Chapter 3

The Following Takes Place Between 2 A.M and 3 A.M.

On The Autumnal Equinox

"All right. Just so we're all clear," Wesley said to the room, "Gunn and Willow are going to check out the cult in Inglewood. Buffy and Lorne are going to Santa Monica to check out the cult there. Angel and I are going to investigate the Brotherhood in Glendale. Robin and Rupert are going to Hansen Dam Park where we think the Band of Tarquin is."

"The rest of you are going to set up a sort of central command throughout the building," said Buffy. "Fred, Xander, for now you're both in charge. I'm putting an immense amount of trust and pressure on you. Can you guys handle this?"

Fred seemed about to give a long response, took a deep breath and thought better of it. "I have to." She looked around. "Those of us in the building, how much should we let the Wolfram & Hart people in on what's happening today?".

There was a moment of reflection before Angel finally answered. "Like it or not, we're going to have trust the staff here to a certain extent. However, be careful. If possible, use any resource that they provide for us with as few Wolfram & Hart employees as possible."

"And we manage that by…" Dawn asked.

Wesley turned to the others. "We've got about sixty Slayers and Watchers in training right now. I think it's about time they started earning their salaries. Does everyone have their cell phones?" Everyone affirmed except for Angel. Wes rolled his eyes. "I'll handle the calls for us. The rest of you keep in constant contact with the building. The only way we're going to be able to stop this thing is if we all work together."

"This is important even for those of us who aren't here," Giles said. "Understand?" He didn't want to have to mention Faith and Andrew out loud.

"We'll keep track of everybody. Even the people who aren't here," Fred said. "Well, not the people who aren't here at least not until you get here, and…."

"Fred," said Wesley gently. "We don't have the luxury of time for your-- well, doing what you do some time. Can you handle that as well?"

There was a pause. "I'll do it," she said simply.

"One last thing." said Buffy. "Leonard." The young man looked at her. "A day like today I'm pretty sure that the Powers are going to send you a couple of messages."

"You never know." Leonard spoke with the barest trace of a smile appearing on his face. "They might be taking the day off. Maybe that's why there's a crisis in the first place. "

"There is that possibility." Giles agreed.

Buffy shot him a look of surprise. "There something you want to talk about?" she asked him

Giles thought it over. "Not now, no."

Buffy looked at Giles a second longer and then turned back to Leonard. "But if they send any visions your way, it is absolutely critical that you get a hold of us immediately. Willow?"

The young witch took out a cell phone. "Special issue. Press one of the four buttons on the top; you'll immediately be connected with somebody from each group. If the vision involves any of us…"

"I'll be sure you're jacked in." Now Leonard spoke seriously.

"Anything else?" Buffy asked. She waited ten seconds for somebody to object. When no one did, she turned around. "Let's go."

Everybody started moving out. Despite the silence Wesley knew that there was at least one issue that had to be faced, if not dealt with immediately. "Angel." The vampire turned for a second without slowing down. "There is one thing that we didn't mention that we will have to face if we're not successful in stopping this quickly."

The vampire gave a sigh. "Now what?"

"Sunrise is in less than four hours."

"I know that Wes. When the sun comes up is an issue that I pay close attention to."

"Then you've already found a way to deal with the problem that we're going to face if they get the materials they need for either of the raisings." said Wesley.

Angel hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Are there any eclipses scheduled for today?"

"No."

"No freak snowstorms?"

Wesley was baffled but decided to let that pass. "No."

"Do we have any Gems of Amara handy?"

"The Gem of Amara?" For a moment Wesley found himself amazed. "But that's-- I mean that was just an-- It really exists?"

"It did, I had it, I destroyed it. Could we get back to reality?" Angel asked impatiently.

"No, there was only one."

"Then no, I haven't found any way to deal with the sun coming up today." He paused. "Actually, there is one thing that might stop it."

"What?"

"Dr. Gregory."

It took Wesley several seconds to place the name of the doctor who had a special 'cure' for vampires. When he realized what Angel was talking about he realized it was still possible for him to be shocked by some things. "No," he said hurriedly.

"It would keep me…"

"No!"

"I would be able to fight past the dawn."

"For a few more hours! Angel, you can't even consider this."

"I have to think of the bigger picture."

"So do we! How will we deal with the next Armageddon without you? We need our champion!"

"Then you'd better hope that we can stop this thing in four hours," Angel stated, walking. "Because if we can't I'm leaving in three."

Wesley considered all this. He knew that Angel was serious. He would give his life for the cause without regard to the costs. And there really wasn't anything he could do about it except…

He started running after Angel, hoping it wouldn't come to this.

2:13:39--- 2:13:40 --- 2:13:41--- 2:13:42

Because he knew L.A. a lot better than Willow did, Gunn was driving. They had taken the Mazda Miata figuring that it wouldn't stand out as much in Inglewood. Like all the cars that the team at Angel-Slayer had taken possession of at Wolfram & Hart there was a small arsenal in the back seat. Gunn had called for the crossbow and was a little surprised when Willow said she didn't need any weapons. "I know my strengths" she had told him " and the truth is weapons would just hold me back."

For anyone else Gunn would have thought this was a lot of misplaced confidence but he had seen Willow in her element. He knew the power that she held.

Now, as they drove up to the projects, Gunn wished that he knew a little more about what they were getting into at least as far as this cult.

"So back in Sunnydale did you ever have to handle anything like this?" he asked her.

"You mean a bunch of human lunatics bent on the destruction of the world?" Willow asked.

Gunn nodded.

"Not really. There were some humans who were bent on bringing about Armageddon but they mostly had a lot of demon followers. If there were any in Sunnydale they stayed out of our way."

"Hmm. Of course there are a lot of real religious groups who believe in the approaching apocalypse, but—"

"—they usually end up drinking Kool-Aid and waiting for comets to do a fly-by. Yeah." Willow said.

"Think that's what we're going to find here?" asked Gunn.

"I don't know." Willow's tone was reflective. "I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do: spy on them, talk with them or fight with them."

"I guess we'll have to play it by ear." Gunn pulled the car up to a block of houses. "OK. This is where we get out?"

Willow looked at the sign. "It's where the computer told us to go. They're a few houses up. Let's walk the rest of the way."

They got out of the car and quickly walked down the street. Halfway there Gunn stopped. "Well, I guess that's our first clue."

The house that they were supposed to go was about a hundred yards away and there were definitely signs of activity. Just not the kind that they had been expecting. Every light in the house was on and you could hear loud music. Gunn was pretty sure that it was Black Sabbath. Furthermore, there was nobody guarding the door. In fact the door was slightly ajar. It sounded like there was a party in full swing.

Of course none of that by itself told Gunn and Willow that this was where the cult was. The sign which said: "MALEFACTUM'S COMING BABY! PARTY ALL NIGHT BEFORE THE BIG RAISING!" was the big hint.

Willow and Gunn looked at each other. "And that's why there's no city in the world like L.A." said Gunn.

"I guess the whole secret spying isn't really necessary," Willow replied. "Let's see if we can get a closer look."

They walked up to a window on the side of the house.

There was a big party going on-- it looked like there were fifty or sixty people squeezed into one of the rooms. And for the most part they looked completely normal. There were a few people wearing what might be considered ceremonial robes but mostly they were all dressed very casually. Furthermore, even though this was a black part off town there were just as many white faces as black ones. That gave his Gunn his first real sign of unease. He knew about the racial problems in his city. And he knew that it usually took some powerful and dangerous forces to bring people of such different backgrounds together.

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight." said Willow.

After a beat, Gunn said: "Oh lord." They both smiled.

"Seriously" Gunn said, looking through the window, "there's some real weird mojo around here."

"I know."

"You feel it too?"

"Yeah. Well that and the pentagram that's been carved in the wall."

A second after she spoke Gunn saw it too. He also saw some other things that we're disturbing. In addition to the pentagram, there were a lot of signs and symbols drawn in something that was almost certainly blood. And lying on a card table next to the punchbowl were two ceremonial knives both stained with blood.

"The only thing that could make this party kinkier is if they start playing the Village People," Gunn said grimly.

"Probably comes later in the evening," Willow said as she started walking to the door.

"You're not going in there."

Willow fixed Gunn with a stern look. "We're supposed to be gathering information on the raisings. Well here is a mother lode."

"That doesn't mean… You shouldn't…. You'd stick out like a sore thumb."

Again Willow fixed him with a look. "I'm a twenty something girl with a background in Wicca. I think I'm more their type than yours. Besides, who's more likely to be able to handle a roomful of these people?"

Gunn was going to fight her but realized they didn't have the time and she was probably right. "Just do me one favor."

"If I can."

"Don't drink the punch."

"Never crossed my mind."

2:24:48 --- 2:24:49 -- 2:24:50 -- 2:24:51

North Hollywood

Faith hadn't been as surprised as the rest of the Angel-Slayer board about Andrew's volunteering to drive her into danger. More than anyone else she knew that Angel was a lot tougher than they gave him credit for being. She also knew from personal experience that it took a long time to erase first and even second impressions of a person. They would probably come around but it would take time-- assuming that they survived today of course.

"So how many apocalypses does this make for you?"

Andrew's question surprised Faith. She thought for half a minute. "I think its three or four, depending on how much you count what I did in L.A. I was mainly trying to save Angel; stopping Beastie boy was sort of a side thing," She reflected. "You?"

"This is only the second for me," he said. "And considering all the energy that it took to handle number one, I'm really not looking forward to the sequel. Those are always worse than the first one."

"Hear that." She then asked the question she really didn't want the answer to: "How bad do you think this one will be?"

"On a scale of 1 to 10?"

She nodded.

"We're in deep shit. " Off her look Andrew added: "Keep in mind I haven't read as many prophecies as Giles or Wesley or even Dawn, but this one seems to have them really spooked."

That did concern Faith. She knew that the others having been former Watchers caused them to be concerned or alarmed at minor things. But if they were afraid…

Andrew pulled up at the corner. "According to the address they gave us, it's about a block away. You better get out now."

"You're not coming?"

Andrew gave a half-smile. "I think we both know that I would only hold you back."

Faith wanted to argue but she knew that, for all his improvements as a fighter and as a person, he was right. "You got your cell phone?"

"Yeah. You know how to work yours?" It was a legitimate question; she had never owned one before coming to work for Angel-Slayer. She nodded. "Go. If something goes wrong I got your back."

"You know how lame you sounded when you said that?" she asked with a half-smile.

"I don't care. I've always wanted to say that to someone. Go."

With that Faith was off and running.

She had a mission. Find out if the cultists or demons or whoever had this stone. If they did and a reasonable opportunity existed grab it. They had not, however, talked about the use of lethal force, something she had been very concerned with since she had gotten out of jail. She didn't mind killing demons, but people, even evil ones, were still something of a gray area for her. She knew that these were desperate times but she wasn't thrilled with the possibility.

Before she could work this out, she realized that she had made it to the warehouse. She ducked into the shadows and did a brief visual survey. Very quickly it became clear that something not quite right was going on. The warehouse had supposedly been abandoned for two years. So why was there a light in one of the windows on the ground floor?

She risked moving a little closer. There was a man in the lit room. She didn't dare risk looking much closer but she didn't see jewelry of any form or boxes that might have it. The Stone of Mulligan (or whatever the hell it was) might be here but Faith just couldn't tell.

She backed her way around to the other side of the warehouse. There was a beat-up old Citroen that might have been new around the time Faith was going to grade school. She assumed that it was the man's car but couldn't imagine him-- or anybody below a certain income bracket-- driving it. She looked in the car just to be safe. Nothing there to tell her where the stone of Meligan (that's it, she thought) was or for that matter who the man in the warehouse was.

She had just about made it back to the front when she heard a motor rev. She looked forward just in time to see another car pull up: a green Chevy that looked only marginally newer than the car in the back.

"I guess the rule that the villains drive sweet cars is not in effect," she said to herself as she watched it pull up. Hoping that she was out of sight, she tried to get a good look at the driver. It didn't help: she didn't recognize the woman.

The man walked outside. "You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago," he said by way of a greeting.

"You're directions were pretty crappy. Besides it's not like I was in a hurry to come."

"You'll be glad that you did. This is pretty big."

The two walked into the warehouse. Faith began moving closer, staying in the shadows.

2:35:25 --- 2:35:26 --- 2:35:27 --- 2:35:28

Glendale

Wesley and Angel had only spoken once since getting in the car. Angel had asked what Wesley had been talking about when he had put in a call to Fred a minute after they hit the road.

Wesley had been unusually short. "Leave it for now."

"Hey, you're the one who decided to call Fred and put her on whatever this is."

"It's rather complicated and I'm not entirely sure that it will work. In the meantime I think you were right: better to concentrate on the battle just ahead."

Angel had been about to tell Wes that he didn't need to go through with this, that there was only one real option and he was going to go through with it. But he knew all the arguments that Wesley would make, and they did need to concentrate on what was ahead. So he had shut up.

Now as they pulled up, two blocks away from the address, something nasty occurred to Angel. Something that would probably complicate things: "Wesley, the dionysyia….

"'Dysonipta'." Wesley corrected.

"Whatever. It calls for the for the shedding of blood of both man and demon, right?" When Wesley nodded he went on: " Well, like you mentioned before, the ritual starts at dawn. How are they going to get blood from a giant pile of ash?"

Wesley thought for a second. "They can't. And if they could get past that particular obstacle the vampires wouldn't be involved."

"Why cause the world to end when you can control it?" Angel said grimly. "I know I would think twice about it."

"So if the vampires aren't involved in that part of the sacrifice, what are they going to do?" Wesley began to think to himself.

"Are you sure that there was nothing in the prophecies about them blocking the sun?"

"Positive. The sun has to be rising for the first ritual to work. There's something that we're clearly missing."

"Then we might as well try asking someone in the know." By now the two of them had reached the address. To the both their surprise it appeared to be a bar.

"All right. How do you want to play this?" Wesley asked.

"Well, we've got to assume that we've got a reputation by now, so I guess playing possum is out." Angel thought. "Our best bet is probably the direct approach."

"Throw open the door, start hitting people, see who speaks?" Wesley guessed.

Angel nodded.

"Works for me."

"All right." Angel prepared to fight.

Wesley took out a sword and one of the guns he had become partial to. "One…. Two… Three!"

Angel flung the door open and strode into the bar.

And saw the last face that he would have expected to see.

"Holy mackerel! Did you die in a barn? That's no way to come into a respectable establishment…" Willy's voice petered out as he saw who was at the door. "Angel?

2:45:07 --- 2:45:08 --- 2:45:09 --- 2:45:10

Santa Monica

Lorne had come from a demon dimension that, though not on a level with the Quor-Toth, was pretty unpleasant. He had seen his place of business violated by a portal, the subject of home invasion and finally blown up. In the past six months, he had seen the sky rain fire, the sun blotted out and had taken more blows to the head than he would have thought possible.

None of this, however, unnerved him as much as being in a car when Buffy Summers was behind the wheel.

"You know our being able to stop this apocalypse—" he said as they went down the wrong way down a one-way street "--kinda depends on us getting there alive."

"Hey it's not my fault. You try reading street signs at two in the morning." She turned towards Lorne, as she said it.

"Eyes on the road! Eyes on the road!" he cried franticly.

Fortunately Buffy went back to looking straight ahead in time to avoid a lamppost. "I don't know why you're in such a hurry to get there. When we arrive we're probably going to be neck deep in demons."

Lorne breathed a sigh of relief as she finally came to a stop. "Right now that seems less dangerous."

Buffy shot him a stern look. "Fine if you can explain to a cop what you're doing behind the wheel, you can drive."

As they got out of the car Lorne asked: "How is it that you managed to get your drivers license renewed here?"

Again Buffy fixed him with a glare. "On some things I do well under pressure . Now could we please focus on something else?" She turned her head again. "Like the vampire that's about to attack us?"

Lorne whirled around five seconds before the vampire reached the two. He had time to think Man, Slayers have great vision before the vampire was upon them.

Buffy, who was faster and had better reflexes, started fighting the moment the vampire reached them. It took her a good ten seconds to beat him up, knock him down and dust him. Which would have been fine…if Lorne hadn't seen a flock of undead running at them. He readied the crossbow that he had brought with him. "Buffy."

The slayer looked up and winced as she saw what was coming. "You know, maybe we should have parked further away."

"We'll do a play-by-play when we finish this batch," Lorne said with more confidence then he felt.

2:50:33 --- 2:50:34 --- 2:50:35

"What the hell did you do to get a place here?" Angel was still having a hard time believing what he was seeing.

"Hey, when those weird priests and those ugly looking vamps started to walk the streets, I figured it was time to get the hell out of Dodge," Willy said with a nervous smile. "So I moved here. City of dreams and all that stuff. And it worked. Three months and I got this place. Not too shabby, huh?"

Wesley was all business: "Yeah, the décor's wonderful. Why is the Brotherhood of the Crucible working out of this bar?"

"Hey I don't allow any of those dark cults set up here," Willy protested. "This is a respectable establishmennnnnn--"

The bartender was cut off by Angel nearly pulling him over the bar. None of the customers-- mostly undead by the smell-- raised a protest or offered to help. Yeah, they were Willy's kind of clientele .

"Look Willy-boy, this is a very bad day to jerk us around. We don't have time for any of your bullshit, so I'm going to give you ten seconds for you to start telling me about the Brotherhood. If you don't I'm gonna channel some of the rage I have left over from the time you set me up to get bled by Spike. Got it?!"

Willy nodded frantically.

After another five seconds Angel let him go. "Now."

"Look, you gotta understand these end-of-the world types are fatalistic, but they're more than willing to pay cash in advance," Willy sputtered nervously. "I need to make a living, and--"

"Five…four…three…" said Angel.

"All right, all right! There are like fifteen or twenty of these nuts. They come in here after their mystical meetings to have O negative and the complimentary cheese twists."

"What do they talk about?" Wesley asked.

Scared as he was, Willy fixed him with a sneer. "World peace and save-the-whales? What do you think?"

"Not a good time to get cute Willy." Angel made as if he was about to grab him again.

"They talk about bringing about the end-times. Big deal. Back in Sunnydale they were always two or three demon types talking about it." Willy lowered his voice: "But these creeps, they sound like they mean it. They say they intend to awaken the Great One. That the signs are all in place, that the stones have revealed the date, that they have what they need to wake the beast."

"What is the beast?"

"All I know is that it's some great monster, something so old that it can't be named. You know, the same old shit that they put out with every nasty that's ever been hatched."

Normally Angel would have dismissed it as well, but he had spent a good part of last year fighting something exactly like that. "Wesley, do you think that it could be… It couldn't be… Jasmine?"

Wesley seemed more than a little bothered by the concept. "But you saw her die."

"I saw Darla die too. Didn't stop them from bringing her back." Angel whirled back towards Willy. "How they are going to do it? Who's involved? What do they need to raise her?"

" 'Who put the bop in bop-she-bop?'" The new voice was coldly sarcastic. Angel knew before he turned around that it was a vampire. "If you're going to ask stupid questions, at least you could sing them."

One vampire by himself wouldn't have worried Angel. The problem was that there had been five others that had appeared while he and Wesley were concentrating on Willy. And there were a couple of demons. Angel thought that they were Lubbers. The situation had gone from bad to 'we are in serious trouble' within a few minutes.

"So you're the ones trying to bring about the end of the world," said Wesley.

"And you're the vampire with a soul and his English bitch trying to stop the big bad from bringing about the end of the world." The head vampire walked toward them. "Want to take odds on what happens next?"

"I don't bet on sure things." No way to retreat. Only one way to play this. Angel swung at him

And the wild rumpus started.

2:59:57 --- 2:59:58 --- 2:59:59 --- 3:00:00