Chapter 11

The alarms were still blaring away inside Angel's cage, the lights still flashing red. He figured he had only maybe moments to act. They would be here soon - god he hoped they would be here soon, to shut off that hideous, wailing noise if nothing else. When they got here, they would want to tie him up more securely - why else would they put motion sensors on a strapped up vampire? They were afraid of him getting loose and wanted to keep him restrained... But that would mean they would have to open the cage door. And he already had one arm free…

If he could just get the rest of himself untied before they got here, so he was free to move when that door opened, then maybe he could make his escape. Spike must have escaped when they opened his door, must have fought his way out of the cells and then found his way through the labyrinthine underground lab to freedom. If Captain Peroxide could do it and Angel couldn't … then he might as well fall on a stake right here and now.

Using his freed right arm he scrabbled at the restraints that bound his left arm and once that was pulled loose he yanked off the ropes that bound him around his waist and then pulled off the ones tying his feet. Then he heard the door slide open electronically. He was just in time. Someone was in here to check. He hastily rearranged his bindings so it looked like he was still tied up and waited…

They appeared by the glass front of his cell, the woman scientist and a handful of meaty soldier types. They stayed in the dark section just beyond the cage - but of course he could see them. And smell them and hear them. He could smell the ever so faint scent of fear, they weren't sure what they were going to find or how this was all about to go down. Losing Spike might have put them on red alert, but he wondered if it had made them wise enough to realise they were in over their heads. Somehow he doubted it.

'Hostile appears contained, Ma'am,' one of the soldiers reported to the woman.

On hearing this, she swiped her card through the electronic reader on the wall and, immediately, the red lights stopped flaring and the godawful siren quit its howl. The silence came as a welcome relief. The cage was now lit with the bright, white light once again.

Better able to see, the humans peered through. Angel kept still and looked away from them; feigning uninterest; trying to look harmless. Come on, he thought to himself. Come on.

And then she said it: 'go in there, check it out. Something set those sensors off. But be careful - tasers at the ready.'

'Yes ma'am.'

The door slid open. Angel held himself still, willing them to get closer - willing the cage to remain open just long enough…

Three soldiers approached him - one ready to check him over, the others covering him with their guns. It was steep odds, but Angel had faced steeper odds in the past. It was just a matter of being quick, moving more quickly than they realised he could.

He let them get closer and closer. Come on, come on.

They were right in front of him, he didn't turn his head to look. He didn't need to - he could smell them well enough to know exactly where they were.

'What do you see?' the woman called through.

'Preliminary findings … the restraints are still in place.'

Angel's hand whipped out so fast it was blurry with speed and seized the soldier by the throat. 'Guess again.'

Buffy and Spike splashed through the sewers, hand in hand. Running was making Buffy's heart beat faster, thrumming the blood through her veins and making her skin warm - bringing out a slight sheen of perspiration. Spike could smell the salt in it, and he could feel her heart and sense the way her blood was up. It was overwhelming him.

'Slayer,' his voice came out as a guttural growl and he tugged on her hand, pulling her back to him and clasping her in his arms. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers - roughly, biting her bottom lip.

She moaned - and then tried to struggle free, 'no - we need to keep go-'

He pushed her against the wall and kissed her more deeply.

'We need to…we need to…' her voice came out in breathy, thready gasps, 'we have to … oh... Spike.'

Xander, Anya, Doyle and Cordy all clattered up the stairs, leaving Giles blind on the couch. 'Willow,' Xander called, 'Will - sweetie…'

They arrived in the bedroom - only to find it empty. Cordelia frowned, looking around. 'I thought you said she was up here,' she said to Xander, her tone held a hint of accusation.

'She was!'

'Well - she's not here. Where is she?'

'Well I don't know that do I?' He made his voice slow and condescending, like she was being stupid.

She didn't take kindly to it. 'You could fill a warehouse with all the things you don't know, Xander Harris.'

'Now now, Cordelia, that's not fair,' Doyle said, giving her a reproving look and flashing an admiring glance at Xander. He caught hold of himself, and cleared his throat uncomfortably, aware of everyone staring at him like he'd gone mad. 'What I mean is...' he cleared his throat again, 'arguin' isn't gonna help us find this Willow girl is it?' He edged a bit closer to Xander … realised what he was doing and tried to edge back the other way.

'She can't have left,' Anya pointed out, 'there's only one door … it's not on it's hinges right now, but there's only one door. She couldn't have got past us.'

'Well, then, maybe she's hiding under the bed,' Cordelia said, sarcastically. Her arms were folded across her chest and she was looking very grumpy about Doyle siding with Xander. Doyle always sided with her. That was what he did. And he didn't even appear to like Xander. Or at least he hadn't until today - now it was like he couldn't get enough of him. Sunnydale had driven him nuts. As if losing Xander to Willow hadn't been humiliating enough, losing Doyle to Xander might just about kill her. She scuffed her feet along the burn mark on the floorboards, 'or maybe she just spontaneously combusted right here.'

'What?' Xander sounded confused.

'The floor - it's burned. You think Giles has been having campfires or some kind of mid life crisis hippy burning man thing right in his room?'

But it was Anya who was frowning now. She pushed her way through to inspect the markings on the floor and seemed to recognise them, because she inhaled sharply and stood back up. 'D'Hoffryn,' she said. 'Bastard. He's opened a portal here. '

'Uh - who's Da Hoff man?' Xander asked, he screwed his face up, 'wait David Hasslehoff was here? And we missed him?'

'No -' she gave him a pitying look. 'D'Hoffryn - he made me a demon 1120 years ago.'

'And he came here and attacked Willow?' Cordelia's expression was somewhere between confused and worried, 'why?'

But Anya was back down on her knees, examining the burn markings. 'I don't believe he did attack her,' she said.

Willow looked around herself. She was in a dark cemetery, completely encircled by demons … though they didn't seem to have any intent to harm her. They just watched her, quietly. She looked back at the demon standing directly in front of her - the leader, or so he seemed. He had huge curling, rams horns and a pointy beard and wore flowing robes. He looked back at her - his eyes were stern. 'You have much anger and pain,' he said to her. 'Your magic is strong but your pain - it's like a scream that pierces dimensional walls. We heard your call.'

Willow shuffled her feet, feeling more embarrassed than scared - she seemed to be here more for a hearty ticking off than some kind of demon orgy human sacrifice thing, with the blood and the gore and the terror. She just wanted to leave… 'I-I'm sorry,' she said, quailing a little beneath the dark and reproachful eyes of the demon. 'I'll try for a quiet rage. Bye.'

She gave a little wave and turned to go. But the demons in the circle closed ranks, drawing tighter together to block her path.

'Our intention is not to quash your potential,' the head demon said to her. She turned back to him, not sure she understood what was going on. He smiled at her, he had sharp little teeth. 'Quite the contrary,' he told her.

The soldier made a little choking, panicking noise as Angel's hand gripped around his throat. There was no need for it, Angel had no actual intention of harming him - not that he didn't sort of want to, these guys deserved what was coming to them and then some: tinkering with life and death like they were gods; playing around in forces they didn't understand; getting in Angel's way when he was sent here to protect Buffy. Yeah that's what he really wanted to make them pay for. But he was a good guy, cursed with a soul, blah blah - he wasn't actually gonna rip this little tin soldier some shiny new holes … but the light of fear in the soldier's eyes, after so many days held hostage, was gratifying to say the least.

He thrust the soldier away from himself, throwing him straight into the commando on his left flank - they both fell down, crashing to the ground like bowling pins. Time to pick up the spare.

He grabbed the gun off the right flanking commando, again his hand blurry with speed and took it from him before he could fire. Outside the cage, he could hear the woman hopelessly yelling and radioing for back up. He twisted this soldier round and then held him against his chest - as a human shield. Sure enough, when the soldiers on the ground detangled themselves and fired their weapons, the bolt of electricity hit the commando instead of Angel. Angel dropped him to the floor, right on top of the others and made a break for the cage door.

The female scientist gave a squeal of terror, as he suddenly loomed up in front of her. Again - after the indignities of the last week - he found her fear very satisfying. But of course, she was in no danger. He simply pulled her clearance card from her pocket and then dashed towards the electronic door.

'Get him,' he heard the woman yell, from behind him. Her voice was wavering with fright and panic - it sounded good to his ears. But his ears also picked up the sound of the soldiers back on their feet, their steps as they left the cage and headed back out to the corridor. Once they had him in sight, they would fire - it would be over…

He put on another burst of speed and ran in zig zags, making himself harder to hit. And then he was by the door. He swiped the card, there was a beep and the light flashed green … and it seemed like an eternity, but the door slid open and then he was through.

The door closed behind him, trapping the others inside the secure containment unit. And Angel found himself out in the inspection pit. He stared around at it open mouthed, it was larger by far than he had suspected, now he had a good view of it. And it was busy: scientists working on demon specimens, soldiers riding around on little golf carts with their guns, and all the other demons trapped in cages of their own - stretching away down miles and miles of corridor.

There was a sudden pounding sound behind him which made him jump. The scientist and the soldiers were at the door, hammering to get out - trapped inside, now Angel had the clearance card. He couldn't just stay here and wait to get caught - he needed to run.

The sun was setting, as the four of them made their way through the cemetery. 'I'd been dumped, I was miserable - doing a few vengeance spells … boils on the penis, nothing fancy…' Anya was explaining to the rest.

Xander and Doyle exchanged a horrified glance. 'Please skip ahead,' Xander said.

'D'Hoffryn got wind of me. He offered to elevate me.'

Cordelia wrinkled her nose, 'what does that mean?'

'He made me a demon.'

'Why would you choose to become a demon? Aren't they all gross and slimy? Who in their right minds would want anything to do with demons?' Cordy glanced at Doyle, she had her arm slid through his. 'Am I right?'

'Uh … yeah.' He felt the familiar pang of guilt, along with a kick of disappointment as he agreed with her words, listened to her disgust for what he was ... and did nothing to correct her. Although the usual pain he felt every time she ragged on demons was muffled somewhat by his sudden and uncontrollable attraction to Xander. If things didn't get fixed soon, he might never need to tell her - either he was doomed to pine away for another man until she gave up on him in exasperation, or he'd just out himself as a demon when he lost all control and started humping Xander's leg.

They needed to fix this fast - but it seemed like all progress was always one step forwards two steps back. Currently they were headed for a crypt where Anya said she would be able to summon her old boss, D'Hoffryn. Then they would need D'Hoffryn to give them Willow back. Then Willow would have to break the spell. Then they would need to locate Buffy and then - and only then - would they be ready to start looking for Angel again. Today had been so crazy, and his senses were so overwhelmed with Xander, that Doyle was having trouble even remembering what they had come to Sunnydale for.

There was a sudden growling behind them. They all turned to look - a demon was stalking towards them, headed straight for Xander. 'Oh man,' Xander groaned, shoving Anya behind him. He glanced at Doyle, 'you got my back?'

'Oh yeah.'

This time, the glance was more than a little confused. But he didn't have time to get into the sudden weirdness of Short Round, and threw a punch at the demon. There was a crunch, and then he retracted his fist, wincing. The demon kept on coming. Doyle jumped forward and headbutted it, but it only growled louder, and threw the Irishman to the ground. It advanced on the others, reaching out a scaly arm to grab at Cordelia.

She shrieked and snapped out her leg, reflexively. Her foot made contact with the demon's groin and she felt something soft go squish. She shrieked again. But the demon grunted and doubled over. Doyle scrabbled back to his feet, grabbed the demon by the shoulders - as it was still bent in pain - and kneed it in the face. It tumbled to the ground and the group started to back away. But then another demon appeared from behind a crypt, once more headed straight for them - and the little gang realised they were not going to stop coming, not as long as Willow's spell still held, and soon they would be outnumbered.

'Run!' Xander shouted and - with yet another shriek from Cordy - they all turned tail and fled.

Riley and his team had followed the trace signals all through the town and had finally arrived at a small apartment complex. 'Scanner's going wild,' Graham said. 'Safe to say, Hostile 17 has been here.'

They walked through into the little courtyard - and that was when they saw the demon bodies piled up by the fountain. 'Or something's been here. Something went down here, alright,' Forrest said.

'This doesn't make any sense,' Riley frowned around at the dead demons and the clear signs of the struggle. He crouched down to investigate the spade sticking through the neck of one demon. 'Why would HSTs come right into human territory like this? And who would know how to kill them?'

'You think maybe they killed each other?' Forrest suggested.

'Maybe,' he got back to his feet, 'but it still doesn't make any sense.'

'Check this out,' Graham called to them, he was standing by the door to an apartment - the door was off its hinges and just propped up in the doorway. 'I think this might be our ground zero.'

Riley and Forrest examined the door. 'You think they were trying to get in here? Or get out of here? I swear - this whole thing ain't right.'

'Only one way to find out,' Riley looked around at his team, 'weapons at the ready - but beware any civilians.'

With a glance around the courtyard to check they were unobserved, they took off their knapsacks, took out their guns and assembled them and then - on Riley's nod, they went through into the darkened apartment, weapons raised.

They ran through it, Riley checking out the main living area, Graham headed down the corridor to check out the bathroom and Forrest taking the stairs. Everything seemed quiet. Riley took out his flashlight and shone it around.

There was a sudden cry from the sofa and a middle aged man sat up. 'What's going on - who's there?'

'Sorry sir, it's...' Riley lowered his gun, trying to hide it, 'we're from the … Wildlife Department, there's been reports of a bear in the area.'

'Who are you? What's going on? Who are you?' The man wasn't focusing on Riley, and when Riley shone his torch onto the man's face he saw the blankness of his eyes and the confusion on his face. The man was blind. 'I'm sorry to disturb you, sir,' he said, breathing a sigh of relief that their weapons had not been spotted. 'Your front door is hanging off its hinges, is everything OK? Have you been attacked? Are you hurt?'

'Bloody hell - get out of my house.'

There was a noise on the stair, and Forrest appeared, 'nothing up there,' he said.

'Just the old man down here,' Riley told him - shining his flashlight on the blind man.

'Old - not so bloody old I can't take you over my knee,' the man sounded deeply offended and more than a little pissed off.

The soldiers looked at each other. 'He's dazed and confused - but I don't think he's hurt,' Riley said.

Graham arrived back in the living room. 'He may not be hurt - but he had a lucky escape.' He held up his scanner. 'His bathroom? Awash with trace signals of vampire class HST. I think Hostile 17 was here.'

'What?' Forrest sounded disbelieving, 'he just popped by to use this guy's John and then left?'

'We should question him.' Riley went into the living room and sat down on the edge of the coffee table. 'Sir? Sir?' He kept his voice gentle, not wanting to startle the blind man. 'We're looking for a man - a little below average height, peroxide blonde hair, black coat. We have reason to think he's been close by. Have you seen him?'

'Riley,' Forrest rolled his eyes. 'Stevie Wonder, here, didn't see anything.'

'Oh - right. Sir, did you let somebody into your house? Was there a man here? Maybe in your bathroom?'

'Get out of my house,' the blind man said - sounding even more pissed off. Riley looked up at the rest of his team. 'He doesn't know anything.'

'Either that or he's covering.'

'Maybe we should take him with us - for further questioning.'

On the sofa, the blind man snorted. 'I'd like to see you bloody well try.'

Forrest was losing patience. He shook his head. 'He's harmless, and he doesn't know anything. If Hostile 17 was here - he isn't any more, we need to get moving.'

'Move where?' They had reached the end of the line, followed the trace all the way to the end only to find nothing. They were out of leads.

But Graham was still looking at his scanner. 'He was here - and recently. Which means he left when the sun was still up. And if he left here in daylight hours…' he left his sentence hanging.

Riley swung his flashlight around so it was pointing out of the door, illuminating the manhole cover at the other side of the courtyard, 'then he went down into the sewers,' he finished up.

Buffy's hands slid up under Spike's shirt, she hadn't stopped kissing him for so long she was breathless. Her skin was hot and her heart was pounding. 'We need to …mmmm,' she broke off to kiss him again, 'we gotta move.' She kissed him again.

'Uhuh,' he kept on kissing her, 'we're moving.'

'Yeah,' she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she pulled herself away. 'No we have to. We have to meet up with the others.'

With great determination, she forced herself away - took hold of Spike's hand and began to drag him down the sewer tunnels. 'We said we'd meet up on campus. They'll be expecting us.'

'Let them wait,' he tried to draw her in for another kiss. But she pushed him off. 'No - get off honey - no…' She started walking again. 'We need to save Angel, remember?'

'Oh - right.' He came to a dead stop. He sounded pissy.

She turned to look at him, 'what?'

'Nothing.'

'Spike.'

'No - it's fine. We're getting married and all you care about is running off after your ex. So that's how it's gonna be is it? That's what I have to look forward to? ...I won't be second fiddle to the great forehead.'

'Second fiddle? Spike - this is insane.'

'Oh - so I'm insane now am I? Nice to know where we stand.'

'What is this?' She was getting angry now, 'what are you doing?'

'What am I doing? Oh that's rich. Here you are, on a mission to protect and serve Angel breath and I'm the one that's causing the fuss? You better fit me for some antlers 'cause you're stitching me up like a proper cuckold.'

'A cuckold?' her voice was getting dangerous.

'Yeah - and I won't put up with it. If this is how it's gonna be, mooning over Angel.'

'mooning?'

'If you're still in love with Angel - maybe we should just call this whole thing off!'

'Is that what you want?' She shrieked. 'Do you really believe I still love Angel?' She took the death's head ring from her finger and threw it back at him. 'Fine!' She began to cry. 'Maybe we should call this whole thing off. Because if you think I could still love Angel, that I could ever love a man as much as I love you - then you are clearly not as committed to this relationship as I am. You're my everything - my whole world, my every thought - I love you so much it scares me, Spike … but if you don't feel the same way…' She broke down into floods of noisy tears, her wails echoed off the curving tunnels.

...

Jumping down into the sewers, the commandos were met by a distant, eldritch wailing sound. 'You hear that?' Riley asked. 'Something's down here.'

The scanner in Graham's hand lit up, 'yeah - and by the look of the signals, that thing is Hostile 17.' They began to walk down the tunnels, following both the trace scanner and the unearthly sobbing sound.

Forrest was frowning. 'OK - this place is a slime pit, I get why he's down here … but why is he doing all that screeching?'

...

Buffy had covered her face with both hands and her shoulders were heaving as she sobbed out her grief. Spike was looking awkward and more than a little guilty. 'Look, pet - I'm sorry.'

She continued to sob. 'I can't believe you're breaking up with me.'

'I -' not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her. 'I didn't mean it - I'm sorry.'

'You still love me?' She sniffled a little, trying to stifle her tears and looked up at him, hopeful.

Instead of answering, he just kissed her. After a moment, the kiss got deeper - and then hotter - and then heavier. Buffy's skin was on fire again and her hands were moving around on his body, groping at his flesh. 'Oh - Spike…' she murmured, losing herself in the moment, before remembering her duty once again '… we need to get moving.'