The ringing is fairly insistent.
Yup. Still going.
The sun will be up in half an hour. Who the hell could be calling?
Ok, almost to the phone. If they hang up I swear I will track them down and do things to them that would make Angelus grimace in sympathy.
"Hello?"
More ringing. This time I'm making the call. "Hello?" "Tara, it's me. I need you to activate that spell." "Ok, give me fifteen minutes." "Does it matter if I'm driving?" "No, that's fine." "What exactly will this do?" "Don't worry; it'll all make sense in about fifteen minutes." "Um, ok." "Be careful." "..." "At the very least, can you try not to get yourself killed?" "I'll try."
I'm driving well over twice the speed limit. I'm probably not driving fast enough. The sun is just starting to break over the horizon. I can expect Tara's spell to be kicking in any minute now. I alternate my time between trying to work out what the spell will be, and what I can expect from Linus. I'm doing my best to work out a battle plan. So far the best plan I've developed is 'kick his arse'. I'm hoping to develop it a little before I arrive in LA.
"Wow. There's just no way you can pull off biker gear in a jeep is there?"
I blink slowly, before turning my head to the passenger seat.
"Tara? You're looking a little, um, see-through." "That's because I'm still lying on my bed in Sunnydale." "You realize the entire point of the magic training was to avoid anyone getting killed by this guy." "So instead I should just go and let you get killed by him? Besides, the worst he could do to me while I'm astral projecting is give me a migraine, that's if he can even see me, which I doubt." "So what's the plan?" "I thought you were the big bad avenger? I figured that I'd cast, you'd fight, they'd die." "That's better than my plan." "Well sweetie, you can't be expected to be that pretty and still be smart."
Warehouse. Different one though. Tara pops through the wall and tells me exactly where all the minions are. Angels shackled to the wall. Linus is in the midst of it all. And I already know that Wesley and Cordelia are in hospital. I chuck my leathers and helmet down as I leave the sunlight, draw my sword, take an unneeded breath and enter the fray.
Tara's already cast a spell, seems to make me faster, not that I really need it. I'm probably little more than a blur to the first three vampires I dust. The third one was just starting to turn to face me as I beheaded him. I keep on running. There's another three vampires directly ahead of me. I place my foot on the chest of the centre one to slow down, while I use my other foot to give him a kick that snaps his head back. While my feet sail over my head I impale the vamps standing either side of me with my sword and stake. I take the head of the third just as my feet touch the ground. I'm already fighting another vamp before they turn to dust.
The fight is really on, now that the other minions have noticed me. A group of ten pile onto me from all sides. I give into the weight, letting myself get pushed down, before forcing myself back up. The action pushes them away slightly, giving me room to swing my sword. I'm soon alone in a cloud of dust. The few remaining vamps are running at me now, and I bring up my sword in preparation.
Bollocks.
Can't move.
I can hear Tara's already chanting a counter spell. But I may not have time, as I can see a fireball forming in Linus' hand. I close my eyes and try to reach out with my senses as Tara has taught me. I see the fire in my minds eye, and when it starts to fly towards me, I mentally reach out and stop it. I open my eyes. The ball is floating about 5 inches from my face, and the master vamp looks pissed. I can feel him adding more energy to the spell, so I have to act quickly. I close my eyes again, visualising all the remaining minions in the room, a golden line connecting them all to the ball of fire. Just as Linus releases more energy into the spell I release my hold on it. I open my eyes in time to see all the remaining vamps combust. If I could move I would smirk. I think he knows that.
From my left I can hear Angel start to giggle manically, I don't have much time left. Angel's happiness is reaching dangerous levels, and Linus, well Linus doesn't seem to care much either way. I've only just noticed that there is something very wrong about this vampire. He doesn't seem to enjoy things. It's the one thing I've noticed about all vampires; they tend to be disturbingly happy. Joy in death, joy in destruction, in one case joy in talking stars. Linus just seems dead. He does not relish killing me, or defeating Angel. He seems to act because he feels he should, and because he has no other way to act. I can almost imagine the young Linus muttering a last curse upon himself, dooming the demon that inhabited him to an eternity without hope or joy.
Suddenly the spells hold on me disappears. It takes all my willpower not to collapse like last time, but I still manage to drop my weapons. It's almost impossible to walk forwards, almost impossible to remain standing.
The smell of humanity enters the warehouse and I know that I've got no time left. Someone has chosen the wrong time to go snooping and has made themselves a target. I need to make Linus dead now. As I step forward I go briefly to the white place, and I take the strength offered to me. My brow ridge protrudes as my canines extend. My nose flattens, my ears lengthen, and my mouth pushes forward. I leap as my torso extends and my legs deform. My talons swipe at him, removing his hands from his arms. My teeth press into his neck as I force him to the ground. I feel the snapping of vertebrae. And as I pull with all my strength, I hear the sucking sound of muscle being ripped apart. Soon my mouth is full of ash. Seconds afterwards I could swear I heard him thank me. I let the transformation go, and stand up while checking my clothing for rips.
"Busted" I turn round to see what Tara's talking about. By the door to the warehouse, Buffy and Willow are standing, looking more than a little wide eyed. I guess Cordelia must have called them from the hospital. I don't have time to deal with them just yet, so I march towards Angel, trying to sense a soul on him. I don't know if that's even possible.
"Xander, Xander, you need to stake me now, he did something, Angelus, I don't want to..." I jam my sword through his shoulder, I need his attention. "Maybe you should think about that." I pull the sword out and use it to cut the chains holding him to the wall. He collapses towards me and I catch him before he hits the ground. "But how?" "Think I should probably tell you later, we should probably persuade the girls that you're not evil first. Probably try to persuade them not to stake me while we're at it. They look pretty mad."
I wasn't kidding about that either. As we walk towards them, I can see Buffy tensing up. She doesn't have a stake out, so she's probably just going to yell at me, possible kick my arse. Willow's standing a little bit behind her, and is looking a little shell shocked. I'm guessing she saw my transformation and subsequent, um, beheading I think I'll call it. Can't imagine what that must have looked like.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Buffy's in self righteous mode. "Well I thought I was paying Angel here back." Not gonna say slay, makes things too easy for her. "What?" "What?" Even Willow looks surprised, although she doesn't voice it like the others. "Well he's saved my life a few times, it was the least I could do." That's taken the wind out of her sails. Hopefully we can just talk reasonably now. "Tried to kill you a few times as well." "Let's call it even then." I really don't have the energy to keep hating Angel, plus I'm quite enjoying confusing Buffy. I look back to her and can't help but let out a whelp of laughter. Buffy's standing there with her mouth slightly open with a look of surprise on her face. But just to her side, Tara is doing an impression of her, head tilted, mouth open, and tongue hanging out. "You think this is funny?" "Not even a little bit." I stifle another laugh at the finger antennae that have sprouted from Buffy's head. "Do you think you could try to be serious for a second? Why didn't you call us? And how did you know what was going on anyway?" "Bad Xander!" Tara's standing there waggling her finger at me. "Are you trying to make me look like a crazy person?" "You're the one talking to yourself." "Maybe it's an after effect of the spell, it looked pretty powerful." I could almost hug Angel for giving me that excuse. I would never have thought of it on my own. Just to emphasise the temporary insanity point I do hug Angel. "Ok, I think we better get him to Giles." So much for talking reasonably.
"And that's when I, beheaded him." "You mean you ripped his head off with your teeth." "Yeh." Gotta love Buffy's way with words. I've been explaining everything for about half an hour. Ever since Giles pronounced me mentally fit. I've left out the details about Tara though, because I don't want to get her into trouble.
"The part I'm not fully grasping is how you were able to break out of his spell." Giles is squeezing the bridge of his nose the way he always does when trying to work something out. "Oh that's easy, he didn't." Well so much for not telling them about Tara's part in things. "Um, sorry I'm not really following you." "I did, I did an astral projection spell to help with the magic stuff." "So it was you who deflected the fireball?" "No, that was Xander. I've been giving him magic lessons, he's quite good." I'm not really sure what's going on. Tara's acting a bit strangely, but judging by the expression on Willows face, I'm guessing this has something to do with their relationship. "Oh. So how did you know that he had..." "Oz told us." Definitely something to do with their relationship. I'd say Tara's looking for a fight. Although from the way Tara's been dealing with things, I'm guessing she just wants a chance to stand up for herself. In dealing with her feelings Willow hasn't really considered what Tara's going through, and Tara's just too insecure to tell her. But if there's one thing you can say about demon slaying, it really brings you out of yourself. I should know.
Ok, I missed what happened, but Tara and Willow have left. I really need to stop getting lost in thought. It's not good. "There's just one more thing I'm not clear on. You said that Linus performed a spell to make Angel perfectly happy. So why does Angel still have his soul?" "Oh, I thought I told you guys about this. Um, you remember the spell that Willow found to restore his soul? Well it wasn't the one that was originally used. So it doesn't have the perfectly happy clause." I'm pretty sure I can see a smoke trail from where Buffy left, she moved that fast. Giles is just sitting with that far-away stare he gets when thinking of Jenny. I think I've probably done enough damage tonight. "I think I'll go to bed now."
Yup. Still going.
The sun will be up in half an hour. Who the hell could be calling?
Ok, almost to the phone. If they hang up I swear I will track them down and do things to them that would make Angelus grimace in sympathy.
"Hello?"
More ringing. This time I'm making the call. "Hello?" "Tara, it's me. I need you to activate that spell." "Ok, give me fifteen minutes." "Does it matter if I'm driving?" "No, that's fine." "What exactly will this do?" "Don't worry; it'll all make sense in about fifteen minutes." "Um, ok." "Be careful." "..." "At the very least, can you try not to get yourself killed?" "I'll try."
I'm driving well over twice the speed limit. I'm probably not driving fast enough. The sun is just starting to break over the horizon. I can expect Tara's spell to be kicking in any minute now. I alternate my time between trying to work out what the spell will be, and what I can expect from Linus. I'm doing my best to work out a battle plan. So far the best plan I've developed is 'kick his arse'. I'm hoping to develop it a little before I arrive in LA.
"Wow. There's just no way you can pull off biker gear in a jeep is there?"
I blink slowly, before turning my head to the passenger seat.
"Tara? You're looking a little, um, see-through." "That's because I'm still lying on my bed in Sunnydale." "You realize the entire point of the magic training was to avoid anyone getting killed by this guy." "So instead I should just go and let you get killed by him? Besides, the worst he could do to me while I'm astral projecting is give me a migraine, that's if he can even see me, which I doubt." "So what's the plan?" "I thought you were the big bad avenger? I figured that I'd cast, you'd fight, they'd die." "That's better than my plan." "Well sweetie, you can't be expected to be that pretty and still be smart."
Warehouse. Different one though. Tara pops through the wall and tells me exactly where all the minions are. Angels shackled to the wall. Linus is in the midst of it all. And I already know that Wesley and Cordelia are in hospital. I chuck my leathers and helmet down as I leave the sunlight, draw my sword, take an unneeded breath and enter the fray.
Tara's already cast a spell, seems to make me faster, not that I really need it. I'm probably little more than a blur to the first three vampires I dust. The third one was just starting to turn to face me as I beheaded him. I keep on running. There's another three vampires directly ahead of me. I place my foot on the chest of the centre one to slow down, while I use my other foot to give him a kick that snaps his head back. While my feet sail over my head I impale the vamps standing either side of me with my sword and stake. I take the head of the third just as my feet touch the ground. I'm already fighting another vamp before they turn to dust.
The fight is really on, now that the other minions have noticed me. A group of ten pile onto me from all sides. I give into the weight, letting myself get pushed down, before forcing myself back up. The action pushes them away slightly, giving me room to swing my sword. I'm soon alone in a cloud of dust. The few remaining vamps are running at me now, and I bring up my sword in preparation.
Bollocks.
Can't move.
I can hear Tara's already chanting a counter spell. But I may not have time, as I can see a fireball forming in Linus' hand. I close my eyes and try to reach out with my senses as Tara has taught me. I see the fire in my minds eye, and when it starts to fly towards me, I mentally reach out and stop it. I open my eyes. The ball is floating about 5 inches from my face, and the master vamp looks pissed. I can feel him adding more energy to the spell, so I have to act quickly. I close my eyes again, visualising all the remaining minions in the room, a golden line connecting them all to the ball of fire. Just as Linus releases more energy into the spell I release my hold on it. I open my eyes in time to see all the remaining vamps combust. If I could move I would smirk. I think he knows that.
From my left I can hear Angel start to giggle manically, I don't have much time left. Angel's happiness is reaching dangerous levels, and Linus, well Linus doesn't seem to care much either way. I've only just noticed that there is something very wrong about this vampire. He doesn't seem to enjoy things. It's the one thing I've noticed about all vampires; they tend to be disturbingly happy. Joy in death, joy in destruction, in one case joy in talking stars. Linus just seems dead. He does not relish killing me, or defeating Angel. He seems to act because he feels he should, and because he has no other way to act. I can almost imagine the young Linus muttering a last curse upon himself, dooming the demon that inhabited him to an eternity without hope or joy.
Suddenly the spells hold on me disappears. It takes all my willpower not to collapse like last time, but I still manage to drop my weapons. It's almost impossible to walk forwards, almost impossible to remain standing.
The smell of humanity enters the warehouse and I know that I've got no time left. Someone has chosen the wrong time to go snooping and has made themselves a target. I need to make Linus dead now. As I step forward I go briefly to the white place, and I take the strength offered to me. My brow ridge protrudes as my canines extend. My nose flattens, my ears lengthen, and my mouth pushes forward. I leap as my torso extends and my legs deform. My talons swipe at him, removing his hands from his arms. My teeth press into his neck as I force him to the ground. I feel the snapping of vertebrae. And as I pull with all my strength, I hear the sucking sound of muscle being ripped apart. Soon my mouth is full of ash. Seconds afterwards I could swear I heard him thank me. I let the transformation go, and stand up while checking my clothing for rips.
"Busted" I turn round to see what Tara's talking about. By the door to the warehouse, Buffy and Willow are standing, looking more than a little wide eyed. I guess Cordelia must have called them from the hospital. I don't have time to deal with them just yet, so I march towards Angel, trying to sense a soul on him. I don't know if that's even possible.
"Xander, Xander, you need to stake me now, he did something, Angelus, I don't want to..." I jam my sword through his shoulder, I need his attention. "Maybe you should think about that." I pull the sword out and use it to cut the chains holding him to the wall. He collapses towards me and I catch him before he hits the ground. "But how?" "Think I should probably tell you later, we should probably persuade the girls that you're not evil first. Probably try to persuade them not to stake me while we're at it. They look pretty mad."
I wasn't kidding about that either. As we walk towards them, I can see Buffy tensing up. She doesn't have a stake out, so she's probably just going to yell at me, possible kick my arse. Willow's standing a little bit behind her, and is looking a little shell shocked. I'm guessing she saw my transformation and subsequent, um, beheading I think I'll call it. Can't imagine what that must have looked like.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Buffy's in self righteous mode. "Well I thought I was paying Angel here back." Not gonna say slay, makes things too easy for her. "What?" "What?" Even Willow looks surprised, although she doesn't voice it like the others. "Well he's saved my life a few times, it was the least I could do." That's taken the wind out of her sails. Hopefully we can just talk reasonably now. "Tried to kill you a few times as well." "Let's call it even then." I really don't have the energy to keep hating Angel, plus I'm quite enjoying confusing Buffy. I look back to her and can't help but let out a whelp of laughter. Buffy's standing there with her mouth slightly open with a look of surprise on her face. But just to her side, Tara is doing an impression of her, head tilted, mouth open, and tongue hanging out. "You think this is funny?" "Not even a little bit." I stifle another laugh at the finger antennae that have sprouted from Buffy's head. "Do you think you could try to be serious for a second? Why didn't you call us? And how did you know what was going on anyway?" "Bad Xander!" Tara's standing there waggling her finger at me. "Are you trying to make me look like a crazy person?" "You're the one talking to yourself." "Maybe it's an after effect of the spell, it looked pretty powerful." I could almost hug Angel for giving me that excuse. I would never have thought of it on my own. Just to emphasise the temporary insanity point I do hug Angel. "Ok, I think we better get him to Giles." So much for talking reasonably.
"And that's when I, beheaded him." "You mean you ripped his head off with your teeth." "Yeh." Gotta love Buffy's way with words. I've been explaining everything for about half an hour. Ever since Giles pronounced me mentally fit. I've left out the details about Tara though, because I don't want to get her into trouble.
"The part I'm not fully grasping is how you were able to break out of his spell." Giles is squeezing the bridge of his nose the way he always does when trying to work something out. "Oh that's easy, he didn't." Well so much for not telling them about Tara's part in things. "Um, sorry I'm not really following you." "I did, I did an astral projection spell to help with the magic stuff." "So it was you who deflected the fireball?" "No, that was Xander. I've been giving him magic lessons, he's quite good." I'm not really sure what's going on. Tara's acting a bit strangely, but judging by the expression on Willows face, I'm guessing this has something to do with their relationship. "Oh. So how did you know that he had..." "Oz told us." Definitely something to do with their relationship. I'd say Tara's looking for a fight. Although from the way Tara's been dealing with things, I'm guessing she just wants a chance to stand up for herself. In dealing with her feelings Willow hasn't really considered what Tara's going through, and Tara's just too insecure to tell her. But if there's one thing you can say about demon slaying, it really brings you out of yourself. I should know.
Ok, I missed what happened, but Tara and Willow have left. I really need to stop getting lost in thought. It's not good. "There's just one more thing I'm not clear on. You said that Linus performed a spell to make Angel perfectly happy. So why does Angel still have his soul?" "Oh, I thought I told you guys about this. Um, you remember the spell that Willow found to restore his soul? Well it wasn't the one that was originally used. So it doesn't have the perfectly happy clause." I'm pretty sure I can see a smoke trail from where Buffy left, she moved that fast. Giles is just sitting with that far-away stare he gets when thinking of Jenny. I think I've probably done enough damage tonight. "I think I'll go to bed now."