Chapter 11
"She needs Buffy" Xavier told them "She is pregnant, and Laura wants to use her unborn child."
His voice was steady, quick, now that Yolanda was feeding the information into him. "Zeb is with him. She uses him to focus her energy."
"And I suppose that Jessica is there as a hostage, to ensure that he behaves as expected." George muttered.
"Yes. He had given himself to her, but he wanted to back off."
"I knew that he would get in trouble, sooner or later." George growled.
"What about Frank?" Julia asked.
"She does not want Frank. He just grabbed Buffy and would not let her go."
"And she will sacrifice Buffy." Barnabas said, as she once tried to sacrifice Louella.
"Yes."
Barnabas wondered grimly what chance they had to rescue any of them.
"We have to rescue them." George said.
"Yes. But not in the air. We have to go where Laura is going and fight her there."
"It is not easy finding it." Angelique said. "we just have to wait until the spaceship goes there."
"I could follow it." Barnabas volunteered.
"You could, but she could move in to another dimension, and you could not follow. We need to know where it goes and send you there."
Megan said nothing, When Barnabas went, she would follow, either as mist or in bat shape, She hoped to get there unobserved.
"Can you follow her, Angelique?"
"I can. She must be left alone, to think that she's gotten away with it. That will make her careless. Luckily it is night, and she is at her weakest"
"If this is her weakest, I'd dread meeting her at her strongest."
"Yes, you should."
Derek chimed in. "I am hungry. Can you get me a chocolate bar?"
"Chocolate?" Barnabas could not keep from asking.
"Bittersweet. With almonds. Please."
George laughed, a laughter with an edge of hysteria. "Derek, you are priceless. Well, as I do not seem to be of much use around here, I will go get it."
Hallie sensed Yolanda's wavering. Laura was draining off her energy, too. And the more she drained, the more she grew. Was she aware that it was more energy than Xavier alone could provide? Did she suspect that a trap was being laid for her? Yet she had to make Davenport tell as much as he could.
And they were right. Laura was at her weakest, while Barnabas and Megan were at their strongest..
And now Laura and her captives were shifting to another dimension...
"It is... between spaces." Davenport said.
"In another dimension?" Julia asked.
"Yes."
"Can you picture it? Can you give us an idea so that Angelique can track it?"
Derek munched on his chocolate bar. Barnabas felt slightly in awe of him. Things were always simple for Derek. Was he a vampire? Well, then he would use it to fix horse races. He was not? Time to pig out on chocolate... He envied him...
Angelique was concentrating, trying to follow the images in Davenport's mind.
"I got it. We can start now."
Buffy had been tied to a stake, and wood was piled under her feet. Just like in the good old days of the Inquisition.
The wood under her was the only one to be found around. Everything else, as far as the eye could see, was stone and metal. There were things that looked like plants, but they were metal, too.
Not a living thing around, except for them.
"You will die with the rising sun." Laura said. "In this barren place the sun shines once every ten years. And now the time for it has come. The sun will lit the fire, and consume you."
Buffy whimpered. She could not stop herself. It could not happen, not to her, not now...
"Zeb." she pleaded. "Don't let her do this."
Zeb looked away. He had no other choice. It was bad for Buffy, but what else could he do?
Frank stared numbly. He had been bound, too, and was now sitting next to Jessica, who was surrounded by flames.
"How can you do this, King?" Frank said. "You are a doctor, you are supposed to heal people, not help murder them."
"I have no choice" Zeb said in a strangled voice. "It is not my doing anymore."
"She is pregnant, you son-of-a bitch!"
"You are going now?" George said.
"Yes."
"Take this." he offered Barnabas his gun.
"I doubt that bullets will stop Laura."
"You may need to shoot Zeb. In the leg, to stop him from interfering."
Barnabas took the gun. "All right. I am ready."
Angelique traced an invisible pattern in the air. There was a light hovering over them, and it expanded into one big hole leading... somewhere else.
Barnabas stepped into it. Megan glided as mist clinging to him.
It was a strange place that he found himself in.
Angular. Bathed in a light that somehow did not come off right. The colors were off. You thought it was red, and then it was green, or purple, or no color at all.
Stone and metal. Plants made of metal.. And something standing upright at a distance.
He plodded ahead into that strangeness.
He finally made out what that upright thing was. Buffy tied to the stake like Joan of Arc.. And next to her Frank, He did not see and Jessica, or Zeb. His hand tightened on the gun.
"Barnabas" Buffy said. "You found us!"
"It is Laura!" Frank shouted. "She projected an image of a spaceship. She wants Buffy as a sacrifice to be able to free herself."
Barnabas tugged at the chains that bound Buffy to the stake They were strong chains. What were they made of?
Megan watched invisible to them. This was a trap, and Barnabas had walked into it. She suspected that the sacrifice of Buffy and her child might not be enough to free Laura. She needed to sacrifice a creature of the night. and she knew that Barnabas would come to the rescue..
"Where are Jessica and Zeb? "
"Laura took them away. Zeb... I don't know why he did it. I pleaded with him, but it was no use. Jessica is just a hostage."
The laughter came out of nowhere. Barnabas froze. He knew that laugher. Laura's laughter.
"You have come, Barnabas Collins. You have stuck your head into the lion's mouth. Very brave, and very foolish.
Zeb came out of the shadows, carrying a heavy cross in his hands, and before Barnabas could react, a bolt of light felled him to the ground.
He came to bound to the same stake as Buffy. Zeb had hung the cross from his neck, so that he could not move. He was effectively paralyzed.
"The sun does not shine here often." Laura said. "That's why my spirit was banished here when my heart was imprisoned. But even here, the sun shines at last. Soon it will reach the horizon and it will be day. Then I will break free as you two are consumed by the fire... You see, the sun will set fire to Barnabas, and Barnabas will set fire to the wood."
Megan studied the situation. She had to find the angle from which to attack and free Barnabas and Buffy.
