So I lied when I said that the next chapters were coming in 2 weeks. I managed to do one now. Here, it is pretty obvious what idea I have ripped out of Angel. And please, no one say anything to me about what happens in the End of Angel. I've only seen up to the one where Fred has turned into Ithilca, and nothing more, so, sorry if I get things wrong.

Things in this chapter keep things moving along at a good steady pace towards where I'm getting. In a few chapters, I think, If I can time everything right, everything's going to explode into action and the story will start to finally enter "The Final Battles" which has been building up since "Post Grave". If I can't time everything right, it'll take an extra 4 or 5 chapters to start getting to "The Final Battles"

Chapter 27

A Mystery in the Heart of Danger (Part 2)

She could hear a dull thud, beating over and over again, repeating itself in a regular pattern. There was nothing else. She tried to piece together what was going on around her, but she couldn't remember. She must be in bed, and she must have fallen asleep and left her music on. That story fit, she could remember dreaming about something, but when she tried to recall the facts, she couldn't remember what the dream was about. She could now sense what was around her. She could feel her body now, and she could feel the pain in them. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't, not yet. She tried to move her limbs, but she couldn't. Time and everything else was meaningless. She heard the dull beat get softer and softer, and she realised that it was her heart beating in her chest that she was hearing. In a rush, all of her senses came back to her, touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. She heard someone groan in pain, and realised that it was her. Pain shot through her body like a red hot fire, incinerating everything it touched. She felt sick to the stomach, and as soon as she thought about it, she rolled over and vomited on the floor. She knew that she wasn't in her bed now, as she could feel the dirt and cold hard earth beneath her. The images and memories came rushing back to her. Their travels to Sunnydale, their meeting with Buffy and her friends. Her injury from the mysterious red hooded magician and Oz helping her through it. Looking at the energy swirling around the Hellmouth, the Syopher and the fight with the Turokhan, the energy build up. Naomi and Cordelia coming to stand beside her before the final moments of her memory, and then nothing.

Other images came rushing to Michaela. She could see a blackened sky, with thousands of figures standing before her, shouting and cheering. It looked like a giant army, but of what, she had no idea. She had never seen creatures like them before. They were human in shape, but their skin looked like it was made from the earth, cracked like parchment and black. Another image came to her, the image of the trees and a great forest. For some reason, she could remember the colour of green very well, and in her series of visions, it meant something to her. In the next vision, she could see a clear sky, with the sun showing it's full force. She was standing on the top of a hill, looking down at a field below her, where bodies were scattered all over it, and weapons lay on the ground.

As suddenly as her visions had come, they had gone again and Michaela was left on the ground, in pain and confused. She opened her eyes, to see that she was lying among the bodies of her friends and colleagues in the fight against 'The First', and none of them, not even the Slayers looked in good shape. Michaela heard a noise come from somewhere, and to her horror, she could see a figure walking up to her, draped in red robes. It stood above her and looked down, pulling back it's hood. Revealed was a young looking woman, with pale skin, dark, dark red hair and the same colour eyes.

"Do not interfere Inanna. You are not meant to be here, and not in that shell. The Ability is ours to send you back to where we came from as easily as we were summoned. Do not interfere in the coming battles, and we shall allow you to remain here," the woman said before putting her hood over her head again. Michaela just looked up at it in fear as a Syopher and a vampire approached the woman, and escorting her away, leaving them to be. Michaela tried to go through what the strange woman had said to her, to make sure that it got lodged in her memory. Although her brain wasn't fully up to function yet after being knocked unconscious, and for all she knew, almost killed, she knew that that woman that had spoken to her was what The First and the Syophers had summoned.

Michaela pulled herself up into a sitting position against the wall, and as soon as she did so, she vomited again. When she was done, she was shocked to see that blood had come out, instead of intestinal products, most of it was blood. She was distracted as she heard a groan from the room she was in, knowing that it was one of theirs as everything else was gone.

"Who killed me," she heard from the litter of unconscious bodies lying around on the floor. She saw someone move, their back facing away from her. Michaela couldn't make it out as her world was starting to spin. "Hey, you don't look so good," she hear the voice say again. She recognised it, but she couldn't place it. She looked up and could barely make out the image of Connor, who had pulled himself up so that he was resting against a rock.

"You don't look so good yourself either you know," Michaela managed to reply back. She heard a voice from somewhere, but she couldn't identify where it had come from, or what it had said. She looked around, still dizzy, for anyone else who had managed to wake up, but there was no one. She hear the voice again, and it was whispering to her. "What did you say?" she asked Connor.

"What, I didn't say anything," Connor replied.

"Return the world to the earth," Michaela heard. She looked around for anything that was making the noise, but she couldn't see anything. "Return the world to the earth. Set us Free," she heard again.

"What is that?" Michaela heard Connor say out loud, but she got the impression that Connor wasn't talking to her. She could feel the dizziness increase, and she knew that she was swaying, and that if it kept increasing, she wouldn't be able to stay sitting.

"You hear it too?" Michaela replied. She saw Connor looking right at her, in a strange way, but it wasn't Connor who was looking at her. Instead, she saw luminescent blue hair, pale skin, and the same coloured eyes looking back at her with a puzzled expression.

"Inanna?" Michaela heard before her world went black.

Spike might have been in the mood for a good fight, but that's exactly what he didn't get. As soon as the strange vampires had started off towards them, Buffy, Faith and one of the other girls advanced ahead and Spike was sent sprawling to the ground by the girl who was behind him. He could hear her chanting something and could feel a breeze blow past them both. Spike was then hauled to his feet and met with a sight that took the breath out of him. Ahead he saw Buffy, Faith and the other girl fighting against the three vampires, going faster than anything he had ever seen, and using moves that he had never known possible for a human, slayer or vampire to do.

"Through here," he heard. He turned to see that one of the two remaining girls and Giles were all now standing next to a portal. He saw the girl who had been guarding him reach out to grab his shirt. He gently struck her hand away.

"Hey, no one touches me," Spike said. He watched as the blonde girl rolled her eyes and with speed and force that he thought only Slayers possessed, reached out, grabbed his shirt, and almost threw him in through the portal.

He stumbled when he hit the ground and quickly regained his footing, wondering how the girl was able to possess that much strength. He looked around, he was in a dark room with a doorway on each side. Outside the room, the rest of the building looked, sounded and smelled like it was abandoned. The portal was still open behind him, and he decided he was going to get away from this place as fast as he could. He didn't want to be held prisoner by Buffy and Faith, especially after what he had seen they were in the middle of. He couldn't piece together the pieces, but he knew that whatever had caused the destruction of LA and Sunnydale, the Slayers were in the thick of, and he wanted no part of it. Spike stepped towards the doorway and stopped when a figure stood in it, her faced shadowed.

"You're not going anywhere," the voice said. Spike recognised the voice, but he couldn't place his finger on it. He saw the figure step forward and recognised her immediately.

"And you think you're going to stop me now do you Red?" Spike teased.

"Yes, I think I do," Willow replied confidently. Spike just turned around and started walking quickly towards the other door, when two girls came in through it. "You're staying here Spike," Willow said. Spike kept on walking, and unexpectedly, one of the girls extended her in a kick towards Spike's face. He caught it, but didn't see a kick to the kneecaps coming from the other girl and he was sent sprawling to the ground, yet again. He heard a sound behind him and he guessed that someone else had come through the portal. He got up and looked to Willow.

"How could they…" he started. "Why do all the women I've met so far, since this has all happened possess the ability to send me face first into the ground?" Spike said.

"It's easy," Willow replied. "They're all Slayers." There was a slight pause as Spike took in what Willow had just said.

"They're all slayers?" Spike repeated.

"Yeah. God, where have you been for the last year and a half?" Willow replied casually. Spike looked to see that the girl who had been escorting him walk directly up to Willow.

"Willow, it's Amy," was all she said.

"Okay, I'm on it," Willow replied before turning away and walking directly into the portal, just as if she was walking through an ordinary doorway.

"Well why the hell didn't we use a portal in the first place?" Spike exclaimed. The girl who had been guarding him looked over her shoulder.

"Because they're dangerous now. They collapse very easily because the fabric of reality has been altered. You may end up opening up a portal, and then once you step through, it may collapse and there'll be little pieces of you in a thousand dimensions. Only the powerful witches can use them now," she said.

"So, how come you opened the portal here?" Spike asked.

"Like I said, only the most powerful witches even dare to use portals," the girl replied.

"Skye, come on, we've got things to do," another girl said who had come through the portal.

They pulled up outside the ruined building and the sun was still beating down overhead. He looked out of the window of the black limousine to the ruins of the Sunnydale High School, waiting for them to come out. He had only come back to this job, because he believed that it was the only way that he could save himself in the coming battles. The white hats weren't going to win this one, especially now with what they had going for them. He took notice of the building when he saw movement inside the building and saw a large figure come out of the entryway, cloaked in a dark drape. He tried to see under it, but could see nothing. He got out of the car and slowly approached.

"So, that's a Syopher," he said under his breath. "They're don't look so tough." Next, he saw a figure draped in red come though the entryway. He pressed his suit down and made sure that it was presentable. He approached the figure and watched as the figure pulled the robe away from it's head. He saw a pale, yet beautiful face with dark red hair which almost looked black, and with the same coloured eyes. He looked to the Syopher, and he immediately felt a wave of fear and nervousness sweep through him, but he knew that it was only the effect of being in close proximity to the Syopher. He rounded up his best, and most calm voice and said,

"Hello. My name is Lindsey McDonald, and as a representative of Wolfram and Hart, I would like to welcome you back Caelecae (Kal-ee-sae)," Lindsey said. He saw the woman look at him for a while, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Why does Wolf Ram and Hart seek to insult me. They are weak, only little more powerful than the Vampyr," the woman said in a strange accent that Lindsey said. Lindsey was put off by that, he had read up on what he needed to, but he wasn't used to seeing anyone have so little regard for Wolfram and Hart, not even he did.

"I think you will find that much has changed since your time. Wolfram and Hart isn't as weak as it once was. And, Humans rule the Earth now," Lindsey said.

"Humans rule this world?" The figure called Caelecae said, "how."

"They are a very intelligent race, and very inventive," Lindsey replied.

"And you, what is your role in this?" Caelecae asked.

"I work for Wolfram and Hart, as I have already said, and I am to act as your guide to this world and to act as a liaison between you and the Senior Partners," Lindsey replied. He gestured towards the limo waiting across the road, and started moving towards it. He was glad when Caelecae started moving towards it with him.

"And what is this the function of this instrument?" Caelecae asked, standing outside the limo.

"It is an invention by Humans, used for transport. You will come to no harm," Lindsey replied. He guided into the back of it before getting in himself. He looked out the window to the Syopher, who he only got a glimpse of as it shimmered out of existence. Once the limousine began to head off, Lindsey was bombarded with questions from Caelecae.

"Why haven't demons wiped the humans from existence if they rule? Have demons become so weak?"

"They have managed to create quite formidable warriors for themselves. They have created a line of chosen warriors, called Slayers, which have become more formidable as time has progressed. Originally, Wolfram and Hart didn't see them as posing as a major threat, but that changed a couple of hundred years ago, when they became more powerful. The Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart are quite concerned about them now, as the line of the Slayer seems to be changing," Lindsey explained (Reference to the end of Post Grave, Tara's line).

"But they are only human warriors, am I correct?"

"Yes, but they are imbued with the spirit of a demon, which gives them strength, speed and coordination," Lindsey replied.

"And how many of these warriors are there?" Caelecae asked.

"There is only meant to be one in every generation, but there are two at the moment," Lindsey replied.

"Only one?" Caelecae asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes, only one," Lindsey replied.

"I will have to meet one of these, Slayers. They must truly be a formidable opponent," Caelecae said. Lindsey withheld the fact that both of the Slayers were in the room that Caelecae had just come from.

"And why have we been called?" Caelecae put forward to Lindsey. He was confused as Caelecae asked the question, referring to more than one of them. He decided that he wouldn't raise the question with her, and just answer the question.

"I was not informed, but that is where we are going at the moment," Lindsey replied.

Bobby McArthy listening to what Sergeant Finn was saying (War Cries, Chapter 26 – A Mystery in the Heart of Danger, Part 1). He, Sergeant Riley Finn, and three others had been assigned to Los Angeles because of reports of greatly increased vampire activity. Their job was to hunt around, and look to see if there were any signs of an increase in the number of vampires in the city, and if so, find out why and how this had occurred before reporting back to Special Ops HQ. Bobby was glad that they were finally back in the US, after spending months in the Peruvian Jungle, and then being transferred to Vasteras – Sweden, it felt good to be working on his home soil again. According to Riley, there was a group from England coming in and making a stop over before heading to Sunnydale, and their job was to set up a perimeter for the English group to make a rendevous with an unknown contact. Bobby didn't like the sounds of it, but orders were orders. He felt better when he learned that Riley didn't trust the orders as much as he did, and knowing Riley's past, he wouldn't sit quietly by and let things go over the top of him.

"Okay, if there's no questions. Head out," Bobby heard Riley Finn say.

Somewhere in Los Angeles, 9:00 PM

Amanda and her crew had touched down in Los Angeles hours ago, and they had just busied themselves until the rendezvous time. They were to meet with a contact that the coven had, who somehow knew inside information on what was going on in Sunnydale. They were to acquire the situation in Sunnydale and find the last known location of the Slayers. They had just arrived five blocks from where their rendezvous was meant to take place. They were all dressed in their standard gear, black leather suits that covered their whole body except for their hands, feet and face, bound with a magickal solute which made the suits light and flexible.

"Jonathon, Sandra, Derrick, branch out and set up a perimeter and move inwards towards the rendezvous point. It might be a trap. Carmen, Michael, you two shadow me, and stay out of sight," Amanda instructed. She trusted the coven, and she trusted that they needed this information, but there was something off about this mission, and she wasn't taking any chances. She watched as Jonathon and Derrick took the off to the left and the right, at a fast and silent run. They would be in position in a couple of minutes. She watched as Sandra rushed off ahead, running along the footpath and hugging the shadows. To any normal human being, they would only catch a glimpse of her from time to time if they were looking in the right direction. She sensed Carmen and Michael, who were to be shadowing her leave her presence, and retreat some distance behind her. She looked around the streets, and she couldn't see any sign of activity. She crouched low to the ground, and put her palm on the road.

"No vibrations, good," Amanda said, knowing that if she couldn't sense any vibrations there were no cars nearby. She raised her head and looked up at the waxing moon above and she could see that it was to soon be smothered by clouds. She stood there, in the middle of the street, waiting until there was no light emitted by the moon before she even began about starting off. She concentrated, and the world in front of her lit up like it was made of neon, as her irises in her eyes expanded and her eyeball lengthened. Her hearing increased until she could hear a television that was on in an apartment three stories above her. Within an instant, she had set off, travelling almost silently, and clinging to the shadows.

Rendezvous Point, 9:10 PM

Riley Finn had set his team of ten up in buildings surrounding the area where the meet was meant to take place, which was on the corner of two four lane roads for some reason. He didn't know why they had decided to meet here, but that's all that he had been told. They were working in conjunction with a Coven in England, which was apparently very powerful that they had been told was a reliable source as they had told the American O Ops, short for Occult Ops, that they had helped out Willow from the Slayers group. They had informed them of a meet that was to take place between some of their operatives and an unknown contact, and that a very important object was to be exchanged. However, Riley had heard from his own sources that the Coven wasn't as good as they seemed, and that they usually have an ulterior motive and that this object may in fact be better off in the hands of O Ops. That's why it was so hard on this first job in LA, he didn't know who to believe. He had decided that he would wait and see what the object was before he would decide whether to make a move or not. Riley watched from the behind the window of a bakery as a figure moved up the sidewalk of the street across the road from him. The figure stopped and waited at the corner directly across the intersection from him. Riley knew that this must have been the contact. He got out his binoculars and tried to get a look at the figure's face, but he was standing in the shadows.

"That must be the contact, everyone hold positions," Riley said. Riley was waiting another five minutes before anything else happened. He was shocked to see a woman appear out what seemed like no where. Of course, that wasn't the case, but none of his team members had had any idea of her approach. From what he could make out, she had long red-brown hair, and was dressed completely in black leather. He sensed that there was something different about her, but he couldn't place it. "There's the other one, everyone hold positions, but be ready to move at my command," Riley said into his comm. He grabbed his binoculars as he watched the two figures approach each other. The first male figure was still staying in the shadows, and he couldn't identify him. He could make out the two talking, but nothing was happening. He watched as the male got a small object out of his jacket and gave it to the woman.

"Sir, we have three contacts moving fast towards the rendezvous from the South, heat signatures indicate that they're vamps," one of Riley's team members said into the comm.

"There's five more coming from the West," another one of his team members reported.

"Four from the East," another one reported.

"Sir, we have approximately fifteen vamps coming in from the North," another team member said.

"Acknowledged, everyone hold positions," Riley replied to his team. He grabbed the binoculars and looked at the two figures. The woman seemed to have some idea that it was a trap, and he could tell that the shadowed figure didn't have a clue, or was the one orchestrating it. Riley put the binoculars down and just as he did so, he saw the first figure move into the light. He grabbed the binoculars and immediately recognised the figure. He chucked them away, readied his weapon and started running out the door. "Go, go, go. The contact is Ethan Rayne, take him in alive. Be advised, he has magickal abilities," Riley almost shouted into the microphone. As he ran out the door, he heard two of his team members following him, and saw three more come out of the building adjacent to the rendezvous point. He ran towards the two figures, raising his modified rifle as he did so. It had the capability to shoot bullets as well as a stun beam which was developed and used by The Initiative.

"No body move, no body move," he heard someone say. They had formed a loose circle around the pair.

"Ethan Rayne. I wish I could say that it was good to see you again, but hey, it isn't," Riley said.

"Sir, the HST's are being killed off by an unknown number of assailants. One minute they're there, the next the vamps are dead, the next they've gone," Riley heard over his comm. He saw the woman turn when the message had come over the comm. He got a glimpse of her face, and he saw that she had unnaturally green eyes which haunted, yet enchanted him at the same time. He didn't like the looks of her, and he knew that she knew about the things taking out the vampires. He looked to one of his team members, Bobby, and then nodded in the direction of the girl.

"Miss, I'll need you to drop the object and put your hands in the air," Bobby said to her from behind, raising his rifle. The woman didn't even acknowledge that he had spoken, just kept staring at Ethan Rayne. "Miss, I repeat, drop the object and put your hands in the air," Bobby repeated, this time, pushing his rifle into her back. Before Riley knew what was happening, the woman had spun around, knocked the rifle out of Bobby's hands, kicked him in the midgut, and rammed her hand open palmed into his face, sending him sprawling back onto the bitumen on his back with blood pouring out of his face. Immediately, Riley pointed his rifle at her, but he felt a pressure against the back of his neck.

"Don't even think about it," he heard a feminine voice say behind him. He looked around to his other team members, and saw that there were figures dressed in the same outfit as the woman in front of him, all pointing weapons at his team members.

"Looks like they've got you beat," Ethan said to Riley. Riley looked around and noticed that they all had the same kind of green eyes as the woman in front of him as well. "Drop the rifle," the voice behind him said. He put it on the ground and then put his hands up on his head, and he saw the rest of his team members doing the same. The people holding them hostage each took the rifles off of the ground and slung them over their backs.

"Sir, there are three cars of HSTs approaching rapidly from the South," he heard over his comm. At that same moment, Riley caught a glimpse of Ethan Rayne, who had stayed unusually quiet the whole time. He watched as the image of Ethan Rayne disappeared and it was replaced with a large, dark hooded figure which towered above them. A wave of panic and terror went through him as he realised that the situation was far out of hand. As soon as the hooded figure appeared, the people with the green eyes moved out and away from them, and Riley noticed that they weren't pointing their weapons at his team members any more.

"Get away from it, it's a Syopher," the main woman said in a frantic voice to Riley and his team members. Immediately, Riley started backing away. He watched as his team members did the same. He noticed that all of the people who were dressed in black had put their weapons away and got his rifles off of their backs and were now pointing it in the direction of the black cloaked figure. He watched as six beams of energy were simultaneously at the figure, and it didn't do anything. He watched in horror as the figure approached Bobby, who had been taken down by the woman. Riley saw Bobby pull out his hand gun and shoot four rounds at the figure, but the figure raised it's cloaked hand, and the bullets stopped in mid air. When the figure lowered it's hand, the bullets literally fell out of the air. He saw the woman who had taken Bobby down move in towards the figure with speed that he hadn't seen any living person, or dead person for that matter, move at in his life, and deliver a spinning kick to the dark cloaked figure. He was surprised when it actually had an effect on the figure, sending it stumbling backwards a few steps. Two more of the woman's team moved in behind her and picked up Bobby's body and retreat. By now, they had backed out of the intersection and were making their way down a street. Still backing away, he could see three cars coming down the street in front of him, behind the cloaked figure. He knew that those were the cars full of HSTs.

Amanda stood in front of the Syopher, looking directly at it, her knees trembling slightly. She had encountered a few of them in her past, but had never been this close to one, let alone attacked one. She looked past it to see three cars approaching rapidly, and from the commando's comm unit, she knew that they were full of vampires. She started backing away from the Syopher, knowing that she had to get as much distance between it and herself as possible. She started to back pedal, and saw that the Syopher was coming around, and that the position that it's head would be under the cloaks was looking straight at her. She started back pedaling faster, as her legs began to grow weaker from fear. She knew that her fear was an effect that the Syopher was having on her, but that didn't matter to her. Her eyes grew wide as she saw a glint of metal, and saw a large knife in the Syopher's hand. It slowly started coming towards her and she turned and ran. She hadn't noticed the sounds of gunfire until then. She could see her team members down on one knee, firing past them at the vampires that must have been approaching behind her.

"Scatter!" Amanda shouted. Immediately, she saw her team members get up from their firing positions and turn around and start off in the direction Amanda was headed. She saw them all telling the commando's to follow them as they started to run. At the first intersection they came to, she saw everyone go in three different directions and noticed that the commando's were following them. They would have to make sure that everyone was safe before they left the commando's behind. Amanda took the left turn and headed down hill. She could hear feet behind her and knew that she had the leader of the commando's following her.

They ran for another fifteen minutes before she decided to stop. She slowed down to a walk, still not paying any attention to the commando behind him. Riley was beginning to wonder if she even knew that he was there. He had to stop, he couldn't go any further.

"Stop, I need to rest," Riley said. He was shocked to see the woman turn around, and to see that she wasn't even the slightest bit tired. He watched as the woman crouched onto the ground and pressed her palm against the bitumen.

"There is no one following us," she said while standing up. He watched her walk up to him and pull out her weapon. Head East, I sense that traffic is the closest in that direction," she said. She shoved her pistol into his hands. "Take this. It's semi-automatic. If you run across any vampires, shoot them. The bullets have ultraviolet capsules within them which explode upon impact. Take the bullets, study them and replicate them. Your military will need them in the coming weeks," the woman said to him before starting to back away.

"Wait? What? Tell me what you know?" Riley called out as the woman turned away, giving him one last look with her haunting eyes. He watched as she ran off with amazing speed, and disappeared in the shadows lining the streets.

So, whaddya think of that. MY first chapter since I've been back from my long break from writing. Oh, and if you think that there's too many people running around nad that they're all too hard to keep track of, don't worry, their numbers will start dropping like flies soon. In other words, EXPECT CHARACTER DEATHS TO OCCUR WITHIN THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS

Next Chapter: A Couple of Million Years Ago