Chapter 13
Angel knocked on the door of apartment number 8 and Number Five answered, still wearing his red, white, and blue mask with the number 5 printed on the forehead. Buffy smiled broadly at him.
"Hi." Angel said. Number Five picked up Angel by the lapels and threw his back against the wall.
"Hey!" Buffy yelped.
"Unh! Stop doing that."
"Perhaps I wasn't clear in our last conversation." Number Five said.
Buffy grabbed Number Five and shoved him away from Angel and pushed him against the wall. Angel walked over. "What conversation? You threw me through a window."
"I heard you speaking. You were going to drag me into your quest for the Aztec demon."
"No, we weren't. I was gonna give you some mail."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Now I'm dragging you back in." Angel threw Number 5 across the room. He stood back up. "We need your help. You and your brothers beat this Aztec warrior thing first time around. And we need to know how."
"I'm sorry. In case you haven't noticed, I have retired from that life."
"Wearing that mask doesn't exactly hide your past."
"It reminds me that only a fool would want to be a champion."
"Fool? Is that what you think of your brothers?"
Number 5 punched Angel. "Never disrespect the memory of my brothers. They were honorable men.. luchadores. Mexican wrestlers. The greatest that ever lived. Together we were known as Los Hermanos Numeros."
"The number brothers?" Angel noticed a shrine of flowers, pictures, and candles in the corner. "Huh." He picked up a black and white picture of the 5 brothers together, all with masks numbered 1 through 5. "Boy, you guys had no problem getting past the whole irony thing now, did you?"
"It was a different time. One that no longer exists. We were great warriors in the ring, great heroes. Children worshipped us. Women loved us. Men wanted to be us. In all the years we fought, we never lost. Never quit. Never compromised. We were the best. But not all of our battles were in the ring. You need to understand. We were more than just luchadores. No one else cared about Mexicans or Chicanos, so we protected our own. The five of us were always joined, always connected. And when necessary, we came together as a fist. We fought monsters and gangsters. Vampiros. We were heroes. We protected the weak.. and we helped the helpless."
"We know a little something about that." Buffy said.
"We spent every waking hour together. We fought hard. We played hard. Brothers in the truest sense. Never jealous, never bickering. Those were the happiest days of my life."
"Wait a second. So you guys always wore your masks?" Angel asked.
"What you are failing to see, my friend, is that we had to be ever- vigilant, ready for action at a moment's notice. Surely you have heard about our great victory over the devil's robot?"
Both Buffy and Angel shrugged and shook their heads. "Sorry. Nope."
"Nobody remembers the good stuff."
"But tell us about the Aztec warrior." Buffy said.
"What can I say about a demon who killed the people that mattered most to me?"
"You can start by saying how you killed it back."
"I don't know. Can't remember."
"Can't remember or don't care?"
"Do not misunderstand me. After my brothers were killed, I tried to carry on.. tried to help people. But after a while, the phone stopped ringing. The people went away.. until one night when a man walked in. He said his company could use a young man with my abilities."
"Wolfram & Hart."
"I needed a job. They needed muscle. I knew that Wolfram & Hart was everything my brothers despised. But what did I care? Nothing mattered after I buried them behind San Gregorio. Every year on El Dia de Los Muertos, I prepare this altar for them. And every year, they never come, never visit. Because I am not worthy. But it does not matter anymore. Not after this year. I should have died with my brothers." Number 5 touched a small gold medallion on the table with the photos and candles.
"But you didn't." Angel said. "You got stuck with the hard part, the carrying-on. No wonder your brothers' spirits never come to visit. Listen to yourself. You've quit. Tell me: Why'd you stop caring?"
"It was not hard. I will show you."
Buffy stared at the five midgets wearing colorful numbered masks fight in a wrestling ring against a full-sized man who chased them around the ring. "This is how my brothers are remembered, what their good deeds earned." Number 5 said. "They sacrificed their lives as heroes, and it is played out as a farce."
"Maybe you expect too much from people." Angel said.
"Is it too much to expect them to remember their past? To honor those that fought and died? My brothers are dead, and Tezcatcatl is back to kill again. Why did we bother? What difference did we make?"
"You made a difference in the lives you saved. And you did it because.. it was the right thing to do. Nobody asks us to go out and fight, put our lives on the line. We do it because we can, cause we know how. We do it whether people remember us or not, in spite of the fact that there's no shiny reward at the end of the day.. other than the work itself. I think some part of you still knows that, still believes in being a hero." He turned to face Number 5, but he wasn't there. "Then again, maybe not."
"You were talking to yourself a little there, weren'tcha?
Angel shrugged. "Well.."
"Come on tough guy." Buffy grabbed his hand and led him out of the arena. They looked for Number 5. A bus passed by and Number 5 was sitting in a window seat where Angel noticed him.
"So much for my stirring speech."
Suddenly, the demon jumped up behind Angel and attacked. Buffy shoved Angel out of the way and started to fight the demon off. It pinned her to a car by driving his sword through her. Buffy screamed and clawed at the sword. Angel grabbed the demon and yanked it away. The demon took out a dagger and reared back, aiming for Angel's heart, then reconsidered. The demon yanked its sword out of Buffy and walked away, leaving Angel to care for a wounded Buffy laying on the hood of the car. She was crying and grasping at her stomach.
"Hold on sweetheart, you'll be ok." Angel said, taking off his jacket and pressing it on Buffy's wound. "Just hold on."
Angel sat in a chair next to Buffy's bed. The others minus Fred were sitting in the waiting room. Buffy had been patched up and was unconscious due to the drugs. The demon had missed the vital organs by less than a centimeter. She had been lucky. It could have taken her heart. Wesley had theorized that it was taking the hearts of heroes and eating them.
"Angel.." Gunn said, opening the door and walking in with Wesley.
"So you think this demon is eating the hearts of heroes, huh?" Angel asked. "Well, it's an interesting theory and I can see where your research might seem to support that, but.. your theory kinda fell apart in the field."
"Angel, I know you've been through a horrible ordeal, and I'm not trying to.." Wesley said.
"The reason why I know this Aztec demon is not eating the hearts of heroes is.. he didn't take mine or Buffy's."
"He was after hers too, but you saved her."
"Am I honestly supposed to believe that it had no problem sticking a sword in my wife's stomach, come after me and then decide, 'Oh, wait, their heart's aren't heroic enough?' Ha! I don't think so."
"I understand you're feeling rejected and pissed at this thing, but this Aztec warrior.. it wants the hearts for sustenance. It wants it for the meat, not the metaphor."
"What are you saying?"
"As meat goes, your heart's a dried-up hunk of gnarly-ass beef jerky." Gunn said.
"Yeah, well, stick a piece of wood in it and I still die. Stick a sword in my wife and nearly kill her, and it still hurts. It's still terrified that Buffy could die again. Must mean something."
"Can we get back to figuring out how to kill this demon rather than figuring out why it didn't kill you and Buffy?" Wesley asked.
"Ok, before ol' Numero Cinco bolted on the bus, did he drop any details about how he and his brothers defeated this Aztec thing?" Gunn asked.
"Wes, did you ever hear that the devil built a robot?" Angel asked.
"El Diablo Robotico. Why?" Wesley asked.
"Nobody ever tells me anything."
"I'm gonna go check with my guys in contracts." Gunn said.
"Gunn, this should take precedence." Wesley said.
"It's warrior-related. I got to thinking, if this Aztec demon got back to come back after 50 years, maybe it made some kind of supernatural deal with something. And if there's a deal, might be a contract. Call me when Buffy wakes up." With that, Gunn left.
"Angel, what Gunn said about your heart.. the dried-up bit.. I don't think that's the problem."
"But you do see a problem?"
"It's the work."
"Oh, yeah. The 18-hour days, the constant slaying of evil, the hardly ever getting to spend a decent hour with my wife, and the watching her being shish-kebabed to a Chevy must be part of it."
"I didn't say you weren't working. I'm just saying your heart's not in the work."
"Well, yeah, you know, I've been feeling a little bit, uh.."
"Disconnected. Yes, I've heard. But I think it's more serious than that. You blame your melancholy on your new position, but I don't think it's about the type of work. I think it's because you've lost hope that the work has meaning."
"Of course it has meaning. We save people's lives."
"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you. It's lost meaning for you. Spike says you no longer believe in the Shanshu prophecy."
"Of course not. The prophecies are nonsense. You know that. Oh, come on, Wes, after everything we've seen the past couple of years? 'The father will kill the son.'"
"What are you talking about?"
"Look, we're getting the work done. As long as Buffy and I keep doing what we do, doesn't matter if I believe in the Shanshu or any other prophecy."
"I'm sorry, Angel, but nothing matters more. Hope: It's the only thing that will sustain you, that will keep you from ending up like Number 5."
Angel's cell phone rang. He listened for a second then hung up. "Yeah. That was Fred. She's got something. She's on her way now."
Fred walked into Buffy's room twenty minutes later. Willow, Spike, Wesley, Dawn, and Angel were all crowded in the large room. Wolfram and Hart did have its perks when it came to getting the best doctors and the biggest rooms. Despite the doctor's warnings and Angel's worry, Buffy had sat up in the bed. She had let Angel move the back up so she could rest on it, but she wasn't supposed to sit up.
"Hey Buffy." Fred said.
"Hi." Buffy said, giving her a weak smile.
"You need to stop getting stabbed in the stomach. I don't think three times in less than nine months is very healthy."
"Yeah, leave the getting stabbed in the stomach to me." Angel said. "I can handle it better."
"So, Angel says that the demon wanted to eat our hearts cause we're heroes and their blood is what keeps it alive. What's up with that?"
"Yeah, but it does more than that. It acts like a kind of supercharged rocket fuel. Makes it, you know.."
"Nigh invulnerable." Wesley said.
"Oh, I could kill it." Spike said. "I mean, ghostiness to the contrary. Well, come on, lads. Everything has an Achilles heel."
"And you just so happen to know this creature's Achilles heel?" Angel asked.
"Well, I wager it's the heart."
Fred looked at her papers. "You see that in the science?"
"No, luv, in the poetry. We're dealing with a mythic creature here, a kill- or-be-killed kind of creature. If I was gonna kill something that was trying to take my heart, I'd try to bloody well take its heart first."
"And you'd be doing the right thing. That'd stop it for the time being." Gunn said, walking in.
"Time being?" Willow asked.
"Yeah. He's kinda got a get-out-of-jail-free card. It's in his contract."
"Contract?" Dawn asked.
"Figure of speech. Curse, hex, any shady supernatural deal.. Wolfram & Hart has a record of it. Tezcatcatl was one of the Aztecs' most powerful warriors. He forged a mystical talisman that would harness the power of their sun God, make him supernova powerful. But he got found out, was sentenced to die on the Aztec version of day of the dead."
"So he made a mystical deal." Wesley said.
"Yeah, it was pretty clever, really. He had their shaman put a curse on him to return from the dead every 50 years. Been doing it for centuries. Usually, that'd be a bad thing, but, in his case, it brings him back so he can keep searching for the talisman."
"Any idea what happened to the talisman?" Fred asked.
"It was given to a great hero in charge of protecting it."
"Which gets passed down through the generations so each time this demon returns, it's searching for that talisman." Angel said.
"And if it finds it, the demon becomes sun-God powerful, and you sods become a series of hearty snacks." Spike said.
"Is there a drawing of it?" Wesley asked.
"Negative. All I know is that it's gold, about the size of a quarter, and has the sun and some other spooky mumbo-jumbo carved into it."
Buffy looked at Angel and then back at the others. He knew exactly where it was, but he didn't want to leave Buffy's side. "Go." Angel ran out of the room.
"Oh, see! Drama queen." Spike said.
An hour later, Angel called and said that he was headed to the cemetery where Number Five's brothers were buried. He figured that Number Five would be there. Buffy looked at Willow. "Will, it's time to raise the dead again."
"I don't have the urn of Osiris." Willow said. "It got crushed when we brought you back."
"No.. I meant bring them back temporarily so they can help Number Five and Angel out."
"Oh. I can do that. I just need to grab some stuff from Wesley's office."
"I know where they are." Dawn said. "I'll go with you."
"How do you.." Wesley asked.
"I roam." Dawn and Willow ran out.
Willow took Dawn's VW Beatle and punched it to the graveyard. They ran up just in time to see Number Five get stabbed and fall on top of his brothers' graves. "Angel!" Dawn yelled.
"Dawn? What are you doing here?" Angel called back, not turning away from the demon.
"Willow and I are here to help. Just hold on." Dawn help Willow set up.
"What's going on?"
"We're bringing in some help from beyond." Willow said. Suddenly her eyes went black and she opened her arms. "Alcoolici da di là, denomino il thee avanti. Aumenti dalle tombe thy ed avenge le morti thy!"
"Willow, what the hell are you doing?" Angel dodged a blow to the head and looked over to see hands reach out of the graves. One by one, the Number Brothers climbed out of their graves. Number 1 wore his gold mask, Number 2 wore his green mask, Number 3 wore his silver mask, and Number 4 wore his red mask. The brothers popped their necks and rotated their shoulders, realigning their bodies after years in the grave.
"Mis hermanos." Number Five said.
The other four brothers clapped their hands. "!Andale!" They did acrobatics as they made their way to the little iron fence, and they each took a rod from it as they headed to fight the demon. Angel watched them all go past. Number 4 stopped and looked at Angel. "Amigo.. andale." Then he went toward the demon, iron rod in hand.
Angel picked up an iron rod from the ground. The Number Brothers fought the demon, and Angel joined in with a punch here and there. The brothers worked together to form a step for one to spring from toward the demon. Reminiscent of their wrestling moves, the jumper landed on the neck of the demon. "We're trying to kill it, not pin it." Angel said. The jumper back- flipped so forcefully that he propelled the demon into the air as well, landing him face-down in the dirt. The brothers turned him over, face-up, and pinned him at each hand and foot. "Ok. Pinning works." Angel drove the iron rod through the demon's heart, causing it to growl and die, turning to dust. He looked toward the headstone, seeing Number 5. "Hey."
"Mis hermanos, they came back." Number Five said.
"Because you're worthy. You proved it."
"Maybe. But still the demon did not want my heart."
"He didn't want mine, either."
"Of course not, amigo. Who would want that dried-up walnut of a dead thing?" Number Five coughed. "C-coffee.."
"Coffee? You want coffee?"
"!Estupido! The talisman. It's in.." Angel dumped the coffee out of the thermos and found the talisman inside. "I may not be a hero, but I am not a fool."
Number 5 passed away. His brothers picked him up and carried him away as Angel watched until they were gone. He looked over at Willow. "You're getting better."
"Eh. I do what I can." Willow said.
Back at the penthouse, Buffy was sitting on the couch. The doctors had released her even though they were completely against it. Angel had promised to come up when he was done talking with the others. Getting tired of waiting, she snuck out and went down to the office. As she passed Wesley's office, she noticed movement in the darkness. She walked quietly up to the door and looked in. Angel had picked up the prophecy book and sat down on the edge of a chair.
"Shansu prophecy, English translation." Angel whispered. He opened the book and began reading.
Buffy closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door. He was finally believing again. The Slayer had never stopped believing in that prophecy. From the moment she'd found out, she'd always known in her heart that Angel would fulfill his destiny and become human. He always felt that he didn't deserve it, but Buffy was smarter than that. She knew he deserved it. Sighing to herself, she turned and headed back up to the penthouse, remembering the sound of Angel's heartbeat. When Angel came in and crawled into bed, she scooted back into his embrace and dreamed that one day she would hear his heartbeat again.
Angel knocked on the door of apartment number 8 and Number Five answered, still wearing his red, white, and blue mask with the number 5 printed on the forehead. Buffy smiled broadly at him.
"Hi." Angel said. Number Five picked up Angel by the lapels and threw his back against the wall.
"Hey!" Buffy yelped.
"Unh! Stop doing that."
"Perhaps I wasn't clear in our last conversation." Number Five said.
Buffy grabbed Number Five and shoved him away from Angel and pushed him against the wall. Angel walked over. "What conversation? You threw me through a window."
"I heard you speaking. You were going to drag me into your quest for the Aztec demon."
"No, we weren't. I was gonna give you some mail."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Now I'm dragging you back in." Angel threw Number 5 across the room. He stood back up. "We need your help. You and your brothers beat this Aztec warrior thing first time around. And we need to know how."
"I'm sorry. In case you haven't noticed, I have retired from that life."
"Wearing that mask doesn't exactly hide your past."
"It reminds me that only a fool would want to be a champion."
"Fool? Is that what you think of your brothers?"
Number 5 punched Angel. "Never disrespect the memory of my brothers. They were honorable men.. luchadores. Mexican wrestlers. The greatest that ever lived. Together we were known as Los Hermanos Numeros."
"The number brothers?" Angel noticed a shrine of flowers, pictures, and candles in the corner. "Huh." He picked up a black and white picture of the 5 brothers together, all with masks numbered 1 through 5. "Boy, you guys had no problem getting past the whole irony thing now, did you?"
"It was a different time. One that no longer exists. We were great warriors in the ring, great heroes. Children worshipped us. Women loved us. Men wanted to be us. In all the years we fought, we never lost. Never quit. Never compromised. We were the best. But not all of our battles were in the ring. You need to understand. We were more than just luchadores. No one else cared about Mexicans or Chicanos, so we protected our own. The five of us were always joined, always connected. And when necessary, we came together as a fist. We fought monsters and gangsters. Vampiros. We were heroes. We protected the weak.. and we helped the helpless."
"We know a little something about that." Buffy said.
"We spent every waking hour together. We fought hard. We played hard. Brothers in the truest sense. Never jealous, never bickering. Those were the happiest days of my life."
"Wait a second. So you guys always wore your masks?" Angel asked.
"What you are failing to see, my friend, is that we had to be ever- vigilant, ready for action at a moment's notice. Surely you have heard about our great victory over the devil's robot?"
Both Buffy and Angel shrugged and shook their heads. "Sorry. Nope."
"Nobody remembers the good stuff."
"But tell us about the Aztec warrior." Buffy said.
"What can I say about a demon who killed the people that mattered most to me?"
"You can start by saying how you killed it back."
"I don't know. Can't remember."
"Can't remember or don't care?"
"Do not misunderstand me. After my brothers were killed, I tried to carry on.. tried to help people. But after a while, the phone stopped ringing. The people went away.. until one night when a man walked in. He said his company could use a young man with my abilities."
"Wolfram & Hart."
"I needed a job. They needed muscle. I knew that Wolfram & Hart was everything my brothers despised. But what did I care? Nothing mattered after I buried them behind San Gregorio. Every year on El Dia de Los Muertos, I prepare this altar for them. And every year, they never come, never visit. Because I am not worthy. But it does not matter anymore. Not after this year. I should have died with my brothers." Number 5 touched a small gold medallion on the table with the photos and candles.
"But you didn't." Angel said. "You got stuck with the hard part, the carrying-on. No wonder your brothers' spirits never come to visit. Listen to yourself. You've quit. Tell me: Why'd you stop caring?"
"It was not hard. I will show you."
Buffy stared at the five midgets wearing colorful numbered masks fight in a wrestling ring against a full-sized man who chased them around the ring. "This is how my brothers are remembered, what their good deeds earned." Number 5 said. "They sacrificed their lives as heroes, and it is played out as a farce."
"Maybe you expect too much from people." Angel said.
"Is it too much to expect them to remember their past? To honor those that fought and died? My brothers are dead, and Tezcatcatl is back to kill again. Why did we bother? What difference did we make?"
"You made a difference in the lives you saved. And you did it because.. it was the right thing to do. Nobody asks us to go out and fight, put our lives on the line. We do it because we can, cause we know how. We do it whether people remember us or not, in spite of the fact that there's no shiny reward at the end of the day.. other than the work itself. I think some part of you still knows that, still believes in being a hero." He turned to face Number 5, but he wasn't there. "Then again, maybe not."
"You were talking to yourself a little there, weren'tcha?
Angel shrugged. "Well.."
"Come on tough guy." Buffy grabbed his hand and led him out of the arena. They looked for Number 5. A bus passed by and Number 5 was sitting in a window seat where Angel noticed him.
"So much for my stirring speech."
Suddenly, the demon jumped up behind Angel and attacked. Buffy shoved Angel out of the way and started to fight the demon off. It pinned her to a car by driving his sword through her. Buffy screamed and clawed at the sword. Angel grabbed the demon and yanked it away. The demon took out a dagger and reared back, aiming for Angel's heart, then reconsidered. The demon yanked its sword out of Buffy and walked away, leaving Angel to care for a wounded Buffy laying on the hood of the car. She was crying and grasping at her stomach.
"Hold on sweetheart, you'll be ok." Angel said, taking off his jacket and pressing it on Buffy's wound. "Just hold on."
Angel sat in a chair next to Buffy's bed. The others minus Fred were sitting in the waiting room. Buffy had been patched up and was unconscious due to the drugs. The demon had missed the vital organs by less than a centimeter. She had been lucky. It could have taken her heart. Wesley had theorized that it was taking the hearts of heroes and eating them.
"Angel.." Gunn said, opening the door and walking in with Wesley.
"So you think this demon is eating the hearts of heroes, huh?" Angel asked. "Well, it's an interesting theory and I can see where your research might seem to support that, but.. your theory kinda fell apart in the field."
"Angel, I know you've been through a horrible ordeal, and I'm not trying to.." Wesley said.
"The reason why I know this Aztec demon is not eating the hearts of heroes is.. he didn't take mine or Buffy's."
"He was after hers too, but you saved her."
"Am I honestly supposed to believe that it had no problem sticking a sword in my wife's stomach, come after me and then decide, 'Oh, wait, their heart's aren't heroic enough?' Ha! I don't think so."
"I understand you're feeling rejected and pissed at this thing, but this Aztec warrior.. it wants the hearts for sustenance. It wants it for the meat, not the metaphor."
"What are you saying?"
"As meat goes, your heart's a dried-up hunk of gnarly-ass beef jerky." Gunn said.
"Yeah, well, stick a piece of wood in it and I still die. Stick a sword in my wife and nearly kill her, and it still hurts. It's still terrified that Buffy could die again. Must mean something."
"Can we get back to figuring out how to kill this demon rather than figuring out why it didn't kill you and Buffy?" Wesley asked.
"Ok, before ol' Numero Cinco bolted on the bus, did he drop any details about how he and his brothers defeated this Aztec thing?" Gunn asked.
"Wes, did you ever hear that the devil built a robot?" Angel asked.
"El Diablo Robotico. Why?" Wesley asked.
"Nobody ever tells me anything."
"I'm gonna go check with my guys in contracts." Gunn said.
"Gunn, this should take precedence." Wesley said.
"It's warrior-related. I got to thinking, if this Aztec demon got back to come back after 50 years, maybe it made some kind of supernatural deal with something. And if there's a deal, might be a contract. Call me when Buffy wakes up." With that, Gunn left.
"Angel, what Gunn said about your heart.. the dried-up bit.. I don't think that's the problem."
"But you do see a problem?"
"It's the work."
"Oh, yeah. The 18-hour days, the constant slaying of evil, the hardly ever getting to spend a decent hour with my wife, and the watching her being shish-kebabed to a Chevy must be part of it."
"I didn't say you weren't working. I'm just saying your heart's not in the work."
"Well, yeah, you know, I've been feeling a little bit, uh.."
"Disconnected. Yes, I've heard. But I think it's more serious than that. You blame your melancholy on your new position, but I don't think it's about the type of work. I think it's because you've lost hope that the work has meaning."
"Of course it has meaning. We save people's lives."
"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you. It's lost meaning for you. Spike says you no longer believe in the Shanshu prophecy."
"Of course not. The prophecies are nonsense. You know that. Oh, come on, Wes, after everything we've seen the past couple of years? 'The father will kill the son.'"
"What are you talking about?"
"Look, we're getting the work done. As long as Buffy and I keep doing what we do, doesn't matter if I believe in the Shanshu or any other prophecy."
"I'm sorry, Angel, but nothing matters more. Hope: It's the only thing that will sustain you, that will keep you from ending up like Number 5."
Angel's cell phone rang. He listened for a second then hung up. "Yeah. That was Fred. She's got something. She's on her way now."
Fred walked into Buffy's room twenty minutes later. Willow, Spike, Wesley, Dawn, and Angel were all crowded in the large room. Wolfram and Hart did have its perks when it came to getting the best doctors and the biggest rooms. Despite the doctor's warnings and Angel's worry, Buffy had sat up in the bed. She had let Angel move the back up so she could rest on it, but she wasn't supposed to sit up.
"Hey Buffy." Fred said.
"Hi." Buffy said, giving her a weak smile.
"You need to stop getting stabbed in the stomach. I don't think three times in less than nine months is very healthy."
"Yeah, leave the getting stabbed in the stomach to me." Angel said. "I can handle it better."
"So, Angel says that the demon wanted to eat our hearts cause we're heroes and their blood is what keeps it alive. What's up with that?"
"Yeah, but it does more than that. It acts like a kind of supercharged rocket fuel. Makes it, you know.."
"Nigh invulnerable." Wesley said.
"Oh, I could kill it." Spike said. "I mean, ghostiness to the contrary. Well, come on, lads. Everything has an Achilles heel."
"And you just so happen to know this creature's Achilles heel?" Angel asked.
"Well, I wager it's the heart."
Fred looked at her papers. "You see that in the science?"
"No, luv, in the poetry. We're dealing with a mythic creature here, a kill- or-be-killed kind of creature. If I was gonna kill something that was trying to take my heart, I'd try to bloody well take its heart first."
"And you'd be doing the right thing. That'd stop it for the time being." Gunn said, walking in.
"Time being?" Willow asked.
"Yeah. He's kinda got a get-out-of-jail-free card. It's in his contract."
"Contract?" Dawn asked.
"Figure of speech. Curse, hex, any shady supernatural deal.. Wolfram & Hart has a record of it. Tezcatcatl was one of the Aztecs' most powerful warriors. He forged a mystical talisman that would harness the power of their sun God, make him supernova powerful. But he got found out, was sentenced to die on the Aztec version of day of the dead."
"So he made a mystical deal." Wesley said.
"Yeah, it was pretty clever, really. He had their shaman put a curse on him to return from the dead every 50 years. Been doing it for centuries. Usually, that'd be a bad thing, but, in his case, it brings him back so he can keep searching for the talisman."
"Any idea what happened to the talisman?" Fred asked.
"It was given to a great hero in charge of protecting it."
"Which gets passed down through the generations so each time this demon returns, it's searching for that talisman." Angel said.
"And if it finds it, the demon becomes sun-God powerful, and you sods become a series of hearty snacks." Spike said.
"Is there a drawing of it?" Wesley asked.
"Negative. All I know is that it's gold, about the size of a quarter, and has the sun and some other spooky mumbo-jumbo carved into it."
Buffy looked at Angel and then back at the others. He knew exactly where it was, but he didn't want to leave Buffy's side. "Go." Angel ran out of the room.
"Oh, see! Drama queen." Spike said.
An hour later, Angel called and said that he was headed to the cemetery where Number Five's brothers were buried. He figured that Number Five would be there. Buffy looked at Willow. "Will, it's time to raise the dead again."
"I don't have the urn of Osiris." Willow said. "It got crushed when we brought you back."
"No.. I meant bring them back temporarily so they can help Number Five and Angel out."
"Oh. I can do that. I just need to grab some stuff from Wesley's office."
"I know where they are." Dawn said. "I'll go with you."
"How do you.." Wesley asked.
"I roam." Dawn and Willow ran out.
Willow took Dawn's VW Beatle and punched it to the graveyard. They ran up just in time to see Number Five get stabbed and fall on top of his brothers' graves. "Angel!" Dawn yelled.
"Dawn? What are you doing here?" Angel called back, not turning away from the demon.
"Willow and I are here to help. Just hold on." Dawn help Willow set up.
"What's going on?"
"We're bringing in some help from beyond." Willow said. Suddenly her eyes went black and she opened her arms. "Alcoolici da di là, denomino il thee avanti. Aumenti dalle tombe thy ed avenge le morti thy!"
"Willow, what the hell are you doing?" Angel dodged a blow to the head and looked over to see hands reach out of the graves. One by one, the Number Brothers climbed out of their graves. Number 1 wore his gold mask, Number 2 wore his green mask, Number 3 wore his silver mask, and Number 4 wore his red mask. The brothers popped their necks and rotated their shoulders, realigning their bodies after years in the grave.
"Mis hermanos." Number Five said.
The other four brothers clapped their hands. "!Andale!" They did acrobatics as they made their way to the little iron fence, and they each took a rod from it as they headed to fight the demon. Angel watched them all go past. Number 4 stopped and looked at Angel. "Amigo.. andale." Then he went toward the demon, iron rod in hand.
Angel picked up an iron rod from the ground. The Number Brothers fought the demon, and Angel joined in with a punch here and there. The brothers worked together to form a step for one to spring from toward the demon. Reminiscent of their wrestling moves, the jumper landed on the neck of the demon. "We're trying to kill it, not pin it." Angel said. The jumper back- flipped so forcefully that he propelled the demon into the air as well, landing him face-down in the dirt. The brothers turned him over, face-up, and pinned him at each hand and foot. "Ok. Pinning works." Angel drove the iron rod through the demon's heart, causing it to growl and die, turning to dust. He looked toward the headstone, seeing Number 5. "Hey."
"Mis hermanos, they came back." Number Five said.
"Because you're worthy. You proved it."
"Maybe. But still the demon did not want my heart."
"He didn't want mine, either."
"Of course not, amigo. Who would want that dried-up walnut of a dead thing?" Number Five coughed. "C-coffee.."
"Coffee? You want coffee?"
"!Estupido! The talisman. It's in.." Angel dumped the coffee out of the thermos and found the talisman inside. "I may not be a hero, but I am not a fool."
Number 5 passed away. His brothers picked him up and carried him away as Angel watched until they were gone. He looked over at Willow. "You're getting better."
"Eh. I do what I can." Willow said.
Back at the penthouse, Buffy was sitting on the couch. The doctors had released her even though they were completely against it. Angel had promised to come up when he was done talking with the others. Getting tired of waiting, she snuck out and went down to the office. As she passed Wesley's office, she noticed movement in the darkness. She walked quietly up to the door and looked in. Angel had picked up the prophecy book and sat down on the edge of a chair.
"Shansu prophecy, English translation." Angel whispered. He opened the book and began reading.
Buffy closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door. He was finally believing again. The Slayer had never stopped believing in that prophecy. From the moment she'd found out, she'd always known in her heart that Angel would fulfill his destiny and become human. He always felt that he didn't deserve it, but Buffy was smarter than that. She knew he deserved it. Sighing to herself, she turned and headed back up to the penthouse, remembering the sound of Angel's heartbeat. When Angel came in and crawled into bed, she scooted back into his embrace and dreamed that one day she would hear his heartbeat again.