Fred twisted in terror and panic against the hands that held her as she watched her family burn. The smell of burning flesh and the sounds of anguished screams echoed in her ears as she sobbed frantically. Lilah Morgan stepped forward and shook her head in mock sorrow
"It's your fault. If you'd just been a bit quicker, that little bit more clever, then they'd be alive. You could have saved them."
Fred watched as Gunn fell to the floor and writhed in pain as he died. The skin peeled from his skull in blackened lumps and his eyes were fixed beseechingly on her as he stretched out a hand
"Charles, Charles!"
She sat bolt upright, awakened by her own screams and shook as the cold sweat trickled down her body. She pressed her hands into the mattress and gulped in the cold night air and desperately tried to reorient herself in the dim glow of the motel sign outside the window. She pulled the not quite clean blanket up to her chin and shivered as she forced the horrifying images of her boyfriend's death away from her. A month since she'd seen him and the nightmares were worse than ever. She'd started having them the first night away and they'd gotten progressively worse the longer she was gone. Slowly she leaned back until her head nestled on the pillow grateful that, this time, her scream hadn't brought Willow and Cordy running. Her hand crept under the pillow for the reassuring dagger that she habitually slept with ever since an enterprising hunter had broken into her room one night a couple of weeks ago. The smooth bone handle comforted her like a soft toy would a child and she sighed and forced her body to relax, willing sleep to come again. Her thoughts drifted as she tried to doze and she unwillingly went back to the worst night of her life so far, unconsciously scowling as Lilah Morgan's face appeared before her eyes.
"Then I say the word and they die tonight."
Fred felt the quick hard tremor that ran through Cordy at the lawyer's words and clamped her lips together to stop the wail of protest and fear that rose up in her throat. She waited for the seer to make the next move, confident that Cordelia would have something, anything, to stop Lilah dead in her tracks. The silence stretched unbearably and then, just when Fred thought she'd snap if the standoff continued any longer, Cordelia spoke
"Alright. We'll do it."
Fred gasped and felt the red head next to her tense with surprise at Cordelia's words but they both remained silent as the former May Queen continued
"We'll do it, but if anything happens to any of our people I will kill you."
Lilah smirked
"Empty threats, babe. Empty threats."
Cordelia took three quick paces forward until she was nose to nose with the older woman. She stared into surprised eyes and said levelly
"You think?"
Lilah swallowed uneasily at the calm eyes boring into her own and was conscious of the looks of her men and of Cordelia's girls as the seer calmly challenged her. The lawyer tried for a light laugh
"Don't threaten me, Ms. Chase, I make a powerful enemy."
Cordelia raised one shaped eyebrow and replied
"Right back atcha."
She held Lilah's gaze for another few moments and then stepped back
"Ok, let's get this thing moving."
She glanced back at her two friends and frowned as she looked at Willow. A bruise was shaping over her left eye and a livid welt poked out above her collar
"But first, who hurt Willow?"
Lilah looked at the red headed witch and shrugged
"Does it matter? Shouldn't you be focusing on more important things like getting out of town before the sun rises? You know, preventing your friends dying horribly?"
Cordelia let her eyes drift over the men standing around the edge of the hut and allowed a cold smile to drift onto her face
"Yeah, we'll get to that. In the meantime, who hurt my friend?"
Willow stepped forward
"Cordy, don't worry about it. Let's just do what we have to and get out of here."
Cordelia warmed up the smile as she glanced briefly at her friend and then allowed the ice to creep back into it as she stared at the men again
"Willow, I do worry about it. And I'm not leaving here until the guy, or guys, that did this admit it."
Silence fell and then, slowly, three men stepped forward, arrogantly staring down at the much smaller woman. Cordelia placed her hands on her hips once more and scanned them
"Ok, drop your guns and let's get this over with. I'm on a schedule here."
The three men exchanged confused looks and then looked to Lilah for guidance. The woman flicked her eyes between Cordelia and the hired muscle and then said with relish
"Do as she says. Obviously a lesson needs to be learned here."
Fred took Willow firmly by the arm and moved her to the side leaving Cordelia with a wide space in which to work. Willow pulled her arm from Fred's grip and started back to Cordelia
"What are you, nuts? Cordelia, stop it. You don't have to do this."
Fred grasped her arm again and pulled her back as the men separated and began to circle the seer
"Yes, she does."
She saw Cordelia roll her shoulders loosely to prepare for the fight and whispered
"Watch."
Willow focused on her friend and felt her jaw drop as Cordelia spun and kicked out kicking the nearest threat in the face and dropping him to the floor. She used the momentum from her kick to carry her around and then ducked a swing from the man behind her, elbowing him sharply in the groin as she crouched. The girl uncurled gracefully and brought her arm up fast keeping her hand flat and driving her palm with uncompromising force into the third man's nose. He screamed as his nose broke and blood poured from his nostrils. Cordelia moved swiftly past him to duck behind her first opponent who was climbing to his feet and pulled his arm sharply up and behind his back. She pushed forward and he toppled face first onto the floor, breaking her second nose of the night, and she planted her boot on his face to keep him down. She locked eyes with Lilah and then raised her other leg and kicked out at the man's straightened arm hitting perfectly against his rigid elbow. The snap echoed in the stunned silence and then the man began to scream as Cordelia stepped back and allowed his arm to fall giving a brief glimpse of the bone that had been forced through the skin.
She pushed her hair back casually and then reached down and hauled the second man, still clutching himself on the floor, to his feet. Her torso twisted and then her elbow slammed into his face and another wet snap was heard. Fred smiled
"Three for three."
Cordelia let him go and watched him drop to the floor and then moved to the first broken nose. He tried to back away as he saw her approach but Cordelia was too fast. She spun and kicked him in the stomach and then when he fell, snatched up his leg and held it rigid. She grinned down at him
"Never, never, touch what's mine again."
She raised her foot and smashed it down onto his knee and broke his leg cleanly, dropping the limb as he began to join his comrade in the anguished screaming. Her attention switched to the man with the aching groin and shattered nose and he scrambled pitifully along the floor as she stalked towards him.
She felt a stir of pity inside her at the stark terror in the man's eyes but then she thought of her friends, bound and helpless, and very calmly raised his arm and stamped down on his wrist, sending the bone shooting through the skin on the other side. She turned to Lilah
"Lesson learned. Class dismissed."
She straightened the sleeves of her top and walked back over to Willow and Fred adding dispassionately
"You might wanna get that guy to a hospital. Looks like the bone nicked a vein on the way through."
Fred nudged Willow as the redhead stared from the bodies on the floor to the serene look on Cordelia's face as she leaned casually against the wooden wall behind her. The witch's face was a study in amazement and confusion and she eyed Cordelia as though she had never seen her before. Then she realised that she really hadn't.
The past three years she had carried a picture in her mind of the cheerleader she used to know, always concerned with appearances and popularity, and she had never given a thought to how the other girl might have changed since leaving Sunnydale
"Willow, you look like a hayseed seeing the bright lights for the first time. Can we close the mouth and look a little less dumbstruck?"
Ok, so not changed beyond all recognition but, still, definitely grown.
Cordelia ignored the guns now pointed, slightly shakily, her way and nodded to Lilah almost cordially
"Ok, I'm all set. When do we leave?"
Lilah forced her eyes away from the three men lying in agony in their own blood on the floor and swallowed as she gestured behind her. One of the nameless minions stepped forward and handed her a bag and she reached inside to draw out a sealed pack of writing paper and envelopes. Cordelia smirked
"Well, you really have thought of everything haven't you? What are they vacuum packed so Angel won't smell your scent on them?"
Lilah nodded as she handed the paper gingerly to Willow
"Of course."
Cordy's heart sank and she managed to keep her face expressionless
Goddamn it!
They all took a sheet of paper and stared blankly at them for a few moments until Willow sighed
"Well, it's not gonna get any easier from looking at them."
The other two girls exchanged grim looks and then bent over the table that had been set up before them and picked up a pen each. Cordelia was the first to touch the pen to the paper and then Fred and Willow followed. There was silence for almost ten minutes in the hut and then the three girls straightened and wordlessly held out the papers to Lilah. The lawyer came closer until she could just read the handwriting, making sure she kept well away from all contact. She glanced over them then began to read aloud in a mocking tone of voice.
Angel,
It's been coming on for a while but I thought I could ignore it, I'msorry I can't. Ever since I came back to this dimension I've feltsmothered and out of control but I know what I have to do now. I'mleaving and before you go all Angelus and start freaking, pleaseunderstand that this is what I want. What I thought was between uslast these last few months was nothing more than gratitude on my partfor showing me my true path in life. I know that this will hurt butI need to leave and make my own way and use my power the way itshould be used. If I stay in LA, I'll never be anything more thanyour sidekick and I want so much more than that. I'll always careabout you but I can't stay with you and carry on the way things are.My power is too great to be confined to the petty battles you fightand I need to be out in the world fighting the true fight. I hopeyou can understand. Kiss Connor for me and say goodbye to the guys.
Cordelia.
Lilah laughed mockingly
"Well, that'll hit where it hurts."
Cordelia stared back without expression, refusing to let the other woman know how much she was hurting inside. Fred straightened her spine as Lilah moved onto her note to Gunn
"Charles,
I know this is the coward's way but I couldn't face saying goodbyeand explaining myself to you. I'm leaving and I don't want you tolook for me. This last year has been very difficult for me and I'vefinally had to admit to myself how I feel. I'm in love with Wesleyand I think I have been since the moment I saw him. When he tookConnor I was angry but I also felt betrayed by him that he couldn'ttrust me. I realise now that the anger I felt towards him wasn't ofa friend betrayed but as lover. I know that we can never betogether, too much has happened for that, but it's too hard being inthe same city day after day and being around everyone at the hotelwho just remind me of what I can't have. I'm sorry that I've hurtyou but I can't go on living like this. I hope you can forgive me oneday
Fred"
Lilah wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and sniffed
"Really it's just too much. I can hardly bear it."
Fred narrowed her eyes and fought back tears as she hissed
"Bite me."
Cordelia smiled in admiration at her shyer friend's spirit and then she tensed as the lawyer bent forward to read Willow's letter
"Guys,
I'm going on a road trip and I don't know when I'll be back. It'stoo hard being around you all, especially Buffy, when Tara has gone.The constant fighting and danger has finally been too much and I haveto get out. I don't know whether I'll come back and I don't knowwhether I'll ever be able to feel the way about you all that I didbefore but I really need the time to myself to figure it out. Don'tworry about me and keep safe
Willow"
She raised her eyebrow
"Short and to the point."
Willow shrugged
"They won't come looking. They'll respect my decision."
Lilah studied her for a moment and then nodded shortly
"Fine. Outside is a truck. In the cab you'll find money and a bag each with a couple changes of clothing and some toiletries. In a manilla envelope in the glove box is all the information we have on the Light and the road to it. We'll follow you to the hotel and to a post box so you can drop off your little notes and then you'll have an escort out of town. I expect you to contact me every forty-eight hours at 11pm to update me on your situation. If you are more than five minutes late for the check-in then I will give the word and your little pals go up in smoke. If I get a hint that Angel or the Slayer know what's going on then, poof! Are we clear?"
Cordelia nodded and stepped forward, grinning as Lilah took a hurried step back to prevent any scent falling onto the paper that the seer held before her
"You'd better hope they stay alive. If I think for one minute they're not alive and kicking demon ass I'll come back here and kick yours. You got me?"
She stepped back and nodded to her friends
"Let's go."
The next two hours were the most emotionally painful Fred had ever experienced. The first stop was the hotel and running quickly and silently into the lobby, praying Angel or Connor wouldn't hear them. Next, Willow's note was dropped into the nearest mailbox and they were trailed to the city limits and then they were, finally, on their own.
Fred sat silently in the back of the large plush truck and watched the lights of LA disappear behind them as Cordelia floored the gas. She sat in stunned, heartbroken silence as Cordelia and Willow stared tensely out of the windscreen and pictured the boys as they found the notes in the morning. The hurt and confusion they would feel would be too much, she closed her eyes as tears leaked out and then gasped as Cordelia swung from the road and pulled into a roadside used car dealership.
Ten minutes later she sat in the back of a considerably less plush vehicle clenching her jaw in a vague attempt to safeguard her teeth from the nonexistent suspension and clutching six thousand dollars in used bills. Cordelia drove another few miles in angry silence and then, when the sun was high in the sky, swung off to a roadside diner.
"Let's go get something to eat."
She slammed out of the truck without waiting for an answer and marched through the swing doors without looking back. Willow turned and smiled gently at the dark haired girl behind her
"Cm'on, we'll feel better if we eat."
She reached back and squeezed Fred's loose hands gently and swung her door open. Fred watched her and then moved slowly to join her on the ground. Willow smiled again and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze
"Cm'on."
She gently led Fred to the diner and gave a weak giggle
"I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Willow and I'll be sharing your worst nightmare."
When the three girls were settled and had ordered coffee and breakfast, although Cordelia privately had her doubts about Willow and coffee, they sat in miserable silence until Fred said softly "I can't believe we have to do this. I've left Charles and we have to help bring a demon into the world. I can't believe they won." "Excuse me?"
Fred looked up into two shocked faces. Willow lowered her eyebrows and said
"They what now?"
Fred frowned back in confusion
"They won. We have to go and do their evil bidding. Y'all remember that, right?"
Cordelia and Willow exchanged incredulous looks and then Cordy said firmly
"We are doing no such thing! Fred, how could you even think that?" "But.but."
Cordelia leaned back as her coffee and English muffin was placed reverently in front of her by a moon eyed bus boy and then waited until he had walked slowly away before resuming
"Fred, we aren't doing anything of the kind. We ditched the probably- bugged-to-the- roof truck and picked up the Clampett's boneshaker for a reason, not just to make some dumbass beatnik statement." "But.but you said."
Cordy rolled her eyes impatiently
"Fred, get a grip!"
Willow placed her hand on the young Texan's arm
"Fred, we bought us some time. You didn't really think we're gonna go through with the whole stealing the Light of Good thing did you?"
Fred took a deep centring breath and tried to keep a tight grip on her sanity as it twisted and tried to break loose from her tenuous hold
"They're going to kill them if we don't do what they say."
Cordelia's gaze softened as she listened to the pitch of hysteria in the normally melodic voice and she spoke in a low comforting tone
"No they aren't, honey, because we aren't going to let them. We are going to go through the motions and we're going to look for this damn Light thingy because, if all else fails, we can use it to bargain with but we are not going to run around the country at the Lilah bitch's beck and call. Never, and I cannot stress this enough, gonna happen. Ever."
Fred gripped the edge of the table with both hands and watched as the tension turned her knuckles bone white. When she felt she could speak without stammering or sobbing she raised her eyes and stared into Cordelia's
"It's not?"
Willow rubbed a gentle hand on Fred's shoulder and slurped thankfully on her coffee putting the outsize cup back onto the table as she caught Cordelia's gimlet eye
"Sweetie, no! We bargain with the bad guys and we let them think they got game and then we trample all over their skanky asses and feed them to Buffy for tea."
Cordelia rolled her eyes and deftly snagged Willow's coffee, moving it out of sight, and reach, onto the seat beside her
"That's it I'm cutting you off. Can we say de-caff, Willow?"
She re-focused on Fred
"Honey, you've known me for a couple of years now. When was the last time I jumped to do an evil big bad's bidding?"
Fred shook her head
"Never."
Cordelia smiled
"Exactly. And I'm not starting now. All Lilah Morgan has managed to do is tip us off to the next apocalypse and how to stop it. We have time and we have resources and we are not going to run our butts off for her just because she thinks she has something on us." "We.we're not?"
Cordelia grinned her infamous `kiss my ass' grin, last used when Angel found out she'd supplemented her winter wardrobe from the company credit card, and pushed back her floppy bangs
"Nope. We'll do some work on the tracking thingy but the first thing we do is get you guys a lap top and find a way to track down the guy who cast that spell. Willow, any thoughts?"
The red head looked up from sipping discreetly at Fred's coffee and sighed as Cordelia snatched that out of her hand also
"Watcher's database. There won't be many casters in the world with enough power for that big a spell over that many people. We can narrow it down from there."
Cordelia nodded
"Good thinking. Fred, I need you to get to work translating that stuff in the truck and working on the first clue. Willow, I also need you to find a way into Wolfram and Hart's database and get me anything they have on the guys and us. I want to make sure there's no way we can contact our people without tipping of the bad guys before we disappear for good. Also get me a list of all the surveillance techniques they're using and let's see if we can use something there."
Willow raised her eyebrows in stunned admiration
"Cordy, what happened to you? First you're, like, all Buffyfied and then you've turned into Giles. What's going on with you?"
Cordelia gave a smug grin
"Will, you know how I used to say I was so superior in high school and so much better than all of you?"
Willow nodded warily
"Well, turns out I was right! Cool, huh?"
Willow spluttered
"Wh.what?"
Fred smiled at the horrified look on the red head's face and said gently
"She's a higher being."
Incredulous green eyes swung round to stare at Fred and then back to Cordelia as she grinned in genuine amusement at her friend's reaction. Fred continued in the kind of voice normally used for small children and Xander
"She's a higher being. You know like better or something, right Cordy?"
Willow gaped at Fred as the girl spoke slowly and clearly to her and then managed to stammer
"Yo.you're a God?"
Cordelia laughed
"Nooo. Just better than you!"
She laughed again at the look on Willow's face and leant forward saying lightly
"Kidding! Chill, Willow, its no biggy. I got demonised to help Angel and I got some optional extras that's all. The Powers tried to put me to work in another dimension but it turned out I was needed here more so I came back."
She shrugged lightly
"Absolutely no worship required. I'm very low maintenance these days."
She looked back at Fred and said firmly
"We have no choice in having to leave town but don't ever think that just because the lawyer bitch has something over us that we're gonna crumble. Willow and I have been dealing with this stuff ever since we turned sixteen and it takes a lot more than threatening our friends to turn us into fake evil toadies. Right, Will?"
Willow nodded emphatically and pushed aside her astonishment at the whole higher being thing
"Absolutely. For world savage, no-one does it better."
She smiled at Cordelia and was startled to see the other girl aim a soft, misty-eyed grin back at her as untold nights of battling evil and trying to study at the same time were remembered and continued
"And I think under the circumstances we can vote in a new Scoob."
Cordelia laughed delightedly and swigged back the last of her coffee as Fred said
"What's a Scoob?" "We are. Well, me, Cordy, Xander, Giles, Buffy, Anya, Dawn and Spike, I guess."
The last name was spoken doubtfully but Willow rallied admirably
"It's the name of the Sunnydale Protection Squad and once in never out. We fight the forces of dark and never surrender to evil and we get the Slayer's back when she takes on the big bad."
Cordelia interrupted
"And we keep an eye on Willow and coffee. Jeez, Willow, you're not fifteen anymore. De-caff!"
Willow blushed and Cordelia picked up the check and opened her wallet to pay as she continued
"Normally you only get in when you date a Scoob but I think in this case we can waive that clause unless you and Willow wanna."
She grinned at Willow's outraged expression
"No? Ok then, we just use our votes as two of the original members to get you in. All in favour?"
She waved her own hand cursorily in the air and Willow enthusiastically did the same nearly taking the bus boy's eye out with her caffeine-fuelled limb. Cordelia rolled her eyes
"Motion carried. Welcome to the Scooby gang, please check your dignity and average life expectancy at the door."
Fred laughed, uplifted by the other girls casual attitude to their predicament and their easy confidence in their eventual victory over their enemies
"Like I had that anyway! I lived in a cave for five years and then I met y'all and demons try to kill me on a daily basis."
Cordy swung an arm over her friend's shoulder
"We wanted you to feel one of the family." "I can't tell y'all how much I appreciate it."
Cordelia laughed at the dry tone and shouldered her way out the door
"We'll be back home before you know it. We've got a higher being, the biggest brainiac on two legs and a kick ass Wicca on our team, this will be easy."
Fred heard an uneasy clearing of a throat behind them as Willow said
"Yeah. Um, Cordy, about that whole Wicca thing?"
~~~*~~~
Somewhere in Hicksville.
Lindsey scowled at the old man before him
"Look, are they here or not?"
The small, balding guy before him shrugged his eyes glued to the paper spread before him
"Couldn't say. Might be, might not."
Briefly wishing he still lacked a conscience Lindsey reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet
"Look, I need to find my sister and her friends quickly. Maybe this'll help you remember."
He slid a twenty dollar bill across the counter and tapped his booted foot impatiently as the man stared at the bill and then raised two rheumy blue eyes to the ones that shone like blue diamonds at him
"Son, that ain't gonna help me remember my own name let alone your sister's."
Lindsey felt his skin flush under the amused gaze of the motel owner and the tenuous hold he had on his temper slipped. He reached out and took a firm grip on the man's shirt collar jerking him closer so they were face to face
"Quit trying to play me and tell me what I need to know otherwise I get nasty….."
He froze as he heard a scream rip through the night air and the man stared at him with suddenly frightened eyes. Lindsey turned and ran for the door reaching under his denim coat for the small pistol he habitually carried these days, yelling over his shoulder
"I'll be back. Don't be here if they aren't ok!"
The door flew open under his hand and he disappeared into the night, leaving the shaken man behind him.
LA
Wesley gestured at the only unloaded chair in the place
"Sit down."
Connor sank slowly onto the hard dining chair and looked around him. Every available surface was covered with papers and books and the whole place stunk of stale alcohol and rotting food. He turned his attention back to the alcohol ravaged human before him "Have you been ill?"
Wesley looked around his apartment and winced as he realised what a mess it was. His days were largely taken up with research and drinking himself into a stupor and he couldn't honestly remember when he had last picked up after himself. He blinked, realising that the boy was looking at him expectantly and he had no idea why. Connor frowned
"I said, are you ill?" "Oh. No I…I've just been a bit….."
He pressed a hand unconsciously to his throat as the still healing scar tissue rebelled at the first sounds to leave his mouth for over a week. Connor studied him for a moment and then stood and walked into the kitchen to hunt up a reasonably clean glass. Finding none he took a dusty teacup from the counter and ran it under the tap quickly and then filled it with cold water. He walked back to Wesley and held it out
"Here, this will help."
Wesley felt a slow flush creep up his skin at the quiet voice and wordlessly took the cup and drained its contents. The cool water hit his stomach like a tidal wave and he blinked as his entire system balked at the first liquid he had consumed in three months with no alcohol in it. He broke out in a cold sweat as he felt the half a bottle of scotch he had already drunk that evening jump in his stomach and he had just enough time to turn from Connor before he threw up all over the floor. Connor watched impassively as Wesley gripped the dining table as he heaved and then, when Wesley had finished, took his arm in a firm grip
"Where's your bathroom?"
Wesley managed to gesture with his other hand and the young boy slipped his other arm around the man's waist
"Come on. You need to get cleaned up."
Sunnydale
Spike woke with a start and sat up staring down at himself in horror and amazement
"What the bloody hell?"
From head to toe he was enveloped in a deep purple aura that shimmered with veins of the deepest black. He swung out of his bed and brushed frantically at his naked body trying to sweep the colour away.
"Bleedin' hell! What the hell's goin' on?"
The colours remained stubbornly clinging to him and after an amusing few minutes of dancing around his crypt trying to shake his new all over glow he grabbed a pair of black jeans from the floor and a grubby white t-shirt. Scowling and cursing the whole while he stamped his feet into his boots and grabbed his leather duster from the back of his broken-down armchair. Flinging open the door to his crypt, he stormed out into the night heading for the one place he knew he'd get answers.
LA, five minutes earlier.
Lorne grinned at the faces assembled before him. Gunn and Angel looked nervously at the containment circle at their feet and then back at their green skinned friend
"I still don't see why this is necessary or how it's helping. I just want to get on with tracking them down."
Lorne waved an impatient hand in dismissal
"Sssh, Angelcakes. I need all my senses for this little piece of mojo and you jawing on ain't helping."
The vampire looked deeply offended and frowned
"I don't jaw."
His frown deepened as he was shushed again and Lorne stared down once more at the piece of paper in his hand
"Ok. Here's hoping I'm reading this right, otherwise you two will end up greener than I am."
Gunn blanched and swallowed uncertainly
"Lorne, man, if you ain't sure of what you're doin' then maybe we'd better hold off until you know what you got goin' on." "Pfft."
Lorne waved another dismissive hand and then chanted a few unintelligible words under his breath. He grasped the paper he held and tore it into four equal pieces and threw it into the circle around Gunn and Angel
"Reveala!"
All three men shouted with surprise as a blinding flash shot from the circle and then faded as abruptly. Lorne lowered his hand from his eyes slowly and stared at the vampire and the human and then down at himself
"Well, I wasn't expecting that."
He looked over to the laptop where it sat perched on the countertop and felt his jaw drop as five equally stunned, and purple faces stared back at him
"Well, aren't we just the cutest little band of hex-ees you ever did see."
Angel stared in amazement at the flashes of purple and black that shot over his arm and slowly felt the rage begin to build within. Someone had cursed him. Someone had cursed him and taken Cordelia away from him. Someone had cursed him, taken Cordelia away from him and had forced Fred away, too. Someone was going to die.
Across town.
"AAAH!"
Wesley shot backwards in his chair and tipped over on his ass as Connor glowed a sudden violent purple.
"AAAH! AAAHH!"
He scrambled up and away on trembling limbs waving equally shaky hands. Connor, looking equally surprised but taking it considerably better, also stood and backed away from the table eyeing the screaming Englishman warily
"Wesley, calm down, it's alright. Look, you're doing it too."
Wesley looked down at himself in horror
"AAAAAHHH!"
Connor rolled his eyes in exasperation and silently promised himself he would never touch alcohol if this is what it did to you
"Wesley, calm down!"
The older man swallowed and shook his aching head
"Sorry…I…I wasn't expecting….that is I….."
He stared down at his glowing skin
"Oh dear Lord!"
Sunnydale.
"Slayer!"
Spike flung open the door that led out of the training room and into the main floor of the shop
"Slayer! What the….fuckin' hell!"
The Scoobs swung round to meet the raging vampire and all stared at him as he came to a grinding halt by the counter his eyes bugging out of his head. Dawn was the first one too break the stunned silence
"Spike! You're all….I mean…."
She broke off and then started giggling helplessly
"Your hair! It's pink!"
The vampire looked startled and raised a hand to his head
"What? No its not!"
Xander snorted and then pointed a mocking finger
"You have pink hair!"
Spike growled and tried to pull a short, and violently pink, lock down to look at it, rolling his eyes fruitlessly in his head to catch a glimpse. Dawn giggled again at his contortions and moved forward to place a placating hand on his arm
"It's ok. It'll wear off soon."
Spike gave up trying to look at the top of his own head and dropped an absent kiss on her forehead as he snarled at the rest of the gang
"Would any of you idiots like to tell me what the bollocking hell is going on here?"
Buffy turned and looked at Giles, raising her eyebrows enquiringly. The older man watched Spike for a moment with an unreadable expression and then gave his Slayer a short nod. Buffy turned back to the vampire
"You'd better take a seat. This could take a while."
Hicksville.
Fred writhed in the grip of the two men that held her and watched with wide eyes as Cordelia took another heavy blow to the face. The seer's head rocked back but her face remained calm and focused as she pivoted smoothly and planted one small foot in her opponent's face. She followed through on the kick and when she was facing in the opposite direction sprinted forward and jumped lightly onto the hood of a car. She leapt onto the roof and jumped lightly again, avoiding the wild grab of a heavily built man on the other side of the vehicle and then continued on until she flew through the air once more to land on the roof of their own truck
"Fred, hang on, I'm coming!"
Cordelia rolled over the roof and as she dropped to the floor grabbed her axe from the open driver's window. She landed on her feet and ducked as yet another large and heavy man made a grab for her
"Will you people just give up!"
She slammed the handle of the axe into the man's stomach and then, as he folded over with a pained expulsion of air, rolled over his back and hit the floor running on the other side.
"Willow! How ya doin'?"
The red head swung her baseball bat and winced as it cracked against an unprotected skull and the man dropped like a stone
"Ok!"
She squeaked as another form appeared before her and drew back her bat for another swing but before she started to bring it down on the man his legs were kicked from under him and a smaller shape stretched up and smashed a length of two by four onto the back of his skull
"Go help your friend!"
The open mouthed girl swivelled as a young, dark haired man shot past her and into the dim light of the parking lot and then abruptly shook her head. Introductions of dark haired saviours later, beating the crap out of Fred's captors now. Her mouth straightened in a grim line and she broke into a run clutching her bat firmly. Boy, was she gonna do some beating.
Cordelia backed away from the four men who stalked her in a loose line and flicked her eyes from one to the other.
All huge, all ugly and all armed. Just another night in the exciting and glamorous world of Cordelia Chase.
She allowed a cold smile to flick across her face
"Who wants to die first?"
The men appeared to hesitate and then, as one, moved forward to flank her on all sides
Shit! Time to power up.
Cordelia frowned in concentration as she opened her well of power and then jumped as a bellowing man appeared out of nowhere and took out two of her enemies with one hard tackle
Ok, that's never happened before.
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth she turned to the two temporarily distracted thugs that remained and cooed
"Oh boys? Wanna play?"
She made short work of the men left to her and then stepped back as she heard someone shout
"Fall back, fall back!"
She watched as the men that were on the floor were helped up by their less injured colleagues, in some cases carried, and then crossed to Willow and Fred to hug both girls briefly as their assailants piled into two vans and sped off
"Everyone ok?"
Fred nodded and rubbed absently at her wrists where livid red marks glowed against her pale skin
"Uh-huh. What happened?"
Cordy exchanged a slightly incredulous look with Willow and said dubiously
"We won. I think."
Willow nodded looking just as surprised
"Yeah. We did."
She blinked and looked around her
"Where's dark, mysterious guy?"
Cordelia turned and looked all around but there seemed to be no one left in the deserted car park
"Hello? Superhero guy? You there?"
They stood in silence for a few moments and Cordelia shrugged uneasily
"He must have taken off."
She spun on her heel as someone cleared their throat uneasily behind her. Her eyes widened in disbelief and then she flung herself forward to push the man back onto the hood of a car and hold her axe to his throat
"What the hell do you want?"
Lindsey stared into furious black coffee eyes and croaked
"Hello Cordelia."