Angel shivers slightly – he isn't cold, though. Besides the obvious fact that he is a vampire and can't feel differences in temperature, he and the rest are surrounded by fire. He feels like he should remember something... It's on the tip of his tongue... Then it's gone.

He studies the spinning girl intently. If so much hadn't hung in the balance, he might have laughed at the stupidity of it all. Then again, probably not; that's more his evil alter-ego Angelus' area than his.

Taywen begins to slow and he feels a slight flutter of anxiety at the back of his mind, which he quickly pushes away. If he is picked, Angel has already decided who he will kill (Spike), who he will save (Connor and Buffy) and who he will leave to die (Faith). He'd had a moment of inner struggle on whether he should save his psychotic son, but the bonds of family were stronger than that. He also loved Buffy, or at least had, and that affection was hard to just shrug off, so she was chosen over Faith. There had been no contest about Spike's fate whatsoever in the Irish vampire's mind and he felt no guilt in his unbeating heart over his decision.

Taywen stops before...

Faith.

"All right, remember the rules, no trying to cheat, i.e. saving more than the allowed number, killing more than the allowed number and so forth. If you do, you'll suffer the consequences! Fifteen minutes is all you get; any longer and the barn will collapse, killing all of you. Have fun!" Taywen smirks and disappears with those words.

Faith looks startled but quickly shakes it off. Her eyes are calculating as she looks from one to the next and Angel is reminded of his last year in Sunnydale, when he had seen Faith then, the evil, corrupted Slayer. He has never admitted it, but he had feared her a little, feared what she might have become should the mayor's Ascension be successful.

Beside him, Spike shifts impatiently. "Hurry up," he snarls. "Just get the whole bloody thing over with!"

The dark Slayer shrugs. "What's the hurry?" she demands.

"The hurry would be the time ticking away," Buffy answers. "Thirteen minuts and counting." Angel sees a Rolex watch adorning her wrist. Where had that come from?

"This is stupid," Connor mutters. "Why not just climb out the window?" To prove his point, Angel's son walks toward the window. The fire leaps up onto his clothes and he burns supernaturally quickly. Angel takes a step forward to save his son, but he's too late. Connor has only the time to scream before he is consumed. His smoking corpse falls to the ground and the fire returns to tamely burning around the perimeter, as if daring the others to come closer.

"Right then," Spike whispers. "No escaping through windows." He looks a little more pale than usual, but it quickly passes and he turns back to Faith, relieved that the chances of his escaping without harm have just risen by 12

"Connor," Angel murmurs, falling to his knees beside the burnt body. A thousand thoughts run through his mind in that moment. If only he hadn't agreed go inside. If only he hadn't brought Connor out here. If only...

"Nine and a half minutes," Buffy says in a bored voice, apparently not caring about her first lover's dead son.

"Nice watch, B." Faith grins. "Where'd you get it?"

"No idea," Buffy says vaguely, looking a little confused. "I... Someone gave it to me."

"Cool." Faith shrugs and loses interest. "So, saving people and all that. Isn't that more of your area of expertise, Angel?" She doesn't seem to care about the darker vampire's son either.

"Exactly, so leave him to die. He can save himself," Spike interrupts. "You know, who really cares about that hair gel-obsessed nancy boy anyway?"

"I am not hair gel-obsessed!" Angel snarls, jumping to his feet. His eyes flash angrily, his deceased son momentarily forgotten as he leaps at his grandchilde. "And I'm not a nancy boy!" He crashes into the blonde vampire, his momentum propelling them both back...

Into the fire.

The flames roar up and consume the vampires even faster than they had Connor, leaving only a slight film of ash that flutters around before landing on the straw floor.

Buffy blinks. "Five more minutes... Out of curiosity, who would you have saved, killed and stuff if they were all still here?"

Faith looks thoughtful. "Not sure, B. I'd probably have left you... Sorry, but Spike and Angel are just more... appealing." She winks suggestively. "Killed Connor, thrown Spike out the window and carried Angel out."

Buffy nods, not looking overly surprised. "Good thing they're all gone though, so now I'll live."

"Good thing," Faith agrees absently. "All right, let's go then. I've gotta carry your ass out of here in how many minutes?"

"Three," Buffy responds, casting a glance at her shiny Rolex. "Pretty shiny, isn't it?"

Faith nods and picks her up easily, slinging her over her shoulder. "And away we go, B." The dark Slayer strides easily across the barn floor. The fire parts, leaving behind unmarked straw.

"Weird," Buffy remarks from her position on her fellow Slayer's shoulders.

Faith nods again and they emerge outside, where it is still raining. "Wonder why the rain didn't put the fire out." It's more of a statement than a question.

"Power That Be thing I guess," Buffy says. "And another thing: I thought the Powers were more interested in Angel than the Slay-"

Then they're back in the barn, in a circle around Taywen. All of them, not just the two Slayers. "In answer to your question, Slayer, I think they think the Watcher's Council is enough guidance for the Slayer." From her tone, it's clear she does not. "But they need to guide Angel in his fight against evil for reasons I can't discern... And you're all starting to piss me off! I told you the first ti- Er, never mind. But seriously, enough with the attempted rule-changing! It's not funny!" She glares at Angel and Spike.

"Hey, he started it," Spike complains. "And we would have both lived if you hadn't been such a selfish ponce!"

"I am not a ponce!" Angel yells back. He somehow has the knowledge of all that went on after his and Spike's untimely demise. "Besides, she would have killed Connor and I wouldn't have accepted that."

"The kid was already dead!" Spike snaps. "Get over it! He was bloody crazy anyway!"

"All right, all right, boys, calm down," Taywen says, and they find themselves unable to speak. Their mouths move but no sound escapes. "I'm going to erase all of your memories and you'll have to do this all over again!" Then she mutters to herself, "Again."

Angel hears this but doesn't have time to ponder its meaning before his memory is erased.

"I don't believe this," Spike grumbles. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"No idea," Buffy snaps back. "But I can't move." The others try to move and realize she's right – they're rooted to the spot.

"What is this, some kind of sick joke?" Connor asks, watching as Taywen spins faster. "I hope she doesn't hit us."

"Yeah, how incompetent would that make her look." Faith snorts and glares at the girl.

Author's Note:

vaguely amused (anon. reviewer): I'll probably have her leave their memories intact in the future but for now they won't remember a thing.

Anyhow, hope you all liked this chapter... Thanks for reviewing... And please review again! lol

QuikSylver