Chapter Twenty-Two
“Wesley!” Stephanie snapped.
Spike saw the ex-Watcher push through the crowd. He still lugged the large tome, the pages now splayed open to reveal ancient text. Bright red blood ran down a jagged wound on his scruffy cheek, and scarlet covered one hand as well. He seemed nervous with all the vampires around him. The hall boy wasn’t stupid.
Stephanie still sounded annoyed. “The key.”
Without hesitation, Wesley passed her the other half of the key. Spike marveled that Stephanie had let him keep half of the key and then reasoned this was probably smart. If someone attacked her, she would at least know there was another half with someone she trusted. . . or intimidated.
Stephanie snatched the key from him and noticed the blood on the device. Breaking her all-business demeanor for a moment, she licked the key clean and closed her eyes for a brief second. “Hmm. I always wanted to taste Watcher blood.” She paused and pronounced, “Banal.”
Spike’s eyes found Buffy. She looked oddly okay, which was the only reason he dropped the blade in the first place. He also couldn’t help but remember the taste of Slayer blood and how non-banal a Slayer’s life force was.
Seeming to read Spike’s mind, Stephanie slit her eyes and gazed at Angelus with an unfettered lust written on her face. “You haven’t killed her yet?”
“Of course not,” Angelus said as if she were insipid. Clearly, he wasn’t attracted to her, which was also odd considering Angelus would have jumped at the chance to use her and lose her. It was another reason Spike was holding his cards. “Wanted her to see the show. . . watch her friends die.”
She laughed. “Ah yes. You would want that. Since I’m feeling magnanimous, I will allow it.”
Spike was tempted to roll his eyes and snark back at her, but being surrounded like they were, he continued to hold back, which was no small feat in and of itself.
Human Angel spoke next, “What about the kranooks? It seems like we could just get rid of them while they’re trapped there.”
Spike glanced at the kranooks, who were slithering back and forth, bucking up against the invisible barrier of Roxy’s unrelenting magic. Spike wondered how the hell Roxy was sustaining the spell for so long.
Stephanie laughed, the sound almost girlish. “You think I want to get rid of them?”
Wesley’s British accent rose above the witch’s chanting, “Well, they pretty much ransacked your city, and they are a pain around the dimensional rifts.”
“Of course they have, but it doesn’t mean I still can’t use them. They think they have power; they have none. I control them. They will join us.”
Spike heard the kranooks hissing in dismay and protest at her loud declaration.
Stephanie then dragged Wesley by the scruff of his neck like he was a dog. She positioned herself just out of reach of her creations and near Roxy, whose body was encased in swirling yellow lights that dipped and danced and darted around her. Her hands were held high as Latin poured forth from her ever-moving lips, and her eyes remained black as midnight while her blonde hair whipped around her face. Spike noticed then that her feet were actually hovering a few inches off the ground and decided that she was giving Red a run for her money.
Stephanie stood on tiptoe and reached high to set the glowing globe in Roxy’s turned up palm, bending her fingers around the sphere’s surface. The violet light pulsed once and then brightened.
In that moment, a piece of knowledge clicked into place for Spike. The light in the orb was the source of magic from the cavern where he and Buffy contacted Willow. . . the magic source that fueled the kranooks. Well, that was a new twist. He didn’t know what it meant except that they might be screwed in a new way he hadn’t thought of yet.
Stephanie positioned the book in Wesley’s outstretched arms and then rummaged in her bag, pulling out the other half of the dimensional key. Snapping the two pieces together with an imperceptible, very anti-climactic click, she reached up again to press the fully assembled key into Roxy’s other hand.
All the pieces in place, she then began to read Latin from the book in Wesley’s arms. The words swelled and joined Roxy’s, the syllables sliding against one another like notes in a symphony.
Spike glanced at Angelus and Buffy and saw that his grandsire had donned his human face and further loosened his grip on Buffy, whose feet were now planted on the ground. He pushed his chin up just a fraction, and Spike’s suspicions were confirmed. Willow’s spell had worked; Angel had his soul back.
Spike bloody well knew it! Angel never really was very good at faking being soulless – at least not to his blood family. The real Angelus would never have let Stephanie get this far; he just didn’t deal with authority very well.
Spike then focused on Buffy, who simply stared at him with a tiny sparkle in her green eyes and winked. Relief and hope soared through his body, and he turned his attention back to the spell unfolding before them.
The winds kicked up again as the power of the spell intensified, and Roxy’s disembodied cry rose hollow and echoing above the Latin that Stephanie was chanting. The violet light pulsed and eddied and grew larger and larger until it consumed the witch, and rainbow colors flew out of the swell darting faster and brighter than ever before, creating a haphazard, ever-changing pattern all around the arena. The wind matched the lights’ intensity, forcing almost everyone to their knees. The vampires and kranooks were hushed and wide-eyed as the whole structure around them shimmered and wavered.
Squinting against the brightness, Spike spread his legs wide, bending his knees and bracing himself upright with his fingers on the earth. He could barely make out a hint of tree tops and starry skies through the magical forces.
A vast doorway to the space between dimensions was opening, becoming clearer and more stable with the continuation of Roxy’s unending scream.
Without warning, the light rapidly shrunk in on itself, Roxy’s voice faded to silence, the winds ceased, and a scent like a candle’s flame that had been snuffed out filled the space.
Spike blinked, trying to adjust to the abrupt change, and looked up through the deep darkness to view thousands of stars shining their welcoming rays to earth. The scent of pine trees came to his attention next followed by the humidity and the sound of thousands of insects pervading the East Texas night.
Roxy didn’t just transport them, she disappeared the whole arena. The only question was. . . had she brought them home? Or had she betrayed them?
A tiny green pinprick of light shot up like a miniature firework in the distance, and Spike felt a warm hand press into his. He glanced over to make out Buffy standing next to him. She softly kissed him, and he knew then that no matter where they were and what happened next, they would be okay. They’d vowed not to die earlier, but part of him – a nagging whisper in the back of his mind – had told him they might not make it.
The green light expanded and grew like its purple predecessor, but this one bathed the night in gentle luminescence.
“Willow. She’s always liked green.” A small smile played at the corners of Buffy’s mouth.
Though he had no idea what she was talking about regarding Red and color choices, Spike smiled at her, his doubts further assuaged.
He glanced behind them and saw the towering structures of the vampire built structures and hints of city streets. They remained engulfed in flames and smoke, and he could vaguely make out more vampires approaching them. In the distance before them, he saw a whole line of Willow’s assembled troops running toward them, battle cries ringing out through the night, and he could see more than one source of magic in their numbers.
The vampires around them were almost paralyzed, and Buffy rushed forward before they could recover, tugging him along. With the spell dissipated and the shift in dimensions complete, somehow the kranooks were free of their trap, and instead of taking up their mantle against the vampires, they turned as one to face their new attackers.
Spike and Buffy dodged around vampires who were still recovering from the changes, and before Spike realized what was happening, they were by the fallen Roxy’s side. Angel reached them next, and he and Spike watched as Buffy touched Roxy’s unmoving back. A small groan issued forth, and the witch moved. Angel bent to help her up, and they all moved to the side as vampires and kranooks rushed around them in a chaotic stream.
“Are you okay?” Buffy asked as the witch blinked and tried to focus her eyes.
Roxy rubbed at her head in an uncoordinated fashion. “Y-yeah.”
“You did it.”
The blonde gave them a small smile. “G-good.”
Spike watched her like a hawk, searching for signs that gave him some indication about whose side she was on.
Buffy continued, “And the kranooks. Stephanie has them on her side somehow. . . she did some sort of spell with the kranooks’ magic source while you were opening the rift.”
Roxy smiled weakly. “I know.”
Angel jerked her arm. “You *know*?”
“D-don’t worry. I have. . . back-up plan.”
“A back-up plan?” Buffy retrieved a stake from her boot and staked a vampire who came too close to them. “You can’t even stand up or talk.”
Roxy frowned at her and held up a barely glowing purple ball. “One more trick. . . up sleeve. Go. Fight. I got this.”
Angel gave Buffy a look. “I got her covered. Go find Stephanie. Make sure she dies.”
Buffy gave him an even look. “On it. Spike, you ready?”
Tight lipped, he nodded, retrieving the stake he’d picked up earlier in the kranooks’ headquarters.
The tide of the battle swept them up, and they joined the rush, fighting vampires and dodging kranooks, trying to find the front of the charge. They slipped into what was becoming their familiar pattern of fighting: improvising and protecting each other’s blind spots as they staked hearts and shoved aside the lizard creatures without getting poisoned. Soon, they were surrounded by vampires, kranooks, and Slayers that Spike didn’t recognize.
Spike caught sight of something glittering. . . something familiar. On instinct, he took off toward the vision, keeping his eyes peeled for. . . yep, there it was again. He vaguely heard Buffy behind him, staying up with him and trusting his route.
He grinned at what he saw. There was human Angel, wielding Spike’s sword and fighting back to back with Stephanie. It figured that Angel’s human counterpart would have somehow gotten the sword; he vowed not to rag the other Angel about that later. . . if there was a later.
“Hey!” Spike shouted with a tone a little like a petulant teenager. “That’s mine!”
Human Angel rounded on him as he knocked out a young witch who’d flung a tiny fireball and dusted a vampire behind him. “And you have something that belongs to me.” He licked his lips at Buffy who pulled up to Spike’s side.
She gave him a look like he was crazy. “Um, no, I don’t belong to anyone. Thank you very much.”
Spike smirked at her. “That’s my girl. All independent. The way I like her.”
Buffy marked him as hers by flashing him a grin. “Awww. Thanks! Love you, too.”
Stephanie reeled on them, a broad smile on her face. “I was hoping it’d be you,” she said to Buffy.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Boy, you sure. . .”
Her words were cut off as a sonic boom resounded and a wave of brilliant purple light rushed through everyone for miles around. Spike felt like some invisible force was pressing into his skull, and he distantly heard Buffy and himself scream along with several other voices in a strident cacophony.
The pain relented, and another boom filled the air.
Everyone froze again like someone in Heaven pushed pause on everything in the world. Not even crickets and other insects made a sound. Spike thought he could hear his heart beating in his ears, and then, the hissing started. . . softly at first and then the sound grew louder and louder, and the familiar slithering sound built and rushed toward them from all directions.
Within seconds, they were surrounded by kranooks, and Jon materialized seemingly out of thin air. He swooped like a snake around Stephanie, his long, thick tail coiling lithely around her body before she could lift a finger.
His face shoved against hers. He paused for only a second, opening his mouth to reveal jagged teeth. His jaw hyperextended, and he bit her face off.
The world came rushing back for everyone as Stephanie’s lifeless, heavily poisoned body was unceremoniously dumped to the ground.
Jon bobbed his head at Buffy and Spike, acknowledging their presence, and then, the kranooks joined the Slayers in the fight against the vampires.
Spike glanced around to discover that human Angel had disappeared.
“Human Angel’s gone,” Buffy observed as she kicked and parried with a maddened vampire.
“Figures, pet.” Spike fought off his own vampire and dusted another.
The battle raged on around them for what felt like hours, and Spike felt himself growing more and more tired. Buffy was also staggering under the weight of exhaustion, and Spike noticed that the sky was beginning to lighten in the distance, heralding the return of morning. Pink streaks reached thin fingers to paint stray clouds above in cotton candy colors.
“Sun,” he managed to convey between blows and stakings.
“Yeah,” Buffy said a bit listlessly as she killed yet another vampire.
“Hope Angel finds shelter.”
“Me, too. And vampire you.”
“Hey!” came a familiar perky but worn voice.
Buffy brightened and ducked a punch from another vampire. “Willow!”
“Is this ever going to end?” The redhead’s hair was disheveled, and her face was streaked with dust and drying blood. “‘Cause I could use a big fluffy bed right about now.”
“And a shower,” Buffy added. She circumnavigated a charging female vampire, and Spike neatly staked her.
“They’re like Energizer bunnies,” Willow said, zapping a little lightning bolt at one behind Spike. “Seriously wish I could bottle some of that rage.”
“Hey! I was thinking that. . . earlier.” Buffy sounded amused, and Spike wondered what she was talking about. He made a mental note to ask her later, much later after rest. “Spike, is that possible? You would know ‘cause you used to be a vampire.”
“You’re too cheerful, pet. Much too cheerf –”
With that, their brains short-circuited, and before they could register any pain, Spike and Buffy crumpled to the ground. All over the battlefield, the kranooks collapsed with them.