Wesley had gone to make himself a cup of coffee, and Angel had just put a mug of blood in the microwave when they heard Willow scream.
Angel sprinted towards the study, and reached out a hand to open the door only to recoil in pain as the skin of his hand instantly blistered.
Looking at the marks on Angel's hand, Wesley reached out and gently touched the knob with one finger, only to quickly pull his hand back, blowing on his scorched fingertip. Wesley then put another finger against the door itself - with the same result.
Angel turned to his companion, struggling to hold onto his temper. Willow was in that room with Spike, and he had been around long enough to know what that scream meant.
All his possessive instincts were aroused. As his grand-childe, Spike more than any other vampire should know better than to have sex with a human who bore his mark. He ignored the fact that Spike had already had Willow - Spike had not marked her, which meant Angel had the right of claim. Willow was his. He growled in fury at being unable to rip the undead heart out of Spike's disrespectful chest, and turned to Wesley.
"What the hell is going on?"
Momentarily stunned by Angels swearing - he had never heard Angel swear before, even when driven to the verge of insanity by Cordelia's antics - Wesley tried to find an answer, to no avail.
"I don't know, but I think we need to call Giles."
Half an hour later, Angel sat stunned as Wesley finished relaying the information he had gained from Giles.
"So, Willow is having dreams which indicate that she is not simply a human dabbling in magic, but a witch by birth and part of a group called the Servants of Gaia?"
"Yes."
"And the references that Giles has found suggest that some kind of ritual needs to be performed, and that once the ritual is complete Willow will no longer be human?"
"So it seems."
"And if she doesn't perform the ritual?"
"Well, obviously the references that Giles has uncovered are not exhaustive, but it appears that when the ritual is not completed the person involved dies, apparently due to their human form being consumed by magical energy."
"And what exactly is this ritual?"
"Well," said Wesley, crossing the room to retrieve the book that he had left there earlier, "that's what this is for." And with a flourish he laid the book on the table in front of Angel.
Angel looked at the book curiously. It was obviously old, and quite beautiful, with delicate gold lettering marking the leather cover. But the cover was decidedly unusual, as it encircled the book like a box, with no obvious means of opening it short of cutting through the leather with a knife.
"How does it open?" he asked Wesley curiously, running his fingers over the leather in a fruitless search for an opening of some kind.
"Well, it doesn't. Unless it wants you to read it, apparently."
Angel sighed and let himself slip into his familiar brood mode. So Willow was locked behind an unopenable door, and the answer to what was going on may - or may not - be inside an unreadable book. Perfect.
"What does Giles suggest?"
"He advises us not to attempt to open the door, rather to wait for Willow to emerge. Then we are to have her try to read the book immediately. He is going to come to LA, but as Spike took his car he will need some time to find alternate transport. He said that on no account is Willow to leave here until he arrives."
"What about her parents - can't they help?"
"Giles thinks not. Apparently these witches are human-born of human parents. The parents themselves are not connected to the Servants. It's not clear from the little information that we have exactly how a child is chosen to become one of the Servants."
"So where are the rest of these witches then?"
"Actually, that's an interesting point. As far as the Council is aware no such group exists. It had always been presumed to be a legend, the only evidence that they may be real being the existence of this book, and since no-one has ever actually been able to read the book, it's not really regarded as convincing proof."
Mulling over this latest information, Angel settled himself down to wait, his eyes fixed on the study door and his fingers slowly stroking the smooth cover of the book.
Part FourteenSpike looked distinctly unimpressed.
"I don't know luv, it seems pretty boring to me. Couldn't you at least have a comfy sofa, or a telly?"
"I didn't choose it, it chose me" Willow responded irritably, although she had to agree that the decor left something to be desired. She was glad of Spike's presence as she looked around, not at all surprised to see that they had company.
Willow nudged Spike, drawing his attention to the approaching pair of wind spiral and dust cloud. Spike decided they didn't look that threatening, and looked around to ask Willow if there was worse to come when he yelped and jumped back.
There was a layer of fire covering Willow, moving like a living thing around her body. Spike noticed that her clothes seemed unaffected, and tentatively reached out to touch the flame. It tickled, but it did not burn him.
He was distracted from his experiment by Willow's sudden gasp of alarm, and she grabbed his arm as the two figures drew closer. Spike and Willow slowly backed away, but Spike noticed that as they moved their surroundings seemed to move with them, so that they never got any closer to the shadows at the edge of the circle.
Willow turned to face the dust cloud, observing that it seemed a lot less solid this time. "Hello again," she said nervously, but no reply was forthcoming. Instead she watched in horror as the wind dancer raced towards her, slipping past her at the moment of impact to instead engulf Spike.
For a moment Willow lost sight of him, until the whirring mass seemed to shrink inside Spike, leaving him looking somewhat startled but otherwise alright. Willow looked down to see that the flames covering her had also subsided.
She glanced over at the dust cloud, and saw it put out two tendrils, one reaching towards her and the other to Spike. She grabbed the vampire's hand in alarm, and instantly their surroundings altered, and they found themselves standing back in Angel's apartment.
Willow shook herself, deciding she felt normal except for the ever- present heat humming within, and the tender spots on her neck and between her legs. She examined Spike: (can a vampire look abnormally pale?) she wondered.
"Are you OK?" she asked, realising that she was still holding his hand.
"What the hell was that?" Spike asked, a little wildly.
"Just another of my boring dreams," Willow said dryly. "So how do you feel? Strange?"
"I feel all bloody twitchy, what do you expect, I've got a bloody tornado inside," said Spike, his voice rising towards a scream.
"Uh, look, I don't know exactly what is going on but the book that we are here to collect is meant to have at least some of the answers in it."
"Then let's get the bloody book." And with that, Spike wrenched open the study door, and with Willow's hand still grasped firmly in his they emerged to face Angel and Wesley.
The first thing that Willow noticed was the book in Angel's hands. Her next thought on seeing his intent stare was (oh Goddess, I'm not wearing any panties.) Trying to put all thoughts of vampires and sex out of her mind (down girl) Willow let go of Spike's hand and walked towards Angel, gently reaching out to take the book from him.
As the three men watched spellbound, the book emitted a soft blue light before the leather binding seemed to melt away, leaving behind a smaller book with a embossed metallic silver cover that opened by itself in Willow's hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner," Willow muttered as she settled down to read.
Half an hour later Willow put the book down, looking thoughtfully at the expectant faces before her. She chewed her bottom lip in indecision, then looking over at Spike ordered "Take off your shirt."
Spike raised an eyebrow, but seeing Willow's resolve face he did as he was asked, unbuttoning his shirt then pulling both it and his T- shirt off. "Decided she wants an audience now," Spike muttered in amusement as he stood bare chested, until his good mood faltered in the face of the wondering looks on the faces of Wesley and Angel.
"What is it?" Angel asked softly, reaching out a finger to touch the skin over Spike's unbeating heart.
"Hey, keep your hands to yourself you bloody poof," growled Spike, brushing Angel's hand away and looking down to see what all the fuss was about. He did a double take as he saw the red gold mark on his skin, some kind of tattoo that seemed to be a stylised star inside a triangle.
Spike raised his head to ask Willow exactly why he now had a tattoo but he was too late; with a muffled sob Willow leapt to her feet and sprinted to the lift, catching the others off-guard and managing to close the door and start the lift before any of them found the presence of mind to stop her.
"Giles will not be pleased. He expressly instructed me to ensure that Miss Rosenberg remain here until he arrived," said Wesley in a worried tone.
"Never mind the Watcher. What the hell is this thing?" roared Spike, gesturing wildly at his chest.
Spike's words caused the others to pause, and simultaneously three hands reached for the book that Willow had left behind. Wesley benefited from his position slightly closer to the fallen book, and it was he who ended up with the desired object in his hands.
He sat down on the sofa, with Angel and Spike making themselves comfortable on either side of him, and started to slowly leaf through the slender volume. As he read he muttered to himself: "remarkable", "so Melfat's theory was correct", "I must remember to highlight this page to Giles". The vampires did their best to read over his shoulder, but it was difficult to read the faint, fine print.
They were distracted from their task by the sound of the lift descending. Relieved that Willow had returned, Spike rose from the sofa, closely followed by Angel, only for them both to be disappointed when instead of a beautiful redhead the lift door opened to reveal a worried and tired ex-Watcher.
Part FifteenThe mark on Spike's chest had been all the confirmation that Willow needed that the things she had read in the book were true. She felt overwhelmed by the information she had obtained, and she finally understood why being the Chosen One was often such a burden for Buffy.
According to the "Legend of the Servants" book that Wesley had located, just as vampires were a hybrid between demons and humans, the Servants of Gaia were a hybrid between humans and higher beings, whom the book called the Old Ones.
The Servants had magical powers, and were dedicated to fighting demons and serving "the Light". From what Willow had read, they were an unfriendly bunch, regarding pure humans as lesser beings, and demons as creatures to be destroyed on sight.
It was this hatred of demons that had led to the Watchers' Council coming into contact with the Servants; on rare occasions the Servants had deigned to assist the Slayer when she faced a particularly difficult opponent, yet even then they had kept themselves and their powers as hidden as possible.
The way in which they admitted new members was even stranger. A new Servant was admitted to the main group when they reached "maturity", which apparently happened between the ages of around 15 to 25.
Before that the person would be reared as human, having being born normally to two human parents. The process of maturity was by all accounts a difficult one, with as many as a third of all candidates dying during the process.
This high failure rate, coupled with a low birth rate, had meant the Servants had slowly disappeared. The book stated that by the end of the 17th century the Servants were considered extinct, and indeed many Council members did not believe that they had ever existed.
The author, himself a council member, had written the book after a series of dreams which told him that a final Servant was yet to be born, and that he was to record the dreams so that this knowledge could assist that as yet unborn being.
According to the dreams, a new Servant was created when an existing Servant performed a birth spell. Such a spell was very taxing and often resulted in the death of the caster, so it was not something that was undertaken lightly.
(What a ridiculous system) Willow decided. (It doesn't sound nearly as much fun as the old fashioned way...)
Once the spell was completed, a soul was invested with the power of a Servant, and that soul then waited to be born into the human world. Often a caster was long dead by the time the soul had been born and reached maturity, and even when the caster was still alive it was virtually impossible to know whose child a new Servant was, as there was no physical link to the Servant parent.
The birth ritual had not been included in the book, so at least that was one less thing to worry about; whether she liked it or not, Willow was going to be the last of the Servants ... assuming that there were no more souls out there waiting for their turn, and also that she managed to make it through maturity.
Initially Willow had hoped that there might be an "out" clause, a way that she could simply tick the box that said "no thanks" and remain the way she was - human. However the book had been very clear on that point. The soul of a Servant could not survive in a human body once it was activated - the only options were to perform the ritual or die.
Given those choices the ritual was looking pretty attractive - but once Willow had read the details she wished bitterly that she had a third option.
The first thing that came to mind after reading through the ritual
was
The ritual of maturity involved the new Servant forming a bond with two others, preferably other Servants undergoing maturity at the same time, or as a second choice an already mature Servant who had lost a bond partner. As a very distant third choice human partners were used, especially once the number of Servants had dwindled so much that suitable partners could no longer be found.
So the newly emerging Servant was matched with two partners. Usually at least one was older and, if not a Servant, then at least experienced in magic. The three then repeated vows, exchanged blood and hey presto, the energy lying dormant in the Servant would bind the three.
After a period of time the Servant's powers would be switched on, and absorbed by the bond, allowing the Servant to successfully move from their human form.
The book went on to explain that the nature of the bond was such that the power of the Servant was most effective when utilised by all three in unison. The book was very vague about what the exact nature of the bond was, but it did say that if the bond partners chose to create a physical as well as a magical bond, then that change would be evidenced by a special symbol over their heart, showing their status as bond mates.
Once again the book had been frustratingly vague about the consequences of this happening, although it definitely left the impression that creating the additional bond would have repercussions - of the serious kind. Willow closed her eyes as she saw again the drawing in the book of the mate symbol; the same symbol that was now on Spike's chest, and on her own.