Chapter 14

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Ginny spoke, breaking the shocked silence that had come over the room. Blaise raised an eyebrow.

“Kidding you? I wish,” Blaise said tiredly. “Although you’ve managed to end up well, our families will be drawing fire. At least you’ve found your second Guardian, and the whole prophecy makes more sense now.”

“Let’s hear this prophecy then.” Ginny crossed her arms. Blaise looked at her face, and heaved an even deeper sigh.

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m about to collapse on the floor in a heap, right about now.” Ginny frowned, and then nodded.

“Fine, but I am so not appreciating these games, Blaise.”

“Games? Oh, now that’s just precious. You think this is a game?” Blaise got to his feet, face white with exhaustion but eyes burning with anger. “This is not a game, little girl.”

“Don’t you dare call me a little girl,” Ginny hissed as she stepped away from Spike.

“Then don’t act like one!” Blaise yelled at her. “Act like the person you were born to be! Act like the goddess you will become! Stop playing around, because otherwise *all* the universe ends! Every dimension will blink out. Every soul in existence, it will be as if nothing had ever happened, ever.” Blaise swayed on his feet, shoulders slumping as the fight drained out of him. “*Everything* will end. All that ever was, all that ever is, and all that will ever be.” His eyes were wide and unfocused, and then they started to glow with a white light as he crumpled to his knees, mouth tight with pain but silent.

“Blaise!” Ginny flew to his side. His eyes tracked over to her as she knelt beside him.

“Dear god. No. I can See, and what they show me, I wish I had never had my Gift unlocked.” He bowed his head. “God, what pain it is to be a Seer. I never knew…” He threw his head back, mouth stretched in a silent scream. Ginny stroked his head comfortingly. This looked like what she went through when Tom decided to come and play. His breath was coming in uneven gasps, and his eyes were still glowing. And then his eyes closed and he collapsed. Ginny caught him and lowered him to the floor as he moaned softly.

“What the fuck was that?” Mordred whispered in shock. “I’ve seen Seers before, and they’ve *never* gone through that, that pain.”

“He said his Gift was locked away before,” Draco murmured. “Maybe that had something to do with it. Like water building up behind a wall. When the wall is broken, the water rushes out violently.” Ginny listened with half an ear as she cradled Blaise’s head in her lap. Spike growled possessively, and she looked up with a smile.

“Easy there, Big Bad. He’s my friend. He did the same for me the first time Tom decided to talk a walk through my mind.” Ginny ran her fingers through Blaise’s sweat heavy hair and his eyes flickered open.

“Thank you.”

“Christ, we are so fucked up,” Mordred said heavily, then he looked around at the Scoobies. “Just out of interest, since you’re not looking all that shocked, does weird shit happen on a daily basis to you too?”

“Is it Tuesday? Then there’s another apocalypse,” Buffy quipped, shrugging her shoulders.

“Well, this is definitely more wiggins making then the usual though,” Xander said. “I’m Xander.”

“Buffy.”

“Willow.”

“Anya.”

“Rupert Giles.” He was cleaning his glasses hard. Ginny looked up at Buffy.

“Has he ever rubbed a hole through them? Cos, he seems to polish his glasses an awful lot.” The Scoobies shared a look, then started to laugh, breaking the tension that had sprung up.

“We’re waiting for the day,” Xander said, and Giles glared. “Hey, G-man, you know it’s true.”

“Don’t call me-“

“That insufferable name!” The Scoobies finished for Giles.

“Are we done now? I want Xander to give me orgasms,” Anya said. Xander rolled his eyes in embarrassment.

“Yes, we’re done,” Giles said. “Except, I don’t know where everyone’s going to stay.” Ginny was biting her lip, and then looked up.

“Spike, your crypt…how big is it?”

“Oh, you can’t stay in a crypt,” Willow protested.

“It’s plenty big, pet,” Spike said, ignoring Willow’s interruption. “Big enough for the five of you, anyway.”

“Fine. Would you mind?”

“Not at all, pet.” Spike’s eyes were dangerously hooded. “But we will discuss some things outside.”

“I don’t go back on my word, Spike,” Ginny said firmly. Spike ran his eye over her and nodded sharply.

“What have you done, Ginny?” Draco asked softly, voice thrumming with tension. Ginny threw him a tired glance. “Outside. Like he said. Can we go then?” Draco stalked over to the door and slipped outside as Ginny helped Blaise to his feet. She hissed softly as his arm fell against her back. Vortigern took Blaise from her, dark eyes clouded with worry.

“Let me take him. What pained thee so, lovely?” Mordred flipped up the back of her shirt before she could reply to Vortigern’s question.

“Fuck! Oh, I am going to fucking kill him!” Mordred whirled on his heel, fists clenching as he fought back the urge to rip into something and destroy it. He looked at Spike. “Know something I can kill? I need to make something *hurt*. Need to hunt.”

“Brother, calm thyself.” Vortigern stretched out a hand and Mordred batted it away with a snarl.

“Don’t even fucking try! She’s *ours*! Pack! I am so fucking angry, I could burn this whole town to ashes, and not give a damn. I would fight them all, just to watch them bleed!” He indicated the room of Sunnydale people with a furious sweep of his arm. He spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, lips lifted from his teeth in a feral snarl. Draco let him go, knowing there was no reasoning with Mordred in this state. A vampire tried to attack him, and Mordred ripped it to pieces before it dusted. He stood there, panting, for a moment as the other students and Spike came out of Giles’s place. He raised his head, and snarled at them. Spike growled back, and Mordred howled in challenge. “Come and try to take me, mate!”

Vortigern stepped up as a substitute, eyes sad. “Brother, battle with me instead.”

“Vort, I can’t.” Mordred backed away, his eyes gleaming in the illumination of the streetlights, shaking his head. “Not you.”

“Take out thy anger on me, my brother. We are naught but one person in two skins. I understand thee as no other can, and I wilt not let thou commit actions that thee wilt regret.”

“*No*, Vort. Just fucking, no!” Mordred turned and ran. Straight into the arms of another vamp. He ripped its heart out of its chest, and the surprised vampire dusted, covering Mordred’s face in dust. Mordred stared around, then threw his head back and howled into the night, his eyes darkening from blue to black.

“Jesus Christ,” Draco whispered. “This can not be good.”

“Understatement of the century there,” Ginny whispered back.

“Hey, what’s going on? We heard-“ Buffy stuck her head out of the door, and Mordred’s head swung to face her.

“Slayer,” he hissed, and started to move. Vortigern tackled Mordred, bearing him to the ground, tears silently making their way down his face from his brown eyes.

“Nay!” They rolled on the ground, almost silent except for Mordred’s snarls and the faint sounds of Vortigern’s weeping. Vortigern finally knocked Mordred out with a particularly vicious blow to the back of the head, and then just sat there and cried, cradling his twin in his arms. He looked like an angel in pain, face white like marble and golden hair falling softly around his face, mussed with sweat and tears. “I cannot believe this. What is it about this place that calls to the baser nature in all?”

“It’s a Hellmouth, Vort,” Ginny said sadly. “That’s kinda in the description.”

“He’s never been this bad before. Never. Not even when-“ Vortigern snapped his mouth closed and rocked harder. Draco and Blaise shared a look, and then went to help them up.

“What’s with the look? There was a definite look, and demon!” Ginny dove to the side and Spike ripped into the slimy thing viciously.

“Mine! She’s fucking mine!” Each word was punctuated with a kick or a punch as he beat the demon to death. “Sod off! Mine, dammit!” His duster swirled around him in a frenzy generated by his whirlwind fighting. The demon gave up trying to fight back and just took the punishment until Spike eventually ripped its head off, and stood there, slime running down his fingers as his growls continued.

“Well, that was fun. Not,” Ginny commented wryly as she got up from the sidewalk.

“You’re bleeding again, pet,” Spike said almost distantly as his head turned and he stared at her, golden eyes gleaming, face ridged with his demon. Buffy had come down the steps slowly, stake ready in her hand, and Spike raised his head to snarl at her. “Sod off, Slayer.” Mordred was lolling loosely in Draco and Blaise’s arms while Vortigern stared around as if his heart was dead. Ginny checked herself over; cataloguing scratches and scrapes from when she’d hit the sidewalk to dodge the demon.

“As the vampire says, sod off,” Vortigern snapped out. Ginny and the other Slytherins regarded him in surprise. Vortigern never even came close to swearing. “You set him off, you and your, your,” Vortigern’s hands clenched and unclenched as he fought for the words, “damn Slayer aura. Just, fuck off! We don’t need you. We’ve never needed good people to help us. They’ve always been content to leave us in the darkness, lost and wandering. You and yours have come too little, too late. So, just skip on back to your golden life, pretty girl. Leave us be, bitch.” Vortigern turned on his heel, face set as he took his twin from Draco and Blaise, striding off into the darkness.

“Well, then.” Spike blinked slowly.

“That was rather unexpected,” Draco said, and he regarded Buffy with mild surprise. “Is she a Slayer?”

“Yes.” Spike nodded, gazing after where the twins had disappeared.

“Hmm.” Draco shook himself out of his thoughtful mood, and started after Vortigern. Blaise limped after them and Ginny went to Spike’s side, cleaning him off with a whispered spell and a wave of her wand.

“Well, you’re a right handy piece, aint’cha?” Spike grinned at her and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Now, I think you need to tell me about your friends…”

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