The Blood of the Soul

Watch His Soul Burn

A/N: This is easily the biggest battle scene I've ever written, and I poured my whole heart and soul into this beast of a chapter that's around 10k words(I'm just trying my best). Thank you so much to my best friend Elizabeth and to jujubeesarecandy for beta reading this chapter. A special shout out to both of them for giving me incredible feedback and letting me annoy them at all hours of the day and night with snippets and questions and thought experiments. You're the absolute best, and I couldn't have written this chapter without you.

I'll do my best to get the last chapter out (don't worry, there's an epilogue too) as soon as possible (probably tomorrow, maybe Monday).

In advance, I'm sorry.

TW: Violence, blood, gore, death.

Liam

The traps they'd set-land mines that were both invisible and would only activate if a demon stepped on it rather than a human-decimated the first wave of demons. Half of them disintegrated while Liam and Spike picked off the second wave. Liam alternated between the laser and the bow to ensure that his weapon had ample time to recharge.

From the equipment they found in the cabin's secret basement, Giles had rigged different types of arrows. Some exploded on impact. Others coated everything within a twenty-foot radius in ice. His favorite, though, were fire. Liam didn't even have to light them. The arrowheads burst into flames on impact.

He'd only had to use a handful so far, but now that the sun was completely shrouded behind the clouds, vampires were coming in droves.

Thankfully, the strange numbing sensation that had plagued Liam earlier had yet to return, even when the laser was fully drained. Liam didn't understand how or why his powers had diminished, but all that mattered was that they were here now.

Liam kept a careful eye out for Theo but found no trace of him in the midst of battle. He tried not to let his thoughts stray to speculating where he was or what could be keeping him.

The second wave was beginning to thin when Liam ran out of arrows. His lower limbs popped and groaned, protesting the lack of movement, when he rose from his archer's crouch and retrieved another bundle of arrows.

Spike continued firing, and the purple mist of Willow's magic wove around the battlefield as she spelled a handful of vampires with confusion so that they broke formation to attack each other.

Not a single demon had even made it past the frozen shores of Turtle Lake, and Liam was determined to keep it that way for as long as possible.

He was about to nock his next arrow, take out a few more before returning to the glassless window, when a scream echoed through the castle. Liam's skull rattled with the sound of it, every muscle in his body tensed, and his spine locked up.

Mia.

Willow and Spike's heads snapped up, searching for the source of the scream.

The arrow clattered from Liam's hands to the waiting stone. He had to find his baby sister. He had to get to her now. Nothing mattered if Mia wasn't alive at the end of this war.

Liam moved toward the back of the castle that was open to the elements. If he followed the transit road, he could reach the city faster than-

Willow gripped Liam's arms, holding him in place.

"Li, look at me," she demanded. "Look at me." Anxiety and fear brimmed within Liam, threatening to consume him, but he paused, staring straight at his oldest friend in the world. "It was a trick. Mia isn't here, okay? You said Narada met her, right?"