CHAPTER TWELVE
Hah, well, I ain't no good to no one no how, not right now
'Cause I forgot to run myself and I got run down
Do I look like something you can put in a fuckin' cage?!
Come over here and gimme a kiss
Yeah, I'm startin' to see
Yeah, I do believe
Better keep your distance
From this tangled shape i'm in
Now no one had better touch me right now
In this cold-blooded thick skin
Better, well, well
Now I said you better run real fast
When you hear that rattlin' sound
Oh I said you better run real fast
Or this one's gonna knock you down.
"I can't believe I told you where to find me," Connor groused, sparing a hostile look for the group outside the large doors of an abandoned church. Brilliant graffiti decorated the outside but somehow there was still an unsoiled, if stale, air of sanctity inside the building. The statuary was still inside the church, adding a forbidding, forlorn look to the solemn place. All things of value like candle holders, censors and chalices had either been stolen or taken when the church was closed.
"Cordelia had a vision. She saw the Beast attacking you in a church," Angel said. "We weren't sure if we could beat it here. At least you answered the phone." He looked around at the battered pews and the still intact stained glass. "This isn't much better than the hotel for fighting."
"It's downright creepy," Faith said, her lips pulling down into a scowl. "Why did you pick here to live?"
"Not too far from Anne's haven if she needed me. No one bothers with it and it's got a safe place to sleep." Connor pointed to the choral loft.
"When we get through this, Connor, we're going to talk about getting you a proper place to live," Angel said, thoughts inspired by Faith's concerns flooded his mind. Faith had shared her thoughts on Connor being a little too much like she had been at his age. Angel shared her fears. Connor had been 'sick,' as Cordelia and Lorne once put it, from the energies of Quor-toth. What if Cordy's fix was only temporary? What if his upbringing there had scarred him too badly? Or maybe he was just frightened and alone and that made him act out. Angel was hoping it was the latter. They could work through that.
"Do you want me to go? Lure it some place more open?" Connor asked.
"No," Karan said. "There is a tremendous amount of energy in this building, positive energy. Prayer does tend to generate that. We can use it to protect ourselves from the Beast."
"Do you need to be close to the Beast for the spell to work, Karan, or can we hide you some place safer?" Angel asked.
"As much as I'd like to be elsewhere casting the spell, that's not going to work," she admitted, brushing back her long hair. "But we could try to at least take shelter in one of the side rooms."
"The sacristy," Wesley suggested, pointing to a room off the main room. He went around the altar and peered inside. "There's a sink but I doubt there's still running water."
"No lights, no water," Connor said.
"We won't need it. We can use the sink as a makeshift cauldron," Karan said. "Fred, why don't you and I get started on that."
Fred nodded and went into the sacristy carrying the bundle of twigs they had carted along for the spell casting. Wesley went with them to help ready the spell.
"What do we do now?" Connor turned back to his father.
"You, me, Faith and Gunn need to keep the Beast busy until the spell is cast. Karan said this will turn a deep red with it's ready." Angel shook the horn, which had been lashed to a long, slender piece of piping. The horn glittered greenish, which it hadn't done before.
"What happened to it?" Connor gestured at it.
"The vampire dust added the first layer of spell or something like that." Angel shrugged. "When it goes red, this has to go in the Beast's head or heart."
"And that's your job? What if you fail?" Connor persisted. Angel frowned at the suggestion that he could fail. Faith just wagged her head.
"Then you try, or Faith or Gunn. Any of us should be able to do it. We just need to keep the Beast distracted without dying," Angel said.
"And Cordy's still sick?" Connor seemed distinctly unhappy about that.
Faith nodded. "She's at the hotel with Lorne."
"You left her there unprotected?" Connor snapped.
"Loren's there," Faith repeated.
Connor snorted. "He's useless. He's no good in a fight. All he does is drink and tell us junk we really don't need."
"Connor," Angel hissed in warning.
The boy subsided with a pout. "I don't like it."
"Neither do I." Angel patted Connor's back. "But we need our warriors here."
Connor rolled his eyes. "Okay."
"How many rooms are in this place, Connor?" Gunn glanced around trying to take stock of the potential battlefield.
"The one they just went in and there's one on the other side of the altar, too. Then there are those three little booths." Connor pointed at the confessionals off the sacristy. "The room behind the glass wall under the loft." He nodded back at the cry room. "And downstairs there's a big room the size of the church, like a meeting room and kitchen. There are bathrooms down there. There's a door downstairs, the doors you came through plus a door off either room by the altar. I've barricaded them all but the main doors. I'm not sure that would stop the Beast. It was more to keep others out."
Angel nodded. "We all stay here then. There's not enough of us to cover everyplace and it's not likely the Beast will enter quietly." He looked at his son. "A church? Surely there were better places, Connor."
The boy shrugged. "I've said why. And maybe…I was wondering if the Beast could get in here. Or you for that matter," Connor said sharply and Angel cast an uneasy eye at the larger than life crucifix still hanging behind the altar. "Or the bastard son of two demons. I thought maybe I'd just burn up coming in here. Father used to read to me from the Bible but I've never seen a real church. I always wanted to go but I was afraid. I didn't have a place there. I mean, I might be part demon, too."
Angel saw the sadness in his son's eyes. He hated that his son considered himself in part demonic but he also knew it might be the truth. He touched Connor's cheek and felt him flinch. "You have a place and when this is over we can explore that."
Connor just eyed him suspiciously then his head snapped around facing the front of the church.
"What is it?" Gunn asked, knowing that look.
"It's coming," Connor said and Angel nodded.
"Wes, Fred, Karan, it's near," Faith called.
"I can feel it," Karan called back. A pungent smoke wafted out of the sacristy as she heaped herbs onto the fire.
A loud knock sounded at the front doors. They all stared at each other, marveling over the fact that the demon would knock and think one of them would be foolish enough to answer the door.
"I know you don't have to invite this thing in like a vampire," Gunn said. "It's gotten into too many places for that."
"Maybe it just thinks we're stupid." Faith shrugged, tossing her hair.
When a second knock didn't lure anyone over to the doors, they crashed down with a bang that reverberated through the church. Chanting started in the sacristy barely loud enough to be heard. Faith, Angel, Gunn and Connor separated, lining up along the altar railing of brass-toned iron and marble. The Beast clomped in, the red lines suggesting lava rock seeming brighter than their last visit, as if it had been drawing energy from somewhere. Angel was reminded of the last thing Angelus had offered up, the Beast was a minion and they still didn't know whose.
It managed something close to a smile. "Angelus, still not interested in taking me up on my offer to rule in the darkness?"
"Wasn't interested two hundred years ago and I'm still not," Angel said, charging the demon. He knew he couldn't hurt it yet. The spear was slung around his back. He was depending on a claymore for this attack, only hoping the sword didn't break immediately. Connor had told him how he lost a sword on his first strike once already. The claymore bounced off the creature's hard skin and the Beast batted Angel away.
"Is that a priestess I hear?" The demon chuckled. "I know how to kill them now." It started up the aisle toward the sacristy.
Gunn shouldered the sawed-off shotgun he had acquired, taking aim at the Beast's face. The blast hit it squarely, ricocheting shot all over the church. The demon grunted in pain as the soft bits of its eyes were punctured. Red gel oozed down his face but the orbs seemed to seal immediately. Faith and Connor charged it together while it was stunned. Faith's blade shattered on the Beast's chest and it caught her with one hand. Using the other, it turned Connor's momentum against him and catapulted him up against the choir loft. Connor's back and head took the brunt, hitting the wood so hard it split. He slithered down it and fell several feet to the floor.
"Connor!" Angel screamed, picking himself up from the pew he had been tossed into. Connor lay motionless, moaning softly.
"I can't get another shot off without hitting Faith," Gunn said, trying to find an angle for his shotgun.
Faith managed to snag one of her stakes and rammed it straight into the Beast's vulnerable eye. Howling, it flung her half way to the altar before clawing the stake free. As with the buckshot, the stake's wound seemed only temporary. Lights flickered from the sacristy as the chanting grew louder. Sharp, bitter smoke boiled out of it.
The Beast started for the sacristy again. Gunn, tossing aside the shotgun, slammed it with his axe. Sparks flew and the creature backhanded him away like a fly. Gunn's head thumped against a pew, leaving him dazed. Seeing Connor getting back to his feet, Angel swung his claymore at the demon. The Beast turned faster than he thought possible for its size, catching the blade with a horn, yanking it free of Angel's hands. The Beast caught the vampire's arms and started pulling as if it were making a Thanksgiving wish. Faith, armed with a heavy statue of the Christ child, used it like a battering ram to the back of the Beast's head. It shattered, raining plaster down to the tiled floor. The demon let go of one of Angel's arms so he could land a punch to Faith's midriff.
"Dad, jump!"
Hearing his son's command, Angel leapt up, his still captured arm twisting painfully at the shoulder as he wrapped his legs around the Beast's neck. Connor, belly down on the slick tile, slid into the space Angel had been standing in, one of the kneelers clutched in his hands. He crashed into the Beast's hoofed feet with it, taking advantage of the creature's rather unwieldy stance. Unbalanced, the Beast went down, losing his hold on Angel who vaulted over him but couldn't catch his balance to land well. He flattened Connor, who had managed to roll out of the Beast's crash site.
"Get off me! You're heavy," Connor screamed, trying to wiggle free. Angel twisted off of him and gave him a hand up.
"Are they almost done with that spell?" Faith asked, helping Gunn to his feet. The young man swayed, still groggy.
Angel peered over his shoulder at the horn and shook his head. He looked for something beat on the Beast with while it was down. Crushing it with a pew sounded satisfying but he didn't want piles of splintered wood for a handy weapon for the Beast. He spotted his claymore and raced for it while Connor whaled on the demon with the kneeler. Faith took Gunn's axe, hacking at the creature. All three weapons ended up shattered without making much of a dent in the Beast's stony hide.
The Beast slammed his hands down on the tiled floor and fire blazed out of them. The old, dried wood of the pews caught fire almost immediately. Angel, Connor and Faith fell back, frantically trying to get away from the flames.
Gunn yelled towards the sacristy. "Hurry it up. He's set the place on fire."
The demon rumbled with laughter again. "I was only expecting your spawn, Angelus. There are those who would give anything to have him. But it's more fun with all of you. It makes my work easier. How did you know I'd be here?" it asked, turning towards the sacristy once more. "Did your seer tell you? I guess my little welcoming party hasn't gotten to her yet."
"Cordy," Connor whispered.
"Ignore him, son. He's trying to rattle you," Angel said, hoping that was the truth. He grabbed part of the altar railing and tore it free from its moorings. He slammed it against the beast, trying to bear it backwards. Faith helped him.
The Beast took hold of the metal and used it to sling vampire and Slayer back towards the cry room. Gunn found his shotgun again and emptied the remaining shell without much damage being done. He knew better than to charge the Beast so he circled away as best he could. Connor ran for the altar and leapt up onto the hanging crucifix. As Angel and Faith tried to scramble back to the Beast, Connor grabbed the chain holding one side of the huge crucifix up and pulled. It gave way as the Beast came to a halt at the sacristy door. The crucifix swung out away from the wall, Connor still standing on it. The beast didn't notice, too intent on what was happening in the sacristy. Connor could hear the voices still raised in chant. He could feel the power building inside. It made his hair stand on end.
"Priestess, there'll be no banishing me this time," the Beast promised.
Connor pulled the remaining chain free, kicking away from the wall violently. He rode crucifix down. It crashed into the Beast, the sheer weight and velocity bearing the demon to the floor. Connor tucked and rolled away from it. The chanting stopped and the only sounds where that of the fire consuming the church and that of Faith and Gunn coughing. Thick smoke was filling the place.
"You're right, demon, there'll be no banishing," Wesley said, stepping from the sacristy. "Now Angel."
Angel tore the spear off his back. The horn blazed red. As the Beast fought free of the crucifix, Angel jumped on the cross, feeling the touch of it interacting with him. He figured it took either a foolhardy vampire or a stupid one to stand on a nine-foot cross but that gave him the best advantage for stabbing the Beast. Maybe the big crucifix wouldn't hurt him, at least not much. He shoved the horn deep into the Beast. The natural blade slipped in like a stick through marshmallow. The Beast shrieked and managed to buck Angel off. It clawed wildly at its back, trying to get the spear free. Faith and Connor both got their hands around the spear and propelled it all the way through into the floorboards. The Beast exploded in a shower of rock and something like lava. Faith and Connor both howled, pelted with the stuff. Their clothing caught fire. Faith yanked her jacket off, beating the flames out of her hair. Angel suffered a similar fate, his duster almost a total loss. Wesley knocked Connor down, rolling him over to extinguish his clothing.
"We have to get the hell out of here," Gunn said.
"No, first we have to get the mystical parts of the Ratet that the Beast stole," Karan said. "We need them to reverse the spell. It's not doing it on its own. I can feel it. Nothing's changed." She started scrabbling through the bits of the Beast's body, which still smoldered.
They quickly came up with the orb and metal winged parts along with a strange knife the Beast had with it. They fled the burning church but couldn't run too far between the beating they had taken and smoke inhalation.
"My home burned down again," Connor said quietly, watching as fire started licking along the high peaked roof of the church. He clutched his bandolier, which he somehow managed not to lose.
"Tonight the hotel's home," Angel said wearily, looking up at the sky. "You're right. It's still night, though I think it actually is supposed to be."
"I think we can reverse it with these." Karan patted the orb she held then looked at it oddly. "Wait, they've changed. From what I've read and the stories told through the centuries, these should have had Egyptian writing on it but they don't. It's something older."
Wesley peered at them. "It looks Sumerian."
"Can you read Sumerian?" Gunn asked doubtfully.
Wesley shook his head. "Not too well but maybe enough to translate this."
"It's not exactly Sumerian either," Karan said, "It's not quite that old but close. It's the language the priestesses use in our rites. From what I see here, this has been touched, intentionally or not, by the thing controlling the Beast. We have to translate this and find out what that is."
"I can't help with stuff like that," Connor said. "I have to be sure Cordelia's okay." He took off down the street.
"Connor, wait for us," Angel called but his son didn't stop. He took a few steps after him then halted. He didn't have the luxury of just racing off. "Gunn, take your truck and head back. Make sure Cordy's okay."
"I'm not sure I'm good to drive. I'm still seeing double from that shot to the head." He glanced over at Fred. "Maybe you should drive."
"I probably ought to help translate," she said without thinking then frowned, seeing Gunn's hostile look.
Wesley noted it, too. "It's all right, Fred. Karan is the only one who has a
real shot at translating it correctly. Make sure Cordelia's okay. Maybe you
ought to drop Gunn off at one of the hospitals that's still open."
"I don't need that," he said. "But I'd appreciate the ride home."
"Of course, Charles." Fred took his hand and led him off towards his truck.
"Maybe we shouldn't just stand here by a big fire," Faith said, her head whipping around toward the church hearing the glass exploding. There were no sirens yet. Were there any firemen left? "Just in case anyone does show up to put it out."
"You're probably right. You two can translate that in the car," Angel said, leading the way to his GTX.
He drove a few blocks away to a deserted mall that still had decent flood
lighting. Wesley and Karan huddled over the items in the back seat of the car.
Faith looked in the rear view mirror, trying to see how badly her face was
burned.
"If I'm reading this right, the Beast was somehow marked by the oldest evil and it permeated everything the Beast had, like these holy items," Karan said.
"The First Evil?" Angel twisted to look over the seat at them. "Are you sure?"
"You know of it?" Karan asked, surprise written boldly on her tired face.
Angel's eyes narrowed, an involuntary shudder racing through him. "It tried to turn me back into Angelus once. I guess it was looking for something evil to help it in this world." Angel scrubbed a hand through his thick, soot-coated hair causing a fall of ash to his shoulders. "Buffy, the Slayer, helped save me. She's fighting it again now. That's why she couldn't be here to help with the Beast."
"The First Evil was keeping her there and the Beast kept you here, sounds like a good way to divide and conquer." Faith kicked the floorboards of the GTX.
"Too good," Angel said, his face going grim.
"And it makes sense. When you contacted Buffy, she told you about the Ubervampire. If the First was trying to make an army of the oldest of demon kind, it's hindered by sunlight. Many of them cannot withstand it," Wesley said, a glimmer of hope in his voice.
"And the Beast was to plunge the world into darkness, making it ready for conquer. The demons want their world back like it was in the beginning." Angel ran a finger over his steering wheel.
"Only we stopped the spell before it spread," Faith said proudly. "Now can we reverse it?"
Karan nodded. "We can. And I think this might just be what's needed to destroy the First Evil." Karan passed the knife up to Angel. "It feels like it was crafted from the Beast's very tissues. You need to get that to the other Slayer."
"It's at least a two hour drive. I should take you two back to the hotel to stop the spell first." Angel started the car.
"No need to drive. We can teleport this there. We just have to let them know to expect it and what to do with it," Karan said.
"I have my cell phone. We can only hope someone's home. Do you still know her number, Angel?" Wesley said, digging out his phone. Faith rolled her eyes at the mere suggestion Angel would have forgotten anything about Buffy.
Angel nodded and took it from him.
"And to undo the spell I need to be outside, somewhere clean and pure," Karan said.
"This is L.A. I don't think we have a place like that." Faith shrugged.
"The ocean will do." Karan smiled wryly.
Angel looked at the priestess. "Is it a mere matter of plunging this dagger into the First Evil? Will it kill it?"
"The First Evil really can't be killed," Wesley said.
"He's right but this will banish it. There is a spell they'll need to know," Karan said.
"Willow and Giles can help with
that. I'll call. You fill them in," Angel said, hoping he'd be lucky enough to
find someone home.