Gathering
Episode 15
Los Angeles, California:
Angel sat in his office. He'd been bored lately. It seemed like all the demonic activity had just disappeared. It had been very slow lately. There had been no business and no daily outings to protect the innocent. He wondered what was going on.
"Where's all the bloody vampires, mate?" Spike said, entering his office.
"Don't you knock, Spike?" Angel questioned, obviously annoyed.
"Did you forget? I can't, remember?" he replied.
There was a long silence between the two. It was an awkward silence. Angel didn't know what to do with the vampire ghost. Of course Spike was always annoying, but it was actually nice having another vampire, especially one with a soul, around.
"Something's going on, Angel," Spike said, breaking the silence.
"What?" Angel questioned, "How can you tell?"
"I can feel it mate," Spike relied, "Something big is coming, something dangerous."
Just then, Gunn came walking into the room. He was dressed in his usual suit and was carrying a bunch of papers.
"What's up, Gunn?" Angel asked.
"Well, I have some surprising news," Gunn replied.
"What about?" Spike asked.
"The sudden dramatic decrease in demon clients and all other demonic activity in this town," Gunn answered.
"Just spill it already!" Spike exclaimed, becoming annoyed.
"Well, they all seem to be headed towards the Hellmouth," Gunn informed.
"The Hellmouth?" Spike questioned, "But that was destroyed months ago."
"You aren't very smart when it comes to this stuff, are you Spike?" Angel asked.
"Shut your bloody mouth!" Spike exclaimed.
"There's another Hellmouth," Gunn said, interrupting before an argument broke out between the two vampires, "And I'm guessing you already know about this, Angel."
Angel was silent. But Gunn knew the answer to his question. He knew that Angel had gone off a few weeks back. He was hiding something from everyone.
"I believe it is below a small southern Louisiana town," Gunn continued, "Haynesville, if I'm not mistaken."
"Yes," Angel replied, silently.
"Well, our researchers have discovered that this Hellmouth is considerably growing in power. It is calling out to all creatures of darkness. They are all headed towards the Hellmouth," Gunn said.
"There's something you're not telling us, Angel," Spike said.
"He's right, there is something," Gunn added.
Angel stood there silently. He knew that he couldn't keep it from them anymore. He had to tell them what was going on. It was for their safety.
"Something powerful is there," Angel began, "Stronger than anything we have ever faced, stronger than the First Evil."
"What could be more powerful than the First Evil?" Spike asked.
"She's a god," Angel replied, "To be more specific, the Goddess of Evil."
"But who's going to fight it?" Gunn questioned.
"We're leaving," Angel informed, "Gunn, gather the gang up. We're taking a little trip. We leave for the Hellmouth in a few hours."
"What are we gonna do?" Gunn questioned, "We can't fight a god."
"We're going to help Buffy," Angel replied.
"Buffy's alive," Spike said, shocked.
Haynesville Cemetery:
Buffy was walking alone. She was thinking about everything that had happened. So much had happened lately. Just a few weeks ago, she discovered that some evil goddess had been freed and was now after her. The weight of the world was once again on her shoulders. But this time she knew that she was powerless to stop it.
She knew that she shouldn't have been out alone. So many things had come to town lately. Even though she was the slayer, she still couldn't handle everything. Giles had told her not to go out by herself; that she needed to have someone go along with her.
Giles was right though. She couldn't handle everything by herself. And it seemed like the monsters kept getting stronger each day. And there were so many of them. Demons, vampires, ghosts, you name it.
She knew all this, but she had to get out. With Axel back, it seemed like she had no freedom. He was always questioning where she was going. That was the price to pay for not revealing her secret. She had thought about it many times, but she couldn't tell him. Not yet anyway.
"Now look what we've got here," a vampire said.
Buffy looked up and saw them. They were a group of five standing in front of her, blocking her path. She didn't even notice them. It bothered her. Maybe she was losing her touch.
"A little girly," the vampire continued, "out here all alone without anyone to hear her scream.
The vampires advanced on her. In a few moments, they had her completely surrounded. But she kept her cool. She knew that she could take them. She had taken on more than five before.
One vampire lunged at her. With lightning-fast reflexes, she pulled out a stake and jammed it into his heart. Then she flung him over her shoulder. He was dust before he hit the ground.
"Was that the best you've got?" Buffy questioned, now in fighting stance.
The vampires snarled. Another came at her, trying for the kill. She gave him a quick front kick to the chest, knocking him into one of the others. Both fell to the ground, obviously pissed off now.
"Little girl?" Buffy questioned, "I don't think so."
She gave another vamp a kick to the face. The vampire stumbled backwards, but quickly came to her senses. She lunged at Buffy, fangs bared. Buffy gave the vampire a few punches to the face and then sent her to the ground with a roundhouse kick. The vamps neck snapped.
By now, the two she had knocked over had risen to their feet. One jumped at her, trying to knock her off balance, the other two waiting for an opportunity to attack. The vampire tackled her to the ground. No sooner than that, the other two were on her.
She gripped her stake tightly, and slashed it blindly. The stake tore at one vampire's chest, slicing it open. Then it cut another across the face. Both vampires hissed in pain. She flung her arms madly, trying to shake them off. The two that she had injured flew through the air, one hit a tombstone.
The last vampire was still trying to wrestle her to the ground. She straddled Buffy and began punching her in the face. Lucky for Buffy, the other two vampires were out for now. The female vampire was tiring either, but Buffy was. She was too tired to block the vampire's punches and kept getting hit in the face.
Finally, Buffy just gave up. The vampire realized this and stopped punching her. She reached down and moved Buffy's hair away from her neck. She moved her mouth closer to Buffy.
"They say that once you've tasted slayer's blood, you'll never go back," the female vampire hissed.
She brought her fangs down. Just as her teeth were about to puncture Buffy's neck, she howled in pain. Then she exploded into dust. Buffy smirked and her hand dropped to her side. That worked every time. She quickly caught her breath and rose to her feet.
She staked the one vampire and headed towards the second. She grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. The vampire didn't struggle.
"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked.
The vampire didn't offer resistance. He knew that he would die if he didn't give information. What he didn't know was that Buffy was going to stake him anyway.
"It's the gathering," the vampire hissed, "A great evil has surfaced. We can feel its power. It is calling to us, all things evil, to come to the Hellmouth."
"All?" Buffy questioned.
"It is calling to all demons from around the world, telling them to come here. The evil is growing slayer. The Gathering has begun."
"It's called the Gathering," Buffy mumbled.
She had gotten all the information that she needed. She gripped her stake tightly. Then she slammed it into the vampire's heart. Its dust blew away in the cool nighttime breeze.
Buffy turned and headed towards the exit. She had to inform Giles of what she had learned. She knew it was going to be a very long night of researching. She really wasn't looking forward to that.
Giles's Apartment:
Buffy pushed the door open, without even bothering to knock. She knew that this couldn't wait. Although it was late, she knew that Giles wouldn't be in bed yet. He was probably up reading about this goddess.
"Buffy?" Giles questioned, looking up from a book.
The man was seated at a table. There was a fairly large book open in front of him. He looked tired. He probably hadn't slept in several days.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I was patrolling," Buffy began.
"You were what?" Giles questioned, angrily.
"Look, I know you said to stay in," she replied, "But I needed to get out. I needed to slay something. Sorry."
Giles didn't reply. He had a look of anger in his eyes. If she wanted him to remain her watcher, she was going to have to listen to him.
"But that's beside the point," she continued, "I found something out from a vampire. It has to do with all the things showing up here in town. It's called the Gathering. Something about the Goddess of Evil is calling to all things around the world. I just thought you might like to know. You know it might be useful and all."
"Did you say the Gathering?" Giles asked.
"Yeah," Buffy replied.
Giles flipped back a few pages in his book. He looked down and began reading something. Buffy stood there, staring at him while he read.
"This is more serious than I thought," he told her, looking up.
"Yeah, I kind of realized that," she replied.
"Buffy, there is a prophecy here," he went on, "Dealing with this goddess. Some of it has not been deciphered."
"Well, what does it say?" Buffy asked.
"A great entity will be woken up from eternal slumber. The world will tremble at the power. The planet's energy will blacken, creating eternal darkness. The demons of the world will come from all over to join the great entity. The entity will battle a first and it will win. Finally, the entity will fight the Chosen One. She will lose against its awesome power. Only one can defeat it."
"And who is that?"
"It doesn't say, Buffy. That's all that's been translated. And I'm not sure of the rest."
"So I will lose to this thing and this other person will defeat it?"
"Not necessarily. It said only one can defeat it, not will."
"Well whatever. Isn't there ever going to be a prophecy where it says 'Buffy will kick butt and the world will be a peaceful place'? When is one of those prophecies gonna come along? I can't wait for one of those."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"I know. But it's cool. It's my job and all, protect the world or die trying. There's only one thing that bothers me though."
"What's that, Buffy?"
"If I die in this fight, the next slayer that's called will have no clue what their up against."
"I know."
"Let's not worry about that now. We need to figure out who the one that will beat the Goddess is."
Downtown Haynesville:
Willow wandered the streets alone. She had been alone since that horrible night. She'd blown it with Kennedy. There was no hope left for her in the love department anymore. She knew that she could never find anyone to replace either Kennedy or Tara. She had something special with Tara, something that'd she would never have with anyone else. Kennedy was different though. She had given Willow a whole new outlook on love. She made it wild and passionate.
Kennedy had reached out to her. They had shared so much in time they had been together. But Willow had blown it after they'd gotten really close, after Kennedy gave her something. Willow had enjoyed it so much and she couldn't get her mind off of it.
Willow walked by Axel's place, where Buffy had been staying. She remembered how she had spent the night there with Buffy. They hadn't done that in a while. She looked inside the window, hoping maybe that Buffy was inside. She gasped at what she saw.
Tears dripped down her face. She couldn't bear to watch anymore. She turned and ran down the street, into the darkness. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. It horrified her. Her heart was broken.
After several minutes of running, she finally realized where she was. Somehow she had ended up in the cemetery. Unfortunately, she had gone a long ways inside before she had noticed. She stopped and turned around, heading back towards the entrance.
"Where you going sweetie?" a man said.
Willow spun around towards the direction of the voice. The tears were still dripping down her face.
"I-I'm leaving," Willow replied.
"I don't think so," the man replied.
Suddenly, the man's face changed. His brow pushed back and fangs appeared in his mouth. Willow was startled a little, but she didn't show it.
"So you've seen us before," the vampire said, "But you're not afraid. That's surprising."
"L-leave me alone," Willow managed to stutter through her tears.
The vampire lunged towards her. He punched her across the face, hitting her in the jaw. She fell to the ground in pain. The vampire smirked. This was going to be very easy for him.
The vampire bent down, moving his mouth close to Willow's neck. He licked his lips and then moved in for the kill. He stuck out his tongue and licked Willow's soft skin. It tasted sweet to him. He shoved his fangs into her neck. Willow gasped in pain as the tears flowed down her face.
She didn't have it in her anymore. She had nothing left, nothing to live for anymore. She didn't need to be here. Her friends didn't need her and Kennedy sure didn't. It was all over for her. She would probably become a vampire now.
"Willow!" someone shouted.
The vampire removed his fangs from her neck, blood dripped down her face. Hatred filled the vamp's eyes when he saw who it was. He rose to his feet, letting Willow lay there, still alive.
Buffy dashed towards her friend and the vampire. She saw the vampire leave Willow and stand up. The vampire was now coming towards her. She ran at it. He was going to pay for taking a bite out of her friend.
Buffy reached into her pocket and pulled out a stake. The vampire leaped into the air. Buffy was unprepared for an attack and the vamp kicked her square in the chest. She fell to the ground. The vampire dove at her. She gripped the stake and brought it up towards the vampire. The stake connected with the vampire's heart. It exploded into dust, which fell on top of Buffy.
Buffy rose to her feet, dusting herself off. She slid her stake back into her jacket and ran over to Willow.
"What the hell, Willow?" Buffy questioned.
Willow didn't answer her friend. She just lay there crying, tears were dripping down her face.
"What's wrong with you, Will?" Buffy demanded, angrily, "What are you doing out here? You could've gotten yourself killed."
Willow still didn't answer. The pain was too much for her. What she had saw hurt her so much. She couldn't bare it.
"Willow!" Buffy shouted, "Snap out of it!"
"Kennedy…I saw her," Willow replied, through tears.
"Saw her what?" Buffy asked.
"I saw her," Willow said, finally speaking clearly, "She was kissing him."
"Excuse me?" Buffy questioned.
"It's all my fault, Buffy," Willow cried, tears again dripping down her face, "I hurt her when I was tricked by the goddess. It's my fault."
"Willow, that's no reason to get yourself turned!" Buffy scolded, "Come on, let's go for a walk."
Buffy grabbed Willow's hand and helped her to her feet. Buffy pulled out a bandage and placed it on Willow's shallow wounds. Then the two walked off into the night, disappearing into the darkness.