The Wish (Part Three)

Wednesday, June 24 (Part Three)

Giles looked up suddenly.

"Good Lord! Who are you?"

In the door of the library stood a young woman, dressed in camouflage. Her blonde hair tied in a tight braid that hung down her back.

Glory realized who this was. "Oh Buffy!"

"That's right. Wanna tell me what I'm doing here?"

Giles replied. "We have a huge problem." He proceeded to tell the Slayer about Cordy's wish and his plan to reverse the spell. He told her how the town was dominated by vampires.

"Haven't you sensed them? This town is overrun."

"You know where they are and no one's ever tried to take them out? Well, point the way..."

"I have seen the Master, " added Glory, "at the Bronze."

"We do what we can. We're not slayers. If you'll help us, Glory can guide you to the nests."

Buffy replied, "I might as well do something good while I'm in town."

She looked at Glory, "Where is their nest?"

* * *

Buffy pushed open the heavy door of the factory. Following closely, Glory called out, "Buffy."

There in the middle of the workshop floor was a hideous looking machine with hoses and needles, and a conveyor belt that led to a nasty looking furnace. The vampires were in the process of placing a captive Cordelia on a metal table that rested between the sides of the machine.

"Oh no," cried Glory.

The vampire Willow looked up. "May we help you?"

Buffy drew her stake.

* * *

This is how they died.

Cordelia Chase, whose wish had set this tragedy in motion, had her life blood drained away by the Master's infernal machine.

Glory Chase, her cousin, died at the hands of the vampire Xander despite her powerful healing powers.

Buffy Summers was killed by the Master in fulfillment of ancient prophecy.

Rupert Giles attempted to restore reality to the way it was before Cordelia's wish. He invoked Anyanka, Patron of Scorned Women with these words:

"O Anyanka, I beseech thee
In the name of all women scorned
Come before me."

Caught inside his library office, he was slain by Anyanka for daring to call upon her.

* * *

The wooden stake rolled from Buffy's lifeless hand.

As the dust settled on the factory floor, the Master walked away from the fallen Slayer. Surrounded by his most loyal servants, Xander and Willow, he drew a goblet of fresh blood from the machine quietly humming as it drained the life from Cordelia .

"You have done well my children. We are the future!!"

Raising the goblet high, he added, "...and the future indeed tastes sweet."