I'm sorry it took so long to update… Uni started and I have NO free time what so ever, and I mean NO free time. I'm lucky if I can find half an hour a day, and even then it's stretching it.

If you don't know what's going on in a couple of bits, that's okay, and I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little 'out of joint' as I started the first half of it a couple of months ago, and finished the next half of it tonight.

Enjoy

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Chapter 26

A Mystery in the Heart of Danger (Part 1)

As of half an hour ago, they had quickened their pace. He didn't know where they were going, but he guessed that it was still far away, and he could sense that the hours of sunlight were waning. Spike had tried to get some answers out of the people around him, because he figured that they knew more of what was going on than he did, but they didn't say anything. He wanted to know what had happened here. Just about every third building or so was in ruins, or had large chunks missing out of them. The roads were carved up and in some places that they had gone, there was no road left, only dirt. In the distance, Spike had seen a freeway that had collapsed. There weren't any cars on what was left of the roads; the only car that Spike had seen had rusted and was falling to pieces and was half buried under a piece of a building.

"Where are you taking me?" Spike asked. He just got the normal response; a prod in the back with one of the weapons that the girl was holding behind him. He had noticed that everyone else had their weapons facing the outside of their little circle, but Spike had soon noticed that the one behind him was pointing to his back.

"Hurry up," the girl behind him said while jamming her weapon into his back harder.

An hour later, Spike could see that the sun was setting on the horizon. He noticed that everyone in the small group that he was in had tensed up and that their senses were on the complete alert. He also noticed that the direction of the wind had switched directions. Spike could now smell the presence of something close to them, something that had been following them for a while, staying upwind, until now.

"There's something following us," Spike said. He was surprised when everyone else in the group just seemed to ignore him and didn't take in that he could be alerting them to a potential danger. "Did anyone hear me? I said that there is something following us…" Spike started again.

"We know Spike, now just shut up and be quiet," Giles said from behind him. For the whole time, the Watcher had remained quiet and followed in the girls' footsteps. He was also in the centre of the group, but he at least had weapons. They had walked about half a mile when everyone in the group just came to an abrupt halt. Spike saw Buffy make a signal with her hand, and everyone crouched down. The girl behind Spike just about threw him to the ground. They all crouched low to the ground and ran behind the cover of the front of a collapsed building.

"What is it?" Spike whispered once they had gotten behind cover. He expected no one to answer him, just like usual, but that wasn't the case this time.

"It's Angelus," Faith whispered back to him. Spike didn't know what to make of that, he had heard Buffy and Faith speaking of Angelus, but he had just thought that he had heard wrong. Suddenly, Spike noticed a certain spark run through the air, and the air become energised. He knew what it was; there was something extremely powerful nearby. He could smell that the presence he had sensed earlier was closer now; it was so close that they should be able to see whatever was following them. Spike turned around and looked down the street. He couldn't see anything, but then, he saw a figure that was marching straight down the middle of the street shimmer into existence.

"What's that?" Spike asked. He took a closer look at the figure. It was a woman, dressed completely in black with black eyes and black hair.

"Oh no. It's Amy," Giles said. "Come on, this way," Giles said while pointing towards an alley that was close by. They all crouched low to the ground and made their way towards the entrance of the alley that was at least twenty feet away. It wasn't until they had entered the alley that Spike noticed that the black haired girl was now paying attention to them. He had no idea who she was, but he knew that she was powerful, he could sense that much. The fact that she was looking straight at them wasn't a good thing. When they entered the alley, Spike followed Buffy and Faith's lead and ran as fast as he could. Exactly when they were halfway, three figures made themselves visible at the other end of the alley. Spike could tell that they were vampires, but he knew that they were different. Their faces didn't even closely resemble a human's and they had large claw like hands. They all turned around, but they saw that there were more vampires coming down the alley behind him.

"It was a trap," the girl that had made it her job to prod him in the back said. Spike watched as everyone in the group raised their weapons and pointed them at the vampires.

"Oh well. I'm in the mood for a good throw down," Spike said.

Buffy made another quick observation of the room. The vampires that were standing around the Hellmouth were performing some kind of ritual; purple - black - red energy was swirling around above the Hellmouth. The Turokhan was now alerted to their presence and was coming towards them, but the Syophers were keeping their distance and remaining close to the Hellmouth. The red cloaked figure was also coming towards them.

"They've made us, let's go," Buffy said before rounding the corner. She wished she hadn't. More of the room became visible to her, and she could see at least another two Turokhan that were coming towards them. She was about to call out to Faith, but stopped when she saw her fellow Slayer step up beside her.

"You ready for this?" Faith said to Buffy while tightening her grip on the axe that she was carrying and bringing it up in front of her.

"I have to be," Buffy replied before raising her sword and looking the Turokhan that was coming towards them straight in the eyes. She sensed a presence behind them and she turned to see the teenage boy, Angel's son, Connor standing behind them. Without saying a word, Buffy took a step forward and before she knew what was happening, instincts had taken over, putting one foot in front of the other in quick succession, taking her straight towards the Turokhan. She was close enough now to attack the first Turokhan. With as much speed and force she could put behind her, she swung her sword diagonally down towards the Turokhan, and she was surprised when it dodged the blow. Using the momentum of her swing, she spun around and sliced the sword through the air towards it's head. She was glad that it hadn't been expecting the move, and that it didn't have time to dodge out of the way, raising its arm up in it's defence. Buffy's sword cleanly sliced through the Turokhan's wrist, cutting off it's hand. It backed away and roared in pain, and Buffy used that advantage to lunge at it with her sword, sticking it through where the vampire's heart was, wishing that she was holding a wooden sword. She started to pull the sword back when she felt an impact on her left side, and she went sprawling to the ground. Before she knew what was happening, fists were beating down on her head, knocking it back into the ground over and over again. She tried to fend off the blows from the Turokhan that was on top of her, but she couldn't, it was too fast and too furious, and Buffy knew that with every blow, she sunk further and further towards unconsciousness.

A blast sent the Turokhan flying off of Buffy, and with a quick glance, she looked up to see that Michaela and the witches had entered the fight. She got up and saw that the Potential's had come around the corner. She had made sure that every one of them was armed with a crossbow and a stake before they had left her home. "Faith, Connor, out of the way!" Buffy called out. Faith and Connor were both engaged in a fight with a Turokhan each. She saw them try to get away from the Turokhan but they couldn't. She saw Faith get beaten back onto the ground and Connor knock the Turokhan he was facing away from him. "Now!" she called, and watched as the eight potential's fired their crossbows at both of the Turokhan, effectively knocking them to the ground and immobilising them for a brief period. Without a moment of hesitation, Buffy took off towards the one nearest Faith and brought her sword down, cutting off of it's head. She didn't even look to see if the Turokhan had dusted before she was looking towards Connor, seeing that he had stuck his stake into the Turokhan's chest.

Buffy turned to face the room that the Hellmouth was enclosed in, ready for whatever they sent at her next. Dispatching of the Turokhan had been easier than she had expected, and now she felt as if she was ready for anything. She saw that the figure cloaked in red was turning to face them. Connor started to run at him, and with a wave of a hand, he was sent flying back into the wall. Buffy and Faith both simultaneously started to rush towards the red cloaked figure, but it raised it's hand and they both were held back by an invisible wall.

Michaela was ignoring the events occurring in front of her, focusing on the vampires which were kneeling at each compass point of the Hellmouth. They all had their eyes closed, and their palms raised above the hole which was supposedly the Hellmouth. She could see dark shadows swirling around each one of their bodies, and she could see a small blue ball of energy begin to form above the Hellmouth. She took the other things around the room. She noticed that the Hellmouth was enclosed in the centre of a black pentacle that had been drawn on the floor, and that there was an object sitting at each point of the pentacle. She briefly looked to the events unfolding in front of her, seeing Buffy and Faith being kept back by the red cloaked figure, and she saw that the Syophers were both just standing and watching the proceedings, not interfering, yet. She was stirred out of her observations as she felt the energy of the air around them all shift and change, become energised. She noticed that the blue ball of energy in the centre of the Hellmouth was now expanding slowly, and it was energising the air around it. She looked over to one of the Syophers, who had air shimmering around it, making it appear blurred. She looked back to the red cloaked figure, who was now standing with it's head bowed. She saw something else move that wasn't in the centre of her vision, and she looked over the vampires, who were now encircled in a ring of blue and red energy, and were turning to dust. In an instant of clarity, Michaela put all the pieces together.

"Everyone get back! Now!" Michaela yelled. She bowed her head to the ground and concentrated the energies within her and around her to form a protective shield around her and those close to her.

Almost everyone was behind her, they could all sense now that something was happening. Even Buffy and Faith had obeyed her words once she had spoke them, which surprised her given their 'Slayer goes first' attitudes. She was standing before the group and what was about to happen, she was their only hope. She quickly gave her thanks to everyone she had known and met in that group, even if she had only met them for a short time. She thought of Oz, and how she would never get to see his face again, or hear his voice. She thought of Daniel, Naomi, Brett and Naomi, all of whom she would probably never see again. This was it, this was the day that they had all been dreading and trying to prevent. She looked up and she had never felt so alone before in her life, but then she noticed a presence on either side of her. She looked to her left to see Naomi standing beside her, her eyes transfixed in front of her, staring into the room where the Hellmouth was. She looked to her right, and she saw the image of Cordelia Chase standing beside her, and she was glad that she was there, she was comforted by the fact that she had a very powerful being standing beside her. It was then, that Cordelia Chase disappeared, and a mass of blue energy was left in her place. She could feel the raw power resonating out of the mass of blue energy, but she doubted that it would be enough. "Inanna, goddess of the heavens and Ares, god of war and strength, and Gaia, mother of the earth, protect and watch over us in this dark hour. Bless us, your chosen warriors," Michaela said in a last ditch effort to help them survive the next few moments. She closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing all of her energy outwards to form a barrier between them and the Hellmouth. It was then that she heard a loud crack, and all her thoughts about the barrier, about the Hellmouth ceased and her last thoughts were of Oz.

He stood on the back verandah of their apartment, looking out over the city below them as the sun had almost set over the horizon. The apartment was on the top of a hill, and had an unobstructed view of the city. He took a moment to look at the sky, which was a dark orange with not a cloud in sight. The sky scrapers on the horizon were just large dark shapes, no detail visible on them because of their shadow cast by the setting sun. He watched hundreds of commuters went about their way in their cars along the freeways and streets below. They were all so innocent. None of them knew of the horrors that were right under their noses. For a moment, he wished that he could go back to being blissfully ignorant again, that he'd be able to go about his day where his only cares were of making enough money, and how to do his job properly and how to please his wife. Instead, he had to worry about surviving every day, and every night amongst the vampires and demons of the world. There was a down side though, if he didn't know about what went bump in the night, he wouldn't have his job that he had now. It was what kept him going sometimes, knowing that he was fighting the only fight worth fighting, that he was making a difference in the world and that he wasn't ending another human life in order to save another. He snapped out of his day dream and looked out to the city of Los Angeles once again. If the rumours were true, he was here for a major operation which was deemed beyond top secret. He didn't know of anyone else in his team that was here, but then again, he knew that he probably wouldn't know until their first mission. He had been pulled out of an operation in New York City to come here, tracking a master vampire and trying to break down his broad network of vampires that reigned up and down the East Coast. If he was pulled out of that to come here, it had to be big. The word that was going around was that something big was happening world wide, and that Los Angeles here was one of the major hot spots, and that the number of vampires in the city had quadrupled over the last month, and that they were being led by the vampire equivalent of Jesus Christ. Those were the rumours that he had heard any way.

He heard a beeping at his side, and he fished his beeper out of his pocket. He looked to the message, which read; "Code 12, Corner Madison and Charles st. 1900hrs. Sgt R Finn.". Bobby McCarthy looked at his watch, and saw that it read 1815. That meant that he only had 45 minutes to find and get to the corner of Madison and Charles streets and rendezvous with Sergeant Riley Finn.

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So, that's that chapter.

From now on, I'm going to try and make it more personal. I'm reading a story at the moment that is personal, and it's really good.

Reviews are always Appreciated

Next Chapter: A Mystery in the Heart of Danger (Part 2)