~Part: 11~
Lachiel walked in to the Hyperion Hotel, Kate on his arm. He was just about to call hello when Faith saw him.
"Yo, elf-man, hows the reflexes?" Asked Faith as she threw a dagger at his throat.
Lachiel's elfish reflexes allowed him to catch the dagger by the point, in mid-air, flip it 360 degrees, and throw it back at Faith. Faith caught the dagger by the handle as it got within arms reach and resheathed it. Smiling at Faith, Lachiel replied, "Passable, Faith. Passable. How are you and Angel this fine morn?"
Angel walked in from the kitchen, a mug of blood in his hand. "I'm dead. Faith's not." He said jokingly. Angel had changed immensely since Adam, who was currently sitting on the sofa nursing a beer, had shown up and given him the talking too that he need. Forgiving himself had removed his broody nature and he had allow himself to start enjoying life and his gorgeous girlfriend.
"Not bad. A 3.5. We'll get you joking again soon." Adam smirked.
Looking at Angel, Lachiel asked, "Whyfore did you ask my lady and I here, Angel?"
Kate sighed and turned to Lachiel, "Remember, dear, twenty first century now. You don't have to be formal with your friends." Turning to Angel and Faith, Kate asked, "But since he asked, why did you call us here, oh dead one?"
Adam, choked on his beer as he tried, unsuccessfully, to smother a chortle.
Angel sighed, and replied, "It's Cordy's 21st birthday next month. I know she thinks we've forgotten, but we've been planning a party for her. You free on the 17th?"
Lachiel and Kate looked at each other, almost communicating telepathically. Lachial answered for the duo, "I believe so. Where did you plan on having the party?"
"Lorne is letting us have Caritas for the night. Said it was his gift to Cordy." Angel told them. "I'm going to call the Sunnydale crowd and ask them up as well. Get the whole gang together. In fact, I was just about to ring them."
Walking over to the phone, Angel pushed one of the speed dial buttons. It was a good thing none of the buttons were labeled, as it would be very difficult to explain to someone why the four speed dials were a blood bank, a pizza delivery, a magic shop and a private medical clinic.
Spike answered the the phone in his usual manner, "City morgue. You stab 'em we slab 'em." Angel just looked heavenward.
"Spike, it's Angel. You guys able to come up to LA for a break?"
"I don't think it'll be a problem, but let me check. Oi, you lot. Feel like a break from the tedious slaying? The poof wants us to come up for a holiday." Talking to Angel again, Spike said, "When you want us there?"
"Come up on the 17th and stay for the week. It's Cordy's 21st birthday and I'm throwing her a party she'll never forget. Only don't tell her you're coming up. I want that bit to be a surprise. So meet us at Caritas, rather than coming to the Hotel. Got it?" Angel explained to Spike.
"Sure thing. Drive up on the 17th, meet you at Caritas and surprise the May Queen. Got it. See you then." Spike then hung up.
"It's all organised then." Angel told them.
***********
The night of the 17th
The Angel Investigations team arrived at Caritas, the Karaoke bar for demons. Lorne, the host of Caritas, greated them at the door, "Angel, sweetcheeks, good to see you." Spying Cordelia, walking in with Gunn at her side, Lorne exclaimed, "And here's the birthday girl. Happy birthday beautiful. Caritas is yours for the night. Enjoy it. I don't close up for just anyone, you know."
Smiling, Cordelia hugged Lorne, "Thanks Lorne. I don't know what to say."
"Say my bar will still be standing in the morning." Lorne said, half jokingly. The Angel Investigations team tended to be hard on buildings.
"We'll try not to wreck the place. I mean, it's not like we'd drive a car through here or something." Cordelia laughed, aluding to the damage they did on their return from Pylea.
"It's alright, I needed to remodel anyway. The old place was getting too chincy. Why they ever thought crushed velvet was hip, back in the seventies, I will never know." Lorne muttered to himself.
Angel glanced at his watch. They only had about five minutes before the Sunnydale crowd was due. Pushing Cordelia out of the doorway, and in to the bar, Angel walked up to the bar, as Lorne moved around behind it. He was playing bartender for the night. After Angel, Gunn walked in, closely followed by Kate and Lachiel, Wesley and Virginia, Faith, Adam and Fred, the girl they had rescued from Pylea. Fred had been adopted by the team and had been told, by Cordelia, that she was coming to the party tonight, whether she liked it or not. Cordelia, as the birthday girl, got her way, even more than usual.
Mercifully, Lorne had turned off the Karaoke machine for the night. He dreaded the damage the gang would do trying to sing, particularly once the drinks had started flowing. Sitting Cordelia down, Gunn asked her, "What you want to drink, gorgeous?"
"A champagne cocktail, lover," she replied. She and Gunn had recently moved in to the Hyperion, taking a suite of romms as their own. The had even gotten Willow to move Dennis in to the rooms for them. Cordelia slept better knowing Dennis, her resident ghost, was there to look after her.
Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door. It was the Sunnydale crowd. Seeing what the noise was, Cordelia shrieked, and jumped up to say hello. "Oh my god. I didn't know you guys were coming."
Willow hugged Cordelia and smirked, "Hence the suprise part of the surprise visit."
Slapping Willow playfully across the arm, Cordelia answered back, "I'll forgive you, but only if you have presents."
Spike came in the door, a pile of wrapped presents in his arms, "Like we'd forget to get something for the queen of shopping."
Helping Spike bring in the presents was Buffy, Khalil just behind her. Giles stood back, supervising masterfully, Miranda at his side. Anya and Xander were behind them, followed at the back by Dru. Hugging each of them in turn, Cordelia replied to Spike, "And a damn good thing it is too. Seriously though, it's good to see you all. Come on in and lets get the party going."
The collected friends soon formed up in to smaller groups and started to catch up on each others lives, glad of the chance to talk without worrying that the world was ending, which was the usual way they got together.
Xander, Anya sitting on his lap, sat talking to Gunn, Cordelia sitting in his. "So, does she still have all those bottles in the bathroom?" Xander asked Gunn.
"Does she ever. I can't even identify half of them. I live in fear of the shelf collapsing and being crushed under all those bottles. I'm sure they don't let you in to warriors heaven if you die that way," Gunn joked. Putting his hand over his heart, he intoned solemly, "Here lies Charles Gunn, cut down in his prime by a mountain of Clairol."
Xander, Anya and Cordelia laughed at the serious look Gunn had on his face, right up until he broke down chuckling.
Across the room, Willow was sitting next to Spike, who was trying his best to not look bored as Willow and Fred discussed the latest theories on Schwartzchild radiation and some of the research being done at CERN. Taking pity on Spike, Willow asked, Spike, dear, could you get me a drink from the bar? A vodka spritzer." Turning back to Fredm Willow giggled, "I love him, but he isn't the least bit interested in theoretical physics."
Fred smiled, having found a new friend in Willow, "That's OK. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised to find anyone in this group who is, other than me of course."
Willow smiled, "I know what you mean. People who know what goes bump in the night, and understand the latest advances in hard science as well are few and far between." Noticing Spikes bored expression, Willow told him, "Spike, why don't you go annoy Angel. I'm perfectly safe here. What could happen?"
Spike was just about to answer when the door was kicked in.
~Part: 12~
Willow smiled, "I know what you mean. People who know what goes bump in the night, and understand the latest advances in hard science as well are few and far between." Noticing Spikes bored expression, Willow told him, "Spike, why don't you go annoy Angel. I'm perfectly safe here. What could happen?"
Spike was just about to answer when the door was kicked in.
Willow looked skyward, "Me and my big fucking mouth. I just had to say, didn't I?"
Lorne looked at the vampire who had kicked in the door, and told him, "Sorry, no violence allowed in Caritas."
The vampire smiled evilly and spoke, "What about violence outside then?" as he threw a grenade into the room.
Seeing the grenade come flying through the door, Spike moved with vampiric speed, picking up the grenade and throwing it back outside. The vampire in the doorway ducked the airborne grenade reflexively and, as he realised what it was he had ducked, leapt up the stairs and out of view of the partiers.
Moving as the well tuned unit that they were, the group split in two. Angel, Gunn, Faith, Lachiel, Kate, Buffy, Khalil, Spike and Willow all moved towards the door, grabbing weapons as they moved past the bags they had brought with them. As usual, when they were relaxing, they hoped the weapons would not be needed, but it was safer to have them and not need them, than to not have them and wish they did. The rest of the group moved out of the way to let the warriors through.
As soon as the warriors were outside, they could see that this was a major attack. Waiting for them in the carpark in front of Caritas were 19 vampires, a gargoyle and Geraldus. Seeing Willow was in the group exiting Caritas, Geraldus signalled the attack, then stood back to watch the battle.
Leaving nothing to chance, Geraldus had hand picked each of the vampires with a specific opponent in mind. They had all been briefed on the strengths and weaknesses of their targets.
As the group of heroes exited Caritas, they spilt up, giving themselves room to fight, but not moving too far apart, so they could help each other if needed.
Spike was the first to engage in battle, easily dodging the punch the vampire threw at him, grabbing the arm of the vampire and pulling him in. Gripping him by the jaw, Spike tore the unfortunate vampires head off, the body turning to dust as it fell to the ground.
At the same time, Angel strode purposely towards his first opponent, another bruiser vampire like the one Spike was in the process of decapitating, albeit messily. Making a knife of his hand, Angel stabbed the vampire in the stomach, reached up and ripped out the vampires heart. The vampire shuddered and expired, falling down and aging two hundred years in a matter of seconds. Time may have been put on hold for the vampire, but He was not to be avoided forever.
Meanwhile, Willow had encountered an Arabian vampiress, who passed her hand over Willows face. Willow noticed right away that all sound had ceased. The vampiress obviously had control over sound. Not caring one way or another whether she could hear or not, Willow summoned her staff and readied herself for the coming attack. Seeing that Willow had armed herself, the vampiress drew a dagger from the sheath at her waist. Moving in carefully, but forcefully, she attacked Willow with a slash at the forearm. Willow blocked it with ease, and counter-attacked with a blow to the head. The vampiress blocked the head strike with the dagger and kicked Willow in the knee, dislocating it. Willow swore and popped the knee back in place with a sigh and a grunt. Grimacing at the vampiress, Willow planted her staff and swung herself up, kicking the vampiress in the chest with both feet. Following through, Willow landed solidly and thrust the staff through the chest of the vampiress and willed the staff back in to the flame from which it was made. The vampiress burst in to flamed and died with a silent scream. As she died, Willow could hear again.
Kate was next, being attacked by an aristocratic looking vampire. The vampire stepped up to Kate and made eye contact. Gazing deep in to Kates eyes, the vampire stated "Drop the weapon and kneel before your better."
Kate just looked at him and replied with scorn, "Fuck off! What do you think I am? Some mealy mouthed little farm girl? It'll take more than that to make me surrender."
Kate then feinted a stab with the Celtic shortsword she carried and followed up with a swipe at the vampires neck. The vampire was so in shock that a mere human was able to resist him, that he nearly forgot to avoid the sword. Ducking at the last second, he drew a sword and saluted Kate "Have at ye then, milady".
The aristocratic vampire then attacked with a flurry of blows, hoping to overwhelm Kate with vampiric speed. Were it not for the training Kate had been receiving from Lachiel and Spike, she wouldn't have stood a chance. Her training paid off however, enabling her to block or avoid every one of the strikes made at her. Deciding to use one of the dirty tricks Spike had taught her, Kate dropped to one knee and cut the vampires feet out from under him, then slicing his head from his shoulders as he lay on the ground screaming.
At the same time as Kate was being attacked by one aristocratic vampire, Gunn was being attacked by another, alike enough to the first that they had to be related. Although Gunn did not know it, and wouldn't have cared if he did, the vampire he was fighting was the father of the vampire Kate was fighting. The vampire simply stood where he was and said "Cease slave!"
"Slave my ass. I'm gonna gut you from neck to nuts for that, ass wipe."Gunn replied with venom in his voice. The vampire did not realise it, but there was little he could have said that would have gotten Gunn more riled. Hefting the large axe he favoured, Gunn stepped up the the vampire and swung, cleaving the vampire in two, as the vampire stood there, not thinking was in any danger from a human, and a coloured one at that. The vampires archaic thinking cost him his unlife, as Gunn showed just how equal they were.
Khalil looked around, searching for an appropriate target. A tendril of shadow lashed out, which he avoided with ease, having expected an attack to come. Searching deep in the shadows, he spied the dusky skinned vampire responsible for the attack. Quickly moving over, he nodded to the vampire, "Time to return to the Abyss. Greet Lasombra for me." Khalil then made a pass of his hand, summoning a portal behind the vampire. Taking a running start, he leapt up and kicked the vampire through the portal. With an almost negligent flick of his hand, Khalil banished the portal, trapping the vampire.
While Khalil was dealing with one darkness summoning vampire, Lachiel noticed another moving to ambush Khalil from behind. Moving with elvish quiet, Lachiel snuck up behind the vampire and, swiftly and silently, beheaded him.
Drusilla looked around for an opponent. Spying the Gargoyle, she shrugged off her shawl and took to the air with a beat of her wings. The Gargoyle, remembering it's briefing, followed. Coming to rest on the roof of Caritas, Dru waited for the Gargoyle to land. As it touched down, Dru ran over and placed her hand on it's chest Saying as she did so "From stone you came and to stone you return. BEGONE!" The spell taking effect, the Gargoyle turned back in to unliving stone, just another Gothic rood decoration.
Meanwhile Faith found herself being attacked by two female vampires. One a Spanish looking woman and the other an American, with a crazed cast to her face. The crazy looking vampiress spoke, saying "I can feel the madness in you. It calls for your return. Here it comes." Giving an almost imperceptible nod to the Spanish vampiress as she spoke, the crazy vampire attacked. Darkness started to form around Faith, taking on a tangibility that could only be magical. Having accepted her past, Faith was not as vulnerable to the manipulation as the attackers had planned. Gripping a tendril of the darkness with on hand, and holding her two handed axe in the other, Faith pulled the Spanish vampiress in to combat range and swung the axe, hitting her opponent in the chest, cutting her heart in two. The vampiress turned to dust as Faith turned back to the crazy vampire and gloated, "You'll have to do better than that, you nutty bitch." The crazy vampiress ran at Faith, clawing at her eyes with hands that elongated in to talons. Faith instinctively blocked, forgetting she still had an axe in her hand. The axe passed effortlessly through the crazy woman's wrist. As the woman started to scream, Faith swung the axe in a backhand that would have impressed a world class tennis play and cut the head off the vampiress.
Buffy was engaged in battle with an Italian vampire who was surrounded by spirits of the dead. "Can you hear the dead calling for you? I will make your shade long for oblivion, Slayer." Sneering at the vampire Buffy replied, "Yeah, sure, whatever. You know how many times I've been promised an eternity in hell, never ending torment, pain, blah-dy blah-dy blah. It gets boring after a while. Now lets cut to the chase shall we?" The vampire realised Buffy was not intimidated by the spirits of the dead he had around him, which surprised him. Most people panicked when shown their mortality. Buffy came face to face with mortality every time she went on patrol, so had come to accept that she would never live to a ripe old age a long time ago. Reaching under her top, Buffy pulled out a dagger, flipped it to catch it by the point, and threw it.
The vampire batted it away "You will have to do better than that, my dear".
"I'm not your dear anything, blood breath." Buffy tainted and she attacked, throwing a series of punches and kicks. The vampire block and dodged, but missed one, which broke his kneecap with a sickening pop. Taking advantage of his weakness, Buffy moved forward and broke his neck. The spirits of the dead swarmed around him as he fell. The dead have long memories, and the vampire would now pay for the years of torment he had put them through.
A vampire in a long cloak swept over his shoulder moved up sedately to stand in front of Kate. Making a series of mystical passes in between them, he looked at Kate, "You may as well surrender, I have negated your magic." Kate just stabbed him in the heart, "That would be a problem if I had any. But as I don't it's not going to slow me down much." The vampire looked chagrined as he turned to dust, realising that the assumption he made was false and had cost him his unlife.
Spike and Angel were engaged in battle with a pair of vampires that kept changing between human and wolf. Just as one of them would throw a punch, the vampire would change form and the punch would miss. Growing tired and getting thoroughly sick of it, the two vampires nodded at each other and suddenly changed opponents and tactics. Springing to the side, Angel pick up a dumpster and threw it at the vampire. As it landed, Spike sprang and gave a solid kick to the side of the dumpster, crushing the vampire between it and the wall. A pool of blood ran out from under the dumpster a testament to the effectiveness of the attack. They then double teamed the other vampire. Spike, grabbing the vampire as he attacked, broke him across his knee, snapping his spine in two. Angel then put him out of his misery.
Dru flew down from her perch above the action, having noticed a female vampire on the side of the battle, apparently doing some type of breathing exercise. As the vampiress took a deep breath Dru flew passed and took her head off with her razor sharp pin feathers, the vampire having no idea what hit her.
Gunn was holding his own in a battle with a vampire that looked like a fifties rocker stuck in time. The jeans and leather jacket would have been bad enough, but the immaculately coifed quiff was just sad in the early 21st century. The vampire had broken the haft of Gunn's axe, and Gunn was using the remaining foot of wood as a stake. Finally getting the upper hand, Gunn rammed the stake in to the vampires heart. As the vampire was immobilised, Gunn picked up the head of the axe and finished the job.
Another anachronistic vampire was engaged in combat with Lachiel. This vampire looked like an itinerant worker from the 1930's. The vampire was a big bruiser of a man, six axe handles across the shoulders. Unfortunately, while the vampire was superhumanly strong and fast, so was Lachiel. The vampire's fighting style obviously relied on being much stronger than his opponent. Now that he was fighting someone as strong as he was, and a much better warrior, he was not faring very well at all. In under a minute, Lachiel had reduced him to something resembling a loose bag of bones contained within skin. The accumulated damage finally too it's toll and the vampire turned to dust.
Willow looked up from the vampire she had just defeated and noticed Buffy dispatch her last opponent. Sensing an in-drawing of energy, she saw Khalil send a vampire up in flames, winning what looked like a sorcerous duel. She then noticed Adam standing in the door to Caritas, slowly clapping. "Very good. Best battle I've seen in the last 200 years. Talk to me later and I'll give you the full critique"
Willow just sighed, "You could have given a hand, you know."
"But you had everything so obviously in hand, you didn't need my help. Besides, I wanted to see how your group worked together. I would have altered the mix too much if I was involved." Adam explained.
Willow sighed again and turned to look at Geraldus. "I suppose you want some type of major climatic fight, where we say all sorts of cliched things and then I end up by killing you. Well, it's not going to happen." Moving with a surprising swiftness, Willow lashed out with a sword, slicing a four inch gash along Geraldus's arm. Holding out her hand and extending her magic, she lifted a jar from the bag inside the bar. Unsealing the lid, she poured the blood off the sword, into the jar.
Knowing this battle would arrive one day, Willow had planned out what she would do. Concentrating on the jar and casting a spell, she looked at Geraldus, "The spell I've put on this jar links the blood inside to your heart. If I put a sliver of wood in, you will be staked. If I set it on fire, you will burn. Do you see where this is going?"
Geraldus looked at Willow in shock. Recovering himself he smiled and spoke condescendingly, "I wouldn't worry about that. I'll just take it from you when you don't have the strength to lift it any more." He then concentrated on Willow, expecting something to happen. When nothing did, he concentrated again.
Seeing the perplexed look on his face, Willow asked, "What's wrong?"
"You should be an old hag. I aged you sixty years. You should be grey and infirm." Geraldus explained, having regained his impassive air.
Willow smirked, "Oh that. Try it again. Maybe you didn't do it right."
Geraldus tried again, aging Willow two centuries. When still nothing happened, he gave up, "Alright. I admit defeat. How did you prevent the aging?"
"I didn't," Willow explained. "You really did age me over three hundred years. I've tied my life force to yours. As long as you live so do I, and whatever happens to me happens to you, as well. Now leave us. I've got a party to go back to."
Willow then turned her back on Geraldus and went back in to Caritas, the rest of the group following her, leaving Geraldus outside on his own. Once she got inside, she burst out laughing.
Angel looked at her and then at Spike, "I'm sorry Spike. It looks like She has finally cracked. Living with you, I can understand why." Turning back to Willow he asked, "Now what was that outside about you tying your life to his?"
Willow smiled, "Oh that. I lied. I figured if he didn't know I was immortal, I wouldn't be the one to tell him. And this way he won't try and kill me. He'll also go mad trying to get the spell removed, which should keep him out of my hair. Now, I believe we had a party to get back to. Lorne, set 'em up."
The End.