"Oh, God, Gunn, he's chasing us!" Cordelia shrieked.
"Yeah, you noticed that too, huh?" he grabbed her hand and pulled her sharply to the right. There were two overlapping rocks that formed a shelter big enough for them to hide in. Gunn pulled some grass over the opening as cover, then waited for the Scourge to pass them.
Cordelia huddled close to him. "What about Angel?"
"He'll be fine. It's Wes and Doyle I'm worried about. They're both out there in the field."
"Well, Doyle's a ghost, so there's no need to worry about him. And he can protect Wes. That Scourgey guy won't even know what hit him."
This being an inopportune time for lengthy explanations, Gunn chose not to tell her about Doyle's resurrection. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled. Denattar's shadow passed over their hiding place. "We'll just wait here a little longer, I think."
"Wesley, do somethin' will ya?" Doyle urged. "If trouble's what they're inta then they aren't gonna appreciate bein' teenie weenie, ya know? Reverse tha spell."
"No, Doyle. What if they are hiding as we speak and a spell reversal would reveal their location? I can't do that to them."
"At least they'd have a fightin' chance." Doyle responded solemnly.
Wesley looked up at the Scourge. He was still five or six meters away, and had stopped moving forward. Instead he was knocking the grass and weeds out of the way, as if in search of something hiding amongst the foliage.
Then the Scourge stopped and lowered himself to his haunches. Whatever he was seeking, he appeared to have found it.
"Wes - "
"Nimboff!"
Angel peered up anxiously at the two Scourge standing over him with sneers plastered on their hideous visages. This was going to end ugly. he was going to get stomped on afterall. Two hundred and fifty years of undead-ness was going to end in a loud squishing sound.
And then he felt it: That tingle at the base of his skull. The same tingle he had felt when he had been shrunk.
The spell had been reversed.
The vampire grinned as he began to grow. He caught the Scourge's foot as it came down on his head, then threw the demon clear across the barn. The second Scourge, sensing his fate, broke into a run for the door. Angel grabbed the conveniently placed pitchfork off the wall. He threw it at the retreating demon, nailing him in the back. The Scourge fell forward to the ground.
"Well," Angel muttered to himself, "That was anticlimactic."
Denattar grabbed Cordelia by her hair. Gunn lay unconscious in the grass beside them. "You're more trouble than you're worth." the Scourge growled at the young woman.
"Good," she spat.
A tap on the shoulder made the Scourge turn around. Cordelia's eyes went wide as Doyle punched Denattar until he fell. Angered, the demon slammed his elbow into the back of Doyle's knee, then grabbed the back of his shirt to pull him to the ground.
Wesley tugged Cordelia's arm to get her to help him take Gunn back to the car. Reluctantly she pulled her attention away from her previously deceased love in order to help her unconscious friend.
"But what about - "
As she was speaking, Angel burst through the wall of the barn. He spotted her and Wesley and started running.
Denattar pressed his forearm against Doyle's windpipe. "Now, you listen to me very carefully, Human. I will release you and allow your friends to escape only because you have been given a second chance only a short time ago, and I feel responsible for your death." he explained. "But," he added quickly and threateningly, "If you tell anyone I will come for and kill you."
Angel grabbed the Scourge and yanked him off of his recently resurrected friend. "Easy, Angel," Doyle rubbed his neck gingerly.
Denattar shrugged the vampire off, then backed away. "What's going on?" the vampire asked suspiciously.
"Let's just go befar he changes his mind."
The two fled. They arrived at the car to find Wesley behind the wheel, Gunn propped up in the back seat, and Cordelia pacing beside the vehicle.
"Hey Princess, how ya - "
Cordelia threw her arms around Doyle's neck, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "I don't believe it. You're really here - right here - and I'm hugging you and crying on you and - "
"I missed ya, too, Princess." he held her tightly.
"I hate to do this, but break it up. We have to get out of here!" Wesley interrupted the pair's reunion.
Doyle and Cordelia climbed into the car, and Wesley pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.
* * *
Tecothra sat at the counter in the hotel's lobby. Her face was buried in her hands, her thoughts filled with guilt. Lorne was sleeping in the room down the hall. After she and Fred had dressed his horn, he had drifted off.
Fred set the mug of coffee in front of Tecothra. "Lorne'll be alrat, so you don't hafta worry." the girl said comfortingly, patting her arm.
The other tried to force a smile, but the expression was twisted and void of emotion. She took the mug, sipped its contents, then set it down again.
They sat in uncertain silence until the door was opened.
"Angel!" Fred exclaimed happily, rushing over to meet him. "And Cordy, you're safe! Oh, Ah am so happy to see you again!" she hugged her enthusiastically, her excitement getting the best of her again.
"Glad to see you, too," Cordelia's reply was a little less than genuine.
Tecothra watched the group as they recounted what had happened for Fred. She felt suddenly out of place and alone. It was at times like these, in the presence of others and their 'families', that she was reminded of how much she missed her own. Akishya was the only person Tecothra had left that she cared about, but even that was a solely professional relationship; Akishya only appeared to Tecothra when she felt guidance was necessary.
What about Lorne? her mind questioned. How does he factor in? Does he factor in at all?
Are you going to let him?
Tecothra sighed. She really did not want to go into that with herself. Noktwar could have - and would have - killed Lorne earlier had Zoë not interfered. She would not be able to live with herself if anything were to happen to him because of her.
Something already has, or aren't you listening to yourself think?
At this point she made her decision to leave Los Angeles. If she left soon, before the Scourge caught up to her again, she might be able to get far enough away that they would forget about her again for a time.
Angel waved his hand in front of her face, bringing her back to the hotel lobby and out of her thoughts. "You okay?"
"Fine," her response was automatic and he did not believe her. "I was just thinking."
"Fred told us about Lorne. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened, though."
"We were attacked at Lorne's club by Noktwar, a prominent leader in the Scourge's ranks." she explained.
The vampire nodded. "Can I, um..." his voice trailed off uncertainly.
"You can do a lot of things." she arched her eyebrow at him expectantly.
"Uh yeah," he scratched the back of his head. "It's just that, well, I was a total jerk to you before - "
"Yes, you were,"
"- And I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You were telling the truth. You came through, you brought Doyle back to us - to Cordy, mostly - and thank you for that, too."
"You're welcome," she cast a glance at Cordelia and Doyle, entangled in each other's arms. "I'm glad she's alright."
"Yeah, me, too. And she's handling this all very well, I think."
"She's happy,"
"And that's the main thing."
Tecothra nodded. "It doesn't look like the Scourge fought back."
"They didn't. They let us go."
She knitted her eyebrows together. "The Scourge never lets anyone go."
The vampire shrugged. "This one did,"
She shook her head in surprise. "Well, then I'd better get while the gettin's good, right? Maybe they'll let me go, too."
"You have a history with the Scourge?"
"Yes, a long one. Lately their vision seems to have expanded to forcing me to resurrect their fallen comrades. But I'll never do it."
"That's good to know. Where would you run to?"
Tecothra shrugged. "Who knows. The Powers That Be will have me on another mission within the week, anyway, so I'll have to depart eventually." she started to get up.
Angel nodded. "What about Lorne?"
She met his eyes as he asked aloud the very thing she had been pondering for most of the evening.
Noktwar stormed into the farmhouse. His fury made the Scourge he passed cringe in fear. Denattar watched his superior from the red velvet chair beside the fireplace, opting to leave the angry demon alone if he did not specifically request his presence. Denattar had already ensured that both of Cordelia's guards were dead so that there would only be one side to the story of her escape. How there had been no other witnesses, he could not figure out, but was grateful for that nonetheless. Noktwar would accept Denattar's version of events without question.
"Denattar," the Scourge snapped his fingers and the lackey was at his side in an instant. "Tell me how she escaped."