Authors Note: Here's the next chapter. Not really much to say, except that there are developments to a storyline that you may have thought was pretty un-related to everyone in Sunnydale and LA, but in fact, it is. If you have any guesses as to what's going on there, after you read this chapter, let me know, I wanna know if what I've got planned is gonna be a surprise. Nothing too much that happened last chapter will be revealed here, or in the next couple of chapters. It will take some time to know the purpose of what's going on etc etc blah blah.

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Chapter 20

Too Late

They had just touched down in Heathrow airport and were taxiing into the terminal. It had been a long flight for Skye. They weren't going to Sweden any more, instead Amanda told them that they were going to England to a coven of Witches that would keep them safe. Amanda told them that they had changed their destination after the incident in Singapore Airport, as who ever was after them knew where they'd be going to, so they changed their destination and route. Skye, Rhonda, Jim and Michael walked through the airport with their usual guard; Amanda at the front, and the rest of the strange people surrounding them, except this time, they were slightly split apart as to not raise suspicion. Skye was curious as to why the security forces weren't trying to stop them. Surely, Singapore airport would have had their plane tracked and then notified Heathrow airport, unless the Watchers Council had pulled some strings. After all, the Singapore security personnel didn't know that they were the good guys; obviously the Council had contacted Singapore and English authorities and notified them of the situation they were in; or that's what Skye thought anyway, however she was still suspicious of Amanda and her crew.

There were four vehicles waiting for them in the car park of the airport. All of the vehicles were identical except for their colour; being black or navy blue. Amanda and the others who survived the attack on the Watchers Council in Brisbane were instructed to get in one car each, that way they would minimise the danger for them all, being in a separate car each. Skye got in one car and wasn't surprised when Amanda hopped into the back seat next to her, and one of the other people in her crew got in the driver's seat.

"Where are you taking us to?" Skye asked Amanda. Amanda didn't say anything in reply for a long time until they had exited the airport. Skye thought that it was unusual and she was starting to get a little freaked out, but finally Amanda spoke.

"We're taking you into the forest. There is a Coven of Witches which has agreed to take care of you and hide you until this whole thing is resolved," Amanda replied to Skye in a sympathetic voice.

"And this Coven. They know about us and about what's going on?" Skye asked her.

"They know about you, yes. However, they don't know what's going on," Amanda replied. Skye just nodded her head, even though she didn't agree with what Amanda had just told her. There was a long silence as Skye turned and looked out the window at the English Country side. They had been driving for at least an hour now, and passed through many towns. Skye couldn't help but notice how crammed in everyone seemed and the short distance between towns. It was unusual for her, having grown up in Rural Australia before coming to the Watchers Council. She had grown up on a property, at least fifty kilometres away from the closest town, and the town itself wasn't much. It had been over a two hour drive, one way to the next town. Here, it was twenty minutes to half an hour drive between towns.

"What are you?" Skye asked Amanda suddenly. She turned her head to Amanda and looked at her.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Amanda replied.

"What are you?" Skye simply asked again. "I know you're not human. You've got this certain… air about you," Skye said again. Amanda just looked at her, and Skye was almost enchanted by her green eyes which seemed like they could put anyone under a spell.

"I am human," Amanda replied again, but she left a pause before speaking again. "But I'm more than human as well."

"In what ways?" Skye asked her, and she honestly thought that Amanda was going to answer her. There was a long pause again as Amanda seemed to consider her reply.

"The less you know about me, the safer you'll be," Amanda said to her. Skye opened her mouth to say something else, but Amanda cut her off. "And no buts about it." Skye just gave up, for the time being, knowing that she wouldn't get anything out of Amanda now. She returned to looking back out the window.

Two hours later, all the cars pulled up in a gravel clearing inside the forest. Skye looked around in wonder. The forest looked like something out of a movie; she had never seen anything like it before in her life. The trees stretched up and almost seemed to touch the sky, and the canopy was thick enough to shroud the whole forest in shadow, but let enough sunlight through for the under brush to grow. She had also noticed when she stepped out of the car how cold the air was, and that just added to the mysticism of the place. She was brought out of her trance by Rhonda as she spoke.

"Come on Skye, let's go," Rhonda said to her from the other side of the clearing. Skye looked at Rhonda who was on the other side of the clearing with everyone else, urging her to come with them. Skye jogged across the clearing to catch up with the small group and saw that they were heading down a small dirt track that looked like a goat's trail into the forest. They had been walking perhaps ten minutes when Skye saw a person up ahead, sitting on a log that was stretched along the path.

"Amanda. It's good to see you back," the man said to her.

"It's good to see you too Michael," Amanda replied.

"Come, this way. Samantha and Montague are waiting for you, they have urgent news," the man called Michael replied to Amanda. Skye watched as he turned around and the image in front of them changed. A part of the forest seemed to change and shift, revealing another path that split off from the original one. She saw the look of shock on Amanda's face as this happened. It was obvious that this was news to her as well as it was to Skye. She listened in as Michael said something to Amanda.

"Because of… recent events. We've had to hide ourselves. For our own protection," Michael said to her. Amanda just nodded in reply as they began to move off down the new track.

They reached what seemed like a small village in the middle of the forest. There was about ten log cabins that had been erected, and a large number of tents spread out around the place too. People were milling about and just going about what seemed to be their everyday lives. Ahead, she saw two seemingly elderly figures standing and looking at them, and she guessed that they must be their welcoming committee. They approached the group and went straight to Amanda.

"Amanda, it is good to see you again," the elderly woman said.

"Yes, it is," The elderly man said.

"It is good to see you too, Samantha, Montague," Amanda said to them. There was a slight pause as Skye listened in, pretending to listen to Michael tell them what happened around here and what was what. Skye knew that she could get all the details later off of Rhonda. "Michael said that you have urgent news," Amanda said to both of them.

"Yes, we do. But here is not the place to be discussing such matters. Let's take a walk," Montague said to her. Skye had an inkling of a feeling that she needed to hear what was going on, and that she was the only one who thought that this whole thing was bogus.

"Um. Is there a toilet around here anywhere, because I really need to go," Skye asked Michael. She watched as he pointed to a cabin not too far from where Amanda and the two elderly people were heading. She walked towards it in quite a hurry, making as if she needed to use the building, but when she got there, she quickly ducked around the back and made her way to the next cabin, where she had seen Amanda and the two elderly people stop and start talking. She crept along one wall now, and she could hear their voices as they were just around the corner.

"We're too late. Our plans have failed," the elderly woman said.

"What? How?" Skye heard Amanda ask.

"Earlier today, a spell was performed which weakened the walls between dimensions. It was only for a short time, and the walls were repaired, but not fully. But this time was enough to do serious damage. A wave of power spread across the globe, and affected most magick users and supernatural beings. Surely you must have felt it," the elderly man said.

"Oh, that was what that was," Amanda said.

"The Hellmouth has been opened, The First's plans are under way," the elderly woman said. "The Hellmouth remains open. Although the walls between dimensions were repaired, the power surge caused the Hellmouth to open and remain open. We're too late," she said.

"No, there's still time. We can still pull this off. We may be a little late, but late is better than never," Amanda replied.

"There'll be a high risk involved even if we can pull it off," the elderly man said. "The young witch, Willow, who came to us escaped," he said. "We weren't able to drain her power, and without that level of power, it is hard to accomplish what we have set out to do."

"You don't need magick to do this. It happens to people all over the world. It's happened before," Amanda argued. Skye didn't know what they were talking about, but she got the direct feeling that it was big, whatever it was. "We can do this. Just agree to try," Amanda pushed. There was a long pause as Skye thought that the elderly people were thinking about what Amanda had to say.

"Okay, but you'll have to move quickly," the elderly woman said. "Go to Sunnydale. No matter what the cost, bring her here. It doesn't matter how you bring her, just make sure she's alive. If you can, get another one of the potentials. Her name is Molly, she's also very important. Also, if you can, retrieve the young girl, Willow Rosenburg, but only if you can. But don't let any of this get in the way of your main priority," Skye heard the elderly woman say.

"Okay, we'll leave straight away. We'll be back in at most… ten days, and we'll bring you your Slayer," Amanda replied.

They had grabbed weapons and headed out as soon as Willow had told them the information. The Hellmouth was open, and it had been for a good ten minutes or so. Buffy had stopped anyone else from coming with them. It was going to be dangerous, and both Buffy and Faith couldn't afford to be worrying about anyone else in the heat of battle. They were armed to the teeth. Both of them had a crossbow slung over their backs. Buffy had a small knife slung on each hip, stakes in her pockets, and she carried a large sword in her hand. Faith had stakes throughout her jacket pockets, a knife at her hips, and carried two short swords in both of her hands. They were lucky that they didn't get pulled over by the police as they walked down the sidewalk towards the ruins of Sunnydale High School. Everyone who had looked at them had stayed clear of them and stared at them as they walked down the main street of Sunnydale. They rounded the corner, and Buffy saw Faith stop as she kept on walking. Buffy stopped and turned and looked at Faith, who was staring at the ruins of Sunnydale High School.

"Come on. Let's go. What's keeping you?" Buffy asked her. She saw Faith just turn and look at her.

"It's just that I've never seen it in the daylight before," Faith replied as she looked on the ruins of the Sunnydale High School, which reminded her of her time along side the Mayor, when everything was good, and she could ignore the things which would bring her down.

"Come on," Buffy said to her, urging her on. Faith put one foot in front of the other, as she slowly began to walk towards where the Hellmouth resided.

Just before they were going to enter the High School, Faith spoke up.

"You'd think that they'd pull this thing down or something. Wouldn't it be a safety hazard?" Faith said.

"Yeah, but the construction crews think the place is haunted, and that if they pulled it down it would be bad karma or something," Buffy replied. "Which, yeah, is kind of true." Buffy shoved the sword she was carrying into the ground, pulled the crossbow off of her back, loaded it out of a quiver she was carrying strapped to her back, and shot at the wall effectively lodging a crossbow bolt into the wall. It was a signal that both Buffy and Faith had entered the High School and were on their way to the Hellmouth. They had agreed on a signal, so if Willow and Giles recovered in time to help, they'd know if the Slayers were inside the High School as long as the crossbow bolt was in the wall.

Faith and Buffy both entered what used to be the main hall of the Sunnydale High School, stepping over fallen pieces of debris as they walked down the hall.

"Can't believe this place once used to be a High School," Faith said. They kept walking down what slightly resembled a corridor towards where the Library used to be. When they were in the corridor that lead to the Library, they were both surprised to find it relatively clear of debris.

"This is new," Buffy said.

"What? You've been here before?" Faith asked.

"Um, yeah. Had to stop some demons from sacrificing themselves to open the Hellmouth," Buffy replied. Buffy stopped as she realised something. "Speaking of which… if the Hellmouth's open, don't you expect it to be a lot noisier?" She looked to Faith, who just met her gaze with a blank stare. Buffy thought that she didn't get it, but Faith was thinking. "You know, big demons, screeching and crashing around."

"Maybe one's already gotten out and another one's on it's way. Maybe that's what cleared this path," Faith suggested. They kept on walking down the hallway, hugging the walls; Buffy on one side, Faith on the other. When they reached what used to be the entrance to the Library, Buffy peaked her head around the corner and let out a gasp of surprise. Faith, who was standing behind Buffy, couldn't see anything, so she ran across the small opening to the ruins of a wall on the other side and stuck her head around the corner. "Shit B. Didn't you monitor this thing?" Faith whispered.

"We couldn't. We were kind of pre-occupied," Buffy replied.

"With what?" Faith asked. She really didn't want to know, but it was more of a statement than a question. She stuck her head around the corner again and looked inside. The ruins of the Library were gone, or were at least on the outside. Wooden walls had been constructed in a large room where the Library used to be. The ground had been cleared, and there were two large holes in the ground. One; the Hellmouth, the other, a Tunnel leading underground. Around the Hellmouth, there stood a couple of vampires, the likes of which Faith had never seen before. "What are those?" Faith asked Buffy.

"I don't know. But they look tough," Buffy replied.

"Four against two, I say we take em," Faith said, her body tensing as she did so and her double short swords being raised.

"Faith, wait," Buffy said.

"Wait for what? We can take em. They can't be too tough," Faith whispered back. It was then that a figure walked into sight. They could both tell that it was a human figure cloaked in red robes, they didn't know what it was there for, but it didn't look good. Faith started to move back to where Buffy was, on the other side of the former entrance to the Library, when she stepped on a piece of flooring that gave way under her weight, making a lot of noise. Buffy just watched as all the vampires in the room, plus the red cloaked figure turned and looked in their direction.

"Looks like we fight," Buffy said while tightening her grip on her sword. She looked to Faith, who was already getting her leg out of the hole it had sunken into. Buffy moved forward into the room, and saw one of the old vampires coming towards her. Faster than she had ever expected, the Vampire struck out, swinging it's closed fist for her head, which she barely had time to avoid. Before she knew what was happening, it's other hand was coming from the other direction and struck her under her shoulder, sending her stumbling to the side. She recovered to see the vampire coming towards her, and she saw that he had a companion that was approaching them. This time when the vampire struck out, Buffy used her sword to block the blow, successfully cutting it's arm and allowing her a split second to attack. She used the momentum of the vampire's arm hitting the sword to swing it around her head, kneel down and let the sword bite into the vampire's side. It roared in pain and stumbled backwards. "One down, three to go," Buffy said. She looked over to Faith, who was surprisingly doing better than her, using her double short swords. She was fending off two of the weird type of vampires.

The next vampire was upon her before she knew what was happening, and this one was much more coordinated than the first. It dodged Buffy's attempts to hack away at it with her sword, and waited until it had the perfect opportunity. It charged at Buffy, grabbed hold of her shoulders, leaned into her and literally used her as a battering ram against the wooden wall on the opposite side of the room, taking the wind out of her and hurting her a fair bit. The Vampire backed off for only a second, which was all it took for Buffy's legs to start to sink to the ground and the sword to drop out of her hand. She was fairly sure that there was something important inside of her that had been broken by the charge. The vampire was upon her again, which forced her to the ground, and was growling at her in a primal rage. Buffy knew that it was going to literally rip her throat out with it's bare teeth. Buffy tried to struggle, and to fight back, but every attempt she made to fight back made the vampire knee her in the stomach, crippling her more. She looked over to Faith, in the hope that she would be doing better, but she saw Faith pinned up against the wall by one vampire and being completely pummelled by the other.

Buffy reached her hands out and wrapped them around the vampire's neck in an attempt to keep it's jaws away from her. She squeezed for all that she was worth, but it barely did anything to the vampire. The other one that she had injured was back now, standing above the vampire that was attacking her. In a last ditch effort, Buffy shoved against the vampire's neck as hard as she could in hope to get it away from her at least a little, which seemed to work. The Vampire was sent backwards a little bit, which gave Buffy enough time to reach down and grab the two knives that she was carrying, and then bury them in each side of the vampire, just under the rib cage. It roared in pain, and Buffy pulled out the blood drenched knives, and in one swift movement, drove both of them through each side of the vampire's neck, snapping the spine and decapitating the vampire, which exploded in a burst of dust.

The first vampire was on her instantly: Buffy didn't even have the time to get up. She used the knives against the vampire in defence, successfully wounding it. Every time it would go to lash out at her, Buffy made sure that there was a knife blade waiting there. Eventually, the vampire backed off, and Buffy noticed that it wasn't because of her, but it was because the red cloaked figure was standing near the other hole in the ground and was beckoning to the vampires. They backed away from Buffy and Faith, and when Buffy tried to follow, the red cloaked figure raised it's hand and the air in front of Buffy shimmered and kept her back. She dropped to one knee, put a knife down on the ground on each side of her, unslung her crossbow from off of her back, took aim and fired, and found that the crossbow bold just hit the same wall of shimmering air that protected the red cloaked figure. She watched as the vampires jumped down the hole, followed by the red cloaked figure. She collapsed back down onto the ground, exhausted and injured. She tilted her head up to look at Faith, and saw that she was lying on the ground, large lumps having have formed all over her body and that she was barely conscious. From the direction that Buffy remembered the entrance to the room was, Buffy heard a noise and looked up to see Willow and Giles standing there, Willow floating above the ground and her eyes and hair completely black.

"Giles, we're too late," Buffy heard Willow say before she lapsed into unconsciousness.

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There's that chapter. Your reviews will be much appreciated. Advice will be listened to, but I've got a plan for this story and I tend to stick to it.

There are a couple of ways this can go. There's one way where it all gets finished up in this story, and there's another way where there's a THIRD story, don't know what's going to happen there. Don't worry though, either way, there's PLENTY to go in this story. But if you want to know, I'm kinda leaning towards finishing it all up in this one, because I want to get back to my other series (Slayers Series).

Next Chapter - Chapter 21 - Perfect Timing.

Aussie.