Buffy worked her way carefully up the stairs to the North Tower. “Willow,” she whispered. No answer. “Willow,” she tried again. Willow, she reached with her mind. Anyone?
Not good, she thought. Glancing behind her she decided to continue up to the Tower.
***
Angel ran as fast as he could through the castle, unknowingly noting what Spike had outside. Very few guards were trying to stop him.
He burst through the doorway to the hall where he and Buffy had separated and took off to the left, trying to hone in on her. Usually it was no problem for him to sense when she was around. Even though he was no longer a vampire he still had all the senses and skills but sensing Buffy was one he knew he would have even without the added abilities. While his soul was having trouble reaching hers his nose was having no problem. She’d been through here; her scent was everywhere.
Rounding a corner he ran down another hallway, noting the kicked in doorways to the rooms Buffy had searched as she passed through, he quickly came upon the stairs to the North Tower, and the five guards that had appeared out of nowhere.
The battle began as one after the other leaped at him.
***
Buffy kicked open the door to the North Tower and was greeted by the sight of a roaring fire. The room was elegantly decorated with plush rugs covering the gray stone of the floors, a massive poster bed with heavy curtains and bedding and a giant armoire.
And a vampire dressed in white robes.
“Laren,” Buffy spit out, walking into the room.
“Ah…the mighty Buffy. Glad you could find the place. I trust the directions were good?”
Buffy cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, yay. We’re going to banter. I miss bantering. Nowadays it’s all, attack and kill, attack and kill.”
Laren smiled wryly. “Yes, the art of conversation is lost, isn’t it?”
“You know? Now that I’ve been talking to you? I don’t miss it all that much.”
“More’s the pity,” Laren said simply, rising from her chair.
Buffy immediately took a fighting stance causing Laren to laugh.
“Now now…I’m not here to fight you, Slayer.”
Buffy smirked. “Oh right, I’m here for tea.”
Laren’s eyes shifted to something behind Buffy. “Actually, I was thinking more of…shots,” she said as three guards came up behind the Slayer. Two grabbed her arms and the third quickly administered an injection to her neck.
Buffy struggled for a moment before her muscles gave out on her. She began to slump to the floor. “What…what was that?” she said, her words slurring.
Laren walked up to her, the Slayer now lying on the ground, unable to move. “The first part of your future, my dear,” was the last thing Buffy heard before everything went black.
“Pooping out on me so quickly, Slayer?” the vampiress taunted, kicking Buffy firmly in the side. Buffy didn’t move.
“Told you she wasn’t that tough,” a voice said, moving up next to her.
“And you were right, my dear. She went down like a sack of potatoes,” Laren agreed. “Guards. Put her on the bed. Draw the curtains.” She turned to the other. “Angelus will be here any minute.”
“Those idiots you have waiting for him downstairs won’t be anything but a distraction to him.”
“And when he arrives…” Laren grinned.
“We’ll let him watch the Slayer die…slowly…until he pleads for his own life.”
***
Angel had defeated two of the five guards and was close to finishing off a third. With a solid roundhouse kick he sent the guard flying backwards and turned to punch another squarely in the jaw. Retrieving a stake from his waistband he dusted one, then the other, and turned to the last. The vampire grinned and rushed him. Angel ducked him easily and the guard came around for another pass. Dodging that as well Angel sighed. “You know, I don’t have time for this,” he growled. When the vampire came running again Angel kicked out a leg and the guard dropped to the ground. With a twist the vampire’s neck was broken. Moments later he was dust.
Angel didn’t take time to revel in the victory. With a renewed burst of energy he took the stairs two at a time and burst through the door of the North Tower.
The two women were standing in the middle of the room, laughing, when he entered. They looked up, not at all surprised to see him.
“Angelus…” Laren purred. “So good of you to come.”
“Yes, Angleus…I’ve been waiting, such a long time,” said the other. ,p>Behind him a guard raised a sledgehammer and brought it down to the back of Angel’s head. “Darla…” Angel was able to get out before slumping to the ground, unconscious.
***
Angel came to with a pounding headache. Reaching to the back of his head he found the source of his pain in a two-inch lump. Suddenly his memories rushed back to him and he sat up. He was lying on a bed, untied. But not alone.
“Rise and shine…” Darla cooed from her position on the bed next to him.
He moved away from her. “Where’s Buffy?” he growled.
She assumed a hurt expression. “After all this time that’s all you can say to me?”
“Where’s Buffy, bitch?” he amended.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Quite the poet, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Your girl’s being…taken care of.”
“If you hurt her…if you think of hurting her…I’ll rip your throat out,” he snarled, rising to his feet.
“No you won’t,” she snapped, losing her cool. “You won’t touch me…unless I want you to…or the Slayer dies. If she’s not already dead, that is.”
Without thinking he reached for his sire. “Ah ah ah!” she sing-songed. “If you want her back you’ll rethink that, my boy.”
“I’m getting her back either way, so I don’t think it really matters if I destroy you first or not.”
“You’re so sure of yourself, Angelus,” she said, wrestling his hand from around her neck. “That’s always been your problem. Confidence is a good thing…as long as it’s not misplaced.”
“You’re awfully confident now, aren’t you Darla? Why don’t you tell me why that is?”
“Do you really want to know Angelus? Won’t it torture you, with your human body and your human soul,” she spat, “to know what’s happening to your darling little girl right now?”
He lost it. With lightening speed her slammed Darla against a stone wall, delighting in the sound of her head cracking as it hit. “What do you think?”
She winced at the pain, then smiled sickly. “I’m not the real enemy here, Angelus. Laren’s got it out for you much more so. I’m merely along for the ride. And to reclaim what’s rightfully mine.”
“And what’s that?” he snapped.
She looked surprised. “Why, darling boy…you!”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I’m not yours Darla, I wasn’t yours six years ago when you first came back, I wasn’t yours even after I threw you out of my bed, and I’m not yours now.”
She smirked and walked to the door. “We’ll see. There’s something I want to show you. Come with me.”
He let out a short, harsh laugh. “Why would I do that?”
She glanced back at him. “Do you want to see Buffy?”
He watched her skeptically, every fiber of his being screamed not to trust her. She sensed it. “It’s your choice, but perhaps this will make it easier. If I don’t show up with you in five minutes, the guards are instructed to kill your Slayer. And in the condition I last saw her in…they will.”
His blood began to boil and not for the first time he wished for his fangs back, just for a moment, envisioning himself ripping her throat out where she stood. //But I can’t…and Buffy needs me. // Resigned, he followed her out of the room and down the hallway.
***
Outside the Scooby’s were getting frantic. “Can’t she do this any faster?” Cordelia hissed.
“I think she’s going as fast as she can, dear,” Gunn whispered back.
“I mean, I’m not anxious to go back in there, but our friends are in there!” the seer cried.
He glanced at Willow, sitting in a circle, well, sitting but floating in a circle, and then turned back to his wife. “Let her work her mojo, okay? She’s doing the best she can.”
Cordelia sighed and stomped off to sit on a fallen log.
Gunn watched her go then walked over to Oz. “How much longer, do you think? She’s been doing this for hours now.”
Oz shrugged noncommittally, but it was clear he was worried about the witch. Sweat was beaded on her forehead and every once in a while she seemed to lose her energy and float back towards the ground before regrouping and moving back up. “I don’t know. And I don’t want to interrupt her. She tried to talk to them telepathically and it didn’t work…but she’s strong. She’ll get the barrier down.”
“I hope you’re right,” Gunn told him, and joined his wife.
“I want to talk to Erin and Alex,” Anya complained quietly to Xander.
He put an arm around his wife. “I know you do, hon. I want to talk to the kids too. But my mom’s taking care of them, so we know they’re fine.”
She looked up at him. “Don’t you miss them? We’re away from them all the time, fighting this demon or that one.”
“Of course I do,” he reassured her. “Like crazy. But…I look at it this way: We do this to make it safer for them.”
Giles and Wesley were conferring quietly to the side. “All my books…my papers…the prophecies…they’re all gone,” Wesley moaned. “We have no research tools available to us here.”
“And we have no time to go back to Sunnydale to get anything I might have,” the ex-librarian added.
“If only we could speak with them…know more about this Laren, we might be able to--” his words were cut off by a shout from Cordelia as the brunette fell forward.
“Vision time!” Gunn called and helped her sit up.
“Oh my God,” Cordelia moaned, clutching her head. She looked up at the group, sans Willow, that had formed around her. “Buffy.”
***
Buffy woke slowly and opened her eyes to find herself lying on the ground. Sitting up sluggishly she took in her surroundings, noting that they were as dismal as she’d expected. What the hell is this? It looked like a throne room, long with open corridors on either side and three giant chairs situated at the far end.
“How do you feel?” a voice called out.
She jumped and looked around. “Where are you?”
A figure moved out of the shadows. Laren.
“How do you feel?” the vampiress asked again.
“Peachy, you?”
“Stand up.”
Buffy did, but only because she was about to anyway. “What the hell did you give me?”
“Just a little something to make you…less defensive.”
“Cryptic much?” the Slayer asked, walking to her captor. “Let’s be honest here. Tell me what was in that little cocktail.”
Laren smiled. “Make me.”
Buffy grinned. “I thought you’d never ask,” she said, and reached back to deliver a punch. Laren stopped it easily with one hand.
Buffy’s mouth dropped open just as Laren made her own fist and knocked the Slayer to the ground. Buffy gasped and looked up at her from the floor. Scrambling she stood up and ran at the vampire, only to be knocked away.
“What the hell did you give me?!” Buffy shrieked, trying to attack again, only to be tossed across the room. “I can’t fight!”
Laren walked to her, a mean smirk on her face. “You should remember your training. What happens to all Slayers on their 18th birthday?”
Buffy’s head was spinning. “That drug…that Giles gave me…I lost my powers. You…you gave me that?” she said, her voice faraway.
“I did. It’s hard to come by. You really have to know the right people. Fortunately, I do.”
“But…they don’t do that anymore! After me they decided it was too cruel!” Buffy cried, sounding very young.
“That doesn’t mean they don’t have left-over supplies, deary,” Laren said, picking her up by her neck. She looked into the terrified eyes of the Slayer. “Now we’re going to have some real fun.”
***
Darla led Angel down a series of hallways until they came out on the second floor of an open-air room. Below them was what looked like a throne room. And there was Buffy, being held off the ground by her neck, by Laren.
Angel ran to the balcony’s edge. “Don’t!” he roared, ready to leap over the side when Darla grabbed him and threw him backwards. Three guards appeared immediately and grabbed both his arms while the third wrapped an arm around his throat in a choke-hold.
Darla placed shackles around his feet and hands. “Remember how much fun we used to have with these?” she purred into his ear, fingering the restraints. He snarled at her in reply. The guards drug him to the edge where he had a birds-eye view of what was happening below.
“Buffy!” he shouted. Buffy’s eyes flew up to where Angel stood, trapped. She tried to speak, to take in a breath, but couldn’t.
Laren looked up. “Angelus!” she called. “I may have failed in my little real estate endeavor, but there’s always a plan B. In fact, I think I rather like this better. In plan B…I get to watch you watch her die.”
Angel growled and began to struggle only to have Darla punch him soundly in the jaw. “Be a good boy, Angelus,” she cooed and grabbed his hair, forcing his head up so he could watch the proceedings below.
Laren released Buffy, who crumpled to the ground, gasping for air. She raised her head weakly to meet Angel’s eyes. “Angel,” she whispered hoarsely.
Laren approached her and kicked her in the ribs, reveling at the audible crack of breaking bone. Angel winced, feeling his love’s pain.
Buffy rolled to her back, in agony, when she saw Laren approaching her again. Rolling further away she struggled to her feet, ready for the attack. The vampiress’ laughter echoed throughout the hallway. “You can’t escape me, girl,” she said, grabbing Buffy’s arm and twisting it backwards. Buffy cried out and kicked aimlessly at the vampire but it was no use. She was treated with a fist to her cheek, blood spurting from her nose.
Angel was in anguish. “Why can’t she fight?” he hissed at Darla. “What did you do to her?”
Darla smiled benignly but said nothing.
Buffy turned and ran, wiping at her face, reeling as she realized that the blood was hers for a change. Wildly she stumbled around the room, searching for any means of escape. Laren was on her in a flash. Dragging the Slayer back into the main hall she pulled her hair back, exposing her neck.
“The Triumphant will never be, Angelus!” Laren shouted. “What you took from me I can not allow you to have! And so…I will take the vessel!” As she spoke her face morphed.
“Nooo! BUFFY!” Angel screamed, fighting with all he had to free himself. It was no use. The shackles were too well made.
Laren sunk her teeth into Buffy’s neck and drank, gulp after gulp of the Slayer’s blood. Buffy gasped from the pain of it, the tearing of her flesh, and felt her life begin to leave her body. Her terrified eyes met Angel’s anguished ones. They held for a minute, then another, until they closed for the last time.