Willow
turned toward her childe, her emerald gaze blazing with
malicious rage at his blatant defiance, even to the point of going so
far as to strike her. Her vampire face rose to the forefront as she
took a menacing step toward him, away from the Slayer, still bound to
the wall by the magic Xander had just directed at Willow.
“Xander,” she hissed, a threat in her voice. “Try that again…”
“I will, if you try to hurt Buffy again,” Xander insisted, his voice
trembling slightly, as he took an instinctive step backward with his
sire’s approach. “I’m sorry, Will…I love you…but I can’t let you kill
her. The three of us – you, me, and Buffy – we’re a family now. Or, we
can be. I can’t let you ruin that.”
“We don’t need her!” Willow snarled. “All she’ll do is get between us!”
As she closed the distance between them, she drew back her hand, raking
her nails across Xander’s face in a blow that left his face streaked
with blood, and him stumbling backward against the wall.
As Xander struggled to recover from the blow, Willow turned back toward
Buffy, a predatory smile on her lips. Buffy’s eyes widened at the
malicious pleasure in her eyes, and she knew that her former friend
meant to kill her – and there was nothing she could do about it.
Before Willow could touch her, however, Xander struck again with a
poorly aimed bolt of magical power that struck Willow far too low,
slamming into the back of her thigh. Despite his poor aim, however, the
blow still knocked the young vampiress forward onto her knees on the
floor, gasping for breath as Xander rose shakily to his feet.
“I mean it, Will,” he informed her softly. “I won’t let you hurt her.”
He paused, his voice barely a whisper as he added, “You’ll have to kill
me first.”
In spite of the danger she was in, the utter gravity of the situation,
Buffy could not help but feel stunned, confused, utterly overwhelmed by
Xander’s words – his continued affection and concern for her, even in
his vampire state. It seemed that although his soul was gone, and he
had been turned into a monster like Willow – he still loved her,
willing to risk protecting her, even at the expense of his own life.
Spike was right, she realized, what had been merely suspicions now
confirmed in her mind. The soul doesn’t make that much difference,
after all.
Willow smiled coldly at Xander’s words, rising to her feet and staring
at Xander through dangerously glittering eyes. “All right, then,” she
agreed. “No problem.”
Without warning she lunged toward the boy, her fangs extended in a
feral hiss as she grabbed him and slammed him down to the floor under
her, her mouth descending toward his throat with vicious intent. Xander
struggled beneath her, but in his newly turned state, he was physically
no match for her, and could not seem to get enough leverage to aim any
of the rather limited magic she had shown him in her direction.
Willow pinned him, clasping his wrists in her hands over his head, as
she sank her fangs into his throat, drinking deeply of the blood she
had shared with him only hours earlier, until gradually, his struggles
became weaker, and then finally stopped. Xander just lay there, finally
submitting as she drew his strength from him, reinforcing her control
over the wayward, defiant childe.
When she finally stood up, Xander was still and quiet on the floor, not
even trying to rise, though Buffy could see that his eyes were open,
and he was staring up at her regretfully – still conscious, and
painfully aware of the fact that Willow was going to kill her now, and
there was next to nothing he could do about it.
As Willow stalked toward her once again, Buffy tensed, straining
against the invisible bonds that held her to the wall, struggling to
free herself – but they did not yield. She was trapped, helpless
against the coming attack. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw
Xander, behind Willow, weakly pulling himself up on one arm. Slowly,
every move an extreme effort, he raised his other arm, aiming it in the
general direction of Willow and Buffy, and Buffy flinched, trusting
Xander’s aim even less now that he could barely hold his arm up.
She flinched as a brilliant flash of light flew straight toward her,
then seemed to fill the room for a single, interminable instant, then
faded away, leaving everything apparently just as it had been – except
for one thing.
The invisible bonds were gone.
Buffy was free.
Willow was staring at Xander, incredulous, hardly believing that even
with his massive blood loss, he had somehow found the strength to use
his borrowed magic once more. Suddenly, she turned toward Buffy, eyes
widening in anger and dismay as she realized that the Slayer was no
longer bound and helpless – and that without her magic to help her, she
stood no chance whatsoever of beating her.
Still…she could do nothing less than try.
Willow slammed her fist down across Buffy’s face, knocking her
momentarily back against the wall, following up the blow with a flurry
of more blows, fighting to keep the upper hand – because she knew that
once she lost it, she would not gain it again.
Buffy had no intention of waiting patiently for her to tire herself
out, however.
The last blow Willow managed to aim was abruptly stopped in its tracks,
her fist caught in the Slayer’s tiny, powerful hand. Buffy’s eyes
narrowed with anger and determination as she raised her free hand and
delivered a return blow that sent the fledgling vampiress flying across
the room to slam into the far wall.
Just as she did, Giles and Jenny showed up in the doorway, breathless
and wild-eyed, staring around the room in an attempt to take in the
situation.
“Buffy!” the Watcher gasped out in alarm. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Buffy replied shortly, her jaw set as she crossed the room to
stand over her dazed former friend. “A lot better in a minute.”
“Do you need help?” Giles persisted, taking a stake from his pocket and
taking a step in her direction, eyeing Xander, in his vampire face from
the fight, with a mixture of stunned horror and wary anticipation.
“No, got it,” Buffy answered without hesitation, though her mind was
racing, her heart pounding now as the reality of what she was about to
have to do struck home for her.
Willow tried to get up, weakened by the blow she had taken, but Buffy
placed a foot on the back of her neck, pinning her to the floor easily
despite her frantic struggles to escape. Through the fear and guilt and
dread at the idea of taking what was left of Willow’s life, one thought
came through perfectly clear.
They shouldn’t have to see this.
“It’s all under control,” Buffy assured them, her voice calmer, softer
now. “Giles, Jenny…get Spike, get him out of here, out to the car.
Carefully. He’s…he’s hurt pretty bad.”
Her voice trembled slightly over the words, and she risked a single
glance in the direction of the injured vampire who had suffered so much
– for her. He had been through a nightmare at Willow’s hands – but it
was over now, and he would be okay. She would have plenty of time later
to be sure of that. Right now – she had to finish things with Willow.
As the Watcher and the teacher headed down to the car, awkwardly
supporting the nearly unconscious vampire between them, Buffy focused
her attention on Willow, who was still snarling furiously, struggling
to rise from the floor. She swallowed hard, blinking tears from her
eyes as her mind brought back memories of better times, when Willow had
been her sweet, trusting, caring best friend.
But never again…Willow’s gone…all that’s left…
Her hand closed around the stake tucked into her waistband, clenching
and unclenching around it as she warred against the love she still held
for the girl struggling at her feet, struggling to rise long enough to
kill her.
Suddenly, a second flash of light, much like the first, filled the
room, and when it faded, Buffy looked down to see Willow frozen to the
floor, still, apparently in invisible bonds much like the ones that had
held her to the wall. She looked at Xander, a questioning expression in
her eyes.
Xander shrugged, a gesture so like the boy she knew that it made her
heart ache to think of what he had become. “There. Now she can’t keep
trying to hurt you.” He was quiet for a moment, staring down at Willow,
before asking softly, “Is there any way to…to fix her? To…to fix…” His
voice trailed off, but Buffy knew what he was asking.
Her heart sank, because she knew the answer. There was no way to make a
vampire not a vampire anymore.
But…but there is a way…
“Maybe…if Miss Calendar can find a way to…to get her soul back…”
At that moment Giles reappeared in the doorway to the room, just in
time to catch her soft, hopeful words. His expression was grim as he
slowly crossed the room to her side, staring down at Willow before
looking up to meet Buffy’s hopeful, desperate gaze.
“Too much harm has been done, Buffy. Even if she survives…and we
managed to restore her soul…she’d lose her mind to think of the things
that she’s done…”
“But…she’s recover. Angel recovered, in time…”
“Did he?” Giles’ tone was challenging, and his voice trembled a little.
“Buffy, can you really say that he truly recovered from the things he
did? After all that’s happened? What progress he did make came after a
century of hiding in the shadows in self-pity. Would you sentence
Willow to that fate?”
“Giles…I…I don’t think I can,” Buffy finally confessed, tears streaming
from her eyes as she stared down at Willow’s still form. “It’s…it’s
Willow…”
“It has to be done, Buffy.”
“I know…but…I can’t.”
“Don’t worry, Buffy.” Xander’s voice was soft, compassionate, and
seemed utterly untroubled by the idea of Willow’s death, despite their
former closeness. In fact, he seemed only concerned with preventing
Buffy from going through the suffering of being responsible for her
death. “I’ll do it.”
Suddenly, Xander moved with the vampire speed neither of the two humans
had yet adjusted to his having, and took the stake from the Watcher’s
hand. Before Giles could react, he was crouched over Willow, his hand
extended to deliver the killing blow. And in that moment, Buffy knew –
she could not let him do it.
In a lightning quick motion, she crouched low in front of Willow and
plunged her stake into her heart, before she had time to talk herself
out of it again, and before Xander could let his hand fall. As Willow’s
body disintegrated into dust on the floor, without so much as a word or
a whimper, the three of them fell silent, all staring soberly down at
all that was left of their dear friend.
“Buffy,” Giles whispered at last, shaking his head as he studied her
face with sympathy. “You didn’t have to do that. Xander was going to…”
“I couldn’t let Xander do it,” Buffy interrupted, shaking her head, no
longer attempting to quell the tears that streamed from her eyes,
streaking her face. “He couldn’t have lived with it…his soul wouldn’t
let him.”
Giles frowned, looking up at her sharply, and Xander gave her a wary
look. “Buffy,” Giles pointed out cautiously, “he doesn’t have a soul.”
Not certain how vampire-Xander would react to the idea of being
ensouled, remembering the negative reactions both Spike and Angelus had
always had to the idea, Buffy knew that she had to act before he could
make any move to stop them. As the simple words left her lips, without
raising her head, she spun the stake in her hand so that the blunt end
was facing outward, and brought it around in an arc to slam swiftly and
painlessly into the back of Xander’s head – knocking him instantly
unconscious.
Buffy did not raise her eyes from the spot on the floor where Willow
had been, as she answered in a trembling whisper, full of barely
suppressed grief, “He will.”