CH.48

When he we up, sometime afternoon the next day, he was informed of last night's events. Apparently, the emergency kit had a portal device in it, that took Buffy in exchange for a demon warrior. It punched Spike and some potentials around, but when Willow hit it against the wall, it ran out of the room.

Spike gave chase and fought it, finally killing it after a good brawl. Meanwhile, Willow and Tara channeled him and made a portal for Buffy's return. Buffy told him that she met the last three shadowmen on the other side.

After an argument, in which they knocked her out and chained her up, they fought and she beat them down. When she was done she told him about their reactions when she mentioned him. Apparently, they were still terrified he would return at some point and finish them off.

He laughed at that and shook his head. Their fear was good, but he'd already made his decision to let the past go as much as possible. Willow and Tara were his future, and with the exception of the Apocalypse, his future was looking pretty bright.

Several days later, Andrew thought it was a good idea to record events on camera. This was the straw that broke the camels back for Ryan's patients with him. He told Buffy he would be on patrol around the town sewers for a few days to clear out any nests and stray demons.

Willow and Tara were busy doing research anyway and he'd stocked a mini-fridge in their room full of nutritious food and vitamins. He left an spent his time hunting and looting nests for the next few days.

He killed a variety of demons and stocked their magic ingredients cupboards with everything he found useful. He managed to kill a whopping forty stray vampires and seventeen groups of them that were forming nests.

When he came back to the house a few days later, the town was quiet for the first time in a while. When he came inside Willow told him. "Fred just called, they need my help in LA, Angel needs to be reinsouled again."

Nodding he told her. "Take Tara and Lyndsey with you. Use the impala, and bring Faith back this time. She's done enough for them there, if they can't get on without her by now then it's time they hung up their swords. I'll hold down the magical fort here, wherever need be until you get back."

Lyndsey perked up and smiled, he'd been waiting for this since he was brought back to Sunnydale. He practically zoomed to pack his stuff, Willow and Tara gave him kisses and went to pack as well.

He looked at Lyndsey's eager face and told him. "If anything happens to them, I'll hold you responsible, they are my heart, protect them well."

Lyndsey nodded and clasped his forearm. "I'll bring them back as safe as possible, don't worry."

Ryan shook his head. "When it's your turn to marry, you'll understand that it's impossible not to worry. But until then, godspeed my friend."

Lyndsey nodded and carried the girl's bags to the car. Ryan sighed and headed for a shower, he'd been using his powers to clean himself, but it wasn't a real substitute for a great hot shower.

When he got out, they'd already left. He went to look for Buffy to entertain himself. He found her in the basement with Spike, Gile, and Robin. "So, am I interrupting something?"

Buffy turned to him. "Your back! We were trying to find the cause behind Spikes trigger that the First is using."

Ryan nodded. "Put the stone away, I'll help him sort everything out. The truth is, I should've done so before now, I've just been a little busy. By the way, nearly every vampire in town, but Spike here is dusted. I've been a little busy slaughtering the nightlife and now there's only those few that hang around that bar you go to for Intel."

Giles took off his glasses." Dear Lord, you should've done that year's ago."

Ryan shook his head. "Unfortunately, I have. They keep coming back, then there's the new turns that pop out of the ground each night. Let's just say they're like cockroaches in there stubbornness to infest the Hellmouth. You'll still need to patrol for newborns, but everything else is pretty much gone for now."

Buffy nodded and gave her thanks while he sat down next to Spike. Robin asked. "Are you sure it's safe to get that close to him?"

Everyone looked at him like he was stupid before Spike told him. "I couldn't make a scratch on him when I was juiced upon his blood. There's pretty much nothing I can do to him now, but bleed all over him if I do anything."

Ryan snorted. "As if I'd let your blood touch me after I just took a shower. Do you mind if they take a trip into your mind with us? It'll help them understand better I'm sure."

Spike shrugged. "Up to you doc, let's just get this over with."

Ryan tapped each of them on the head before he smacked Spike, knocking him out. They all collapsed with him. They found themselves in Spike's past, watching him make his decision to turn his mother with Drusilla.

They watched how she turned on him after she was turned and tried to sleep with him. He eventually killed her while listening to a song that the First used as his trigger.

When Spike was through it all he went through a variety of emotions, from pain to hate. To self-loathing and shame, eventually, he settled on understanding.

His mother wasn't the vampire he'd killed, no, his mother was the kind woman that gave up so much for him. With that, his trigger was broken

. When they got out of his head, Ryan told him. "From now on, you'll drink a pint of my blood, every morning with breakfast. We want you at your best each day, in case of trouble."

Spike nodded and Giles asked. "Are you sure that's wise? He could be faking being fine!"

Ryan shook his head. " While all of you were watching the memories, I was watching everything about him. I know everything he's ever done now, I also know he isn't the demon, it's just a small part of the whole and if he were to ever come to terms with that, then he'd probably grow stronger for it. You're still hung up on soulless vampire Spike, and while that is a facet of him, it's nowhere near his real persona. Take it from me, he's now no more evil than Andrew is, he'd kill under the right circumstances, but then so would anyone else."

Giles finally gave in and accepted it. Ryan turned to Robin and told him. "Your grudge with him stops here. He's not the same being that killed your mother. I'm as guilty of her death as he is now, I am the one who failed to stop the slayers from being created after all."

Robin tried to speak, but Ryan interrupted him. "I've seen your mind and I know you want revenge, but even your mother would call you a fool if you tried to damage slayers army on the eve of battle. Remember, the mission is above all else."

With that, he left them to hash out their own problems and went to bed. Two days after Spike's trip down memory lane, Willow called saying she was on her way back and that they had picked up a girl that was gutted and tossed out of a moving vehicle. Lyndsey was healing her on the way back to the house.

Ryan got the herbal bath he used before, ready and kept the water hot, but not boiling like his bath was. When they got to the house, Lyndsey and Faith carried the girl inside to the bathroom.

They gently lowered her in while Willow, Tara, and Ryan were doing a healing spell together. After it was done they took the girl to the bed they had prepared for her and let her rest until morning.

Faith and Lyndsey went to his house and made their own noise while Ryan dragged Willow and Tara to the kitchen to make them a proper meal before treating them to massages and the occasional teasing orgasm before bed.

They woke up the next morning and went back to their routine until the new girl woke up screaming. Buffy went to check on her and was told a message from the girl's attacker. Apparently, a preacher named Caleb had attacked her and told her to tell Buffy, that he had something of hers.

While Buffy was giving marching orders, Ryan told Willow and Tara that they were sitting the battle out. He told Lyndsey. "You stay here and protect the home base, at the first sign that you can't handle whatever they send your way, portal everyone to Devon. I'll go with Buffy and the potentials she deems ready for battle and be their back up, in case of emergency. They need to be battle-hardened before the final battle, this is a great chance for them."

Buffy passed the glove of myhnegon to Faith and took the orbs of Nezzla'Khan for herself. Spike took the ring of Amara and a sword for damage. Ryan laughed and followed Buffy and Faith on their search for the hideout. They followed a bringer to the outskirts of town where they were gathering.

Seeing the familiar winery, Ryan cursed. "Fucking assholes! That's my vineyard! You little eyeless pricks, I'll blow you all to hell!"

He leaped forward to set the entire place on fire, but was held back by Buffy and Faith. "We don't know if what they have is potentials! You could kill them if you attack like that!"

Ryan snorted. "You right, I'll burn them all alive when I get inside!"

He began pacing back and forth, ripples of heat were rolling off of him. Both slayers looked at the pissed off titan and shook their heads, feeling a little pity for whoever was inside. Ryan stopped and stood stock still then turned to the slayers. "I remember why I bought this place again!"

Faith asked." Because you're a raging alcoholic with an addiction to sex and all aspects of a great time?"

Ryan shook his head while Buffy laughed. "What? Huh, I never thought of it like that, but no. There was a strong magical item buried here, I just never had the time to explore it. Now that we're back here, I can feel it's presence, it's closer than before. I think they were digging it up for some reason, could be what the preacher pervert was talking about belonging to you."

Their faces straightened and Buffy ordered. "Stay here, I'll go call the calvary, we could be looking at an extended battle if you're right."

Buffy took off the way they came at a dead run, Ryan turned to Faith and asked. "Am I really an alcoholic? I've never noticed and no one has said anything to me, to date."

Faith smirked. "That's probably because they were terrified of you for some reason. I find you're more of a big teddy bear, but hey, that's just me."

Ryan looked bummed out now. "I would've figured someone would've told me by now. I guess I can cut back on booze, there are some great drugs I've been wanting to try. Ecstasy, LSD, and some herbal fun like shrooms and hash."

Faith thought of what he'd be like on each one and shuddered. She took pity on Willow and Tara by telling him. "Forget I said anything, I'm sure booze is the best alternative for ya."

Ryan sighed and pulled a weird-looking cigarette out of thin air and lit it with the tip of his finger. After a few puffs, he passed it to her, when she asked what it was he told her. "All of the above, it's a bit of everything I've mentioned. Though I'm not too sure if you're supposed to smoke it all, it's not like it'll kill me to try. Want some?"

She to one look at it before shaking her head. "I'll pass, I quit the hard stuff long ago and I'm not too keen on going back to it."

He nodded in understanding and pulled out a jug and chugged it. She shook her head and asked. "Something I should be worried about?"

Ryan shrugged. "Mescaline and LSD mix, I'm pretty sure you won't want any of this. A few drops would have you seeing purple dinosaurs. Though I have seen a few back in the day, but those were mostly just bruised up for pissing me off."

He finished his drugs by the time Buffy came back followed by thirty potentials and Xander. Ryan tossed the empty jug down and put out his joint. "Time to get to work."

He followed them inside and down into the basement. He waved a hand at the darkness and hundreds of disco fireflies light up the place. Xander asked. "Are you ok man? That's not your usual fire lights."

Faith chuckled. "Our boy here justed downed a literal gallon of LSD and smoked a joint of some powerful shit mixed up. He's on a trip right now and he's just getting started."

The fireflies lit all the darkness revealing several hundred bringers and a preacher who started talking. "Well now, you girls are just burning with righteousness, aren't you? Problem is, you think you're blazing like suns. When really you're really burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness. Get after em now!"

With that, the bringers attacked in force. All the girls were battling like the life depended on it, when they would take a fatal blow, it was lessened or redirected all together. In the massive fight, they had found themselves with a little bit of an advantage over the sheer numbers. Ryan was smacking whatever attacked him to death while singing rock of ages in a low voice. After all the girls were tired and quite a few bringers were dead, Buffy yelled. "Ryan, switch out."

Ryan nodded and sent a wave of energy knocking the bringers back so the potentials could switch out. Xander and Faith brought in the second group and Buffy's switched with them for a while. He switched his singing louder as drums and guitars could be heard coming from all around. "Gunter gleiben glauchen globen

All right

I got somethin' to say

Yeah, it's better to burn out

Yeah, than fade away

All right

Ow gonna start a fire

Come on

Rise up gather round

Rock this place to the ground

Burn it up, let's go for broke

Watch the night go up in smoke

Rock on Rock on

Drive me crazier, no serenade

No fire brigade, just pyromania, come on."

When he finished the verse he waved a hand and set twenty of the bringers on fire. They couldn't make a sound as his power took hold and held them there burning but not dying. When they started burning the fires danced to the beat of the song.

He continued. "What do you want, what do you want?

I want rock 'n' roll, yes I do

Long live rock 'n' roll

Oh let's go, let's strike a light

We're gonna blow like dynamite

I don't care if it takes all night

I gonna set this town alight, come on."

When he finished this time the one's on fire burst spraying the bringers around them in a fire like bloody liquid that set them ablaze in their place. Caleb started walking forward, so Ryan waved a hand an halted his spells while flinging the bringers that attacked back into their reserves.

With all the sounds stopped Caleb began speaking. "That's an interesting back of party tricks you got there. You havin' fun? Now, I hope my boys haven't worn you out too much. I need you fit for when I purify you."

Buffy bit back." Save the sermon, padre. I heard you have something of mine."

The preacher chuckled and waved a hand at all the potentials. "Well, I do now. You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may need to get a new truck. So, you're the slayer. The Slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame...with that most precious invention of all mankind- -the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful."

He punched her back into the barrels of wine against the wall. The orbs of Nezzla'Khan took the brunt of the damage only leaving her to get up from the blow. Caleb looked around and asked. "So, what else you got?"

Spike attacked him before Buffy could even get up. Their battle was over pretty quick, the ring of Amara didn't boost his power, it only made sure he wouldn't die. Caleb punched Spike into the ground then tossed him into the barrels opposite of Buffy.

For a bit, Ryan watched as Caleb walked through the potentials that attacked him, sending them flying until Faith got to him. Buffy was already on her feet, moving towards Caleb while slaughtering the bringers in her path.

Faith electrocuted Caleb and there for a few seconds, it looked like he would go down until he smiled. "Well, you're the other one aren't you? The Caine to her Abel. No offense meant to Caine of course."

Faith backed off and smiled. "Can you pick out the one thing you shouldn't ove' said in that sentence?"

The room went silent, with the exception of the heavy beat of footsteps that started to shake the building. Caleb turned to the noise and was greeted by a pissed off Ryan that tackled him into the far wall, collapsing that section of the basement. Buffy yelled. "Damn it, everyone retreat, he pissed off Ryan. This whole place is coming down!"

Ryan was in the haze of a particularly powerful acid trip and he was seeing his brother all over again. He beat the evil preacher into the dirt and started tearing him apart. When he ripped off Caleb's arms, he let out a mighty roar that shook heaven and earth. He beat the preacher half to death with his own limbs before tearing off his head and yelling. "Syn! I'll kill you! You murdered them all!"

He proceeded to pound the poor evil minion into bloody pulp and didn't stop until he was grabbed from behind by Lyndsey. "Enough, he's dead! Damn! Man, you really have some anger issues."

Ryan stopped at the familiar voice and cleared his system of the drugs. He stood over the now recked vineyard that was splattered in red and black sludge from the preacher's demise. He walked to the edge of the fallen building and asked. "Was anyone killed in the fallout?"

Faith shook her head. "We all got out before the storm of earthquakes hit. Jesus man, you pack a hell of a punch, I was tossed back like a leaf in the storm just from where you passed me when you tackled him in the worlds most painful body slam. All the bringers that were cut off below must be dead after that!"

Ryan snorted while Buffy asked. "How am I supposed to get the magical do-dad now? You buried everything in your wake. And what the hell was that roar earlier? Are you really the hulk now?"

Ryan looked abashed at her scolding, he waved a hand and the building was repaired back to before, except it now had black and red goo all over the place. There were a few pieces of the pulpified preacher all over the place. He led them downstairs to the cellar and even further to where he felt the magical disturbance in a cavern below.

The potentials gathered around a rock with an ax-like weapon sticking out of it. Buffy walked to the center and grabbed the handle, pulling it free with ease. There was a magical vibration that went through the cavern from the blades release.

Ryan stepped forward and put his hand on the edge of the blade and put pressure on it until there was a groan and his blood flowed free from his hand. "Interesting. If Sineya had this, she would've been able to slaughter the old ones instead of locking them away."

Xander joked."Aw, shucks, that means we gotta do all the dirty work."

Ryan chuckled." You jest, but if I were evil, that blade would've wounded me quite seriously just now."

Buffy raised her eyebrows while Faith barked out. "Damn! This is perfect! A weapon meant to fuck up evil, right before we go up against the biggest evil around. Too bad there's only one."

Ryan smirked. "For now, anyway."

Everyone turned to him and he explained. "I might not be able to make a lot of them, or as strong as this one, in such little time, but, I could make one for every able-bodied potential that's currently in town before the final battle. They'll have almost all the same enchantments on them, but they'll be weaker by a large margin for a while. These enchantments grow stronger over time."

Buffy nodded and the girls got excited before Ryan burst their collective bubbles. "None of you are slayers yet, so even if you have them, at best you could take out a few newbie vamps. I'll have to talk to Willow about it first, but if I'm right, that will only be for a little while longer."

He gave Buffy a meaningful look and led the way back to the house. After a good night's rest, the inner circle met in Buffy's room. Ryan started them off by asking Willow. "Do you think it's possible? Would it work?"

Willow smiled and told everyone."So, the idea Ryan had when he saw the effect the scythe had on Buffy was that if we pooled our power, we could use the slayer's connection to the scythe and activate all of the potential slayers around the world on a permanent scale. Every potential that would be a slayer, will be. An instant and permanent army. The First decided to tip the scales, so in the end, there will be a power vacuum. We might as well fill it with an army of slayers and a council led by the people in this room."

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them while repeatedly saying."Dear Lord."

Faith laughed and told them."Hell yeah! I'm in!"

Spike stayed quiet while looking at a grinning Buffy. Xander asked."Is this a good thing? What we'd be doing wouldn't be reversible, would it? It's kind of a permanent thing we can't take back."

Tara smiled. "Don't worry, if it turns out bad, the person holding the original scythe could reverse it, in theory. Besides, an army of slayers is better than an army of demons, we always seem to be fighting."

Ryan sighed. "This is your one chance to shift the balance of power to the side of good. With this, you could take the fight to hell itself and win with overwhelming power. It's up to you all, but Tara and Willow won't be fighting on the front lines and I won't be available until after we do the spell so be very sure."

They discussed it for several hours before the overwhelming consensus was for going through with it. Ryan told them."Leave the orbs of Nezzla'Khan and the glove of myhnegon here and I'll make duplicates of them as well. Willow and Giles, I need you to try and find out more about the scythe before I begin to make more of them."

With that, everyone went to their duties while Ryan and Lyndsey set up several furnaces in the back yard for smithies. Ryan made clones and began making as many duplicates of the orbs and glove as he could with the supplies he had. Lyndsey went around the world collecting ingredients and materials for the spellwork on each item.

Willow and Giles found something about a temple and sent Buffy to check it out while they waited. Giles went to speak with a few dead colleagues about the spell they were going to perform on the slayer line.

By the time Buffy got back with a strange necklace, claiming Angel stopped by with it, Ryan had finished the orbs and gloves and was working on the molds for the scythe.

Spike claimed the amulet before Ryan could ask about it and Buffy told them the story of the guardians. After the Guardian told her, apparently a reconstituted Caleb showed up and killed her. Buffy told them. "Angel showed up and helped me get back on my feet before I gutted Caleb with the ax. It seemed to really hurt him after that. He got back up again with this black liquid coming out of his eyes, mouth, and nose. He knocked out Angel then struggled until I cut him in half."

Ryan nodded."Did she say anything about the spells on it?"

Buffy shrugged."Only that they were blessings."

Ryan thought for a minute before nodding. "I can substitute the holy blessings with a bloodline one. I'll need all the potentials and slayers to give some blood, I'll mix it with mine, Willow's and Tara's. Then I'll fuse it with the materials as I forge them."

Buffy nodded and went to get the blood needed while he started the heating process. Several hours later, everyone was a little pale, but otherwise, very happy at the sight before them, fifty-seven scythes plus the original making it fifty-eight, were lined along the backyard fence.

Ryan told them. "The scythes are nearly indestructible and give a similar boost to everyone that the original does."

Ryan pulled out a huge chest saying. "These are the fake orbs of Nezzla'Khan and the gloves of Myhnegon, their actually almost as good as the originals, but they do have limits. At best the gloves will only stun a Turok-Han temporarily, it'll give you enough time to go in for the kill if you don't hesitate. The orbs will boost your strength and give you an almost glory level invulnerability, but the downside is that it'll tire you out as well. Use them sparingly as a life saving last resort only. Spike, I've looked at the necklace and unfortunately, I can't help you there, it's spelled to only work at a certain time and place or event. It won't work with any other magical artifacts, so it's the old fashion way for you."

Spike smiled. "Just like I like it. A good ole scrap."

Ryan turned to Willow and she nodded before saying. "I've got the spell I'm going to use on the slayer line, we'll need to do it the day after tomorrow over the open Hellmouth for it to work."

Everyone took a deep breath and Buffy told them all."You heard her, take tomorrow off and do whatever you need to, because after that, we go to war."

They all split up and did their own things, Spike and Buffy spent the night in the basement together, Faith and Lyndsey went to his house and surprisingly enough, Dawn and Kennedy did their own thing without prying eyes. Ryan chuckled and took his wives on a date at the bronze, before a lovely scented oil massage and pampering.

They didn't even have sex, he just spent the night taking care of their needs and he felt like a million bucks the next day. For their time together, he helped them pack their belongings and take them to Devon for storage.

He pried Giles an Jenny apart long enough to tell them to pack because he highly doubted the Hellmouth was going to go quietly. They spread the word and soon enough, he spent the rest of his day dropping off everyone's things in Devon.

Ryan stayed on guard throughout the night and until morning, the set out with three school buses. Ryan and Tara would drive one each, while Robin would drive the last.