Interesting Times
Interesting Times by John Jones

See part 1

Part Twenty-Nine

"Andru, *now* would be a really good time!" said Melissa, hoping to feel the familiar tingle of the teleporter. "Beam me the fuck outta here,Scotty."

Belial raised the Dagger. "Okay, now. Open wide and say 'Aagghhh!'" he said, snickering."Fuck *you!*" said Melissa.

Belial stabbed down with the Dagger and then yelled "Aggghh!" as the blade fell from his hand. Coming in under his Obfuscate, Cyke had launched himself at the possessing demon and begun chewing on his leg. Belial staggered and tried to shake the little boy from his leg, but the child-vampire was too strong. He felt himself weakening from blood loss.

Melissa concentrated on the Dagger, trying to telekinetically grasp it, but her injuries were too great for her to activate even her mentally based powers. She could only lie there helplessly, waiting for the grim struggle's conclusion. In the distance she heard automatic weapons firing and the echo of Blackthorn's guns sending his enemies to hell.

Cyke let go of Belial's leg and jumped for his throat. Calling on the martial arts abilities of his host, Belial used the boy's momentum to flip him away. Then he dove for the Dagger. Cyke, somewhat maddened by the potent blood he'd ingested, charged again. "You won't hurt my friendsss." he hissingly shouted.

"Naw, ya little shit, first I'm gonna hurt *you!*" The little vampire jumped again as Belial limpingly sidestepped and plunged the Dagger into his eye. Screaming and hissing, Cyke tumbled to the ground.

"Oh, dear." said the demon mockingly. "Looks like snake-baby got somethin' in his eye." The boy's struggles ceased and his body decayed, leaving only a partial skeleton. The X-man watch was still wrapped around one bony wrist. Belial retrieved the Dagger and walked back towardMelissa. "You piece of shit!" she said. "I'll kill you. I'll fuckin' *kill* you!" she cursed, bloody tears of helpless rage leaking from her eyes.

Belial kicked her in the face, laying open her cheek to the bone. "You know," he said in jovially vicious tone, "I oughta pull some o' your teeth and make you use that mouth for something a *lot* more fun than talking. Sort of a reminder o' where you came from." He sighed in disappointment and flipped the Dagger into a throwing position. "But I just don't have the time."

He tossed it as a glow enveloped her and she vanished away. The Dagger pierced the ground an instant later. "Shit. Back to work now." he said.

* * *

The horse thundered across the ground as the sky replied in kind. Buffy peeked out to see a loose line a figures ahead, running and struggling to get into position. A slash of lightning illumined their mishapen forms for an instant. Then automatic weapons opened up.

Suddenly, thunder and hellfire filled the air as Blackthorn began shooting. His twin guns uttered a sentence of death to each figure that crossed their line of fire. The crash of the weapons seemed to drown out even the fury of the coming storm. In Blackthorn's hands, the guns seemed to glow with eager lethality.

Buffy felt the thudding impacts of the enemy bullets as they slammed into Blackthorn's body. Aside from a grunt of discomfort he shrugged them off as though they were raindrops and continued his killing work. With a burst of speed they were among the enemy.

Buffy saw the human soldiers trying to line up for shots as Blackthorn's weapons smashed the life from them. She buried her face in his back, as much to shut out the gruesome sights as to seek cover.

A growl nearby revived her. She saw a vampire, fangs displayed, leaping at her. She smashed the heel of her hand into his nose, knocking him down. One of Horse's feet pulped his head and he dissolved. A bullet nicked her arm and she almost fell off.

They slowed slightly as Horse seized an ambitious Dancer in its fanged jaws, dragging it along as it drained the creature. Finally Horse chomped the beast's head off, letting the body fall away. More bullets smashed into Horse and Blackthorn, but they kept moving. Finally, they werethrough. Looking out again, Buffy saw Belial toss something at a figure she thought was Melissa. A glow emanated from the figure as it disappeared.

Blackthorn wheeled the horse to face the converging enemy. "You go finish this. I'll hold them here." he rasped.

Buffy slid from the horse. "Are you going to be all right?" she asked, seeing the converging horde.

Beneath the hat's shadow, she thought she glimpsed teeth bared in a vicious grin. "Don't worry about me." he said. "Worry about *them.*" He spurred the horse forward, firing as he went, reaping a harvest of death among his enemies.

Buffy saw Belial carving in the ground, wielding the glowing Dagger like a demonic paintbrush. She saw something white lying on the ground. A skeleton. A small skeleton with a new X-man watch wrapped forlornly around his wristbones.

Fury welled up in the Slayer's heart. "That's it, you bastard. Giles or no Giles, this ends *now!*" she vowed.

* * *

Belial added one last circle and raised the Dagger with a florish. "It is *finished!*" The storm itself seemed to hold its breath in anticipation. He stabbed the Dagger at the ground.

The hand of a small girl caught and held his wrist in an iron grip just before the blade touched the earth. "No, *you're* the one that's finished." said Buffy. She knocked him down with a snap-kick to the chin. He fell to the ground. The Dagger slid from his grasp and fell blade first right in the center of the diagram. The earth began to rumble, a drumming sound to herald the Apocalypse.

* * *

In Sunnydale, cracks began forming in the foundation of the construction site. Sickly green energy spilled up from below. The earth began to shake, groaning in protest at the invasion soon to follow.

* * *

Giles finished reading the dusty volume of one of the oldest diaries, one he hadn't even *seen* until now. He'd found it in a box that had been mislabeled when he'd moved from England. He'd learned a few things from the earliest Watchers, but nothing that shed any light. Something terrible was happening, he could feel it. But he hadn't the faintest clue what to do about it.

* * *

Willow was tumbled out of bed and just managed to stop her computer from falling to the floor. Setting it in a safer place, she moved to get dressed. Either the San Andreas fault had made *serious* travel plans or something was going *really* wrong Hellmouth-wise.

* * *

In the hideout Angelus and Spike watched Drusilla in growing irritation and anxiety, respectively. A wide, eager smile on her deceptively delicate face, she began calling aloud. "They're coming, they're coming!" She stopped for a second, seeming to listen. Then her eyes shone with dark anticipation as she whispered, "They're here!"

* * *

At the construction site, the ground caved in and the mall's skeleton collapsed into the greenish glow. A terrible moan of eager glee sounded from the pit. And a hand, wet and gleaming, newly formed from the stolen substance of the earth, thrust itself from one the cracks.

* * *

Belial wiped the blood from Giles' mouth. "Never woulda thought you'd take Emily out. Guess you just don't play well with others." he bared his teeth in a cruel grin. "Of course, neither do I." and he lunged at her.

Buffy moved to block him, but it was a feint. He kicked her in the ribs while she was off-balance, knocking her down. A wide crack opened in the earth where she fell. She rolled into it, just catching herself at the crumbling lip of the fissure. She looked down. A void seemd to stretch into infinity. A void filled with terrible shapes that seemed to swim ever closer.

Pain suddenly flared in Buffy's fingers as Belial ground his heel into her hand. "Uh-oh, honey. I think you broke a nail." he sneered.

Gritting her teeth against the pain. Buffy swung under the gap in the ground and then twisted herself into a backflip. Using her hand to grip the ground she flipped through the air and sent the heels of her feet hurtling toward his smirking face.

Belial moved his hands to parry her, planning to redirect her momentum and send Buffy plunging into the hellish void. His hands suddenly froze while out of position and voice echoed through the body he shared. "Not bloody likely!" Frozen in place he could only watch as Buffy's feet came at him.

Buffy felt her kick slam home and knock Giles' body flying. Giles fell limply to the ground, unconscious. Buffy sighed in relief and moved to get the Dagger.

Before she could reach it, she saw something black, small and mistlike oozed from his mouth and nose. There was a hissing sound as it spoke in a nameless tongue. It began to grow and solidify.

* * *

Scratches was surrounded by Dancers and vampires. While Blackthorn's force was well-trained and motivated by vengeance and justice, numbers were winning the day. They closed in on him and he prepared to die, hoping to take as many with him as he could.

Suddenly, his enemies began clutching their chests and coughing up blood. They burst like overripe tomatoes as something was ripped from them. All around the battlefield Belial's forces fell dead and dying.

* * *

"Told you I was legion." Belial had assumed the form of a dark-haired young man with perfect teeth filed to points. He wore tight leather pants and his naked chest was covered in fur and scales. His eyesockets were empty, their edges rimmed with teeth. A tongue emerged from one those empty holes and tasted the air.

"Ugh!" said Buffy, making a disgusted face. "Now I know why you want to bring Hell to Earth, no dress code."

"Among other reasons." Belial said with edgy casualness. "One of the fun things about hell is that there's no restrictions on minors gaining entry." With supernatural speed he lunged forward and slammed his fist into Buffy's stomach, doubling her over and knocking her back. "As you will soon discover."

"I gotta ask, with that outfit, how many Billy Idol albums do you own?" asked Buffy, inhaling quickly to catch her breath.

"Oh you're going to live long and painfully for that one. Nobody disses the threads." He lunged at her and she dodged away.

"*Disses?*" questioned Buffy, "who are you supposed to be now, Belial Ice?" She tried to add injury to insult by snapkicking him in thekneecap. Belial smirked at her. "Ouch. I almost *felt* that one. Now where was I? Oh yes." He slashed out at her with talons that sprang from hisfingertips. Buffy stepped back and the ground crumbled near her foot, throwing her off-balance. Belial seized the advantage by smashing a fist into the side of Buffy's head, knocking her down.

"I know it's not sportsmanlike to kick somebody when they're down." he said in a cruelly commiserating voice. He drove the toe of his boot into Buffy's ribcage. "But it's just so much *fun!*"

Buffy felt blackness tearing at her vision. She felt another kick, this time to her stomach, and another to her head. On the ragged edge of unconsciousness, she seemed to her singing.

Lyrics: Lightning crashes, a new mother cries.

Belial's furious gaze snapped over to Giles. He was sitting up, and Live's "Lightning Crashes" was coming from the speaker system. "Might as well get *something* decent out of those electronic monstrosities." said Giles, glaring at his recent tormentor.

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you will live *just* long enough to regret it." said Belial running at the mage.

Buffy felt the pain starting to recede.

Lyrics: This moment she's been waiting for.

Belial fired a bolt of dark energy at Giles. It slammed into the faint outline of a shield that deflected it away.

"Not quite that easy, is it, imp?" taunted Giles.

Belial glared in anger and sent his hate at Giles in a continuous stream of dark power, searing into the shield.

Lyrics: The angel opens her eyes; pale blue colored iris,

Buffy shook her head, throwing off the pain and dizziness. She got up.

Sweat poured off Giles brow as he threw his utter effort into maintaining the shield. Belial had the birthing gateway to hell from which to draw energy. Giles had only his determination and will. It would have to be enough.

Belial walked toward Giles, intensifying his blasts as he moved closer. Cracks began forming in the shield.

Lyrics: Presents the circle and puts the glory out to hide, hide, hide.

Buffy reached the Dagger. Belial was distracted by his battle with Giles. She gripped the hilt and twisted it to the right. Nothing happened. Her mouth fell open in amazed despair and then she felt through her connection with the Dagger what was wrong. It didn't have enough power in it to reverse the gateway.

Lyrics: Oh, now, feel it, comin' back again,

With a ghoulish chuckle Belial saw the shield shatter. His dark power enveloped Giles, holding him fast. "I could just incinerate you, but I always liked the *personal* touch." Belial speared Giles in the chest with a talon, puncturing a lung. Oddly enough, through the pain, Giles was smiling.

"That's funny," said Buffy in a voice cold with anger, "so do *I!*" As Belial turned, too late, Buffy buried the Dagger hilt deep in his chest.

Lyrics: Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind.

Belial staggered back, seeming to shrink as the Dagger drained his power. He stood balanced on a precipice above the growing void. As Buffy moved in he pulled the Dagger out. It dropped from his weakened grip.

"You...little...bitch!" he breathed. "I'll send you straight to hell for that!" He tried to step forward.

"You first." said Buffy as she launched into flying kick that slammed into the place he'd been wounded. Squealing in pain and terror, he fell intothe pit. Lyrics: Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again.

Buffy grabbed the Dagger and raced to the center of the sigil. Hands ending in claws were rising out of the cracks in the earth. Two of them grabbed her legs and started pulling her down as she stabbed the Dagger into the ground, turned it to the right, and prayed.

Lyrics: I can feel it, I can feel it; I can feel it comin' back again...

* * *

At the construction site, a head poked up from a crack. It sniffed the air and cried to its fellows in triumph and anticipation of feasting to come. Then something went wrong. The force that had been propelling them forward suddenly bagan dragging them back. The demon grabbed at the crumbling earth. It faded away and the demon fell, screeching its rage to the uncaring void.

* * *

Drusilla wore a puzzled expression on her face. "They're-They're going?" Her shoulders slumped in disappointment. "They're gone!"

Spike patted her on the shoulder. "Now, now pet. I'm sure they'll be back, whoever they were."

She looked up at him and Angelus and a smile brightened her pale features. "Why, you're right, luv. They *will* be back, eventually."

Angelus smiled indulgently at Dru. "Well, I for one can't wait."

She smiled at him as Spike muttered below his breath, "I can."

* * *

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as the demons were torn away, sucked back to the place they'd come. The cracks stopped and the storm began to fade. She went to Giles. He was breath painfully, trying to drag air in through his tortured lung. "You'll be okay. He's gone. They're all gone." shesaid.

"Oh Gods, I'm so terribly- gods!" he said, filled with self-disgust.

Buffy saw several figures approaching them. Another tremor shook the earth. The Dagger fell away into a light-filled void that had openedunder it. "Buffy, get out of here now!" hissed Giles. "Jump!"

As the earth began to fall away under her feet, she grabbed him as Scratches loped up. "You first." she said and tossed him to Scratches. "No!" coughed Giles. "I can't lose you again! Not again!" Buffy sank into the light and it pulled her away.

As the light touched her, Buffy felt a wierd confidence. "I'm all right. Tell him I'll be all right!"

Her last sight was of Giles in Scratches' wolflike arms. Before the force of the pull dragged her away, she heard Giles speak one final time. "May God keep you safe through all the empty places you must walk. Be well,child."

Then the light yanked her away and was replaced by darkness.

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