Here's the next chapter. In my opinion, it's pretty bad at the start, but gets really good at the end. R/R plz.

Chapter 15

Showdown

They couldn't be more ready for what was coming. They had spent all day preparing the place which they would have to defend with their very lives. This was it, if they lost this, they lost the girl, and Cordelia had said that they didn't want that to happen and she refused to think of what would happen if their new friend fell into the hands of The First. Cordelia and the new girl had spent all day going over various protection spells and spells that the girl could use to defend herself if she needed to. Cordelia was surprised at the girl's natural ability for magick and at how much she remembered about using it. It was obvious that the girl was remembering things from her past life, and that she had spent a lot of time studying magick.

Gunn, and Fred had spent most of the day making crossbow bolts out of large pieces of timber. They had also put weapon stockpiles at various points throughout the hotel. Wesley had spent most of the day devising various strategies that they could use to defend the hotel, and then going over them again and again and again. The Potentials had spent most of the day training and learning from Cordelia what the whole thing was about and why they must protect the new girl. It was lucky that the three Potentials had agreed to help out, as they were both essentially fighting the same thing. Just before the sun had set, Cordelia and the new girl had strengthened the protection barrier around the hotel and added another one that Cordelia hoped would keep the Syophers out, or at least hold them off for a while. The others spent their time rushing around as Wesley came up with a new strategy on how they could exit the hotel and take out as many vampires as possible if needs be.

The strange thing was that everyone knew the minute the sun was going to set. The Hyperion Hotel sat silent at sunset, and there wasn't even a sound to be heard in the building. As soon as the sun had set, everyone got into their positions. Wesley, Fred and one of the potentials were on the second floor, and were going to be shooting out of the windows. Gunn, Connor and two of the potentials were going to be held up on the ground floor, protecting Cordy and the new girl. They hoped that everything was going to go according to plan and that they would successfully fight off the vampires and the Syophers that were coming to them tonight.

They had headed out as soon as the sun had set. They came out in a number of seventy strong, and the horde that travelled to the Hyperion Hotel compromised mainly of vampires, although there were a couple of witches and three Syophers. He had received new instructions that very day to start recruiting others into the army, demons, witches and werewolves, although they'd only be useful on the full moon, but somehow that was to be corrected. They had heard the plans from Angelus at what could be considered their Headquarters – the demon fighting ring that Angelus had first started to rally the vampires for his army. The vampires had converged on the Hyperion Hotel from all angles, but when they were all within two blocks of the hotel, they all stopped. Angelus had told them this part of the plan. They were to stop and just make themselves look like ordinary people just going about their business until they got the signal to move in.

It had been three hours since the sun had set, and nothing had happened. They hadn't seen a single vampire or anything that was going to come near the Hyperion Hotel. The anticipation in the air was so thick that you could cut it with a blunt knife, and as time went by, the anticipation and apprehension in the air just grew stronger.

Malest didn't know what was going on. He didn't know why they weren't attacking the hotel this very minute. They should be using all their time that they could as the vampires couldn't be fighting once the sun came up, and it was already one in the morning. He couldn't understand why Angelus had told them all to wait.

"Why are we waiting? We should have attacked them hours ago," Malest said to Angelus as he was looking into a shop window, trying to just look like another person out on the town at night.

"For an old vampire, you don't know much do you?" Angelus asked Rhetorically. Before Malest had the time to answer, Angelus answered the question for him. "We're waiting because it builds apprehension in the enemy. They're all there, expecting us to come. Instead, we don't turn up on time, throwing all their expectations out the window and giving them time to think through things. By our waiting, we're making them nervous. And then, they make mistakes," Angelus explained.

Half an hour later, Angelus shot a flaming crossbow bolt straight up into the sky, and the vampires began to converge on the Hyperion hotel, aware that they had to take the hotel by force and retrieve a young girl who apparently was very important to them and their army. As soon as they had rounded the corner and come within view of the Hyperion Hotel, vampires started falling, although most of them didn't dust. Crossbow bolts were flying out of the second storey windows, and most of them were hitting their target. Angelus knew that the closer they got to the Hyperion, the more accurate the crossbow bolts were going to become, and the more vampires he would lose. He was glad when he saw three large dark figures come out of the shadows to the left of him and approach the front gates of the Hyperion. Luckily, Angelus had prepared for the crossbow bolts. Five SUV's came screaming down the street and skidded to a stop in front of the Hyperion Hotel, and their drivers hopped out, who were revealed to be vampires.

"Run to the cars! Tip them on their side and use them as cover!" Angelus shouted to his army. They all did as he said and ran to the cars, and in large numbers tipped them up on their sides, and crouched behind the cars for cover. He was glad that he didn't have to order his vampires to start firing back. They had come with crossbows and longbows themselves, and luckily, the vampires used their initiative and fired upon the Hyperion. What Angelus didn't expect however was that his crossbow bolts would be stopped by a magickal barrier around the hotel, which obviously let things out, but not inwards. Angelus looked to the Syophers, who got the message that they were needed. He watched in pure fascination as they darted from car to car, going so fast that they were almost a blur to the normal eye. He watched as they stepped up to the barrier, and extended what looked like hands out to it. Red-black energy spread along the surface of the barrier, growing in intensity. Now, the barrier around the Hyperion Hotel was visible, and this red-black energy swirled around on the surface of it. With a loud crack that sounded like a thunderclap, the barrier collapsed.

"Go!" Angelus yelled. He got up from behind the cover of his car, only to see the Syophers advance on the hotel, and then just stop dead in their tracks. He watched as one of them extended their hand outwards, and were sent flying back with incredible force. So much force, that it impacted on one of the upturned cars and sent the car screeching backwards along the bitumen. "Get back behind cover!" Angelus yelled as he did so. He saw the two remaining Syophers turn around, putting their backs to the Hyperion, and zigzag back towards the cars, going the same speed before. The sight was surreal and unnatural, and Angelus was glad that they were on his side. He saw one of them look in his direction, and he just knew that the barrier was designed to keep the Syophers out. Suddenly, Angelus got an idea. "Malest!" he shouted at him. He watched as Malest bent low, using the overturned cars as cover, and came over to him. "Here's what I want you to do…"

Wesley watched from one of the second storey windows in astonishment as the Syopher got up and rejoined its companions. He had seen what the barrier that Cordelia had put up did to it, and nothing could have survived an impact like that. The car that the Syopher had hit was now almost bent in half, and he was sure that the roof of the SUV was touching the floor of it. He had tried shooting at the Syophers as they were bringing down the first barrier, but everything he shot at them was stopped by Cordelia and Tara's barrier as they manipulated it to defend themselves before they destroyed it. Wesley saw one of the vampire's head sticking above one of the overturned cars, and he also saw a crossbow pointing right at him. He ducked out of view of the window just as the crossbow bolt came through and smashed itself on the ceiling. He heard Fred let out a shout from behind him, and he saw her spinning out of the way of one of the windows as a crossbow bolt came through it. He looked at the two potentials and also saw that they were being fired upon. There was no chance that they would be able to return fire with the amount of crossbow bolts coming through the windows. He heard a crunching noise from outside, and then heard the sound of a car engine starting up, and Wesley understood then that the vampires were giving covering fire, so Wesley and those in the room couldn't stop them from doing whatever they were doing.

The crossbow bolts stopped flying in through the windows, and Wesley snuck a look out the window. He saw a ute filled with vampires backing up away from the Hyperion Hotel. He knew what their plan was, and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

"Won't the barrier stop them?" One of the potentials asked Wesley.

"No. The barrier remaining is only meant for the Syophers and won't stop anything else," Wesley replied. He was met with a blank stare from the Potential. "The big dark hooded things," he added. "We have to move downstairs where we may be more useful," Wesley said while moving to help Fred along because of her injury from the encounter with Malest's vampires.

As Wesley, Fred and the Potentials arrived in the Lobby of the Hyperion Hotel just as the utility truck filled with vampires came crashing through the front doors. Wesley looked around the Lobby and saw that no one was reacting because of the surprise of the Ute coming through the front wall. Taking the initiative, he raised his crossbow and shot towards the vampires in the back of the truck. He missed the heart, but he successfully wounded a vampire by shooting it in the leg. The vampires started jumping out of the truck and heading straight for Tara. Wesley was glad when Connor, Gunn and one of the potentials started fighting off the vampires.

"We're not going to last here!" Wesley shouted, knowing that a lot more vampires would be coming in the hole in the front of the building any minute now. He heard a loud crack from outside, and in the next few moments, one of the Syophers came in through the hole in the wall. He raised his crossbow towards the Syopher and shot at it, but the crossbow bolt was deflected by a large ceremonial knife that it held in it's hand. He looked to the Syopher, which was now paying him some attention and he realised that he had sealed his fate by shooting at it.

"Everyone out the back, now!" Gunn yelled. Wesley saw that they were losing the fight against the vampires that came out of the truck, being outnumbered three to one. He looked to Fred who was leaning against a wall while trying to reload her crossbow. Wesley moved towards her and supported her.

"Come on, no time for that, we've got to get out of here," Wesley said while starting to pull Fred towards the back. He looked to see Connor retreating towards the back door while fighting off some vampires, and he looked to Gunn, who was barely managing to hold off a number of vampires who were surrounding him. He saw Cordelia and the girl out of the corner of his eyes chanting something that he couldn't understand from where he was and suddenly, he saw all the vampires in the Lobby go flying backwards and hit the wall, leaving Gunn and Connor free to move about. "Come on, come on, let's go," Wesley shouted. The potentials were ahead of them, already heading out the back.

Angelus saw the utility crash through the wall with a greater ease than he had expected. As soon as the ute had gone through the wall, he saw the three Syophers move up to the barrier again, and saw them starting to work on it. He knew that this was their chance of getting the girl that was apparently so important to The First's plans. He still didn't know what this girl did, or what her purpose was, or who she was, but it was important to The First, and what was important to The First was important to him. Well, it was if he wanted to keep his soul locked up in the moping that The First possessed. Leaving the cover of the overturned SUV, Angelus started towards the entrance of his hotel.

"Angelus, wait," he heard a familiar voice from behind him. He spun around to see the image of Jenny Calendar standing behind him in the street. "Don't go in there. Keep the vampires back." The vampire said.

"Why? We could grab the girl and kill the rest this minute," he replied.

"That's not what I want. There's been a change of plans. It would be better if we let them all go, even the girl. They're going where I want them now," The First replied. "Don't waste any more of your men. Just let them go." Angelus just let out a grunt of frustration. He was tired of playing these games; being ordered around by The First.

"Okay, fine," he replied. He shouted for the rest of the vampires to stay back.

They ran down the alley way towards the street, where hopefully, they wouldn't meet any vampires or anything else that was threatening. They were almost at the end of the alley way, when a large figure stepped out from around the corner, blocking off their exit. They could all instantly tell that it was a Syopher. The Potentials, Gunn, Connor and Wesley all raised their weapons out of pure reaction and fear. It stood not ten feet away, towering at least a foot over all of them. As one, they began to back up when they heard a crash behind them and turned to see another Syopher in the alley behind them. They all saw it when the Syopher in front of them focused on the girl with them. They didn't consciously know it, but subconsciously they all knew that these things would kill them all in an instant just to get their hands on the girl with them. Slowly, a large blade appeared in the Syopher's hand. It glinted under the streetlight behind it, just adding to the terror of the situation.

Connor saw that the Syopher wasn't actually inside the alley, but that it was just outside it, blocking their exit, and he saw his chance. He nudged Gunn and quickly whispered his plans to him, and then before anyone knew what was happening, he took off at a sprint towards the Syopher. The Syopher swung it's blade with inhuman speed straight for Connor's neck, but he saw it coming and ducked down out of the way while still moving forward. He travelled under the Syopher's extended arm and swung his sword towards it's mid section. Connor had never expected the plan to work. He had expected that the Syopher's weren't actually corporeal, but he was satisfied when his sword met resistance as it cut through the large robes that it wore and cut into something underneath it. A loud screeching wail filled the alley way as the Syopher screamed in pain. It was now half turned away from the group in the alley, towards Connor who was now behind it. Gunn saw his opportunity and swiftly approached it and buried his axe in it's back. Before anyone had known what was happening, the Syopher twisted around as fast as lightning, swinging it's blade as it did so. Gunn didn't have the time to get out of the way before the blade buried itself in his left shoulder, right above his heart. Connor saw his eyes go wide and he heard a gurgle come out of Gunn's throat as the Syopher wrenched the blade out of him. He collapsed to the ground holding his shoulder, barely conscious as the Syopher ripped the axe out of it's back and glided over the top of him towards the rest of the group.

They all looked at the scene in front of them in horror as Gunn collapsed and the Syopher drifted over the top of his body laying on the ground. The Syopher smashed the axe against the brick wall of the Hyperion Hotel with such force that the whole thing shattered. They had obviously pissed it off, and it was through playing games with them. It came towards them with it's dagger raised as they backed away towards the other one which was at least thirty feet behind them. Fred watched as Cordelia moved to the front of the group and extended her arms outwards, seeming to keep the group behind them as they backed away, looking up at the Syopher. Fear was the main emotion in everyone in the group, except Cordelia who now stood still, away from the group and the closest to the Syopher.

"You will not come any closer!" She shouted, seeming like she commanded it. A strong breeze entered the alley way as Cordelia stood up to the Syopher, only five feet or so away from it. "Run to Gunn, get him, get in the cars and go. You'll know when it's the right time to do so. Don't wait for me," she instructed the group behind them. She knew that the words barely sunk through to any of them but she hoped that they would follow her instructions.

The group watched as the Syopher closed the distance between it and Cordelia, it's blade raised. Everyone in the group was silently yelling at Cordelia to back away and get away from it, but she didn't. She stood tall against it. The breeze in the alley strengthened. When the Syopher looked as if it was going to close the gap between the two and strike, Cordelia's skin and outer features just instantly vanished, leaving a blue-white figure in the shape of Cordelia made out of energy standing in it's place which resonated power. The Syopher had stopped dead in it's tracks, and as Fred looked behind her, she could see that the one behind them had also just stopped in it's tracks. She watched in fascination as the figure that used to look like Cordelia Chase began to break up into separate blobs of energy. At once, all the forms of blue-white energy moved towards the Syopher in an instant and seemed to enter into it. It screeched, louder than it had before, and everyone in the group had to cover their ears.

The Syopher looked as if it had just been given a powerful blow to the stomach as it flew back into the wall. A battle was going on inside of it as it tried to fight off whatever had entered into it. Everyone watched astonished as it started to morph forms. It morphed into various people, which no one in the group knew were all dead. It shifted in front of their eyes almost every second, showing off it's various faces. Then, when they could tell that it had reached it's limit, the Syopher appeared to explode in a cloud of energy. Little bits of dark energy seemed to float off in every direction. Mingled with this were tiny blobs of blue-white energy.

Everyone in the group knew that now was the time that they had to move. As one, they all rushed forward past where the Syopher once was. Wesley and one of the Potentials were the first to get to Gunn, who was now unconscious from blood loss, severe shock and Wesley was sure of something else. They both lifted him up between them and took him to one of the cars which was parked just around the corner just in case they had needed to flee the Hyperion. Wesley was extremely surprised to find that they met no vampires on their way to the cars. They needed to take Gunn to a hospital, and fast, but where they would go after that, Wesley had no idea and he didn't take the time at that moment to think about it. His mind was rushing with thoughts of Gunn and what had happened to Cordelia and the events of that night and thinking of where the nearest hospital may be.

The soft murmur of chanting could be heard within the Hyperion Hotel's lobby. It was in a language that wasn't even known to anyone in that world. Inside the Lobby, a dark figure was standing, surrounded by candles. As the chanting faded, the Figure of Jenny Calendar walked up to the figure, smiling.

"That's it then?" The image of Jenny Calendar asked.

"Yes, that's it," the dark figure replied. The figure was one of the dark witches that The First had managed to recruit into it's growing forces. Jenny Calendar stood in front of the figure inside of it's sacred circle. The First whispered something into the figure's ear before it plunged a hand into the figure's chest. The person's eyes went wide as she felt all of her energy being sucked out of her and into the supposedly incorporeal form that The First had chosen to show itself to her as. She looked down to her chest to see that The First's arm was literally inside her, and that there was a red and black swirl of energy travelling down The First's arm, and she knew that it was her own. "How-," was all that she managed to spurt out before she collapsed onto the floor, slipping into unconsciousness and death.

"What's going on here," The First heard from behind it. It turned around to see Angelus standing at the entrance of the Hyperion.

"Nothing. We're leaving. I've got all I came for," The First replied as it bent down and picked up something off the floor in the middle of the sacred circle. It was a moping, and inside it resided a little ball of blue-white energy.

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Don't worry… there'll be explanations, in time. Read/Review please.. The more you do, the faster and better chapters will come blah blah blah.

Psst… once again… DON'T assume stuff