Jane hadn't believed much of Dawn's story, although he had to admit it was a coherent, well thought out tale. There were few logical gaps in the story and it made sense, in a warped way. Still, she was utterly convinced of the truth of it – there wasn't a hint of falsehood or even sarcasm in her voice as she had told him about demons and vampires and Slayers. The one piece of information that had given him pause was that Buffy was apparently one of these Slayers. It certainly would explain her utter confidence in herself, and the natural leadership he had seen the others defer to. But it was all utter rubbish of course. He probably hadn't even seen what he thought he had. It was bound to be as a result of the whack on the head.
Thus reassured, he turned his attention to escape. There was a broken light in the small room Jane and Dawn were being held in. It had caught his attention because of the way it flickered intermittently and he had an idea of how to make use of that. Now, all he needed was an opportunity.
That opportunity came when Julia Davidson walked into the room. She was a tall, elegant blonde, dressed in a sharp business suit and carrying a silver dagger. The dagger didn't really go, he considered, but it did match the earrings she was wearing.
"Ah, you must be Julia Davidson, the person trying to acquire this property for Scarlet Spas International," he began with his most charming smile. She looked taken back so he continued, "You see, I know most of the people involved in this little mess now, but I don't know you, so you must be Julia Davidson. I am right, aren't I?"
"Yes." She frowned. "And you must be the annoyingly correct Patrick Jane."
"The one and only," he grinned. He could almost see Dawn's sarcastic expression, despite having his back to the girl. "Now Julia," he said, his voice dropping lower and he stepped in to make it more intimate. "Julia, I want you to look at that light, that light right there. See how it flickers? On and off, on and off. Keep looking at it. On and off, on and off. Keep looking. You see how it flashes? Keep watching it and you'll see it. On and off, on and off."
Dawn watched in amazement as Jane's voice got lower and softer, making Julia Davidson have to listen harder as she watched the light flicker. As the woman slipped into a light trance, Dawn decided that once Buffy had rescued them, she was going to make Patrick Jane to teach her how to do this. He tapped the woman's shoulder lightly and she stared blankly ahead.
"Julia, I need you to tell me what you're doing here. Now, Julia."
"We're going to open the portal to the Hell dimensions," she said immediately. "The convergence here makes it easier to use, and then we're going to summon back to earth our master, who was sent to Hell when Sunnydale collapsed." She didn't notice Jane's dumbfounded expression. It was impossible for someone to lie when in a trance, so this delusion about demons must be deep-seated. "We were in the middle of the first ritual when you interrupted. Now I think we will have to kill you, but we will let the Slayer's sister go."
"You don't need to kill me," he said firmly. "You can let both of us go."
"I can let you both go," she repeated.
"Good, Julia, very good. Now tell me what happened to Robin Wood."
"He was looking into things he shouldn't. We had to kill him. The partners at the company all agreed it was the only course of action."
The door to the room slammed open and Blue Hands walked in, took one look at the situation and back-handed Jane casually across the cheek. It was a careless blow, with little strength behind it, yet it knocked the consultant off his feet and left him sprawled on the floor, stars bursting in front of his eyes.
"You idiot woman!" he yelled at Julia, who blinked, swayed, but said nothing. Blue Hands hauled Jane to his feet. "Snap her out of it now, or I will hurt the girl." He gestured towards Dawn, but Jane was already moving to tap Julia on the shoulder again. He was not about to let the young girl get hurt as a result of his actions. He wasn't sure he could stand any more guilt. Then Blue Hands let Jane drop to the floor. "You two stay here. We will be back for you soon."
Dawn waited until the door was firmly shut before she moved to check on Jane. "That looked like it hurt," she commiserated. "J'Narlaks are really strong. I should have warned you about that."
"Ow."
"On the plus side, that was seriously cool! I can't believe you just hypnotised her like that!"
"Ow."
"You're going to have to teach me how to do that! I can't wait to try it out on Xander or Andrew. Oh, this is going to be such fun!"
"Ow."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Lisbon was impressed at the speed and efficiency that Buffy worked with. In no time, she'd reconnoitred the hospital, noted all possible entrances and exits and come up with a plan of attack. Giles had taken the opportunity to explain a few things to Lisbon, namely that they were going up against magical enemies, and while she wasn't sure she believed him, she was equally willing to let the matter rest for now. Whoever was in there had kidnapped her consultant and, pain in the ass though he was, he was her pain in the ass. Besides, she had her gun, and a spare magazine. Whoever was in there, Lisbon was confident of her ability to deal with it, without needing help from Buffy Summers and her friends.
"OK, everybody know the deal?"
"Yes sir, General Buffy, sir!" Xander snapped to attention and gave a salute.
Buffy grinned. "Xander, you're hopeless. Lisbon, you stick near Giles, he'll take care of you. Let's go people, before anyone decides to sacrifice Dawn again."
"Don't stress, Buff, it's not a Tuesday." And with that perplexing comment, Xander and Willow moved around to the other side of the warehouse, to cut off any escape. Buffy, Giles and Lisbon walked up to the dead-bolted front door of the main hospital building. Buffy, without any apparent effort, punched in the lock and the door swung open. Lisbon stood in open-mouthed shock before hurrying to catch up with Giles. All of a sudden, she thought she might just be out of her depth.
The scene that greeted her was straight out of a B-movie. Julia Davidson and a man with blue hands stood at two points of a glowing red pentacle, out of which a growing monster was appearing. It had at least ten tentacles that Lisbon could count and a monstrous mouth, gaping open to reveal sharp white teeth. Dawn was tied to a chair, off to one side, while Jane was tied to a concrete pillar, directly in the monster's path.
Julia Davidson didn't seem to notice their entry. "Oh Master, we have brought you back! See, we have a gift for you! We have brought food." She waved a hand towards Jane who looked frozen with fear. He also had a truly impressive bruise on one cheekbone.
"Wow, does this place need redecorating!"
The monster, Julia and the man with blue hands all turned to stare at Buffy as she made her entrance. Jane was still staring horror-struck at the tentacled nightmare in front of him. "Slayer!"
"Jarlak demon person," she greeted him, ignoring Giles' muttered correction of her pronunciation. "How's it hanging? I hear you killed a buddy of mine. Not a big fan of that sort of thing, really. And now you're got my sister. Did somebody miss the memo? I was sure I asked Giles to send it out. No kidnapping Dawn, or I send your bony ass to Hell. Did you not hear about that?"
The demon didn't answer, just leapt at Buffy with a roar of rage. Lisbon went to yell a warning, but Giles merely laid a hand on her arm and she watched in amazement as Buffy drew her sword with lightning reflexes and slashed across the demon's chest. Then she went on the attack, driving him backwards, drawing blood with almost every blow. Lisbon watched in growing horror as the first few wounds the demon had sustained closed up, leaving unmarked skin behind.
"She never listens," Giles muttered, going to untie Dawn. Xander and Willow appeared through the opposite door and didn't even blink at the scene before them. Torn between watching the fight and doing something useful, Lisbon decided on the latter. She untied Jane quickly and dragged him out of the path of the monster.
The thing lurched towards them, and Lisbon couldn't hold in a scream as its jaws gaped ever wider. It was still heading slowly towards them with Julia Davidson egging it on. "Yes, my Master, take both of them!"
Buffy was still hacking at the demon with the blue hands, but he didn't seem to tire, even with all the wounds she was inflicting on him. Giles snapped off part of the chair that Dawn had been tied to, handed it to Willow and said, "Would you mind?"
In an instant, the spar of wood was ablaze. "Buffy! This way," Willow called out and the blonde spun, nodded, and threw the sword like a spear, pinning the demon to the wall. It gave her time to get across the room, taking the flaming chair leg and then leap back into action, setting the blue hands on fire. There was a horrible scream as the demon lifted his hands to his face and started to melt into a blue puddle on the floor.
Buffy didn't even watch him die. She retrieved her sword, pointed it at the tentacled monster and said, "So you want your turn now?" The monster only had one eye, but it was firmly focused on the Slayer now, Lisbon and Jane forgotten. "Just so you know, I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. You got any last words?"
The monster, without hesitation, moved straight back into the centre of red pentacle and disappeared in a flash of red light. Buffy pouted; a little girl deprived of her treat. "Your reputation for violence is obviously well known wherever ugly there was from," Xander said with a grin.
"But I wanted to kill it now!"
"Master!" Julia Davidson wailed, rushing forward to the pentacle. When it was clear the monster had disappeared and wasn't coming back, she turned to the group. "You took him from me!" She pointed at Jane. "You were meant to be his welcome feast!"
Lisbon pushed Jane out of the way and walked over to Julia before punching her hard in the nose. The taller woman collapsed into a heap. "She was really beginning to annoy me."
