Chapter 8
"Holtz? Whose Holtz?" Buffy asked gripping the screaming Conner.
"Don't you remember me Darla?" the man Angel identified as Holtz asked her.
"She's not Darla." Angel said dangerously. "And you stay away from her."
"Angel, what the hell is going on? Whose Holtz?" Buffy persisted.
"Not now Buffy. Just take Conner and Dawn and get out of here as fast as you can." Angel said, keeping his eyes on Holtz.
"Angel, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on!"
"Just go!" This time he did look at her. His eyes were desperate and fearful. Now Buffy knew there was no way that she was going to leave. She stared at Angel and then called Cordelia over.
"Cordy, take Conner and everyone else and go. I'm not leaving my husband here to fight by himself." Buffy said, her eyes never leaving Angel.
"Buffy." Cordy started.
"Please Cordy. Protect my son." Buffy looked at Cordelia. Cordy saw her eyes and finally took Conner. He screamed even more and Buffy closed her eyes tight as tears started to fall.
"We'll keep him safe." Cordy said. "Come on guys."
"I'm not leaving." Gunn said.
"Yes you are. Buffy, you're going too." Angel said.
"Like hell I am. You think I want to watch you die again. You're surrounded by vamps and by the way you're talking, this Holtz guy is bad. I'm not leaving Angel." Buffy gave him a determined look.
"Cordy, take our son and everyone else and go." Angel finally said.
"Angel, I'm not leaving." Gunn said again.
"And neither am I." Gru came in.
"Gunn." Fred said.
"Fred, go with Cordy and protect Angel and Buffy's son." Gunn said.
They started to leave, but a group of vamps blocked their path.
"Angel!" Cordy cried.
"Holtz!" The man looked over at him, obviously enjoying the spectacle. "Let them go and deal with me."
"They mean a lot to you, don't they?" Holtz asked calmly.
"Yes."
"Then why should I let them go? My family meant a lot to me and you didn't let them go."
"Angel?" Buffy asked.
"I know. I'll explain it later." Angel said.
"Fine. Let them go!" Holtz said.
Cordy holding Conner, Fred, Lorne, Dawn, and Wesley left the building in a rush and headed to Buffy's Jeep. They got in, Cordy doing her best to strap Conner in as they shot off into the night to stay at Cordy's apartment.
Back inside the hotel, the vampires circled Buffy, Angel, Gru, and Gunn. Holtz stood on the steps and watched as the vampires attacked. Buffy delivered a blow that broke the first vampire's neck and then ducked as on tried to grab her in a bear hug. She swept his feet out from under him and then staked him with a piece of wood that was lying on the floor amongst the debris. He exploded into dust and Buffy moved on to the one whose neck she had broken, staking him as well.
Angel ducked blow after blow and delivered more than he received to the vampire he was facing. He didn't have a stake on him at the moment, but someone must have because he heard the two familiar explosions of dust behind him. He turned long enough to see Buffy stand up and dust vamp dust off her arm then get tackled by a beast of a vampire.
"Yi!" Buffy screamed as she was thrown to the floor. Her head cracked against the marble and spots swam in her vision. Her ears were ringing, but she could have sworn someone was calling her name. She tried to sit up, but suddenly a great weight came down on her and she was pinned to the floor. Buffy struggled for all she was worth, but the vampire weighed about four times her body weight. He started to lean in for the kill and Buffy instinctively scrunched her neck down to her shoulders. Then the massive vampire was pulled off her and she could breath again. She flipped up and nearly tripped from lack of oxygen. Angel caught her and blocked a pair of vamps that tried to rush her. She gave him a look and a nod that told him she was all right. They turned back to back and fought the next wave of vampires.
Their motions were identical and precise. Angel and Buffy had fought and trained side by side long enough that they could fall in step together effortlessly. Right now they were using a mixture of kata and tai chi that he had taught her three years ago. To Angel, and most likely Buffy, the world fell away and it was just them and the battle. Attacker after attacker came and fell back against the punishing blows that Angel and Buffy dealt them. Angel had no assessment of how many he had dusted with the piece of wood he had picked up off the floor, or how many Buffy, Gru, and Gunn had gotten either. All he knew was that he had to protect his wife, his son, his friends, and himself. In other words, his family.
Buffy was surprised that she remembered all this stuff. She hadn't practiced it in a couple of years. It all came back naturally to her. Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance and saw an opening to the weapons cabinet. Deciding to go for it, she took off at a dead run and slid to a halt in front of it. There was a padlock on it and Buffy didn't have a key. Grabbing hold of the lock she yanked the lock and it broke. She jerked the doors open and checked the weapons quickly. A drawer full of stakes, a couple of broadswords, a mace with wooden, an ancient Chinese crossbow that reloaded itself automatically, a pair of wicked-looking battle axes, and ten daggers lined in a row on the back of the cabinet. *Choices choices* Buffy thought. She grabbed a handful of stakes, the crossbow, and one of the broadswords. As Buffy was slinging the crossbow over her shoulder, she got that tingle sensation up her spine that made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Buffy turned and blocked a blow from a female vampire then shoved one of the stakes through her undead heart. She turned and kicked another vamp out of her way and made a path to Angel.
"Angel!" He turned and saw Buffy coming towards him carrying weapons. *That's my girl!* She made it to him in no time and handed him the broadsword, his favorite, as she swung her shoulder to rock the crossbow into her waiting arms. As fast as lightning, she managed to get the first bolt in the holster and set it to get ready for the next five bolts that waited. Then it was as if everything froze. Buffy and Angel stood side-by- side; nine of the remaining vamps surrounding them. Gru and Gunn were towards the main entrance surrounded by about six vamps. The humans, seeing how strong the people that they were supposed to fight actually were, had fled or stuck around in the background to watch. Angel looked at Buffy and so did everyone else. She looked back up and nodded.
The battle picked up and Buffy saw Angel's broadsword flash past her head.
"Hey! Watch it with that thing!" Buffy yelled as she shot a bolt through two of the oncoming vamps.
"Sorry!" Angel yelled back, lopping a head off of a large football player vampire.
Buffy lashed out with her foot and broke the nearest vampire's kneecap. He went down and Buffy was there to deliver the stake through his undead heart. She saw Gunn backed up into a corner and Gru trying to fight his way to him.
"Gunn!" Buffy called. He and the vamps that surrounded him looked over at her. Gunn took the advantage and broke away. Buffy tossed a stake his way and he caught it mid flight, then turning he staked the two vamps behind him in quick succession. Buffy smiled and then flipped in a flying back tuck when her Spider Senses kicked in and told her that there was a foot headed for the small of her back. In mid jump she unrolled her self and latched onto the vampire's neck. Then going with her momentum, she kept flipping backwards, with her legs wrapped tightly around the vamp's neck, until she felt the impact of the floor on the palms of her hands. The vampire flipped over her and she went with that impetus until she was back on her feet and the vamp was on it's back staring at the stake that now protruded from its heart.
"Go Buff!" Gunn yelled across the room.
Angel looked around and realized that there were now only four vamps left. They looked terrified as the group surrounded them. As they tried to run, two going at Buffy, she jumped into a toe touch and hit the vamps on their chins. They flew backwards and Gunn and Angel staked them. The two that remained had fled and the four were left in the lobby. They all turned to the door where Holtz had been standing. He was gone.
"That coward!" Angel seethed.
"Angel, who was that?" Buffy said, coming up and putting her hands on his shoulders.
"A man that should have been dead along time ago."
"Who?"
"His name is John Holtz. Back when I was Angelus in 1764, Darla and I killed his family. Just to torment him, we changed his little girl. We did it because he had hunted us for years. When we found out where his family lived, we went there a day ahead of him and killed his family. He stopped hunting us after that. Darla and I assumed that his daughter had killed him. Maybe she turned him. I don't know. But Darla and I left him for dead."
Buffy, Gunn, and Gru just looked at him. Angel expected her to walk away or not like him anymore, but she did something that shocked him. She took her hands and touched both his cheeks gently and then tenderly pulled his face to hers. She kissed him passionately even though there were two other people in the room. At first he tried to resist, but then he was pulled into it and he kissed back. When she broke off for air, Angel was a little disappointed. The others had turned to give them that moment. He was grateful.
"Angel, that wasn't you. This is you now. I love you and nothing Angelus did will make me love YOU, Angel, any less. Understand?" Buffy asked gazing into his eyes.
"Yes." He answered meeting her gaze.
"Good. Now let's go get our son. I don't want anyone else, except Cordy now, to touch our little miracle."
They walked outside and ran to Gunn's truck. Gunn hoped in the driver's seat, Gru got in the middle, and Angel sat on the passenger side with Buffy in his lap. Gunn sped into the night while Angel called Cordy's cell phone. She picked up on the fifth ring, just when his heart was about to burst.
"Hey Angel! Are you guys all right?" Cordy asked.
"We're fine. Where are you?" Angel asked.
"We're at my apartment. It was the safest place to go."
"Where's Conner?"
"He's sitting right here with me, locked in my room."
"Has anyone else held him?"
"No. Only me."
"Good. I don't want anyone else holding him." Then under his breath so only Buffy and Cordy could hear, "I wouldn't trust anyone else."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"We'll be there in a few."
Angel hung up the phone and told Gunn to head over to Cordy's. Gunn made a hard right and headed for the apartment. When they got there, Buffy and Angel were the first ones through the door. Buffy, having never been there before, had to follow Angel. Everyone stood up when they burst through.
"Buffy!" Dawn said. Her sister ran up to her and hugged her sister for all she was worth.
"Dawnie! Are you ok? Did any of those vamps try to hurt you?" Buffy asked frantically.
"No. We're all ok. When we left you, I thought we would never see any of you again."
"Dawn, never worry about me. I have my motivations for staying alive."
"What are they?"
"You, Conner, Angel, all my friends. Plus the whole concept of dying for the third time just gives me a wiggens."
Cordy came out of a room and called to Buffy and Angel. Buffy went ahead of Angel and darted into the room. Conner was there, giggling and gurgling in his car seat. When he saw his mother, the smile on his face widened. Buffy smiled back and walked over to him, picking him up.
"Hey there little guy! Yeah, mommy's here." Buffy laughed when Conner just looked and her with that little smile and gurgled. "Look, here comes daddy."
"Hey there Sport! Daddy's sorry about letting you get that scared." Angel cooed. Conner just gurgled and grinned some more. He knew when he was with the two people who loved him most. His mommy and daddy loved him more than they loved themselves.
"Angel?" Cordy asked.
"Yeah?"
"That was Holtz?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Isn't he like, supposed to work with humans? Ever since this whole thing started, he's been working with the bad guys. Isn't he supposed to be a good guy?"
"I don't think he is."
"Oh. Then he has to be a vampire. I mean, he's here now. You knew him back in the late 1700s."
"I told you I don't know Cordelia!"
"Angel." Buffy put a hand on his arm to calm him.
"Sorry. This is really frustrating!"
"You were Angelus back then right?" Cordy asked as if Angel hadn't just snapped at her.
"Yes."
"We need more back info now."
"Go into the living room. I'll tell you all in there."
They headed to the living room and took seats on the couch. Buffy holding Angel, Angel right beside her, Cordy sitting with Gru in the middle, and Dawn between Angel and Cordy.
"Ready for a long night?" Angel asked.
"Holtz? Whose Holtz?" Buffy asked gripping the screaming Conner.
"Don't you remember me Darla?" the man Angel identified as Holtz asked her.
"She's not Darla." Angel said dangerously. "And you stay away from her."
"Angel, what the hell is going on? Whose Holtz?" Buffy persisted.
"Not now Buffy. Just take Conner and Dawn and get out of here as fast as you can." Angel said, keeping his eyes on Holtz.
"Angel, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on!"
"Just go!" This time he did look at her. His eyes were desperate and fearful. Now Buffy knew there was no way that she was going to leave. She stared at Angel and then called Cordelia over.
"Cordy, take Conner and everyone else and go. I'm not leaving my husband here to fight by himself." Buffy said, her eyes never leaving Angel.
"Buffy." Cordy started.
"Please Cordy. Protect my son." Buffy looked at Cordelia. Cordy saw her eyes and finally took Conner. He screamed even more and Buffy closed her eyes tight as tears started to fall.
"We'll keep him safe." Cordy said. "Come on guys."
"I'm not leaving." Gunn said.
"Yes you are. Buffy, you're going too." Angel said.
"Like hell I am. You think I want to watch you die again. You're surrounded by vamps and by the way you're talking, this Holtz guy is bad. I'm not leaving Angel." Buffy gave him a determined look.
"Cordy, take our son and everyone else and go." Angel finally said.
"Angel, I'm not leaving." Gunn said again.
"And neither am I." Gru came in.
"Gunn." Fred said.
"Fred, go with Cordy and protect Angel and Buffy's son." Gunn said.
They started to leave, but a group of vamps blocked their path.
"Angel!" Cordy cried.
"Holtz!" The man looked over at him, obviously enjoying the spectacle. "Let them go and deal with me."
"They mean a lot to you, don't they?" Holtz asked calmly.
"Yes."
"Then why should I let them go? My family meant a lot to me and you didn't let them go."
"Angel?" Buffy asked.
"I know. I'll explain it later." Angel said.
"Fine. Let them go!" Holtz said.
Cordy holding Conner, Fred, Lorne, Dawn, and Wesley left the building in a rush and headed to Buffy's Jeep. They got in, Cordy doing her best to strap Conner in as they shot off into the night to stay at Cordy's apartment.
Back inside the hotel, the vampires circled Buffy, Angel, Gru, and Gunn. Holtz stood on the steps and watched as the vampires attacked. Buffy delivered a blow that broke the first vampire's neck and then ducked as on tried to grab her in a bear hug. She swept his feet out from under him and then staked him with a piece of wood that was lying on the floor amongst the debris. He exploded into dust and Buffy moved on to the one whose neck she had broken, staking him as well.
Angel ducked blow after blow and delivered more than he received to the vampire he was facing. He didn't have a stake on him at the moment, but someone must have because he heard the two familiar explosions of dust behind him. He turned long enough to see Buffy stand up and dust vamp dust off her arm then get tackled by a beast of a vampire.
"Yi!" Buffy screamed as she was thrown to the floor. Her head cracked against the marble and spots swam in her vision. Her ears were ringing, but she could have sworn someone was calling her name. She tried to sit up, but suddenly a great weight came down on her and she was pinned to the floor. Buffy struggled for all she was worth, but the vampire weighed about four times her body weight. He started to lean in for the kill and Buffy instinctively scrunched her neck down to her shoulders. Then the massive vampire was pulled off her and she could breath again. She flipped up and nearly tripped from lack of oxygen. Angel caught her and blocked a pair of vamps that tried to rush her. She gave him a look and a nod that told him she was all right. They turned back to back and fought the next wave of vampires.
Their motions were identical and precise. Angel and Buffy had fought and trained side by side long enough that they could fall in step together effortlessly. Right now they were using a mixture of kata and tai chi that he had taught her three years ago. To Angel, and most likely Buffy, the world fell away and it was just them and the battle. Attacker after attacker came and fell back against the punishing blows that Angel and Buffy dealt them. Angel had no assessment of how many he had dusted with the piece of wood he had picked up off the floor, or how many Buffy, Gru, and Gunn had gotten either. All he knew was that he had to protect his wife, his son, his friends, and himself. In other words, his family.
Buffy was surprised that she remembered all this stuff. She hadn't practiced it in a couple of years. It all came back naturally to her. Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance and saw an opening to the weapons cabinet. Deciding to go for it, she took off at a dead run and slid to a halt in front of it. There was a padlock on it and Buffy didn't have a key. Grabbing hold of the lock she yanked the lock and it broke. She jerked the doors open and checked the weapons quickly. A drawer full of stakes, a couple of broadswords, a mace with wooden, an ancient Chinese crossbow that reloaded itself automatically, a pair of wicked-looking battle axes, and ten daggers lined in a row on the back of the cabinet. *Choices choices* Buffy thought. She grabbed a handful of stakes, the crossbow, and one of the broadswords. As Buffy was slinging the crossbow over her shoulder, she got that tingle sensation up her spine that made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Buffy turned and blocked a blow from a female vampire then shoved one of the stakes through her undead heart. She turned and kicked another vamp out of her way and made a path to Angel.
"Angel!" He turned and saw Buffy coming towards him carrying weapons. *That's my girl!* She made it to him in no time and handed him the broadsword, his favorite, as she swung her shoulder to rock the crossbow into her waiting arms. As fast as lightning, she managed to get the first bolt in the holster and set it to get ready for the next five bolts that waited. Then it was as if everything froze. Buffy and Angel stood side-by- side; nine of the remaining vamps surrounding them. Gru and Gunn were towards the main entrance surrounded by about six vamps. The humans, seeing how strong the people that they were supposed to fight actually were, had fled or stuck around in the background to watch. Angel looked at Buffy and so did everyone else. She looked back up and nodded.
The battle picked up and Buffy saw Angel's broadsword flash past her head.
"Hey! Watch it with that thing!" Buffy yelled as she shot a bolt through two of the oncoming vamps.
"Sorry!" Angel yelled back, lopping a head off of a large football player vampire.
Buffy lashed out with her foot and broke the nearest vampire's kneecap. He went down and Buffy was there to deliver the stake through his undead heart. She saw Gunn backed up into a corner and Gru trying to fight his way to him.
"Gunn!" Buffy called. He and the vamps that surrounded him looked over at her. Gunn took the advantage and broke away. Buffy tossed a stake his way and he caught it mid flight, then turning he staked the two vamps behind him in quick succession. Buffy smiled and then flipped in a flying back tuck when her Spider Senses kicked in and told her that there was a foot headed for the small of her back. In mid jump she unrolled her self and latched onto the vampire's neck. Then going with her momentum, she kept flipping backwards, with her legs wrapped tightly around the vamp's neck, until she felt the impact of the floor on the palms of her hands. The vampire flipped over her and she went with that impetus until she was back on her feet and the vamp was on it's back staring at the stake that now protruded from its heart.
"Go Buff!" Gunn yelled across the room.
Angel looked around and realized that there were now only four vamps left. They looked terrified as the group surrounded them. As they tried to run, two going at Buffy, she jumped into a toe touch and hit the vamps on their chins. They flew backwards and Gunn and Angel staked them. The two that remained had fled and the four were left in the lobby. They all turned to the door where Holtz had been standing. He was gone.
"That coward!" Angel seethed.
"Angel, who was that?" Buffy said, coming up and putting her hands on his shoulders.
"A man that should have been dead along time ago."
"Who?"
"His name is John Holtz. Back when I was Angelus in 1764, Darla and I killed his family. Just to torment him, we changed his little girl. We did it because he had hunted us for years. When we found out where his family lived, we went there a day ahead of him and killed his family. He stopped hunting us after that. Darla and I assumed that his daughter had killed him. Maybe she turned him. I don't know. But Darla and I left him for dead."
Buffy, Gunn, and Gru just looked at him. Angel expected her to walk away or not like him anymore, but she did something that shocked him. She took her hands and touched both his cheeks gently and then tenderly pulled his face to hers. She kissed him passionately even though there were two other people in the room. At first he tried to resist, but then he was pulled into it and he kissed back. When she broke off for air, Angel was a little disappointed. The others had turned to give them that moment. He was grateful.
"Angel, that wasn't you. This is you now. I love you and nothing Angelus did will make me love YOU, Angel, any less. Understand?" Buffy asked gazing into his eyes.
"Yes." He answered meeting her gaze.
"Good. Now let's go get our son. I don't want anyone else, except Cordy now, to touch our little miracle."
They walked outside and ran to Gunn's truck. Gunn hoped in the driver's seat, Gru got in the middle, and Angel sat on the passenger side with Buffy in his lap. Gunn sped into the night while Angel called Cordy's cell phone. She picked up on the fifth ring, just when his heart was about to burst.
"Hey Angel! Are you guys all right?" Cordy asked.
"We're fine. Where are you?" Angel asked.
"We're at my apartment. It was the safest place to go."
"Where's Conner?"
"He's sitting right here with me, locked in my room."
"Has anyone else held him?"
"No. Only me."
"Good. I don't want anyone else holding him." Then under his breath so only Buffy and Cordy could hear, "I wouldn't trust anyone else."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"We'll be there in a few."
Angel hung up the phone and told Gunn to head over to Cordy's. Gunn made a hard right and headed for the apartment. When they got there, Buffy and Angel were the first ones through the door. Buffy, having never been there before, had to follow Angel. Everyone stood up when they burst through.
"Buffy!" Dawn said. Her sister ran up to her and hugged her sister for all she was worth.
"Dawnie! Are you ok? Did any of those vamps try to hurt you?" Buffy asked frantically.
"No. We're all ok. When we left you, I thought we would never see any of you again."
"Dawn, never worry about me. I have my motivations for staying alive."
"What are they?"
"You, Conner, Angel, all my friends. Plus the whole concept of dying for the third time just gives me a wiggens."
Cordy came out of a room and called to Buffy and Angel. Buffy went ahead of Angel and darted into the room. Conner was there, giggling and gurgling in his car seat. When he saw his mother, the smile on his face widened. Buffy smiled back and walked over to him, picking him up.
"Hey there little guy! Yeah, mommy's here." Buffy laughed when Conner just looked and her with that little smile and gurgled. "Look, here comes daddy."
"Hey there Sport! Daddy's sorry about letting you get that scared." Angel cooed. Conner just gurgled and grinned some more. He knew when he was with the two people who loved him most. His mommy and daddy loved him more than they loved themselves.
"Angel?" Cordy asked.
"Yeah?"
"That was Holtz?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Isn't he like, supposed to work with humans? Ever since this whole thing started, he's been working with the bad guys. Isn't he supposed to be a good guy?"
"I don't think he is."
"Oh. Then he has to be a vampire. I mean, he's here now. You knew him back in the late 1700s."
"I told you I don't know Cordelia!"
"Angel." Buffy put a hand on his arm to calm him.
"Sorry. This is really frustrating!"
"You were Angelus back then right?" Cordy asked as if Angel hadn't just snapped at her.
"Yes."
"We need more back info now."
"Go into the living room. I'll tell you all in there."
They headed to the living room and took seats on the couch. Buffy holding Angel, Angel right beside her, Cordy sitting with Gru in the middle, and Dawn between Angel and Cordy.
"Ready for a long night?" Angel asked.