Vikings, Sires and Siblings

part 14

"Wait, I'm confused."

Buffy scrunched up her nose in thought.

"How did you trick him? I mean, vampire. Dust. Kinda hard to come back from that. Unless you're Dracula, anyway."

Gabriella turned a yellow-eyed, hate-filled glare at the slayer and growled low in her throat.

"So. It was you, was it? The slayer who killed my childe?"

A muttered 'oh bollocks!' could be heard from the other side of the seriously pissed off she-vamp. Xander looked confused for all of a second before making the connection.

"Oh, that just figures! I get made a bug-eating, man-bitch by my future nephew! I swear, if you looked up butt-monkey in the dictionary it'd say 'see Xander Harris'."

Buffy made the connection, as well.

"So you taught him all those neat little tricks, did you? Well, they didn't save him, and they won't save you either. When I get free, I am so kicking your ass."

Gabriella struck fast. She slapped Buffy brutally hard and was just lunging for her throat when Dru clapped her hands and giggled as the spell broke and chaos erupted.

~!~

Willow and Tara unclasped hands and nodded toward Angel and Cordelia who ran into the room to join the fight. Anya looked appraisingly at the two girls before nodding to herself and stepping forward. She laid one hand on each of their arms and the two women looked up in astonishment as they felt the flow of energy pulsing into them. Anya withdrew her hands and stepped back.

"There's not a lot I can do in there; I'm bound by the laws of vengeance. I can defend myself, but unless someone makes a wish... well you know the rest of it. You two stand a better chance of protecting Xander; so go protect him."

The two witches smiled and headed off as Anya made shooing motions toward them.

~!~

Buffy fought her way free of Gabriella and ran toward Dawn. She quickly unfastened the ropes holding her and picked her up and ran for the doorway. Spike, Xander, and Angel covered her until she made her escape. The three vampires concentrated their attack on Gabriella, but she was a strong vampire, and a clever witch as well. Cordelia squared off against Dru, and Willow and Tara were flinging spells at the remaining minions.

The battle was not going in their favour. They were all tiring, and looking at retreating until they could come up with a plan. Angel and Spike communicated silently that they would get Xander and the girls out first and then worry about themselves. Cordelia punched Drusilla in the face and then after she fell, she went to help Willow with a big burly vampire that was giving her trouble.

"Geez, look at this guy. Where did they find him? Steroids-R-Us?"

"Possibly, although I'm leaning toward the half-Ogre heritage, myself."

Cordelia smiled and grabbed the big guy around the middle before starting to glow. He tried to twist out of her grasp but she held on tight. He screamed and turned to ash just as a terrified scream rang out from the far side of the room.

~!~

By the time Tara realised that she had been separated from the others, it was too late. There were three vampires in front of her and no way for her to take out all of them. She looked frantically over to where her lover stood trapped by a huge wall of a vampire and Cordelia Chase who seemed to be about to hug him.

As the first of the three darted toward her, she screamed. The other two attacked quickly and she felt their fangs pierce her skin, and then only darkness as she toppled toward oblivion.

~!~

"Tara! NO!"

Willow ran toward her lover but it was too late. Tara was on the floor and the vampires stood and turned toward her, Tara's blood dripping from their fangs. Willow stopped. Her face crumpled in grief and sorrow for just a moment and then she looked up at them with black, rage-filled eyes.

A strong wind swept into the room, debris from the fight swirling within it. With a single raise of her hand the wind separated and every vampire in the room - save three - were disintegrated.

~!~

Buffy came back in just then, after securing Dawn in a taxi and sending her to Janice’s house.

"What the fuck?"

That seemed to be the general consensus among the rest of the Scoobies and the pair from LA.

"That's what I was thinking."

Xander looked at the piles of dust on the floor in front of them and shook his head.

"What happened?"

"Willow. She did it. Tara... Tara's hurt. The vampires..."

Cordelia turned sorrow-filled eyes to the far corner, where Willow sat holding Tara against her chest and weeping. Buffy made a small choking sound and ran toward her.

"Wills?"

She slid to her knees and reached for her best friend but then hesitated at the black eyes that looked back at her.

"Wills?"

Willow looked past Buffy and directly at Xander.

"It's too late to save her. No time to get her to the hospital, no point anyway. She's dying, Xander."

"Oh, God. Wills, I'm so sorry."

Xander sank to his knees and pulled them both into his arms. Willow shifted Tara's body into his arms and turned pleading green-again eyes on him.

"Turn her. Please, Xander. I can't lose her. Please."

Xander’s eyes opened in horror and he back-peddled away from her.

"No. I can't. Please, God, Wills; I can't do it. She wouldn't want this."

Willow whipped her head around and looked at Spike; he lowered his eyes and shook his head.

"Sorry, Red. But Xan's my mate. I can't go against his wishes."

"Angel?"

Angel opened his mouth to refuse but she didn't give him the chance.

"I have the spell that will permanently anchor your soul. If you refuse me, not only will I destroy the spell, I'll remove your soul and set Angelus free."

There were loud shouts and quiet gasps and then finally, a subdued Angel stepped forward and gently took Tara into his arms. He shifted faces and pierced her flesh, drinking the last of her life’s blood before withdrawing his fangs and biting into his wrist. He held the dripping wound to his newest childe’s lips as she weakly drew on it - the body desperate for survival.

As Tara breathed her last breath, Angel scooped her into his arms and turned his back on the room. Only Anya saw the look of guilt and regret on his face, the tears of self-loathing in his eyes, as he walked past her and into the night.

~!~

Willow stood, and not even looking at the others, began to follow Angel out of the warehouse. Buffy stepped in her path and slapped her across the face. Hard.

"You selfish bitch. Do you have any idea what you've just done? You've just condemned Tara to an eternity of darkness and constant struggle. Not to mention what this is going to do to Angel. You'll be lucky if they don't both hate you after this. I know I'm not too sure that I like you at this moment."

"Buffy, leave her alone. This is for her and Tara and Angel to work through. Leave it be."

Xander shook his head sadly and turned away from Willow. He was thankful for his mate as he was gathered into strong arms and held as he shook in silent tears. He didn't envy Angel what he'd been forced to do; his soul wept at the injustice of it all. He knew that Angel had done it to save them all from the threat of Angelus, but put in his position, he'd didn't think he would have been able to do it.

~!~