No One Can Walk Alone
Chapter 4 – Reunion
"I missed you too, Dad," I told him, tears springing to my eyes as his big presence surrounded me, strong arms holding tightly, keeping me safe. God, how had I stayed mad at him for so long? How had I convinced myself that Conner and I were better off without him? "And I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" he asked, pulling back a little so he could meet my eyes.
"Yeah," I cried, leaning toward Daddy when he gave me a one armed hug. "I'm sorry I waited so long before I called you. Shit, I'm sorry I even left in the first place!"
"Hey," Dad whispered, pulling me in again, "it's okay. Joyce, it's okay. I'm glad you were looking out for your brother. And I'm sorry, too."
Sighing, I buried my face in his chest and asked, "Really?"
"Peanut," he said, kissing my hair and squeezing me tighter, "I regretted saying those things ten minutes after I said them."
"So," I asked with a slow, sad grin, "does that mean you forgive me for leaving?"
Dad nodded and said, "I'll always forgive you. No matter what. And I'll always love you."
"Right," Daddy said beside us. "Always, always."
Trying to hold back a sob, I pulled back from Dad and threw myself into Daddy's arms, giving him a proper hug for the first time in three long years. "Thank you."
Chuckling, Daddy buried his nose in my neck and inhaled, like he always used to do when I was little, and I found it funny that he didn't have to reach down very far anymore. If at all. "God, luv," he murmured. "Missed you somethin' fierce. And you fucking grew on me," he exclaimed, stepping back, but keeping one hand with mine.
"I guess I have," I agreed. Then, I lowered my voice and whispered at him, "Connor hates it. He says his little sister shouldn't be almost as tall as him."
Both of my fathers laughed, Dad putting his arm around Daddy's shoulders and the other hand on my arm, like he had to keep touching me to make sure I was real. But then, behind me, someone cleared his throat and I remembered that Dad had brought along everyone. So, I turned around, greeted by a whole flock of familiar faces.
"Uncle Xander!" I cried, running up to the man with the eye patch and hugging him. "And Aunt Fred!" "Faith and Rita!" "Bethany, it's good to see you!" I gave each of them hugs, suddenly overwhelmingly relieved to be among family.
"Ah!" Faith cried all of a sudden, tapping on one ear. "They're callin' us in, Angel. Havin' some trouble with the Big Bad."
"How much trouble?" Dad asked, letting go of us and leading the way from my house, expecting everyone to follow.
"Gotta weapon, luv?" Daddy asked me, and I nodded, grabbing a light sword from the cupboard near the door.
"Oh!" I cried, running back into the apartment, "Give me just a sec." I hurried into my room, grabbing my bag and shoving into it anything I couldn't live without. Mom's old bracelet, a picture of me and her together, some of Daddy's old poems, and a drawing of him and Mom that Dad drew. Those were my treasures here, my reminders of family. I might have also grabbed my wallet and a pile of cash that Connor hid in my room and didn't think I knew about.
Slinging the bag over one shoulder and across my body, I picked up my sword again, running to catch up with everyone. I found Daddy and Xander still just outside the busted door, telling them, "Okay. I'm ready."
"Let's catch up, then," Xander said, shooting me an encouraging smile.
Daddy scoffed at Xander, "If you can keep up with us, Fatso!"
"Hey," Xander argued back as we jogged, me leading the way through the paths I knew best. "Just because some of us are mortal and age like normal people…"
"Shh," I said, scenting the air as we moved, and stopping short behind one corner of an old bank building. "They're walking right into a nest!"
"Crap," Xander replied. Bringing his wrist up to his mouth, he said, "Team Alpha, you guys are approaching something bad, according to Joy. Pay attention, people." He listened for a moment before saying, "Shit," under his breath. "Too late. We've gotta go help."
"Come around this way," I said, sneaking towards the fight as best I could. And hey, it was pretty good. I learned everything I know about surviving from two vampires and The Destroyer. And a few more things from Faith, Xander and the rest of the crew.
Suddenly, I heard a woman's scream from up ahead, and I guessed it was Bethany. Turning to the others, my pulse pounding crazily in my ears, I asked, "You hear that?"
"Aye," Daddy replied, urging me with a gesture to keep moving.
"Hear what?" Xander asked in a whisper.
"Bloody useless, this one," Daddy replied with a smirk, following me closely as we approached the fight.
"Damn," I said when I peered around an old burnt-out van that we were hiding behind. "They ran into something worse than vamps." Taking my slingshot out of my bag, along with a sharp stone, I readied my weapon, telling the men behind me, "I don't know their name, but Con and I call them Squelchers. They're big and hairy, and they like to stomp on things."
"Right," Daddy replied, putting one hand on my shoulder as he peeked around the corner. "We better get in there, then. Joy, you give cover?" I nodded, while Daddy turned to Xander, saying, "You pull Beth back here, yeah? She's no good to us flattened."
"Got it," he said, and I wondered why Uncle Xander had taken Daddy's orders so readily. I guess I'd usually seen either Dad or Faith giving the orders and despite how famously Xander and Daddy fought around the castle, the battlefield was not a place for childish squabbles. Believe me, that was one fact Connor and I had learned right quick.
Daddy gave me one last glance to make sure I was ready before hefting his axe and plowing into the fight with a mighty battle cry. Aiming, I shot a stone into one of the demon's faces, hoping I would get an eye. Xander rushed past me, close on Daddy's heels, heading straight for Bethany. One of the Squelchers, knocked down near Rita's feet, got back up and made to lunge at Xander, but I managed to shoot him in the temple, dazing him long enough for the man to get by.
By the time Xand got back to me with Bethany, half of the dozen or so Squelchers were down, and Daddy was grinning bloody murder, covered in guts and other things as he sliced out at the next demon in line. Dad, Fred, Faith, and Rita all held their own against the onslaught and despite the fact that I itched to get out there and join them, I knew I had to stay behind and protect Bethany.
"How're you doing, Beth?" Xander asked her, helping her step around some of the rubble to hide next to me.
"I've been better," She replied, blinking her deep blue eyes a few times and shaking out her hands nervously before rubbing a sore muscle in her shoulder. "But glad I'm not squished."
"Anything you can do to help them out there?" I asked her, watching Dad get clobbered, painfully.
"I don't know," she said breathlessly. "I'm getting tapped out pretty quick. Do these things have any weaknesses I should know about?"
"If they do," I replied, grunting as I took another shot, missing this time and almost hitting Dad in the head, "I don't know about them."
"Looks like we don't have to worry about it," Xander said after a moment, nodding toward the battlefield while I was reloading. Somehow, there was only one demon left standing, and he wasn't looking so good.
"I guess we just plow right on through nasty groups of demons, then," I noted, wishing for about the billionth time that Connor would have agreed to bringing a whole team here, as opposed to just us. Maybe we wouldn't have had our asses handed to us so many times if he'd just get over his hang-ups and let a few slayers join our operation. Stupid boys.
The three of us joined the others, and immediately I said, "We can't go straight for Connor's battle. There's a lot of nasty things out here, and it's going to take hours to get there if we have to fight to stop all of them! Okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Dad replied, holding his hands up defensively. "Lead the way."
"What are the coordinates?" I asked, scanning over the map Faith handed me and planning our route. We'd have to go around the big volcanic pit that wasn't shown on Faith's map, and the major demon spawn hideout in that shopping district. And, yeah, that should work.
"Let's go," I said, crouching low and leading the group back from where they came, instead of further into what Connor and I liked to call "Bruising Way". We passed all the familiar landmarks: Fetid Fountain, Harpy Hall, Blood-loss Boulevard, Rubble Mountain. And then, I could tell by the smell that we were getting close.
The basilisk had a dirty, musty sort of smell that I recognized from earlier in the day, but there was also a strong reek of blood underlying those odors. Oh, God! Who lost so much blood? Was it Connor? Did he finally manage to do himself in? Please, please, please. Please let him be alive!
Just before the Basilisk's giant fang was going to slice and crush my leg, the creature's head was brutally knocked to the side as someone smashed into it. My eyes still helplessly down to avoid looking at the monster, I inhaled shakily through my mouth and got the taste of, "Slayer."
From the sound of it, there were several of them, hitting the creature, slicing at it, mutilating it, and still it roared, snapping its wicked teeth and trying to meet the eyes of anyone stupid enough to try to get a look at its face. Still shaken and dizzy from being knocked down, I tried to get out from under the fight, but was having a hard time of it. Whenever I moved too much or too fast, the basilisk came after me again, making me roll out of reach. If only I could get to my feet...
"Hey," one of the slayers yelled in my ear, pulling me away from the fight and helping me stand. "You must be Connor! I'm Nyah! Are you okay?"
Glancing up at her, my entire chest clenched and I couldn't breathe. She looked so much like Tammy! The same braided hair, the same smooth dark skin, the same wide nose and big brown eyes, the same haggard smile with that one crooked tooth. And she was Slayer, that familiar scent that meant to me family and love and home. But she was young. Younger than Tam had been when I first met her. It wasn't her.
It could never be her.
One of the slayers screamed off to my right, the scent of her blood tingeing the air and making me sick with the horrible, shivering thrill it sent up my throat. Despite the need to see who it was, to know who was injured, I fought my hardest not to look, to use my other senses to pinpoint the monster, to gauge how well it was moving and how close it was to death.
"Hey!" the not-Tamara yelled again. "Connor? Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I managed to yell back, gaining my bearings quickly now that I could stand. "I'm fine! Let go of me."
The crushing hands around my arm vanished and scanning the ground, I managed to find my sword, ten feet away. Too close to the basilisk to dart in unarmed and get it. even though it was risky, I tried it a couple of times, dancing through the battle unarmed, trying to get my sword only to be pushed back out either by the monster, or by the slayers who thought they knew what they were doing. Then, I caught sight of one of the slayers raising a crossbow, aiming for the monster's head. "No!" I cried, running toward her and clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Not the eyes!"
"Why not?" she growled back, her long red ponytail sailing through the air behind her head as she whipped around to face me in annoyance. "Best way not to get killed, we take out the eyes first."
"I need them!" I cried, grabbing her arm harshly. "I need its eyes intact! Please?"
The woman rotated and tugged her arm out of my grasp with such rage that I was sure I was going to get my ass handed to me, rampaging basilisk or not. But instead, she drew her sword and gave it to me, hilt first. "You've got two minutes before I take its eyes. And I can do it, even without looking."
"I believe you," I replied breathlessly, taking the weapon and getting a sense of its weight and balance. Armed at last! "Thanks."
Now, what was the best way to bring this beast down quickly? I ran through the possible scenarios in my head as I listened to the battle, darting forward a few feet at a time whenever it seemed safe. Maybe? Yeah, that would do. Listening and watching the vague shadows on the ground for just a moment, I geared up and took a running start. Leaping onto the snake's back, I held on tight, shoving and clawing my way up and up towards the base of its skull. I could do this. I could make it all the way up and sever the damn thing's spinal cord. I could do it.
But then, the monster noticed I was there, howling and hissing and trying to bend over on itself to get at me, while at the same time shaking violently so I would fall. I didn't fall. I held on tight, riding that thing like a rodeo cowboy. But my sword did fall, clanking uselessly on the pavement below. Fuck.
Just as I was contemplating just using my fists to bash through the monster's hide and break its bones with my bare, bloody hands, a crossbow bolt zinged a hairsbreadth past my neck and buried itself in the basilisk's spine with a twang. A breath later, another joined it and the monster went down, me with it.
I jumped off at the last moment so I could land on my feet, searching for that damn red-head. She almost– … Hang on a second! That was Joyce holding the crossbow, elbowing the slayer it belonged to as the woman tried to get her weapon back.
Shaking with rage, I picked up my sword and hacked at what passed for the monster's neck, which was no small feat seeing as it came up just past my waist as the basilisk lay dead on the ground. Joyce hurried up to me, boots thumping on the pavement, calling as she did, "It's dead, Con! Give it up!"
"You almost killed me!" I growled back, hacking at the monster one last time before turning toward my sister furiously. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking I'm a better shot than you always assume, Connor!" she sniped back, practically hissing in anger. "I'm thinking you ran off alone and came after this thing without me, so maybe you wouldn't mind getting a little dead! How could you?"
I opened my mouth to yell back at Joyce when I finally realized who was standing behind her.
Angel.
"What are you doing here?" I asked quietly, too upset even to yell.
"I …" he started, moving out from behind Joyce and shooting her a glance. "I came to help."
"You came to help?" I barked, laughing ruefully at the absurd gesture and wiping the basilisk's blood from my hands onto my shirt. "I thought you said this was a waste of time!" Fisting my bloodstained hands in anger, I stepped closer to him, wishing I was taller. "You're not here to help, Angel," I snarled. "And I don't want you here."
"I wanted him here!" Joyce broke in.
"Why?" I bellowed, turning on her and flinching away when she tried to touch my arm. "You know everything Joyce! Everything he," I pointed angrily at my father, "said! How could you?"
"How could you try to leave me like that, Con?" she replied, standing so close that her nose almost touched mine, staring me down from only two inches shorter. "You didn't want to come back, did you? I could kill you for trying something so stupid!"
And then she lunged at me, grabbing at my neck as if to throttle me, but Angel stopped her, the big super hero son of a bitch. "Hey!" he cried, hauling her backward by the collar of her jacket like a wayward puppy. "What matters now is that you're both safe."
"Ange!" called a voice, and I instantly recognized it as Spike's, the no-good traitor. We'd been such good friends until he refused to stand up to Angel, until he refused to take my side even though he knew I was right. "We gotta get this one back out and to a doctor if she's gonna make it!"
I turned toward the edge of the battlefield, toward the strongest scent of slayer blood, to see the blonde vampire crouched over a girl, just about holding her bloodied and broken arm together with his bare hands. One of the other slayers crouched beside him, petting the girl's forehead and murmuring into her ear. Tears traced through the dirt and blood on her face, falling onto the pavement below.
Joyce broke Angel's hold on her, grabbing my arm and hissing in my ear, "I love you, Brother, but you've got to get your shit together. That girl is hurt and she could die because of you! Because you were too proud to ask for help."
Knowing she was right, I jerked my arm away from her, turning and coming face to face with not-Tamera. Oh, God! Tam would have been so disappointed in me right now, even though it was our son's life at stake. She knew the value of teamwork. Hell, she taught it to me. And now she was gone and everything was my fault, and we were never getting Danny back.
Pulse pounding, chest clenching, breath too slow to come, I did what I always do when I get overwhelmed.
I ran.
A/N: Hey! An update!
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