CoF - Laure Alexander - TEAOW&S - The End: The Vision

Summary: Buffy has the amulet, Drusilla has a vision, Spike has a very odd dream, Willow...well, she and Angel aren't in this chapter because I'm totally evil.

AUTHOR: Laure Alexander
EMAIL: lara@sunflower.com
RATING: R, dream birching
PAIRINGS: Spike/Drusilla/Angelus
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the characters on the show. Joss Whedon and the WB Network own them (for now). No copyright infringement intended, so please don't sue.
DEDICATION: For Peygan again, because, y'know, lots of giggles.
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Wiping the perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand, Buffy slumped down on the couch in the Scooby Gang's corner of the Bronze.

"Lots of vampires. End of the world and all that crap," Buffy replied, rolling her head on the back of the couch and popping her neck. "Chased them for nearly three hours before I pinned them down at the water treatment plant."

"Nah, just dusty, and happily no end of the world tonight." She flashed him a tired smile and pulled the necklace from her pocket to show them, before stuffing it back away. "I just dropped by to see if Willow and Spike were still here celebrating their anniversary."

"Oh yeah, let's celebrate the day we get turned into a sex toy for a vampire," Xander muttered.

"Could have sworn Willow said they were coming here for some dancing after dinner."

"Undoubtedly they got so hot and bothered playing footsie during dinner, they decided to skip dancing and went straight back to his place."

"Very pretty, Xan." Buffy yawned. "Well, I'm heading to the Library. I'm sure Giles will want to ooh and umm over this necklace, then I have to go home. Mom wants to talk colleges again."

"Doesn't she realize that Angel will never allow you to leave Sunnydale?" Cordelia asked.

Shrugging, Buffy groaned her way to her feet, stretching her stiff muscles. "I'm not sure she really entirely accepts just what he is."

Buffy glared at him and Cordelia wrapped her fingers in the front of his shirt and yanked his head down to hers.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy grabbed her bag and walked away, muttering, "And they think *my* relationship is weird..."

Drusilla knelt in front of the cold fireplace, swaying slightly, a dreamy look on her face. The growing terror from the slip of a girl in her sire's bed slid over her like silk, making her shiver and giggle. It was completely intoxicating.

As she slipped to her side, rolling on the rug, a vision began to form before her glazed eyes.

She stood next to the fountain in the park, but, unlike every other night when the water tinkled merrily from the pretty flower shaped spouts into the copper basin, this time no water ran. The fountain base was cracked and the earth dry. Dead leaves and twigs were strewn across the path, and the antique looking lights were broken.

Only the dim light of the moon lit her way as Drusilla walked slowly along the broken pavement.

In the distance she heard a howl, then another, deep throaty sounds that were in no way human.

Puzzled, Drusilla ran her hand along the back of a faded park bench and felt a jolt of electricity go through her. Two corpses formed before her eyes, slumped on the bench, in a lover's embrace.

The familiar voice made her turn, her eyes lighting with hope, but she stumbled at the sight of him.

She barely recognized him. He was pale and gaunt--skin and bones. His hair was a dirty blond and down to his shoulders. A feral look gleamed in his otherwise dull eyes as he staggered towards her dressed only in torn jeans.

Stumbling another few steps towards her, he ignored her question, whining softly instead, "Hungry."

A bolt of fear went through her, not for herself, but for the future, and she realized what really was so different about the park.

She could hear Spike's shuffling footsteps, and the distant howling, but nothing else.

As Spike transformed into a hideous, starving monster, the vision faded, and Drusilla curled into a ball, whimpering.

Giles turned the necklace over in his hand, examining it with a jeweler's loop for several more minutes before setting both items down on the desk. "I don't know."

He reached for his Watcher's journal. "Which crypt did they find this in again?"

"Van something...Schmuss? Schmidt?" At the look he gave her, she protested, "I was a bit busy chasing them. It was in Eternal Peace Cemetery, I'm sure." Then she frowned. "Or was it Peaceful Eternity?"

"Be that as it may, I need to know where this was found. Try meditating while I go find a book that might help."

As Giles rose to head to the cage, Buffy took a deep breath and forced herself to calm. By the time he returned hefting a large, dusty book, she was smiling.

Already engrossed in his book, he waved her away and Buffy grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "'Night!"

Human, young and carefree, he strolled through St. James Park toting his dinner in a metal lunch box. The sun burned through the haze of a summer's day in London, and the park was full of the scent of flowers. During the dinner hour, the City emptied itself of clerks and juniors, who headed to the parks of the West End to eat under sunny skies.

William made his way to the tea cart and got in the queue, nodding at an acquaintance and thinking about the lecture he planned to attend that night on a new set of fossils found in the Orkneys.

As he placed his order and reached for a coin in his pocket, the sky went red and an explosion of fire burst over the pond.

He could only watch in abject horror as everyone around him was burned to ash in one blinding instant. There wasn't even time for them to scream.

The trees caught on fire, the pond burned to steam, and the ground beneath his feet began to melt.

William slowly turned in a circle, mouth agape, shocked to the core, and saw that nothing remained. Buildings, trees, flowers, ducks, people...the park was a landscape of red and black.

As his mind tried to process all that was happening, from out of the bank of steam where the pond had been strolled a beautiful woman. She had long, red hair and snapping green eyes and skin the color of white marble. William blushed at the outfit she wore, only a black corset and a matching skirt that barely covered her. Her limbs were exposed, and were long and shapely, ending in black shoes with thin, tall heels.

"You human, me vamp." She laughed at her own joke and jumped lightly over a burning rock.

"I...I don't understand," William stammered, clutching his lunch box to his chest.

"It's a dream." She spun around, arms outstretched at her sides. "Hell is what we make it."

Suddenly she was in front of him, her hands on his shoulders, her thinly covered bosom pressed to his heaving chest, the hand holding the lunch box having slid to his side. His glasses slipped down his nose and she pushed them back up, giggling. "This isn't you."

She laughed harder. "You're too young, too innocent, to have ever been my William." Rising on her toes, she pressed a hard, sensuous kiss to his lips, then pulled back, licking the taste from the corner of her mouth. "Virgin."

The shock of her kiss sent a bolt of anger through him, and he pulled back. "I am a good, Christian man, saving myself for marriage."

His righteous puffery made her laugh even harder and she danced through the flames. "Oh, William, wake up."

The fires went out and only ash remained. The air cooled in an instant, ice forming on what little hard surfaces there were, and the sky was lit only by a few stars. William blinked rapidly into the darkness, his heart pounding in his chest, and felt something shift inside him. Glancing down, he found himself clothed in jeans and a black t-shirt, and his heart no longer beat. The lunch box was replaced by a cigarette and he brought it to his lips.

"Probably." The older male shrugged and looked around at the desolation. "Any clue what the fuck is going on?"

"Nope." Spike offered his sire his cigarette and the Angel took a grateful drag.

Drusilla wandered over to them wearing a white bra and tap panty set from the '20s and her hair in a tight bun. She carried a long switch, the kind used by teachers, and she lashed it down across Angel's knuckles, making him cry out and drop the cigarette. "Smoking behind the woodshed. Naughty, naughty. Ten with the birch rod. Over the stool." A tall stool appeared next to her.

Angel gave her an appalled look, then meekly dropped his trousers and placed his stomach over the stool, reaching down and grabbing the legs for support.

He howled at the first blow, then the second and third, and Spike chuckled in amusement and growing pleasure as the birch left ugly red marks on his sire's very white ass.

When she was done, Drusilla made him kiss the switch before allowing him to pull up his pants. He growled and rubbed his rear end as he did so.

"As amusing as that was, luv, what's going on?" Spike asked, watching Drusilla weave patterns in the air with the switch.

As she twirled the switch in her hand it began to change, thicken, the handle taking on carvings, the narrow birch turning to leather. A magnificent whip rested in her hand, its tail winding itself around her leg, cutting into her skin as if it was lashing her.

Drusilla didn't seem to notice the pain, simply caressed the demonic carvings on the handle, and whispered, "The five into one. A pentacle of power. Life and death and heart and stone. All at the appointed hour. The red and the black and the gold are we, and the world depends on our empathy."

Blood flowed down her leg and she whimpered. Suddenly filled with agony, she cried, "Or we all fall down. We all fall down."

As she crumpled, the dream changed and Spike found himself curled around Willow who slept in his arms. Contentment filled him and Drusilla's rambles faded as darkness beckoned.

Several hours passed before Giles looked up from his book and rubbed his tired eyes. Sighing softly he picked up the necklace again, his finger tracing the pentacle. At each point was a diamond, and in the middle was a large, round emerald. On its back were carved several runes he had yet to decipher. They didn't appear to be in any human language nor were they of any of the demonic languages with which he was familiar.

A noise from the doorway caused him to swivel his head in alarm, then he relaxed and smiled tiredly.

"You said you'd be home by midnight." Her voice held only worry, no scolding, as she walked over to him and perched on the edge of the table. "It's nearly three."

"I'm trying to decipher the runes on this necklace. I think I found a minor prophecy that might deal with it."

"Or..." Giles shrugged his aching shoulders and smiled gratefully as she set down the gems to massage him. "There's some hint that it might be the way to avert an apocalypse."

"That would be different." She gently rubbed at the knot between his shoulder blades. "Y'know, Rupert, without me, you'd be one big crippled knot."

Tired but amorous, Giles nodded and placed the necklace in his pocket before rising to take her hand. "We can figure this out tomorrow. I doubt there's any urgency."

Buffy awoke with a loud gasp and grabbed her chest. Her heart pounded against her hand, painful and loud as she panted harshly. Sitting up, she stared into the gloom of her room, a sense of desolation filling her.

As she lay back down, trying to calm down and force away the horrifying images of Willow snacking on her parents while Angel looked on indulgently, Buffy determined that she'd confront him the next night.

These authors spend lots of time to write these stories. If you took the time to read this PLEASE take the time to give them some feedback. Happy writers write more ;-)

Laure Alexander - lara@sunflower.com

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