Title: Guardians of the Veil. Part 5A
Sequel to: A New Beginning.
Author: David A. Knapton.
E-mail: belgin_tei@yahoo.co.uk
Archive: Full House Slash plus Any others that want it but drop me a line so I can see my name in lights!
Spoilers: Set after the end of S5. Then it follows along different lines. Also crossover with Angel I don't think there is much if any spoilers, because although there are some indications about some character relationship issues in the series, mine were planned the way they are some time before I saw any of it on the show.
Rating: Probably 18 overall. Also extreme violence.

Pairings this part: Buffy/Willow/Tara Xander/Anya Louisa/John Sarah/James Olivia/Giles Hank/Jennifer plus a few I don't want to reveal here.

Disclaimer: I own none of the people in this story, but if I did then the show would probably never be shown again!

Special Disclaimer: See part 2.

Summery: Buffy, Giles, and their friends must try and rescue Willow and Tara as well as the coven of the Goddess before the Warlock can bring about Armageddon. Buffy, must choice to save those she loves the most and place all mortal animals in danger or see her lovers die. <> = Thought.

Warning: Characters deaths (Don't assume its Buffy etc.)

Notes: I have twisted the legend of King Arthur for my own reasons. If it's of interest the mine mentioned in this story is located at Bannerdown just outside Bath; I use to play paintball in it some years ago. MI5 is the UK equivalent to the US NSA I think? and MI6 is as the CIA. I'm sure everyone knows about the SAS, which stands for the Special Air Service, SBS is the Navel equivalent and stands for the Special Boat Service. As far as I know there are no secret cells under the Tor!

A Very Special Note to Any Pagans: I am using different aspects of the Goddess for my own ends not to offend anyone. May the Lady forgive me.

A Special Note to any religious fanatics: This story is only a STORY, I apologise if any part of it upsets you, if you are a fanatic of any religion and cannot except my apology, maybe you should look at what some religious fanatics are doing in some parts of the World, flame them not me.

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Buffy and Giles moved cautiously along one side of the passage accompanied by one team, while Sarah and Jimmy moved on the other side with another, both teams were followed about twenty feet behind by teams led by Riley and Harry respectively, the remaining two four man teams stayed at the entrance guarding it. Everyone was equipped with Tazer rifles that Riley had brought with him as well as sidearms and Buffy, Sarah and Giles each had several stakes.

Even though Willow and Tara had informed Buffy via the bond that they and most of the others were no long in the mine, but in the back of a large truck, Sarah and Jimmy had persuaded Buffy, with Riley and Harry's help, to search the mine in case there were any survivors.

So far, they had only found the bodies of the two sisters at the entrance. As they got to the side passage they found the bodies of the two sisters that had been stationed there; both of them had been badly mauled by something, Buffy could see several piles of vamp dust nearby, giving evidence that they had gone down fighting.

Sarah knelt beside her sisters, saying a silent prayer to the Goddess. She gently arranged their bodies and straightened their clothes, she then placed a kiss on the forehead of the blonde-haired woman, Buffy realised that it was Jane. Sarah saw the sympathy in Buffy's eyes, "I grew up with Jane, she was my best friend," Buffy placed a hand on her shoulder, "I feel the need to hit something," Sarah said between clenched teeth.

"I'm with you sister," said Buffy with an angry look in her own eyes.

Sarah nodded, "Thank you," she said appreciating the simple statement, "Lets go." She led the way into the side passage.

Harry left his team at the entrance to the side passage and joined Riley's team. It only took them 10 minutes to get to the living area, there was several dozen demon bodies scattered around the area, some had been burned, others had wounds as if they were hit by electrical energy, some also showed signs of having been killed by more mundane ways. The wall panelling dividing the living area from the dinning room had been torn down, most of the room beyond all but destroyed.

"Secure the area and check for survivors," ordered Harry; his men quickly complied as he joined the others next to Buffy who had begun to cry.

Giles placed a fatherly arm around his slayer, "We'll get them back Buffy," he said quietly to her.

"I know Giles, its not that," she sighed, then pointed to a relatively un-destroyed area of the dinning room, "That was were Willow and Tara held off the demons and vampires until Ethan came. He dragged Steve into the area, he told them that if they didn't give up, he would have the demons slowly pull Steve's limbs off and eat them in front of them. They hesitated for a moment, that was when a demon managed to grab Tara, that was when Willow gave in," she said grabbing Giles in a hug that almost crushed his ribcage.

The grown of pain that escaped Giles mouth apprised Buffy of his predicament, she released him looking at him with an apologetic smile on her face, "I'm sorry Giles, are you ok?" she asked him.

Taking a painful breath, he returned her smile, "Yes I'll be fine, but please don't do that again anytime soon."

Before she could reply one of the soldiers called out that he had found someone alive.

Rushing over to the man, they saw him trying to stop the blood escaping a wound in Steve's stomach.

Sarah knelt by Steve's head, "Everything is going to be alright, we'll get you to hospital, just hold on," she pleaded, the look on the medic's face as well as the others gathered around told her it was hopeless.

Steve coughed up a little blood, "Little Sarah always the optimist, I'm going to die, I've known that for some months now, I have one final task to fulfil first, you are to take Buffy and your uncle to my house, the key's in my pocket, I have left an item that will be needed before the Warlock can be confronted. Good luck my friends, I have to go now, mustn't keep the Goddess waiting," he let out a small laugh that turned into a groan and died.

Sarah burst into tears, all this was getting to much for her, her mother was in the hands of the Warlock, her best friend had been killed and now a man she and many of the younger sisters had thought of as an uncle was dead.

Jimmy gently pulled her away from Steve's body and gathered her into his arms, "We'll get the ones that have done these things," he said.

Harry's men reported that they had found two more young women's bodies and a total of 36 demon bodies, but no one alive, so leaving his men to see to the seven human bodies he left the mine with Buffy and the others.

Outside they split up, Riley went back to the base on Lansdown with Harry. Jimmy went to the hospital to fill in John, Gail, and Mary, who had been given the all clear, but stayed to keep an eye on Kelly who was in intensive care; while Sarah took Giles and Buffy to Steve's house. -------------- Sarah opened the door and walked into a hallway devoid of furnishings, they entered the living room, on a small table, the only thing in the room, was a three and a half feet long case with a large brown envelope on top.

Sarah picked up the envelope, looked at it for a moment and handed it to Buffy, "It's addressed to you."

Opening it she found two smaller envelopes, one addressed to her sister and the other to Cordelia, frowning she handed them to Giles, "Why would Steve be writing to Dawn and Cordy?" she mused.

Putting them in his jacket pocket Giles shrugged, "I have no idea, but we will have to wait until we can deliver them to find out."

Buffy nodded and looked inside the envelope and pulled out a letter, she read it out loud.

Dear Buffy I know you are worried about Willow and Tara, and you Sarah are worried about your mother, they are safe until the eclipse just after dawn the day after tomorrow, when the choices must be made.

In the case you will find the only item that can now destroy the Warlock and Ethan, it may be used but once, choose wisely Buffy for in your choice you hold the fate of all creation, you must choose between love or duty, your heart or your head. Merry met and merry part Steve.

Buffy handed her watcher the letter and lifted the lid of the box, inside, cushioned in velvet was a sword that seemed to glow with a pale white light, picking up the note resting on the hilt, Buffy read it to the others, "This is the sword Du Lac defended his king with at the last battle, it is yours alone to wield Buffy." Buffy handed the note to Giles before slowly withdrawing the sword from the case, it seemed to fit her hand perfectly, she could feel it pulsate with power. She turned to the others, "Do you think there is anything else we need to do here?" she asked.

"No I think this is what Steve wanted us to have, we should go, we have a lot to plan," said Giles.

Buffy nodded and replaced the sword in the box, picking it up she strode from the room followed by Giles.

Sarah lingered for a moment, "Farewell my friend," she whispered as a single tear escaped her eyes and dropped onto the bare floor, she turned and quickly followed after Buffy and her uncle. -------------- Back at the base on Lansdown, the original group was joined by John and Mary; they had left Gail with Kelly at the hospital because Kelly's only relative, her aunt, was at present in the hands of the Warlock, Sir Geoffrey's assistant Karen Clarke who had returned from London was also in attendance.

"We have put the bodies of your friends in the base morgue until you decide what you wish us to do with them," said Colonel McBride solemnly.

John nodded, "Thank you Colonel," he looked at the people that had gone to the mine, "Was there no sign of my wife or the others?" he asked.

"No I'm afraid not John," Giles told his brother-in-law, "But Steve left Buffy a letter at his home telling us that everyone is safe until the time of the eclipse, the day after tomorrow." He turned to Sir Geoffrey, "Would it be possible to have James help me find some information on the Internet?"

"Of course, you can use the terminals over there," said Sir Geoffrey pointing at the otherside of the room.

"Excuse me but what exactly do you mean, when you say this Steve left a note at his home? If he knew all this was going to happen, why didn't he warn anyone," asked Karen.

"Because he was forbidden to do so, he was the Seer of the Goddess; he was her instrument, preparing things the way she wished," explained Mary, Karen looked sceptical but let it pass, Mary then turned to Buffy, "What was in the letter?" she asked her.

"Well there was a couple of letters, one addressed to my sister Dawn as well as one to a friend called Cordelia Chase, why he is writing to them I have no idea, then there was this," she said sliding the letter addressed to her over the table.

After reading the letter she passed it to John who in turn gave it to Sir Geoffrey, Mary turned back to Buffy, "Where is this sword now?"

"I asked Harry here to keep it in the armoury until we need it," Buffy answered.

"I don't envy you your choices, what does it mean anyway?"

"I have no idea, but it seems your Goddess has thrown me another curved ball," sighed Buffy.

Mary smiled at her; "She is your Goddess as well Buffy."

"Maybe! But I still don't like it," said Buffy returning the smile.

<They have just stopped the truck,> the bond suddenly informed Buffy.

<Where are Willow and Tara, are they all right?>

<We are fine, they are taking us down a track towards the Tor, Willow said to tell us that Ethan has cast a mass invisibility and silence spell on us.>

<Are Willow and Tara together?>

<No, Ethan has kept us separated to stop us from using our powers, he said he would kill us if we tried anything.>

<Tell them I won't let anything happen to them, we are working on a rescue plan and tell them Steve said they are all safe until the day after tomorrow.> Buffy looked at the others in the room, "The truck their in just stop near the Tor, Willow says that Ethan has cast an invisibility and silence spell on them all," she relayed to them.

"How do you know that?" Karen asked.

"Willow, Tara and I are connected, we can relay information between us," Buffy explained to her.

"Are you trying to tell me your telepaths?"

"No they are not telepaths in the strictest sense, they are joined body and soul, they can only communicate with each other," interrupted Giles looking up from the computer screen.

"I'm sorry but this is all so farfetched, Warlocks, Witches, Seers, and now telepaths, I can't believe rational people can believe in such things," stated Karen.

"So how do you explain the sort of things that are going on?" asked Mary arching her eyebrow.

"Drugs, subliminal messages, something like that," offered Karen.

"I see, so you don't believe in magick?" Mary smiled at her, Mary rested her hand plum up on the table, she mumbled something under her breath and a flame appeared.

"I've seen stage magicians do similar tricks," said Karen.

"Really, how about this," asked Mary as the flame grew in length until it hit the ceiling setting off the fire alarm, Mary closed her hand and the flames vanished.

The door burst open and the guards rushed in followed by several other men carrying fire extinguishers, all looking around the room.

"It is alright gentlemen, it was just a demonstration, please close the door and reset the fire alarm," Sir Geoffrey said calmly. After the men had left he turned to Karen, who had rose and had her back against the map wall, "I take it the demonstration was worth it," Karen nodded not trusting her voice. "Good, now it has been a long day for some of our friends, I think maybe we could all do with a goodnights sleep, I suggest we resume the meeting tomorrow morning."

It took Giles and Riley a while to persuade Buffy to go to bed, but eventually she followed Colonel McBride to the sleeping quarters she had been assigned.

Although he pressed Buffy to go to bed, Giles stayed up into the early hours, it had taken him and James far longer than he was use to on the computer, mainly because, although James was good with computers he did not seem to have Willow's natural flare for finding obscure bits of information.

Finally just before dawn he had collected all the information he could on this situation, he only wished he could contact the council or had time to visit the British Library, but they were both out of the question, he couldn't trust the council and time restraints ruled out the Library. With a weary sigh he sent James to bed and followed a short time later. -------------- Sarah walked into the base gym just after 7 the next morning to find Buffy doing some serious damage to a punch bag, "Wow I'm glad I'm not that punch-bag," she laughed as she started her warm-up routine, "How long have you been up?"

Buffy, with a vicious right into the side of the bag, finished, she stopped the bag swinging and looked over at Sarah, "I've been here about 2 hours, I couldn't sleep, I missed having Willow and Tara there with me," she said taking a swig of mineral water.

"I can't compare my own worry over my mum with yours, at least I had Jimmy with me, at least from 3 when Uncle Rupert had finished with him," said Sarah.

"Did he tell you if Giles found out anything useful?" asked Buffy.

"Yeah some, he was moaning about not having access to his books, I can't believe he still hates computers."

"Oh yeah, we did have some hope about 4 years ago, he was dating the computer teacher at my high school, but when she was killed he wouldn't even go near a computer unless it was absolutely necessary after, I think it reminded him of her."

"He mentioned her in a couple of his letters but never told us she had been killed, how did it happen?"

Sarah saw the pain cross Buffy's face, "It was my fault, I slept with a vampire called Angel, he was under a gypsy curse, it caused him to lose his soul," sobbed Buffy.

Sarah quickly crossed the room and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, "I'm sorry Buffy, I shouldn't have asked, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, you didn't know about the curse."

"No it's ok, I sometimes think Giles still blame's me for her death," Buffy continued to sobbed into Sarah's chest.

"No way Buffy, I've seen the letters he's sent home, he is so proud of you, I think he regards you as his daughter," Sarah smiled before gently pushing Buffy away, "And as I said last night I'm straight, besides we're both involved with other people," she giggled.

Buffy smiled, her bad memories vanquished, "Very funny, now do you want to do some sparring with me?"

"Sure," said Sarah returning the smile. -------------- After they showered Buffy and Sarah returned to the conference room, everyone else was already there waiting, they took their seats and after the usual round of good mornings, the meeting got underway.

"Rupert I understand that you have found some useful information, regarding our present predicament," said Sir Geoffrey formally starting the meeting.

"Yes I have, the situation is far more serious than any of us thought," he began, "Ladies and gentlemen everything that I have found, as well as the things that Steve told us and left at his home, leads me to only one conclusion. We are looking at Armageddon," stated Giles.

They all heard an audible groan escape Buffy's throat, "Again! It's starting to get a bit monotonous Giles."

Giles briefly smiled at Buffy, "This one is a little bit different! This is 'the' Armageddon Buffy, although it is not exactly like it is described in the bible," he explained, having rose while speaking he began walking around the table handing some papers to each person, when he had returned to his seat he read the top page;

"The Lord of Lords shall send his Lieutenant to secure the Chaos one. And he be given the power of the word. He shall travel to the place of the oath breaker and release her and she shall have dominion over him. They will travel the land preparing for the Lord of Lords coming. And great despair and confusion shall go among the Lords of the land. But beware of the son of the fallen of the green goose, for 10 moons after the key is given form shall he summon the chosen of the Goddess to do battle on the Isle. There the chosen must make the choice of choices and in that choosing, shall the fate of the plague be sealed. And at the time of the choice shall the Chaos one remove the Veil and the oath breaker shall call forth our Lord. If the chosen has chosen her heart, must the host do all to stop the five sisters, for the Goddess has given them the power to replace the Veil."

"Were did you find this prophecy Giles?" asked Buffy.

"Its from the writings of Aurelius the Master had, luckily I had Willow archive it on her computer last year, I'm glad that I had her leave her computer connected to the Internet just in case we needed any information," he smiled.

"Well that seems quite obscure," mused Sir Geoffrey, "Can you make it a little more clear?"

"Yes I think so. The Lord of Lords is obviously a powerful demon, the Chaos one and oath breaker are Ethan Rayne and the Warlock respectively. Buffy is the chosen one and the Veil refers to the mystical barrier between the realms of the living and the dead. Does that make it any clearer?" explained Giles.

"Yes some, but who is the son of the fallen of the green goose, the plague, this key and the five sisters?" said Sir Geoffrey.

"I think sir, I am the son of the fallen of the green goose," put in Captain Jones, when they all gave him confused looks at his theory he explained. "My father was killed in the fight for Goose Green in the Falkland's war, and if Buffy is the chosen one it was sort of me that summoned her when I helped rescue her from the council."

Giles nodded his agreement at Harry's assessment, "Yes that would fit."

"What about the plague? What does that mean?" asked Claire.

"The plague is what the demons call humanity, as for the key," said Giles hesitated as he looked over to Buffy who sat with a steely look on her face.

"The key is known to Giles and myself, it was sent to me to protect, all I will tell you is that the key is safe and all you need to know is it came into this world just over 9 months ago. The key has nothing to do with this situation," Buffy informed them.

"But how can you be sure? What does this key do?" Asked Riley a bit more angrily than he intended.

Buffy turned to look at her former boyfriend, releasing why he was angry, "I'm sorry Riley I know what you must think of me, keeping it from you when we were going out. If it's any comfort to you, Giles and I told the gang about the key just after you left, you would have been told as well but I will not risk any government finding out who and where the key is," she smiled over at Sir Geoffrey. "However friendly they are, the less that know the safer this universe, and I do mean universe, is."

"As for what the key does," continued Giles, seeing how Buffy seemed to be having trouble keeping her emotions under control. "Has the power to destroy all the barriers between all the dimensions, plunging everything into utter chaos. As for the sisters, I am unsure who they are! Although Mary and Sarah are members of the Sisterhood of Morrigan, after last night's attack there are only four left in the country and one of those is in a bad way in hospital."

"What about the four we don't know the whereabouts of?" Said Buffy, "Could they be some of the sisters."

"I don't know, but if they are involved in this I would have assumed they would need to be here," Giles mused.

"No there task is to protect two of the sisters," they all looked at Mary, "I do not know all the details, but as leader of the sisterhood Steve had to formally ask my permission to send the four on his mission. All he told me was that two of the sisters were in the United States and their friends would need help in protecting them, where and who they are I have no idea," Mary finished explaining.

"I see so at present we have no real idea who the five sisters are and more importantly were the other three are located," assessed Giles.

"But if they are all in danger from the other side and need to be defended how can we do that if we don't know who they are?" said Riley.

"Yeah I mean if Steve sent sisters to help defend the two in North America, why would he leave the other three out of the equation?" pointed out Sarah.

"I don't know," mused Mary, "But it must be part of the plan, the Goddess would leave nothing to chance.

"Well with all due respect to the Goddess, I'd like a bit more than that before I start jumping for joy," said Giles with some sarcasm.

"Yes Giles, I'm with you on that, but we still need to work out a plan to rescue Willow, Tara and the others" said Buffy.

"I'm afraid there is a little more to it than that, if you'll look at the next page you'll find the rest of the information I found, with James's help," said Giles smiling at him. "I believe that although your choice will decide the fate of mankind, many others will also have choices to make, that is what Armageddon is the choice of the mortals, good and evil, light and dark, love and hate, things like that. I believe your choice Buffy is to decide which evil to destroy, Ethan or the Warlock, after all we already know that the sword of Du Lac is the only thing that will kill both of them, but can only be used once," explained Giles.

"Giles have I ever told you you have an incredible ability to pile the pressure on me," Buffy said giving him her best steely stare before sighing with the inevitability of her fate, "So Giles any idea which it should be?"

"No, not this time I'm afraid the choice is yours alone, it can only be made at the time, advise will be useless," he sighed as he went around the table and pulled her up into a hug. "Buffy in the almost six years I have known you, you have, in the end, always done what you had too, not what you would have wished, in this I think you should follow your heart."

"Excuse me but why is it that only this sword will kill Ethan Rayne and the Warlock?" asked Agent Logan.

"It has to do with what Brighid did to the Warlock, she was excluded from Summerland, her spirit was bound to her body, if she is struck down she will just rise again. A similar thing must have happened to Ethan Rayne after he meet this Lieutenant of the Lord of Lords," explained Mary.

Turning a thank you smile at Giles Buffy turned back to the others, "Right plans, how do we get everyone away from this bitch and take down whatever is in the way of me and my choice," she asked siting down.

"Well we have ten, four-man teams available plus a dozen MI5 operatives we can call on, if absolutely necessary we could also call in other more conventional armed forces, but that would probably cause unexpectable civilian casualties," said Sir Geoffrey.

"Sir I must point out that we only have enough Tazer rifles to equip thirty two personnel," put in Harry.

"That will have to do, the rest will have to be equipped with more normal weapons," nodded Colonel McBride.

"Okay that's the personnel sorted, with the rest of the combatants here that gives us about sixty fighters. Now what are we likely to be up against?" said Riley.

"Well if we wait until dawn vampires will not be a factor until the eclipse, so besides the Warlock and Ethan, and any humans they have control of, the only thing we have to deal with is the demons," said Giles.

"But we will still need to get into position first, so the vamps will be a factor Giles," pointed out Buffy.

"Not if we use magick to make ourselves invisible," smiled Giles.

Buffy looked at him, her eyebrow raised before turning to Mary and Sarah, "Can you do that to such a large group?" she asked them.

"No, not with only four of us," said Mary indicating John and Jimmy, "But we could do an ignore spell, it would work almost as well, as long as no one draws attention to themselves like talking to someone or attacking," she mused.

"You're a Witch?" a surprised Riley asked turning to Jimmy.

"No not in the sense you mean, I'm just Wicca, but I can do some magicks, as most people can if they are open to it and have the right training," smiled Jimmy.

"Ok we do your ignore spell then we finish this," said Buffy.

"What about the local civilian population?" asked Claire.

"Well how about a chemical accident just before dawn, we could put out a warning for people to stay indoors," suggested Commander Johnson.

"Yes that has possibilities," nodded Sir Geoffrey, "Claire can you arrange it."

"Yes sir I'll get on it straight away," said Claire getting up and heading out the door.

The rest of the meeting was taken up with making minor adjustments to the plan of attack -------------- Later Buffy lay on her bed silently communicating with her girlfriends, it wasn't the same as having them with her but at least it was private.

<Are Will and Tara ok, where are they?>

<We are fine, they even fed us. They are still keeping us separate in some kind of cells under the Tor, there's also a dampening spell in this place so we can't use magicks.>

<Tell Will and Tara that we are planning to attack at dawn tomorrow and to let the others know if they can.> she hesitated for just a moment <Tell them about the choice I have to make and about everything Giles told me about it.>

Several minutes passed.

<Willow said that if we have to choose between saving us and saving the world, choose the world.>

Buffy chuckled <Tell her not gonna happen.>

<Willow said to point out that as long as we survive we can bring us back.>

<No I will choose her and Tara every time, Giles told me to follow my heart, his advice has always guided me right, I'm not going against it now.>

<Willow says we will talk about this after you rescue us.>

<I bet she does, but at least she will be able to, assuming we are here to see the sunset.> -------------- Buffy jumped out of the lead minibus as soon as it stopped, she took a quick look around, the Tor was silhouetted against the clear pre- dawn sky. She stepped to the back where everyone was getting ready to move out.

Sarah moved out of the men gathered there carrying the sword of Du Lac, she handed it to Buffy, "Do you want a hand?" she asked watching Buffy struggling to get the sword and the special harness strapped on.

Buffy smiled, "Thanks, I've used a sword before but I've never had to bother with all this," she said.

After they had the sword strapped across her back Buffy and Sarah joined the others listening to Riley talking to Mary, "How long will the spell last?" he asked her.

"There's really no limit, as long as no one draws attention to themselves or others under the spell, it will stay in effect, but once any of us break it, it will break for all of us," Mary explained. "Just remember not to speak to each other or attack."

The Colonel turned to his men, "Okay teams one through four under the command of Commander Johnson circle around and come in from the south, teams five through eight under Captain Jones from the north, the rest with me, we'll come from this side," he ordered, "Unless any of us are discovered wait until my signal to attack.

While the groups lead by Johnson and Jones moved out Buffy, Giles, Mary and Sarah equipped themselves with crossbows, knives and stakes.

"We better get going the 'accident' is scheduled to happen in about ten minutes," said the Colonel. -------------- Willow looked up as the cell door was opened, "We're ready for you now," said Ethan.

Willow rose and followed Olivia and Louisa out and up the steps to a central chamber, she looked around and saw other groups entering from other entrances, she smiled as she saw her girlfriend enter with Maggie and another woman.

"Well ladies its nice of you all to come, I know the accommodation wasn't much but we didn't have the time to decorate. Now if you will all place your hands behind your back we can proceed with the ceremony," said Ethan an evil smirk on his face.

With that, the vampire that was standing behind Willow pulled her hands roughly behind her back, Willow's eyes blazed momentarily.

Ethan turned to look at her, a smile spread across his face, "I wish I had the time to teach you a little lesson, but unfortunately your needed for the ceremony, if you so much as try and start an attack my friend over there will break your girlfriend's neck," he stated pointing to where a vampire was tying Tara's hands.

<Tara asked that we do nothing until Buffy attacks.> the bond told Willow.

<Alright but tell her that I may not be able to kill Ethan but I intended to make him hurt.>

Buffy saw Willow being led out of the tower followed by the others with Tara bringing up the rear. She watched as they were all led over to a large circle of six-foot posts, the vampires quickly tied them all to posts and retreated back inside the tower away from the paling horizon. In the centre of the circle sat an altar, stood in front of it was the Warlock, Ethan joined her, both turning to the altar they picked up a pair of Athames, raising them to their palms they sliced them, holding the wounds over a pair of chalices then allowing their blood to partly fill them. Then taking up the chalices they started to walk around the restrained priestesses, the Warlock would slice the upper arm of a priestess holding the chalice under the wound before moving on to the next, Ethan would then slice the other upper arm putting his chalice under the wound.

Buffy's eyes narrowed as she saw that only one more priestess was left before it would be Willow and Tara's turn, there was no way that bitch was going to hurt them, to hell with their plan to wait until the sun rose above the horizon, that was a good ten minutes away. She rose from her place of concealment and before Giles or Riley could stop her, she started towards the Warlock.

"Oh hell," cursed Colonel McBride as he aimed his flare gun into the air and pulled the trigger, he turned to Jimmy and Sarah, "Take your team and try and keep the vampires in the tower from joining the battle," he told them before he and Giles lead the rest after Buffy.

--------------

Author's notes: I just feel the need to point out that Colonel H Jones, VC of the 2nd bn Parachute regiment was killed in the battle for Goose Green while leading a charge at some Argentinean machine gun emplacements. Even though out numbered 4 to 1 and attacking a strongly defended position, the death of the commanding officer is believed by many (including myself) to have given his men the motivation to win the battle. I believe he had two young sons at the time of his death, I am unaware of their real names or what careers they are in.

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