"Thorn room!" Dominic shouted.

Buffy barely kept pace with him, her lungs burned and her flesh crawled as they penetrated a third and fourth wall.

Cathy and Ethan charged after them, zipping through chaos and metal walls at a dizzying pace. Ethan glanced at the floor as the hammering taps became more insistent; the sound Cathy’s boots made on the metal floor of the rooms they traversed in ten paces.

Buffy’s heart hammered in her chest and still they ran. What was the hurry? The Greys were dead.

Dominic threw a glance in her direction as if he’d heard the silent question. "The Thorn room is automated. Any human in there is changed, mutated into an assassin."

They leapt into the Thorn room Buffy and Dominic stumbled, Ethan fell; Cathy was the only one on her feet.

"Christ! I hate this fucking room!" Dom spat out venomously.

Ethan slid down the cold wall and rested his head on his knees fighting to get his breath back.

The Greys entered dragging trolleys bearing the still bodies of his friends.

Dom’s fury rolled off him in waves. He wasn’t going to let this happen to anyone else, least of all Willow! He glanced at Cathy who readied herself at Willow’s machine. He folded his arms and glowered at the apparitions of his former masters.

Rupert’s struggles reminded Dom of his own so long ago. Giles’ feet twitched as he turned to Willow and sought her eyes. Dom felt sick.

The spectral Greys withdrew, their job done.

"Rupert!" Willow screamed as she was secured to a second machine.

Cathy stood sentry at the machines foot and waited like Dom, for the right moment.

Buffy tried in vain to free her friends from their bondage, but her Slayer strength was exhausted. Buffy stepped back from the machines her fingers bleeding from wrenching and hitting the metal. Sobs wracked her body. She could do nothing to save them!

Willow’s voice was silenced as she saw the arm descend to her bare feet and she felt the point of the thorn. She looked over to where Giles lay as helpless as she did.

He met her gaze seeing her tears and bade his love a fond farewell

Cathy turned to her lover to see him poised ready destroy the deadly thorn arm. She nodded and together they kicked the arms out of alignment, delivering more blows until the machinery lay shattered beneath their feet.

Buffy and Ethan looked from one to the other. They had worked to destroy the last remnants of the Grey stronghold without a word being spoken.

Willow and Giles were safe.

Dom helped them up and then released Giles from his bonds. Cathy did the same for Willow.

The hunters watched, hands linked as Witch and Watcher embraced. Dom smiled and lifted his hand to Cathy’s cheek caressing her with fingertips and they shared a brief sweet kiss.

"You!" Giles yelled. He relinquished his hold on Willow and advanced on Dom with murder in his eyes.

Dom backed away from Cathy and smiled at the rampaging Watcher.

"Yeah, me. I saved your hide, Granddad. Gonna thank me?" He ducked Giles’ punch easily. He smirked as Willow stopped Giles from launching another. He winked at Willow. "You alright Princess?" Willow blushed and nodded. "Good." Dom glanced round "Cathy? Explain to them, I got to go rest now…" Dom backed into the wall and disappeared.

"I hate that man!" Giles sighed and Ethan nodded in agreement.

Cathy guided them out of the Thorn room. She raised her hand and the wall before them dissolved. She walked normally and soon they found themselves in a large art studio apartment with lofty windows and wood floors. Sculpture was placed throughout the ground floor. The gallery, which also doubled as bedroom, was lined with books.

"Welcome to our home. Would you like some tea?" Cathy asked pleasantly as she walked to the small kitchen. She summoned a change of clothes, halfway across the room, using her Thorns power.

Willow marvelled at how neat it was, to have a thorn controlling everything. Then she realised that both Dom and Cathy had fought fiercely against the slavery the Thorn brought so it was a mixed blessing.

Buffy knelt by Willow and Giles and just looked at them for several minutes. "I nearly lost you both" she smiled. "Beware of Greys bearing gifts!"

Giles sat in one of the leather armchairs and let his body relax. His toes curled on the warm floor and Willow came and sat by his bare feet.

Cathy brought in the tray and then Dom walked down the stairs from the loft, the soles of his feet making a slight clicking sound on the treads. He accepted a drink from Cathy and slipped his arm round her waist. "Sorry for being a prat earlier, Giles. I just hate that room! I still have nightmares about being taken," Dom’s voice dropped to a whisper. Giles nodded in understanding.

Dom cleared his throat. "So you got the rings then? Cathy and I thought you’d better have some way of contacting us. If you need us… We have one each. The Grey compound recognises hematite as a key."

"You sent them?" Giles’ voice was laced with a control he didn’t feel. "As a key…haven’t you heard of the telephone? I object to being abducted in the dead of night and nearly transformed into an assassin…" he continued, hotly.

"How do you feel?" Cathy asked.

Giles whirled round in his seat and glared at her. "Beaten and burned, you?" He rasped acidly.

"It’s just that we cut it a bit fine. Five more minutes and you’d be dead. You are in an atmospheric envelope of our creation. We can live in the stronghold or here but not for long in Sunnydale. So, that’s why we sent you the rings. Call us and we will come, we can spend ten hours comfortably in your reality then we have to re-charge."

Dom’s hand snaked round Cathy’s waist. "We were re-charging when you summoned us."

Buffy blanched. "Not the word I’d use!" Dom winked at her.

Ethan cleared his throat. "Are we safe here for the time being? Because I could really do with some tea!"

End.

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