Chapter 7

Anya was alone in the Magic Box, preparing to close for the night.

The door slammed open and Willow appeared in the doorway, with a determined look on her face.

She stamped inside the shop. Lamps and light fixtures exploded as she walked past them.

Anya stood behind the counter, staring at the wild, grieving witch.

She said, "Willow."

Willow angrily demanded. "Where do you keep the black arts books?"

Anya said, "Something terrible has happened, I know. But you don't have to do-"

Willow ignored her, staring up at the bookshelves in the loft. "I need power."

Anya came out from behind the counter.

"Not with those books. I can't let you. Willow!"

Willow put up a hand. Magic purple bolts of light shot over to Anya and suddenly she couldn't move.

Willow gestured with her head. All the books up on the loft, began flying off the shelves and down onto the table. They landed in a heap, all over the table. The last book landed opened to a middle page.

Anya stared in alarm.

Willow walked over to the table and looked down at the open book, with its pages covered in writing.

She lifted her hands and put them on the open pages. Her hands sank into the book as if becoming part of the manuscript themselves.

The words of the book started to move off the pages and up her arms, curling and scrolling up under her sleeves. The words also came up her chest, and moved up her shoulders to her face. She lifted her head and her eyes were black again. The words moved to the top of her head and into her hair, turning her red hair black.

Willow lifted her hands off the book; its pages were now blank.

Anya stared at Willow's face. Her eyes were completely magic-black and her hair also dark black and moving in a nonexistent wind.

"That's better." She told Anya, "I have to find Warren."

Then Willow was gone from the shop.

Anya tried to move, but she was paralyzed. She tried to think of a spell to release herself, but none of the spells she knew would work, unless she spoke them aloud.

Will I be stuck in here all night, she wondered, and unable to move until the first customer comes in, in the morning?

She remained that way for about 15 minutes. Then she heard the bell ring as the door opened.

"Anya!" It was Buffy's voice.

Anya still couldn't move.

"Anya what's wrong?"

Then a hand touched her, and Anya was able to move again. It was Spike's hand.

Buffy and Spike were now beside her. Spike was trying to lead Anya toward the table. She was still partly frozen from Willow's spell.

He asked, "You feeling any change? Can you talk?"

Anya pulled away, not looking at him.

She said, "It's wearing off. "

She sat down in a chair beside the table.

"Willow was here earlier." Anya explained. "She put the whammy on me and went straight to the dark arts books. Sucked them dry."

Buffy stood looking at the pile of books on the table. All their pages were blank.

Spike spoke awkwardly. "Look, Anya, something terrible happened."

"I know." She said softly, "Tara."

Now Buffy spoke.

"Listen Anya." The Slayer told her. "I've got more bad news. Brace yourself."

The shopkeeper was distressed. "What is it?"

"It's Xander. Warren came after me with a gun. He fired, and shot Xander instead."

Anya lost her distress, and made a face. "I thought you said it was bad news."

"Forget your feud Anya." Buffy spoke somberly. "Xander, your ex-fiancée, is dead."

"Oh!" She whined in disappointment, "And I wasn't there to watch?"

"I tired to save his life, but I couldn't, so I vamped him instead."

"You killed him?" She repeated her disappointed whine. "And I wasn't there to watch?"

"Anya!" Buffy told her, "That's not the main reason we're here."

Spike nodded. "Willow's out for blood, big time. We need to find her before she finds Warren. Is there something you can do, a, a locator spell?"

"I don't need a spell." She spoke a bit reluctantly. "I can feel her."

He said, "You can...?"

"Feel her. Her thirst for vengeance, it's overwhelming."

He asked, "Is that like, left over from your vengeance demon days? You just sense her?"

"No." Anya told them, "Not left over."

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Spike and Buffy looked puzzled for a moment.

Then Spike said, "Oh."

"Yeah."

Buffy asked, "When?"

She said sourly. "When do you think?"

Spike said, "Probably sometime after you're wedding day, when Xander left you standing at the altar, in your wedding dress; and before you and I gave our televised performance on the Porno Network."

"People!" Buffy shouted, "Save the remorse for later!"

"Right." Spike asked, "Anya, if you're a Vengeance Demon again, why didn't you help her?"

"Normally, I'd have to ... but she doesn't want me."

Buffy said, "She wants to do it herself."

Anya nodded. "Yeah."

"Look, Anya," Buffy told her, "we don't have much time. If you know where she is, you can help us."

Anya stood up and sighed. "She's close to him. He's in the woods."

A half hour later, Anya was hurrying along a trail through the woods outside of Sunnydale, with Buffy and Spike following her.

She said, "Now that Xander's gonna be a vampire, I suppose he'll be coming to bite me first. But I don't want to stake him."

Buffy said, "Neither do I Anya." Buffy said, "So don't fight it girl! Go with the flow!"

"What!"

Spike said, "Let him vamp you. You'll both get along so much better. Just like Buffy and me."

"No." She said, "I'll be a vengeance demon, who's also a vampire. I can be running this town."

"Stay focused Anya!" Buffy asked her, "What's happening? What do you feel?"

Anya said, "Willow's stronger now. Close."

Spike asked, "What about Warren? Has she-"

"He's still alive. She's not done."

Then Anya pointed left. "Over there."

She led them off to the left. Then they came to a small clearing. Here they saw Warren standing between two trees, to which his outstretched arms and legs were tied with thick vines. His lips were sewn shut, and he was grunting in panic.

Willow stood in front of him, glaring angrily.

She demanded, "I said, can you feel it?"

She waved her hand and the stitches disappeared from his lips.

"Please!" Warren shouted in desperation. "God! I did wrong, I see that now. I need, I need jail! I need ... But you, you don't want this. You're, you're not a bad person. Not like me."

Willow stared at him.

She heard Buffy call out, "Willow!"

Willow looked over. She saw Buffy, Spike and Anya cautiously approaching her.

Then Warren returned to taunting. "Oh, and when you get caught, you'll lose them too. Your friends." He was panting. "You don't want that. I know you're in pain, but-"

Willow spoke in a tired voice. "Bored now."

She made a casual gesture with one hand. A glow of magic began illuminating her fingers.

At that moment, Anya jumped between her and Warren. The re-empowered Vengeance Demon held a cross between Warren and Willow. The magic glow shot from Willow's fingers toward to the cross, where it stopped dead.

"Anya?" Willow stood there startled. "What'd you do? I was going to flay him."

Buffy and Spike now stood beside Willow. The magic glow had disappeared. Willow's hair had returned to its natural red color, and her eyes were blue again.

Spike repeated, "'Flay'?"

"That's right." The witch snarled, "I was going to peel the skin off his body, so he'd now be dangling there, as a display of muscles over a skeleton, like a diagram in a biology textbook; but Anya couldn't mind her own business! Now all my magic's extinguished!"

"I would have flayed him for you," the Vengeance Demon told her, "if you'd just come to me in the first place. We'd have been working together. But you decided to go off on your own. Then these two came to me, and I'm doing their bidding instead."

"Anya?" Buffy asked, "What did you do to extinguish her magic?"

"I remembered what she told Tara, that her witchcraft can't work in the presence of the cross; and right now, I'm the only one of us so called 'good-guys', who hasn't lost the ability to hold a cross, without getting burned."

"But I want to kill him!" Willow began to whimper. "I want to make him suffer, for what he did to Tara, and Xander. Two people I love! In one night! I want him to die slow!"

Spike put his arms around the whimpering, powerless witch.

Buffy said, "It's okay Will. You've done enough. You've caught him. He can't get away now. He's going to pay for all the crimes he's done; but he's not taking you with him."

Now Warren spoke. "Thank you Slayer, and Anya, for saving me from this psychopath."

Buffy now turned to face Warren, who remained tied up with the vines. She moved between him and Willow.

"Oh I didn't come here to save you Warren. I came to save Willow from spending the rest of her natural life in prison."

"Where I'm going?" He said, "But at least I'll have my day in Court."

"You might." Buffy told him, "On the other hand, Willow wants you dead, and so do I; but the death penalty's been declared unconstitutional, 'cause it's 'Cruel and unusual punishment'."

"Warren." Spike said, "For someone who isn't a demon, you are one cruel and unusual guy."

Warren asked Buffy, "Are you gonna kill me?"

"I'm not sure." Buffy told him. "I've already eaten," She extended her fangs. "But I still have room for dessert."