Disclaimer, Summary, ect.: See chapter 1...
Author's Note: Ok, what happened to everybody? We have like no new reviews. And we're so close to finishing this, too. Come on, people. I know we're not doing what happened on the show, but give us some credit! We started this like two days after Sleep Tight, when nobody knew what would happen! We're doing the best we can to stick to the original way we planned this story. And don't know about any of you, but I really like this story. Oh well, the show must go on, *grumbles* even if the audience is being stubborn. Just kidding.
This Chapter Written By: Tigerwolf
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Chapter 12
Dog Day Afternoon, And Evening
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Aris attacked Sahjhan, but only managed to go clean through him.
"What are you, stupid?" Sahjhan asked the flustered Aris with a laugh. "I'm immaterial." There were low growls from behind him and a couple of HUGE demons loomed up out of the darkness at the top of the stairs. "However," Sahjhan said. "THEY are not."
While this was going on, I was feeling decidedly weird. Well, weirder than usual. I glanced down at my hands, which a moment ago had resembled fur gloves, now they were true paws. Claws and all. I also felt an itchiness spread over me, the sensation of fur growing. The change had sped up. But, right now, I welcomed it. I wanted to feel the Wolf's strength, it's total fearlessness. I started to take a step toward the demons that had attacked Aris, but I had a little set back. My knees suddenly reversed direction, causing me to fall onto all fours. At the same time, my shirt ripped, because the rippling muscles that were a part of the Wolf demon were bigger than my usual chest size. The lower legs of my pants were splitting at the seams as the huge, tiger-sized hind legs pushed their way out of my normal human legs. I was basically doing an "Incredible Hulk" impression, without the green.
A swipe of my long tail knocked over the lamp that Aris had set up a moment before. Thankfully, Sahjhan's attention was focused on the fight between his hulking demons and Aris, so he hadn't noticed my change of body plans. Connor had stopped crying, maybe it was the shock of seeing his father turning into a wolf that did it, or maybe Cordy's quiet cooing had worked for once. I decided to give my new and improved musculature a test. I crouched and let out a combination roar/howl that basically froze everyone in their tracks, even the demons and Aris stopped and looked for the source of the sound.
"What the...?", Sahjhan said, catching sight of me for the first time. "Whose dog?"
I curled my furry lip back and bared the three-inch fangs that fit perfectly in my new snout. "Grrrrrrrrr," I said. Then I realized that I should probably try to talk. "I'm not a dog, Sahjhan," I said, a little surprised to hear my normal voice coming from the wolf's snout. I guess I thought I would sound like Scooby-Doo, or Astro on the Jetsons... Ok, I have got to stop watching Cartoon Network when I can't sleep.
Sahjhan did a double take. "Whoa, talk about your quick change artist."
I decided that the time for talking was over, and I roared again and leaped over Sahjhan's head (immaterial or not, I swear he ducked) and tackled one of the demons that Aris was fighting. "Need some help?" I barked as I ripped into the demon with my razor-sharp claws.
Aris had quite a few cuts and bruises, but she still managed to smile at me as she pinned the other demon. "Good boy. Sic 'em."
"Very funny. But I'll do it anyway." I sank my fangs into the struggling demon and was shocked to feel a more familiar set of instincts take over. Apparently, my new Wolf side hadn't suppressed my vampire side, in fact, they seemed to be working together. I was totally caught off guard when the fangs lengthened to saber-toothed tiger length. Great, now I was a saber-toothed vampire/werewolf. What else could go wrong?
The demon shook me off with difficulty and stumbled backwards onto the stairs. I leaped after him, realizing my mistake too late. I now weighed considerably more than I had before. Add that to the demon's bulk, and it was more than those old stairs could handle. The stairs collapsed, taking me and the demon with them, but it didn't stop there. The floor under the stairs gave out as well, causing us to plummet twelve feet to the basement floor. Or we would have hit the floor, if the basement hadn't been full of knee deep cold water. And I did not even want to know what that was swimming in there. Will someone please remind me never to ask "what else could go wrong" again?
I quickly finished off the demon, using my newly lengthened fangs to slash its throat, then I used its floating body as a springboard to leap back up out the hole that we'd made. The scene that greeted me was terrifying. All of my friends were locked in mortal combat with at least two demons, and Aris was doing her best to help, trying to keep the demons away from Cordy and Connor, who had apparently found another way down from the bedroom. Sahjhan was standing over in a corner, quietly observing, occasionally making sarcastic comments. More than anything, I wanted to rip him limb from limb, but I knew that was impossible, so I would have to content myself with kicking some demon ass.
One of the demons punched Wesley in his throat, right where Justine had slit it. He went down hard, clutching at his bandaged neck. I roared and leaped up onto the demon's back, watching Wes's eyes widen in shock when he realized who I was. I ripped into the back of the demon's neck with my monster canines, easily severing its spinal cord and snapping it's beefy neck in one blow. I saw Gunn and Groo trying to keep two demons away from Fred, who had lost her dagger and was attempting to crawl into one of the kitchen cabinets to escape the demon's attack. Groo managed to behead one with a skillful swipe of his sword, but another one quickly took its place. They seemed to be coming out of nowhere! Then it hit me, Sahjhan. He must have been calling a new warrior every time we took out one of his. That's why he wasn't trying to take Connor, he had an unlimited supply of demons and patience. He knew that sooner or later, we would get tired and his demons would win. Then he could take Connor. I couldn't let that happen.
I bound across the room and stopped in front of Sahjhan, growling loudly. "Call them off, Sahjhan."
"Hmm, let me think about it for a moment... NO!", he laughed. "Why should I? You are no threat to me, even though you seem to have made a few changes." He looked me over. "It's a good look for you. I think I might even have you mounted in my den after all this is over."
"Not funny," I growled. "You'll have to kill me first."
"Oh, I think that could be arranged," he said gesturing behind me. I turned around, expecting to see another one of his big bodied, small- brained henchmen. What I saw, however, made me freeze in my tracks. Nine feet tall, four arms with various torture implements in each hand.
A Torture demon.
I nearly passed out, as I tried to scramble backwards. I went right through Sahjhan, he just laughed. "Something wrong, Angel?"
I kept doing my best to run backwards, which isn't easy on four legs, and eventually slammed into a wall. The Torture demon walked toward me, cracking its whip ominously. Sparks flew from the end of its cattle prod. I franticly inched along the wall, looking for a doorway, a window, anything to get me away. This wasn't a hallucination, and I knew it. I could see it, I could smell it, and it was scaring the hell out of me. I tried to growl, but all that came out was a frightened whimper. Then the demon was on me.
The first thing to hit was the cat 'o nine tails whip. Its sharp ends cut long furrows through my fur and skin, leaving bloody trails down my white fur. I howled in pain. Then the cattle prod, sending a powerful shock throughout my entire body, making me wish to die. The dagger sliced into my thigh, carving through the muscle like I was a piece of hamburger. Then the whip again. All of my pained howls seemed to blend into one. One long, pitiful cry of pain from a creature that had no hope of escape. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that my friends were losing the battle. Groo was down, I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. Gunn was desperately trying to fend off a demon with one arm while the other hung at his side, dislocated at the shoulder. Wesley had managed to get over to Aris and was helping her to defend Cordy and Connor, but they were fighting a losing battle.
I could barely see anything through the haze of pain that was clouding my mind, but my ears were working just fine. I heard a crash, and a familiar voice call out "Sahjhan!", followed by Sahjhan's yell of "No! Not now!!". Then, suddenly, everything was quiet. Even the Torture demon's triumphant laughter had stopped.
I struggled to raise my head, but I was so tired, and I hurt so bad. Although a part of my brain did register that there didn't seem to be any new wounds.
"Angel?" Cordy's voice. "Angel, open your eyes. Please."
"Cordy?" I mumbled, opening one eye. "Are we dead?"
"No, and you won't believe who we have to thank for that." She was sitting against the wall next to me, I managed (after a couple of failed tries) to get my head into her lap. She held me there and stroked me like a cat, although, at the moment, I suppose that "dog" would be a better choice of words. "Oh crap, you are really ripped up."
"Tell me about it," I said, bringing a paw up and draping it over her leg. "So, who came to our rescue?"
"He's over there, helping Gunn with his shoulder."
I was feeling a little better, so I lifted my head and looked across the room into the kitchen. What I saw nearly made my jaw drop. Holtz was helping Gunn rotate his injured shoulder back into place. Holtz, the man that had taken my child in the first place. We wouldn't even have been there if it weren't for him!
I started to growl, but then I realized something else. We also wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for him. I sighed and rested my head back on Cordy's lap. It was only then that I noticed the hastily crafted bandage that was wrapped around her leg. "Uh, Cordy? Change of subject. What happened to your leg?"
She glanced down at it, almost looking surprised to see it there. "Oh, this? I fell through the stairs. Aris helped me. Don't you want to know how Holtz saved us?"
"I guess."
"He had some kind of urn, or jar thing that he used to trap Sahjhan's essence, or whatever. Apparently, his demons couldn't stay in this dimension without him, and they just sort of vanished."
"That's good."
"What about you? What was that thing?"
I shuddered. "That was a Torture demon. I thought that they only existed in the main Hell dimension. I've seen them before."
"How would you have seen them...." Realization dawned on her beautiful face, followed by sympathy. "Oh God. Angel, is that why you freaked out in the mansion before?"
"Yeah, partially. Trust me, you don't want the details."
She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. I purred. While we were like that, Aris came over. She had a slight limp, but otherwise seemed okay. What caught my attention was who she was carrying: Connor. He squealed and giggled as Aris handed him to Cordy. I raised my head and looked at him, acutely aware that I wouldn't be able to hold him until I was back to normal. I did the best I could, given the circumstances. I nuzzled him gently with my snout. He cooed and reached out, grabbing a small handful of the fur on my snout and yanking on it. "Ow! Hey, watch it, little guy."
Cordy laughed. "A boy and his dog, I mean, his dad."
"Ha, ha. Will you make him let go? This hurts!"
Cordy tickled Connor's stomach playfully. He giggled and let go of my snout to attempt to grab Cordy's finger. Aris smiled down at us. "As heartwarming as this little scene is, your friend Holtz says that he knows where Acathla is in this world. He would like to lead us there, before it gets dark."
I let out a half-hearted growl. "He's not my friend." I pushed myself up onto all fours with some difficulty. Most of the wounds that the Torture demon inflicted were still raw and bleeding, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. I had my son back, everyone was alive, and we were going home. There was only a couple of things that could make this better. One, knowing that I would have my normal body back soon. And two, if I could kiss Cordy again. However, I knew that was next to impossible, what with me having a snout and all.
We walked out the door and into the fading sourceless red light. Everyone except for Lorne and myself stayed in Aris' illusion of the Qualloth demons. Lorne would blend in on his own, and I really didn't think anyone would recognize me here. Not in my current body, anyway.
"Psst," Lorne whispered. "Angel-ca.." He paused the familiar nickname when I curled a lip back and growled at him. "Angel," he started again. "Did you know that you don't look anything like that Wolf demon that scratched you?"
"How so?"
"Well, it was black, and you're white with black stripes. You actually look more like a white tiger than a wolf. Not to mention that tail."
"What about my tail?"
"It's long, not scrawny like that Wolf demon's. Actually, the only part of you that looks like the Wolf is your face. You have a wolf face, with tiger markings."
"It's probably the vampire's effect on the Wolf demon infection. Anyway, it's good to know that I'm unique."
"One of a kind," Lorne added with a grin.
With that, we fell silent for awhile, just content to walk together. I trotted up into the illusion and fell into step beside Cordy and Aris. I felt someone staring at me and turned my head around to look over my shoulder. Holtz was walking right behind me. I made a point of hitting him with my tail a couple of times, until he got the point: I didn't like him behind me. He walked a little faster, bringing himself even with my side. I snorted at him and turned back around. Cordy had given Connor to Aris to hold, since her arms were getting tired. One of her hands dropped to her side and found the top of my head. She absently began scratching behind my ears, and I felt my mouth loll open and my tongue drop out. It was an automatic reaction, but I might have done it anyway. That did feel really good.
About an hour of walking, and we had reached the old high school. It was in ruins, but it was actually in better shape than the one in our Sunnydale. Being in ruins versus being a crater. Holtz told Aris that this was it. This was where Acathla was. Aris had turned off the illusion when we'd left the heavily populated areas of town. The area around the school was totally deserted, so we didn't have to worry about any demons seeing us anymore.
Holtz lead the way through the tomb-like corridors of the abandoned school, with us close behind. Eventually, we reached the old library. I remembered the first time that I'd been in that library, had it only been six years? It seemed like so long ago, another lifetime. Maybe it was.
After Holtz told us that Acathla was somewhere in the library, we decided to split up and look for it again. It wouldn't be as hard this time, seeing as how the library was considerably smaller than the mansion. I was sniffing around the old books, and the others went into the stacks. Cordy walked over to the door to Giles' old office and jiggled the lock, then she yanked it open, popping some of the rotten doorjamb away with it. I glanced at her, she shrugged and walked into the office. A moment later, I heard her scream.
I immediately bound across the library floor with one leap and was inside the office door. A small desk lamp lit the darkened interior, and I could see Cordy staring at the swivel chair, a hand over her mouth.
"Cordy? What's wrong?"
She didn't say any thing, only gently turned the chair around. What I saw then explained her reaction. A mostly decomposed skeleton sat in the chair, remnants of its clothing still visible and a pair of spectacles perched on its bony nasal opening. The skeleton itself wasn't what had made Cordy scream, it was the fact that she recognized the clothing. There was only one person that I'd ever known that wore tweed as a matter of course.
The skeleton... was Giles.
I saw Cordy's shoulders shaking as she cried silently for our friend. Somehow, it didn't help to know that in our dimension, Giles was safe and sound back in England. I walked the long way around the desk, avoiding the chair entirely. I walked over to Cordy and nuzzled her leg, then I gently took her hand in my mouth and lead her out of the office.
I took her out to the stairs and released her hand. She sat down on the bottom step and once again put her arms around me. I did my best to hug her back, but dogs aren't built for hugging, no matter how big they are. I did have the urge to lick her face, but I decided against it. Not this early in our relationship, anyway... Joking. I think.
After a moment, she pulled back and wiped her tears on her sleeve. "Sorry, I know it wasn't really Giles, but it surprised me. You know?"
I gave her my best puppy dog smile, literally. "Yeah, I know." I wished that there was something I could do to cheer her up. Then I got an idea. I laid down at her feet and rolled over on my back.
"What?" she asked, a playful tone entering her voice. "You want your belly rubbed?"
"Well," I said with a wag of my tail. "I am a dog..."
"A silly dog." She smiled, then she reached down and began rubbing the soft fur of my stomach. My tail whipped back and forth furiously and my tongue was lolling out again. After a moment, she switched to scratching my ribs. Immediately, my left hind leg started going all on it's own. Like it was attached to some sort of motor and the start button was my ribs. It felt like being tickled, which I don't normally like, but this... I don't know. This was fun, I liked it. It made me wonder what Cordy was thinking about all this, though.....
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TBC...
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Authors Note: Ok guys, this is it. One more chapter and an epilogue to go, then this epic will be done. I hope you all liked it. (Oh, and have you guessed that I made Angel turn into my penname? Tigerwolf. Heh, heh. I'm evil. I did a self insertion..)
Author's Note: Ok, what happened to everybody? We have like no new reviews. And we're so close to finishing this, too. Come on, people. I know we're not doing what happened on the show, but give us some credit! We started this like two days after Sleep Tight, when nobody knew what would happen! We're doing the best we can to stick to the original way we planned this story. And don't know about any of you, but I really like this story. Oh well, the show must go on, *grumbles* even if the audience is being stubborn. Just kidding.
This Chapter Written By: Tigerwolf
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Chapter 12
Dog Day Afternoon, And Evening
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Aris attacked Sahjhan, but only managed to go clean through him.
"What are you, stupid?" Sahjhan asked the flustered Aris with a laugh. "I'm immaterial." There were low growls from behind him and a couple of HUGE demons loomed up out of the darkness at the top of the stairs. "However," Sahjhan said. "THEY are not."
While this was going on, I was feeling decidedly weird. Well, weirder than usual. I glanced down at my hands, which a moment ago had resembled fur gloves, now they were true paws. Claws and all. I also felt an itchiness spread over me, the sensation of fur growing. The change had sped up. But, right now, I welcomed it. I wanted to feel the Wolf's strength, it's total fearlessness. I started to take a step toward the demons that had attacked Aris, but I had a little set back. My knees suddenly reversed direction, causing me to fall onto all fours. At the same time, my shirt ripped, because the rippling muscles that were a part of the Wolf demon were bigger than my usual chest size. The lower legs of my pants were splitting at the seams as the huge, tiger-sized hind legs pushed their way out of my normal human legs. I was basically doing an "Incredible Hulk" impression, without the green.
A swipe of my long tail knocked over the lamp that Aris had set up a moment before. Thankfully, Sahjhan's attention was focused on the fight between his hulking demons and Aris, so he hadn't noticed my change of body plans. Connor had stopped crying, maybe it was the shock of seeing his father turning into a wolf that did it, or maybe Cordy's quiet cooing had worked for once. I decided to give my new and improved musculature a test. I crouched and let out a combination roar/howl that basically froze everyone in their tracks, even the demons and Aris stopped and looked for the source of the sound.
"What the...?", Sahjhan said, catching sight of me for the first time. "Whose dog?"
I curled my furry lip back and bared the three-inch fangs that fit perfectly in my new snout. "Grrrrrrrrr," I said. Then I realized that I should probably try to talk. "I'm not a dog, Sahjhan," I said, a little surprised to hear my normal voice coming from the wolf's snout. I guess I thought I would sound like Scooby-Doo, or Astro on the Jetsons... Ok, I have got to stop watching Cartoon Network when I can't sleep.
Sahjhan did a double take. "Whoa, talk about your quick change artist."
I decided that the time for talking was over, and I roared again and leaped over Sahjhan's head (immaterial or not, I swear he ducked) and tackled one of the demons that Aris was fighting. "Need some help?" I barked as I ripped into the demon with my razor-sharp claws.
Aris had quite a few cuts and bruises, but she still managed to smile at me as she pinned the other demon. "Good boy. Sic 'em."
"Very funny. But I'll do it anyway." I sank my fangs into the struggling demon and was shocked to feel a more familiar set of instincts take over. Apparently, my new Wolf side hadn't suppressed my vampire side, in fact, they seemed to be working together. I was totally caught off guard when the fangs lengthened to saber-toothed tiger length. Great, now I was a saber-toothed vampire/werewolf. What else could go wrong?
The demon shook me off with difficulty and stumbled backwards onto the stairs. I leaped after him, realizing my mistake too late. I now weighed considerably more than I had before. Add that to the demon's bulk, and it was more than those old stairs could handle. The stairs collapsed, taking me and the demon with them, but it didn't stop there. The floor under the stairs gave out as well, causing us to plummet twelve feet to the basement floor. Or we would have hit the floor, if the basement hadn't been full of knee deep cold water. And I did not even want to know what that was swimming in there. Will someone please remind me never to ask "what else could go wrong" again?
I quickly finished off the demon, using my newly lengthened fangs to slash its throat, then I used its floating body as a springboard to leap back up out the hole that we'd made. The scene that greeted me was terrifying. All of my friends were locked in mortal combat with at least two demons, and Aris was doing her best to help, trying to keep the demons away from Cordy and Connor, who had apparently found another way down from the bedroom. Sahjhan was standing over in a corner, quietly observing, occasionally making sarcastic comments. More than anything, I wanted to rip him limb from limb, but I knew that was impossible, so I would have to content myself with kicking some demon ass.
One of the demons punched Wesley in his throat, right where Justine had slit it. He went down hard, clutching at his bandaged neck. I roared and leaped up onto the demon's back, watching Wes's eyes widen in shock when he realized who I was. I ripped into the back of the demon's neck with my monster canines, easily severing its spinal cord and snapping it's beefy neck in one blow. I saw Gunn and Groo trying to keep two demons away from Fred, who had lost her dagger and was attempting to crawl into one of the kitchen cabinets to escape the demon's attack. Groo managed to behead one with a skillful swipe of his sword, but another one quickly took its place. They seemed to be coming out of nowhere! Then it hit me, Sahjhan. He must have been calling a new warrior every time we took out one of his. That's why he wasn't trying to take Connor, he had an unlimited supply of demons and patience. He knew that sooner or later, we would get tired and his demons would win. Then he could take Connor. I couldn't let that happen.
I bound across the room and stopped in front of Sahjhan, growling loudly. "Call them off, Sahjhan."
"Hmm, let me think about it for a moment... NO!", he laughed. "Why should I? You are no threat to me, even though you seem to have made a few changes." He looked me over. "It's a good look for you. I think I might even have you mounted in my den after all this is over."
"Not funny," I growled. "You'll have to kill me first."
"Oh, I think that could be arranged," he said gesturing behind me. I turned around, expecting to see another one of his big bodied, small- brained henchmen. What I saw, however, made me freeze in my tracks. Nine feet tall, four arms with various torture implements in each hand.
A Torture demon.
I nearly passed out, as I tried to scramble backwards. I went right through Sahjhan, he just laughed. "Something wrong, Angel?"
I kept doing my best to run backwards, which isn't easy on four legs, and eventually slammed into a wall. The Torture demon walked toward me, cracking its whip ominously. Sparks flew from the end of its cattle prod. I franticly inched along the wall, looking for a doorway, a window, anything to get me away. This wasn't a hallucination, and I knew it. I could see it, I could smell it, and it was scaring the hell out of me. I tried to growl, but all that came out was a frightened whimper. Then the demon was on me.
The first thing to hit was the cat 'o nine tails whip. Its sharp ends cut long furrows through my fur and skin, leaving bloody trails down my white fur. I howled in pain. Then the cattle prod, sending a powerful shock throughout my entire body, making me wish to die. The dagger sliced into my thigh, carving through the muscle like I was a piece of hamburger. Then the whip again. All of my pained howls seemed to blend into one. One long, pitiful cry of pain from a creature that had no hope of escape. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that my friends were losing the battle. Groo was down, I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. Gunn was desperately trying to fend off a demon with one arm while the other hung at his side, dislocated at the shoulder. Wesley had managed to get over to Aris and was helping her to defend Cordy and Connor, but they were fighting a losing battle.
I could barely see anything through the haze of pain that was clouding my mind, but my ears were working just fine. I heard a crash, and a familiar voice call out "Sahjhan!", followed by Sahjhan's yell of "No! Not now!!". Then, suddenly, everything was quiet. Even the Torture demon's triumphant laughter had stopped.
I struggled to raise my head, but I was so tired, and I hurt so bad. Although a part of my brain did register that there didn't seem to be any new wounds.
"Angel?" Cordy's voice. "Angel, open your eyes. Please."
"Cordy?" I mumbled, opening one eye. "Are we dead?"
"No, and you won't believe who we have to thank for that." She was sitting against the wall next to me, I managed (after a couple of failed tries) to get my head into her lap. She held me there and stroked me like a cat, although, at the moment, I suppose that "dog" would be a better choice of words. "Oh crap, you are really ripped up."
"Tell me about it," I said, bringing a paw up and draping it over her leg. "So, who came to our rescue?"
"He's over there, helping Gunn with his shoulder."
I was feeling a little better, so I lifted my head and looked across the room into the kitchen. What I saw nearly made my jaw drop. Holtz was helping Gunn rotate his injured shoulder back into place. Holtz, the man that had taken my child in the first place. We wouldn't even have been there if it weren't for him!
I started to growl, but then I realized something else. We also wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for him. I sighed and rested my head back on Cordy's lap. It was only then that I noticed the hastily crafted bandage that was wrapped around her leg. "Uh, Cordy? Change of subject. What happened to your leg?"
She glanced down at it, almost looking surprised to see it there. "Oh, this? I fell through the stairs. Aris helped me. Don't you want to know how Holtz saved us?"
"I guess."
"He had some kind of urn, or jar thing that he used to trap Sahjhan's essence, or whatever. Apparently, his demons couldn't stay in this dimension without him, and they just sort of vanished."
"That's good."
"What about you? What was that thing?"
I shuddered. "That was a Torture demon. I thought that they only existed in the main Hell dimension. I've seen them before."
"How would you have seen them...." Realization dawned on her beautiful face, followed by sympathy. "Oh God. Angel, is that why you freaked out in the mansion before?"
"Yeah, partially. Trust me, you don't want the details."
She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. I purred. While we were like that, Aris came over. She had a slight limp, but otherwise seemed okay. What caught my attention was who she was carrying: Connor. He squealed and giggled as Aris handed him to Cordy. I raised my head and looked at him, acutely aware that I wouldn't be able to hold him until I was back to normal. I did the best I could, given the circumstances. I nuzzled him gently with my snout. He cooed and reached out, grabbing a small handful of the fur on my snout and yanking on it. "Ow! Hey, watch it, little guy."
Cordy laughed. "A boy and his dog, I mean, his dad."
"Ha, ha. Will you make him let go? This hurts!"
Cordy tickled Connor's stomach playfully. He giggled and let go of my snout to attempt to grab Cordy's finger. Aris smiled down at us. "As heartwarming as this little scene is, your friend Holtz says that he knows where Acathla is in this world. He would like to lead us there, before it gets dark."
I let out a half-hearted growl. "He's not my friend." I pushed myself up onto all fours with some difficulty. Most of the wounds that the Torture demon inflicted were still raw and bleeding, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. I had my son back, everyone was alive, and we were going home. There was only a couple of things that could make this better. One, knowing that I would have my normal body back soon. And two, if I could kiss Cordy again. However, I knew that was next to impossible, what with me having a snout and all.
We walked out the door and into the fading sourceless red light. Everyone except for Lorne and myself stayed in Aris' illusion of the Qualloth demons. Lorne would blend in on his own, and I really didn't think anyone would recognize me here. Not in my current body, anyway.
"Psst," Lorne whispered. "Angel-ca.." He paused the familiar nickname when I curled a lip back and growled at him. "Angel," he started again. "Did you know that you don't look anything like that Wolf demon that scratched you?"
"How so?"
"Well, it was black, and you're white with black stripes. You actually look more like a white tiger than a wolf. Not to mention that tail."
"What about my tail?"
"It's long, not scrawny like that Wolf demon's. Actually, the only part of you that looks like the Wolf is your face. You have a wolf face, with tiger markings."
"It's probably the vampire's effect on the Wolf demon infection. Anyway, it's good to know that I'm unique."
"One of a kind," Lorne added with a grin.
With that, we fell silent for awhile, just content to walk together. I trotted up into the illusion and fell into step beside Cordy and Aris. I felt someone staring at me and turned my head around to look over my shoulder. Holtz was walking right behind me. I made a point of hitting him with my tail a couple of times, until he got the point: I didn't like him behind me. He walked a little faster, bringing himself even with my side. I snorted at him and turned back around. Cordy had given Connor to Aris to hold, since her arms were getting tired. One of her hands dropped to her side and found the top of my head. She absently began scratching behind my ears, and I felt my mouth loll open and my tongue drop out. It was an automatic reaction, but I might have done it anyway. That did feel really good.
About an hour of walking, and we had reached the old high school. It was in ruins, but it was actually in better shape than the one in our Sunnydale. Being in ruins versus being a crater. Holtz told Aris that this was it. This was where Acathla was. Aris had turned off the illusion when we'd left the heavily populated areas of town. The area around the school was totally deserted, so we didn't have to worry about any demons seeing us anymore.
Holtz lead the way through the tomb-like corridors of the abandoned school, with us close behind. Eventually, we reached the old library. I remembered the first time that I'd been in that library, had it only been six years? It seemed like so long ago, another lifetime. Maybe it was.
After Holtz told us that Acathla was somewhere in the library, we decided to split up and look for it again. It wouldn't be as hard this time, seeing as how the library was considerably smaller than the mansion. I was sniffing around the old books, and the others went into the stacks. Cordy walked over to the door to Giles' old office and jiggled the lock, then she yanked it open, popping some of the rotten doorjamb away with it. I glanced at her, she shrugged and walked into the office. A moment later, I heard her scream.
I immediately bound across the library floor with one leap and was inside the office door. A small desk lamp lit the darkened interior, and I could see Cordy staring at the swivel chair, a hand over her mouth.
"Cordy? What's wrong?"
She didn't say any thing, only gently turned the chair around. What I saw then explained her reaction. A mostly decomposed skeleton sat in the chair, remnants of its clothing still visible and a pair of spectacles perched on its bony nasal opening. The skeleton itself wasn't what had made Cordy scream, it was the fact that she recognized the clothing. There was only one person that I'd ever known that wore tweed as a matter of course.
The skeleton... was Giles.
I saw Cordy's shoulders shaking as she cried silently for our friend. Somehow, it didn't help to know that in our dimension, Giles was safe and sound back in England. I walked the long way around the desk, avoiding the chair entirely. I walked over to Cordy and nuzzled her leg, then I gently took her hand in my mouth and lead her out of the office.
I took her out to the stairs and released her hand. She sat down on the bottom step and once again put her arms around me. I did my best to hug her back, but dogs aren't built for hugging, no matter how big they are. I did have the urge to lick her face, but I decided against it. Not this early in our relationship, anyway... Joking. I think.
After a moment, she pulled back and wiped her tears on her sleeve. "Sorry, I know it wasn't really Giles, but it surprised me. You know?"
I gave her my best puppy dog smile, literally. "Yeah, I know." I wished that there was something I could do to cheer her up. Then I got an idea. I laid down at her feet and rolled over on my back.
"What?" she asked, a playful tone entering her voice. "You want your belly rubbed?"
"Well," I said with a wag of my tail. "I am a dog..."
"A silly dog." She smiled, then she reached down and began rubbing the soft fur of my stomach. My tail whipped back and forth furiously and my tongue was lolling out again. After a moment, she switched to scratching my ribs. Immediately, my left hind leg started going all on it's own. Like it was attached to some sort of motor and the start button was my ribs. It felt like being tickled, which I don't normally like, but this... I don't know. This was fun, I liked it. It made me wonder what Cordy was thinking about all this, though.....
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TBC...
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Authors Note: Ok guys, this is it. One more chapter and an epilogue to go, then this epic will be done. I hope you all liked it. (Oh, and have you guessed that I made Angel turn into my penname? Tigerwolf. Heh, heh. I'm evil. I did a self insertion..)