Dawn held her breath, trying to listen through the door. She knew, as soon as she saw Willow and Giles go into Althenea’s room that something big was going on. She just hoped that Buffy and Spike would be okay when all this was over.

Because, the way the voices behind that door were rising, she wasn’t sure they could be.
********************************************************

Giles could feel the tension rising. The danger in this house was real. They didn’t have much time left. He looked at Althenea expectantly, his voice teetering on the razor’s edge of frustration and rage, “Well?”

Her hazel eyes were soft with worry and understanding. She shook her head, sadly, “Rupert,” Althenea sighed, “I can’t let you take that risk. Not again,” her eyes drifted slowly to Willow, who could not meet her knowing gaze, “We did it once before,” she calmly told him, “and you barely came back. You’re family here, Rupert. I can’t do it,” she sighed heavily.

“Family?” his voice was grating with rage, “Woman,” he said slowly, standing on legs that trembled with fear and fury, “all the family I…” Giles swallowed the terror. He would not break. He couldn’t, “…have in the world- is in that room. I have to do this,” his voice became sharp with the decision he had made, “And I will,” his eyes met hers, bright with intention, “You know I can. With or without your assistance, it will be done.”

Althenea’s eyes widened in shock, “Rupert, you can’t put Willow in that kind of danger!”

Willow watched as what he intended to do became clear to her. Oh, Goddess, no! He can’t! She caught his arm in a desperate grip, “Giles, you can’t!”

Giles looked down at the small hand that held his arm, and smiled ruefully at Willow as he spoke to Althenea’s concerns, “Miss Rosenberg will be in no danger,” he said quietly, “The risk is mine. And, only mine.”

As Althenea Morris watched two people she had grown to care for head to the upper level of the house, she called out to her friend, “Rupert, it’s suicide!”

Giles smiled at Dawn, who was still hovering around the door. The look of concern on her face was enough motivation for him. He nodded, trying to reassure her. It was then that Althenea’s words finally slipped into his conscious mind.

Well…It’s a good day to die.

There was something familiar about the way Giles looked at her. Something that made warmth rush into Dawn’s heart; that something made her know that everything was going to be all right.
*********************************************

Thump…thump…thump…th…ump. What is that noise? Is that my heart beating? Why is it so loud? And…is someone calling my name?

She could hear voices, but they were muffled and sounded like they were far away. It was almost as if she was under water. She felt dizzy as the sting of his fangs cut through the blinding haze. It should have hurt. The fangs of a killer were in her throat, and it should have hurt.

The feeling she felt was nothing more than mind-bending fury. Anger so old there wasn’t a word for it, and it had Spike’s fangs in her throat.

Oh Spike. I’m so sorry. I should have saved you from this. I know…and now you never will…

She began to slip under. She knew, from somewhere outside herself, that she was dying; that she was being held in the embrace of death by arms that once held her in a passion she couldn’t feel. They were strong arms. Arms that should have held her now, but they didn’t. They had disappeared. She was dying in his arms- alone. He was gone. He’d disappeared before her eyes.

And she’d watched it happen. She’d let it happen.

Oh God…I’m sorry…Spike… Then, through the fog, came the whisper of something. Something she had all but forgotten in this dance.

It should hurt. He should be tearing my throat out like Angel did. That didn’t feel like this. This should hurt. Why doesn’t it?

Spike? William, are you still here?

That was when she felt it. Under all the anger and the loud thumping noise, was a feeling she never expected. At least, not from the thing that was wearing Spike’s face.

Fear.

Buffy realized that the thing that had her didn’t want her dead. If it had, there would be no stopping it from killing her. After all, she knew this thing. It was part of her. She knew that the rage was consuming. It knew nothing but the kill. She knew it had nothing to fear.

Yet it did. And that gave her power over it. It gave her the power to bring him back.

The noise was getting quieter now. Thump…Th…ump…th….ump… The soft hiss of ragged breathing filled her ears, and made her body shake as it shuffled off the shell of living. The throes of death held her now.

He held her now.

The murmur of strong voices was hidden now; lost in the ecstasy of the dance.
*****************************************************************************

Giles looked anxiously at Willow’s face; eyes closed tight in concentration and pinched with worry and exertion. He strained to hear any signs of life beyond the door, but there was nothing. They were out of time, “Willow!” he hissed, “Get. That. Door. Open…Now!”

Her voice was tight with effort, “I’m trying…I’m trying…Oh, Goddess!” she gasped, “There’s so much…hate!”

He knew that. He felt it, too. It was the darkest presence the old warlock had felt since Eyghon. In fact, this was beyond that. Oh God! Has the institution my family gave its life to, subjected generations of young women and * girls * to something this dark? It’s darker than anything I’ve felt- even from a vampire. Oh God, Buffy!

But then, under the weight of the hate, Giles sensed something else fighting against the current; something that was small and urgent, but important, and unchanging; something that was quickly waning under the swell of hate.

Something- someone that he had taken comfort in, when there was only grief; when there was nothing but the loss of her. He had taken comfort in their mutual love for her, and in fact, his constant presence had saved him from death more than once during that long, excruciating summer without her.

Spike.

And, he was panicked, almost beyond reason.

She’s dying! I can feel it! Oh God, no! It’s me…It’s me…Help me…Can’t…no…it’s me…Oh, help…She’s dying, and I…Am…killing…Her…Oh God. Killing…her…Her…so sweet…I can’t! It’s her! Her…Buffy!…Oh God…that’s it…sleep, sweet…so sweet…Down…Down…down….Sweet silence…

The pain and fear he felt was all he needed. Willow was no longer needed. He called upon the rage and hate that once consumed him, and focused it to the task.

You will yield! Open. This. Door. Now!

As Buffy fell into the ecstasy of Heaven once more, the room clapped with thunder and was bathed in a red glow. She was forcibly driven from the peace. Ripped from the peace of that place, and his arms, again, and flung out into the emptiness, as she dimly felt her body hit the wall of the room. She was lost again, away from him. she wept at the pain of it, “No,” she whispered as she fell into unconsciousness.

Giles’s voice rang with otherworldly power and strength, “I believe this has gone far enough!”

Startled amber eyes took him in, and hardened in defiance as a tongue touched fangs that were coated in blood, a mouth widened in a ghastly grimace, “The weakling is gone,” the monster climbed to its feet, “It is I who live now,” the voice was cool and calm, its gaze fell upon the still form that lay in the room with it.

Giles followed the gaze, “Willow,” he called calmly to the girl at his side, “do what you can for her.”

Willow nodded, and rushed to Buffy’s side.

Spike’s voice was cool and deadly, “Foolish man,” it chuckled, “The weakness of the Slayers, and this vessel, has been purged. It is I that am now. That cannot change. And if you attempt to change what cannot be changed, I will destroy you.”

Giles walked slowly into the room, “Willow,” he said, never taking his eyes off of the vampire, “…is she…?”

“No,” Willow’s voice was quiet with relief, “but I couldn’t tell you why not. She’ll be out of it for a while though. We might need to get her to a hospital.”

Giles nodded tersely. He knew that Dawn was nearby, “Dawn, please come in here and help Willow to take your sister to safety.”

Dawn was a blur as she rushed in to help Willow. When she saw her sister, fallen in a heap on the floor, she tried not to cry as she picked up her sister and, she and Willow silently, carried her out of the room, and away from danger.

When Giles was sure that Buffy and Dawn were relatively safe, and the door was shut, effectively sealing him in with the lion, he turned his attention to the beast in William’s body, “Now,” he said, his tone calm, “You say that what has happened cannot be changed,” his head tilted as he regarded his opponent, “Yet you tell me that you will destroy me, if I attempt to do so,” he grinned, as a new confidence flowed through him, “I think there is a flaw in that argument. I’d like to test my theory, if you don’t mind.”