(1/9/2017) Had to fix a couple of plot holes. Forgot that Spike & Co. were holed up in a factory and not a warehouse. Also forgot about the Colt. Fixed that in chapter 22. My bad on both.
Giles and Jo are generally jovial when joking with jerks. Hah! Tongue twisting fun.
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As they were leaving The Bronze (after realizing that their endeavor of trying to find clues to Jo's whereabouts was fruitless), Buffy's phone rang. Her eyes widened at the caller ID. "Sam?"
The others came to an abrupt halt as Buffy took the call. "We're still here …It's okay, I know, I underst— …What? …Just walk away, okay? Don't do anything! …I don't know! Sit on your hands or something! …Where are you exactly? …Okay, we'll be right there." Buffy snapped her phone shut. "Sam blacked out again. He's got Jo and Giles tied up in a warehouse. Dean, he thinks he might kill them."
"Sammy, Goddamnit," Dean muttered. "Let's go."
Xander planted himself in front of the siblings with his palms out. "Whoa, whoa!"
"Get out of my way, kid," snarled Dean.
"Just hear me out, okay?" When Buffy's eldest brother pulled his handgun and pointed it at the boy, hammer cocked, Xander added, "And afterwards, get me some new underwear."
"Dean," Buffy cautioned. Her brother dropped his arm.
"Look," Xander continued, "the exact same time that Angel goes all Dark Side, Sam does too? Doesn't that seem a little too coincidental to anyone?"
"Hey, yeah," Willow said as comprehension dawned upon her. "I mean, unless there's some big ol' bad guy making thingie going around shoving evil down everyone's throats—"
"Fuck!" Dean suddenly cursed. He blasted out a few more obscenities before denting the side of a trash bin with his foot.
"Feel better?" Buffy asked irritably.
"Yes," her brother replied. "I know what's wrong with Sam."
Giles fought to open his eyes. His face was throbbing where Sam had struck it and he assumed that a spectacular bruise was blossoming on his cheek. When his vision finally cleared he was met with the sight of a tattooed hand reaching for his chest. The Watcher recoiled and found himself unable to move past a few inches; his arms were bound tightly behind him and his back had been pressed against a scratchy wooden post.
"Hey!" shouted a disturbingly familiar voice. "Hands off dinner."
The man reaching for Giles blinked, his eyes going black. So. This must be the Judge. The Watcher racked his brain for any small detail in the tomes he'd read that pertained to the demonic Knight hoping that there was anything that had mentioned a weakness of some sort. Nothing, unfortunately, came to mind.
"Sinners such as this belong in Hell," growled the Judge as he straightened. "It is the will of God that I bring souls down for divine punishment."
Angelus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, you take this one too early and Buffy doesn't get to watch. So wait." The Judge scowled and walked regally away.
"Can't blame him," came the voice of Sam Winchester. "I mean, you said he fried a couple of your vamps, but how long has it been since he got a genuine human soul to mess with?"
As Sam and Angelus merrily speculated over what sorts of tortures the librarian would have to endure in Hell, Giles felt a finger brush his wrist. Had he not already been frightened nearly witless he would have screamed. "Giles?"
It was Jo. "Oh, thank heaven," the Watcher breathed. "I'm so glad you're alive."
"Yeah, but for how much longer?"
"Long enough," Angelus said, almost pleasantly. He crouched in front of the Watcher and gave him a smirk. "Hey, Giles. How you doing, huh?" At his victim's obstinance, the vampire patted the man's cheek. It would have been a gentle gesture if the creature had not been striking the same area that Sam had so recently acquainted with his fist. Giles was unable to stifle a gasp at the pain.
"Leave him alone!" Jo cried.
"Aw, don't be so impatient Jo-Jo. You'll get yours soon enough."
Furious, Giles made a desperate attempt to free himself. The lasciviousness of Angelus' threat was blatant. Watchers who had recorded the vampire's proclivities as he'd cut a terrifying swath through Europe were clear that many of his female victims had been subject to much more than mere death. One such example was leering madly several feet away.
"Do you like doggies?" Drusilla asked Jo. "I keep hearing them growl." She gave a gruff of her own before smiling maliciously at the blonde young woman. "They don't like you, not at all."
Most of Drusilla's ramblings could be passed off as the machinations of a shattered mind, but this statement had Sam snapping his gaze towards her and narrowing his eyes. In an attempt to cover his trepidation with bravado, Giles calmly threw at the madwoman, "I fail to find any significance in your lunatic ravings."
With preternatural speed Drusilla was in front of him, her face demonically warped. She gripped Giles' chin and let out the animalistic snarl the creatures were uniquely capable of as she wrenched the Watcher's head to one side. Gleefully and gracefully Drusilla snaked in and ran her fangs in an almost sensual manner over his neck.
Giles struggled futilely against his bonds and cursed at her, "Get off me, you bloody—ahh!"
Drusilla's grip had tightened. Giles could feel his teeth crowding and crunching together. "Do you want to know a secret?" she purred into the Watcher's ear. "No matter what they do, the righteous man shall die. Screaming. Bleeding. Terrified."
The mad vampire leaned away, her face reverted to that of the beautiful human girl she'd once been. She stood and spun girlishly into Sam's arms. As Drusilla lured Buffy's younger brother into an impromptu ballroom waltz, Giles spun her words in his head over and over in an attempt to make sense of her disjointed ramblings. Dogs. The righteous man. A horrific death. Dogs. The righteous man.
Suddenly it clicked. Giles felt the horror set deeply into his bones. He was unable to keep it from his face.
And when his reaction was spotted by the malevolent couple whirling about in a stately manner, their laughter filled the room.
The van screeched to a halt in front of the warehouse Sam had directed them to. Its occupants spilled forth and peered about. Faded signs told passerby that it had once been a storage facility for the local cannery. Poor management and the subsequent closing of its parent business had led to the building's current derelict state.
Buffy frowned up at the washed out lettering on the door. "Same company as the factory."
"At least we know we're in the right place," said Xander. "Where do you want your gift?"
"Get it ready and have it close by." She looked worriedly at her friends and then at her brother. "I don't want you guys in there."
"Fine by me," said Cordelia.
"But why?" asked Willow.
"Oh, don't give me any of this crap," Dean groused. "You really think you'll be walking out of there if you go in alone?"
"You most of all shouldn't go," Buffy shot back. "Dean, if you get killed—"
"For fuck's sake!" her brother shouted as he loomed over her. "I could have died a dozen times before now on the road and I'm still standing. Sammy's in there, so cut the shit and let's get on with the rescue."
Buffy considered kicking Dean in the shin. That was always the best way to respond to her eldest brother's outbursts. However, the strength of the kick she wanted to bestow might cripple him and that just wouldn't do with a battle ahead. With great aplomb she spun on her heel and stalked towards the warehouse entrance.
Upon arrival the Slayer looked about and found a metal staircase off to one side. The door up top was, presumably, locked. "Dean," she whispered, "unlock that and see what's in there." Her brother gave a curt nod and stole quickly and quietly up the steps. As he worked, Buffy risked sidling over to a window and peeping in.
From what she could see Giles and Jo were on the floor bound on opposite sides of the same support beam. The glass was too warped to discern their exact condition, but when Jo shifted her leg Buffy gave a small sigh of relief. Giles was most definitely still alive as well; Buffy was well versed in his body language. Right now, the stiffness of his neck and spine spoke of contempt.
The objects of the Watcher's scorn were chatting casually across from him. Sam was sitting on a storage crate while Angelus whispered in his ear. The two of them burst into depraved laughter a moment later. Buffy's heart broke a little as she listened; neither the man she loved nor the brother she adored had ever sounded so malicious.
"Hey," Dean whispered as he approached at a crouch. "Door's unlocked. Second floor's a balcony that goes all the way around."
"Perfect."
The double doored entryway to the warehouse banged open. A stake wielding Buffy and a gun toting Dean marched in determinedly, their sights directly on Sam and the serrated blade he held. The middle sibling's face contorted in anguish as he brandished his weapon towards his brother and sister. "I begged you to stop me, Dean!" Sam cried. "Now two of our friends are going to die because you couldn't do what was necessary!"
"Put the knife down, damnit!" Dean barked. He pointed the barrel of his pistol at his brother.
Buffy was immediately on alert once she realized that the vampires and the Judge were nowhere to be found. Deeply apprehensive, she nudged her brother's foot with her own in order to catch his attention.
Sam, however, monopolized both of his siblings' attention when he loudly proclaimed, "I told you I can't fight it! Who's going to die next because of me? Bobby? Joyce? Kill me, or I'm going to kill someone. Please," he moaned, tears in his eyes, "You'd be doing me a favor. Shoot me." Sam spread his arms and walked towards Dean. "Shoot me!"
Seemingly horrified by the prospect, the eldest brother stepped back and lowered his gun. Sam continued walking forward… and was suddenly inundated by a deluge from above. He howled as if burned, and when he snapped his gaze back up to his siblings his eyes had filmed over with black.
Grimly satisfied that his suspicions had been confirmed, Dean snarled, "That's holy water, you demonic son of a bitch!"
After jerking unnaturally, Sam bared his teeth at his brother. When he lifted his hand, ostensibly to utilize some infernal power, another bucketful of holy water rained down.
Blinded, the demon in Sam couldn't see Dean rushing over to free Giles and Jo. He was also unable to prevent Buffy from landing a flying spin kick on his chin.
As the Slayer distracted her younger brother by pummeling him, Dean swiftly sawed through the ropes constraining their captured friends. "He was possessed?" Jo asked incredulously.
Absorbed by the strange look he was getting from Giles, Dean failed to answer. The young woman forgave his rudeness a moment later when she spotted the Judge cresting a stack of shipping containers. Angelus and Drusilla flanked him, both grinning in gleeful anticipation of what was to come.
With a broad gesture, Buffy, along with Giles and Jo, was swept away from Sam. The three went flying across the room, landing heavily on the floor near the warehouse entrance. The Judge waved his hand again and Dean was lifted from his feet and rammed into a wall.
Dazed by the impact, the hunter was taken by surprise when Sam's fist crashed into his cheek. Another blow followed. And another. And another.
As Sam mercilessly beat on his brother, a third deluge rained down upon the Judge and his two vampiric attendants. Angelus and Drusilla cried out and fled as their flesh sizzled, but the Judge merely winced before setting his gaze upwards at the source of the liquid armament.
"Uh-oh," Willow murmured. Oz pulled her aside as the Judge flung one of the shipping crates at their perch. The couple, along with a shrieking Cordelia, fled for the exit.
A crossbow quarrel imbedded into the Judge's shoulder. Contemptuously, the demon pulled it free and set his now black eyes on Buffy. "You are a fool. No weapon forged can stop me."
"That was then," said the Slayer as she dropped the crossbow and hoisted the rocket launcher that Xander had carefully set behind her. "This is now."
Upon seeing the weapon Angelus grabbed a wailing Drusilla and sprinted for the back exit. The Judge, however, frowned in confusion as Buffy primed and aimed. "What's that do?"
The Slayer fired.
The impact made the entire building shudder, and the ensuing fires were immediately doused by the automatic sprinkler system. All that remained of the Judge were chunks of tattooed flesh strewn liberally about the room.
Dean was given a momentary reprieve as the explosion caused Sam to stumble. The hunter made a a weak attempt to stand as the demon caustically said down at him, "You know when people want to describe the worse possible thing? They say it's like Hell. You know there's a reason for that. Hell is like, um…" Sam struck Dean again. "Well, it's like Hell. Even for demons." The hunter found himself being lifted into the air by his lapels. "It's a prison, made of bone and flesh and blood and fear. And you sent me back there."
"Meg," Dean growled in recognition.
"No, now I'm Sam." The demon wrapped one and then the other of Dean's brother's hands around the hunter's neck and squeezed. "You know, whatever I do to you, it's nothing compared to what you do to yourself, is it?" Sam grinned cruelly. "I can see it in your eyes, Dean. You're worthless. You couldn't save your dad, you couldn't save your brother, and you won't be able to save your sister."
"Who says I need saving?"
Sam whirled around and his face met Buffy's fist. He dropped Dean, who fell hard on his side, and went staggering into a crate. The demon grinned as he regained his feet, his eyes going black. "The Slayer a Winchester. Who would have thought it was possible?"
"Well, seeing as how I'm a Summers I get how that might be confusing."
"You might think you're different from them, but you're not. You've got the same the same stupid urge to be a hero, the same willingness to sacrifice yourself for your pathetic family, and you're going to end the same: young and bloody."
"You done talking?" Buffy asked, annoyed. She pulled a damp slip of paper from her pocket and began chanting. "Because now it's my turn to speak. Exorcizamus te, Omnis Immundus Spiritus, Omnis Satanica Potestas…"
The demon twitched unnaturally. He bared his teeth in a snarl and reached into Sam's jacket to withdraw a blade. Already wary, Buffy prepared to leap out of the way but found the knife thrown past her. When she whipped around she found Dean leaning against a support beam with the blade buried in his belly. He slid down while clutching the wound, his back against the wood.
Buffy's instinctive desire to go to his side was stymied when her other brother let out a hoarse scream. Horrified, she watched a plume of black smoke stream from his mouth, swirl about in the wet air, and fly out the door. Sam then fell back onto the crates and was still.
Satisfied that nothing more untoward was going to happen to her younger brother, Buffy rushed over to help Dean. His expression of disbelief was blurred by the bruises and lacerations on his face. "Dean?" Buffy asked worriedly. "Dean? Say something!"
"Ow," her brother managed to drag out.
Sam came hurrying over, terror and confusion writ large in his eyes. "What the hell is going on?" he knelt down and catalogued Dean's injuries. "Oh God."
With a surge of strength the eldest sibling took one blood smeared fist and planted a right hook on his brother's face. Sam fell backwards and palmed his cheek, dumbfounded, as Dean finally succumbed to his injuries.
Sam fumbled inside his jacket pocket for his phone and found that it had fallen victim to the sprinklers. "Mine works," Buffy said when she checked her own. "I'm going outside. Don't go anywhere," she ordered vehemently.
Sam nodded gravely as Buffy ran for the exit. She dialed 911 as she went and gave the operator a half-concocted explanation of the events leading to Dean's injuries. A quiet chuckle came from behind as she snapped her phone closed. The Slayer spun towards the sound and a fist cracked against her cheek.
Leering, Angelus stalked a few steps away as Buffy staggered. "You know what the worst part was?" the vampire spat. "Pretending I loved you. If I'd known how easily you'd give it up, I wouldn't have bothered."
Buffy pulled herself up and glared vehemently. "That doesn't work anymore. You're not Angel."
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? Doesn't matter. The important thing is," he added mockingly, "you made me the man I am today."
Angelus followed his triumphant declaration with a punch straight at Buffy's nose. She ducked and leaned, then planted a punch of her own into the monster's jaw. He reeled backwards and the Slayer had the perfect moment to reach into her jacket for her stake, dust him, and end the madness… and she couldn't.
No matter what he said or what he did, Angelus wore Angel's face. And she still loved him, God help her.
The vampire realized the reason behind Buffy's hesitation at the same time that she did. With renewed vigor, Angelus let loose a bestial snarl and rushed at her. He managed to grab a fistful of her damp lapels and throw her as far as his preternatural strength would allow.
Buffy's back hit hard against the chain link fence that surrounded the property before she dropped to the ground. She reached out and locked her fingers into the crisscrossing metal as Angelus swaggered towards her.
"Not quitting on me already, are you?" the vampire wondered arrogantly. "Come on, Buffy. You know you want it."
Incensed, the Slayer ignored the cuts she earned from slivers of jutting metal and used her handhold to shove herself to her feet. She immediately spun and kicked the unprepared vampire in the chest. The resulting few reeling steps backwards gave Buffy enough time to give Angelus a jaw-cracking right hook. She followed it up by grabbing a large handful of his hair and smashing his face into the warehouse wall.
The vampire groaned before flopping over and shaking his head. Buffy finally drew her stake… and hesitated once again.
Malevolently amused, Angelus gave a short chuckle. "You can't do it," he taunted. "You can't kill me."
With great vengeance the Slayer lifted not her stake, but her foot, and stomped down on the vampire's genitals.
"Give me time," Buffy said quietly.
Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episodes "Innocence" (BtVS 2.14) and "Born Under a Bad Sign" (SPN 2.14).
