Part 11
SUNDAY EVENING (PART ONE)
Ruben’s eyes went as wide as saucers when the red plastic gasoline jug tumbled down the entrance stairs. His heart sank when the road flare attached to its rim dropped inside.
Phillip, a younger minion, was only a few feet away when the jug detonated. Ruben threw himself under his desk before it happened, but he heard Phillip’s tortured cry as he ignited when the flaming gasoline coated his body.
Chuck and Eddy heard the blast and rushed from the backroom. But by then the attack was fully underway. Angel, Spike, and Buffy charged down the stairs in a fury. A quick and clean slice was all that Buffy needed to decapitate the flaming Phillip. Spike reared back and hurled his battleaxe. Chuck was nearly ripped in half as the blade connected with his sternum.
Eddy took one look at his friend’s quivering body and gulped. He stared fearfully as Buffy raised her sword at his neck. She gave a sly smile and waggled her eyebrows. “I’d run away screaming like a little girl,” Buffy suggested. She and Spike moved aside and allowed Eddy to streak out of the building. Ruben wasn’t quite so lucky. The demon moved out from behind his desk and began to shout angrily.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you just killed two of my boys! I suggest…Holy shit! My leg!”
The Dumont demon began to wail in pain when Angel pulled a repeater crossbow from underneath his coat and loosed a bolt into both of Ruben’s kneecaps. Angel quickly pulled a long knife from his belt and slammed Ruben on the desk. Angel poised the knife under Ruben’s chin and prepared to thrust it up into his brain.
“Spike, go fetch that briefcase from the trunk,” Angel ordered. He saw Spike obey the command and then focused back on Ruben. “So. How’s business? I imagine in your line of work that you’d get some interesting clientele. And speaking of clientele, you wouldn’t have happened to recently catered to a Necklar demon named Merrick, would you?”
“Maybe,” Ruben gritted. The knife digging into his chin was his reward.
“That was a yes or no question. Maybe doesn’t work for me. So how about you make with the info before I make with the killing of your sorry ass?”
“Fifty-one King Street,” Ruben answered. “But what makes you think I won’t call them after you leave?”
“You won’t get the chance.” Angel rammed the knife up and into Ruben’s brain. The Dumont demon quivered and twitched for a few moments before stilling. Spike returned in time to see Ruben’s final spasm.
“I sure as hell hope you got the info before you speared that boy’s noggin.”
“I did,” Angel said curtly. He held out his hand and said, “Briefcase.”
Spike handed the case over. Angel immediately opened it up and pulled out two bricks of explosive and some fuses. Buffy and Spike watched as he twisted the fuses until a couple of clicks sounded. He then jammed one into each brick and left them on the desk. Angel quickly snapped the briefcase shut.
“Let’s go,” he ordered. “I have them set on a one minute timed fuse.”
Their eyes widened, but Buffy and Spike enthusiastically rushed out after Angel. They quickly moved from the basement to the main floor of the post office and out the door. The trio had just reached the convertible parked across the street when a deafening blast rocked the area.
The old brick building quickly crumbled under the shock waves. A cloud of dust rose up and out. But once it cleared, they saw that only a pile of rubble remained.
“I guess they’re out of business,” Buffy observed.
“That’s what happens in a fledgling economy,” Spike answered dryly.
“Boo-hoo,” Angel said. “An old abandoned building was destroyed. Now they have room to put in a Best Buy.”
The group piled into the convertible. Buffy and Spike continued to stare at the rubble as Angel put the car into drive. Looking at the ruins, Spike had only one thought.
“I like Best Buy.”
***
The trio had been waiting for ten minutes for the group to arrive. Angel parked the convertible at the fringe of the Food King parking lot so that they could watch the building across the street.
En route, Angel had called the gang up on his cell phone and told them where to rendezvous. Wesley had promised they would arrive in fifteen minutes.
“Tell me about the building,” Angel said.
“It used to be one of those shitty Wal-Marts before they put in a Super Wal-Mart downtown,” Buffy explained. She turned to Spike and asked, “How long ago was that? Two years maybe?”
“That sounds about right.”
“Anyway, we’ve searched the building a couple times since it was abandoned. Came across the odd vampire and the occasional other nasty.”
“Lovely. So what does the interior look like?”
“It’s basically one large room,” Spike explained. “Couple of corner offices for the big shots, but other than that, it’s wide open.”
“Good. We may need the room.”
Two cars pulled into the Food King parking lot and stopped next to the convertible. Xander, Giles, Lilah, and Dawn stepped out of the first car. Wesley, Willow, Emma, and Kayla were in the other. Willow was the first to approach the convertible. In her hand was a Mason jar filled with a brownish liquid.
“Is that it?” Angel asked.
“It is,” Willow answered.
She handed the jar to Angel who in turn handed it to Buffy. “There you go. You know what to do with it.” Buffy took the jar and nodded. She did know what to do.
“Be careful with that,” Willow advised. “That’s all I made. If you miss, then we’ll all be hurting.”
“So when are we doing this?” Spike asked. Angel could tell that he was ready for a fight. But the elder vampire looked around at the group skeptically. Everyone was still hurting from the morning’s conflict.
The fight would need to be quick. If this thing got dragged out, it wouldn’t matter if Merrick was hit with the potion. They would simply be overpowered.
“Gear up. We hit it twenty,” Angel decided. But then again, he didn’t need for this group to win. He just needed them to survive five minutes against the Dumont’s for him to slay Merrick. And if there was one good thing this group was good at, it was surviving the odds.
***
Cordelia clutched the baby tightly to her chest as she crept up the porch steps of the Summers home. She warily eyed the shattered front window and wondered at the cause. The baby, wrapped snuggly in its blanket, began to squirm and fuss.
It knew that something bad had happened here. Cordelia closed her eyes and tried to feel if there was any immediate threat. She sighed in relief when she found none.
“Ssh,” Cordelia cooed in the baby’s ear. “It’s okay, Sweetheart. There’s no danger here. Mommy’s sure of that.”
The baby seemed to understand the reassurances that Cordelia whispered. She knocked gently at the door perfunctorily. Cordelia knew that no one was home. She twisted the doorknob and crossed the threshold. Mother and child observed the damage with wide eyes.
“There was a heck of a fight here, Baby.” The child gurgled in agreement. Cordelia silenced her mind to try and detect what happened. “Daddy’s okay,” she stated confidently. “He got hurt, but nothing that can’t be fixed by a couple pints of blood and some rest.” She eyed the room skeptically. “Something tells me that he didn’t stop to rest.”
Glass crackled underneath the light step of her tennis shoes. Cordelia stopped and knelt down to the floor. Shifting the baby to her left arm, Cordelia bent down and touched the shaft of a six-foot tall standing lamp. The base was horribly bent. The bulb was broken off in the socket. Cordelia immediately knew it played a big part in the fight.
Cordelia stood back up and continued her examination of the house. She stepped in the dining room. First glance didn’t detect anything special, so she moved to enter the kitchen. But on second glance she noticed an envelope on the table. It had her name on it. And it was Angel’s scrawl.
Cordelia pulled out a chair and picked up the envelope. She fumbled with holding onto the baby and trying to open it. Finally, she succeeded. She read it aloud.
***
“Cordelia-
You see all the time in war movies how some soldier will write a letter home to a loved one in case of his death. Being immortal, and a demon, I never could quite grasp that concept. Funny how things work out. If you’re reading this letter, then that means I’m dead. Well, deader than normal.
Some bad things have happened here the past few days. Hell, some good things happened, too. I met a girl. Pretty. Smart. Prone to needing rescuing. Reminds me of a brunette I used to know. So, as you’ve probably guessed, I went and got killed trying to rescue her.
But enough about that. Assuming they survive it, Buffy, Wesley, Xander, or even Spike will be able to tell you about my tragic and hopefully heroic end. I’d hate to think my last moments were spent screaming like a little girl. Anyway, this letter is about you and me.
Never before have I met a woman as intriguing as you, Cordelia Chase. In my lifetime, and let me remind you I have had a long lifetime, there were few beings that made major impacts on my existence. I can count on one hand the number who made a positive impact on it. It shouldn’t be a surprise that you are on the list.
After leaving Sunnydale and Buffy behind, and after the tragedy that was Doyle’s death, I could easily have fallen apart. But there was one person that kept me from doing so. I owe you so much, Cordelia. You gave me friendship, and trust, and a connection to the world. You held me together during some of my darkest times. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t do the same.
I’m sorry that I left. I think in my own twisted way I thought my leaving would be good for you and the child. In truth, I found myself in the past few years making my top priority to do what was best for you. It’s why I always wanted to screen your dates. I wanted to make sure you only went out with the best. It’s why I was reluctant to teach you how to fight.
I always wanted to make sure that you would need me to protect you from the evil in the world. It’s why I risked my soul and my being by fighting the Beast. I had to make sure your child grew up in a world where it wasn’t hunted after because some evil thought it might be a warrior or a seer or God knows what.
I always felt that I would never reach the day in which I might Shanshu. I knew I would never experience the day where I could be human. That would have been the day I could tell you all the things I desperately wanted you to know. It would have been the day where you and I could walk into the sunset, free of the burden that plagued us for so long, and lived the rest of our days in peace. That obviously won’t happen.
But maybe I can take solace in knowing that your child was born safely. Perhaps it will be enough to know that the both of you can live long lives and take comfort in the love you can share. If I’m lucky, maybe I achieved some sort of salvation through that act.
No matter how rocky our relationship became towards the end of our time together, I want you to know that I always held you in the highest of regards. You were one of the few people who could look past the demon and see the man. You gave me more love and support than a creature such as me deserved. For that I will be eternally thankful. For that I will always love you, Cordelia Chase.
Your friend, always,
Angel”
Cordelia read the letter twice before setting it aside. Her heart sank as the words finally began to process. The only thing that hurt worse than the fact that Angel had met a girl was that he went off to get himself killed. Cordelia paused a moment from her self pity to pick up the letter again. She held the paper to her nose and inhaled. His scent was still fresh.
“The bitch is back,” Cordelia whispered. She wasn’t going to take this laying down. Cordelia Chase did not drive this fucking far just to find out that Angel was dead. “This ain’t gonna fly,” she assured her baby. Cordelia closed her eyes and attempted to reach out to Angel.
She smiled when she detected him. “He isn’t dead, Sweetie. And you and me are gonna make sure he stays alive…undead…whatever. Let’s ride.”
Cordelia folded the letter and tucked it into the back of her jeans. Baby in hand, Cordelia strode confidently into the living room. Tucked into a corner was a wooden chest. Banking that it contained weapons, Cordelia went to it. She was right. Cordelia extracted a short sword and discovered it had great balance.
“This is how it will work,” Cordelia said aloud. “I’m going to find whatever is trying to hurt Angel, and I’m gonna put this sword in his eye and kill it dead. And if I arrive to find Angel as a pile of dust, I’m going to kill whatever it is, resurrect the asshole, then I’m going to kill it again. Oh, and I’ll resurrect Angel, too. I probably won’t kill him, though. You ready to whoop ass?”
The baby gave a cry of excitement that Cordelia took as a yes. Cordelia walked past the wreckage and back out to the truck. She slid the sword beneath the driver’s seat and strapped the baby in the carrier. Popping the truck into gear, Cordelia prayed that her Angel-detector system came with locating radar.
***
“These fuckers better come back to win,” Frank stated. “I got fifty bucks on ‘em.”
The Dumont demons were still huddled around the television. Now they were watching the Dodgers game. All four demons had money on Los Angeles, but Kerry Wood was throwing a shutout for the Cubs.
Merrick looked on with vague interest. He remembered this game from the time before his imprisonment. He used to be a casual fan of the New York Giants. They were apparently in San Francisco now. That was enough for Merrick to decide following the sport wasn’t worth the trouble.
Over the cursing of the Dumont demons as Wood struck out another batter, Merrick’s senses detected the presence of visitors. He smiled when he realized that Angel had finally arrived.
“Shut the machine off,” Merrick ordered. The demons were about to protest when Merrick added, “It’s time to fight.”
Bruce flipped off the television just as Angel kicked down the front doors. Emma, Kayla, Giles, Lilah, and Xander flanked the vampire as they strode confidently into battle.
“Angel!” Merrick greeted warmly. “I’m glad that you finally made it. I would have baked a cake for your arrival, but somehow I knew that you wouldn’t be interested in eating. I see that I have been proven correct again. I know that you are Irish, but even degenerates such as they do not bring weapons to a get together.”
“Never heard of the IRA, have you?” Lilah asked from her safe position behind Angel.
“Lilah,” Angel warned softly. “Please do not irritate the extraordinarily powerful demon.”
“Oh. Right.”
Merrick walked slowly towards Angel as the Dumont demons gathered arms and prepared to fight. “Angel. Is this the meager force you’ve put together to stop me? I’m disappointed. Here’s a little piece of advice. When you fight the big bad bear, you don’t go in with a butter knife. You go in with a really big gun.”
A whoosh of air sounded behind Merrick. The demon turned and found a small blonde girl pointing a long tube at him. Buffy smiled, winked, and asked a very simple question.
“Is this big enough for you?”
