Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.
Author's Note: Warnings: Torture, Extreme Language, Sexual Situations, Violence.
Chapter 22
There was a small group of anthropologists gathered around the huge stone sitting in the middle of the research lab at the Sunnydale Museum of Natural History. A female technician was carefully cleaning off a section of the rock. She sprayed a jet stream of compressed air at the object to blow away loose dust particles. A moment later she let another stream of air go. She then used a brush to loosen more dirt. Dr. Doug Perren, one of the museum curators, went over to inspect her progress.
“Careful, now,” he warned and then pointed to a particular spot on the stone. “Concentrate in this area.” He watched her work for a moment and then encouraged her, “There you go.”
The door opened behind him and he turned to see Rupert Giles enter the room.
“Hello?” Giles said inquiringly.
Doug walked around the corner of the large rock and went up to greet the newcomer. “Rupert Giles, I believe?”
“Yes,” Giles confirmed, holding out his hand.
“Doug Perren,” Dr. Perren introduced himself and shook the proffered hand. “Thanks for coming.”
“Oh, not at all. It's . . . I’m flattered to be asked,” Giles gushed.
“I spoke with Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute, and he told me we had the best authority on obscure relic’s right here in Sunnydale,” Doug said.
“Oh . . .” Giles gave an embarrassed laugh. “He may have, uh, exaggerated a little.” He focused his sight on the obelisk. “Ah, is this the . . .”
Doug nodded. “This is our baby,” he said as the two men approached the stone. “Construction workers dug it up outside of town. Don't have a clue what it is. Any ideas?”
Giles reached out and touched the rock, looking closely at it. “A few. None I'd care to share until I can verify.” He noticed the runes on it. “You have, uh, carbon dated it?” he asked as he inspected the writings.
“Yes. The results will be back in a couple of days. I'll go out on a limb and say old,” Doug quipped as he looked up at the stone.
Giles smirked at that. “Um, yes, it, it certainly . . .” He picked up a jar and a scraper. “It predates any, uh . . . settlements we've read about.” The watcher was about to scrape a sample off but wanted to get the curator’s permission first and pointed offhandedly. “Um, may, may I?”
“Yeah. Sure,” Doug consented.
Giles leaned in and began to scrape at the corner of the obelisk, catching the debris in the jar. He dug into an apparent groove. A few scrapings later he stopped and tapped the scraper clean on the jar.
“I assume you've, uh, you haven't tried to open it,” Giles asked the curator.
“Open it?” Doug asked, surprised that there was a way to open the huge stone slab. He leaned over to see what Giles had discovered.
“Ah, I'll be damned. I figured it was solid. What do you think is in there?” Doug asked.
Giles stared intently at the groove and the rock as a whole. “I don't know.”
“Well . . .” Doug said, “I guess we won't know until we open it up.”
Giles considered the option. “Yes, but could I ask, um . . . would you wait? I, uh . . . I'd like to work on translating the text. It-it-it might give us an indication of . . . what we'll find inside.”
“You don't want to be surprised?” Doug asked curiously.
“A-as a rule, no,” Giles said dryly.
“Alright. You're the expert. But I'm pretty damn curious, though,” Doug said hopeful that the watcher would change his mind.
Giles put the lid on the jar and removed his glasses. “Yes. Yes, so am I,” he agreed before walking out of the room, wanting to research as much about the obelisk as he could.
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“So what are we going to do?” Willow asked Xander while researching stuff on the library computer.
“About what, Will?” Xander said as Cordelia bandaged his broken hand.
“About Buffy! I mean, Kendra just tried to take a shot at her right? What if Buffy goes all demon-y and kills us in retaliation?” Willow asked anxiously.
“Willow, she’s not going to attack us. We’re her friends,” Xander said.
"Says the guy who set her up for a slaying of her own," Cordelia chimed in.
“I did not set Buffy up to be killed. Ow!” Xander was defending himself quite adamantly and waving his arms dramatically when his elbow hit the arm of the chair and pain shot up his arm and into his injured hand.
He nursed his hand as he said, “I didn’t even know Kendra had come back around to that cemetery.”
Kendra stopped her workout and moved back into the main library section just in time to hear Xander's last comment. She grabbed a towel to dry off the sweat that coated her dusky skin.
"I was done wit my cemetery. Thought I would help you," said the Jamaican Slayer. She was still uneasy in the presence of males and would not look at the teenage boy she was addressing.
Giles moved out of his office, gesturing for the group to settle at the table. Oz and Willow settled next to each other, holding hands while Xander and Cordelia sat across from each other glancing at one another from under their lashes. The two had been unsure how to act around each other since the kiss they had shared during patrol a few nights before.
"Kendra, I need to know why you felt compelled to attack Buffy when she was helping Xander," Giles said.
"I don't know. It happened before I could stop myself," answered Kendra.
"All you did was make a member of her new family angry. Every Slayer has a vampiric family they are tied to, even you. However, most Slayers do not live long enough to find theirs. Buffy is the first one in four centuries to have found hers," Giles informed the newest Slayer.
"Are you going to inform the council?" Willow gasped out.
"I should, but no, I don't want the council involved. I have been lying on my reports since Buffy was captured by Angelus," Giles informed the group. No, he wasn't going to say anything to the council. He realized that he loved Buffy as if she was his own child and there was no way he would turn her over to anyone. Not without a fight. Giles was sure at least one of Buffy's vampiric kin would feel the same way; for instance, her mate, Spike.
Kendra gasped at the Watcher's duplicity. It was then that she decided that the Hellmouth must have influenced the senior Slayer and her watcher in such a terrible manner. She would take it upon herself to inform the Council of Watchers of the oversights occurring against them.
The meeting came to a jolting halt when Xander moaned about his hand hurting. The teenagers left the library as a group, traveling to Buffy's house to sleep. The four of them had started to sleep at Joyce's, wanting to comfort the woman and not wanting to be apart. Being apart was too dangerous at this point in time.
Kendra moved down the darkened street away from the school. She paused when she thought she heard a sound behind her. When she looked back and saw no one there, she hurried on to her hotel room and locked the door behind her.
**************************
Angelus was getting restless. He wanted a closer look at that obelisk at the museum. He couldn’t risk taking the other three people with Buffy’s friends apparently out to kill her. Spike was in that damn wheelchair still, although the dark vampire was having suspicions about whether the he was injured or not. Angelus smirked as a thought passed through his mind. I know I’d be moving over the girl sooner than I was able to.
Fed up with the discontentment he felt, Angelus walked back into the atrium. “Let’s get outta here. I need a real vile kill before sunup to ease the boredom,” he said as he pulled on his duster over an unbuttoned shirt. Drusilla smiled in utter joy that her daddy wanted to hunt with her again. She walked up to him and growled. He snarled back.
“Of course.” Drusilla agreed. “We'll find you a nice toddler.”
Drusilla snarled softly at Angelus when he started up the stairs and out of the garden without her. She looked back at her childer. “Want to come, my Spike?”
Angelus’ hearing picked up Drusilla’s query and raced back down the stairs. “No can do, Dru. I’m sure the boy’s hell on wheels, but we don’t have time.” The dark vampire turned to Spike. “Gotta travel light,” he said as he stepped closer to the blond vampire and put his hands on the younger vampire’s shoulders. “Sorry, Spike.” He looked up at Buffy and winked. “Try not to have too much fun, Buff. Don’t wanna break him before he’s mended.”
Angelus jogged back up the stairs, and Drusilla made haste to follow him. Spike and Buffy watched them leave. Buffy had a mystified expression, not quite knowing what Angelus alluded to. Spike, on the other hand, was angry and exhaled his frustration.
Spike stared angrily at the empty staircase. He took his foot from its footrest and put it on the ground. He slowly got up and stood tall, apparently recovered from his weakness. He kicked back at his wheelchair angrily. Buffy had to sidestep out of the way as the chair went spinning back towards her.
He turned and looked at Buffy with heat in his eyes. The same passion she saw in her mate’s eyes smoldered in her own. Spike started to stalk his mate. Every step he took forward, she took one back until her back was against the rock wall of the garden.
Spike took in the gorgeous sight of Buffy in front of him. The spring that trickled down the wall showered her hair and shoulders, dampening her nearly see-through dress. As the fabric became wetter, it molded to the natural curve of her pert breasts and pebbled nipples. His eyes followed the graceful line of her neck to her face and saw her eyes change to the turquoise color of her demon.
The growl that emanated from his chest was answered by a deep purr from the petite blond. Spike pressed his hard, chiseled body against her toned softness. He reached a hand up and buried his fingers in her wet hair. Tugging gently to raise her face up to look at him, his demon yellow eyes clashing with glinted turquoise, he kissed her savagely as if he hadn’t had her all these months. He hadn’t had her the way he had wanted her. He needed to be wild and free, hard and fast. He wanted her to enjoy every conceivable pleasure anywhere. He wanted her now!
Spike pulled away long enough to whip the dress off her body. He had smelt his grandsire on Buffy’s skin and he felt the demands of his blood to purge her body of the offending scent. While he looked his fill of his mate, he pulled his own clothes off and rejoined her under the spring. He curled his arms around her waist and lifted her up, and her thighs automatically wrapping around his waist.
Buffy’s body had started to heat as soon as she saw the heat in Spike’s eyes. Now that the symbol of his helplessness was gone, her mate seemed more virile, more feral, and even predatory in his stalking of her like she had been a long-denied prize. It made her body flush hotter. By the time he had her under the cool spring, and whipped her dress off, she was smoldering.
“Inside me, now, Spike!” Buffy moaned as she wrapped her thighs around his hips.
Spike growled in response, long past words in his need of her. At Buffy’s demand, he buried his cock deep inside her heated sheath. When he felt the furnace heat of her pussy envelope his cock, he purred against her neck. He held onto her waist with one arm and braced his free hand on the rock wall. She grabbed a piece of the wall that jutted out, trying to hold herself steady.
Without warning, his features shifted against her neck and he plunged his fangs into his claim marks at the same instant he thrust up inside her body. The double-penetration caused Buffy to grasp Spike tighter against her and cry out in ecstasy. Her turquoise eyes became darker with her building passion.
Buffy pushed against the rock wall, sending both her and Spike into the pond under the spring. The blond vampire shifted until she was under him in the two-foot deep pool, holding her above the waterline by an arm and his fangs still embedded in her neck. He then gripped her hips with both hands and held her still while he plunged deep inside her body and the thrust his cock hard against her cervix, causing her to cry out and growl at him.
It wasn’t that Spike was feeding off his mate while he slammed his cock into her body. He just needed to feel her heat surround him. He retracted his fangs, pulled her off him and moved her to her knees. Moving behind her in the water, he positioned his shaft, rubbing the head against the hot, wet surface of her nether lips before thrusting into her body again.
Buffy thrust back onto his cock and purred as she felt him slide into her body. They both grabbed for the side of the pond, their fingers lacing together. He started to pound into her body harder and faster while he licked at the wounds in her neck as they passed by his tongue on each sway of her body.
Spike watched as his Golden Goddess bounced against his hips. He snarled lustily as watched his cock disappear inside her hot folds repeatedly. He leaned forward, wrapped his fingers in her hair and pulled back gently. He kissed her, letting her taste her own blood on his tongue as he sped up the tempo of his thrusts until they both cried out a growl in mutual orgasm. Spike reluctantly withdrew from her body and pulled her against him. They stayed there enjoying the lapping water while they came back to reality.
**************************
After leaving Spike in Buffy’s safe keeping, Angelus and Drusilla made their way across town to the museum research lab bent on attaining one thing. Dr. Perren was going over his notes when he heard something or someone whispering behind him. He turned around to look, but no one was there.
“Hello?” Doug called out.
He got up and slowly walked over to the obelisk. The whispering grew louder as he neared it. He reached up to the runes on the face of the rock and touched them. The whispering seemed to be coming from inside. He placed his hand flat on the face of the rock and stared up at it in amazement. Suddenly Drusilla wrapped her hand around his mouth from behind and pulled his head back to expose his neck. She leaned in and bit into him hard while he struggled to get away. Behind her Angelus and two other vampires approached the obelisk.
“I'll have one of these to go,” Angelus said with a smirk on his face.
The two vampires walked around the rock with some rope and tools to haul it away. As they worked, Angelus watched Drusilla feed on the pudgy curator.
“Dru . . .” Angelus called to his childe.
Drusilla jerked her head up from her victim and turned her demon eyes toward her sire. She growled and smiled a most evil smile.
“Save me some, princess,” he said, smiling back at her.
Drusilla nodded obediently and went back to her feeding.
**************************
The Scooby gang, plus Kendra, Oz, Cordelia, were in the school library. Giles came out of his office and walked into the main room where Cordelia, Oz and Kendra were waiting at the table. Willow was behind the counter, researching in a book.
“I've been on the phone to the museum. The artifact in question is missing and the curator has been murdered. Vampires,” Giles announced as he leaned on the table, stunned at the news he just received.
“And you're sure this was the tomb of Alfalfa?” Oz asked in his always-stoic way.
“Acathla. And yes, the information provided by Kendra's Watcher seems conclusive,” Giles said, standing straight again.
Willow walked out from behind the counter. “Okay, somebody explain the whole 'he will suck the world into Hell' thing, because that's the part I'm not loving,” Willow said as she moved closer to Oz for a show of comfort.
“Well, the, uh,” Giles started to say as he put on his glasses, “the Demon Universe exists in a dimension separate from our own.” He turned and sat on the table. “With one breath, Acathla will create a vortex, a-a kind of, um . . . whirlpool that will pull everything on Earth into that dimension, where any non-demon life will suffer horrible and . . . eternal torment.”
“So that would be the literal kind of 'sucked into Hell',” Oz smiled nervously. “Neat.” He frowned and turned to his girlfriend. “Willow, if you know anything about the curse that was on Angelus to make him Angel, I think you should try it.”
Kendra shook her head. She couldn’t believe this motley group of people the Slayer had surrounded herself with. Wanting to ensoul a vampire, indeed. Whoever tried to make a vampire good? “I tend to side with your friend, Xander, on this one. Angel should be eliminated.”
“Buffy is the slayer, right? She’ll come through in the end and save the world from the Hell-sucking thingy?” Cordelia asked nervously. She didn’t like the talk of the mall being sucked into Hell. “But if she doesn't get there in time, or if she loses, then Willow might be our only hope.”
Willow was taken aback by Cordelia’s statement. “I don't wanna be our only hope! Uh, I crumble under pressure! Let's have another hope.”
Kendra smiled at the redhead. “We have.” She pulled a sword from her bag. “Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon.” Giles stared at the weapon, intrigued by it. “If all else fails, this might stop it. I think.”
Giles approached Kendra. “Ooh. May I? May I?” He took the sword from the girl. “Thank you. Well, l-let's, uh, hope all else doesn't fail.” He turned to Willow. “Um, how good are you at f-figuring out the ritual of the curse?”
Willow walked over to her backpack. “I don’t even know what the language the curse is in, let alone translate it. But I did find one thing it would need . . .” She picked up a stack of papers and reads: “an 'Orb of Thesulah'? Whatever that is.”
Giles handed the sword back to Kendra. “Spirit vault for rituals of the undead.” He headed toward his office. “I've got one.” He looked around, embarrassed. “I-I've been using it as a . . . paperweight,” he explained before he disappeared into his office.
“I’ve never done this before, Giles. What happens if I fail?” Willow called to the Watcher.
Giles walked back with the Orb. “Angel has a ritual of his own to perform before he can remove the sword and awaken Acathla. With any luck, it should take some time.”
“But Giles!? Untrained witch here. I don’t know if I can perform something as big as re-ensouling Angelus,” Willow whined. When she saw the look of confidence on his face, she cringed.