Heh heh. Buffy lines borrowed for this chapter. Oz and Cordy, if my memory serves me. Have fun:)

10: Very Bad Things

Beni eyed the exit as his boss paced the tiny room. If he made a run for it, what were his chances of getting more than two steps out of the door, alive? Slim to none, he knew. Beni decided he'd better just stick it out to the bitter end. After all, Ivan had promised not to kill him. He'd never been lied to by a dead guy, and being a rather simple creature, Beni took the corpse at its word.

"Come on," Ivan snarled. "I sense the sacrifices are near."

Beni nodded obligingly and followed Ivan from the office. "So what's with the temper?" he asked, blissfully unaware that he was going to piss Ivan off. "I mean, you could do with an attitude adjustment, know what I mean?"

Ivan turned and glowered at the annoying little man for a moment before deciding once again that it wasn't worth the effort. "I have to get out my anger somehow," he replied. "I just happen to be equipped for sucking the life out of people. It's, like, you know, my..."

"Sacred duty?"

"Yeah, sure, that works. It sort of comes with the whole curse deal. Ah ha, here it is!" Ivan came to a stop at the top of a precipitous staircase. "The sacrifices are down there. They're afraid."

"What, can you like, smell them or something?"

"Yeah."

"Eew. That's really disturbing."

"I really agree." By now they had reached the bottom of the staircase. Ivan motioned for Beni to be quiet. "The element of surprise," he whispered, and stole around the corner without a sound.

Beni heard two men screaming, then one dashed around the corner and ran smack into him. "Watch where you're going!" he yelled as the man tore up the staircase and out of sight. Beni turned back just in time to watch the rather unpleasant sight of Ivan sucking the life out of the man he recognized as Henderson.

"Mmm," said Ivan when he was finished. "I might have to become a cannibal after this is over."

"You look better," said Beni, trying not to cringe at his boss' new appearance.

"I feel better." Ivan studied himself. He did, indeed, look better, except for the irregular patches of missing skin that revealed grimy decomposed muscle fiber and the occasional scampering scarab. Ivan picked a scarab out of his arm and threw it in his mouth, taking pleasure from the satisfying crunch as he chewed it. His powers were growing with each sacrifice, and as soon as he had the final one, he would be unstoppable...

"What's the fastest way out of here?" asked Rick as he and Bey shepherded the group down the hallway.

"What about Jonathan?" Evelyn asked.

Rick rolled his eyes. "What about Jonathan?"

"We can't just leave him here!"

"Sure we can. Show of hands." Rick looked to the rest of the group. "Who votes we just get the hell out of here?"

"O'Connell!" Evelyn placed her hands on her hips and gave him her best glare.

Damn, but she was beautiful. O'Connell sighed, knowing he would regret what he was about to say, but for the life of him he was unable to say no to her. "All right, all right. We'll find Jonathan. Where did you leave him, Bey?"

"I'll lead you there," Bey answered.

"I just saw him," added Meela. "I'll come, too."

"Chamberlain, Mr. President, I want you to stay here with Evelyn, we'll be right--"

Rick was interrupted by Evelyn's outraged protest. "Excuse me, O'Connell, you're not just going to tell me to wait here for you like I'm some damsel in distress who can't take care of herself!"

"Evelyn, would you calm down?" Rick threw his hands in the air. "You're in charge, okay! I'm putting you in charge of the life of the President of the United States, okay!"

Ardeth took a step forward. "Hey. Who put you in charge, O'Connell?"

Rick gave a yell of frustration. "Let's just go get Jonathan, okay?! We can deal with our competition issues later!" He turned to Evelyn and scooped her over his shoulder, despite her objections, and set her down in a nearby broom closet. He pushed Chamberlain and Izzy in as well and said, "Stay here," then slammed the door. "Give me your key card, Bey."

Agent Bey handed it over and Rick swiped it through the electronic lock, then handed it back. He could still hear Evelyn's furious complaints from the other side of the door (the President was none too happy, either), and tried to block from his mind how mad she was going to be when she got out of the closet. She was never going to forgive him.

"Uh, I guess this means I get to come?" Meela asked.

As much as it pained Bey, he was going to have put up with her. "That thing is obviously after you, I'm not going to leave you with the President," he said.

Meela had gotten a very strange look on her face. "Oh, Agent Bey," she sighed. "Thank you so much for everything you've done!"

With that she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. For a man unused to dealing with emotion, even from close friends, the shock of a strange woman hugging him resulted only in a confused, "Uh, sure."

After a few moments Meela drew away, her smile wide. "Really. Thank you." She looked to Rick, who seemed just as puzzled at the display. "Uh, has anyone seen a bathroom nearby? I'm dying to pee."

"There's one just around the corner. But hurry, we have to get out of here."

"Just one second, I promise!" Meela skipped off in the direction indicated.

Rick looked over at Bey, who seemed to be searching his person for something. "Everything all right, Bey?"

"My car keys," he muttered. "And my key card. My keys, Meela took my keys!"

Meela practically flew toward the exit, giddy with a sense of escape. In one hand she clutched Bey's car keys, in the other she had the key card that would allow her to get out of the parking structure and to freedom. Finally, a skill she'd learned from Jonathan that could be applied to the real world...pick pocketing! Her hands shook from the sheer relief of getting away from the White House. She was never coming back to this blasted place. She was getting out of D.C., and she was forgetting about Ivan, Jonathan, everything! She was free!

She turned the key in the ignition and heard a strange scraping sound as the engine caught. Her last thought was that Bey's car probably needed a tune-up.

The explosion shook the foundation and sent shock waves up through the feet of the trio trapped in the closet. A giant fracture ran straight across the floor, and the walls cracked and split, sending waves of suffocating dust their way. Evelyn tried the door again, but it still wouldn't budge.

"What the hell was that?" Izzy choked out. "It sounded like an explosion."

"It's the Creature," whispered Chamberlain, who had somehow managed to wedge himself into a corner again. "He's going to kill us all!"

"It wasn't the Creature." Evelyn shook her head. "He uses plagues. Bugs, frogs, you know, stuff like that. No. Someone blew something up."

"What an astute observation," snapped Izzy.

"O'Connell!" called Evelyn through the doorway. "Ardeth! Oh, I hope they're okay."

The president tapped Evelyn on the shoulder, prompting her to turn around. "Uh, about those plagues..."

Evelyn gave a horrified gasp as she caught sight of the crack on the floor, through which a million tiny flies seemed to be swarming and pulsing as one while they buzzed their way through the crack and into the closet.

~*~*~*~

Reviews inspire me to write:):):):):):)

Okay, a question for my readers. Who has a crush on Jonathan and would like to have a cameo next chapter? I've got plans for Deana:) but I thought it'd be fun to put someone else in, too, and I have an idea. Any takers?