Part 6
Ethan dropped to the ground again; Giles looked back the way they came. His books, his clothes, his memories were blown to smithereens. He shut his eyes in horror trying to remember if there was anyone else in his block. He shook his head, glancing at Ethan he noticed that his friend was very pale, a streak of blood stained his shirt. Giles swallowed the lump of fear that had formed in his throat. Ethan's hand on his arm indicated he had rested enough.
"How far?" He asked, Giles had never heard his friend sound so weak.
"Not far," he said gently. "Willow? Run on ahead with the books, warn Xander that there's trouble brewing." Willow set off for Xander's with the books, wondering if Giles was going to be following her or making a stand.
Giles dragged Ethan up and held him tenderly. Ethan smiled wanly.
"You've not held me this close in years, Ripper." Ethan's eyes gleamed. Giles tried a scowl but couldn't quite pull it off.
"Shut up Ethan," Ethan flinched as they set off once more. They were nearly at Xander's when he felt something tear and coughed. Rupert looked down and hoisted Ethan up carrying him the last thirty feet or so to Xander's door. It opened on his approach and he tripped down the stairs with his heavy burden. His face was a mask.
"Lock the door Xander. Have you any medical supplies?" The boy took a chest from under the stairs and put it on the table. Giles looked through the huge array of dressings and equipment.
"Where did you get this?" Giles asked in wonder. "Why have you got this?" Xander blushed under Giles' gaze.
"Well, you're always prepared. I thought I better get prepared too. I help out at the hospital and they let me have that lot wholesale." He grinned a little self-consciously. Willow looked proudly at him.
"Ahem, dying man...Needing ministering Angel..." Ethan's weakened voice piped up from Xander's bed. Rupert tended to his friend while Willow unpacked their meagre library. Xander flopped down on his beanbag chair and started to read even before being told what to research, it was a habit picked up from "the library days."
"Uhm, what's the big evil this week?" He looked at Willow she was busy with her laptop. Giles answered.
"I'm being pursued by Watcher Hunters. They have super-human strength and the ability to destroy buildings with a thought..."
"Ah, the usual then." Xander's attempt at levity crashed in flames'
Giles groaned. Ethan smiled up at him. "You deserved that, don't make light of things!"
"You're one to talk! Look at you, you're a mess!" Rupert scolded, Ethan smiled contentedly, when the straight-laced Watcher image slipped, and Ripper emerged. The sensual Ripper he loved, not the one bent on his destruction.
"We need to get you to hospital, Ethan. You're losing a lot of blood."
"No, not while you're in danger, I can help research..." He propped himself up and found his glasses. Rupert smiled.
"All right, but rest while you read."
~~*~~
An excited squeal from the far side of the room attracted Rupert's attention. Willow had found something. He looked over her shoulder at the screen and saw an image of one of the books he thought destroyed. He gazed at his love with a mixture of awe and wonder.
"Willow, how did you access this information?" She blushed it was going to be a surprise for his birthday.
"I finished scanning all of the books last week, I was going to create a virtual library for you to browse in. Just in time, huh?" He kissed her his eyes brimming with tears. All his books, his children were here!
"Thank you..." She moved her head into his palm as he stroked her hair. "Now," he cleared his throat. "What have you found?"
Xander and Ethan gathered round the screen as Willow explained the origins of the Watcher Hunters.
"The earliest sighting was in the England of the Middle Ages. There was a settlement that encouraged all members of the community in the pursuit of knowledge, arcane and modern. Unusually the elders made no distinction between men and women."
"They were equal? I thought that came much later with the bondage thing..." Xander commented. Ethan regarded him with interest. He had never equated Women's Suffrage with Bondage before that was quite an image!
Willow carried on. "The Watcher community were attacked by two strangers, dressed in hunting garb. A man and woman. "Neither spoke, smiting in silence, all those that opposed them." They were captured briefly..."
"Does it say how?" Rupert asked eagerly. "They were trapped in a curing shed." He looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Does it mention Beelzebub's Thorns?" Rupert looked at his friends' chest and Ethan fingered his bandaged wound idly.
"Yes, it say's they were used to destroy identified Watchers or their associates. I'm afraid no-one survived the removal of a Thorn."
Ethan sank down on Xander's bed, his face blank. He had no glib remark for this situation Rupert took over the research, he read the text swiftly, the pages flicked on the screen and away with lightening speed Willow couldn't believe anyone could read that fast. Then she realised that he was scanning the pages for a one word reference "removal." He shut his eyes after five minutes.
"It can't be done, the Thorn, once embedded prevents any healing, so as you were injured, you'll continue to bleed and you could die...."
As if on cue Ethan had an explosive coughing fit. Rupert was by his side in a second. He didn't look well, his skin was clammy and dark circles ringed his eyes. Rupert patted the sweat away with his handkerchief. "The thorn leads the hunters to their prey, they're attuned to it somehow. It's probably electronic nowadays." Ethan coughed some more and grimaced as gouts of blood began to flow from his mouth. Rupert grabbed at the dressings from Xander's chest. The boy went to his fridge for some ice.
While Giles and Xander were busy with the ice, Ethan moved off the bed and headed for the stairs, gripping pieces of furniture to steady himself.
"Where the bloody hell do you think you're going?" Ripper asked indignantly.
"As far away from you as I can get!" Ethan answered bitterly.
"No, you're not" Rupert murmured. Ethan turned to glare at him, his eyes burning with the shadow of death.
"What's the matter Ripper? No one else can be noble? I'd much rather be outside, than ruin the carpet when I finally expire, thank you."
"Ethan, come back here. Rest tonight, you can be noble in the morning. More people about to see you in the daylight" His tone appealing to his friend's vanity and craving for approval. Ethan halted at the stairs.
"Ripper? I can't make it back to the bed..."
~~*~~
Willow sipped the tea that Xander had made them. He seemed to like the company. As the evening wore on his quips became less and the Xander clown mask slipped to reveal his serious side.
"Giles, is the thorn beneath the surface of his skin?" Giles nodded, "Then it has to react with air. Leaving it in means he dies, taking it out he dies." Giles' eyes glowed with pride as Xander struggled to a conclusion. "How does it kill?"
"The settlement was razed to the ground and the Watcher's were well.... They only found pieces." Willow shuddered.
Giles looked at Xander expectantly. "Uhm, we have exploding buildings and Watcher's. Why destroy Watchers?" Xander puzzled.
"A Slayer is weakened without her Watcher she has no guidance. No Watcher's mean the Slayer's are easier to slay." Giles finished his tea. "But a mistake has been made. I'm not a Watcher. Why are the Hunter's after me? Buffy doesn't need guidance she truly has answered her calling."
"Giles ...Giles! I think I've found them!" Willow cried excitedly. Willow showed him the screen of a local motel. Rupert smiled, always thinking ahead was Willow.
"Good work, love!" He read the names on the motel register Catherine and Dominic Smith, not very original. The clerk had noted "no luggage" and "overnight stay" in the comments section of the electronic form.
"Y'know, you're very clever!" Rupert's smile warmed her heart. "Right! We know they're settled for the night. I suggest we get some sleep too. Tomorrow we have to leave. I don't want to endanger you further Xander. Thank you for giving us a place to crash."
Part 7
He reached down and slowly unzipped his boot. He slid it from his foot as carefully as he could, putting his foot down experimentally. He hissed in pain at the barest touch, and hopped backwards, away from the bed; away from her.
He sat on the top of a set of drawers to examine his foot. Two circular discs lying flush with the sole, one each of silver and black.
He stared at the hated thorns. The black one, embedded in heel, had revived him, after the Greys had killed him. This ebony monstrosity gave him tremendous power. Chief among the abilities he now "enjoyed" was the capacity to endure pain beyond the human norm. This fuelled his desire to inflict pain beyond human endurance.
The Belzebub thorns, as their masters called them, controlled the levels of aggression in the hunters, making them prisoners of their emotions. He had already witnessed first hand the pain their masters could inflict through the thorns by simply standing! His gaze shifted to the silver one. Now, the silver one-
"Why do you change like that?" She questioned from the bed.
He glared glacially at her, he didn't want to talk to her or acknowledge the obvious effect she was having on his body.
"Use the thorns" she urged "I know how much that hurts." She gestured to his feet resting on the floor.
He put his foot down, and started to unzip the other boot slowly. "It reminds me," he intoned coldly "That I was human. Once." He sat atop the chest and continued to undress the old fashioned way.
She shifted, and even in the darkness of the dingy hotel room, he could see that barb hit home. Good! He undressed swiftly now that he was off his feet. He removed his jacket and shirt, whilst continuing his bitter tirade.
"I miss the little things. Changing, feeling hungry, laughing." He pulled his top clean over his head, snapping his head back up, his accusing emerald glare meeting her hurt soulful eyes. "Being in love." He threw his confession away as though she meant nothing. He saw her eyes fill with tears and stared at his discarded clothes "I miss that most of all," his voice cracked and he fell silent.
She knelt up on the large bed "I lo-"
"Don't say it!" He barked looking at her tear-stained face. "Don't lie to me again!"
"It's not a lie. Dominic, I love you. I thought-- I thought you-"
He studied the floor, choosing to shut his companion out of his mind, sight and earshot
"I loved Cathy." He murmured "With all my heart." there he stopped. He didn't want to go down that road; he started anew. "That man today. I broke his ribs and cracked his skull. I choked him for so long, I could feel his life slipping away." His voice quaked to a standstill and he swallowed his anger. "I can do that!" He prodded himself in the chest finally feeling bold enough to meet her gaze "I do that! And I enjoyed doing it..." He stared at her. "When I was hurting him, MY pain stopped." He grimaced remembering. "I had focus... I."
His anger ran out unexpectedly, replaced with a horrific realisation
"You did this to me!"
She stood approaching him by half a step. The moonlight in the room glinting on her naked form, highlighting her tumbling hair He backed away fearfully. "The woman I loved ... she ... she wouldn't have done this to me." He stammered. As she advanced, he retreated. "She wouldn't have watched them fire the thorns into my feet" he finished venomously.
"Please," she pleaded.
"No." He continued "She wouldn't have ... have..." he closed his eyes. "...Have taken a hammer and. " He couldn't go on. He thought of the silver thorns and re-lived the pain when they had pierced his feet, the pain in his heart when he realised that she had been responsible. He leaned against the wall, fighting for breath, avoiding her gentle face.
~~*~~
Cathy perched on the bed, and curled her own feet beneath her. "After I had inserted the first thorn, you freed your hand, do you remember."
"Yes." He answered still looking elsewhere.
"You could have strangled me. I wouldn't have stopped you. But you let go, you allowed me to insert the second thorn."
If he heard her he made no indication.
"Do you know why?" He opened his mouth slowly and replied. "I thought you were someone you're not."
She ignored his acidic remark. "You trusted me. You knew I wouldn't hurt you without reason."
"I was wrong." His voice was empty, he wished his heart was.
"Those thorns bind you to me." Her expression gave away nothing of her true feelings for him. She had to concentrate hard to create this eye of calm in his anger.
He gazed at her doubtingly. "W-what?"
"Without them, you would be just another one of the drones, under the control of the Greys." She allowed herself a small smile, he was beginning to understand.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He looked at her suspiciously, but at least he looked at her!
"I'm not supposed to. If they find out, they'll terminate us both." Her control failed but it didn't matter, he was calm and rational now.
He stood wavering, "Then why tell me?"
"Because I love you. They sent me to find a partner, another hunter. I found you and fell in love." She smiled tenderly "I told you because, I want you to trust me, again, to." Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "Love me again."
He closed the gap between them, uncertain about what he should do. She moved her legs from under her and allowed him to examine her feet.
"Y-you have three thorns," he studied each foot. Two black thorn's, and a larger blue one embedded in her sole.
"I wasn't a natural dominant personality so I needed to be given two thorn's to change my nature." He remembered the pain from having one, and flinched. He sat next to her and reached for her hand, it was a simple gesture of comfort, and it was a start.
"... The blue one?" He asked. She looked up at him, as his gaze met hers
"It binds me to you. They were given to me by my trainer, he wanted me to be happy"
He frowned at her. "Your Trainer?" Cathy had never mentioned her own trainer... "Who put the blue thorns in?"
Their eyes locked. "I-I had to have them, or you would have been..."
He inched closer. "Who, Cathy?"
Their mouths were mere inches away from each other. She turned her head to the side. "Joseph." She said, a half second before her lips touched his.
He wanted to talk to her, about her trainer, to tell her how sorry he was, how much he loved her. But he could never break off that kiss. So like the first kiss they had shared all those months ago, tender, warm, and human. He pulled her closer, as they fell together onto the bed. He tangled one hand in her hair, the other roamed down her body in one long caress, he was unwilling to break contact even for a second.
Her hands moved across the muscled planes of his chest and continued down to his abdomen, her nails scratching scarlet trails like arrows to the waistband on his leather trousers.
His lips seared sweet kisses on her throat, concentrating on the hollow of her collar bone he breathed hot and hard there, hoping to distract her from his hand which had settled on her buttocks, pulling her flush to him.
She felt his hard length through the straining leather of his trousers. He moved her body against him, alternating capture and release he knew that the feel of leather against her bare sex drove her mad!
"Use the thorn" She growled as she slipped her leg over his waist locking and guiding him in one sliding sensual movement along his leather clad leg.
"Spoilsport." He used the thorn, anyway. Grateful for the first time for having it, his remaining clothes disappeared instantly. He had to admit that was impressive, clothes summoned at a moment's notice from an inter-dimensional portal for their personal use. His partner explained that the Greys portal clothed them traditionally in leather.
He slid his hand between her thighs, preventing her from claiming his cock too soon. He teased her with his fingertip, stroking her folds. She bucked towards him, but his restraining hand kept her still. He flipped her over onto her back, "Not yet. " He said, as much for himself as to her.
He laced his fingers in hers as he lifted her arms above her head. He let go his eyes speaking of untold horrors should she move them, skimming his hands slowly down her arms, relishing the feel of her warm skin under his cool finger tips.
He alternated his kisses with soft bites as he travelled down her throat and across her collarbone. His mouth continued down her chest, reaching her breasts, as his hands met to caress the sweet flesh there. He flicked at her nipple with his tongue, nipping lightly making her gasp. Her breath quickened in anticipation, as his pace slowed. Finally and with agonising slowness, he reached the swell of her pubic bone, lingered a heartbeat then started to move back up.
Her growl of frustration made him grin as she forcefully pushed him in the right direction. He wet his lips, before using his tongue to wet hers. He slipped his tongue inside her, and followed her inner contours. He touched as much of her shivering flesh as he could, pulling away slightly he licked his lips, tasting her there.
He moved against her heat again, licking laborious trails with his tongue. He used the tip of his tongue to stimulate her clitoris, making her shudder. He swirled his tongue away, only to settle there a moment later, like a taciturn butterfly; his lips met and massaged it at last, scraping his teeth gently over the sensitive nub of flesh. The effect was magical.
"Dom, now!" He glided up caressing her legs before settling over her, impaling her, in one swift motion, he groaned at the feel of her around him. She arched forward grinding herself against him, her legs locking around his waist. His mouth found her breast he feasted eagerly while his hands roamed over her body.
He groaned and thrust deeper and wilder as his mistress demanded. They moved as one the sounds of their love filled not only the room, but possibly the hotel as well!
The moment of her release approached. His strokes seemed almost vicious to an outsider but these two demanded rage as well as lust. He felt her walls contract and he howled moving almost entirely out of her body to stab back in for one final fix of her tightness, their shouts of ecstasy mingling as they came as one entity.
He rolled onto his back whilst still inside her, as she shook from her release. He stroked her hair lightly, holding her close to him. He had missed being together and being in love. "I love you," he murmured, kissing her forehead.
She smiled "I know." She looked at him, and sighed. "We need to finish the Watcher soon."
He smiled back at her wickedly. "Oh, but not yet." He asked sitting up and gripping her tight. She pushed him back, and returned his smile. "No, Not yet." Her scarlet talons flexed over his heart, he glanced at her nails and gave an imperceptible nod. A look of pride flitted over her imperial features.
"My slave!"
"My Dominatrix!" He sighed and shuddered
Part 8
Giles and Willow shared a sleeping bag on Xander's floor. Lying so close reminded them of what Ethan had interrupted at the house. When Rupert's hand drifted down Willow's lithe body, she wriggled until she had his hand exactly where she wanted it. He began to stroke her. Soon his fingers were slick with her juices. She whimpered, trying so hard not to make any noise, but it was difficult especially when he did that thing with his thumb ... She moaned into his chest. He was very warm and very aroused! If she could just get her leg.... round. Yessss! Contact! It was Rupert's turn to groan. Willow so close to him, her perfume surrounding him, spurring him on; he couldn't ignore her! Who knew when or if he would have another opportunity to love her?
Their movements were subtle at first but soon they got more insistent, the confines of the sleeping bag could no longer control them. With a growl, Rupert ripped the Zip of the bag down and Willow unfurled upwards like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Her fingers laced with his as Rupert moaned encouragement in stage whispers mindful of his inconvenient audience. Willow rode Rupert bathed in moonlight from the high window of Xander's basement. Rupert's face reflected in the same light and showed the effect that Willow was having on him.
Xander and Ethan had woken when the zip opened. Ethan watched Ripper and Xander watched them both. Willow's back arched in a graceful curve as her climax swept over her. Rupert not far behind arching from the floor reaching round her body pulling her down harder onto his body showering hot kisses on her throat and breasts. They sank back down to the floor, sharing a tender kiss goodnight, tangled together in a lovers' knot. The last thing Xander heard before sleep finally claimed him was the sleeping bag being re-zipped.
~~*~~
At dawn Willow, Giles and Ethan had to leave Xander's. Giles carried the air tank from Xander's scuba gear under his arm.
"Why do you need that?" Xander asked. In reply the ex-Watcher just tapped his nose, smiling. He hesitated at the door as Xander handed him a pocket penknife and answered Giles' questioning look.
"I'm pretty sure this has a tool for un-jamming zippers.." He grinned at the ex-Watcher's embarrassment.
With one last hug of thanks, they made their hasty exit from Xander's basement and adjourned to Ethan's hotel room. Ethan collapsed on his bed once inside the room. Willow made them tea whilst Rupert first prepared a circle to capture their pursuers and hid the scuba tank. They would need for the purging spell he had taught Willow on the way to the hotel. Then he strengthened the wards that Ethan had placed about his room.
"Ripper, you should go...Take your witch and go. I'll take this out by myself" He gestured to his chest. "I don't want you around." He tried a devil-may-care smile but couldn't quite pull it off.
"No, I'm not leaving, and you're not taking that out by yourself. I'll find a way..." Rupert was desperate. Willow regarded the two men, knowing something was about to happen.
"You know as well as I, Ripper old chum, that the world would be a better place without me in it." Ethan sighed, rolling into a sitting position. "But if you won't leave, then I will. They can't find you if I'm not here..." He stood up shakily and Ripper caught him. Ripper turned his head and said her name, hoping that she respected his need for a private moment with Ethan. Ripper heard the door close.
"She's gone Ethan, just us now. Like old times..."Rupert murmured by his lover's ear and Ethan smiled. His mouth covered Ethan's as he gently eased his friend back down on the bed. The kiss was tender and warm, a proclamation of his continuing affection. Ethan captured him in a warm embrace, bringing him closer as the kiss evolved into something more demanding. Ripper smiled at Ethan's eagerness, and then his eyes stung with unexpected tears as he realised this might be the last time he loved his friend.
Ethan sensed Rupert's change of mood. Glancing at his tear stained face, he put a jaunty grin on his face and Ripper smiled remembering the last time that grin had been used to devastating effect on a police constable in Brighton "Let me, Ripper. Unless you'd like to share..."
Rupert sniffed. This is for Ethan. You fool! "Share." He rumbled. "Like old times."
He led Ethan through dark, secret, seldom trod paths to ecstasy. Ethan loved every moment he and Ripper shared. It was so sweet to have him again, his touch so light and sure. Eliciting the most pleasure from the least effort, he lay on his bed as a drained Ripper spooned on his side behind him. They dozed until he sensed a familiar body in the room with them.
"Willow," Ethan whispered. "Take care of him, I give him to you. There's a hot tub in the bathroom..." He shared the smile that broke on her face. She kissed him and he noticed her tears as well. Gods, this would never do! He was evil, nasty and a trickster of the highest order! He couldn't have people weeping over him. It just wasn't cricket!
Rupert stirred and moved closer to Ethan, and then he froze as he saw Willow and his expression darkened. He panicked and felt for Ethan's pulse.
"Oi, watch where you're grabbin'." Ethan protested. "Willow wants to have her wicked way with you in the hot tub, don't you love?"
"Well, yes ... Would you like to..." She smiled that sensuous coy smile of hers and Rupert hardened. Ethan hissed, as the erection thumped up his back.
"I think he'd like to, Willow, a hell of a lot!" Ethan smirked.
Rupert got up and stood by Willow, head bent, he towered over her. She looked up. Ethan smiled at the picture they made, then his eyes closed; he needed to sleep. He hiked up the covers absently.
"Go on, before I change my mind and join you..."
~~*~~
Willow slid into the warm water next to Rupert and switched on the jets. He gazed on Willow, her creamy shoulders and graceful neck bobbed just above the bubbling water, his desire re-ignited by the wanton lust on her face. She seemed so much sexier than usual. Then she knifed through the water and clambered aboard. His hands clasped her close to his body as she impaled herself gasping as she did so.
"Eager, little one?" Rupert smiled moving his hips so that her breasts bobbed out of the bubbles. He captured her nipple and sucked the sweet flesh. Her fingers laced round his neck locking his mouth on her breast. She moaned as her head slid back and her eyes closed in bliss.
~~*~~
Dominic dreamt.
A nightmare of monotone grey remembrance and nothingness. his life, memories, and existence gone. All faded into the grey. Then suddenly, there was light! He was born again! He jerked upright, gasping for breath. Hands appeared from nowhere pulling him down. He felt leather straps bite deeply into his chest and arms. He... He had been dead. Was this hell? It certainly could be. And then came the most sickening memory. His death and betrayal his final unanswered question lat the very moment his heart gave-way. He bit back his tears as he thought of Cathy. Why had she done this to him?
He stared at the light overhead, the glow filling him with nausea. He heard a familiar rhythmic click, and spun his head catching but a glimpse of her, his love, his betrayer, before his unseen attendants pushed the trolley he laid on through a set of doors, removing her from his sight.
*NO* His mind screamed as he looked around desperately. More masked grey men. He turned his head frantically, seeing a large mechanical arm occupying the centre of the room; a tray full of surgical instruments lay alongside it. He caught a glimpse of it's "hand" into which was set a suction tube encircling a needle-pointed black thorn, easily four inches long.
He thrashed violently against his bonds, an attendant approached. He struggled against the strap on his left hand, feeling it weaken and begin to buckle. Without warning a third attendant struck from his blind side and he screamed in pain as a hypodermic needle bit into his hip. He tried to kick his assailant, but his leg would not move. The metal hand hissed and his fear-filled eyes followed its hypnotic movement closely, his heart threatening to rip free from his chest, as he lived his worst nightmare.
The "hand" settled over his heel. For a second he felt nothing, as the tube created a vacuum. Then sudden searing pain, as the thorn ripped through his heel, propelled by inhuman force. He tried to scream, but the drug that filled his veins would not even allow him that. The tube settled over his right heel, he turned pleading eyes to Cathy. Why was she letting them do this?
For a second time, he felt a thorn rip into his foot. It seemed to amplify the pain of the first, to join with it in a sickening loop of anguish. A thousand minds entered his and his sense of self began to fade, and he raged against it. The pain and power the thorns brought, slowly made his body stir. He roared in anger and strained against his bonds the drug wearing off under the thorns' influence.
A human hand gripped his foot and placed a thorn against his flesh, it rooted... He shook his head; the feeling of so many threatened to destroy him. He looked down and saw Cathy there. Confusion reigned, he realised her plan a split second before the mallet she wielded drove the thorn into his foot. He moved and stopped the thorn going in cleanly. She took a second swing and it sunk in deeply. He howled in fury and pain, but he could feel the bonds with his masters waning.
She moved to the other foot. He felt the thorn root in his skin. With a wrenching creak, his hands were finally, free. He grasped her throat, the minds' inside his head urged him to kill, to stop the pain.
The attendants moved away as his grip tightened. She regarded him calmly, unresisting, searching his eyes. He studied her, as the minds' inside his head screamed for him to snap Cathy's neck. He remembered her eyes from times past, before now. There was a before now? His mind slowly stretched back, remembering when there had been only one voice in his head. He would not let them decide for him.
Staring at her his grip softened. Who was his enemy her or them? He made his decision and let her go. He fell back against the bed, an icy calm filling him. At last he understood that this was her gift to him resistance to the rage of the thorns. His hands caught the edge of the metal frame, as she hammered the thorn into his foot.
He heard a door hiss open, and she fell back, subserviently. He glanced as best he could to the door. A tall pale humanoid stood there, its body covered in silver skin, a wide toothless mouth opening to whisper his greeting.
"Ah, the new recruit. We are most pleased with you. We have long awaited the arrival of the second Watcher-Hunter."
~~*~~
Dominic woke first bathed in sweat; he'd had the nightmare again. Cathy looked at him, her eyes full of concern. He shook his head and breathed the painful memories away. They both became quiet and focused; their quarry had flown.
In the blink of an eye, they were dressed. The same unisex garb they always wore had a few personal touches now, courtesy of the colour thorns. She wore a silver blouse and bangles he wore a blue shirt and heavy slave bracelet. The masters would not approve.
~~*~~
Cathy led the way because she was more attuned to the thorn in the Watchers' friend. They arrived outside a hotel and found that one room was radiating magic. The Watcher was in there. This was too easy! Cathy had her suspicions about what lay on the other side of the door but Dominic's rush of power and aggression at the thought of a kill, blocked all thought of a trap from her mind. She wanted him!
They opened the door and gasped at the presence of unbridled magic. Breathing its heady scent, they came across the wounded man. Cathy leapt to Ethan's side, forced him awake with a slap, and then dragged him upright with his arms caught up behind his back bound by a length of her whip. "Where's the Watcher?" She whispered in Ethan's ear, as she pressed the thorn deeper into his flesh. Ethan didn't answer, but his eyes flickered to the bathroom door. "Thank you..." Cathy smiled giving him a peck on the cheek. She dragged him off his bed, with the handle of the whip hard against his windpipe. She was breathing heavily, her eyes glittering with excitement.
~~*~~
Willow and Giles exited the bathroom murmuring together. Dominic appraised the Watcher. Cathy exchanged glances with her partner. Then she held out her hand and he took it, returning her light grip.
Rupert glared at the woman who had Ethan in a strangle hold. She looked ruthless. The man looked dangerous, much younger, a little taller, and probably faster than he. This was going to hurt...
The man shifted to the side easily, dodging Giles' first blow. He caught Giles' arm as it went past, wrenching the elbow. He backhanded Giles in the face, feeling his victims nose cave in. He whirled around facing Giles; his feral grin told how much he was enjoying the fight. Giles came at him again, but his blow was blocked again and his arm was twisted away, leaving him open for a straight palm into his chest. Giles recoiled, in pain and anger.
That smile was really starting to annoy him! Practically pouncing forwards, Giles' fist connected with his assailants' chin, knocking his head back. He continued to smile, in spite of a trickle of blood escaping from his lip. Giles aimed for the smile, hitting him hard with a straight right. His head went back and Giles aimed one low for his stomach. But his opponent's hand gripped his fist painfully. Giles looked up, in time for a head butt to connect with his already damaged nose, he staggered back and the man was on him again gripping his head whilst firing hard lefts to his stomach.
Giles drew his arm back, fingers extended and jabbed them into the Hunter's eye. He released Giles with a snarl and they faced each other, breathing hard.
Giles attacked first, as he feared he would not have the stamina for a longer fight, they traded equally matched blows, until a feint set up a savage heel to Giles' throat, and he crashed to the floor, the wind taken out of him, wrenching his back and grimacing with pain. He had no time to recover because a moment later he was airborne, as that bloody grinning bastard had him by the throat. The hunter half turned glancing at his partner whilst holding Giles. She unclipped a holster on her leg, and handed him a gun. Ethan twitched against her, recognising it. She glared at him and he stilled. Her partner took the gun from her and flicked a switch. The thorn turned red, the prescribed colour for instant death. He pushed the muzzle hard into Giles' chest over his heart. He looked into the ex-Watcher's eyes, his smile widening, as his finger tightened on the trigger.
"WILLOW!" Rupert shouted. He wrestled the gun away from his chest so that the thorn fired harmlessly into the air. Willow muttered the spell and performed a closing gesture round the room. She watched anxiously as the air left the circle where Cathy and Dominic stood. Both hunters dropped after a few seconds. Rupert shared the air from the hidden tank with Ethan, then scrambled out of the circle his lungs bursting, struggling with Ethan's weight on his back.
Willow muttered the reversing spell. The air seeped back into the circle slowly. Once out of the circle Rupert untied the whip and threw it aside. Willow looked over at the circle to find that the hunters were getting to their feet. They looked disoriented. They held hand instinctively and turned to face their captors.
Rupert wiped himself down then hugged Willow. Without her help they would never have been able to capture the hunters. Ethan looked up at Rupert from his bed, looking disoriented. Rupert passed his hand in front of his friend's face.
"He can't see, Willow..." He muttered. His face set in rage. Willow took care of Ethan when Rupert charged at the circle.
He paced slowly past the hunters. "You'd better tell me how to remove the thorn, because believe me, I can conjure things that you've not met even in your worst nightmares! Oh, and another thing, you twits! I'm not a Watcher anymore!" He shouted. "Bastards fired me! So why are you here? Someone fucked up in another dimension, have they?" He stopped and stared at the hunters. He'd hit a nerve.
"They have, haven't they? Let me guess, you're not typical hunters are you?"
"Giles!" Willow's stricken voice from the corner brought him to Ethan's side in a moment. His friend had ripped the bandage from his chest and clawed at the thorn. It moved nearly to the surface.
~~*~~
The hunters exchanged worried glances; they wouldn't survive the blast. They had to act and trust this ex-Watcher. Their masters had obviously abandoned them to their fate. His eyes begged for her permission Cathy nodded and gave it.
"Wait!" Willow, Giles and Ethan whirled round and stared at Dominic.
"The thorn has to be extracted underwater by one of us, after that your friend will recover rapidly. It will be as if he never sustained an injury in two or three hours." Cathy said.
"If you try to get it out yourself..." Dom Pantomimed a big explosion with his hands then smirked. " Kaboom!"
"Dominic. Hush. I'll take it out. Release me." She stepped closer to the circle's edge. Her partner grabbed her hand. "If something goes wrong, I want to be with you ... Go out with a bang!" He grinned, his eyes betraying his true feelings.
~~*~~
"Rupert, they're rogues. They love each other. The masters can't control them because they control each other..." Willow scrutinised the two hunters clinging to each other in the circle. Rupert looked at Willow then at the hunters. She was right of course. He released them with a sweeping gesture of his hand and they approached Ethan's bed, lifted him up and took him to the bathroom.
"Leave the hotel." Dominic ordered. Willow dragged Rupert out.
Part 9
Dominic and Cathy dragged Ethan between them into the bathroom. Cathy turned the faucet on and Dominic dropped Ethan into the water, none too gently.
"Ahh! This water is bloody cold! I'm not dead yet, woman!" Ethan nearly jumped out of the bath, even in his weakened state. Cathy scowled at him as she turned the hot water on. Ethan sighed in gratitude as the tub warmed.
"Thaaat's better. The water is wonderful now, my dear," the ever ready Ethan coyly intoned. "Join me?"
" What do I have to do?" Dominic asked, staring at Ethan with somewhat less than love in his eyes.
"Hold him steady, and find something I can put the thorn in when I remove it." Cathy answered.
"You are not going in there with him." Dominic said. "Tell me what needs to be done, I'll do it."
"Now, now. Don't bicker. Plenty of room for both of you, if we all squeeze up close." Ethan sighed leaning his head back. He could feel the icy fingers of death on his shoulders but couldn't resist leaving without a quip on his lips.
They both shot him a look.
"Dom, I don't have time to explain it to you. We have to remove the Thorn, or he is going to die. I know what I'm doing! I've done it before." *Once*
"Cathy, I . . . I don't want you to get hurt."
She had forgotten that he would have heard her thoughts instantly via their link.
Sensing the depth of his emotion, Cathy took his hands in hers. "I don't want to get hurt either. Dom, if we can save his friend, maybe the Watcher will." She fell silent, looking deep into her lover's eyes; they shared their thoughts through their link. One thought above all was paramount.
*I don't want to do this anymore. *
Dominic reached out for Cathy; she stepped into his arms and they held each other for a long time.
"Hello, excuse me? Spare a second, lovebirds. In the bath? Dying?"
They ignored Ethan.
She looked up into Dom's eyes. When he spoke, his voice was serious. "You'd best get a container of some kind. I'll get him ready." Cathy nodded and with a half smile, she turned and left the bathroom.
~~*~~
"Well, how is he? Have you finished? Have you started? What's going on?" Giles pounced upon Cathy, the moment she entered the room, bombarding her with questions.
"You were told to leave the hotel, Watcher..." Cathy looked past the anxious man towards Willow; she was silent, but her eyes betrayed just as much concern.
"He's getting worse." She locked eyes with the Ex-Watcher once more. "No we can't start the removal yet. We need a container." She answered in an even tone.
"A container?" Giles look at her, confused.
"If the thorn is removed it's rigged to explode, we need somewhere to store it..."
"Oh, I know!" Willow turned, and scurried off.
"Is he going to? I mean." Giles asked haltingly.
"I'm not sure." At Giles' put out expression, she reiterated. "I can't tell, until I get a chance to look at the wound. We are both doing everything we can to make sure he is OK. Dom is trying to make him comfortable."
~~*~~
Dom paused mid-pace to stare at the smirking Ethan. He stalked across the room to him.
"So, I'll be having the pleasure of your girlfriend's company in the tub, then?" He drawled.
"You don't have to be conscious for us to remove the thorn." Dom warned, in a level voice. Sitting behind the tub, he pulled Ethan up, causing him to wince in pain. Dom's arm held Ethan securely tucked under his arm and around his chest, leaving the wound area open and fully submerged, but easier to get to.
"You know, I love this rough treatment." Ethan purred.
Dom froze, and stared straight ahead. "I hate you."
Cathy returned, holding an empty jar in her hands. She put it to one side and turned away, starting to undress.
Dom looked at her in surprise "Not using the thorn?"
"I can't" Cathy replied. "Every time we use the thorns, the overlords have a greater chance of finding us." She continued to undress.
"Shut your eyes." Dom growled at Ethan, not taking his eyes away from Cathy.
"Why should I?" The equally enraptured sorcerer replied.
"Because if you don't, I'll remove them."
"Oh, very masterful..." Ethan wriggled at Dom's incredible discomfort even Cathy giggled. Dom glared at her, and she stifled it "Remind me again why we have to keep this one alive?"
"So that after we save his friend, maybe the former Watcher will help us find a way to be free from the Greys. A way we can be together and not have to live this life."
"That's a good reason." Dom looked down at Ethan. He was weakening, but still managed to annoy him with the smug look on his face. "Damn."
Cathy allowed herself one last giggle, before announcing, she was ready.
Dominic and Cathy exchanged a look, and she carefully stepped in to the bath. For all his bravado, Ethan had fallen silent, and his eyes were starting to close. She examined his wound.
The thorn had dug in deeply, and it was barely visible amongst the bruised pink of the wound. She touched it as lightly as she could with her fingers, and still he jumped in pain. Dom held Ethan steady, as Cathy probed the wound, trying to coax the thorns edge loose so she could pull it free. As she worked, the steady trickle of crimson became a flood, till the water turned red.
"Cathy." Dom warned. He could feel Ethan weakening. He wasn't going to last much longer, with the thorn working its malignant magic inside his flesh.
"I know!" She growled. The thorn was refusing to come free, not even enough for the slightest purchase. There was only one chance left. She looked at Dom. "I need a knife."
"What?" Even Ethan offered a weak surprised murmur.
"Just give me your knife!" She raised her voice.
"I don't have a knife." He answered. "Should I use the thorn?"
She looked at him, stunned. Damn! "No!" She supported Ethan in the water. "I have him, just get a knife. Quickly!"
~~*~~
Dom pushed the door open and marched out. Giles was on him in a second.
"Well, how is he? What's taking so... Where are you going?"
"We need a knife" He addressed the room and began searching, he went behind the bar opening the small fridge-freezer. Not even an ice pick!
"WHAT?" Giles barked. He started towards the bathroom but Willow stopped him. "You can't get the thorn out can you? So you're going to kill him and run! That it?"
"The thorn is stuck inside your friend. We're going to have to cut it out."
Giles glared at the hunter and spoke in a low, intimidating voice. "You are not going to carve him up!"
Dom replied, in an equally pitched voice. "Your friend is dying. If we don't remove the thorn, he will die. If we do, he has a chance to live. To remove the thorn, I need a knife. Your choice Watcher." He folded his arms his eyes flickered to the bathroom door.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, while Willow looked on. She cried "Giles, please!"
"Alright!" Giles produced the small knife that Xander had given him and threw it at the Hunter.
"Thank you." Dom caught it and winked at Willow, which further annoyed Giles. He smirked at the Ex-Watcher as he hurried back to the room.
"Oh some great Watcher-Hunter you are!" Giles yelled after him "You don't even have a knife!". Willow took his hand to calm him.
Dom opened the door and shot a look at Giles over his shoulder, his smirk pushed several levels past critical. "I was fighting you. I didn't need one." He shut the door behind him.
~~*~~
"You took your time!" Cathy snapped. Ethan was slipping into the water, so Dom ran across the room, placed the knife by her hand, and took hold of him.
"Sorry. Ex-Watcher problems."
She picked up the knife, and tried to focus on the wound. The water was so full of blood; she could no longer distinguish the thorn or the wound accurately. Thinking quickly, she sank into the bloody water, her eyes slowly adjusting. She saw the black line that was the thorn, and cut into the wound, hastily, twice. Ethan was so weak he didn't even twitch.
The thorn slowly slipped free of Ethan's chest, and started to float to the surface. With a desperate grab, she caught the thorn, but not without pricking her finger. She gasped in pain, and the water filled her lungs. She flew the surface, coughing, but held her hands under the water.
She looked into Dom's concerned, loving eyes; he was beside her in a second. He gave her the jar, which she completely filled with water before dropping the thorn inside and tightening the lid.
Dom lifted her out of the water, while she coughed and spluttered. "Are you okay?" She coughed, pointed, and tried to speak. "What?"
"Ethan" She managed, between coughs.
He spun around. Ethan had sunk into the water, unconscious from blood loss and was slowly drowning. Dom wrenched him free from the water and laid him on the floor.
"Quick, get the Watcher!"
~~*~~
Giles crashed through the door. He couldn't wait any longer. His eyes raked over the Hunters. They had removed the thorn and were looking at a still and sullen Ethan.
"Don't just bloody stand there," Giles bellowed at them. Willow came in and knelt by Ethan's body on the wet floor. He was cold and pale, his lips blue and his eyes staring coldly at the wet tiles. His chest was still. He was dead. Willow looked up at Giles with tears in her eyes and the Ex-Watcher sank to his knees beside her, his own hot tears streaming down his face. His tormentor and mentor finally gone, the last link with his past severed forever...
Ethan's body jerked and his chest heaved in the effort to draw a breath. The bloody water erupted from his mouth, barely missing Willow. He supported himself on one elbow leaning over to one side.
"Ethan?" Giles queried softly, not daring to hope. Ethan took a few more desperate breaths before answering.
"Present . . ." He fell back onto the bathroom floor and hid his eyes with his forearm, swallowing hard. Willow touched his chest hesitantly where the thorn had been; there was nothing there but a pink dent.
Cathy and Dominic held hands as they surveyed the tender scene. Cathy dressed using the thorn then looked down at herself in horror. The killer thorn was out of Ethan's body with no harm caused. Now it would transmit a signal to the overlords to terminate the defectors.
~~*~~
Ethan was smiling at Giles. He remembered how tender Ripper was earlier in the day when they had had their little "head to head." Giles' look spat daggers at Ethan.
Dom was leaning against the wall deep in thought. Cathy was talking to Willow.
"Willow, we were sent here to kill the Watcher. The Greys, our masters didn't tell us that he was no longer a Watcher. Now we know that this was a test to see if Dom and I could work together without our love for each other getting in the way. We failed the test. They will terminate the experiment now, do you understand? It's dangerous for all of you. We should have let Ethan die. Willow...I've been killing for forty years I don't want to do kill anymore... The greys will track us down with the thorn we removed from Ethan. The thorns don't only explode in air..."
Cathy looked back at Dom, knowing that he had heard every word. He stared at the floor his expression unreadable. Cathy had promised him long life and freedom from old age and disease. He only had to kill and kill and kill. He shook his head trying to fight the Greys oppressive mind control.
"Rupert, we have to leave," Willow looked back at the Hunters; they paced uneasily like caged animals. "Cathy says someone will be coming to pick them up soon. They know that they've failed. The thorn they took out of Ethan has some sort of homing device. They will be terminated..."
Giles looked at the two Hunters. They resembled the engraving in his book but there was something different about them. They had an undeniable humanity. Saving Ethan was clearly against the rules. Why would they do that?
~~*~~
Willow went to the bar with the thorn jar and slipped it into the freezer with the ice cubes. She came back to the conversation and saw that Dom and Cathy were barefoot. She'd missed something.
"And you say these..." Giles touched the black thorns gingerly. "Control your aggression, channelling it into your ability to fight more efficiently?" He asked Cathy because Dom's feet still looked tender.
"They do, before I had my colour I was proud of my record of slaughter. My trainer couldn't stand to see my suffering so he made me the colour thorns. He knew the penalty for their manufacture was death but he wanted me to be happy. I chose Dominic as my partner. He didn't know what was in store for him. Without the colours, we're killers; with them we could be of great help to you. Will you help us?"
Ethan stared as Giles actually looked like he was coming round to the woman's point of view.
"Ripper, don't. They nearly killed me. Let them fend for themselves. The bitch is manipulating you..." Ethan never finished his sentence. He flew across the room, propelled by Dom's backhanded blow across his face. The hunter strode after him with fierce dark eyes.
"DOM!" Cathy screeched. He halted in his advance and dropped to the floor, seeming to switch off briefly before coming back "on-line" again in Cathy's embrace.
"We can't go on. We're not human anymore. They changed us and we don't like it. We have to extract the thorns from each other. Leaving the colours intact." Dom spoke to the Watcher without insult, for the first time since meeting him. "If it were Willow in Cathy's place, you'd help her..." He looked at the close proximity of the redheaded Witch and the Watcher. "We only want the chance to have a life..." He stopped and looked at Cathy... she looked as though she was listening. "The Greys... the overlords should have been here by now."
Willow smiled. "I froze the thorn, it can't transmit. We have some time for you to get away."
~~*~~
Ethan grabbed his things and stuffed them into a bag, He was the first packed. Willow had her laptop and Giles carried the weapons bag containing the books. Willow had explained about the ice cubes and how they could perhaps convince the Greys that Cathy and Dom hadn't failed after all and had killed their chosen victim. Giles agreed that it would buy them time to take flight and had volunteered to phone about the bomb in the hotel. Soon, they were leaving for Willow's house.
The jar shaped ice cube set on the bar began to slowly melt.
~~*~~
Willow looked anxiously back at the hotel. She saw a maid walking in front of the rooms. She hadn't heard about the bomb scare. Willow dropped her case and raced across the road, screaming "Bomb!" at the top of her lungs.
"Willow!" Giles shouted. But before he could act, a black blur swept past him and flew at Willow's body like a panther taking down a gazelle. The thorn exploded in that same instant and Dom rolled with her on the ground. His hands held her safely between his body and a low wall. Debris showered over them, he winced and bowed his head over her face, their lips almost touching.
When all was silent, Dom opened his eyes to see Willow pale and shaken beneath him. He had covered her small body completely. "Are you all right?"
Willow nodded. Her eyes were large and dark in response to his continued presence on her body.
"I think I can get up now...." She squeaked. Dom suddenly realised and lifted off her immediately. "Sorry...uhm. Sorry." He looked embarrassed.
Giles and Cathy scowled at him. Arms folded. "Don't you have a leash for him?" Giles asked acidly.
"Yes, but I left it behind..." Her eyes glittered dangerously at Dom and he shuddered. He was in for some punishment later...
~~*~~
"Thank you..." Willow murmured, Dom looked down at her and smoothed the hair from her eyes. "My pleasure, love."
Willow and Cathy walked past each other like a spy exchange in an old cold war film. Dom flashed a smile for his lover, but she wasn't interested and grabbed him in a steamy clench. Ethan looked from one kissing couple to the other and shuddered. All this kissing going on and no one invited him, he pouted.
Willow broke her kiss with Rupert reluctantly. He held her in a bone-crushing embrace. She looked up at him tearfully, asking a silent question...
"The maid's alright Willow," he smiled weakly at her removing a fragment of hotel from her hair. "Someone flattened her, too." He brought her close to his chest once more taking a shuddering breath he closed his eyes, mouthing a thank you to the Gods.
~~*~~
Willow puttered about her parents' kitchen making tea. Ethan leant against the doorframe his eyes shining taking in every lithe inch of Willow's young body.
"Lech..." Giles muttered to him as he pushed past him.
"Pot rather calling the kettle black, eh, Ripper?" Ethan patted him on his rump as he passed enjoying the sight of his startled eyes... Yes and a little turned on, perhaps. He sighed happily and stretched. It was good to be alive! Oh to be in England, now that April's there, hmmm nice girl April... and June wasn't bad either. He grinned at the memory.
"Where are the leather terrorists? Aren't they having tea?" Willow set the tray down before him. He smiled at her and taking her hand he kissed her palm. Giles bristled.
"Thank you my dear, I didn't have time earlier to thank you for looking after me. If there's anything I can ever do to you..." He paused, catching the murderous glint in Rippers eyes, " or for you, please don't hesitate to ask..."
She smiled and offered him a plate of biscuits. "Cathy and Dom are having a shower." Willow mentioned innocently.
"Oh?" Ethan took a sip of tea. "I wondered what the noise was."
Giles spluttered his tea, swiftly catching the drips in his palm to save the carpet.
~~*~~
Cathy and Dom came downstairs holding hands. Rupert shuddered, but Willow smiled; she thought it was sweet. She had forgotten what the Hunters could do whilst holding hands.
Giles still mourned the loss of his books. Never mind that they now nestled encased in a plastic and steel binding hugged by his precious Willow. He missed them. He was angry. He stood up and went to the window. He looked out; the street was silent and dark except for a few pools of light provided by the street lamps.
Dom sat and lounged. Cathy perched beside him more attuned to the whisperings of the Greys. They were near. She looked up at Ethan and then at Giles, her anger flashed through the link. Her partner shot up from his seat; his demeanour changing in an instant.
"How have you contacted them?" She screamed. Her whip hand extended and the weapon appeared. Giles froze he didn't think he'd ever fear a dominatrix but this one he did. Ethan sat transfixed in the corner. If he hadn't have been so damn weak in that tub...
"That's none of your business. You're a menace! You've killed and maimed hundreds of people and now you've betrayed your masters because you love each other!" He grimaced. "You deserve to be put down, both of you and good riddance!"
Ethan's mouth gaped in shock. Willow was also upset and was about to protest when she was silenced by a look from Ripper.
"You fancy Dominic don't you?" He glared at Willow and she rushed from the room. Ripper's eyes followed her flight and died a little.
Dom stared at Giles, cold hatred in his eyes. No longer constrained, he materialised a long fencing foil. And took a step towards the Ex-Watcher.
"Dominic" Cathy cried a split second before the door caved in, a tide of grey humanoids swept in. Her whip flickered once then twice, and one fell clutching its eye, blood pouring from it.
Dominic hit the front row of their assailants like a cannonball, dropping the first two in seconds. Cathy stood by his side replacing her whip with a short blade more suitable for close quarters combat.
The Watcher Hunters fought with desperation and skill, but eventually sheer numbers overwhelmed them.
~~*~~
The silent grey men held Dom and Cathy still. Ethan palmed his handcuffs to Ripper. He stepped forward.
"Gentlemen, may I?" Giles smiled his most charming smile and the Greys parted. They held the struggling couple's wrists together as Giles snapped the cuffs on. Dom shot him a venomous look. "Can't tell you how that scares me..." He grinned up at the scowling man. "Good luck!" He said evenly. The Greys dragged them out of the house.
~~*~~
Giles waited a beat before stepping to the window. "C'mon.... C'mon... A child could work it out...." Ethan joined him at the window. "Did he get out?" Giles looked back through the window then smiled "Oh, yessss!"
~~*~~
Dominic stared at Cathy; a mixture of black anger and blacker despair filled his link with her. He flexed the cuffs experimentally. No give. He glared angrily at the bastard Watcher. He even gave them the cuffs! Dominic flexed back in his jailers' arms, pivoting to give Giles the finger. Then he stared at the cuffs. He looked again. He looked back up to the Watcher's disappearing form. He thought/sent his discovery to Cathy and they both smiled.
Cathy glanced around the area, and spotted an unattended motorbike. She thought the location to Dom and a desperate plan formed. As they approached the van, Cathy dropped to the ground. Her guards stared at her, and one kicked her sharply, drawing Dom forward, but he stopped when he felt his guards tense. Mentally, he counted down.
3...
2..
1.
They both slammed their hands together, jarring the weak point on each cuff that Dom had seen. Hands free, Dom grabbed the heads of two of his assailants and slammed them together, hard. He threw one guard to the floor, nose broken, and tossed the other at a group of Greys running towards him to reclaim him. He ran for the bike, with the slightest of nods to Cathy ensuring she was handling her guards.
She dropped two to the ground with a kick to the chest, and a knife edged chop to the throat. She sought out the Grey that had kicked her and kicked him savagely in the groin. He fell to the ground as she ran for the bike.
Dom reached it first; Cathy slid in behind him. He hot-wired it, with practised skill, before revving the bike into gear, just as some Greys drew close. They roared away, with a parting kick, for Cathy's stricken attacker.
~~*~~
Cathy's hair streamed out behind her, the ride was exhilarating. The Greys followed in a car, but they were able to bob and weave in and out of the traffic to the coast with hardly any bother. Then she sensed something to their left and right. Two more cars had joined the chase. They were going to die. The link jumped and Dom increased their speed heading for the open sea...
The salty tang of the sea at early dawn sharpened Cathy's senses. They raced over the wooden boards there was only room for one car on the loose boards. She hugged Dom closer as she saw the boards' edge close upon them.
Their speed didn't waver as the front wheel left the last plank. They were airborne and falling. One sentence echoed through her head as they fell. "Breathe deep and hold it-- love you." Then they were in the water and sinking. Dom kicked away from the bike and took his boots off; Cathy did the same and they swam together.
They curled round each other underwater. Cathy writhed silently while Dom dug out the thorns with the knife. He held them tight in his fist. Cathy levered out the thorns from Dom's feet and held them in her hand. She dropped the knife and swept up to him. Her lungs burned but she had such a sense of freedom and she knew Dom felt it too. They swam for the surface and took a quick breath under the boardwalk.
Cathy listened to the whispering Greys her ability to understand them fading rapidly with the removal of the controlling thorns. Her eyes grew wide and Dom looked at the thorns and nodded.
He dove under the surface and swam a little way off. Cathy watched as Grey One got out of the car and held a small device. He pressed the button shortly after she had instructed Dom to throw the thorns out of the water.
The blast was orange, ripped with white and red. It lit up the sky like a false sun. The force of the blast threw Dom back beneath the surface and he sank fast. Cathy dived after him; she had been sheltered from the blast under the boardwalk. The last thing she "heard" the Greys say was "next time we'll send robots."
She found Dom suspended in the water on the way up again. The explosion had charred his hand. They broke the surface of the water so that just their faces showed. He didn't breathe. She raged at him but still he would not stir. Her thoughts blazed in her head and she chucked her thorns at the slowly retreating car. Her thorns exploded and she knew the same peace as her lover.
~~*~~
Willow stared in horror at the newscast. The marina had been bombed, the reporter said that it was the same kind that had destroyed a motel downtown that afternoon.
"Rupert!" She screeched. He was there in a moment, stake in hand. "Look! They killed them! You let them go and now they're dead!" She accused.
"No, no." He muttered, shaking his head as he sat down to watch the reported devastation. "I thought they'd make it. I used trick cuffs, Willow. I thought they would be fine."
The reporter said that clothing had been found floating in the water after the explosion.
~~*~~
The tide lapped over their feet, Cathy cradled Dom in her arms. She rested a while before dragging him further under the boardwalk. She gasped in pain from her bleeding feet but the pain didn't matter, they were free; they had survived!
"Cathy?" He woke to find her lying next to him smiling. He returned her smile and stroked her cheek. He kissed her fingertips. "We're free?" he asked.
"In heaven..." She moaned and kissed him.
Part 10
The night was dark and moonless. Giles walked beside Buffy while she chatted excitedly about her latest beau. He was happy for her; it was so rare for any Slayer to find happiness. He should have known it was not to last.
Willow and Xander came into the cemetery from the East gate and heard the sounds of the battle. They raced to aid the Slayer and Willow's lover. The vampires were legion; it was as if each particle of the last slain had multiplied and bore progeny.
Their numbers were so great, that the Scooby's soon found themselves overwhelmed. Giles was fighting back to back with Buffy, shielding Willow as best as he could; but he was tiring fast. The air was thick with vampire dust that hovered and choked them.
They fought to a standstill and found themselves backed against an ancient mausoleum wall in a desperate last stand. For some unknown reason there was a break in the violent mêlée and all four exchanged their farewells, convinced they would not survive their Ragnorak.
Dark, menacing shapes rushed at them, but they had little strength to battle on, sheer willpower the only thing powering their muscles for the past hour.
Suddenly, the first four vamps in the ranks exploded into dust, then the next two ranks did likewise. It was like a chain reaction. Giles looked toward the heavens to thank the Gods and noticed the flight of arrows silently piercing the night sky. There were two dark clad warriors standing atop the mausoleum's roof. They abandoned their post as soon as the vampires attacked them and flipped from the roof to land in front of the startled Scooby's
"Run!" All took off at speed. The two newcomers lagged behind to take care of any foolhardy fledglings. Buffy was concerned for her friends and guarded their retreat, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour in this instance.
~~*~~
They ran without pause till they arrived at Willow's house then flew up the steps and inside. Ethan had opened the door for them, he waited for Buffy then started to close the door. "No!" Willow's strangled shout stopped him as the two warriors leapt over the threshold a vamp hot on their heels.
The vampire rebounded with such force from the invisible barrier that he tumbled backwards, impaled himself on the fence, and exploded into dust.
Ethan tutted and shut the door. He grinned at the assembled throng. They were mostly in a state of collapse; even the Slayer looked breathless. The two in black stood by the door quietly their faces still masked.
"Come now, you're making the place look untidy... Tea anyone?" Buffy rolled her eyes...
Tea, the universal panacea for any crisis! What's more, the mere mention of the beverage had everyone moving into the living room. Buffy halted the progress of the Warriors.
"Just one second! You don't get in here till you can prove you're good guys..." She stared up at the black clad figures and was sure that they were smiling behind those masks.
Giles, Willow and Xander halted and looked back to where the Slayer confronted their saviours. Giles held his breath as the two reached out to grasp the others hand. Willow's hand tightened round his as they watched the couple change...
Cathy and Dominic regarded the shocked Scooby's with quiet resignation.
Xander straightened and became wary, Ethan was at once en garde and Willow shrieked in surprise. Giles had a satisfied smile on his face.
"You got away..." He stated simply. He glanced at Buffy who still looked ready to stake the couple, they were neither human nor demons ... She looked to her Watcher for an explanation.
"Buffy, allow me to introduce Cathy and Dominic. They're Watcher Hunters, or rather they were... They hunted me while you were on your vacation."
"Were hunters?" She asked suspiciously. " I want the full story over "tea"."
She backed away and Cathy led Dominic into the room with the others. Giles finished his second cup before starting on the story he glanced at the hunters as if checking on certain points; they volunteered no information till the end.
"How did you survive the explosion at the marina?" Willow asked anxiously, she was perhaps the only one in the room that bore them the least animosity, after all Dom had saved her from being blown up!
"We had to remove the thorns before the Greys could order them to destruct. We did that underwater and held them till Cathy sensed the signal then I threw them but was caught in the blast..." Dom looked adoringly into Cathy's eyes letting her finish their story.
"I thought Dom..." She halted as tears welled up in her eyes. "I threw my thorns at the retreating car and watched it explode. I don't remember how I got to the shore, I dragged Dom with me and we hid under the boardwalk all night." She took a shuddering breath and gazed at Dom he hugged her close giving her a reassuring kiss.
"We're free. The Greys think they destroyed us..." They smiled and Dominic looked directly at Giles. "We're unemployed, d'you know anyone who needs help?"
Giles exchanged glances with the others. If tonight was anything to go by, they did need extra help... If Cathy and Dom had inside information about the history of the Greys and their links to vampires and demons, they could be of invaluable help. After all they must have learned something during their enforced servitude...
With one last quick look at Buffy, Giles took a breath and offered them a place on the Slaying team. Cathy and Dom smiled at all present and got up to leave...
"Where are you going? It's dangerous at night in Sunnydale." Willow warned.
"We have to uhm, well, we don't eat and we need to..." They looked at each other with a strange enigmatic gaze... All this was completely lost on Willow. Giles twigged first...
"Oh, yes. Of course...Uhm, see you in the morning." Cathy and Dom stood quietly in the centre of the room, embraced tenderly and vanished.
"Good trick..." Ethan whistled.
"Who were those masked people?" Xander and Buffy piped up together...
END
Sequel: Five Rings