Part 11:

Cordelia was having a hard time keeping her wits together. It had been there: The chance to make everything right again. The chance to undo the damage she had unwittingly done by uttering that stupid wish. Just a few more seconds and Anya, Anyanka, whatever... would have told her what she needed to do. Only now Anya was dead and Angelus was here.

The ruler of Hell's eleventh circle stood before them, flanked by the vampire that had been Willow and another vamp Cordy didn't recognize, and looked mighty pleased with himself. Anya was lying at his feet, her head facing backwards, quite dead. The bastard was laughing and the sound was like glass shards cutting through the tiny threads still holding her sanity together.

"Tommy," Angelus addressed the vampire to his right, "be a good sport and go kill the guards for me, will you? I can't have strange people wandering into my dungeons at will, can I?"

"Will do, boss," Tommy said and left, apparently very eager to carry out his orders.

"As for the rest of you," Angelus turned his attention on them, "I really would like to know what she was doing here, but I guess you won't tell me without some torture, will you? That's fine."

"Can I help?" Willow asked, giggling. "I'd really like to help, especially with Cordelia. We had such fun the last time."

Cordelia was suddenly assaulted by a memory, coming so strong it was almost like a physical blow. She saw this... thing, the demon Willow had become. Saw herself at its mercy for hours and hours on end. Saw... things she didn't want to think about. God, what had her other self endured in this strange, fucked-up world?

Angelus gave Willow an annoyed look. "How many times do I have to tell you, they are all mine."

The red-headed vampire pouted. "You are just pissed at me because my soul got away from you. Not my fault it didn't stay."

Angelus was about to make an angry retort, but was cut off when Anyanka jumped up from the ground. Her face didn't look human anymore. She was all-demon now and quite obviously pissed.

"I've had the worst day, you know?" she hissed, quickly wrenching her head around until it faced the right way again. "I find out my job is history, all my peers hate me, and I may have to sacrifice all that I am to put it right. And then you go and do something like this."

Her hands morphing into claws, she stalked toward Angelus. "I'm so gonna make you pay for all of that, you bastard!"

Angelus didn't have time for a reply before the vengeance demon barrelled into him, looking to him rip him into tiny little pieces. Angelus was not exactly a weakling, though, and the two monsters tore into each other with frightening intensity.

"I'm gonna rip your dead heart out," Anya hissed, looking to do just that. "Do you know how much it hurts to have your neck broken?"

"No, really? How inconsiderate of me. Here I wanted to kill you painlessly."

Willow didn't seem inclined to help her master in any way, looking slightly amused at the spectacle of the fight. Unfortunately the sound of the scuffle attracted the attention of some other vampires, who came streaming into the dungeon. Either they weren't guards or Tommy simply hadn't gotten around to them yet.

"Protect the master," one of them yelled. Moments later they were doing their best to pry Anya off of Angelus.

"Piss off," she yelled, throwing several of them around like toys. One of them hit the wall right beside Cordelia. Obviously enraged at being manhandled like that, he reached for the nearest available weapon.

Which happened to be the chain that held Cordelia against the wall.

She thought her neck was going to break as the vampire ripped the chain from wall, wrenching her off it with tremendous force. Something snapped somewhere in her body, a surge of pain tearing through her like lightning. She dropped to the floor, forgotten by her unwitting liberator, writhing in agony.

"CORDY," Xander yelled, struggling to get free, but to no avail.

"Kill the bitch," Angelus ordered, even as more than a dozen vampires were doing their best to subdue an enraged Anyanka.

Cordelia managed to raise her head a few inches, her back hurting like crazy. She was actually pleasantly surprised that she could still move at all, having been certain that the vampire had broken her spine along with the chain.

The tide of memories from the other Cordelia that tried to overwhelm her actually helped this time. This pain was nothing compared to what she had experienced during her time at Angelus' and Willow's mercy. Pain and her were old friends and the stubbornness of the 'old' Cordelia helped overcome it.

Anyanka was losing. Oh, she was extracting a heavy toll from the vampires assaulting her, but there were too many of them. The vengeance demon was being buried under a mass of bodies and Cordelia had no doubt that, once she was down, Angelus would find a way to kill her, even her breaking the neck didn't work. He was quite inventive that way.

This was it, she realized. Her last chance to make this right. She had to move, damn it! Do something! Pushing the pain aside, she made it to her knees. No one was paying any attention to her at the moment except Xander, but she couldn't spare the time to reassure him of her well-being. She had to think and think fast.

You need to take back your wish and then... then you need to stab me in my centre. Those had been Anya's words. Stab her in the centre? What centre? She obviously hadn't meant it in the sexual way, so what else...

Looking at Anyanka, still fighting off the vampires, she suddenly saw it. There was a green jewel imbedded in the vengeance demon's collar bone. Seeing it now, she dimly remembered her human form wearing a necklace with a jewel in exactly the same place. The jewel was glowing, almost crackling with energy. That had to be it.

Searching the dungeon with her eyes, Cordelia found something that might just do the trick. One of the vampires Anyanka had thrown into a wall was unconscious and there was a weapon lying next to him, some kind of spear. What did vampires need spears for anyway? Not that it mattered. As fast as her aching body allowed, Cordy crawled over to the fallen vamp and took up his weapon.

Struggling to her feet, she saw that the battle was over. Anyanka was beaten. Four vampires held her still, their vast strength enough to pin her to the ground. Angelus was standing above her, now grinning once again.

"I don't know what you are," he said, cackling, "but I will have a very good time finding the best way to kill you. Oh, what fun we will have."

"Go to hell," Anyanka spat.

"Too late for that, bitch. We're already there. And you'll never leave. No one will."

Some part of Cordelia wanted to give a witty remark, something along the lines of 'not if I can help it', but she quickly realized that it would only ruin her one chance to put this right. She was still being ignored. No time like the present.

With a running start she rushed toward the scene, praying that the vampires would be too surprised to stop her with their superior strength and speed. Hefting the spear with every little bit of strength remaining to her, she ran straight at the pinned Anyanka.

"I take back my wish," she muttered, raising her weapon.

"What the...," Angelus said, noticing her.

"Oh, this is going to hurt," Anya muttered, seeing her approach.

"I want my world back," Cordelia whispered and threw herself forward, her full body weight driving the sharp tip of the spear into the glowing green jewel on Anyanka's neck.

The last thing Cordelia saw was the demonic mask of fury that was Angelus' face. Then everything spiralled away into darkness.

TO BE CONCLUDED