Obsession
by Bwriter
Part 32
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Part 32
Buffy ducked down into the sewers, flinching when the sun hit her exposed hand.
She had never gotten used to moving around outside during the day as she had always had minions to do her dirty work.
She turned and sniffed the air, catching Penn's lingering scent.
Following it, Buffy made her way to the house where Holtz was, not once looking back the way she came.
It took her half an hour, and she knew that by now, Angelus had told the others, to Willow, what she had done.
She wasn't stupid, she knew Willow was going to come after her, she just hoped that Holtz wasn't in the picture when the Slayer found her.
-----btvs-----
Holtz's head snapped up when he heard the back door open and close.
Taking a deep breath, his eyes widened when he recognised the scent.
Picking up his knife, he made his way up the steps, hiding the syringe he had found in one of the suitcases behind his back before easing open the kitchen door.
"Hello Buffy."
-----btvs-----
Willow grunted as her foot caught on something, and she didn't even want to know what it was.
Because some of their group had the sunlight problem, they were currently walking through the sewers. If their was one thing Willow hated, it was rats.
"How much further?"
Angelus paused and looked back, shooting a scowl at Xander.
"We will get there when we get there boy."
No-one knew he was leading them the wrong way, well no-one except Penn, who knew the reason why.
-----btvs-----
Buffy had already fired her cross-bow before he finished her name.
She cursed when she missed the heart and got his lung instead.
Holtz chuckled and pulled the arrow out before tossing the knife at Buffy, catching her in the arm.
The fight was on.
-----btvs-----
Willow stopped walking when it hit her, causing Gunn to walk into her.
"Hey Will, you wanna keep moving there?"
Willow shook her head.
"Angelus." her tone made him stop.
"We have been walking for over an hour now. Would you like to explain why you are leading us around in circles?"
Everyone whipped their heads to face him, Gunn and Wes going as far to growl and vamp out.
Angelus sighed and straightened his back.
"Buffy knew you'd come after her and she told me to delay your arrival."
Willow's eyes closed. She should have known her Mate would do this.
"Penn."
Penn stepped up beside Willow and ignored the argument now going on around him.
"You've been to the house. Take me there. Now."
-----btvs-----
Neither was winning.
Both we bleeding.
And both knew they were fighting a loosing battle.
Holtz growled as Buffy's punch broke one of his fangs clean off.
"That's got to hurt."
He lunged, but was off by a inch, and Buffy brought her fist down hard on his temple.
He staggered before falling over, although he was soon on his feet again.
"Why are you even here?"
Buffy growled as her eyes turned golden. It was the first time she had vamped out during the fight.
"You were brought here to kill my Mate. I refuse to let that happen."
He grinned then, and licked at the blood pooling from his broken fang. That was going to take time to heal, if he survived this fight.
"How poetic. You kill my Mate, and now I have the chance to return the favour."
Buffy snarled and pounced.
-----btvs-----
Finally, Willow thought when the sewer entrance was spotted up ahead.
"This is definitely it Penn?"
He nodded his head as his eyes landed on his 'brothers'.
They all knew Buffy was still alive, they hadn't felt her die yet.
Willow rounded on Angelus and pinned him with a glare.
"If anything happens to her, I don't care if she did ask you, I will kill you." it was said with such venom, he grinned, thinking she would make a wonderful demon.
-----btvs-----
Buffy and Holtz were done. They were both hanging on by a thread.
A very thin thread.
Using the last of his energy, Holtz removed the syringe from his back pocket, thankful that it hadn't smashed during the fight.
"End of the line Buffy."
He had missed the flick of her hand, and therefore didn't see the piece of wood until it was too late.
As he lunged to plunge the needle into her chest, her stake found its mark.
"Bitch." Holtz crumpled to dust just as the front door was kicked open.
"Buffy!"
Buffy tried to turn towards the sound of Willow's voice, but as she moved, so did the earth.
The floor rushing up to meet her, was the last thing she saw before the world went black.
-----btvs-----
Willow screamed as she saw Buffy fall onto the dusty remains of Holtz.
Angelus reached his Sire first and turned her over, checking for broken bones or something that could prove fatal.
When he saw the syringe still embedded in her skin, he frowned and turned to the others.
"He poisoned her with something." his eyes were gold, matching that of the other Vampire's in the room.
Willow fell to her knees beside her Mate and gathered her into her arms.
"Buffy, baby you have to wake up," when nothing happened Willow panicked and shook her lover, "wake up for fucks sake... WAKE UP!"
"n...no ne...ed to sho...ut."
Willow sobbed with relief and let Gunn pick up Buffy.
"Baby, how do you feel?"
Buffy's eyes closed again before the opened slowly.
"Tir...ed."
Willow smiled and stoked her lover's vampy face.
"Try to stay awake, we need to find out what he used." It was no use, Buffy was sleeping again.
Angelus eased the needle out of his Sire and pocketed it.
"We need to find out what it was."
Giles avoided everyone's eyes, though no-one noticed.
He knew exactly what it was. After the Cruciamentum, if Holtz won, as the council wanted him to, they planned to use the poison to kill him.
It was The Killer of the Dead, and as far as he knew, there was no cure.
Looking over at his Slayer, he cringed. How was she going to handle the death of her Mate?
-----btvs-----
Willow looked down at her lover spread out on their bed and tried to hold the tears in.
The area around the initial injection, was an angry red. Willow could see the poison spreading through Buffy's dead veins and squeeze her eyes shut, hoping to block out the sight.
It didn't work.
-----btvs-----
Giles closed his eyes. He was going to have to tell Willow the truth. It seemed all he was doing lately, was either giving bad news, or lying outright.
"Willow?"
The Slayer turned and offered him a weak smile.
"How is she?"
When he saw her face crumple, he kicked himself for what he was about to do.
"I have some information. Could you come down stairs? I would like to tell everyone together."
Willow nodded and gently set Buffy's hand down on the bed, hating the way her lover's body was wracked with spasms.
Giles looked at all the people looking back at him, hoping to hear some good news.
"I'm afraid what I have to tell you isn't good news." He paused as his eyes met Willow's.
"There is no cure for the poison which has infected Buffy."
The Vampire's and Willow all started talking at once, but it was Xander who asked the smart question.
"How do you know, if we don't know what the poison is?"
Everyone shut up, and golden eyes locked on the watcher.
"I know what it is," he rushed on when it looked like Gunn was going to say something. "Its called The Killer of the Dead. The Council, they were going to use it on Holtz, in the event that he killed Willow, which we know is what they wanted. There is no known cure." his eyes locked with Willow's.
"I'm so sorry."
Willow walked up to him and before anyone could move, slapped him hard across the face.
The blow would have been worse had she not still been under the effects of the drug.
"You knew you bastard."
She fled the room in tears, running to the one person who would make it all better, but who was in no position to do so.
-----btvs-----
Angelus turned golden eyes on Giles and marched forward.
"How long does she have?"
Giles shook, for the first time feeling the power roll off the vampire before him.
"A day at most."
Angelus' eyes closed before he turned and locked eyes with his 'brothers'.
Turning back to Giles, he snarled and bared his fangs.
"You phone your council. You tell them that if they have not found a cure for this poison in the next twelve hours, hell itself is going to pay a visit."
He turned and walked out of the room, his family behind him, all following Willow's path to Buffy.
-----btvs-----
Giles' hand shook as he picked up the phone. The only reason he was calling, was so he could say he tried.
"Williams? Yes, its Rupert. Listen..." Giles told the council-man about what had happened, including the deaths of all the council members in the house.
"I need to know, is there a cure?"
He expected the man to say no.
"Yes, there is."
Giles' eyes widened with hope and he missed Wes walking into the room.
"Excellent. What is it?"
His colleague paused, "it's the blood of a Slayer Rupert."
Wes left the room before Giles spotted him.
-----btvs-----
Wes slipped quietly into the room where is family was, and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"There is a cure." He voice was quiet.
"Well, what is it?" Angelus was loosing his patience.
Wes turned to look at Willow.
"Its Slayer blood."
"N....o"
Everyone turned to Buffy, to see her attempting to growl at them. She had no energy left and hadn't switched from game face yet.
Willow looked up and met her Mate's eyes.
"Could you all leave us please." It wasn't a question.
They all paused before nodding and bowing out as a show of respect.
Buffy weakly tried to shake her head no at Willow who smiled and moved to lay beside her on the bed.
"Buffy, it's the only way."
Buffy looked away from Willow, wishing she had the power to run from the room.
"I wo...nt k..ill you."
Willow softly smiled and reached up, stroking the soft skin on Buffy's neck where her pulse should beat.
"I'm not giving you a choice lover."
Pulling Buffy gently on top of her, Willow brought her lover's face to her own neck and pressed her there.
Buffy shook her head weakly, which resulted in Willow pressing in harder.
"Drink Buffy."
Buffy's demon broke free and buried her soul.
As her lover's fangs gently broke skin, Willow sighed.
"Thank you."
Buffy drank until she could feel her strength returning. When she was able to, she pulled back, her demon still in control. She could hear Willow's heart slow, and killing her Mate wasn't on Buffy's to do list.
Lifting her own hand to her mouth, Buffy tore into her skin and brought her bloody wrist to Willow's mouth, urging her to drink.
Willow swallowed slowly at first, then with more strength before she fell back to the bed.
Buffy's sanity returned as she heard Willow's heart take its last beat.
"Oh god, what have I done?"
Fin
a/n - okay, so i woke up this morning feeling like hell, turns out I have the flu, which means no classes - thank god for friends with study notes - but it also means im stuck in bed with nothing to do during the day so expect more updates from my other stories