Author's Note: My apologies to the person I told that I would have reunited Angel and Spike by this part. I had forgotten a key plot point when I said that. They are not brought together in this part or the next.
Part 25
"Just what are you doing back in town?" Crossing her arms across her chest, Buffy gave Andrew an impatient look. "And make it fast because I have to leave for work in a few minutes."
Straightening himself up to his full height, Andrew held himself with an air of defiance. "You'll get nothing out of me, you. . .you, Slayer, you."
Rolling her eyes, Buffy knew there wasn't time to play twenty questions with him. "Spike, get some rope and. . . ."
"I'm not bad. I'm not bad anymore." With a voice an octave higher with panic, Andrew interrupted, his defiance dissolving quickly. "I'm good. I do good things now."
"Uh huh." Buffy raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Tie him up." She finished her order to Spike. "I'll. . .we'll. . .," she amended to include Dawn, "take care of him after work and school."
"Can I slap him around a tad?" Spike asked as he turned to head for the basement. "It would give me a spot of entertainment for the day."
At Spike's threat, Andrew changed his strategy and immediately began to babble. "I'm bad. I'm bad, I'm evil, and I'm protected by powerful forces." Unfortunately for him, the quivering in his voice belied any menace he was trying to impact. "Forces you can't even begin to imagine. If you harm me, you shall know the wrath of he that is darkness and terror. Your blood will boil, and you will know true suffering. Now stand down for your defeat is. . . ."
"Shut up, Andrew." Buffy gave the young man a hard shove, which sent him sprawling in the chair behind him.
"Okay." He readily agreed.
"Spike, you can't hurt him," Buffy called out as she turned to leave, "yet." She added with an impish smile to herself. Let Andrew live in fear for a day.
**
"Damn." Wesley swore to himself, as he set his broken door up in its frame. "I'm never going to get my deposit back now." Stepping back, he surveyed the ruined mess, and with a shrug of the shoulders, turned away. "Didn't do me a bit of good." He mumbled. "Everyone in LA got in anyway."
Walking over to his telephone, he picked it up. Early or not, it was time to ring Sunnydale.
**
"You can't just. . . ," Andrew, now tied to a chair, protested as Spike went through his coat pockets, "search through my coat without. . .without a search warrant. I have rights, you know."
"Like I give a bleeding fuck about your rights." Cigarette dangling from his lips, Spike mumbled this back as he pulled out a wad of money.
"Hey, that money is mine!" Andrew continued protesting as Spike pocketed his money. "And careful with my coat. It's expensive."
"That so? Is it new?" Spike asked, widening his eyes with a false innocence, as he threw the coat on the floor and stomped on it.
"Sadist!" Andrew protested as he watched his pricey coat being stepped on.
"Of course I am." Spike gave Andrew a cocky grin. "Vampire, you know."
"This is cruel and unusual punishment." Andrew was still claiming innocence. "Because I haven't done anything wrong."
"Don't care if you did anything wrong or not." Spike told Andrew just as the phone rang. "The Slayer gave me permission to torment you, and that's all I need."
Misunderstanding, Andrew's mutterings began to grow to shrieks. "She did not give you permission to torture me! She clearly said you couldn't hurt me!"
"I am not torturing you." Spike enunciated slowly, ignoring the ringing phone. "But if you keep screeching like a nancyboy, I'm going to. . . ."
"For Christ's sake!" Throwing the basement door open with a bang, Nic came storming through. "William, stop making the girls scream and answer the fucking phone." Looking around to see whose shrieks were grating on his ears like fingernails on chalkboard, he spied Andrew tied to a chair. "Who the fuck are you?"
For some unknown reason the entrance of Nic calmed Andrew, so he was able to answer in a normal voice. "I'm one of the evil troika."
"Evil troika?" Nic stepped closer to Andrew so he could catch a scent. "You're not a demon." He sniffed the young man. "You're a fucking human!"
"I know I'm human." Andrew replied. "I never said I wasn't."
"You said you were an evil troika." Nic was not at his best when he was tired.
"An evil troika is not a demon." Instead of answering the phone, Spike had gone to the kitchen to warm up blood for Nic. "It's three nerds who banded together against the Slayer." He explained as he handed a mug to his uncle.
"You went up against the Slayer?" Nic looked at Andrew with disbelief. "And are still alive to tell about it? Fuck me, the Slayer must have been having a bad day that day."
"I-we had the Slayer on the ropes quite a few times." Offended at Nic's low opinion of him, Andrew had to brag a bit.
"Is that so, little man." His attention caught, Nic grabbed a chair and sat down across from Andrew. Being a vampire it never hurt to learn ways in which the Slayer could be bested. "So tell me about those. . . ." The phone, which had been quiet for a minute, began ringing again. "Who in the fuck keeps calling here this early in the morning?" He half turned in his chair to ask Spike, who was standing behind him.
"Point-in-fact," Andrew stated. "It's after nine in the morning which is not considered early in the. . . ."
"Shut up!" Both Nic and Spike shouted simultaneously.
"William, get the fucking phone." Nic ordered.
"You answer it." It was second nature for Spike to be difficult. "I don't want to talk to one of Buffy or Dawn's bloody mates."
Waiting a second, Nic hoped whoever was calling would give up, but the ringing continued insistently. "Goddamn it!" He swore as he finally got up and stamped over to answer the phone. "Yeah, what do you want?" He answered rudely.
"Nic?" Wesley asked in surprise. He hadn't expected the vampire to answer the Summers' phone. "Thank God I got a hold of you. I tried your cell phone, but it was turned off. Anyway, I do have news. I believe I may have found Angel."
**
Sitting at her desk in the new high school, Buffy was bored. Principal Wood's offer of a counseling job was a gift from heaven; it was just unfortunate she wasn't sure what she was suppose to be doing. So to make herself look busy, she rearranged her desk and sharpened pencils. After five minutes of doing that, the phone thankfully rang.
"Buffy Summers, counsel . . .Sunnydale Hi. . .Buffy Summers." She finally answered with a sigh.
"Slayer, it's me." Nic identified himself. "I heard from Wesley this morning. He's found something, which may or may not be Angel, so I've got to go to LA this evening. I need you to keep William busy. I don't want him tagging along with me. LA is too dangerous for him, but if he finds out we might have found Angel. . .well, there will be no stopping him from going."
"Not a problem." Closing her eyes, Buffy blew out a breath, praying that it was indeed Angel. "He can help with our interrogation of Andrew tonight, you know, be the bad cop so to speak."
"Ah huh." Nic mumbled back as he pulled his car up in the fast food drive through. "Now the trick is. . . ," he spoke his thoughts out loud, "to lean back out of the sun and shout loud enough so they can hear me." One hand still holding the cell phone to his ear, the other rolling his car window down cautiously.
"What?" Buffy asked with puzzlement. She had no idea what Nic was talking about.
"Two pancake meals, two sausage biscuits, four hash browns, and an orange juice." She heard the vampire shout.
"Nic, what's going on?" Buffy asked the question, even though she now had a pretty good idea of where he was.
"I'm ordering breakfast for my idiotic nephew and that idiotic prisoner of yours." Nic's tone was of pure annoyance.
"That's nice of you." Grinning, Buffy restrained herself from laughing out loud. The picture of Nic ordering food from a drive through for Spike and Andrew was too funny.
"Who's trying to be nice?" Nic answered crankily as he pulled on a long dark glove so he could reach out of the car. "If their mouths are full, then no sounds can come out, and I can get some shut eye."
That was too much for Buffy as she covered her mouth to stifle her giggles.
**
Los Angeles, CA
Looking over his shoulder, Wesley gave a sigh of relief as the shoreline receded further and further in the distance. The farther away they got from land, the safer it was for Nic.
"Couldn't Buffy or even Xander have come to help me?" Wesley asked. "I don't think that this is such a good idea for you to be here with the Ventures and. . .and Snow." He couldn't bring himself to say Connor. The mention of Connor brought forward his guilt because, after all, he was partly responsible for the boy being so twisted.
"They're busy with an evil troika." Nic said leaning back in the boat's seat, enjoying the night and the feel of skimming over the water.
"An evil troika?" Wesley frowned in concentration. "Funny, I'm quite familiar with most demons, but that one is not ringing a bell."
"It-he is not a demon." Nic smiled with satisfaction. He felt better now that Wesley had made the same mistake he had. "It's a nerd."
"A nerd?" Wesley was confused. "I'm not following you."
"Never mind because I don't quite get it either." Nic stood up as Wesley cut the boat's engine. "In fact, there are a lot of things that go on with the Slayer and her friends that I don't get. But I've come to the realization that I could live a few more centuries and still not have a clue. So I try to ignore them the best I can."
"I see." Wesley replied although he didn't see at all. "We're close now." He changed the subject while checking the boat's radar.
"Thank God!" Nic expressed his relief. "I just pray that it really is Angelus."
"Pray?" It was a question that Wesley had always wanted to ask. "May I ask, to whom do vampires pray?"
**
Sunnydale, CA
"Okay, Spike." Standing in the kitchen, Buffy whispered to the vampire so the prisoner in the other room wouldn't hear. "I want you to scare the pants off of Andrew. If you have to, you can even nip him a little, but *don't* hurt him. Got it?"
Rolling his eyes, Spike snorted with disdain. "I could scare the piss out of the little nerd without even trying. So. . . .," he asked as he started for the living room, "what are you going to give me for helping worm the information out of Mr. Evil Troika?"
"Give you?" Buffy couldn't believe Spike had the gall to ask that. "How about more *free* room and board?"
**
The former Watcher and vampire worked together quietly and efficiently. Hauling the coffin out of the ocean, they quickly cut through the metal bars, which locked the coffin lid in place.
"What are the odds. . . ," Nic asked as he grabbed one end of the coffin lid to lift it off, "that there are more than one coffin buried in the ocean off of LA?"
"Don't even joke about such a thing." Wesley was dead serious. Rescuing Angel would pay his debt for Connor, and then he could get on with his life.
"Who's joking?" Nic flipped his end of the coffin lid over. "There's mafia here in LA, and burying people in the ocean is a common. . . ." He broke off, as the body in the coffin came into view. "Angelus." He whispered.
Grabbing a bolt cutter, Wesley gestured to a small cooler. "I brought some pig's blood. I know he's starved and will need blood."
"Yeah, but not pig's blood." Nic kept staring down at Angel. He had never seen his older brother so vulnerable. "He needs the blood of. . . ." He was cut off abruptly as a strong hand reached up and seized Wesley by the throat. "Angelus!" Quickly biting into his own wrist, Nic held it to Angel's mouth. "Drink my Master. It's familial blood and will strengthen you immediately."
The bleeding wound on Nic's arm was not enough for Angel, as his fangs dropped, he bit deeper and harder into his brother's veins. His hand around Wesley's throat gradually relaxed.
"Cut him loose, Wes." Nic said softly as he looked down at Angel, who was greedily drinking from him. "My brother is back."
**
They had cajoled, bribed, and bullied Andrew, but all they had gotten was a lie about him falling in love with a beautiful vampire girl down in Me-hi-co, a request for water, and a plea to go to the bathroom.
"You think this is a game? People are dying." Buffy stared Andrew down for a moment, before turning to Spike. "Go for it." She said.
Vamping out, Spike slowly approached the still tied up Andrew. Growling loudly, he tried to make himself as menacing as possible.
Squeaking, Andrew tilted back in his chair. "I didn't do anything." He looked around Spike to Buffy. "You're the Slayer. You don't kill innocent. . . ." He was cut off as Spike lifted him and chair in the air.
"She may not kill innocent people, but I do." Spike threatened, as he started to go for Andrew's neck.
"I was at the butcher shop buying blood because we needed more blood to activate the seal of Danthaz." Andrew finally broke.
"The Seal of Danthaz?" Buffy looked around the room at her sister and friends with a baffled expression on her face. "What's the seal of. . . ?" She never finished her question, as at that moment robed men broke into the house, smashing windows and breaking down doors. Armed with wooden staffs and knives, their most notable trait was empty eye sockets.
**
"Easy." Nic said as he helped a still shaky Angel out of the coffin. "Just take it slow."
"Angel." Wesley looked on with concern. "How do you feel? I have pig's blood here."
"In a minute." Angel slowly lowered himself into one of the boat's seats. Gathering his wits, he checked his surroundings. "What took you so long?" He finally asked Nic.
"Had some major problems." Nic answered, his arm still steadying Angel. "The Ventrues, Snow, Con. . . ."
"Snow!" Angel spat out bitterly. "That bastard. And Connor? What has become of him?"
"He, with Snow's help, has taken over our Clan." Nic explained in a quiet voice.
"Took over the Clan?" Strong emotions began rising up in Angel. "And you and Damon just permitted that?"
"Ahh." Nic stalled a moment as he looked over at Wesley, who could only nod his head in sympathy. "While you were being captured by Snow, Damon took Djoser to Africa to face the Trials."
"Damon did what?" Forgetting his feebleness, Angel stood up fast, too fast as his knees immediately buckled.
"Sit down." Wesley counseled as he and Nic took hold of the unsteady Angel. "You're weak. You need to rest."
"Rest!" Angel said bitterly as he allowed himself to be lowered back down into his seat. "One son tries to murder me. Another deserts me, and. . .and what of William? Did he go to Africa too?"
"No, William has been true and faithful to you. He's been taking your absence hard." Kneeling down, Nic gave Angel a comforting smile. "I took him to Sunnydale. We've been living there under the Slayer's protection because Connor ordered his death. Fortunately Judelin intervened and gave us an opportunity to leave LA. We've been there waiting, while Wesley searched for you here."
Thoughtful Angel rested his head back, closing his eyes. "Take me to Sunnydale and my William." He made his request softly. "After that, we will. . .," he opened his eyes and gave Nic a meaningful look, "return here and take back our Clan."
Nic finally had something to smile about, as he gave Angel a big grin and then a salute. "Aye, aye, my Master."
Angel grinned back. "Thank you, my brother. And thank you." He looked up at Wesley.
"You're welcome." Wesley quietly congratulated himself. He had been successful. He had made his amends for Connor and helped put the Tremere Clan back on the right path. "You do realize. . .," he stepped over to the boat's steering wheel and started up the engine, "that I'm done now. I've repaid my debt to you."
**
The Harbingers attacked swiftly and with the element of surprise. Unprepared, Buffy and company fought back hard but with no organization. When the smoke finally cleared, the Slayer was surprised to see her sister and friends alive and well.
"Is this it?" Xander asked as he looked at the couple of harbinger dead bodies. "I thought there was more of them."
Looking around, Buffy too was confused. "They came so fast and were so organized." She did a quick head count and found everyone accounted for except for one. "Spike!" She ran through the house, searching. "Where's Spike?"
****
Author's Note: Count Orlock was the main character of F. W. Murnau's silent classic Nosferatu . The vampire was played by German actor Max Schreck, who was not the Hollywood sexual Dracula who came later, but a hairy, spindly, bald monster with protruding front teeth like a rodent's rather than fangs. The movie followed Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, but the characters' names were all changed because Murnau never obtained the legal rights from Stoker's estate to make the movie.
Part 26
"Ok, here's what we know." Buffy addressed her friends. "Those eyeless guys who attacked us were bringers or harbingers of the First. Remember Christmas a couple years ago when Sunnydale had that freak snow storm?"
"Oh, yeah." Xander stopped sweeping for a moment and leaned on the broom. There was glass everywhere from the windows the bringers had crashed through. "They were making Angel go loopy. I remember."
"No, it was the First who made Angel go loopy, not them. They're just the First's minions or high priests. And now the First is back, and there's no doubt that they came here specifically for Spike. Why they want him, we don't know. Will?" Buffy turned to Willow, who was busy doing a search on her laptop. "Anything?"
"My search isn't turning anything up." Willow looked up at Buffy. "Are you sure this thing called itself the First?"
"Pretty sure." Buffy wrinkled her brow, trying to remember word for word what the First had told her that Christmas. "I remember it claimed to be the original evil, the one that came before anything else. When I met with it, I could feel its power. It felt ancient and enormous. It was able to get Angel to nearly kill himself, and God only knows what the First will do to Spike."
"Well, Angel will be here soon." Anya said calmly as she picked up a text to begin researching. "Do you think the First took Spike to get to Angel?"
"Yes. . .no. . .maybe." Buffy couldn't think straight. They had called Nic on his cell phone and had gotten the good news. Angel had been found. They in turn broke the bad news that Spike had been kidnapped. Consequently, an enraged Angel, worse news, was now coming to Sunnydale to find out what exactly happened.
"Angel's not going to be happy that you let the First get Spike." Anya stated matter-of-factly, as she slipped on her reading glasses. "After all, you had promised to protect. . . ."
"I know what I promised." Buffy interrupted. "That's why we need to get cracking on the research so we can figure out how to this fight this thing. . .*before* Angel gets here."
"Hey! Hey!" Willow raised her hand in the air. "I got something here, the First, "she lowered her hand and frowned, "Bank of Delaware. Sorry."
"We've got to have something concrete by the time Nic and. . .and Angel get here." Buffy heaved a loud sigh, as she motioned to Xander. "Hand me the Watchers' Codex."
**
Regaining consciousness, Spike found himself being strapped to wooden beams.
"You'll have to excuse the spectacle." A voice in front of him said. "But I've always been a bit of a sucker for the old classics."
Eyes beginning to focus, Spike saw who stood in front of him. Angel.
"Sire." He began. "I wanted to stay in LA to look for you, but Nic said it was too dangerous."
"You've always been such a disappointment, William." The specter of Angel said as he nodded his head at one of his priests.
Picking up a knife, the harbinger began making bloody patterns on Spike's chest.
Panting heavily, Spike couldn't help but groan in pain as blood began to pour from his body.
**
Pacing the floor in the Summers' house, Angel clenched his hands tightly. He wanted to yell, break furniture, hit something or someone. "So the First has Spike." He reviewed the situation. "We don't know where or why."
"Yep, that sums it up in a nutshell." Anya said as she threw down a book she had been studying. She was the only one in the room who seemed oblivious to the tension since Angel's arrival. "There's no information on the First in this. And these two," she held up two other books, "also have nothing and nothing."
No one spoke for a moment, as Buffy and the Scoobies stared at each helplessly, and Angel's body took on an even more menacing stance.
"Take it easy, Angelus." Nic advised. "You're still weak and going off won't help William."
Whipping around angrily, Angel opened his mouth, his first impulse was to tell Nic to keep his opinions to himself, but a flash of rationality stopped him. He was slowly starting to learn that Nic was no longer the drunken wastrel of the past.
"Too bad Sleeping Ugly," Xander looked over at the unconscious and still-tied-to-a-chair Andrew, "doesn't come to. He was just starting to squeal when the spooky SWAT attacked. Said something about the First being held up at the Seal of. . .Seal of Danzar?"
"He knows something?" Angel eyed Andrew with a predatory interest.
"We're not sure." Buffy jumped up to get between Angel and Andrew, while giving Xander a dirty look. "He was knocked unconscious during the harbingers' attack. As soon as he wakes up, we'll see if he has anything to say."
"I think it's time he woke up." Angel growled, as he started to push past Buffy.
"Wait Angel!" Buffy grabbed a hold of his arm. "I won't let you hurt him. We don't know. . . ." Surprise stopped her from saying more, as her own sister threw a cup of cold water in Andrew's face. "Dawn! What are doing?"
"It didn't hurt him." Dawn defended herself. "And Angel is right, he needs to wake up and tell us what he knows. Besides I think he's just faking so he doesn't have to answer any questions."
"Try boiling water next." Anya suggested helpfully.
Whether it was the cold water, the idea of boiling water, or he just truly regained consciousness, Andrew woke with a cough. Looking around the room with bleary eyes, he spotted Buffy. "I'm. . .I was about to be dead by those priestly guys. You saved me."
"For the time being." Crossing her arms over her chest, Buffy kept herself between Andrew and Angel. "But if you don't tell us what we need to know, then I'm going offer you to the First on a platter and let it chop you into tiny pieces."
"The first what?" Andrew asked.
"The First." Buffy pronounced the name slowly and clearly. "The name of the original, first evil."
"The First is the name of the original evil? Not a very ominous sounding name." Andrew immediately became side tracked. "You would think the first evil would have a more wicked sounding name like Lex or Voldemort or. . . ."
Angel's patience snapped as he pushed Buffy aside and grabbed Andrew by the throat. "Tell me what you know, or I'll squeeze you so hard your eyeballs will pop out."
"Warren made me do it. He made me kill Jonathan because we needed blood to open the Seal of Danthazar, but it didn't work." Andrew managed to babble this out quickly, despite having Angel holding him by the throat.
"Where is this seal?" Demon visage in place, Angel hissed the question in Andrew's ear.
"In the basement of the new high school." Andrew squeaked out.
Buffy started to intervene, but found it unnecessary as Angel released his grip on Andrew. "And what happens if this seal is opened?" She asked.
"Umm." Andrew was staring at Angel with frightened eyes. "Umm." Fear was short-circuiting his brain. "Umm, I get to become a god."
Hands on hips, Buffy could only sigh and roll her eyes. "I want you to show us where this seal is." She turned to look at Angel who had reverted back to his human face. "My guess. They're holding Spike there. If they weren't able to activate the seal with Jonathan's death, maybe they think they'll be able to with Spike's. Let's go there *now*."
Eyes flashing yellow then red, Angel growled his assent.
**
The wooden beams had been part of a mechanical apparatus that could be raised and lowered. The First had Spike elevated so that he now hung over the seal, blood dripping down from his body.
Standing below him, the First continued to have his fun. "You're an embarrassment to our Bloodline." It said in the guise of Darla. "You should be destroyed."
"And what have you learned in your one hundred plus years, William?" It was the Old Master who now spoke. "All you have learned is that you are a pathetic schmuck. No self-respecting vampire would be hiding out in the Slayer's house, while. . . ."
The First morphed into Angel's form. "His Sire lies at the bottom of the ocean. Now. . .I think it is time that you see what a true vampire looks like."
The Seal of Danthazar had been absorbing Spike's blood, perhaps in a sense ingesting it. It began to glow and then open piece by piece. Watching from above, Spike first saw a hand as it climbed its way up from underground, then the monster appeared.
Despite all of his physical and emotional pain, Spike couldn't help but mutter. "It's the bloody Count Orlock."
**
They had found the seal, a lot of blood, but no Spike. Walking alongside Angel, Buffy found herself apologizing. "I'm sorry I didn't protect Spike better. The harbingers caught us by surprise, and I. . . ."
"Don't apologize." Angel cut in as he sniffed the area. He and Buffy were patrolling around the high school, seeing if they could find any clue to the whereabouts of the First and his kidnapped Childe. "Spike isn't your responsibility."
"Yes, but I feel like I've," Buffy thought back to the promise she had made to Djoser, "that I've not kept my word for a second time now."
"Your word?" Angel asked curiously.
"Yes, Djoser and I made a. . .a pact to. . . ." Stopping, Buffy found herself reluctant to tell Angel about her dealings with his Childer.
"You made a pact with Djoser?" The news didn't surprise Angel. He had known that there was a rather unusual rapport between Buffy and his Childer. "Are you aware that Djoser took off for Africa without my permission and hasn't been heard from since?"
"Yes." Buffy thrust her hands in her jacket pockets. "I heard."
"Worst case scenario." Angel looked up at the night sky. "He and my brother ran into something they couldn't handle. William is killed by the First. That would leave only myself, Nic, and. . .and Connor."
"Connor." Buffy repeated the name. "Nic did tell you what Connor did to them?" She asked, not sure how much Angel had been told.
"Yes." A flash of sadness crossed Angel's face. "Connor is warped, perhaps beyond healing." He paused a moment. "My Sire would not have thought twice. He would have put him to death immediately."
"You're not him." Buffy said emphatically. "A parent, any parent, even a vampire should not put his child to death."
"Even when they're flawed?" Angel asked.
"Yes." Buffy said with certainty. She was young, and most things were still black and white in her world. "Even when they're. . . ."
Buffy broke off as a monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Its face was grossly disfigured but with distinct vampire features. It moved so fast that even with her slayer powers she couldn't stop him. One blow and the monster knocked her across the lawn and into the wall of Sunnydale High.
"What the hell?" Buffy shook her head to clear the cobwebs. Looking up she saw the monster do the same with Angel.
Angel hit the wall even harder than Buffy. The monster's strength plus the size of Angel took a good chunk out of the school building.
"So much for its shiny new look." Buffy observed as she watched Angel pick himself off the ground. "What is that thing?"
"A Turok-Han." Angel answered as he got to his feet. "Didn't think they existed. We got to get out of here." Grabbing Buffy's hand, he began to lead her away.
"Wait!" Holding herself back, Buffy eyed the Turok-Han approaching them. "I can't just leave this. . .this turkeycan loose. I have to kill it." She pulled a stake out of her jacket pocket.
"Staking it through the heart won't kill it." Angel told her grimly. What he knew about the Turok-Han was sketchy, but he was pretty sure about that fact. "They're hard to kill, and where there's one, there's probably more."
"More?" That bit of information caused Buffy to have second thoughts, and then the Turok-Han was on them.
A round house right from Angel gave Buffy the millisecond she needed to bury the stake in the ubervamp's heart. The stake slowed the Turok-Han down for a moment as it took a step backward, but that was all. Giving Buffy a look of scorn, it slowly raised a hand to pull the stake out.
"Come on!" Angel again grabbed her hand to run, and this time Buffy didn't argue.
**
"So they needed blood to activate the seal, and then what?" Dawn walked through Sunnydale's basement with a shovel over her shoulder alongside Nic. They had just finished covering the Seal of Danthazar with dirt.
"Beats me." Nic shrugged as he pulled out a cigarette. "Never paid too much attention when I was being taught rituals and sacrifices. They're just excuses for a lot of boring, hot air."
"Not if you're the one being sacrificed." Dawn couldn't help but mumble as the two turned the corner and ran right into Principal Robin Wood, who appeared slightly harassed. "Oh, hey, Principal Wood." She greeted him with an awkward smile.
"Dawn?" Wood was taken by surprise. He hadn't been expecting anyone else to be in the school this late. "What are you doing here? And who's your companion?" He stared at Nic suspiciously.
"My uncle." Dawn quickly said, so Wood wouldn't get the wrong idea. "My uncle. . . ."
"Nic." Nic broke in before Dawn said anymore. "I'm her uncle. . .Nic." Exchanging looks with Dawn he realized how guilty they sounded.
"I see." Wood inclined his head at Nic. "There's no smoking anywhere on school property."
"I. . .err. . .of course." Nic immediately put his cigarette out.
"And what are you two doing here at this time?" Wood asked eyeing their shovels.
"A science project." The lie popped out of Dawn's mouth. "I buried a time capsule and had my uncle here help me."
"Time capsule." Wood repeated skeptically.
"Uh huh." Dawn nodded, now getting into her lie. "Hello people of the future. Kids of today like Red Bull and. . .uh. . .Jackass" She laughed nervously. "And what are you doing?" She turned the tables on Wood as she nodded at his shovel.
"Oh, yeah." Now it was Wood's turn to lie. "Apparently somebody left this in the courtyard, and I was just returning it."
"Must be tough having to work as both principal and janitor." Composure now regained, Nic gave Wood a mocking smile. "Let's go, Dawn."
"Yeah, Buffy will be wondering." Dawn said with a meaningful look at Nic. "See you tomorrow, Principal Wood."
"Yes." Wood replied. "See you tomorrow." He stood for a moment, watching the two walk away.
**
"What have I told you about breathing, boy?" The First, appearing as Angel, paced back and forth in an underground cave watching his upervamp minion work over a bloody and beat-up Spike. "Vampires don't breathe."
Spike, whose head was being held under in the cave's natural pool by the Turok-Han, couldn't help himself. Every time he was pulled out, his body kept gasping for breath, even though his brain kept telling him, 'you don't need any air.' He couldn't help it, force of habit.
"Couldn't beat it out of you." The First taunted. "So I guess we'll try drowning it out of you." He gave a nod at his minion. "Hold him under some more, until he learns."
****
Just heard that Fox is going to pitch Angel to UPN. I don't want to be overly optimistic, but if UPN picks up Angel, after also giving us two more years of Buffy, they will be my heroes.
Part 27
Not until they had exited Sunnydale's main entrance was Dawn sure they were out of Robin Wood's hearing range. "Was it my imagination or did you think Principal Wood was acting kind of suspicious?"
"Don't know." Nic said as he lit a cigarette. "I was too busy trying to act unsuspicious to notice whether he was or not."
Nic's flippancy made Dawn grin. "You're too funny. You remind me of Spike."
"I what?" Nic stopped in his tracks. He was not amused by being told he was similar to his nephew. "*I* am nothing like. . .no, *he* is nothing like me."
"You're related." Dawn pointed out. "So it wouldn't be. . . ." She broke off as Buffy and Angel came charging toward them.
"Run!" Buffy shouted.
Nic and Dawn didn't have to be told twice as they immediately dropped their shovels and began running as fast as they could.
Waiting with Andrew outside his car, Xander saw the four dashing toward him. He didn't need to be told anything. "Get in the car." He hustled Andrew into the backseat.
"Who are we running from?" As the others piled into the car, Nic stopped to look behind him. Peering into the darkness, he saw a strange looking figure loping after them. "What the fuck is that?"
"It's a Turok-Han." Angel grabbed his brother and pushed him into the car.
"Yeah, right." Nic squeezed into the back seat with Dawn and Andrew. "What other fairytales do you have up your sleeve, Angelus? A Turok-Han." He scoffed with disbelief.
"A Turok what?" Caught up in the conversation, Xander looked over at Angel, who was sliding into the front seat, instead of starting up the car.
"Drive, Xander." Buffy ordered, looking out the back seat window. The Turok-Han was getting closer.
"Right, drive." Turning the key in the ignition, Xander gunned the engine and took off with a squeal of tires.
"If there are Turok-Hans here in Sunnydale, then it's even more imperative that I find William *now*." Angel was more than frustrated. His Childe's scent had still been evident at the school. They had missed him by so little.
"The First couldn't have taken him far." Buffy thought hard. "That Christmas when," she paused awkwardly for a second, "the First was. . .was after you. Its lair was in a hidden cavern under a Christmas tree lot."
"Let's go there then." Angel growled. It was a starting point at least.
"Xander." Buffy turned to her friend. "Go to the house first. Can these ubervamps enter a home without an invitation?" She asked Angel.
"I'm not sure of their exact powers, but to be on the safe side, I would guess they don't need an invitation." Angel was racking his brain trying to recall all the mythology he had heard about the Turok-Han.
"Holy fucking Christ!" Nic swore loudly. "I was better off in LA. There I only had to fight the Ventrues and that snot nosed Connor. Here it's the First Original Evil, its minions, and Turok-Hans."
"What are Turok-Hans?" Xander and Dawn asked simultaneously. Both of them were tired of not knowing what the others were talking about.
"An ancient vampire, so ancient that until tonight I thought they were just a myth." Angel explained. "They're primordial, ferociously powerful."
"I staked it right in the heart," Buffy added, "and barely fazed it."
"So staking it won't kill it." Hearing about the Turok-Han made Xander check his rear view mirror, just to make sure nothing was still chasing them. "So what does kill it?"
A long moment passed with no one speaking.
"Umm." Angel cleared his throat. "Sunlight. . .ah, fire. . .probably." He tried to inject an I-know-what-I'm-talking-about tone in his voice.
"Probably?" Buffy frowned at the answer. "That's not any help."
"So Slayer, all you have to do is entice it outdoors in the sunlight and hit it with a flamethrower." Nic said. "Then let us know if that works."
Buffy ignored Nic. After two months of living with the vampire, she had learned that was the best way of dealing with him. "This calls for some serious research. As soon as we get home, Xander, you and Dawn have Willow cast a protection spell around the house, and then start finding anything and everything about. . .about those Chaka Khans. In the meantime, I'll go with Angel and Nic to check out the Christmas tree lot."
"And what should I do?" Andrew asked in a helpful voice.
"We're going to tie you back up in a chair." Buffy turned to give him a threatening look. "And you're going to sit there and keep your mouth shut."
"Okay." Andrew was immediately intimidated by Buffy's glare. "But I could help, you know." He mumbled softly. "Evil genius here."
**
His head being held underwater by an ubervamp, Spike thrashed and struggled, instead of just going limp. The old human fear of drowning kept him fighting.
The First, still in Angel's form, stood off to the side watching nonchalantly. A slight nod at his minion, and the Turok-Han pulled Spike from the water and threw him on the ground.
"Boy!" The First said. "Not only are you a huge disappointment, but you're stupid as well. How could someone like you come from my loins?"
Lying on his back in the dirt, chest heaving unnecessarily, Spike coughed up water. He was too weak to answer or move.
Walking up to the battered body of Spike, the First looked down at him with scorn. "Here lies my Childe, a useless waste of existence who will never amount to anything."
**
"The entrance to the cave is somewhere around here." Buffy walked in circles clockwise around the empty lot.
"So the First has its lair under a Christmas tree lot." Nic mumbled to himself as he walked in circles counter-clockwise, looking for the cave opening. "Something not right about the First Evil living under Christmas tre. . . ." He never finished his thought as stepping on some rotted wooden planks, his foot broke through and he found himself falling. Landing hard on a pile of rubble, he saw stars for a moment.
"Nic!" Both Buffy and Angel rushed over to the hole.
"Goddamn." Nic rubbed the back of his head as he slowly sat up.
"You okay?" He heard Angel call down.
"No." He answered. "I cracked my head, and my brain just leaked out. But on the upside, I found the entrance."
As if they practiced together, Angel and Buffy jumped gracefully down into the cave, landing on their feet.
"Christ!" Nic was still rubbing the back of his head where it had hit a rock. "I swear there's a hole in my head. Slayer," he turned to show Buffy the back of his head, "what do you see back there?"
"Wait a minute." Angel had been surveying and sniffing out his surroundings. "Do you smell him?" He looked over at Nic.
Not sure what Angel was talking about, Nic took a couple of cautious sniffs. "We're not alone." He concluded, but there was such a mixture of smells, he couldn't pin down anything definite.
"William." Angel whispered his Childe's name. "William is down here somewhere."
"You sure?" Nic asked while giving Buffy a meaningful look that said, wishful thinking on Angel's part. "Because I'm just smelling. . .oh fuck!" He swore as two Turok-Hans came into sight. "Those things." He pointed to the ubervamps.
"Don't suppose you thought to bring a flamethrower?" Buffy asked Nic as she moved closer to him.
"No, but I brought this." Nic pulled out a .50 caliber desert eagle handgun from a shoulder holster he had hidden under his jacket. "Might not kill the bastards but will definitely slow them down." Taking aim, he began filling the Turok-Hans with lead, while Buffy pulled out a couple of bottles of holy water.
Handing one to Angel, she watched the ubervamps' bodies jerk as they were hit with bullets. "I have a couple of stakes, but they won't be much help to us."
"Go for the heads." Angel growled the order; his demon side already emerged. "We need to decapitate them."
**
The torture had stopped for a time. Spike lie on his back in the dirt, still too weak to move. Searching for any reserved strength, he managed to lift his head and look around. "No one's here? Where the bloody hell did they. . .need to get out of here."
Willing himself to get up, he closed his eyes, concentrating on moving his body, but it would not cooperate, falling back into the dirt.
**
Nic's .50 caliber handgun slowed the Turok-Hans down enough that Angel, Nic, and Buffy managed to destroy one and were working on the second.
"Hurry the fuck up!" Nic and Buffy struggled to restrain the last Turok-Han, as they waited for Angel to grab it from behind. Swinging his right arm, the ubervamp smashed Nic hard against a cave wall. "Ooomph!" Head bouncing off the hard surface, he still was able to hang on to the arm he held.
Throwing his body against the Turok-Han, Angel pinned him to the wall. With his, Nic's, and Buffy's combined strength, they held it in place long enough for Angel to give its head a powerful twist, snapping its neck.
"Hold him tight." Angel ordered, as he yanked hard on the ubervamp's head. A couple of violent tugs, and he separated the head from its body.
Watching the Turok-Han dissolve into dust, Nic sighed with relief. "Didn't think that fucker was ever going to die."
"Come on." Angel said with impatience. He could feel his Childe nearby. "William's close."
Tired and sore, Buffy stumbled after him. Looking over at Nic, she saw him draw out his gun again. "You've got more ammo for that thing, don't you? Because if we run into another one of. . .of those things, we won't be able to take it, unless you slow it down again."
"Meet the first vampire boy scout." Nic grinned as he released the gun's clip, and pulled out a handful of bullets. "Always be prepared."
**
The sound of footsteps alerted Spike to the entrance of others. Opening his eyes, he looked up into his tormenter's face. "Bloody Poof." He managed to spit out.
"William." Face cut up and bruised, Angel knelt down on the ground next to Spike. "My Childe." He began, reaching out a hand.
"No!" Fear gave Spike enough strength to push himself away. "Going to finish the job your pets started?"
"William, it's me." Confused, Angel reached out a hand again.
"No!" The First had broken Spike, and he now equated pain and torture with Angel's face.
"Spike!" Buffy grabbed him by the shoulders. "It's me, Buffy. I'm here. You're going to be alright now."
"Slayer." The sight of Buffy calmed Spike. "Is it you, or are you just another hallucination?" He asked. "And uncle." His eyes focused on Nic. "That's bloody odd. Never had three figments at the same time."
"Come on, William." Nic reached down to pull Spike up. "We need to get out of here, before more vampire boogey men return."
Spike stood shakily with Nic supporting him on one side and Buffy on the other. "He's their master, you know." He jerked his head at Angel. "He's. . . ."
"He's Angel." Buffy said calmly. She hoped to talk some sense into Spike. "The person or thing that was torturing you was the First. It can take on different forms, so it can appear to people as. . .as. . . ." She looked over to Angel for help with an explanation.
"It appears in the guise of people who. . .who are dead or undead." Angel was staring at Spike with concern.
"That so." Spike was suffering from pain and exhaustion. His brain couldn't comprehend much at the moment. "You three are awfully pummeled." He observed, redirecting the conversation.
"We took on two ubervamps." Buffy held tighter to Spike as his knees buckled. "Three against two; we won, but they still gave us a fight."
"I don't suppose you know how many of them the First was keeping here?" Nic asked.
"Don't know." Spike found it a great effort to speak, but it helped him to ignore Angel. "The bloody Count Orlocks all looked alike to me."
**
"So the First wants to erase all the Slayers in training and their Watchers?" Sitting in her living room, Buffy asked the rhetorical with a big smile plastered on her face. Despite the First, the Turok-Hans, and her bumps and bruises, she felt a huge sense of relief. Giles had returned.
"Yes." Leaning up against the fireplace mantel, Giles looked around at everyone in the room. It was quite an assortment: Buffy and the Scoobies, Angel, Spike, and Nic, the three potential slayers he had brought with him, and a young man tied to a chair. "And after they're eliminated, then Faith, and then you. With the current Slayers and all the Potentials gone, it would be the end of the line. No more Slayer."
"We've been researching the First." Willow said with discouragement. " No documentation."
Pushing his hands into his pockets, Giles looked down at the floor for a moment. "That's because the First predates any written history, and it rarely shows its true face. The only known record was in the Council Library."
"And what does the Council say about this?" Anya asked. Squeezed together with Xander, the two were sharing a chair.
"Not much." A shadow passed over Giles' face. "They're gone, obliterated. They were in session, and. . .uh, there was an explosion."
A moment of shocked silence as everyone digested that piece of information. "So, that means all the Council's records are. . .are destroyed?" Willow was the first to speak.
Giles looked over at one of the Potentials named Annabelle, who took two books and a stack of files from her book bag and laid everything on the coffee table. "I'm afraid that's what's left. When I learned what was happening, I. . .um, I stole them."
"And you blew the Council up!" Anya erroneously concluded. "See, this is what happens when you're all stuffy and repressed. You overreact."
"No. . .I didn't!" Giles said with a mixture of anger and disbelief at Anya's wild accusation. "It probably was an agent of the First, who did it after my little burglary session. But I had to protect the knowledge contained in these files, and there wasn't time for. . .for bureaucracy or debate."
"And it cost them their lives!" Andrew shouted from across the room. As everyone present turned to stare at him, it occurred to him that he probably shouldn't have said anything. "Go on." He told them with a weak smile.
"Can we gag him?" Buffy turned to look at Xander who immediately grabbed a roll of duct tape.
"Buffy." Angel was sitting on the couch with a curled up, resting Spike. He had used his power as Sire to put his Childe into a peaceful sleep. "I have to get back to LA. Connor and my Clan need my attention, and. . . ." He stroked the blond head that lay in his lap. "I have a demon friend who can perhaps give Spike some. . .some therapy for his experience with the First."
Giving Angel a small smile, Buffy understood. Sunnydale's problems were not his. He had his own. "Sure. I hope," she gestured toward Spike, "he'll be okay."
Standing, Angel lifted Spike up with him. "The first chance I get, I will have a discussion about everything that is going on here with the Ventrue High Master.
"Judelin?" Giles looked at Angel with great interest. "Although the Council doesn't have an exact age for him, it could very well be that he is one of the oldest creatures that still walks this earth. Perhaps he knows something of the First."
"I believe he does." Angel said as he glanced over at the three Potentials, who had been gaping at him the whole time. They had all read about the Scourge of Europe, and it wasn't everyday they got to meet such an infamous, historical figure. "I'll keep in touch." He nodded at Buffy. "Thanks for protecting my family."
Jumping up to open the door for the departing vampires, Buffy touched Angel's arm. "I'm just glad that I was able to keep my promise this time."
****