Things that go bump in the night

As Raya pulled on a pair of loose sweats and reached for her tank top, she glanced over at the cradle, pausing she went over and looked down at her daughter. Skylar was awake and looking up at the small ornaments she had hung above them weeks before her birth. She looked adorable in the small green onsie that Faith had dressed her in earlier that day. Carefully picking her up she laid her out on the bed and grabbed a clean diaper and wipes, carefully taking in every detail she changed her child and carefully cradled her. Studying every detail to the tiny body, smiling she bit back tears.



She was a strong woman. But the thought that she may not live through this had crossed her mind. Honestly if it meant her family’s safety she would die in a second.



Softly trailing a finger over her child’s cheek, smiling when Skye’s eyes darted around the room and focused on her in a ‘who the hell are you’ type of look Raya laughed softly. Laying her back in her cradle, bending she kissed her and went back to getting dressed. Wincing at the soreness in her pelvis she adjusted her pants as Faith walked into the room and sat down on the bed.



Ignoring her Raya went back to the bureau and pulled her hair into a loose pony-tail.



“You plan on shifting?” At Raya’s confused look Faith continued “You only wear sweats and a tank when you’re planning to shift. You have these patterns, jeans mean you want a knock down drag out, cargo pants mean you were just to lazy to put something else on and sweats and a tank…well that means your going to change.” Faith looked down at her hands. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the last time she was going to see Raya again and here she was discussing Raya’s pants.



“I am expecting a fight, and I can move better in these anyway…are you okay Faith?” Raya sat down next to her mate. Wanting to slap herself at the stupid question. Gently taking one of Faiths tense hands in her own.



“Yea im five by five Ray, I mean shit Asher’s gone. Horus is nearly uncontrollable downstairs and here you are…and all I can talk about is pants.” Leaning in Raya gently kissed Faith. Faith moaned and kept Raya’s mouth against hers; slipping her tongue into the woman’s mouth she savored the way she tasted. Faith ran her hand down Raya’s neck and gently rested it on her thigh.



Leaning in she continued the kiss, she sucked on Raya’s tongue, gently biting her bottom lip and tried to put all her love into the kiss. Praying that Raya would know how much she loved her.



Pulling away, Raya looked at her mate, her love. She knew that this may be it. But she refused to believe it. Not now, not when she finally found her Faith and they had such a beautiful little girl together.



“Faith. I love you, I love Skye…I WILL come back to you. I swear it. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me honey.” Raya smiled and kissed her again.



“Damn and here I thought you were going to be easy to get rid of” Faith said teasingly. Smiling she stood and hugged Raya from behind. She cried softly into her mates back. She wouldn’t be going with them tonight, because she hadn’t trained in months and with the wolves gone as well as Buffy and Spike she was needed here.



“I love you Ray…and tomorrow were going to sleep in ALL day and in a few days once we take care of the First once and for all…were going on a nice long holiday.” Raya chuckled and turned kissing her mate one last time she picked up there daughter and walked downstairs.



********



Yakumut looked down at the sleeping boy. She had him paralyzed with a doctored dose of the demons toxins. His eyes darted around in panic, every few minutes he would tremble as another phase of the change went through him.



Putting the final preparations in order, she waited for Raya to come for the boy. It was only a matter of time. Sometimes the woman was damned predictable, then again these wolves were very loyal to one another.



Looking over at the boy as he spasmed and she saw patches of fur break out along his chest, clucking her tongue she went and injected him with a sedative to slow the change.



Wouldn’t do to have his change complete before she could get rid of Raya, looking up again when she heard bones shifting, sighing she picked up another sedative and walked over to the boy. She injected the full amount, satisfied when she could barely see his chest moving she went back to read one more time the inscription.



********





Raya handed Skylar back to Faith and turned to look at her son.



“We’ll find him Horus. We WILL bring him back.”



Nodding mutely, she could see he didn’t seem as ready to believe it. Dawn walked up to the big man and taking one hand she stepped up on her toes and kissed his cheek softly. Hoping to everything that the big man would come back, praying even harder that Asher would be okay.



Buffy turned to Dawn and pulled her into a hug, kissing her sister on the cheek she stepped back and shouldered her sword and smiled and was surprised when Faith pulled her in for an awkward one-armed hug. Faith leaned in and whispered ‘Keep them safe Buffy’ before stepping back and following the two wolves and Buffy and Spike onto the porch. Watching as they all walked to the street turning one last time to look at the house as they all broke into a run and disappeared through the trees.



********



Spike trailed after the three, they all followed Raya as she led them through a maze of trees and non-existent trails. After nearly an hour of running they came to a clearing and stopped to catch there breathes. Spike nearly laughed in relief as he worked a cramp out of his leg.



Buffy turned to him and smiled. She knew the blonde vampire loved her and once upon a time she did too. But too much had happened and as great as the sex had been they would never work as a couple. Sadly looking at him and over to Raya she idly wondered if she would ever have someone the way Faith has Raya.



Horus looked to his mother. They were close he knew it; these trees looked familiar. The layout and land all were where his people had lived during the summer months. Turning to his mother he saw her studying the shadows, looking for signs of danger no doubt.



Turning to the vampire and Buffy he looked at them until they both looked and met his gaze.



“Thank you both for coming. Fro this I owe you my life.” Horus knew Buffy knew this so he said it more to the vampire than her. He hadn’t thought the man would come but now that he had it had proven that there were vampires out there that didn’t need staking…very very few but still a few.



Raya smiled at her son. Before turning to the trees and carefully stepping into the shadows.



“Well guess were moving again.” Spike said as he and Buffy followed the wolves into the dark dense woods.



~ Twenty Minutes Later~



Stumbling through the trees they stepped into the same clearing they had left for the third time.



“You know love, I know it’s been a long time but is it possible you don’t remember HOW to get to this cave?” Spike asked as he dug a twig out of his hair. Buffy shot him a glare although she was silently agreeing with him.



Horus studied the trees, wondering if Yakumut would have placed a spell on the woods. But if she wanted Raya to go to her why make her get lost? It made no sense.



“Maybe were going the wrong way?” Buffy studied the trees? They all looked the bloody same…’Great now im channeling Spike’



“No its here, just need to find it.” Raya studied until she noticed a small break in the trees that she had been missing. “This way she walked to the large fir and stepped through, disappearing into the night. Grumbling the other three followed the taller woman.



********



Asher watched the vampire move around and orders her childe to stand guard. As she sat patiently in a tall chair in the corner of the room she idly sipped a glass of what could only be blood, he could smell the coppery scent from here.



‘Fuck everything hurt so badly. He couldn’t feel his legs but he had slowly been regaining strength and mobility in his arms and back. Although he knew not to move or she would put more of that stuff that made it hard to move in his arm. He bit back a whimper when he felt his ribs elongate and fight to conform to the shape of a wolf.



He knew they would come for him. He just knew it. But he could tell more time had passed than the vampire thought and she was growing agitated. Now he hadn’t been around many vampires…honestly unless his dad had just staked them the only vampire he had met were Angel and Spike. But he figured that vampire or not an angry demon only equaled trouble for him.



He swore that if his dad and Raya could get him out of this he wouldn’t ever disobey them again…ok that was a little much…for a week. That sounded like a sweet deal.



Stiffening when he saw the vampire moving toward him with a long dagger in hand, he wasn’t prepared when she grabbed his arm and sliced his arm letting the blood flow freely into a chalice before moving away and pouring it into a circle at the entrance of the cavern.



Gasping when his back arched as he felt a tremor go through him when he felt fur break out along his back and he could only guess was his tail coming in. ‘Please hurry’ he thought as he nodded off into unconsciousness.



*******



As the mouth of the cave came into view Raya and Horus came into a halt and crouched down.



“Six vamps. Think you can handle them?” Raya asked Buffy and Spike who nodded. Buffy already felt her instincts taking over and Spike went into ‘game-face’ “Okay guys, no party tricks tonight. Just get there get them out of our way and come after us…okay?” Raya looked at all three faces before she moved aside as Buffy and Spike ran towards the guards.



Watching as Buffy and Spike fought the vampires Raya nodded to Horus and they broke into a run stripping off clothing as they went, both jumping forward they were shifted before there feet hit the ground and broke into a run into the cave.



The tunnel was pitch black, the only guidance they had was the growing lights around the bend which led to the cavern where Raya knew Yakumut was waiting.



Slowing Raya motioned for Horus to hold back as she walked into the cavern. The cavern was large and dome shaped. She smelled Yakumut all over the open space, as well as scents of potions, herbs and something else after a moment she knew what it was…death.



Spotting her old mate sitting in a high backed chair sipping on a glass of blood without a care in the world, Raya stood reared up and shifted into her human form. Disgust curled in her stomach and the leering look of appreciation she got from Yakumut.



“You always were stunning Raya.” Yakumut said as she stood and walked toward the wolf.



“What do you want Yakumut?” Raya tensed when she spotted Asher lying on a narrow table at the other side of the room. She growled when she smelt the blood coming from him. “What did you do to him Yakumut.”



Laughing Yakumut looked up into the eyes of her old mate. “Spilling the blood that you spilled that you spilled all those years ago Raya. Its time you paid for your failure.”



“You’re insane if you think I could have stopped what happened that day. And if you want ME to pay why take his blood.” Raya sense as Horus carefully moved into the shadows towards the boy. Keeping her distracted Raya knew one thing that would thoroughly piss the bitch off. “If it was anyone’s fault Yakumut. It’s yours. I was away where were you when all this happened?”



Yakumut whirled on the wolf in full game-face and hissed “ I was home. I was home taking care of our sons. While you were off hunting” Yakumut spat the last word out.



“Trayja wasn’t my son was he Yakumut. That’s why the vampire was able to feed from him. You know as well as I do that Skin-Walker blood is poisonous to your kind. So tell me who did you fuck to give me him?” Yakumut shrieked and threw herself at the wolf.



Raya barely had time to react while she was propelled to the floor as Yakumut scratched at her, bringing her knee up she landed a solid blow to the vampires stomach before swinging and delivering a teeth rattling blow to Yakumuts jaw.



The vampire grasped Raya’s skull and began to ram it repeatedly into the stone floor as Buffy and Spike made there timely entrance, Spike ran to help Horus retrieve the boy as Buffy came and threw her entire weight at Yakumut giving Raya time to stand when she ran to the slayer she collided with an invisible force.



Stopping she put both hands out and they were again stopped by something she could not see. Feeling around she found she was trapped in some sort of space shaped like a circle, looking down she noticed for the first time the ragged circle that she had stepped into, smelling it she realized it was made from Asher’s blood.



It was a cage. Suddenly realizing what Yakumut intended to do she beat against the wall yelling for Spike to get the book. Buffy turned at the sound of Raya's voice, confused to see her trying to break through air she turned in time to see both Yakumut and Spike running for a large black book.



Yakumut threw a wad of garlic salt into Spikes eyes, shaking off the throbbing in her hand she grabbed the book and began reading from it in clear concise tones she was nearly through the entire spell when Horus bit down as hard as he could onto her thigh. Buffy ran to help Raya when she noticed the woman was disappearing before her eyes. Breaking into full speed she ran to the invisible cage the wolf was in.



“NNOOOOOOO” Buffy ran full on into the invisible wall and began to beat at it, first with her fists and then when her sword. Nothing worked she turned to see Spike clawing at his eyes and Horus wrenching his head back and forth as Yakumut tried to break free from his grasp.



“SHES DYING!!!” Spike crawled to his feet and followed Buffy’s voice as he tried to get the rest of the salt out of his eyes. “SPIKE GET THE BOOK”



Spike turned and ran to the table, grabbing the book he began running to the slayer, they both dropped to there knees trying to find the reversal spell as Raya was fading more and more.



“I can’t bloody read Egyptian Buffy!” Spike rubbed his watery eyes as he struggled to make out the characters on the pages before him.



“Well I don’t fucking know how to read it either William. FUCK…Horus get over here!” Buffy panicked when she saw Raya slumped to the ground on the other side of the ‘cage’ looking at her hand as it seemed to be fading into thin air.



Horus ran over to the others, leaving Yakumut moaning on the ground clutching at her ragged flesh. He pulled to a halt looking down at the book, he shifted into his human form, and wiping the blood off his face he pulled the book into his lap. Frantically looking at the pages, whipping the pages he realized he didn’t know this language.



Horrified he looked up to see his mother lying on the other side of the invisible cage gasping for breathe as her both her left limbs had faded.



“NOOOoooo….MOTHER” Beating against the force until he felt blood break out where his claws dug into his skin he cried.



Yakumut crawled over to the table pulling the parchments off the table, picking up a lighter that the blonde vampire had dropped she lit the parchments that held reversal spell on it on fire. Letting them burn when she saw the boy walking towards her.



Looking down at vampire he raised the shard of wood he had found and thrust it into her back piercing her heart. Standing on weakened legs he walked over to his father who was crying desperately as Buffy and Spike were trying to hold him back from thrashing himself at the cage that Raya was trapped in.



Buffy turned in time to see Raya mouthing something. Concentrating she understood ‘Faith’…nodding Raya let out a small smile before vanishing completely.



Asher felt hot tears slip down his cheeks at the sounds of his fathers sobs. Walking up he knelt and hugged his father from behind.



******



Faith watched from the living room window. Looking for any sign of her friends, she had been up since they left. Everyone had been.



She had cleaned the entire downstairs, fed and bathed Skylar and put her to bed. Even let Andrew talk her into a game of D&D, how she let that one happen she had no idea. Perking up when she sensed Buffy. She turned and went out onto the porch, followed by Giles, Willow, Xander, Anya and Dawn.



‘Okay, there’s Buffy and Spike.’ She saw them round onto the path and stop followed by Horus who cradled Asher in his arms. ‘Where is Raya?’ looking around trying to force down the feeling of panic.



One look into Horus’s eyes and she knew. Giles caught her when her legs gave out and she began sobbing so hard she couldn’t breathe. ‘She promised. No this can’t be happening. It’s a bad dream, wake up dammit. She’s cant be gone’ Faith turned and curled into Giles chest and fought to catch her breathe.



She didn’t feel it when Giles picked her up and carried her to bed. She didn’t notice when Horus and Asher crawled into bed with her and held her. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t feel anything.



Closing her eyes when exhaustion overwhelmed her she prayed it was just a dream.



TBC



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