Chapter 16 – Surprise and Lies
San Francisco – Halliwell House
"Phoebe?" Piper called out from the top of the stairs, feeling flustered. Paige and Doyle were missing and she knew they should have all stuck together. It was not safe to leave and the Charmed Ones were only secure with the Power of Three.
"Phoebe, come over here, please!" Piper huffed. Something doesn't seem right, Piper thought. Phoebe is usually on top of things when it comes down to tracking demons and responding to her sisters.
"What is it, Piper?" Phoebe walked up the steps slowly as if there was nothing wrong.
"Where are Paige and Doyle? Have you seen them after I made that call to Los Angeles?" Piper looked at Phoebe nervously.
"No, I have not seen them lately. Why?" Phoebe frowned, walking into the attic room, glancing around at the mess of books and a broken chair thrown all over the floor.
"Paige did not leave a note to tell us where she was going. Don't you find that a bit strange?" Piper folded her arms across her chest. She had no doubt that Doyle talked Paige into leaving.
"Well she is a big girl, Piper and I'm sure she's fine. There's no sense in worrying about her." Piper frowned at her sister. Phoebe was definitely not acting like herself today.
"We should at least scroll for Paige to see where she is at this moment. The Hoygles are out there and I am not taking any chances to see another sister of mine hurt or killed." Piper grabbed the jewel and twirled it around the map of California for a few minutes and sighed. Paige seemed to be no where to be found. Fear filtered through Piper's heart. Paige didn't know much about the Hoylgles to even learn how to vanquish them.
"Hey sis, I think the Book is missing. The Book doesn't appear to be on the podium anymore. Do you think Paige took it?" Phoebe frowned, looking concerned.
Piper shook her head. Paige could not have possibly taken the Book of Shadows out of the room because she knew how powerful it could be when it was accidentally placed in the wrong hands.
"The Book of Shadows is gone? Are you sure?" Piper checked the attic thoroughly and froze, her face turning from white to red. Phoebe nodded, placing a cool hand on Piper's shoulder. Piper was shaking uncontrollably and she felt defenseless. Without the Book of Shadows they couldn't stop any demons.
"We should get Leo to help us find Paige. This is no time for us to be split apart. There are strong, powerful demons who could kill any of us in a blink of an eye. LEO!" Piper glanced hopefully up at the ceiling, but nothing happend. "Where is Leo when we need him?" Piper panicked.
"He is probably out saving the Elders," Phoebe replied quickly, as her fingers skimmed through the rubble of books, the broken chair and knocked over, scratched up podium where Doyle and Paige had been sitting. She closed her eyes in concentration for a few minutes and then jerked her head up in alarm.
"Uh-oh…it looks like I have a premonition." Phoebe replied, standing up to dust herself off, her eyes wide with a look of terror on her delicate features.
"What did you see? Is it Paige?" Piper twisted her hands together nervously. Phoebe touched her hand to her head and then looked at the mess on the ground and then back at Piper with concern.
"Yes, it's Paige and she's with Doyle and Leo. They have been captured by the ugly Hoygle monsters. It's too horrible to think about." Phoebe shook her head with a look of disgust. "They are being tortured and their powers are zapped."
"We need to get to them as quickly as possible. Do you know where they are, Phoebe?"
"Oh I know where they are alright." Phoebe nodded as Piper stood in anticipation to hear her sister's answer. Phoebe sneakily pulled out the chair edge from behind her back and whacked Piper over the head with it and watched her sister black out and crash to the floor.
"But I'm not telling." Phoebe mocked with a laugh as she glanced down at her unconscious sister.
"Looks like it's time to take out the trash. Leo has been waiting for you and it isn't nice to leave him waiting all alone," Phoebe added as she grabbed her sister's arm and teleported her back to Wolfram and Hart.
Back in Italy
"What is everyone looking at? I'm as fit as a fiddle. It's not like I'm dead again. Come on, guys, we need to warn and rescue Angel and Faith. This is no time to just stand there and stare at me." Buffy was upset that everyone was treating her as if she were fragile. She was the Slayer and as far as she was concerned she felt great, maybe even stronger than usual.
"We were just in awe on how…um…great you look, Buff. We're just surprised at your quick recovery, right gang?" Xander smiled nervously at Buffy.
Everyone nodded on cue with fake smiles on their faces except for Spike.
"Bullocks! You know you have a lot of nerve, Slayer. After all you put me through. I thought you were dead again!" Buffy frowned, looking confused.
Spike shook his head. "Yeah, I found you in the basement unconscious. Believe me if I hadn't found you there you'd still be sitting on the cold floor, unconscious and alone. Your mates didn't even check on you. And now you want to save puss in boots and nancy boy? Bloody hell! Do you hate me that much that you would go back with him?" Buffy looked at Spike and then back at her friends stunned. She never heard Spike speak with such emotion in his voice since the Sunnydale apocalypse. It was a relief to see that he still had a soft spot for her over his hard facade.
"How moving! I see…so you want me to turn my back away from saving Angel and Faith just because you are in a jealous rage and have rescued me from the basement? Well I'm sorry, but I don't think you're getting any brownie points for that excuse, Spike. We're going to Los Angeles whether you like it or not and if you want to stay, then stay. Nobody is stopping you." Buffy replied firmly. She hated to sound so mean to Spike when he seemed to have saved her life, but at the same time she felt he was being selfish and inconsiderate of her duty as a Slayer. Spike glared at Buffy. It looked like going above and beyond for Buffy was not enough. Nothing he did was ever was good enough to impress her or win back her affections. Arguing through a series of conflicts was the only thing that ever stimulated their relationship.
"Is everyone packed?" Buffy cut the tense silence, looking around at everyone except for Spike.
"Checkerooni!" Xander grinned and gestured to the dozen of bags he was more or less half carrying and half dragging.
"That's great, but how on Earth are we going to get to Los Angeles? Steal a tug boat? No one is around at one in the morning," Dawn mentioned, scratching the back of her head as if that motion alone would hit her with an idea.
"That's where me and Paige come in, darlin'." Doyle winked at Dawn.
"We can teleport through time and space to Wolfram and Hart. You guys just have to grab onto our hands." Paige added, gesturing for everyone to gather around.
"Well beam me up Scotty! I always wanted to travel through time and space. But what happens if we let go?" Xander rambled, blushing as he grabbed onto Paige's hand.
"The whole point is to hold on for the ride, Xander." Willow laughed, playfully smacking him in the arm.
"Right…I knew that." Xander said with a goofy grin.
"Everyone grab onto our hands and Xander let us carry one of the bags so that those who can't hold our hands at least have something to hold onto while we orb to Los Angeles." Xander nodded at Paige and gave Doyle some bags to carry and Paige a few other bags to carry.
"How long does it take again?" Xander wondered, looking over at Doyle.
"Less than a few minutes, man," Doyle replied. Xander nodded enthusiastically, he hated long rides.
"Ready, darlin'?" Doyle turned to Paige.
"Ready!" Paige and Doyle concentrated, locked hands and combined their strength and power to orb everyone. Blue light sparkled above the gang as they disappeared from the small structured, mahogany room, leaving the room with a blue twinkling glow.
They entered a room that looked like an arena with beige tent like walls, white reflective lights and was filled with buzzing noises that grew louder and louder. The gang turned to see zombie like figures with green glowing eyes led by what appeared to be Kennedy heading towards Faith. Willow felt like she was in a trance when she saw Kennedy and stepped forward between Kennedy and Faith.
"Kennedy? Baby is that you?"
"Of course honey, who did you think it was?" Kennedy turned to Willow with green eyes and a glowing, eerie smile on her face as she started to step towards Willow to embrace her.
"Stop her, man," Doyle shouted towards Xander. Xander blinked back at Doyle with confusion.
Doyle dove in between the two girls to find his side burned by Kennedy's hands.
"No!" Buffy screamed as she kicked Kennedy across the face. The girl recovered like a rubber band. Kennedy was an awkward fighter. Since when did she have such good reflexes? Buffy thought to herself. Well it didn't matter now. As far as Buffy was concerned, Kennedy no longer existed and if it was a fight these green looking girls wanted, it was a fight they were going to get.
Xander gently helped Doyle up and frowned at the strange looking girls. "No more Mr. Nice Guy," Xander shouted as he, Dawn, Willow and even Spike joined the fight with the two Slayers.
"Hey B! Where did you come from and how did ya get here?" Faith asked as she fought back to back with Buffy.
"Teleportation…you?" Buffy shouted through the screeching of the demons, as she kicked the short, green skinned,demon girl to the ground. The girl felt as hard as rock. It was almost like she were turning into rock. Buffy shook her foot from the rough sensation as the girl bounced back up to pounce on Buffy. Faith grabbed the girl around and swung her fist into the demon's face.
"Sweet! It seems like you were riding first class. I just took an air plane ride here from Boston. Thought that Angel needed help or I thought he said so on the phone anyway. Turns out it was a prank call." Faith shrugged as she swung the tall demon girl to the ground from behind her.
"Wow...These girls are tough shit! Looks like they ate their wheaties this morning," Faith grinned.
"No kidding! So how is Angel-" Buffy turned to Faith, distracted for a moment. The tall, stalky demon girl pulled Buffy down and threw her across the room as if she weighed nothing.
Faith flipped into the air and side kicked the girl hard in the face.
"Like old times, eh B?" Faith grinned widely.
Buffy smiled as she gathered herself up from the cold, wet floor. Her smile faded as she saw Xander and Dawn being thrown to the floor by a bulky, green skinned demon girl.
Buffy flipped rapidly mutiple times through the air until she was over by her gang's side and kicked the girl between the eyes, which only kept the girl stunned momentarily. Buffy pushed off from the wall and swung her legs around the girl's neck tightly.
"Spike, get Dawn out of here, now!" Buffy shouted before being thrown hard down onto the floor and gasping in surprise. Spike nodded, but could not find the door. There was no escape to be seen. Spike kept Dawn away from the fight as he urged the green skinned looking girls off of Dawn by side swiping their faces, which only made some of the girls more angry as they recollected themselves from the ground, appearing to be more stronger than they were before Spike hit them. Paige could not orb out of the place with Dawn. The room seemed to suffocate her white lighter powers, but luckily kept her other witch powers intact.
Willow seemed to fend for herself pretty well by using magic with Paige's assistance to ward the green looking girls off by making a force field to protect Xander and Dawn.
Doyle courageously helped Faith and Buffy fight off the demons with a stake shooter, which only stunned the green looking girls for a few minutes, but distracted them enough to have the two Slayers send them screeching down to the floor.
"Where's Angel?" Doyle asked Faith.
"Don't know. I haven't really seen him since these goblin girls started to attack us. I don't think he wandered too far," Faith said between struggling with a tough, tall demon girl who kneed her in the thigh, leaving Faith wheezing on the floor.
"These chicks definitely seem to be high on the juice and shit. I haven't seen green skinned girls this strong since I lived in Sunnydale and I can tell ya these ain't the same chicks," Faith muttered between painful breaths. "So who is this knight in shining armor, B?"
"I'm Doyle. These girls ye seein' are not really girls anymore. They're turning into Hoygle demons who feed on human souls. They're after Angel and if we don't find him soon he'll be demon bait or worse he'll be Angelus again." Doyle exclaimed as his face morphed into his pointy demon form and he fought off the burly demon girl before it attacked Buffy.
"Wait a minute….you're Doyle the demon? No kidding! It's a small dimensional world after all." Faith slapped his back companionably as Doyle winced.
"I'm half demon and half human-" Doyle shook himself back into his human form and was cut off by Dawn's scream as Willow and Paige's force field melted away into the air and a huge and tall demon girl approached Dawn.
"Don't worry, Lil Bit, I've got it. No one can match the Big Bad." Spike stepped in front of Dawn, Xander and the witches as his face morphed into vampiric form for the first time since he entered the ghastly looking room. He grabbed the bulky demon girl's neck to crack it. The other Hoygle girl demons froze and ran into the white wall as the tall and bulky demon girl snapped her neck back and trudged along behind them and with a flash of white light the Hoygle girl demons disappeared.
"Now that was easy. I guess… " Xander coughed, spitting up blood.
"What made them run away like that?" Dawn questioned aloud.
"Don't know, darlin', but it will come back soon enough with more back up than ye can imagine." Doyle nodded as he squinted, looking for Angel through the white blinding light.
"Ye guys wait here while I find Angel."
"Wait, Doyle, we don't know if the demons actually disappeared or are hiding in the white mist. They're powerful and it's dangerous to go searching for Angel alone," Buffy grabbed onto his arm to stop him, but Doyle shrugged it off gently.
"Look ye need to stay put fer now and protect yer mates. I'm goin' ta be 'jus fine. Trust me." Doyle winked as he headed off into the foggy white light, disappearing from the gang's sight.
Angel felt like his body was stabbed with sharp objects. He could feel it in his body as he painfully held his side. It seemed like Faith had left him to defend for himself. So much for team work, Angel thought, irritatingly. One minute she is fighting by your side and then the next she is no where to be found. All he could remember was morphing into his vampiric form and kicking Kennedy's ass and then being surrounded by all the other demon girls who he beat one by one. He hated the thought of beating girls, but they didn't seem like real girls at all. They felt as strong as slayers and maybe more so because they felt like rock. He was sure that he hurt some of them because he heard them howl in pain, but they got back into the fight like they were in a wrestling match. Glaring and moving in a steady, but quick motion around Angel. Their skin looked like it was getting old and torn as well as bumpy and green. It tricked Angel's senses as he cut one of the girl demon's arms with an ax. The blood was black and red and had an odd smell to it. It wasn't quite human yet it wasn't demonic either. The bulky and tall demon girl's arm seemed to heal quickly without a scare. Quicker than any vampire or slayer healing, Angel remembered. Then there was a flash of bright light that blinded and jolted Angel, sending him to the ground. That's all he could remember when he opened his brown eyes. His body ached all over. He glanced up momentarily and then blinked at the white blinding light and saw a figure standing a few paces in front of him.
"Are ye alright, man?" a familiar voice asked as the figure stepped through the bright light to stand in front of Angel.
Angel froze in shock and shielded his hand above his eyes to gaze at his old friend. He blinked a few times and then shook his head. I can't believe it. I must be dreaming, Angel thought as a single tear came down his cheek.
"Doyle?"