WELL THIS CHAPTER SEEMS TO HAVE SOME ANTICIPATION FOR IT. GOOD I WANT IT THAT WAY.THIS CHAPTER HAS LOTS OF, I HOPE, GREAT ACTION AND YES AN ICON OF THE ANGEL SERIES WILL BE GONE AFTER THIS CHAPTER. READ AND REVIEW AS ALWAYS AND THANKS FOR GIVING MY LITTLE FIC THE TIME OF DAY.
TITLE:THE END OF ALL THINGS
AUTHOR: AVES
CHAPTER 19
ROAD TO HELL
The sounds of fighting could be heard at the entrace of the tunnel that led down the mountain to the Hellmouth. Marcus took a moment to take in the sounds then looked back at his team. "We move in, we try to take them by surprise, we try to save my friends if we can, but stopping the opening of the Hellmouth is our main priority. We go now." The group made their way down, through the darkness. They walked silently for about half an hour, no light, no communication until a dim light appeared and the sounds of a fight became deafning. Faith motioned for the group to stop. She kneeled next to Marcus who was near the end of the passageway looking out.
"Do you see anything?" she whispered.
"I see lots of bodies, he replied.
Faith looked over him and was able to see the carnage. Hundreds of demons lay dead, as well as several humans. "Looks like your boys are putting up a good fight."
The warrior grunted in agreement then turned and smiled at her. "Tell the girls to stay put and have their crossbows ready. You and I are going out there. They move when we signal. We're going to give them a huge surprise. He turned away and looked back at the battle his next statement surprised Faith by its dark tone. "They're not going to have to open a Hellmouth to get to Hell, because we're going to send them there."
Fifty out of the two-hundred warrior priests charged with defending the Hellmouth stood in front of the chamber where it was located. Some could barely stand, all were bruised and bloodied. The demons they had been fighting now surrounded them. Their leader stood triumphantly knowing the fight was practically over. "Why don't you just stand aside at let us go to the Hellmouth. We might let you live, I seriously doubt it, but hey at least you'll have some hope."
"We shall never give in to you Angelus," one of the priests vowed.
The vampire mocked surprise, "Wow, you know who I am, I'm honored." Angelus turned his back on the priests and looked up and the creature Hamilton had given him. "Kill them." The creature was about to give the order to attack when a screech of pain echoed in the cavern.
"What the Hell?" Angelus said.
The demon squad turned to the source of the screech and saw two humans, one with a sword and one with a crossbow. "Angelus!" Marcus shouted. "I'm here to kill you."
Buffy thought her group was doing well. That was until The Master and some huge creature she had never seen before joined the battle. She was fighting to get to them in an effort to stop the slaughter they were causing. The unknown creature tore through her slayers. The Master grabbed a girl and broke her neck. He then grabbed another and bit into her.
"Oh no," Buffy breathed.
"What is it?" Connor asked.
"The Master, he's drinking from slayers, it's making him stronger," she replied.
"Well, let's stop him," Connor said as he began his fight toward The Master.
Buffy dodged an attack from a demon, cleaved it in half with her scythe and spun to find herself face to face with The Master who grabbed her weapon and tossed it across the chasm. "Hello Buffy," he growled, "Did you miss me?"
Connor had lost track of Buffy in all the chaos, but had found the creature that had been tearing apart their forces. The thing was ugly as sin, strong. It felt like a brick wall when he hit it, and the youngster had a feeling that he was in trouble when the thing made a laughing noise after he delivered a blow. "Oh crap," Connor said as the creature gave him an uppercut that flipped him over. "Ow," he groaned struggling to pick himself off the ground. He stood and tried another attack only to be grabbed by his throat and slammed to the ground. Connor sprung to his feet again, a familiar rage starting to well up inside him. He picked up his blade and smirked at the creature before howling in rage and leaping back into battle.
Illyria relished every moment of her battle with the strange creature she fought. She landed a spin kick sending the thing to one knee. "Yes creature, bow before Illyria!" Her victorious taunt was cut short by a sharp pain in her gut. She looked down to see that the creature has stabbed her with some sort of weapon that had came from its wrist. It stood up lifting her with it. For the first time in herlife Illyria couldn't speak, she couldn't even move. All she could do was hear the awful laughter of the creature as it slung her around like a ragdoll, and sent her crashing into the ground. The last thing she heard before drifting into blackness was Spike screaming.
"Blue!" Spike screamed at he saw Illyria stabbed and then slammed into the ground. The distraction was all Drusilla needed as Spike now felt a dagger at his throat. "Bye, bye my little Spike." she taunted. "Maybe I'll keep your ashes as a pretty trophy."
Hamilton stood at the front of his squad. His hand held in the air. "Here is how it shall be," he told Giles and Willow. "If you do not bring me the key in thirty seconds I will drop my hand and my friends here will tear this place apart. Any questions?"
"Yeah," a new voice said. Hamilton turned to its source and saw Angel with a group of ten well armed slayers.Angel had a triumphant smile on his face. "How many times do I have to kick your ass before you just go away?"
"Angel," Hamilton hissed. "I'm glad you are here, now I get to finish you myself."
Angel lifted up his blade and assumed a fighting stance, "Shut up and fight."
Marcus tried to hide a smile as Angelus laughed at him. "Oh come on," the vampire taunted. "The battle of the ages and they send a guy with a sword and the B-team Slayer?"
"How do you think we feel?" Marcus replied. "I was hoping to at least rate The Master, but I get his grandsire whose spent most of the last two centuries as a soul-whipped waste."
Angelus' face vamped out, his expression betraying his rage at the warrior's comment. "Oh I am going to rip out your throat for that."
"Talk, talk, talk," Faith taunted. Is that all those fangs are good for now, flapping against your tounge? Have you lost your bite Angie baby?"
The vampire snarled and roared, "Kill them!"
"Now!" Faith screamed as the demon army approached. Dozens of crossbow bolts and arrows flew from the darkness as the other Slayers made their prescence known. Faith dropped her crossbow and ran into the fray with Marcus, their blades ready. The Slayers emerged from hiding joining the battle. Marcus sliced his way through demon after demon fighting his way to the warrior priests who were guarding the Hellmouth with a reknewed intensity. One of the priests had been knocked to the ground and was about to be finished off until his attacker was divided at its torso. The priest saw his savior hold outher hand to him. "Need some help father?"
"Young lady you have no idea what an answered prayer you are," the priest said as he took her hand.
Faith smiled at the priest and twirled her sword. "Glad to be of service Padre, now let's see if we can answer a few more prayers."
The priest picked up a very wicked looking axe and nodded, "Lead the way."
Buffy had to admit she was enjoying her fight with The Master, mostly because she was winning. She allowed herself a smile as she landed another kick to his ugly face. "I bet you thought you were all big and bad coming back from the dead," she said as she punched him in the face. "Well guess what? Been there, done that, and I'm really not impressed with The Master part 2." The Master screamed in rage and leapt at Buffy only to get caught with a kick to his midsection. Buffy pulled out a stake and was ready to deliver a fatal blow. "Any last words ugly?
"Yes," The Master chuckled, "Look to your left."
Buffy barely had enough time to look when she was blasted by two fists from a four armed demon. The Slayer tried to shake the cobwebsout of her head, but instead found herself in the grasp of the ancient vampire. His foul breath sickened her as he whispered in her ear. "I bet you taste even sweeter than the last time I bit you."
His Slayers were dropping like flies. He had no idea if Illyria was alive and his ex-lover had a dagger to his throat. All in all the situation pretty much sucked for Spike. "See all your pretty little girls dying horrible deaths?" Drusilla taunted.
"Kind of reminds me of that time in China," Spike whispered trying to distract her.
"Hmmm yes, good time that was," she moaned as she pressed the dagger tighter against his throat. "It's a shame my Spike can't have that kind of fun anymore." Drusilla smiled and giggled as the creature that had impaled Illyriaapproached them. "There's my pretty, are you ready to finish your job?" The creature's only reply was to turn and walk towards the Hellmouth. "Watch my little pet Spike," she whispered. "He's going to end the world."
The Hyperion had seen its share of battles in the past, however this one was so full of hate and anger that each blow caused the building to shake. Hamilton landed a huge uppercut that snapped Angel's head back. "Bring me the key!" he screamed. Angel responded by a open handed blow to Hamilton's nose followed by a viscious roundhouse kick that spun Hamilton around.
"You want the key," Angel taunted. "You wanted me under the thumb of the Senior Partners, then you wanted me dead. Funny how you never seem to get what you want."
Hamilton snarled in anger and rushed the vampire sending them both crashing into the wall. The whole Hyperion seemed to groan with the impact.
"That did not sound good," Giles thought to himself after stabbing a demon that had tried to attack Willow. Willow was busy trying to coordinate her mental links with the battle groups but the fighting, and the fact the whole building was shaking, was making it impossible. She winced as she saw Angel throw Hamilton through a wall and the building shook again, wood and glass falling all around. Willow looked up and saw the ceiling begin to crack.
"Giles! we have to get out of here!" she screamed right before the entire building collapsed on them.
COMING NEXT CHAPTER
The war rages on, Buffy gets some help from a familiar face, and Hell is unleashed on the earth all this and more in Chapter 20 of THE END OF ALL THINGS: BRUTAL CONFLICTS
