"Aaaaaaahhhrrrgg!!!!" Angel screamed out as that little twerp The Anointed One slowly dipped him in a pool of Holly Water.
No damage was visible on Angel's skin. Yet the pain was indescribable. This was his punishment for trying to escape. Fifty years ago, he had tried to escape. But after killing countless small and many human sized devils (even a few larger ones), he was finally overpowered by the ruler of the eight level of hell. The Malebolgia.
He had been given a choice. Either he could agree to become a general in Malebolgia's army, in the last war between the powers of heaven and hell, to become a hell-spawn. Or he would suffer eternal punishment for trying to escape hell.
All Angel needed to do was to remember all the heinous acts that Angelus had done to Buffy and her friends. And he knew that he deserved to be in hell. He had told Malebolgia to go kiss his own ass, but every now and then Malebolgia came back with his offer. He seemed quite eager to have Angel in his army.
And Angel knew why. As a vampire, Angel had entered a new phase. He had now the powers of a master vampire, and a very powerful one at that. If he had had this kind of power around the time of The Harvest, Buffy wouldn't have needed to get involved. She wouldn't have had to die. Now, he probably was more powerful than The Master. Adding to that, Malebolgia had always admired the cruelty of Angelus. And In the last years the demon lord's ways of persuasions had become more and more brutal. Until now, even Angel couldn't take it anymore. He knew that if he didn't get away soon, he would give in to Malebolgias demands. He had to try to escape again, consequences be damned.
As he was totally submerged in holly water, he reached inside and drew out every bit of power he had. Mentally blocking out the pain, he opened his mouth and filled his lungs with water. And as he surfaced again, he spewed all of it over The Anointed One. As that rotten bastard screamed in pain, Angel let out a loud roar as he broke the chains with witch he was bound. With a simple manipulation of gravity, he floated over the pool. He landed softly in front of The Anointed One, tearing of his head before he grabbed a sword from one of the guarding demons.
Angel knew it. This time it was all or nothing. As hordes of minor and not-so-minor demons came against him, he swung the sword with deadly precision, moving with a powerful grace that far preceded his attackers. But still they were too many. As he practically walked through a giant chaos demon, he could sense what he had feared. Behind him, two of the most powerful Hell-spawns were approaching. Against one of them he could manage. But two was beyond even his limit.
Suddenly he heard a scream and turned around, just in time to see one spawn fall to the ground headless. And a shadowy creature was standing where the demon had once stood. The woman was cutting down minor demons as if they were grass. And for a moment he thought it was Buffy, and his heart cried for her. But then he saw that this woman was higher, and had a different fighting style, more like Kendra. But it definitely wasn't her, he heard as she shouted out in pure Irish brogue.
"Listen Leviathan, Baal, Lucifer, Malebolgia, and every other devil. I am the twice gifted. I am the voice of vengeance. Vengeance is mine. I have come for the one called Angelus ORourke of the Clan Rialle. This man does not belong in hell. I have come to bring him back to earth. Death will meet everyone that tries to stop me, because I am a warrior of the light, a servant of The Powers That Be, and knower of the Valheru magic. Fear me. I am evils death."
She punctuated her words by cutting down the other hell-spawn. Then she walked over to Angel.
"So Angel. Do you want to leave hell?" she said in a voice that seemed familiar. But still he couldn't figure out who she was. He just had the feeling he should know.
"Yeah, lets go," he said. And as one they started to chant, she in ancient Romanic, and Angel in Ancient Gaelic.
They moved side-by-side like fine-tuned war machines. Fighting themselves down the levels of hell, until they were at the first level. There they met a monster Angel recognised as the guardian of the Hellmouth.
"I am sending you back through the Hellmouth," she said. "Buffy and her friends need your help. All sorts of nasties are probably overrunning the town, since Buffy is still recovering from a rather deadly injury. And know this: your soul can never be taken away from you. Not by any means. So you can freely use your powers without fearing to loose control over the demon. We of the gypsy clan Calderash wanted to give you back your life too. But your demon is too powerful."
Then she started chanting. And as he understood what she was doing, he chanted with her. Together they opened the Hellmouth.
"Now go through it," she said. "And don't worry about the Hellmouth. I will close it behind you." He nodded and stepped into the opening. "Thank you," he said to the shadow person, before he stepped into the library. And as he left Hell and didn't have to fight anymore, he could again feel the full weight of Angelus's evil doings on his shoulders.
"God Damn it! Don't you fangboys ever quit." Xander lay sprawled on the ground, after a particularly nasty backhand from a former rugby player. Xander shook his head and stumbled to his feet.
"I don't know how many times you guys have knocked me flat on the ground tonight. And quite frankly, I'm beginning to get bored by it."
Xander gathered what little strength he had left, and performed a roundhouse kick he wouldn't have had a chance at in top condition a few weeks ago.
The result was the vampire staggering backwards and straight onto Willows stake. With a puff, he disintegrated. "Yay!! That was my tenth vampire tonight," Xander said and tried to do the snoopy dance.
But due to a sudden dizzy spell he had to sit down on the nearest gravestone. "Ouch! My head!" He said and rubbed a beginning bump. "Anyone seen Buffy," he asked and looked around. Willow, Oz, and Cordelia were all sitting on gravestones as well, looking dead tired.
"No." Willow shook her head, and had to throw herself to the ground in order to avoid being hit, as Buffy came flying out of the shadows. With the body control that was the trademark of the Slayer, she rolled around in the air and landed on her feet like a cat.
Chasing her was the hugest vampire they had ever seen. And, as they soon noticed, one that was damn good in Martial Arts. He released a series of punches of witch the Slayer only blocked half of.
"Is that the best you can do," she said, and stepped aside from a kick to the stomach. Quickly she grabbed his foot. And threw him against the nearest gravestone, with such force it broke.
Unbelievably quickly he was back on his feet. "Puny mortal. No one throws Castor around like a rag doll unpunished. You don't know who you are dealing with, or else you would just gracefully lay down and wait for your death."
"Nah! Don't think so. On second thought, I'm certain I would never go gently into the night. I will always rage and rage against the dying of the light," Buffy smirked as she delivered a vicious kick to his groin.
He let out a low growl, and kicked her in the stomach. "Puny mortal, have you ever heard of The Three?"
"Actually I have," Buffy said as she ducked an uppercut that would have hit her in the right temple. "They were just a bunch of wuzzies, that didn't dare to fight alone. They were totally dependant on the strength of the other two. What about them?"
She jumped into tiger position and came crashing down on the foot that was meant to sweep her to the ground. She could hear the snapping of bone. But still he stood seemingly rock steady on the ground.
"I was their teacher," he growled and attacked in a flurry of motion.
Buffy had to use all she had of strength and experience just to keep him at bay. She saw Xander move up behind Castor. "No, Xander let me try to take him down," she said. Hesitantly he did as she asked and sat down on a gravestone again. But she could see he was ready to attack at any moment if he decided that she was loosing. And she couldn't but admire his courage. There he sat and it hit her how handsome he was. Why hadn't she noticed that before?
Her moment of distraction cost her a flying trip over the heads of her friends. She landed on her hands and flipped back on her feet. Just in time to block a kick to her kidneys. The battle raged for several minutes. And she felt like she was slowly loosing. He was fighting like a well-oiled machine. And she knew without a doubt that this vampire was a far better fighter than any vampire she had met so far, except The Master and Angelus.
But in size he was their superior. He had to be about 2,10 meters high. And he probably weighed around 140 kilos. All muscles. And what was her puny 1,55 and fifty kilos compared to that? Slayer strength or not, she was doomed.
She was about to call for help, when she came to think of her fight with Kendra, and her words to her afterwards. She remembered something Giles once told her.
"When fighting a superior enemy, do the unexpected."
"You are quite good," she said. "But you are no match for me." Using her greater speed, she started to whirl in front of him. Using different martial arts, all the time. Using no pattern. Just acting on sheer instinct and idea.
Suddenly she bent into a classic boxing stance as she started whistling the theme from Rocky. And as she saw him adapt to her new fighting technique, she attacked in a chaotic mix of Karate, Jiu Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, Judo, Dim mak, and any other Martial Art technique she could think of. And just to throw him even more of, she threw in some pinching, scratching and hair pulling too. And she could see his confusion grow. With a swift movement she slammed her hands to his ears. Exploding his eardrums, and then she kicked him of all might in the groin, before she danced around him and sent him to the ground with a well aimed roundhouse kick to the back of his head. As he jumped to his feet, she let out a cynical laugh.
"Now its my turn to brag. I have killed far greater demons than you. I killed The Master. Well, he killed me first but that didn't stop me. You see. I'm the fucking energizer bunny. I just keep coming back. To get on with my bragging," she said as she punched him straight to the solar plexus with such force that he flew a couple of meters down the graveyard. "I killed Lothos when I was fifteen. I killed Kaikistos. I killed Baltazar, I defeated Der Kinderstot. I killed a Bezoar. I took down the Sisterhood of the Apocalypse. I have killed several Tarakans. Not to mention defeating Angelus and Achatla at the same time. Need I go on?"
She looked into his eyes, and saw the uncertainty grow in them. And just to confuse him even more, she started reciting the words of the soul-restoring spell. She saw the panic take him. His movements started to get sloppy and hasty. That was all she needed. She gathered all she had left of strength, and broke his neck with a roundhouse kick. Before he even hit the ground, his heart had an appointment with the sharp end of a wooden stake. As the dust settled she fell to the ground totally exhausted.
With a loud groan of pain she stumbled to her feet and went over to her friends. "That's it! I quit for tonight. I feel like I have been driven over by a Monster Truck. But guess what guys. I'm finally back to full strength."
"Yeah! You were fantastic," Xander said and steadied her as they walked towards the school library.
Back at the library they told Giles about the patrol. Xander had killed ten vampires. That is, the last one with help from Willow. Willow her self had killed five vampires. Oz seven. Cordelia five, and Buffy twenty. That brought the evenings catch up to a grand total of forty-seven.
As they started to see to their cuts and bruises, Buffy told about Castor. When Giles heard the name, he went visibly paler.
"Buffy. Are you sure that it was Castor he called himself."
"Yeah," she nodded. "Why? Giles, I don't like the expression on your face. What's wrong?"
Giles started cleaning his glasses as he sat down in front of her. "Its just that Castor has a reputation as the greatest Slayer-killer of all time. We have successfully linked him to the murder of twenty-five slayers, over a span of seven hundred years. So if you really did defeat him, it would really be quite a nice… ahum, feather in the hat so to speak."
"Well, what can I say Giles. I'm a sucker for feathers. Do you think maybe the Watchers Council will send me a letter of congratulations? Nah! They would probably just hit me on the head with the Slayers handbook, and point out everything I did wrong."
"Well," Giles said looking at his protégé. "As far as I am concerned, you did more than well."
"I did?"
Buffy was practically beaming with joy. "Woah! I definitely need to remember this day, the day when my Watcher actually was impressed by my achievements. It has to be the first time in the whole Slayer/Watcher co-work history. A pleased Watcher! Woah! I think I need to sit down. The ground is starting to shake under me."
"Ahem, Buffy!" Willow suddenly sounded very afraid. "Buffy! The ground is actually shaking."
"Oh no," Xander said as he pointed towards the point where the Hellmouth was.
A huge poison-yellow cloud was welling up. And with the sound of a thousand winds and demons screaming, the Hellmouth started to open. With a loud crack the floor was blown to bits. Flying everywhere, as the sulphur smelling cloud spread throughout the entire library. A dark shadow appeared at the centre of it. And as the cloud slowly vanished, they recognised the person with fear. Angelus was back. Surrounded bye an aura of power, he stood there as the very image of The Dark Lord himself.
That was, until he raised his head towards the heavens. And with tightly shut eyes screamed with all the pain in the world. As the Hellmouth closed behind him, he fell to his knees. Crying out in such pain that even Xander had no doubt that it was real.
"Angel, is it you?" Buffy was the first one to speak. Nearly a minute passed and Buffy was about to ask again.
"Yes it is," he finally answered with a rusty voice. As if he wasn't used to speak. "Yes, it is me."
He didn't get to say more because Buffy ran to him, and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, and whispered in her ear.
"For what its worth. I'm sorry. I'm oh so sorry. I should have known. I should have translated the curse a long time ago. But before you came into my life, all I had was pain and nightmares of my past crimes. It didn't occur to me that those bloody gypsies would have a way to increase my suffering even more. I thought that all that could be done to me, had been done. And I truly believed that I deserved whatever came my way. I didn't think that anyone with the power to stop Angelus, in their right mind would give him a way to come back and hurt more people. I'm so sorry."
"Shhhh," she said. Wiping away his bloodstained tears. "It wasn't you. Remember, You are Angel. A totally different entity than the demon Angelus."
"You are right," he sobbed. "I know you are right. But I just can't stop feeling guilty."
Then he walked over to the others. Telling each and everyone how sorry he was. As Xander raised his hand, Angel prepared him self for the blow. But instead Xander took a firm grip of his shoulder.
"Don't think of it. Even stubborn silly me has seen the difference between you and Angelus. There is nothing to forgive. Not even for not knowing that the curse could be broken. The gypsies went far over the line with that one. So therefore I promise you: no more Deadboy." Then he smiled evilly. "But I may start calling you Broodboy, until you get over your guilt trip."
Willow and Cordelia were just as forgiving. Even Giles seemed to have forgiven him, although he seemed to be uncomfortable around him. No wonder, Angel thought, as the memories of Jenny's murder went like a burning arrow through his mind. He closed his eyes and forced the memories as far away as he could. As he opened them again, he for the first time noticed how dishevelled they looked.
"My God, what happened?! Who did this to you?" he asked as he looked at each and everyone of them.
"Well, we went patrolling," Willow said. "We were just tending to our injuries after a successful patrol, as you came back through the Hellmouth."
"Yeah, we got forty-seven members of the fang-gang tonight," Xander smirked.
"Forty seven!" Angel said in awe. Then he got worried. "That means the town is virtually overtaken by vampires. Something big is up." He zoomed out as he remembered something his saviour said. "Or," he stated. "The Slayer has been out of action for a long time. Now, tell me everything, and I will help to clean out the town. My powers are far greater now than they were before. I am now probably the most powerful vampire in the world. Even stronger than The Master was."
"You have to be, to be able to come back through The Hellmouth." Giles stated awe-stricken.
"Oh that," Angel said. "I didn't do that alone. My saviour did most of that, I never saw her as anything other than a shadow. But her voice sounded familiar. I just can't figure out who it was. The only thing I know is that she is of the gypsy clan Calderash. Well, anyway, we opened the Hellmouth together. Now please give me the rundown on the situation here. The sooner I get out on the streets of Sunnydale, the better."
End of chapter six