Part 5
THE PIT (Where we left off)
The cavern, cave or whatever, was like the rest of this hellish place, dark, damp and chilling. All mind-numbing gloom and enveloping darkness, lit here and there with flickering tongues of smoke riddled flame that instead of adding brightness only made the shadows dance even blacker on the uneven rock walls, giving everything an added surreal quality that was somehow more disturbing.
Talk about Dante’s Inferno- Yuck this place makes Pylea seem like summer camp, and as for the smell, urghh gag worthy. The whole place stank of terror and death, rotting things mixed in with soil, sweat and urine, Ewww gross. Though Cordelia’s reaction was less overwhelming now than when she’d first arrived and seen it up close and personal for the first time.
I am so gonna have to apologise to Lorne for giving him a hard time after that vision, sheesh. She shuddered and pushed the horrific images of that place from her mind. They’d get to that, but first things first.
They’d come here to find Angel and Wesley, Strike 1 check, but looks like they had a fight coming too, She knew she was being over emotional and allowing herself to be distracted but the relief to have found him was piercingly sweet and she intended to wallow in it for moment, thank you very much.
Not that Angel looked very pleased to see her, she thought wryly with a smirk. Horrified, shocked, stunned any of those fit his reaction better than welcoming. “Too bad, Angel- sometimes even big bad vamps need rescuing. That’s me, Rescue Girl”. She knew he couldn’t hear her, so grinned cheekily at him instead.
What the hell is she doing here? Was the first thought to cross his stunned mind when the rage of losing the kill he’d wanted so badly he’d been able to taste it, finally faded and he saw who’d fired the bolt.
All thoughts of the dead demon fled as pure shock had his face returning to human, even as he growled long and low at her recklessness. Look at her standing there all cocky confidence, like she’s not about to get her ass whipped in here – or worse. She didn’t break eye contact with him for several seconds, but lowered the crossbow and then grinned challengingly at him, hazel eyes sparkling even from this distance.
His eyes sparked topaz on seeing that provocative grin and he growled again. Almost roughly he jolted his eyes back to the demons as the danger of their situation registered now that it was no longer just him. Powerless to prevent it with the big yawning hole of the pit separating them, he saw a group of the demons break off their advance on him to attack her, and a dart of pure terror speared his chest.
Numbly he noted the closest of the demons were nearly on him. He didn’t care about that. He only cared about getting to Cordelia, but to do that, he had to kill those between him and her. Dammit, she’s gonna get herself killed. I swear if we get out of this alive I’m gonna wring her neck myself. He filled his mind with thoughts of dire retribution to ease the constriction in his chest at the thought of her getting hurt, deliberately fuelling his rage, making it burn brighter and hotter.
Furious with her putting herself in danger like this. He jerked his head to indicate the threat she was now facing, expecting to see fear chase itself across her beautiful face. Instead all she did was look at them, nod back and after blowing him a kiss, reloaded the crossbow with all the speed and dexterity she’d trained so hard to achieve.
Cordelia fired off a shot and felt the thrill of seeing the bolt aim sure and true right between the eyes above the, insert eye rolling here: stupid frickin mask, for chrissake. She knew Angel was pissed she was here and didn’t give a damn. He wasn’t the only one with a protective and possessive streak and he was just going to have to learn to deal with hers.
Dragging his burningly angry gaze off Cordelia, Angel scooped up the closest weapon lying just by the rocky edged rim of the pit. Armed now, he twirled the heavy double-headed axe in his hands, so that the twin heads chopped the air in a deadly whirl of circling, flashing metal.
“You guys are seriously pissing me off now, but don’t let that stop you”. He told them his face taut, intent and deadly serious. He spread his legs slightly to anchor himself for the coming rush and press of bodies. As he stood braced, he felt it rise inside him again, that weird rush of tingling and then the minute focus, that was somehow rage and hate combined, intermingled into one vengeful tool.
But he’d been expecting it this time and it wasn’t as disorienting. If it helped him get the two of them out of here alive, he welcomed it. He took a deep un-needed breath and held it, narrowing dark pitiless eyes as he centered all of his roiling emotions on the coming fight.
At a rough count he was facing almost two dozen of them now edging around the pit and over the stone hewn benches. Each of them bristling with weapons and some had even taken off the masks to snarl and growl in fury at the unexpected turn of events, for which they blamed him. He almost purred at the wave of hatred he could feel coming of them towards him, revelling in it- feeding of it.
With a quick darting look he counted Cordelia was faced with four, with more on the way and the haze of bloodlust was instantly replaced by terror again. Fuck, he didn’t have time for this. Rapidly changing his mind, he charged the oncoming demons, slamming the handle of the axe in the face of one, while slashing left and right on both sides, slicing deep into neck and jawbones, blood sprayed him and them with sticky gore.
The impetus of his charge was hardly slowed until they gathered themselves and used the longer reach of the swords and spear’s they carried to lunge and jab. Angel reared back, only just avoiding being gutted by a sword but was unable to avoid the spear that imbedded in his right shoulder. Enraged he gave a dull roar of mingled pain and rage. Fuck that hurts, time to fucking die, Asshole.
Grimacing at the pain, he gritted his teeth and grabbed the spear to yank it out of his shoulder. The other end was still held by his attacker. Gripping hard he yanked up and twisting the wooden handle jabbed back downwards with all of his considerable strength, stabbing the blunt end into the demons gut, left exposed when the spear had been jerked upwards and almost out of reach. “Was that good for you too”? He spat the taunt in its dying face.
He fought like a possessed thing, but it wasn’t enough for every demon he killed another took its place on the slippery battleground. Despite his rage, skill and strength Angel was being driven back by the sheer overwhelming number of them.
Help arrived from a totally unexpected quarter, when a tremendous clanging suddenly split the air and everyone froze for a moment. Then half of them turned and jogged towards, and out of the double doors at the other end of the cavern. Deciding not worry about what that alarm meant; he looked at Cordelia again – she was down to two. One was lying with the crossbow bolt in its chest; another had blood spreading around its head from a slashed throat.
That was good, but what wasn’t, was the blood trickling from her mouth and the bruising forming on her cheek and temple. Fury and fear was a potent mix and the bloodlust rose up even higher than before, a red haze again filled his vision and savagely he renewed his attack using both axe-heads, hacking and slashing at any limbs or body parts that got in his way.
The tide was reversed again as he pushed them back, his fear for Cordy making him a ferocious, thoughtless animal, acting purely on instinct. Movement of any kind was responded too with vicious speed and they fell around and under him.
They were down to four from nearly triple that number and he barely felt any of their strikes that hit him. He was bleeding from his shoulder a slash across his middle and another stab wound in his upper thigh, but none of them registered in his fevered mind. He had to get there in time, anything else was unthinkable.
One of the demons had an axe with a hook on one end and he found his own ripped from his hands, he snarled, immensely pissed off, and whipped up his leg in a snap kick in its face. It staggered back and he crouched and twisted, bringing his other leg around, hooking it behind its knees, to finally bring it crashing to the floor and toppling one of its comrades at the same time.
He wrenched free of their encircling arms and grabbing hands and looked up when he heard another commotion at the doors. He was facing them and saw more of the demons enter the room and look between him and Cordelia. Half went to him and half towards Cordelia. He was out of time, the reprieve was over and re-enforcements had arrived. Desperate he looked around the rim of the pit, his dark eyes searching for inspiration anything that would give him the break he needed.
From here you could see the edge wasn’t completely surrounded by the stone benches, only about two thirds. The last section on the opposite side and close to where Cordelia was fighting was almost totally ledge less. If he was going to help her, he had no choice but to jump over it.
With a last swinging punch and following it up instantly with a bone crunching side kick to the head of the next nearest, he gave himself some breathing space and sprinted in the opposite direction. He pumped his legs, pounding the rocky floor, pushing and reaching for more speed. The demons roared and howled with renewed energy at his ‘retreat’ and gave chase but couldn’t keep up with his ground eating strides.
He streaked around the rim of the pit and towards the farthest side where it met the wall, then gathering himself, tensed his leg muscles and pushing, launched himself into the air, tucking his legs up and then out- reaching for the ground on the other side. He landed and skidded on the rocky floor, spraying dirt from under his boots before regaining control of his impetus.
He came up behind the battle, before the newest contingent of demons had even reached the fighting woman. He wrapped an arm around the head of one and grabbing his own fisted hand on the other, he squeezed and twisted, yanking the skull out of alignment and finally with a last twist, snapped the neck.
Cordelia had been forced to the wall and the crossbow now useless lay on the floor. She’d put her training to good use, but had been losing ground and tiring fast. Several times she’d come to close to a death blow but had managed so far to block and weave, keeping her body a moving target, preventing them from cornering her. When she’d seen the new arrivals, her heart had sunk.
She’d not had a chance to get the shotgun out of the straps on her back for fear of leaving her torso exposed, so had been dodging, blocking and slashing when she could with the hunting knife. Crap, this is just great; you couldn’t have gone for something longer? , she berated herself and wide eyed, dodged another lunge from a snarling demon. Angelll, get your ass over here!
Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Angel making a mad dash around the pit. She wasn’t able to watch him for long but didn’t need too. Even from this distance she felt the whoosh of air and heard the splinter of rocks when he jumped and landed not far from her and her attackers.
Angel would have been forced to drop his axe before jumping, being large anyway he might not have made it with the extra weight. But now he was unarmed, so with no other choice he laid in with heavy fists and lashing kicks, dodging their retaliatory swipes and slashes.
One made the mistake of reaching too far, and seeing his chance Angel twisted sideways to avoid being impaled and then grabbed the demons hand wrapped around the hilt. The abrupt halt of its lunge confused the demon but also stopped it from retreating. Angel smashed a powerhouse punch straight into its pale face, it released the sword as it staggered back and he was armed again.
He reached out with one long arm and grabbing Cordelia’s arm, pulled her out of reach of a particularly vicious swing from a newcomer, fresh to the battle. Cordelia, hasn’t seen it and flashed him a grateful look and then laid her palm up to fist the hilt he slapped into her hand and hefting the sword, stabbed it deep into the chest of a demon coming up behind Angel.
Angel backhanded another and then used the movement to slam an elbow into the face of yet another. This was impossible to keep up, sooner or later they would get overwhelmed and he knew it. The number of demons they were facing now, all bristling with sharp blades swelled even more as those he’d left behind joined the fray. They were going to die, if they didn’t get out of here now.
Cordelia hacked and slashed with the sword creating some space and blocking the thrusts of others aimed at both her and Angel. Her arm, no scratch that, her whole body was aching like a sonvabitch, but she kept on going, what option did she have?
Angel must have sensed how tired she was getting because the next second, she felt him grab her by the waist. Angel wrapped his arms around Cordelia’s body and tucked it into his side, protecting her with his much larger, harder body. Then he dove for the floor, Cordelia understanding what he needed her to do, scrabbled desperately over the hard rock on her hands and knees.
They skirted the wall in a tumble of limbs too fast for the demons to keep up with and their vicious stabs stung the impervious rock behind the escaping vampire and woman. Once clear of the horde they staggered upright, Angel steadying Cordy as he lifted her almost off her feet and rushed them both towards the double doors. They might have made it, if one of the demons hadn’t guessed where they’d been heading for and tried to the head them off.
Angel ducked under an axe, meant to sever his head and drawing back his arm, drove a pile-driving punch straight into the demons gut, doubling it over and then head butting it on the way back up. The delay was costly but Cordelia made it to the door, Angel not far behind, whipped around to hold them off, giving her a chance to escape.
“Get out of here, run,” he yelled at her, not taking his eyes of the demons coming after them. Beyond infuriated now, they were snarling and snapping, showing blood stained teeth and fangs. All were rank with sweat and death and intent on exacting revenge. They wouldn’t give up their prey easily.
“Like Hell”, yelled back Cordy, not even considering it for a second. She reached behind her back with one hand to wrench the shotgun free, and at the same time grabbed the waistband of Angel’s pants with the other to yank him back. Not expecting anything like that from her, he fell back towards the doors she’d partially closed.
She stepped to the side of him and levelled the shotgun. A demon face almost kissed it, before she blew it off. The terrific blast of the shotgun reverberated in the air and with her ears were ringing, she staggered back into Angel, who returned the favour and hauled her the rest of the way out of the cavern.
Between them they got the doors closed and Angel kept his back to it to keep them that way, despite the heavy banging from the other demons on the side. Without being asked she hunted for something to block them, the heavy bar usually used was missing. Fucking typical but she found a spear which when he saw it, Angel eyed doubtfully.
“What? Like I have something better up my sleeve, get real”. She playacted checking the tight black wristband of her bodysuit. “This is it, Dumbass unless you have a better idea”? She glared at him and raised a brow, annoyed that he didn’t appreciate her initiative. She was tired, sore and pissed and he was giving her a hard time cos she didn’t carry a 150lb wooden bar on her? Get real, Buddy.
He didn’t have a better idea and he ignored the name-calling, which he knew- she knew- he hated. With no time for arguments, he just nodded and watched as she rammed it home between the two metal brackets. “It’s only gonna hold for about 30 seconds tops. So get ready for the race of your life”. He told her grimly and got ready to push himself away from the door.
“Okay, let’s get going then, delaying only makes me nervous”, she told him and set off in a sprint, knowing he would follow and catch her up almost immediately.
***
BUTCHERS BLOCK
Once inside the antechamber, after that weird little trip into the funny light thing, as Cordy put it; they had all agreed after a short, heated argument to splitting up in pairs, with Cordy finding Angel and making up her own pair. Gunn and Fred teamed up, leaving Giles with Lorne.
They’d been ordered by Cordelia for heaven’s sake, to wait a few minutes before leaving the room, to give her a chance to sneak out and find wherever they’d got Angel. Then they were to concentrate on finding Wesley, Lorne having been able to tell that from his vision-trip. When they’d been found, they would all meet up here again.
“Who else thinks Cordy’s gotten damned bossy for those ‘not so fashionable anymore’ boots” asked Gunn with a sulky frown. “Damn, that girl can ride roughshod over anyone”.
A part of him missed the fashion obsessed Barbie he’d first met and come to love, but knew that was just sour grapes cos he’d ended up sitting here while she went off on her own commando mission.
“This is so not right. Me, Charles Gunn bad-ass demon killer; sitting around waiting for super action-chick to do the demon booty kickin”.
“Leave her alone, Charles she’s worried about Angel and you know it makes sense, she can slip around without being noticed far easier than with all of us trooping about and giving the game away”. Snapped Fred, wound up with the waiting too.
The pretty dark haired woman, paced around the little room, sidestepping any bodies that got on her way; the room was too small for the four of them, plus the bodies of the two guards they’d dispatched on arriving.
“I do not ‘troupe’ and no one sneaks better’n me,” he argued, still pouting darkly.
“Give it up Gunn, believe me when I tell ya, life is so much easier when you just accept that it’s the females of any species that runs the show”.
Lorne imparted that bit of unwelcome, pearlish wisdom from his perch by the door, head back and eyes closed. He opened his eyes to look towards Fred and winked, making her laugh and breaking the tension a little. Gunn just shot them both a disgusted look and didn’t comment.
Giles hardly heard any of it, too busy mentally wishing himself anywhere else, why the devil do I always end up with the bizarre one? Someone up there hates me, that’s why, he mentally whined about being lumped with Lorne, all the while his face was perfectly straight.
Lorne looked at him so still and silent and wasn’t fooled, chuckling again he clapped a hand on the stiff shoulder of the Englishmen. “Stick with me baby, I won’t lead you astray- well at least not much”. Lorne laughed at his own joke and then sobered when Gunn decided it was time to get moving.
“Okay, Cordy’s had enough time, we need to get this show on the road before any more of those” he pointed at the dead guards, “decide to come in here”.
Lorne waited until Gunn and Fred had carefully crept out the door and then deliberately grandly, gestured that Giles could go first out of the door. ”After you, Sugar”.
Giles gave him a filthy look, cleared his throat, glared again and then without a word, strode to the door. Hmmphh, Sugar indeed.
They almost tripped over Fred and Gunn, standing frozen and staring with gaping, horrified faces at the scene before them. Fred stepped back and blinked like she was hoping to make it go away. Gunn steadied her with a warm hand on her small back. “Take it easy, Fred” he said softly, but there was a dangerous glint his brown eyes. “This is why we’re here, to end this”.
There was a large chamber directly ahead, encircled by the tunnel they were in. It had at least four entrances into it with strange demons busily bustling around carry gruesome platters of god knows what, but unfortunately each of them could guess. Like Angel before them they saw the huge stone slabs bloodstained and covered in dismembered body parts, some whole enough to be recognisable as human. As for the carcasses, strung up…
They all gagged a little at the sights and smells and averted their eyes for a moment, even then still seeing the grisly, macabre scene in their mind’s eye, burnt there by sheer revulsion
“Indeed” agreed Giles stiffly when he’d mastered his own response enough not to sound as unhinged as he felt. His normally serene and calm expression was gone and his eyes burned with anger and disgust.
“This must be stopped no matter what the cost”. He looked at his ‘partner’ and noted that for the first time since he’d met him, Lorne was obviously in no laughing mood.
“This is what I saw in my vision, only I concentrated on Angel, when I could”. He admitted and tried not to barf at the bloody scene, literally now in the flesh and blood.
“Cordy’ll find the boss-man and Wes is all mean, lean killing machine now. These people dead or alive need our help”. Replied Gunn, not taking his eyes of the sight before them and tightening his grasp on his huge, personally crafted curving axe.
“Won’t we need Angel and Wesley to do this”? Asked Fred, stiffening her spine nevertheless, prepared to do what she could. She might be a small skinny girl from the sticks but she could do some good here- even if it killed her.
“Maybe, but I’m not prepared to wait” was the terse reply from the large black man. They looked at one another, solemn with purpose.
“Ready” asked Giles, strangely elated to be here with these people he’d never had a chance to meet before and who only minutes ago where aggravating him like an itch he couldn’t scratch.
The gung-ho Gunn, stalwart Texan, and now serious demon all seemed like such a good fit, but what amazed him was the total acceptance that this was what had to be done and so would be. In that instant, his confidence in their ability to win the day irrationally soared. Bugger, rational.
They all took deep breaths and sent a prayer up to whoever was listening. “GO” finished Gunn with a roar and they all charged into the chamber of horrors.