Female of the Species (13/?) By Lesley Mckenna

["Diana Renee Bouvier" <DianaBouvier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Female of the Species
Author: Lesley Mckenna: mckenna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Feedback: Please send it to Lesley.
Rating: PG or a mild R
Spoilers: None really.



PART THIRTEEN

Buffy tried very hard to forget about her ordeal in the water as she walked
toward the emerald forest, but it wasn't easy. The feeling of being
powerless and feeble - like any other human instead of who she was - had
been distressing and she was trying to put it behind her. Not easy though.
Not with a constant reminder - her bare legs - of how she had almost been
dragged under the water to who knew what fate.

So it was with a feeling of fatality that she continued on her way, walking
between Giles and Willow, yet harboring the notion that she was somehow
separate from them. This, she knew, was not a Good Thing and she needed to
feel close to them again.

"You okay, Buffy?" Willow, as ever, sensing her every doubt, her every
worry. Buffy found herself smiling, felt some of the connection come back.
Nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. Or I will be."

"Gave us a scare there, Buffy. Thought maybe we'd lost you." Willow was
making a brave attempt at casual, and Buffy knew it was because she was also
having a hard time controlling her own fear. The fear that she would lose
Buffy. Maybe even a worse fear than Buffy's own. Being lost was maybe better
than losing.

"Nah," Buffy responded, gripping Willow's hand tightly. "Never doubted you'd
get me out. And as for that, thanks Giles. If it wasn't for you..."

Giles smiled vaguely.

"Didn't dare let you go. Your mother would have killed me."

"And that's for sure," Buffy agreed. Now she looked around her. Despite the
beauty of the forest they had entered, the atmosphere was chill - or maybe
Buffy felt cold because she was still soaked - and she shivered. "This is so
unnatural," she said, voicing her unease. "Although, what else would we
expect from a demon realm?"

"Still beautiful though," Willow said. "In an unnatural way, of course. And
you're right - what you said before - like this being a fairy tale or
something. It's almost a cliché, isn't it? You know dangerous river to
cross; now we have to enter an enchanted forest to get to the castle at the
center. They're trying to bewitch us, but now they're just pissing me off."

"Will! You swore! How unladylike!" Buffy laughed, but then nodded her head.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, though. I mean, what's gonna be next? The Big
Bad Wolf? A Huntsman with an axe? Seven dwarves?"

"Shh, Buffy. Don't wanna give it ideas. Giles, what do you think?"

Giles shrugged.

"I think we should stop talking and keep walking," he replied somewhat
brusquely, and they fell silent and did as he suggested.

Inside the forest, more efforts to enchant them. Birdsong now filled the
air, along with a new scent, that of the deep forest glade in which they now
stood, cedar and sandalwood and patchouli. Even more heady, in they're
mellow woody way, than the scents of the other landscape. Flashes of color
overhead told them that the birds they could hear singing were also flying
around. At least, they thought the creatures were birds until one swooped
down in front of them and hovered, fluttering, before their astounded faces.

It was, of course, in keeping with the fairytale forest, a tiny woman,
totally naked, painted - or maybe her skin was naturally that vibrant - in
dazzling shades of red, orange and yellow, although they were colors that
none of the humans could have given a name to. The little woman gave another
flutter of her iridescent wings and flew forward, uttering shrill little
cries from her mouth. The birdsong they'd heard before.

Giles gave a little cry of wonder and before Buffy or Willow could do
anything, put out a finger to the fairy creature. Her face lit up in an
unholy smile of such malignant beauty that it blinded both young women for a
few seconds. Long enough for it to glide forward and bite the finger that
Giles had offered, then flew backward, where it continued to hover, trilling
loudly, almost like it was laughing.

Giles gave an exclamation of pain while Buffy tried to swat the tiny woman,
who frustratingly evaded her easily until she was forced to give up to help
Willow tend to Giles, who was looking pale and shaky. Looking at the tiny
bite mark - hardly bigger than a pinprick - Buffy saw that it was bruised,
and appeared infected.

"How can that be?" she asked Willow, then sighed. "Poisonous, right?" she
concluded, glaring at the little creature, seeing that a few more had joined
it, all beautiful, all wearing glorious shades of rainbow colors. Giles gave
a groan and sank to the ground. The wound had swollen to twice its size and
it was still swelling, becoming a purplish color. Lines of infection ran
away from it, delineating the blood vessels of his finger, his hand,
clearly.

"He'll lose his hand if we don't..." Willow began, then gave a squeal as
three of the creatures began chattering around her, scratching at her with
claw-like hands. Forced to try and fight them off, Willow fell away from
Giles. Buffy was about to make some kind of attack, but was second-guessed
and put under assault by several more winged women.

"They're trying to drive us off, Will!" she yelled. "They're tying to...
to..."

As she watched, a large swarm of the creatures settled onto Giles' inert
body, each hooking claws into pieces of clothing, or even into uncovered
flesh. Every time Buffy or Willow tried to stop them, their own attackers
snapped at them with tiny mouths full of minute fangs that were coated in
the same kind of deadly venom that had poisoned Giles. Terrified for Giles
though Buffy and Willow were, self-defense became the higher priority. Kept
at bay, they watched as Giles was finally secured, and was slowly but surely
lifted by the swarm.

"Giles!" Buffy screamed though she knew it was useless. "Giles, please fight
them..."

But Giles was unconscious to her cries, maybe, for all Buffy knew dead from
the toxin he had been injected with. Whatever, they could only stand and
watch as Giles was lifted higher and higher, through a gap in the forest
canopy, until he was just a speck in the rosy sky. Apparently satisfied that
Buffy and Willow were no longer a threat to their comrades' objective, the
other creatures ceased their attack and flew swiftly upward, out of sight.
Soon, only the birdsong remained. That and the emptiness left by Giles'
abduction. Both sobbing with a mix of anger, horror and sorrow, Buffy and
Willow clung to each other in the forest glade.

After a few moments of totally abandoned weeping, they stopped crying and
looked at each other.

"Xander, now Giles," Buffy said.

"You don't know that Giles is..." Willow pointed out, but Buffy shook her
head vigorously.

"Doesn't matter. He's hurt. And I just bet that poor Pete Madison was made
to kill himself by that so-called Eden Adams. In fact, I have no doubt about
it now. We can't just keep letting this happen, Will. Because it's not jut
happening to us, is it? It's happening all over the city. For all we know,
all over the word. So we're gonna go straight to the castle - or whatever it
is - right now. No more games, no more obstructions. I wanna go there now. I
wanna get this over."

Willow said nothing, just nodded. And once again, they began to walk.

Maybe whatever was controlling the place was bored with games too, because
their walk was unimpaired and straightforward, if quite lengthy. But
eventually they arrived at their destination, and once again, despite their
promises not to be swayed by its beauty, they stopped and stared.

"How can something that looks like this be demonic?" Willow remarked.

"I guess you wouldn't think that vampires were evil until they show their
true faces," Buffy said. "I guess this is the same thing."

But she didn't, really. This didn't feel evil, just exactly what it was, a
thing of beauty. She guessed that the succubi, lovely as they were, just
chose to live surrounded by a similar loveliness. Didn't mean they weren't
still demons though. But then the question re-emerged from the chrysalis in
which it had been developing. Why hadn't she and Willow ever been in any
true danger? They were on the side of Light and Goodness, so why would evil
demons come courting them?

"Guess we'd better find out," she said aloud, and approached the fortress.
This time there was a bridge across the moat that surrounded the fortress,
and this time it didn't collapse under them. As Buffy and Willow came to the
gates that barred entrance to the fortress, so they opened and they stepped
into a courtyard.

At once, from a door that was suffused with peach colored light, a woman
emerged. Both Buffy and Willow recognized her as Zuleka, the succubus who
had finally drained Xander's life away. Immediately, Buffy sprang for her,
silver knife in hand - the first time she'd had the presence of mind to use
it - but the succubus held out a hand and Buffy found herself stopped, like
she'd run up against a force-field.

"We do not want a fight, Slayer," Zuleka said in her purring voice. "And I
am on my own ground here, so would defeat you easily. Lower your weapon. No
harm is intended to you."

"Where's Giles?" Buffy snapped, lowering her knife a little, but not her
defenses. "I know you got him somewhere."

"We have him, yes," Zuleka admitted without hesitation. "And he will be
well." A small, cat-like smile. "We shall be keeping him. He is special."

"If you..." Buffy warned, but again, Zuleka held up a slim hand.

"Stop your threats, Slayer, and come with me. Lilith herself has requested
that you meet with her. She will explain what she wants from you, and what
she can give you in return."

"Nothing we want," muttered Buffy. "Right, Will?"

"Yeah, right," Willow responded, but Buffy didn't feel as though Willow's
heart was really in her agreement. But knowing when she was beaten - if only
temporarily - she nodded.

"Okay. For now I'll go with you. But you have to know we'll get out of here
and..."

"Well of course you'll get out of here." Zuleka smiled and the whole of her
face lit up, making her ethereally beautiful. "You will be of little use
here when your real work for us will be on Earth itself. But, no more.
Lilith wishes to explain, and it is not my place to say more. So please,
follow. You are welcome here, Slayer and Great Sorceress."

Glancing at Willow, Buffy frowned and together they followed Zuleka into the
fortress. Or rather, palace, because inside this place was anything but
warlike. No weapons on the walls, only magnificent paintings, tapestries,
mosaics. All was decorated sumptuously in subtly gilded casts of pastel
tints. Rich yet delicate. There was no obvious light source, yet the peach
glow suffused everything, giving a warm, welcoming feel. Not anything like
the hell that Buffy had expected. But hadn't Zuleka said they weren't from
Hell, these succubi? But where else could evil live?

They came out from the corridor into a brighter area that reminded Buffy of
pictures she had seen of the Alhambra in Spain. Arabic in influence, the
area was an enclosed courtyard. Surrounded by white fretwork walls in which
oval windows were set, the small quadrant was covered in white sand, and in
the center, a white marble fountain jetted cool clear water into the cool,
light air. At once, Buffy was consumed with the need to drink from it. And
she could see that Willow felt the same way, because the witch kept glancing
toward it thirstily. Apart from her dunking in the river, Buffy realized she
hadn't drunk anything for hours. Buffy could almost taste the water. It
would be cold, crisp and sweet...

"If you were to drink from that fountain," Zuleka said with a little smile,
"you would forget your whole lives in an instant and would become ours to do
with as we required. But we do not wish that for you. We need your
independence and clear thinking. So put away your thoughts of tasting the
water."

And the visions of drinking faded away as though they'd never been there.

"We are about to enter Lilith's private chambers," Zuleka said, leading the
way through another door. "I ask that you be respectful. Do not make her
angry, for her anger is terrible to behold and you do not wish any further
harm to come to your male friend."

Buffy thought that she wasn't afraid of Lilith's anger, but she was afraid
for Giles. So she merely nodded, but made a silent vow to herself that she
would do whatever she could to ensure they all got out of there, and that
Lilith was prevented from doing whatever it was she had planned.

Zuleka stopped outside a pair of gilded doors, knocked respectfully once and
went inside. Buffy heard a whispered conversation that sounded more like an
angelic choir singing, then Zuleka returned. Bowed.

"Lilith will see you now."

Buffy wasn't sure what she expected. Probably - despite everything she'd
seen of the succubi - demon ugliness. But Lilith was not ugly. Nor was she
beautiful, like her handmaidens, although it was obvious that once, a long,
long time ago, she had been even more beautiful than any of the succubi
could hope to be. Lilith was of apparently very great age, small and
slightly hunched in her chair. Looking into Lilith's face, Buffy saw that
the skin was dark, although not as black as Zuleka's, more a coffee color.
It was also seamed with wrinkles. But within the wrinkles, eyes bright as
black suns, lively with intelligence and - yes - humor.

"Oh..." Buffy heard Willow gasp, and smiled wryly to herself. "Oh" just
about summed it up perfectly.

"You are surprised at me?" Lilith said; her voice was fragile, belying the
great strength that lay within the aged form. "You expected another Zuleka,
perhaps? Or," a sly smile at Buffy, "another Deanna?" Buffy felt her face
turn a deep red didn't dare look at Willow. "Ah, was that unkind, Slayer?
Reminding you of the pleasures you and she shared together? Or would you
perhaps enjoy a repeat performance?"

Buffy struggled to keep her temper, remembering Giles, held somewhere in
this honeyed trap.

"Deanna cast a spell on me. Otherwise you gotta know that I'd never, ever
betray Will."

Lilith smiled, nodded, and Buffy had the crazy impression that she was
pleased with her reply. The elder's next words confirmed it.

"Loyalty. Good. Once your word is given, you do not break it unless there is
no alternative."

"Yeah. Right."

The old eyes turned on Willow now; who stood silent and shaking slightly.
Buffy thought it was with as much awe as fear.

"You, the Great Sorceress, do you know who I am? Other than my Lilith self?"

Willow nodded, Buffy saw her swallow hard.

"Yeah. I know," Willow said and Buffy frowned. Lilith was someone else? "You
know I summoned all aspects of the Goddess, Buffy?"

"Yeah..." Buffy replied hesitantly.

"Well, Lilith is a representation of her. The Crone. The Goddess. Buffy, I
can't fight her. I can't..."

"Will... I don't understand..."

"Willow summoned me, and from then on, this journey was fated," Lilith said.
"Perhaps Willow might have stood fast if she had only invoked the Light
aspect of the Goddess, but she did not. And that gave me the extra power to
bring you both here. Oh, do not doubt that you would have come here
eventually, it's just that Willow has made my work so much easier. You have
had so much less time to know how to fight me, and have given me the
strength to make my daughters more... influential."

Buffy glanced at Willow, but found that Willow wouldn't meet her eyes, just
stood looking at the ground, her face flaming with shame. Well, okay, Buffy
thought. No blame placing. They were here now, and if they could, they had
to stop... whatever was happening here. Nothing else mattered. Except...

"Why?" she asked. "What's your aim? And why do you think you need us?"

Lilith the Goddess/demon smiled again.

"You two are special amongst human women. You have transcended mortal
ability, command forces that no other women on earth command. You, Slayer,
are the ultimate fighting machine. Your skills are second to none, and your
mind is bright and incisive, well suited for war strategy. In short, you are
a natural leader. And as for Willow..." Lilith turned her smile on the
still-silent sorceress. "No witch has ever gained the skills that she has.
She has a grasp on magic given to her by my sister Goddess, and I can make
it even greater..."

"But why? What d'you want?"

"Look at your Earth, Slayer. What was once my Earth before my Mother power
was revoked by Adam's greed and so-called authority. Wrenched from me by a
jealous male God. Wars, destruction, desecration. The wearing down of the
Mother figure, to give men patriarchal authority over women, who are reduced
to being second class citizens despite the apparent change in values..."

"Hey, you got it wrong," Buffy protested.

"Have I?" Lilith countered. "Have I really? Think about it, Slayer. What are
men but fighting creatures, fueled by pride and testosterone? They have no
compassion, no appreciation of the concept of peace and harmony."

"Not all men are like that."

"No. No, it is true. Not all men." Lilith's smile softened a little. "Some
men are blessed with female traits. And they are the ones who will be
saved..."

"Saved?" Buffy shook her head; she still didn't quite understand where this
conversation was going. So some men were warlike bullies? So what? Didn't
mean it was right to condemn the whole male race.

"Saved for the breeding program," Lilith said.

"Breeding program...? Will, do you understand what she's talking about?"

Willow raised her head, looked Buffy in the eye, and shrugged.

"I think Willow understands perfectly," Lilith said. "She and I are close -
she comprehends the Goddess very well, even what you might call the dark
side, what I prefer to call the Bringer of the Death Cycle. Death of the old
system, Slayer, so that the new may be born."

"Will, will you please just tell me?"

Willow sighed, nodded.

"Okay. What Lilith means is that she... she intends death to men. No... Not
all men. There will be chosen men who will be saved and... enslaved for...
for as she says, a breeding program." She looked Lilith in the eye. "That's
what you meant, isn't it?"

"As I said, you and I, we understand each other very well."

"That's... That's crazy!" Buffy exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"Give me a good reason why not?" Lilith asked, reasonably.

"Because... because it's wrong! It's murder!"

"Is it? And what about the million murders of newborn girl children, left
out to the elements by their fathers because they were not sons? What about
the Burning Times when thousands upon thousands of innocent women were
killed because they were different? What about the beating of women by men
who...?"

"Doesn't make it right to want revenge," Buffy said, but she had pictures in
her mind now that reflected what Lilith had spoken of.

"Not revenge. Vengeance."

"And what's the difference?" Buffy snapped.

"Revenge is not always just. Vengeance always is. And you, Slayer, will be
my Vengeance."

"No way!" Buffy said, looking to Willow again, begging her with her mind to
back her up. But Willow appeared lost in a world of her own, and didn't
respond. Lilith smiled another smile.

"We shall see," she said, unfazed. "We shall see."