"Mission Statement" (Post-Season 6)

[eccentrictulip]

the evil cliffhanger strikes again....(evil in a good way i mean) i did a little dance when chastity lost her head....go willow it'll be interesting to see what those cards said about tara....i always thought it was a little wierd that tara said "tommorow" on the show. kind of made me sad, but your explaination as to why she did is great. excellent update, as always!!

*please use both hands....*

[Thanatopsis]

While I'm "boo" to another cliffhanger, glad to know we're going to find out soon what the cards said. At least in theory, I wouldn't put it past you to have something else happen. And also glad to hear Faith will be appearing more. I'm curious as to Buffy's calm reaction, how unlike her.

-------
"Yeah, 'tis the season. Whatever that means." Amends
Insist upon yourself and never imitate. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Zahir al Daoud]

Me, I like cliffhangers. They keep me coming back for more you betchers. Yep, yep, yep.



Am soooooo looking forward to learning what the Tarot cards said.



***

And re: VampTara. Okay, now I feel old. Back in the ancient days of yore when the Pens were a brand new idea (back before fire) I wrote one of the very first fics here. It was titled "Never The Twain?" and the central character was VampTara. In fact, it predated the Pens because I was one of a handful of folks posting their W/T fic on the Kittens Board--hence the creation of a second board.



So far as I know, it was the first fanfic about VampTara (and here I thought it was kinda well known...*sigh*).



It can be found in the Pens Archives, or at my current website http://zahir.150m.com (and I just started posting its sequel "From Childhood's Hour")







***



Now, what do I have the strangest notion that either the Master or Kiskatos is back?? Hmmmmm. Unless the One is Spike? Maybe Angelus? Eh, I should stop speculating because the possibilities start dancing in my brain.



But again, am truly enjoying this.



(And Webwarlock recommended this fic because he said VampTara was in it, btw)

"O Let my name be in the Book of Love!
If it be there I care not of that other Book above.
Strike it out! Or write it in anew, but
Let my name be in the Book of Love!"
--Omar Kayam

[Bagheera]

snuggle79 - Sorry to hear about your unlucky day, but at least it's easy to replace a keyboard.



mollyig - More about Buffy next update.

Tara and coffee - it fitted in nicely, I thought; why the one day delay when what you've been hoping for so much has happened? It made sense to me. Thanks for liking the integration.



the vamp nurd/Christina - Noted Thank you.



Urn of Osiris - This one ends on a even bigger tease. Sorry.



Jen - Hi! A question about the title, great! It has three meanings, all depending on the meaning of the word "bite" - is it a noun or a verb? I'll elaborate later.

Chastity - Amen, just a rumour.

Giles is coming to his senses. He never engaged with Tara, couldn't bring himself to trust her; I think he realises his mistake.

More Faith soon. Very soon.



eccentrictulip - I agree - Tara saying "I'm free tomorrow" intrigued me; and remember that I was looking for a place to incorporate this story into the show. "Free tomorrow" - obvious question is "so what are you doing today that's more important than having coffee with the love of your life?" Let's find out.



Thanatopsis - Thank you; my we're getting paranoid aren't we? No, it's Tarot time at last.



Zahir al Daoud - "Never the Twain"? I promise I'll have a look soon as. Thank you.

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling

[Bagheera]

Rating: M15 Angst.

Disclaimer: This update does not claim to be factually accurate regarding the interpretation of the Tarot. The identities of specific Tarot cards are deliberately obscured. The 3 X 3 matrix method of reading the Tarot is factual, but not as outlined here. Let us just say that Tara has her own method. She probably has a unique deck, anyway.



At the Summers’ house, Dawn was sleeping peacefully. Buffy however, was tossing and turning in her bed. Too much to process, she decided at last. Faith back in Sunnydale, Tara has a secret soul, Willow – God, Willow. With a muttered exclamation, Buffy threw off her blanket and pulled on her clothes and boots. She slipped out into the night.



“I feel like I should be performing some sort of ritual,” Willow said, the deck of Tarot cards in her hand. In a way, she and Tara had. Silently they had descended the stairs to the basement, hand in hand; Willow had retrieved Tara’s treasure from its hiding place and still without saying a word, they had slowly and reverently made their way back upstairs.



They sat once more at the table, and Willow slid the deck, still wrapped in its rainbow ribbon, across the polished wooden table top to the blonde witch. Tara looked down at the cards, reached out a tentative hand and stroked the familiar ribbon. She picked them up and turned them over and over.



“Something so small, but it changed everything,” Tara mused. Slowly, she undid the knot and dropped the ribbon to the table. Delicately, she fanned the cards out slightly to find the ones she wanted. “They’re still here; just the way I left them.” The blonde witch put the deck down on the table carefully, leaving her hand resting on it. She looked at Willow who was leaning forward, her slender figure rigid with tension.



“I was sitting right here,” Tara said dreamily. “When I came from class I got the cards out and I sat and meditated for a long time; I wanted to be clear in my mind what questions I wanted answered. And I wanted the answers to be as clear and as brief as possible; I didn’t want to have to put together half a dozen cards and look things up and deal with half-truths and contradictions. So I decided; three questions, three cards for each, straight off the top of the deck. I shuffled, and I shuffled, and I shuffled some more. I closed my eyes and asked the first question: What is my present? And I drew a card.”



Tara turned the top card of the deck: The Lovers. She smiled at Willow. “It was a sign; I took it to mean that I’d prepared properly and that my question was the right one, and when I drew the next two cards, I was even surer.” The blonde witch quickly drew two more cards; they were suits and numbers, and their meaning was not immediately apparent to Willow, who was no expert in the intricacies of the Tarot. The redhead looked questioningly at Tara. “Sorry Will; together, these two cards in this order mean: ‘truly and forever’.”



Willow at once leaned forward in her chair and kissed Tara. Tara sighed and put her arms around the redhead, returning the embrace. When they broke the kiss, Willow’s eyes were shining. “You had to ask the Tarot that question,” she scolded gently. “You didn’t know already?”



“I was kind of sure,” Tara replied, “But it’s a good idea to start a reading like this with a question where you’re pretty certain of the answer. If the answer looks wrong or doesn’t make sense, it’s a good time to stop; no harm done. I didn’t stop. My next question was: What is in my future?” Tara drew the next three cards and laid them out; their meaning was a complete mystery to Willow. “These three, with this one upside-down, mean: ‘Everything at risk’.”



“Your death,” Willow whispered. “You foretold your own -”



“No. If it was just me, it would have been a different first card. This one,” she said, tapping it, “means not just me, it means – everything.”



Willow slumped. “Then it was me. Trying to destroy the world.” The redhead looked down at the cards unhappily.



“No, it couldn’t have been.”



“Why not? Bad Mojo Willow out to destroy the world, sounds like everything at risk to me.”



“No. For two reasons. My question was: what’s in my future. When you were – in pain, and trying to end that pain, I didn’t exist any more. I was dead and if you believe the Lock spell worked, my soul was fading away with my body. And secondly, this means more than just the world, it means everything. The card can be an adjective or a noun, depending where it shows up in the sequence, but the derivation is the same: universal or universe. Everything. Not just one little planet.”



“What do you think it is?”



“I think it’s something that hasn’t happened yet. Maybe that’s what the One wants us for; to do some powerful magic that will destroy the universe. Chastity said something about an opening; a portal between the realms, the gates of Hell. I don’t know.”



“Goddess, what a contrast, Tara. First true love forever, next the universe is about to go all kerplooey. Tara, you should have said something, we could have faced it together, researched it, looked up prophecies…”



“But we are going to face it together,” Tara said. “And you’re right, I wanted to run to you then and there and tell you all about it. But I had one question left: What do I do?” Tara quickly dealt out the last three cards off the top of the deck. Again, it was a sequence that at first meant nothing to the redhead. Tara pointed to each card in turn. “Soul. Lock. Key.”



“The spell,” Willow whispered.



“I vaguely remembered reading something about a Knight of the Round Table having a spell cast on him to protect his soul from the magicks of an evil wizard. I looked in the books and found it, and there it was: the Claudere. It was in one of the books up in the loft.”



“And the Key; how did you figure it was Dawnie?”



“The spell book mentioned that it needed a source of mystical energy for it to work; an artefact or a talisman, something old. There was no specific mention of a key, so I just thought: why not take it literally?”



“Giles is not going to buy this.”



“I don’t care. Do you know what the chances are of this sequence of nine cards being drawn from this deck?” Willow shook her head. “More than a hundred quadrillion to one,” Tara said. “I – was stunned for a while, once I’d found the spell. I seriously considered ignoring it. But I’d asked the question: What do I do? Together with the dreams, I decided I had to go ahead with it.”



“After the spell was over, I didn’t feel any different. I thought I’d notice something, you know with my soul all hidden away under lock and key,” Tara smiled. “I started to worry: what if it hadn’t worked? Everything was still in danger, that wasn’t going to change. I knew that if anything bad was going to happen, I wanted to be with you at the end. That was why, when I came to your bedroom, I said – what I said.”



“Oh, Tara,” Willow embraced Tara again. Tara hugged her back, desperately.



“What I said about it being a long and important process and about trust; that was all true. I’d been thinking for a while that was how we should do it; get back together slowly, coffee, date, talk things out, learn if we were the same people, and if we could still fit in each other’s lives. But I didn’t know how much time we had left, or even if the Lock spell had worked. I just wanted to be with you. I was going to tell you, that last day. We were going to get dressed and go downstairs and I was going to sit down with you and tell you everything. The dreams, the Tarot, the spell, everything. Only – we never made it.”



“No,” Willow whispered, eyes wet. She looked into Tara’s blue eyes, and saw they were anxious. “Goddess, what a day and night we’ve had.”



Tara nodded. “So, Willow, do you think there’s enough – Tara – here for you?” The vampire smiled a little, because just like the first triplet of Tarot cards, she was reasonably sure of the answer.



“Oh, baby,” Willow breathed, as she stood, flung off her robes and sat down in Tara’s lap, straddling the blonde. She wriggled a little, partly to get more comfortable, but also because it felt good. And Tara still had her leather coat and pants on, which felt great. There was a soft creaking sound as Willow settled herself into Tara’s upholstered lap. Willow lowered her head and began gently kissing Tara on the cheeks, forehead, ears and neck. The blonde witch moaned and trembled in response. “Can you forgive me for ever doubting you?” Willow whispered in Tara’s ear between kisses, her suddenly hot breath like a blast of steam on the blonde’s sensitive skin.



Tara reached up and plunged her eager hands into Willow’s hair, groaning as at last her soft lips found Willow’s in a forceful kiss. Both women gasped, their lips parting, tongues dancing to an insistent tune. When Will finally needed air and the kiss broke, Tara said, “Darling, I doubted myself. What you felt was right, I can’t blame you. Now kiss me, and don’t stop, please.” Willow’s lips obeyed the urgent summons, and those magical Willowhands began to roam unhurriedly over Tara’s beautiful form. Tara began slowly removing Willow’s blouse, peeling it away to reveal pale freckled skin.



“Goddess you’re so beautiful. I love you so much,” Tara whispered, applying her lips gently to Willow’s shoulders and the base of her throat. The redhead moaned softly and began to slide Tara’s leather coat off. As the heavy garment fell away, Tara stood and took the redhead in her arms, while Willow’s legs still encircled the blonde’s waist. “Clothes,” the vampire complained with a lopsided smile.



“Don’t get used to them,” Willow smiled. The discarded robes lay in an inviting pile on the floor. Soon the rest of their attire had joined them and Tara and Willow sank, entwined, to the floor. The lovers continued their joyful work which had been interrupted so many times that evening.



Buffy walked the dark streets of Sunnydale, still unable to ease the turmoil within herself. Rumours of two Slayers, the second if anything more violent and deadly than the first, were already circulating through the Sunnydale underworld. The vampires and other night creatures had disappeared into their bolt-holes. Buffy decided there was no point putting it off any longer. She took the familiar route to the old mansion where Angel used to live.



“Do you know that you look extra hot in leather?” Willow murmured. She lay naked in her lover’s arms, her exhausted face a picture of sated pleasure.



“You look hot in nothing at all,” Tara answered, mischievously, letting her eyes roam over Willow’s slender form.



“Making up is always the best part,” Willow smiled.



“Only because breaking up hurts so much,” Tara sighed. “I’m not doing that, ever again.”



“I just remembered something,” Willow said. “That first night, you told me you had no recollection of being dead, that it was just blackness. That would fit with your soul still being attached to your – body.”



“I guess so,” Tara agreed.



“But when First Evil brought you back, wouldn’t they have noticed that they didn’t have to retrieve your soul from – whatever dimension it travelled to?”



“I don’t know. Maybe they normally resurrect the body and the soul is drawn back into it automatically; maybe they didn’t notice. Or they just didn’t care – I was going to be made a vampire anyway, why would they go to a lot of trouble even looking for my soul?”



“There is – one more thing,” Willow hesitated. “It’s been such a long day and I think we’re going to see the sun rising soon, or at least I will. So much has happened. But…”



“Willow? What?” Tara asked.



Willow paused, not sure how she was going to find the courage to put what she was thinking into words. Her nervous green eyes looked into Tara’s. “I think I want you to bite me,” she whispered at last



(To be continued)

[Urn of Osiris]

Quote:

---

Her nervous green eyes looked into Tara’s. “I think I want you to bite me,” she whispered at last.

---

WHAT? ! ?



OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG



Huh? Just EVIL.

Urn of Osiris
_________________**
WILLOW: That's a work ethic! Buffy, you're developing a work ethic.

BUFFY: Oh, no. Do they make an ointment for that
"you can not have more fan fic, you have a fan fic problem"

[mollyig]

Wonderful update. Questions answered, but more left to discover like what the bloody one wants with our girls, and what is going on in that busy brain of Willow's.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[saule77]

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?



Tara biting Willow? For some reason, I have the impression it doesn't have anything to do sex... Tara can't turn, Willow, that'd be just wrong, even if they lock her soul as well... Although I have to admit I totally understand Willow's motivations.

Buffy would soooo lose her street cred: 2 of her best friends vampires...



All we have to do is find a way to make Tara human again...



Anyway, very good update. Where is this going...

Season 7: "Is this supposed to be some sort of sick joke?"
"Please continue with the story of failure"

[snuggle79]

OH MY GOD!!!!

...would Tara really do that?

And would Willow really want that??

and again I'm all

Awesome Update!

Tara:"Maybe we dreamed it."

Willow:"Right. Right. Wrong! (points at her head ) Different Brains." Tara:"Oh yeah."


Bitch! Witch! Ho!..mo!"

[FlyingPoppy]

Oooh excellent update, but aren't the girls going down the path of the dream? and if they are is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm liking this 'update everyday' business, I've kind of caught up on all the fic's I've been reading, it's good to know they'll be something new everyday......until the story ends.....OMG what am I gonna do when the story ends?!!

heaven can wait, until tomorrow, give us this day, just let me borrow some time, so we can say goodbye...

[Bagheera]

Urn of Osiris - Oops, another cliffhanger. Okay, I won't leave you hanging too long. Updating below.



mollyig - Thank you, here's the continuation.



saule77 - Good speculations all, I think you'll be okay with the update below. Buffy's street cred? She has street cred? I love your sig btw...how about the corollary: " Numfar, do the dance of failure!"



snuggle79 - Hi, thanks very much, and here's the next bit.



FlyingPoppy - I'm glad you brought up the dream. It would be a good idea to go back to that chapter for a moment after this next update.



Cheers everyone. I know that was a really cruel cliffhanger, so this update is going in a little earlier than usual. Enjoy.



B.

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling

[Bagheera]

Rating: R18 – Disturbing images, adult themes, coarse language.



Buffy stood before the mansion. The night was dark, dewy and cold. It was still a couple of hours before sunrise. The Slayer shivered, drawing her coat more tightly around herself, hugging herself for warmth. Finally, with a resolute step, she went inside, although she more than half-hoped that Faith wasn’t home.



“Buffy? Hey, thanks for dropping round,” the younger Slayer was standing like a statue before the fireplace, gazing into the flames. Buffy slowly walked towards her.



*        *        *



“Willow! You can’t be serious!” Tara was aghast.



“I knew you would react this way,” Willow said in a small voice.



“Because it’s wrong! The vampire wants to bite you,” Tara exclaimed. “I can’t deny that. But I – I can’t bear the thought of hurting you.”



“Then I think you should hear me out. See,” Will pointed, “I have my resolve face on. When I have my resolve face on, you should listen.” Tara sighed and nodded, for she knew Willow’s resolve face well, but it was obvious the blonde was going to take a lot of convincing that Willow had not taken leave of her senses.



“You’ve given me everything tonight,” Willow began. “I’d lost you, and then I thought I’d lost myself. You found me. And then you gave me the greatest gift of all: your soul. Not to mention fantastic sex.” The redhead grinned wickedly.



“There’s still a chance the spell hasn’t worked,” Tara tried to point out. “I still don’t have any proof. It still feels like there’s nothing in me.”



“I know you don’t believe that. You have just as much faith as I do.”



“Yes, faith. But if there’s no doubt, then faith is just blind acceptance. It’s important to have doubts.”



“Well, I have no doubts,” Willow said firmly. “And I know now that I was a fool to even think about letting you go. I’ve been wrong about you all along, I see that now. You’re not a vampire that has Tara’s memories and probably her soul. That’s not what you are at all.”



“But I am,” Tara protested. “That’s exactly what I am.”



“You – are - not,” Willow insisted, kissing the blonde between each word. “You’re Tara, you’ve been Tara all along. The vampire is in you, not the other way around. I think Dawn may be right, you’re stronger than the vampire, you’re in charge.”



“I don’t know, but I don’t want it inside me any more. I just want to be Tara again.”



“Sure, but until then you should be grateful to the vampire. Embrace it!”



“Why?”



“Look at what being a vampire has given you. You’re bullet-proof. Your magic is superdoopercharged. You’re a leather-clad rock goddess. You’re Buffy-strong. You’re a mega-cool monster fighter. That’s all the vampire in you.”



“But the vampire is evil!”



“Only if you are, and you’re not. Tara, you gave me everything tonight. I want to give you everything I have in return.”



“You have already.”



“No,” Willow ached, caressing Tara and raining soft kisses on that gorgeous blonde head, trying to wear down Tara’s defences. “There is a vampire inside you; it’s a part of Tara now, an important part. I love you. I love everything about you. I love the vampire in you. And vampires need one thing and one thing only: to drink the warm blood of the living. I want to give that to you.”



“Willow, I can’t. It’ll kill you!” Tara trembled.



“I don’t expect you to take it all,” Willow said. “Ew, I was thinking just a little bit.”



“And if I like it too much, and I can’t stop?”



“I trust you,” Willow said calmly.



“I don’t want to hurt you,” Tara said, wavering.



“I trust you,” Willow smiled suggestively. “Anyway, on all those dumb old vampire movies, the victims always look kinda – orgasmic – when they’re getting bitten.”



“I don’t think we should be talking about sexualising this,” Tara said. “I don’t think we should be talking about it all. It’s not like anything that we’ve ever…”



“I trust you. Please, I want to give you this, it would mean so much to me. Please.”



Her resistance weakening, for she had to admit that naked Willow really did look good enough to eat, Tara threw her hands up and said finally, “If you’re that determined, we’d better do this properly; where is the First Aid box?”



*        *        *



“So what happens now, B?” Faith was asking. “If I go back to prison I’m dead. Anyway, even out of prison I’m a lifer. Just like Angel, remember him? I may not live long enough to make up for the things I did, but maybe I can just do as much as I can.”



“Where do you want to start?” Buffy asked quietly.



“With you.” Buffy started, surprised. “come on, B, I’ve done stuff to make you mad enough to want to kill me twice. We never finished our last conversation, remember? Tell me what to do to make it right.”



“You know, Faith, I’m over it. Angel survived, Angel left me, Angel moved on. You slept with Riley, Riley left me for reasons that had nothing to do with you. I’m totally over being mad at you.”



“Could you feel something, then!” Faith shouted. “Anything? I’m the Slayer, you’re the Slayer, for a while we were friends and we had something together and it was cool and I messed up, okay? I fucked it up with my jealousy and my anger. Please, be anything, do anything to me, but don’t be indifferent. God, B, I lived in your body for a day and a half, I know you as well as anybody could. You lived in my body, didn’t you learn anything about me, about what I want, and why it kills me to think you might feel nothing, nothing! For me? Come on, B! Use your fucking Slayer sense, look in my eyes! Buffy?” the last word was a plea from Faith’s heart.



*        *        *



“Not on the neck,” Willow said. “I know that everyone’s cool with vampire Tara and the secret soul, but they might just have a major wiggins if I show up tomorrow with tooth marks in a visible place. Especially Giles.”



“All right,” Tara hesitated. “There is a vein just under your collarbone. I can – bite – there, and it’ll be under your clothes. Are you sure you want to do this?”



Willow rested on a pile of meditation cushions. “I’m sure. Do you want me to lie like this?” The redhead lay back and spread out her arms in welcome.



“I guess so,” Tara said without any confidence. “I’m not – I’ve never done this before.”



“I thought you said we weren’t going to sexualise this,” Willow teased. Tara approached her bashfully. Willow held out her hands and embraced her lover. The redhead put one hand behind Tara’s bell of long blonde hair, holding that beloved head gently against her torso. Tara kissed Willow softly a couple of times on her shoulder, tracing the elegant curve of the clavicle with her lips, her hands caressing Willow’s slender waist. Suddenly, Tara was in vampire face.



There was a single sharp lance of pain as Tara bit. Willow gasped and closed her eyes for a moment. The sharp pain gave way to a heavy dull ache. Willow opened her eyes and looked down to see Tara’s lips fastened firmly over the wound, sucking. Willow moaned softly, stroking Tara’s hair with one hand as the vampire fed. Tara’s eyes were closed, and on the face of the demon was an expression that was almost peaceful. Pleasure coursed through the redhead’s body. The vampire must have sensed something, for a moment later those yellow eyes opened and they looked into Willow’s. But there was no savagery in them, only submission and curiously, resignation. And behind the eyes, watching, there was Tara; calm, eternal. It was a sublime moment. Willow knew then that there were no more barriers between her and Tara; no more secrets. There would be nothing they could not share, no enemy they could not face, so long as they were together. Tara swallowed, and then reached out for the wound dressing that lay opened and ready beside them. The vampire pressed it firmly onto the bite, staunching the flow of blood. She raised her head, already back in her human face, and her now blue eyes looked up into Willow’s green. Self-consciously, Tara licked her lips and swallowed the last of the blood. Willow drew Tara close for a gentle, languorous kiss. The redhead could taste herself, thick and salty, on Tara’s tongue.



“Tara, I love you so much,” Willow whispered.



“Did - did I hurt you very much?” Tara asked shyly.



“A little; just a little pain,” Willow confessed, “But so much pleasure. Thank you. Did you get enough?” Tara nodded. “You know, when I was little, I used to love watching the Siegfried and Roy specials from Vegas. I wanted, I desperately wanted a royal white tiger of my own and I cried and cried when mom and dad told me they’d tried but couldn’t get me one. I used to dream about having this great big white tiger sleeping at the foot of my bed. I’d curl up under my blankets and I could almost hear it purring, and I’d feel so safe and warm and loved. I’d forgotten that dream until you came back to me as a vampire. I’d thought that all my dreams had come true before, when you were alive and loving me. But now, you’ve made another of my dreams come true. You’re my royal tigress, Tara.”



“Willow,” Tara sighed, kissing the redhead again. She noticed that Willow looked a little pale and dizzy and reached for a bottle of water, passing it to the redhead.



Willow drank gratefully. “What do you think First Evil would think if they saw us now?” she asked.



The vampire shuddered, but said, “They were half right; but completely wrong.” Willow nodded, and the lovers kissed once again.



(To be continued)

[Urn of Osiris]

OK see now just when I thought ewwww. It went WOW!



Never thought I'd like reading this, but I'm so hooked.



I have to LOL at Faith lecturing Buffy.



I'm pretty sure I hated the whole idea of Vamp Tara in the beginning but I love her for all the reasons your willow does. This is just fantastic. Thanks!

Urn of Osiris
_________________**
WILLOW: That's a work ethic! Buffy, you're developing a work ethic.

BUFFY: Oh, no. Do they make an ointment for that
"you can not have more fan fic, you have a fan fic problem"

[Bagheera]

Urn of Osiris - Thanks everso, it great to hear that you've overcome an initial revulsion towards the vampTara idea.

And B/F: what was Buffy's response to Faith's lecture, I wonder?

And hooked? Damn shame there's a only a week to go, but a deadline is a deadline.

Kind regards,

B.

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling

[eccentrictulip]

wow.....those were amazing updates!! two of the best so far. i was worried there for a second, but willow giving her blood to tara was such a beautiful, loving act. these two chapters were very comforting somehow. and we finally know what the cards say!! no more secrets between the girls--very good thing. especially with first evil still lurking around....eeps. royal tigress tara....i like that. a lot.

*please use both hands....*

[snuggle79]

Great Update! Even that blood sucking thing was kinda uh..romantic?

I that line:

Quote:

---

You’re my royal tigress, Tara.”

---

Tara:"Maybe we dreamed it."

Willow:"Right. Right. Wrong! (points at her head ) Different Brains." Tara:"Oh yeah."


Bitch! Witch! Ho!..mo!"

Edited by: snuggle79 at: 9/15/02 3:31:57 am

[mollyig]

The "I trust you" exchange as I never thought I'd see it.



I think it works well here though. Willow feels she has to prove to Tara that she accepts the vampire part of her. And actions speak louder than words.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[Bagheera]

eccentrictulip - Thank you; "comforting" is a good place to be at the moment, that's pretty much where I was hoping people would be by now. Liked Tara the tigress?



snuggle79 - Thank you! Romantic blood-sucking? Yes, I think "romantic" is about right. Vampirism has always had a sexual subtext in literature, but I thought I'd try it with the S&M component turned off. Another liking the "royal tigress"?



mollyig - Ah! Spotted the "I trust you"? Well done! I had to add an extra "I trust you", but who's counting? Glad you thought it worked.

B.

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling

[dekalog]

I am soooo glad I read this at a time when I didn't have to wait between parts. I read 'bite me' and my stomach dropped. Racing to hopefully find the next part I was stressed, then wierdly excited, then just excited, then relieved, and then (sorry) stressed again.

I find myself wanting to chant - they'll be OK, everything will be okay, everything will work out. To borrow from DAwn - my tummy is rumbling.

This is good, stressful, but good. (Can you tell I'm not good with the angst?)

[Thanatopsis]

I wasn't sure what to think about the whole bitting thing, but Willow's explaination makes a great deal of sense and I love how the scene played out. In terms of the title, I think it has multiple applications, multiple meanings.

-------
"Yeah, 'tis the season. Whatever that means." Amends
Insist upon yourself and never imitate. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Bagheera]

dekalog - I think your low angst threshold is coming through very clearly. Yes, they'll be okay, but there's some work to do yet. Thank you.



Thanatopsis - Hi! Loved the biting scene? Not your average vamp-victim interaction, anyway. And the title - oh yes, wait until part 5 and there'll be an extra layer of meaning, don't you worry!

Regards,

B.



Part 4

PG-13 Adult themes



The telephone in the Magic Box trilled. Willow sat up groggily. Tara lay beside her in an exotic nest of robes and cushions, her pale face relaxed in sleep. The hacker ran a hand through her tangled red hair and stood, wrapping a robe around herself. She winced as the movement jarred the wound above her breast. She walked a little unsteadily around the counter and picked up the phone. It was Dawn.



“Hi Will,” the teenager greeted her. “Hope I didn’t wake you?”



“Well, actually,” Willow mumbled. Goddess, I need a shower and a hair brush. Ugh, and a tooth brush.



“Sorry,” the teenager said contritely. “But look, you’ll have to open the shop soon, anyway.”



“Oh, right, yes,” Willow said. Yes, better tidy this place up before Anya gets here, which will probably be quite soon, knowing the vengeance demon and her obsession with punctuality. Those robes will all need laundering, too, unless we just fold them and sneak them back onto the shelves. On second thoughts, better not.



“I was just wondering if you’d seen Buffy,” Dawn said. “She’s not in the house.”



“She hasn’t been by; she must have gone out on patrol. Maybe she’s gone straight to school.”



“I guess,” Dawn supposed. “See you later.”



“Bye.” Willow hung up and looked around the shop. It broke her heart to have to wake Tara, but there was no other choice. A naked vampire sleeping on the merchandise in the middle of the floor simply would not do. The redhead set about tidying up as much as she could without the inevitable waking-up; she gathered the Tarot cards and tied them in their ribbon again, but this time she put them away in a drawer behind the counter reserved for personal items.



Tara stirred as the redhead bustled around her. Those soft blue eyes opened, and she smiled as she always did when the first the thing that she saw in the morning was Willow.



“Hey sweet sleepyhead,” the hacker greeted her. The blonde stretched out her arms. Willow momentarily forgot her chores and sank down into Tara’s embrace to feast on a smorgasbord of good morning kisses. “Mmm,” the redhead murmured. “Should we think about breakfast?”



“Do you want me to go get something?” Tara asked.



“Sun’s already up,” Willow replied.



Tara sat up. “It’s later than I thought.”



Willow nodded, stealing a last kiss. “Anya will be around soon to open up.” Tara nodded, got up and started to put away the cushions. Willow made a dash for the bathroom at the back of the training room.



In his motel room on the outskirts of Sunnydale, Giles sat on the edge of his bed and looked at the inert form on the bed beside him. “Well, I must say that if someone had told me everything that was going to happen last night, I would have told them they were stark bloody raving mad. Would you like a coffee, darling?”



When Willow emerged from the training room, everything had been tidied and the shop was ready for business. Surprisingly, Anya had not appeared yet. Willow was just about to dash out for donuts and coffee, and pig’s blood if there was time, when there was a knock at the door. Tara stood well back from the door just in case of stray sunlight while Willow went to open it. It was the morning post, and it included a padded express package that the redhead had to sign for. She sifted through the bills, but then the address label on the package caught her eye.



“This is addressed to you, Tara!” Willow exclaimed. “From Wesley. When did you meet him?”



“I haven’t; I called him yesterday. I’m sorry Will, I saw his e-mail to you and, something he mentioned looked interesting.”



“That m-message?” Willow trembled. “I’m so sorry Tara, I just didn’t know what was going on; I couldn’t think of anyone else I could ask -”



“Will, it’s okay; I was questioning myself too, remember? I can hardly blame you.” Tara took the package and opened it. “Yes, this is it.”



“What is it?”



“The Aberjian scroll. It contains the prophecy about the vampire with a soul that Wesley spoke about, but I noticed on the scan he sent you that there seemed to be a spell on it too. And here it is,” Tara observed, unrolling the parchment carefully.



“What - what does it do?”



“It’s half Latin and I’ll have to research it, but I think it’s for resurrecting a vampire.”



“Resurrecting a - as a mortal? Tara?” The vampire nodded. For the first time in weeks, Willow dared to hope that her life with Tara could one day be a normal one. “That’s fantastic!”



Tara held up a restraining hand. “Hold those horses, Will. I have to do the reading.”



“You want a hand?” the redhead asked eagerly.



“Sure, but you also have a shop to run. I’ll be right - here.” The blonde sat at the table and opened the scroll out, weighing it down with candles to stop it from rolling up again. “Breakfast? Blood?” Reminded, Willow set off on her interrupted errand.



The great decaying pile that was Angel’s old mansion looked shabby in the morning light. Buffy tentatively opened the front door and stepped outside.



“Buffy…” came Faith’s voice from inside the house. The blonde Slayer hesitated, looking down at her feet. Buffy still looked troubled. “Buffy, next time…”



Buffy turned then, to see Faith leaning coolly in the doorway. “What?” Buffy asked.



“Next time…” Faith hesitated. “Just make sure there is a next time, ‘kay? Don’t be a stranger, B.”



“Officially, I have to say that I have no idea what you’re talking about.”



“Unofficially?” Faith grinned and flashed her eyebrows. Without another word, Buffy walked off.



The day at the Magic Box dragged by. Willow wanted to sit down at Tara’s side and research the Aberjian scroll with her, but a steady stream of customers conspired to thwart Willow’s plan. That day, it seemed, nothing was enough trouble for the harassed shop assistant. Back orders, re-orders, returns, exchanges, gift vouchers, lay-bys, it went on and on. To make matters even worse, Anya chose that day of all days to suddenly remember an important meeting with a prospective new supplier; the demon would not be in until “a bit later”. And all the while Tara, serene and unhurried, leafed through book after book, scroll after scroll, writing all her findings down in a notebook, assembling the knowledge required to cast the spell that meant everything to them both.



Willow worked right through her normal lunch hour and Anya still had not appeared. Business got a little quiet in the early afternoon, so Tara minded the counter for a while and Will slipped out for a sandwich.



It was mid-afternoon. Tara sat back and threw her pen down with disgust. “I can’t do it,” she said, defeated.



Willow swiftly dealt with a customer and flew to Tara’s side. She leant over Tara’s shoulder to see what she was doing. The vampire turned and took Will’s hand. “Tara?”



“I can’t cast this,” Tara repeated. “I don’t have enough power.”



“Not even supercharged vampwicca Tara?” Willow snuggled against Tara and kissed her hair.



Tara returned the caress but shook her head. “It’s been cast; I know that for a fact. Wesley’s e-mail had a name - Darla.”



Willow nodded. “Angel’s sire.” Tara winced at the mention of the word. Noticing, Willow added, “I’m sorry, darling.”



“Whoever cast this must have been a very powerful demon. I’m out of my league here, Will. Unless I can tap into a source of primal energy - a big one. And tap into it big-time; broadband, not dial-up.”



“Dawn?”



“Not enough, and it would kill her,” Tara said. The vampire contemplated Willow through narrowed eyes for a moment, then Tara groaned and put her head down on her arms.



Hugging her, Willow said, “We’ll find a way baby; it’s not like you were going to cast this tonight, was it?”



“I guess I had my hopes up, right?” Tara looked up sadly. “I mean, it’s only everything I want.” Willow kissed her again and returned to the counter, where another customer waited. Tara began slowly putting away her papers.



Shortly before the shop was due to close, the door bell tinkled and Buffy came in. “Hi guys,” she called cheerfully, “Dawnie here?”



Tara and Willow looked at each other. “We haven’t seen her, Buffy,” Tara said.



“She might have gone home by herself?” Willow suggested.



“With her two favourite people here? I don’t think so,” Buffy said emphatically. She went to the phone behind the counter anyway and rang the Summers’ residence. “Answering machine. Where is she?”



(To be continued)

[mollyig]

Well at least Tara and Willow know about the spell now, they just have to find a way to work it.



Curious as to who is with Giles, and what's up with Dawn.

Adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two
Indigo Girls

[FlyingPoppy]

Hmm...can't think where they'll be able to find enough power to complete the spell....who is Giles' 'darling'....and where the heck has Dawn got to?



poppy

heaven can wait, until tomorrow, give us this day, just let me borrow some time, so we can say goodbye...

[the vamp nurd]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm like it a lot.

[Christina is my own character. See Red wolf, White wolf [sneaky plug]]

The vamp nurd ["You're cold." DMW to Tara in the morge]

[saule77]

Bagheera,

Quote:

---

I love your sig btw...how about the corollary: " Numfar, do the dance of failure!"

---

I think I'll take you up on that!



Dawn's in trouble, huh... Must be Tuesday!



I know I was a bit worried about the possibility of Tara turning Willow but feeding is better. Not great, because, hello! Vampire! but it really reinforced the connection between the two. And it's not a dig at VampTara because I love her, she literally kicks ass, but I'm just saying it'd be better if she were human and I know that's gonna happen... Oh, God, babbling again, and "I don't usually use so many words..." You know the rest... "did you get that at all?"



So, please continue with the story of success!

Season 7: "Is this supposed to be some sort of sick joke?"
"Please continue with the story of failure"

[snuggle79]

Great Update!

I hope they will find a way to do that spell very soon!!

Tara:"Maybe we dreamed it."

Willow:"Right. Right. Wrong! (points at her head ) Different Brains." Tara:"Oh yeah."


Bitch! Witch! Ho!..mo!"

[Thanatopsis]

Wait till part 5, huh? I dunno, I'm starting to see some semblences of layers in part 4 as well. Ah, it's all building up so nicely. So many curious things in this last part, looking forward to learning the answers.

-------
"Yeah, 'tis the season. Whatever that means." Amends
Insist upon yourself and never imitate. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Bagheera]

mollyig - Thank you, glad you're curious. Part 5 coming soon will have some answers, but not all.



FlyingPoppy - 3 key questions; more soon. Thank you



the vamp nurd - nnnnnnnn thanks



saule77 - "Dawn's in trouble must be Tuesday" urm yes, about time we pulled out that hoary chestnut to push things along. I got your vampTara worried thinks babble. That was very good btw. Y'know, I might change my sig line to "Numfar, do the dance of failure!" one of these days. Just see if I don't. Thanks for your feedback.



snuggle79 - Thank you. How to do the spell - Tara will have to think very fast.



Thanatopsis - Layers of meaning in "Love Bites" Part 4? Yes, there were, "bites" as in sound bites, something like that. I was thinking of another meaning in the next Part, which will be even more fun, I assure you.

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling

[eccentrictulip]

oh boy.....the rugrat's missing....well, that can't be good.

i always love reading about willow and tara waking up. i don't know why really, i just do....so thank you for the wake up bit in the magic box

this whole buffy/faith thing is very curious, i must say. as is this spell to get tara back to normal again....i can't wait to see how this all plays out. if even dawn isn't strong enough, then what is? well, i have a few ideas as to what is....but i hope you prove me wrong!! ideas make me nervous.....

thank you again for the update!! it was wonderful as always.

*please use both hands....*

[Bagheera]

eccentrictulip - Thanks very much. Buffy/Faith thing...well, love bites, after all. And here's some more....



Part 5

Rating: M15 Adult themes, some violence.



“Maybe she’s at Janice’s,” Willow suggested, without much hope. “Or Kit’s.”



“She would have let me know,” Buffy insisted.



“Let me try the answering machine,” Willow offered. She lifted the receiver, hit redial and waited a few seconds. The hacker hit a few more numbers, and then turned on the speaker.



“You have two new messages,” came the synthesised voice. Tuesday, four twenty-five pm:-”



“Hello, this is Bethany Maclay, calling Dawn Summers. You phoned a few days back to warn me; something about Donny? He hasn’t shown up and we’re worried something might have happened. Are you sure he was coming home? Please call me.” Click. Tara looked at Willow and shrugged.



“Tuesday, five zero five pm:-”



There was a crackle, a pause, and then a deep evil voice came over the speaker. “You know who this is. I have the Slayerette. If you ever want to see her in one piece again, you come to me tonight. Both witches. Tonight. I’ll call back to tell you where.” Click. The line was poor and the voice echoed, hinting at vast unknown places far beneath the surface of the earth.



“End of messages.”



Buffy blanched, struck dumb. Willow rushed to her side and held her. “It’s all right Buffy. If they want to trade, Dawn must be okay, right?” the redhead tried to sound convincing.



“I need Giles,” Buffy said suddenly. “I need everybody on this one. We need to find out just who this One is and how to stop it.”



“Him,” Tara corrected. Buffy looked at Tara, puzzled. “Before the ritual decapitation, Chastity called The One a he.”



“I guess that narrows it down some,” Buffy said, reaching for the phone. She dialled and was answered almost immediately. “Giles? Can you come to my house straight away? The One has Dawn. Okay, see you. Bye.” Buffy dialled another, longer number. “Oh, hey Xander. Listen, Dawn’s been kidnapped…by The One. Yeah, we’re meeting at my place, soon as. What’s that? Well, now you know how my social life used to be. I’m sorry…you’re sorry too? I know; I’m very sorry…No, I’m not trying to say I’m sorrier than you, Xander. I absolutely wouldn’t presume to do that, not at all...We’re both sorry, yes…What’s that? Look, if he’s real, he’ll understand. Um – he’s not a big-time martial arts guy is he, ‘cos – nah, okay, bad idea. Just hurry. Bye.” Buffy looked up. “Anya too?”



Tara nodded. Willow advised, “You never know; her teleporting came in handy last night.” Buffy reached for the phone again. Tara began packing up. She slipped the Aberjian scroll and a couple of other items into a small backpack. The scroll, she decided, would never leave her side. Just in case.



As it happened, Anya was not at home. Buffy left a brief message, and the trio locked the shop and rushed home. There were no new telephone messages waiting for them.



“Why’d we come all this way?” Willow panted. “Couldn’t we have just stayed at the shop?”



“Faith’ll be here soon. We were going to patrol tonight; I was going to take her around Sunnydale – show her what’s going down.”



“I would have thought that after last night, Faith would already know,” Willow suggested. Buffy blushed scarlet, but said nothing.



A few minutes later, Xander and the dark-haired Slayer arrived simultaneously, followed a moment later by Giles and Anya. Faith nodded briefly at Buffy, who looked momentarily flustered. Not as flustered as someone else, however.



“I – er, bumped into Anya on the way,” Giles explained, his nervous eyes scrupulously avoiding Buffy’s.



“Okay,” Buffy said, “I’m not going to sit here. I say we figure out where this One is and go and get Dawn.”



“I’ve been thinking,” Tara put in. “Chastity said the One wants us to open something. What if she meant the Hellmouth? The school’s still over it, right? Maybe Dawn was taken while she was still at school.”



Buffy took this in, nodded. “Xander,” she said, “You did construction work on the school, right? Were there any caves or tunnels near the old library?”



“There were a couple,” Xander replied. “We concreted them – most of them, I think.”



“And you didn’t think to tell me this until now?” Buffy fumed. “I sent my sister to school over a Hellmouth with a big nasty demon living in it?”



“I told you at the time it might not be such a good idea, Buff,” Xander excused himself.



“But the curriculum’s really good, and the rate of graduation to college is very high,” Buffy pleaded.



“Especially if you allow for the mortality rate,” Willow whispered to Tara. The vampire rolled her eyes.



Giles spoke up: “Far be it for me to interrupt this vitally important discussion on the merits of selecting a school, there is the rather pressing matter of rescuing Dawn. Unfortunately, we have no idea who this One is; the prophecies and portents have all drawn a blank. Perhaps we should just, explore beneath the school and hopefully catch our enemy by surprise.” The Watcher removed his glasses and blinked owlishly for emphasis.



“I think the condensed version reads: ‘let’s saddle up’.” Xander added.



Armed to the teeth, they drove to the rebuilt high school. Watchful of security patrols, which had been stepped up of late following a spate of disturbing incidents, most of which had somehow involved the freshman Dawn Summers in one way or another, the seven crossed the school grounds to the building that once again housed the library. Xander pointed out the main electrical switchboard, where Willow bypassed the alarms. A small locked side door led to the fire stairs and basement. They followed Xander through the heat, humidity and thrumming noise of the boiler room to another locked door.



The second door should have opened into a rough crawl space in the very foundations of the school. Xander had half-hoped to see just dust and building detritus. But instead, there was a generously-sized cave, with small tunnels leading off in several directions. “ Fiat lux,” Tara said, while Giles switched on an electric lantern. Instantly, Faith’s sharp eyes picked out a furtive figure ducking into shadow half-way down a dark passage.



“Hey fella!” the younger Slayer yelled. “Hey fella, stop!” The figure dodged into another patch of shadow. Faith glanced across at Buffy in disgust. “What a turkey. Hey fella, you’re a turkey!” Her blood up, Faith ran in pursuit, the rest followed closely.



The fugitive tried to shake them off around a couple of turnings and junctions, but Faith was too close and too fast, and the pursuers soon found themselves in a small chamber. It was sparsely furnished: a couple of lounge chairs, small table with a lamp, television and a rug. And on the far side of the room, looking exceedingly nervous, was Spike.



With a disgusted exclamation, Buffy rushed across the room to the bleached-blonde vampire and started hitting him with her fists. “I might have known you were behind this! ‘The One’! The one pain in the ass I should have staked years ago! Where is Dawn?” the Slayer demanded, with a final punch that sent Spike reeling to the floor.



“Ow! Hey! Lay off, Buffy! Dawn? I don’t know where the little bit is,” Spike protested, dabbing at a bloodied nose.



“Then what the hell are you doing here under her school?” Buffy demanded, hauling him to his feet and drawing back her fist to start pounding on him again.



“Guy’s gotta live somewhere, right?” the vampire pleaded.



“Um, Buffy?” Xander had been looking around the room, and his eyes lit upon a couple of items on a shelf against the wall. There were a couple of gift-wrapped boxes, the same size as the candy that Buffy had been receiving of late, as well as a small bunch of red roses, slightly wilted. The young man pointed them out, embarrassedly.



This only made Buffy even more furious. She picked Spike up and hurled him against the stone wall. With a muffled cry, Spike crumpled to the floor again. “You!” Buffy screamed at him. “All this time, you! After what you did to me. You stalk me - again? What is wrong with you!”



Spike half-sat, his back to the wall. “Buffy, please. I – know I – got some things wrong -”



“Wrong! You try to rape me? Oh sorry, honest mistake! Where do you get off, Spike?”



“It wasn’t like that and you know it! I was just trying to convince you, to let yourself feel – what I know you feel,” Spike said, earnestly.



“Well, it worked. I feel revolted. And you think that boxes of candy are going to make this better?”



“Buffy, I’ve been going through a lot of changes.”



"Changes? You haven’t changed. Only now you’re leaving flowers in my mailbox instead of cigarette butts on my lawn.”



“I’ve given up the fags. Cigarettes,” Spike added quickly, seeing them all giving him very strange looks. “But Buffy, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, you couldn’t possibly understand -”



“No, and I don’t want to understand. All I want from you is information. Where is my sister?” Spike looked at her blankly. “Okay, where is The One?”



“The One? The One has Dawn?”



“Okay, so you know who I mean. Tell me where to find him and I don’t stake you here and now. Deal?”



“Buffy, you’re way out of your league. The One’ll kill you before you can even breathe. If you’re lucky.”



“Not an issue,” Tara interrupted. Spike looked at the blonde witch, uncomprehending.



“Never mind the cryptic,” Buffy continued. “Where?”



Spike’s shoulders slumped. “Back to the main cave, first tunnel on the right from the door. First right again, after that I don’t know, just keep heading down. But Buffy, please don’t go down there. I love you, I don’t want -”



“Okay, that does it,” Buffy snarled, lifting Spike to his feet and slamming him against the wall. The Slayer whipped out a stake and drew it back.



“Oh yeah fine, go ahead!” Spike shouted. “I was always your whipping bitch for you to work out your problems. Then when you were finished, you’d cast me aside. Never mind what I felt! Go on, stake the Spike if it makes you feel better. Because that’s all you’ve ever done – whatever made you feel better. Sod my feelings, right?”



Faith stepped forward lightly and took Buffy’s arm. “Buffy, don’t. If you stake him, you prove him right. He can be the martyr, he can go to dust believing that all the bullshit he’s trying to lay on you is true. Don’t give him what he wants; give the fucking asshole what he deserves.” Buffy considered this, drew back her booted foot and delivered a vicious kick, all of her Slayer strength propelling it, to Spike’s crotch. Spike collapsed, moaning, to the floor. Buffy turned her back and walked out.



“Maybe you – uh – want to put some ice on it,” Tara suggested to Spike, going after Buffy.



“Evil bloodsucking freak,” Buffy muttered as she left the room. “Um - no offence, Tara.”



“None taken,” Tara replied evenly.



As the others followed, Faith delayed for a moment. She looked Spike up and down with undisguised contempt. “You’re a waste of fucking space and time, Spike, but I think you ought to know. You remember Buffy putting a move on you at the Bronze, playing you, telling you she could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up? She’s got muscles you've never even dreamed of. She could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg her to hurt you just a little bit more. Remember?”



Spike stared at the brunette in confusion. “She told you? And you are…” he managed to say.



“It wasn’t her, it was me. I’d borrowed Buffy’s body for a while, long story okay? It’s just that when I said all that, I wasn’t coming onto you; I was telling you to fuck the hell off. Just thought you ought to know. And one last thing,” Faith looked down the tunnel at the others rapidly disappearing into the darkness. She redirected her attention back at Spike. “If I see you again, I fucking stake you where you stand, you miserable bastard. You talk to Buffy one time, you look at her one time, I stake you. Comprendez?” Faith turned on her heel and ran after the others.



Spike writhed in pain in the darkness. He gasped and tried to sit up. “But,” the vampire groaned at last, “I’ve got a soul.” However, by then, no-one was listening.



End of Episode 1.11

Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his
path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down. Rudyard Kipling