Chapter Thirty-two
Kents' Farm
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, LUTHOR, FOR RAPING MY SON!" Jonathan bellowed again as he ran at Lex, holding the large two-by-four he wielded high. Lex met the two-by-four with the pitchfork, and the throngs of the pitchfork stuck in the wood. Neither man would relinquish his grasp on his weapon, and they glared at each other from around their interlocked weaponry.
Lex finally found his voice. "Why are you attacking me?!" he cried out, blood spitting out from his mouth. "I didn't rape Clark! I could never rape Clark! I love him, and he loves me! He came to me; I didn't go to him! I was waiting for morning, like you told me to, but Clark came to me because he loves me! I know you don't believe me so ask him! Ask him!"
Jonathan glared angrily down at Clark. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! Lex Luthor couldn't be telling the truth, especially not about this! His son couldn't love another male, let alone a Luthor! "Is this true?" he demanded to know through gritted teeth.
"How can you ask him that?!" Martha exclaimed. "Just look at him, Jonathan! Look at how our poor baby's crying!"
"He's crying because of you," Lex told them, "and what you've done to me, what he fears you'll do to him if you know!"
"STOP IT!" Clark yelled, and Lex would have closed his eyes, had he dared to look away from his beloved's parents, with relief. Clark was finally overcoming his shock; he'd be between them in any second now! "STOP lying, LEX!" Lex looked at him in shock; his mouth fell open! He must have heard wrong! He had to have heard wrong! A new flood of tears began spilling from his eyes.
Heaven
"HEAVEN!?!" Rogue almost screamed the word. "What has this got ta do with Amazons?! Phillip, you're crazy! Ya sent me ta the wrong place! Why am Ah here?" But no answer was forthcoming, and the sound of wings was almost deafening. "Don't ya hear 'em?" she asked the other two. "If we're in Heaven, it must be Angels!" Her green eyes stared defiantly into nothingness, waiting for the first one to attack.
Carlos held his sword at the ready. "Of course I hear them!" His eyes, too, scanned the area. "But where are they?!"
Trina sighed. She wasn't going to be getting rid of them. She was just going to have to go ahead as though they were not there. Her gaze returned to the door. She took a deep breath and headed for it, pushing up her sleeves as she walked.
"Trina, what are you doing?"
"You know what I'm doing," she answered Carlos without looking. "And as for why you're here, Rogue, I'm sorry. It's probably my fault."
"Not everything is your fault."
"This is."
"No, it's not -- "
"Carlos, you don't know what happened! You shouldn't even be here! Now let me deal with it, damn it!" She strained harder against the door, but still it did not budge.
Suddenly, they were descended upon by many Angels! The word had been that Andrew wanted them taken to the waiting room, where he would interrogate them and find out what the reasons were that they had been attacking Heaven. It took two Angels to subdue Rogue as she would not stop fighting them until they knocked her out. They then carried her to the waiting room while the others continued dealing with the other two.
Carlos and Trina had, as they often did while fighting, ended up back to back. Carlos slashed at any Angel who dared come near while Trina beat them off with hands and feet. It felt like she was hitting and kicking bricks for the strength that was returned against her, but still she kept trying. "I WANT TO SEE ANDREW!" she yelled at them.
"We will take you to see him."
"You will?" She eyed the female Angel warily. Could it really be that easy to see Andrew?
"You will see him, but you will not want to."
"He's not going to want to see me," Trina snapped back. If they didn't let her see Andrew and merely thrust her out of Heaven and back to Earth, she'd use the damned mirror and come again! She stopped fighting and allowed herself to be carried. The moment Trina stopped fighting, Carlos, too, ceased, but he refused to relinquish the sword.
The North Pole
Eddie turned to look at Prue and Phoebe. Had they been able to hear the snake's words? The sisters were staring at each other, neither speaking a word but both with tears in their eyes. Eddie walked back to them, and he could tell from the sad looks on their faces, that they had heard the words. How many of their group had died? he wondered. Were they all gone? Had not even Clark been able to save the day?
"We must hurry on," he told them. "See what happened and get away from this awful, awful place!" He did not allow himself time for tears. His heart was full of fear for his Elvira for he could have sworn her voice carried on the wind seconds before the high-pitched noise had come.
It seemed that Phoebe had barely gotten Cole's ears fixed before the noise stopped, and now she gathered her courage to her, dried her tears for Cole had not yet gotten off of his knees and so had missed both Prue's and her own tears, and removed the balls of cloth as gently as she had inserted them. "I'm . . . I'm sorry I wasn't faster," she told Cole, "but . . . Lorne's . . . Lorne's . . . " She swallowed hard, fighting tears and failing to keep them away as they again filled her eyes. "He's quiet now."
Prue had stopped Eddie and was now slowly unwinding the bandages from Eddie's head. She rolled them back up in case they needed them again later.
"I'm going to shimmer there," Cole told them. "I want the three of you to keep coming in this direction. Stay close together." He looked at Eddie sharply before continuing, "Do not wander off the path. Once I see what has happened there, I'll come back for you." He did not give time to argue but shimmered.
A Cavern
Their eyes communicated silently a split second before Spike stepped back and Kyna whirled to meet their on-rushing opponent. She stepped to the side just as he charged past. "Guard my back."
"Always," Spike answered, already keeping one eye on the fight and his other on the other creatures in the cave. He had heard more than enough about the Council to know that even the smallest spider could pose the direst threat in their collectively foul clutches. His steady, unblinking, all-seeing gaze observed everything, moving and nonmoving, in the cave. If anything so much as breathed in their direction, he'd be on it in a flash and they'd be dust, in some form or another.
Kyna was already waiting when Sheng turned back to face her. Her fist struck his chin; his head snapped back. Her booted foot stomped his toes and kicked his shin; her knee then immediately hit his groin. When Sheng fell to the ground with a groan, she forced herself to move in for the dusting.
The entire time Kyna had been attacking, she had kept an unwavering, silent mantra going in her brain: That is not Sheng. It is a monster with his appearance only. It is not Sheng, neither soul nor vessel. You must do this. You have to do this. You must do this!
The Vampire lifted his head as the stake neared his heart. Jet black bangs hung around rich, brown eyes that begged forgiveness like a pup begging for a scrap of food. "Kyna . . . " She ignored him. "Please . . . " One more inch, and he was dust. "I love you!"
She stopped the stake at his chest. It hovered over his heart. She told herself that she must complete this task, she must stake this creature that was not Sheng, but yet she could not seem to force her hand to move the remaining distance, to pierce his skin, to kill him . . . to kill Sheng . . .
Somewhere
As the hole in the Krakken's stomach grew ever bigger, Jack popped out. He did not seem to be moving. Was he already dead? Wolverine's voice resounded inside his own head, screaming, NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! He grasped his son and attempted to go upward with him, but the entrails were still holding on.
Will was lost, staring horror-stricken at Jack, and Elizabeth realized that Jack was still not entirely free before he did. She slipped in closer to Will, thrust her sword upward, and tore through the remaining entrails with her blade.
With relief, Wolverine was able to pull Jack free. He'd have to thank Elizabeth later. He only hoped she didn't have trouble getting the blacksmith up. He popped out of the water and headed for the shore with Jack. Didymus was on top of the now dead and floating Krakken, and all kinds of predators were closing in to eat on him. "SWIM FOR IT!" he yelled back at Didymus.
Elizabeth saw the tears welling in Will's eyes. She touched his arm, grasped his shoulder, and turned him to face her. She shook her head. Jack was not dead yet! He couldn't be, or at least, she prayed that it was not so! She raised her sword and pointed upward with the blade.
Will's mind kept running in a never-ending circle: They had been too late! Jack was gone! They had his body, but he had not been breathing and had been so still and pale! They had taken too long! Damn the Council! Damn them all to Hell, and that old, wrinkled, withered bitch that Jack had stood for, as well!
Elizabeth shook her head. Will was almost in shock. She began to poke and prod at him, but still he didn't respond. She struggled with him for a moment but then managed to get his sword out of his hand and put it back into his sheathe for him. Then, holding tightly to his hand and pulling him along with her, she began to swim upwards.
As Elizabeth swam, she prayed. She didn't think she had the strength to pull Will all the way into the ocean, but she could not leave him! She would not leave him to die! Tears stung her own eyes, and she pulled him ever more determinedly before finally feeling him begin to respond.
Elizabeth glanced at Will, and as soon as he appeared to be swimming underneath his own power again, she released her hold on his hand. He swam past her and continued swiftly swimming. She wondered what he was thinking and never would have guessed that it was the thought of avenging Jack that was pushing him so hard now. He was already well on his way to the shore by the time she surfaced. She turned and started to follow but stopped when she heard Didymus' yipping.
"I DO NOT FEAR YOU, YOU FOUL, LITTLE THINGS! I AM A KNIGHT OF THE GOBLIN KING, AND AS SUCH, FEAR NOTHING! I WILL TAKE YOU ALL ON! I WILL DEFEAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IN DUE TIME!"
"SIR DIDYMUS!" Elizabeth called to him, turning around in the water.
The little dogman paused and looked at her questioningly. "Yes, milady?"
"I DO NOT DOUBT THAT YOU CAN AND WOULD TAKE THEM ALL ON," she told him, lying boldly through her teeth, "BUT PLEASE LET US GET OUT OF THIS WATER! I . . . " She let herself sink a little ways in the water. "I fear I do not have the strength to . . . "
"Say no more, milady! This loyal Knight is forever at any fair damsel's service!" He leapt into the water, knocking big and small fish away, and swam to her side. Elizabeth let him take her hand and lead her toward the safety of the shore.
Somewhere
"CHONG!" Hansel screamed and rushed forward.
The beast that exploded out of the sand reared up in front of the Chinese man, roaring at the top of its lungs and swaying back and forth in the moonlight. The silvery light of the moon shone upon its open teeth, making the glistening fangs look even bigger and sharper.
"MAH-LAN-FAAHN!" Chong screamed out. "EEE!" He fell backward onto his rear in surprise shock. "WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
Hansel raced across the sand, stumbling several times but never allowing himself to slow. If he fell, perhaps the beast would eat him instead of Chong. When he was near enough to attack, he jumped into the air, springing forward in a maneuver he'd learned from Chong many years before. He held the sword out in front of him, grasping its hilt in both hands, and had just sliced the blade across the beast's neck when Sam called out.
"SAND WORMS!" Sam shouted. "DON'T LET THEM CATCH YOU! THEY'LL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE!" He had not taken his hands away from Faith, and he could feel her body responding to him. "THEY WANT THE GIRL! DON'T LET THEM GET HER, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T CUT THEIR HEADS OFF! THEY MAKE TWO!"
"NOW YOU TELL ME!" Hansel complained from where he had landed between the worm and Chong. "HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?" The head had splattered across the ground, but Hansel could still hear what he thought was roaring.
Chong was on his feet in seconds, his sword at the ready. Dawson came to stand beside them, brandishing his sword as well. He watched in wonder as the head continued to scream and writhe on the ground and a body sprouted seemingly out of nowhere, attached to the head. He looked at the first one, and it already had a new head! "HOW DO YOU KILL THE THINGS?!" he yelled at Sam.
"YOU DON'T!" Sam yelled back. "EVERY TIME YOU CUT A PART OFF, THEY MAKE ANOTHER ONE! WE'VE GOT TO MOVE AND GET ON SOMETHING MADE OUT OF STONE! IF WE DON'T, THEY'RE GONNA GET US!"
Dawson turned to look at Sam. "CAN WE MOVE HER YET?"
"I HAVE DONE ALL THAT I CAN! SHE HAS TO OPEN HER EYES BEFORE WE KNOW HOW SHE'S FEELING, BUT YES, I SUGGEST WE DO IT AND QUICKLY! I'LL TAKE HER HOME AND COME BACK FOR YOU! THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE A PORTAL ON THIS SIDE. MEANWHILE, DON'T STAND STILL! OUTRUN THEM AND GET ON SOMETHING MADE OUT OF SOLID STONE!"
Chong was already running for higher ground. He could hear Sam's words, and they kept revibrating in his head: You can't kill them! You can only increase them! How can there be a damned creature that could not be killed?! There had to be some way, but he didn't have time to find out now! He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Hansel was still with him and only then realized that they were both naked.
Sam attempted to orb and screamed in pain. "Something's preventing me from orbing to the house! We've got to get to higher ground!" He orbed to the top of the cliff that Faith had fallen from. He looked down and was about to orb down to get Dawson when he saw Dawson jump just as a sandworm came down on the spot where Dawson had been.
Hansel skidded to a stop as a sandworm exploded between Dawson and himself. Having seen what Faith meant to the kid and thinking that she must feel the same for him or otherwise she would have gotten rid of him before now, he had been keeping Dawson between Chong and himself. He didn't want his best girl friend to lose the one man who'd finally managed to keep a hold of her, but at the same time, he was desperate to get out of the way of the sandworms. Every time Dawson had stumbled or looked like he'd been about to, Hansel had shoved him forward and encouraged him to run even faster. But now, with the sandworm blocking them . . . "Fuck!" Hansel exclaimed. He couldn't see Dawson anywhere and feared that he was now on his way to worm's belly.
Heaven
Andrew had watched the whole thing take place. How had Trina managed to get this close?! It wasn't her time, nor was it Carlos' or Rogue's time! What the Devil was going on down there?!
He wasn't supposed to look unless he had been summoned, so he had not been sticking his nose in. Some small time had passed without Trina screaming his name so much that he had had a headache, and he had thought perhaps that she and Carlos had come to a closer understanding. Should he peek down upon the others to see what was going on?
Should he come on as a vengeful Angel, as he was supposed to do? After all, he had to protect Heaven. Just why was Trina here?! He knew she was going to be trouble.
He sat down in his chair, his head buried in his hands. "Oh God! What do I do now?" he wailed out to Zeus, who, as usual, was not listening or didn't appear to be. Andrew was on his own as he always had to be. He'd let them wait a while. He'd put it off as long as he could.
Andrew stole a peek just in time to see Trent, who, as of yet, was not with the group and saw him stepping through a portal in the guise of a mirror. "Phillip," he muttered. "I'm surprised you're still around, you poor, pathetic thing!" He buried his face in his hands, trying to advert a headache. "There's another one coming," Andrew told Bartholomew, his second-in-command. "Put him in with his sister. Let them stew for a while."
Bartholomew looked at Andrew. "Do you really think that wise?"
"Maybe not, but at the time, it's the only thing I can do. I can't face her."
"We can keep her off of you, Andrew," Bartholomew told him. "She packs one heck of a punch." He rubbed his jaw ruefully where Rogue had punched him during the struggle.
"Not that one," Andrew told him. "In fact, you need to take her away from here. She needs to go back to her people. Send Catherine and Daniel to return her. We definitely don't need the headache she can cause. As for the other three, keep them in the waiting room. I'm busy."
The North Pole
Lorne crawled over beside Crys, took his necklace off, and added it to Jack's. He figured if one crystal could heal as well as he had already seen it do, two would surely do the trick of saving his Crys. He took her hand up in his trembling hands and brought it to his lips, his eyes gazing down upon his love.
Angel looked around for the newcomer. Spotting Clark, he grinned. "Thanks, Clark! You arrived just in the nick of time, but how did you get here and did you come alone?"
Clark descended from the air and touched down onto the ground before answering Angel. "I didn't come alone. Cole, two of the Halliwells, and . . . " He glanced toward Elvira with a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He knew how Donkey felt about the wolf and decided to keep his surprise. " . . . some one else are here, as well. I came on ahead, but they should be here shortly. As for how we got here, would you believe we jumped through a mirror?"
"That thing we saw on the beach was really a mirror?" Angel asked Clark. He could tell that Clark was keeping something back and wondered what it was. "Who else did you say came?" he questioned, glancing toward Elvira and hoping she would not hear.
Clark chose to overlook Angel's second question. "It's some kind of mirror and portal, and it talks. None of us are really sure what it is, but it's been helping, both to get us here and with the trials."
"How go the trials?" Angel asked even as he moved over to check on Cordy and Crys. He saw that there were two necklaces now on Crys and that they were both working or, at least, glowing, but he did not close out Clark. He listened intently to what the young man was saying even as he looked for signs of the crystals' progress. Yes, he realized with relief, they were working for the ice was going away, vanishing in the direction it had appeared and leaving Crystal's body, though it was now blue and -- he glanced away -- naked!
Clark had also been looking down to see how Crystal was faring and now blushed deeply and whipped his head away. Looking everywhere and anywhere but at Crystal, he stammered, "Th-Th-They-They're doing . . . doing as good as can be expected, giving wh-what's been h-happening, but some . . . some have gone to help." He shook his head. "It's all kinds of things. I want to get back and check on Lex again as soon as possible. I don't know what they could have thought could have hurt him on the farm, but Lex should be able to handle it. I can't help worrying about him, though."
"How are you able to know what's going on with the trials, Clark? Is the mirror helping with that, and if I understand correctly, it's a teleportation device?"
Clark nodded, still fighting down his embarrassment. "I -- Yeah, it's some sort of portal thing and sort of . . . sort of like I've heard a crystal ball's like. I don't know how long Will and the others were watching before they called the rest o-of our attentions to it, but we're able to see what's going on with the trials. Do -- We tried looking here but couldn't see anything for . . . for all the . . . for all the snow."
Somewhere
Sam orbed down, grabbed the kid, and brought him up to Faith. Sam orbed down again, grabbed Chong, who had been desperately trying to climb the side of the mountain. Chong had not been able to gain purchase. There seemed to be no way up but orbing.
The worm screamed in rage as its mouth closed down upon empty air. It had not known where the second meal had come from but had become even more excited at its arrival, yet now it got nothing! Sensing movement behind it, it whirled around.
Hansel had stopped so quickly that his bare feet had slid out from under him. Now he scrambled backwards, one hand desperately seeking the sword he had accidentally dropped. He grabbed the sword just as the sandworm headed for him. He screamed and brought the sword up in desperation.
Chong looked down at Hansel. Was he going to lose his lover as quickly as he had regained him? "DO SOMETHING!" he yelled even as he saw Sam disappear.
Sam orbed Hansel out from under the very jaws as they came down upon them. He managed to get worm slime on himself. "Euuw! Yuck!" he said when he reappeared.
"You're telling me!" Hansel exclaimed, trying unsuccessfully to shake the slimy spit off of him. "I forgot why I hate fighting naked!"
Worms seemed to be diving from all over the place and coming back down in a futile attempt to find food that Sam had just rescued. He figured that worm slime was a little price for saving four lives.
Sam looked wily at him and gave him a quirky smile. "There's nothing for it now but to fight naked if need be. I can't orb any clothes here. Unless we find some along our way, you'll just have to remain that way." He purposefully did not look downward. "If any one else was down there, they were taken." He looked at Dawson.
Dawson shook his head. "It was an illusion. They weren't real, but Faith thought they were." His hands were still clenched around his sword, and he slowly went to put it up before remembering that he didn't have a scabbard. He stuck it in the ground at the top of Faith's head and knelt back down by her side. "I don't know what she's going to think when she wakes up. We're certainly not the ones we set out to rescue or, at least, you're not! She thought she did rescue me." He stroked her hair back out of her face with a gentle hand, hoping she'd wake up and gift him with one of her dazzling smiles. Her smiles were rare but always beautiful.
Chong looked back over the sandworms, who were still jumping through the air but not being able to reach their perch. "Can they get up this high?" he asked Sam.
"Not usually, but since this is a trial, there's no telling what they've come up with. The only way out of this mess is to continue until we have either passed or failed. We're in it for good or evil, and our main goal is to protect Faith."
Somewhere
Wolverine was working frantically over Jack, breathing into his mouth and trying desperately to force his very breath into his son to make him breathe. He had not had any water in his lungs while in the belly of the Krakken, and therefore there was hardly any to get out of Jack's lungs. That little bit did come out, but still Jack did not move.
Wolverine beat on his son's chest in desperation. "JACK, DON'T YA DARE DIE ON ME, LAD! YOU HAVE TO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AN' HELP ME GO RESCUE YER MOTHER!" But no matter what he did, it did not seem to bring his son around. Jack lay as still as death, which Wolverine was afraid had at last claimed his brave son. Part of him realized when Will made it to shore and then Elizabeth being towed by Didymus, but still he did not let up on Jack.
Inside Jack's brain, he was telling himself the same thing. You can not die, Sparrow! I won't let you die! Again, he did not recognize the voice as being his own.
He was kicking his own butt mentally, but yet he could not move. The stuff was all over him, literally choking the life out of him as he could feel his body beginning to shut down the rest of the way, yet he hung on to the one thread he could retain: Will's chocolate eyes. How they haunted him! How they beckoned and enticed him, yet he couldn't reach out and touch them or smother them in kisses as he wanted to! He lay there, still, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world.
Will turned sorrowful eyes toward Jack. Wolverine was working feverishly on his love, but he knew it would do no good. Jack was gone. Jack was gone! "AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" he thundered out suddenly, raising the sword he still wielded toward the Heavens. "I'LL SEE THAT YOU ALL DIE SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY BEFORE I JOIN HIM!"
Elizabeth heard Will yelling that it was all somebody's fault as she let Didymus haul her onto the shore. "Get me away from the water, please," she moaned. "All those horrible things in it!" She shivered, but her eyes were on Will. He was pointing his sword at the heavens, and she wondered what was running through his mind as Didymus strained underneath her weight and pulled her further onto the shore.
Elizabeth's eyes went pass Will to where Wolverine looked to be beating Jack to a pulp. She started to shake her head but stopped the movement when she heard a low groan from Didymus and remained still and, seemingly, helpless. Jack was still not responding. Could they have been too late, as Will so obviously feared? She waited until Didymus was well away from the water, then suddenly sprang to life.
"What?!" Didymus cried in surprise as Elizabeth's sudden movement accidentally knocked him backwards. He landed on his tail and watched in shock as she raced across the shore.
"Is he breathing?! Is he alive?!" Her questions came from right behind Wolverine. She bent over and examined Jack, seeking any sign of life. Her forehead creased. There was some kind of sticky substance on him, but it wasn't blood or entrails. It wasn't that color, and it wasn't water. "Wolverine," she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, "what's that stuff on him?"
"Ick from the Krakken. Gotta get it off of him! Can't have my boy looking that way!" He had given up. Jack was dead, but he didn't want him going to meet Davy Jones looking like the worst Pirate he had ever seen. "Gotta get him to the water and get the ick off." It was as though he did not even know Elizabeth was in the world at the moment. He picked Jack up as though the boy weighed nothing, and without a single glance at Will, he carried Jack over to the edge of the water where he began to splash water on him frantically, his one thought being to get the ick off.
"Ick?" Elizabeth repeated, her brow furrowing. Wasn't that a disease of inland fish? It didn't exist in the ocean, but there was something like it . . . She couldn't recall the proper terminology at the moment, but she did remember that it was poisonous. "WOLVERINE!" she yelled, rushing after him. Will and Didymus looked up at the urgency in her voice. "DON'T LET IT GET IN THE WATER! WE'VE GOT TO GET IT OFF OF HIM, THOUGH; THAT MIGHT BE WHY HE'S NOT RESPONDING!"
Wolverine sliced Jack's clothes off and threw them disgustedly away from the water. He continued to splash water on Jack, praying that it would work and not caring if the ick ran back into the water and killed the whole damn ocean as long as his son lived.
Heaven
Trina paced the room, fury coming off of her in waves so strong that neither Carlos nor Rogue tried to speak to her. She was muttering to herself, but they couldn't hear what she was saying except for the occasional speaking of Andrew's name. She knew that they were being watched, and she also knew that Andrew was not yet among their watchers.
"WHERE IS HE?!" she demanded from the unseen Angels. "I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING US! WHERE IS ANDREW?! GIVE US ANDREW OR JUST GO AHEAD AND FLUSH US OUT, BUT I WARN YOU, IF YOU TURN US AWAY, I'LL BE BACK!"
A sound met her ears that sounded like an opening door. She looked toward the sound, but all she could see was light. Then her brother came stumbling through. He, too, was fuming, and she knew he had been pushed in there. "What are you doing here?!"
"You know what I'm doing here," Trent returned. "The question is where the heck is he?!"
Rogue looked at Trina. "Would ya like ta tell me what this has ta do wit' Andrew?"
"Oh. Nothing much," Trina shot sarcastically, "except that he left us last night in the midst of battle, claimed that he was the freaking Angel of Death, glowed, passed through the boys, disappeared! And, as it turns out, he's been the Angel of Death all along, Zeus supposedly let him turn human long enough to court me, but he was supposed to be wed to me by a certain date or else he had to leave, come back here to Heaven, and go back to being a damn Angel!"
A rustling was heard at Trina's cusswords. "We do not have that language in here, young lady," one of the older female Angels told her.
Trina whirled toward the sound of the new voice and found a black Angel looking disapprovingly down upon her. "Try this on for size," she growled. "Damn. Fuck. Bitch. Fuck you, bitch!"
The Angel held up her hand, and Trina found that she could no longer voice her opinion. "I hate to do that, but we really can not have Him hearing such words. There are so many other words that can be used, and you are smart enough to know them. You can't come in here, making demands, cursing, and expect to get anywhere!"
"Andrew will be with you as soon as he can! He is a very busy Angel. In the mean time, I am to see to your needs and to see that you are returned to your people, Rogue. I don't know why, but somehow you got sent here. You have another place you need to be."
"Ah need ta be here, too," Rogue said, "or Ah wouldn't've come. Ah don't think there can be so many mix-ups as ta send me here. Phillip wouldn't mess up."
"And how is dear Phillip?" the black Angel inquired. "My name is Tess."
"Well, Tess," Carlos' voice suddenly sounded from behind her, "I suggest you release whatever spell you have on Trina or . . . " His voice turned into a squeak as the sword he had had pointed at Tess' neck suddenly whipped out of his hand and he himself was dropped back into the center of the room.
Tess was growing tired of these humans. Why Andrew liked them so much, she really didn't know. She looked at the female called Rogue. "You will leave as Andrew has decreed it. If you give them trouble," she indicated the two Angels now approaching, "they will simply knock you out and carry you back to your people. Save yourself the trouble and go willingly."
Rogue did not want to be knocked out again. Her mouth tasted like cotton, and none of them had been offered anything to drink. She glared angrily at the two approaching Angels and then looked back at her friends. She smiled sadly even as she felt herself carried upward.
"Now can we trust your words to be more appealing?" Tess looked at both Trina and Carlos. She could keep them quiet indefinitely, and she much preferred the humans to be that way.
Trent had been busily reading Trina's lips and arguing with her in a hushed voice. "Trina, I'm not going anywhere. They'll have to kill me to take me away from you, and I don't think Angels kill." He shrugged. "They just don't like your language or Carlos' threat. Yeah, I know. I know. I know." He held out his hands. "It's not me, sis; it's them." He nodded again in agreement.
Carlos glared at Tess. "If Trina does not cuss," he questioned her, "will you lift the spell?"
"It is not a spell," Tess told him, "and I've already said that, if she will talk more appealing, I will return her voice. It is up to her. Andrew will not be able to come for quite a while yet. I am afraid that you will have to wait for him here; you are not allowed in. After all, you aren't dead yet." She grinned at him, a grin that said it could be arranged.
Carlos glared at the Angel. "Angels are supposed to be entirely good beings. If that's the case, you can't kill."
Trent looked up. He shook his head at Carlos and looked at Tess. "She will not cuss. She gives her word."
"You're wrong about that, Carlos," Tess told him. "Angels do kill. We have been to war many times over the centuries, but we do not take lives unnecessarily and we do not kill humans. I have returned her voice, but one cuss word . . . " She left the warning hanging.
Trina rubbed her throat; it felt like a massive hand had just been removed. She looked at Tess, her furious eyes speaking the words that she could not utter for the time being. "Can Andrew hear us?"
"He has been aware of your presence since you came. Unfortunately, his hands are full with other problems. He must solve them before he can see to your problem. If you would like to state your case, and why you are here, he will also hear that. It might spur him on to getting here faster."
She added to herself, Then again, it might make him run faster than Mercury to get far away from this place! Of course, he could never go too far; they were tied here. "I have to return to him, but I will come back. If you need anything, in the mean time, please tell Monica."
Tess looked around but could not spot Monica at first. Then she saw that she was flirting with another Angel. "MONICA!" she yelled at a volume that would have made another Angel quake in her shoes, but Monica just slowly walked over and looked at Tess.
"You called me, Tess?"
"Yes. You are in charge of the humans. See to their needs." With that, Tess turned and walked out.
The North Pole
Prue held tightly to Phoebe's hand while Phoebe clutched the Book just as frantically and they continued to walk forward, followed by an over-anxious Eddie. They would not leave the path as they did not want to get lost. They prayed that Cole would find every one okay but feared what he might find.
A Cavern
"Kyna," he repeated, opening his arms to her and pleading with her with his eyes, Sheng's eyes, "I love you . . . I understand if you feel you must. I still love you."
Spike fought down his steaming desire to attack this monster with Sheng's face and rip it limb from limb with his bare hands. "Kyna . . . " His breath was a soft growl mixed with worry, frustration, and above all, concern for the woman he loved with his whole being.
A lone tear slipped down Kyna's face.
Spike's spirit caught in his throat. She wasn't going to be able to. He was going to have to, and she would hate him for it. He moved forward hesitantly, knowing what had to be done and determined to do it . . . even if it did destroy his entire universe by making the one being who meant everything to him hate his bloody guts . . .
Kyna drove the stake home, and Spike's mouth opened silently in shock that she had actually managed to do it. The evil Vampire screamed with Sheng's voice as it exploded into a hundred grains of dirt. Its skeleton's ancient bones folded in upon itself, crumpling together into dirt until the hundred grains became a million.
Sheng's scream continued to echo in the caverns even after the grains of dirt that his being had been demoted to had fallen to the ground. Kyna dropped the stake and turned to William with tears streaking down both cheeks. He shut his mouth with a gasp of concern. "Baby . . . " Kyna never cried in danger, and to see her doing so now and witness the pain and heartbreak in her eyes nearly ripped Spike's heart out. "Oh, love," he crooned, stepping up to her with arms open wide. She fell into his arms but did not allow herself the luxury of sobbing. Instead, as William held her, she tried to rein in her tears.
He stroked her shaking back; her long, raven hair; her soft, tear-soaked face . . . He tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. "You had no choice," he whispered soothingly against her tender, trembling flesh, but even so, he knew words would do no good. He kissed her again on the cheek and vowed to give her time to grieve but not too long . . . After all, he was still here, still undead, and Sheng had been history now for a very, very long time. Besides, they hadn't finished the trial yet, and duty always came first with Kyna! He held her as she cried, but remained on full alert, awaiting the next attack and dreading what could possibly be worse . . .
To Be Continued . . .