Chapter 23
The following takes place between 10 PM and 11PM on the day of the Autumnal Equinox.
"It never fucking ends!" Faith complained as she put the urn on the ground. "We jump through every hoop they go through, figure out all the puzzles they throw at us, beat every damn boss and mini-boss-- all this and now you're telling me that we're still not finished?"
"I didn't say we hadn't succeeded," said Angel. "Whatever time manipulation trick they were trying required Sahjhan and Jasmine, and they're both out of the game. I think we've stopped this apocalypse plan down cold."
"Then why are you so worried?" Faith asked. "Don't tell me its because of what's happening up there."
She gestured upwards where Willow and Cordelia/Jasmine were still locked in their magical conflict.
"Faith's right." Spike had managed to pick himself up and had walked over to them. "I mean I know that this Jasmine bird has some pretty decent moves, but in any magical duel I put my money on Willow every time." He looked up. "Quite frankly I think it's awful misleading of Red to not properly clean her clock straight out."
"It's not who wins," Angel replied, "that concerns me as much as much as that thing that the two of them are generating."
Faith could see why the mini black hole (it was the only term she could think of it that described whatever the hell it was) worried Angel. When they had started, the vortex had been only a foot in diameter. Now it was at least seven feet across and was taking up most of the distance between them. Willow and Cordelia/Jasmine both appeared to be moving away from it as a result.
"This may be a stupid question, but do you have any idea what that thing is?" she asked.
"I don't know," Angel admitted. "If I had to guess, some kind of end product of black magic. Its essence, maybe. Whatever it is I don't think we want it to get away from them. I'm definitely not wild to see what could happen if it got loose."
"And they say it's the talking villain that always spoils the plot," said a voice from behind them.
Angel whirled around just in time to be hit by a huge electrical shock. He collapsed to the ground.
"Harmony!" shouted Faith and Spike simultaneously as the blond vampire appeared holding one of the blasters.
"You kill all my vampires and demons, you ruin my apocalypse and now, when the battle's over, you forget all about me!" It was hard to tell which offense bothered Harmony more.
Faith got ready to fight. "We've been taking you seriously all day, bitch, and now I think that it's time we gave you a really good thanking for everything you've put us through."
"I wouldn't if I were you." Harmony aimed the blaster upward. "All this talk about what happens when that black circle get loose has made me really curious to see what'll happen when it hits the ground."
"Don't be a bigger idiot than you are!" said Spike.
"I think we both know that's not possible." responded Harmony. She considered her last remark for a second but did not change the gun's trajectory. "Anyway this is a two-fer. I get to unleash a path of destruction and kill that red-haired witch bitch in one shot." She put her hand on the trigger. "That's what you call win-win."
"No!" Spike ran right at her. Harmony whirled and landed a perfect kick in the stomach. When Spike was doubled over she hit him in the back of the head. Faith looked around for Buffy but she was still finding her feet after being hit by a taser blast. It was looking like she wasn't going to find it in time.
"While I was recruiting my army I perfected my fighting techniques too," she said sweetly. "I'll kill you momentarily but first-- "
She raised the rifle.
Faith knew she was only going to get one chance and she took it. She ran straight at Harmony and hit her with a flying kick a split second before she fired-- deflecting the shot but not stopping it.
Cordelia/Jasmine fell. For a moment Faith thought she was dead but that disintegrated when Cordelia/Jasmine stopped falling two feet from the ground.
"You stupid cow!" she yelled. "Do you realize what you've done? I've lost it! Lost it!"
Harmony and Faith both looked up to see that she was correct. The vortex had gotten loose.
And was slowly heading straight for them.
"Oops," said Harmony.
10:07:22/10:07:23/10:07:24
Willow had been as shocked-- figuratively speaking, of course-- by what had just happened. She was just as worried as Angel about the awesome magical force that had been gathering between herself and Cordelia/Jasmine-- more so because she had a greater idea of what the consequences would be. However, she had also known that if the two of them had kept increasing the magical power that they were both using, the vortex might become big enough for both of them to fall into-- and goddess only knew what would happen next. So she was relieved when, suddenly, Cordelia/Jasmine fell from the sky.
That relief lasted exactly four seconds. Then she realized that there was some kind of temporal flux below them and that something even worse would definitely happen if it collided with the vortex.
So Willow lowered herself down and began using her powers to halt the progress of the magic vortex. It was working for now, but something very bad was beginning to happen to her.
Willow looked at the ground for her friends. "Angel! Buffy!" she yelled. "I'm not going to be able to hold this back for long!"
Buffy had managed to recover enough from her shock to run over to check on Angel and Spike, both of whom seemed dazed by the fighting. "Why can't you control it?" she yelled up.
"Because only half of it is my magic!" Willow responded. "Jasmine has a different kind of power then I do! Eventually that power is going to set itself free!"
"Can you disperse the power somehow?" Spike had managed to get to his feet.
Willow shook her head. "It's taking everything I have just to stop it from falling!"
"You really shouldn't have said that."
Willow suddenly realized that Cordelia/Jasmine hadn't been killed and that she was still in the game. "Jasmine, don't be an idiot!" she yelled.
"Why not?" Cordelia/Jasmine said as she rose back up to her previous location. "You've ruined our temporal rift, so I think it's time that we bring a good old-fashioned apocalypse to this planet."
Willow knew that Cordelia/Jasmine was more than capable of doing just that, but she also knew that any attempt to stop the ex-god would result in the vortex plummeting to the earth. "Somebody stop her!" she yelled, knowing that there was almost nothing that her friends could do from below.
"The world just before the end," said Cordelia/Jasmine. "Isn't this a Kodak moment?"
That was weird, Willow thought, as it sounded more like Cordelia than Jasmine but she had no time to even note that.
"Say cheese, motherfucker!" the former cheerleader said before she began to charge.
On the ground people the few remaining people on the side of evil still alive were taking this opportunity to get the hell out of Dodge. Buffy and Faith knew that Harmony and the others from Wolfram & Hart were getting away but realized that they had to deal with what was going to happen. They were concentrating so hard on the sky above that they didn't notice Lindsey come up behind them until he was almost on top of them.
"Fire a low level blast dead center at the vortex," he said as he handed Faith one of the taser rifles.
"How do you-- " Faith started.
"Do it!"
Lindsey's voice brooked no argument. No time to worry about the consequences if they missed or if this didn't work. No time to do anything except shoot.
Hoping that the rifles had the same basic layout as the ones Fred had developed, Faith adjusted the sight and brought the rifle up.
"Three… Two… One…Now!" At Lindsey's shout the two of them fired together.
A bright white flash filled the sky.
10:13:32/10:13:33/10:13:34/10:13:35
Angel didn't know whether it was the force of the blast or the residual pain of being hit with one of the taser rifles that had caused him to lose consciousness. All he knew was that when he opened his eyes he saw the person he least wanted to.
"You've come back to us." said Spike.
Angel slowly managed to rise to a sitting position. "So I'm not dead."
"Well, we're clearly not in hell because it's 'been there, done that' in both our cases and I know for damn sure that I haven't done nearly enough today to get into heaven, so yeah we're still alive and kicking." Spike looked around. "In a manner of speaking, of course."
Angel found the strength to look up at the now empty night sky. "Well, if we're still here where's the vortex?"
"Not rightly sure," Spike admitted. "But my guess is that whatever they did worked." He gestured a few feet away where Lindsey and Buffy were slowly rising to their feet as well.
Buffy looked around. "Willow?" she called. "Willow?" She ran down to the waters edge. Angel was closer than Buffy but it still took a few seconds to see what she had-- a very disheveled and wet Willow lying in the surf. "Willow, you all right?"
For a very long five seconds there was no answer. Then a loud moan could be heard. "Did anybody get the license of that truck?" the master witch managed to say before Buffy embraced her. Willow took this for a few seconds before she said: "A little air? I did just fall from the sky." Buffy quickly released her.
Angel had managed to walk over to Lindsey. "All right, how the hell did you know what to do?" he said.
Now Lindsey was pissed. "Jesus, how many times do I have to save your asses before you get it that I'm on your side?"
"Easy, mate." Spike had managed to walk over. "Sorry about that, but Angel never was very good at giving a proper 'thank-you.' It's part of the whole brooding, can't-see- anyone-reforming-but-him, self-righteous thing he's got going on. I, on the other hand, know how to say thanks when my hide has been saved."
Spike offered Lindsey his hand. Lindsey, a little shocked, shook it. "Thank you."
"So, just what did you do? That vortex thingy's not gone pop up when we least expect, is it?" Spike's tone was now positively convivial considering he had been willing to kill Lindsey a few hours earlier.
"No, the energy blasts fired from the rifles caused the vortex to implode." said Lindsey. "Whatever magical energy that thing had has been dispersed."
"Did you know that it would work or were you taking a long shot?" asked Faith who had now managed to find her own feet and join them.
"I was pretty sure it would work. Magical energy is like all other kinds of energy-- if you know where to focus you can disperse it." Lindsey looked at the rifle in his hands. "Plus I was still at Wolfram & Hart when these rifles were still in the blueprint stage. They were designed to deal with magical attacks."
"Guess they did." Angel looked around. "Well Harmony and whoever else Wolfram & Hart had on this damn apocalypse kick seem to have stolen away into the night."
"Well that's tomorrow's problem." Buffy walked over with Willow beside her. "We can worry about that later. We've stopped Harmony and the others from doing the time warp again and we've averted this apocalypse. I'd say we're done for today."
"Well now," said a familiar voice, "I wouldn't say that." Buffy and Angel turned around to see Cordelia/Jasmine standing on the beach twenty feet away from them.
Buffy sighed. "I suppose that it would have been asking too much to have you killed by the blast."
"You would've liked that. Two of your mortal enemies killed in one shot."
Angel thought that her phrasing had been very strange, but before he could even note it Faith spoke up. "Please. Jasmine was never powerful enough to be a threat and Cordelia was never more than a nuisance."
That seemed to rock Cordelia/Jasmine for a second but she smiled and said, "Now you've pissed me off. I was going to kill you right now, but now I'm going to make you suffer instead." She snapped her fingers and disappeared.
"And that was villain cliché number seventeen." said Spike. "Crap, when I was a big bad I didn't bother with this fate worse than death bullshit. Just killed them and be done with it. Makes you seem pathetic."
"Well, she might have the moves…" Willow trailed off. "Oh dear."
"What now?" said Buffy tiredly.
"That urn or whatever it was that held Sahjhan? It's gone."
10:21:45/10:21:46/10:21:47
Activity at the Wolfram & Hart building had finally begun to slow down. Fred and Andrew were still handling some busy work, but everyone knew that the major fight between good and evil was going down in Venice Beach. They had sent some reinforcements but they knew that if they managed to take care of Buffy, Faith, Angel and Willow, the chances of the remainder of Angel-Slayer stopping the apocalypse would become almost non-existent. The tension in the building was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
When Fred's cell rang, she had already gotten so worked up that he nearly jumped. She fumbled with her cell phone before answering. "Angel-Slayer."
"Fred, we think its over," Angel said without preamble.
"You're serious?" said Fred. "You're not just saying that, cause if this is some kind of false positive I'm not going to get the others cheering and yelling if the world goes poof--"
"Fred." Angel said gently.
"I know. Babbling. Sorry." She took a deep breath. "You're sure they can't do this temporal bend thing?"
"We're not a hundred percent positive but Willow is pretty sure they've missed their window."
Fred took a deep breath.
Angel continued: "Now it's time for me to say 'But…'"
"Please no buts. I'd also like a tabling of howevers and maybes." Fred rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "I'd like a taboo on prepositional phrases in general."
"However," Angel continued doggedly, "we still have a couple of problems."
"Such as?"
"Harmony seems to have gotten away. "
Fred sat down in front of one of the computers. "Maybe from you but not from us."
"What do you mean?"
"Willow got to Venice Beach in a helicopter. Once it dropped her off, we had it fly in a holding pattern over the area looking for any evil stragglers." She pushed some buttons. "Five minutes ago we spotted Harmony and some men in suits tearing south, towards LAX."
"Really? " Angel sounded pleasantly surprised for a change. "Well that does solve one problem. Thank you for your initiative."
"You're welcome." Fred smiled. "Maybe your other problems will be just as easy to solve."
Angel's voice returned to business as usual. "I don't think so. Harmony wasn't the only one to get away. Jasmine did too."
"Which way did she go?" Fred asked.
"We were hoping you could tell us."
Fred was about to respond when Lorne walked up with a rather dark expression on his face. "Hold on a second." She put the phone down. "What's wrong?"
"I was checking the security cameras when I found her."
Fred sighed. "Please tell me Celine Dion's here for her three o'clock."
"No such luck."
"Where's Jasmine?" Fred said as they walked to the monitors.
"On the roof." He gestured. "And I think she brought a toy surprise with her."
Cordelia/Jasmine opened the urn and in a blast of air and smoke, Sahjhan appeared. "Well that wasn't as long as last time," he said. He looked around. "Where are we?"
"The headquarters for the forces of good," Cordelia/Jasmine with disdain.
"And we're here because…"
"Angel and the others fucked up our chance for the apocalypse." Cordelia/Jasmine pointed to the skylight they were standing near. "I figured we could have a massacre in its place."
"Hello? Still non-corporeal?" Sahjhan said.
She chanted rapidly in a long forgotten language. A small wave passed through Sahjhan. He looked around and slammed his hand into the wall. It was concrete six inches thick but it broke apart like paper-mache.
He looked at Cordelia/Jasmine. "You're serious about this?"
In answer she threw the urn against the wall. It broke into a million pieces. "Go medieval on their asses," she said sweetly.
Fred, Lorne, Andrew and Dawn watched this from the security cameras.
"Every time I think this day can't get worse, " said Dawn exasperatedly.
Fred was already moving. "Dawn, call in all the Slayers we have here and tell them to get ready to fight! Andrew, call the helicopter and have them pick up Buffy and Faith."
"Where are you going?" Andrew asked as Fred headed for the elevator.
"To get in touch with Gunn," Fred said as she walked through the elevator door. "If things get bad he may be watching the only person who can stop Sahjhan for good."
10:29:22/10:29:23/10:29:24/10:29:25
Harmony knew that she was dead. Never mind that she had managed to raise an army, resurrected a deity and had delivered a rather sizable blow to Angel-Slayer. The bottom line was that she had failed and the people she worked with needed a scapegoat. Since Ethan was dead and Jasmine had disappeared, she was going to be the one to be served up to those higher up the food chain. If she was lucky all they would do was dust her. Harmony didn't think she was particularly lucky.
She also knew that there was no real chance of amnesty from the good guys. Too much death and pain had been inflicted. Besides, with all of their resources and contacts, they probably wouldn't need her help in tracking down the rogue elements that had helped her pull off most of today's events.
Her only hope was to get out of the country. Wolfram & Hart had business interests almost everywhere, of course, but she knew there were some places where they were spread far thinner. Plus there was a chance that they would be so busy regrouping that she could slip through their lines and escape. It was a very slim hope but it was all she could cling too.
So she was running. She couldn't take any of the cars she'd ridden in today. Doubtlessly Wolfram & Hart had them under surveillance. She'd have to kill someone with a car and then haul ass to the border. Mexico would do for a start, although she probably wouldn't begin to feel safe until she was somewhere in the Amazon rainforest.
One good thing about being a vampire, she thought as she approached a parking lot, you can run really fast when you don't need to breathe. I must have put five or six miles between me and them in twenty minutes.
She looked around. Fifty feet away from her was a sign telling her that Los Angeles County Airport was less than half a mile away. It would be easy enough to get there and hop the redeye to Anywhere Else, but she knew that both the good guys and the bad guys would be watching the airport. The parking lots, however…
She ran another five hundred feet before she reached the eastern most edge of one of them. She had never stolen a car before but, considering everything else that she'd done today, she didn't think it'd be too big an obstacle to overcome.
She checked the vehicles on the far side of the lot. She knew that it would probably be to take one of the cars closer to the airport, but she was smart enough to realize that the airport security cameras were far more likely to be focused there. She'd have to choose from these pickings, however slim they were.
There was a blue Toyota, a green Honda, a bright red Buick, a big white van, a black--
Harmony returned her attention to the van and realized that it was an ambulance. The reason she hadn't recognized it immediately was that the lights on top weren't flashing and it was dark enough for her not to instantly see the writing.
What was an inactive ambulance doing at the far end of an airport? She didn't know but something about it smelled funny. She had better--
Harmony's reflexes were good but the woman who jumped her was faster. She knew seconds after they began that she was dealing with a Slayer. Well, she thought, at least I can go out fighting.
They fought for a minute seconds before the Slayer knocked her to the ground. Here it comes, she thought to herself.
But the stake never came. Instead the Slayer stopped and said: "Harmony?"
Harmony got her first good look at the Slayer. "Patrice?"
10:36:09/10:36:10/10:36:11
Sahjhan had been tearing through the building for the last ten minutes and Andrew could only see two positives. The first was that the building still needed to be repaired from the attack early that morning, so the contractors would only have to come back once. The second was that Sahjhan had begun his path of destruction at the roof rather than the basement. Had he started at the foundation he probably could have brought the entire building down in a far shorter time than it was taking him to work his way down from the roof .
But these were two very small things in what was rapidly becoming a very horrific situation. Sahjhan had already torn through the top two floors of the buildings like the bulldozer that he was built like.
Dawn and Andrew had frantically ordered an evacuation of top floors and most of the people had gotten out. The frightening thing had come when the last people on the floor had managed to make it downstairs. One of them had told Andrew that he had been cornered by the huge demon but Sahjhan had let him go. He had left the man with six words: "You get to live-- for now."
Andrew had no doubt that the ugly demon meant it. He was also aware that he, and much of the Angel-Slayer staff, were just six floors below him. So he and Dawn had done what Fred had instructed them to.
"How many Slayers did you send up there?" Andrew asked as he and Dawn looked at the security screens.
"Seven, including Kennedy." Dawn replied. "How far out are the others?"
"Willow's recharging and Spike's gone after Harmony. The chopper picked up the others." Andrew looked at his watch. "ETA's ten minutes."
Dawn didn't seem happy about that. "We may need magic in order to stop this monster."
"Willow says it can't be helped. Whatever she did back there drained a buttload of power from her. Besides, as she reminded us, if we really need her she can teleport here in thirty seconds."
Dawn looked at the monitor showing the floor where Sahjhan was fighting the Slayers. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
But as Andrew watched the monitor he became more and more afraid that it might. The Slayers had arrived on that level of the building less than five minutes earlier and already two of them were lying motionless on the floor. "Other than Kennedy how experienced are these Slayers?" he asked, concerned.
Dawn did some quick thinking. "Four of them joined us after we arrived in LA. But Diana and Cho-san fought at Sunnydale High."
The two of them watched the monitor as Cho-san and a red-haired Slayer that Andrew couldn't place battled Sahjhan.
Despite having been up nearly twenty-four hours straight, both were clearly fighting with all their energy. Unfortunately it was also clear that they were just barely able to keep themselves from being crushed. Sahjhan was shaking off their heavy blows as if they were nothing more than mosquito bites. After a series of punches Sahjhan turned around and dealt Cho-san a blow that knocked her against one of the pillars. She slid to the ground, unconscious. The red-haired Slayer took the opportunity to try a roundhouse kick. Sahjhan grabbed her and threw her through one of the windows.
Andrew slammed his fist against the wall. "Damn it, there's gotta be something that we can do to help them!"
"What, drown them in nervous sweat?" Dawn shot back. "All we would be doing is making sure that more people died."
"The weapons in the lab, there must be something with enough firepower to kill that…that thing!"
Dawn thought it over for a few seconds. "I don't think it would work," she finally said, "but at this point we don't lose anything by trying." She looked around. "Leonard!"
The young seer had been waiting quietly to one side. He approached them. "Yeah?"
"Go to Fred's lab. Get something that might make a dent in that demon's armor."
"Anything in particular?" Leonard asked.
Dawn looked at the screen where Sahjhan was pounding on another Slayer. "Normally I'd call for a sling with five small stones but I think a rocket launcher might be more effective. See what you can find."
Leonard left. Andrew was about to follow when his walkie-talkie crackled of with static. He pounced on it. "Buffy, is that you?"
"Roger," said the voice on the other end. "According to the pilot we're about to come in for a landing. Is there still something to rush too?"
"Oh yeah," he confirmed. "And not to put any pressure on you, but hurry."
He got off the walkie-talkie and started after Leonard, hoping and praying that the combination of Slayer and mechanical strength would be enough to bring this demon down.
10:44:29/10:44:30/10:44:31/10:44:32
Patrice had been just as surprised to see Harmony as Harmony had been to see Patrice. Though neither would admit it, both had been sure that the other was dead. Both had realized that they were up shit creek and that the only thing that they could do was run.
Fortunately Patrice did know how to hot wire a car and three minutes after they had been ready to kill each other, they were tearing ass south. After they went through the second intersection without stopping or slowing down, however, Harmony was beginning to reconsider the wisdom of their venture.
"Patrice," she began carefully, "I realize our situation, but any chance we have of getting out of here disappears if we crash."
Patrice didn't shift her focus from the road but her tone hardened. "If everything goes right for us, what do you think the chances are of us making it out of the country?"
"Slim to none," Harmony admitted. "But they become zero if we get totaled while getting to the interstate." She thought it over. "Of course I might be able to make it through a head-on collision. You, on the other hand…" She trailed off.
Patrice didn't respond verbally but at the next light she slowed for a few seconds before driving through. "You know, if we drive according to the rules of the road, there's a very good chance they could use the traffic cameras to catch us," Patrice said calmly. "They've been doing it all day."
Harmony took this in. "The way I see it either one of two things are going on right now. Either, one, Jasmine and Sahjhan are dead and all of Angel-Slayer's resources are tracking us down in order to find us and kill us. Or, two, Jasmine and Sahjhan have managed to kill Buffy and the others and now are moving in on the rest of the A-Team-- after which, they will track us down and kill us for running away."
"Is that meant to be encouraging?" said Patrice.
"Well, if it's my second guess, it'll be hours before Jasmine and the others can focus their time and energy on hunting us down in the best Sam Gerard fashion. If that's the case, we might actually make it out of the country before the hunt gets started." Harmony looked at the dark streets passing them by. "Hence my immediate concern that we not die in a head-on crash with an orange truck."
Patrice again slowed as they came to the next light. "What about the blood-sucking lawyers?" she asked.
"Oh, they're going to be pissed beyond measure," admitted Harmony. "But no matter what happens they're going to have a whole shitload of trouble from the ultimate winner of this fight. My guess is that they're gonna be so busy redrawing and rearranging their plans that it's going to be at least a couple of days before they can begin the process of tracking us down to downsize us into oblivion."
"You guess or you hope?" asked Patrice.
"Does it really matter at this point?" asked Harmony. "Today's plan to destroy this world is as dead as line dancing. Everything that I've spent the last six months working on is ashes in the wind. By association so are we."
'Then why didn't you just let Buffy or the others kill you?"
Harmony was silent. "Because I still want to live." She looked at the Slayer. "So do you. Everything we worked for may be fucked up beyond recognition, but I'm still not ready to become dust in the wind. There's nothing noble in that." She gave a harsh laugh. "That's the thing about life. Even after you're dead you still want to hold on to it."
Patrice didn't answer for a while. "Make sure we're not being followed." she finally said.
"And if we are?" asked Harmony.
"You know what happens then." Patrice said in as gentle a tone as she could manage.
Harmony checked the back.
And saw a black car traveling about ten feet away. It could have been anyone traveling in the night. But instinctually she knew that it was not.
"So we're almost there," she said to herself as she turned. She looked at Patrice. "Get ready."
10:51:22/10:51:23/10:51:24
Until the helicopter landed Buffy had been hoping that Angel and the others had exaggerated about how Sahjhan. She'd had already a fair number of grueling battles today and she didn't need another Mayor-Glory-Caleb fight on her hands. That hope disappeared as soon as they got out of the helicopter and saw the destruction that had been laid on the roof of the building. It looked like a charge of dynamite had been lit after an earthquake. It wasn't as bad in the building itself, but it was pretty terrible.
"At least we're not going to have much trouble finding this guy," Buffy said, trying for humor and failing miserably.
"He did all this in twenty minutes?" Faith asked as they picked their way down the stairs.
"The first time he became corporeal a truck hit him doing fifty and nearly split in half." Angel didn't mention that he had been responsible for that little incident.
"Any advice on how we beat this thing?" Buffy asked.
"Don't fight fair," said Lindsey. "You won't win in a fair fight against him. Of course, you probably won't win in an unfair fight either."
"Why exactly did you come here?" Angel demanded. "Don't tell me it was for moral support."
Lindsey's response was lost as they entered the business section of the thirty-seventh floor. Almost every wall had been smashed, three of the windows were shattered, the furniture were so much kindling and three women were lying on the ground-- if not dead, they were so broken and battered that Buffy wondered if even Slayer-healing would repair the damage.
Two women were still standing, barely -- Kennedy and Diana.
"Shit!" said Faith running over to them. "You girls all right?"
Beat up as she was, Kennedy managed a crooked smile. "No, we're sunshine and roses." The smile faded. "I guess were better off than the others."
"Please tell me that you did some damage to Sahjhan," said Angel.
Kennedy shook her head. "We may have given him some cuts and bruises but he's still in the game. I don't think anything short of an A-bomb is going to take him down."
"Oh, my ears are burning!" Everyone whirled around to see Sahjhan, big as life and twice as ugly, appear on the floor. "Actually that's not you. This dimension tends to give me infections."
Angel turned to Lindsey. "Get them out of here." he said and ran towards the huge demon. He hit him twice before the demon knocked him aside.
"I still got unfinished business with you, asshole." Sahjhan waded towards him. However, he stopped halfway there as a knife flew through the air, cutting off the top of an earlobe.
Sahjhan turned around slowly. "Oh lord. Three of you killed, four of you on the severely disabled list and you Slayers still think that you can take me?"
Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? Evil tells me to run and hide, I get the urge to stand and fight. Rebellious streak I guess."
Sahjhan considered this …then charged both of them. These Slayers, however, were faster and better trained. Both of them managed to dodge him. Faith ran around him and grabbed the knife-- still imbued with Willow's magic-- out of the wall.
Buffy, in the meantime, was dodging the powerful blows that he threw.
"Keeping me on the defensive isn't going to beat me."
"No, but this might!" Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of electricity. A small red laser appeared on the right side of the demons large chest and suddenly the smell of roasting flesh filled the room.
Buffy knew that she had to act on this opening and did so, running at Sahjhan and kicking him just below the burned flesh. The demon shouted in pain. Grabbing Buffy by the leg, he yanked her into the air. "You're gonna pay for that, bitch."
"How about we take it out in trade?" Suddenly Faith reappeared and stabbed him in the stomach with the magic knife. Sahjhan didn't yell but he did drop Buffy.
As she got to her feet Buffy was stunned by who was holding the laser impaling the demon. "Andrew!" she shouted.
Andrew didn't even blink. "He was getting on my nerves. "
"Well, so are you!" Suddenly Sahjhan ripped one of the computers out of the wall and tossed it at Andrew. The young nerd tried to duck but it hit him in the chest. He fell to the ground.
Faith ran at Sahjhan and stabbed at him. This time, the blade missed and he grabbed Faith's arm. The dark-haired Slayer screamed.
Buffy and Angel both ran to her. Sahjhan turned and threw Faith at them. Buffy managed to duck but Angel was propelled backwards by the dark-haired Slayer.
"Don't you morons get it? I am invincible!" Sahjhan shouted at them. "That's the whole reason I was made non-corporeal in the first place. Nothing can stop me!"
"You're wrong about that." Everybody, even Sahjhan, whirled around at the sound of that voice. "One person can." Angel knew what was coming but still shook in fear.
"And that person is me." said Connor.
Everybody's attention was focused on the battle unfolding upstairs, either in the room or on the TV monitors that were still on the floor. So no one noticed when Cordelia/Jasmine suddenly reappeared on the roof.
"He should be finishing them off." she said calmly. "But in case he leaves anybody alive…"
Cordelia/Jasmine began chanting again. And again a small circle of energy appeared at chest level. Only this time the circle was darker.
Much darker.
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