All I Need...

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Part 39

“Where the bloody hell is she?” Giles demanded harshly as he strode into Angel’s office.

The vampire sighed and shook his head, even though his demon was just begging for a chance to answer the man in less than gentle terms. “Dawn’s with her. I think they’re in one of the function rooms. Hold on.” He picked up the phone. “Angel.”

If Giles hadn’t been there, Angel would have dropped his head to the desk and groaned. As it was, though, he didn’t quite dare. The Watcher had asked one thing of him, and one thing only—keep Fran safe. And he—or rather Dawn, but since he’d been so sure she could manage it, it was really his fault—had failed. Apparently miserably.

“Well, where does the other door go?... What? Well, how should I know? Do you have any idea of how big this building is? I can’t know every little... Yes, I… No, I’m not yelling!” he growled, one hand finding his forehead and gripping its sides, fingers digging in to his temples. “Fine. Okay, fine! Just… find her!”

He placed the receiver back in its cradle with a grimace and turned sheepish and worried eyes to the human. “Uh… good news is, she’s still in the building…”

Giles glared, light eyes cold and hard. “I suggest you find her. If my Slayer dies here, the full weight of the Council will be brought to bear upon you… and this abomination of a law firm.”

Even Angelus was frowning as they followed the Watcher from the office. ‘I thought Buffy was ‘his Slayer’,’ the demon sneered.

‘Yeah, so did I,” Angel answered, although it really wasn’t an answer at all.

* * * * *

“Shit!” Xander snarled, glaring at Dawn, “why didn’t you tell me?”

The young woman snarled back easily. “I didn’t know! She was all ‘it’s easy, I just need to do this ritual and it’s something I can do alone’! How the hell was I supposed to take that as ‘I’m gonna kill myself’, huh?”

Spike growled, then added his own snarl to the mix. “Fuck th’ arguin’! Need ta find th’ bloody fuckin’ twat an’ stop her, yah?”

“Oh, good idea!” Dawn sneered. “And how do you suggest we do that, Mister Smarty-Vamp?”

The blond glared at the young woman, silently acknowledging that if he didn’t love her so much, he’d probably have hit her. “Don’t bloody know, do I? Her scent’s all over th’ bloody place!”

‘Pack,’ the hyena whispered in the back of Xander’s head. ‘Cub issss pack… alwayssss find pack…’

And he remembered how the others had tracked him to the school library when his friends had locked him up, and suddenly… Xander found himself hoping. He wasn’t sure of how or when Fran had become part of his—their—pack, but if his beast said so, then it had to be true. The animal in him didn’t lie.

‘Father’ssssss Mate. Pack.’ It offered almost sheepishly, remembering how it had been so upset that the cub was liked by ‘theirs’.

“Follow me,” Xander demanded, even as he turned and strode down the hall in the direction they’d just come from. “We can find her.”

And somehow Spike had no question in his mind that by ‘we’, his love meant the hyena, rather than the three of them.

Dawn sighed but followed as well. She didn’t quite know what was going on in Xander’s head, but doing something was far better than just wandering aimlessly and hoping they stumbled across her friend.

* * * * *

Fran checked the circle one more time, making sure that the sigils were laid as clearly as possible considering the fact that they were written in sand.

The Amphora of Descent was ready and waiting just inside the central, clear area, and the bowls for her blood and the pure water were waiting as well.

She double checked her knife, hesitant to call it an athame since she wasn’t a pagan and had never dedicated herself to Gods or Goddesses.

Still, she could do this. She was the only one who could, and… regardless of what Dawn said about the Powers, Fran seriously doubted that they would have stepped in to help her get to Los Angeles if they didn’t have plans for Xander and Spike… plans that required their Mating to be readily known to anyone around them, be those people human, demonic or otherwise.

She wasn’t surprised by the small frisson of fear that thrilled through her as she slowly removed her clothes and took the hilt of her knife in hand. Death was always frightening. Even for a Slayer. Still…

“It’s not the death, it’s the dying,” she announced, finding amusement in the fact that Illyria probably wouldn’t understand the distinction. “Time to do this.”

The human’s declaration made no sense at all, Illyria noticed. She remembered… when the shell had been dying, it had feared. And when the… when Fred had died, there had still been fear and pain.

Perhaps the Slayer was insane.

It was possible, the Hell God realized.

In fact, considering the resistance the shell had demonstrated when confronted with its destiny, the Fran-female must be mentally compromised in order to seek expiration.

Of course, the human knew that her task would be completed since Illyria herself would be guarding the old one, so perhaps that had some small bit to do with the acceptance.

Blue-tinged hair shifted slightly as the woman-creature cocked her head, observing the unclothed Slayer entering the sacred circle.

Yes… the Old One would be guarded… and Illyria would never have to admit that she was impressed by the human girl’s stoicism.

It was fit.

* * * * *

He was more beast than Xander by the time he found the proper elevator, and that was a good thing. Had he been hunting with his human senses, he never would have noticed the doors hidden behind what appeared to be a blank wall.

The hyena’s eyes darted quickly to the two males approaching, although it simply snarled in response to whatever words they were spewing.

Instead of even bothering to take the time to puzzle out the meaning behind the sounds they made, the animal scratched at the doors that none of the others could see.

‘Pack,’ it snarled, the word escaping only as a high-pitched whine.

“Shit, Harris. We don’t have time to be fucking around,” Angel growled, glaring angrily at Spike and Dawn. “Fran’s about to do something…”

“Stupid,” Spike barked. “Know that, git. Xan thinks he can find th’ bint, so we’re followin’ him.”

“Into a wall?” the older vampire sneered, ignoring the fact that he was once again hating the boy since he’d managed to convince Angelus that they’d never have him. “Because Harris has always been the smart one, right?”

Angel suddenly found himself on the receiving end of angry replies from two humans and one vampire, and when Xander let loose a loud hiccup-cough-purr that sounded pleased, he was happy to have that attention pulled away from him.

“What? Xander, please… we must locate Fran…” Giles nearly begged, although he truly wanted to find someone to beat.

“Masssssster…” the hyena announced, speaking to beings other than its Mate for the first time. “Masssster mussssst open.” It nodded at the wall.

Eyes blinked as jaws dropped.

“Xander?” Dawn tried, though the timbre and cadence were all wrong for her big brother figure.

“Hyuuulettttt… not Xxxxxan…” the beast grinned at the girl through an open mouth, its tongue lolling out just a bit.

Spike blinked then chuckled and pulled his bloke to him. “Didn’t know ya had a name of your own, luv… an’ we’ll get inta that later, yah?” He smirked when Xander’s body rubbed roughly against his and those white, blunt teeth snapped at air.

“Yessssss…”

“For now, luv… need ta know what ya mean by ‘Master’, yah?”

Hyulet growled softly, his eyes finding and locking on the form of his Mate’s Maker. “Ittttt… rulessss here… ittttt can break the charrrrrrrrmmmm…”

And something about that voice, so like his bloke’s but so different as well, had Spike… shuddering. “How, luv,” he forced himself to ask.

“Touccccchhhhhhh…” and with that Hyulet reached out, grabbing Angel’s hand and slamming it roughly against the elevator doors that looked like a wall to the rest.

Angel blinked as the doors appeared, then growled. “I used to know this was here. Gunn used to…”

“Get over it!” Dawn demanded as she bushed the tall, broody vampire out of the way and stabbed at the single button. “You can get all ‘boo-hoo-poor-me’ later. Right now, we have to save Fran!”

If he could have blushed, Angel would have, but as he couldn’t, he simply piled into the elevator with the others. He clenched his fists as the small box nearly flew upwards, then seemed to change direction somehow, and by the time it slowed, then stopped, he was wondering how Gunn had stood it.

Whether it was Dawn or Xander who left the elevator first would have only been decided had there been a freeze-frame camera trained on the door.

As there wasn’t, Illyria knew nothing other than… she’d been alone, watching the Slayer begin the ritual, and a moment later she was confronted by the Old One and her pet’s toy.

That they were both extremely unhappy with her was readily apparent.

And then the others poured from the small, mobile box and she found herself facing Angel and a somewhat aged human who nonetheless had her shell’s remaining human bits both appreciative and fearful.

“We willll… hurt youuuuu if anytthhhhhhing happpppenssssss to Father’sssss Maaaate…” her pet’s pet announced seriously, ignoring the gasps from the others.

Illyria stared fixedly at the pet and allowed one brow to arch. “I do not believe that you would be able to cause me pain. I am a God while you are a…” She gasped as one wrist was grasped and twisted until the sound of bones snapping was heard sharply in the room.

“We willl make you wisssshhhhh for lessss pain.”

Dawn shuddered and inched her way around the confrontation the others were so caught up in.

Her eyes widened a good bit as she saw the place they’d found and she took a deep breath before moving to the edge of the circle Fran sat within, the other girl already chanting.

She looked back and saw the stand-off still going on, and somehow she thought that was a good thing.

It took only a moment for Dawn to push the others from her mind and as she focused entirely on herself and who she was, she reached out, one hand finding and unlocking the sealed circle just enough to let her in.

She laughed quietly, meeting Fran’s wide-eyed stare as she quickly removed her own clothing. “What?” she demanded, impressed despite herself that Fran never stopped chanting, “I’m the key, remember? I can get into any locked place! I just have to want to enough.” And with that, she dropped down beside the younger girl, legs crossed and touching Fran’s as she leaned closer and read the chant-words from the scrap of paper the girl had brought as a cheat-sheet, should it prove necessary.

* * * * *

It was the fact that Illyria suddenly tensed and looked towards the circle that had the rest of them doing so.

“Bloody… Dawn!” Spike shouted, running towards the girls and growling as he shored up against the circle.

Hyulet grinned, hanging back. It would be finished soon and they would be marked and claimed just as both he and Xander wanted… and with both the cubs working together to make it happen, neither cub would perish… he hoped.

* * * * *

Xander was equal parts fascinated and disturbed by the way his beast had taken over. It was only the fact that Spike seemed to be accepting it so easily that had him allowing it to continue even now that they’d found Fran.

Then again, he had a feeling that Hyulet was less likely to overreact to what the two girls were doing. Hell, he knew the animal spirit was less reactionary in this case, though he wasn’t sure why. The hyena had named Fran ‘pack’ just as Dawn was and that implied that any danger to them should have the beast going crazy.

Unless, of course, the danger to the girls had been reduced by the very fact that they were both performing the ritual Fran had found, and if that was so, then…

“Have to… be ready,” he grunted, forcing his way out as he let Hyulet slip back to his usual corner. “We have to be ready, Spike… when the girls are. They’re okay… right now, they’re okay…”

The vampire blinked, then pulled his bloke hard against him. “Guessin’ you’re back, yah? Beastie all done for th’ mo’, then?”

Xander nodded, fingers flexing roughly on Spike’s sides. “He, uh… really likes you, baby. A lot.”

Spike smirked. “Loves me, ya mean, pet. ‘s alright. Rather fond of th’ hissin’ thing m’self.”

* * * * *

The only drawback, as far as Spike was concerned, was that it didn’t look like they had enough time to get back to their room and naked, which of course meant that when he slipped his fangs deep this time, spearing roughly through that sun-kissed flesh, he wouldn’t have his cock buried so far inside his bloke’s tight ass, Xander wouldn’t know where he ended.

Still, it was a sacrifice he could make, considering.

His tongue danced slowly over the chosen spot, waiting for whatever sort of sign might come and he murmured against that soft skin. “Do this thing, luv, then I’m takin’ ya ta bed for a week… maybe longer, yah?”

Xander couldn’t help the chuckle that left his mouth any more than he could control the small shiver that raced through him. “Oh, hell yeah, Spike… but we’ll be talking about who’s gonna be doing the taking…”

Spike would have answered the comment but that was when he felt… something… flowing into him, through him, into his bloke and back, and… he glanced quickly at the girls in the circle, saw the oddly violet glow growing around them, heard the strange crackling sound, and…

Gods, something was… Xander gasped, head falling back as some sort of circuit opened between him and his lover, connecting them on a visceral level he’d never imagined… and when his vampire growled and drove those sharp, jagged teeth into his flesh, he shouted loud and long.

* * * * *

They’d done it!

Dawn finished the chant, swallowing hard as the last or her reserved strength drained away, her fingers tightly linked with Fran’s as the younger girl fell forward, pulses of violet and sickly green flashing across her body.

“Fran… Fran…? Fran, we did it, I felt it, it worked, Fran! Fran? Fran!”

She was almost afraid that the girl had died after all, but the circle was still up, still powered, and… “Fuck! Giles, how do I shut this thing down?” She’d been able to open a doorway for herself to enter the circle easily enough, and she knew she could get out just as simply, but that would have meant leaving Fran and since she wasn’t going to do that, she needed help.


He’d been so proud, so stunned by what the two girls had done together, although in all honesty, he was also royally infuriated with them both. Still he’d felt the ritual work, sensed the completion of whatever bond had been created to allow Xander and Spike to Mate despite the Morah blood, and then… he’d thought—hoped—it was over. Hell, he’d been planning Fran’s and Dawn’s punishments for their actions, but now…

Now, Fran had collapsed, and if he knew anything about the sort of magic she’d used—and he did—she would die unless they somehow stopped her circle from draining her completely, and that was… impossible. There was no way to force a circle out of existence, not if it had been cast by someone else, and…

“Blood,” Xander moaned, pulling his lips away from Spike’s long, cool neck for just a bare moment before returning to it helplessly.

As shocked as Giles was that his ‘son’ had managed to fight the Mating urge for long enough to not only grasp what was happening but speak, he was even more amazed that the one word suggestion actually made sense.

He wasn’t sure that what he was thinking would work, but he didn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t, and that was going to have to be good enough. It was a chance, after all.

“Use the knife, Dawn,” he ordered. “A small cut, a few drops into the amphora. It should link you closer to the ritual even though it’s passed and perhaps allow you to remove the circle!”

The young woman blinked then mentally slapped herself. Of course! Her blood would make her a part of Fran, by virtue of mixing with the other girl’s in the amphora, and if she and Fran were joined—however tenuously—then the circle was partly hers, and if it was hers… she could not only unlock a portion of it, but the whole thing.

She picked up the knife, holding it lightly against her arm and bit her lip as she sliced deep, letting thick, bright red drip quickly into the open top of the amphora.

* * * * *

None of them were prepared for the loud popping sound, or the pale yellow smoke that rose from the vessel, and none of them had any idea of whether it was a good thing or not.

Giles gasped, even as Angel tried to rush forward, only to be stopped by Illyria.

“You will endanger both their shells,” she announced, unwilling to allow anything to happen to the Old One. “Death has enough foothold already. Your presence any nearer would simply amplify its dominion.”

“I can’t let them…” the tall vampire growled, only to find his ears ringing from the slap that had knocked him to the floor.

“The Old One is more capable of this than you will ever be. If it is to be rescued, it will be by its Guardian. Cease your inept attempts to assist.”

* * * * *

Spike growled, the constant drone of worried voices disturbing what should have been the perfect moment of his existence. He was marking his bloke, for good and ever, and yet he couldn’t manage to concentrate entirely on the sensation.

Of course, the fact that he was thinking again had him remembering exactly why the others were there, much less talking—of shouting, as the case might be.

‘Right,’ he told himself, ‘Fran and th’ Bit… bloody’ “Hell!” he groaned, forcing himself away from Xander’s skin, “Get them th’ fuck out of there!”

“Yes, I hadn’t thought of that myself,” Giles snarled back, eyes still locked on the soft yellow glow inside the circle. “Whatever would we do without you?”

For his part, Xander was still reeling. Hell, even the hyena was dizzy. “Wha…?” he mumbled, finally opening his eyes to see the shifting pastel haze. “Oh…” he nodded slowly, trying to get his brain to actually work on something other than getting Spike alone. “Are… are they okay?”

“Bloody well better be,” two English voices growled in tandem.

* * * * *

It felt like she had all the time in the world, suddenly, though she wasn’t sure why.

Maybe, Dawn thought, it had something to do with the smoke surrounding her and Fran… or maybe it was an effect of the strangely familiar scent that same smoke bore. It reminded her of… something, but she had no idea what.

Still, it didn’t really matter at the moment, she figured, because she needed to focus on the braided strands of light and dark energy she could see now that she was connected to the circle.

Fran was in trouble. She could tell that much just from the slowly fading nimbus of dark light surrounding the girl’s form, though it wasn’t dimming as quickly as it had been doing mere moments earlier. Probably because whatever was draining the girl now had Dawn’s energy to draw on as well.

“Okay… so how do I…” she whispered to herself before frowning and shaking her head. “Just unlock it. Open it, break it wide, and… hope the energy doesn’t kill us both, I guess.”

She took one deep breath, then another, letting the scented spoke curl into her lungs and calm her. “Alright. Here… goes… nothing…”

And with that, she concentrated, pictured the circle shrinking, falling in on itself, being reabsorbed into the earth, or wherever the frilly hell Fran had drawn it from, considering where they were.

* * * * *

tbc... in the final part, coming next!