Oz sat quietly by the fireplace staring at the embers gleaming in crumbling ruby cubes across the surface of the logs.

Cordy looked at him, his eyes fascinated her. How many times had they changed in his lifetime? Lupine to human? She could only imagine how his life had been. Had his employers found another Were-Wolf assassin after his death or was he the last of his kind?

Oz had always been an oddity in high school. In truth, she had never taken the time to get to know him. Willow had though, intimately. She wondered if Willow’s relationship with Oz had affected Giles. Certainly last Christmas they seemed to be on good terms, but then she’d never seen Giles not be on good terms with anyone–No, not quite true. Ethan was the exception!

Oz turned to look through Cordelia, his eyes still holding the firelight. Willow and Ethan entered the room silently and Cordy jumped. "Jeeez, have a little consideration to the living guy’s!" She looked at the spirits hovering before the fire. "Something’s wrong. What’s gone wrong?"

Wesley came in with a tray of tea and Xander held the snacks on another one. Both exchanged worried looks with Cordy.

"Rupert’s cast a powerful spell, we felt the ripples of it. He’s expending a lot of energy keeping them safe. He may have to leave before Laurel is slain." Ethan finished his explanation and walked into the conservatory.

"What does that mean? Willow? What does it mean?" Xander’s anxious voice penetrated her thoughts of her husband.

"It means that he’s getting weaker. Getting weaker means that he can’t keep up the garden and our haven here, we’ll depart and we won’t return."

Xander’s eyes welled with tears as he realised that if Giles weakened more, he would never see Anya in this house, he would never share an after-life with her. His mind played over the hours of her death; how she had struggled to live for him and how determined her eyes looked before she drew her last breath, he had promised to bring her here to Giles, with his eyes blurring with tears as his wife’s grip tightened then slackened suddenly. The doctors had whisked the dead baby away and he bent to kiss her cooling lips.

Slowly Willow’s words hummed back into focus

"We were never supposed to go on death defying crusades on our return, simply to tell stories and help others to understand that death isn’t an end, it’s a beginning. As a spirit you’re free of self-doubts, you can help people, help other souls who have lost their way. Ethan works with children, guides them back to their parents if that’s where they want to be; more often than not, they stay with him until they’re called."

"Called?" Wesley asked. He sipped his tea as he looked at Ethan’s back.

"Reincarnated." Willow quantified. "He teaches them to choose parents with the most love to give."

Something exploded inside Xander, a raw scream of grief ripped from his throat. "Those with the most love to give? Anya died giving birth to our baby! Our dead baby…" He staggered slightly and Cordy steadied him. "We loved him from beginning to the end." His face was grief stricken, hardly able to form the words. "He was so small.… Willow, he was perfect.… toes, fingers…" His shoulders shook with silent sobs as his large powerful hands, hands that could have tickled mercilessly, covered his face in a vain attempt to control his rage. "I love him still, as Anya does. I’ll never love as much again!"

Willow glowed with understanding. She remained silent and summoned Ethan and Oz; drifted out into the quiet garden leaving Cordy to comfort Xander.

Wesley felt inadequate offering Xander tea but fortunately, he had calmed down enough not to throw it at him.

The three spirits flowed together. Rupert needed reinforcements. They held hands and beamed a third of their considerable energy to the Watcher.

Henri surveyed his image in the looking glass one final time; he’d had the call from Mistress Laurel that tonight would be "The night!" He smiled as he imagined the carnal delights before him; he’d never been in a foursome before.

Lust hurried his determined step to the dungeon door. He had of course been informed of the strange occurrence in the mirrored hall that evening, but obviously the guards in question had been indulging in recreational drugs.

The door of the dungeon swung open and the object of his desire turned to look at him, Laurel smiled and greeted him with a passionate kiss. Hands plucked at his clothing and he became unnerved by the constant hissing and writhing of the serpents. He felt powerful hands on his shoulders pushing him down and then a second set of arms pulled him into the Gorgon’s centre. His anguished cry was brief, dying on his lips as the serpents struck, rendering all but his cock paralysed.

He stared wild eyed and silent, desperately trying to summon help with a suddenly disobedient tongue. Henri was turned around until he felt nauseous and finally came to rest before "soul", because she was the only one of the unholy triad that had a womb.

She smiled, her tormentor at last in torment himself, held secure by the slithering serpents of her sister. With Laurel urging her on, she parted her thighs to accept Henri’s cock which betrayed him by seeping and throbbing for a home.

Her eyes closed against the undulating of her sisters and the beat of her heart. The man who’s cock she rode was being strangled by the serpents, making his thrusts more desperate and her own climax imminent. In her head, Laurel’s plan formed and pulsed and she saw all that she envisaged for the Watchers and the Earth.

The voice of another joined Laurels’, one that recited poetry and bawdy songs. She opened her eyes and saw the purple anguish on the man she fucked and stopped before he came. She heaved away from his lifeless body, just as his seed jetted impotently into the air.

Jack felt strange, like he was floating out of his body. He must have stumbled because Spike caught him and he saw the look of concern on his face. Spike had never looked at him that way and he realised that Spike was looking at his father’s face…

"I can’t…" Rupert’s voice was pained and weak and Jack studied the ceiling unaware that he had fallen. The dark stones closed around him and his breathing became loud in his ears.

Silver threads of light drifted toward him, hesitated before touching his body and then the beam spread and filled the empty spaces in his heart and soul. His body jerked under the pressure and force of the transferred power. He opened his eyes and saw the beam striking his chest. He held his hands under it and bathed his face. He smelt his mother, felt Ethan’s love for Giles and Oz’s strength and determination. He slumped against the wall and swallowed as the flow of energy slowly petered out.

Spike grinned and helped him up. "Batteries recharged? " Jack nodded. "Good, let’s get the bad guy and go home."

Laurel’s scream of frustration ended abruptly with the swing of Rose’s broadsword. "Soul" lay on the floor with her hands covering her eyes, knowing that if she saw her assailants "serpents" would turn them to stone. With a terrible dying lunge, Laurel sliced the blade of her Thracian sword across Jenny’s stomach. The Slayer dropped to the ground.

Spike ripped the sword from the Gorgon’s hand and gutted her from navel to throat. Blood spattered all around and he dropped to his knees by his Jenny.

Gorgon locked his gaze with Laurel. "Thou art an abomination, an evil scar upon this Earth and I wish you gone from it!" Laurel’s head and body turned to stone instantly and Gorgon staggered back to the dungeon wall.

Angel struck at the serpent-headed sister and watched with a satisfied smile as it bounced once on the dungeon floor and rolled to a corner. His boots stepped carefully over the bloodied dungeon floor until he reached "the soul." Her hands were still clamped over her eyes afraid to see the carnage around her. He took her hands in his and with kind words eased her up to sit leaning against his chest away from the bodies of her sisters.

Spike wept over the cooling body of the Slayer, his hands tight over the wound in her belly, Angel had never heard Spike utter such impassioned entreaties.

"Jenny, live… You have to stay with me, Jenny. We have that special date on your Eighteenth remember?" He rocked her and cast about with tear-drenched eyes for the Watcher.

Jack stood quiet, too shocked to act.

"Vampire. I must slay this one too." Rose’s voice reached Angel’s ears and he looked up at her with haunted eyes.

"No need, she’s dying. I feel her heart slowing, they were symbiots, kill one, and they all die." The soul clutched at Angel’s arm, pointed across to the serpent head, and then turned her gaze to where the Slayer lay. Angel fetched the head; the serpents still writhed in blind agony. She clutched a serpent’s head and milked the venom into her mouth then began to crawl over to Jenny.

"Move out of the way Spike." The younger vampire looked up at his Sire’s voice then shook his head as he saw the last sister dragging the bloodied bodies of her sisters. "What? So, she can finish Jenny off?"

"No Spike, so she can save her." Jack eased the vampire away from the Slayer and let the last of the Gorgon sisters heal his Slayer.

She opened her mouth and the stored venom bathed the Slayers’ wound. She didn’t stop there; she passed her hands over the body, a faint green glow emanating from her palms. Her eyes also glowed but after a few minutes, they became glassy and lifeless as Jenny grew stronger she got weaker.

Her fingers curled over and she fell sideways into the bloody puddle of her sisters’ remains.

Jenny took a deep breath and smiled up at Spike. He laughed and picked her up swinging her round. Angel stood his ground in the middle of the carnage and wept a tear for the passing of a pure spirit.

Jack took Jenny’s hand, "Time to go Buffy." A sudden noise made him look to the door, guards were thundering down the dungeon stairs.

"Sanctum Invisibalis!" At Rupert’s command, a velvet transparent haze dropped over the dank cell. "Buffy, come…"

The souls of Jack’s father and his Slayer fled their temporary hosts as the dungeon door crashed back against the stone wall, guards poured in but could see only the mutilated corpse of the Gorgon and it’s would be master, Henri Sebastian.

End of pt 7

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