Chapter 31
"Buffy!" Angel ran to her and lifted her up onto his lap, covering the wound with his hand. Wesley came over with a towel and handed it to Angel.
"This is new." Lorne said.
"Her scar, where I bit her.. It's open."
"What? How?" Gunn asked.
"I.. I don't know. We have to stop the bleeding now. It's coming from her artery."
"I'll get the first aid kit."
Wesley sat down and lifted Buffy off Angel and pulled her to him, sitting her up. "Keep the blood from flowing so quickly to her artery."
Gunn came back. "Got it." He handed the white box to Angel.
Angel started to mop up the blood with an alcohol wipe. Buffy flinched as if she could feel it then lie still once again. His worry for Buffy overrode Angel's blood lust. Soon, she was patched up and lying in Angel's arms.
"Angel, we gotta go." Gunn said.
"I'm staying then. I'm not going to leave her alone if the world ends." Angel said. "I left her alone before and she died without knowing how much I love her. I can't let that happen to her again."
"Then don't." Buffy said weakly.
"You're awake."
"Barely. What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"I remember lots of blood. Lot's of my blood."
"You're scar opened."
"Apocalypse stuff, right?"
"Probably. Can you stand?"
"I think so." Angel helped her to stand. She wobbled for a second and then found her balance.
"Can you fight?" Gunn asked.
"Drive. I can make myself fight."
"Buffy.." Angel started.
"Let's just go. If this is the end of the world, I'd like to stop it. Or stop it long enough to get my sister and our son and be with them."
"Let's go." Wesley said.
They drove to the place Lorne told them about. Angel, Buffy, Wesley, Gunn and Lorne walked up to the club entrance, armed and ready to fight, but when they saw the demon, they stopped dead in their tracks. Hulking and intimidating even when compared to Angel and his gang, the Beast chuckled at the sight of them. It was standing inside a square made from human bodies that had been laid out in formation. At the center of the square, the Beast was holding a man in the air, dangling him by the foot. The way the body hung, it formed sort of an X shape.
"Ooh, uh, I'm gonna need a bigger arrow." Lorne said.
Spike had just gone to sleep in the early morning hours. He was staying at Willy's Alliby on Faith's orders since Xander wasn't there. As he started to drift off, Faith walked angrily into the room and dumped him out of the bed. He stood and stared at her in astonishment.
"Did you kill her?" Faith asked.
"What?" Spike asked.
"The girl. Last night."
"What girl? What are you talking about?"
"I caught the first act. I missed the curtain call. Did you kill her? Did you turn her? Is she one of your kind now?"
"Did-did you.. are you following me?"
"Answer the question. Where is she?"
"Who knows? I talked to her is all."
"Really. Looked like more than talking to me."
"Well, I certainly didn't off her. Where are you getting this? You know I can't."
"Right. That chip."
"No, not the chip! Not the chip, damn it. You honestly think I'd go to the end of the underworld and back to get my soul and then.. Faith, I can barely live with what I did. It haunts me. All of it. If you think that I would add to the body count now, you are crazy."
"So, what? You just troll the Promenade looking for drunk co-eds cause you're hungry for conversation?"
"Oh, is that what this is? Right."
"What?"
"You're jealous!"
"Don't play games. Not now."
"Yeah, you saw me chatting up another bird, giving the eye to somebody else. Touched a nerve, didn't it?"
"Don't flatter yourself."
"It burns, huh? But you can't admit it, so you trump up some charge about me being back on the juice."
"This vampire Buffy killed told her.."
"Told her what? That I go out? Yeah, I talk to people. Women. Talk to them cause I can't talk to you."
"Oh, Spike, save it."
"As daft a notion as 'Soulful Spike the Killer' is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me. This chip.. they did to me. I couldn't help it. But the soul, I got on my own.. for you."
"I know."
"So, yeah. I go and pass the time.. with someone. But that's all it is, is time, cause.. God, help me, Faith.. it's still all about you."
"Spike, this vampire told Buffy you sired him."
"That's doesn't mean.."
"He said you killed him. Dumped him in a parking lot somewhere."
"And you lot believe him? Vampires aren't.."
"I did follow you last night, and you know what? You didn't look lonely or casual to me. You looked like you were on the prowl."
"You can't know that."
"So, then, tell me. Tell me what happened. You talked to her, then what?"
"We talked. That's all I remember."
"All you remember?"
"I don't know. I go out. I talk to people or I don't. It's boring. It all bleeds together."
"Well, if you seem to forget that much, then.."
"Not that. The taste of human blood. That, I'd remember."
"You were camped out on the hell mouth talking to invisible people. Recently. How can you be sure of.."
"No! You are wrong. You've got an accusation from a pile of dust and not a shred of proof."
"So, I'll get some." With that Faith left the room and headed back to Buffy's house.
The Beast saw Angel, Buffy, and gang standing at the entrance to the rooftop club. It threw the man it was holding across the room before focusing his attention on Buffy and Angel. Angel and Buffy hoisted their swords and ran toward the Beast. Gunn flanked them on the right, while Wesley and Lorne were on the left with crossbows aimed. Angel swung the sword at the Beast, but it had no effect. When the sword contacted the Beast's skin, there was a pinging sound, but it didn't cut or penetrate the skin. Buffy stepped in and sliced at the back of the things knee. Same effect.
Buffy and Angel continued to try using the sword on the Beast, but to no avail. Eventually, the Beast took the swords away from them, discarded them, and threw Angel across the room where he collided with a column, shattering it to pieces. Buffy stood taller and punched at the thing's face. It grabbed her wrist and hurled her over its head. She flew backwards and hit the wall hard enough to make a dent in the concrete.
Gunn hurled the battleaxe at the Beast, but the thing caught it easily, bending the blade in half and throwing it back at Gunn. Angel recovered from his fall, stood, and wielded two smaller axes. Angel swung them at the Beast's legs, arms, and head, but they didn't hurt it at all. Wesley and Lorne shot arrows from their crossbows at the thing, but the beast deflected them with his forearm, changing their trajectory such that the arrows hit Angel instead. Angel doubled over in pain as one arrow landed in his belly and the other in his upper right shoulder.
The Beast looked around at them all. Wesley and Lorne were reloading the crossbows when the Beast picked up Angel's body and threw it at them, knocking them off all balance. Buffy stood up and went over to stand next to Gunn. Together, they went for the Beast with swords, both hacking tremendously at its head, again to no avail. The Beast grabbed Gunn and Buffy by their throats and threw them across the room.
Wesley reached both hands inside his coat and pulled out two automatic handguns. He shot them, two at a time, at the Beast's chest and head with no effect. He threw them down, and reached for the shotgun at his side. Wesley fired at the Beast's chest, causing it to flinch a bit, but the shots didn't appear to damage it. He fired again at the Beast's face, causing the Beast to fall down, landing on its knees. Wes aimed the shotgun at its face at close range, but the Beast just looked up and smiled at him. The thing grunted and pushed the shotgun away before hurling Wesley across the room. The Beast chuckled.
"Might wanna hold the gloat, chuckles." Angel said, standing and pulling the arrow out of his shoulder. "We're just getting started."
Angel lunged for the Beast, engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. They exchanged punches, when the Beast punched Angel so hard, it sent him backwards through the air in a back flip. Angel landed on his feet on an awning, in vamp face now. The Beast groaned. Angel jumped down from the awning and landed in front of the Beast. They fist-fought again, but Angel managed to knock the Beast down to his knees. Angel grabbed a dagger from his leg-holster and pointed it at the Beast's strange yellow eyes. Its eyes widen, and Angel hesitated, unable to plunge the dagger into its eyes because it had gotten a grip on Angel's arm now. The tables were turned as the Beast stabbed Angel in the right shoulder just at the neck.
"Angel!" Buffy screamed.
Angel groaned in agony, blood dribbling down his mouth, as he involuntarily reverted to human face. The Beast looked knowingly at Angel. "Do you really think she's safe with him?" the thing asked.
The Beast took Angel and hurled him out into the city, well beyond the edge of the building they were on now. Buffy stood and ran screaming to look over the building's roof. "ANGEL!" She watched his body tumble and drop like a rag doll. Buffy turned, fire blazing in her eyes.
"Uh oh." Gunn said.
"Oh, you are SO gonna pay for that." Buffy attacked, hands turned into claws. She punched and kicked with all her strength, bringing the thing down to its knees. She delivered a vicious roundhouse that caused one of the horns to pop loudly, but not fall off. Buffy went to follow up, but the thing expected it and grabbed her ankle and flipped her completely over. Recovering mid-air, Buffy landed on her feet and stacked again. This time the Beast was ready for her and it delivered her three violent punches to the face. Blood spurted from her nose and bottom lip. The demon lifted her up and cracked her over its knee. She screamed as pain shot through her side. The thing had broken two or three of her ribs. Before she knew what was happening, the Beast threw her into another concrete column. It smashed under the force of her body and Buffy fell painfully to the floor. Gunn and Wesley ran over to her.
Lorne looked panicked as Buffy brought herself up to one elbow and watched as the Beast kneeled on one knee and punched the floor at the center of his human square, sending a trail of fire out along the floor in the shape of the Eye of Fire symbol. A shock wave emanated from the area, knocking everyone back a few feet. Lorne was thrown back, but landed on a glass skylight and fell into the room below. Gunn, Buffy, and Wesley were knocked down, but still on the rooftop. The fire was tall now, taller than the Beast. Wesley sat up in time to see the Beast leap straight up into the sky, riding the fire that he created. Wesley went back over to Gunn and Buffy, Gunn was unconscious, but Buffy was forcing herself up.
"Buffy!" Wesley called after her as she half limped, half ran out of the building.
She ignored everything. The pain, Wesley's cries, the rain of fire that fell outside, everything but the one thought that ran through her mind: get to Angel. She ran outside and looked around. Fireballs feel from the sky and she dodged them, following her senses to Angel. She found him lying on the ground in the street. He rolled over, still in pain and bloody from the encounter with the Beast. Weakly, he reached over to pull the implement out of his shoulder, wincing. He convulsed in pain while looking at the sky. Buffy limped up to him and pulled him to her. He leaned his back on her chest as she inspected the wound.
"We have to get out of this!" Angel said hoarsely, turning to stand and help her up. It was almost pitch black where they stood, so Angel didn't notice how badly she was wounded until a fireball landed near them in a fiery explosion and lit the street up. "Oh my God Buffy!"
"It's nothing. Let's go." She took his weight under her and walked them over to a parking garage.
Xander stood at the window watching the fire rain down on the city of Los Angeles. Cordelia walked up to him and stared out with him.
"What's happening?" Xander asked.
"I don't know."
"It's him, isn't it? It's that thing."
"We don't know that."
"I should've tried harder. I should've stopped it."
"It was too strong. This isn't' your fault."
"I should have fought harder. What if my friends are out there dying right now?" Cordelia brushed hair from his face and then pulled Xander's face closer and kissed him tenderly and passionately. "Why.. why did you..?"
"Because I don't think it matters anymore. I know how you feel about me, Xander. When I think about what you've lost and everything we've been through.. I still love you Xander Harris and if this is the end, I want you to have something that we never got to have before." Cordelia put his hand on her waist and they embraced and kissed each other passionately. Eventually, they ended up in bed. Xander on top of Cordelia as they made love for the first time.
"Buffy!" Angel ran to her and lifted her up onto his lap, covering the wound with his hand. Wesley came over with a towel and handed it to Angel.
"This is new." Lorne said.
"Her scar, where I bit her.. It's open."
"What? How?" Gunn asked.
"I.. I don't know. We have to stop the bleeding now. It's coming from her artery."
"I'll get the first aid kit."
Wesley sat down and lifted Buffy off Angel and pulled her to him, sitting her up. "Keep the blood from flowing so quickly to her artery."
Gunn came back. "Got it." He handed the white box to Angel.
Angel started to mop up the blood with an alcohol wipe. Buffy flinched as if she could feel it then lie still once again. His worry for Buffy overrode Angel's blood lust. Soon, she was patched up and lying in Angel's arms.
"Angel, we gotta go." Gunn said.
"I'm staying then. I'm not going to leave her alone if the world ends." Angel said. "I left her alone before and she died without knowing how much I love her. I can't let that happen to her again."
"Then don't." Buffy said weakly.
"You're awake."
"Barely. What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"I remember lots of blood. Lot's of my blood."
"You're scar opened."
"Apocalypse stuff, right?"
"Probably. Can you stand?"
"I think so." Angel helped her to stand. She wobbled for a second and then found her balance.
"Can you fight?" Gunn asked.
"Drive. I can make myself fight."
"Buffy.." Angel started.
"Let's just go. If this is the end of the world, I'd like to stop it. Or stop it long enough to get my sister and our son and be with them."
"Let's go." Wesley said.
They drove to the place Lorne told them about. Angel, Buffy, Wesley, Gunn and Lorne walked up to the club entrance, armed and ready to fight, but when they saw the demon, they stopped dead in their tracks. Hulking and intimidating even when compared to Angel and his gang, the Beast chuckled at the sight of them. It was standing inside a square made from human bodies that had been laid out in formation. At the center of the square, the Beast was holding a man in the air, dangling him by the foot. The way the body hung, it formed sort of an X shape.
"Ooh, uh, I'm gonna need a bigger arrow." Lorne said.
Spike had just gone to sleep in the early morning hours. He was staying at Willy's Alliby on Faith's orders since Xander wasn't there. As he started to drift off, Faith walked angrily into the room and dumped him out of the bed. He stood and stared at her in astonishment.
"Did you kill her?" Faith asked.
"What?" Spike asked.
"The girl. Last night."
"What girl? What are you talking about?"
"I caught the first act. I missed the curtain call. Did you kill her? Did you turn her? Is she one of your kind now?"
"Did-did you.. are you following me?"
"Answer the question. Where is she?"
"Who knows? I talked to her is all."
"Really. Looked like more than talking to me."
"Well, I certainly didn't off her. Where are you getting this? You know I can't."
"Right. That chip."
"No, not the chip! Not the chip, damn it. You honestly think I'd go to the end of the underworld and back to get my soul and then.. Faith, I can barely live with what I did. It haunts me. All of it. If you think that I would add to the body count now, you are crazy."
"So, what? You just troll the Promenade looking for drunk co-eds cause you're hungry for conversation?"
"Oh, is that what this is? Right."
"What?"
"You're jealous!"
"Don't play games. Not now."
"Yeah, you saw me chatting up another bird, giving the eye to somebody else. Touched a nerve, didn't it?"
"Don't flatter yourself."
"It burns, huh? But you can't admit it, so you trump up some charge about me being back on the juice."
"This vampire Buffy killed told her.."
"Told her what? That I go out? Yeah, I talk to people. Women. Talk to them cause I can't talk to you."
"Oh, Spike, save it."
"As daft a notion as 'Soulful Spike the Killer' is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me. This chip.. they did to me. I couldn't help it. But the soul, I got on my own.. for you."
"I know."
"So, yeah. I go and pass the time.. with someone. But that's all it is, is time, cause.. God, help me, Faith.. it's still all about you."
"Spike, this vampire told Buffy you sired him."
"That's doesn't mean.."
"He said you killed him. Dumped him in a parking lot somewhere."
"And you lot believe him? Vampires aren't.."
"I did follow you last night, and you know what? You didn't look lonely or casual to me. You looked like you were on the prowl."
"You can't know that."
"So, then, tell me. Tell me what happened. You talked to her, then what?"
"We talked. That's all I remember."
"All you remember?"
"I don't know. I go out. I talk to people or I don't. It's boring. It all bleeds together."
"Well, if you seem to forget that much, then.."
"Not that. The taste of human blood. That, I'd remember."
"You were camped out on the hell mouth talking to invisible people. Recently. How can you be sure of.."
"No! You are wrong. You've got an accusation from a pile of dust and not a shred of proof."
"So, I'll get some." With that Faith left the room and headed back to Buffy's house.
The Beast saw Angel, Buffy, and gang standing at the entrance to the rooftop club. It threw the man it was holding across the room before focusing his attention on Buffy and Angel. Angel and Buffy hoisted their swords and ran toward the Beast. Gunn flanked them on the right, while Wesley and Lorne were on the left with crossbows aimed. Angel swung the sword at the Beast, but it had no effect. When the sword contacted the Beast's skin, there was a pinging sound, but it didn't cut or penetrate the skin. Buffy stepped in and sliced at the back of the things knee. Same effect.
Buffy and Angel continued to try using the sword on the Beast, but to no avail. Eventually, the Beast took the swords away from them, discarded them, and threw Angel across the room where he collided with a column, shattering it to pieces. Buffy stood taller and punched at the thing's face. It grabbed her wrist and hurled her over its head. She flew backwards and hit the wall hard enough to make a dent in the concrete.
Gunn hurled the battleaxe at the Beast, but the thing caught it easily, bending the blade in half and throwing it back at Gunn. Angel recovered from his fall, stood, and wielded two smaller axes. Angel swung them at the Beast's legs, arms, and head, but they didn't hurt it at all. Wesley and Lorne shot arrows from their crossbows at the thing, but the beast deflected them with his forearm, changing their trajectory such that the arrows hit Angel instead. Angel doubled over in pain as one arrow landed in his belly and the other in his upper right shoulder.
The Beast looked around at them all. Wesley and Lorne were reloading the crossbows when the Beast picked up Angel's body and threw it at them, knocking them off all balance. Buffy stood up and went over to stand next to Gunn. Together, they went for the Beast with swords, both hacking tremendously at its head, again to no avail. The Beast grabbed Gunn and Buffy by their throats and threw them across the room.
Wesley reached both hands inside his coat and pulled out two automatic handguns. He shot them, two at a time, at the Beast's chest and head with no effect. He threw them down, and reached for the shotgun at his side. Wesley fired at the Beast's chest, causing it to flinch a bit, but the shots didn't appear to damage it. He fired again at the Beast's face, causing the Beast to fall down, landing on its knees. Wes aimed the shotgun at its face at close range, but the Beast just looked up and smiled at him. The thing grunted and pushed the shotgun away before hurling Wesley across the room. The Beast chuckled.
"Might wanna hold the gloat, chuckles." Angel said, standing and pulling the arrow out of his shoulder. "We're just getting started."
Angel lunged for the Beast, engaging him in hand-to-hand combat. They exchanged punches, when the Beast punched Angel so hard, it sent him backwards through the air in a back flip. Angel landed on his feet on an awning, in vamp face now. The Beast groaned. Angel jumped down from the awning and landed in front of the Beast. They fist-fought again, but Angel managed to knock the Beast down to his knees. Angel grabbed a dagger from his leg-holster and pointed it at the Beast's strange yellow eyes. Its eyes widen, and Angel hesitated, unable to plunge the dagger into its eyes because it had gotten a grip on Angel's arm now. The tables were turned as the Beast stabbed Angel in the right shoulder just at the neck.
"Angel!" Buffy screamed.
Angel groaned in agony, blood dribbling down his mouth, as he involuntarily reverted to human face. The Beast looked knowingly at Angel. "Do you really think she's safe with him?" the thing asked.
The Beast took Angel and hurled him out into the city, well beyond the edge of the building they were on now. Buffy stood and ran screaming to look over the building's roof. "ANGEL!" She watched his body tumble and drop like a rag doll. Buffy turned, fire blazing in her eyes.
"Uh oh." Gunn said.
"Oh, you are SO gonna pay for that." Buffy attacked, hands turned into claws. She punched and kicked with all her strength, bringing the thing down to its knees. She delivered a vicious roundhouse that caused one of the horns to pop loudly, but not fall off. Buffy went to follow up, but the thing expected it and grabbed her ankle and flipped her completely over. Recovering mid-air, Buffy landed on her feet and stacked again. This time the Beast was ready for her and it delivered her three violent punches to the face. Blood spurted from her nose and bottom lip. The demon lifted her up and cracked her over its knee. She screamed as pain shot through her side. The thing had broken two or three of her ribs. Before she knew what was happening, the Beast threw her into another concrete column. It smashed under the force of her body and Buffy fell painfully to the floor. Gunn and Wesley ran over to her.
Lorne looked panicked as Buffy brought herself up to one elbow and watched as the Beast kneeled on one knee and punched the floor at the center of his human square, sending a trail of fire out along the floor in the shape of the Eye of Fire symbol. A shock wave emanated from the area, knocking everyone back a few feet. Lorne was thrown back, but landed on a glass skylight and fell into the room below. Gunn, Buffy, and Wesley were knocked down, but still on the rooftop. The fire was tall now, taller than the Beast. Wesley sat up in time to see the Beast leap straight up into the sky, riding the fire that he created. Wesley went back over to Gunn and Buffy, Gunn was unconscious, but Buffy was forcing herself up.
"Buffy!" Wesley called after her as she half limped, half ran out of the building.
She ignored everything. The pain, Wesley's cries, the rain of fire that fell outside, everything but the one thought that ran through her mind: get to Angel. She ran outside and looked around. Fireballs feel from the sky and she dodged them, following her senses to Angel. She found him lying on the ground in the street. He rolled over, still in pain and bloody from the encounter with the Beast. Weakly, he reached over to pull the implement out of his shoulder, wincing. He convulsed in pain while looking at the sky. Buffy limped up to him and pulled him to her. He leaned his back on her chest as she inspected the wound.
"We have to get out of this!" Angel said hoarsely, turning to stand and help her up. It was almost pitch black where they stood, so Angel didn't notice how badly she was wounded until a fireball landed near them in a fiery explosion and lit the street up. "Oh my God Buffy!"
"It's nothing. Let's go." She took his weight under her and walked them over to a parking garage.
Xander stood at the window watching the fire rain down on the city of Los Angeles. Cordelia walked up to him and stared out with him.
"What's happening?" Xander asked.
"I don't know."
"It's him, isn't it? It's that thing."
"We don't know that."
"I should've tried harder. I should've stopped it."
"It was too strong. This isn't' your fault."
"I should have fought harder. What if my friends are out there dying right now?" Cordelia brushed hair from his face and then pulled Xander's face closer and kissed him tenderly and passionately. "Why.. why did you..?"
"Because I don't think it matters anymore. I know how you feel about me, Xander. When I think about what you've lost and everything we've been through.. I still love you Xander Harris and if this is the end, I want you to have something that we never got to have before." Cordelia put his hand on her waist and they embraced and kissed each other passionately. Eventually, they ended up in bed. Xander on top of Cordelia as they made love for the first time.
