(5/6/2017) I kept rewriting how this was going to go because, you know, I made things all difficult on myself by forming pretty much a whole new scenario. Now it's just super long.
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The thing in Cordelia stretched, grotesquely flaunting the young girl's form, before blinking her eyes back to their normal brown. Xander, who had been standing closest, shuffled quickly away from his girlfriend's body. "Oh, lover," the demon purred, "come back. There's so much of this body that you haven't seen yet."
Cordelia's tongue flicked out and licked her lips. "I'm going to barf," Xander said as he grabbed a stake from the table.
"Get out of her," Dean snarled as he withdrew Ruby's knife from an inside jacket pocket.
The demon chuckled and began walking towards the door. "Or what? You'll kill me? You'd kill your sister's friend just to get to little old me? She's still in here, you know, all screaming and yelling like the bitch she is."
"What do you want?" Buffy demanded.
"Oh, nothing really," she said blithely. "I was just sent here to pass along a message. By the way, Ruby," she continued as she waved Cordelia's finger back and forth, "you've been very naughty. Lilith told me to tell you that you're due for a spanking."
Ruby backed up a few steps, her widened eyes searching futilely for an escape, as the other demon laughed. Footsteps thumped down the stairs as the two demons who had broken in through the second floor window descended. "Now," said Cordelia as she focused her grin on Buffy, "the message is for you."
"Me? Why me?"
"Your lover-boy, Angelus? He's got other things to do than worry about some one night stand who keeps trying to kill him. He wants it done."
Buffy clenched her teeth. "Where?"
"Pine Grove Cemetery."
"When?"
"Now."
Buffy and her brothers exchanged bewildered glanced. "Why now?" asked Sam.
"Because here's the deal." The demon bent Cordelia's lips in the same smirk the girl used when she had thought of something particularly nasty to say. "The Slayer goes. Cordelia lives. And as a bonus, Dean doesn't spend his last few hours enjoying a preview of what he's going to experience in the Pit."
One of the other demons, currently riding a middle-aged fatherly looking figure, pulled a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at Cordelia's head. When Buffy deigned to answer, he pulled the hammer.
"Okay!" Buffy shouted. "Okay. I'll go."
"What?" Dean snapped. "Screw that!"
"Did I forget to mention?" Cordelia wondered slyly. "We've got demons watching Joyce, too."
Buffy stifled the scream she wanted to loose. She then ignored her eldest brother (who was busy carrying on a hushed, profanity laden argument with her younger brother), turned, and moved closer to her Watcher. "Do the curse," she whispered. He nodded back, grimly.
Sam finally managed to interrupt Dean by slamming a hand onto the other hunter's mouth. He then demanded, "And what are the rest of us supposed to do?"
"Wait," said Cordelia's demon with a smile. "Have some nice, peaceful last moments with big bro there."
Buffy tightened her grip on the stake in her hand. She whirled on Dean and told him, "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."
"Not planning on it," he answered.
"Good." With a last furious glower for the demon, Buffy marched to the front door and yanked it open. She walked out and down the street without looking back.
Dean lunged after his sister, a move Sam had been expecting. He used all of his advantage in height to grab his brother's shoulders and force him into the nearest seat. "Don't."
Sullen silence answered. Sam turned towards Giles, knowing that Buffy had said something significant, and lifted his eyebrows. The Watcher was cleaning his glasses, but, in the guise of replacing them, faced pointedly at the kitchen where Willow had fastidiously prepped the soul cleansing curse. They exchanged a nearly imperceptible nod.
Now all they had to do was overcome three demons, prevent the horde of monsters outside from coming in, locate Lilith and force her to repeal Dean's deal, and then prevent Acathla from opening. All in the next two and a half hours.
Sam sighed. No big deal.
An inordinate number of people were out at night doing things that would almost have been normal; watering begonias, clipping hedges, chatting amiably at the borders of their houses. Except not only were these were daytime activities, but each and every one of her neighbors made Buffy's skin crawl in a way that they never had before.
Demons, every one of them.
Well, at least she knew. And there, across the street from her house, was Mrs. Singh, sitting peacefully on her front porch. Buffy shivered when between one glance and the next, her elderly Indian neighbor had gained black eyes. The woman smirked, an expression the shy homemaker had never worn, before focusing pointedly at Buffy's living room window.
Buffy paused a moment. Her mother was sitting on the couch, her hair haloed by the light from the television, waiting patiently for her daughter to come home from a study session with her big brother. The teenaged girl thought how comforting it would be to stop in for a moment, let warm arms wrap themselves around her, and have someone tell her that everything was going to be all right.
She shook her head, dispelling the fantasy. No, the only way this night would end on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and matronly affection would be if they could stop Angelus and Lilith. Buffy walked on.
The cemetery wasn't far, but she hurried nonetheless. Dean's time was short; according to her phone it was just past ten. It was far past time for this mistake to be rectified; sparing Angelus had been a gross error in judgement. In the interim, he'd killed an unknown number of innocents including Giles' beloved Jenny Calendar. Now there would be no holding back. The Angel Buffy had known was gone.
She just hoped she could see through the face of the man she loved in order to slay the monster that was underneath.
"Are we really just going to sit here?" Xander hissed.
"No," Giles replied irritably. "We are trying to think of a way to do something without getting everyone killed."
After Buffy's departure the group settled down to wait. The dining table had only four chairs so Xander, Willow, and Ruby made do on the floor. Cordelia's demon lounged on the stairs while the other two blocked the front door. Their weapons had been confiscated and split evenly between the three creatures. The one who was charged with Ruby's knife grimaced in disgust before stuffing it into his jacket pocket.
"We need a distraction," Bobby whispered. "Then you lot can get in there and get the ball rolling."
"I say Ruby gets naked," Xander suggested eagerly.
"No," said the demon.
"I could get naked," the teenaged boy offered. The others made hushed denials with varying degrees of disgust.
After having been silent since his sister's exit, Dean finally uttered, "Fuck it," and stood up. He headed for the hallway and was immediately intercepted by one of the demons. "I need to piss," the hunter said.
When the demon remained in his way, Dean began fumbling at his zipper. "Okay, well, don't say I didn't warn you…"
"Oh for—" came Cordelia's voice, "just take him! Don't let him out of your sight."
Dean zipped back up and threw a smirk at his chaperone. He then walked towards the bathroom down the hallway.
Sam and Bobby exchanged knowing looks. "Get ready," the elder hunter mumbled.
Luckily, the demon that followed Dean was the one with the Kurdish dagger. After unzipping, the hunter lingered over the bowl. "It ain't coming if you're watching," he told his guard.
Dean gleefully watched the thing roll its eyes and turn around. He then gave several gratified moans while he urinated, much to the discomfort of the demon. The vocalizations hid the hunter's shuffling feet as, without interrupting his errand, Dean turned slowly towards his escort.
When moisture started pattering against his pants, the demon looked down, confused. Upon realizing the cause, he swiveled around angrily. Dean promptly planted his fist in the creature's face. He then reached swiftly into his opponent's jacket, yanked out Ruby's knife, and slammed it between two of the demon's ribs.
Hellish power illuminated the host's bones and highlighted the horrid visage that was the demon's true form. Fleetingly Dean hoped the man hadn't been anyone close to either Buffy or Joyce, but with barely an hour and a half to spare he wasn't about to quibble over such niceties. He stuffed himself back into his pants and tightened his belt before sneaking back down the way they'd come.
The demon in Cordelia was pacing, her face scrunched up with impatience, while the other demon was flipping a stake and looking bored. "Ugh!" grunted Cordelia. "How long does it take for a guy to pee?"
As if on cue, Dean lunged forward and plunged Ruby's blade into the side of the secondary demon. He let the body drop and grinned. "Didn't wash my hands. Sorry."
Cordelia's lips bent down in a grimace. "You wouldn't hurt this body."
"Lady, I'm heading downstairs in the next ninety minutes. You wanna come along for the ride?"
The demon considered a few moments more. It then wrenched Cordelia's mouth open and poured forth as she screamed. As the girl collapsed on the floor, the plume of black smoke stuffed itself into the unused fireplace and vanished.
"She okay?" Sam asked as Xander rushed to check on his girlfriend.
"Yeah," the boy said, relieved. "Just out."
"Go," Dean told Willow. She nodded and headed into the kitchen, Giles on her heels.
"We gotta fortify that room," Bobby warned. As Xander and Ruby shouldered Cordelia's limp form and followed Willow, Dean grabbed a spare can of spray paint from under the table. Sam shuffled through the dead demon's body and reclaimed their guns and ammo.
The three hunters hurried into the kitchen where Willow was lighting candles and Ruby was prepping ingredients. Giles was flipping through a book looking for the proper chant, while muttering to himself. At the same time, Sam grabbed a bag of salt from the cupboard and covered the window sills and doorways. Dean reloaded their guns and Bobby sprayed devil's traps around every conceivable surface. Weaponry was passed out just as the first body slammed against the door that led to the backyard.
Sam and Dean braced themselves against the door. "Can they get in?" the elder brother shouted over the noise.
Bobby fired his shotgun into the open living room doorway. "Hope not," he answered.
On the floor, Cordelia stirred. "What happened?"
"Demon," Xander said.
She sat up abruptly. "Uh oh."
"What?" groused Dean.
"I remember some stuff. Like about the house."
"What house?" asked Sam. "This one?"
"Yeah." She threw a frightened glance at the window and then at the door. "Ruby owns it, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"She's not a person."
The brothers glanced at one another, then looked at Giles. "Dear Lord," said the Watcher. "I hadn't thought of that."
"What?" asked Bobby before firing again.
"Vampires cannot enter human dwellings without invitation. Except this isn't a human's dwelling."
"And you three bozos don't think this is really home," Cordelia told the hunters.
"Crap," Dean cursed as a vampire crashed through the kitchen window.
Buffy had been walking around the graveyard aimlessly for what felt like forever. Finally, frustrated, she threw up her hands and dropped them. "I don't appreciate being stood up!" she cried into the darkness.
"Oh, lover," Angelus purred as he rounded a mausoleum. "You know I would never leave you hanging."
"Shouldn't you be trying to activate Wiz Khalifa or whatever his name is?"
"Well, I came to say goodbye." The vampire affected a mournful mien. "You are the one thing on Earth that I actually will miss."
"This is a beautiful moment we're having," growled Buffy. "Can we please fight?"
"Gosh." Angelus widened his eyes dramatically. "I was hoping we could get back together. What do you think? Do we have a shot?" After receiving a scornful look, the vampire answered himself. "No? Okay, let's fight."
They'd dusted who knew how many vampires and had killed at least one demon before the flow of enemies stopped. The ritual of restoration had been halted while its conjurers were fending off invaders. Xander had actually dusted two on his own. In the current lull, Giles and Willow sat back down and began to chant. "Not of the dead, nor not of the living," the girl began.
"Hi, Dean!" a child's voice called. The named hunter shuffled towards the shattered window panes and looked out. Sam, Xander, and Bobby joined him.
"Who…?" asked the younger brother.
Dean swallowed. "Her face, that little girl… it's Lilith."
"Are you sure?"
"Silly goose," Lilith said with a grin. "Of course it's me! And it's almost time to give me what's mine."
"Back off, bitch!" Dean shouted.
Lilith pouted. "Auntie Dru," the demon whined into the darkness. "he said a bad word."
Drusilla emerged, her mad eyes gleaming in anticipation. She took Lilith's small hand and smiled down at her. "It's all right," cooed the vampire. "I'll make certain the naughty man gets his punishment." She then reached out a hand and stroked the empty air on her other side.
To Xander, Sam, and Bobby the gesture was meaningless; another strange movement by the strange woman. Dean, however, paled. In response to their questioning looks, he swallowed and murmured, "Hellhound."
"Auntie Ruby," Lilith sang. "Olly olly oxen free!"
Nervously, Ruby approached the window. "I'm here. Let the humans go and I'll come out willingly."
The child was furious, but only for a moment. She suddenly brightened and waved an insouciant hand. "Oh, that's okay. You can stay right there."
"No—" Ruby tried to shout as Lilith's fingers curled into a tight fist. Horrified, the humans could do nothing as she vomited her demonic essence, her hands clutching desperately at her stomach. The black mist spilled on the ground, faint screams echoing weirdly against the wall, and, as if vacuumed, suddenly plunged downwards into the floorboards. Ruby's vessel collapsed as the last of the fog disappeared. Her eyes stared sightlessly at the wall.
"Oh Deaaaaaan," Lilith called happily. "Your turn!"
"Go fuck yourself!" the hunter replied.
Lilith pouted again up at her "Auntie Dru." The vampire smiled in anticipation before crying, "Go, boy! Fetch!"
The resulting snarls and barks were clearly audible to everyone. "Run!" Dean screamed. With Sam and Bobby's help Willow and Giles stood quickly and the group sprinted up the staircase to the second floor. Most of them ended up in what was Bobby's bedroom; Sam, Dean, and Giles ended up across the hall in Dean's.
Upon realizing that he had been separated from his fellow Sunnyvale natives, Giles tried to leave the room. Dean yanked him back before he could upset the line of goofer dust Sam had just finished laying down in the doorway. When the Watcher gave him an outraged glare, Dean merely said, "They're after me."
Just as predicted, the Hellhounds barked and scratched at their door and left the other one unmolested. "Laid down salt," Bobby yelled over the noise.
"Goofer dust here," Sam replied.
Frustrated, the Hellhounds stopped their ministrations and began to pace instead. They snapped their teeth irregularly in front of the door just to ensure that they weren't forgotten.
Dean pulled out his phone and looked at the time. 11:38pm.
"Oh God," Sam said, his breath hitching. He clutched his hair and paced. "I should have done what she said, I should have listened."
"Who?" Dean asked.
"Ruby! She said I could save you, that I had the power to do it! Why? Why didn't I just do it?"
Dean put a hand his brother's shoulder. With a cry, Sam lurched away. "No! I'm not letting you go to Hell!"
"Yes, you are!" Dean roared back. Then, calmer, repeated, "Yes, you are." He stepped back. "I'm sorry," he continued, his voice shaking. "I mean this is all my fault, I know that. But what you're thinkin' about doing, it's not going to save me. It's only going to kill you."
"What am I supposed to do?" Sam wondered tearfully.
Dean swallowed, remembering tiny little Sammy asking the same thing every time they had to leave a new school, every time he had to leave behind the scant number of friends he had made. The same damn question every damn time. At least for this one his big brother had an answer. "Keep fightin'. Take care of our sister. Take care of my wheels," Dean added only half in jest. "Remember what dad taught you."
"We have one slim hope," Giles interrupted quietly. "Buffy may still get here in time."
"See?" Dean gave his brother a half-hearted smile. "Nothing to worry about."
"Yeah," Sam said, unconvinced. "Sure."
Angelus tossed Buffy over a gravestone and threw his hands out. "Is it me, or is your heart really not into this? Maybe I should just go home, get to destroying the world."
The Slayer leapt to her feet then withdrew a stake. "Come on, let's finish this. You and me."
She flinched when the vampire began laughing. "What's so funny?" Buffy demanded.
"You never learn do you? Not everything is about you. In fact, none of this was ever about you."
Angelus' hilarity rose when Buffy's face fell. They were after someone else, someone she should have been protecting instead of prancing around with this monster. Who was it? Sam? Dean? Giles? Her friends? Her mother?
The Slayer dropped the stake and ran, the vampire's laughter chasing after her. She wasn't that far. She would make it. She had to make it. She would do this.
She would save them all.
Cordelia's nose wrinkled indelicately as she sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"
"Oh crap," Xander gasped.
"Gasoline," Bobby declared. He hurried to the window and yanked it open. The home was made similar to Buffy's; a secondary roof was right below the glass and left a footway for escape. "Everybody, out!"
"We just can't leave—" Willow tried to plead. Before she could finish, Bobby grabbed her by the collar and heaved her through.
"Am I gonna have to do the same to you?" the grizzly hunter asked the two other teens.
"Nope," Cordelia said promptly. The two teens slid after their friend.
Bobby, pained, tried to decide. He should stay; his boys were pinned by Hellhounds, Dean's fate was inching closer by the second. There had to be something he could do.
Then Cordelia screamed. That decided it. Sam and Dean knew how to take care of themselves; these children didn't. With regret and guilt heavy in his breast, Bobby followed the teenagers to the outside.
"Smell that?" Sam said quietly.
"Yeah," Dean replied. He walked to the window and jerked it open. "Both of you, go."
Sam began to tell his brother, "Dean, I'm not going to leave you to—" while Giles objected, "That's completely unnecessary—"
"No!" Dean barked. "I'm not letting you two die." His eyes glimmered with unshod tears. "Buffy's going to need you," he whispered.
A few moments passed as the men decided. Sam then turned to the Watcher. "Go."
"But—"
"Please."
Giles nodded hesitantly and eased himself out onto the roof. He gave Dean one last silent farewell before carefully lowering himself onto the backyard lawn.
"Sam," Dean began, exasperated.
"You'll have to push me out yourself," Sam said with a shaky laugh.
A repetitive beeping erupted from Dean's pocket. He brought out his phone and swallowed. "Midnight."
The brothers jumped when someone rapped on the door. Before either could react, the wood collapsed inwards, pushed off its hinges. A smiling Drusilla picked her way delicately over the shards and headed straight for Dean. Hellhound growls followed her in.
Sam tried to interpose himself between the two and a hound locked its teeth into his calf. He cried out in pain as the thing toppled him and dragged him into a corner.
Drusilla thrust her hand under Dean's chin and chanted, "Look at me, dearie."
The hand that had been ready to thrust the Kurdish knife into the vampire's heart went limp. Dean's features went slack while his eyes screamed defiance and fury. Shouting denials and curses, Sam swung vainly at the Hellhound holding him as Drusilla slowly slid her nails away from his brother's face and stepped back. Her malicious grin widened.
Then Dean fell backwards, hard, unseen creatures tearing into him, ripping his chest apart, tearing into his innards with sadistic glee. Claws raked down his chest, his legs, his face. Blood sprayed onto the walls, the floor, the man's shrieks stifled into gargling spurts by the red spilling from his mouth.
Sam screamed.
Drusilla blew a kiss at Dean then strode regally from the room. Someone lit the gasoline that had been liberally splashed about the downstairs floor.
Dean finally stopped struggling. At the same moment, Sam found his leg released. He crawled to his brother's body, his vision swimming. He gathered the shredded remains of his brother to his breast and tried to will Dean back to life.
Fire licked the doorway.
Someone burst in. Someone ignored Sam's pleas to let him stay and tried to tear him away from his brother's body. Someone hit him, hard, blackening his vision, before dragging him out of the window and dropping him down to the grass.
Footsteps approached. "Sam?" Buffy whispered as she knelt down beside her brother and his savior, Uncle Bobby. The elder hunter was doing his best to wrap a tourniquet around Sam's wound.
Wordlessly, Sam gazed up at his sister. The tears restarted slowly, but once they began they felt as if they would never stop. "He… He…"
Bobby gently put one hand on Sam's shoulder and another on Buffy's. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.
Someone was screaming in denial, weeping and wailing in turns. Until Sam sat up and wrapped his arms around her she didn't realize that the person making those horrific sounds was herself.
Dean was gone.
They hadn't saved him.
Their brother was in Hell.
…And John Winchester's youngest children ignored the fire, ignored the ambulance, ignored the world to mourn the loss of his most beloved eldest son.
Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episodes "No Rest for the Wicked" (SPN 3.16) and "Becoming, Part I" (BtVS 2.21).
Author's Note : I may or may not have borrowed from another Whedonverse at some point during this chapter.
The move Lilith uses in Ruby I sort of inferred from what Sam did to the demons around Famine. Just roll with me here, okay? ;)
Up next: more upsetting events!
