Chapter 70

Wesley pulled the car off to the side of the road and stopped the car. The police had been chasing them for a while and they had managed to shake them for the time being, but it wouldn't be long before they would find them. Gunn looked behind them. "Man, never seen so many cruisers."

"Technically, we're the only criminals left." Wesley said.

"There's no way we're drivin' out of this. It's time we disappeared." Angel said.

"Where'll we go?" Lorne asked.

"The only place we can go." Buffy said.

They all piled out of the car and Buffy and Angel led them to the nearest manhole cover. Angel was the last to drop down into the sewer. Once again, he and Buffy took the lead and started walking. They walked fast, wanting to make sure they got deep into the sewers before anyone realized they had gone down into them. Behind them, everyone struggled and panted, desperately trying to keep up. Angel turned slightly and told them to get a move on it.

"Yeah, I'm movin', Angel cakes. Might not look like it, but inside, where it counts, I'm runnin'. Full speed ahead, believe me." Lorne panted.

"It won't take them long to figure out.." Buffy said. She turned and looked around to see that Lorne, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred were all exhausted, barely keeping up with them. She looked at Angel and he shrugged. "All right. One minute."

"I doubt anyone under her control knows these tunnels better than you two." Fred said.

"Yeah, it should buy us some time." Angel said.

"Time to do what?" Gunn asked. "Get all stanky and starve to death? I mean, what are we doin'?"

"You know what? I don't know what we're gonna do, Gunn." Buffy said angrily. "We don't have a plan. Now, I guess this whole Jasmine world order thing kind of took us by surprise."

"Well, I ain't eatin' no rats."

"Good. Neither am I." Angel said.

"All right, then, plan's comin' together."

"Glad to see you're on board." Buffy said.

"Oh, god. All.. all the chasing and the chaos.." Fred said.

"Cordelia." Wesley said.

"I can't believe I almost forgot about her."

"Do it. Forget about her. We all have to now. We don't have a choice." Angel said.

"Minute's up." Buffy said. She and Angel started to walk again and the rest of the gang followed. This time they tried to watch their speed so they didn't ware everyone out so soon. Buffy looked at Angel in confusion. He noticed it, but she looked away.

"What?" Angel asked.

"Nothing."

"No, it's something. What's wrong?"

"I'm just agitated by all this."

"I think we all are."

"Not just Jasmine. I'm agitated that I'm running.. Again! I'm the Slayer for Christ's sake! I'm not supposed to run. I've faced down a God and I can't handle Jasmine?"

"Buffy, you're not alone in this. I told you that. What's up with you lately? You act like everything is your fault and you've got to fix it on your own. You don't have to do that anymore. I'm here. Your problems are my problems. We split everything 50/50."

"It's just me. I can't help it that I take everything on myself and forget I have other people to help take care of me. I was so used to it for so long that when I finally didn't have to.. I just can't help it."

"I know how you feel. I've been there too."

Buffy pfted. "Sucks, huh?"

"You know it." They rounded a corner.

Behind them, Lorne looked at Fred. "You look a little down, sugarplum. Is it Cordy?"

"I can't. I don't care what he says." Fred said.

"I know, kitten. It's strange, but under that blood-feeding creature of the night facade, he seems a bit heartless lately. Both of them do."

"Hearts get in the way." Buffy and Angel both said.

"Hearing as good as ever, though, bosses!" Lorne called.

"If we don't gut ourselves and burn out everything inside that gave her power over us, then we're lost." Angel said.

"I hate to say it, Dr. Pep, but I've been lost for, like, 2 hours."

"Still, I miss her. I miss the warmth and the knowing what's right and that you're doing it just by loving her." Wesley said.

"Tough drug to kick cold turkey." Gunn said.

"I remember the first time she took me aside at that fight at the bowling alley. Me, pale, frail Winfred Burkle, sitting with a goddess, and she was asking me what her name should be." Fred said.

"Seems strange now. A being of her immeasurable age. You think she'd already have a name." Wesley said.

"Well, maybe it was embarrassing, like Hester or Peanut." Lorne offered.

Buffy and Angel, who were still walking out front of the gang, fell through the floor into a huge hole. Fred ran up to the edge. "Buffy! Angel!"

Buffy had managed to hold on to the floor so she didn't fall to the bottom of the hole. Gunn reached out to grab Buffy's hand and pull her up. "I got you." He said.

Whatever Angel had grabbed onto hadn't held, and he had fallen to the bottom of the hole. He looked up and saw Fred and Lorne turn around, surprised at something. Then a gang of teenagers came up to the edge of the hole. The kids pointed sharp wooden poles at Angel.

"Buffy?" Angel called up.

"I'm all right." Buffy called back.

"No. You're not all right till I say you're all right. Holly, you good?" One of the guys asked.

"Yup." The girl named Holly said.

"Trip. That ugly-ass beastie so much as breathes wrong, you stick him."

"Ugly ass? Hey!" Lorne said.

"You know, I kind of have a thing about people pointing sharp wooden things at my husband." Buffy said. "Gimme that." She grabbed the pole.

In one swift movement, Angel leapt up out of the hole and landed on his feet in front of the young man. Angel, Buffy, Gunn, Fred, and Wesley fought the group of kids. Angel stopped them. "Enough! Enough." He looked down at the young boy he knocked down. "You ok?" He reached out a hand to the boy to help him to his feet.

"Yeah." The kid said, standing up.

"It's ok. They're not under her power."

"Her who?" Asked the leader.

"We'll ask the questions." Gunn said.

"Angel, are you sure?" Buffy asked.

"Well, they're not exactly fighting like a well-oiled, mind-controlled army of love, are they?" Angel asked.

Gunn still held his opponent's back against the wall. "Hell no. More like a bunch of little punks."

"Punks?" Leader guy asked.

"Gunn, let him go." Buffy said. Gunn backed off.

"Gunn? Charles Gunn."

"I say you could use my name?" Gunn asked.

"I say you could use my ride without payin' the piper?"

"What? Payin' the.. Tommy Golden's little brother? Randall? Little ass Randall Golden, man. This punk stole my car when he was 12 years old."

"What are you doin' down here, man?" Golden asked.

"Like I said, son, we'll ask the questions." They all heard an eerie distant noise. "Startin' with what the hell was that?"

"It's back."

"What's back?" Buffy asked, standing next to Angel and holding his hand.

"Come on. We need to get outta here." The kids led Angel, Buffy, and the rest of the gang into a grated-off and fenced-off alcove in the sewers.

"Wow. Really like what you've done with the place." Gunn said.

"Yes, this is homey." Lorne added.

"So, it's secure?" Angel asked, checking the grating.

"It's held so far." Golden said.

"Uh huh." Buffy said doubtfully. "I ask again in a different form: Held against WHAT?"

"Don't know exactly. Never have gotten a clean shot. But it's not like anything I've ever seen."

"Golden's brother used to soldier in my crew back in the old days." Gunn said, patting Golden on the back. "Then he broke off, went solo."

"Yeah, Tommy was running our unit when the sun went out. Stayed topside as long as we could, tried to hold some ground, but there were too many of 'em. We go out every day and check the traps, but I don't think we've caught anything today.."

"They're your crew, aren't they?" The little boy asked Buffy and Angel. They were leaning against the grating. "You're the leaders. I'm Matthew."

"You guys really know how to live." Gunn said.

"It's ok. All the other ways in are grated off. We checked." Matthew said.

"Well, now we're checkin'." Angel said.

"Angel, play nice." Buffy said. She looked at Matthew. "He's so young."

"We found him in a pile-up on La Brea." Golden said. "Vamps laid tire traps on the road, havin' themselves a car-wreck picnic. He watched them murder his parents. They were comin' after him when we showed up."

Buffy looked at Angel's bloody knuckles and then turned and kneeled down in front of Matthew. "Matthew, have you got any water in this place?"

"Yep. We tapped a clean water pipe right over here." Matt said, leading them to a leaking pipe. Buffy shoved Angel's hands under the water and made him wash them.

"Anyway, I knew about this place." Holly said. "I used to crash up here nights when the missions were full."

"So we hit a supermarket that hadn't burnt down yet and got some supplies and went under. Been down here ever since. About 2 weeks and some change." Golden said.

"No offense, but, uh, 2 weeks down here and I'd be ready to move back in with my mother." Lorne said.

"Yeah, well, we were holdin' our own. Occasional baddie lookin' for a place to sleep, nothin' we couldn't handle. Till that thing out there moved into our territory. It's been pickin' us off ever since."

"Got Tommy almost a week ago." Holly said sadly. "He was out resetting the traps." Matt watched Buffy dry Angel's hands off. "Whose blood is that?"

"Somebody I knew." Angel said with a far away look. "Somebody who tried to do bad stuff to my friends." Buffy brought Angel to her and hugged his waist tightly, laying her head on his chest.

"I can't believe you stayed down here." Fred said.

"Worse up there, ain't it?" Holly asked. "The world is ending. What does it matter where we go?"

"Besides, whatever that evil son-of-a-bitch is, it killed our people, killed my brother." Golden said. "We're gonna kill him right back."

"It's weird, really, us running into you like this." Fred said. "I mean, we.. we're professional monster killers. Or we were."

"Are, Fred. We are." Angel said. He picked up a sword.

"Hey, that belonged to Tommy." Golden said.

"Well, now it belongs to me. Let's go get professional on this evil son-of- a-bitch's ass." Angel walked out. Buffy sighed and followed him out.

The rest of the gang followed them. The kids gave them some weapons and Buffy grabbed her dagger from her boot. They walked through the tunnels, Angel tracking the thing with his super sense of smell. Buffy looked back sadly at the kids. "They're just kids."

"Strength in numbers." Angel said.

"Angel.."

"They just wanna strike back, Buffy, at something, anything. I know how they feel."

"Didn't say I don't know how they feel. I just feel bad that they were brought into this so young. Younger than me when I started." Buffy said, looking at Matthew.

"This is where Tommy got taken." Matthew said as they rounded and corner and came to a stop.

"What's that smell?" Buffy asked.

"It's ammonia." Angel said.

Some creature made a growling sound and snatched Golden up into a vertical pipe. Angel leapt up into the pipe after him. After some noises that sounded like fighting were heard, Golden dropped down out of the pipe onto the floor. Holly went to his side. Angel jumped down out of the pipe in vampire face. Matthew saw it and ran away, frightened. "Matthew, it's ok!"

"Matt!" One of the boys said.

"Matthew!" Buffy yelled, running after him with Angel behind her.

Fred screamed as something grabbed her. Angel turned and swung at whatever had grabbed Fred. The thing let go.

Buffy turned and looked at Gunn. "If Matthew reaches the surface.."

"We'll get him." Gunn said.

"Right." Gunn grabbed Fred and they ran after Matt. Buffy turned around. "That thing is really pissin' me off. Lorne, Wes.."

"Jawohl." Lorne said.

"Where's Wes?" Angel asked. He looked around and then squatted to the floor, checking the area where Wes had been.

"It got Wes?"

"Yeah."

"It must've looped around behind us." Buffy said. "It knows these tunnels better than we do. And it's fast. Look, Angel and I'll track it down. Lorne, take the others back to the fort. Wait for Gunn and Fred."

"Ohh! If you insist." Lorne said.

Golden and the others held wooden poles at Angel, Buffy, and Lorne. "Uh-uh, Dracula. Not ok. You think I didn't see that back there? You're one of 'em." Golden looked at Buffy. "And I don't know what the hell you are. You're probably a vamp just like him the way you were huggin' all up on him."

"Uh, Golden, it's not like that." Angel said.

"Yeah, she's telling the truth." Lorne said.

"Excuse me. Not talkin' to horned demon, talkin' to vampires. Thank you."

"All right, what you saw, yes, I can't deny that, but.." Angel said.

"But he only drinks pig's blood!" Lorne said.

"Lorne.."

"Well, it's true! You gotta give an undead fella points for that, right, huh? I mean, unless you're into the whole kosher thing, but, I mean, you're not.. well, you don't look.." Golden pushed the weapon closer to Lorne's neck. "Ok, horned demon shutting up."

"Look, I don't blame you for feelin' this way, but I'm not gonna justify my existence to you. I wouldn't be able to. But what I can do is take that spear away from you and snap it into kindling and break your neck in half the time it would take for you to give it a good push. Or you can step aside and let me go help my friend."

"What are you?" Golden asked Buffy. "Are you a vampire too?"

"God no! I'm what you call a Vampire Slayer. One girl in all the world..? Ever hear of it?" They started at her. "Slayer comma the. Look it up. But you poke me with that damn stick again and it's goin' where men named Bubba like to play."

Angel smiled and looked at Lorne. "Fiery isn't she?"

"She's a blaze." Lorne said.

"Now, you gonna let us through so we can find our friend?" Buffy asked. "Or do I have to get rough?"

"Trust me, she gets rough, someone here loses a limb."

After a second, the kids lowered their weapons. Lorne led them back to their fort while Buffy and Angel went in search of Wesley and the demon. Angel smelled for Wesley's sent and finally picked it up. Buffy thought it reminded her of a bloodhound dog.

"What it matters, eh?" The demon asked Wesley. "Eh, talky meat? I don't keep the name. High priest keep the name! And you about to go dead, about to be a smear on my flesh spell." It grabbed Wesley by the neck, choking him. "I just messenger from the ones who love truly."

"Well, then.." Angel said. The demon turned his head to see that Buffy and Angel had just walked into the cave. "I guess it's time to shoot the messenger."

"Or, you know, chop the messenger into little bitty pieces." Buffy said.

"Whatever."

The demon dropped Wesley and charged toward Buffy and Angel. Angel used the sword to his advantage while Buffy dove out of the way and went over to Wesley. "You ok?"

"I'll be fine." Wesley said.

A noise rang out next to Buffy and she turned to see the demon had thrown Angel across the room into the wall next to her. When Angel stood up again, the demon stabbed him through the gut with his sharp pincers. "Little mice. They always soft inside." Angel stabbed the demon's arm with his sword, cutting off a part of his pincer. "Wretched little.." The demon took the sword away from Angel. "Time to go dead, mouse." Buffy charged the demon with her dagger but the demon knocked her away into a corner. "Wait your turn, smallish baby! Stay in corner"

While the demon was screaming at Buffy, Angel picked up the pincer he cut off the demon and stabbed the demon in the neck with it. The demon screamed in agony and fell to the floor. "Nobody puts Buffy in the corner." Angel helped Buffy to her feet.

"You know your classic movies." Buffy said.

"It was a great movie."

"Devourer.. this meat.. I give.. unto thee." The demon said.

"That creature, it came from a world that's worshipped Jasmine for millennia, a world that we can reach through this." Wesley said, holding up a glowing blue sphere.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"I think the universe just handed us our first break." Angel took the sphere from Wesley and inspected it. Wes told them what the demon had said to him about Jasmine and the world it had come from. "No inscriptions, no markings of any kind, no moving parts, far as I can tell."

"So this high priest holds the true name?" Buffy asked.

"Exactly."

"What else do we know about him?" Angel asked.

"I'm just guessing that he's bigger and meaner than our big, mean friend over there."

"Wouldn't surprise me. What about.." Angel stopped and cocked his head. He obviously heard something in the distance. "Wes, something's going down."

"Something?"

"Something bad." Angel looked at Buffy and the look he gave her told her everything.

"Connor." Buffy said.

Buffy stayed with Wesley while Angel ran out to get the others. He had heard them yelling out in the sewers. Buffy looked over to see that Wesley was starting to pace. "What?"

"I'm thinking. Hold on." Wes said.

"Well think out loud!"

"No words. No word magic."

"Angel, it's Connor. He's here." Fred said t Angel as he and the rest of them walked in.

"I know." Angel shut the door behind him.

"And, uh, the National Guard, I think." Lorne said.

"National Guard?" Buffy asked. A loud clang came from the door. Buffy rushed up and leaned against it.

"No word magic.. powerless. Much more power in.. blood magic?" Wesley said. He touched a wound on his head then touched the bloody fingers to the sphere. The sphere glowed and sent out lightning bolts to open a portal nearby. "Angel, I got it!"

"Ok, I'll hold this. You guys get going!" Angel said.

"No. No! We can't go! Only you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"That thing's world, the atmosphere will kill us. We can't help there."

"But.."

"Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. Angel, that's you."

Angel looked at Buffy struggling to hold the door shut. "I can't."

"Hearts get in the way, right?" Fred asked.

Buffy grabbed Angel's head and hauled his lips to her. "I love you. Now get gone. I promise I won't die."

Angel stared at her a minute, then ran towards the portal. "Angel, wait!" Wesley called, tossing Angel the sphere. With one last look into Buffy's eyes, Angel walked into the portal.

Buffy blinked back her tears and then turned back to the group. "We can't hold it."

"Time for the big fight scene." Gunn said. He, Buffy, Wes, Lorne, and Fred tried to hold the door shut as Connor's forces continued pushing on it.

"Count of 3." Buffy said. "1, 2.." Connor kicked down the door. He and his mob rushed into the room. They engaged Buffy, Wesley, Lorne, Gunn, and Fred in a huge fight using all manner of swords and such. Buffy didn't want to kill any humans, but in this case she didn't think she had a choice. So, with everything she had, she did her best to keep her promise to Angel. "I promise I won't die!" She screamed, letting her strength go and allowing the Slayer in her to take over.