Part 13
Kenny’s Receiving Room
12:17 a.m.
Angel’s head spun with a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. He wanted to run over and yank Cordelia off of Xander’s lap and into his arms, then drag her home and make her his. He wanted to, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew it was his possessive nature reacting to the sight of Cordelia sprawled on Xander’s lap, but his demon didn’t want him to acknowledge that. His eyes locked with Cordelia’s, and he tried to communicate his love for her in his stare, but he knew that he probably just looked angry. More accurately, furious.
He turned his attention to the demon who had engineered this mess. He stepped forward, flanked by Buffy and Willow. Anya hung back, staring nervously at Xander.
“Kenny,” he growled. “I’ve brought what you demanded.” He grabbed Buffy’s elbow, shoving her toward Kenny so hard that she fell to her knees. “The Slayer, in exchange for Cordelia.”
A slow, smug smile spread over Kenny’s face. “That was not our agreement. I told you that you would be doing several jobs for me; this was only the first.”
Angel’s jaw clenched. “I won’t be doing anything else for you. I’m finished. Release Cordelia.”
He flashed his demon’s face. “NOW.”
Kenny’s gritty laugh reverberated in the room. “You’re going to challenge me? You are nothing,” he spat. “You have no idea what kind of power I have.”
“You’re the one who’s wrong,” Angel warned, taking another step closer to Kenny. “What do you want Cordelia for, anyway? She can’t do anything for you.”
“A seer is worth a great deal of money,” Kenny said, motioning for a guard to step between himself and Angel. “And one as beautiful as Cordelia, well. . .I’m certain her new owner would find several uses for her.” He smirked lewdly.
Angel swallowed the intense rage sparked by the demon’s innuendo, schooling his features carefully. “And the others? Buffy, Willow and Xander?”
“The same. Buffy will be sold, accompanied by a drug that will give her owner complete control over her, but not lose her supernatural abilities. Willow will have her power removed from her and it will be sold separately. And the boy, well, he’s not much good anymore, is he? He will die. As will his pitiful girlfriend, and you, if you cross me.”
Kenny rose from his chair and began to strut up and down the dais. “This is about money and power, my boy; the two most important things in life. You are too concerned with good and evil. You should look at the bottom line once in awhile; your life would be a whole lot happier,” he advised, sounding for a moment more like a chastising father than a demon mafia boss.
“Happiness isn’t healthy for me, but killing you would be a definite pleasure, so I’ll risk it,” Angel said, ignoring the guard and moving closer. He was stopped as two other demons grabbed him from behind and held him.
Before he could break free, Kenny directed Angel’s attention back to Cordelia and Xander. A demon stood behind each of them, a wicked looking knife at each throat. Angel glanced back at Anya; her situation was the same.
Buffy took that opportunity to jump from her knees, using her now unbound fist to bludgeon the guard nearest her. She was quickly subdued.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Kenny admonished, shaking his head. “Xander must not be very comfortable like that. Buffy’s eyes widened and she stifled a cry as she saw blood trickling from Xander’s neck. His eyes implored her to wait for a better moment.
“The next time you try something that stupid, he’ll be needing a shorter coffin,” Kenny threatened. He turned, sitting back down on his throne. “Ishmael!” he yelled.
At his command, a small, bearded man dressed in crimson robes approached from the side of the room. He knelt before Kenny, raising his gnarled hands to his tonsured forehead and then to the marble floor.
“Your desire, master,” the old man said respectfully, his eyes on the floor.
Kenny smiled evilly. “Begin the ritual to extract the power of the witch,” he commanded.
The guard holding Willow shoved her forward as the shaman stood up, moved toward her and began chanting.
“Ooh me mach macheli ludi nec cherum.”
Willow struggled, trying to invoke her power in the hopes that Riley had been successful. She felt nothing. The guard pushed her directly in front of the shaman.
“Al mahachla ken tira seru,” the shaman’s voice began to crescendo and he lifted his hands, beseeching the gods for power. With glowing fingers, he reached towards Willow’s head.
***
The Shaman shrine, near Kenny’s mansion
12:17 a.m.
Riley crept noiselessly along the outside of the shrine. Through the glowing windows, he could see four robed men surrounding a low flame. They chanted incessantly, their palms and faces raised, gray beards and tonsured heads shining in the firelight. They swayed to the rhythm of their words. If their mission hadn’t been so evil, they would have been beautiful in their harmony.
Right now, though, Riley wasn’t allowed to appreciate beauty of any kind. Not even Buffy’s, he thought bitterly. She’d said she was in love with him, that Angel was in the past and Riley was her future. It only took one trip here to change her tune. Now Riley didn’t know what to think.
Digging up his military training, Riley pushed the negative thoughts to a dark corner of his mind and shoved them in a box marked “think about later.” He padlocked it. Twice. Damn it, that mental imagery crap never worked.
But angry vampires certainly did.
Almost too late, Riley caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He ducked, narrowly avoiding a sword aimed for his head. Rolling, he came up with his crossbow cocked and ready. He aimed, shot, and fired in a heartbeat, his attacker disintegrating.
Riley moved against the wall, protecting his back. More vamps came at him, each weighing him, looking for weaknesses. The first lunged, snarling, only to be staked viciously. Another two attacked him, drawing him away from the wall. Riley kicked one swiftly behind the knees, sending it sprawling to the ground, then delivering a swift uppercut to the other and a stake to its chest. Angry, the one on the ground attacked again, then others from all directions, and Riley kicked, punched, flipped, rolled and staked until he was winded, and still they kept coming.
Several minutes and a lot of dust later, Riley had the last one on the ground.
“Have fun in hell,” Riley hissed, the vampire exploding into dust.
He stood, dusting his pants off, and turned to face the shrine. He looked up, eyes widening, just in time to see a huge battleaxe swiftly descending toward his neck.
Part 14
Riley didn’t have time to think as the battleaxe descended. Not having enough time to roll away, he ducked, protecting his head with his arms and steeling himself for the blow, only to have the weapon glance off his back. He looked up though the cloud of dust, surprised to find Wesley, grinning and clutching a stake.
“Thought maybe you could use a little help,” Wesley said, smirking and very pleased with himself.
“So Giles sent you?” Riley asked skeptically.
Wesley frowned, not happy that Riley considered him a weakling. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been trained extensively in martial arts and other forms of combat.” Wesley straightened his stance, adjusting his jacket and lifting his chin in defiance. “I am quite an—.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Riley interrupted. “Thanks for saving me. Now, what are you doing here? Giles wouldn’t have sent you just to fight.”
Wesley ignored the implications in that statement. “Right after you left, we found more information about the incantation that the shamans are using. They can still perform magic, but everyone else is powerless.”
“So?” Riley said, frowning. “We just kill them, and then Willow can do her thing.”
“That’s not all,” Wesley continued. “The spell protects them as well as the compound.”
Riley’s gaze turned toward the mansion, feeling a sudden helplessness as he realized that Buffy was trapped.
“We can’t stop them?” Riley asked, worried.
“I didn’t say that,” Wesley smiled like a little boy with a big secret. “We have this.” He held up a small scroll, yellowed with age.
“And that is. . .” Riley prompted, irritated at the wasted time.
“Our secret weapon.”
“I thought you said magic wouldn’t work,” Riley said, confused.
“This is their magic. It will work,” Wesley said confidently.
Riley grabbed it out of his hands and turned back toward the shrine. “Then let’s go, watcher-boy.”
Wesley pouted. “Hey, return that to me at once. You don’t know what you’re doing.” He trailed along after Riley.
“Fine,” Riley whispered harshly as they approached the building. He shoved the scroll back into Wesley’s hands. “Just shut up and do it already.” He paused, then: “What?”
Riley’s question had been prompted by the look on Wesley’s face. “We have another problem,” Wesley said, gesturing to another wave of vampires approaching them.
“I’ll take care of them,” Riley said confidently. “You just do the spell. Quickly.”
***
The shaman’s fingers glowed blue as they slowly moved toward Willow’s temples.
“Buffy!” Willow yelled. “Do something!!” She continued struggling against her attacker, but it was as hopeless as a moth trying to escape an elephant.
Across the room, Cordelia tensed, preparing to make her move. Cynthia had loosened their bonds as Kenny argued with Angel. With everyone distracted by the shaman and Willow, she realized that now was as good a time as any.
She sprung up and back, away from the knife, sending an elbow jabbing into a soft spot in the demon’s belly. He grunted and clutched his middle, and Cordelia took the opportunity to knock the knife out of his hand. It flew and landed near Cynthia, who picked it up and concealed it in the folds of her coat. Xander had acted nearly simultaneously with Cordelia. They retreated towards each other, backs facing, and fought the demons as best they could.
In the ensuing chaos, Buffy and Angel jumped into action. Angel gut punched the demon guarding him, and kicked Buffy’s guard under his chin, knocking him out cold. He revealed his weapon, grinning evilly, swinging the blade in a wide arc, then stabbing it into the heart of his unconscious enemy. The remaining guard circled him warily. Angel feinted left and the remaining demon fell for it, giving Angel the opening he needed. The demon’s head severed cleanly from its body, Angel’s sword flashing as it descended.
As soon as Angel had incapacitated her guard, Buffy leapt towards Anya, freeing her with a well-placed kick to her captor’s head. The powerful blow stunned the demon and he sunk to his knees, giving Buffy enough time to whip out her sword and thrust it through his heart.
“Go!” She yelled at Anya, pushing her toward the door and rushing toward Willow.
***
The vamps just kept coming, tiring an adrenaline-depleted Riley Finn. He kicked one, impaling it on a nearby tree branch and ripped the head off another. Dust covered him, a fine coating that softened his features. Sweat trickled from his temples, running a track through the grime on his face.
“Hurry, Wesley!” He grunted, thrusting a stake through a vamp and kicking another back. “I can’t hold them back much longer.”
Just in time, Wesley finished the incantation. On the final word, a chorus of terrifying shrieks sounded, accompanied by a flash of bright light that reduced the remaining vamps to dust.
Wesley smirked at Riley. “Not so useless now, am I, soldier boy?”
***
In time with the flash of light at the shrine, Willow felt a huge charge of energy, as if someone had plugged her into a wall socket. She narrowed her eyes at the shaman in front of her, put on her “nobody messes with me” face, and began her own incantations. At her words, the blue glow in the shaman’s fingers began to inch up his arms, making them shake uncontrollably. He quickened his words and Willow matched his pace, eyes flashing.
Buffy, now confident that Willow could take care of herself, rushed to help Xander. Having been separated from Cordelia, he was backed up against the wall with only a chair between him and the demon. Buffy grabbed the demon’s ponytail and yanked him cruelly around to face her.
“You need to deal with me,” she commanded, planting a powerful right cross on the demon’s jaw.
Angel had had to subdue three more guards on his way to help Cordelia and he almost got there too late. He watched her stumble to the floor, then struggle as the demon tried to subdue and strangle her. The instant before the demon’s hands encircled her neck, Angel grabbed its head and ripped it clean off, kicking the body away and grabbing Cordelia from the ground.
He hugged her fiercely, wrapping his arms around her body and burying his face in her hair. She grabbed him with equal force, trembling from her exertion and terror, just glad to be safe in his arms. They separated in time to witness Buffy’s beheading of the demon.
All four of them turned to watch Willow. By now, the pulsating glow that had once been in the shaman’s fingers had moved all the way up his arms and was now a glowing ring around his neck. He began to choke, trying to chant, but nothing would come out except wheezing. He gasped for breath, and Willow chanted louder, lifting her chin and jerking free from the demon who’d held her.
Slowly, the glow crept up the shaman’s face, light spilling out of his mouth, nose, and ears. Willow raised her hands, eyes flashing, and the light reached the shaman’s eyes, streaming from them like two high-powered flashlights. Suddenly, the light flashed in one intense burst and the shaman exploded, a billion sparks of light flying in every direction like fireworks. The guard who’d been holding Willow fled the room in terror. Willow dropped her hands to her sides and blinked, then swayed and stumbled. Xander ran to catch her.
Buffy and Angel’s eyes met as they both realized they’d forgotten about Kenny in their concern for Willow. They rushed for him, only to see him on his knees with Cynthia’s sword at his throat.
Kenny had watched the entire battle from his throne, his expression changing from arrogant confidence to utter terror as the battle progressed. The terror didn’t last long, however, and rage consumed him. He had jumped up, lunging for a distracted Angel. He was stopped as a sword was leveled against his neck.
It took him a minute to realize that his former captives were all too far away to be holding this weapon. He followed the broad blade to the face of his wife, his eyes widening in disbelief.
“Baby, put the sword down,” he said softly, trying to sound tender, but the hatred in his eyes ruined the effect.
“Don’t you ever call me ‘baby’ again, you bastard,” Cynthia spat, pressing the point of her weapon more firmly against his throat.
Kenny realized she meant business. His face contorted in what was supposed to be hurt and despair, but that emotion didn’t reach his eyes, either. “Why are you doing this? I loved you, protected you.”
“You’re a heartless son of a bitch and you know it. You’ve never loved me, only the power I can give to you. I’d be dead if you could’ve figured out a way to take it from me.” Her eyes narrowed and her voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “You’ve made my life a living hell and I plan to take your head as compensation.”
“But, baby, maybe we can work something—” his words were stopped as Cynthia’s blade sliced through his voice box.
“I told you never to call me ‘baby’ again.”