CONSEQUENCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.

CHAPTER 9-WHAT A NIGHT, KATY'S SECRET

"Come on Dawn, our flight to London leaves in an hour and we have to go all the way across town," Buffy yelled loudly through Dawn's door and over her music as she tried to decide what to wear to the airport.

"I'm almost done…I'm just not sure which one to take," Dawn shouted back over the music and through the door as she held up two different colored blouses and scrunched up her nose as she hated to leave either behind.

"Well pick one, Giles and Xander are getting impatient," Buffy called back before she walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

"What's taking them so long," Kennedy asked with a bored look on her face as she walked into the living room and dropped her bag on the floor beside the couch.

"Women…they always take forever," Xander replied with a half smirk on his face as he packed Andrew up with several bags and pointed him in the direction of the waiting taxis.

"We didn't Xander," Willow pointed out with a short laugh as she handed Xander a couple of her bags and he struggled to keep from dropping the heavy bags even though he gave the outward appearance of being able to hold them up easily while Kennedy smiled proudly.

"That was only because you packed your things hours ago," Giles stated with the faintest traces of a smile curling up the edges of his lips.

"Any more word on our Ms. Adams," Willow asked with a hopeful look on her face, as it was obvious that she was trying to change the subject.

"Not much, although last time I checked my source reported that Ms. Adams had been injured in the fight and taken to a nearby hospital, before rather promptly…and forcefully checking herself out and disappearing," Giles answered with a firm and grim scowl on his face as it was clear that he didn't like the news that his source had leaked to him.

"Well that helps us a lot…," Kennedy grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she flopped down onto the couch and crossed her arms.

"Actually it could Kennedy, because my source said that Ms. Morgan did not come into the hospital alone, someone brought her in," Giles came back with an optimistic look on his face as he closed his briefcase and locked it.

"So if we find whoever brought her in then…we find out who she was fighting with, and hopefully help Buffy bring a bit of closure about Spike," Willow added with a very serious and worried about Buffy frown on her face before Buffy popped back out of her room.

"What about Spike…," Buffy asked with a hurried but in control expression on her face before those assembled in the living room quickly looked at each other as each tried to come up with something to say to pacify Buffy without hurting her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

She had never seen a place like this before. There were more flashing lights and styles of music playing than anywhere she had ever been. She could feel the beat of the music coming from inside the club. She lifted her gaze up to the banner on the roof and furrowed her brows at the title, Orange Crush. She felt strange in the barely there outfit, only concealed by a hastily pulled on shirt and sweatpants. The blonde that had driven here there, Holly, seemed to not be to thrilled about returning to this place of business. Illyria thought about inquiring as to the reason but her thirst for knowledge about humanity got the better of her and she let herself be lead through the front doors without complaint. Once inside Illyria got an education of another kind. The interior of the building looked like a tropical resort, or at least like the resorts that Illyria had seen on late night television, something that she had begun watching when Wesley wouldn't talk to her for extended periods of time. The only difference was that none of those tropical resorts on television, save one, featured overly intoxicated men throwing money and less than clothed women. Illyria would have puzzled at this a little longer when a rather young looking young woman, dressed like a very trashy Vegas showgirl in all black leather, which covered less than two percent of her body, came hurrying up to them.

"Holly, Jamie…where have you been, Harold's been looking for you," Katy, the young woman clad in black leather, stated with a nervous look on her face as the jewelry that adorned her slim but shapely waist jingled back and forth.

"Who is this…Harold," Illyria asked with a confused look on her face as she stood where she was and kept her gaze scanning back and forth through the club.

"You're joking right…Harold, the pig that watches us change, the one that signs our paychecks…any of this ringing a bell," Katy replied shakily as her light Russian accent slipped out briefly, with a great amount of disgust and disdain on her face as she spoke about her boss, as she squeezed as much skin as she could out of her outfit.

"He's on the warpath again…God that guy seriously needs to get laid," Holly exclaimed with a sarcastic grin on her face as Katy flipped her waist length braid back behind her shoulder.

"I do not understand the…," Illyria started to ask with a confused look on her face before an overweight bald man stormed up to them and interrupted.

"So you two have finally decided to show up, it's about time…now get back there and get ready, the two of you go on in five minutes, and you'd better be good today," Harold growled with a frustrated and angry scowl on his face as he hitched up his pants twice during the rant to keep them up high enough in back.

"Are you threatening me…," Illyria declared with a very serious and confrontational expression on her face as she stepped forward before Holly pulled her back, gave Harold a warm smile and pulled Illyria towards the dressing room. They had slipped into the dressing room only just barely before Holly began.

"What the hell were you thinking Jamie, you piss off Harold any more and he'll kick our asses out of here, and if you haven't noticed lately we're barely making ends meet at home and losing our jobs would put a serious crimp in keeping a roof over our heads," Holly grumbled with a very unhappy and hurried frown on her face as she stripped off the clothes that she had quickly pulled on and home and plopped down at her seat and pulled open a drawer.

"He threatened me…no one threatens the great Illyria and lives to tell about it," Illyria started to angrily announce as she clenched her fists tightly together before Katy walked in and frowned.

"Who's Illyria…," Katy asked with an impatient frown on her face as she raced over to her seat and quickly shoved the judo book off of the top of her place and into the top drawer.

"I am," Illyria declared with a proud and confidant look on her face as she puffed her chest out a bit and tried to stand regally.

"Whatever…she's still a little woozy from yesterday," Holly started to say looking up at Illyria before she leaned in closer to Katy and snickered as she said the last bit.

"I understand…I'll try to take a little longer out there and give you some more time to get…Illyria here, ready," Katy announced with an anxious smile on her face before she loosened the buckle that held the two halves of her top together and headed off for the stage.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can you see her," Angel shouted over the honking of the car horns as he and Spike rounded yet another corner. After having transformed into a werewolf Nina had taken out the entire army of demons, Cody included, that had been trying to kill them. She hadn't eaten any of them, just used her pent up anxiety, fear, and anger as a weapon and tore them to shreds. Faith and Morgan had only been saved when Spike had grabbed them and headed for the street while shoving Cody towards Nina.

"No…and it's almost dawn," Spike replied with a frustrated and impatient scowl on his face as he leapt down from the bottom rail on the fire escape ladder of a nearby building.

"We have to find her," Angel persisted with a worried look on his face as he tilted his head back and tried to catch Nina's scent on the wind.

"Well that's a given, but unless you know a good…," Spike began to joke with a tired look on his face before a loud howl interrupted them.

"Nina…," Angel declared with a very serious and unsure look on his face before he tore off down the street, leaving Spike to hurry to catch up. They rounded a far corner just in time to catch sight of Nina violently snapping the neck of an unfortunate vampire and she howled soon after he dissolved into a cloud of dust.

"This ought to be fun," Spike mimed over to Angel with a gleeful look of sarcasm on his face as he slowly inched forward, keeping both hands in front of him so that Nina could see that he was unarmed and hopefully she'd decide that he didn't mean her any harm.

"Shut up Spike, or else I'll…," Angel started to growl under his breath as he glared over at Spike before Nina growled loudly and took a confrontational step towards the pair of vampires.

"I won't hurt her if I can help it Peaches, I'm not a…bloody hell," Spike began to growl back sarcastically under his breath before Nina's nostrils flared and she leapt onto Spike, knocking him flat on his back, her teeth a mere three inches from his face, getting a startled shout from Spike.

"Nina no," Angel shouted with a bit of panic in his voice as he rushed over and tried his best to make a split second decision about who to help first, Nina or Spike. In the end he finally decided to help both at the same time, and the only way that he could see to do that is to get Nina off of Spike before she did something irreversible, even with vampire healing. He dove in quickly, taking instant advantage of Nina leaning down fully to snap Spike's neck with her teeth before he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other under one arm and around her neck. With all of his might he quickly and suddenly pulled back and up and began to drag Nina away from Spike, despite her frantic attempts to free herself.

"We're to late…the sun," Spike shouted as loud as he could to Angel, with a fair amount of desperation in his voice, as he looked skyward, honestly a bit nervous by the first few rays of sunlight that fell upon the city.

"Damn…Spike, help me…," Angel grunted out with a very angry sneer on his face as it was taking almost all of his strength to keep Nina from getting loose as he stumbled back into a hard wall. Without uttering a word Spike leapt up off of the ground and tore forward, slamming into Nina, and creating a vampire and werewolf sandwich. At Spike's joining of her confinement Nina literally began to fight tooth and nail, ending with both Spike and Angel receiving several deep gashes and puncture wound on their upper extremities and shoulders. Gritting their teeth through the pain Angel and Spike managed to wrestle Nina back through the door of an abandoned building before they all violently tumbled down the stairs and then crashed into a pile of empty cardboard boxes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katy's turn up on the stage had nearly ended before the shit truly hit the fan. Her set had started out like usual. Her outfit had been killer that day, just like it had been every week since her first day, seven months earlier. The usual guys had been there, hooting and hollering and tossing her enough money to both pay the bills and to give Harold his cut. She was just about to twirl around the pole one last time, with her legs tightly clenched around it as she spiraled her way down towards the floor with her back arched so that everyone got a good view of her but they were all upside down in her vision as a result, when it happened. Before any of the bouncers had a chance to register what has happening in front of them in their minds the pair of men had leapt up onto stage, both heading straight for Katy, with the bigger of the two brandishing a large knife. Awkwardly letting go of the pole at the same time that she let out a scared yelp Katy hit the floor and rolled away, just out of the reach of the first swing of the knife. The second swing caught her on the hip, opening up an inch long gash on her left hip. Her shouts of pain alerted the bouncers and other dancers backstage alike. Holly had been trying to make sure that everything was ready for their tandem act, with Illyria not understanding any of it in the least, before Katy's yell interrupted them.

"Katy," Holly screamed with a very stunned and worried look on her face before she instantly began to race towards the curtain.

"There is danger," Illyria stated with a calm but yet interested tone to her voice before she followed Holly out of the dressing room and onto the floor, only to see the man with the knife spin around and drive the knife up to its hilt into Holly's stomach as she tried to rush to Katy's aid. The dying look on Holly's face was one that would stick with Illyria for the rest of her existence. The shell grieved mightily for her death but to Illyria Holly's passing served to touch off the fire of grief that had quieted down a bit after waking up in the new shell. Katy meanwhile had recovered just enough from the shock of the attack to scramble back across the stage away from the two men as the three bouncers did their best to tackle the two men. However the two men surprised everyone by batting the bouncers away like they were flies before their faces changed.

"What the…hell are you," Katy exclaimed with a terrified look on her face as her breath caught in her throat and she scrambled to get away.

"You're death slayer," The unarmed vampire stated with a great amount of zeal while the other vampire licked Holly's blood off of the knife before diving down and sinking his fangs into her neck and drinking deeply.

"Slayer…I don't know what you're talking about…I'm not a slayer," Katy argued with a frantic look on her face as she used the sections of the backdrop to get back up to her feet as she squeezed herself flat up against the wall, hoping to keep as much space in between her and the two vampires as she possibly could.

"Not for long…," The unarmed vampire said with a very pleased grin on his face before he rushed forward and grabbed Katy by throat with both hands, trying to squeeze the life out of her.

"I wish to cause pain," Illyria announced with a deadly serious and fed up scowl on her face before the two front doors slammed shut and almost every man in the bar stood up and slipped their game faces on.

"What the fuck…," Harold started to wonder with a scared through confused look on his face before one of the vampires reached over and snapped his neck. Katy didn't see his body fall but saw the effects as a table was overturned rather violently as a result. Katy was beginning to see stars and black patches in her vision before Illyria went into action. Striding up to the knife wielding vampire, Holly's blood still dribbling down his chin, Illyria seemed to not take notice of the less than scared look on the vampires face before she shot her hands out and snapped his neck, barely taking note as he exploded into a cloud of dust. Her actions were not however unnoticed by the other vampires in the club.

"Two slayers…they never said anything about two slayers," A skittish vampire shouted as he looked as if he were about to flee the area.

"Two…four…eight, who cares…we're here to even the odds a bit," A larger vampire growled back at the skittish vampire before he charged Illyria and slammed his fist into Illyria's jaw, knocking her back a step.

"You are weak," Illyria stated with a very matter of fact look on her face before she blocked the next punch and once again snapped a vampire's neck.

"Nnh…," Katy gagged out as she was starting to lose consciousness before she did the only thing that she could think of, desperately hoping that it worked on vampires as readily as it did with most men who got a bit to forward with her. Squeezing her eyes shut she brought her knee up straight into the vampires groin and took some sense of enjoyment at the garbled sounds that came out of his mouth before he released his grip on her and dropped to the ground. The instant that the vampires hands were no longer around her neck Katy began a long fit of coughing and convulsing in an attempt to regain full use of her lungs.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where the hell are they, dawn was three hours ago," Gwen demanded with a very impatient scowl on her face as Groo was at a loss to try to calm her down while Faith leaned back in her chair and sipped on her glass of tea while gently rubbing her throat. True to Spike's guess there was a slim scar that now ran across her throat parallel to her chin. Morgan sat very uncomfortably in the chair next to Faith, asking Connor an endless stream of questions about anything and everything that had to do with vampires and slayers. Connor did his best to answer them all but could not be completely overjoyed at talking to the beautiful young woman because in his mind the only reason that she was saying anything to him was because she was trying to catch Spike's eye.

"They're fine Gwen, they're probably on their way back here already, using the sewers and tunnels since the sun is up," Connor said softly as he did his best to keep the group calm despite his own uneasiness.

"How can you be so sure, you have the ability to read minds on top of everything else," Gwen shot back with a venomous glare on her face as she kept her concern for the others well hidden from everyone except Connor.

"No…because he's my son," A very bedraggled and weak looking Angel announced, with a softly snoring Nina in his arms wrapped up in his coat, as he and Spike forced themselves to walk up out of the hotels cellar and into the lobby.

"Dad…what happened," Connor exclaimed his question with a confused and worried look on his face as he got up and hurried around the corner until he was standing directly in front of Angel.

"Your future mother in law hit that time of the month…," Spike grumbled with a thinly sarcastic smile on his face, a statement that Angel made no move to rebuke, before he shuffled his way through the lobby and towards the elevator, wincing with every step at his wounds, not noticing Morgan's gaze following him the entire way.

END OF CHAPTER 9