In the Space of a Journey
Chapter Twenty-One
Sunnydale: Outside the Warehouse
After running several blocks, scared for her life, Amy slowed to a stop and turned around. She knew that Angel, Jenny and Faith were in there, and she couldn't let them fight without her, no matter what her fears were. They wouldn't be there if she hadn't been stupid enough to be taken in by Terrance and his lies.
Amy kept to the shadows as she made her way back to the warehouse where Terrance and the commandos had held her captive. Just before she got there, she saw the door fly open and smash into the wall. Terrance walked out with Nicole flung over his shoulder. Rio came out pulling Faith. Amy noticed, with a quiver in her heart, that the harsh brunette actually looked scared. It was obvious that she was no longer in control of her team. The thought of Faith being scared, even a little bit, worried Amy more than anything else.
She only had a minute to consider her options. Go find out what the commandos had done to Angel and Jenny, or follow the kidnappers and find out where they were going. She decided on the latter. One thing Angel and Jenny weren't was clairvoyant. If she found out where the commandos were taking Faith, they'd be one step closer to a rescue.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inside the warehouse, Angel looked up at one of the vaguely human-shaped junk monsters. It stood about eight feet tall and was twice as broad across the chest as Angel. Of course, its shoulders were made from a huge metal beam, so that helped.
The junk monster swiped at him, but slowness went along with superior strength. Angel avoided the blow easily.
"Angel!"
He turned to see the other junk monster bearing down on Jenny. The witch had crouched in a corner to call up a spell that would disassemble the monsters. She had to counter the spell Rio had used to seal the junk together and give it motion. But she needed to concentrate.
With a running leap, Angel sprang at the second junk monster. He landed with all his force on the thing's arm. The arm -- a chunk of wood tipped with metal -- fell to the floor. As Angel moved back in the opposite direction, the junk monster looked at him with it's beady little headlights and started moving in his directions.
"Thanks!" Jenny called as she traced a mystical shape in the dust at her feet.
"Just hurry!" Angel replied.
The armless junk monster was in front of him, and the whole one was behind him. They both moved toward him one step at a time. Each step thunked against the concrete floor so loud that the noise echoed about the cavernous structure. He could feel the vibrations under his feet.
Then Angel got an idea. It was kind of cartoonish, but it just might work. The monsters kept coming for him. He stood stock still in the middle of the warehouse floor. They kept coming. One of them reached out to grab him -- the one with two arms. Angel jumped out of the way, but came down in the same place. Then, just as the second monster got close enough to lunge for him, Angel dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way. The two monsters ran into each other with the crash of bending metal. Angel had to dodge sparks and falling pieces of metal debris.
But because the monsters were made out of junk, losing some of their body parts didn't even phase them. They kept coming. One of them grabbed at Angel. Angel moved quickly, but the monster got the end of his trench coat. Angel felt himself being lifted above the ground. He jerked his arms out of the sleeves of the coat just as his feet left the floor. Angel dropped down and landed on his feet. The other junk monster grabbed his arm. Angel pulled, but he couldn't get free. This time when his feet dangled above the floor he couldn't drop down. Angel felt the metal "fingers" digging into his skin and gouging the flesh.
The other monster reached for his legs. Angel couldn't dodge, but he put all of his strength into his legs and kicked. The heavy monster began to teeter back and forth.
In her corner, Jenny sat with her eyes closed muttering the words to an all-purpose counterspell. Collapsing Rio's spell was proving more difficult than she had anticipated. Rio was obviously far more advanced than she'd given him credit for.
Dangling by one arm, Angel watched monster number two teeter. Then he realized something -- when it fell, it was going to fall right on top of Jenny!
It tipped and gravity took over. Angel opened his mouth to shout a warning but the other junk monster chose that moment to grab his twisting legs and start pulling. Angel's shout turned into a gurgle of pain as he tried to get out of the monster's tight hold, but it seemed impossible.
"So be it!" Jenny yelled. The magic binding the junk vanished and debris fell everywhere. Angel found himself falling. He hit the ground on his butt. Debris showered down on his unprotected head -- luckily, none of it big enough to cause a vampire lasting damage.
When the dust and debris settled, Angel looked over at Jenny. "You OK?"
She nodded. She had taken cover under a large piece of sheet metal once she was done casting. "But Rio and the others must be long gone by now."
The door to the warehouse burst open, and Angel and Jenny sprang to their feet, expecting another nasty surprise care of the commando warlock. Instead they saw Amy.
Jenny rushed over to give Amy a hug. "I'm so glad you're all right."
Amy was surprised at her mentor's sudden burst of emotion, but she returned the hug for a second. "I'm glad you guys are OK, too." She paused, and then added, "I know where Rio and Terrance took Faith and Nicole."
The concern on Angel's face vanished into a mask of determination. "Let's go."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
England: The Compound
The group around the front of the tribunal chamber -- Buffy (still holding Melinda, a.k.a. Blue Eyes), Xander, Doyle, Sonya, Wesley, Cordelia, Oz, Aidan, Gwendolyn, Barrows, Aidan, the Board members close enough to hear and Chamberlain himself -- stared at Giles. Some looked disbelieving. Some looked angry. Most looked shocked beyond belief.
"Chamberlain... Proconsul Sidney Chamberlain is a vampire?" Aidan repeated.
"It can't be," Wesley protested. The crowd in the background started murmuring, wondering what was going on that they couldn't hear. "We have protective measures against vampires on the premises. No one could get away with such a thing..."
Gwendolyn stared at the proconsul. His face had purpled with rage. "Is it true?" she asked him flat out. "Do we add this most heinous charge to your list of dishonorable acts?"
"What are you all talking about?" Chamberlain roared. His voice carried se well that everyone in the chamber could hear him. "I am no vampire. And I have had nothing to do with life force draining individuals or whatever nonsense Ms. Post has the gall to charge me with."
Rage evaporated from the proconsul's face. It was immediately replaced by shock and pain. His gaze encompassed the Board of Directors and all the Watchers in the surrounding seats. "You all know me. The Board nominated me and the rest of you voted on me for this job. Except for one vacation, I have been here, doing my best for you day in and day out. I have implemented measures to equip our forces to fight better and drive back the world of darkness. If something is wrong with those measures, perhaps I chose the wrong people to head them." His accusing gaze moved to Gwendolyn just long enough to get his point across. Then the pain-filled gaze swept the Watchers again. "Do all of you distrust me this much? After all I've given -- my time, my heart, my life -- to this organization?"
Murmurs of affirmation swept the crowd and some of the people who'd begun to suspect Chamberlain looked as if they regretted the hasty decision. Marcus moved to Chamberlain's side in a gesture of solidarity.
"Wait a minute!" Buffy said suddenly. She set Melinda down on the floor. "Don't move, Melinda, or we'll have to come and get you again." Melinda didn't look happy about it, but she stayed put, for the moment. Turning back to Chamberlain, Buffy said, "I never voted for you, but you should have a chance to prove yourself. Someone bring a cross."
The proconsul's face grew cold, but he agreed. "If that is what it takes to prove myself to you, Slayer."
Gwendolyn spoke up in Buffy's defense. "A good Slayer investigates every suspicion of vampires. All Watchers should know that."
In a room full of Watchers, there were plenty of crosses to be had. One of those nearest the front tossed his own personal cross to Buffy. With a challenging look, she held it out to the proconsul. The proconsul hesitated for a brief second, and then he grabbed it. For a second, everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath and wait. Nothing happened.
Chamberlain dropped the cross on the podium, threw his arms wide and called, "You see. It had been proved. I am no more a vampire than the Slayer herself."
Giles's face fell. "I know Ethan isn't trustworthy," he muttered, "but he was so scared, and Ethan is never scared."
Buffy stepped closer to Giles, finally unafraid to show her support to her Watcher, Council-approved Watcher or not. It was the very Council that seemed to need help now. "Is there any way he could have sabotaged the test, Giles? What could make a vampire immune to crosses."
"There is only one thing!" Giles exclaimed. "The Gem of Amara! Ethan said Chamberlain sent him to Sunnydale for something... maybe it was the Gem. Hiding the Gem on the Hellmouth would have been a diabolical plan."
"But the Gem is only a myth," Wesley protested. "There is no evidence that it actually exists. Only vampire bedtime stories."
"The Gem of Amara?" Xander asked, keeping his voice low as the others had, as he darted a glance at Chamberlain. The proconsul stood behind the podium, Marcus at his side, taking in the guilt-ridden apologies of his Board of Directors. "What is that?"
"The Holy Grail of vampires," Giles explained quietly. "It makes them invulnerable to stakes, crosses, fire, sunlight..."
"But does he have it?" Buffy asked. "What does it look like?"
From his position on the podium, a little behind Chamberlain and Marcus, Aidan could hear Giles and the others, but only if he strained his ears and tuned everyone else out. His eyes fell on the ring worn by the proconsul. He'd noticed it earlier and wondered what seemed so familiar about it. Now he knew. The stone in the gold setting was the Gem of Amara! Aidan's mind started to turn rapidly. How could he tell Giles and Buffy without Chamberlain noticing?
"Legend says it's set in a ring..." Giles explained to Buffy and the others.
Chamberlain's gaze settled on Giles, Buffy and the rest with an expression of utter loathing. "Guards!" he called. "As I said before -- capture them! They have all been corrupted by Mr. Giles and his un-Watcherly ways. They must be purified or executed."
"Wait a second!" Board member Lynne Durvaine objected. "Execute the Slayer? Even if they were wrong about you, Chamberlain, that is not an option. She was morally bound to test once an accusation was made."
Chamberlain only had two words to say to that. "Monique Solange." At the mention of the rogue Slayer who'd been executed during the seventeenth century, Lynne's objections trickled off into silence.
"Wait a moment, please!" Barrows said suddenly. "Things are getting way out of control here. This tribunal was only supposed to evaluate how unfit Mr. Giles was for the position of Active Watcher, not evaluate the entirety of our organization and our Slayer. The Council is too important to succumb to such pettiness."
Chamberlain's anger turned on Barrows. "A rogue Slayer is not petty! It is our life's mission jeopardized. The only thing worse than a crippled Slayer is a rogue Slayer. Now, guards, do your job!"
The Watchers in the stands, and even some of the Watchers on the Board, didn't know how to react. They were faced with a man they'd trusted implicitly for years. The man had been charged with all sorts of heinous crimes in the past few minutes, but he'd come through the worst of them unscathed, proving his story right. Who should they believe? A man who'd won their trust many times, or a Watcher found guilty of countless charges, the Slayer trained by such a disreputable Watcher and her friends who shouldn't even be here in the first place. But it went against the grain of a Watcher to attempt to harm a Slayer, despite the story of Monique Solange and her bloody rampage in France.
A few of the guards finally decided to obey the proconsul. One went for Buffy, one for Giles and another for Xander, the apparent ring leaders. Buffy punched hers in the stomach and he flew back a few yards.
"I could have finished you," she called, "but I don't want to hurt anyone." Then she moved to help Giles, incapacitating another guard with a kick to the knee. He hit the floor, howling in pain, but Buffy knew the injury would heal in time.
Xander and his guard traded off punches.
"I don't want to hurt you," Xander said, following Buffy's lead.
"That didn't stop you with me mates upstairs, did it?" the guard hissed angrily.
Buffy turned to help Xander, but more of the guards decided it was time to get in on the action. Now there were opponents available for them all. Even Wesley got his own, much to his dismay.
"I didn't mean anything by it... I was just his council, not his friend... It was an assigned position!" Wesley cried as a guard circled him. The guard sneered at Wesley and taunted him with fake punches. Wesley went green and crumpled to the floor before one punch even hit home.
Cordelia shrieked when a guard grabbed her by the hair. "If I was still strong you'd be sorry!" she snapped. She tried to slap him, but he avoided her flailing blows easily.
"Let the lady go, man!" Doyle grabbed the guard's wrist and wrenched it away from Cordelia's hair.
"Ow!" Cordelia shrieked. Then she realized she was free. "Um... thanks, Doyle."
"No problem, lass..." Doyle started to say, then the guard decked him in the nose. Blood spurted. Doyle hoped it wasn't actually broken, then he threw himself into the fist fight with a vengeance, taking out all his pent-up hostility for Watchers and their lies on this one guard. He rained punches down on the guard like angry rain. He didn't even have to shift into his demon face (which would have been dangerous in this setting) to get the strength to beat the guard into submission -- his human half was furious enough.
When the guard fell to the ground, Doyle launched himself on the man and kept hitting and punching, throwing in the occasional kick for good measure. A pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled. "Don't kill him, Doyle!"
At first he thought it was another guard. "Let me go you..." His words trailed off when he realized it was Cordelia. He stopped resisting.
She gestured to the guard laying on the ground, obviously unconscious. "He's done."
Feelings of remorse threatened to overwhelm him. This was the kind of thing he'd always been afraid of since he found out about his demon side. "I... I..."
Cordelia forced him to look her in the eye. Doyle found no loathing in her clear, brown gaze. Just concern and... was that a hint of caring?
"I just wanted to stop you from doing something you'd regret later."
"Thank you, lass."
She opened her mouth to say thank you, then her eyes widened and she cried, "Look out!"
Doyle spun around and found himself with another guard to pound, but this time he promised himself that he wouldn't go too far.
Xander kicked a guard in the stomach and he went down, cracking his head on the floor. The Pseudo-Slayer smirked at the fallen guard. "You should have trained more, slacker. That's what's wrong with Watchers today. You don't train in case you have to fight yourself. You think all you'll ever have to do is watch."
"Watch this!"
Xander turned around just in time to see the fist before it buried itself in his face. "Oof!" The punch rattled the boy's brain in his head, almost causing him to lose his balance.
Buffy glanced up from where she and Giles were working together in their old training patterns to dispatch a combination of four guards. "Xander!" The yell had barely escaped her lips when she saw Marcus's punch send her boyfriend reeling.
She started to run over to him, but a guard got in her way. She smashed a chair over his head. But she couldn't leave Giles with three guards. She knew he couldn't handle it.
"No sweat, Buffy. We've got it." She looked over to see Sonya and Oz there to help.
"Get him," Oz added.
Buffy smiled her thanks and darted over to Xander and Marcus. Part of her mind noticed that her Slayer healing faculties must have kicked in the second she got all of her powers back because her wrenched ankle no longer hurt. She got to Xander's side just in time to see him rise up from the floor with an uppercut to Marcus's chin. The lackey's teeth rattled together, and he stumbled back.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Marcus," Xander said, throwing another punch to the lackey's face.
Buffy grabbed him from behind, spun him around and hit him in the stomach. "This is for the lies." She yanked his arm, spun him around again and twisted it behind his back. "This is for that stupid test!" Then she kicked him in the balls. "And this is for messing with my friends!"
On the podium, the Watchers watched the brawl with stunned expressions. When Marcus went down, Chamberlain growled in frustration. "The bitch is going to pay for that!"
Aidan and Gwendolyn were the only ones who heard the comment. Aidan knew he couldn't wait any longer. He'd been waiting all this time and it hadn't gotten him anywhere but in more trouble. He had to take a stand, despite the fact that he might get clobbered or even killed.
From his position slightly behind the proconsul, Aidan ripped off his golden judges robe. Then he grabbed Chamberlain's abandoned chair and hit the man over the head with it. Gwendolyn stepped back to give Aidan room. The Board members turned in shock.
Their shock grew when Chamberlain didn't even falter. He just turned to Aidan and said, "You shouldn't have done that, boy!"
Aidan stood his ground. "You're evil, Chamberlain, and I'm going to prove it."
"Here's another one under the influence of Mr. Giles," Chamberlain said, holding on to his composure. "Guards!"
"Your guards are all busy attacking the Slayer and her friends," Aidan replied. "But it doesn't look like they're winning." Then Aidan flung what was left of the chair at the proconsul. The man instinctively jerked to avoid the projectiles, and when he was off balance, Aidan flung himself on the other man. They toppled over the edge of the podium and fell to the ground. Aidan grabbed for the ring on Chamberlain's finger and wrenched it off.
"The Gem of Amara!" Aidan yelled triumphantly, showing it to all the Watchers present. "It's how his charade of humanity worked all this time!" Then he pulled his arm back and hurled with all his might, sending the ring spinning into the sea of spectators. Chamberlain would never be able to get to it.
A low growl caught his attention. Aidan looked down to see Chamberlain in full vamp face. "If I go down, you go down with me." Chamberlain sprang to his feet with a preternatural grace, grabbed Aidan by the collar with superior strength and sank a pair of gleaming fangs into Aidan's neck.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunnydale: The High School Library
"They brought Faith here?" Angel asked.
Amy nodded. "I followed them, and when I was sure they were staying inside, I came back to get you guys."
"Good work, Amy," Jenny said, pushing her sweat-soaked hair off of her forehead.
The two witches and the vampire snuck around the side of the building until they found a window with a broken lock. Angel pushed it open just enough that they could hear what was going on inside.
"Spike loved this window," Angel whispered. "I caught him out here spying a couple of times. The janitor never remembers to fix the lock."
They peered inside and saw a scene that made the women's blood run cold and Angel's determination triple. Rio had Faith magically bound to the reading table. She wasn't moving at all, except for the slight rise and fall of her chest that indicated she was still breathing. Rio was working over her with some magic paraphernalia that only Jenny could identify. Terrance looked on impatiently, while a greenish Nicole sat in a chair nearby.
"I don't feel well, Terrance," Nicole said, oblivious of the traces of extinguisher foam in her hair and on her clothes. "My head hurts, and I feel nauseous."
"Shut up, Nicole," Terrance snapped. "You'll feel better once we do the ritual." He frowned at Rio. "Are you ready yet?"
"You can't rush magic," Rio replied calmly.
"Yeah, but I can rush you," Terrance replied. "You owe me, remember? You have to do this."
"And then I'm free, right?" Rio muttered.
Terrance laughed.
"Free from what?" Nicole asked, squinting at Terrance.
"It doesn't matter!" Terrance replied. "Nothing matters but getting these bloody powers anchored to our human bodies. Then we can go dance on Angel and Jenny Calendar's graves, and I can dispose of Amy in my own way..."
"I owe him," Rio told Nicole off-handedly. "It's a longstanding family debt. My father owed his father, my grandfather owed his grandfather, all the way back to the day when his great, great, great grandfather interceded on my family's behalf, convincing the Powers that Be that we deserved our magic. Every male in my family since then has been a warlock. But after this spell, perhaps, the debt will finally be paid." But something in Rio's face said he doubted that would ever happen.
"Yeah, whatever. Just get on with it," Terrance replied, ignoring Nicole's astonished look.
"I don't think so!"
Terrance turned to see Angel standing in the doorway, flanked by Amy and Jenny. "Well, the gang's all here."
"Something like that," Angel replied. "But don't think you're going to get away with whatever it is Rio is doing to Faith."
"Just try and stop us," Terrance replied with a smirk. "Nicole, finish the vampire."
"Terrance, I..."
"Nicole! Quit stalling and get on with it!"
Nicole stood up from her chair and wobbled a little bit. She closed her eyes and began to focus on Angel.
The vampire ran toward her, knowing that he had to stop her before she could concentrate long enough to flame him. Nicole and her fiery powers had always been the wild card in any plan of Angel's to finish off the commandos, but experience had taught him that for big jobs it took her time to prepare.
He was almost upon her, and still his skin had not caught fire. Before he could whack her again, Nicole fell to the ground, unconscious. Angel looked up at Terrance with a smirk of his own. "Looks like you should have listened when she said she didn't feel well. That whack across the head I gave her earlier must've been concussion-worthy!"
Terrance yelled in frustration. Suddenly, a bookshelf hurtled toward Angel.
Amy whispered something in Latin, and the bookshelf reversed course. Terrance looked at Amy in surprise. Then he sent a chair spinning towards her head. Angel lunged back, knocking Amy out of the way.
Looking down at her underneath him, Angel asked, "Can you protect me from his powers long enough for me to get to him?"
Amy nodded. "I think so."
"Do it." Angel looked over his shoulder just once to see Jenny advancing on Rio and the magic sparks about to fly. He had to trust the senior witch to save Faith, because right now he had all he could do to take down Terrance.
The blond commando grinned at him maniacally. "I don't think so, vampire." He pulled a stake out of his pocket, and then the bit of pointy wood whistled through the air toward Angel's heart. Angel dove out of the way, and Amy yelled something. The air around Terrance sparkled with blue flecks of light. Terrance tried to move, but couldn't.
"Hurry," Amy gasped, sweat pouring down her brow. "I can't hold this for very long."
Angel didn't have to be told twice. He ran toward Terrance full tilt. When he got there, Amy let the shield go, and Angel pummeled the commando with punches and kicks. Angel heard something whistle behind him, but he trusted Amy to take care of it and didn't take his attention off of Terrance. A desk went crashing down a few feet away, knocked off course by Amy's magic.
"You can't keep this up, Terrance," Angel warned through gritted teeth.
"Try me, Angel." Suddenly, Angel flew up into the air. Terrance, held in Angel's supernaturally strong grip, came along for the ride. Angel's breath whooshed out in a painful gasp as the back of his head hit the ceiling.
"That's it. No more Mr. Nice Vampire," Angel growled, revealing his vampire face.
"Lovely." Terrance spat in Angel's face. "I knew the whole nice guy act was a bloody lie. Vampires are evil fiends."
"No," Angel replied, "You're the evil fiend." Then he let go of Terrance and the commando plummeted back to the floor. When Terrance hit the ground he lost his hold on Angel, and the vampire fell, too, landing hard on top of Terrance. Angel grabbed Terrance around the neck and with one quick motion, snapped his neck. Angel's vamp face dissolved.
But there was no time to rest. Terrance might be dead, but Faith was still at Rio's mercy. Angel and Amy moved closer to the table. Rio and Jenny were staring at each other. Jenny had surrounded herself, and Faith, with a magic shield. Rio was testing it with bolts of his own power, but something about it seemed half-hearted to Angel.
"Rio," Angel said. "Terrance is dead."
The warlock stopped flinging the power bolts and looked around to verify the fact. "So he is." Rio stopped casting all together and examined the situation. "Terrance is dead, and Nicole, well... being unconscious was her doom."
"What?" Amy gasped. They turned to look -- all except Jenny who wasn't letting the warlock out of her sight -- and saw Nicole's flesh turning black around the edges. The horrible odor of burning flesh assailed their nostrils.
Amy blanched. "Can't we do something?"
Rio shook his head. "Nope. Unconscious or not, the stolen power takes energy to maintain. She didn't feed again because she thought I would get her powers stabilized in time. Nicole didn't like the killing."
"Not like Terrance did," Amy said, shivering at the memory of Terrance's hands on her face.
"Not like Terrance did," Rio agreed. He looked away from the charred husk that used to be Nicole, a sad expression on his face. "If only the Council hadn't..." His words trailed off.
"So, what are we going to do here?" Jenny asked, her shield rippling with waves of color.
"Three against one," Angel reminded Rio.
Rio made a motion with his hands and whispered a few words. Suddenly, Faith could move again. She sprang off of the table, but she couldn't get very far with Jenny's shield in the way.
The warlock looked at Angel. "Thank you for killing him and releasing me from my bondage. The blood oath my ancestor took was binding up onto the seventh generation. Luckily, there will be no more generations."
"There won't be any more generations of you either!" Faith spat. "As soon as she drops the shield."
"Wait a second, Faith," Angel cautioned her. "None of this is Rio's fault."
"Like he wasn't going to kill me?" Faith demanded. "Who's side are you on, Angel?"
"Blood oaths are binding," Angel said quietly. "I've come in contact with them before. If he was the victim of one, Rio didn't have much of a choice in his actions." He looked at Jenny for confirmation.
Jenny nodded reluctantly, but her glare toward the warlock hadn't lessened. However, neither had her sheild, and, now, the magic boundary was more to keep Faith in than to keep Rio out.
Amy thought back to Rio's words in the warehouse. They made so much more sense now. She still didn't want to be alone with the warlock in a dark alley, but maybe... "I think we should give him a chance."
"A chance to do what? Kill us all?" Faith demanded. Turning to Jenny, she yelled, "Let me out of this thing, now!"
"Faith," Rio said, looking her in the eyes, "I'm sorry for what has happened here. It was not by my design, though I did do my part. I am ready to repay you all for what I did because of that blood oath."
"You could stay here," Angel said.
"In Sunnydale?" Rio raised a quizzical eyebrow in the vampire's direction.
"Yes," Angel answered. "You could stay here and help us fight against the demons that are attracted to the Hellmouth in our midst. A sort of... restitution for damages done." He looked at Faith. "And you could stay and make sure he does it."
Jenny finally dropped her sheild. Directing a dark gaze at Rio, she said, "If he does stay here, there will be more than one person to make sure he stays on the straight and narrow... and that he makes full amends for his actions."
Faith crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave Rio a hard look. "Fine, but if he screws up, he gets to answer to me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
England: The Compound
Aidan could feel his lifeblood draining out of his body and into the vampire who had been posing as the proconsul of the Watchers' Council for who knew how many months.
"No!" someone yelled. Doyle. The half-demon ran at Chamberlain, but the vampire knocked the weakened Doyle back with one hand, never lifting his fangs from Aidan's neck.
Blackness started creeping up the sides of Aidan's vision.
Buffy scooped up the leg of a broken chair and began moving toward Chamberlain, flanked by Xander. The guards had stopped attacking when they realized the truth about the proconsul.
"Xander, you get Aidan. I'll get Chamberlain," Buffy whispered.
"Divide and conquer," Xander replied. "I like it."
But it was Melinda who got there first. "Daddy! I'm hungry. Share with me." She reached up and grabbed his bare hand with her own. A blue glow enveloped the three of them. Chamberlain spasmed and his fangs came out of the Watcher's neck, though he didn't let go of Aidan's shoulders.
"No!" Xander shouted. "You can't have Aidan!" He wasn't sure if he was talking about Melinda or Chamberlain. Xander ran toward the trio and grabbed Aidan. For an instant, he felt the power of Melinda's hunger threatening to drain him through Chamberlain and Aidan. But he couldn't succomb to it. Xander pulled with all his might, and Aidan came free. Giles was there to grab Aidan's unconscious body and pull it out of danger. Giles started checking him over, trying to see if he would live. Then Gwendolyn was next to him. Giles looked up in surprise.
"I called downstairs," she told him. "Someone's coming with some blood and a stretcher."
"Since when...?" Giles didn't even get to finish his question before she answered.
"Since the experiments started."
Buffy stood still, staring at Melinda and Chamberlain. Xander scooped up a chair leg of his own and moved to stand beside her.
Chamberlain's skin began to turn brown, and they could smell his undead flesh burning up from the inside. He screamed in agony. Melinda screamed, too.
Xander couldn't wait any longer. He moved closer and burried the wooden shaft in the vampire's heart without getting caught in the blue glow himself. A moment later, Chamberlain crumbled into a pile of ashes, leaving Melinda standing there, a demonic visage covering what had once been an innocent little girl face.
Buffy hesitated for a moment longer, wondering if it would go away. But it didn't. Then Melinda sprang toward Buffy. In one move, Buffy staked Melinda, and little Blue Eyes's ashes settled down, coating the ashes that had once been Chamberlain.
Silence settled over the room. Everyone looked at everyone else, wondering what, if anything, would happen next. There was a communal gasp as the doors burst open, but it was just two medics with several pints of blood.
"Over here," Gwendolyn called.
The medics came and hoisted Aidan onto a stretcher, attaching the IV to his arm.
"Will he be a'right?" Doyle asked, creeping over to the side of the stretcher and staring down at his friend's pale face.
"If we get enough blood pumped into him," the medic answered brusquely. The second medic pushed Doyle out of the way as they began wheeling Aidan away.
"Where are they takin' him?" Doyle asked.
"Downstairs," Gwendolyn replied. Seeing Doyle's horror, she added, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to him." She looked around at the stunned, shell-shocked Watchers that filled the room. "I think it's high time that the Council takes stock of the reality of our situation, and makes some long overdue changes. And I think that everyone here realizes that now." A small smile curved her lips as she realized something. Everything she had been working for since finding out the truth of Chamberlain's project had come to pass. The Council would be purged, and everything would finally be all right.
Her gaze landed on Buffy, then on Giles and Xander, Sonya and Oz, and Doyle and Cordelia. "Thank you."
Giles stepped forward and shook Gwendolyn's hand. "Thank you." Buffy smiled at her.
"Um... excuse me?"
Everyone looked down to see Wesley coming to.
"What, Wesley?" Giles asked.
"Could someone... er... tell me what happened?" Wesley looked around in confusion, wiping vampire ash off of his glasses.
Buffy couldn't help it. She burst into laughter, and the others soon joined in. She looked up and right into Xander's loving, chocolate brown eyes. "Hi," she whispered, choking off her hysterical giggles.
"Hi, yourself," he said, giving her a small taste of his sexy, lopsided grin.
Buffy reached up and kissed Xander. He responded fiercely, hugging her to him as tightly as possible.
"Um... guys?" Oz said suddenly, interrupting the moment. Buffy and Xander broke apart and looked at him questioningly.
"We forgot about Joyce..."
Chapter Twenty-One
Sunnydale: Outside the Warehouse
After running several blocks, scared for her life, Amy slowed to a stop and turned around. She knew that Angel, Jenny and Faith were in there, and she couldn't let them fight without her, no matter what her fears were. They wouldn't be there if she hadn't been stupid enough to be taken in by Terrance and his lies.
Amy kept to the shadows as she made her way back to the warehouse where Terrance and the commandos had held her captive. Just before she got there, she saw the door fly open and smash into the wall. Terrance walked out with Nicole flung over his shoulder. Rio came out pulling Faith. Amy noticed, with a quiver in her heart, that the harsh brunette actually looked scared. It was obvious that she was no longer in control of her team. The thought of Faith being scared, even a little bit, worried Amy more than anything else.
She only had a minute to consider her options. Go find out what the commandos had done to Angel and Jenny, or follow the kidnappers and find out where they were going. She decided on the latter. One thing Angel and Jenny weren't was clairvoyant. If she found out where the commandos were taking Faith, they'd be one step closer to a rescue.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inside the warehouse, Angel looked up at one of the vaguely human-shaped junk monsters. It stood about eight feet tall and was twice as broad across the chest as Angel. Of course, its shoulders were made from a huge metal beam, so that helped.
The junk monster swiped at him, but slowness went along with superior strength. Angel avoided the blow easily.
"Angel!"
He turned to see the other junk monster bearing down on Jenny. The witch had crouched in a corner to call up a spell that would disassemble the monsters. She had to counter the spell Rio had used to seal the junk together and give it motion. But she needed to concentrate.
With a running leap, Angel sprang at the second junk monster. He landed with all his force on the thing's arm. The arm -- a chunk of wood tipped with metal -- fell to the floor. As Angel moved back in the opposite direction, the junk monster looked at him with it's beady little headlights and started moving in his directions.
"Thanks!" Jenny called as she traced a mystical shape in the dust at her feet.
"Just hurry!" Angel replied.
The armless junk monster was in front of him, and the whole one was behind him. They both moved toward him one step at a time. Each step thunked against the concrete floor so loud that the noise echoed about the cavernous structure. He could feel the vibrations under his feet.
Then Angel got an idea. It was kind of cartoonish, but it just might work. The monsters kept coming for him. He stood stock still in the middle of the warehouse floor. They kept coming. One of them reached out to grab him -- the one with two arms. Angel jumped out of the way, but came down in the same place. Then, just as the second monster got close enough to lunge for him, Angel dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way. The two monsters ran into each other with the crash of bending metal. Angel had to dodge sparks and falling pieces of metal debris.
But because the monsters were made out of junk, losing some of their body parts didn't even phase them. They kept coming. One of them grabbed at Angel. Angel moved quickly, but the monster got the end of his trench coat. Angel felt himself being lifted above the ground. He jerked his arms out of the sleeves of the coat just as his feet left the floor. Angel dropped down and landed on his feet. The other junk monster grabbed his arm. Angel pulled, but he couldn't get free. This time when his feet dangled above the floor he couldn't drop down. Angel felt the metal "fingers" digging into his skin and gouging the flesh.
The other monster reached for his legs. Angel couldn't dodge, but he put all of his strength into his legs and kicked. The heavy monster began to teeter back and forth.
In her corner, Jenny sat with her eyes closed muttering the words to an all-purpose counterspell. Collapsing Rio's spell was proving more difficult than she had anticipated. Rio was obviously far more advanced than she'd given him credit for.
Dangling by one arm, Angel watched monster number two teeter. Then he realized something -- when it fell, it was going to fall right on top of Jenny!
It tipped and gravity took over. Angel opened his mouth to shout a warning but the other junk monster chose that moment to grab his twisting legs and start pulling. Angel's shout turned into a gurgle of pain as he tried to get out of the monster's tight hold, but it seemed impossible.
"So be it!" Jenny yelled. The magic binding the junk vanished and debris fell everywhere. Angel found himself falling. He hit the ground on his butt. Debris showered down on his unprotected head -- luckily, none of it big enough to cause a vampire lasting damage.
When the dust and debris settled, Angel looked over at Jenny. "You OK?"
She nodded. She had taken cover under a large piece of sheet metal once she was done casting. "But Rio and the others must be long gone by now."
The door to the warehouse burst open, and Angel and Jenny sprang to their feet, expecting another nasty surprise care of the commando warlock. Instead they saw Amy.
Jenny rushed over to give Amy a hug. "I'm so glad you're all right."
Amy was surprised at her mentor's sudden burst of emotion, but she returned the hug for a second. "I'm glad you guys are OK, too." She paused, and then added, "I know where Rio and Terrance took Faith and Nicole."
The concern on Angel's face vanished into a mask of determination. "Let's go."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
England: The Compound
The group around the front of the tribunal chamber -- Buffy (still holding Melinda, a.k.a. Blue Eyes), Xander, Doyle, Sonya, Wesley, Cordelia, Oz, Aidan, Gwendolyn, Barrows, Aidan, the Board members close enough to hear and Chamberlain himself -- stared at Giles. Some looked disbelieving. Some looked angry. Most looked shocked beyond belief.
"Chamberlain... Proconsul Sidney Chamberlain is a vampire?" Aidan repeated.
"It can't be," Wesley protested. The crowd in the background started murmuring, wondering what was going on that they couldn't hear. "We have protective measures against vampires on the premises. No one could get away with such a thing..."
Gwendolyn stared at the proconsul. His face had purpled with rage. "Is it true?" she asked him flat out. "Do we add this most heinous charge to your list of dishonorable acts?"
"What are you all talking about?" Chamberlain roared. His voice carried se well that everyone in the chamber could hear him. "I am no vampire. And I have had nothing to do with life force draining individuals or whatever nonsense Ms. Post has the gall to charge me with."
Rage evaporated from the proconsul's face. It was immediately replaced by shock and pain. His gaze encompassed the Board of Directors and all the Watchers in the surrounding seats. "You all know me. The Board nominated me and the rest of you voted on me for this job. Except for one vacation, I have been here, doing my best for you day in and day out. I have implemented measures to equip our forces to fight better and drive back the world of darkness. If something is wrong with those measures, perhaps I chose the wrong people to head them." His accusing gaze moved to Gwendolyn just long enough to get his point across. Then the pain-filled gaze swept the Watchers again. "Do all of you distrust me this much? After all I've given -- my time, my heart, my life -- to this organization?"
Murmurs of affirmation swept the crowd and some of the people who'd begun to suspect Chamberlain looked as if they regretted the hasty decision. Marcus moved to Chamberlain's side in a gesture of solidarity.
"Wait a minute!" Buffy said suddenly. She set Melinda down on the floor. "Don't move, Melinda, or we'll have to come and get you again." Melinda didn't look happy about it, but she stayed put, for the moment. Turning back to Chamberlain, Buffy said, "I never voted for you, but you should have a chance to prove yourself. Someone bring a cross."
The proconsul's face grew cold, but he agreed. "If that is what it takes to prove myself to you, Slayer."
Gwendolyn spoke up in Buffy's defense. "A good Slayer investigates every suspicion of vampires. All Watchers should know that."
In a room full of Watchers, there were plenty of crosses to be had. One of those nearest the front tossed his own personal cross to Buffy. With a challenging look, she held it out to the proconsul. The proconsul hesitated for a brief second, and then he grabbed it. For a second, everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath and wait. Nothing happened.
Chamberlain dropped the cross on the podium, threw his arms wide and called, "You see. It had been proved. I am no more a vampire than the Slayer herself."
Giles's face fell. "I know Ethan isn't trustworthy," he muttered, "but he was so scared, and Ethan is never scared."
Buffy stepped closer to Giles, finally unafraid to show her support to her Watcher, Council-approved Watcher or not. It was the very Council that seemed to need help now. "Is there any way he could have sabotaged the test, Giles? What could make a vampire immune to crosses."
"There is only one thing!" Giles exclaimed. "The Gem of Amara! Ethan said Chamberlain sent him to Sunnydale for something... maybe it was the Gem. Hiding the Gem on the Hellmouth would have been a diabolical plan."
"But the Gem is only a myth," Wesley protested. "There is no evidence that it actually exists. Only vampire bedtime stories."
"The Gem of Amara?" Xander asked, keeping his voice low as the others had, as he darted a glance at Chamberlain. The proconsul stood behind the podium, Marcus at his side, taking in the guilt-ridden apologies of his Board of Directors. "What is that?"
"The Holy Grail of vampires," Giles explained quietly. "It makes them invulnerable to stakes, crosses, fire, sunlight..."
"But does he have it?" Buffy asked. "What does it look like?"
From his position on the podium, a little behind Chamberlain and Marcus, Aidan could hear Giles and the others, but only if he strained his ears and tuned everyone else out. His eyes fell on the ring worn by the proconsul. He'd noticed it earlier and wondered what seemed so familiar about it. Now he knew. The stone in the gold setting was the Gem of Amara! Aidan's mind started to turn rapidly. How could he tell Giles and Buffy without Chamberlain noticing?
"Legend says it's set in a ring..." Giles explained to Buffy and the others.
Chamberlain's gaze settled on Giles, Buffy and the rest with an expression of utter loathing. "Guards!" he called. "As I said before -- capture them! They have all been corrupted by Mr. Giles and his un-Watcherly ways. They must be purified or executed."
"Wait a second!" Board member Lynne Durvaine objected. "Execute the Slayer? Even if they were wrong about you, Chamberlain, that is not an option. She was morally bound to test once an accusation was made."
Chamberlain only had two words to say to that. "Monique Solange." At the mention of the rogue Slayer who'd been executed during the seventeenth century, Lynne's objections trickled off into silence.
"Wait a moment, please!" Barrows said suddenly. "Things are getting way out of control here. This tribunal was only supposed to evaluate how unfit Mr. Giles was for the position of Active Watcher, not evaluate the entirety of our organization and our Slayer. The Council is too important to succumb to such pettiness."
Chamberlain's anger turned on Barrows. "A rogue Slayer is not petty! It is our life's mission jeopardized. The only thing worse than a crippled Slayer is a rogue Slayer. Now, guards, do your job!"
The Watchers in the stands, and even some of the Watchers on the Board, didn't know how to react. They were faced with a man they'd trusted implicitly for years. The man had been charged with all sorts of heinous crimes in the past few minutes, but he'd come through the worst of them unscathed, proving his story right. Who should they believe? A man who'd won their trust many times, or a Watcher found guilty of countless charges, the Slayer trained by such a disreputable Watcher and her friends who shouldn't even be here in the first place. But it went against the grain of a Watcher to attempt to harm a Slayer, despite the story of Monique Solange and her bloody rampage in France.
A few of the guards finally decided to obey the proconsul. One went for Buffy, one for Giles and another for Xander, the apparent ring leaders. Buffy punched hers in the stomach and he flew back a few yards.
"I could have finished you," she called, "but I don't want to hurt anyone." Then she moved to help Giles, incapacitating another guard with a kick to the knee. He hit the floor, howling in pain, but Buffy knew the injury would heal in time.
Xander and his guard traded off punches.
"I don't want to hurt you," Xander said, following Buffy's lead.
"That didn't stop you with me mates upstairs, did it?" the guard hissed angrily.
Buffy turned to help Xander, but more of the guards decided it was time to get in on the action. Now there were opponents available for them all. Even Wesley got his own, much to his dismay.
"I didn't mean anything by it... I was just his council, not his friend... It was an assigned position!" Wesley cried as a guard circled him. The guard sneered at Wesley and taunted him with fake punches. Wesley went green and crumpled to the floor before one punch even hit home.
Cordelia shrieked when a guard grabbed her by the hair. "If I was still strong you'd be sorry!" she snapped. She tried to slap him, but he avoided her flailing blows easily.
"Let the lady go, man!" Doyle grabbed the guard's wrist and wrenched it away from Cordelia's hair.
"Ow!" Cordelia shrieked. Then she realized she was free. "Um... thanks, Doyle."
"No problem, lass..." Doyle started to say, then the guard decked him in the nose. Blood spurted. Doyle hoped it wasn't actually broken, then he threw himself into the fist fight with a vengeance, taking out all his pent-up hostility for Watchers and their lies on this one guard. He rained punches down on the guard like angry rain. He didn't even have to shift into his demon face (which would have been dangerous in this setting) to get the strength to beat the guard into submission -- his human half was furious enough.
When the guard fell to the ground, Doyle launched himself on the man and kept hitting and punching, throwing in the occasional kick for good measure. A pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled. "Don't kill him, Doyle!"
At first he thought it was another guard. "Let me go you..." His words trailed off when he realized it was Cordelia. He stopped resisting.
She gestured to the guard laying on the ground, obviously unconscious. "He's done."
Feelings of remorse threatened to overwhelm him. This was the kind of thing he'd always been afraid of since he found out about his demon side. "I... I..."
Cordelia forced him to look her in the eye. Doyle found no loathing in her clear, brown gaze. Just concern and... was that a hint of caring?
"I just wanted to stop you from doing something you'd regret later."
"Thank you, lass."
She opened her mouth to say thank you, then her eyes widened and she cried, "Look out!"
Doyle spun around and found himself with another guard to pound, but this time he promised himself that he wouldn't go too far.
Xander kicked a guard in the stomach and he went down, cracking his head on the floor. The Pseudo-Slayer smirked at the fallen guard. "You should have trained more, slacker. That's what's wrong with Watchers today. You don't train in case you have to fight yourself. You think all you'll ever have to do is watch."
"Watch this!"
Xander turned around just in time to see the fist before it buried itself in his face. "Oof!" The punch rattled the boy's brain in his head, almost causing him to lose his balance.
Buffy glanced up from where she and Giles were working together in their old training patterns to dispatch a combination of four guards. "Xander!" The yell had barely escaped her lips when she saw Marcus's punch send her boyfriend reeling.
She started to run over to him, but a guard got in her way. She smashed a chair over his head. But she couldn't leave Giles with three guards. She knew he couldn't handle it.
"No sweat, Buffy. We've got it." She looked over to see Sonya and Oz there to help.
"Get him," Oz added.
Buffy smiled her thanks and darted over to Xander and Marcus. Part of her mind noticed that her Slayer healing faculties must have kicked in the second she got all of her powers back because her wrenched ankle no longer hurt. She got to Xander's side just in time to see him rise up from the floor with an uppercut to Marcus's chin. The lackey's teeth rattled together, and he stumbled back.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Marcus," Xander said, throwing another punch to the lackey's face.
Buffy grabbed him from behind, spun him around and hit him in the stomach. "This is for the lies." She yanked his arm, spun him around again and twisted it behind his back. "This is for that stupid test!" Then she kicked him in the balls. "And this is for messing with my friends!"
On the podium, the Watchers watched the brawl with stunned expressions. When Marcus went down, Chamberlain growled in frustration. "The bitch is going to pay for that!"
Aidan and Gwendolyn were the only ones who heard the comment. Aidan knew he couldn't wait any longer. He'd been waiting all this time and it hadn't gotten him anywhere but in more trouble. He had to take a stand, despite the fact that he might get clobbered or even killed.
From his position slightly behind the proconsul, Aidan ripped off his golden judges robe. Then he grabbed Chamberlain's abandoned chair and hit the man over the head with it. Gwendolyn stepped back to give Aidan room. The Board members turned in shock.
Their shock grew when Chamberlain didn't even falter. He just turned to Aidan and said, "You shouldn't have done that, boy!"
Aidan stood his ground. "You're evil, Chamberlain, and I'm going to prove it."
"Here's another one under the influence of Mr. Giles," Chamberlain said, holding on to his composure. "Guards!"
"Your guards are all busy attacking the Slayer and her friends," Aidan replied. "But it doesn't look like they're winning." Then Aidan flung what was left of the chair at the proconsul. The man instinctively jerked to avoid the projectiles, and when he was off balance, Aidan flung himself on the other man. They toppled over the edge of the podium and fell to the ground. Aidan grabbed for the ring on Chamberlain's finger and wrenched it off.
"The Gem of Amara!" Aidan yelled triumphantly, showing it to all the Watchers present. "It's how his charade of humanity worked all this time!" Then he pulled his arm back and hurled with all his might, sending the ring spinning into the sea of spectators. Chamberlain would never be able to get to it.
A low growl caught his attention. Aidan looked down to see Chamberlain in full vamp face. "If I go down, you go down with me." Chamberlain sprang to his feet with a preternatural grace, grabbed Aidan by the collar with superior strength and sank a pair of gleaming fangs into Aidan's neck.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunnydale: The High School Library
"They brought Faith here?" Angel asked.
Amy nodded. "I followed them, and when I was sure they were staying inside, I came back to get you guys."
"Good work, Amy," Jenny said, pushing her sweat-soaked hair off of her forehead.
The two witches and the vampire snuck around the side of the building until they found a window with a broken lock. Angel pushed it open just enough that they could hear what was going on inside.
"Spike loved this window," Angel whispered. "I caught him out here spying a couple of times. The janitor never remembers to fix the lock."
They peered inside and saw a scene that made the women's blood run cold and Angel's determination triple. Rio had Faith magically bound to the reading table. She wasn't moving at all, except for the slight rise and fall of her chest that indicated she was still breathing. Rio was working over her with some magic paraphernalia that only Jenny could identify. Terrance looked on impatiently, while a greenish Nicole sat in a chair nearby.
"I don't feel well, Terrance," Nicole said, oblivious of the traces of extinguisher foam in her hair and on her clothes. "My head hurts, and I feel nauseous."
"Shut up, Nicole," Terrance snapped. "You'll feel better once we do the ritual." He frowned at Rio. "Are you ready yet?"
"You can't rush magic," Rio replied calmly.
"Yeah, but I can rush you," Terrance replied. "You owe me, remember? You have to do this."
"And then I'm free, right?" Rio muttered.
Terrance laughed.
"Free from what?" Nicole asked, squinting at Terrance.
"It doesn't matter!" Terrance replied. "Nothing matters but getting these bloody powers anchored to our human bodies. Then we can go dance on Angel and Jenny Calendar's graves, and I can dispose of Amy in my own way..."
"I owe him," Rio told Nicole off-handedly. "It's a longstanding family debt. My father owed his father, my grandfather owed his grandfather, all the way back to the day when his great, great, great grandfather interceded on my family's behalf, convincing the Powers that Be that we deserved our magic. Every male in my family since then has been a warlock. But after this spell, perhaps, the debt will finally be paid." But something in Rio's face said he doubted that would ever happen.
"Yeah, whatever. Just get on with it," Terrance replied, ignoring Nicole's astonished look.
"I don't think so!"
Terrance turned to see Angel standing in the doorway, flanked by Amy and Jenny. "Well, the gang's all here."
"Something like that," Angel replied. "But don't think you're going to get away with whatever it is Rio is doing to Faith."
"Just try and stop us," Terrance replied with a smirk. "Nicole, finish the vampire."
"Terrance, I..."
"Nicole! Quit stalling and get on with it!"
Nicole stood up from her chair and wobbled a little bit. She closed her eyes and began to focus on Angel.
The vampire ran toward her, knowing that he had to stop her before she could concentrate long enough to flame him. Nicole and her fiery powers had always been the wild card in any plan of Angel's to finish off the commandos, but experience had taught him that for big jobs it took her time to prepare.
He was almost upon her, and still his skin had not caught fire. Before he could whack her again, Nicole fell to the ground, unconscious. Angel looked up at Terrance with a smirk of his own. "Looks like you should have listened when she said she didn't feel well. That whack across the head I gave her earlier must've been concussion-worthy!"
Terrance yelled in frustration. Suddenly, a bookshelf hurtled toward Angel.
Amy whispered something in Latin, and the bookshelf reversed course. Terrance looked at Amy in surprise. Then he sent a chair spinning towards her head. Angel lunged back, knocking Amy out of the way.
Looking down at her underneath him, Angel asked, "Can you protect me from his powers long enough for me to get to him?"
Amy nodded. "I think so."
"Do it." Angel looked over his shoulder just once to see Jenny advancing on Rio and the magic sparks about to fly. He had to trust the senior witch to save Faith, because right now he had all he could do to take down Terrance.
The blond commando grinned at him maniacally. "I don't think so, vampire." He pulled a stake out of his pocket, and then the bit of pointy wood whistled through the air toward Angel's heart. Angel dove out of the way, and Amy yelled something. The air around Terrance sparkled with blue flecks of light. Terrance tried to move, but couldn't.
"Hurry," Amy gasped, sweat pouring down her brow. "I can't hold this for very long."
Angel didn't have to be told twice. He ran toward Terrance full tilt. When he got there, Amy let the shield go, and Angel pummeled the commando with punches and kicks. Angel heard something whistle behind him, but he trusted Amy to take care of it and didn't take his attention off of Terrance. A desk went crashing down a few feet away, knocked off course by Amy's magic.
"You can't keep this up, Terrance," Angel warned through gritted teeth.
"Try me, Angel." Suddenly, Angel flew up into the air. Terrance, held in Angel's supernaturally strong grip, came along for the ride. Angel's breath whooshed out in a painful gasp as the back of his head hit the ceiling.
"That's it. No more Mr. Nice Vampire," Angel growled, revealing his vampire face.
"Lovely." Terrance spat in Angel's face. "I knew the whole nice guy act was a bloody lie. Vampires are evil fiends."
"No," Angel replied, "You're the evil fiend." Then he let go of Terrance and the commando plummeted back to the floor. When Terrance hit the ground he lost his hold on Angel, and the vampire fell, too, landing hard on top of Terrance. Angel grabbed Terrance around the neck and with one quick motion, snapped his neck. Angel's vamp face dissolved.
But there was no time to rest. Terrance might be dead, but Faith was still at Rio's mercy. Angel and Amy moved closer to the table. Rio and Jenny were staring at each other. Jenny had surrounded herself, and Faith, with a magic shield. Rio was testing it with bolts of his own power, but something about it seemed half-hearted to Angel.
"Rio," Angel said. "Terrance is dead."
The warlock stopped flinging the power bolts and looked around to verify the fact. "So he is." Rio stopped casting all together and examined the situation. "Terrance is dead, and Nicole, well... being unconscious was her doom."
"What?" Amy gasped. They turned to look -- all except Jenny who wasn't letting the warlock out of her sight -- and saw Nicole's flesh turning black around the edges. The horrible odor of burning flesh assailed their nostrils.
Amy blanched. "Can't we do something?"
Rio shook his head. "Nope. Unconscious or not, the stolen power takes energy to maintain. She didn't feed again because she thought I would get her powers stabilized in time. Nicole didn't like the killing."
"Not like Terrance did," Amy said, shivering at the memory of Terrance's hands on her face.
"Not like Terrance did," Rio agreed. He looked away from the charred husk that used to be Nicole, a sad expression on his face. "If only the Council hadn't..." His words trailed off.
"So, what are we going to do here?" Jenny asked, her shield rippling with waves of color.
"Three against one," Angel reminded Rio.
Rio made a motion with his hands and whispered a few words. Suddenly, Faith could move again. She sprang off of the table, but she couldn't get very far with Jenny's shield in the way.
The warlock looked at Angel. "Thank you for killing him and releasing me from my bondage. The blood oath my ancestor took was binding up onto the seventh generation. Luckily, there will be no more generations."
"There won't be any more generations of you either!" Faith spat. "As soon as she drops the shield."
"Wait a second, Faith," Angel cautioned her. "None of this is Rio's fault."
"Like he wasn't going to kill me?" Faith demanded. "Who's side are you on, Angel?"
"Blood oaths are binding," Angel said quietly. "I've come in contact with them before. If he was the victim of one, Rio didn't have much of a choice in his actions." He looked at Jenny for confirmation.
Jenny nodded reluctantly, but her glare toward the warlock hadn't lessened. However, neither had her sheild, and, now, the magic boundary was more to keep Faith in than to keep Rio out.
Amy thought back to Rio's words in the warehouse. They made so much more sense now. She still didn't want to be alone with the warlock in a dark alley, but maybe... "I think we should give him a chance."
"A chance to do what? Kill us all?" Faith demanded. Turning to Jenny, she yelled, "Let me out of this thing, now!"
"Faith," Rio said, looking her in the eyes, "I'm sorry for what has happened here. It was not by my design, though I did do my part. I am ready to repay you all for what I did because of that blood oath."
"You could stay here," Angel said.
"In Sunnydale?" Rio raised a quizzical eyebrow in the vampire's direction.
"Yes," Angel answered. "You could stay here and help us fight against the demons that are attracted to the Hellmouth in our midst. A sort of... restitution for damages done." He looked at Faith. "And you could stay and make sure he does it."
Jenny finally dropped her sheild. Directing a dark gaze at Rio, she said, "If he does stay here, there will be more than one person to make sure he stays on the straight and narrow... and that he makes full amends for his actions."
Faith crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave Rio a hard look. "Fine, but if he screws up, he gets to answer to me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
England: The Compound
Aidan could feel his lifeblood draining out of his body and into the vampire who had been posing as the proconsul of the Watchers' Council for who knew how many months.
"No!" someone yelled. Doyle. The half-demon ran at Chamberlain, but the vampire knocked the weakened Doyle back with one hand, never lifting his fangs from Aidan's neck.
Blackness started creeping up the sides of Aidan's vision.
Buffy scooped up the leg of a broken chair and began moving toward Chamberlain, flanked by Xander. The guards had stopped attacking when they realized the truth about the proconsul.
"Xander, you get Aidan. I'll get Chamberlain," Buffy whispered.
"Divide and conquer," Xander replied. "I like it."
But it was Melinda who got there first. "Daddy! I'm hungry. Share with me." She reached up and grabbed his bare hand with her own. A blue glow enveloped the three of them. Chamberlain spasmed and his fangs came out of the Watcher's neck, though he didn't let go of Aidan's shoulders.
"No!" Xander shouted. "You can't have Aidan!" He wasn't sure if he was talking about Melinda or Chamberlain. Xander ran toward the trio and grabbed Aidan. For an instant, he felt the power of Melinda's hunger threatening to drain him through Chamberlain and Aidan. But he couldn't succomb to it. Xander pulled with all his might, and Aidan came free. Giles was there to grab Aidan's unconscious body and pull it out of danger. Giles started checking him over, trying to see if he would live. Then Gwendolyn was next to him. Giles looked up in surprise.
"I called downstairs," she told him. "Someone's coming with some blood and a stretcher."
"Since when...?" Giles didn't even get to finish his question before she answered.
"Since the experiments started."
Buffy stood still, staring at Melinda and Chamberlain. Xander scooped up a chair leg of his own and moved to stand beside her.
Chamberlain's skin began to turn brown, and they could smell his undead flesh burning up from the inside. He screamed in agony. Melinda screamed, too.
Xander couldn't wait any longer. He moved closer and burried the wooden shaft in the vampire's heart without getting caught in the blue glow himself. A moment later, Chamberlain crumbled into a pile of ashes, leaving Melinda standing there, a demonic visage covering what had once been an innocent little girl face.
Buffy hesitated for a moment longer, wondering if it would go away. But it didn't. Then Melinda sprang toward Buffy. In one move, Buffy staked Melinda, and little Blue Eyes's ashes settled down, coating the ashes that had once been Chamberlain.
Silence settled over the room. Everyone looked at everyone else, wondering what, if anything, would happen next. There was a communal gasp as the doors burst open, but it was just two medics with several pints of blood.
"Over here," Gwendolyn called.
The medics came and hoisted Aidan onto a stretcher, attaching the IV to his arm.
"Will he be a'right?" Doyle asked, creeping over to the side of the stretcher and staring down at his friend's pale face.
"If we get enough blood pumped into him," the medic answered brusquely. The second medic pushed Doyle out of the way as they began wheeling Aidan away.
"Where are they takin' him?" Doyle asked.
"Downstairs," Gwendolyn replied. Seeing Doyle's horror, she added, "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to him." She looked around at the stunned, shell-shocked Watchers that filled the room. "I think it's high time that the Council takes stock of the reality of our situation, and makes some long overdue changes. And I think that everyone here realizes that now." A small smile curved her lips as she realized something. Everything she had been working for since finding out the truth of Chamberlain's project had come to pass. The Council would be purged, and everything would finally be all right.
Her gaze landed on Buffy, then on Giles and Xander, Sonya and Oz, and Doyle and Cordelia. "Thank you."
Giles stepped forward and shook Gwendolyn's hand. "Thank you." Buffy smiled at her.
"Um... excuse me?"
Everyone looked down to see Wesley coming to.
"What, Wesley?" Giles asked.
"Could someone... er... tell me what happened?" Wesley looked around in confusion, wiping vampire ash off of his glasses.
Buffy couldn't help it. She burst into laughter, and the others soon joined in. She looked up and right into Xander's loving, chocolate brown eyes. "Hi," she whispered, choking off her hysterical giggles.
"Hi, yourself," he said, giving her a small taste of his sexy, lopsided grin.
Buffy reached up and kissed Xander. He responded fiercely, hugging her to him as tightly as possible.
"Um... guys?" Oz said suddenly, interrupting the moment. Buffy and Xander broke apart and looked at him questioningly.
"We forgot about Joyce..."