Ch.34

With her death my watch returned to me which was how I knew before anyone else that something was wrong. She'd been gunned down walking home so Buffy and I found the body alongside Peter's father confessing everything. I nearly killed him right then and there, but Buffy told me to leave it to the cops. She called said police and we waited as the paramedics arrived first because of the watch.

The police took our statements and arrested the asshole while he confessed to everything in a distraught state. A few weeks later I was having lunch with Robin Aka Principal Wood when Buffy called me about Anya summoning a spider demon that killed a dozen people. I told Robin I had to go before telling him we'd talk more about the Ten Rings and him taking over leading the organization one day once I returned.

I met Buffy, Willow and Xander at the house where Xander suggested Willow or I bring them back. I shook my head saying. "I don't have that kind of power without going full dark warlock or using the stones. I'd have to use all of them because it's been too long for the time stone to work alone and the gods of this world as well as the demon lords in the other dimensions may turn on us to kill your all or force me to leave by threatening the few of you I give a damn about. It's risky and dangerous on a scale you can't comprehend. Odds are they'd force me to leave and leave the dead as a reminder that you can't dictate the terms of this reality with outside help."

Xander said he didn't care so I looked to Buffy before nodding slowly. "Alright, I'll do it then. Show me the dead. I have to visualize them alone or I could end up raising all the dead in this world which would break the balance."

We headed there and Willow stayed behind. Anya asked if we were there to kill her and I shook my head, looking into the room and seeing all of them. Xander told her I was going to fix her problem like it never happened. I told them to stand back ten feet and not to come near me or they'd fry from the power.

I took out the gauntlet and placed each stone in it from the case I kept them in. Once the gauntlet was ready, I put it on and power arced across me, pouring into me as I gritted my teeth. It leveled off and I snapped my fingers using a temporal fold. Power flowed away like a tidal wave and reversed the entire scene in the room.

The twelve frat boys were alive again, but they exploded into bloody gore as D'Hoffryn showed up. He sneered. "Their lives belong to the vengeance fold. Thinking of stealing from me is a big no-no."

I held my fingers together and he grunted. "Try it and your slayer pet and the boy principal will be killed by the legions of demons wanting a piece of you."

I growled low as violence and savagery rolled off me in waves. "Not if I wipe all of demon kind from existence in this reality."

He smirked. "Clever. You may have that weapon, but you've no idea what you'd be setting free if you succeed. Trust me, that thing we both know waits in the darkness will walk the earth the moment you do and not even you can destroy it without wiping out this reality."

My eyes narrowed coldly and he grunted. "Perhaps I've said too much. Either way, now that we've found our Cold War you should know that any further use of that thing will lead to that very same result. The gods don't interfere and with that your power equals or surpasses theirs. Use it and they'll destroy it and you or die trying, same result different approach. Either way the time of you holding it over our heads is over."

I growled and looked to Buffy who told me to put it away. The glove vanished and she raised her sword to D'Hoffryn. He snorted. "I'd be gone before you can swing that thing, Slayer."

My claws came out slowly while he told us Willow told him that Anyanka belonged outside the vengeance fold. Clearly Buffy's and my opinions were similar while Xander saw with the eyes of love. He asked what Anya wanted and she said she wanted to take it back. He said such a thing is not impossible but not easily done and not because of power.

She made up her mind and he sacrificed Anya's vengeance demon friend Hallie. When I heard the heartbeats of the frat boys, I moved to kill him as he warned Anya her death would come. He barely managed to vanish as my portal and claws nearly killed him from the inside. I did wound him though and he wasn't happy about that.

I growled as he got away and removed my portal before smelling the changes in Anya. She was human now and no longer welcomed in the vengeance demon fold. I put my claws away and left with Buffy who said Robin was a grown man and she was more than capable of taking care of herself. I shrugged saying Dawn couldn't and neither could those around her.

I rubbed my neck and sighed. "I don't want to lose any of you, Buffy. Your stubborn and sexy persistence burrowed it's way into my heart before I ever ended up stranded in the past. Now that I've had a year to be with you despite the crazy world, I don't want to leave. I don't want to lose you and I seriously don't want to see you hurt let alone die or watch those you care about do so."

She smiled lightly and I cupped her face telling her that I loved her. She had tears in her eyes while she smiled to me before we kissed. It was sort of interrupted by Willow coming down the stairs with Tara and Dawn coming out of the kitchen to tell us to get a room. Still, Buffy turned in my arms and told them Anya was alive and human again while the frat boys were alive as well.

The only real question was how Xander and Anya were taking it which was anyones guess. Next up was the First screwing with Tara, Dawn and Willow while Spike was doing a stint as a guest in Xander's apartment. Xander was paranoid about him being there, but it wasn't like we could put him in the same house as Dawn and Buffy while they were sleeping. Spike sort of got over his crazy fits, but when I was in the same room as him, I could feel the evil because it set my instincts on fire.

Spike asked when my claws came out if I was going to kill him. I shook my head and spoke as calm as I could. "They aren't for you. There's something else in here. Something I can't see but I can feel it's presence. Pure, unadulterated evil. It sets my nerves on fire and makes me want to kill."

Buffy grabbed my arm and I relaxed a bit as she asked if it was the First. I nodded. "I think so. It's a bit like being in hell and pissing off the literal Satan. A living dimension of evil, pain and suffering only that was diluted as well. This is somehow just pure malevolent evil."

I felt the images and memories surface and growled. "Nice try, but my mind isn't so easy to fool with. I'm nearly as old as you are, whatever you are. Try the mind games with someone who cares about the dead they've killed."

Buffy asked what was wrong and another Buffy appeared. "The First is playing mind games."

I faced the second Buffy that just looked bored. "So you can take on the form of those that've died. Why her form though? Why not me or someone from my reality? Or can you not swing that kind of power? To find that reality and the dead inside."

The fake Buffy sneered. "I'm am everywhere and in everything-"

I waved a hand as my claws retracted. "You're a poor imitation. Every sense I have is telling me you aren't Buffy. You're just a demon who can't even become corporeal. Casper the pissed off wannabe demon."

Her form changed into a hideous beast and I chuckled. "Cute. I've seen scary and you're not it. Hell, Buffy's scarier than you when there's no chocolate for half a week each month. You're big and ugly, but the only thing you could scare is a mirror."

It spoke deep saying that when it's armies overrun the earth and it becomes flesh it'll show me fear. I grunted. "Oh, I'm quaking in my boots. Do look me up when you become physical. I'll turn your horns into a back scratcher and your skull into a trophy if I don't simply seal you a kennel and take you to the pound. Ugly dogs need love to after all."

It was enraged but it vanished so I yawned and told Buffy everything before telling Spike. "You need to stop listening to dead things. If you're not sure if they're real, touch them. If you can't then it's the First, just a really old demon. It can't do anything more than talk to you and prey on your fears and guilt."