With her hands firmly clenched around what she considered to be a battle axe, but Angel has referred to simply as a knife, Regina trudged along the city streets with the rest of the Slayer and her friends, on their way to battle.
What exactly was she doing here? It was about the millionth time she’d wondered that since boarding the plane with Rupert and heading across the ocean to what he’d jokingly referred to as “the colonies.”
In their time working together Rupert had shared some of his experiences on the hellmouth in Sunnydale. And she’d been fascinated, naturally. But it occurred to her for the first time that she hadn’t entirely believed everything that he’d told her and she was now getting a rather large dose of reality. Not that she’d thought he was lying to her, but…
A slayer in love with a vampire, who had a soul no less. Of course she’d read of Angelus in the Watcher Diaries. And of Buffy, of Spike and Drusilla, of Darla and the Master and all the other hellacious beasts Rupert had come across in his day. But reading about them was one thing. She would be considered an expert had it just been about reading of these creatures. This wasn’t about research and the information you could find in books. She was heading out with some of these oft-thought-mythical figures to stop the world from ending.
And it wasn’t going very well, in her estimation.
Oh, she had no doubt of Buffy’s abilities, nor of Angel’s…but the others. They were children in her eyes. And even if they weren’t… the leaders were at each other’s throats more often than not. That couldn’t be a good thing, could it?
Sighing to herself, or so she thought, she looked up to catch Rupert’s eyes on her.
“Is it as bad as all that?” he asked casually, so only she would hear.
Regina gave him a chagrined smile. “Conversations with yourself tend to end in argument. Have you ever noticed that?”
He chuckled. “On more than one occasion. What’s this one about?”
She looked ahead to the rag-tag team making their way to the spot Cordelia had seen in her vision and felt a pang of guilt for just a moment. Rupert had faith in these people, so should she, it would seem.
“We’re going to stop the end of the world,” she began, then paused.
He nodded. “One would hope, yes.”
“We’re marching into battle, like the American Sherman to Georgia, only with less setting things on fire--”
“So far,” he corrected with a grin.
She raised her eyebrows. “So far. And, forgive me Rupert… I don’t mean to doubt you. But I have to admit to having some reservations…”
“Ah,” Giles nodded wisely. “Completely expected, Regina. Completely expected.”
Regina looked surprised for a moment. “Yes?”
He gave her a knowing look. “If you take a look at this group I’m afraid that at first glance what you’ll see appears to be no more than children playing war. And really, most of them are no more than that…children. But I assure you, I’ve been out with them, most of them at any rate, time and time again. They’ll surprise you, this I promise.”
She continued to look doubtful but nodded anyway. “I hope you’re right.”
“In this mix of fashion accessories and bickering you’ll find an intricate team…one who works quite well together. Now, it’s true I haven’t seen what some of them can do, but I have to trust Angel. He knows what Gunn and Fred are capable of. And god willing, Wesley’s improved since I last witnessed him in a battle. I have to assume so. He’s lived this long.” He chuckled at some long ago memory. “The Slayer alone would be enough, I would hope, to stop this. But she chooses, as do they, to fight together with their friends. It’s very important to them to be a part of this, whether they realize it or not.”
“But… Not all of them can have super powers, Rupert.”
“And they don’t. I myself don’t have any special abilities, only what I’ve been taught.”
Regina glanced forward again and assessed the group ambling along in tense silence. “Besides the Slayer and Angel…what else do we have to depend on?”
He shrugged. “Willow is a powerful witch. More powerful than I’d care for, if you want the truth. But if she controls it, she’s quite the asset. Anya had knowledge of demon worlds I couldn’t begin to imagine from her days as a vengeance demon. Wesley has all the skills you and I were taught, plus many more from what I’m told. Though I haven’t witnessed it myself, he’s apparently turned himself into quite the fighter. And Gunn and Connor are both excellent fighters. Angel’s son has almost all the strengths of his father, or so I’ve been informed.”
“But that leaves…the boy, Xander. And the Slayer’s sister. And the two girls, Fred and Cordelia…”
Giles nodded. “As I said, they choose to be here.”
Knowing they might die, and yet they choose to fight. She marveled at the concept and at the bravery of people so young in age to take upon themselves.
“It’s amazing,” she admitted a moment later.
He nodded with a smile. “They truly are. Though don’t ever let on that I think so.”
She grinned. “I won’t.” They walked on in silence and headed around a corner. Inconspicuous they weren’t, she realized, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind at all. Angel led the group with Buffy following not too many steps behind him, Willow at her side and Dawn just beyond them.
“I have to admit,” she said a moment later, “I’d feel better about all this if those two were on better terms with each other.”
Giles glanced up. “Buffy and Angel?”
Regina nodded and shifted the weight of the knife in her hands.
“Ah…well. Let that be just one more thing I can assure you of. Buffy and Angel will get the job done, despite personal differences. The thought otherwise hadn’t even occurred to me.”
“And the fact that we’re heading into a situation where the intended victims know we’re coming, are planning on it and for it, and will probably just ambush us the moment we walk in?”
“…Is a situation they’ve faced time and time again and have, for the most part, come out shining.”
Regina looked at him shrewdly. “These people can’t be as wonderful as you make them out to be.”
He let out a burst of air that might have been a shocked laugh. “Oh, and they aren’t. There’s not a time I haven’t wanted to be done with the lot of them…banishing them to some distant dimension and never hearing from them again.” He chuckled and she was forced to do the same. “But I wouldn’t trade them, honestly. I hope you believe me, trust me. Things will work out, one way or another, Regina. I would not risk my life, or yours, or theirs…if I didn’t think so.”
He was so confident, and spoke so soothingly, that she began to believe.
*~*~*
They reached the Wolfram and Hart building for the second time in two days and regrouped. Without waiting for Angel to take charge, Buffy began to speak.
“You know the plan. We go down together, then split into teams. They know we’re coming. They know we’re going to do this. They’re waiting for us. They’re going to have weapons, and traps. All I can tell you is…be careful.”
They knew the plan. They’d been over it so many times they could recite in their sleep. With nothing left to say or to argue, the group did as they were told.
They headed into the lower levels of Wolfram and Hart and to the area that Wesley had assured them was the spot Cordelia had seen in her vision. To get there they would take what appeared to be just an ordinary manhole down to the sewers and they entered it gingerly, senses on alert for anything waiting in the dark. Vampire skills, not for the first time, were appreciated and Buffy didn’t argue as Angel took the lead in the dark. Despite their misgivings, Giles was right. They would move past that to get to the job done.
The sewer line beneath the building lead to a large crack in the foundation, made larger each time the earth shook from a quake, and that would then lead to the massive underground caverns and catacombs. And ultimately, to Spike and the Gy-ra.
Or, at least, that was the plan.
Luckily for them they had also anticipated a welcoming party. Once through the crack and perilously heading down the rocky paths to the caverns they were attacked from all sides. The first blow came as Angel headed down a slippery slope of loose rocks. The arrow went cleanly into his shoulder, unable to do much damage through his heavy duster, but still enough to send him stumbling backward a few steps.
“Angel!” Fred cried, heading for him, when Gunn pushed her down to her knees behind some rocks.
“Get down!” he ordered to her, kneeling at her side, weapon at the ready.
“Move!” Buffy shouted, dragging Angel out of the way and diving for cover from the onslaught of crossbow arrows being delivered in their direction. Since when did demons use crossbows? The insane thought slipped in, then out of her mind before she assessed the situation.
Everyone appeared to have gotten out of the way and had taken cover by the many large boulders and rock formations underground, but the demons and vampires attacking them were impatient and quickly came out from hiding, abandoning their weapons in favor of hand-to-hand combat. Good. That’s what she had hoped for.
That’s what they’d planned on.
Feeling slightly smug Buffy marked the location of several of the shots and began ticking away in her head the pecking order. Loading her own crossbow she waited for one of the demons to make himself known, then reached up and over the rock she was behind, firing. One down, a million more to go, she thought as the sound of a vampire dusting followed her shot.
Angel had pulled the arrow from his shoulder and was now backing her, taking the second crossbow strapped to her back and yanking it off.
“You okay?” she called over her shoulder, firing yet again.
“Fine,” he growled, letting an arrow of his own fly.
“One of us needs to be on the other side, up there,” she indicated with a tip of her head. He glanced up to see where she was referring to and nodded.
“Go. I’ll cover you.”
“Keep moving forward. Get them out of here,” she instructed.
Angel rolled his eyes. “I know the plan. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Whatever,” she groused, and was off, heading across the cavern at breakneck speed, avoiding the shots of arrows as best she could while stopping occasionally to fight an impatient vampire who’d come out from hiding. From the corner of her eye she could see that several more vampires and some demons she couldn’t identify had also made their way down the sides of the cavern and were heading in for the fight.
“Gunn! Giles!” Buffy shouted, signaling them to come out from hiding. As they appeared she headed across the way to the right side of the cavern, flipping herself through the air until she landed squarely on a boulder. Had she stayed there she would have been an open target, but the moment her feet were set she was off again, jumping nimbly from one rock formation to the next, higher and higher until she reached her destination—a small next of vampires blocking the way to the ritual.
“I don’t have a lot of time for this,” Buffy informed them as her feet landed firmly on the ground before them. “So let’s not dawdle.”
The vampires glanced at one another before attacking, but in her fury, stirred on from her fight with Angel, Buffy was in no mood. Taking out one, then another, she used them against each other until they were gone. Five vampires, poof, one after the other in perfect synchronization.
Letting out a breath Buffy whipped around to look out over the floor, pushing a stray hair from her eyes. The entire group was on its feet now, the remaining hidden foe having come down from their higher ground advantage, and were all engaged in battle.
“Angel!” she shouted across the cavern, her voice echoing.
Angel’s eyes found hers and noted she’d cleared the way as she was supposed to. With a nod he stepped up his fight and took out the demon he was battling with a mighty swing of his axe. The demon’s head separated from its body and rolled away as he moved on to the next enemy in site, saving Fred from becoming a fresh meal for a vampire. Gunn, Xander and Giles were holding their own as best as possible, with Cordelia and Willow practically back to back fighting two more. Connor was protecting Dawn again an unknown demon and Angel was content to leave him to it, knowing Dawn was in good hands. Helping where he was needed, the battle didn’t last much longer.
“Up there,” Angel ordered, pointing to the spot Buffy had been standing only moments before. As the group caught their breath and scrambled to the top, she reappeared from the depths of a large fissure in the wall.
“In here. A few more vamps…and probably some kind of trap since the security so far hasn’t been the best.”
“This wasn’t a trap,” Angel noted. “This was distraction.”
“They want us there,” Wesley nodded. “This was merely to slow us down so we show up just in time for the Gy-ra to attack.”
“And take us all out,” Cordelia moaned.
“Not happening,” Buffy retorted confidently. “They haven’t gotten that far yet. Stick to the plan.”
With nervous sighs they headed inside.
*~*~*
“In the name of the Order of the Aurelius, blessed by the Order of the Fevticat we beseech you, oh bloody destroyer, oh servant of the unknown,” Spike chanted, his tone somewhat bored. He’d never had the patience for this kind of thing. Giles did a good chant. The witch wasn’t bad either. Angel had a real flair for the Latin, if he cared to admit it, but Spike… Wasn’t his thing.
Lilah approached him with a ruby encrusted dagger and a smile. “Gy-ra, absolute. Absolute destruction, absolute power, absolute all. In your name we call, in supplication and in need. Come forth and bring with you the dark, the pain, the death of those with which would smite you.”
Bo-ring, Spike sing-songed in his head, when the ground gave way to a tremble.
“Quake?” he asked, turning to Lilah.
She shook her head knowingly. “Hold on to your knickers.”
Not wearing any he wanted to tell her, but held back, his interest peaked as the ground shook again, this time much more violently, and he held on to a nearby wall for support. A crack formed in the ground with steam bursting from it as if escaping from the pits of hell, which, now that he thought about it, it very well could have been. The ground shook violently as the steam and mist continued to spew forth until suddenly a bright red light began to glow from the bowels of the pit.
The Fevticat, standing behind Spike on the cliff, decked out in their ceremonial garb, began to chant and each fell to their knees. Lilah gave him a slight smirk, indicating she had no intention of following suit and neither should he, and continued to watch over the ceremony as the ground split wider, the gap now almost ten feet across.
It was then that hell really broke loose, in Spike’s mind. From seemingly nowhere a giant axe spiraled its way through the air, landing with a sickeningly crunch in the lowered head of a prostrating Fevticat. The others looked up in anger and horror, springing to their feet as the ground continued to shake. Angel, having let the axe fly, came running in, Buffy right behind him.
“Spike, get out of here,” Buffy half-ordered, half-begged.
He watched her for a moment, took it in as she and Angel began to battle the Fevticat, while Wesley and some others went for Lilah, and backed up a few steps. He watched as the Slayer and his grand-sire worked together, in perfect harmony and the images of them together in the Wolfram and Hart hallway flashed through his mind.
“Gy-ra!” he called suddenly, continuing with the ritual. “Rise up and destroy, seek your fulfillment with this offering before you. The power of the people, the human resistance, the embodiment of all good and righteous lies before you!” His eyes fell to the Slayer and Buffy knew instantly he was speaking of her.
“We have brought her forth for your pleasure, our humble sacrifice to your absolute power!” he roared above the quaking of the earth and the sounds of battle from all around.
“Well…that answers that question,” Buffy mumbled under her breath.
“So we know what the sacrifice is,” Angel agreed as they fought side by side, ducking the blade of one of the Fevticat as he swung another around by his arms, slamming him into a rocky wall.
“I don’t make a very good sacrifice,” she complained easily, kicking out and sending one of the robed demons flying over the edge of the cliff on which they stood. “First the Master, then giant reptiles, then Ethan Rayne tattoos me and almost gets me killed to save his hide…”
“Don’t forget the Hansel and Gretal demons,” he reminded her as he delivered a series of punches to yet another foe, even as more foot soldiers seemed to be arriving. From his vantagepoint he could see Willow begin the spell they’d prepared for just such an event.
“Right,” Buffy nodded easily, sending a demon flying in Lilah’s direction and causing the lawyer to back up, almost tipping herself off the cliff. Buffy headed for her angrily. “Between that, and one of my professor’s setting me up to take the fall, and giving my life to save the world not once, but twice, I’ve had about all I can take of being a sacrifice.” She grabbed Lilah by the collar of her designer suit. “Why don’t we try you?”
Lilah was scared. “It won’t work. The sacrifice has to be of mystical power. I can’t…I can’t do anything.”
Buffy glanced over the edge of the cliff. “Let’s see if you can fly.”
She moved to toss Lilah over the edge when Spike suddenly let out a roar and pushed them both out of the way, sending Lilah and Buffy tumbling in opposite directions. Buffy righted herself quickly, springing to her feet.
“We’re here to rescue you, dumb ass!” she shouted, taking a fighting stance as Spike stalked toward her.
He laughed. “Fabulous. I changed the plans though.” He looked over to see several of his cohorts grab Angel and thrust him against the wall, pinning him.
A burst of steam came from the fissure. The ground suddenly stopped shaking and the only sound was the echoing of a vampire staking from below. Things became almost eerily quiet and Buffy glanced around nervously.
“The ritual,” Lilah gasped desperately. “We have to finish or it’s lost.”
Spike smirked as he moved in on Buffy, unafraid. “We need a sacrifice, luv. We picked you.”
“I don’t understand, Spike,” Buffy told him. “I’m here to get you out. You don’t have to do this. You don’t want to.”
“Don’t I? And why’s that?” he asked, sauntering closer.
“Because… This isn’t you, Spike. Not anymore. You’re changed, different. You have a soul.”
He tsked, wagging a finger in her face. “Having a soul isn’t what does it, pet. All humans have souls. And yet you still get fun characters like Jeffery Dahmer and Charles Manson. It’s about choice.” Spike grinned and his face morphed. “And I’ve made mine.”
“Spike!” Angel shouted desperately, struggling against his captors. “Don’t touch her.”
Spike angled his head to glance at his grand-sire. “You’ll get your turn, boy,” he growled as several more footmen scrambled up the incline and lunged for Buffy. “You’ll get your turn right enough. But first I’m dealing with the little miss. The woman I love,” he shouted with a harsh laugh.
“Spike, don’t do this,” Buffy said softly.
He looked from her to Angel. “Why not? What’s the frickin’ deal? Don’t want the old-flame to know about us, pet? Don’t want him to know how I made you keen in the night…and sometimes in the day… over and over again? How I know how to make every inch of this body twitch and quiver?”
“Stop it,” she begged, eyes closing in shame.
“How I loved you? How you felt for me? And how you just threw it away?!” he screamed in her face. “Threw it away! For what?!” He crossed to Angel suddenly and pounded on the elder vampire’s chest. “For this. For puppy-dog love that can’t ever be.” Flinging around suddenly his eyes shot daggers at her. “Fine. You made your choice, I can live with that. And now I’ve made mine. And I’m afraid…my choice on one you can’t live with. Literally.”
“Spike,” Lilah warned fervently, glancing at the floor of the cavern.
“I know,” he bit out. Turning back to Buffy he grinned. “We need a sacrifice, pet. We picked the Slayer. But I’m wondering what we’ll get if we do you both.” His head tilted toward Angel. “Two for one, twice as nice?”
“The Slayer’s the sacrifice,” Lilah reminded him. “And it’s time. Now.
Spike smiled at Buffy with pity. “It’s been a fun ride, kiddo.”
“Something I’m confused about,” a voice came from above. The entire group glanced up as Faith made her way down from another part of the cavern. “You wanted a Slayer. Which one of us did you want?”
With that, she leapt down and attacked Spike.
