Chapter 7

The following takes place between 6 AM and 7AM on the day of the Autumnal Equinox.

Giles could not believe what he was seeing-- only he was no longer looking at the stage. His attention was being spent trying to stay alive fending off three vampires was a real problem.

Why he was still defending himself was what he couldn't believe. The sun had peeked up over the horizon less than three minutes ago-- but the vampires had not experienced the fiery death that they should have.

It had been one of the nightmare scenarios of every Watcher before the Council had been destroyed, and it was still pretty high his greatest fears. They had to learn why now.

Unless, of course, he and his friends died right now which wasn't outside the realm of possibility. He could see that Buffy and Faith were on top of the creatures attacking them. The rest were in serious trouble even with Robin and himself there.

In any case, he thought as one of the vampires nearly disarmed him, I am almost certainly buggered.

The vampire moved to deliver another blow-- and was then seized and whaled upon by a figure in black. In a matter of seconds the vamp was dust. Giles realized who it was, then realized that it was the daylight which had made him take so long to recognize the figure.

Angel looked up. "No reason only evil should benefit from this," he said as he helped Giles up.

"What the hell is going on here?" Giles asked.

"I don't know, but the people responsible are about to exit, stage right."

Indeed Harmony and Ethan were busy loosening or moving Spike and Willow, both of whom looked fairly out of it. Angel managed to fight his way through the monsters and start running around the stage hoping to get past the force field.

Things were looking a little brighter as a few of the active vampires and demons were leaving the fight in order to back up their bosses. Most of the people had disappeared too. But there was one exception. And it was beating the crap out of Wesley

"You know," the red haired woman was saying. "I never got a chance…to thank you…for locking me…in a cage…for a month!"

The way she was fighting told Giles that she was a Slayer. The way she was talking told him that she was Justine, the woman who Wesley had imprisoned in an effort to find Angel. Either way she was probably going to kill him.

Wesley must have known because he began to pull one of the guns he carried. But Justine was faster and kicked it out of his hand.

"Nice try. You think I'm going to let you bust a cap in my ass?" She moved in for the kill.

Until Faith charged her and knocked her back. As the two of them wrestled, Giles had time to think, Faith defending Wesley. The world really is ending.

The two of them whirled around. "Ready for Round Two, bitch?" Justine said.

"Always, darlin'." Faith said, readying herself.

"You know you can't beat me."

Faith shrugged. "I'm a slow learner." Suddenly another figure blurred past her and tackled Justine again. "But I do catch on eventually."

Justine struggled to her feet to find that she had a Slayer on either side of her: Faith on her left, Buffy on her right. Justine would have been toast if she'd had to face both. Unfortunately the seven remaining vamps and demons left their prey and moved in to take on the two Slayers. As Giles moved in to try and help take out the vampires, he realized their chances of surviving this battle had improved. As for surviving the day…

He said a prayer for Angel.

6:06:22 -- 6:06:23 -- 6:06:24

Angel had managed to get around the stage but still saw no sign of Harmony, Ethan and the two prisoners. He had, however, found their second line of security forces.

"Sorry, nobody gets in without a backstage pass," said one of the three vampires moving in to pummel Angel.

"We got the go-ahead to dust this asshole?" asked another.

The first vamp nodded. "We got our guy; Angel has become expendable."

Despite being neck deep in shit, Angel realized that this might be his best chance to get some info. "So what the hell are you doing working for a human?" he said as he readied himself to fight.

"Hey, anybody who can put a sun shield around LA's my kind of guy, warm or cold." The head vampire was good: he was able to talk and fight simultaneously.

"That's what the whole light show was for?"

The vampire shrugged as he landed a punch to the gut. "Guy said he needed to get a vampire with a soul." He dodged Angel's blows. "Guess he figured it would be easier to raise the undead rather than convince you to come back to the dark side." And with that he kicked Angel squarely in the groin.

The blow knocked the wind out of him and he fell to the ground. All three vamps crowded around Angel. "This has been a nice chat, but I'd say your time has…expired."

They moved in-- and then the first vamp was dusted. Before the other two could react, they were dust as well.

Angel looked around for his savior-- only to find no one. He was perplexed until he looked straight ahead.

And saw a small stick floating in the air.

For a second he was baffled. Then it hit him.

Maybe Willow wasn't as far gone as they had thought.

Maybe they could still win.

6:10:41 -- 6:10:42 -- 6:10:43 -- 6:10:44

It was colder.

That was all that his mind could focus on. With the rest of him on sensory overload he could only focus on how cool it was. He couldn't remember where he had come from, but it looked like or sounded like but it had definitely been hot. He couldn't remember ever having been as hot.

Now it was cool. A breeze was blowing-- the first that he had felt in forever. He wished he knew where he was. He had tried opening his eyes but all he could see was blurred.

"William?"

A male voice. A strange one. It sounded English. He wondered if this was another of their tricks. He had heard a lot of British voices where…where he had been… But he had known all of them before. He had recognized the screams. He didn't know this one.

"William?"

Who was this bugger who seemed to know him personally though he'd never heard the voice before.

He managed to speak though it seemed like his lips were dipped in wax. "Who… are you?"

He felt a strong hand grip his shoulder. "The one who brought you back."

"Why can't I… see you?"

"Your eyes haven't seen light in a very long time. They'll adjust soon." The voice paused. "Hopefully along with the rest of you."

He tried opening his eyes again-- and then he saw something that he shouldn't have ever seen.

"What… what's that?"

The voices tone didn't change but Spike thought it seemed amused. "I guess it has been awhile since you've seen the sun."

"Then…how…how…"

"A very special sunscreen."

"You…you think this is…bloody funny?"

The voice became serious again. "No. No, there's nothing funny about any of this."

"Where the he-- Where am I?"

"Los Angeles. Definitely an improvement on where you were, if not by much. "

"But I…I …"

"Died?" Again the voice sounded amused. "I know your memory is still a bit spotty, but you've died before and came back from that. Are you really that surprised that it could happen again?"

Suddenly it seemed very important that he see the face of the man who had…rescued him. He blinked several times and found himself finally able to focus.

The man was tall and broad–shouldered with grey eyes. His face seemed benign enough but there was something in his eyes that Spike didn't trust. He didn't recognize him. But he did recognize the woman who was sitting in the corner opposite to him. "Willow? Red, is that you?"

No response. She seemed to be in only marginally better shape than he was. He tried to get to his feet but his legs seemed to weigh a ton. He fell back to the ground.

"I wouldn't try walking yet. Don't worry, you should get your strength back soon enough."

"Who are you? Why was I brought back?"

The man gave him a smile that he just didn't like. "My name is Ethan. And we brought you back William, because you still have a great destiny to fulfill."

6:15:59 -- 6:16:00 -- 6:16:01

Angel had hoped that, given the way the three vampires had died, Willow might actually be awake, perhaps helping fight the other bad guys. That wish was dashed when he managed to make it to a clearing and found that the only ones there were whatever subordinates Ethan and Harmony had managed to assemble. And there were a bunch of them-- at least ten vampires and demons and humans, oh my.

At least this time he had a goal. The evil contingent was standing around a large black truck. And Angel could see that there was at least one bleached blonde sitting inside. He wasn't wild about having to save Spike, but he realized that these were desperate times and extreme measures were clearly called for

He considered calling for backup but rejected the idea. For one thing, given the fight the others were in, they probably wouldn't be able to break away. More importantly, he didn't think he would have the time (he wasn't sure why the truck was still there). But mostly he wasn't sure how to use his cell phone. And quite frankly, given the choice between fighting a crowd of demons and trying to figure how the autodial worked, he'd take his chances with the demons.

Deciding that the time for subtlety and guile had passed, Angel ran towards the throng of evildoers. Fortunately three of them were busy loading the truck which meant he only had to face seven heavily armed, primed to kill fighters-- which was still four too many in his opinion.

The first to challenge him was a large gray demon who easily dodged the first three punches Angel threw at him.

"I gotta say Harmony and Ethan really are getting a better class of help," Angel said as he danced with the demon. "Where'd they find you?"

"I was working at Pottery Barn. Do you really think I'm gonna fall for this shit?" the demon said without missing a step.

"I don't know but—" He seized the opportunity and knocked the demon upside the head "-- nine times out of ten, it works."

He looked towards the back of the truck…where Ethan Rayne was pulling the door shut. "GO!" Ethan yelled and the truck began pulling out.

Angel ran towards it-- and fell when he was knocked upside the head. He turned around to see the big gray demon standing over him looking pretty pissed.

"I guess this was the tenth time," the demon said as it and three others began coming towards Angel.

"Well, this day is really starting to suck," Angel said as he got ready to fight.

6:22:33 -- 6:22:34 -- 6:22:35 -- 6:22:36

Buffy hadn't thought it would take so long to get rid of the bad guys but she had been having trouble adjusting to fighting in the daytime. In her seven plus years as a Slayer she didn't think she had battled in the sunlight more than a dozen times and when she had it had usually been inside. She was pretty sure that most of the others were having similar problems. None of them were used to fighting while being blinded by the sun.

The vampires went fast-- they had even less experience fighting in daylight than she did. The demons were a bigger problem. Literally. The two they were fighting had to be more than seven feet tall. That was more of a problem for her as the one she was facing also seemed to have some kind of plate protecting his chest.. She was having a lot of trouble finding soft spots to hit and the demon knew it.

"Should I get a stepladder or do you want me bend down?" it said without missing a beat.

"I'm the Slayer. I'm the one who makes the witty comments," Buffy replied indignantly.

"Well, when I kill you I'll be sure to make sure your last words get into Burnett's."

Buffy saw an opening and, as the demon lunged, she slammed one of her stake hard into the demon's neck. "Its Bartlet's you ignoramus," she told the monster as it gagged its last breath. After making sure that it was dead, she whirled around to face the next challenge only to find there were none.

"Are they all dead?" she shouted to Xander.

"As doornails," Xander replied, "which is ironic because the doornails have a new lease on life."

"There's one still standing," Robin interrupted.

And there was. Faith and Justine were standing a few feet apart in fighting stances.

"Déjà vu all over again," said Faith. "Now are you ready for round two?"

"As I recall last time I thrashed your white trash ass," Justine spat back, moving in.

"I also remember that you had a chance to take me out and you left me alive," Faith said. "You're not as cold as you think you are. I don't think you're cut out for this."

If the remarks affected Justine, it didn't show. "You gonna fight or just talk me to death?" Without waiting for an answer, she swung at Faith.

Buffy figured it was time she helped her fellow Slayer. "Robin, Giles catch up with Angel. See if he needs help."

The two men took off. But they weren't the only ones affected by her remarks. Though it only lasted a second Buffy had seen Justine react to Angel's name.

Maybe I can use that, she thought as she moved in to take on Justine.

6:27:11 -- 6:27:12 -- 6:27:13

Robin had been dealing with the possibility that he was going to be dead a lot sooner than he wanted in the only way he could: doing things that could potentially end his life a lot quicker. The situation was ironic but it was of his own choosing.

As Giles drive them to the Hollywood Bowl he had insisted that Robin shouldn't be doing this. "If your condition worsens suddenly, you could make a mistake that could be dangerous." It was a rather cold but rational approach to the day ahead.

Robin thought about it for a moment. "When I start feeling terrible I'll—" he couldn't say the correct words "--take myself out of the game. I'll work back at Wolfram & Hart if I have too. But as long as I can be helpful you need every able body that you can get."

Giles tried another tack. "You should be spending your time with the people who care about you…"

"The people who care about me are here." For the first time since he'd learned about his condition he had thought about some of his friends-- particularly Faith. It would really hurt her. But there wasn't any way around it. "I want you to promise that you won't tell anyone about me as long as you can. They don't need the distraction."

Giles had reluctantly agreed.

The thing was he felt all right . He wasn't in any pain and all his senses were working. He had managed to fight the demons and the vamps without any ill effects. And as long as he was concentrating on causing pain, he could forget about what was probably coming for him.

All of which was regulated to a very small corner of his mind when he caught up with Angel who, at the moment was barely staying alive from the wave of nasties pummeling him.

That at least he could fix. "Come on," he yelled to Giles as he charged into the fray.

In a matter of seconds he was standing behind the big gray demon that had been dealing out the most damage. It was concentrating so intently on Angel that it didn't notice Robin was there until he had delivered enough blows to knock it down. Before the demon could turn Robin had managed to pierce its back with a knife.

Angel barely had enough time to get to his feet before one of the four remaining fighters -- a vampire-- began whaling on Robin. By comparison, it was a breeze. It was dead in less than a minute.

Finished, Robin looked around for anyone else to fight only to find that Giles and Angel had managed to handle those that had stayed.

Angel walked over to him. "You okay?" Robin went through a bad few seconds before he realized that it was an innocent question.

"For now," he said calmly.

Giles joined them. "Where are Harmony and Ethan?" There was real distaste in his tone that Robin didn't understand. "Where did they go?"

"East," said Angel, "down Hollywood Boulevard. We've gotta call Fred and Dawn."

"You have an idea where they're going?" asked Robin.

"No, but I've got the license number of the truck they drove off in," Angel said. "Maybe with the technology we've got we can track them down."

"We'd better hurry," said Giles. "We have less than six hours before they perform the eutrasia. This ritual gave evil the daytime. I don't think we want to find out what the next one does."

Robin pulled out his cell phone and dialed. Time wasn't on anybody's side today. He hoped that it would be kinder to them then to him.

6:34:39 -- 6:34:40 -- 6:34:41 -- 6:34:42

Willow had been taken over by darkness before. On those occasions a small part of herself-- the "real" Willow-- had not disappeared as much as faded into the background. It had been like she had been trying with all her will to stop herself from doing those things but was blotted out by the evil within her.

This had been nothing like that. The instant Ethan had put the Pendant of Varlet around her neck it was as if she wasn't there any more. Whatever it was that they needed her to do, she had no memory of it at all. What she did remember was fighting against it with everything she had. And failing.

Her next memory had been of seeing Angel trying to rescue her and being overtaken by several vamps. She remembered trying as hard as she could to help him, she remembered focusing her power-- and then the blankness overtook her again.

She finally regained some control of her senses when she felt a faint breeze against her face. Willow opened her eyes and found that she was still hog-tied but now she was in the back of a truck, one that was apparently moving.

She looked around for Harmony or Ethan and found neither. What there were were three very tall and menacing figures. If she were at full strength she would have been able to take them all out without straining a muscle. But the way she felt now she didn't think that she could float a pencil at them.

She looked around and saw something else that shouldn't have been possible. There, across from her in the corner, was Spike. And he looked only marginally stronger than she felt.

"Spike?" Speaking made her feel like she had to take a nap.

The blond vampire heard her though. "You back with us, Red?" He was speaking with a great deal of effort as well. Somehow that made Willow feel a little better but not much.

"Where… where did you come from?"

Spike considered the question. "Can't quite remember, luv." He thought for a moment. "Wasn't Philadelphia, that's for damn sure."

Her mind was still operating slowly because it took her a few seconds to put two and two together. "The… dys--dysoniptia.. You're what they made me -- made me raise."

Spike looked at her funny. "Made you? Last I checked, no one could make you do anything. How the bloody hell…"

"They-- they put this pendant--" She touched her neck and found it wasn't there anymore. "What the… what the hell…did they do with it?"

"Don't know. But do you have any idea who 'they' are. I don't recognize anybody here and I'd like to know who I have to thank--or hurt." he added almost as an afterthought.

It took her a minute to remember. "Ethan Rayne and H… Harmony, I think."

That name had an effect on Spike. "Harmony? Harmony did this?"

"I…I think so."

Spike considered this. "Wherever I was, is there any way I can go back?"

6:40:12 -- 6:40:13 -- 6:40:14

As Leonard looked over the latest computerized traffic photographs, hoping for any sign of the truck Willow and Spike were in, he found himself wondering at the behavior of Fate or God or whatever it was that had brought him here.

When he had finally agreed to join Angel-Slayer Inc., he had done so with great reluctance. Though his visions had given him a great deal of insight into the bravery of the Fearless Vampire Hunters (his name for them; he would not call them the Scoobies no matter how many times they used the word), he was absolutely sure that he had no business being in the same room with them let alone fighting on their side. Nevertheless they had convinced him, or he had convinced himself, that they would need him on that day.

Now the day had apparently come-- and he was on the bench. If this was the evil thing that he had foreseen, and Leonard admitted that they dealt with enough nasties normally so that it was possible that it wasn't, whatever it was that sent him the visions was apparently on vacation.

He wasn't exactly having a day off. First he had spent half an hour calling all the help they could get, then after help had gotten there he had spent an hour and a half looking for information on artifacts that were key to the rituals. He had then spent another hour working with Gunn, who had come back to help bolster defenses, trying to help track Willow down. But all the information that he was getting about the great evil going to burst forward today was coming to him secondhand. A small part of him was glad that he was "safe," relatively, but part of him really did want to do more than look at still photos of traffic stops.

Speaking of which: "Fred!"

The young woman finished speaking with Dawn and came over to him. "Anything?"

Leonard shook his head. "They're not heading down Sunset that's for sure. Any luck anywhere else?"

Fred shrugged. "There are a lot of roads leading out of the Hollywood Bowl and those are only the ones that we can see using the California Highway System. It could take hours to track them down, and we don't have that kind of time."

"There must be—" Leonard never finished the sentence. Quickly he felt his body grow cold. Then his vision darkened and his head snapped back on his neck. To an outsider it might have looked like he was having a seizure. Fred, who had seen these kind of things, was still a little concerned. She might have become more so had his eyes not suddenly refocused.

Fred waited as long as she dared-- about twenty seconds-- before finally touching him on the shoulder. "Leonard?"

For a moment he couldn't speak-- and then he could. "Fred."

"Was that a…"

"Yes it was," he answered promptly

"What did the vision tell you?"

"One of the next targets of whoever's behind this," he said.

"Where are they going to attack?" Fred was concerned and grew exponentially more so when she heard his answer.

"Here. They're coming here."

6:47:24 -- 6:47:25 -- 6:47:26 -- 6:47:27

Theoretically the battle between Buffy, Faith and Justine should not have taken so long. It was simple arithmetic-- two experienced Slayers should have been able to take one recently promoted one. And, even acknowledging how difficult it was to fight a Slayer, both Faith and Buffy had done it before and should have been prepared.

But Justine was proving herself to be a very cagey opponent. No matter what position the other two Slayers took, somehow Justine managed to get between them. Every time Buffy and Faith tried to synchronize their fighting, Justine would throw a punch or a kick that managed to throw them off their game.

Now, as they circled each other for the fourth time, Angel concluded it was time to bring this fight to an end. And he knew exactly how.

"Justine!" he shouted. Neither of the "good" Slayers reacted. Justine didn't break her pose either. But she managed to glance at Angel without breaking stride. This wasn't going to be easy. "Don't you like me any more?"

"Nice try," she yelled. "But you're not gonna stop me from taking care of both your girlfriends." Both Buffy and Faith reacted by trying to hit her. Justine dodged both blows. "I don't know which one you care about more but you're not going to have either when I'm done."

Angel wasn't sure how to react. Fortunately, Faith beat him to it. "That trick never worked when I tried it. What makes you think that it'll work now?" She punctuated her remarks with three quick blows.

"Besides, we both know that the real reason you're doing this is that you want Angel for yourself," said Buffy calmly.

That rocked Justine though she seemed to recover. "That a prerequisite for being a Slayer? You want to fuck the undead?"

"Well," said Faith, "slaying used to make me horny." She flashed a sly look at Justine. "Did I mention that you're a very pretty girl?"

"I know what you're trying to do," she said. "Won't work. I'm going to get rid of both of you. Then I'm going to finish my business with Angelus." She finished this by kicking Faith in the chest, knocking her down.

"You really think that you can handle all three of us?" said Angel.

Justine continued to speak though she kept focusing her attention on Buffy. "I'm doing a pretty good job--" She dodged Buffy's next blow. "--of taking you out one at a time. And when I'm finished there will be nothing that can stop what's coming." She moved in to take down Buffy. "Noth—"

A loud bang stopped her from finishing. Suddenly the red-headed woman was bleeding from her knee. At the same time, Buffy finished kicking her in the stomach. The combo knocked her down. When she was, everybody looked to the east.

Wesley stood there with his gun in his left hand.

"Not that I mind the help, but what the hell were you thinking Wes?" Buffy demanded. "You could have hit me."

Wesley didn't speak. Faith ran to him. "Wesley, don't do this." He pushed Faith aside and kept walking until he was standing over Justine.

"Wes, I know what you're thinking but you can't do this," said Angel. "She's the only person who can tell us what Harmony and Ethan are planning."

"She's not going to tell us anything." Wes spoke in a normal, conversational tone. "We'd only be wasting time."

"You don't know that," said Xander.

"It took a month of being locked in a cage before she told me where she had dumped Angel." Wesley's tone was getting flatter. "And that was before she got Slayer strength. We have five hours to stop this raising; we can't spend it on her."

By now Wesley was standing three feet away from Justine. There was no way Faith, Buffy or any of them could stop Wes from firing a shot.

Then suddenly from Wesley's left: "Don't do it." Andrew had cocked his crossbow at Wes. His hands were shaking but his voice was firm. "Put down the gun."

Wes didn't even look at him. "Andrew, stay out of this."

"Not gonna happen, Wes. You aren't going to do this."

"Get vengeance?"

"Join the club." Though he didn't shift his position Wes did change expression. "It's pretty exclusive. Only thing is, none of the members want to belong. Right, Faith?"

For a second Faith didn't seem to know what Andrew was talking about -- and then she got it. "Trust me Wes, you don't want to learn the secret handshake to this one."

That seemed to get Wes but he didn't move. "You think you were in a dark place after she cut your throat?" Angel didn't think this was a good subject to bring up but he let Andrew keep talking. "It's nothing compared to the Calcutta you're going to if you kill her. Once you taste blood, you almost never go back. You can't do this Wes. She's not worth it."

For what seemed to be a very long time Wesley just stood there not moving. Buffy or Faith could probably have taken the gun from him but they both knew that Wes had to do this himself. Finally Wes lowered the gun. The instant he did Angel and Faith grabbed Justine and had her secure in a matter of seconds.

Buffy looked at Angel. "How do we play this?"

Angel looked at Giles and Xander. "The two of you take Justine back to Wolfram & Hart. Tell Fred to break out her chemistry set. Faith, you or Buffy should go too."

"We can handle her," said Xander indignantly.

Angel doubted that but merely said, "Better safe than gutted."

"I'll go," Faith offered. "We need to check in with them anyway."

"What about Willow and Spike?" asked Buffy. "We have to rescue them."

"The people at Wolfram & Hart are trying to track the truck they took as we speak," said Robin. "Some of us should probably get ready to try and retrace it."

"Whatever we do, we've got to hurry," said Buffy. "They're already two steps ahead of us and we have to get them before they make their next move."

One of the vampires in the group walked to the leader. "Okay, I guess I understand why they weren't worried about doing this in broad daylight." He looked out the window. "When do we go?"

The vamp looked at his watch. "One hour and we charge the place."

Now he looked at the building across from his window. At the sign which still read: "WOLFRAM & HART: ATTORNEYS AT LAW

6:59:57 -- 6:59:58 -- 6:59:59 -- 7:00:00