with his back against the wall. "... we needed more blood to activate the seal of Danthaz-"
Suddenly, two hands broke through the thin wall behind Andrew, taking hold of his head and pulled him backwards towards the next room. Andrew screamed as Spike roared and bended down, biting hard on his neck.
Buffy quickly ran towards Andrew throwing Spike off towards the wall nearby. Xander and Anya immediately pulled the unconscious boy away. Spike looked up, somehow confused, when Buffy stood over him and delivered a kick into his face. The last thing Spike saw was himself standing behind Buffy, looking at him disappointed.
~.~.~.~
Willow stepped into the underground tomb where had been served as Oz's cage after their high school graduation, the same place where Oz had cheated on Willow with another werewolf that led to their breakup. The cage had not been used ever since Oz had left, and dust covered the keypad on the silver bar.
The redhead stepped into the cage and closed the cage, locking it from inside. She slowly paced back and forth, her figure touching and tracing the silver bars.
//It's Oz's cage.// Paused. //Should I be jealous?//
Willow didn't answer as Tara stepped into the tomb, standing just outside the cage, watching.
//You're not mad at me, are you? I mean, it's Andrew we were talking about.//
Willow stopped, her eyes staring at the dirty wall opposite her, but still refused to say anything.
//I need you.//
Tara reached out, her hand went right pass the middle of the bar and touched Willow's cheek softly. Willow closed her eyes, and let herself got lost into the cool chill coming off from the blond's palm. "Hurt me."
//W-what?//
Willow's eyes opened and she turned towards Tara, her eyes shone with resolve. "Hurt me." Tara's hand retreated quickly as if it was burnt. "Hurt me so I know this is real." The witch took a step towards her dead girlfriend. "Hurt me so I know you are real." She whispered.
Tara stared at Willow with her mouth opened. After a moment of silence, a smile slowly appeared on Tara's face. She stepped through the bars and stopped right in front of Willow. The redhead didn't even blink as Tara's figure tip reached for Willow's cheek, her thumb nail dug into Willow's skin and sliced down, leaving a thin tail of blood against the pale skin.
Willow closed her eyes again as Tara leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on Willow's lips before slowly licking away the blood on the witch's face. Willow opened her eyes for the second time, staring hard into the blue of the blond, before taking Tara's face into her hands, and kissed her hard.
Tara kissed back with a satisfy smirk on her face.
~.~.~.~
Buffy sat in a chair opposite Anya and Dawn who were sitting on the couch in the front room. "He didn't seem to want anything to do with me." The slayer explained. "I mean, he just pushed me aside and charged at the wall."
Dawn looked up when Xander walked into the room. "How's 'what's his name'?"
Xander shrugged. "He has got a good chunk taken out of his neck, but he'll be all right. Had to tie him up again, but mainly just to keep him from scratching his bandages." He then turned towards Buffy. "What the hell happened up there?"
"I don't know. Spike and I were having a conversation, and he was fine. I mean, you know, fine as Spike can be." Buffy frowned. "And then I went to check on you guys. When I got back, it was like... like he was a completely different person."
"Different like 'William the Bloody' type different?" Xander asked.
Buffy thought for a moment. "He was talking to someone. I heard through the door... he was having this conversation. And then he started singing."
"Maybe it's another musical." Anya supplied, and immediately earned a glare from Buffy. "A much crappier musical."
Buffy thought for a moment. "He mentioned something about a song in the cellar. And he changed there, too... I mean instantly became another person."
"Trigger."
Everyone turned and looked at Xander. "The horse?" Anya asked.
"No. In his head. It's a trigger." Xander explained. "It's a brainwashing term. It's how the military makes sleeper agents. They brainwash operatives and condition them with a specific trigger, like a song, that makes them drastically change at a moment's notice."
"Is this left over from your days in the Army?"
"No. This is left over from every army movie I have ever seen." Xander shrugged. "But it makes sense. Andrew said something about Warren's ghost haunting him, right? Well, what if Spike's seeing some of these ghosts too? And they figured out a way only not to haunt him but how to control him?"
Dawn frowned. "Warren's haunting Andrew?"
"Told him to open the seal." Buffy said. "And Spike did say he has been seeing things since I found him in the basement." She turned to Xander. "This trigger. How do we holster... safety..." The slayer threw up her hands. "I don't know guns." She sighed. "How do we make it stop?"
"Well, usually the operative completes his task, and either blows his head off or steals a submarine."
"All right." Buffy stood. "I need information. If Spike's a bomb, then I need to know how to diffuse him. Willow's checking on demons-" She paused and looked around. "Where's she?"
"Out."
"Out where?"
Xander and Anya looked at each other, and then shrugged.
"Great." Buffy sighed. "Dawn, call Willow. Fill her in and tell her to come over right away." She looked around at her family. "I need to know exactly what we're dealing with."
~.~.~.~
"So... he gets his soul back, starts seeing spooky things, and goes extra-extra-crazy?" Willow frowned as she listened into her mobile phone. "It's not good. What did Buffy say- oh. My laptop is in the kitchen... yeah. The crawling should be done. Ah-ha. You go ahead. Yeah. I'll come by later... no. No. It's okay. Sure. Bye." The witch sighed as she turned off her mobile phone, and looked down at the blond that was now resting on her lap. "Honey..."
//The slayer's summoning you?//
"Sorta." Willow whispered. She cracked her head a bit and looked up at the small window in the cage. "It's night already."
//Well, we did have a good afternoon.//
Tara giggled.
//Do you want to have another go?//
"But Buffy-"
//Dawnie's helping her, isn't she? They won't miss you for another hour. Besides...//
Willow couldn't help but swallowed when she saw Tara sat up and licked her lips, a predictor look in her eyes.
//Our score hasn't settled yet.//
~.~.~.~
Outside the Summers' house, a group of robed men gathered in the dark, waiting quietly.
~.~.~.~
Tara smirked.
//Not by a long shot.//
~.~.~.~
- LONDON, ENGLAND : INSIDE WATCHER'S COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS : PRESENT -
~.~.~.~
Inside headquarter of the Watcher Council, people were running around, some busy reading reports while others talking on the phone or to other co-workers. Quentin Travers was sitting at the front of the huge table in the middle of the room, talking to another watcher as he reported to him.
"They took our files and wiped out our records. We've lost contact with operations in Munich, Switzerland and Rome, and we've got casualty confirmations coming in from as far away as Melbourne."
Travers was about to reply when a female watcher ran towards him. "Sir, we're crippled."
"It's alright, Lydia." Travers stood. "We are still masters of our fate, still captains of our souls." He then turned towards the room. "Ladies and gentlemen," other watchers who were busy working stopped and turned towards him. "Our fears have been confirmed. The First Evil has declared all-out war on this institution. Their first volleys proved most effective. I, for one, think it's time we struck back." He started giving orders to his workers. "Give me confirmations on all remaining operatives. Visuals and tactical. Highest alert. Get them here as soon as possible, and begin preparations for mobilization. Once we're accounted for, I want to be ready to move.
Lydia frowned. "Sir?"
"We'll be paying a visit to the hell mouth. My friends, these are the times that define us. Proverbs twenty-forth sixth: 'O, by wise council, you shall make your war'."
~.~.~.~
- LONDON, ENGLAND : OUTSIDE WATCHER'S COUNCIL HEADQUARTERS : PRESENT -
~.~.~.~
The Watcher's Council's headquarter exploded. Fire consumed the whole area as the stone building collapsed into ruin.
~.~.~.~
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