Chapter 13
Doyle started screaming from downstairs. "Angel!" Cordelia called.

Angel ran out of the office. "What is it?"

"Doyle."
The half Brachen demon was in the throws of a vision. "What? What do you see Doyle?"

"That wasn't right!" Doyle said, collapsing to the couch. "I need a drink." Cordy handed him water. "Thanks princess."

"What did you see?" Doyle just looked at Angel.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked her cell phone, walking in from the garden. She looked around at everyone's somber faces. "I'll call you back." She hung up. "What's going on?"

"Doyle had a vision." Cordelia said, kneeling in front of her boyfriend.

"What about?"

"I saw you and Angel ripping into each other like feral animals and your cousins shooting dangerous magicks at each other."
Buffy and Angel looked at each other. "What?" Angel asked. "We wouldn't…."

"Phoebe just called and told me about a premonition she just had. She said I was standing over Angel with a sword getting ready to chop his head off while she was using some spell to kill Paige."

"So they had the same premonition?" Cordelia asked.

"It appears so." Angel said.

Buffy looked at the ceiling. "Leo!"

"Ow." Doyle said.

"Sorry."
Chris orbed into the room. "What?"

"I'm going to ignore that." Buffy said. "I called Leo. I need to talk to him."

"You know he can't come. I'm your whitelighter now. Get used to it."

"No. Leo's busy doing his thing trying to find the person or persons that sent him to that dimension. He's not too busy to watch out for me. Now, go get him."

"When are you four going to stop seeing Leo as your whitelighter and start accepting me?"

"Probably never. Leo's been my whitelighter for a long time."

"Buffy…."

"Chris, I don't want to argue. Just get Leo."

"Fine." Chris orbed away.

"That gets on my nerves so bad!"

"He's kinda cute though." Cordelia said.

"I'm not seeing him like that."
Leo orbed in with Chris beside him. "Buffy…."

"I know, I know…. Chris is my whitelighter now, but this deserves some Elderly attention."

"What's wrong?"

"Phoebe had a premonition of Angel and I trying to kill each other and Phoebe, Paige, and Piper trying to kill each other at the same time. But wait, it gets crazier. Doyle just had the same vision."

"Phoebe had a premonition and she told you first?" Chris asked.

Buffy and Leo ignored him. "At the same time?" Leo asked.

"Pretty much." Buffy said.

"What happened in the vision?" Leo asked Doyle.

"For some reason unknown to me, those two and Buffy's cousins were ripping into each other like crazed loony bin psychos." Doyle said, holding an ice pack to his head.

"Have you talked to the sisters?"

"No. It just happened when Phoebe called me. I'm sure she's told Piper and Paige what's going on by now though."
Paige orbed into the already crowded room with Piper and Phoebe in tow. "Phoebe told us what's going on."

"Where's Wyatt?" Chris asked.

"With the nanny." Piper said. "He'll be ok."

"Leo…."

"I'll go get him." Leo sighed and orbed out.

Everyone was settled onto a chair or one of the two couches sitting outside the office in the corner next to the main entrance. Angel sat in a big chair with Buffy sitting on the armrest, Leo and Chris sat on chairs pulled out from the office, Doyle and Cordelia sat on one of the couches, and Paige, Piper, and Phoebe sat on the other couch with Wyatt in Piper's lap.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Paige asked.

"We need to figure out why we would want to kill each other." Phoebe said.

"I don't want to kill anyone but the bad guys." Buffy said.

"Same here." Piper said.

"It could be a demon trying to get to Wyatt." Chris said.

"It has happened before." Leo said.

"Why would they go through us?" Angel asked.

"Because we're the ones protecting Wyatt." Buffy said. "It's perfectly logical. Paige, Phoebe, and Piper are around Wyatt all the time. And we're next in line to protect him if they fall. Turn us against each other and we'll be so busy ripping each other to shreds that a demon could slip right on in and take Wyatt."

"So, Leo can take Wyatt up to hang with the Elders while we try to figure out who's behind this." Piper said.
Just then, the phone rang. "I'll get it." Cordelia said. She walked over to the counter and picked it up. They all waited for her to come back. "Angel…." Cordy leaned over the counter. "It's Kate."

"What's wrong?" Angel asked.

"We're going to have to postpone this meeting. We have a job."

Angel sighed and got up. "Yeah? What? Are you absolutely…. No, I'm a little busy. Kate…." Angel sighed. "I'll see what I can do." He hung up and walked back over to everyone. "Kate said that she got a tip that something big was going down at the harbor. She figured we'd like to know about it because we always want to know about it and it sounds more like our area."

"What time?" Buffy asked.

"Um, pretty much within the next hour or so."

"Why'd she just now call us?"

"Don't ask me!"

Buffy sighed. "She's always calling at the most inconvenient times. Let's just go down to the harbor and see what's up. Leo, can you take Wyatt up to visit all his uncle Elders?"

"Sure."

"And Chris…. I guess you can come with us."

"Oh, gee thanks. I feel so special." Chris said.
Buffy rolled her eyes as they all orbed to the harbor. Cordelia looked around. "She said look for pier eight."

"Well, that's right over there." Angel said. "Let's move."

"Ok, Angel and I'll take the roof. There's a skylight up there we can slip in through. Paige, Piper and Phoebe, you guys stay down here and cover the front exit. Chris, Doyle, and Cordy, you guys cover the back exit. Wait for mine and Angel's signal."

"What's the signal?" Paige asked.

"Lots of yelling." Buffy and Angel jumped, catching the edge of the fire escape ladder. They scaled up it and crept silently onto the roof. With a quick glance down into the dark warehouse, Buffy opened the skylight and jumped in, landing quietly on a rafter. She moved over and Angel dropped down next to her. "Did you feel that?" As she had fallen through, she had felt a tug and a small wave of nausea that had passed quickly.

"Yeah. Magickal protection."

It was incredibly dark in the warehouse and Buffy could barely see even with her night vision, so she figured Angel wasn't having as much trouble as she was. She looked over at him and could barely make out his figure. "You ok?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yeah. This is unnatural darkness." She whispered back, trying to scoot closer.

Her thigh brushed his and she could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Why Miss Summers, we are not in any position for that."

She chuckled. "All right Horny." Suddenly the lights switched on and Buffy almost gasped in surprise. The whole warehouse was full of demons that were completely alien to her. They were tall, very broad and muscular, and they were covered in dark blue fur. Their heads were reptilian, though, and covered in scales. Their eyes glowed crimson even in the light. They had a large fin that looked razor sharp on top of their heads and it gleamed in the light. Their fingers were tipped with long, yellow, serrated daggers instead of fingernails. "This can't be good."

"I think we need to get out of here."

"We can't leave. They're here for a reason and we need to figure out what that reason is."

"Five minutes."

"Works for me."

"Tonight will be our grandest heist ever!" One demon said, taking a makeshift stage. "Tonight, we will be paid our dues and we'll finally be able to go home!" The crowd cheered. "It has been a long time coming, but tonight we will take the Marianna by storm and retrieve the cargo that is so valuable to our employer. When the ship docks, everyone be at their stations. Our mole on the inside will give the signal and we'll go in, weapons slicing every living thing that stands in our way." The crowd cheered. "Get plenty of rest…."

Buffy moved away and Angel helped her climb up out of the skylight. He followed suit and they jumped off the roof, landing behind Paige, Phoebe, and Piper. Paige jumped. "What happened to the signal?"

"You look a little pale." Phoebe said to Buffy. "What did you see in there?"

"A whole gathering of demons that look like they could be man-eaters." Buffy said. "We need to get out of here before they realize we're here. Let's go get the others." The five of them walked around to the other side of the building, but Cordelia, Doyle, and Chris weren't there.

"Uh oh." Phoebe said. "This can't be good."

"Where'd they go?" Piper asked.

"Maybe they went home." Paige said.

"I doubt it."

"Chris!" Phoebe hissed. "You get your butt here right now!" After a few minutes had passed and there was nothing, a wave a dread washed over all of them.

"Angel…." Buffy turned, but her vampire boyfriend wasn't there anymore. "Great."

"Shh!" Angel called from the roof. He disappeared for a minute then jumped down. "They're in there. I didn't see Chris though."

"I'm right here." Chris said, orbing in behind Paige.

"Where's Cordelia and Doyle?" Angel asked.

"There he is!" A voice cried.

"Time to make tracks. Get us out of here." Phoebe said. "We'll come back."

Everyone huddled around Chris and Paige as they orbed back to the Hyperion. Angel wheeled on Chris. "What happened?"

"Guards. They found us." Chris said.

"You let them take Cordelia and Doyle?" Buffy asked, slamming Chris against the wall and pinned him there, feet dangling.

"I had to. Cordelia threatened to castrate me if I didn't come get you!"

"You should have orbed them out of there too!"

"They were too far away. I couldn't reach them."

"That's bullshit!"

"Buffy." Piper took Buffy's arm and pulled her away from Chris. "We'll get them back."

"No. That place is full of those demons. We can't go in there unprepared."

"We're not unprepared." Paige said.

"We need a small army to go against those things. They've got a magickal barrier up. I doubt your powers would work in there."

"How did Chris get out?" Phoebe asked.

"I orbed before they took me in the building." Chris said.

"Ok, Cordelia and Doyle have been taken and we can't get them back magickally." Angel said. "We have to take them by storm. Load up on weapons and go in figurative guns blazing."

"They'll be fine for now. They won't kill them."

"How do you know?"

"Because they knew that we were with you, Buffy, and the Charmed Ones. They want to keep them alive as bait."

"I really hate that word." Buffy said. Chris shrugged. "Ok, they're storming this ship called the Marianna tonight. There's something valuable on it that their employer wants."

"How'd you find that out?" Piper said.

"For some reason, demons really like to boast about their plans. Angel, talk to Kate and find out what is on that ship that could be so valuable. Piper, Paige, Phoebe, you guys work on a way to bring down that magickal barrier. Chris, go up there and let Leo know what's going on. I'll call Willow and the others and let them know what's going on here."

*******************
Cordelia paced the little room that the demons had put her and Doyle in. There was no way to warn Buffy and Angel that they had already stolen what was on the Marianna because the demons had taken her and Doyle's cell phones. It was all a set up to get them to the warehouse and capture them so they could turn them on each other and get to Wyatt. If Buffy, Angel, and the Charmed Ones came in here, they would be ambushed and captured. Cordelia doubted they would put them in a room like they had done her and Doyle, but she knew they would keep them separate.
The spell they were going to use on them was called the Spell of Mistrust. It was originally designed to affect all supernatural creatures within a certain area, but the demons had tweaked it so that it only affected the people they wanted it to. Buffy, Angel, Phoebe, Paige, and Piper were going to kill each other and there was nothing that Cordelia and Doyle could do. For the first time, Cordelia Chase, the bitch queen of Sunnydale High School, felt so useless and awful that she began to cry.
Doyle hugged her tightly to him. "It's gonna be ok, darlin'. Buffy and Angel are smarter than what those demons take them for. They'll make it out of this ok and everyone will be ok."

"If there was some way we could warn them…."

"Shh…."

Buffy watched Angel talk to Kate over the phone. "Are you sure? Yesterday? No, there was nothing…. If anything happens, we'll let you know. Bye." Angel hung up. "The Marianna docked yesterday and was robbed. Everyone on the ship was dead."

"How did we not know about this?" Buffy asked.

"Kate said no one knew until this morning. The robbery happened last night."

"So then they've already got their whatever and Cordelia and Doyle on top of that. What else could go wrong?"

"Those demons you described?" Piper said, walking up the stairs with the Book of Shadows. "They're called Gry-ikes."

"They're in the Book?"

"No. We found it in one of Angel's books and we're going to put it in the Book for future reference."

"How can they be killed?"

"Standard kill. Decapitation, stab through the heart…. Or your basic vanquish a la me."

"Good. How about that magickal ward?"

"It's complicated, but I think we can break it with the power of three." Piper reached into her pocket. "And I thought that you should have this back." She handed Buffy the triquetra necklace that held the Charmed Ones' powers in it. She'd given it back to them, not feeling right about borrowing their powers for longer than she should. She was also worried that if some demon got a hold on it, her cousins would be in trouble.
Buffy smiled as she put it on. "I'll never take it off."

"We changed it a little though."

"Changed it how?"

"Well, we took our powers back and Prue gave us hers to put in it."

"All of hers?"

"Almost. The astral projection isn't in there. Just the telekinesis."

"I'll cherish it even more and no one will touch it as long as I'm alive."

"Figured as much."

"Now I really am one of the Charmed Ones."

"As far as we're concerned, you always have been. You're the littlest sister."

Buffy smiled, trying not to tear up. "I love you Piper."

"Hey!"

"What?"

"No saying goodbye."

"I wasn't….."

"Whenever you say I love you to someone, it's usually when you're expecting to die. I remember your graduation."
Buffy smiled. "That was only that one time."

"And when the Sisterhood of Jhe was going to raise that demon from the Hellmouth…. And….."

"Ok, I get it! But this time, I'm not planning on dying. I'm planning on getting my friends back and kicking some demon ass in the process."

"That's the spirit."