Leaving Her
by Salix
Surprises and Knives
[reviews]
"Buffy, Willow hi! It's great to see you again. It's been years. You two look fantastic. Willow, did you do something new with your hair? It looks great, really, it does. So, what brings you four here?" she asked an then looked over at the second eldest slayer. "Faith, nice to see you too. Although, the last time I saw you, you tried to kill me, but hey, I'm over it. No grudges being held at all. Who's the pipsqueak? Never seen her before. Is she another one of those little slayers? Man, those girls have been poppin up all over the place, let them tell you," the woman babbled. Only she didn't need to stop and take a breath so she was able to put Willow, the queen of babbling, to shame. But they were in too much shock to really worry about that now.
The three women still didn't know what to say. This was such a shock, a surprise, a 'what the fuck?' How, well they know how, but when did this happen? And Faith already knew about it? Why didn't she tell the other two? This was just so crazy, they didn't know if they would be able to handle it. Willow bounced back a lot quicker then the other two and she perked right up and raised her hand high in the air.
"I call dibs," she said. She got a small smile from Ashley but the other two were being too serious at the moment to think it was funny. Buffy just couldn't understand. When did this happen, and why did no one tell her? Sure she moved across the country and kept her contact information somewhat of a secret, but they have resources. It's not like one of the guys couldn't have typed her name into an internet search engine and find out almost everything about her, that's what computers are for. That's pretty much how Willow found out most of the information for them in the past. What the fuck?
"Cordelia, when did this happen? And what do you mean the last time you saw Faith? Faith you knew about this and you didn't tell me?" Buffy asked, sounding like she had been betrayed. It wasn't like Buffy and the other woman were friends or anything, but they've known each other long enough that when one is turned into a vampire anyone else who knows should at least inform the other. Common courtesy, doesn't anyone have it anymore?
"Yeah, well figured since we were looking for your kid you wouldn't want to know about it until later. Sort of just slipped my mind. How the hell did you get out of that fire?" Faith asked and eyed the woman up and down. She didn't have a burn mark on her and Faith had made sure that the entire house was lit with the bright embers so that every vampire inside of the building would die. She even stuck around in case any of them did survive, she thought none had.
"While you were throwing gasoline around the house I just snuck out the bathroom window. Not the most gracious way to escape a place but, hey, it worked. So, what brings you three here?" There was a small moment's pause filled with some tension. "Oh Right, your kid. She's a doll, gotta tell ya. Didn't scream or cry out for her mommies the entire time. She was a trooper. You guys did a great job, have you been thinking about adopting another? 'Cause I gotta say, if you can prevent one kid from becoming one of those stereotypical foster kids, why not save another?" she asked and looked both Buffy and Willow in the eyes. She noticed that they kept glancing over at the bed, over at their daughter. Her eyes widened when she realized what they must be thinking, and she laughed a little for forgetting to inform them.
"She's not dead, we just wanted her unconscious. Wouldn't want her to see her parents acting violent, now would we? You know, they say that children do as they learn, isn't that right Buffy? You let Angel bite you, and lookey what we have here, two little bite marks. You know, those're pretty high up on her thigh for there to not have been anything else going on. Did you know that she was dating a vampire? Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" Willow aimed and fired off the crossbow but Cordelia grabbed the arrow only seconds before it hit her heart. She glared at Willow and then dropped it to the ground.
"Cordelia, why are you helping Spike? You hated Spike as much as everyone else did," Willow said and reloaded the crossbow. The former May Queen walked over to Spike and started to run the back of her hand over the back of his head, as if she were petting him or something. He didn't seem to notice, or he was really good at pretending because his eyes stayed on the slayers, the knife didn't move from where it was held on Emily's throat, and his gaze never softened.
"Spike is just a harmless little lamb, someone has to help him do all of the dirty work. Looks like he already did some of it himself. You know, she'll probably need a transfusion if she's going to come out of this without any brain damage. Ha, but what am I saying? None of you are going to come out of this. At least not with pulses, or a heartbeat, or skin tone," she said and then started to laugh. Buffy tried not to roll her eyes. She saw Cordelia tense up, her gaze went unfocused for a few seconds. Buffy was about to strike, but then she saw Spike press the knife a little harder against Emily's skin.
"Do it and I kill her," he warned so they all stayed where they were. Buffy hated just standing here like this while her baby was in trouble. They were so close, so damn close. They watched as Cordelia seemed to snap out of her gaze and a large grin played across her face. She looked over at the youngest slayer and then smiled even wider. They had no idea what the hell had made her so happy but if Buffy had to guess then it was just that Cordelia was insane. It seems like every female that gets involved with Spike is either insane or will become insane.
"We'll make a trade. We let your lovely daughter go, if the pipsqueak stays behind. Sounds fair enough. Emily is just a little defenseless girl who's tied to a bed and most of her blood is gone. That one is a slayer and if I'm guessing right it's the one in charge of the training program at the new Council building that Giles set up. That means she's really good at the fighting and all of that. Come on Buffy, what do you say?" she asked and looked into the hazel eyes of an enraged slayer. She couldn't do that, she wouldn't do that. It just wasn't right. None of this was right. None of this was supposed to be happening. She took a glance over at Spike and he just pressed the knife harder against the teen's throat and she started to bleed a little.
Before any of them knew what had happened the knife was lifted up into the air and it flew into Willow's hand. When everyone looked over at her, her eyes were completely white, and the magic was coming off of her in waves. Without a moment's hesitation Ashley lunged forward towards Cordelia, and slammed her up against the wall. Buffy and Faith concentrated on getting Spike away from the bed before he did anything else to hurt the girl. He was able to elude all of their swings from their weapons but he froze and screamed out in pain when the bolt from the crossbow landed just centimeters above his heart. He quickly pulled out the wood and threw it at Buffy, hitting her in thigh.
Willow sent an electrical shock of magic his way but he was able to dodge it. He ran over to where Cordelia was fighting the teen and he sucker punched the girl in the side of the head. She fell onto her side and he grabbed onto Cordelia's wrist and started to pull her away. Willow stayed with the two teenagers while Buffy and Faith gave chase. The two vampires had the advantage of knowing every turn, and when to duck down because of a low pipe. They were so far ahead and the slayers knew that they had to catch them or else they might never get the chance to kill them, very painfully.
Buffy saw a door up ahead with a very large 'Exit' sign on it. She took a chance and she threw her axe at them, but instead of hitting Spike in the back of the head like she had hoped, it hit him in the spine. He screamed out in pain and fell to the floor. Cordelia tried to help him up but the slayers were quickly approaching and the blonde vampire insisted that she leave, so she did. Faith took off after Cordelia as she bolted out of the exit door, and Buffy stayed behind with the fallen vamp. She reached down and pulled the axe out of his back, she could hear the bones moving around as she did, and he screamed out in pain.
"Good to see you again, Slayer. Glad we have this opportunity to catch up. So, how've you been?" he asked and she kicked him as hard as she could. He slammed against the wall and slid down and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't move. He looked down at them with some sock and he tried to kick her, but he didn't get a response. She smiled and let out a little chuckle.
"What's the matter Spike? Having trouble getting up? Here, let me help you," she said and grabbed him by the shoulder with one hand and held him against the wall. She wasn't gentle about any of it, and when she pushed him against the wall she heard the satisfying sound of his shoulder blade cracking. He winced but he didn't say anything to her about it. She looked into his eyes and saw fear, oh, she was going to enjoy this. She dropped the axe and with her free hand she reached down to the waistband of her jeans and pulled the hunting knife out of its sheath.
"Why did you take her? You should know by now that if you want to hurt me you don't go after my family or friends. That'll just get you into trouble. Or was it Cordelia's idea? Are you so pussy whipped that you'll go along with whatever stupid idea pops into her almost nonexistent brain?" She stabbed him in the side with the knife, digging it in as deep as it would go. When he held in the scream, when he didn't beg for mercy, she twisted it around a little and got the desired effects. He screamed so loud it caused a ringing in her ears, but she kept her face blank and emotionless.
She pulled it out, and then wiped the blood off on his shirt and looked into his eyes again. For a tiny, iddy-biddy fraction of a second she felt sorry for him. He was now paralyzed so he was pretty much harmless, and he was being tortured by the woman that in his mind he once loved. But then she remembered that he had kidnaped her daughter, and has her tied to a bed in her underwear, and he did only God knows what to her before she went unconscious. Hell, he could've done stuff to her while she was unconscious. He is an evil bastard after all.
She didn't wait for him to answer her and she didn't want him to beg for his life. That would just make him look pathetic. She used the knife to cut his shirt down the middle and then she ripped it off of his body. She thought she saw him smile just a little bit and it gave her even more incentive to do what she was about to do. She stabbed the knife into his chest, an inch or two above where is heart is. He screamed out in pain, but she ignored it. She started to carve, to slice to cut away at the bone and the skin. Blood started to run out of him; her daughter's blood. She knows how the system works: a vampire drinks the blood, it becomes a part of them, flows through their veins, but then it drys up, goes away and they need more.
She heard Faith walk up behind her, heard the once torturous slayer tell her stop and just kill him already but she wouldn't stop. She wanted to see it, she needed to see it. When she thought she had cut enough away she dropped the knife and heard it clatter to the floor. She reached out with her free hand, and grabbed onto the bone and muscle and flesh that was hanging out of the demon. She looked into his pain and fear filled eyes as she wrapped her fingers around the half circled she had created, she could feel the coldness, and it ickiness of the inside of his body. He shook his head vigorously and screamed the word no as she ripped down, hard.
She could hear the bones snapping and the muscles ripping and the flesh tearing and when she no longer felt any resistance she looked down at her hand and saw the huge piece of the demon that she now held in her hand. She looked back up at him, most of the left part of his chest was gone. She dropped the chunk to the floor and she looked into the chest cavity and she saw what she was looking for. She studied it for a few minutes before she slowly reached inside and ripped out his heart. She held it in her hand, studied the weight of it, the color even the smell. It smelt like decay, it looked like death. She gave it a little squeeze and some type of thick liquid came out of the veins that would normal send blood rushing to the rest of the body.
She looked back up at Spike and wondered why he was still alive, why he hadn't turned to dust. She let go of him, and he fell limply to the floor. She heard him start to beg but it was too late for him. He was a goner, as good as dead, now that he had royally pissed her off and threatened her daughter, had tasted the blood of the person Buffy loves more then life itself. She reached over and grabbed the stake that Faith was holding in her hand, the same one that she used to kill Cordelia, and Buffy took her time with it. She looked into Spike's eyes, she could almost smell the fear coming off of him.
"You're better off dead," she told him, and then she took the dead muscle and slowly pressed it against the tip of the wooden stake. She could hear Spike screaming in pain and she watched as he grabbed at what used to be part of his chest but it now just an empty hole. She pushed the heart the rest of the way so that it was in the middle of the stake, and then she watched as Spike turned to dust and two seconds after so did his heart.
She dropped the stake onto the ground and then picked up her axe and knife. She put the knife back in its sheath and then looked over at Faith. She was a little surprised to see that the 'bad ass, don't get in my way, I live by my own rules,' slayer had thrown up. 'Should I be worried that I was able to make Faith sick?' she asked herself, but then decided to worry about it later.
They started to make their way back to the room where they had left Willow and the two teenagers, but it was too much of a maze. Faith started to yell out 'Marco' but Buffy was too worried to see the humor in it, and she punched Faith in the arm to shut her up. The blood was starting to dry on her hand, making the skin feel tight and itchy. But she forgot all about it when she saw Willow's tiny tinker bell light appear and they followed it back to the room. The first thing she did was enveloped her wife in a big hug and then Faith informed the witch that the two vamps were dead. She thought it would be best if she didn't explain who Spike had met his end, at least not yet.
Then Buffy rushed over to the bed and broke the handcuffs, freeing her daughter's ankles and wrists. She watched as Willow took off her jacket and then handed it to the blonde. Buffy then covered the teen girl up with it and then lifted her off of the bed. They used to tinker bell light to find their way out of the basement. Buffy gave Willow a quick kiss on the lips and told the redhead to just meet her at the hospital. They didn't have a car and it would take too long to wait for an ambulance so she ran to the hospital, making it there in ten minutes.
She rushed into the ER and Emily was taken away. The nurses started to ask her questions until they saw the vampire bites. In Sunnydale the people at the hospitals know that its better to keep your mouth shut when you see those. Asking too many questions about the nightlife around here could get you killed. They performed all of the standard tests to make sure that she was ok, and Buffy requested that they check to see if she had been raped. She saw the nurse's eyes fill with tears when she said that. But then she was ordered out of the room so they could perform the tests and Buffy reluctantly left, sitting in the waiting room for them to finish.
She sat in the uncomfortable chair, her head in her hands, her elbows propped on her knees. She was staring at the floor wondering when everything had gone so horribly wrong. They were fine, they were happy again, why did this have to happen? Why did everything always have to screw up? She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching, hoping that it would be the doctor delivering good news. Instead she saw Willow, rushing forward, looking a little winded. Buffy jumped out of her chair and embraced Willow in a tight hug. Some tears escaped her eyes and got lost in Willow's hair. They pulled apart and Willow leaned in quickly and placed a comforting kiss on Buffy's lips.
"How is she? Have the doctors told you anything?" Willow asked and Buffy shook her head no. The lump in her throat was preventing her from speaking. She'd forgotten how hard it is to be the strong one in an overly stressful situation. All she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and cry her eyes out, but that wasn't an option. She had to be the strong one, she's the slayer, it just what she has to do. She looked into Willow's eyes, her own hazel ones showed how scared she really was, and Willow hugged her tightly, silently letting her know that everything would be ok, that they would be ok.
They sat down in the uncomfortable light blue chairs and waited. Willow rubbed Buffy's back, knowing that she would need some reassurance at the moment. Her mind was all over the place at the same time. Thinking about a hundred things at once, if it's possible. So much had happened so fast and she hadn't had time to process any of it. She had gotten her family back, that was a great thing, the best thing in the world. But she also found out that her wife had slept with another woman, her daughter was having sex with a vampire, and they didn't know if she was going to be ok or not. She looked up, and became very alert when the doctor, a very young looking doctor walked up to them. They stood up and started to ask questions at the same time, and the woman raised her hand to silence them. When they were quiet she started to explain.
"She's going to be fine. She lost a lot of blood but not enough to need a transfusion. She's going to be dizzy and weak for the next couple of days but everything will be fine. The rape kit came up negative, and there's no sign of any other abuse except for the puncture wounds on her neck and we found scars on her thigh. She's resting now, she should wake up tonight or tomorrow morning. You can see if you want," she told them and then escorted the two to Emily's room. She was sleeping, and she still looked really pale. She was hooked up to an EKG machine, and was on an IV drip. Seeing her lying in that bed, hearing the beep from the machine and seeing the tube from the IV needle sticking out of her hand, it was too much for Willow and she started to cry.
Buffy held onto her and led her over to a chair next to Emily's bed. She sat down and then pulled Willow into her lap. She rubbed the redhead's back and told her that everything was going to be fine. A couple of tears made their way out of her eyes and she wiped them away quickly. She slightly rocked back and forth, Willow crying on her chest as she tried to get her to calm down. She finally cried herself to sleep and Buffy continued to rub her back. The blonde sat there, feeling somewhat alone, as she thought about what would happen now. What were they going to do now? She didn't have a clue, and she tried to stay awake to think about it some more, but exhaustion slowly crept its way into her system and sleep took her over.