Part 11:

Faith had half a second to see some guy in a suit standing at the other end of the sewer junction they found himself in before the first vampires were upon them. Suit guy quickly faded back into the shadows, making a getaway before she could get a look at his face. She cursed inwardly, pretty sure that she was letting whoever was throwing so many curveballs their way escape, but there were more important things to worry about right now.

"Here, vampies," Buffy sang and threw herself into the fray, Angel by her side with nothing but a growl. The two of them tore into the attacking vampires with a ferocity that almost caused Faith to hesitate, giving another vampire a shot at her. She recovered just in time and kicked him in the chest, throwing him across the tunnel toward some kind of gurney.

An altar with six little bundles on top of them.

"Giles," she yelled behind her. "Get the babies!"

Giles surged past her as she kept two vampires at bay, quickly making his way toward the kidnapped children. Joyce was half a step behind him, something Faith had protested against quite vehemently, but there had been too little time to argue properly. At least Cordelia had had enough sense to stay behind.

Pushing the gurney to the side Giles brought the babies out of the battle zone, which was quite a good thing as neither Buffy nor Angel seemed to concerned about who got caught in the crossfire. Outmatched vampires were flying every which way, Buffy ignoring at least two clear opportunities to stake her opponent in favour of inflicting more damage.

Usually Faith was all there with her when it came to putting in a little fun while slaying, but not with six babies to save. She quickly dispatched the two vamps who had attacked her and went over to help Giles. Buffy and Angel did not need any help by the looks of things and somehow Faith felt it was a good idea to get the babies away from here before they were finished.

There were several screams as Buffy and Angel finally lost their patience and reduced their unfortunate victims to dust. Three of them at least, the fourth one went flying into some kind of basin with God alone knew what kind of icky stuff inside it. At the same moment the tunnels around them began to shake and Faith's Slayer sense began to scream at her.

"Company," Buffy yelled, feeling the same. A huge snake stuck its head out of the tunnel and snatched up the vampire struggling to get out of the basin, gulping it down with a single bite. The undead never even had time to scream.

"Lurconis, I presume."

"A big snake?" Buffy sounded disappointed. "I expected something flashier than this."

"We can take him, baby," Angel grins at her.

The snake emerged once more, having swallowed its first meal, and Buffy and Angel greeted it with kicks and punches. Lurconis' head was bigger than all of Angel put together, though, and it brushed them away with casual ease. Angel went flying all the way to the other side of the tunnel, while Buffy crashed into Giles. Thankfully the gurney with the babies remained standing.

Faith looked at the stake in her hand, guessing that it would have a hard time penetrating the scaly exterior of the demon that was even now looking for new victims. Or maybe its tribute. The babies were crying now, quite loudly so, and the snake's head whipped around to zero in on the noise.

"Need a plan here, people," Faith yelled at the others, quickly moving between the snake and its prey.

Angel was back on his feet, grabbing the burning torch the vampires had brought with them as a weapon, swinging it at Lurconis. The demon edged back from the flames, but did not seem to be particularly intimated. More and more of its length came forth from the tunnel and there was no end in sight.

"The gas pipes," Buffy suddenly yelled.

Faith looked up, seeing the exposed pipes over their heads. How Buffy knew that they were gas pipes was anyone's guess, but Faith did not really care about that right now. The two Slayers both jumped up, each tearing a pipe out of the roof. Gas shot out into the tunnel and Angel quickly swung the torch their way, igniting it.

With two improvised flamethrowers in hand the Slayers turned to Lurconis.

#

Mayor Richard Wilkins stared at the sewer-induced stains on his jacket and sighed, throwing it away with disgust. He had known that going into the sewers was a very bad idea. All that filth, all those germs ... and now this.

Well, with things being what they were he actually had to hope that the Slayers and Angelus managed to destroy Lurconis. The power the demon had given him would not fade with its death (or so he believed) and he would be spared further tributes, freeing up his calendar a little. If Lurconis survived, though, that was when things could get rather ugly. The demon would be furious.

It was a strange thing to be rooting for one's enemies. Said enemies thankfully still did not have a clue who he was or what he intended. Still, he really needed to do something about them soon. They were proving entirely too resourceful.

He was a patient man, though. In a few days his little spy would deliver her first report. Danielle Burg could prove to be an invaluable asset. Destroying the Slayers and Angelus through external means would be anything but easy, they had proven that much by easily repelling these assassins he had sent after them, but attacking from the inside was a completely different game.

Making his way back to his limousine the Mayor decided to use the money gathered from the band candy to replace that ruined jacket. Seeing their elected official looking his best was more important to the public peace of mind than having new uniforms for the school band, he figured.

#

Lurconis burst into flames as Buffy and Faith doused him with the burning gas, screeching in pain and quickly retreating into the tunnel it had slithered from. Faith breathed a sigh of relief, even though she was not quite sure that the demon was actually going to die. Right now that was not that important.

They put the open ends of the pipes into the basin, quickly dousing the flames. Six vampires dusted and one big snake demon fried extra crispy. Not a bad night's work, Faith thought.

Turning toward the corner where Giles had brought the babies made her freeze, though, icy fear running down her back. Buffy was standing right next to the gurney, looking down on the six crying bundles of flesh laid out before her.

There was no mistaking the hunger in her amber eyes.

"B?" Faith approached her carefully, not wanting to do anything to set off the demon that was visibly fighting for control right now.

"They look so ... cute," Buffy whispered, her voice shaking, sweat breaking out on her brow.

Angel suddenly appeared by her side, his own eyes glowing amber in a face that was no longer human, but despite all that he seemed calmer than her.

"Buffy," he said, putting one hand on her shoulder. Faith could just pray that the effects of the candy were wearing off, otherwise she had no clue what to do now.

No further words passed between Buffy and Angel, but their touching seemed to speak volumes. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the monstrous thing looking out from behind Buffy's eyes seemed to retreat, curl in on itself, and vanish back into the red darkness of her demonic blood. Faith did not know when exactly she had grabbed her stake again, ready to use it if necessary, but now she slowly lowered it.

Finally Buffy turned away from the babies.

"We should probably get them back to the hospital," she said.

Angel just gave her a proud smile as Faith breathed a sigh of relief.

"Might as well," Giles grumbled. "Night starts with a good shag and ends with babies. That just figures."

"Who did you ...," Faith began, then remembered the bickering between him and Joyce, who was even now cooing at the distraught babies. "Never mind, please don't tell me!"

Thankfully Buffy seemed oblivious to Giles' words.

TO BE CONCLUDED