Everything either belongs to Joss or it should, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Slavic Village – Cleveland – October 2003
'You're serious?' Kennedy asked incredulously looking at the pack of Demons that confronted them in the alley.
'Yes I'm serious' Willow told her, 'they're actually called "Mofo" Demons' she continued with a shrug.
'What do they think they're like "bad mofo's" or something?' Shannon joked hefting her broadsword, 'because I'm just not seeing it.'
'They're strong' Willow warned, 'vampire strong.'
'Seen them before?' Kennedy asked.
'Read about them, Wesley has a great library, they sometimes hire themselves out as muscle' Willow replied.
'Must be reasonably intelligent then, not that they look like it' Kennedy noted.
'We could ask them to surrender' Jackie suggested. 'They're not on the G list are they?' she asked. Several species of Demons were on the "E" or Extermination list, any demon from the clans or species on the list were subject to summary extermination, it was a fairly short list so far, and you had to be pretty vicious and irredeemable to get on it, but the standing orders were if you meet something on the G list it died.
Willow thought about that. 'They don't exactly look the type to capitulate without a show of force but you could try it.'
Kennedy took a deep breath. 'Under the authority of the International Council of Watchers and Slayers I order you to lay down your arms and disperse or we will use force to disperse you' the slayer told the demons in her most commanding tones. 'And no hurting humans or we'll kick your asses' she added.
The demons continued to look back at them making no move to either leave or attack.
'No that didn't work' Kennedy observed. 'You say they hire out as mercs?' she asked.
'So I read' Willow replied.
'Then I'm wondering what's through that door back there that they're guarding' Kennedy pondered. 'Jackie are you sure you know how to use that thing?' she asked.
'Just because I wasn't good enough to get assigned to Vi doesn't mean I was useless' Jackie replied. 'My scores put me in the top fifty-percent anyway.'
That would have to do. 'Last chance' Kennedy called out to the demons. 'We'll kill you, I mean it' she told them again to no reaction.
'They probably think they've got a chance if we go hand to hand' Shannon suggested.
'Who the hell goes hand to hand when they don't have to?' Kennedy asked. 'This isn't the Age of Chivalry' she said, 'it's the age of gunpowder' she continued raising her pistol, Shannon and Jackie doing likewise. All three had fitted silencers, no point in waking half the neighbourhood.
Kennedy aimed then thought better of it, 'Willow can you do anything?' she asked. 'Like maybe a show of force so we don't have to just kill these clowns?'
The Witch held her hands out in front of her palms facing each other and began to generate a fireball, the glowing sphere lighting up the dark alleyway and casting shadows on the walls. The fireball grew in size and intensity until it was eight inches across and almost blinding to look at. 'Demons' Willow began, her voice reverberating with power as it echoed off the walls. 'Your loyalty to your master is admirable but foolish, you cannot hope to stop us you will only succeed in getting yourselves killed' she told them and then in an even showier move she lifted off the ground levitating a foot about the asphalt.
The Mofo Demons looked at her, blinked, looked at her again. One turned to the others. 'Screw this' it said in what sounded like a New York accent 'We're not getting enough green to have to deal with this shit' it declared.
The other demons nodded and they all dropped their weapons, an assortment of knives and clubs.
'Definitely not called Mofo because they're bad motherfuckers' Shannon whispered to Jackie who snorted with laughter.
'Alright get lost and don't show your faces around here again' Kennedy told the demons. 'What the hell were you guarding anyway?'
'High Stakes Poker Game' the demon that had talked before answered. 'Have to have a thousand kittens worth of chips to enter.'
Kennedy's jaw dropped, then she figured that looked undignified and snapped in shut again as the demons made there way past sheepishly in single column and disappeared into the night.
Willow lowered herself to the ground and launched the fireball straight up into the sky. It hurtled thousands of feet into the air and disappeared into a cloud, it occurred to Willow she didn't really know where it would end up but she reasoned it was pretty unlikely to hit anything and would peter out long before it reached the stratosphere.
'Hey are we the slayer vice-squad now because we've already busted up the local orpheus ring and tonight it's illegal gambling' Shannon asked moving towards the door getting ready to kick it open.
'What about prostitution? Are there demon hookers too?' Jackie asked.
Kennedy rolled her eyes. 'Don't be ridiculous' she told the young slayer.
Hyperion Hotel – Los Angeles – October 2003
'I know I don't get out to the wilderness much, or ever if I can avoid it, reminds me too much of home, but isn't a vacation supposed to where you go to relax and come back refreshed?' Lorne asked Wesley as he dropped into the chair across the dining table from him. Wesley had arrived back late the previous night and had gone straight to bed after several hours driving, he looked no better for the rest though.
'No offence man but he's got a point you look terrible' Gunn agreed before taking a bite of his ham and eggs. Eve walked over and refilled his coffee cup, she looked broken too but in her case it was psychological. Being cooped up in this place so long, plus constant exposure to Andrew as her putative boss, had sapped her spirit. She didn't even bother to make any derisory remarks before moving onto the next table, she hadn't heard anything from Lindsey and that was likely preoccupying her thoughts, she genuinely seemed to care for the guy and was worried about him now that Wolfram and Hart knew he was out there and was trouble.
Wesley examined the food unenthusiastically. 'I'm just tired' he told them. 'Absolutely bleeding knackered would be closer to the mark' he conceded.
'Well what did you expect if you go hiking up and down mountains?' Lorne asked rhetorically. 'You should have gotten Illyria to portal you to Tahiti and spent the days sipping a Sea Breeze on the beach' he said then paused. 'In fact thinking about it I'll ask her to send me there next week, Willow's got this great glamour spell that solves the whole green thing for a couple of days.'
'It wasn't the hiking that took it out of me' Wesley said with the hint of a smile and more than a hint of a self-satisfied expression forming.
Gunn looked at him. 'Oh you didn't?' he asked, a grin starting to appear.
'If I'd thought more about it I might not have' Wesley replied. 'She never gets tired and she doesn't sleep, now that may sound great in theory, and the practice is pretty fun too I'll admit, but now I've opened Pandora's Box, to use a very Freudian metaphor, if she doesn't ease off on me I'll be dead by November.'
Lorne chuckled. 'You cost me ten bucks, my bet was you wouldn't fold before Christmas and give her a special present then' he told Wesley.
'Sorry' Wesley apologised, 'It was just the right moment' he explained. 'So who won the betting pool?'
'Don't know off-hand, there was nearly five hundred dollars in it though' Lorne told him.
'You people really need lives of your own' Wesley declared with a smirk. 'Right I know from your expression you've just come up with a line' he told Gunn. 'Go ahead spill it' he told him. Better to let all the crap that was going to be directed his way out into the open with good grace.
Gunn tried to keep a straight face. 'So is it true what they say?' he asked.
'Is what true?' Wesley asked playing along.
'That once you've had Blue you never go back?' he asked then collapsed into laughter setting off Lorne.
'Laugh it up lads' Wesley told them taking a bite from his scrambled eggs, 'but think about this; she'll never look any older, she'll try anything, she doesn't get headaches and she doesn't sleep so she lets me have the whole bed to myself afterwards.'
Gunn stopped laughing.
'Well if I could go any more green with envy my little English Muffin, I just might' Lorne told Wesley.
Wesley smiled. 'And the best part is, though it takes getting used to, despite her…' he paused to consider the right word, 'issues' he said eventually, 'and quite how it happened I don't know,' he continued, 'I love her.'
'Seriously?' Gunn asked. He could imagine affection between them but love was beyond that and English wasn't exactly the type to give out the emotional status information unless he really meant it.
'She's just got this quality that sneaks up on you' Wesley explained, 'it's part childlike curiosity, part condescension and with a large helping of megalomania' he said, 'except that with me she's always somehow insecure with it' he told them. 'It's terribly sweet and to be honest it just makes me feel… special, and flattered and, as it happens, sodding exhausted to boot' he joked.
Lorne smiled. 'No need to sing me a tune, I know sincerity when I hear it' he said. 'I hope you and the Bluebird make sweet music together' he told him.
'Sorry man but I've got to ask' Gunn said leaning forward to whisper. 'What did she say the first time you…'
'Victory' Wesley interrupted, 'she yelled out "victory" very loudly' he confided in a whisper of his own starting the laughter off again. 'Hey what did you expect?' he asked. 'To partially quote Caesar, Veni, Vici' he said, 'she came and she conquered' he told them somehow deadpanning the line before cracking up into laughter himself.
'So what's it like being a vassal state?' Lorne asked in amusement.
'The collaboration part is highly rewarding' Wesley replied, 'albeit life-shortening as I said.'
'Don't you think she'll be sore you telling us this though?' Gunn asked.
Wesley snorted. 'First thing I saw her do today was grab Anya and start explaining in graphic detail, in Illyria's mind I'm a trophy remember.'
'So where is she planning to mount you then?' Gunn asked. Damn I'm on fire today he thought to himself.
Wesley chuckled. 'Good one' he admitted, 'and anywhere she pleases I would have thought. 'I've never been a boy toy before' he said, 'it's both flattering and terribly demeaning all at the same time.'
'So where is she anyway?' Gunn asked. 'She's not one to skip breakfast even if she has to eat the tableware.'
'Ah yes' Wesley replied. 'She's currently off with Anya buying me a Sports Car' he answered smugly.
'What?' Gunn asked.
'A Jaguar XKR Convertible' Wesley told him. 'Apparently I've been a very good boy and I've earned a present' he declared with a chuckle stretching his arms. 'Life is good' he said, 'drastically curtailed perhaps, but good nonetheless' he noted happily.
'We need to get rid of him quickly' Gunn told Lorne seriously. 'There's only so much good luck in the world and to my way of thinking he's using up everyone's in the entire western United States.'
'Oh come on' Wesley responded, 'don't exaggerate. Los Angeles County maybe, California tops' he argued.
Santa Susana Mountains – California – October 2003
Faith swung the scythe and neatly buried it in the back of the closest demon, it went in neat and smooth severing the spine, the thing was just as sharp as Knox claimed it was and it handled like a dream she thought, wrenching it back out and using it to parry away a axe that was being swung at her head.
The high carbon steel edge of the axe actually dented when it hit the scythe leaving no sign of damage on the gleaming red chrome itself but Faith still had to absorb the force of the blow which sent shockwaves down her arms. She had no idea what species these bastards were but they were strong.
A hand reached over from behind and grabbed the demon that had swung the axe at Faith by the chin, pulling its head back as another hand this time holding a blade slid across its throat cutting deep into the demons flesh opening up its jugular and spraying Faith with blood. The demon gurgled in its own blood and with a look of horror on its face it collapsed to the ground Connor grinning viciously behind it, a bloody hunting knife in his hand.
'Connor duck' Faith bellowed and he dropped to the dirt as she swung the scythe holding it by the very end of the handle and neatly decapitated another of the enemy. It barely felt like there was any resistance at all, another thumbs up for the latest thing in slayer weaponry.
Ten yards away Molly felt her shortsword being ripped from her hands by the demon she was grappling with up close. It snarled baring its teeth, drool dripping down its wicked incisors before the English slayer managed to break its grip enough to get some movement and bought her head forward as hard as she could, smashing her forehead into its nose practically pulping it in a vicious headbutt that stunned it enough for her to break free entirely. Jumping back to open up the distance she reached down to her ankle and slid out a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife from her boot. 'Come on then' she bellowed. 'Let's have ya.'
Before the demon could answer the challenge a crossbow bolt slammed into its chest burying itself a good four inches inside and it fell backwards. Molly span to find one of the two newbies reloading one of their oversized, and overpowered arbalests gritting her teeth with the effort of cocking it. An ordinary human would have needed a mechanical winch.
When they'd located the concealed nest they had badly underestimated the numbers done there. The demons had been raiding at night down into Santa Clarita which was normally one of the safest places to live near Los Angeles, like many other clans they had been forced out of the city by slayer patrols and were now hiding out in the hills and mountains that ringed the urban and suburban areas of Los Angeles County.
Faith ran at the next group of demons howling like a banshee brandishing her scythe. She'd only bought along Molly and two of the rookies and it was starting to look like a mistake but she was damned if she was going to retreat, with Mr Red and Sharpy in her mitts she couldn't care less how many demons were in her midst.
At least Connor was along for the ride. As the best tracker and outdoorsman on the crew he had been taken along to play bloodhound and he'd sniffed them out after only a couple of hours searching the dry scrub and forest covered mountains, backtracking them from the edge of town up a trail that only something inhumanly strong and agile could follow.
As Faith ran at half a dozen of the beasts Connor sprinted to catch up and crashed into them a split second afterwards shortly followed by Molly who had retrieved her shortsword and came in swinging, her fighting-knife now in her left hand. By sheer momentum they broke up the demon mass and started to make the things pay in blood.
One of the rookie slayers fired her crossbow a final time and pulled her own shortsword. 'Come on!' she yelled and started to charge in, the other was less enthusiastic and decided to keep at crossbow range. The newbie slayer that charged used her sword like a lance and simply slammed it through a demons chest knocking it over as she drove it right through. The damn blade locked in fast and she was forced to dive to the side to avoid another demon swinging a poorly fashioned wooden club studded with rusty nails.
Firmly in the middle of a vicious Melee Faith pounded the wooden stake at the base of the scythe handle into a demons guts tearing its flesh open in a jagged ripping wound before slicing open another with the blade edge. No mere sword or axe could cut so cleanly or efficiently as that blade, even the enchanted shortswords paled in comparison, the scythe was a purpose-made demon slaying machine, which meant it actually had something in common with its owner. Both scythe and slayer were made to do two things, spill demon blood and dust vampires, they both did so very well, together they were awesome.
Connor punched a demon in the face, it would have been a jarring blow even if he hadn't been wearing brass knuckles which he actually was, the demon staggered back and got another punch before it could regain its balance which dropped it to the ground in a heap. Enjoying himself immensely the teenager thrust the serrated edged knife in his other hand into the belly of another and ripped it upwards like a razor sharp saw opening it up from just above the crotch to above where its navel would have been if it had one. When he was growing up on Quartoth these had been the moments he had lived for, sometimes been willing to risk dying for, there was a slayer saying that death was their gift, maybe it was but it was Connors joy.
The demons weren't the type to retreat, they were strong, fast and in their own way could maybe be described as courageous, or perhaps too dumb to run away, but they were outclassed. A backhand blow connected with Molly and sent her spinning away unconscious and the newbie that got stuck in to the melee suffered a broken arm and her left cheek was slashed open by talons but it wasn't good enough. Faith took a lot of punches which hurt but what the hell did some cuts and bruises matter anyway. Most of the demons weren't even armed, except for their teeth and claws, it was usually like that, most clans chose to fight unarmed, demons that used tools or weapons were a relative rarity.
The fight finish was almost anticlimactic, Faith bought the scythe down hard on the top of the head of the last demon and split it in two, cleaving the skull almost neatly in half and letting its brains spill out somewhat more messily.
Breathing heavily Faith turned to the injured slayer who was clutching her arm, blood running down her face. 'Fucking A Sue' she praised her. 'And from now on nobody gets to call you rookie or newbie or they answer to me okay?'
Connor had run over to Molly and checked her pulse. 'She's just out' he said. 'I'll carry her back down the trail' he offered.
Faith nodded and turned to the other slayer who had stayed back. 'Listen up rookie' she practically spat. 'Don't you ever hang back in a fight like that again or I will rip you a new one' she promised. 'If you'd gotten involved when Sue did we might have broken the fuckers then and there' she told her. 'Now pick up Sue's crossbow and carry it back down for her, you alright Sue?' she asked.
'I think my arms broken' the young slayer replied wincing in pain. 'I'll be okay' she added fighting back the tears.
'We'll get it set, I'll get you drunk and if you want we'll go out and get you laid' Faith offered.
'I'll take a raincheck on everything but the getting it set okay boss?' Sue replied smiling back despite the pain.
'Hey your loss, I know some great clubs' Faith told her then looked around. 'I hate this wilderness crap' she said. 'Give me urban decay any day of the week' she declared.
Wolfram and Hart Building – Los Angeles – October 2003
'You've done what?' Hamilton asked in astonishment.
'You heard me' Lilah replied. 'We needed a long-term strategy and the Circle needed to regain some face in the demon community, it really wasn't difficult to achieve.'
Hamilton looked at her. 'You invaded another dimension?'
Lilah smirked. 'I prefer to think of it as regaining lost territory' she replied. 'Pylea was a world under the control of Wolfram Hart until Angel and his merry band of do-gooders interfered we've just taken it back.'
'How?' Hamilton asked.
'The government there was already in turmoil, constant shifts in factions and alliances, no real figurehead so we simply moved in an army, took over and put a puppet government in charge. I think the new figurehead used to run their police force, Narwek I think the name was.'
'What army?' Hamilton asked.
'Five Legions borrowed from ArchDuke Sebassis was more than enough to take over once they were invited in as "peacekeeping troops" to restore order' Lilah replied. 'His people had already been raiding Pylea since our priests there lost control so it wasn't difficult to arrange, I hear coats made of Pylean skin taken during the raids had become quite popular amongst his officers as it happens.'
'But why Pylea?' Hamilton asked.
'Their technology was medieval at best and although they had a warrior culture they were too divided amongst themselves to effectively repulse an invasion, there were racial problems we could exploit, especially between the human population and the demon clans and most importantly it's a way to restore some honour to the Circle membership. The Archduke is extremely pleased with himself, to all intents and purposes he is now the owner of Pylea, and its wealth in terms of slaves and material goods are flowing to him, minus the percentage that I negotiated for Wolfram and Hart of course' Lilah answered. 'Most importantly however we choose Pylea because although it's another realm it's one that will hit our enemies where they live, psychologically anyway' she said. 'Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan is a Pylean native, Winifred Burkle, and by extension Illyria, lived there for several years, Angel, Charles Gunn and Wesley all spent time there during which they organised the overthrow of our rule and Cordelia Chase was an actual Princess there, honest to badness royalty. Trust me' she promised, 'when they find out this will hurt.'
'How exactly are they going to find out?' Hamilton asked. It wasn't like CNN had a branch off-world. Rumour had it that Fox News was in preliminary negotiations of course but the Senior Partners were concerned about Rupert Murdoch muscling in on their territory so that might fall through.
'I was going to email but it seemed impersonal so I asked the Archduke to arrange an appropriate method of communication, I think he was going to send a Pylean head in a box. Certainly in keeping with the communiqué the slayers sent him' Lilah told him.
Hamilton nodded appreciatively. 'Nice touch' he admitted.
Lilah leaned back in her chair. 'We're a multi-dimensional corporation, why not think and act outside the box and take the fight to them where we're strong and they're weak' she asked with a smile. 'Just think of it as opening a second front in the war' she suggested. 'Or if you want something to make the Partners happy point out that we can use Pylea as a springboard for future moves against the slayers here.'
'Yes?' Hamilton queried.
'It's highly doubtful they'll use their threat of nuclear retaliation against a world they think of as under occupation if we use it as a base of operations against them' Lilah pointed out. 'Well Illyria might but the rest of them couldn't justify it' she told him.
'Clever' Hamilton conceded.
'The Senior Partners didn't bring me back from the dead because of my fabulous dress sense' Lilah told him.
Note from the Author:
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