The "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign whizzed by the dark tinted windows. Lilah thought she would never get there. They had been on the road for about two and a half hours and there was no sign of the host. She was sure Angel had already beaten her there. She had gotten tied up back in the office trying to convince the firm to lend her more men for this mission. She also had to get the little weasel Gavin off her back. She just hoped and prayed that Laibach was still hanging around and that Angel and that blonde Slayer bitch she had heard so much about hadn't already found a way to subdue him. There was also the nagging possibility that Laibach would refuse her offer and snap her neck. But that wasn't going to happen. She had failed getting to Laibach back in Los Angeles, but she wasn't going to fail again.
Her radio beeped. It was Logan, the leader of the team she had brought down here.
"We've made it into the city limits. It's beginning to look a mess out here. The sky seems to be a lot darker over here, and we've seen a couple of abnormal creatures moving about. Over."
"Do you see any sign of the host Drusilla, or anything resembling the presence of Laibach? Over."
"No ma'am. But we did see some…oh my god…"
BAM!
Lilah jumped at the loud sound on the other end of the transmission. It sounded like something rammed into the truck. Lilah heard men screaming on the other line. The transmission suddenly went dead. Lilah signaled for the driver to move faster, and the truck raced through the dark streets of Sunnydale.
The truck came to a sudden stop, and Lilah gaped in awe at what she was seeing. A giant beast was standing in the middle of the street, right next to a battered truck. It was about twice the size of an elephant. It had sickly, green skin, and huge, curved horns on its huge, rhino-shaped head.
The beast paid Lilah's vehicle no mind, and continued to batter the one in front of it. The beast gave one hard hit which caused the truck to tip over on its side. A man fell out of the passenger side and onto the pavement. The man screamed out as the beast backed up and came in for another blow. The tipped truck skidded off the side of the road, dragging the man along the cement.
Two more trucks pulled up on the side of her, and several men jumped out. They each held up M16s and began firing. The beast gave a ferocious bellow and began to give in to the gunfire. It fell onto its front legs, let out a final moan, then fell over on its side.
Silence. Lilah let out a sigh of relief. There was no doubt in her mind that the man was dead, squashed underneath the overturned truck.
And if he is still alive, he sure won't be too much longer.
Lilah was no expert in demonology, but she could tell that monster wasn't from this dimension. She rolled over in her mind the possibility that she was too late. That maybe Laibach was able to open up the portal to his dimension, Batal, and begin Hell-on-Earth. She cursed at the thought of fighting through all those monsters just to get to Laibach. Plus, she wasn't even sure Laibach would take her proposal. If he was starting an apocalypse, what would Wolfram & Hart have to offer to him that he couldn't get himself? She thought about turning around. Let Sunnydale fall to the beast. Hopefully Angel and his friends would die in the process. She then thought about returning empty handed, once again failing to please the Senior Partners. There was no doubt that Gavin would never let her forget it. Plus, after all her mistakes in the past, there was no telling what the Senior Partners would do to her.
A series of inhuman shrieks sounded up ahead. Lilah looked ahead to see a barricade of demons making their way in their direction. Her men opened fire as a large group of demons scurried through the streets. There were at least a dozen different monsters and at least six different species. A huge, troll-like demon smacked the gun out of a soldier's hands and swiftly broke his neck before the man could register that he was being attacked. Another man was impaled by the huge talons of a creepy-looking red demon with long fangs protruding from its lips, and long, sharp fingernails. All around her men and demons were dying. A demon made its way over to her, a disgusting, slimy looking fish thing with long fangs, when she raised her weapon, and fired, bullets burying into its soft flesh.
Lilah couldn't risk being killed. She jumped back into the truck and reached into her radio.
"Bring them all back in. We can't risk anymore casualties."
"Sure thing, ma'am. Are we heading back?"
"No. We still going in. We are not going back empty handed. For now on, no one gets out until we find the host."
"But…"
"Just do it."
---
"I gotta admit, looks like the old gang has something going for them here." Cordelia said as she walked around the shop, admiring all the strange items that were up on display. "I mean, sure its nice staying up in that grand hotel all the time, but this is nice and quaint. Plus hey, when the time comes for a spell, they got everything right here."
Fred nodded in agreement. The place was nice. There was a lot of interesting stuff around. So far the group seemed pretty nice. She didn't have time to formally introduce herself due to all the Laibach madness going on, but so far she was impressed. She wasn't in awe as much as Cordelia seemed to be, seeing that she never knew what the group was like before. Cordelia told her about the history she had out here in Sunnydale fighting demons with Angel and the Slayer and such. It was pretty interesting.
"It is nice." Fred replied.
"Tell me about it."
"Did they ever say when they were gonna get back? I pretty anxious about helping you all out with the research and things, but I don't know where to start." Fred asked.
"I don't know. Maybe they got caught up in some demon death match or something. They should be back soon…I hope."
Cordelia picked up a glass jar filled with small, ball-shaped objects surrounded in a green-colored liquid.
"What are these? They look disgusting."
Fred looked over for a sec, then glanced back to the crystal she was observing in her hand.
"Those are toad eyes. I saw those when we got in here."
Fred heard Cordelia make a disgusted sound, then a loud shatter as the jar slipped from her hands and broke on the floor.
"Geez, Cordelia, they're not that gross. You should see…"
Her voice trailed off as she saw Cordelia collapse on the floor, clutching her forehead.
"No you idiot! I'm having a vision!"
Fred ran over and knelt down, grabbing her hand and trying to help her up. A small bell sounded and Angel and Giles came rushing to Cordelia's aid.
"Buffy, get those two chairs!" Giles ordered.
Buffy ran up to the foyer to grab the two sofa chairs. She brought them to the middle of the floor and placed them together. Angel lifted Cordelia off the wet floor and brought her to the foyer, setting her down in the chairs so her head rested on one side while her legs spread out to rest on the other. Giles came over with a blanket and placed it over her.
Cordelia continued to squirm, tears gushing from her eyes as she cried out in pain. Angel knelt down over her and grabbed her flailing arms.
"Cordelia! Calm down! Please! It's gonna be okay."
Her movements began to slow up a bit, and Angel's voice began to soften.
"It's okay, Cordelia. I'm here."
She stopped moving. Her hands began trembling in Angel's grasps and she was taking deep heavy breaths.
Buffy came back in with a glass of water. She watched with a bit of jealousy as Angel stroked Cordy's cheek lightly, talking to her softly. She could feel the bond that the two of them shared. And as much as she wanted to get over Angel, it hurt a little to see this. She swallowed and brought the glass over, setting it on the table.
Cordelia gazed up at Angel, the pain showing in her eyes.
"Angel. It's too much…Too much at one time."
"It's okay, Cordelia. Too much of what?" he asked.
"So much suffering…so much death. They're out there, Angel. The monsters…they're here. They're killing everyone. I can see them attacking…oh god, so much pain."
Angel looked up at Buffy with a warning glance. Buffy looked back at him.
"It's started." He said.
"I know. We have to go out there. We have to keep them all at bay, save as many people as we can."
"I don't mean to be much of a bother, but how do you expect to do it?" Fred asked.
"I don't know." Buffy replied, thoughtfully. "We've been sitting around for too long though. People are out there dying. We were just so wrapped up worrying about Willow and Tara we didn't think about what could be going on…Oh god, I feel so selfish."
"I'll stay here, Buffy." Giles said. "I'll start research on Laibach and see if I can come up with anything. Xander should be calling here in a bit to update us on the conditions of Willow and Tara, and someone needs to be here to answer."
"I'm coming with you, Buffy." Angel said. Buffy nodded.
"Winifred, would you mind staying here to help me?" Giles asked the frail girl.
"Sure. I-I mean, I can't do much out there. If you need any help with computer stuff I'm pretty good at that."
"Great. Let's get a move on then." Angel said.
Buffy came up and handed him his sword and a couple stakes, keeping a crossbow, an axe, and a couple other stakes for herself. Angel took the weapons and turned towards Giles.
"Take care of her." He said.
"Of, course."
Buffy and Angel headed for the door when it suddenly flew open. Spike came in, looking all bruised up.
"Were have you all been? All the fun is out there. A flock of nasties have already came out of the portal and puttin' up a hell of a fight with the locals while you all were sitting around braidin' each other's hair."
"We got the memo, Spike. Arm up, we're going out there."
Buffy and Angel walked past him, Angel bumping his shoulder roughly. Spike turned towards the street.
"Oh…alrighty then. Let's go team!"
---
Eric Young cruised slowly down the dark streets, trying his best to clear his head over what just happened. He had got off late from work, wanting nothing more than to climb into the warm bed with his beautiful wife, Ellie. When he opened the front door to his house, he saw that the living room was a mess. The table was on its side, and there was broken glass all over the place. A draft was coming from somewhere. He noticed the window was completely shattered.
Oh God, I hope Ellie is alright.
He went to the gun case and realized that whoever had broken in didn't bother to grab a weapon from the case. He grabbed his favorite weapon, a Browning 12 gauge shotgun. He loaded the weapon and walked slowly towards the upstairs bedroom. All the other rooms were just as ransacked, although nothing appeared to be missing.
He walked slowly upstairs, and down the short hallway to the bedroom door. He waited outside and listened. He could hear a weird breathing sound coming from the other side. He took a deep breath, and threw the door open, shotgun aimed. Staring back at him, was the most jacked up thing he had ever seen in his life. Its crimson skin gleamed from the moonlight seeping through the windows. It looked up at him with a long, toothy grin, blood oozing down its lips. It had long pointy ears and a smooth, bald head. In its hands, was the limp form of his dear Ellie. A gaping wound on the side of her throat. Her blank stare glared back at him, helpless.
Eric screamed in rage and fired the shotgun into the monster's face. The thing shrieked and fell backwards onto the bed. Eric shot the gun once more for good measure. The creature lay still on the bed, face blown to hell. Its wide grin still planted on the mass of bloody flesh.
Eric dropped the shotgun, and ran to his wife's corpse. He held her tight, and began to cry. He must of stayed there in the middle of the room with her for what felt like a full hour before he put himself together. He laid her body peacefully on the carpet, then walked sullenly towards the front door, taking his shotgun with him. He needed to clear his head before doing anything. He jumped into his truck and drove it around town. He was in awe at the things he saw going around. Some kind of ghastly invasion was taking place. Every once in an awhile he would see various monsters running, flying, scurrying, you name it, after helpless victims in Sunnydale.
One of those bastards killed Ellie.
Something caught his eye on the right side of the street. A pale brunette was walking by herself on the sidewalk. She was wearing a long, red dress. Her long black hair went down to her chest. Eric slowed the car up, driving along side of her. She seemed to pay him no mind as she continued to gaze ahead of her.
"Hey. I don't think it's safe for you to be walking out around this time of night. Do you need a ride?"
The woman continued to ignore him. Walking, almost gliding down the sidewalk, oblivious to his presence. He stopped the car and got out. He walked over to the sidewalk to stop her. He touched her shoulder gently, trying his best not to alarm her, let her know that he meant her no harm. The woman stopped and turned towards him. She stared back at him with beautiful large green eyes. Her stare seemed to look right through him. Like she could read his soul, able to tell the pain that he was experiencing.
"Ma'am, I don't think you should be out here by yourself. There's something really strange going on in this town. I should take you home."
"I don't want to go home. This place is filled with lots of delicious sweets and goodies. And the little girls are all crying because the cupboard is all empty." The lady replied with in a sweet British accent.
He stared back at her confused. Obviously there was something wrong with her. He had to think twice about taking her with him. But the thought of her standing out here helpless to those monsters was a lot worse.
"Look, lady, I don't know what your talking about, but we need to get out of here. Do you want to come with me or not?"
The features on her face hardened. She looked back at him like she was hurt by his words. His heart skipped a beat and he began to regret using that tone.
"Look into my eyes." She replied quietly.
It seemed as if those words cut him off from any outside thoughts. He found himself unable to concentrate on nothing but her face. It wasn't until then that he realized how beautiful she was. With her long, ebony-colored hair and smooth milky skin. And those eyes. Those eyes like pools of liquid emerald.
Drusilla began to sway back and forth softly, Eric following her every move. She had him in a trance. She could smell his hot blood radiating from his skin. Drusilla let her face transform into her pure vampire form. She moved close to his face, and bit into his lip. The man screamed in pain as the hot blood oozed into her mouth. The man pushed her away and turned to run away. She gained her balanced and went after him, longing for more blood. She caught up to him and wrapped her arm around his throat. She brought her face up to his neck and dug her fangs into him. The man screamed out once more. The feel of blood oozing down her waiting throat excited her, and she squeezed tighter around his throat. The man began to gasp desperately for air as she continued to suck him dry. She got lost in the coppery taste and squeezed tighter. A loud crack sounded in his neck, and his body went limp.
Drusilla let him drop to the cement, and she wiped the blood off her lips. She licked her fingers and began to giggle at the pleasure of a life being taken at her hands. Watching humans scream and die at the hands of Laibach's demons had her longing for the kill. She threw her hands into the air and began to twirl in the cool air, all the while laughing insanely as the town began to slowly fall to Laibach's pets.