Facing Death (Part 3 of 7)

A large contingent of Hellspawn made a synchronized rush, not at us, the warriors, nor at the initiative soldiers fighting on our right flank, but towards Willow, Giles, and Dawn. One group began scaling the walls, their long claws digging into the cement blocks, creating handholds.  Another group began tossing their war hammers and clubs at our friends in a frenzy.  Then one of the thrown objects glanced off of Dawn's forehead and she went down. 

                                                                        The Last Apocalypse

                                                                        by A. L. Harris

Part 3

Most of the day was spent making calls to some of my sources in the demon community.  My first call had been to Fred.  I needed to warn her - should've warned her as soon as I found out myself.  Fred was pretty smart about keeping herself safe, but Angelus was sly, clever in that evil genius sort of way.  I wouldn't put it past him to approach her, pretending to be sane Angel again and playing into her hopes. 

Fred had already gotten the message.  That morning, she'd found the carcass of the stray dog she'd been feeding strewn across her front porch.  I wondered why he hadn't just nailed it to the door.  I thought he was a sucker for the classics. 

Dru awoke in the early evening, and did everything she could to try to get me to release her so that she could go to Angelus.  She pouted and cried.  She screamed and cursed me.  She teased and purred, and hiked up her skirts in an effort to seduce me.  When she tried to enthrall me, I slapped her hard, and then left the room as she laughed. 

Around nine-thirty, my cell phone rang.  It was Leon.

"You know where he is?" I asked.

"No, but there's something going down on Juarez.  Near 8th street.  I got a report that a bunch of guys dressed in camouflage just hopped off some trucks there."

Riley's men.  It had to be.  I hung up and grabbed all my gear, quickly glancing it over.  Stakes, knives, Xander specials, holy water - all seemed to be in order.  If Riley was taking Angelus down, I wanted to be in on it. 

When I arrived at the scene, soldiers had cordoned off the area.  I pulled my car over to the side and hopped out, and headed for what looked like the command center.  A soldier tried to stop me, but I saw Riley and started yelling.  With a look of frustration, he strode over to where I was still giving the guard a hard time.

"You shouldn't be here, Xander.  This isn't your fight."

"The hell it isn't.  This is Angelus we're talking about.  You can be the ones to kill him, but I want to be there to make sure he's dead."

He took that in, then gave a quick nod.

"Fine.  But you're an observer, got that?  You stay out of our way."

"Yes sir, whatever you say, sir."

Shaking his head, not sure if he was being mocked or not, he walked back to the group of ten soldiers who looked as if they were gearing up for World War III.  Putting on a helmet, he addressed them in a loud, commanding voice.

"Okay, men, we're going in.  Our equipment tells us that there's one room temperature hostile inside.  He isn't hiding, so I don't think he knows we're here.  Now, there may be only one of him, but he's considered highly dangerous, so stay alert."

Riley motioned to one man, who came forward. 

"Greenburg, Davis, Johnson, and Lockwood – you're with Basque.  You're going in through the back.  Wait for my signal."

The five he'd named moved as a group around the side of the structure and disappeared.  

"The rest of us…and Harris, here, will go in the front.  Good hunting, men."

Part of me couldn't believe that Riley had said that.  'Good hunting', like they were tracking down a wild animal, a deer, or something, when what they were after was smarter than they were.  Suddenly, I got a bad, Jurassic Park kind of feeling as I followed them. 

The building we were entering had, at one time, been a restaurant.  A nice one, before the neighborhood around it changed and the streets had become mean.  Then the demons had moved in on the gangs and drug pushers.  Must've been like kindergarten bullies on the playground finding themselves surrounded by big, bad sixth graders, only with sharper teeth and more bloodshed.

Riley yammered a bit on his walkie-talkie as we scanned the first room.  It had once been the reception and waiting area.  I couldn't see much, because, while the others had nifty night-vision equipment, I just had my standard Xander peepers.  Riley indicated for two soldiers to check out the small rooms on the left, the restrooms, maybe?  Within a minute, they were back. 

We were too close to Angelus for the equipment to give us directional readings, so when we went through the doors to the main area, we took it slow.  I was pleased that Angelus had lit a few candles.  They didn't do too much to brighten the room, but at least I didn't feel so blind. 

There were several alcoves that must have harbored different seating areas, or been sectioned off for large parties, but no tables or chairs remained.  The focus of the room, however, was what must have been at one time the bar.  It was a large rectangular structure, made of stone.  Above it, ends of wires still hung down from the remains of the ceiling, swaying a bit, as our movements stirred up the air.  In the middle of the wires, where at one time there had been a skylight, was a hole.  The night sky shone through that hole spotlighting…Angelus.

He stood, surrounded by the stone bar up to a point above his waist, and watched us, unconcerned as we crept into the room and started to take positions around him.  His eyes lit on me, and he smiled.

 "Xander, long time, no see."

"Not long enough."

I turned towards Riley.

"What are you waiting for…shoot him!" I yelled.

"Our orders are to capture him, if possible."

"Whose idiotic idea was that?"

Angelus tilted his head as he looked at me, and tsked. 

"Ah…Xander…that wasn't very nice.  After all we've been to each other, too.  I don't even mind that you've borrowed something that belongs to me."  His voice became low and thunderous.  "But I want her back." 

"Dru's not yours."

"She'll always be mine.  Where is she?"

Riley turned to me, disbelief and frustration evident.

"You've got Drusilla?  I told you to stay out of it, Xander!"

"Riley?  Is that Riley with you Xander?  You know, I never liked that guy. Was always too sure of himself, as long as he had his friends and his little toys along."

The soldiers had come in the back as we'd talked, and carefully taken positions on the far side of the room, so that Angelus was surrounded. 

"Why don't we show you what our little toys can do?" said Riley.  "Men, take him down."

At a signal from Riley, weapons were fired that arced electricity towards Angelus, who simply ducked down to avoid their flash, letting the power splash over the walls and stone.  They were avoiding getting too close, but what they were doing wasn't going to work.  I pulled my Xander Special from my pocket. 

Riley signaled again, and the tazers stopped.  Angelus poked his head back out. 

"Now that was impressive.  Bet my friends thought so, too."

"Friends?" Riley jeered.  "You're alone."

Angelus simply smirked.

"Is that what your toys told you, boy?  Well, I'd love to stay and watch the fun, but…"

Thunk.  I'd hit him in the chest when I'd fired, missing his heart by inches.   He snarled at me and I fired again.  This time, he leapt up to avoid it.  Up through the hole in the ceiling, he jumped, and disappeared into the night. 

Riley marched up to me, fury overwhelming him.

"Damn it, Xander, you were supposed to observe, not…"

I slammed into him, covering his mouth with my hand.

"Shh….    Listen!"

He stiffened as he heard it, too.  A moaning and groaning of the floorboards as things shifted.  We spun around, and I saw it, and my heart lurched.  Riley still didn't realize what was happening.  His night-vision goggles were obscuring it.  I yanked off his headgear and pointed to the walls.  The walls that seemed to be moving.  In the dim light, we could barely make out that the walls were actually formless blobs.  And they were coming closer. 

"What the hell are they?  Why didn't the machine pick them up?" Riley shouted.

"Ciladon, a hive of them.  Tazers probably woke them, got them active."

The soldiers were beginning to fire into the slow moving blobs that encroached us into a smaller and smaller space.  There was no effect.  It wasn't even making them pause.   I pointed to the hole where Angelus had escaped. 

"Can we make it out that way?"

Riley shook his head. 

"I have a line, no grappling hook, though.  What kills these things?"

The soldiers kept firing, but Riley could see that our territory was getting smaller by the second, and we'd soon be overrun.

"You have any Mr. Clean on you?" I shouted.

"What?"

"Ammonia – just the smell of it makes these things turn tail.  If it gets on them, they die," I explained.

Riley gave a fatalistic shrug his shoulders.

"Sorry, didn't pack any cleaning supplies.  Well, it's been nice knowing you, Xander."

All of the soldiers were now huddled behind the stone bar, firing wildly as their death came closer.  I got an idea.  If it didn't work, I was going to feel really stupid…at least for the few minutes it took before we all died. 

I clambered up on the bar and unzipped my pants.

My stream shot out and splattered on the nearest Ciladon, and an unearthly shriek filled the room as part of it dissolved.  Other Ciladon backed away from the site.  The ammonia in urine was working.  Riley was never slow on the uptake.   He began to unzip as well.   

"Come on, men, let's do it.  Let's clear a path to the door."

The lone female, Davis, looked at Riley with wide eyes.  He simply nodded at her, encouragingly.

"Do your best, soldier."

As we moved closer to the door, doing something that I hoped never went down in the annals of military conflicts, I glanced over at Riley. 

"Makes you wish you'd gotten that Big Gulp at 7-Eleven, doesn't it?"

By the time we escaped the building in which we'd come so close to dying, our bladders were empty, but our hearts joyous.  With the feeling of accomplishment, we were putting ourselves away and zipping up, when a loud series of snarls sounded from nearby. 

Coming towards us was a group of Fyarl demons.  Guess Angelus' plan B was kicking in.  I bent and grabbed my knives from their sheaths at my ankles, and handed one to Riley.  He glanced at me in surprise.

"Silver.  Not only pretty, but useful, too."

He gave me a wry grin as we headed towards the monsters.

 * * * * *

I walked into the bedroom and slowly pulled my blood and gore covered shirt from my body.  My left arm ached where the claws of a Fyarl had torn it open a few inches above the wrist; luckily, it was only a shallow cut.  We'd managed to defeat the demons without a single casualty.  Lots of wounded, though. Heck, by the time we were done, all of us were wounded.  Riley was sporting a gash in the forehead and broken ribs.  A few of his soldiers had only minor injuries, but four of them were in the hospital, one in intensive care.  There was no doubt about it.  Angelus had kicked our butts.  If I closed my eyes, I could still hear the screams, both human and demon, echoing.

Drusilla was sitting on the edge of the bed as I entered.  I'd given her enough play on the chains so that she could move around a bit.  Now she was watching me, her eyes flicking over the minor scratches on my chest, before latching onto my wound. 

"Kitten, you're hurt."

As I watched, she licked her lips.  Sighing, I strode to the nightstand where I'd left a container of blood.  The jar was empty.

"Do you want me to get you another pint, Dru?"

"Nasty stuff.  Tastes horrid."

"That's cause it's pig, not fresh human.  You didn't answer my question, though.  Are you still hungry?" 

"No," she pouted.

I turned my back on her as I reached into my duffle bag for my toothbrush, but I could still feel her eyes on me.

"You saw Daddy."

"Uh huh."

"Did he ask about me?"

"Uh huh."

The bed creaked a little and her chains clanked as she rose and put a cool hand on my back, between my shoulder blades.

"Bad, rude men, to have such fun and not invite me play in your game."

Spinning, I captured her arms in a tight grip.

"It's not a game. It's never been a game.  People were injured tonight.  We could've died."

She smiled and eyed my wound.

"Does it hurt?"

"A bit."

"Let Mummy kiss it better?"

Yanking her against me, I slammed my mouth onto hers, kissing her fiercely, deeply.  As we kissed, I maneuvered us towards the bed, then pushed her down on it.  I followed her, spreading her legs as I placed my weight on top of her.  When I brought my head up to gasp in a breath, she giggled, then pulled her skirt up to her waist, baring herself to me.

Her dampness stained the crotch of my jeans as I thrust against her, wanting to bury myself in her, but also wanting to draw it out as long as possible.  It felt so good, but there was one thing I could do to make it even better.  

I lifted my arm and placed my wound next to her mouth.  With glee, Drusilla's eyes glowed yellow, and her teeth elongated into fangs that pierced my skin.  She began to feed.  I groaned as all of the blood that wasn't being sucked out of my arm pooled in my groin, and I hardened even more than I thought possible.  It'd been so long since we'd done this.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the sensation.  As I continued to rock my erection against her softness, Drusilla's mouth was pulling me under.  All my worries were evaporating as I was dragged closer and closer to sweet oblivion.  No longer did I have to think about the soldiers who'd cried out that night.  No longer did I have to remember my friends who had cried out so long ago. All of my failures were being washed away.  This must be what it feels like to drown, I thought.  This must be what it feels like to die.

Shit.

With haste, shaking a bit, I pulled my flesh from Drusilla's lips and hopped off of the bed, and backed away.  Drusilla looked stunned at my actions and started to stand, to come to me, but I shook my head, and escaped out of the room, closing the door behind me.

Dawn had been right.  I still had a death wish.  Despite all the years of denying it, of swearing that I was better, right as rain, a picture of normalcy, it was still there.  I'd buried it, but given it only a shallow grave.  It didn't take much for it to be exposed once more. 

TBC