Los Angeles

Gunn didn't feel well at all; his stomach turned, his head pounded. He tried hard to listen to what Lorne had to say, but the words just went in one ear and out the other. It pained him to even talk, much less think.

Wesley sat on one of the couches, an ice pack held on the spot where the rock hit him; Cordelia and the teenage girl, who's name they learned was Abby, sat on the edge of the stage. Gunn could almost make out a slight resemblance in the two girls. Though Cordelia had cut her hair and highlighted it not too long ago, they both shared a trait of long brunette hair along with beautiful facial features, and mysteriously smooth tan skin. They didn't look exactly alike, but Gunn could see why the girl had taken to Cordy more than he or Wesley...being the only girl out of the three of them and both equally shaken by the disappearing act in the cave and the little girl's death.

"So you teleported us hear instead of calling?" Wesley winced, holding up the ice pack.

"Yeah," Lorne nodded. "I started to call but there was a Seer here who said you might be in danger; so I did the whole magic act and...ta dah, you're feasting your eyes on beautiful me. Sorry about the side effects. First stage is drowsiness, next-"

"Lemme guess," Gunn chimed in. "Wooziness?" he leaned further back in his chair, holding his stomach.

"Yup, looks like it got you bad."

"I'm a fighter, I'll get through it," Gunn swallowed. "So you were saying somethin' about an apocalypse?"

"Ah yes. So, this S' Tarah demon gets up on stage, drunk as ever, not realizing that I'm reading him, and he decides to sing Too Shy by Kajagoogoo. I thought, interesting selection; hadn't heard it since the '80's, go for it...but then I find out he's part of this legion that's planing to raise some snaky big bad."

.

"Isn't that always their plan?" Cordelia sighed.

"Naturally," Lorne nodded towards her. "But this is serious stuff...this snaky big bad is one of the original Old Ones."

"Old Ones?" Wesley frowned, sitting up on the couch.

"The 20 foot-tall guys who were here at the supposed beginning?" Gunn asked.

"Precisely Sweet Cakes." Lorne turned to Gunn. "This S' Tarah had conducted several rituals in order to feed this thing; which makes me wonder why he was here tonight."

"Maybe it was his night off." Gunn snorted.

"Nope," Lorne shook his head. "These guys don't rest until they get what they want. This S' Tarah either quit or was glamored by something."

"S' Tarah, yes." Wesley said, slowly standing. He made a face suggesting that he suddenly remembered something. "They were the demons in the cave."

"Think they were performing one of these rituals?" Cordelia asked.

"Must've been," Lorne answered. "The lot of them have been gathering in the city organizing these things. Organ harvesting, human sacrifices,"

"The little girl," Wesley whispered more to himself than anyone in the room.

"All the works," Gunn concluded. "Hope you kept this guy around Lorne."

"In the storage closet," he pointed to the back of the club. "Fell out there a few minutes ago after his fiftieth Yeager."

"Wow, them demons can sure pack it in." Cordelia joked.

Gunn stood from his chair and made his way to the storage closest. Sure enough, the lizard looking demon lay wasted on the floor of the closest. At the sound of someone entering, it looked up; the thing immediately smiled when he saw Gunn.

"You got a lot of explaining to do." Gunn said, giving the demon a look of disgust.

"Aw, the leader," it chuckled. "I remember you." though it was obviously drunk, it spoke clear as ever. Not making much sense though.

"What?" Gunn frowned.

"The leader...of that pathetic demon...hunting...crew." it belched then chuckled once more. "I remember when we ...jumped you fools."

"We got jumped by a lot of-" Gunn started. He looked at the demon hard, trying to recall any part of it that looked familiar, aside from the fight in the cave.

That's when he remembered. This wasn't the first time he'd gone up against these guys. Memories of what happened immediately came rushing back, anger filled every part of the demon hunter's body. He balled his hands into fists.

The demon laughed again. Gunn found himself constantly thrashing his boot into the demon's rib cage. Harder and harder his foot connected with the demon's gut. Pretty soon he found himself extracting another dagger from his belt, preparing to the kill the only lead the gang had.

Gunn raised the blade high.

Anger consumed him.

...

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