Chapter 21

The following takes place between 8 PM and 9 PM on the day of the Autumnal Equinox

"Thank you for choosing Trans-God airlines for all your travel needs," said Lindsey as he and Cordelia/Jasmine began to float down from what was one of the oddest trips to Venice Beach he had taken in a life that contained more than its share of strange experiences. "Please return your arms and legs to their upright position and remember to remove your brain from the overhead compartments."

Cordelia/Jasmine looked at Lindsey strangely. "For someone whose life is in a very perilous position you're awfully cheerful," she said as her feet touched the sand. His, however, did not. "Do you feel the hangman's noose tightening?"

"I know that I should be afraid," Lindsey said calmly. "After all, I'm probably closer to death than I've been since-- well, since Angel left me to the fangs of Darla and Drusilla. But you want to know something weird?" He looked into her eyes. "I wasn't afraid of dying then and I'm not afraid of it now."

"Then you really are as dumb as you look. And you don't even have the Brooks Brothers suit to back it up." That sounded so much like the real Cordelia Chase that Lindsey looked at her in surprise. "What? I say something funny?"

Something that Lindsey had been thinking about since they had made their stunning exit out of the Hyperion clicked. It was a long shot but, considering his position, anything was worth a try.

"No, Jasmine, you didn't say anything funny," he said as casually as he could manage. "But I wonder if maybe she did."

Cordelia/Jasmine turned to face him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying maybe you're feeling more like your old self."

"Listen to me, you little cocktail sausage..." The former goddess still sounded only mildly annoyed. "…I don't know if you missed what happened the last half-hour, so here it is. Cordelia Chase has left this dimension. I am driving this car. Me and only me. Don't think you can reason with me."

"Well, I did see that little fireworks show and that's what's convinced me that Cordelia Chase is still around. I mean you didn't kill Angel and you could have. You didn't kill Wesley and he was less than ten feet from you."

"Shut up." Her voice was growing uneven.

"Hell, with whatever power you got from me, I bet you could have torched the Hyperion with a wiggle of your nose." Lindsay thought that he saw something flickered out of the corner of his eye but didn't give anything away. "You could have leveled Angel-Slayer and you just gave them a bloody paw."

"You're just trying to trick me into doing something stupid." Cordelia/Jasmine's voice was shaking now. "Make me kill you now, so we can't use you for the big show."

"Maybe," he said almost serenely. "But maybe I won't have to take one for the team. Maybe you've already started down the other road. Maybe--"

"Enough!" Both of them turned at the sharp voice. "God, were you just going to listen to him rant?"

Harmony was speaking to them both. Her voice sounded distorted, probably from whatever magic was being used to keep the place from being seen. She looked extremely pissed.

"Christ, you're one of the elder gods and you don't recognize an attack like this?" Harmony shook her head. "What kind of deity are you?"

Harmony's attack hit Cordelia/Jasmine like a bucket of ice water. When Lindsey turned his attention back to the ex-goddess, she had regained control of herself. She pointed her finger at the force shield and a small entrance opened. "Nice try," she said as two vampires came out to guard Lindsey. "For that, you will suffer more."

Lindsey knew that she'd won this round but he had seen the chink in Cordelia/Jasmine's armor.

Hopefully, whoever else was out there had seen it too.

8:06:11/8:06:12/8:06:13

Ever since she and Angel had gotten in his car to chase down the ambulance Patrice was in, Buffy had been extremely quiet. It concerned Angel far more than loud anger would have. Loud anger could be handled. Cold rage was a lot harder to handle.

So, knowing that he was probably the only person who could talk Buffy down, he kept his eyes on the road and started talking.

"You're thinking about how you had to go through this with Faith, aren't you?"

Buffy didn't respond.

"Come on. Being betrayed by a Slayer, someone you thought you knew--"

"I didn't know Patrice." Buffy said flatly. "Which is good. That'll make this easier."

Angel knew the ramifications of what she was saying so he maintained his even tone. "Buffy, I know what your first impulse is. And, as somebody who's been on both sides of the coin, I gotta tell you that you can't listen to it. Otherwise you will do something that you will regret."

Buffy considered. "Why are you defending her, Angel?" she asked calmly. "This woman was lying to our faces for weeks. She's probably been helping Wolfram & Hart since this began, doing stuff that could really hit all of us hard." Buffy looked at him. "You might even be wiped out of existence because of her help, and you're telling me not to follow my gut?"

Angel knew that there was more to what Buffy was saying, but he spotted the ambulance before he could reply.

So did Buffy. "Is that the license plate Willow gave you?" Willow had used her computer skills to help them track down the ambulance.

"Yes. Buffy--"

"Get right behind them." she said calmly.

Angel considered his options and quickly worked out that there was no good way for this thing between Buffy and Patrice to end. The best way to proceed was to let Buffy catch up with Patrice and try to reason with her then.

So he drove until he was right behind the ambulance. "Buffy, what--"

He stopped as he realized that somehow Buffy was standing on the hood of the car. "What the fuck do you think your doing!"

Buffy didn't respond, gave no indication that she'd even heard. Using all of his will, he managed to focus on the road ahead and not swerving.

Suddenly she was on the running board of the ambulance. Before he had time to process that she'd actually jumped, she was slamming on the door. This got the drivers attention-- he pulled over to the side of the road. Somehow Buffy managed to hang on to the running board.

"Jesus Christ what the fuck are you thinking?" the driver shouted as he walked over to the back of the car. "You crazy--"

Buffy didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence before grabbing him by the collar. "Open the doors. Now."

Angel pulled up behind the ambulance. "Buffy!"

She gave no sign that she heard, focusing all her attention on the medic. Angel knew how effective that stare could be, and in a matter of moments the driver was opening the doors.

Not even the sight of Patrice on a stretcher was enough to make her slow down. She put her face right next to hers. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," she said in a voice that left no doubt that she was serious.

"I'm calling the police," the paramedic said shakily.

"That will just make me do it faster."

Angel had only heard Buffy use a tone this cold once before -- when she had fought him before the raising of Acathla. Buffy was going for the kill.

There was only one thing he could do. He came up next to her. "Patrice, there's only one way that you get out of this. And that is by telling us everything you know."

For a moment Angel was sure that Patrice would deny knowing what Buffy was talking about, a decision that would almost certainly get her killed. Instead she looked at Buffy. "What guarantee do I have that you won't kill me anyway?"

"This is a really bad time to bring up trust."

Angel tried to sound reasonable. "You have to trust us because there's no other way you getting out of this."

"Oh yes there is." Both Angel and Buffy recognized what that tone meant and both of them reacted quickly. But Patrice had fooled them just enough so that when she tore free of her restraints and started fighting she managed to get a few precious seconds on them-- just enough time.

"Good thing about being a Slayer. " she said calmly. "You heal fast." And with that she started to assault Buffy and Angel. Not enough to knock them down, but enough to knock them back long enough to give her time to leap into the front seat of the ambulance and pull out.

Angel and Buffy didn't even speak, they just got back into the car--knowing that things had again just gotten more complicated.

8:15:38/8:15:39/8:15:40/8:15:41

Spike hadn't gotten all of the reasons why Kate Lockley was involved, but he knew enough to realize that she knew more than she was telling. He had also gleaned enough from Kate's behavior that she wasn't going to completely go along with Angel's plan. So he had been understandably reluctant to get in Kate's car and drive off to wherever they were supposed to meet after the assault at the Hyperion. And now, after they had been driving for nearly half an hour, he was becoming more convinced that she was doing something to fuck them over.

He knew that he didn't have to go along with her. It would be an easy trick to smash open a window and leap out of the car, with little risk to himself. He also knew that he could probably force the information out of Kate if he had to. But, as the day had stretched from sunrise to sunset, he had become more and more sure that this was his second chance. He was damn sure that he wasn't going to blow it now.

So he decided to try subtlety. That trait had never really appealed to him much over the last one hundred and twenty years, but he figured at this juncture he could be flexible.

"So, Lockley," he started, "you're clearly not going to meet Angel."

"What was your first clue?"

"But unless you're feeling particularly suicidal, you're not about to join up with schizo-Cordy either," he continued. "So, are you headed off to Mexico? And if you are, why have you decided to take me with you?" He paused. "Not that a shot of tequila wouldn't hit the spot 'bout now."

"Be fitting for a worm like you." Kate was still far too composed.

"Hey, I just came from a four-month stay in Tartarus. I'm happy to be going anywhere. You, on the other hand, look like shit."

Her voice was stern. "Three of my people are probably dead and the people I've been working with know that I've double-crossed. Which means my other friends are in danger. Forgive me for not being chipper."

"That's a little better. If it weren't for the fact that you went into this with your eyes open, I might be able to feel sorry for you." Spike's voice became a little firmer. "But that still doesn't solve your problem. "

"In case you haven't noticed, I can't handle my problems any longer." Kate was beginning to sound tense. "Thanks to your friends, everything I've been working for is turning to shit. That leaves me with one option."

"Which is?"

"I've contacted Kilner." At Spike's blank look, she added: "The government man who helped finance my operation."

The word "government" did not reassure Spike that things would turn out all right. "What can he do?" he asked.

"It's not so much what he can do as what I can get from him," Kate said calmly. "I'm going to pump him for everything he knows and figure out exactly how to stop whatever the hell is being planned tonight."

"And you think he'll just bend to your powerful will?" Spike said sardonically.

"That's the reason you're here."

Spike blinked. "Excuse me?"

"In order to pump this guy, I'm going to need someone strong, ruthless, and willing to do anything." A hint of lightness-- there and gone in an instant-- came into her voice. "Sounds right up your alley."

He thought about it. "You know, under other circumstances, we could've been friends. As it is--" Spike sighed. "Where are we meeting this Kilner?"

"Pacific Ocean Park. Near Venice Beach."

8:23:29/8:23:30/8:23:31

In the past Willow had been very good at walking and chewing gum at the same time. Multi-tasking was a necessary skill when you were fighting the First Evil, or living on a Hellmouth. However, given everything that had been happening in the past three hours, it was becoming harder for her-- and, for that matter the rest of the people at the Wolfram & Hart building-- to keep juggling the five hundred or so things that seemed to be happening simultaneously. It was becoming clear to everybody that they were going to have to start prioritizing things now and start letting the smaller things-- if any of their problems could be called small-- slide. No matter what some of them thought.

"We can't just let Patrice get away!" Buffy said indignantly over the phone.

"I didn't say let her get away, I said let her go for now. " Willow spoke as calmly as she could, but she expected she'd be yelling soon.

"Do you realize how big a security problem this will cause? Not to mention the fact that she's at least partially responsible for you being kidnapped and drained!"

"I know that. I want to beat her within an inch of her life as much as you do. And I'm going to make sure that our satellites and security cameras track her down. But, Buffy," she took a deep breath "we have a crisis going on. We can't have our best Slayer and our champion spending their time tracking down one rogue agent when an apocalypse is almost upon us."

Buffy considered. "You think I'm the best Slayer?" Before Willow could react she added: "Kidding, kidding."

Willow was glad that Buffy was joking now. "Come on Buffy. We've got the footage of Cordelia/Jasmine's plane from our sources and they show her headed southeast. We should be able to pinpoint her location in a few minutes. And when we do we need you to snatch her up."

Before Buffy could respond, Fred ran over calling her name. "What is it now?"

"It's Faith." Fred responded. "She says that she needs to talk to you right now."

Willow heaved another sigh. "Now is becoming a very busy time," she muttered. She handed her phone to Fred. "I need you to give Buffy and Angel the information from the last satellite data. Got it?"

"Sure thing." Fred started walking over to her computer. Willow rubbed a hand over her face then picked up. "Yes?"

"Jesus Willow, I've been trying to get in touch with you for twenty minutes!" Faith sounded jazzed.

"I've been a little busy here--"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that what I have beats anything else going on," Faith said sounding serious.

"What have you got?" asked Willow.

"I know where Jasmine and Harmony are right now."

Willow got tuned in to the conversation in a hurry. "Where?"

"Venice Beach, about a mile away from the Marina Del Rey."

"How sure are you that they're there?"

"Well, seeing Lindsey and Cordelia descend from the sky was a pretty big hint." Faith said dryly.

This could be it. "Do you need backup?" she asked.

"Backup would be nice, but there's a bigger problem. You see standing between me and whatever the hell is going on is a powerful magic barrier. "

"How powerful?"

"It will probably kill me the second I touch it. I need someone or something that can knock it down and right now there's only one person who can do that."

Willow had been afraid something like this would come up. "Faith, they took a lot of magic energy from me when I was held prisoner. I've managed to recharge a little, but I'm still not sure I'm a hundred percent." She blinked several time. "Plus there's a lot of proof that Jasmine may be able to pull the same trick with a lot less trouble."

"That may be true, but we've just about run out of time. Jasmine and Lindsey arrived almost half an hour ago. Which means this could happen any time now." Faith swallowed. "It's you or itsnothing."

Willow slowly found herself walking towards the window. She looked out into the night sky, as if hoping for some kind of sign.

Andrew walked up to her. "Will? What's up?" he asked plaintively.

Willow turned to him. "Call Buffy and Angel. Tell them we have a location for Harmony and Jasmine."

"Where?" asked Andrew.

Willow hesitated. "Just have them call me in a minute. Tell them-- that I'll meet them there."

8:31:33/8:31:34/8:31:35/8:31:36

The more time that he spent in the hospital, the more Xander felt detached from reality. He knew that Robin was lying in a bed with tubes hanging out of him while doctors tried to slow or stop something that was irreversible. He knew that, while he sat here trying to comfort him, people were dying, vamps were being dusted and the world was probably coming closer to its end. He knew that there were guards in the hospital now, making sure that nothing happened to him or Robin, though how they could stand against what might be coming was a question Xander didn't want answered. But despite all that, it still seemed to be an abstract concept to him, that nothing was going on and everything would turn out all right somehow.

Wesley's arrival at the hospital changed that. The paramedics had no doubt brought him here because Kildaire was a Wolfram & Hart controlled hospital. However, Xander didn't know if his being here was some roundabout way of the universe saying that it was okay to go back into the field. Once he would have dismissed such an idea as foolish, but he was beginning to wonder.

Right now, Wesley was still busy processing what had happened to the man in the bed next to him.

"And you're sure there's nothing more that they can do?" he asked Xander.

"Doctors are trying every anti-toxin therapy that they can," Robin said. Both of the other men looked at him in surprise. "Hey I'm not dead yet. And there's never been anything wrong with my hearing."

Wesley shook his head. "Those bloody bastards!" he swore. "They can't just kill us. They have to drag it out so they can wring all of us dry."

"Wes, I thought you were going to be okay," Xander said.

"I'll live, which is all right. But at least three other people had to die in order to allow this to happen." Wesley laid his head back down on the pillow. "And I still can't figure out why she didn't just kill me right there."

Suddenly, it registered in Xander's head. "Cordelia did this? " he asked.

"No, Jasmine did." But there was an uncertainty in Wesley's voice that Xander didn't like. Before he could ask further questions, though, his phone began to ring.

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

"It's Fred." There was a pause before she continued unevenly. "Look, I realize that you've been doing important stuff there, but I-- I think we could use your help."

For a moment Xander gathered himself. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Willow is leaving to try and help Faith…handle Jasmine. Buffy and Angel are en route. We're running out of people we can trust around here and we need all the help we can get."

Suddenly the hospital room, which had seemed merely oppressive before, was completely unbearable. He started walking out. "What are you going to do about Cordelia?" he asked.

"Cordy… Cordy's gone." Fred said simply. "We have no choice but to proceed as if she isn't here anymore."

Feeling like he was a thousand miles away, Xander said: "Okay. All right. I'll get there as soon as I can." He hung up.

He turned around. "I'm sorry, guys, but they just called and said they needed my help. Robin--"

"It's okay. Do what you have to do." Robin said bravely.

"Stop them. Whatever it takes." said Wesley.

He barely heard their words of encouragement. He needed to get moving.

But first he had something important that he needed to do.

8:38:22/8:38:23/8:38:24

"You sure that he's going to meet you here?" Spike asked.

Kate sighed. "This is the location that he gave me when I called him an hour ago."

"And you're sure that he wouldn't double-cross you." he asked.

"He works for the government, of course he's going to double cross me." Kate replied calmly. "But with the world going to hell around him, he's going to have to see what I have to offer him before he does it." Now she smiled grimly. "They always dot their i's and cross their t's when they do this kind of thing. That's how I'm going to get him."

Even if he hadn't been at the center of this plan, Spike still wouldn't have liked it. He thought that Kate was still thinking like a cop, which was almost certainly get her killed in his world. Furthermore, he had seen how the government handled its undead affairs, and their way of thinking made certain that someone was going to get caught in the middle.

But before he could put any voice to this, a car appeared on the horizon. His vision was so good that it only took him a few seconds to see that it was a black Lincoln town car. "Why do all these government blokes drive in rides that are going to get noticed?" he asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they've seen too many episodes of the X-Files." Kate turned toward Spike. "Now stay quiet."

Spike decided to let discretion be the better part of valor. However, he mentally readied himself for action.

The car pulled to the side of the road. When the headlights were shut off Spike had his second inkling that this was a bad idea. Kilner-- if that's who he was-- got out of the back seat. Which meant he had at least a driver, and probably a heavily armed one.

It bothered Kate as well. "Stay where you are." she said taking out her gun.

"What, no trust?" said the man, sounding just the slightest bit amused. He did, however, stop about three feet away from the car.

"Let's just say my faith in humanity has been tested today."

Kate walked the rest of the distance and frisked the government man. Finding nothing she gestured towards the driver's seat. "What about him?"

Kilner sighed. "Come out Steve. "

The driver got out too. Kate walked over and frisked him too. This time, however, she found something-- a handgun. "You didn't expect us to come completely unarmed, did you?" the man said.

"'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.' Don't they teach you that in your line of work, Kilner?" Kate began walking around to the other side of the car. "Spike, get over here."

Spike decided that getting closer to the others might be in his best interest. He began walking towards them.

"All right, you've brought us all her in the dead of night. What do you have to report?" said Kilner.

"You sold me a bill of goods." Kate said calmly.

"And how did we do that Miss Lockley? " Kilner said calmly. "We helped finance your operation, we helped you get a man on the inside in Wolfram & Hart, we warned you about this apocalypse scenario. Where exactly did we break our word?"

"You didn't tell me that the game plan involved people that I knew. Or that they were going to screw around with the fabric of time."

"We only told you what you needed--" The rest of what was being said faded away in Spike's head. Because of the glare of the headlights and his focus on Kilner, he had not gotten a close look at the driver until he was six feet away.

And recognized that it was Thompson.

"Kate, look out!" he yelled. As he began to run towards Kilner and Kate, several things happened. Kate fired her gun at Kilner, who fell to the ground. Thompson ducked behind the car. And a window in the back seat opened and someone pulled out an odd looking gun.

Spike saw it and turned but the gun fired a blast of electricity. It hit him in a way that felt very familiar. Before he lost consciousness, he heard a gun shot.

The man who Kate knew as Kilner walked around to the other side of the car. "So this is the famous Hostile 17." he said to Thompson. "Doesn't look all that fierce from here."

"They never do at this angle." Thompson looked at him. "You take care of Lockley?"

"She's been handled." "Kilner" shook his head. "I gotta say I don't like how we had to do this. Lockley was an investment of a lot of time and money. And if I hadn't been wearing my Kevlar vest I'd be dead right now." He looked at Thompson. "This had better be worth it."

"It is."

The shooter and Thompson began guiding Spike back to the car. "You'd better bring him back."

"One last thing and then we're done with him."

8:46:48/8:46:49/8:46:50/8:46:51

"Explain it to me again."

Sahjhan looked at Harmony curiously. "Are you trying to prove to me what they say about blondes is true?" he said, only part in jest.

"Fine," Harmony said, sounding pissed, "mock the person who set you free, who woke you up." She gestured towards Cordelia/Jasmine "Who assembled all the nice vampires and demons that have been laying down their un-lives since this whole shebang got started. I set you free to do something extraordinary today and now that we're within sight of the finish line, everybody's dicking around. So explain to me again why we're taking so long to do this."

Sahjhan took a deep breath. "A temporal bend is a tricky thing to do. It depends on the position of the earth, the position of the stars and the person or persons you're trying to affect with the bend."

Harmony nodded. "That is why we had to wait until today to do it. I get that. But last I checked you had the power to manipulate time and space."

"Yes, for me to travel through it. Alone. Those higher up the food chain don't like it when lower beings like myself do that. And as neutral as they try to stay, completely removing someone from the timeline is the kind of thing that would cause them to step in and snuff me out." Sahjhan looked towards the horizon. "Hence my general skittishness."

"Which is why we needed you." Harmony gestured towards Cordelia/Jasmine. "Because an old one like yourself is capable of clouding their eyes."

"Right. Of course," Cordelia/Jasmine said sardonically, "if you had managed to restore me to my old body it would make all of our jobs a lot easier."

"Yes, and if you'd killed Angel when you'd had the chance, this wouldn't be necessary at all." said Harmony. "Let's deal with what we do have and not with what we should have."

Cordelia/Jasmine sighed dramatically. "In any case, if I drain enough magical power from this--" she made a disgusted gesture "--lawyer, I should be able to generate enough power to complete Sahjhan's manipulation of time and space."

"All right. That explains your purpose." Harmony spoke as she gestured towards Lindsey. "Now tell me again why we needed Spike."

"There is a balance and symmetry to everything, Harmony," Sahjhan said. "You can't just remove a person without consequences. It might end the universe without intervention from the powers. A void is left. In order to do what your asking we have to fill it, even if it is only for an instant. You want Spike removed from the timeline, you have to have one in order to fill that place, even if it's only for a second. That's why we need him." Sahjhan held his hands out. "Understand?"

Harmony hesitated. "Yes," she said. "Seems logical enough."

"Oh please!" Everyone turned towards Lindsey. "You're kidding right? If I could move my hands I'd be making the cuckoo gesture. This plan is so elaborate and unsound it makes 'burn the village in order to save it' look like a Nobel Prize Winner!"

"This from the man who used to work at Convoluted Plans R Us?" Cordelia/Jasmine said, walking towards Lindsey. "Bringing Darla back to turn Angel dark? That was a real barn burner."

"Forget the nature of the plan," said Harmony harshly. "Let's just execute it."

At that moment her cell phone rang. "Yes? Thompson, where the hell are you?" She paused. "You have him." She walked towards Sahjhan. "We're just about ready," she told him

Harmony stopped. "Then you make damn sure you handle it." She hung up. "Thompson will have Spike here in fifteen minutes. He also tells me it's very likely that someone from the good guys is close right now."

"How close?" asked Cordelia/Jasmine.

"Close enough to give us trouble." Harmony turned toward them. "And I'm running out of minions."

"This is a lousy time for this to happen." said Sahjhan.

Harmony fixed him with an evil glare. "That's one thing about Buffy and her crew. They're very efficient at dusting vamps." Harmony took out her cell. "But I've been saving the best for last. And it's time that they entered, stage left."

8:54:05/8:54:06/8:54:07

Faith figured she had probably walked the perimeter of the beach at least three times. Aside from the energy field, all she had found was nothing, nothing and more nothing. Which was beginning to bother her more than an army of vamps would.

Normally she would have considered this a good sign. She had stopped counting how many vamps, demons and assorted villains Angel-Slayer had dusted already but she figured that they had to be in triple digits. She also knew that unless Harmony and the others had access to their own personal Hellmouth ( which Faith wouldn't have put past the people at Wolfram & Hart) they had to be running pretty low.

However, she didn't believe for a second that they were so lacking that they would leave their hideout completely unguarded. Which led her to believe that there was something incredibly unpleasant out there. Faith found it even harder to believe that, if Harmony and Jasmine were there hiding in plain sight, she could have walked around their hideout so often without drawing an attack or even a hello from her enemy.

Which had gotten her so wired up that when she felt a presence behind her she turned so fast that she almost tripped over her feet.

"You never were a very good dancer," said a disembodied voice.

Faith nearly jumped out of her socks before realizing in quick succession that it wasn't the Invisible Man but the Invisible Woman, and that it wasn't a stranger it was… "Christ Willow! This is not the time to pull this cloaking bullshit! You could give a person a heart attack!"

"I could say something about needing a heart but I'll let that go." Willow slowly came into focus as she spoke. "Would you have rather Harmony see me and send a small army in our direction?"

"I don't think they have the vamps for an army," said Faith, "but I see your point." She looked beyond Willow. "Is the rest of the backup invisible too?"

"No, they're just not here yet. I talked to Angel and Buffy, they should be here any minute."

"In that case we should probably knock." Faith picked up a small pebble and threw it ahead. Three seconds later, it hit the energy barrier. "There's the door."

Willow looked ahead. "Harmony and Ethan are sure getting their money's worth in magical force fields." Willow began a quick chant. The field appeared but did not drop. "It's a little stronger then I expected."

"So it'll take you a minute instead of thirty sec--" Faith had started to turn towards Willow when suddenly she saw something. "Oh great."

"Now what?" Willow looked up and was startled -- as she saw something that couldn't have been possible.

Five figures were approaching. Four of them were obviously vamps but they weren't the problem. It was the fifth figure that silenced Willow. It was tall. Easily six foot ten. One of its arms was that of a demon, the other was clearly metallic. There were patches of skin and metal running up and down its body. And the face looked like the Terminator after an extreme makeover.

"What the hell is that?" said Faith.

"It's not possible." said Willow. "He…it's dead."

"Who?"

Willow looked straight ahead. "It's Adam."

8:59:57/8:59:58/8:59:59/9:00:00