Authors Note: I'm hoping from now on that updates will come a lot more frequently. For one thing, I've now finished the CSI fic I was writing, so I can now concentrate fully on getting this story completed. And for another, I've decided to write shorter chapters from now on - previous chapters were running into 3000 words, which obviously take a lot longer.
This chapter is "battle in LA" heavy, with not too much in Pylea. The balance will go the other way in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: My birthday was last week and no one gave me the rights to Angel or any of the characters for that matter. So, I'm still borrowing them. Joss Whedon will hopefully get them back without too much damage, though given what I'm putting them through, that isn't guaranteed. No infringement intended.
CHAPTER 20 - WAR ZONE.
Cordy closed her eyes as she entered the portal. When she opened them again, she found that she was in the same room as before. Only now she was completely alone.
"Angel!" she called out. "Connor!"
There was no reply, save for the echo of her own voice. She felt a coldness she hadn't noticed before, chilling her to the bone. She had never felt so alone in her entire life. It was exactly like it had been in her vision.
She still carried her sword, but realized that she no longer had the book. It had been left at the other side of the portal, just as Giles had suspected. She was trapped there, no way back, and completely alone.
She heard a sound coming from the altar, and suddenly being alone didn't seem to be the problem anymore.
Sword clashed with sword, claws with flesh, as the two armies met head on. Buffy had two on her at once and more and more demons spilled over the fiery moat to attack. Taking out her opponents as swiftly as she could, she turned to help Willow with a group she was fending off. As she did so, she spotted several demons she recognized only too well come over the flames and head straight for Kennedy.
"Kennedy!" she yelled. "Sisterhood of Jhe, right behind you!"
Decapitating her foe, Kennedy spun around to meet the newcomers, flanked by two other slayers.
Reaching Willow's position, Buffy ran her sword through one demon, winding another with a roundhouse kick. This gave the witch ample breathing space to conjure a huge fire ball and fling it at her attackers.
"How's the glowy thing coming, Red?" Spike asked as he hacked a Hell Beast in two before turning his attention to a Fyarl demon.
Willow fended off another demon with magic, before glaring at Spike. "I don't exactly work well under pressure!"
Finishing off the Fyarl, he briefly surveyed the carnage that lay all around them. "Well, by all means. Take your bloody time then," he told her sarcastically, before moving on to the next fight.
As Buffy finished off yet another demon, she heard an unearthly howling. Two dozen Hell Beasts leapt over the flames, lolloping across the battlefield, ripping chunks out of anyone getting in their way.
Momentarily distracted, she suddenly found herself pinned between the arms of a huge demon. Lifted up into the air, she could only watch as two of the Hell Beasts jumped on one of her slayers from behind, ripping her in half before she could mount a defense.
Blinking back tears of rage, Buffy intensified her struggle with her new attacker. The creature was incredible strong, its arms crushing her with apparently very little effort. Dropping her head forward, she snapped it back and connected with its face. The demon shrieked, but its grip never loosened.
Buffy could feel her ribs bending under the pressure. It was only a matter of moments before they snapped - slayer-strength or not. Just as her breathing started to become labored, the demon let out another shriek and she felt its arms loosen around her. Taking advantage, she wriggled out of its grasp and dropped to the ground.
Her adversary, she could see now, had been a Lagos demon. However, he now had a large sword stuck through his head, accounting for her sudden release. Smirking, Spike pulled his sword out of the demon's skull and wiped it on his coat, as the creature finally succumbed to death and fell to the ground.
She was about to thank him when another sound rose above the din of the battle. The dragon was back. Swooping low over the buildings, it swatter at the slayers like flies, sending two tumbling from the roof-top to their deaths.
Vi and Rona were positioned on the roof-top with the second rocket launcher. Seeing their opportunity, Vi helped Rona steady the heavy weapon on her shoulder, taking aim as the dragon rose into the air again.
The rocket headed straight for the gigantic creature. But at the last moment, the dragon swerved, causing the rocket to miss it by mere inches.
The girls frantically tried to reload their weapon as the dragon swung round for another attack.
Connor looked around the deserted chamber. He was certain this was the exact same one he had just left – certainly the somewhat disturbing décor was the same. However, he was now alone.
"Dad!" he called out, looking around the room. "Cordy?"
No reply. Perhaps they were in another room, he thought. Bent on going back out to the entrance hall and retracing his steps, he was stunned to find that the room wasn't entirely identical to the one he had just been in. This one didn't have a door.
A sound coming from the altar alerted him to the fact that he wasn't entirely alone. Turning slowly around, he saw the last person he expected.
"Hello Stephen."
The dragon swooped before they could take aim. Effortlessly, it plucked Vi up into the air. Rona dropped the rocket launcher and snatched out with both hands to grab her, but it was too late. The dragon flew higher into the air and, positioned above the fray below, dropped its passenger.
From the ground, all this looked like it was happening in slow motion to Buffy. She thought she cried out, but she couldn't hear her own voice. Finally getting her legs to work, she launched herself forward, leap-frogging over several demons to get underneath Vi's path of decent, reaching out her arms to catch her.
Vi hit her hard, knocking the wind out of her and bringing them both crashing to the ground. The younger girl groaned, still alive. Buffy could feel damp warmth spread across her chest and she heaved herself out from underneath to check the damage. She estimated there were at least three or four deep wounds, from what she could tell under all the blood, from where the dragon's claws had imbedded in Vi's flesh.
Buffy lost no more time, picking up the wounded slayer and carrying her behind the front line.
"Dawn!" she yelled about the incessant din. "Dawn!"
"Buffy!" she heard her sister return her call and made her way towards her, depositing the now unconscious girl at hers and Xander's feet.
"Get her back to the hotel. We need to get the bleeding controlled," she ordered simply, before moving back into the battle once more.
It was then that she spotted two more broken slayers crashing to the ground. This time there was no one to catch them.
TO BE CONTINUED...