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Chapter 15


"Your awake, good, we need to talk, have you seen this mornings papers?" Giles
"I haven't even seen my own reflection yet Giles, can I have a coffee before you bombard my brain with English accented rant, please" she smiled sweetly and sipped the bitter beverage.

She sat in the kitchen at the island and played with her ring. Six months... wow , she thought. Then she remembered hearing someone in the background talk... oh yeah Giles was ranting.....

" ... and the young woman had scorch marks at the edge of the wound" he finished , looking at his Slayer and realising she hadn't heard a word of it.
"Buffy, ritual killing in the church on Maple and Third.... scorch marks around the wound, have you been listening at all?"
"Sorry, go ahead, unless that was it?"
He huffed " Look go to the church and investigate, I know why not take Spike, I'm sure he'll enjoy the trip down memory lane"
"Hey! So not funny, I'll take him in case the bad guys are around, do you think they replaced the organ?"
They both sniggered , Joyce yawned and stretched as she walked in and she kissed Buffy on the cheek "So what's going on?"
"Ritual killing in a church, gotta go check it out tonight "
"Take Spike, I want to know that your safe sweetheart, will you take Willow and Xander?"
"Probably, Willow might be able to do some of her wicca goodness and see if there's any hocus pocus involved"
Buffy looked at the time and rushed upstairs calling a "sorry late" behind her . Within fifteen minutes she was showered , dressed and out the door.
"What exactly is she late for?" Giles asked, confusion still plaguing his face
"Driving lessons" Joyce said nonchalantly
"Dear god, who's bloody idea was that? As if I need to ask! Has Spike not got enough ways to put us all in danger or to torture us with, now he's letting her loose behind the wheel of a car , we're all doomed?"
" I echo that sentiment, but at least it won't be my car she's driving" Joyce took a bite out of her toast and smirked "He'll regret it when he has to pay the insurance"
"What are your plans today Joyce?"
"Well, I thought I would take a drive to the beach and snoop around my daughters new house, then go for lunch"
"Sounds perfect, I know just the place "

Buffy had gotten the car into reverse and was using her mirrors and doing the signalling bit, as she turned to check the front of the vehicle , she heard the thumps on the rear and the cussing that was coming from the huge guy that she was about to hit.
She shook her head at him and opened the window "Hey! You walked out behind me, don't thump my car unless you want me to dent your face so bad you need a panel beater to look remotely human again!"

Her instructor slid down in his seat so that he could no longer be seen. Hoping that the beefed up guy would just go and not start as it was a woman, he looked up.
The man was stood at Buffys window hurling insults and even more threats at her and Buffy wasn't taking any of it , she finally snapped and grabbed the guy through the window and punching him on the nose, letting him go as it connected , and sending him flying back a good ten feet before he landed on his ass.
Buffy then put her foot down and sped home. Pulling up outside her house, she calmly asked how she did, the instructor opened his door, closed it and then, on shaky legs told her to never come to his drivers school again and think herself lucky he wasn't asking for her licence to be suspended or worse.

She ran over to Spikes crypt to tell him the bad news, what did he expect though, big goon , he should think himself lucky Spike wasn't with me or he'd be lunch by now, she thought.

As she expected , Spike was sat watching passions, fag in his hand and mug of blood in the other.

"Here's my sweet girl, how's you pet? Would kiss you but I go' blood breath"

Buffy kissed him on the forehead and sat on the arm of his chair "I'm good, kinda, hows you?"

"Fag, blood and gorgeous Slayer on my arm, couldn' be better , How did the lesson go ?"
"About that.... "
"What did you do? You didn't do the same as last time did you?"
"No, and it wasn't my fault last time, that demon jumped on the car, blocked my view so I went into the tree and squish him and the car, not guilty, and this guy walked out behind me and pummelled the instructors car, so I kinda yelled at him and then socked him on his nose and drove off"
"Did you write the good man's motor off?"
"No, it was in one piece , a non denty one piece" Buffy suddenly brain stromed "Why can't you teach me"
"That never ends well and wouldn't, firstly , you never listen to me, secondly your not using my baby, and thirdly , I like my head firmly attached, you would either dust me in an argument or decapitate me with the way you drive"
"Don't know why you bought me that car then cos at this rate I'll never get to drive it"
"Your pouting, stop it"
"Not pouting and no I don't wanna"
"You are and you know your doing it to get me to cave in but not gonna happen Slayer"

Spike stood up and kept his back to her so that he couldn't see her and the pouty lips.He sighed , he could feel her and her damn pouty bloody lips burning him through his back, he growled and despite his better judgement, gave in.

The monks gathered in the church and watched at the warlock, Vahentian , materialised in front off them. His eyes were like pools of oil, that shimmered with the dark magic contained within him. His face was haggard and seemed to be frozen in an evil sneer.His hair was jet black and hung in whisps around his head, in some places he had nothing but blistered scalp. His clothing hung in rags and the cloak that he wore was torn and caked in dirt and filth. He didn't look like something or someone that should be worshipped by the order of monks.


Buffy gathered her bag of weapons and ran downstairs. Joyce , Willow and Giles were sat together in the lounge , waiting for her to come down. Giles gave her the information that he and Willow had gathered on the ritual killing and asked that she go and investigate the church. Spike arrived and he looked over the sheets of data, then on seeing the church in question he sniggered .

"So, Slayer, you not planning on dropping a bloody big organ on my head this time?"
"Your not planning on reviving a skanky ho this time , so I guess not"

Spike picked up the bag of weapons and headed to the door and waited for Buffy. Willow stood and walked to Buffy's side.

"If it was dark magic involved , I can protect us and if the spell that Giles taught me , works, then we'll know who and what did it, and where they are."
"Right, so, the church, is there a way in that isn't a front door?" she paused "Cos if they are using the place they might have someone on guard duty or they might even be there still, I don't want to walk in all willy nilly and get ambushed"
"There is a way in from the back, I believe that Spike may have used that as his way in before" Giles looked at Spike and raised his brow.
"Yeah I did Watcher , it was overgrown an if no-ones used it since then I lay bets it'll be like that again.There is access down into the mausoleum under the church too, you can get up through that, not recommended though."
"Let's get gone then"

Giles watched as the three of them got into the car and pulled away.
Joyce stood behind him, she hated this, every night she waited, hoping her little girl would return to her safe, wondering if this would be the night some creature of the night would snatch her daughter from her.
She sighed and went into the kitchen, she really needed a drink.


The church looked empty, but they all knew that it didn't mean it was. Evil had a knack of hiding itself . Spike listened closely and switched to game face. Someone was in there and the darkness that surrounded him, spoke to his demon, whispered sweetly to it, but his demon wasn't listening. Willow felt it too, she felt like her blood was simmering with dark heat. Buffy just felt like she wanted to go in there and kill something.

The back door of the church was in fact overgrown. Buffy cleared the vines from it and Spike yanked the door open.

The hallway that lead to the main hall was empty, Spike , in game face, went first. His demon was screaming at him for being so bloody stupid as to enter a holy place of worship and in the same time ,but it was to help and to protect Buffy, so his demon accepted it with a low growl.
Buffy and Willow held hands and followed Spike. When Spike held up his hand and then pointed his finger at something , they did as he gestured and stood still and silent.
Spike stalked the shadows in the church and watched as a monk sat on the floor in front of some tall man, who, Spike thought to himself, had seen better days. Knowing that this must be the Warlock, Spike made a hasty retreat back to Buffy and Willow.

"We have to get out of here now, Raithes in there and we got to move our arses before he hears us and we're not ready for him, go! Move it Red"

They ran from the church and literally flew into the seats in his Desoto, no sooner had they got in ,Spike floored the accelerator before the girls shut their doors. Once they were on the open road, Spike checked the rear view mirror and slowed down.

"How much of a bad ass does this Raithe look then? Do you think he's the one that did the ritual and why ? Does it give him his strength or something?"
"He's definitely the one that did it, well the monks did it to draw him 'ere. He will have to sacrifice a virgin every sabbath for the next month, then he'll be at full power, once he's got it though, nothing will stop him except the bloody witches all ganging up and working as one."Spike continued to watch for the Warlock as he drove back into Sunnydale .

Willow was already in contact with the covern and had informed them of the arrival. They had sent her the spell and had put in place the link that would be needed as most of the Witches lived the other side of the world. This would only be a problem if Raithe sent his monks, gremlins and critters after them all. Magic had come a long way since the last war with Raithe and there was protection spells that could help them . Their biggest weapons against him lay in Sunnydale , the Slayer and her Witch.

They arrived back at Giles' apartment and rushed in, the adrenaline still coursing through them all as they flopped into a seat each, leaving him stood, cup to his lips, staring at them all. Finally he looked and raised his brows and then sarcastically ....
"Oh yes please..... do come in ... and could it be at all possible for you to leave my door on its hinges"

Spike looked up apologetically, Willow still gasping , apologised , Buffy looked at him , then at the door
"It is, stop being a drama queen, are all you Brits like it or is it just something you and Spike have perfected?"
"I'm no soddin' drama queen!" Spike protested
Again ,Giles was sarcastic "No, no , I think you'll find British people as a whole are quite good at sarcasm, it's something you bloody Americans aren't bigger and better at, yet"

Willow coughed
"Can we get on with telling you what we found out tonight now?"
"Please"

Spike sat next to Buffy and pulled her into his side "Raithes 'ere and has got cosied up in the church, his monks are there too. No sign of his pet's yet, bet they come with the next sacrifice"
"Which is next Sunday"
"Yep"
"We have five days to stop him then, we best get everyone in on this and work fast. Spike , I think it best that we all stay together, safety in numbers and all that" Giles paced while he spoke " If Raithe comes into town and talks to the local demons it won't be long before he knows where we all reside, it may be best to move into Angels mansion until this is over. "

Spike agreed and took Buffy back to her Mum, then took Willow back to collect a few things . They picked Joyce and Buffy up and they met with Giles , Tara, Xander and Anya , at the mansion.

" I really hate this idea, have I mentioned that yet Giles" Xander said as he went upstairs to settle himself and Anya into a room. "This room had better not have been used to feed in or .. no I don't want to even go there"
Anya shook her head and shut the door on the rest of the group as they all chose a room and went into them to get settled.

Spike and Buffy sat on the bed in their chosen room. Both of them had ghosts that haunted this house, and both didn't want to be there.

Giles hated the place, he had been taken by Dru and Angelus had tortured him here. If Spike hadn't of kept Angelus distracted purposefully then he surely would have died here. He really despised the place, and yet, it would be a sanctuary for them all now.


Joyce slumped on her bed , the place was dark and depressing, the thought of living there for the next five days seemed to make her shudder. She knew what Buffy had had to do here and she knew that both Spike and Buffy would be feeling the same way, if not worse than she was.

Xander and Anya were settled in bed and Xander was explaining to Anya the reason for everyone's restlessness and apprehension at staying there.

The morning was taking it's time to arrive and everyone was laying awake or pacing their rooms. Finally Buffy went downstairs alone. She sat in front of the huge fireplace. The same spot that Angel would sit and read. often to her, more so when he was alone. The place that had housed Acathla had deep gouges in the floor and scorch marks all around. The sword marks in the walls were still there like battle scars that her heart still carried. Not that she still had feelings for Angel, it's hard to love someone that used you to get himself up the cosmic ladder, in a hope to achieve the impossible for a vampire. His Humanity.
She had Spike now and knew what love was, unconditionally.

Spike watched as she thought, her face contorting , Spike always thought she was adorable and he loved the way she would play out her minds conversations through facial expressions.

"Penny for 'em pet?" he said as he curled up behind her and drew her onto his lap.
"Just seems surreal being here in this place again" she said as she looked around.

A dent in the plaster near the doors caught her eye and she sniggered . She pointed towards it "That's where I smashed your head up against the wall to stop you taking down Xander.
" I bet I still got the matching lump to that on my noggin"

One by one the group made their way downstairs, interrupting their time alone. not that they minded, they had more important things to work on this morning.
Joyce made everyone breakfast and they all hit the books.

Buffy and Spike pushed the furniture to the side of the main room while everyone sat at the dining table, ready for a sparing session . This was something Joyce had never witnessed in all the years she had known that Buffy was the Slayer. She was awestruck and couldn't tear her eyes away.


The fight looked brutal and deadly and yet neither fighter made heavy contact. Each fall had been caught by the other opponent , each kick and punch was deflected. They were evenly matched and they knew the others move before it landed.

Joyce could now grasp and understand the sheer power housed within her daughter, the Slayer, and her mate.

Giles made some notes on the warlock and cross referenced them with what the others had researched . They were making a promising start and this gave them all hope that they would defeat Raithe before he posed too much of a threat. The covern had been online and had spoken to Willow, they had gotten a link throughout the world and they had their army of witches.

Things were coming together . Sunday Raithe was going to be entombed again.