FUTURE IMPERFECT

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.

CHAPTER 28- TO ALL THINGS---

Buffy followed Faith closely as the two wove their way forward, ducking behind a nearby tree each time that a fireball was flung in their general direction.  For most of the way both of the slayers managed to keep their minds focused entirely on the task at hand, but as they seemingly inched forward other thoughts crept into their heads.  Thoughts and more truthfully fears of how their significant others were faring.  Faith held onto the belief that Wesley could take care of himself and that she would instinctively know if something were to happen to him.  Buffy was clear on the fact that Spike would most likely cause an apocalypse before he'd ever go down in defeat to a pack of lizard demon's.

Many yards away Spike had swung around quickly and scanned the trees in front of him for any signs of the demons that were attacking.  Even though he was no longer a vampire Spike had retained enough of his vampiric senses so that his eyesight was still better than most humans.  He watched for the slightest glint off of a scale or anything that would pinpoint the demon's location.  He knelt down behind a large tree and started to lay his sword down but stopped when he heard a noise beside him.  Wesley had gone over the plan again and again in his mind, hoping that it had been a wise course of action.  Years earlier when a similar situation had arisen he would have only been sending friends and associates into battle, people that he would later consider family.  But now he had sent into battle the woman that meant more than the world to him, a woman that he didn't believe that he could live without.  His worries mostly centered on staying alive and keeping his promise to Faith to make it through the battle alive.  He hoped that those who had stayed in the house were safe and that his little angel was as well.  Wesley ducked underneath a low branch and started to move towards where he thought that he had seen a fireball originate from.  He became so concentrated on that one spot that he failed to see the demon rush him from the side, swiping out with its clawed hand, raking him across the side and chest, and opening up painful wounds.

*                        *                          *                          *                      *                             *

"I can't see anything…," Dawn moaned with an annoyed frown on her face as she knelt down beside the blown out window and peered off into the distance.

"I think that we should take that as a good thing Dawn," Cordelia quipped with a nervous smile on her face as she stepped away from the window with a scared Liam in her arms.  After handing Christopher to Xander and Liam to her Connor had disappeared into the barn and Cordelia hadn't seen him exit.  Willow had stayed near Fred and gotten up a defensive shield that she hoped would be strong enough.

"Not if something's gone wrong…are you sure that you can't see anything Dawn…," Angel added with a very serious and worried look on his face as he gingerly rose from his chair and got as near to the window as he could without getting into the direct sunlight.

"As sure as I'm sure that…," Dawn started to reply with a very serious expression on her face before Xander broke in.

"You know what guys, get me a few sheets of plywood, a good hammer and some nails and I could fix this in no time flat," Xander interjected with a good natured smile on his face before he abruptly retreated back behind Anya at the sight of the daggers in the glares of everyone else in the room was aimed his way.

"I think that it'd be prudent if we move everyone out of the living room and upstairs while we have the time," Giles said with a worried but yet calm look on his face as he stepped into the room with a sickly looking Gwen in his arms. 

"Good idea, I might actually be able to see something from one of the windows upstairs," Dawn said with a slightly excited smile on her face as she raced past Giles and up the stairs.

"Is she…always like that," Sam asked with a confused and somewhat worried frown on her face as she watched Dawn race up the stairs.

"Always…," Xander answered softly with a worried tone to his voice before he picked Christopher up and headed upstairs after Dawn.

*                  *                     *                                 *                        *                      *

"Y…you…," The male guard stammered out with a complete look of disbelief on his face as he lowered his weapon and tried to make sense of the scene in front of him.

"H…how…," The female guard asked with an equally confused look on her face as she stared at the holes in Whistler's shirt.

"What can I saw…it pays to be immortal," Whistler replied with a very proud of himself smile on his face before he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small spheres, each about the size of a large marble.  Taking the guards by surprise Whistler acted fast and flung the two spheres at the guards, catching them off guard.  Upon impact the two spheres burst open, sending a colorful electric charge through the guard's bodies.  Seconds later a triumphant Whistler stepped over the guards' smoking bodies, humming a chipper tune, as he headed on to his objective.

*                      *                         *                          *                          *                            *

Faith's body went numb the second that Wesley's cries of pain registered in her brain.  In turn she had to summon up all of her fortitude to not drop her sword and rush blindly towards the direction in which Wesley's cries had come from.  Tears spilt out onto her knuckles as she nearly crushed the sword's hilt in an attempt to allay her nerves.  Future fears rushed across her field of vision before she bit down on her bottom lip, hard enough to draw a steady stream of blood, before taking a deep breath and continuing her trek forward.  She hadn't gone much further when one of the demons burst out of the thicket, hissing in anger at the sight of a slayer in its path.  Faith gave the demon a once over with her eyes, taking in each and every detail that she would need to fight, and kill, the demon before several more demons came crashing into view behind the first one.

"Sssssslayerrrrrrrr….," The first demon hissed with a fairly sizeable amount of venom in its voice before it raised a clawed hand and rushed towards her.  Instantly Faith ducked out of the way of the way of the clawed hand but forgot about the demon's tail and didn't react quickly enough when it caught her by surprise and knocked her off of her feet.

"Shit…," Faith cursed loudly as her body collided with the ground, momentarily forcing all of the air out of her body.  Seeing a possible opening to kill Faith the first demon grinned madly and swooped in for the kill, only to stop mere inches from Faith's throat at the glint of metal coming towards it.

"No," Buffy shouted with an angry expression on her face as she rushed forward to help Faith, sword raised, poised to attack.  The demon lurched back, regained its composure, and started to snap its tail towards Buffy.

"T…tail…Buffy…watch out," Faith managed to choke out through her attempts to force the air that had been expunged only moments earlier back into her lungs and get back into the fight.  Faith's warning came at just the right moment, allowing Buffy to dodge away from the tail as it zipped past her and spin around one of the other demons before she brought the blade of her sword down on the back of the demon's neck.  The demon didn't react fast enough and so the blade bit deeply into its back, killing it almost instantly.  The death of that first demon sent the others into a frenzy, charging like mad.  Buffy managed to deflect the attacks of the first two demons to charge at her before the third one came in just under her block and snapped her right shoulder with its tail.  Lightning bolts of pain flooded from her shoulder throughout the rest of her body as almost instantly her shoulder went numb.  Buffy watched in shock as the sword slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground.

"Buffy," Faith shouted, finally having regained her voice, as she leapt to her feet and went to the aid of her sister slayer.

*                                  *                 *                       *                        *                         *

After initially crying out in pain Wesley had doubled over from the spasms of pain that wracked his body.  The cackled in delight as it swung its tail around and took Wesley's legs out from under him from behind.  Had he not been just injured Wesley would have been able to dodge the attack and stayed on his feet, but seeing at how his shirt was quickly becoming nothing more than a blood stained rag he couldn't move fast enough.  It took nearly all of his strength and resolve to hold onto the sword as he went down, knowing that if he lost his sword now that his life would soon follow.  Thinking its prey not able to fight the demon opened its dagger lined mouth and bent down to take a bite out of the former watcher.  Acting more on instinct than an actual plan Wesley gripped his sword tightly and jabbed the point upwards as hard as he could.  Not expecting Wesley to fight back the demon couldn't stop its downward thrust and so impaled itself on Wesley's sword, with the point of the sword striking straight through its brain and killing it instantly.  "Thank…blo…," Wesley started to mumble before the now dead demon's body pitched forward and fell on top of him, nearly crushing the air out of him in the process.  As he struggled to push the dead carcass off of him Wesley could only imagine what the others were going through, hoping that Faith and Buffy hadn't been as caught off guard as he had.  He had almost gotten the dead demon off of him when he became dizzy and suddenly very warm and relaxed.  The smell of the dead demon mixed with being drenched in not only his blood but the demons as well caused Wesley to nearly want to vomit.  No matter how hard he fought he soon found his field of vision going black and closing into a tunnel straight-ahead.  The last thing that he heard before he blacked out was Spike shouting a rather derogatory statement about watchers.

*                      *                          *                        *                    *                              *

"I wish I knew what was happening…," Fred stated with a very worried frown on her face as she gripped one of the puppies collar tighter while Willow held onto the other puppy.

"They can take care of themselves Fred…well that is unless Spike or Faith take matters into their own hands and…," Willow replied with at first an optimistic smile on her face before she realized what she was hinting at and her countenance fell to one of worry and concern.

"Get someone killed…," Fred offered up with a sarcastic smile on her face as she looked forward hoping to catch a glimpse of the battle that she knew to be happening somewhere out there.

"Let's hope that we avoid that outcome shall we…but we should move back from here, get the puppies back to their pen and then retreat back to the house to make sure that everyone there is safe and sound," Willow added with a very serious expression on her face before she stood up and pulled the puppy up into her arms and beckoned for Fred to follow suit.

"That sounds like a good idea to me…," Fred mumbled softly with a worried look on her face as she scrambled to her feet before she and Willow rushed off towards the barn.

*                    *                                *                              *                      *                        *

After voicing his displeasure at how current and former watchers fought Spike surged forward and with some effort managed to shove the dead demon's body off of Wesley.  He started to kneel down to ascertain Wesley's condition but was interrupted by a snarling demon that didn't seem to be to pleased to see one of its own lying in a bloody heap on the ground.  Had he been allotted a bit more time Spike would have actually come up with a strategy of how to fight the demon glaring at him, but with the circumstances as they were he only managed to lift his sword up in a defensive manner before the demon was upon him, slashing wildly with its claws and snapping its tail at him.  Avoiding the claws took up most of his concentration and if not for the sword in his hands the demon's tail would have done a number on Spike.  Finally seeing a slight opening in the demon's attack Spike struck with everything that he had, first feigning out of the way of one attack before he ducked underneath the second one and lunged in for the kill.  The demon was dead in seconds and it took every ounce of Spike's enhanced strength to keep the demon from falling on top of Wesley.

*                     *                       *                              *                              *                         *

"What do you think they're going to do to us…that Riley guy didn't seem to be very happy that Sam was missing," Callie asked with a worried look on her face as she tightly wrapped her arms around herself and began to slowly pace around the room.

"I'm not sure…but I wouldn't have pegged that guy to be gay…," Nick mumbled back in reply with a confused frown on his face before Callie abruptly stopped pacing and spun around on her heels to face him.

"He's not gay Nick…there was a ring on his finger and Sam is probably short for Samantha or something…," Callie grumbled with an annoyed and nervous look on her face before she walked up to Nick and slightly leaned up against him.

"Sorry…it's just that I keep expecting those goons to bust the door down and fill us full of more holes that Swiss cheese every time I hear a sound," Nick said with a scared look on his face before there was a slight screeching sound that made him jump slightly. 

"I know…this place gives me the creeps to, I swear this must have been some old factory that they shut down decades ago…I can't wait to get out of this place…that is if that Whistler guy ever shows up again…," Callie added with a nervous and slightly cold frown on her face as she shivered a bit and scratched a scab on her arm.

"Did I hear someone call my name…my adoring public awaits…," Whistler exclaimed with a fair amount of glee in his voice as he shuffled into the room and beamed at Nick and Callie's shocked expressions.

"What…you…how…how did you get in here…the guards…," Callie stammered out with a completely shocked expression on her face as she struggled to find the right words.

"The guards are currently winging through dreamland courtesy of a little bit of magic not known to this world…leaving me the perfect chance to get the two of you out of here and back to your friends," Whistler answered with a somewhat hurried look on his face as he walked around the room, making grandiose gestures as he went.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's get out of here," Nick answered with a hopeful yet scared look on his face as he grabbed Callie's hand and headed towards the door.

"Good idea…but just remember, the magic that I used on the guards won't last very long so don't get any bright ideas of sticking around okay…get your behinds in gear and get out of here," Whistler interjected with an oddly serious smirk on his face as he started to wave to the pair.

"What's that supposed to mean…," Callie asked with a slightly confused look on her face as she stopped walking and turned back to Whistler.

"It means that the guards will be waking up shortly so if I were you I'd vacate the premises while I had the chance, oh yeah and one more thing…your friends are in trouble, they're going to need your help before this is all over," Whistler added with a worried and nervous frown on his face before he turned around and walked into the darkness, seemingly disappearing instantly into it.

"Come on Callie…let's go…," Nick exclaimed with a scared look on his face before he pulled hard on Callie's arm and the two scrambled first out of the room and then out of the building as fast as they could, heading for the nearest highway and eventual freedom.

*                          *                            *                           *                      *                          *

"I think that's all of them…," Connor grumbled with an angry scowl on his face as he slit the throat, just to make sure, of the last fire breathing reptilian demon that they had come across.

"Let's hope so…because I don't think that I have enough strength left to take on any more of these things," Gunn answered with an impatient and worried frown on his face as he bent over and tried his best to catch his breath.

"Where's Faith," Xander asked with a worried look on his face as he looked squeamishly down at the bodies of the demons on the ground in front of him.

"She rode with Wesley in the ambulance, Angel tried to get her to calm down but she nearly threw him through a wall…I've never seen her that scared," Gunn replied with a worried and scared look on his face as he only half looked up at Xander and shook his head.

"She has a right to be Charles…," Fred mumbled softly with a panicked expression on her face before a couple of tears slipped out and she had to turn away and compose herself.

"He didn't look so good when I found him, that demon really did a number on him," Spike added with a sad and frustrated scowl on his face as he shuffled his feet before Buffy spoke up.

"He'll be okay…he has to be…but right now we unfortunately have more important matters to attend to, not only are Nick and Callie still out there somewhere but Giles said that Gwen's getting worse and he doesn't think that she has to long unless we can get that antidote," Buffy interjected with a very serious and worried look on her face as she clenched her hands into fists to keep from getting to angry at her lack of control over the situation.

"We're stuck squarely behind the eight ball aren't we," Gunn asked with a grave look of concern on his face as he shook his head before he reared back and gave one of the demons a sharp kick in the ribs.

"In more ways than one, look…," Spike grumbled with an annoyed frown on his face and caught site of a long limousine with darkened windows pull into the driveway with an oddly familiar van behind it.

"Who the hell…," Connor started to ask with an uncomfortable scowl on his face as he let his gaze follow everyone else's and look to the driveway just as the limousine pulled to a stop right beside the burnt out remains of the rental car.

"I don't know Connor, but we're about to find out," Willow replied with a nervous and impatient pout on her face as the words to the strongest shield spell that she knew began to spring into her mind.

"Wait…I've seen that van somewhere before…it kind of looks like…," Cordelia mumbled softly with a confused expression on her face as she pulled Liam closer to her and took a step back behind Connor.

"It couldn't be…," Buffy quipped with a cross between an elated and concerned look on her face before a dusty blond haired man stepped out of the limo, looked around quickly, and beckoned to someone else inside. 

"Ah…thank you Simmons…keep the engine running, this won't take long," A man from inside of the limo said casually before swinging his legs out of the door and standing up, garnering a shocked gasp from Cordelia.

"Oh my…," Cordelia gasped with a shocked look on her face as she nearly dropped Liam before the initial shock wore off and she quickly glanced around as if expecting a trap.

"Lindsey…," Gunn finished with a perplexed expression on his face as he got a tighter grip on his axe and waited.

"He's not alone…look," Connor interrupted with a very serious look on his face as he nodded his head towards the van.  Everyone in attendance stood in a stunned silence as the occupants of the van slowly filed out, all four of them, beginning with a grinning and spiky haired guitarist and ending with an oddly dressed man that was trying his best not to sneeze, with a hulking fighter and a former detective in the middle.

END OF CHAPTER 28