Chapter 18

Willow and Buffy made their way toward the battle at a steady but slowed pace. Buffy was feeling strong, but she knew she could not engage in battle. Her movements were severely hindered, and her fears for her baby were outweighing the battle cry rushing within her veins.

Willow was keeping a close vigil on the slayer. Looking around the huge room now filled with carnage, she realized that the number of followers they were fighting weren't changing. All the men in long blue robes with hoods permanently pulled over their faces were dying, but more seemed to swell from the ranks and come forward.

Closing her eyes, she tried locate the source of the power pulling these creatures forth, and gasped when the tendrils of her mind touched an evil that made her shudder and immediately pull her mind back. Narsesim was there. He was sending followers from his dimension into this one. The robe clad demons weren't moving much from where they were, because their closed ranks prevented anyone from seeing the small portal opened in the ground.

She was about to reach out with her mind again and try to close that portal when she heard a scream. Her heart wrenched.

Buffy could see Willow was concentrating. The witch had found something. Putting her hand on her belly to try and still the ferocious kicking her baby was engaged in, she felt a presence behind her. Spinning, she was just a second to slow. A short dagger was in the stomach before she could stop the hand that held it.

She didn't realize she was the screaming for a few moments. Pressing her hands to the bleeding wound in her stomach, she screamed again as the ground shook. Blood pooled around her, and she could see the ground in front of her starting to crack open. Her mind raced to think of something to do, but her panic for her baby overrode all else.

Willow's heart stopped when she saw Buffy collapse to the ground. It took her half a second to strip the skin from the demon who had stabbed her friend, and another half a second to reach Buffy. Helping her onto her feet, she could hear Angel screaming behind her. He sounded desperate to get away from whatever fight he was in, but Willow doubted that would happen soon.

Narsesim was a few moments away from entering their dimension. Fear made Willow's arms weak as she helped her friend up and to lean against the wall. The baby's blood. The baby inside Buffy had brought the demon into the world. Willow lifted herself and Buffy into the air; she knew she had to get Buffy out of there before she lost any more blood.

Willow was frightened of the blood loss, but she was also frightened at what that blood was bringing into the world. It only took a few moments for Willow to teleport them out of the complex, cursing herself all the time. She should have never let Buffy go in there.

Pulling off her shirt, she pressed it to the wound in Buffy's body. She was crying, near hysterical, but Willow had to leave. The world was in danger. Again.

As Willow reentered the underground fortress, she could hear the battle raging. Only this time, the sound undercutting it was a roaring. Hell was opening.

Angel looked as Willow lifted his lover and unborn child away. It didn't take him long to put away the fear and bring out his hatred. Letting all the memories of feelings he had from his own demon, he released the little parts of Angeles he still kept hidden inside. The demon was dead, locked away forever, but Angel and Angeles had been one for so long, he could never fully remove all the parts of the demon from himself.

His efforts doubled. He could feel the portal to hell opening wider, and he could now see it in the midst of the followers. Calling to Will, he waited just a fraction of a second for the other man to leap towards Angel. Will seemed to know what Angel was thinking, and took over protecting Fred and Allie, though the followers were now a lot less interested in them.

Angel made his way to the portal over the heads of the demons, using their shoulders and skulls as stepping stones. When he was in the middle of the throng, he saw the opening. The ground was quaking, and there was a rush of wind from the portal. Angel could see that the hell god was struggling. The blood letting had happened too far from the site of the opening. At that thought, his anger rose, and he became as much of his demon as he could without actually having Angeles still in him.

He could hear people calling to him. He heard Xander screaming for him, he heard the fear in Dawn's voice. None of it mattered. He dove through the portal, briefly wondering if someone going the other way would cancel out the power of the opening and force it to close. Knowing full well this may happen, and that he could be trapped forever, he told himself it would be worth it if he killed the hell god that had caused his child to be endangered.

Narsesim was huge. Standing at over eight feet, he looked like a hell god. His skin was gnarled, uneven blackness. He didn't seem to have any armor on, or clothing, but Angel doubted he needed either.

The former vampire felt no fear when the hell god rushed towards him. Diving out of the way at the last second, he turned towards the demon, a plan unfolding in his mind at breakneck speed. This hell god fed on innocence, Angel remembered, and Dawn said his touch was death. That was all Angel had to know.

Tearing his shirt off to expose more skin, he launched himself into the air. The hell god caught him by the shoulders and Angel let out a scream. Narsesim's touch was excruciating. Ruthlessly, he pulled his mind into focus and called up every memory of every fiendish thing he had ever done. He focused on the grisliest of murders, the most horrible of actions. He made sure he was the very antithesis of innocence, and focused on channeling that into Narsesim.

Soon, his own screams were met by the demon holding him and he felt himself drop to the ground. Focusing his eyes as best he could through the pain, he saw the demon clutching his chest. Narsesim howled so loud Angel thought his ear drums would burst.

At that moment, he felt a pull. It was similar to the pull he felt when he was away from Buffy, but this was stronger. This was exponentially more powerful. His breath caught as he felt himself being ripped through the fabric of dimensions. When he could breathe again, he was on the ground in the middle of a still raging battle. Willow was standing over him.

She didn't pay him much attention. Turning around, she focused her energy and turned twenty or so followers into dust. The portal was closed, and she doubted it would be opened for a while. From the short time she had felt around with her mind, she had felt that the hell god was much less powerful than he had been moments ago.

Angel didn't get up. His breath was coming in short and painful bursts. He couldn't focus his eyes for long, but when he did he could see that the skin on both shoulders where the hell god had held him was charred. Pain radiated down his arms and back and chest. Red streaks traveled down his chest from the center of his burned flesh. His head was swimming in pain.

When the last follower fell, all eyes went to Angel. And thoughts went to Buffy. Willow lifted them all and they were speeding to the outside. Buffy was still sitting in the car, but she looked much calmer than when Willow had left her there.

Her eyes looked like they were going to come out of here head when she saw Angel. She was out of the car and by his side before anyone could protest. Her stomach had stopped bleeding minutes before they had arrived.

"Angel? Angel, talk to me." Putting her ear to his lips, she heard his breath and the whisper of her name and nothing else.

She was being lifted from the ground, and Will was lifting Angel in his arms. They were bundled into cars and speeding towards Wolfram and Hart before she could respond to her Angel.