Buffy & The Exiled Ch. 06

To her left, Buffy was stood between several of the black scaled nasties as she dodged and twirled in a dizzying display of fighting skills. Her naked body had several claw marks, but she was gaining the upper hand through long practised moves. Faith was not showing quite the skill with her attackers, but she more than made up for it with ferocious effectiveness. In their own distinct ways, the two Slayers worked as one to stem the tide and thin out the numbers of remaining demons.

Cordelia and Wesley had double teamed a servant near the entryway; she hung on its back and covered its eyes while he pummelled it. Unable to see, it flailed wildly with its claws before falling to the determined pair.

Smiling, she turned to look over her right shoulder. Ru was defiantly standing her ground between a cautious demon and Dawn. The teenager was knelt sobbing on the floor. For an eternal second, the witch could not figure out why the young girl was cradling a slaughtered corpse. Surely from the damage that had been done to it, it had been unlucky enough to run into Oz.

Then, with a rushing pain in her chest, she saw the bloody form convulse and raise a shredded hand to interlace its fingers with Dawn's.

"TARA!"

Staggering forward, tears streaming from her face, Willow ran toward her fallen lover. Two servants blocked her path. Anger grasped hold of the witch with a fury that she had never known before. In an instant, her eyes returned to the soulless black that signalled her power increasing. This time, a wave of darkness seemed to ripple across her features and her hair turned black at the same moment.

"GET THEE GONE!"

Every remaining demon in the room screamed with a torment that sounded truly terrible before they exploded in a welter of flesh and dark blood.

Instantly, her features returned to normal and she ran to her stricken lover.

"Tara?"

Dawn's tear streaked face turned to her and she slowly shook her head, "She's hurt too bad, Willow."

Shoving the teenager away and clasping Tara to her chest, the redhaired witch sobbed as she rocked back and forth. One hand cradled her lover and the other tried to wipe the blood from her face.

"Tara, Honey. It's me. You're going to be fine, I promise."

A wracking cough brought more bubbles of blood to her girlfriend's lips. "Wi... Willow?"

"Yes, Sweetie. I'm here."

"I l... love you," Tara whispered, her voice getting fainter. The tears spilling from her lover's eyes made little clean spots in the crimson sheen on her shredded face.

"TARA! I love you too, don't leave me, Baby! I can't live without you. Who would there be to tell me off for not washing up my night time cereal bowl?"

The little laugh that her lover gave was interrupted by a spasm that let another stream of blood seep from her mouth and run down her cheek. Willow look helplessly at Dawn. She felt a hand rest comfortingly on her shoulder and turned to see Buffy kneel beside her. The blonde's beautiful face was filled with grief at her friend's pain. Willow only felt resentment when she looked at the Slayer. She had healing powers that would have allowed her to survive even such terrible wounds as this.

Suddenly, her face lit up. "Buffy! That's it!" She turned to scan the faces of all her friends. "Quickly! Form a circle and hold hands."

"Will..." Buffy said sadly, as she watched her best friend grabbing hopelessly at straws.

"DO IT!"

Confused, everybody did as they were told. Willow held onto Tara with the arm she had wrapped around her shoulders and used her other hand to link fingers with the Slayer.

"Hecate, Loki and Osiris, listen to me and heed thee well. Channel the life from those offering it and strengthen this Daughter of Gaia. Bring her back from the brink and return her to me. I pledge you my obeisance in return for this mortal gift."

Everybody in the circle felt a strange tingling in their chest and palms as Willow's magic drew on their energy and fed it to Tara. It was not really painful, but definitely uncomfortable. For several minutes, they all watched the blood-soaked witch until her eyelids fluttered open.

"Willow?" she whispered weakly.

Her lover cried in relief and started to smother her with kisses. "You had me worried for a moment there, Baby!"

"Me too," Tara mumbled quietly before she passed out.

Looking at Buffy, Willow wiped a smear of blood from her face, "We have to get her home immediately. She's very weak and will need lots of rest."

"Here, let me," said Oz, as he gently lifted Tara into his strong arms.

"What did this to her?" Willow asked.

"The Shepherd did," Dawn told her, and then explained exactly what had happened.

"He's over there..." added Buffy, pointing at the space where the sorcerer had lain. He was nowhere to be seen. "Damn!"

"Never mind," the witch said. "Tara's all that matters now. Let's go."

As the group hurried out of the old monastery, Giles grabbed hold of Buffy's arm and held her back. Questioningly, she scanned his concerned face.

"Giles, what is it?"

"I'm worried about Willow."

"She'll be fine as long as Tara is. C'mon."

"No, you don't understand. That spell she just used drew a little life out of each of us. You, Faith, Daniel and Veruca won't be harmed at all, because of your special nature. However, Dawn, Wesley and Cordelia will be. It has consequences, you know."

She could see that this was something that had him truly worried. He was beginning to get to her, also.

"What do you mean Dawn will be harmed?" Then almost casually, trying to hide her mounting concern, she added, "And you left yourself off the list. You are in the same group as Dawn."

"Yes," he smiled at her. "Me too. Don't fret; I'm sure it will just shorten our life span by a year or so. Nothing really. It would be unusual for it to have more dire consequences, but that is not what bothers me."

"Is speaking in riddles a British thing? ’Cause I gotta tell you, Giles, you've lost this..." Her eyes glanced downward, "surprisingly naked Slayer."

The warmth and affection he cast her way filled her with a light-headedness. Then that pensive look returned to his face as he slipped his shirt off and placed it around her shoulders.

"What I mean is, there may be something wrong with Willow. If she had asked us each to donate some of our life, we all would have willingly. That is my point. She did not ask. She stole it."

A dark frown creased her beautiful features as she considered something that she really did not like the sound of. "We'll talk about this another time. For now let's just make sure Tara's okay."

++++++++++

"Are you not coming with us?" the Slayer asked Cordelia and Wesley as the others clambered into Giles' car.

"No," the handsome young Englishman said with a sad face. "Angelus is our responsibility. We will have to track him down while his trail is still warm. We owe it to Gunn. We'll go and retrieve the convertible and then head back to LA. I'm sure it's where he will go. Maybe to try to hurt Lorne or Fred."

Cordelia shifted uneasily, "It's something I certainly have to do. The bitch that possessed me made me make love to Angel at the hotel. That's what changed him in the first place."

Buffy reached out and gave her arm a little stroke, "It wasn't your fault, Cordelia. I know first hand how powerful the Succubus was. No one could have resisted her."

With a thankful smile, the three friends exchanged hugs and then Buffy climbed onto the back of Giles' car with Faith and Oz. There was almost no space, with Willow and Tara taking up all the backseat and Dawn sat on Ru's lap beside Giles. The teenager was amazed that the large chunks that had been torn from the singer had already started to regrow and heal.

++++++++++

"You know that my household insurance just isn't going to cover this," Buffy scowled at Xander.

The front room of her house was a mass of shattered timber and broken glass. The mess was not helped by the three foul smelling pools of slime that were slowly evaporating. Two were making sticky messes of the hardwood flooring, while the third dripped down the wall above the fireplace.

"I can fix this," he answered with a hopeful glance around. "I've got the blue prints for the window frames burned into my mind and have stored enough ready cut timber to repair them. After all, I've rebuilt them more times than I care to remember."

"And the lawyer? What happened to her?"

He looked somewhat embarrassed, "Well, while Anya explained things to her lackeys, she took off running. That gal could earn a sprinting bronze, let me tell ya."

Keeping a stern look on her face, Buffy turned and climbed the stairs. She quietly walked down the hallway and glanced around the doorframe into the witches' bedroom. Tara lay swathed in bandages, moaning in pain as her lover sat cross-legged on the bed beside her, gently holding her hand. Willow looked serene and peaceful while she seemed to be meditating.

Dawn sat on the floor watching, but when she noticed her, she got up and tiptoed over to her sister.

"How is she?" the Slayer whispered.

The little brunette slipped her hands into the pockets of her denim shorts and gave a concerned shrug, "Dunno. Willow says she can fix her with some sort of witch-foo-healing spell, but that it will take time."

Placing a hand on her little sister's shoulder, Buffy firmly guided her into the hallway and closed the door. As they wandered down the passage, the teenager turned a scowl on her sister, "I hate it that the Shepherd got away."

"Me too."

++++++++++

As the sun set the following night, the Shepherd let himself into the small motel room just over the Mexican border. He closed the door and flicked on the light switch. Waiting patiently in the centre of the room was Willow. She was dressed all in black leather and the new colour scheme matched her eyes and even her hair.

"I hope you don't have any plans for tonight. This is going to take quite a while and may sting a little."

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FROM THE AUTHOR : That concludes "Buffy and The Exiled." Do you want me to continue with the Scoobies adventures? As usual, I am grateful for the help of my volunteer editor, OMEGAZONE.