Disclaimer: See previous chapters
CHAPTER 23 - LETS MAKE A DEAL
"Woo-hoo!"
Spike whooped out as he flew through the air atop the dragon's back. He couldn't help but take a moment to enjoy the sensation – whipping though the air at an incredible speed. It made him feel alive. Almost.
Turning his attention towards the serious business at hand, he yanked at his axe, pulling it out of the dragon's thick hide and causing it to shriek.
"Sorry, girl, but it's time to get busy with the dying."
Steadying himself by bracing his knees at the creature's side, he raised the axe above his head, ready to bring down the final blow. Sensing this, the dragon changed direction, swinging around to make him loose balance. It zigzagged back and forth across the sky at dizzying speed.
Feeling himself slipping, Spike scrambled to grab hold of the beast, but in the process dropped his weapon. He slid off his perch on the dragon's back; his deathlike grip on one of its spines the only thing preventing him from falling a long way to the ground.
The dragon flew back and forth, trying to shake him off, but he hung on, clawing his way back onto its back. Then the creature drove, and he was almost flung over its head.
Cling on for dear life, Spike looked over the dragon's horned head to see what it was doing.
It's aiming for the slayers on the roof, he realized, yanking at the dragon's head in an attempt to get it to pull up. But it kept right on diving at full speed.
They were barely 100 yards away, when Spike had a bright idea. He just hoped they could hear him in time.
"Shoot it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, getting the attention of Rona, who was still armed with the rocket launcher. "Shoot!"
She raised the weapon and took aim. Spike sensed the dragon tense underneath him, readying itself to make evasive maneuvers. Grabbing hold of the horn on its head, Spike dragged its head backwards, distracting it enough to make it halt its flight, baring its vulnerable underbelly as it tried to shake him off.
"Now!" he yelled.
Buffy heard the yell and looked up; watching in horror at the rocket flew straight for the dragon, Spike still on its back.
"So what do you mean you want to fix things?" Cordelia asked Skip.
"Well, aren't you tired of all this?" he asked her. "Wouldn't you like to go back to having a normal life?"
She laughed derisively. "What's normal?"
"Normal is not having to fight anymore. Not having the Senior Partners on your tail, trying to kill you," he answered. "Normal is living the rest of your life out the way it was meant to be, without this giant cosmic "uh oh" having screwed it up."
She rolled her eyes. Not this again. "We played this game before, remember? I wasn't meant to get the visions. I was meant to be a big TV star, yada yada. It didn't take."
He shrugged. "That's because the Powers offered you the wrong deal. The Partners won't make the same mistake."
She laughed again. "Yeah, because the Senior Partners are such benevolent souls."
"Benevolent? No," he replied. "Pragmatic – yes. You and Angel and Sonny-boy pose a big problem for them. Will they swat you down in the end? Hell yes. But they'll have to waste a hell of a lot of energy in doing so. Instead, they want to play lets make a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
Skip smiled knowingly. "Tell me something. What was missing from your perfect life that the Powers gave you? You had all that wealth and fame and success – everything you'd ever dreamed of. So, what was missing? Why did you go back?"
"It wasn't my life," she told him. "You'd taken away my purpose…"
He smirked at her. "But that's not the real reason, is it Cordelia? That's not why it didn't feel right."
She paused, wanting to deny it. But she couldn't. "Angel…" she whispered.
"Bingo." He winked at her. "First rule of bargaining – know what your opponent really wants. And those are your terms, right Cordelia? Knowing that you've fulfilled your destiny. And a normal, happy life with your vampire lover."
She said nothing, not willing to admit that he was right.
"The Partners are willing to give you that," he went on. "They'll call off the war, withdraw their demon army from LA and let you go. You just have to accept their terms."
Cordelia closed her eyes and thought about it. It was tempting. The battle finally being over. A normal life with Angel. What wasn't to love about that deal?
But there has to be a catch, her cynical, realistic side said. They're trying to trap you.
As if on cue, she heard the door behind her creak open.
Rondell was impressed in spite of himself. While battling demon after demon, he had caught a glimpse of Rieff. The demon didn't have any particular fighting skills per se, but he had the raw passion, the righteous fire that Rondell often saw in his own new recruits. Especially the ones that had lost family to vamps or demons.
Rondell grinned as he decapitated yet another opponent. Maybe the demon was alright after all.
Rieff was tiring quickly. Lister demons were not built for battle and, despite the training he had put himself through, he knew he was ill-prepared for this fight. Nevertheless, he kept going, ducking attacks as best he could, killing and injuring as many opponents as possible, trying to keep his heart from breaking as he witnessed the fall of many of his kinsmen.
After a great deal of effort, he managed to put down another hell spawn, more through outwitting it than through skill or strength. There was no time to pause for breath, however, as a member of the Scourge stepped into his path.
'End of the road, half-breed,' it snarled. 'For you and your pathetic race.'
Rieff shook his head, facing the larger demon defiantly. 'This might be my day to die,' he replied. 'But the Lister clan will live on. The time of the Pure-Bloods is long over. This isn't your world anymore.'
'We're here to take it back,' the demon spat back, as he lunged forward.
Raising her sword again, Cordelia spun round to see who was entering the chamber.
"Angel!" she gasped, running towards him and almost falling into his arms. "You're alright."
He held her close. "Yeah. Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything, right?"
He drew back from her to look her over; inspecting her for any injuries he hadn't spotted before.
"No, I'm fine," she told him. "Better now that you're here."
She suddenly remembered who else was in the room with them, and looked back towards the altar to gauge Skip's reaction. There wasn't one – Angel had clearly been expected.
"I'll leave the two of you alone," Skip said, disappearing through an archway to the rear of the altar.
She turned back to the vampire, confused. "Angel? What's going on?"
Taking both of her hands in his, he seemed to be trying to reassure her with his eyes. "I've struck a deal with the Partners, Cordy."
"There must be a special offer on today," she remarked. "What deal did they offer you?"
He sighed. "We're never going to win this. All we can do is make things difficult for them for a while. We won't stop them if we try to take them head on."
"What's the alternative? Just give up?"
"The alternative is we take their deal. They agree to leave us and the slayers in peace, go on about their business as they did before. And we agree to stop fighting them."
"What's the catch?" she asked immediately. It was the one thing still niggling at her, and she was surprised that it didn't seem to be bothering him too.
"We only stop being a threat to them in our human forms," he explained. "So, you'd have to give up your visions and your demon powers and I… I get to Shanshu."
Her eyes were wide. "They're allowing that?"
"I'm not a threat to them as a mortal. Giving me the reward mentioned in the prophesy is a small price to pay to remove me from the playing field, I guess."
It sounded too good to be true. "What about Connor?"
When he didn't reply, she knew she'd identified the catch. "No!"
"Cordy…"
"No, Angel! He's your son!"
"It'll be okay," he insisted. "They'll just recast the spell that took his memory before. He'll forget everything painful that happened and he can go back to his… his other family. He'll be happy with them. He was before."
She was incredulous. "And you're fine with that? You're prepared just to give him up again?"
He moved round behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them to relax her. "It's either this, or we all die, Cordy. It's a small price to pay to get our lives back, don't you think?"
As he rubbed, Cordelia felt her eyes get heavy, his voice soothing her. Gently, he stooped down and placed a kiss where her shoulder and neck met.
"We'll be free of all this, Cor. We can be together, properly, at last. No more fighting. No more curse. No more apocalypses. Just you and me, together for the rest of our lives."
He kissed her neck again, his lips gently caressing her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears forming in them.
There was something wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but a niggling doubt had crept into her mind, worrying at her. Something wasn't right.
Angel didn't give up this easily. There had to be something else. Something else pushing him into quitting. Into making this deal. If she could just figure out what it was…
Then an idea struck her…
"What did you make me promise you, Angel?" she almost whispered.
"What?" he asked, not understanding the question.
"Just tell me," she insisted. "What did I promise you?"
There was a smile in his voice. "That you'd love me forever."
"No. Back in the beginning. When I first started working for you. What was the one thing you made me promise?"
"Cordy, I…" he sounded uncertain. His hands stilled. "What does it matter?"
"Come on, Angel. After Penn did his "Apt Pupil" impression and Wesley and I thought you were the one killing those people. What did you make me promise?"
The confidence was back in his voice. "You promised never to doubt me again."
A single tear ran down her face. Slowly she reached into her pocket as he returned his attention to her neck.
In one seamless motion she spun, plunging the wooden stake into his chest. The look of shock on his face drew a sob from her throat as she watched him turn to dust.
TO BE CONTINUED...