Shylock

Part Ten

Part of Buffy had hoped that the further she'd got down the hill it would become obvious that it was not Angel's house whose acrid smell was burning her nostrils. But the smoke just got denser and blacker as she approached, and she was glad she'd abandoned her shopping on the sidewalk as she fled through the streets and towards the danger.

What could possibly have happened? She could hear the sharp repeated trill of the fire engine at the back of her hearing but it was distant and she was close. She screeched around the last turn and out of the corner of her eye saw a couple watching from the other side of the street and yelling into a phone.

Or maybe, she skidded as she hit the drive and the little pebbles spat up from her feet and hit against her ankles and calves, they were yelling at her - she could hear them calling out stop. But it was irrelevant.

The door wasn't even closed properly. Smoke tendrils crept out the small gap and hung noxiously in the porch. Buffy spun around quickly checking that Angel and the others weren't standing watching in the yard. But from here she could see the whole front and it was very empty, just abandoned toys and green grass between the hedges and decorative bamboo.

Buffy yanked at her top pulling it up enough to cover her face and keep some of the smoke out as she shouldered the heavy wooden door open. Even the wood felt hot against her limbs and she struggled to stay calm not think of the worst.

The fire roared in her ears. Left and right or her both sides of the house were ablaze. It seemed strange that the middle was full of cloying black smoke but little flames and Buffy stood for a moment wondering what to do next.

A small yelp and a thud drew her attention and Buffy shot across the entrance and up the stairs as quickly as she could manage. The whole hallway stair entry seemed to be kept pretty clear and even almost blind Buffy could pull herself up pretty quickly. She kept one hand gently touching the banister to guide her direction and the polished wood felt horribly warm under her palm.

"No!" A girl. Forward Buffy told herself. Demanded she kept going up onto the landing and heading towards the direction she thought was towards the children's room. "Get the fuck away!" Spike. Unmistakably. Another loud smacking thud that chilled her bones, and twisted her stomach in knots. The air was clearing as she got further from the fire, and she could see through the partially opened door to Connor's room.

His brightly patterned rug, bleached blonde hair buried in long dark brown slumped at an awkward angle and with blood pooling on the floor. They were too still.

They'd been thrown against the wall. Buffy remembered her dreams and her sudden in take of breath made her cough and choke on the ashes in the air, until she heaved and vomited against the wall.

There was nobody else here. It had to be her.

Buffy straightened up and ignored the nausea of her pained stomach. Pulling her shirt back over her mouth she walked determinedly into that little room.

The demon was big. Seven feet easily. He wore a suit. And it was that she noticed first, before the curve of his distended jaw or the tail that swished bleakly from under his charcoal grey dinner jacket.

His head swiveled to watch her. And his blink seemed to go sideways, and it seemed horribly reptilian with his ridged pale grey skin and swept back hair. "Of course." He hissed, and she could see the black forked tongue that whipped across his lips as he spoke.

It revolted Buffy to see this demon standing here, where her child had slept, and amidst such carnage. She tried not to look at the broken forms of Angel's sister and Spike, but in front of her he'd broken the little toddler bed clean in half and it's bedding lay strewn amongst the toys on the floor, while scrapes and dents littered the walls. Just a few feet away huddled in the corner was her little boy and his cousin. They weren't crying anymore. But their eyes were puffy and red.

Angel was there too. He was kneeling in front of the kids, half crouched, seemingly captivated by the beast that stood before them but trying to shield them all the same. He was watching her too, and silently she stumbled through the wreckage over to him. To join his guard.

She wasn't a Slayer, but she would still fight with whatever she had.

"Who are you?" She yelled at the monster. Hoping to distract him as she searched the wreckage for something that might work as a weapon.

The beast paused. "That's an interesting question, little one. Who? Under these circumstances people usually ask what I am."

"Can't say I give a shit." She replied tightly. "But who gets me to why quicker."

He nodded and smiled touching fingers as he paced lightly in front of them, crushing everything underfoot without any effort. Something sturdy to whack him with, Buffy corrected her quest. "My name is Shylock. As for the why, I'm here for the same why as always. Money."

Buffy stopped looking. Surprised, herself she could feel Angel scramble to his feet next to her "Money?" Angel laughed. "You can have it all, Shylock. Just let us go."

Shylock shock his head and the fear that had been pounding through Buffy's veins since she first saw the smoke from the hill pulsed through her skull. It was devilishly hot from the fire below and sweat poured from every inch of her skin as quietly looked behind Angel to check on the kids. Connor pointed in front of him nervously, and Buffy followed his gaze to a stout piece of four by two that must have been part of his bed. Weapon! But she couldn't grab for it yet. From her angle she could see that Angel had his own chunky piece of bedstead gripped behind his back and she touched his arm gently, tried to get him to relax.

"The problem is, boy, that this isn't your debt. It's Antonio's. I saved his son once. But I upped the price. Two male heirs. I believe they're standing behind you."

"Can't we make a deal too?" Angel begged, and Buffy could hear the panic in his voice. "Anything, please."

"No." Shylock replied, shifting closer towards them. "These two are too significant to pass up. A seer and a warrior. They got those delicious supernatural genes from their parents, and there is no way you've got the only other thing I'd accept."

"What is it?" Buffy demanded.

"Please, we'll find it. Whatever it is."

"No." He snapped. His tongue clicked angrily against his lips and Buffy knew he'd run out of patience. "Get out of the way or I'll kill you too."

"Argh!" Something bleached blonde shot through the air and wrapped itself around Shylock's head, Spike fought dirty, fingers ploughing straight into one creepy eye and black goop poured from the wound. "Now." Buffy yelled quickly grabbing the wooden beam and charging over the rubble to smack the demon square in the balls. If he had balls.

Angel was there too hammering blows on to any bit of the demon he could reach and kicking what he couldn't "Fuck off you bastard!" Someone yelled and for one brief fluttering hopeful moment Buffy thought they were beating him down.

Shylock straightened and knocked them flying in one viciously fast movement, and his noxious blood sprayed out with the three adults. Buffy's head smacked against the wall and the pain screamed through her nerves until she could hardly see through blurry eyes let alone move.

Across the room Angel grabbed at Shylock's leg and Buffy watched as the demon just dragged her love behind him like he weighed nothing.

His path to the boys was clear and Shylock honed in on them leaning down and reaching out as they screamed and shouted, kicking and wriggling. Buffy rolled over onto her stomach and gripping at the detritus on the floor pulled herself bodily towards her son as Shylock grabbed him by one ankle and straightened dangled her poor screaming child in the air.

"Callum!" She tried to yell.

He was screaming and clutching at his neck, dragging the little gold cross out on it's chain and trying to shove it into the demon's skin.

Shylock grabbed at the necklace impatiently, and as his fist closed around it his mouth opened in a little o. The demon dropped her child, and Nuffy managed to scramble to him, pull him into her lap as she threw her arm around Connor too.

"Boy." Shylock hissed. "Where did you get this?"

Callum's head had been buried in Buffy's neck but he pulled away and faced the demon bravely. Cold filled Buffy's veins, and she understood absolutely the way Fionn had described those few days before. Like her little boy, her Callum, her and Angel's son. Was other in a way that was much more than she had already known. "I got it from Isabella." Callum replied calmly. "Are you Shaky? She gave it to protect me from you. Didn't she mommy?"

Callum turned to her and she stared into his beautiful soulful brown eyes. Deep as his father's and remembered the woman in black. "Yes." Buffy managed to murmur.

Her eyes met Shylock's. "That's what you want isn't it."

"Yes. The debt is paid." The words felt like everything. Relief bubbled through Buffy's smoke charred lungs as she checked Connor and Callum, whose eyes seemed to be drooping a little as they snuggled against her, and eyed the three unconscious adults Buffy realized they still had the fire to deal with.

When she thought of Shylock next he was gone.

oOo

She must have passed out there huddled with the boys because when she opened her eyes the ceiling was checkered white ceiling tiles and a steady beep filled the background.

She coughed and a hand appeared with a glass of water. "Drink this sweetheart, you've inhaled a lot of smoke."

The water tasted like heaven. Smooth and cool and more refreshing than if she'd just left the desert.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Buffy Summers." She croaked, and her hand went to her throat automatically. "It's okay, you've just inhaled a lot of smoke and had a little knock to the head. You're going to be totally fine. We'll keep you overnight in case of concussion."

Buffy immediately started pulling at the bedding trying to get up.

"Buffy stop it." Someone yelled at her. Their voice was cracked and sore as hers, and she twisted in the bed to see Angel lying next to her. Her limbs stilled as she took in his battered face. "That's better." He added, more quietly. "Callum is good too. They just told me he's at the children's ward with Connor."

"Are you sure?" She demanded as much as she could in her broken voice.

"Yes." The nurse confirmed resolutely. "You can go up and see them in a few minutes. But only if you let us finish checking you over first."

Buffy acquiesced.

oOo

The lot of them didn't manage to be alone until they were checked out. Caritas had been destroyed in the fire, along with all their possessions and most of the art Angel had been working on.

It didn't seem very important, but after sharing with Angel the conversation she and Shylock had had Angel had insisted they visit the derelict property and even sneaked inside before they checked his sister's family into a hotel.

Buffy insisted Angel came back with her and Callum to Fionn's and the little bruised, short of breath trio were solidly a family before they'd even knocked on the door of her apartment.

Fionn fussed over the lot of them, bringing snacks and drinks until Callum was becoming unbearably spoilt and after forty minutes of 'staying up five minutes more' Fionn offered to take him to bed.

Collapsed on the sofa together Buffy listened to the happy end-of-day bath running sounds and breathed contentedly. "We're so lucky to be alive."

Angel nodded mutely from his position next to her on the sofa and pulling something out of his jacket pocket wrapped one arm around Buffy to pull her close against his chest.

"You said Callum got that charm from a woman on the train, who he calls Isabella, right?"

"Sure." She sighed, burying herself further into his chest as she fiddled with a button in her line of sight.

"My grandmother was called Isabella." He held up the little book. "This was her diary. I've read it before, but I never believed she was actually a witch."

"She probably was." Buffy mused, not really getting the point.

"She probably was your Isabella." Angel clarified. She found out about Shylock and the deal after her husband made it. She was so angry she stole the amulet and said she would pass it down to protect her descendents. It was what Shylock gave Antonio so that he became so successful in business, a lucky amulet. But she didn't want Antonio to keep being lucky either. When you kept seeing her… it must have been some kind of spell. Her way of giving it to the person that needed it, without anyone else profiting from it's luck."

It did kind of make sense, and Buffy propped herself up to look Angel in the eye. "If that's true, you're grandmother is one hell of a smart lady. Grandfather Antonio? Not so much."

"I'm getting that." Angel sighed. "At least it's over now."

"Apart from the whole Connor and Callum supernatural duo thing."

"Ah, well." He seized her lips in a kiss as he twisted her round to face him. "We'll deal with that when it comes." He kissed her again, sweetly, before looking her seriously in the eye. "First I'd like to reacquainted with my girlfriend."

She smiled into his lips and wound her hands into his gently spiked hair. "I'm sure we could arrange that."

The End

Epilogue?

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Many thanks (and cookies) to everyone who did review chapter 9 including SMGbest, Sinangeled, Kayleigh, Harri and all the TSA.