Chapter Twenty Six

As well as making sure her 'witchy goodness', as Alec had jokingly called it on the way out of Spike's apartment, stayed as much hidden as she could possibly make it, Willow found herself also needing to hold back her disgust at the mere sight of Vail. She'd seen him before, of course, when she, Wesley, Buffy, and Illyria had followed Angel to this mansion, but she had not seen him eating the bowl of chopped organs stewing in a broth of blood as if it were just regular soup.

She decided it would be best if she avoided direct eye contact with the 'food' as Vail ingested it and so let her gaze wander around the giant room, as if she were bored with the meeting. She was sure her evil twin would have done the same thing, but for different reasons.

Willow nearly jumped from fright when Wesley gently nudged her side. She carefully controlled her reaction before realizing he had done so because Vail had just asked her a question. She felt a flitter of panic.

"Well..."

"You may be smarter than the others when it comes to Angel, but your doubts concerning Willow are unneeded," Wesley interrupted, sensing she hadn't actually heard the question. Vail smirked.

"Perhaps. But that doesn't change the fact that after that show of power in Sunnydale two years ago, she knowingly went back to the good side, lending her skills to spread the power of the 'Chosen One' to little girls around the world," he rasped. He had practically spat the words 'chosen one' in such a way that made Willow flinch involuntarily. "Does that sound like she wants to revert to the dark side again?" He let out a dry chuckle at his own little joke.

"You look like you're a few thousand centuries years old, Vail, so don't you think you could come up with a better relevant word to evil than a well over-used pop culture reference to Star Wars?" Willow drawled. Vail stared at her expressionlessly and the silence stretched between them until Wes loudly cleared his throat. One glance in his direction told Willow he was trying to hide a smirk.

"Shall we move on?" he asked. Vail nodded curtly before going back to his soup. Willow immediately averted her eyes again.

"You make a very convincing argument," Vail replied. Willow snuck another glance at Wesley to see a fireball starting to form in his palm. She smirked and forced herself to look straight at Vail.

"Wait. It gets better."


Cloaked to hide who they really were, Max and Spike casually followed after a few demons, keeping their heads bowed. When a baby's cry was suddenly heard nearby, they slowed to a stop to concentrate on locating where it was coming from. They both subtly gestured to each other at the same time to head down the hallway to their left. Spike smirked and led the way.

"This robe smells kinda funky," Max muttered under her breath as they walked down the hall. Spike stifled a laugh as he glanced at her. Her nose was scrunched slightly in disgust.

"Guess you won't ever be the face of any future demon designers, huh?" he joked softly. Max rolled her eyes.

"Not if they transfer their scent like this onto whatever they wear..."

"You've worn my clothes before."

"That's different. You don't smell like dead mealworms and rotting fish." Spike stopped walking to face her.

"Thank you. Really. I'm truly touched." Max gently pinched his arm as she moved past him into the room they knew the cries had come from. "Ow."

"I'd elbow you but the sound of you yelping would probably attract more attention than we need," Max whispered over her shoulder as she neared the baby's crib. A slow smile spread across her face as she bent down to pick up the baby. "Hey junior. I'm Max and that's Spike. And lucky for you, he's on a strict diet." Still grinning, she turned to face Spike. She felt almost flustered by the look he was giving her. It was something she'd never seen before. "What?" He blinked and the strange expression was gone. A sound from the doorway caused them both to look over in surprise. They were faced with three of the Fell Brethren.

"Place the holy vessel back in the bassinet," the leader ordered. Max exchanged a look with Spike then down at the baby. Spike sighed.

"Right." Then both he and Max shrugged off their robes before launching into a fight with the three brothers.

Still holding onto the baby in one arm made defending herself slightly difficult, but Max quickly pushed any doubts to the back of her mind as she landed a swift punch to one of the demons' heads. He reeled back but recovered quickly as he attacked her in a flurry. Max silently swore as she felt the edges of the baby's crib bite into her side. She lifted the baby away from her hip to unsheathe the sword that had previously been hidden beneath her robe, which now lay on the floor. The brother immediately backed off and Max allowed herself a small smirk before swinging the sword in a wide arc. The steel cut into the flesh at the top his shoulder and severed his arm. Max's smirk turned into an expression of intense disgust as green goo oozed out of the wound and around the limb. The demon screamed in pain and stumbled back. Before Max could finish him off, the second brother attacked her. She grunted in annoyance when she saw that he held a sword of his own and bent backwards at the waist to avoid it before swinging hers up to meet his.

Spike reeled back from a kick the leader of the Fell Brethren had landed on his chest, but quickly ducked to avoid another punch and thrust the heel of his palm upwards against the brother's nose. He felt it break with a satisfying crunch and as the leader brought his hands up to it in pain, Spike grabbed both of his ears and forcefully brought his head down towards his knee. As the leader stumbled from the impact, Spike unsheathed his sword and swung it at his head. But the leader dodged his attack and lashed out at Spike's side. Spike grunted in pain and thrust the hilt of his sword against the leader's already broken nose. A loud scream met his efforts and Spike quickly took advantage of the demon's distraction and twirled the sword before shoving the sharp edge into the leader's neck. He made a few gurgling noises until death finally took him.

Spike turned to check on Max in time to see her shove the other demon with enough force to send him flying across the room. Then she quickly turned to the one whose arm she'd already severed and cut off his head in one swift movement. She faced Spike with hereyes blazingand several cuts covering her arms and face.

"I think that was too much violence for a baby to see," she commented dryly. Spike smirked and shrugged.

"He probably won't remember this by the time he's fully grown," he replied. He heard the other demon getting up and turned to fight him off. Their swords met with a loud clang, both of them using most of their upper body strength to keep the other away. Spike ended it with a hard kick to the brother's shin. He gave a yelp of surprise and swung at Spike, but he ducked and shoved him towards Max, who engaged him in another sword fight. While the demon was preoccupied with her, Spike snuck up behind him and cut off his head. Before either of them could express their happiness at killing them, their enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of hurried footsteps.

"More of 'em are coming," Spike stated aloud. Max allowed herself a small sigh before turning towards the doorway, her sword at the ready.

"All the more to dismember."


Alec, Faith, and Gunn peeked through the window into the Senator's campaign headquarters to get a brief idea of the area. Faith smiled.

"Damn that's alotta vampires," she commented. Alec cocked an eyebrow at her pleased tone. "What? I haven't gotten to dust much lately, like Gunn said." Alec rolled his eyes.

"You just need to get out more."

"Can we go in there now?" Gunn interrupted impatiently. Faith's answer was to open the door and stride in. Alec and Gunn quickly followed.

They saw that the Senator was turned away from the door, talking on the phone. She hadn't noticed them come in, but the others working in the office had. Sensing a fist coming at him, Gunn ducked and punched the would-be assaulter in the stomach. Faith drop-kicked another vamp in the jaw before spinning and landing two consecutive punches to the center of his face. Then she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back as she jammed a stake into his heart.

Alec swung his fist up without looking to thwack a vampire in the face before landing a roundhouse kick to another. He turned back to the first vamp he'd hit and grabbed his foot as he attempted to kick him. He twisted it violently to the side until the sound of bone cracking and the vampire howling in pain mingled together. Then Alec retrieved a stake from his pocket and thrust it into his heart. Without waiting to watch the explosion of dust, he turned to attack another vampire.

Throughout all this commotion, the Senator had remained talking on the phone, unfazed. She snapped her fingers at a vampire that was still sitting at his desk computer instead of fighting off Gunn, Faith, and Alec. He immediately charged towards Gunn, butwas stakedinstantly. Then Gunn reached behind his back to the axe he had hidden and hurled it at the Senator's head. It landed in the middle of her forehead, cutting off whatever she had been saying in mid-sentence. She collapsed to the floor, still holding the phone to her ear.

Alec and Faith's wide grins mirrored Gunn's as they turned to face the remaining vampires, who had encircled them.

"Looks like you boys are gonna have to find a new candidate," Alec commented dryly. The vampires let loose menacing growls.

"And you wonder why folks don't vote," Gunn added as he, Faith, and Alec simultaneously straightened their arms, unfurling the stakes they had hidden up their sleeves.


The Sahrvin were scattered around the room. Some were smoking hookah pipes while others were drinking and talking. The peaceful atmosphere of the room was suddenly disturbed by a loud bang. The Sahrvin looked over at the door in time to see Lindsey push one of their own through it, busting it down. He walked further into the room with a small grin on his face and was followed by Xana, Kennedy, and Lorne.

"Well this oughta be fun," Kennedy commented with a smirk of her own as she surveyed the Sahrvin with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. Xana glanced at her briefly before nodding towards Lorne. He fell back a few steps and she pulled a pistol out of the waistband of her jeans and aimed at the closest demon. He stared at her in surprise before she pulled the trigger and all emotion disappeared from his face. Feeling no remorse, she managed to kill a few more before the gun was knocked out of her hand. She also received a punch to the face, but she recovered and retaliated with a blur of attacks.

Kennedy and Lindsey had brandished their swords and were mowing down the rest of the Sahrvin with ease. All three of them took several hits, but it wasn't enough to slow them down. Lorne stayed out of the way unless a demon would stray in his direction, in which case he would fight back as best he could, even killing one or two, before Xana, Kennedy, or Lindsey distracted it.

Lorne mostly watched the mini battle with a very sad and detached expression on his face. He knew he'd been done after this. He knew he wasn't going to the alley with the others. This was just his last job, as a favor to Angel. Then he was done.


Illyria, Jondy, and Krit silently watched Izzy and three other people walk to their car parked on the side of the street. Once they saw them get into the vehicle, they stepped out in front of it. They were immediately illuminated by the headlights and could clearly see the surprised expressions of the car's inhabitants. Twin predatory smiles appeared on Jondy and Krit's face as Illyria simply cocked her head to the side with curiosity.

Jondy and Krit blurred to the sides of the car while Illyria stepped closer to the front. Ignoring the sudden cries of alarm coming from within the vehicle, they swiftly bent down and laced their fingertips under the bottom of the car. Then at the count of three they flipped it backwards. It landed with a loud, sickening crash. Krit and Jondy looked over at Illyria with their eyebrows raised.

"You wanna do it or should we?" A ghost of a smile played at the corners of Illyria's lips as she moved towards the car again. Jondy and Krit exchanged a look and backed off a few steps. "Guess that means you..."

Illyria splayed her fingers along the center of the upside down car, but before she did anything she turned back to the two transgenics.

"Do you wish to help?" she asked tonelessly.

"We thought you wanted to do it," Krit replied almost warily. Illyria cocked her head at him, but otherwise didn't respond. "Alright...Jondy take that end and I'll take the front." They moved to their designated positions and placed their hands in the same way Illyria had. All three of them exchanged looks. Then they suddenly pushed downward on the car with all their might. It made a mixture of low and high-pitched groaning and squeaking noises, which muffled any sound Izzy or the others could have made before being crushed beneath it.


Angel and Buffy stepped off the private elevator into his apartment. He exchanged a look with her before making a beeline for a fancy wooden box that was sitting on a table. He opened it and took out a knife with a curved blade. Buffy didn't even blink. Instead she turned around in time to see Hamilton enter the room. Angel turned to face him as well.

"Going out?" Hamilton asked in a casually polite tone, letting his eyes drift from Angel to Buffy and back again.

"Why? Wanna order in?" Angel countered in the same casual tone, though his was more sardonic. Hamilton didn't respond at first as he slowly walked towards them.

"I hear you already have plans." He looked pointedly at the knife before returning his gaze to Buffy and Angel again. "Gonna take that when you go to see Sebassis? Why don't I think that's a gift?" Before either of them could respond, Hamilton punched Buffy immensely hard, sending her through the penthouse windows. Angel's eyes widened.

"Buffy!" he called out. Before he could retaliate, Hamilton hit him just as hard, sending him out the same window. He fell outside for a few stories before finally falling through the already shattered glass ceiling into the lobby. His body landed with a smack a few feet from Buffy, who was shakily trying to stand up. He moaned in pain as he followed suit.

"You okay?" he asked softly. Buffy leaned against Jondy's desk and silently checked her body over as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"Nothing broken," she rasped. "You?" Angel shook his head.

"I'm fine." Buffy looked over at his office and grimaced. Angel guessed what she was thinking. "He'll be on his way down here by now." Buffy nodded.

"Guess I should savor this last few seconds of rest then, huh?" she asked, giving him a wry smile. Angel returned it.

"Probably." As soon as the word left his mouth Hamilton appeared in his office doorway. Angel and Buffy immediately straightened and went to meet him as he slowly headed towards them.

"So," he began curtly.

"Yeah," Angel replied. Then he punched him hard in the stomach, but didn't appear to have made even a dent. Angel sighed. "Did that hurt at all?"

"Little bit," Hamilton relented with a smirk before grabbing him by the windpipe. Angel winced as he lifted him off the ground. "But it's all part of the job." Then he threw him across the room with such force that Angel shattered a support post, going straight through it.

Buffy gasped in surprise before turning back to Hamilton. He attempted to swing a punch at her, but she swiftly ducked and used her forearm to push his away and lashed out at his torso. He didn't seem deeply effected by her attacks and eventually managed to grab a fistful of her hair. She let out a yelp of pain before he hurled her across the room in the opposite direction in which he'd thrown Angel.

Hamilton walked briskly over to where Angel was trying to stand and picked him up by the lapels. "The senior partners have expended a lot of time and resources on you. Personally, I would have told them not to bother." Then he threw him across the lobby again, where he crashed into the company logo on the balcony. As Hamilton passed Buffy to get to the stairs, he landed a swift kick to her middle section, knocking the wind out of her yet again. Then he ascended the stairs towards Angel. "You're gutter trash, and that's where you should have stayed, drinking and whoring your way through an unremarkable life. But the fates stepped in and made you a vampire, with a soul, no less. A champion. A hero of the people. And yet, you still managed to fail everyone around you. Doyle. Cordelia. Fred. They're all gone. Now it's time you followed." He grabbed Angel up out of the debris and looked into his face. "Did you really think you were gonna kill Archduke Sebassis?"

A slow smirk spread across Angel's face as he replied, "No...I think I already did." Hamilton's brow furrowed in confusion. "I spiked his drink. I figured you were the one I needed to be alone with." His eyes strayed towards Buffy, who was ascending the staircase with a blazing look of fury on her face. "Save for Buffy." Hamilton scoffed.

"Why? So I could kill you both?"

"Well, I thought the fight would be going a little better," Angel admitted almost sheepishly. Hamilton nodded.

"Oh." He threw Angel off of the balcony onto the floor of the lobby again. As he turned to follow him, Buffy picked up a large chunk of debris and smashed it against his face. He stumbled backwards from the impact. Without pausing, she followed with a series of punches and kicks to his body. Just before he seemed about to break free, she took a step forward and jumped, locking her legs together and using as much force in her kick as she could, she catapulted Hamilton off the balcony.

Angel had already gotten back on his feet and landed a few hits before Hamilton could do the same. But when he did, the tables turned again and Angel found himself repeatedly pummeled in the face.

"Why do you fight?" Hamilton taunted. "You signed away your Shanshu. There's nothing in it for you anymore."

Angel managed to get in another hit to his face as he answered, "People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do." Hamilton smirked and retaliated with a hard punch of his own to Angel's face, sending him across the room once again.

"Yeah, but we won't care," he replied.

Angel writhed on the floor, groaning as Hamilton withdrew a stake from his jacket pocket. He walked over to him and kneeled down to pick him up by the lapel as he reared back, ready to plunge the stake into Angel's chest. Angel dimly heard Buffy scream his name and when he looked up in time to see someone punch Hamilton with enough force to send him flying across the lobby into a glass wall, shattering it, he expected it to be her offering him help to stand. Instead he found himself looking into the eyes of his son.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Angel asked, though he accepted his hand in helping him back onto his feet. Connor smirked at him.

"Come on. You drop by for a cup of coffee, and the world's not ending? Please."


Wesley slung Vail's body across the dining room. He smacked into the wall and slid down into a pile on the floor. Wes and Willow walked slowly toward him.

"Your influence on this world is over. The rest of the Circle will wither and die..." Wesley said as he began to form another fireball in his palm. "Like you're about to."

"You don't know who you're dealing with, do you, boy?" Vail groaned as he got to his feet. Then he held out his hand, summoning Wes's fireball into his palm before extinguishing it. "I mean, really. I crap better magic than this. Now then, let me show you what power a real wizard has." He raised his hand, causing Wesley to wince as he felt himself being lifted into the air. Vail made a movement to do the same to Willow, but when he looked over at her, she was radiating a bright white.

"You like showing off power?" Her voice was full and strong as it echoed around the room. Then the intensity increased and her tone became angrier. "I've seen your tricks. My turn." Reddish-white lightning seemed to curl from her hair and flow down to her hands. Then she thrust her arms forward and the bolts hurtled themselves into Vail. He crashed through the wall behind him and lost his grip on Wesley, who fell to the ground.

White power continued to crackle around Willow's body as she gracefully followed after Vail. His red, frail, little body was smoking and portions of it showed evidence of being scorched. Willow stared down at him as he attempted to get up.

"You're...stronger than...I realized," he admitted in his rasping voice. There was a grim set to Willow's mouth as she replied.

"Not your first mistake." Before he could retort, she engulfed him in a white ball of energy. When the sound of his screams had died away, the ball disintegrated. All that was left of Vail was a fine, red dust.


"What is it with you people?" Hamilton asked angrily as he head-butted Connor and swung his leg backward to stop Buffy's attempt in helping him. Then he threw Connor into the elevator doors, where he collapsed to the floor.

"Connor!" Angel called out in alarm as he tried to get to him, but Hamilton blocked his way. He tried to fight back, but was once again thrown across the room and landed on the concrete steps. Hamilton gave Buffy another punch to the face before straightening his tie and walking towards Angel.

"Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power." Angel got to his feet and smirked.

"Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said?" Then he suddenly transformed into his vampire facade and attacked Hamilton, biting him painfully in the jugular. When he was finally able to break free, Hamilton grabbed a hold of Angel's head and attempted to throw him across the room again. But this time Angel controlled his motion and managed to rotate in the air and land on his feet. "Wow." He wiped his lip. "You really are full of it." Hamilton swung at him, but he ducked the blow. "What were you saying about ancient power?"

Hamilton threw another punch, but Angel caught his arm and hit him in the ribs. Hamilton swung his free arm and managed to contact with his face, but Angel quickly returned the favor. Hamilton grabbed a hold of his windpipe again and lifted him into the air.

"You don't really think you're gonna win this, do you? You don't stand a chance. We are legion. We are forever." Angel broke free of his grip and punched him repeatedly in the chest and stomach. He stumbled backward and Angel dropped to the floor, kicking his feet out from under him. When he tried to get up again, Angel just continued to punch him in the face with almost every word he said.

"Then I guess forever..." Punch. "...just got..." Punch. "...a hell of a lot..." Punch. "...shorter!" Finally he hit him hard enough to break his neck and Hamilton fell to the ground with a final grunt. Connor and Buffy both got to their feet and joined Angel.

"Is he dead?" Connor asked. Angel nodded.

"Yeah. He's dead." A frown suddenly marred his features. "Do you hear..." The building began to shake and rumble with a dull roar that got increasingly louder.

"Uh, that's not good is it?" Angel looked around the room.

"Wolfram & Hart. Looks like they're taking the gloves off."

"What do we do?" Connor asked. Buffy was careful to keep her gaze away from him and Angel, knowing what the answer would be.

"You go home," Angel ordered.

"Huh?"

"This is my fight," Angel said by way of explanation, trying to ignore the defiant look that appeared on Connor's face.

"That's some serious macho sh..." His sentence was cut off as some of the building debris fell on him. "Ah!" Buffy quickly pulled him away as the concrete support beam fell from the ceiling onto the lobby floor.

"Go home...now," Angel ordered again. Connor's defiant look changed to one of extreme concern.

"They'll destroy you."

"As long as you're okay, they can't," Angel retorted as yet another concrete ceiling joist fell, crushing the balcony. "Go." Connor took one last look at him and Buffy before running down the hallway to leave.

"Time to go meet at the alley now, huh?" Buffy shouted over the din. Angel could only nod as they quickly made their escape, dodging any falling debris.


Oz paced the room in an uncharacteristic show of impatience and anxiety. Xander watched him warily for a while before commenting, "It's when you do things like this that make me remember that you're part wolf." Oz stopped pacing to look over at him in question. Xander sighed. "Could you just sit down or something? Burning holes in the floor aren't gonna make Max's friends or Giles call any sooner." Oz opened his mouth to retort when Max's cell phone rang out. Then his face split into a wide grin.

"You were saying?" Xander's eyes widened.

"Well don't just stand there and gloat, answer it!" Oz laughed and quickly did so.

"Hello?" An unfamiliar, yet sassy voice took a moment to respond.

"Hello? Who's this? It don't sound like Max."

"Is this Original Cindy?" Oz countered without answering her question. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"Depends on who this is." Oz smirked.

"My name's Oz and I'm a sort-of-friend of Max's." He inwardly cringed at his choice of words, but the woman didn't seem to care.

"Whatever. Where's Max? I was supposed to call her once we all arrived." Oz face broke into another wide grin.

"So you're here in Los Angeles?" he wanted to confirm.

"Yeah, and the weather ain't very pretty so could you hurry up and tell me where my girl is?"

"The alley behind the Hyperion hotel. She and the others are about to start the biggest part of the showdown so she wanted me to tell you to haul ass." OC swore loudly.

"Then where's this hotel? I've got hundreds of transgenics itching to get in on the action." Oz was just about to give her directions when Buffy's cell rang out. He was about to toss it over to Xander to answer when he saw him suddenly leap out of his bed and practically dive for it, even though he'd been specifically told not to move much if he wanted to help out any in this fight. Oz paused to give him a reprimanding look before turning his attention back to Original Cindy.

"Alright. First of all..."

A/N-About two more chapters people! Andboth of 'emare gonna have tons of fighting and some last minute surprises...REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW