Chapter 16

“Your red-plagued blood will drip
from numerous splintered shields.
The army which will swarm with fires,
is a legion which they lead in many companies.
A torrent of blood will be showered, as well as flesh.
You will suffer from a wound of vengeance.
By an iron point will the red shield be splintered,
blazing against pierced skin.”
(Secrets of The Ogham: Celtic Tree Mysteries)

With a snarl, Spike pushed himself from the wall and strode quickly passed the two women and headed straight for Xander. Just before he reached him, he spun on his heels bringing one leg up in an arc and landing a resounding blow to the boy’s ribs. The sound of ribs cracking was audible in the room, and Xander simply let out a brief groan before dropping to his knees and clutching at his injured ribs. ‘Stupid prat got himself into this, let him get himself out’ Spike thought to himself as he glared at the boy quivering at his feet.

Then, dismissing the boy, Spike turned to face the two women. His expression was one of a man who had run out of patience with a game that had gone on to long. His arrogant posture bespoke of one ready for action, not more games.

“So, lets see if I have this right,” he ground out. “You seem to think the Slayer ‘gave’ me her blood in order to defeat you!”.

“And why wouldn’t she, she is in love with you.” replied Rhiannon watchfully.

“Now I am disappointed in you luv. Now ‘you’ ain’t thinking clearly.”

“Oh really,” said the woman with a warning look. “Then perhaps you would be kind enough to explain it to my feeble mind.”

“For fucks sake, is everyone around here brain dead” he began in exasperation. “Yes, I have the Slayer’s blood in me, but do you really think she gave it willingly? Think about it for a minute.”

“I don’t see your point” the woman snarled back. Behind her, Spike noticed that Dru had become stock still and was staring at him intently.‘She was the one who bore watching, not Rhiannon’ he briefly thought to himself.

“Look, do you really think the Slayer would give ‘me’ her blood voluntarily? Do you really think those friends of hers would permit it? Of course, she bloody wouldn’t.”

“Why not, she is in love with you and you are in love with her.” stated Rhiannon carefully.

At this Spike began to chuckle. “God, you lot are unbelievable; almost as gullible as the Slayer and her friends.”

“Be carefully who you call gullible” said Rhiannon warningly.

“Look luv, you are forgetting one basic thing.....I have no soul and I am incapable of love.” At this statement, Rhiannon walked to within a few inches of him and stared deeply into his eyes.

“What are you saying?”

“It’s simple baby, though I have to admit, much to my disgust, that it was Angel that gave me the idea. He once said that the only way to kill the Slayer was to win her heart.” As he spoke a small smile started to play at the corners of Rhiannon’s lips.

“I had tried a couple of times to do away with the pesky Slayer, but each time I ran into that bloody good luck that you mentioned,” he continued. “It was getting on my bloody nerves, but I have never been one to bang my headagainst a brick wall...... ‘straight on’ attacks were not getting me anywhere, so a new plan was necessary to defeat her. Angel simply gave me the idea.”

“So you are trying to tell me that your relationship with the Slayer was a scam to get close enough to kill her.” said Rhiannon with more than a touch of doubt.

“I’m not telling you about a plan.....I’m telling you about a fact. Tonight I took the Slayer to bed and bled her dry. She is dead.” Spike held the woman’s gaze, effectively staring her down. Thoughtfully, Rhiannon turned and looked at Xander’s huddled form laying in the middle of the floor, before turning back to look at Spike.

“I cannot deny that you are Vampire and as such it is evident that you have no soul and are incapable of love. I also accept that tonight, for whatever reason, you fed on the Slayer. I also acknowledge that during our meeting in the graveyard that you stated that you would not destroy the ceremony for the Slayer, but because you didn’t like the idea of you losing your ‘elite’ status among a multitude of Vampires. However, something doesn’t sit right. You are lying to me.”

“Believe what you bloody like luv. I took the Slayer’s blood tonight to come here and defeat whoever was trying to take over my rightful place. And that is exactly what I’m gonna do.” he said nonchalantly.

Rhiannon began to laugh as she pointedly looked round at her assembled followers.

“Don’t think you would stand much of a chance, do you?”

“Go ahead, underestimate me,” he snarled back.

The two continued to glare at each other in silence, until a pain wracked voice drew their attention to the boy huddled on the floor.

“I’ll kill you for using Buffy like that.” he boy managed to spit out.

Spike raised his eyes heavenwards and made to move back towards the boy, but Dru beat him to it. Sinking to her knees beside Xander, her face went Vamp as she turned her eyes up to the woman.

“Let me have this one, he will be fun to play with” she pleaded.

“No, not now. You can have him later, but for now all the blood is needed for the ceremony.” Without paying any attention to Dru’s crestfallen look, Rhiannon turned to some nearby Vamps. “Put the boy with the others for bleeding.” she ordered.

Quickly, two Vamps moved to do her bidding. The each grabbed one of Xander’s arms and began dragging him from the room, paying no heed to his screams of agony as the movement wracked pain through his body.

For a moment, Rhiannon stood and watched the boy’s departure, before turning back to Spike.

“For Dru’s sake, I am going to give you a chance.....but only a chance. If for one instant, I think you are going to double cross me, I’ll have you killed.”

“I don’t need your bloody ‘chance’ luv, or didn’t you hear right.....I’m going to kill you.” said Spike slowly.

“Ah, yes. We must deal with this little issue of power and leadership” the woman nodded. “How about I offer you the chance to rule beside me. Imagine it, ruler of a World of subservient humans and a ruling class of Vampires. I think that classifies as an elite type of position.” At her statement, Spike noticed Dru’s face light up with glee. He could tell her mind was quickly adapting to the thought of this ‘new’ world with them ruling in evil together. A great big play house for the princess.

Turning back to Rhiannon, he contemplated the offer for a moment before commenting, “Now that sounds like an offer we could discuss luv.”

With a smile of triumph the woman swirled round and moved towards the altar. “You will have to pardon me if I don’t accept your answer as gospel. It will take more than your word to convince me of your sincerity.” she said pointedly.

Spike’s eyes hardened. He could guess what was coming.

“I think you and I need to discuss this is private for awhile, don’t you?” she said with a knowing smile.

Spike looked towards the floor, giving himself a moment to think. 'Women! They never got it, did they. They never seemed to realise that sex could easily mean nothing to a man. They just kept right on judging it by their own standards. They saw sex as some kind of commitment which was stronger than the spoken promise.' Sighing, he looked up and gave the woman an accepting leer. “Sure baby, lets talk.” With a ‘devil may care’ swagger, he moved through the crowd of awe struck vamps and moved to lean against the door behind the alter, waiting on the woman to join him. Through the crowds, his eyes found Dru. By the expression on her face, she was none to pleased about the ‘chat’ he was about to have, but she appeared to be accepting of it’s necessity.

Catching her eye, he sent her a wink and a smile, and was rewarded with a tentative smile in reply. ‘The bitch is putting to much faith in the princess’ he thought to himself. ‘She hasn’t learned yet that Dru is completely unpredictable and wild.’ Then he realised the woman was issuing orders from the alter, and he forced his attention back to her.

“Begin bleeding the sacrifices, but don’t kill any of them yet” she was saying, “we will need them later as live food for the ‘new’ arrivals. The ceremony will start in an hour.” Orders issued, she turned a moved towards Spike. As she approached, Spike reached out and opened the door motioning her through ahead of him.

“After you, luv” he grinned.

As he moved through the door, his mind was still playing with the gullibility of women. 'How could they believe that having a man’s body, could work to tie the man to them?' His body was nothing, he could give it freely without it meaning anything. His word also meant nothing, he had no problems with telling lies. But his mind, his soul, and his heart were his and he had never given them to anyone.

Granted, no one even suspected that he had a heart and a soul......it was a secret he kept carefully concealed. It was a secret not even Dru suspected. He never let his guard slip, even though he had feelings for the insane Vampyress. He knew she was pure demon and would have killed him outright if she suspected his secret.

As his thoughts continued on this track, a frown crossed his face as thoughts of Buffy invaded his mind. Maybe there was one person who suspected his secret, but then she was just as gullible as the others.

She believed his words and his body meant love, but he knew his heart and soul were still his.....weren’t they? Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he swung the door closed behind him and moved down the hallway after the beautiful woman who was demanding his body in promise.......

***

Chapter 17

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science. To know what is
impenetrable to us really exists....that which our dulled
faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms....
(Albert Einstein)

Buffy just wanted to take hold of the neck of the person who was shaking her, and squeeze until they stopped. Again, she attempted to return to the comfort of the blackness that surrounded her, but the incessant shaking refused to cease. With a groan, she dragged herself up from the darkness with the intention only of making the damn shaking stop.

Opening her eyes weakly, she struggled to focus on the face peering down on her.

But every time she almost managed to get a fix on the face above her, the damn shaking would start again and she would lose the little focus that she had achieved. Summoning energy born of aggravation, she managed to hiss, “STOP shaking me.” Blessedly, the shaking ceased and the face above her came closer until they were almost nose to nose. With a surge of effort, Buffy tried focusing on the face but managed only a cross eyed view her own nose and the world around her. Raising her hand, she managed to push the face away from her while demanding that her eyes cooperate with her mind. Watering with strain, her eyes complied and Willow’s face finally began to swim into focus.

‘Willow?’ thought Buffy perplexed. ‘What is she doing here?’ That thought was followed quickly by, ‘Where am I anyway?’ Managing to turn her head slightly, she attempted to look round her environment. It took her a moment to recognise Spike’s bedroom, but as soon as she did, the recent memories came rushing back.

Groaning, she attempted to push herself into a sitting position, but failed miserably. ‘Damn but I’m weak’ she thought to herself, before marshaling her strength and going for it again. This time she succeeded, but not without cost.

Her body screamed in protest at the lack of oxygen being supplied by her blood starved body, and unconsciously her respiration rate soared in a desperate attempt to met the increased oxygen demands of movement.

Hanging her head and gasping air into her lungs suddenly became a vital all consuming activity, but through the haze Buffy heard Willow’s insistent voice drilling away at her. With some difficulty she raised her eyes to her friend and tried to concentrate on the words that were pouring from her mouth.

Slowly, and with much repetition on Willow’s part, certain facts began to sink into Buffy’s fogged brain. The gist of it seemed to be that Xander had gone off, half cocked, after Spike and was aiming on getting himself killed in the process.

Raising her finger to her lip, Buffy signaled for Willow to hush. Speaking was going to take allot of unavailable energy, and speaking over the top of the excited girl would be a definite impossibility. Luckily, Willow caught the signal and ceased her chatter.

Clearing her throat, Buffy managed a whisper, “Do we know where Spike has gone?”

Buffy felt a deep sense of detached reality as she seemed to watch and hear Willow from a great distance. One part of her brain casually watched Willow nod worriedly, while the other part thought longingly of the blackness of sleep. But Willow’s voice was insistent and demanded her attention. With a sigh, she pushed the blackness away and concentrated on her friend’s words.

“Yes, Angel found out where the ceremony was going on and told Giles.” Willow was saying.

For a few moments Buffy couldn’t figure out why Willow seemed to think this was all so very important. It certainly didn’t seem more important than sleep as far as she was concerned. But slowly, her sluggish brain began to put the basics together and things began to take on some clarity.

“OK, we need to”, Buffy stopped to suck air into her lungs, “find Xander before he gets to Spike. At best Xander is going to ruin Spike’s plans, and at worst Xander is going to get himself killed.” Again, Buffy hung her head and struggled with her lungs before beginning again. “Help me dress, and get me up from here,” she demanded weakly.

“Buffy, you can’t.” said Willow in total dismay at her friend’s weakened condition.

“I don’t have the strength to argue Will, just do it.” struggled Buffy.

Quickly, Willow helped her friend dress and then, somewhat doubtfully, she wrapped her arms round her and struggled with her limp body until she managed to get them both standing in the middle of the bedroom floor in a parody of a lovers embrace.

“We have just got to make it outside to my car” puffed Willow. “Xander took off on foot after Spike, so my car is outside and I can drive you to the area of the Vamp house......maybe we will find Xander on the way.” Buffy could only manage a brief nod of acknowledgment, since the act of standing was taking all her reserves of strength. Leaning heavily on Willow, she allowed herself to be half dragged and half steered out to the waiting car.

It seemed to take forever, but finally the two girls reached the car. Willow propped the Slayer against the side of the car while she struggled to unlock the passenger side door. Then, with her last reserves of energy, she eased the Slayer into the seat and collapsed against the side of the car herself. An impatient remark from the inside the car, managed to reminded her of the urgency of their mission and she pushed her weariness aside and hurried round to the driver’s seat.

Settling herself behind the wheel, she looked over at the Slayer. Buffy was slouched in the seat with her eyes closed. Her breath was coming in sharp, gasping rasps and her skin was deathly pale.

“Buffy, maybe this is not such a good idea. I mean, your not exactly at your top slayerage form at the moment. My vote goes to getting Giles first.” Without bothering to open her eyes, the Slayer replied with a single word which broached no argument. “NO” she hissed.

For a few moments Willow hesitated in indecision, but then worry for Xander took over. It wouldn’t hurt to drive in the direction of the Vamp house and see if they could intercept Xander. Then she could load him into the car, and they could all go see Giles.

Mind made up, Willow reached out and started the car. Glancing over at the Slayer, she saw that Buffy appeared to have slipped back into unconsciousness. ‘That’s good’, she thought ‘at least I won’t have to argue with her about going into that house!’ Then, glancing over her shoulder for oncoming traffic, she pulled the car onto the road and headed off to the location of the Vamp house.

Beside her Buffy was aware of the car’s movement. She was not unconscious, she was simply trying to give her Slayer metabolism a chance to adjust and to heal. As each minute ticked by, Buffy felt herself become stronger and more aware of her surroundings. She was still dreadfully weak, but at least now she thought should be able to manage to walk unaided at the very least.

As Willow guided the car into the immediate vacinity of the Vamp house, Buffy’s slayer senses went wild. The essence of hundred’s of nearby Vamps became an almost palpable feeling in her gut and her eyes flew open and she began to hurriedly scan the passing neighborhood.

Without taking her eyes of the street, Buffy signaled for Willow to pull the car of the road, which the girl did without question. Silently they sat in the car scanning for any sign of Xander or any Vampire presence, but the street ahead was totally deserted.

‘They have got to be nearby somewhere; I can feel them’ Buffy thought uneasily.

Willow’s voice broke into her thoughts, “So, do we have a plan?” the girl asked hopefully.

Buffy slowly shook her head and continued to force her fogged brain to think. Since they hadn’t run across Xander on the way here, it was pretty obvious that he had followed Spike into the Vamp house, which meant that both Spike and Xander were at risk. She acknowledged that she wasn’t up to much, but she might be able to put on enough of a front act to give Spike the break he needed. But first she needed to get rid of Willow. She didn’t need anymore people to look out for right now.

“Willow, I need you to go and tell Giles what has happened,” said Buffy without taking her watchful eyes off the darkness outside the car.

“You’re not going out there.....are you?” said Willow with a moan.

“Don’t worry,” said Buffy glancing over and giving her friend a reassuring smile. “I’m just going to hang out in these bushes and watch for Xander.” Willow didn’t comment, she just stared at her friend as she tried to judge the truth of her words.

Seeing doubt spread across Willow’s face, Buffy hurried to convince her, “Look, we both know I’m not up to any Slayerage tonight, but someone has to stay and try to intercept Xander in case he is thinking of heading into that house.” “But Buffy, you can’t go out there alone.....you’re not strong enough,” said Willow.

“I’m stronger now, that Slayer healing thing seems to be doing its stuff,” she replied confidently. Her words, however, didn’t seem to impact on her friend, who continued to look at her doubtfully.

Buffy reached out her hand a gave her friend’s arm a squeeze of reassurance. “I promise to just keep an eye on things until you get back with Giles, then he can take over and figure out what to do.” Willow glanced out at the deserted street. It looked pretty uneventful out there, and if Buffy stayed hidden she should be OK.

“OK....but remember, you promised,” she said eventually.

Buffy smiled and quickly uncrossed her fingers where they lay hidden down the side of the car seat. Without anymore discussion, she reached for the door handle and let herself out of the car. The action took a great deal of energy, but Buffy was careful to hide the full extent of her continued weakness from the watchful girl. Leaning back through the window she winked at Willow.

“I’ll be right over there by that big tree; get Giles and hurry back.” “Hurry.....yes hurry....absolutely....no dawdling here” nodded Willow as she started the car once more and drove off into the night without further hesitation.

Buffy watched until the rear lights of the car turned the first corner, before she glanced over to the tree she had indicated earlier. Then with a shrug, she turned and began heading up the center of the street looking from right to left at each house she passed.

Beneath her, her legs responded slowly to her commands and the firm concrete roadway felt alittle spongy and insubstantial. ‘Still,’ she thought,‘I am up and walking! Now all I need to do is find the right house.’ Suddenly she noticed a slight movement in the bushes just ahead of her to the right. Slowing her walk, she peered in that direction trying to figure out if the movement belonged to some neighborhood cat or something more sinister. With her weakened Slayer senses concentrated on the movement ahead, she failed to hear the soft footfalls behind her, and the attack came without warning.

A large blanket of cloth descended over her head effectively cutting off her sight and binding her arms to her side. Almost immediately, the blanket was reinforced by a pair of strong arms coming around her and pinning the blanket to her. Ineffectively, Buffy struggled and kicked but her efforts caused the Vamp holding her no more concern than if she had been an ordinary human. Quickly summing up the situation and her own abilities, Buffy went limp. ‘Better to conserve what energy I do have, rather than waste it on this useless struggle. And lets face it, they are going to take me where I want to go.’ she thought to herself.

The Vamp began dragging her down the street, and Buffy staggered along unable to get her balance due to the blanket which kept tangling itself in her legs. She heard a brief muttered curse from the Vamp holding her, and then heard him call to someone else. A moment later Buffy felt her legs jerked out from under her, and she found herself being carried, like a rolled up carpet, between the two Vamps.

Briefly, she tried to formulate some plan for when they reached their destination, but since she had no idea what she was about to face she decide to just wait and ride it out. For several minutes, there was no sounds except for the huffing and puffing of the two Vamps as they struggled with their awkward load.....but then Buffy became aware that she was being carried up some stairs and she heard a door being opened.

“What ya got there?” a voice asked.

“We caught the Slayer.” a proud voice replied.

“Take her downstairs to the Mistress.” the first voice commanded.

Buffy felt her journey resume, and heard another door open before she felt herself being carried down a flight of steps. Then, with a bone jarring thud she was dropped to the floor. Catching her breath, she weakly struggled with the blanket which still covered her, and managed to get her head free. Looking up, she found herself face to face with the delighted face of Drucilla.

“Welcome Slayer,” said the Vampyress with a cunning smile.

“Hey thanks Dru, it’s nice of you to invite me to your party! I love parties.” replied the Slayer sarcastically as she pushed herself to a sitting position and took a look around the room.

She appeared to be in some kind of large cellar room, and to her dismay she found that she was surrounded by what appeared to be at least a hundred Vampires. Raising one hand, she wiggled her fingers cutely at the watching Vamps, “Hi guys, nice to meet you.” It seemed the Vamps were unimpressed because no one waved back. Sighing, Buffy continued to look round the room. In the center, there appeared to be some kind of alter and beside it stood a cauldron. The room was dimly candle lit and a smell of blood pervaded the air around her. Finally satisfied that neither Xander or Spike were present, Buffy turned her attention back to the watching Vampyress.

“Looking for your lover, Slayer?” grinned Dru evilly.

“Nah, I know where to find him,” she replied casually. “All I have to do is turn over in our bed and there he is.” It seemed her words had hit the mark, because Dru’s face twitched in anger for a moment just before the blow hit Buffy squarely on the cheek knocking her back to the floor.

Rubbing her jaw, Buffy looked up to find Dru crouched beside her. With a flick of her hand, Dru knocked Buffy’s coat collar to one side and effectively bared the two puncture holes in her neck to the surrounding Vamps.

“What happened Slayer, did your lover turn on you?” Dru hissed.

For a moment, the Vampyress’s question caught Buffy off guard. She hadn’t expected them to know that Spike had fed on her, and she had been counting on them thinking that she had all her Slayer strength. Obviously something had happened to make Spike give up the secret, so caution was necessary in her reply so that she didn’t contradict anything Spike had said.

“What’s it to you Dru? Jealous?” Buffy smiled.

In a second Dru’s arm was up and Buffy braced herself for another blow....but at the last minute the Vampyress pulled the punch. Instead an evil grin spread across her face.

“Your lover is in that room over there” Dru said as she nodded her head in the direction of a door directly behind the altar.

Buffy shrugged noncommitedly.

“And in case your wondering, he is in there ‘talking’ to our Mistress about joining her as leader of our new world.” continued the Vampyress slyly. The emphasis she put on the word ‘talk’ left little doubt in Buffy’s mind as to what was going on in the other room. Carefully she schooled her face to show none of the emotions that were ripping through her body, but she was unable to form a glib reply.

Dru watched her face carefully for a moment, before breaking into laughter and pushing herself back to her feet. Turning to the Vamp beside her, she began issuing orders.

“Tie the Slayer and put her over there by the alter door so that she can enjoy the sounds of her lover while she watches the bleeding.” Immediately Buffy was dragged to her feet, and her arms were jerked roughly behind her back and tied. Then quickly, she was shoved in the direction of the alter door, and pushed to a sitting position against the wall and left there. Through the door came the unmistakable sounds of two people busily engaged in passionate sex, and some of those sounds were intimately familiar to her. Buffy closed her eyes in an ineffectual attempt to shut out the sounds. Realising it was no use, Buffy opened her eyes and tried to redirect her attention onto the activity of the room.

It seemed that her presence had been dismissed from the minds of the surrounding Vamps, who were now busy dragging two very scared people into the room. For the first time, Buffy noticed a pile of what appeared to be six or so ‘bodies’ lying in the dark recesses of the far corner. It appeared that the ‘bleeding’ was well underway.

One of the girls being dragged towards the cauldron appeared to suddenly get the gist of what was about to happen to her and began to scream and struggle, but her feeble attempts were no match for her captors.

“Leave her alone you bastards” yelled Buffy as she ineffectively struggled against the ropes that bound her. The surrounding Vamps totally ignored her, but Dru turned a gave the Slayer an evil grin before turning back to the task at hand.

While two Vamps held one of the girl’s wrists over the cauldron, Dru picked up a sharp dagger and moved towards them. Her intention was clear. Holding the knife above the girl’s wrists, Dru turned to look back at the Slayer.

“Pay attention, cause soon you get to watch both Angel and Xander bleed” she hissed in joyous perverseness.

‘Angel?’ thought Buffy, ‘What in the hell is he doing here?’ With her mind totally caught up with trying to figure out how Angel had come to be involved, she completely failed to notice that the sounds from the room behind her had ceased, until the sound of the door opening drew her attention back.

Spike moved into the room and casually looked round. Briefly his eyes settled on the Slayer, but his face remained impassive. Turning, he held his hand back through the door to escort his new lover into the room.

Buffy couldn’t suppress the gasp of astonishment as she recognised the beautiful woman who had been with Angel that night in the library. ‘What in the hell is going on here? First Angel shows up with a mysterious woman, then the woman turns up as ring leader of the Vamps! Angel appears to be a captive about to be killed and Spike has dumped me for her Royal Evilness!’ thought Buffy as she struggled to make some sense out of the mess she was in.

The woman with Spike turned a surveyed the bound Slayer with delight. Then, to add insult to injury, she turned and kissed Spike passionately. From where Buffy sat, it didn’t look like Spike was doing much resisting! It was obvious that the woman was trying to bait the Slayer, but Buffy refused to bite. Instead she watched the pair, while being careful to keep a disinterested look on her face.

However, this show of passion did have a startling effect on one person in the room. As the woman deepened her kiss, a snarl of rage erupted from Drucilla. It appeared that Dru was unable to accept the sight of her lover engaged in a passionate kiss right before her own eyes. Looking up at the Vampyress, Buffy saw hate, jealousy and insanity flood Dru’s eyes. ‘Looks like you got a problem here lover boy’ she thought to herself with a smile.

At the sound of the snarl, the woman broke off her kiss with Spike and turned to look at Dru. Thoughtfully she turned back to Spike..

“Darling, lets not be selfish here,” she said pointedly. “Share and share alike.” Spike smiled at her words, and to Buffy’s amazement he strolled over to Dru. Gently he extended a hand, and let it caress the side of the Vampyress’s face. At his touch, Dru closed her eyes and began to rub her face on his hand making small mewling noises in her throat. The sight and the sound turned Buffy’s stomach! Without a word, Spike took Dru’s hand and led her to a dark corner of the room where they were effectively hidden from view. From the sounds that erupted from that area, Spike was obviously well on his way to reassuring his former lover.

For a moment the woman stared into the corner where Dru and Spike were huddled, before turning back to the room.

“It is time for the ceremony to begin” she announced. Then she turned to the Slayer.

“Your blood is prized above all others; you will be our special sacrifice to the Lord Crom Dobh.......but first, you will watch your friends die.”

***