Chapter 7
~ No Rest for the Weary ~
"Guess who gets ta chow down on Animal Crackers?!" Xander asked, holding up the boxes as he walked into the bedroom. "Everyone's favorite punching bag!"
"And that would be me," Willow said very matter-of-factly. Xander and Anya joined Buffy and Tara at Willow's side, and all began snacking on the crackers.
"Buffy was just filling me in on all that happened after I was attacked, including this morning's stuff!" Willow said, wide-eyed.
"This morning?" Xander asked.
"Oh, bid probs," Buffy answered. "Giles and Vick tried to take on Fang, and she got hurt pretty bad."
"H–how bad?" Anya asked.
"She's not regained consciousness, yet, and she's been out for about 9 hours," Tara replied. "We're pretty worried about her."
"Christopher says she won't die, though," Buffy said. "I overheard him tell Giles that. He said it wasn't her time, yet."
"Okay, does this creep anyone else out?" Xander asked, raising his hand. "I mean, if he knows when we'll all die, he could lead us to our deaths tonight."
"Well, only a couple of us," Buffy answered. "Most everyone is so banged up that only a couple of us are going to go out and find Fang."
"Is Xander going? I hope not. Is he?" Anya asked, looking back and forth.
"I don't know. It's really Giles and Christopher's call. They know more about our enemies than I do. However, I would bank on it, seeing as how he's one of the only ones not banged up."
"And, who, exactly, is Christopher?" Willow asked.
"Oh, that's the name of your Angel," Tara replied, happy to finally be able to answer a question about last night.
"MY Angel?" Willow smiled.
"Yep," Buffy replied. "He totally whigged out when he saw you were hurt. He went all postal and dusted the vamp who was trying to kill you."
"Wow, I have my own Angel," Willow smiled. She looked over at Tara who was looking away. "Oh, but–but that's bad. Oh, no, no, don't need any Angel, cause I have friends and loved ones looking over me," Willow trailed off.
"It's okay," Tara smiled. "He said he couldn't compete with me."
"He's right," Willow smiled, reaching for Tara's hand.
"Um, okayNow I know what it's like for you all when Anya talks about sex," Xander interrupted, as Giles and Christopher walked into the room.
"Hey," Buffy smiled. "How is she?"
"Uh, wellbetter," Giles answered. "She took a nasty hit to her head. She may be out for a while."
The whole group looked at the Angel curiously, as he looked at his own reflection in the mirror. He kept touching his cut on his lip and wincing at the pain.
"You knowit's never gonna heal if you keep picking at it," Xander finally said.
Christopher smiled and turned. "This is amazing! I've never felt anything like it."
"Wow, suddenly, I don't feel so safe around my Angel," Willow whispered to Xander.
"Well, at least he smells good," Xander replied.
"We've encountered a real problem or two with the Key," Giles interrupted. "Apparently, it not only counters many of the rules Vampires have to abide by, such as not coming in until invited, but Fang's strength is growing as long as he wears it."
"It's going to get worse," Christopher added, turning away from the mirror and sitting down in a chair next to Willow. He smiled widely at her, making Willow blush. "If he continues to tap into the powers, he may be able to figure out how to open the dimensional doors."
"Come again?" Buffy asked.
"The KeyIt's meant to get us into our realm. But, it also opens into any realm one desires, including the hells. If he should accidentally open up the Hellmouth and not know how to close it, the world could well end."
"ButYou would know if that would happen, right?" Xander asked. "I mean, you know when we're all going to die, so you know the future, sorta, right?"
"Doesn't work that way," Christopher replied. "Should everything stay on course, I can tell you the exact minute of the exact day you'll die. However, when dealing with Angels and their items, such as the Key, anything can change."
"So, our first priority is to find Fang," Buffy said. "We find Fang, we find the key. Only question is, how do we take him out? If he's as powerful as you, we'll never get it from him."
"Even I'm mortal," Christopher replied. "Take the key from him, and he'll suddenly be very mortal. Maybe even a well placed slice of the sword, and we can take care of both problems."
"Yes, well, we'll deal with that when we do eventually find him," Giles said. "Only problem is, we can't all go out to search. Someone will have to stay behind to guard Willow and Victoria while they're injured, since Fang can enter houses, now. I sent Mom and Dawn to a friends until this whole deal cools off a little."
Buffy looked up. "Anya, Tara, you stay here. You two and Willow should be able to pool together enough magic to stop an attack, or, at the least, to summon us should he come. Xander and Christopher will set out at sunset and search the north side, including the downtown area, while Giles and I search out the Campus and southern side of town."
"I hate to ask this, but, um" Giles began.
"What about Spike?" Buffy asked.
"Well, yes. He may have run across something, some information indicating where Fang may have went, and we could use his infatuation–"
"We won't use any infatuation," Buffy replied. "But, you're right. We could use his help. Xander and Christopher will go to him. Don't kill him, Chris, he may help us."
"What makes you think he'll help me, any?" Xander asked. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're not exactly friends."
"He'll use your problem to try to get close to me," Buffy answered. He'll even work with an Angel if he thinks he can get closer to me."
"What is that?" Christopher asked, looking to the window. He appeared to be listening to something, but no one else could hear it. The sun was hanging very low in the sky, about to fall below the horizon.
"What?" Willow asked, moving to the window. "Oh my God–I mean, goodness, er, whatever!"
"What?" Buffy asked, moving over to the window.
"Smoke!" Willow cried. "There is smoke on the horizon! It looks like there is a big fire in the city!"
Giles moved to the window and looked out. He then turned and walked across the room to Buffy's TV and turned it on. At the bottom of the screen flashed "Breaking News," and a reporter stood yelling into a microphone as a raging fire roared behind her.
"Turn it up!" Xander said.
"Another explosion has rocked the downtown area as fire crews are scattered around, trying to put out the fires" the reporter yelled. "This time the Second California Bank was blown up, moments after being robbed and trashed by dozens of men. I have with me a witness who was inside the building as the attackers looted the Bank,"
A woman in a business suit stood crying behind the reporter, holding her head and looking around in disbelief. "What happened inside?" the reporter asked.
"These men just started pouring in the entrance!" she yelled. "They had blankets over themselves and were smoking as they came in, then they just started throwing people around and throwing computers through windows and stuff. AA Guard shot one of them, but he just kept walking right towards him."
"Can you discribe the men?"
The woman stood looking around more, hardly able to find the words. "Theythey were just, I don't know scarred. They looked so mean, like they had been in a fire, or something. I just don't —"
Her words were cut off as they and the crew ducked from another explosion.
Willow looked out the window and noticed the sun was now completely below the horizon.
The Reporter and several others began running away. The gang could make out screams of "monsters" as they ran, then the transmission suddenly cut away.
"Julie?" the anchors asked. "Julie, are you there? It appears we have lost transmission with Julie, uh, we'll try to have that back to you after this commercial break."
Buffy went over and turned off the TV. "Is this Fang's doing?" she asked.
"Most likely," Giles responded.
"He is so dead," Buffy responded, clenching her fist tightly.
***
As darkness began to come across the sky, the fires began to roar out of control. Every time the firefighters started to battle the blaze, they would be attacked by a gang. Police tried to move in and control the situation, but their bullets simply had no effect on the attackers, and they would be ripped to shreds before they could do anything.
The gang of Vampires ripped everything apart, setting fire to the stores around the town, and looting the shops.
The hospital began flooding with injured and dead citizens caught up in the carnage downtown, and an Intern there, already working a double shift, found himself extra busy. Lately, he had been able to keep Glory at bay. The key was not nearby: He could sense it. However, it seemed that this town simply would not stay quiet.
"Ben, I need some o-neg from the lab!" the doctor yelled.
"Not a problem," Ben yelled, turning and running down the hall. He walked into the elevator and went down to the third floor. When he stepped off, the floor was relatively quiet. "This is where I need to be."
Ben walked down a hall, passed through a couple of doors and turned into the lab. He stopped suddenly, thinking about something that he saw just a moment ago. Something blue was in a room a few doors down. Ben thought maybe he should ignore it, but then his curiousity got the better of him.
He turned and walked back to the room, and stopped, listening. "I–I swear! I don't know where he is! He's ordered us to wreck the town! He's going to go after the Slayer and the Angel!"
Ben leaned in and looked around the corner. A blue man, wearing a doctor's coat was holding a Vampire in the air. The Vampire was sweating heavily, and would have sold his own mother out to save his life, here.
The blue man reached back with his fist and readied himself to hit the Vampire.
"Hey!" Ben yelled. "He told you what you wanted to know, now let him go! Get out of my Hospital!"
The blue man turned and looked at Ben like he was insane. He threw the man against the window and turned to the Intern. In two quick steps he was in front of Ben. He grabbed him by his scrubs and lifted him into the air. "Where is Aurelius? Where is the Key?"
"You know, you smell really awful," Ben answered. "Why? What are you?"
"I am an Angel. That key is rightfully mine."
"You mean the Key? You can't have her! She's under my protection!" Ben yelled. He slapped the hands of the Fallen, causing him to drop the Intern. Ben grabbed the Fallen by his coat and slugged him a few times.
Adonis screamed out in pain. Ben picked him up with one arm and threw the blue man out the window, falling three floors. The intern ran over to the window to see him hit, but when he got there, the creature was gone.
"What was that?" he asked the Vampire.
The Vampire didn't answer. He had already left the room.
"Well, crap," Ben said, dusting himself off. "Just another day at the hospital."
***