10

The black convertible flew out of the hospital parking structure, barely missing the falling concrete debris starting to rain down in earnest. With vampiric speed and agility, Angel maneuvered the car through the panicked LA traffic, kissing a bumper here and there to miss a ambling pedestrian. He had to get them to safety. Then he could start to worry about Cordelia's vision and his demon made flesh.

Angel finally brought the car to a halt at the top of a fabulous lookout point. Nothing was above them except the night sky.

"Is everybody okay?" he asked, turning to inspect his passengers for signs of injury.

The natural blush had leaked out of Cordelia's face, and it hurt when she blinked, but she nodded carefully. Wesley also nodded. He was holding Cordelia against him and didn't want to hurt her by talking close to her ear. Gunn shied back behind Wesley's shoulder, uncertainty and distrust clear in his eyes, but he didn't seem the worse for wear.

The worried Englishman carefully handed Cordelia into Gunn's arms and followed Angel out of the car.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked.

The shaken vampire ran his hands through his hair, pacing a little to work off the nervous energy still zinging up and down his spine. He pulled in deep breaths, exhaling slowly. If I had a heartbeat, it would be running away with me right about now, Angel mused.

"How's Cordelia?" Angel asked.

Concern tugged at Wesley's mouth as he answered, "She's hurting, but she'll be alright. It was a bad one."

"And Gunn? Did you explain about… him?"

"I tried, but he was a bit manic as you can imagine. And the earthquake didn't help matters. Maybe you should talk to him?"

Angel nodded, his eyes lowered in thought. He looked out over his city. It lay in ruins.

"The big one," he said softly, more to himself than to Wesley. "We have work to do," Angel said, louder this time and strode back to the convertible.

Cordelia was slowly getting out of the car. She swayed a bit when a dizzy spell washed over her, clenching at her stomach. Angel put his strong, protective arms around her to steady her until the nausea passed.

"I'm okay," she said unsteadily. "Or I will be if I can just get someone to rip my head off. Have I ever told you how much I hate these damn visions?"

Angel smiled in spite of himself. Yes, she'll be fine, he knew.

"What did you see?" Wesley asked from behind Angel's shoulder.

Cordelia locked eyes with Angel. His relieved smile died in the horror written on her face. She said, "The end. I saw the end of the world. Angel, I don't know what we're going to do to stop it, but we have to try. There was so much…." A single tear escaped down the Seer's cheek. "I felt the world die."

Tenderly, Angel caught the tear with the pad of his thumb. "We will," he said. "I promise."

"What about Angelus?" Wesley interrupted.

"Armageddon first. Then I'll take care of him," Angel said resolvedly. He prayed that Angelus didn't do too much damage in the meantime.

*********************

"Ma'hlak!"

Angelus was fast loosing his temper. The mansion, besides being all but destroyed by the earthquake, was completely devoid of life. All his minions were gone.

"Cowards!" he fumed. "Afraid of a little shaking! I'll teach them something to be afraid of!"

A loud crash punctuated the vampire's furious roar as he swiped a chair against the opposite wall. "MA'HLAK!!!"

A pile of rubble moaned. Angelus frowned, sniffing the air. A cruel smirk pulled at his mouth and he started to uncover his after-shaker party gift.

"Well, look what we have here," the vampire cooed.

Lindsey rolled his head up to the voice, but couldn't focus. He felt like the voice was echoing to him through a water barrier. He couldn't lift his head. His body felt numb. He moaned again.

"Oh, come on, Lindsey! Don't conk out now. It's no fun if you're not screaming," Angelus goaded the unconscious man.

"I'm afraid that won't do any good," Ma'hlak said from behind the kneeling vampire. "The tranquilizer will keep the human sedated for a while yet."

Anger boiled up in Angelus. He hated initiative when he didn't order it.

"And why, pray tell, did you sedate him?" he asked irritably.

"I find an unconscious body easier to transport than a moving, struggling one," Ma'hlak answered Angelus. The windy click of an airgun sounded and the dart found its mark in Angelus's exposed throat.

Angelus roared mightily and charged his traitorous servant, but the drug was too powerful. His great bulk thundered to the floor and was still as death. Angelus was dead to the world.

"Hurry. Get them to the van," Ma'hlak ordered.

Angelus' other mutinous minions scurried out from the shadows, quickly immobilizing their unconscious master and carried the vampire and human to the waiting vehicle outside.

****************************

"In my vision I saw three guys strung up against some wall. I could make out their faces, but they had marks on them. Like this." Cordelia drew three symbols on the yellow legal pad and passed it to Wesley and Angel.

Wesley took the pad and studied the symbols. "They look familiar. I will go through my books and see if I can find their origins," he said.

Angel handed the Brit a very old volume, saying, "The symbols are Runic. The first is the symbol for evil, The Corruptor. The second is for impurity, The Corrupted and the third is for good, The Innocent."

"That would make sense," Cordelia said excitedly. She pointed to the third drawing, "I think the guy with this mark is one of the Holy Triumbrid."

Angel got up and started pacing the wrecked lobby of the Hyperion. "Do you know where they were?" he asked the Seer.

"I'm not sure," she replied, squinting her eyes to better remember her vision. "It felt familiar, though. Like I've been there before. It was definitely underground. Of that I am sure."

"Oh dear," Wesley said in that unique Watcher way that always means trouble of the worst kind. "I've located a ritual that requires three male sacrifices bearing Cordelia's symbols."

"And…" Angel prodded.

"I'm afraid she's right. It is the end of the world. The ritual opens the our Hellmouth, expelling quite a few demon dimensions into our reality."

Cordelia frowned, asking, "What exactly do you mean 'expel'?"

Wesley took up Angel's pacing when the vampire sat down again. "In essence, it's the opposite of what Angel tried to do with the demon Acathla. Instead of us being sucked into Hell, Hell will come to us."

Cordelia sat down hard beside Angel and ran her hands through her dark hair. "I had to ask," she sighed.

"How do we stop it?" Gunn asked from the stairs, joining the conversation. Angel had explained to him about the spell that had brought forth Angelus, and he believed that Wesley and Cordelia wouldn't hang out with this version if he wasn't good, but he still kept his distance from Angel. Just to be safe.

Wesley scanned the ancient pages. "Um… Ah! Here it is," he exclaimed. "For the ritual to take place, the sacrifices must die at the opening of the Hellmouth. Or in it." The ex-Watcher frowned and explained, "The sacrifices must be within physically near or in the Hellmouth itself when they die. Most likely they will be thrown in, is my guess. Anyway, we just stop them from killing the sacrifices before sunrise and the Hellmouth will close and no Hell on Earth."

"Sounds simple enough," Gunn said, picking up Angel's fighting ax. "Let's go."

Cordelia jumped to her feet, halting the black man. "Now hold on there! We don't know where to go, remember? Unless you know where the Hellmouth opened, that is."

"Wolfram & Hart," Angel said with certainty. "In their sublevels. That's where it is."

It was Wesley's turn to frown. "How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"I can't explain it in so many words, but I've felt it. Like I felt the presence of the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. The demon in me is drawn to its power. Trust me. It's there," the vampire explained.

Gunn tossed the ax to Angel, who deftly caught it. "If the vamp says it's there, I say we saddle up. We got us a ritual to stop."

*********************

Angelus awoke with a start. Pain shot through his back and his shoulders screamed in protest at the sudden movement forced through them. With a deafening roar, the pinned vampire pulled on the bonds that held him. Chains clattered, pulled taught.

Every muscle over the magnificent male torso rippled under the strain as Angelus tried with all his strength to break free, but the chains held. He let loose another frustrated roar and redoubled his efforts.

"Save your strength," Ma'hlak advised. "The chains are enchanted and quite unbreakable."

"I am going to rip your guts out and hang you with them, you fuck!" Angelus spat, black rage bringing his true demon face to the surface. The chains rattled wildly under the vampire's lunge, cutting off his ability to follow through on his threat.

"We're doomed," a voice laughed hysterically from Angelus's left.

The chained vampire tried to identify the owner of the voice. He wanted to know whose ass he was going to kick. Now was not the time for hysterics. It was time for pulling heads off and pulling spines out through chests.

His fellow prisoner turned his face up to the light. Tears were slowly rolling down his face and he had an insane grin on his face when he said, "My daddy would be so proud!"

"Lindsey," Angelus roared. Perfect. Not only is he chained to a wall with unbreakable chains right next to a gaping pit that reeked of sulfur and rotting meat, he's chained next to this mewling Big-Bad don't-know-if-I-wannabe. "This is going to be fun", he grumbled.

He kicked the giggling lawyer in the groin, bringing him to his knees and shutting him up in quick order.

Lindsey gasped in pain, but the world pulled back into focus, the throbbing ache in his nether regions drying up his hysteria.

"Thanks," he wheezed. "I think."

"Not a problem," Angelus said. He felt a little better and allowed his human features to push forward again.

Something on the lawyer's naked chest drew his attention, but Lindsey's slouch was blocking the vampire's view. Angelus kicked at Lindsey again and ordered, "Stand up straight, damn it!"

Lindsey was already in enough pain, so he decided to avoid more he would comply. He looked down his body at what had sparked such curiosity with his fellow prisoner, noticing for the first time the symbol drawn on his chest in what looked like blood.

"What the…?"

"The Corrupted," Angelus said. Lindsey frowned at him questioningly and he answered, "It's the Runic symbol for impurity."

"And what's yours then? Evil?" Lindsey asked sarcastically.

Angelus followed the lawyer's gaze down his own body. He inspected the symbol covering his chiseled chest and nodded. "Yes, as a matter it is. I'm glad to see you recognize true evil when you see it," he threw back.

A gasping, boyish voice rambling off prayers drew the bantering men's attention to the third half-naked form chained with them.

The voice sounded boyish, because it belonged to a young boy no older than fifteen. His thin chest heaved with each 'Our Father' uttered. He was shivering, terror pulling his boy's face into a grimace. The symbol painted on his deathly white chest glowed like a neon sign against the contrast of his colorless skin. His eyes were sunken and black, not seeing the two men beside him or the room around him. His panic had locked him away in his own mind where reality couldn't assault him anymore.

"Poor kid," Lindsey said sadly. "He shouldn't have to be exposed to this."

"Yeah, right. Poor kid," Angelus scoffed. "Like he's the only one chained to this fucking wall. Wake up, Lindsey. At least he doesn't even register what's going on around him. You, on the other hand, will feel every little thing as your crony over there guts you for his sacrifice."

Lindsey snarled at the vampire, "And what about you? You think you're going to get out of this with your undead skin still attached? At least you'll finally succeed in bringing about Armageddon. Too bad you won't be around to see it!"

Angelus and Lindsey lunged at each other, but was pulled up short when the enchanted chains yanked them back.

Ma'hlak strolled over to his fighting sacrifices and chided, "I will have none of that. You will both die soon enough. Now play nice while I finish the preparations for the ceremony."

"You're going to pay for this, Ma'hlak. I promise," Angelus called after the exiting demon, struggling against the chains that were cutting into his wrists.

The chained boy's prayers wavered, grew louder, "Our Father who art in Heaven…"

"Oh, shut up!" Angelus snapped visciously and slumped against the wall. Where was that damned Goody-goody twin of his when he needed him?