The Cost of Butterfly Kisses

[lit_gal]

The  Cost of Butterfly Kisses, Part 40
Fandom/Pairing: BtVS, Spike/Xander
Rated: ADULT
Prompt: Rune Stone

STOP:  This is the THIRD chapter of the day!

This is still taking too long, but I do have one answer:  what happens to Xander's eye?

( Chapter One... )  ( Chapter Two... ) ( Chapter 14 . )

Buffy stopped outside the building, and Xander could feel his heart like a little gerbil running in circles. That was either adrenaline or a really bad magic spell. "Okay, set up a perimeter. Guard the door. I don't want anything getting in behind us. My team goes in first, we check the place out." Buffy looked over toward Xander's team, including Giles, Tara, Willow, Amanda and a slayer whose name he still didn't know. "You guys are our safety-net. If this place is a trap, we give the signal, you guys come in, guns a-blazing."

"Perhaps we could-" Giles started to say.

"So, what's the signal?" Xander interrupted, his fingers sweating where he held the crossbow. He hated that Spike was going in first because Xander was feeling a definitely lack of trust. He wasn't kidding about following Spike to hell, but he wasn't all that sure Spike understood that.

Buffy shrugged. "I'm thinking lots and lots of yelling."

"Got it." Xander gave Buffy a weak smile while the potentials shifted uncomfortably.

"Shall we?" Buffy asked her team. Spike had a grim expression on his face and Chao-Ahn looked around in confusion. Then again, considering she didn't speak English, Xander didn't even want to wonder what sort of conclusions she was coming to. For all she knew, they were going to a picnic…. a really well-armed picnic. Still, it hardly seemed fair to take her into battle.

Molly, Kennedy, Rona and Chao-Ahn followed Buffy into the darkness, and Xander was left with an itchy trigger finger and a whole lot of nothing to do. Tara and Willow were chanting softly, protective magic rising like mist from the ground and swirling around their feet. When Willow had raised Buffy, there had been snakes and choking and a sense of something slimy across his skin. Now Xander would almost swear that something warm and fuzzy was brushing across him, a rabbit maybe.

"How long do we wait?" Amanda asked. She was whiter that some ghosts Xander had seen.

"Until the screaming starts or until Tara's head spins all the way around," Xander said with a shrug. The girls went from ignoring him completely to looking to him for all the answers. It'd be nice if they could settle somewhere in the middle. Actually, it would be nice if they bugged Giles, but the man seemed to spend less and less time with them. He was looking old, and that was more than a little strange because Giles had always been such a larger-than-life figure in his memory.

"Is that magic? Like rune stones?" the potential Xander didn't know asked. Xander would ask her name, but it felt a little rude to ask for someone's name when they already knew you well enough to follow you into a war.

"Less like rune stones than like real magic. I think most people just throw rune stones around and pretend to see stuff. Tara and Willow do real magic," Xander said. Instead of looking comforted, she looked a little creeped out. Xander sighed. If she had some religious objection to magic and demons and things that went bump in the night, slayer probably wasn't a good career choice. Actually, slayer kinda sucked as a career choice across the board.

"Kennedy!" a voice from inside screamed in fear.

"And that would be it," Xander said, rushing into the building before he even looked to see what the others were doing. Xander hit the main room and broke right to clear the door. Spike and Buffy were both down, and a preacher was just looking around like this was a picnic. Bringers had Rona on the floor, and she clutched a clearly broken arm. Xander put an arrow in the Bringers arm. The thing turned to look at Xander with eyes that didn't actually exist, and Xander barely had time to pull a sword before it was on him.

"Oh, good. There's more of you," the preacher said with a cheerful voice that made the hairs on Xander's arm stand up.

"Spike!" Xander yelled. "Buffy!" Both were struggling to get up. A flash of light filled the room, and Xander could feel a softness around him that seemed to envelop him in warmth. He turned to look, and the Bringer that was moving toward Buffy was going at half-speed now, like the world was some video game having a serious glitch. Xander killed his Bringer with a blow to the neck and then put an arrow in the crossbow, aiming at the gut of the Bringer going after Buffy.

The girl whose name Xander couldn't remember threw herself at Caleb. "You're no priest!" she cried, her mace swinging in a slow arc, but then Caleb was just as slow to bring his hand up.

"Oh, I was. I just found the good book a little too limiting. Paul has some good stuff." He caught the mace in his bare hand, and Xander slid his sword to Buffy across the floor. Buffy's hand shot out and caught the handle, and Xander reversed direction to get to Spike's side.

Caleb pulled the weapon away from the girl and tossed it to the side, and as the mace flew through the air, whatever spell had caught them broke and the world sped back up to normal speed. Caleb's hand reached out and caught the potential by the throat. "But I prefer to keep things simple. Clean folk, dirty fold…." He twisted his hand, and the potential's neck snapped with an audible crack. He dropped her without a look.

"NO!" Molly screamed.

"Yes." Caleb took a step toward Molly. Xander looked from Spike who was still sprawled in the splintered remains of what looked like a dozen barrels and Molly. He brought his crossbow up, and he saw Tara lift her hands and call out some spell. Light flashed, but this time there seemed to be a wall around Caleb, and the spell flowed around him like a river. The Bringers stumbled back and slumped to the ground or just weaved unsteadily on their feet.

"Ah, it's our own Jezebel allowing the temples of Baal to stand in the holy land. Well, you know what the good books says. 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.'"

"Xander, get them out of here. We have to retreat," Buffy called. She was up on one knee, and from the looks of it, she wasn't strong enough to get herself out.

"What can I say? I work in mysterious ways." Caleb said with a shrug. Xander thought he was going to attack Tara, but his hand flashed out, and he stabbed Molly before taking another step toward Tara. "Also, some fairly straightforward ones."

Terrified, Tara fell back as Molly screamed and collapsed. Willow stepped forward, a wind whipping her hair and shadows making it look nearly black. "No!" she screamed. She threw her hands out toward Caleb, and a shockwave slammed through the room. Casks of wine cracked and poured across the floor. Xander was thrown backwards so that his back slammed into the brick wall before he dropped to the ground unable to even breathe. Caleb, though, just laughed.

"Women. They're all the same. The world is full of their filth, and here you are, dragging evil into the fight when you claim to embrace goodness, a true daughter of Eve."

Spike grabbed Xander's arm, and the two of them leaned into each other. Xander was pretty sure they were both beaten up badly enough to be useless. "We're all leaving," Spike said, his voice grim.

"Kennedy," Xander said, pointing to where the injured potential was still on the ground.

"Don't care," Spike said, refusing to let go of Xander's arm. However, Buffy was up, her sword held in front of her as she moved to cover Kennedy. Spike looked over, horror on his face.

"Go, I'll get myself out," Xander promised, pulling toward the door. Spike couldn't protect him and Buffy, and Xander was pretty sure Buffy needed protection more right now. He was a small fish in a huge ocean, but Caleb was going to want Buffy's bloody. Spike held him for a split second, and then he let Xander go. Xander scrambled for the exit. "Let's go! Come on!" he called as Spike ran for Kennedy and Buffy despite horrible wounds.

Xander got about three steps when Caleb unexpectedly turned. Xander tried to change direction, but he couldn't. Caleb caught him by the neck in a hold stronger than any vampire.

"You're the one who sees everything, aren't you? Well, let's see what we can't do about that." Caleb raised his hand, and then they were tumbling toward the ground. Xander heard a feral growl and then he smelled the smoke and leather of Spike. Flailing, he struggled to get out from the bottom of the pile, clawing his way along the floor until a hand caught his wrist and yanked him free. Xander screamed as his shoulder popped and started to burn, but he opened his eyes and realized that Buffy had pulled him free from. Spike and Caleb were rolling on the floor, Spike's teeth deep into the side of Caleb's neck, but Caleb didn't seem to be getting weaker. If anything, he seemed annoyed.

"Spike!" Xander called. He moved toward them, but Buffy caught his arm.

"We've got to get out."

"Not without Spike." Xander tried to pull away, but his ribs and shoulder hurt so much that he was like a fish caught on the hook.

"Retreat!" a new voice called. "Clear the line of fire!" Xander looked over, and Riley was standing there with a big ass gun. Xander opened his mouth, but then Riley fired, and the sound crashed into Xander, making his eyes water.

Bullets ripped through Caleb and Spike, blood splattering across the floor only to be washed away by the wine. Spike and Caleb broke apart, and Xander ripped his arm out of Buffy's grip, nearly falling to the floor in pain. However, he managed to stumble his way to Spike and get a fist around Spike's coat. He wasn't going without Spike.

A hand caught at him, and Xander whirled around, ready to fight. He saw Riley, saw his lips move, but he couldn't hear anything but blood rushing through his ears. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his thoughts without letting go of Spike. Spike moved, and Xander looked to see Spike pushing himself up onto his feet with Buffy's help. Considering Buffy looked ready to fall over, Xander wasn't sure how much help she could be, but then there were other men there, big men with big guns, and Xander watched their lips, not able to hear anything as they broke into pairs. Two of them caught up Xander and Spike and hurried them out of the room. Someone else had Buffy, and two men had Molly between them.

Gunflashes lit their retreat as two of the soldiers opened fire on Caleb. Xander looked over his shoulder, and the force of the bullets made Caleb lose his balance and stumble back, but they weren't killing him. After that, Xander really didn't know much at all. He only knew he had to keep his hold on the leather jacket. He couldn't even quite remember why, but he did.