Part Nine

********** Has anyone checked the Lotto numbers? - Wednesday night ritual **********

Rupert and Joyce retreated as quickly as they could to the back of the stacks and scrambled down to the floor. "There has... has to be a (cough) back door." Giles choked as the smoke began to billow through the warehouse. Joyce pulled her shirt neck up over her mouth and nose in an attempt to filter out the smoke. Their eyes stung and watered as the visibility rapidly decreased and they went down on their hands and knees to try to find fresh air. The pair crawled along the back wall searching for an exit. The knowledge of impending flashover and the noxious smell of burning plastic and solvent convinced Giles that he was a dead man. Less than four minutes had passed since the flames had appeared and the smoke was now a dense cloud hanging less than four feet above the floor. Voices, he heard voices ahead of them and the sound of someone's labored breathing.

Gregory's angry voice cut through the smoke. "Hurry up, Mary Ann's not going to last much longer!"

"I got 'em, I got 'em." Adam yelled in response as he ran blindly through the smoke with a pair of bolt cutters. The kid did not see Joyce in his path. He tripped over her and went face down onto the concrete. Giles grabbed the bolt cutters as they slid by and crawled over to the stunned vampire opening them so the tips pressed into the flesh on either side of Adam's neckbone.

"Where's the exit?"

Adam pointed forward.

"Show us, and don't stand up.... crawl, we need the air even thought you don't."

As Adam led the way over to the far wall, Mary Ann's face down form and the bottom of Gregory's legs with the goblin hanging above the pants cuff became visible.

Giles shoved the bolt cutters against Gregory's feet. "When you open the door it's going to flash, so we have to be ready."

The vampire crouched down below the smoke so he could look Giles in the face before he grasped the cutters. "Adam and I will open the door and keep it open, you two help Mary Ann, and we all survive."

Joyce and Rupert crawled over to her and pulled her to directly in front of the door. They crouched there, each of them holding one of the witch's arms locked in theirs. Mary Ann looked over at Joyce and gave her one of her patented Grandmotherly smiles. "You are a nice lady." She softly said before she began to again wheeze on the smoke. Adam pressed up against the crashbar and steadied himself. Gregory also leaned against the door as he slipped the cutters around the padlock.

"Now!" Gregory roared as he cut through the steel.

The combined strength of the vampires hitting the door caused it to rip from its hinges as they forced it back around the door frame. Giles and Joyce quickly jumped to their feet and half pulled, half led Mary Ann through the opening against the inrushing wind. Behind them a rumble turned into a roar as the oxygen hit the superheated vapors and the flames blew back out of the doorway like a blowtorch. Giles turned and swung the two women face down into a depression on the ground as the heat and flames exploded behind them. Then the warehouse roof collapsed and a column of fire shot skyward.

Sirens could be heard in the distance as the three humans struggled to their feet. Mary Ann wavered a bit and sat back down staring at the fire. "Pretty, just like the Fourth of July." Joyce knelt beside her and patted her on the shoulder.

Backlit by the flames Gregory and Adam approached. Giles reached around for his stake but the two just passed him and went over to Mary Ann and helped her up. Joyce moved away from them and circled around to where Giles stood. They listened for a moment as the vampires questioned Mary Ann with obvious concern on how she was and if she was hurt.

Giles kept an eye on the trio as he tapped Joyce on the arm and quietly motioned toward the parking lot. They began to back away...

"Where 'ya going big boy? Got some other place torch?"

Giles swung his foot toward the goblin. "Do you realize how much pleasure I would experience by drop-kicking you all the way back to Sunnydale?"

"Kinky.. twisted... pencil me in."

Gregory and the other two came over and collected the goblin. "Arrange a rendezvous at another time, we have to go before the authorities get here." Then to Giles and Joyce with a final smile. "Check - but not checkmate, Watcher... And madam, I can now see where your daughter got it from."

"We have to go also." Giles said as they watched the four head for Adam's car. "Gregory is correct, we should not be here when the fire department and others arrive."

An series of explosions began to rock the building as Giles pulled out of the parking space and headed down the driveway. Joyce turned in the seat and watched as the front section of the building became a swirl of flame. "I don't think anybody else got out...." She whispered.

"You mean 'anything' else got out."

****** Epilogue ******

Mary Ann pulled out the 'Marilyn Manson' CD and replaced it with one of her Johnny Cash disks. "My turn, finally. At least we'll have some decent music for the last fifty miles to Tucson."

"If you want 'decent' put in "The Three Tenors." Gregory huffed from the back seat.

"I think you're all musically challenged." Kimmie said while hopping from the space under the back windshield and regaining her human form. "Wat'ta selection: head banging bullshit, goat ropin' crap or three guys who sound like they got their parts in a vise."

Adam looked in the rear view. "Beats what you picked out. 'Ladysmith Black Mambazo' and that Johnny Clug dude."

"Johnny CLEGG." Kimmie corrected. "If the refrain ain't in Zulu it ain't worth listening to."

"Hush... this is one of my favorites." Mary Ann told the two.

Gregory let out a low chuckle and turned to watch the last miles pass by the almost black tinted windows. Kimmie opened a box and pulled out a large grasshopper and decapitated it. "Anybody want a leg or a wing?"

Mary Ann turned to face the backseat. "No thank you. But are there any cheese curls left?"

Kimmie poked around in the sack and handed Mary Ann the last of the munchies. Opening a notebook she took out a pen and began to write:

There is power in a printing press that those outside the trade cannot comprehend...

****** End ******