Summary Buffy makes a wish and finds Ripper and Ethan on the other side
Rating NC17 Het, Slash, multiple
Disclaimer No quality fanfiction was harmed in the writing of this story.
Any injured copyrights were unintentional
Notes Thanks to Scarlettgirl for planting the original seed to this in a parking garage in downtown Philly,
to Mydeira for starting it and then letting me take over (large chunks of the first three chapters are hers, so share the love),
and to Wickedfox for the absolutely amazing graphic she made to go with it!
Chapter 14
Buffy’s blood froze.
She had forgotten. How could she have forgotten, when she’d looked into all their faces the first night at the club and realized they were all doomed? “Eyghon?” She sat up and moved away from Ethan, glaring at him in a flare of anger. “You said we were setting up wards?”
He sank back into the cushions. “We did. Don’t want anything coming in or out during the summoning.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Buffy surged to her feet, snatching up the pieces of her clothes before she snapped on the overhead light. Both men winced at the sudden brightness, but she didn’t care. “Do you have any idea what you’re messing with?”
“Power,” Ripper said, not shifting his position. “A bigger rush than any drug without all those unpleasant side effects.”
“Side effects?” She jammed her head through the neck of her shirt and glared at him. “You’ve got a pretty casual way to talk about people getting killed.”
Ethan sighed and sat up. “Nobody’s getting killed, Annie. We’ve got it all under control.”
“No, you don’t. God!” She pulled on her panties and then jerked up her jeans, fear and anger making the actions violent. “You’re like a couple of little boys with fire crackers, and you’re just too stupid to know you’re about to blow your hands off!”
“You little hypocrite,” Ripper growled. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know that? You think I didn’t notice? That I don’t know what you did?”
“What are you talking about?” Anger overwhelmed any confusion in her voice.
He was on her in an instant, his hand fisting her hair to wrench her head down as he exposed the back of her neck. “Did you think I wouldn’t see this?” His finger mapped roughly over something there, and suddenly she realized what it was. The last lingering scar from where she had had the mark of Eyghon removed. “What happened, Annie, you screw up? Get cold feet?”
She ripped out of his grasp, not caring that she left strands of her hair behind in his fist. “You stupid son of a bitch!”
“Don’t lecture us, Annie.” He didn’t let her get any further. “You wanted it, too, or you wouldn’t have the mark. Just because you couldn’t handle it doesn’t mean we can’t.”
“You can’t,” she said flatly, assaulted by the memory of him curled up on the floor of his apartment, drunk and unwashed and drowning in guilt for what he had created. “You can’t handle it, and when it goes wrong, you won’t be able to stop it. People are going to die because of it. Do you really want to be responsible for that?”
His expression was stony. “Oh, boo hoo. Stop being so melodramatic. We’ve summoned demons before. We’ll be fine.”
She wasn’t going to get through to him, stubborn as he was. Instead she knelt down next to Ethan, locking eyes with him so he couldn’t escape her. “Ethan, please. You don’t need to do this. Can’t you find something else?”
With a benign smile, he reached out to caress her hair. “You worry too much, pet. Ripper’s right. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Frustrated, she pulled back. “You haven’t seen someone Eyghon’s taken control of. You don’t know what it’s like to watch your friends rotting away alive.” She looked from him to Ripper, who was on the other side of the room jerking his jeans up his long legs. “I’ve seen what Eyghon can do. I know what’s going to happen and what it’s going to do to you. You can’t control Eyghon, and when he gets free, you won’t be able to stop him.”
“Fuck this.” Ripper buttoned his jeans and glared at her. “I don’t have to stay here and take this from you. Bitch. I’m out of here.”
“I mean it, Ripper.” Buffy intercepted him. “I know what’s going to happen, and I’m not going to watch it again. If you go through with this, I’m leaving.”
He whirled on her. “Fine by me. We didn’t ask you here, Annie. And we don’t fucking need you. You want to leave, leave. In a week, we won’t even remember you were here.” With that he shoved past her. Buffy just stood there until the front door slammed.
“Ethan.” She turned to him, desperate to convince him.
He rose to his feet, tense and angry. “Why do you have to be like this, Annie?”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you two.” She laid a hand on his arm. “Please, Ethan. You have to believe me. Nothing good is going to come from this.”
“Just drop it, girl.” She was surprised when he jerked away. “Ripper’s right. If you don’t want to be a part of it, fine. But don’t be a bitch about it to the rest of us.”
“Ethan . . .”
But he had already walked away, disappearing into the bathroom and slamming the door. She heard the lock fall into place, shutting her out.
She couldn’t give it up, though. Not knowing what she did. Somehow she had to find a way to convince them. But neither one of them wanted to listen. Ethan came out again after he showered and tried to seduce her into silence, but for once his soft, teasing words and gentle touches didn’t affect her. Finally he gave up and locked himself in the bedroom to escape her.
Ripper didn’t come back.
Exhaustion caught up with her, so she lay down on the couch to wait for Ripper to come back. She slept fitfully, vague, intense dreams of horror and death making it less than restful.
Finally she heard the door open and sat up, blinking quickly to clear her eyes in the bright sunlight, marshalling her arguments. She was going to stop this, even if she had to knock him out and drag him away to do it. Anything to spare him the pain she knew was coming.
But it wasn’t Ripper who came through the door.
Deidre smiled meanly when she saw Buffy on the couch, the tousled afghan evidence that she had been sleeping there. “What’s the matter, Annie,” she gloated, “they finally get tired of you? Knew it was just a matter of time.”
“Shut up, Deidre.” Buffy glanced at her watch. It was past two in the afternoon. Where the hell was he?
Deidre ignored her. “Guess the novelty of a Slayer held their attention a little longer than usual.” She smirked. “Still, boys will be boys.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” Buffy snapped. “Now, have you seen him? Have you seen Ripper?”
“What’s the matter, Annie?” Deidre laughed cruelly. “Afraid he’d come to me for a bit of comfort? Well, he knows my door is always open. Hell, he’s had the key for a year.”
“And yet he’s still never used it,” Buffy couldn’t resist sniping back. “I just need to know if you’ve seen him today.”
Deidre sighed, obviously disappointed that she couldn’t get more of a rise out of Buffy. “No, I haven’t seen him today. Got a call from him this morning saying to show up here tonight. I had something for him, so I dropped by early.” She pulled a small silk bag out of her pocket, then looked at Buffy thoughtfully. “But I bet these were for you, weren’t they? If Ripper’s moved on, guess he won’t be giving them to you after all. Maybe I’ll just keep ‘em for myself.” She opened the bag and drew out the contents.
They were the beads from Giles’ study.
Buffy couldn’t breathe. In all the time she’d been here, it had never occurred to her to look for them. It would have been an impossible search. And truthfully she had stopped looking for a way back by the end of the second week. But now here they were, in the hands of her biggest rival. The opportunity for disaster chilled her blood. “Deidre, give me the necklace.”
“Bugger that.” She slipped the strand over her head in defiance. “What’re you gonna do, beat me up, Slayer?” She snorted.
“I’m warning you, Deidre.” Buffy stepped closer, trying to keep her hand from shaking as she held it out. “You need to give me that necklace right now.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” Her hand closed around the beads. “You aren’t Ripper’s favorite toy anymore. He doesn’t remember the girl he was with before you, and he’s not going to remember the girl that comes after you. You’re just one in a long line, Annie,” she sneered, “but I’ve been here, and I’m going to be here long after the lot of you are forgotten. Because I’ve got something none of you have.”
Buffy didn’t take her eyes off the beads. “And what’s that?”
“Power.” Deidre stepped closer, staying out of arm’s reach. “I have it, and I’m not afraid to use it. I’ve watched, you, girl.” Her eyes latched on Buffy, she started circling, never moving closer. “For all your destiny and your gifts, you’re too gutless to use them. You could have anything you wanted, just reach out and take it. Instead you pull this whole noble crap.” She stopped, crossing her arms over her chest. “You may have run away from your keepers, but you’re still just another animal in the zoo. And I’m out there looking in at you.”
“You don’t understand the first thing about power,” Buffy snarled through gritted teeth. “But you’re going to get a hell of a lesson if I can’t talk some sense into Ripper. Now give me those beads!”
“Fuck you, bitch!” Deidre’s eyes were fiery, but she still backed away. “I don’t know why you even had to come here! We were doing just fine before. Now all Ripper and Ethan have time for is their precious Annie and their crazy-assed magic. You know what I wish?”
“Deidre, no!”
She didn’t even slow. “I wish you’d just go back to wherever the hell it is you came from! Nobody wants you around here, Annie, not anymore.”
It was too late. Buffy felt the magic start to twine around her even before Deidre finished speaking. She surged forward in one desperate attempt to grab the beads . . .
And fell to her knees on the floor of Giles’ study.
Right where she had left from.
“Oh, god, no!”