*****

We never got to Gilesı house.

They started coming out of the air. They justŠappeared. Like something cut the air and they stepped through. Demons. Lots of them. Faith grabbed the first one and I kicked it in the stomach, then in the face, then punched it. Faith cracked itıs neck and we left it, lying there and started to run towards Gilesı house.

"Told you it wouldnıt be a problem," I told her as we ran. She laughed.

"I get to hit the next one."

"Go right ahead," I said, doing a running jump-kick into a big winged thing. It stumbled forward and Faith was on it in a moment, pulling out a knife to plunge into itıs spinal chord. I shuddered when I first saw it, and told myself it was another knife. A knife I gave her. She looked up and met my eyes and I looked away, not wanting to show her the fear still lodged in my heart.

She didnıt have a chance to ask. Another demon descended on us from above. I grabbed one of itıs legs and tried to drag it down so we could fight it, nearly getting myself scratched to death in the process.

"Like this!" a familiar voice yelled. The thing stiffened and fell. I barely got out of the way. Spike was standing on the other side of it, a crossbow in his hand. "Get them in the neck. The spine," he said.

"Well thatıd be great, if I had one of those," I replied, trying to hold done fear as another demon appeared out of nowhere. They were everywhere. Down the street I could hear screams. Someone ran by, a demon on itıs heels.

"I got it," Faith said. I nodded and she turned to run after it.

"Where ya headed Slayer?" Spike asked.

"I was thinking Gilesı," I replied, exchanging blows with a vampire. He hit me in the stomach and threw me backwards. I rolled with it and came up to face off against a Mohra. Spike had the vampire. I grabbed a stake from my pocket and rammed it as hard as I could into the Mohraıs jewel. It exploded and the thing began to fizzle. "Come on!" I yelled to Spike, beginning to run again. There had to be a way to stop this. There had to be an explanation at least.

I ran straight into some big ugly thing and decided I really didnıt like this plan.

"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled from behind me. I kicked the big ugly thing where it hurts and spun around. Spikeıs arm was on fire. I swore under my breath and beat it out.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"Shagginı demon breaths fire!" he yelled, gesturing at some demon that had moved on to set a house on fire. "Watch out!"

I ducked as the demon swiped at my head, then came up and hit it. Spike shot his crossbow straight into it‹from about a foot away. It went flying backwards and lay there. I looked at the beginning fire, then down the street where there were people running from more demons, then towards Gilesı house. This was not going well. We had to band together. Apparently Angel had found a prophecy saying that only by banding together could we postpone the Apocalypse.

"Come on, we have to get to Giles and Will," I said. We started to run. More of the fire-demons were appearing. Others were crashing into buildings, sending those inside spilling out screaming.

The world was turning to Chaos, and above us the darkness pulsed, nothingness mocking me.

I wanted to stop it. I wanted to save them.

I didnıt know how.

"Buffy!" a voice screamed. I spun around to see Xander and Willow running towards us. I started towards them, as fast as I could. A building crashed down between us, glass shattering, wood flying everywhere. Above it flew ten of the Korika demons, only bigger than the ones I had seen. Everything slowed down. One of them swooped and itıs talons caught Willowıs shoulders, lifting her. Xander yelled and grabbed her legs, holding her. A second demon grabbed Xander, itıs talons raking his chest.

"No!" I screamed, struggling to climb over the rubble of the building. "Xander! Will!" Spike shoved wood out of the way.

"Bloody frigginı hell!" he yelled. I didnıt have time to swear. I fell between to pieces of wood and screamed inwardly. The demons were lifting them. Willow was screaming. Xander wasŠhis eyes were closed. He was quiet andŠ

"No!" I screamed again, unable to comprehend that he might be dead, that Willow might be soon, that everything was falling apart, that this was the end of the world. I wanted to scream and scream and keep screaming forever.

The Hellmouth exploded.

Part Eleven

When all is lost and the darkness reigns, then shall the Lords of Hell rise. They shall see all Light and shall extinguish it. They shall reign supreme over the world. No human shall be able to face them, no one but the joining of the living and the un-living, the Dark and Light.

‹Book of Demons by Augustus Cratorius, 593

Angel

I killed two right away‹one with a knife thrown into itıs jewel and the other a moment later, with a stake. "Destroy the jewels in their forehead," I told Doyle, feeling my face morph as I blocked a blow.

He didnıt reply. Not exactly the time for easy banter. His face changed too, and he immediately gained strength, sending a demon sprawling back with a punch. I decided he could take care of myself and focused on the ones attacking me. I flipped one to the ground and kicked another. A third hit my head from behind and I growled, hunching over and twisting to hit it in the gut. Whatever kind of gut these things had. My knife was on the ground, a few feet away. I threw off one demon and dived for it, barely getting it in my hand when another leapt on me. I turned and pushed it off with both legs, then flipped myself up, ramming the knife into a demonıs jewel. I spun as it begun to disintegrate and ducked a blow. A second one caught me as I was low, propelling me backward. One leaped on me as the other grabbed my legs and I yelled, my hand nearly cuaght beneath itıs weight.

"The End is here," the thing growled.

"You mentioned that already," I replied, and pullled my arm free, hitting itıs jewels. It looked surprised and I pushed it off. Doyle grabbed the demon holding my legs and I jumped to my feet, immediately assaulted by three more. Beyond the demons I could see the street, in chaos now, as demons appeared out of nowhere, destroying houses, setting things to flames, killing innocent people. The explosion earlier has destroyed an entire block nearby, and the fire was rapdily spreading. Smoke filled the already dark air, and ashes.

The ground began to shake.

The End of Days indeed.

"Angel!" a strangled cry sounded. I punched the nearest demon and turned, watching in horror as Doyle fell to the ground, a hole torn open in his stomach, his guts spilling out, onto the street. "Get to Buffy," he managed. "Needs you."

And then he died. In one moment the best man I have known in centuries died. I watched him die.

I will never forgive myself for that.

There was no time to mourn. I spun and knocked two heads together, destroying both jewels at the same time. A shoved my knife into another, and glanced back at the bodies of my friends.

It would do no good to try and take them. Once this was over, if I lived, I would give them a memorial.

Now, I had to try and live.

Buffy, Doyle had said. Buffy needed me. If L.A. was in chaos, what was it like on the Hellmouth? There was obviously nothing I could do here. I could die trying to fight the demons, or I could die trying to get somewhere where there might be something I could do. All the prophecies said we must work together to triumph.

She had to be alive. She had to. Or life itself would be worth nothing.

The city burned. I began to run.

Faith

After I killed the demon I thought about going back to find B, but I figured she could take care of herself. Besides, I donıt like sharing.

I decided to go towards the old library, the Hellmouth, see what was happening there. I mean, this was all coming out of Hell, wasnıt it? Wouldnıt the Hellmouth be the most happening place at the moment? Plus Gilesı house was on the way, and I figured if anyone knew what was going on, it would be him. Coolest Watcher I ever met. Knows how to lie too.

I was running through the streets, killing demons as I went, when I ran into‹whatıs her name?‹Anya. "Faith!" she yelled, and I stopped and turned.

"What? Iım kind of busy." She rolled her eyes.

"Giles says we have to meet up. Xander and Willow went looking for you and Buffy."

"Yeah, well B and I split up a little ways back. Spike was with her," I explained, looking around for something to hurt. The blood was pumping through my veins like I was high or something. High on the fight, I guess. ItısŠexhilarating. That kind of power. It makes me feel alive.

The killing, Iıve decided, isnıt great. And beating up on people who canıt fight‹well, thatıs plain boring. No, itıs the demons that do it for me. They can give you a run for your money.

"Well come on, we have to go meet with Giles. Heıs at the old high school wreckage. Said we all had to be on the Hellmouth or something," the former demon explained. I shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. Just let me kill this, and Iıll be right with you," I said, gesturing to an approaching vampire. I swung around and kicked him sending him flying back in the air, and threw a stake at his back when he tried to run away. He exploded into dust and I turned back to Anya. "Letıs go."

We ran. Seemed to be doing a lot of that. I paused to kill a few demons on the way and ran faster. Anya lagged behind a little bit. Hate when they canıt keep up. Nice thing about B‹she can. Usually.

"Hurry up!" I yelled after decapitating some big hunking thing with itıs own sword.

"Iım trying1" she yelled back, speeding up a little. All of a sudden, some demon appeared right in front of her, and before I could react (or she could for that matter) she was on the ground, partially decapitated herself. I killed the bastard and spent a moment staring down at the girl. Xander liked her a lot. Silly boy. Sweet though.

Damn. I hate when that happens.

I turned away and started running again, trying to find Giles. Giles would know how to stop it.

Which was when the Hellmouth exploded.

It wasnıt like exploding exactly. I mean, it was, but there was more to it‹stuff came out. Like, worse than the stuff before. Way worse. I swear, this thing was three hundred feet tall and wicked-ugly!

And it looked straight out me. How the Hell did that work?

How the Hell. Right.

I turned and ran. The other way.

"Fuck!" I yelled. "Fuck fuck fuck!" Giles was dead, if heıd still been on the Hellmouth, which was pretty likely. Anya was dead. Some giganto thing that was probably a Lord of Hell was looking my directionŠwhere was Buffy? And Spike? And anyone else who could fight the damn thing?

Not that I didnıt want to fight it. I just didnıt really want to die.

The streets were worse than when Iıd come through the first time. Half the houses had collapsed, and the other half were on fire. People were everywhere, screaming, milling around, being eaten by demons. Demons were even more ubiquitous.

Now whereıd I learn a word like that?

I heard a familiar sounding shriek and turned down a side street, running till I reached the rubble of a building. It was Buffy. She was almost over the rubble, and Spike was beside her. He pointed up and I looked. Far above us, about ten demons were throwing bodies back and forth. Bodies that looked a little too familiar.

No wonder she was upset.

"Iım going to kill them," Buffy said through grated teeth, her eyes pale sparks, sharp as swords.

"Yeah, good for you," I snapped. "Can we get on that now? Cause Giles was on the Hellmouth, with just exploded, and look, thereıs a big monster coming to get us!" I gestured towards the thing and Spike burst into a string of expletives.

"You said you were going to bloody stop the shagginı thing!" he yelled.

"You want to die?!" Buffy screamed back. "Cause youıre really close!"

"Shut the Hell up!" I yelled. "We have to fight it. Buffy, you distract it. Iıll kill it."

"You donıt get it," Spike snarled. "You canıt kill a bloody Lord of Hell!" B looked a little pale.

"Well fuck that," I said. "If we canıt kill the big one, we should at least kill some small ones. Better than standing around here."

"Then letıs do it," Buffy said, looking pale.

And we did.

Spike was the first to fall. A vampire shoved his own stake into him. We kept fighting, and they kept coming, out of nowhere. Thousands of them. When we started fighting, the streets were full of people. By the end, it was just us. And a whole Hell of a lot of demons.

I was living, really living. I could feel the energy, the blood in me, the feeling of ultimate freedom, ultimate pain. I was fighting.

They finally got me. I donıt know about Buffy. Something pierced my lung, I could feel it, and as I started to fall, I saw her face. Her eyes were so sad, which surprised me. Why should she care about me?

Did I care about her? Who knows. It was a little late to try and find out.

"It was fun," I murmured, and as they covered me and I couldnıt even see the darkness of the sky anymore, fear set in. I thought about the park, and my mother braiding my hair, and wondered if thatıs what it would be like when I died. "I woke up for this?" I asked aloud, and then the end came.

Buffy

I hid. After Faith died I ran, and ran and ran, and everywhere I went the people were gone, were dead. The entire town was demolished. The population of it was gone.

I think I was the last living person in the city.

I crawled under a demolished building finally, and I hid. I know it was the cowardly thing to do. I know I was weak and afraid. But what good would it do to die? And die I would. Nothing could stand against that many. Nothing.

And above them all, the Lord of Hell watched us.

Time meant nothing. I didnıt think, I didnıt feel. I curled into a ball and didnıt sleep, but I wasnıt awake. A haze took over, this odd dreamlike feeling where all I could see was them slipping away from me one by one, where I was screaming, standing beneath that black sky and screaming all the horror of that day.

My life was gone. Maybe I still lived, though I wasnıt completely convinced about that one, but my life was over.

They were all gone. All of them.

Well, maybe not all.

I think that was the only thing that kept me alive for however long I huddled there, beneath wood and brick, with terrible cries coming from the outer world, with the sound of flames, with the earthquake that shook the ground. And then, later, with the silence, that terrible, terrible silence of a world lost. The only thing I could hold on to.

He might still be alive. He might. And maybe it was only Sunnydale. Maybe it was only the Hellmouth. Maybe I would walk out of the town and things would be all right. I wouldnıt have them back, but I would have the world, and he would be alive.

I didnıt exactly think all of this. I couldnıt think. My mind just wasnıt functioning like that. I couldnıt process anything, or believe that it was real, or that it was a dream.

I closed my eyes and listened to terror.

Go to Part 12