CH.44

The next morning he was woken up to a special treat. Tara had decided to play with him by kissing him lightly all over. Willow couldn't help because she currently had her mouth on Tara and was doing her best to get to the gooey center of her own delicious treat.

He let them play for a bit until there was a knock on the door, Buffy's voice was heard. "We have a problem, meet me downstairs."

They were forced to quit playing and see to business. Getting dressed, Ryan noted their reluctance and thought they may be getting hormonal urges.

When they put on their bra's he also noted that their breasts were sensitive. Thinking of going shopping for some softer clothing for them, he led the way downstairs when they got to the living room, Buffy and Xander were already waiting.

Buffy spoke as soon as they entered the room. "I killed a vamp last night that claimed Spike sired him two days ago."

Willow asked her. "How? Wouldn't the chip stop him?"

Xander answered for her. "We think the chip is malfunctioning or something, the military isn't really known for quality experimental off the books tech. I'm surprised something hasn't come up before now."

Buffy nodded. "It didn't take Riley's body to start failing not long after Walsh left, I'm surprised myself that Spikes chip lasted longer. It just goes to show that they prided themselves more on controlling others than their own people."

Ryan told her. "Find him and I'll look into his mind and find out. Until then let's assume it wasn't him and look at the facts from a different angle. If someone is out their turning vampires and blaming Spike, what would they get out of it?"

Lyndsey inserted. "Buffy kills Spike, then we're down a player. They may be trying to whittle us down."

Xander commented. "Or it's just someone that Spike has managed to piss off but doesn't have the cojones to stake him themselves. It could also just be Spike back to his old self. Let's face it, this could just be him taking advantage of the chips short life expectancy to catch up on his body count."

Buffy looked solemn. "No, he wouldn't do that! He has a soul now!"

Xander went on."He may be soul boy 2.0 now, but he is still a vampire and it's the nature of the beast."

Ryan looked at Lyndsey, who promptly nodded and smacked the back of Xander's head. Ryan told them. "As I was saying, let's assume he's innocent for now. We'll know for sure when I read his mind, now who all has a bone to pick with Spike and is dumb enough to risk the slayer's wrath to see him dead. I think we can safely assume it's vampires only at this point."

Buffy shrugged."Everyone I can think of is dead already, and if it's someone from his past, then we'd need to ask him."

Willow spoke up."I'll check the watcher's diaries, Giles left when he moved back to England."

Dawn told them."I'll check the database and look for any mention of Spike's past enemies."

Nodding Buffy told them to get on it, while she left to find him. Ryan and Tara went over the diaries with Willow until Buffy came back later that night with Spike in tow. He looked worse for wear speaking in riddles to himself.

Ryan knocked him out and chained him to the basement wall and laid him on the cot. Shaking his head he told them. "His mind is a mess, there are guilt-ridden memories all over the place and his soul's agony isn't helping much. This could take days."

Buffy nodded."It was him, he led me to a basement and something was talking to him. He said it was singing to him. Then vampires started popping out of the ground and his personality just shifted, as he went from crazy to just plain evil."

Ryan sighed. "Well until his mind calms down from the blood high he's been on, we're not going to get anything from him tonight. You all go to bed, I'll keep watch Incase something happens. Xander, it's best if you all sleep here tonight, we don't need any more surprises."

After a few minutes, everyone dispersed to their sleeping courters and he went down to the basement to keep watch. The night passed slowly for him, while he carved baby toys and kept watch. Halfway through the night, the house shook, he went upstairs to see what the disturbance was.

He found a dark Willow staring at a wall, pissed off. She was setting it on fire, he waved a hand putting it out and got her attention." What the hell happened? You need to calm down love."

He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, she let go of whatever it was and her hair changed back. "I saw Tara get shot by Warren just now, he was telling me that my baby would be next!"

Ryan hugged her and whispered. "It wasn't real, you know that I'd never let that happen. Besides, we're connected now, if Tara dies then so do we! Let's get you back to bed."

After assuring everyone that it was handled, he went back to watch Spike and finish the baby toys. The next morning, Tara and Willow went to the butcher's shop so that they could start weening Spike off of human blood and stabilize his mind.

Ryan started digging through the murky depths of Spikes subconscious until he found Spike's inner avatar, his mental projection. It wasn't pretty, he was a gibbering mess even in his own head.

He started the process of helping him find his mental balance, enough to speak sense anyway. After a long and drawn-out process, Spike was mostly himself for now.

He turned to Buffy."He's as stable as I can get him while he's in withdrawal, you can start at any time, I'm going to remove all the wood from the basement. Keep sharp objects away from him if you want him to stay alive. He's a suicide risk now, so watch for him trying to anger you into killing him as well."

He finished updating Buffy and started clearing out his projects and cleaned up. When he was done, Willow and Tara returned with a guest. They tied him up in the basement across away from Spike's unconscious form and headed upstairs. They called everyone upstairs and explained Andrew's appearance.

Tara explained when everyone was in the room. "We found him at the butcher shop buying a lot of blood. He freaked and tried to run, we read his mind and found out he killed Jonathan over the Hellmouth seal. Something was talking him into it that looked like Warren."

Willow continued when Tara stopped. "They broke out of jail because Jonathan made himself look like a demon and scared the guard. Now he's dead and the Hellmouth is acting weird. He tried to sacrifice a pig to it but failed miserably and was forced to buy blood because he's too squeamish to kill another innocent person, not that Jonathan was innocent."

They took this in on different levels, Ryan and Lyndsey became pissed, Buffy was disturbed by the news and Xander was acting cool, trying to stay calm. Dawn had a disgusted face on while looking a little green, Anya was very scared.

Anya told them. "This is bad, a sacrifice like that would have horrific consequences."

Xander spoke to her."Anya honey, we know it's not good."

Ryan walked downstairs at a fast pace. He grabbed Andrew's head and yelled." Look at me! If you close your eyes I'll pluck them from your skull!"

He tore into Andrew's mind, not being gentle in the least. He sought out his memories of the shadowy figure, going over them repeatedly until he threw Andrew and the chair he was tied to against the wall in a rage. Luckily for Andrew, he came out fine with only a few scrapes and bruises.

Ryan began pacing back and forth in front of the group. Willow and Tara stopped him after they saw he wasn't slowing. Willow asked."Honey, what's wrong? I haven't seen you this agitated since just after the ritual."

Ryan told them."The shadowy figure that's been fucking with all this time. It's the First Evil! The son of whore is back."

"Careful now! You might scare the children! Then what would I do to scare them myself." Buffy/First walked out of the shadow of the stairs.

Ryan lunges at it, passing through and shaking the foundation of the house causing the house to shake. When he got back up the First continued talking."Aw, what's wrong don't like this form? Would you prefer I slip into something more familiar?"

The First shifted, like a hologram into an almost duplicate of Ryan. Seeing this, Ryan's body caught fire and reached for the First who dodged now instead of letting it pass through. Ryan landed and the house started falling apart in his wake.

Willow and Tara grabbed him, ignoring the burning pain in their hands and held him back yelling."Stop! It's baiting you into killing someone!"

Ryan calmed down and put the fire out, he noticed their burned hands and grabbed them, healing them as fast as possible, with all his power. In a blink they were fine, the first watched and continued to taunt him. "What's wrong? Hate your brother so much that you'd kill him again? Maybe your right, someone else would be more appropriate."

It shifted into an older woman that looked eerily like Kim Rhodes. He took one look at her and broke down. Willow stood in front of him and blocked his view."You're not Ambrosia, your the First so stop the games, it'll only piss us off and make your eventual death all the more painful."

Tara waved a hand and repaired the house. Then looked at the First and told it. "You've achieved nothing in coming here, see?"

The First/Ambrosia laughed."Have I really? Look at him! Your strongest fighter can't even stand now, this is to perfect! Perhaps I'll stick around and enjoy his suffering a little more. After all, there are so many of his kind I can turn into, it was my best day when I finally convinced his halfwit twin that he wasn't the one who knocked up his wife but his own brother. The resulting slaughter was magnificent! So many innocents and their apart of me now!"

This time Willow and Tara caught fire before stopping themselves and putting it out. Tara claimed."You're still hoping someone here dies! Who?"

Willow took a look around and noticed the First was standing directly in front of Spike. "So you're done screwing with Spike now? But what could he know for you to risk this for?"

The first started ranting."He's not important enough anyway, eventually, all of you will die screaming. I'm done with the balance, I'm shrugging off the game with the mortal coil and I'm going for the big finish! When my armies overrun the earth and outnumber its inhabitants then I will take form once more and finish off what I started so long ago! The ancient race will be buried on the day of my birth!"

With that, it vanished from the room, leaving everyone adequately terrified. Ryan was still in his dazed broken state when they led him upstairs. Buffy stayed to see if she could get anything out of Spike and shut up complaining and frightened Andrew.

The day passed quickly for everyone as they began doing research. Willow and Tara spent the time trying to break Ryan out of whatever was going on in his head.

They tried getting in telepathically but all they saw was scenes of slaughter and death and emotions so profoundly painful that they realized he had numbed it down for their wedding preparations. His entire being was in agony over something he was forced to bear witness to and feel with his own perceived hands.

They sat with him into the night and only stopped because of the sound of fighting coming from downstairs. They left him to go help and were met with twenty Bringers. Humans that had sold their souls and carved out their eyes to be the First Evils henchmen.

They started blasting them with magic and making their way downstairs to help. There were only a few fighting the scoobies it seems the bulk was sent to delay them.

They dealt with them as quickly as possible and raced downstairs, they found Buffy injured and Andrew scared in a corner. Spike was the apparent target because he was gone now. They went upstairs to see Lyndsey and Xander coming inside from outback, where there were bringer bodies in the hundreds in the back yard.

Vowing to study their own powers better and put effort into combat training with them, both Tara and Willow healed the injured and helped everyone clean up. Buffy told them. "Spike was the target, most of them distracted me while two of them dragged Spike out of here. We need to get him back! He could know something important, where is Ryan?"

Willow told her."He's still out of it from earlier, we tried to get through but he's reliving some very painful memories and we don't know what to do!"

Buffy took this in then ignored everyone else comments while she headed to her weapons chest. When she found what she was looking for, she went upstairs with the group following her.

She walked into Willow's room and stood in front of Ryan putting on the spiked brass knuckles. Without warning, she punched him in the face as hard as she could. When he didn't respond immediately she continued before anyone could recover from the shock of what she was doing.

She beat him till her arms hurt. After the tenth swing, Ryan caught her fist and looked at her like she was stupid. She stopped noticing that Tara had her in a chokehold and Willow's eyes had gone black. Ryan released her fist and he noticed that the brass knuckles had bent and broken into her hand.

Buffy started yelling at him. "You dumbass! We were attacked and you sat there like a stone statue! What would you have done if they hurt Dawn or one of your wives?" She spat the last sentence.

Ryan went pale as a sheet of paper, he looked them all over and healed everyone to their best possible health then spoke. "I really don't know! All I can say is that I'm sorry for being stupid and selfish, I'm glad you're all safe. What happened?"

Buffy calmed down and gave him an overall rundown of tonight's events. He sighed when he heard Spike was missing again. Shaking his head he asked." Where do you think they'll take him to? Where was the last time you ran into the bringers?"

Buffy told him about the Christmas tree lot and went with him to the lot and the high school for a quick search of both places. There searched both places as thoroughly as possible and couldn't find the seal of Danzalthar. When they couldn't find Spike either they went back to the house in defeat.

The next morning Willow decided to do a locator spell for Spike. When she tossed in the last ingredient for the spell, her, Tara and Ryan were thrown back and their hair and eyes turned black as something entered them. They stood as one saying. "You cannot defeat me, you only make me stronger!"

Xander leaped forward and destroyed the magical foci, they fell to the floor and their features returned to normal. Ryan passed out while Tara and Willow huddled together scared and crying. Willow told everyone. "It's still in us, we can feel it! Ryans fighting it right now!"

They got up and helped him onto the couch, both Willow and Tara were trying to comfort each other, while holding his head in their laps. After a while, they realized he wasn't going to wake up any time soon, so they carried him to their room.

Tara stayed with him while Willow went downstairs to tell them. "It used the spell to claw at the evil within us and tried to power itself and posses one of us. If we weren't connected right now then it would've succeeded, as it is, it'll be a few days before he wakes up. It really wanted his body the most, he fought it off but he's weak right now. Our presence should help him heal quicker. He hasn't experienced a possession attempt like that before, and Buffy, I gotta say neither have I. It was using our power against us by taping into the evil that was in our hearts."

Buffy sighed. "Don't worry Will, just help him get better, I'm going to need you all at the top of your game if that was anything to go by. I'll be back later, I'm going to head to work and see what I can't dig up."

Buffy opened the door only to find Giles on the other side. Before she could say anything, three teenage girls walked passed her, into the house. The first one said. "Nice place, bit of a mess."

The last one walked in and asked."So this is the slayer? Huh."

Giles apologized." I'm sorry to barge in, I'm afraid we have a slight Apocalypse."

When they were all in the living room Dawn asked."There all slayers?"

Giles answered her question quickly. "Potential slayers, waiting to be called. There were many more like them all over the world, but, um, now there's just a handful and their all on their way to Sunnydale."

Buffy has a flash of insight."The others were murdered. That's what the dreams were about."

Giles continued."In cold blood. As well as their watchers. We always feared that this day would come when there would be an attack against not just the individual slayer, but against the whole line."

Buffy looked up at him from her seat. "First, it's what it wants."

Giles confirmed."Yes. To erase all the slayers-in-training and their watchers. Along with their methods."

Buffy continued. "And then Faith, and then me. And with all the potentials gone and no way of making another, it's the end. No more slayer. Ever."

"Not quite."

They all looked to the stairs to see Tara helping Ryan down. He was pale and sickly looking. Willow got up and ran to help him. "Are you sure you should be up right now."

Ryan smiled weakly. "They need to see the full picture and I got a glimpse at it when it was trying to tear its way inside me."

They helped him to the couch. "First, it was an experiment at first. It was one of my people's attempts at improving the vitality of the planet."

Xander asked."How did that turn so bad?"

Ryan smirked a weak smile. "My people at the time were maybe a hundred years more advanced than humans currently are. They were arrogant and thought themselves right in all things. They couldn't be more wrong, the experiment was a way to draw in energy from the outer reaches of the universe. In the end, it woke up that thing and drew it to us. They managed to trap it in astral form and destroy its original body, then they locked away all knowledge of it in fear that one day someone would release it."

Anya commented."Well, that didn't do them a lot of good did it?"

Ryan shook his head slowly. "It bided it's time, waiting to strike, then one day a piece of the grand design as it were, decided to intervene. The being that now inhabits the slayers and makes them strong, it was weaker then. It could only loosen the seal some. But it was more than enough, the night of my brother's wedding, some 3.5 billion years after it was sealed, it was finally strong enough to act. It wormed it's way into his mind, much like it did Spike's. He slaughtered my people and sacrificed them to it, then when I was to be the final sacrifice, my brother faltered. I always thought it was because he was confused, but he was just fighting for control. I killed him right as he was struggling. And with its host dead it went back into slumber, attaching itself to something."

Giles and one of the new girls were writing it down. The girl asked."what woke it back up?"

Ryan snorted. "Many things, at first it was a few sacrifices needed to keep its tether, then one fateful Christmas or winter solstice to be more precise, a few of its followers made a sacrifice and used their own connection to it so that it could take temporary shape. It toyed with Angel because it needed a good person to willingly sacrifice themselves to gain a stronger foothold. When that failed, it was forced to sleep a little longer, until it used the opening I made when I brought back Jenny to gain its incorporeal form. From there it's fed on everything from the death of a hell God to Buffy's resurrection, all the while gaining strength, until it no longer needed its bringers to fuck with people. Now it can talk to all the people it wants into suicide."

He turned to the tied up Andrew and said. "Or murder."

After that, he started coughing up blood. Tara helped him stand and Willow said. " Let's get you to bed, baby. You need to rest!"

Both Willow and Tara led him upstairs to their room. Anya asked. "What about the council? What do they say about this?"

Giles folded his arms."Gone."

Anya looked confused. "What?"

Giles continued."Obliterated. They were in session and there was an explosion."

Willow cane back down. "That means all the council's records are- destroyed?"

Giles turned to the three quiet potentials. "Annabelle."

The girl in question unzipped her backpack and started taking out books. Giles went on to say. "That's what's left, the mystic secrets of the watchers. And whatever I could find on the first. When I learned what was happening I-I um, I stole them."

Anya accused." And you blew the council up. See this is what happens when you're all stuffy and repressed. You overreact."

Giles stammered. "Not- I didn't. It must've been an agent of the first after my little burglary session. The knowledge contained in these files had to be protected, and there wasn't time for bureaucracy or debate. The council knows no other way."

Andrew yelled. "And it cost them their lives."

Everyone looked at him. He sat back."Go on."

Buffy asked. "Can we gag him?"

Xander stood up." Sure thing."

He got up and tapped Andrew's mouth shut. Buffy looked at the books. "What do these records say about the First?"

Giles started pacing while saying."Very little, certainly not as much as Ryan was able to find out, if what he found is to believed anyway. They say it can change form. It only appears in the guise of someone who has passed away."

Willow caught on. "Our ghosts!"

Giles went on. "Also it's not corporeal. It can't touch anything. It only works through those it can manipulate and it's followers, the bringers."

Buffy shrugged."It seemed oddly keen not to be touched by Ryan when he went burning man."

Willow shook her head."That was soul fire, it's not something we can use a lot of. At worst it'll hurt it and maybe weaken it a little. It's more of a big screw you to it. A way to bitch slap it for a second, unless we're willing to die with it then, I don't know if even that would work."

Buffy frowned."I really don't like this thing."

One of the potentials spoke."Those freaks with the black robes."

The middle went on. "Yeah, the ones with the hoodies and the alphabet eyes. I never saw em, I just-."

The third one spoke." Shh. Molly. Mr. Giles doesn't need us prattling on."

Giles stopped pacing and looked at Buffy. "The First is unlike anything we've faced before, there's evil, then there's the thing that created evil. The source."

Buffy asked. "That's what this thing claims to be?"

Giles took a deep breath."That's what it is. It has eternities to act. Endless resources. How to defeat it? Well, I honestly don't know. We'll have to wait for Ryan to wake up."

Lyndsey spoke now. "If it's necessary, I can burn up some of my power to heal him faster. It won't be by much, but he'll be able to defend himself if It comes to it. How many potentials would you say are coming?"

Giles looked at him. "I honestly don't know how many are left, and out of those, how many got the message in time. It could be a dozen or upwards of fifty."

Lyndsey nodded. "I'll turn the basement into a dorm for now. I should be able to fit enough cots in there till then, they'll have to sleep up here for a few days, because I'm going to use most of my power to heal him, so it'll take a little time to build the dorm."

Nodding Buffy turned to Xander."See if you can help him with whatever he needs."

She turned to Willow. "Go, be with him, you said he'll heal faster with you there, I just hope it's fast enough."

Willow left in a hurry. One of the potentials asked. "So, who is the sick man upstairs?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow at that and turned to Giles." You want to fill them in or were you going to wait till he bitch slaps them into slayer goo?"

Giles chuckled and turned to the potentials. "So, how much of your studies have you completed?"

-Several hours and a few warnings later, the potentials all looked a little pale.-