WOW HERE WE ARE ANOTHER CHAPTER. WE'RE GETTING NEAR THE END MY FRIENDS. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS AND PLEASE R & R, TELL YOUR FRIENDS, AND ENJOY.
TITLE: THE END OF ALL THINGS
AUTHOR: AVES
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN, I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL A GOOD STORY.
CHAPTER 24
NIGHTMARES
Spike was starting to see stars from Drusilla banging his head against the wall. "Bang Spikey's head," she sang over and over again. She stopped after thirty and pulled his head back by his hair and whispered in his ear. "You always did have a hard head. I want to crack it open." Spike closed his eyes and went limp pretending to have passed out. "Oh no Spike, don't go away yet. Mommy has much more nasty things she wants to do to you. Spike?" The female vamp turned him around to face her. "Do I have to kiss my prince to wake him up?" Drusilla leaned in closer to him. "Spikey?" The blonde vampire opened his eyes and slammed his forehead in Drusilla's nose. The female vamp let him go and stumbled backwards.
"I guess I do have a hard head." Spike quipped.
"Naughty boy!" Drusilla screamed while holding her nose. "Mommy is going to spank you for that!"
"Were you always this sodding annoying?" Spike replied as he rolled his eyes at her. "I mean you always got on my nerves a bit, but now you're like nails on a bloody chalkboard. Drusilla screeched like a banshee and lunged at him. Spike sidestepped her and landed an uppercut that literally flipped her over. Drusilla quickly recovered and slashed her nails across his face. Spike yelled in pain as his blood was drawn. He faced Drusilla who was licking his blood off her fingers.
"Oh Spike, I had forgotten how good you taste."
Spike made a disgusted face. "You're more nuts than ever." Drusilla ran at him again her hands slashing at his face again. Spike blocked her attempts and delivered a backhand blow to her face. Drusilla spun around and grabbed him. Her momentum caused them both to fall on the ground with Drusilla landing on top of her childe. Drusilla smiled evily and then surprised Spike by kissing him. She broke the kiss and then licked her lips.
"Now tell Mommy you're sorry for hitting her." she said as she held her nails to Spike's throat. The younger vampire swallowed hard as he replied.
"I'm sorry," he said as activated the stake that was on the springloaded device attached to his arm. The female vampire realized a second too late what had happened and she screamed his name as she faded into dust. Spike laid there a moment before getting up. He dusted himself off, reloaded his stake device, and walked toward the tunnels to rejoin the battle. He turned back to where Drusilla's ashes were lying. "Good-bye Dru."
"Any ideas as to a plan?" Angel asked Marcus as the demon army started to approach them.
"We fight?" Marcus offered.
"Where have I heard that before?" Angel responded with a slight smile. The three champions ran to meet their opponents when a stream of blue electricityspread across the entire demon army vaporizing the entire force. The Senior Partners roared in anger at the sight. The blue energy finished off the demon army and then came together to form a female figure.
"Illyria?" Angel asked in disbelief. The former god-king stood between the champions and the Senior Partners. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart were all three livid.
"How dare you interfere in our affairs old one!"
"How dare you claim a world that is not yours to own!" Illyria responded. "You posture and preen like you are the gods of this world when all you are simply parasites that feeds on the fear and hate that humanity stinks of."
"You are nothing!" the Senior Partners screamed and lashed out at Illyria with torrents of flame from each of their mouths. The flames engulfed Illyria but she was unharmed.
"You can not harm me!" she said. "I am now a part of your temple. The only way to destroy me is to destroy it, and I doubt you will do that." Illyria ignored the enraged roar of the Senior Partners and turned to Angel. "This is your fight vampire. I shall try to stop the energy from the Hellmouth. You destroy these, these things."
"Be careful," Angel said.
The former god-king gave him a slight smile and vanished again. Angel turned to his companions. "Let's finish this." The three champions approached their opponents and the Senior Partners all let out a sinister hiss.
"You have no idea of our power," they all said at once.
"Why don't you shut up and show us?" Angel replied.
"As you wish," the creatures replied and raised thier hands releasing a wave of black energy that hit all three of the champions at once sending them each into darkness.
The stone hard fist that hit Buffy's jaw belonged to a ten foot tall monster that she was not having very much luck in fighting. It felt like concrete when she hit it. She attempted a spin kick but it caught her foot and slammed her into the ground, and then picked her up and did it again.
"Buffy!" Willow screamed and tried to help her friend by releasing a ball of flame at the creature. The fireball hit the demon but all it did was barely get the monster's attention. It turned around and snarled at Willow.
"Oh no," she sighed as it rared back its hand and slapped her. She was able to raise a magic field to protect her but the blow still sent her flying. Satisfied it had taken care of the new attacker the demon turned its attention back to Buffy who was still in its clutches. The demon held her up in mid-air and was about to pull her until she tore apart when it felt something slam into its back. The monster dropped its intended victim and turned to see a new opponent. It was slightly bigger than the human it had been facing and the monster recognized it as a vampire.
"Afraid I can't let you kill the girl," it said.
"Spike!" Buffy yelled. "Be careful I couldn't even dent it."
Spike smiled at the slayer. "No worries love, I got it covered." The cocky vampire rushed the creature and was met with a fist to his gut. Spike groaned in pain but quickly recovered. He threw quick punch to the thing's face and while it didn't really hurt the creature it did enrage it. The monster tried to pound Spike but the vampire was dodging each of its clumsy attacks with ease. Buffy scooted away from the creature and made her way to Willow's side.
"Will? Will, wake up." she pleaded.
Willow slowly raised her head and Buffy noticed the Wiccan's eyes were almost totally black. "I am really getting sick of being punched, stabbed, and pounded." she said as she lifted her hand towards the demon. The creature stopped attacking Spike and screamed right before it blew apart from the inside. The stunned vampire looked at Buffy and Willow.
"Well, all right then, remind me never to piss you off red."
Buffy helped Willow up and then ran to Spike's side. "Spike, where's Connor? Did you find Angel and Marcus?"
Spike shook his head and looked at the black temple. "They're all in there, trying to save the bloody lot of us."
Angel couldn't see a thing, even with his vampire enhanced vision all he could see was black. "Marcus, Connor?"
"You have no friends here vampire." he heard a voice say. He turned to the source of the sound and saw a man dressed in clothes fit for the seventeen hundreds.
"Who are you?" Angel asked.
"You mean you don't recognize us?" another voice said as a girl in more modern clothes appeared. "I would not thing it would be so easy to forget the faces of those you murdered."
Angel turned slowly in a circle to find himself surrounded by hundreds of people. Men, women, and children of various shapes, sizes, and time periods. "Who are you?" Angel asked again his tone more fearful.
"You know who we are," a young girl with an Irish accent said.
"Yes," another Irish voice chimed in, this one male and older. "You must remember us Liam, my son. Angel's eyes became wide as he saw the man's face. "Father?" The man smiled evily.
"Afraid so my boy, we are your victims and now its time for some payback. Welcome to your personal hell boyo, try to get comfortable because you aren't leaving."
Marcus had no clue where had been sent to. The place seemed nice enough. He was in the mountains, the weather was nice, but something about the place seemed familiar, and not in a good way. His sensitive hearing caught sounds coming from a cave nearby. The warrior decided to investigate and entered the cave's small entrance. Voices caught his attention and he found a hiding space. He peered out of the darkness and saw a group of demons surrounding ten priests and a dark haired woman.
"Where is the child?" the leader of the demons asked the woman.
"I'll never tell you. You'll never do to him what you did to our other son."
The demon smiled and looked down at the child that was standing next to him. "Our other son isperfectly happy aren't you Hamilton?" Marcus looked at the young boy standing next to the head demon.
"Yes Father," the child said. "The Wolf, Ram, and Hart are very nice to me." The boy looked at the woman. "Tell me where my brother is mother." Marcus' blood ran cold as he realized what scene was being played out.
"Mother?" he whispered. The warrior started to go for his weapon but he couldn't move. He tried to shout but he had lost his voice, all he could do watch. He saw the woman kneel in front of the boy.
"Do you what you have to do Hamilton, but know your mother will always love you." The boy smiled evily and ran a sword right into the woman's heart. The child laughed as the woman died. Marcus tried to speak again and a horrific scream escaped his lips. He tried to move again and this time his muscles responded. He ran from his hiding place and was ready to attackbut all his targets were gone. The only thing left in the cave was besides him was his mother's corpse. He kneeled beside her body. "Mother, I'm so sorry." He leaned down to kiss his mother on the forehead when her eyes flashed open. Marcus fell backwards in shock as his dead mother looked at him, stood up and spoke.
"You failed me son."
Connor could not believe where he was. His fragmented memories told him he knew this place. It was the place he truly did spend his childhood. "Quar-toth," he thought to himself. He checked the place out and heard sounds of pain, people and creatures screaming. "This is not a good place to be." he thought.
"Hello Steven," Connor heard someone say. The youngster twirled around and saw an older with gray hair and gray goatee. Connor recognized him but it took a moment to figure out who he was. "Holtz?" he said finally figuring it out. The man smiled for a moment then an angry scowl came over his face.
"You've beena bad boy son."
"No, you're not real." Angel said staring into the face of his father. The father he killed.
"Oh no?" his father asked. "If I'm not real then how can I do this?" Angel's head snapped to the side as his father slapped him. The vampire responded by throwing a punch but his fist went through his attacker like the man wasn't even there.
"You can't hurt us here," one of the figures said.
"But we can hurt you," another spoke as it punched Angel in his lower back. The vampire fell to his knees from the force of the blow and the mob came down on him tearing, clawing, and hitting.
"You think you can earn forgiveness?" one of the beings screamed.
"You are beyond redemption!" another shouted.
"No!" Angel yelled. "The evil inside me is gone. Angelus is gone. I killed him." All of his attackers howled in laughter. "Our blood is still on your hands, your fangs took our blood. Redemption is not possible! This is your fate vampire, your existance is ours to torment, and we will for all eternity."
Marcus scooted back on the ground away from his mother's body which was somehow standing up and talking to him. "You killed me Marcus!" it screamed.
"No," Marcus said. "I wanted to be their, but I was just a child."
The corpse laughed bitterly, "You were just a child," it taunted. "I would never have been killed if not for you. They killed me because they wanted you!" The warrior let out a cry of pain as the corpse grabbed him by his neck and lifted him up. "I should have left you to die." the corpse growled. "A mistake I'm about to fix right now."
Connor stood face to face with the man that raised him. "Cozying up with the man killed your father now?" Holtz spat.
"He didn't kill you," Connor replied, "and he was never the evil you made him out to be. You lied to me."
"Maybe," Holtz said, "but they never did." Connor turned to look at who Holtz was talking about and saw two more people.
"Mom, Dad?" Connor asked as he saw his other parents standing before him.
"Oh, so it's Mom and Dad now?" Lawrence Reilly asked, "I'm surprised you remember us since you've been spending all your time with that vampire."
"Dad, you don't understand,"
"We understand perfectly," Colleen Reilly interrupted. "You forgot us. We gave you everything and you left us to be with that monster. You truly are an ungrateful brat!" the woman finished as she slapped him. Connor's eyes betrayed his rage as he started to raise his fist at her.
"You see Steven, you do hurt the ones you love," Holtz said. "You are no symbol of love. You represent strife, pain, and hate. You belong here." They all grabbed Connor who struggled against his attackers, but to no avail.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"Taking you home son," Lawrence replied. "You're going to stay with your family a very long time."
The battle outside the temple was over but none of the victors felt like celebrating. Buffy's forces had come out relatively unscathed. None of her slayers or anyone else on her team had died. Riley's group however, wasn't as lucky. Fifty of his troops, including his own wife, had perished. He looked over the rows of covered bodies.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said as she stood next to him.
Riley shook his head but couldn't hide his tears. "She did her duty. It's not your fault."
"Doesn't make it any easier though," Buffy replied.
"No," Riley said trying to hold back more tears. "No, I guess it doesn't. I just wish I could have told her that I love her one more time." Buffy put a hand on his shoulder.
"We all wish we had that chance." He smiled weakly and looked at her.
"I'll be okay. You need to check on your team."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yea," Riley replied with a nod. "I'm going to say good-bye to Sam." Buffy squeezed his shoulder gently and walked away leaving him to grieve.
Riley watched her go then walked to where his wife's body lay. "I love you Sam, and I'll never stop. You fought well soldier now rest in peace."
Angel screamed as the faces of those he killed continued to torment him. Their words screamed in his mind. Accusations, taunts, and promises of an eternity in Hell. They all shouted in his ears but they couldn't drown out a familiar voice that seemed to quietly speak to his heart. "You have been forgiven," it said.
"Cordy?" he whispered.
"Angel get up the fight isn't over,you're not beyond forgiveness it has already been given."
Angel looked up at the accusing face of his father a new fire in his eyes. "You lie," he said calmly. "I have been forgiven, redemption is still possible. The declaration seemed to weaken his tormenters and they all took a step back. "I have done a lot of evil, but guess what people like Buffy, Giles, and others I have hurt have forgiven me. Some of them still stand with me now. You know why? It's because it wasn't me. I have done bad things, but many time it was Angelus and I refuse to take the blame for his actions anymore!" The vampire looked around and saw that many of the figures around him were vanishing. "I may never get my redemption, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop fighting!" Angel stopped for a moment and looked directly into the eyes of the image of his father. "With or without forgiveness, Shanshu or no Shanshu, You won't stop me from fighting." The image of his father vanished and Angel found himselfback in the temple standing directly in front of the Wolf.
"You broke my little nightmare for you vampire, very impressive."
"Yea, well I've had to deal with quite a few illusions lately," Angel replied. "Yours was hardly the most convincing." Angel's response made the Wolf's eyes flash red.
"We have grown quite weary of you vampire. You have caused us much grief. It is time to put an end to your interference." Angel met the Wolf's stare.
"You're sick of my interference? You have tried to make my life a living hell for over five years, well tonight it ends. I'm finally going to bring you down."
Marcus struggled to breathe as his mother's corpse continued to choke him. "You stupid boy!" it hissed. "Did you actually think I was trying to save you when I left you at that church? I was trying to be rid of you!"
"No!" Marcus choked out. "My mother loved me."
"What makes you think I could ever love you!" the corpse replied with a laugh.
Marcus closed his eyes and remembered the note his mother had left for him at the church the day she fled. "I love you my sweet child," he said still struggling to get the words out.
"Shut up!" the corpse growled.
"I left you so I could live," the warrior continued, the words becoming easier as the corpse loosened its grip on him. He continued the lines that he had read almost every day since he could read. "Do not blame yourself. I did it because I love you more than my life."
"I hate you!" the corpse screeched as released him.
"You are my light, my sweet one, and you will always be in my heart." He finished the words of the letter and turned his attention to the animated corpse. "You are not my mother, and you have lost." The corpse screamed as it faded away.
"I'm proud of you my sweet boy," the warrior heard a voice say from behind him. Marcus spun around and saw the image of his mother once more, but this time she was smiling and beautiful.
"Mom?" the warrior asked not sure if he should trust his eyes.
The figure reached out and touched his cheek. "You remembered my words to you."
"Why are you here?" Marcus asked totally confused as to what was going on.
"I didn't want your last image of me to be one of hate," she replied. "Also I wanted to tell you your battle is not over. The Senior Partners still have powers beyond what you could imagine, but you and your allies have a strength they can not conquer. Remember that, and remember that you are the best thing I have ever done." She moved closer and put her arms around him. "I love you son."
The warrior choked up a bit as he returned the embrace. "I love you too Mom." he said as his mother faded away along with his surroundings.
"You will pay for your insolence!" he heard a voice roar. The warrior brought up his weapon and saw the Ram now standing in front of him. "You were meant to be ours!" it screamed. "Now you will pay for your mother's defiance!"
"No," Marcus declared. "You will pay for the pain you have caused." He ran at his opponent his weapon ready. "For my mother!"
Connor found himself now chained to a huge rock. He couldn't free himself and was having to listen to the taunts of Holtz, and his parents. "I always knew there was something wrong with you," his father said.
"At least you didn't know what he really was," Holtz replied. "I thought of killing him everytime I looked into those accursed eyes and saw the evil that spawned him. I should have done it years ago." The youngster tried to shut out the taunts, and the hate spewing from the mouths of those who once took care of him. He cried out as Holtz grabbed by the throat. "You remember what this place is like don't you Steven?"
"My name is Connor."
"Yes of course," Holtz replied with an evil smile. "Connor, well you remember what happens to someone when they are out here too long. I'm sure some nasty creature will be making its way to you, and I'm sure it will be hungry. In fact I believe two are here right now." Holtz motioned toward's Connor's adoptive parents who began to change. The youngster watched in horror as his family turned into two huge dragons. Connor shut his eyes.
"It's not real," he whispered. "It's not real."
"Connor," a new voice said. "Connor don't give in." The youngster opened his eyes to see where the new voice was coming from and saw someone else in front of him. He could still see Holtz and the dragons but he could not hear what they were saying, all he could hear was the voice of the woman who was now in front of him, a blonde woman that he knew somehow. "Hello my boy," she said.
"Who are you?" Connor asked.
"I appeared to you once before in a time of crisis," she said. "I couldn't reach you then, you were filled with so much fear and confusion." Connor searched his memory for the event the woman was talking about and then it hit him.
"Darla? Mom?"
"That's right my boy," she replied with a warm smile. "Do not let these lies defeat you. I know you can love. I felt it when I carried you. Holtz, the real one, the Reilly's, Angel, all of us love you, so don't give in. Your father and Marcus need you now. Fight these lies and return to them. I love you my boy." she said as she kissed his forehead and then faded away. Connor felt tears in his eyes and his mother disappeared, but was quickly snapped out of the moment by the voice of Holtz.
"The poor boy is crying," he said as he looked up at the dragons. "Make his pain worse." The creatures moved towards Connor but stopped as they saw him break his restraints with ease.
"It's all lies," the creatures heard him say. "I know this isn't real," he shouted staring up at the sky. "You have failed." The images around him faded and Connor was now staring up at the Hart.
"You stupid child," it hissed. "Your suffering has only begun."
Connor smirked at the creature as he raised his weapon. "Show me what you got."
Buffy kept staring at the temple like it would make Angel come out of it faster. "I hope they're ok," she said to Spike who was sitting next to her. Spike looked up at the sky which was still totally black except for a creepy red glow caused by the energy from the Hellmouth in Cleveland.
"Wouldn't worry too much pet, Peaches is too stubborn to die. Trust me, I've tried to kill him enough times to know."
The comment made Buffy smile a bit. "I just wish I knew what was going on in there."
"You aren't the only one," Spike replied as he looked over at Faith who had been staring at the temple since their battle ended. He looked back at Buffy. "We just got to believe our boys will do the job, right now that's all we got."
The battle between the Senior Partners and the champions was raging fiercely. The Wolf slashed at Angel with claws that had grown when their fight began. The vampire's coat was almost in shreds but Angel had yet to be harmed. He stepped away from an attack and punched his enemy on its nose, an attack that didn't do much good. "Blast, I wish I had a weapon," he thought. The Wolf caught him with a backhand swipe that sent him skidding across the floor where he landed next to Marcus who had also been knocked down. "How you doing?" Angel asked dryly
"Oh just wonderful," the warrior replied sarcastically. "You?"
"I really could use a weapon," Angel said.
"Sure thing," Marcus replied as he twisted something on the handle of his double pronged sword. Theaction seperated one of the blades and Marcus handed Angel one. "This help?" Angel had an amazed look on his face as he took the weapon.
"Uh, thanks."
"Sure thing," the warrior replied. "Now, back to work."
Connor dodged an attack from the Hart and embedded his weapon in its chest. The creature roared and took a swipe at Connor, missing as the youngster ducked. Connor continued his attack ripping his weapon out of the thing's chest and slashing down cutting its arm off at the elbow. The creature howled in rage and landed a kick to Connor's chest. The youngster stumbled back but quickly regained his balance and was ready to resume the battle. The Hart made no move as it just looked at him. "Losing sucks doesn't it?" Connor taunted.
"You tell us," the Hart growled in response. Connor's eyes grew wide at the monster opened its mouth allowing a burst of flame to erupt from it. He dove to avoid the fire and landed on his left shoulder wrenching it. The Hart stalked towards him. "Your meddling ends now." Connor slowly reached down and picked up his weapon with his good arm. The Hart sneered at him. "Is the brave champion going to fight us with one arm now?"
"No," Connor said with a slight smile, "I'm going to kill you," he finished as he threw the blade driving the point right into his opponent's forehead. The Hart fell on his back and didn't move. Connor slumped down to the floor, "I'm glad that's over." he said right before the room started shaking. "Aw man, now what?"
Angel was faring much better in fight with the Wolf. The vampire hit his opponent with a shot to its face with the handle of his weapon, and followed by driving the blade into its gut. Angel withdrew the sword and was about to follow up when the Wolf howled and noise created a sonic wave that sent the vampire flying back, however Angel flipped with the wave and was able to land on his feet. "Is that your best?" he taunted. The Wolf growled and lunged at him claws extended. Angel reacted quickly ducking to the side of the attack and slashing with his weapon seperating the Wolf's head from its body. He took a moment to look at his fallen opponent then turned his attention to his allies. The Ram had been literally divided in half by Marcus, and Connor had just killed the Hart. Angel felt the chamber shake as the Hart went down.
"Now what?" he heard Connor say.
"I don't think this is over yet." Marcus said his weapon still at the ready.
"Oh but it is," they heard voices say. Voices the shook the chamber.
"It's the Senior Partners!" Marcus shouted.
"That's impossible!" Connor replied.
"I don't think so," Angel said as he looked down at the floor to see the bodies of the Senior Partners had turned into some sort of black liquid and were moving together. The three masses converged together and formed into a giant monster with the a serpent like body that had six arms and the three heads of the beingsthey had just fought.
"You defeated the forms we chose to use in this realm," the three heads all said at once. "Now you face our true self, and you will feel the true wrath and power of Wolfram and Hart!"
COMING NEXT CHAPTER
The End?
