Chapter 8

Jillian tapped her foot as she waited for Alexa to show up. She looked up, raising an eyebrow as a motorcycle roared up to the curb, stopping with a jerk. "Showing off your driving skills again, Alexa?"

Alexa shrugged as she pulled off the helmet. "So I'm a bit rusty. I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Apparently." Jillian shook her head, a rueful smile on her face. "You know, there's no way for me and Wesley to find the others in the sewers, not before sunset, at any rate. At which point it would be rather useless, because they'll be hightailing it out of the city to wherever they are headed."

Alexa grimaced. "That's just lovely." She twisted her head over her shoulder to look at Katie. "Katie, why don't you go with Jillian back to the hotel?"

"Are you going back out to help Liam?" Katie's voice was calmer than it had been earlier, and Jillian wondered if Alexa hadn't managed to give the demon back some measure of control.

There was a pause. "Of course, Katie. Someone has to tell him what Wesley found out."

"Then I'm going with you." She paused, raising an eyebrow when Alexa continued to stare at her. "Well? We don't have too long before the sun sets, and we have to get to Liam before he gets to MacInnis."

Jillian almost stopped breathing, knowing that Katie had never mentioned the name of the demon they were trying to get a hold of.

"I see." Alexa's voice was carefully guarded. "I'll see what I can do. We can only go so fast before I get to a point where I can't reliably handle the motorcycle."

"Then the sooner we go, the sooner we can be there, and the more likely we are to catch up with them." Katie settled herself for the ride, her arms around Alexa's waist.

Alexa shared a brief look with Jillian before gunning the engine again, muttering something about hoping there was enough fuel in the motorcycle to get them back to the house.

"There ought to be. It's been modified, and it's more fuel efficient than a stock motorcycle." That statement nearly made Jillian and Alexa both yelp, the two women sharing another look before Alexa headed out again. Jillian hoped that she came back in one piece. The demon was regaining control, and that couldn't be a good thing.

"I'll take the front door." Spike was crouched near the top of the ridge, looking at the guards below. It was quiet, and he didn't like the sense that something wasn't quite right. Or the itch between his shoulderblades like someone had a crossbow aimed at him.

Angelus slipped around the back, watching, waiting. He didn't like the setup. Something wasn't right.

The demons at the back door were talking, their voices carrying on the still air. "We were promised someone would be showing up to try and rescue the demon caller. And we'd get a fight."

"But no one's come." There was a snort. "If it weren't that MacIntyre pays well, I'd leave now, and forget the whole thing. No one's coming."

Angelus grinned to himself as he casually sauntered down the path, whistling, his hands tucked in the pocket of his trousers. "Evening gents," he calmly greeted as he motioned to the house. "This place wouldn't happen to be for sale would it?"

One of the demons leaned back in his chair, giving Angel a speculative look. "Now what would give you that impression?"

Angelus shrugged. "Oh, the location, the great view..." His face vamped. "The fact that there will be a passel of dead demons on the back porch in five minutes."

The demon stood, cracking his knuckles as a smile spread across his face, showing off a set of sharp teeth. "Well, what do you know? MacIntyre wasn't lying after all." He paused, chuckling nastily. "What's your name, vampire?"

"Angelus." He swung his left hand and sent the demon flying over the bluff, chuckling as he picked up the sound of the man's bones breaking as he fell. "Next!"

The other two snarled, and moved in unison, apparently used to working as a team, attacking Angelus from either side. The sounds of a commotion came from the front, and the scream of a human in pain.

Angelus grinned. "My protege. Blonde. Nasty attitude. Earned the name William the Bloody before the two of you were ever hatched." He kicked out at the one to his left as the other grabbed him around the neck.

The demons said nothing, the one grunting as the kick connected with his ribs. The one with an arm around Angelus's neck tightened his grip as the other pulled a sharpened stake from his boot, waiting for a clear shot.

"Not in this lifetime," Angelus growled. He kicked up with both feet, catching the stake between them and yanking from the demons hands.

The demon who'd been thrown over the bluff came crawling up the slope, a trank gun in one hand. Steadying it, he aimed it at Angelus, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Angelus kicked out again, the demon that had been holding the stake flying backwards into the trank gunner. The weapon discharged and Angelus dropped to his knees, flipping the other demon over his head and back and into the growing pile. They tumbled over the bluff, landing in the water and dissolving instantly. "Interesting. I'll have to ask Wes what those were."

Spike twisted out of the way of a bolt shot by one of the perimeter guards. "That," he snarled, "was a mistake." He threw the half-drained guard he'd been using as a shield at the other, sending them both rolling towards the half-circle driveway. He turned, ramming the door, and crashing through it. It hadn't been locked, and he blinked as he came through. There was a reason it'd been unlocked.

He dove back out the door, yelping as a tongue of flame from a flame thrower nearly singed his heels. Spike pelted around to the other side of the house. "Going in the front door is a bad idea. I don't fancy becoming a pile of ash."

Angelus looked at him. "Neither do I." He pointed to the back door. "Shall we?"

Spike nodded, kicking the door in. There was an empty kitchen before them, though it didn't stay that way long. A demon came through the only door that led into the house, grinning in anticipation of a fight.