Chapter 17

The following takes place between 4 PM and 5 PM on the day of the Autumnal Equinox

Faith had sensed rather than seen the bolt of energy when it was fired and her reflexes had been able to save her from being cooked in the explosion. They were not, however, quick enough to stop her from being propelled into the wall of a house. If she hadn't had Slayer strength, her skull would have been smashed against the bricks. As it was, she had a bastard of a headache and was having a great deal of trouble keeping herself conscious and in the world..

Now I know how it feels to get hit by a truck, Faith thought to herself. Okay, systems check. Legs are still working. Good, I'm not paralyzed. Arms-- left one's a little stiff but nothing's broken. Time for the big one.

She managed to get to her feet. As she rose the throbbing in her head lifted some of her mental fog-- and she remembered. "Giles!" She whirled around, ignoring the pain that followed.

Giles was lying on the ground a few feet away from the smoking pile of rubble that was now the black truck. If he was conscious Faith couldn't tell. For that matter, she couldn't even be sure that Giles was still breathing. She thought it was likely, however, because the man who was standing over him was gloating. And even though she had never met him before, she was pretty sure that she was looking at Ethan Rayne. She was a little surprised—he wasn't your typical villainous type. Tell the truth, he seemed kind of ordinary.

"Well Rupert, looks like the game is over." Ethan said as he walked around Giles. "Can't say I'm surprised it came out this way. But then you never had the stomach for this."

Faith's hearing was very good but she still had to strain to make out Giles's response: "Neither do you."

The grin on Ethan's face never wavered. "I'd watch my tone Rupert. You see, unlike you, I have dirtied my hands." He looked even more shark-like as he came back to start. "I've graduated from doing mischief at a distance. Since this whole plan was launched I've killed six people-- one of them just this morning."

He then kicked Giles in the small of his back. "I must say that I was disappointed by the experience."

Faith was less than twenty feet away from Ethan and he still didn't seem to have noticed her. She began to think that she might be able to sneak up on him completely unawares when suddenly he spoke. "A huge explosion and you're still standing. Slayer, you'll be a woman soon."

No point in trying to be stealthy now, she thought to herself. "So you're the notorious Ethan Rayne. "

"And you're the infamous Faith," Ethan said coolly. "You're far more attractive than the other one." He smiled. "Shame we never met before. I have a feeling, under different circumstances, we could have been stardust."

Faith found herself wanting to gag. "Maybe. Then again I was never much into you British types. You never know how to show a girl a good time."

"Really?"

"Yeah. For the most part you're all talk and no—"

Before she could finish the sentence Ethan moved. Fast. Faith's instincts took over and she hit the ground. A split second later she felt something whiz over her head followed by a loud boom and the smell of wood burning.

"Used to be like that," said Ethan serenely. "Now I tend to let my actions speak for themselves."

Faith looked behind her. One of the trees behind her was ablaze. There weren't many trees or houses around to catch fire, which was good, but she wasn't very far from the wreck of a truck which was still leaking gasoline. The situation could literally get more explosive soon, but at the moment she couldn't worry about that.

She got to her feet slowly as all the pain came back twofold-- something Ethan didn't miss. "Feeling all right? Need an aspirin?"

Faith wanted to wipe the smug look of his face. Problem was, she didn't think that she could run fast enough before he hit her with a blast of energy. She would have to play this very carefully.

"Heard what you said about killing people," she said almost casually. "I didn't care much for it the first time either."

"So I've heard," Ethan responded.

"Second time I got off on it. No problem." She began walking towards Ethan. "Spent the next four years trying to get the taste out of my mouth."

Ethan didn't say anything, choosing instead to fire another bolt of magic. This one Faith managed to dodge easily and continued moving forward "I'd watch where you point that thing. Otherwise, we all go to the moon." Ethan didn't respond but he didn't fire off another shot. "You may have killed people but that doesn't make you a big man." She was less than ten feet away.

Ethan looked smug. "You're right. I may not have what it takes to be a killer but I've still got something you will never have."

"Yeah? What's that?" And suddenly Faith realized that she had been so focused on Ethan that she hadn't bothered to pay attention to her flanks. Oops.

"A bunch of vampires to kick your ass."

"Oh crap," she said as she got ready for another drag'em out brawl.

And as the fighting started, Ethan smiled and said: "If there's one thing I can't stand it's a fair fight."

He turned: "Now as I was saying before I…" Ethan realized that he hadn't been the only one distracted by the confrontation with Faith.

Giles had managed to disappear.

4:09:40/4:09:41/4:09:42/4:09:43

Xander knew it was very stupid of him to shut off his cell phone in the middle of an apocalypse but when the doctor had returned from running their first set of tests on Robin it had become clear to him very quickly that the former principal needed all the support he could get.

So he had turned off his cell and listened as the doctor gave Robin the results. Though the doctor had been quick to emphasize that it was still too early to tell anything for certain, the news still was not good. Xander had spent enough time in hospitals over the last seven years and understood enough of the medical jargon. And even if he hadn't, he had heard three important words: toxicity, widespread and lethal. The plain truth, Robin Wood was probably measuring his life hour by hour.

Xander had realized it was probably best if he shut up, so he had stayed there silently until Robin told him gently that he needed a few minutes alone. Xander had walked out into the hall and spent the next couple of minutes grieving, partly to deal with his pain but mostly because he knew that he wouldn't have time to do it later.

So he had—and then he checked his voicemail. Seven messages. Four from Fred, three from Faith. Whose wrath did he want to risk? He sighed and picked Fred.

She picked up after one ring. "This better be you, Xander." The voice at the other end sounded pissed-- which was a bad sign. Fred rarely got overly angry even under the sharpest stress.

"It's kind of eerie how you did that," he said trying to keep it light.

Fred was not amused. "Christ, Xander, I've been trying to get in touch with you for the last hour. Where the hell have you been?"

"At Kildare Hospital watching Robin die." He regretted saying it the second he finished the sentence, but knew that it was the only excuse that Fred and the others would tolerate.

"What happened?" Fred asked after a long pause.

"He was poisoned earlier today," Xander said coolly. "He tried to brave it out for the good of the group but he's paying the price for it now."

There was a pause on the other end as Fred's compassionate nature warred with the logical part of her mind. "I am so sorry," she finally said. "I really am." She paused. "Is there anything that can be done?"

"I don't know. They're going to try and inject him with antitoxins and try filtering his blood or something. But the odds aren't good."

"You know, we have access to some pretty good medical facilities in our science department," said Fred. "I could send some of them over—"

Xander was appalled that he would have to bring this conversation back to reality. "That would be good Fred, but we do need to deal with the apocalypse," he said, hating himself.

"Damn it, you're right." Another pause. Fred was slowly coming back too. "Still I can probably do it. I'm going to need to send some people out to protect you."

"Whoa, back it up there a minute. " said Xander. "Not that I mind the special treatment but why do I need the bodyguards?"

"That's why I called you. We think that we've found out what Harmony and Ethan have been going to all this trouble to raise Jasmine for."

"Yeah, I know. To bring about the end of the world."

"No, not end it, change it. Remove a person that could be the difference between which side is in charge."

Xander considered this. "Do we know which person?"

"That's just it." Fred paused. "It might be you."

4:16:27/4:16:28/4:16:29

Fred knew that she had gotten Xander's attention. Unfortunately the hard part came next-- describing what Harmony and Ethan had planned without sounding like a physics geek. Which would be especially difficult because that was what she was.

"How on earth could my death change the balance?" asked Xander. "In case you've forgotten I don't have superpowers."

"No, but you did help save the world on any number of occasions. If you hadn't existed, think what might have happened."

Xander pondered her words. "Clarence, I'm not following you," he said.

"Okay, here's the deal. You know that there are other dimensions which are realities like ours but just a little different?"

"Yeah."

"Really? I didn't know you knew quantum physics."

"No, but I had an ex-demon for a girlfriend who knew all about this kind of think." Xander paused. "This alternate world wouldn't have no shrimp by any chance?"

For once Fred was at a loss for words. She decided to move on. "Anyway, in these dimensions, alternate versions of you can exist. Both versions exist independent of each other." She paused.

"Keep going."

"If somehow two of these realities were ever to merge and two versions of the same person were to meet, the reaction could theoretically be similar to matter and anti-matter colliding. Both versions would be erased as if neither had existed."

Xander took this in. "Theoretically? You mean it hasn't ever been done?"

Fred wasn't very sure about it either. "Technically speaking this isn't commonly accepted dogma by any of the major physicists or even some of the minor ones. But there are some who believe it." Then she paused. "And we're pretty sure that one of them worked for Wolfram & Hart."

"My, we have our fingers in a lot of portals." said Xander. "But why did they have to raise Jasmine? I didn't think she has that kind of power."

"According to our source, Jasmine is just part of the equation. One of the things she's going to do is work with a demon to do the temporal bend."

"Do we know which demon it is?" asked Xander. Fred said the only name that made sense. "Not him! Oh for crying out loud, this is a damn college reunion."

"You're more right then you know." said Fred carefully. "The man who gave us the information is Lindsey McDonald."

"Who the hell-- holy shit!" Xander said as he realized. "The lawyer with the plastic hand is back?"

"He's got a real one now and he seems to be using it to help us."

"Don't trust him for a second, any of you."

Fred decided now was not the time to tell Xander that they were providing Lindsey sanctuary. Instead she decided to focus on the information he had provided. "He's done nothing but help us so far. He tried to protect the hospital, he helped save Connor and he told us about the big plan."

"And such a brilliant plan it is. Two demons get together to warp the temporal fabric in order to remove me from existence."

"Or Buffy. Or Willow. Or Giles or Angel." Fred explained. "He thinks it could be one of seven people, all of whom work here."

Xander considered all this. Finally he sighed. "Do we have any idea where all this is going to go down?"

"Somewhere in Santa Monica. Buffy and the others are on their way there."

"Fine. Send the protection. I don't know how much good it'll do me, but I'll take it."

"You're going to stay with Robin." It wasn't a question.

"I promised Faith."

"I've got to go." She hesitated. "Give Robin our prayers."

Xander didn't respond. He merely hung up.

And even though she had no time, Fred spared a few seconds to pray to whatever gods there were for the man who was dying for their cause.

4:22:38/4:22:39/4:22:40/4:22:41

By all rights Giles should have been dead. He had been standing less than ten feet from the truck when it had exploded and he didn't have the superhuman strength of a Slayer or a vampire. What had saved him was his own research.

Hours ago, when Angel had asked him to try and come up with a counter-spell to Ethan's magic barrier, he had needed two resources: some of the ancient Poloxian magic spells and a Celtic charm—one which was capable of putting up a small wall around him to help counteract the magic that Ethan had probably put up. The charm had done its job more than four hours ago but Giles had never bothered to take it out of his pocket. His absent-mindedness had saved his life.

He was hurt just the same. Nobody stands ten feet away from an exploding truck and walks away with just a headache. His clothes were badly burned but had stopped short of his flesh. One of his arms had been twisted so hard that it was almost certainly broken. One of his ankles was broken and hurt bad enough to make walking basically impossible. But the worst had not revealed itself until now. As Ethan had stood gloating over him, he had become aware of a ringing in his ears. Over the past twenty minutes it had been getting louder and louder until he could hear almost nothing. He hoped that his deafness was only temporary but he was well aware that it would probably get him killed. An elephant with a cold could sneak up on him and he wouldn't know it.

The only reason that he had managed to escape death at the hands of Ethan was that while Ethan's attention had been focused on Faith, Giles had managed to invoke an invisibility chant. He had then managed to crawl all the way back to his car. He didn't know why Ethan still hadn't located him but he could think of three reasons: That, despite his new powers Ethan was still an amateur had hunting a person down; Ethan was so busy focusing on his evil plan that he had decided to give up the search for Giles. Or that Ethan knew exactly where he was and was toying with him, and that the only reason Giles didn't know it was because he couldn't hear.

As much as he hoped that it was reason one, Giles was almost positive that it was reason three. Ethan had always loved to play games and, given his advantages, this was one he was probably enjoying immensely.

But Giles didn't have a lot of options. His cell phone had been crushed in the explosion. Not that it would have helped him much in his current condition. He probably couldn't drive without crippling himself further and, in any case, that would mean abandoning Faith who was still fighting her way through a host of demons. All it seemed he could do was try and remember some of the magic that he had learned earlier today and hope that it--

He was cut off mid-thought as a huge hand lifted him to his feet and threw him on the hood of the car. He didn't have to hear his voice to know that it was Ethan Rayne. He couldn't dodge as Ethan fired a bolt of magic at his leg. His world became a blur of agony.

He was glad that he couldn't hear his own scream.

4:28:16/4:28:17/4:28:18

As Faith finished dusting the last of the vampires that Ethan had sicced on her, she heard a yell of pain. And even though she had never heard him shout like that, she instantly knew who it was.

Ignoring all the aches and pains which had multiplied as she had fought through five extra tough vampires, she managed to run past the wreckage of the truck to the source of the sound.

This time she was less than ten feet away from Ethan when he spotted her this time.

"If you want to kill Rupert, keep coming." The former Watcher-turned-Chaos-worshipper-turned-master-sorcerer was standing two feet away from the hood of a car with Giles sprawled on it. His hand was glowing as it had before.

There was only one way to play this and she knew it. "You want to kill Giles I'm not going to cry about it," Faith said calmly.

Ethan didn't turn but he seemed surprised. "My, you really are a cool customer. I didn't know you were that dark."

"Let's just say that the man hasn't done a heck of a lot to make me want to save him." Faith stood as still as she could. "He's lied to me, put people I care about in danger and nearly gotten me killed." She gave a small smile. "And that's just today."

Ethan's face gave nothing away but he seemed surprised. "Well, what do you know? There's some of the old Ripper still in there after all."

"Don't get so damn cocky, Ethan. Just because I don't care about him living or dying doesn't mean I'm not still gonna kick your ass."

"Really?" Again Ethan moved fast. Because she was a lot closer, the energy bolt singed her clothes. "And do you honestly think that I'm going to let you come near enough to do it?"

"Hey I managed to dust your little death squad without breaking a sweat." Actually Faith was sweating pretty heavily and Ethan could see it.

"Well maybe you managed to handle my little wrecking crew but I still got a lot of magical energy to burn." Ethan began walking towards her. "And unlike you I don't have to get close to you to kill you."

Then Faith saw something out of the corner of her eye. She tried to give nothing away. "So we're at a standoff."

"No." Now both of Ethan's hands were glowing. "You're not going to be standing long enough to do anything. In fact for you the game is just about o—"He gasped and collapsed on the ground.

As he fell, Faith saw Giles standing behind him with a huge, bloody shard of glass in his hand. Then he also fell to the ground.

"Giles!" Faith ran over to him. "Where did he get you?" There was no response. "Giles!"

"Call 911," he muttered, clearly in pain.

"Where'd he get you?" she asked.

"I've probably hit an artery. If he bleeds out, we'll never know what he does. Call 911!"

Giles' voice was disconnected but firm. Faith pulled out her cell which was, miraculously, still working. She didn't dial 911, though, instead she hit the button that contacted the medical units of Angel-Slayer.

Before the voice on the other end finished their first word Faith was speaking: "This is Faith. I have two people in critical condition. One of them is gonna bleed out unless you get here NOW!"

4:34:17/4:34:18/4:34:19/4:34:20

Given what had happened to it that morning Gunn was somewhat reluctant to leave the Wolfram & Hart building to take a security team to the Hyperion in order to guard-- no, they were being serious -- Lindsey McDonald. But the fact was he didn't trust Lindsey farther than he could throw him (something he wouldn't mind doing if given a chance), he wanted to keep as close an eye on the man as he could. So Gunn had taken a security detail back to their old home base.

Even though they were no longer using the Hyperion as headquarters, Angel-Slayer was still looking after the hotel. They had had the place painted until it looked better than it had while they had owned it. In addition, they had an updated security system when they had the place rewired, remodeled and refined it enough to consider it a safe house.

Or at least, Gunn thought as he saw their car drive up to the hotel, relatively safe.

The back door of the car opened and out came three men: one whom Gunn had never seen before, one who didn't remember seeing him and one that he wished he had never seen. Deliberately, he decided to talk with the one he knew the least.

"I take it you're Spike," he said to the man with bleached blond hair and the black leather coat.

"And you are Charles Gunn." The vampire started walking to the lobby without any attempt to be friendly. "And this fine establishment is where you intend keep us safe."

"You got a problem with this place?"

"If this is your idea of safety," said Spike sarcastically. "Why don't you just paint a bloody bulls-eye on the front door?"

"You don't understand. Only the finest accommodations will do for those formerly affiliated with evil." Gunn matched Spike's sarcastic tone.

"You referring to me or the other bloodsucker?" Spike gestured behind him to Lindsey.

Gunn found his lips forming a smile despite himself. "Well there is one thing in your favor." he said. "You have a soul. I'm not so sure about him."

"I hope you're not trying to get under my skin," said the subject of their sarcasm. "Those kind of jokes were old long before I went to work for Wolfram & Hart."

Gunn's smile disappeared. He walked back until he was right next to Lindsey. "Listen up, wise ass, we voted to keep you safe and that's what I'm going to do." Before the lawyer could react Gunn elbowed him in the stomach hard.

Lindsey doubled over.

"Of course there's safe and there's safe. Clear?"

"Crystal," he managed to grunt out.

"Good." He walked over to the counter where a Slayer, Patrice, was waiting. "Take him upstairs. The least accessible room that you can find. No windows, one entrance." The two of them nodded and came from around the counter. "Oh, and if he uses any magic on you, you have our permission to go medieval on his ass."

Now Lindsey was starting to get pissed. "Crap, how many times do I have to tell you I'm on your side?"

"It's not that we don't trust you," Patrice said as they walked upstairs, "it's just— No that's exactly it."

"Couldn't have put it better," said Spike, as they went-- Patrice on one side of Lindsey, Spike on the other.

Connor walked over to Gunn. "You know who I am."

"You're Angel's son." Gunn decided to state the facts without going into an explanation as to how this was possible (mainly because he was foggy on the details himself)

"And according to everybody I've talked to I had nothing to do with any of the prophecies that are taking place today."

"As far as we know, that's right."

"Then why do so many of these undead people care what happens to me?"

That was a good question. Gunn decided to go with the only answer that they had. "Because there is at least one prophecy that you play an important role in," he said. "And it involves the demon that Harmony and Jasmine are trying to get their hands on."

4:41:18/4:41:19/4:41:20

Fred's normal nervous energy combined with adrenaline, from dealing with the high stress situations that were par for the course, could keep her going strong for days. After nearly sixteen hours of being in charge of Angel-Slayer and being at the center of seemingly every crisis, however, she was finally beginning to reach the limits of her endurance.

So, even though her being on a caffeine high was probably a nightmare to some people, Fred was in the middle of her fourth cup of coffee when Dawn came running up to her. "Fred, we could have a problem."

Yeah, cause we haven't had one of those for a few minutes, Fred thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Who?"

"Faith just called. She and Giles finally managed to run down Ethan Rayne."

"Oh boy. How bad are they hurt?"

Dawn hesitated. Fred got a good look at her. Though she was trying to hide it, the teenager seemed a little more rattled then usual. Finally she spoke: "There was some kind of explosion. Giles was hurt pretty bad."

"Is he all right?"

"Faith isn't sure. She and Giles are headed to one of our med facilities." Dawn managed to gather herself. "But that isn't the only trouble they've got."

Fred mentally calculated the things that could have gone wrong. "What happened to Rayne?"

"Giles stabbed him. "

That was one she hadn't thought of. "Is Ethan still alive?" Fred asked as she started walking back towards the center of operations.

Dawn walked with her. "Yeah. But Faith doesn't know what the odds are that he'll live or, if he does, what he will tell us."

"Great." Fred stopped at one of the desks and put her hand on the bridge of her nose. "When it rains, it pours." She paused. "I once thought that referred to meteorological phenomena based on escalating climates but I now see how it applies to this job too."

Dawn looked puzzled. "Isn't capturing Ethan a good thing?"

"Catching him was easy. Holding onto him will be the problem," Fred sighed. "And we've already got our hands full of magic-wielding desperados."

"Considering what happened earlier I'm pretty sure that catching Ethan wasn't easy." said Dawn. "But I see your point."

"Buffy, Angel and Wesley must be nearly at Santa Monica by now. We don't know what kind of mess we're sending them into and they don't have any backup."

Dawn seemed puzzled. "Excuse me but aren't Buffy and Angel still Buffy and Angel? They were both winners of the Undead Butt-Kicking Contest seven years running."

"Yeah, and up until today I would have picked them to win any fight. But after what's happened…" Fred shook her head. "I hope to God they can handle it. We're in a shitload of trouble if they can't."

4:47:33/4:47:34/4:47:35/4:47:36

Wesley had never thought that he would have ever been relieved to see the mansion that had been Holtz's headquarters for his brief stint in LA, but crises made you find gratitude in the strangest places.

Or maybe he was just grateful to get out of the awkward box of silence that had been their car for the past forty minutes. Which had been because nobody in the car wanted to mention why Wesley was the one who knew how to get where they were going. He knew that he had asked to have his memory restored but he could have lived without remembering his betrayal of Angel-- and everyone else.

Still it could have been worse. Connor could have been with them.

"Oh man," Buffy said as she walked around her side of the car to get her first look at the place. "Why is it the people that we're fighting always get the really neat looking places to live?"

Angel looked at Buffy stunned. "This from someone who now works out of a multi-million dollar office building?"

Buffy didn't appear at all chagrined. "You gotta remember that at Sunnydale the main headquarters for good was my house and, as much as I loved the place, the windows broke way too easy and it wasn't made to sleep twenty-five."

Angel took this in. "The Hyperion had sixty rooms and a swimming pool." he said.

"If we could focus on the business at hand," Wesley interrupted. "We don't know what we're going to find here."

"If we're going to find anything," said Buffy. "Let me just be sure I understand our reasoning. We think that this Mah-jong—"

"Sahjhan." said Wesley automatically.

"-- is the demon capable of performing a temporal bend and bringing down general wackiness. The last person to know his location was Justine because she was the person who trapped him in one of those special urns."

"That's right," said Angel.

"And you think that having and made all the new friends that she did over the last few months, Justine would put this very valuable artifact in her old stomping grounds?"

"What makes you so sure she wouldn't?" asked Wesley. "Justine didn't have a family. No friends to speak off. This may have been the only place that she ever considered home. Certainly it was the only place that gave her a reason to go on." Wesley found himself stunned that he was speaking sympathetically of the woman whose name he had cursed for a very long time. "If there's any place she thought was safe, this was it."

Buffy considered this: "Say you're right. You think that she would be stupid enough to leave it unguarded?"

"Doubtless, there will be traps." said Wesley. "And it's probably not going to be easy to find. But this is our best chance of finding Sahjhan and we have to take it. Now let's go."

Buffy looked like she was going to argue some more. However, after a few seconds thought, she shut up and began walking towards the mansion. Angel and Wesley quickly followed.

When she reached the door, Angel shouted: "Hold it!" and ran past her. "Not going to fall for the same trick twice. This time we do this smart."

Buffy seemed a little puzzled but Wesley understood. "All right, get ready. Who knows what trick they'll do this time?

He and Buffy stood on one side of the archway, Angel stood on the other.

"One," Angel said. "Two… Three." He pulled the door open.

No arrow came flying out the door, nor did any other projectiles. Angel waited a second, then stepped in front of the door. Still nothing. "Well, they're not consistent."

There was a barrier, though, as Angel found out when he tried to enter. "Looks like I'm not getting in this house. It's up to both of you."

The two of them eyed the door with more trepidation—unlike Angel, a bullet or an arrow could kill them. But they didn't have much choice in the matter.

Buffy went in first, partly because she could recover faster if she got hit first, but mostly because she was and always would be a leader. There were still no bullets, arrows or stones. Wesley followed her at a cautious distance.

Buffy proceeded very slowly through the hallway. "If this were a movie," she said as she moved, "there would be some kind of trip wire in the hall or on the floor."

Wesley moved slowly behind her keeping a small distance. "And an axe would fall from the ceiling and chop off your head."

"Okay, first of all, what movies have you been watching and second of all, thanks a lot for the imagery."

"Hey, you're the one who started it."

"Yes, but we're in an old mansion looking for a demon, not in a cave in Egypt looking for the Holy Grail."

By then the two of them had reached a staircase. Buffy looked around. "Well they aren't going to kill us in the hall with a lead pipe," she said. "So the question is do we look upstairs or downstairs?"

Wesley looked up the staircase and then into the main room of the mansion. Neither seemed to be occupied. "I don't know, but whatever happens we're not splitting up. It would make it far too easy to divide and conquer."

"You give us too little credit." As Wesley whirled around, he realized that he had forgotten something very vital about Holtz's mansion. It had a very large basement. Large enough to train a battalion—which was what appeared to be confronting them right now. "We can conquer you right now."

The man who was speaking-- and Wesley was pretty sure that was what he was-- looked formidable. So did the seven people who emerged from the basement. And the six on the stairwell.

"Many have tried but none have succeeded." Buffy was speaking bravely. "What makes you think that you can?"

"Because," said a thirtyish woman with a very large knife. "I don't think you've ever faced an army of people before."

Angel watched the scene in front of him unfold shocked. However, he realized he wasn't helpless-- he had his cell phone.

But just as he reached for it he heard a mean voice say: "Don't even think about it."

He turned around to see five very large demons standing less than three feet away. One of them stepped forward. "It's a beautiful day in the fucking neighborhood," the male said. "Beautiful day for an ass-whomping."

That was all that he said before they charged him.

From still further way, a man in a suit watched things unfold. As soon as the fighting began, he took out his own cell phone and dialed a number.

Harmony picked up her phone. "Yeah." A smile crept over her face. "They are fully occupied." Pause. "Fine. Then we're going to proceed. Keep us informed." She hung up, then turned to the three vampires standing around the urn. "It's time to kick it up a notch. Cut him loose."

One of the vampires hesitated, then pulled the lid off the urn. A huge puff of yellowish smoke emerged, accompanied by a large roar of triumph. Seconds later, a huge and (in Harmony's opinion) very ugly demon was standing there.

"It's about time. I was starting to get a cramp," said Sahjhan.

4:59:57/4:59:58/4:59:59/5:00:00