Spells and Counterspells
Rose started singing. As she sang, she thought of Spike, their children, Angel, and the rest of her friends. She thought of the cab driver who had driven her to the rendezvous. Someone she had seen on the news last night. And all the teeming hordes of life that she was sentencing to death in hopes of sparing her children.
She sang, and she cried, and she missed neither a note nor a syllable.
&&&&&&&&
Lindsey held the kids tightly by the hands. Most of Wolfram and Hart's lobby was now a large crater. The three of them looked to the center to see a striking-looking woman in an ugly orange dress singing the last notes of some eerie song/spell.
There was a sound like a thunderclap, and a billow of oily, black smoke, which heralded the arrival of..,
The creature looked like a large insect. In fact, that was it perfectly. A cockroach the size of a garbage truck. It circled Corinna warily, mandibles clicking.
Corinna looked at the creature in surprise. Of all the demons she'd seen, and she'd seen many, she had never seen one like this. A tight, thin smile stretched her lips for a moment, then her face slowly lost all traces of humanity as she morphed back into her natural form.
&&&&&&
Lindsey and the twins, eyes never leaving the tableau in the middle of the lobby made their way around the edges where there was a convenient shelf of undisturbed flooring, although Lindsey took the lead and tested the stability of the path frequently. He wasn't entirely sure just why he was taking such care with these children. Or why he'd felt compelled to obey Rose's orders. But that was something to think about when he had the time. Now, he needed to concentrate on what he was doing.
It never occurred to him, even though he had worked there for years, that there were other entrances to the building than the one that went through the lobby.
&&&&&&&
The old man rubbed his hands together gleefully as Rose sang. Devastation and destruction. Hell on earth. He made a note to track down Lindsey and Rose's brats, afterwards. At last, being able to roam the surface in complete freedom without any exhausting, short-term spells. To be truly free.
He wondered when Corinna would be home.
&&&&&&&
Corinna's eyes had gone ink-black at the sight of Hramass. A quick sniff confirmed that he even smelled like an insect. While she could spin webs, it was not her preferred method of hunting. Given a choice, she would always stalk and capture her prey rather than wait patiently for it to come to her.
Hramaas regarded the creature in front of him and clicked again. He could have sworn it was one of those soft, warm humans. A tasty enough snack, to be sure, but not much of real meal. But this, he'd never seen the like.
So why, never having seen it, did it make him wary? Hramass had hunted many times before, and he suddenly came to the realization that he was being stalked and hunted by what was supposed to be his sacrifice.
Chittering angrily, Hramass decided that the terms for the spell had been abrogated. But he didn't leave. He fully intended to slaughter the creature that thought it could destroy him.
Then, he'd eat whatever and whoever else was in the near vicinity.
&&&&&&&
Spike found his eyes riveted to the horror show, even though most of his concerns were elsewhere. He wouldn't be surprised if his time had come with this one, and he found that his biggest regret was that he would be unable to give his precious kids a cuddle and tell them he loved them one last time. His reverie was broken by a little voice hissing, "Daddy!"
Spike jerked his head around so quickly he heard a joint in his neck pop, painfully.
There, just about ten feet away from him were his kids. With some bloke he didn't know from Adam, but would put money on him being Lindsey McDonald.
More than ever, now, Spike wanted to hold his little ones, but the difficulty lay in the fact that they were on the other side of the only break in the ledge that encircled the lobby. There were no ropes or tools available. No convenient hand or foot holds. Just his kids, only a few feet away, and yet, they might as well have been on the moon.
&&&&&&
In the center arena, as it were, the conflict had begun. Hramaas had made a lightning-fast lunge at Corinna.
And missed. In fact, he nearly went off the edge of their precarious perch.
Before he could recover his equilibrium, Corinna was on his back, sinking her fangs, with difficulty, through his hard exoskeleton.
The demon-lord squealed in pain and tried vainly to dislodge his unwanted rider.
&&&&&&&
Rose finished the incantation, not quite sure what to expect. What she didn't expect was the final note to be followed by a dead silence.
Neither did Santa Claus. His complexion went from pasty white to virulent crimson, to apoplectic purple.
"Impossible!" he burst out. "Hramaas should have come. He should have devoured you by now." His eyes narrowed, and the expression with which he regarded Rose was less than charitable. "How did you corrupt the spell?"
"I didn't." While the old man wasn't the trusting sort, the look of shocked confusion on Rose's face would have told all. She had fully expected to be in the early stages of digestion by now. "I don't understand it." Her eyes suddenly glistened with a flash of insight. Someone must have performed the counter-spell. She looked to her captor (she no longer counted Richard in the equation), and decided that now was not a good time to bring it up.
&&&&&&&&
Lindsey had visually gauged the gap in the ledge and had come to the conclusion that it was hopeless, too, and was about to suggest an alternate route when the twins exchanged a look then turned and favored their father with the same look.
Spike's eyebrows rose, and he gauged not only the length, but the depth of the gap. He shook his head.
Alaric's face set in stubborn lines. "I'm gonna do it," he muttered.
Ariel tugged on Lindsey's hand until he followed her a few feet back along the ledge, then she motioned him to plaster himself against the wall and demonstrated herself.
Alaric came back with them, blew out a breath, and then pelted down the space they'd freed, and Lindsey suddenly realized what was going on.
"Hey, wait!" he shouted after Alaric. But the kid had a vampire's speed, and he was much too late for his warning to do any good.
For a moment, it seemed like Alaric was going to run right off the edge, but at the last possible second, he jumped, almost appearing to fly across the gap.
To smack solidly into his father's arms.
When his son, against orders, undertook to jump the gap, Spike felt his heart go to his throat, gripped in the throes of that damnable helpless feeling again. He was so relieved when he had his boy, safe and sound, that he didn't even bother to chew him out. And he'd conveniently forgotten for a moment that his kids did everything together.
&&&&&&&&
Rose knew it was a long shot, but while the old man fussed and fumed and cursed, she started quietly edging towards the door to the portal. Slow, silent, unobtrusive. One tiny step at a time.
She was just reaching for the door when a hand came down on her wrist, encircling it, trapping it.
"Naughty, naughty, Lily," Richard chided. "Trying to get away from me again. When will you learn? Besides, having a wife like you would pull in more votes than eliminating the national debt." He pulled her close, so he could wrap his free arm around her and hold her tightly.
There was no longer the slightest semblance of anything even remotely sane left in his eyes.
&&&&&&&&
"My turn," said Ariel softly. She looked up at her companion. "Wish me luck, Lindsey?"
"Good luck, princess," Lindsey said obediently. "No hard feelings?"
Ariel shrugged. "Not too much," she replied. "But you might want to leave while you can. Daddy and Uncle Angel are..," She stopped, seemingly searching, and decided there was no better word. "They're pissed."
Lindsey glanced across the gap and found himself looking Angel in the eye. He definitely concurred with Ariel's assessment. Then, something stuck him.
"How did you know that?" he asked. "Did the drug wear off?"
"Oh, ages and ages ago," she assured him. "We've been reinforcing mummy's orders ever since she told you to bring us back home." She smiled up at him and batted her eyes, then took off down the ledge.
At first glance, Ariel's form looked enough like her brother's that there didn't seem to be anything to worry about. Until she had a 'Spike' moment and had to grandstand, wasting too much of her momentum by doing a mid-air flip.
She was never going to make it all the way across. Spike could see that, and was leaning out over the miniature abyss as far as he could, and even farther than he should have been able to since Angel was anchoring him. But he was never going to be able to reach her.
Ariel's trajectory started curving downward, way too soon.
&&&&&&&&&
"My name is Rose," Rose insisted gently, trying and failing, to release herself from him.
"No," Richard insisted stubbornly. "You're my wife, Lily."
"That's right, my boy." Claus stepped in and took Rose's other arm. "And she is a precious girl, too. We must take very good care of her, mustn't we?"
"Sure thing, pop," Richard agreed amiably. He grinned suddenly. "I'll bet you can't wait until we make you a grandpa, can you?"
"Absolutely." The old man nodded, then smiled hugely, his teeth seeming to grow jagged and pointy. "I love little children." He quickly swiped at his mouth with his sleeve before he actually drooled on himself.
Seeing that it would be utterly futile, Rose didn't even try to struggle, but merely allowed them to pull her away from the door.
Richard patted her hand reassuringly. "Everything will be all right, Lily. You'll see."
Rose hoped the rescue team would arrive soon. Or that there even was one.
&&&&&&&
Corinna tossed the now drained corpse of Hramaas off the edge of the platform into the abyss. Still in spider form, she turned and surveyed her surroundings, viewing the destruction of the lobby and the huddled group of people that was her audience.
The little girl falling.
Even for a spider, Corinna was fast. Vampire fast. And at her current inflated size, she was larger than half a dozen men.
Before anyone could blink, before a despairing cry could fall from Spike's lips, she sprang over to the wall above Ariel and snagged the plummeting child with a long, spider-silk sticky leg.
The leg swung slowly over, out of danger, and deposited Ariel in her father's arms. Then, Corinna leapt to an open space behind them all and morphed back into a human woman.
&&&&&&
Lindsey was at a loose end. The advice Ariel had given him about leaving was certainly sound. While he still cherished the notion that he could take Angel if he really wanted to, he knew it wouldn't just be Angel, it would be the whole crew, and he'd be nothing but a memory.
There was also a lot to be said for not going back to his employer. Technically, there was still a need, since he'd been hired as Richard's campaign manager. But then, they'd been distracted by side issues. Of course, Lindsey realized that the show in Wolfram and Hart's main lobby had been the real point of things. And he doubted if either Richard or the old man would welcome him with open arms.
And yet, for some reason, he was overpoweringly curious to see how it all came out. He was loitering in the shadows, wondering how he was going to accomplish it when he turned and bumped into someone.
A small, blue-gray someone.
Lindsey smiled down at the Q'xlzr.
&&&&&&&
Everyone was huddled around Spike and the twins, other concerns temporarily forgotten in seeing that Alaric and Ariel were all right.
Corinna sidled through the press of bodies. "Is the little girl all right?" she asked worriedly. Ariel was gasping for breath. "I'm afraid I didn't have time to catch her gently."
"She's just winded," Gunn assured her. Spike was currently too preoccupied with his children to answer. "She'll be fine."
"Corinna." Angel took hold of her arms and just looked into her eyes for a moment. Then, he kissed her. "Thank you."
She smiled at him and kissed him back, just a quick taste, there was still work to be done. "Don't we need to get..,"
"Mummy back," Ariel finished with her first easy breath.
Lindsey appeared beside the group, Q'xlzr in tow, but trying to be inconspicuous, having re-entered the building from another side. Lindsey's car keys dangled from his fingers.
"Any of you hero types interested in a ride?" he asked, sounding far more casual and relaxed than he felt. "I happen to have an address for the damsel in distress."
&&&&&&
"You really need to fix your make-up, Lily," Richard chided sternly. "It's not that I don't find you beautiful no matter how you look, but there are appearances to be kept up."
"I'm sorry, Richard," Rose murmured soothingly. For some reason, Richard's madness was starting to scare her more than the out and out evil of his father. "I'm afraid I don't have my make-up case with me though."
"Allow me." The old man conjured one out of thin air, enjoying the fear he could feel coming off Rose in waves.
"No more crying in public, either," Richard continued his lecture. "You must present a calm, rational image at all times."
"Certainly, Richard." Rose took the make-up from the old man and glared at him before making repairs to her face. When were they going to rescue her?
&&&&&&&
Only one thing could distract Spike from being concerned for his kids, and Corinna, Ariel and Lindsey had hit on it.
"Rose!" Spike stood, stopping to give each of his offspring one more kiss. "You two stay here with..," He looked at the assembled crew, trying to figure out who was best left behind. "With your Uncle Lorne."
Lorne accepted delivery on the twins with alacrity, but when Spike made as if to leave, Angel grabbed him and spun him around.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Spike?" Angel inquired mildly. He really couldn't blame Spike. The whole situation had been rough on him. "You don't know where you're going, what you're up against, and your only source of information is..," He jerked his head towards Lindsey. "Him."
&&&&&&
Richard had wandered off somewhere, and the old man had allowed it. He didn't seem to think that an insane lawyer running free was any sort of a potential problem.
At the moment, Santa was staring at Rose in a manner that made her profoundly uncomfortable. She was made even more uncomfortable by the thought that something must have gone wrong with the sealing spell for rescue to be such a long time coming. All she had to cling to was the sure knowledge that Spike was still alive, since she was.
And she knew that as long as Spike lived, he'd never stop looking for her.
Never.