The walk down the great hall towards the Council's conference room, was dark.
The tall diamond shaped windows had been boarded up tight.
Alex was in front with Cole on her right and Isis on her left as they rounded a corner leading into the final corridor that held the offices of the Watchers.
Three minutes had past since the last incident.
"We've got company." Henry pointed out as they were met by a gang of vampires.
"You're not welcomed here." the lead vampire told them.
"Says who?" asked Cole.
"You don't need to know." Another vamp put in as others began to surround them.
One vampire tried to attack Elizabeth from behind, but was dusted by Wesley. Two more tried to attack, but were thrown backwards.
"You better have a hell of a reason you're not on that plane Wesley Wyndham Pryce." Alex told him.
"You need me here." Wesley replied. Alex opened her mouth to comment, but Wesley wasn't finished.
"Now listen here young lady, not another word out of your mouth."
"Isis?" Gwen turned to see Isis and Skylen in some sort of trance.
"Isis." Alex touched her friend's shoulder. "Let me leave."
"No." Cole objected as Isis and Skylen nodded, "Yes."
She turned back around and walked out of the shielding with Jonathan on her heels.
"No, you stay." Skylen told Wesley as he came out of his trance.
Wesley and Cole watched helplessly as Jonathan and Aricia battled the vampires on the outside.
~~~~~~~~~
Aricia lost her balance, fell onto the floor and then was dog piled by half the vamps there.
Jonathan ashed enough vampires, that she could get up. She looked around for her bow, only to find it snapped in half.
Picking up both pieces she ashed the two nearest vampires.
~~~~~~~~~
Isis and her father had dropped the shielding at the urging of Cole, Wesley and Jonathan's father, Aderes.
Aderes pulled from inside his leather coat a stake, he backed her up as the vampire had her pinned against the marble wall, Aderes slammed the stake into the vampire.
What vampires were left, headed for the hills as the rest of her friends took a breath.
"Everyone OK?" Bane coughed and looking at the positive nods.
"I can't believe it broke." Alex seemed depressed as she stared at her faithful crossbow.
"A casualty of war." Cole said, as he pulled a white handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped away the dripping blood from her birthmarks.
"My favorite bow." She sighed, shaking her head.
"Please tell there are no more," cough, "fights." Marcus coughed again.
"I don't think we'd be that lucky...." Isis pointed at the large wood doors at the end of the hall. The doors were open and there standing beyond them was the Council.
The Council took one look at their children and grandchildren and slammed the doors closed.
~~~~~~~~~
Inside the men tried to stand without fear, as the door began to break open. With one more run, they opened it. Seth wasn't there, that upset Aricia even more.
"Where is he?" she jumped up onto the half moon marble table and began to pace.
"May the Powers That Be forgive us, Miss Alex we did not know........" Gwen's grandfather stumbled over his words.
"Know what?" Aricia stopped in front of him and stared at him like a hawk hunting her prey.
"The prophesies are true." Elizabeth's grandfather spoke next. "The Powers have brought you here..."
"I don't have time for your babbling old man, where's Seth?" She was beginning to get impatient. He pointed to a crack in the wall behind Isis' grandfather on the left of the table.
"Its a passageway." Wesley pulled the wall open and stared down the dark stairs. "I'm coming with you."
"Do I have a choice?" Aricia had her back to the grandfathers inspecting the passage, when she heard something from behind her.
She spun around just in time to see Jonathan's grandfather shoot an arrow at her, just before it hit, it stopped in mid air and turn to ice, shattering when it hit the floor.
"Cutting it a little close aren't you Isis?" Bane's voice shook as he joked.
~~~~~~~~
Cordelia and Gunn were in the office, reading. The stabbing pain of her visions returned, she swallowed three more painkillers, before she fell to the floor.
Gunn had never seen her in so much pain, he tried to help her, but she just screamed louder. He covered her in a blanket and put a pillow under her head, he wondered just what she was seeing.
Cordelia saw the fight in the hallway and would soon seen everything after that.
~~~~~~~~
Aricia, Wesley and Cole headed down the stairs, being careful not to slip on the wet stone. They came to the bottom and saw four hallways running parallel to each other.
"Which way?" asked Alex.
"I suggest we split up." Wesley spoke up.
"Agreed." Alex and Cole said in unison. Alex waited until Cole was out of ear shot before she took hold of Wesley's arm.
"I want you to promise me that you'll go back to LA. If something were to happen to me, someone needs to keep the peace."
"What do you mean?"
"If I die, word will spread like wild fire, no heir for the Council, thus meaning, no one to control their population, until a new leader can be found.
They'll riot, and take out as many hunters as they can. If Angel isn't going to help, someone with ties to the Council needs to be there." Her eyes seemed to plead with him.
"I promise."
~~~~~~~~
Wesley took the third hallway, Cole the first and she was walking through the fourth one.
She was lost in thought about what she had seen in the Council room.
There were nine chairs, but only eight were present, including Seth, even though he had skipped out before she got to the room.
Her father always told her that there were an odd number of members because they wanted to avoid deadlocks at all costs.
As for this prophesy business, she didn't give it much of a thought, it was just some tactic to throw her off guard.
~~~~~~~~~
Wesley met up with Cole as he pushed open a large stone door.
"Dead end, I presume?" Cole asked.
Wesley nodded and asked, "Its a bit quiet don't you think?"
"Very." Cole agreed as they turned a corner and hit a dead end. "Damn."
They turned around and came face to face with a pair of vampires.
~~~~~~~~~~
Alex turned left and was faced with a tall wooden door, that was rounded at the top.
She reached for the brass handle, stopped, took a step back and turned away to go for help.
It was a sudden attack, her head began to pound, everything she saw was fuzzy, and her arms began to tingle.
The door opened and she went through it.
~~~~~~~~
Cordelia began to cry, the pain was unbearable. Gunn was frightened, he just stayed with her.
~~~~~~~
Seth stood behind the door as she stumbled in.
"Well hello, Alexandria." He held the remote in his hand and turned the dial to the left.
"Level 8."
"Stop it." She took a leap at Seth as he pushed the dial down on the pad. When she hit him, he dropped the remote.
Alex hit her head on the wall and vamped out. Slowly, she got up and looked for the remote.
"How....." Seth was caught off guard as she walked up to him and wrapped her hand around his throat. "You promised..."
"Alexandria promised, I never did." hissed Aricia. Seth felt her grip loosen as he saw the effects of his chip take hold of the young half breed.
"What's wrong sweetheart?" He teased as she let go of him and backed up and turned around gagging and coughing.
"First its a headache, followed by numbness in the arms. Oh you're past that." He smiled as the blood trickled from her nose, ears, the birthmarks, mouth and eyes.
Aricia felt the blood boil in her body, as she took a few swats at Seth, everything seemed to go numb.
She felt the need to grab for something, anything before her legs gave out, which happened a few seconds later.
"They told me your death would come by my own hands." He took a stake from the table and stuck it into her heart. Her skin turned white, then gray, black and back to white.
She looked down and saw the point of the stake covered in blood. Aricia/Alex could hear the crack, snap and pop of her spine. Seth walked behind her and pulled it through further.
Her tears mixed with blood as he walked back around laughing. Her grandfather chuckled as Wesley and Cole were heard yelling and banging on the other side of the door.
"Seth." Alex opened her eyes at the sound of a familiar voice.
"The Powers would like to see you." Seth turned around and was greeted by an arrow through the heart. "They await you for trial." Cole and Wesley burst through the door in time to see Seth be hit by an arrow and swallowed by white fire.
Alex smiled at him as Cole held her tight. "Wesley, Cole...." Wesley pulled the stake from her body and tossed across the room as he put pressure on the wound, but the blood kept coming.
She smiled one more time, closed her eyes and died.
~~~~~~~~~
Cordelia stood up with tears in her eyes and told Gunn that Alexandria had been killed.
~~~~~~~~~
"She was not supposed to die." All eyes in the room were red from crying.
"What now?" Marcus' voice was next.
"But why did they let her die in the first place?" Elizabeth brushed away the tears as they slipped down her face.
"What about Seth?" Cole asked.
Isis lite the sage scented candle. "Alex?" Isis touched her best friend's forehead and spoke gently. "Are you awake?"
There was no response.
"Please come back to us." Gwen was worried.
"Wesley's on the plane." Henry stood in the doorway.
"Leave us." Isis commanded them.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The silence in the room was upsetting Isis. "What took you so long?" she asked the mirror as it opened behind her.
The figure used the same passage, only years before Alex had used to escape, the passage closed behind it.
"I should have know that you speak for them." Isis turned around and came face to face with Angelo. "You let her die."
"They did not want me to interfere." Angelo sat down on otherside of the bed.
"INTERFERE? Angelo, she's dead." Isis held out her right palm to him.
"They thought she would be able to defeat Seth alone." As he went flying against the wall, thanks to Isis' spell.
"Well here's your answer!" Her violet eyes burned with anger as she jumped from her friend's bed.
"Now listen here Isis...."
~~~~~~~~~~
