A/N: School is busy. I'm tired. I have writer's block in the sense that I can't express the highly detailed images I have in my head. Bear with me because this is the hardest I've found writing a chapter since my very crappy beginnings. I feel as though I'm on the brink of something with this, though I'm not sure if it's greatness or complete collapse. Let me know. Oh yeah, sorry about how most of the last chapter was incredibly confusing and regurgitated, but it was a little then or constantly 'til the end.
Disclaimer: This chapter scraped past my betas so you can blame them. Unless I got impatient waiting for them to beta it and I posted it anyway, in which case it's probably my bad.
XXX
Tangled webs
Los Angeles
Angel grunted as Cordy dropped him onto the couch in the lobby, running off to get the medical supplies. That fight had not gone as well as one could have hoped. It was a demon he'd never seen before, and whatever it was, it tore through them all like they were nothing. Gunn collapsed onto the couch next to him, groaning at the sudden shock to his wounded leg.
"Well, that was all kinds o' fun," Gunn wheezed, ripping the crossbow bolt from his shoulder, loosely wadding some gauze Cordelia passed him and pressing it against the wound.
"Yeah," Angel gasped painfully.
"Angel, Gunn, you are injured," the Groosalug murmured worriedly entering from the basement, the light sheen of sweat on his forehead suggesting training. His concern became even more obvious when he saw Cordy come in with an armful of bandages. "Princess, are you hurt?"
"No, Groo, honey," Cordy assured him. "I'm fine."
"What happened?" Groo asked, at a loss.
"I had a vision," Cordy told him, examining the horrific wound in Angel's stomach. "We went fighty, but it didn't go so well."
"You can say that again," Gunn muttered, wincing as his pants pulled on the cut in his leg.
"Why did you not wait for me, Princess?" Groo asked, puzzled. "Surely the Groosalug could have helped."
"Uhh-"
"Can I get a hand here?" Fred asked plaintively, cutting off Cordy's reply. She had an unconscious Connor hanging off her back, which Groo quickly helped her with. "Thanks."
The boy was placed on Angel's other side, having been pretty much levelled by the demon, Artulus' last blow. Connor stirred with a groan, cracking open an eyelid.
"What happened?" he asked hoarsely.
Cordy tugged the boy's shirt off and quickly examined the injury while Fred tended to Gunn and Groo watched on helplessly. "Looks like you've got a couple of broken ribs. You'll be okay," she reassured him.
Connor sat up, hissing with pain. "I didn't know I could be broken," he said, stunned awe in his voice as he carefully prodded the bruised, discoloured flesh.
"What was that thing?" Angel asked.
"Whatever it was, it was strong," Gunn groaned as Fred cleaned the gash in his thigh.
"Wes would probably kno-" Fred cut herself short, as both Angel and Gunn stiffened at the mention of the former Watcher.
"Whatever it was, I'm going to kill it," Connor growled.
"You're right," Angel agreed. "As soon as we heal, we'll hit the books and-"
"No," Connor barked. "I'm going to kill it now."
Angel sat up completely, ignoring the pain, and stared at his son incredulously. "Look, Connor, you can't be serious. That thing just took us all out like we were kids and you can't-"
"My name is Steven," Connor spat. "And that demon killed my father!"
"We will kill him, Connor," Angel assured him. "When the time is right."
"Steven! And I'll kill him now."
With that, Connor lunged to his feet and began to totter towards the door. Cordelia barred his way and knocked him onto the floor with a light tap on the chest.
"Listen, Con- Steven," she corrected herself at his dark glare. "If I can do that then chasing after this demon is just going to get you killed. Then Holtz won't get avenged." The seer paused, watching her words penetrate the stubborn resolve. "We will get him, Steven. Trust me."
The young man allowed the seer to seat him opposite his father as Lorne walked down the stairs.
"What's with all the hubbub?"
XXX
Sunnydale
Dawn glared sullenly at the studious pair, her eyes narrowing dangerously when she noticed them both adjust their glasses in the same way at the same time. They were doing quote unquote homework. Yeah, as if two of the smartest kids on Sunnydale High needed to do a group study. For English. Will was English! He knew words that only Giles and Willow knew! He didn't need study!
"Don't you have that same assignment?" Giles asked Dawn quietly as he re-shelved some books.
"Yeah," she mumbled.
"Then wouldn't it make sense if you were over there, too?" he asked wryly. Both Dawn and Anya looked at him incredulously.
"She can't do that," Anya announced, scanning the shelves. "She has a crush on Will and he's been spending all his time with his pretty little friend there."
"I do not!" Dawn hissed under her breath.
Giles looked confused. "What makes you say that?"
"Lot's of things," Anya said airily. "She makes orgasm eyes at him all the time and never stops glaring at Beth." Anya casually selected a book from the third shelf. "Plus, she's started wearing make-up and perfume."
"I so do not!" Dawn exclaimed, unable to get past the idea that they thought she had a crush on Will.
"I hardly think that a teenage girl wearing make-up a-and perfume constitutes a crush," Giles said quietly, polishing his glasses thoughtfully. Anya rolled her eyes as she walked back to the counter.
"She's not that pretty," Dawn muttered sullenly, glaring at Beth again. Giles raised his eyebrows at the Key pointedly. "Fine!"
Grumbling and muttering dire threats on Giles' person, Dawn rose and reluctantly walked over to the studious pair, standing behind William awkwardly for a minute before he noticed her presence.
"Would you like to study with us?" Beth asked after it became apparent that Will was just going to blink.
"If you don't mind," Dawn said stiffly, looking at Giles out the corner of her eye.
"Great," Will said with a smile, shifting the books so Dawn could see as well.
She gave him a warm smile that turned frosty as she faced Beth, who seemed cheerfully oblivious to Dawn's cold attitude, quickly explaining what they'd done so far and what they had left to do. Despite herself, Dawn found herself starting to like Beth. It was so very hard to hate someone so shy but nice. It was like hating Xander or Willow.
Which was another thing. Dawn hadn't seen Tara or Willow around lately. She hoped they were okay, because things between them had been tense recently. She absently chewed on the end of a pencil while Will and Beth continued to work on the project.
"Dawn?" Beth's voice broke into her haze. "Would you like to start on these books?"
Dawn looked at the few books being handed to her, then at the large pile in between her and Will, then smiled half-heartedly. "Not really," she said coolly.
"That's okay," Beth laughed. "I know what it's like when you have one of those days. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it."
Dawn stared at Beth with something akin to horror in her eyes. How could anyone be that cheerful when they weren't on drugs? Oh1 Maybe she was on drugs! Or- or a demon! She could be a demon!
Buffy and Spike burst into the shop, both breathless with laughter. "-and then… and then the demon grabbed you by the neck and threw you into the crypt," Buffy managed to spit out before the pair collapsed into gales of laughter again. Laughter which petered out when they noticed a wide eyed Beth staring at them from behind her over-large glasses.
"Demon?" she asked weakly.
"I meant… puppy!" Buffy blurted.
"That threw your boyfriend into a… crypt?"
"It was a big puppy. With a grudge. At the cemetery."
Beth and Buffy stared at one another for a tense minute. "Okay."
Buffy and Spike let out a big sigh and gracefully left the room, probably heading off to quote unquote train. Silence reigned in the main part of the shop for a minute before everyone uneasily recommenced their tasks. After a short while Beth surreptitiously leaned towards Dawn.
"You do know that your sister is a little bit… odd, don't you?" she asked cautiously.
Dawn let out a long-suffering sigh. "You have no idea."
XXX
"Nimrod!" Warren screamed at the top of his lungs for the fifteenth time. Jonathan quivered with rage beside him.
"Geez, what?" Andrew asked coming down the stairs in a pink fluffy bathrobe.
"What the hell did you do wi- is that my mom's bathrobe?" Warren asked, noticing the pink robe.
Andrew looked down defensively. "Mine's still in the laundry. Why did you guys call me?"
"All the shower footage is of Spike!" Jonathan exploded, waving his arms wildly for emphasis.
"W-what do you mean?" Andrew asked nervously, looking anywhere but at his friends.
"Thirty nine collective hours of shower footage and all of it Spike! There are three women who live in that household and no men, and all the footage you filmed was of Spike!" Warren barked.
"No, it wasn't!" Andrew said, developing some spine.
"It wasn't?" Jonathan asked hopefully.
"Umm, no," Andrew hedged.
"Where's the rest, then?" Warren asked, irritated, his fingers poised over the keyboard.
"Umm, go favourites, then Andrew, then super hyper secret, then star trek, then star wars, then mega hyper cool:" Andrew nervously listed the file pathway.
There was a single movie file in the well hidden file. Double clicking, the three boys were treated to an image of the foggy bathroom. Someone was having a very hot shower. Suddenly, there was a shrill, girlish scream and the pitter patter of water ceased. A wet, naked Xander Harris stepped out of the shower at the same time a half-naked Spike entered the bathroom. The pair on screen froze, looking at each other before Spike started to laugh uproariously as Xander shoved him out of the bathroom.
"The hot water ran out!" Xander screamed out the door before the footage ended.
Warren and Jonathan both twitched for a second before turning slowly to see Andrew staring at the screen with a glazed expression on his face. With a scream, the pair jumped on the robed boy.
XXX
Los Angeles
Wesley pulled the TV dinner out of the microwave and turned to find Lilah standing in his living room.
"Lilah," Wesley acknowledged before ignoring her completely and seating himself at his table.
"Wow, and I thought your life was pathetic before," Lilah mocked. Wesley continued to eat in silence. "What, you're not going to ask why I'm here?"
"No," Wesley said without facing her. "I don't particularly care, you see."
"All this attitude," Lilah mused. "And to think, I'm here to do you a favour."
"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Wesley asked rhetorically.
"What, you think I came here to make fun of you?" Lilah paused. "Well, only to make fun of you?"
Wesley stood over Lilah and glared at her, his eyes flashing dangerously. "What I think, Lilah, is that your employers would never allow you to do something that doesn't benefit them and I have no interest in being their puppet."
"You're just all kinds of sexy when you're dark, aren't you?" Lilah breathed before tossing a dossier on the table, beside his TV dinner. "I'm just the messenger. Wolfram & Hart want you to have this information."
"And what, pray tell, am I supposed to do with it?" Wesley asked acerbically.
"That's up to you," Lilah told him as she walked out of his apartment. "It's that pesky free will thing again."
XXX
Unknown
Artulus' rumble echoed through the sewer system but the three black-robed figures remained unmoved. The amorphous figure in front of them shifted into a new form, scruffy, poorly dressed, dark-haired.
"And what exac'ly happened when you went up against the Destroyer?" he asked in an Irish accent.
"He was nothing more than a toy. I broke him as though he were nothing."
"Be he isn't dead, now, is he?" the man asked tauntingly. Artulus roared in rage and his right claw punctured the left robed figure's skull before flinging him down the tunnel like a rag doll tossed away by an angry toddler.
"No, I was thwarted by a pitiful Champion," Artulus explained. "He and his companions made me bleed. The spell was not safe to perform."
"So how will you finish the ritual?" the figure asked, genuinely curious.
"I have no fears," Artulus rumbled slyly. "He is little more than a boy. His emotions rule him."
"And how will that help you?"
Artulus smiled, a horrible sight, his short, pointed yellow teeth dripping with saliva. "I killed his father."
XXX
A/N: Okay, this is the first I've done in a while. I'm messing around with some stuff, my updates should probably become more frequent in future. I'm not sure how well this has been recieved by you, my adoring public, so I humbly beg a review. Oh yeah, also keep an eye out for my upcoming stuff: a Drusilla (possibly) one-shot and, in the distant future, an all-human challenge response. REVIEW!
