Transitory Evils

Part 2 Illusory Enemies, part 2


16 hours after the conclusion of part 1


"How're we gonna to find any of them?" Willow asked Spike plaintively.

"The only idea I've had, pet, is the possibility of you talking to the women's groups on the campus. Trying to find out if any new arrivals have shown up in the last week or two."

"I can't really see that working. They seem rather ... distant nowadays. I suppose since Tara and I broke up, and ... oh I don't know. But I can't see them telling me anything."

"Bugger. I'm snookered then luv. I've got no bloody idea how to do this." Spike thought for a moment. "Pet, you can cast spells that will find things, right?"

Willow nodded.

"What about a spell that can detect the smell?"

"I don't think I can do it. It's not like a smell is a thing. It's all molecules floating in the air, I wouldn't know where to start."

"Bugger it. I don't want these bastards slicing up anyone on my patch. What about a spell to counter their telepathy luv?"

"What do you mean, your patch?"

Spike grinned. "Can't help it pet. Us vamps are very territorial. I just don't like other kids in my playground. I don't like other people messing around on my turf. If anyone's going to do killings here, it'll be me."

Willow shook her head and smiled a little. "What am I going to do with you?"

Spike just grinned, and Willow blushed a bright red. "Not like that Spike!"

"More importantly pet, what are we going to do about these bloody demons? Can you block their telepathy?"

"I'd need to know that I was casting the spell at them. Otherwise I'd have no way to focus it. Once we find them, I think I can probably block them, but until I know where they are, I can't do anything."

"Bloody hell! No pet, I'm not angry with you. I'm angry at the situation. We've got to find these buggers. Quickly."

Willow looked up thoughtfully. "I could see if there is something available on the net that'll do the job."

"That's a good idea pet."

* * * *

About an hour later, Willow pushed her chair back and stretched. She looked over at Spike, slumped in a chair and watching TV. "I found it," she said a little hesitantly.

Spike looked up. "That was quick love."

Willow nodded. "There is a small problem however ..."

"What luv?"

"It's ... a bit expensive."

"How expensive?"

"Ummmmm ... ten thousand dollars?

"How much?" Spike squawked.

"Well, it's an electronic odour detector Spike, it's pretty much cutting edge. And I can't think of anything else."

"Bloody hell pet. That's a hell of a lot of money for something we may only ever use once!"

"I know, but I don't know what else to do Spike. My magic is limited. I can't cast a spell unless I can see a target. So I can't track them until I find them. Catch 22. I suppose we have to hope Giles found something that could work."

"Well love, if there's no other option, then we'll look at it. Okay?"

* * * *

As Willow and Spike walked into the Magic Box soon after sunset, they saw that everyone else was already present, and looking decidedly downbeat.

"What's happened?" Willow asked immediately.

Xander looked up. "We've gotten nowhere. Giles spent the whole day researching, leaving Anya to work alone. Cordy came over early to help, too. And Anya and I have been helping since five. But there's nothing! No spells, no way to follow those ... things. Nothing!" Xander looked defeated.

"Well, I did a web search today, and I may have found something," Willow said, desperate to raise their spirits. "I found a chemical odour detector. We can buy it, but it's rather pricey. It will be able to follow their scent though, once we've found it."

Xander looked at her, hope burning in his eyes again. "How long will it take to get it?"

"I'm not sure. But I'd hope we could get it within twenty-four hours."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Cordelia asked.

"It costs ten grand." Spike answered flatly.

"How much?"

"Bloody Hell!"

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Willow said. "But it does. It's cutting edge technology."

"So what are we going to do?" Cordelia asked plaintively.

Willow looked over at Spike, delivering a devastating 'puppy-dog' look that simultaneously made him weak at the knees and feel obscurely guilty. "Oh all right Red, we'll get it! That look of yours should be registered as a deadly weapon!"

Willow managed to grin and blush at the same. "Well luv, don't just sit there, go and call them. Find out how long it takes to get!"

Willow smiled and fished the number of the company from her jeans pocket and went to Giles' phone.

When she returned, she told everyone what had happened. "I had to do a bit of fast talking," she began, "but, to make a long story short, a 'sniffer' is being Fed-Ex'd to us tomorrow. It should arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon. We should start to make plans for using it."

* * * *

Shortly after sunset the next day, Willow and Cordelia arrived at the apartment that had been home to Melody and Sabina. Making a quick survey to see if anyone was looking, Willow removed the hand held device and turned it on. Willow had already set the detector to sense only the vinegar smell that they had worked out was associated with the Lapsardis demons. "Oh look, it works, it works!" Willow was excited as the LEDs on the little sniffer flashed. "We can track them!"

The two girls followed the scent path down to the foyer of the apartment building and outside, where the rest of the gang were waiting. "It works!" Willow informed them excitedly. "They went to the left."

The whole group followed the scent path down the street and then along the meandering path the group of demons had taken, presumably as they searched for their prey. They arrived at another apartment, this one also still sealed by crime scene tape. It took a little time to find the scent again, but when they eventually did they continued to follow the trail. The trail led, from the other apartment, to an abandoned service station. As the Scoobies moved closer, trying to observe, Spike saw some kind of movement.

Dropping to his haunches, he motioned for the others to stop. He pointed towards the single small light flickering faintly through one of the broken windows. As the others looked, they each saw their personal demons.

Willow smiled, and slid her hand into the small pouch of crystals that she now habitually carried everywhere and withdrew one. Muttering a single word, she threw the crystal through the broken window and it activated. When they looked again, they could see the Lapsardis in their true forms. Willow's will-suppression spell had worked.

The Lapsardis were small bipedal creatures, perhaps four feet tall. They were a pure white skinned demon, with a crown of small horns decorating their heads. Beneath the crown were two eyes that appeared to be adapted for daylight vision. Their fingers terminated in razor sharp claws perfect for the kind of damage done during the ritual slayings. As the Scoobies watched, they could see the five creatures eating something. After a moment, Giles blanched. "My God! That's a human pancreas!" He whispered urgently to the others.

Spike nodded and removed a bottle from his jacket. "I can chuck this in and we'll probably not have any problems," he said grimly. "It's a Molotov Cocktail," he explained to the curious looks he received.

He lit the taper and waited for the cloth it was made from to catch fully alight and then threw the bomb into the centre of the Lapsardis' improvised lair. As it exploded, huge tongues of flame rolled out of the cracks in the wall and the broken windows and the Scoobies beat a hasty retreat.

They watched as the demons staggered out of the inferno Spike had created. Two of the creatures were covered in flame and they writhed as the fire slowly consumed them. One had received massive injuries to its left arm, which hung loosely, only connected to the shoulder by flaps of skin. The other two appeared uninjured.

Spike sprinted forward and, while the demons were still disoriented, delivered a blindingly fast series of kicks, punches and bites. In a matter of seconds, one was dead, it's ribcage rent to pieces. The other turned and attempted to fight. It delivered a series of slashing blows, some of which caught Spike across the chest. He staggered and reeled backwards.

Willow gasped in horror as she saw her lover injured. She took another crystal from her pouch and stood up, hurling it towards the remaining demon with all her might. "Tranformatum Hasta!" She cried as the crystal was in flight. It turned into a spear, long, slender and deadly, that drove into the chest of the remaining Lapsardis.

As the demon fell, lifeless to the ground, Spike looked back, game face firmly fixed in place, before swaying and then collapsing.

As the Scoobies rushed towards Spike, he was already beginning to rise. "Bloody Hell that hurts!"

As he stood unsteadily, a small redheaded bullet hit him. "Goddess! Are you all right Spike? Let me see! Lord and lady, if I knew it'd hurt you that much, I would have done worse than spear it!"

Xander and Giles helped support Spike, while Willow examined the series of slashes across his chest and abdomen. "We need to get back quickly. There's a lot of blood loss." Willow said, her voice quavering with her concern.

Spike began to lose consciousness once more and was prevented from falling only by Giles and Xander supporting his weight.

"I don't want to appear insensitive," Cordelia began, "but in my experience explosions and large fires usually lead to the arrival of the police and other emergency services. We should go. Now."

Willow muttered under her breath and then released another crystal. There was a large pyrotechnic flash, and suddenly everyone was in Spike and Willow's apartment.

Xander appeared to recover first from the nauseating shock of the translocation. "Just have to say, Will, that's not replacing the car anytime soon."

Willow looked at everyone, chagrin on her face. "Sorry. But I really wanted to get back here so I could arrange for Spike to get some blood. I try and keep a point of human blood in the fridge at all times." In response to the expressions of shock she continued to explain. "Yes, it's mine, but don't worry. I only take a pint every two weeks, which is safe. And having a small emergency supply will let Spike heal if he needs to. Like he does now."

Giles sighed and went to the fridge. He removed the single plasma bag from the top shelf. He decanted it into a cup and set it to heat in the microwave. Once it was ready he brought it into the living room.

v Spike was now sitting on the couch, looking very disoriented. As Giles handed him the cup, Spike smiled up and murmured his thanks. The expressions of surprise on all of the faces around him confused him even further. "What, if I may ask, is wrong?" Spike asked in a completely different voice to normal.

"You ... you sound like ... Giles!" Xander exclaimed, shocked.

"I do? How strange. I would assume it to be an after-effect of the grievous shock which I suffered during combustion. I must say, Rupert, that you've prepared this blood to perfection."

Giles squeezed out a strangled "You're welcome," to Spike as he looked utterly stunned at the transformation that had taken place.

Spike smiled and held his hand out to Willow. "Light of my life. May I hold thee?" As Spike took Willow's hands in his, he pressed them to his chest, reached into a side pocket and removed a small notebook along with a ballpoint pen. He began to write feverishly, his eyes darting from Willow to the page and back again.

Willow blushed a deep red while Xander snickered and Anya simply looked at her lover for a moment before leaning over, nudging him and whispering into his ear "Take notes."

Giles smiled at the interplay between the two young couples. He looked over at Cordelia and asked her "Should we perhaps retire a graceful distance and allow them to be ... demonstrative?"

Cordelia smiled. "With them, you may want to phrase it demon-strative."

Giles winced at the pun, rose, and suddenly seized by an urge to also play a role, bowed in a courtly fashion to Cordelia and proffered his arm to escort her out. "Shall we?" He asked in a very cultured tone.

Cordelia smiled and played along. She curtseyed and said, in an atrociously bad impersonation of a southern accent, "Why thank'ya Suh. Ah dew declare that youah th' only true gennelman in th' room." Cordelia accepted Giles' graciously proffered arm and together they left the room to the two pairs of lovers.

* * * *

Spike woke the next evening with a blinding headache and some terrible memories. He looked over at Willow, still asleep next to him. In her hand was still clasped a much creased and twisted scrap of paper. He peered at it in the dim light and saw his own handwriting. He very cautiously drew it from her hand and read it.

"Oh bloody, bleedin', fuckin', buggering hell. It's poetry! What the hell happened to me?"