Buffy walked into
the lobby of the Hyperion ready to do some damage control. She wanted to talk
to Faith and Riley over the loss of the significant others. Faith seemed fine,
like Wood’s death didn’t mean anything to her, but Buffy knew it was only a
facade. The other Slayer had stayed in her room all night and most of the day,
not letting anyone in, except for Xander. They were sitting side by side on the
couch, silently comforting each other. Buffy knew Xander was probably the best
person to help Faith, so Buffy moved on to Riley.
Riley also kept
to himself, but unlike Faith his face was filled with pain. Buffy walked to his
room and softly knocked on the door. There was no answer, but she knew he was
in there, so she quietly opened the door.
“Please leave” he
said his back to her.
“Riley, it’s me”
He turned his
head and then moved over on the bed, motioning for her to sit down. They sat
there silently for a few minutes, until Riley finally spoke.
“We were in
“At first all we
knew was there was a pretty big infestation in
* * *
“Come on Wes,
help me out here” she said closing the book in front of her. She was saddened
by the news of his death. When she first met him he was a stuck up British guy
barely able to fight. Then he changed into a very powerful man dying to save
the world. Five years ago she wouldn’t have thought about spending time with
him outside of the library, but since her last visit she had really wanted to
get to know him better.
Willow got out of
her chair to get something to eat, but was stopped when her knee hit the edge
of the desk, causing her to look down. Curious, she reached down to open the
bottom drawer and found it locked.
“Reveal” she said
causing the lock to open. She opened the drawer and pulled out a book with a
wolf, ram, and heart on the cover.
“Thanks Wes”
“Buffy!” Willow shouted
coming out of the office causing everyone in the lobby to look at her.
“What’s wrong
Will?” Buffy said coming down the stairs.
“I think I found
a solution to our little demon problem.” Willow paused making sure that all the
Scoobies were in the room “The reason the demons only come out at night are
because the sun kills them, like vamps.”
“But how does
that help us if they won’t come out during the day?” Faith asked standing and
walking over standing next to Buffy.
“There’s a spell
I worked on a few years ago to draw the power of the sun at night, to help
Buffy with slaying. I think I can make it work for this”
“But Will that
was small. It could only kill one vamp before it died. How do you expect to
kill a whole demon army the size of LA with it?” Buffy asked.
“Well I’m more
powerful now, but I do need someone else magically inclined to draw power from.
The only one I knew powerful enough was . . . T-Tara” Willow said barely
getting her name out.
“Oh, I’ve been
practicing some magick. I could help.” Dawn said breaking the awkward silence.
“Sorry, Dawnie,
but I’m talking major mojo here”
“Me. I’m not
exactly a warlock, but I do have a lot of power. Could you draw power from me?”
The Immortal asked.
“Yeah, I think
so, but it still might not be enough.” Willow scanned the group trying to find
power in any of them. She was starting to worry that her plan wouldn’t work.
Then her eyes fell on Illyria.
“Illyria, as a
god you have a whole lot of mystical power right?”
“Yes. My power
was greater than many of the other gods. They would cower before me.”
“Well, will you
be able to help with the spell?”
“In this plain of
existence my power is not as great” she said tilting her head to the side “But
I believe it will be sufficient”
* * *
“Will, do you
have everything?” Buffy asked walking over to the witch.
“Yeah, I think
so”
Buffy nodded
scanning the room. All the Scoobies, Slayers, and troops were gathered in the
hotel lobby, waiting to go back out and fight. Buffy’s eyes stopped on the two
Vampire’s standing in the corner looking very unhappy. They weren’t thrilled
knowing they would have to stay behind in the safety of the hotel, away from
the threat of the sun. Buffy grabbed her sword and lead the way out of the
hotel.
They all stood in
an street intersection forming a protective circle around Willow and her two
power sources. Willow was breathing heavily, preparing herself for the spell.
They stood there for a few minutes as the night beat back the remaining rays of
day. The sound of the demons running toward them could be heard before any of
them were seen.
As Willow started
chanting the fight began. Many of them had suffered injuries from the previous
night’s battle and it cost them. Xander looked around noticing more human
casualties than demon. He stole a look at Buffy to make sure she was okay, but
he only caught a glimpse of her. All he was staring at now was concrete being
stained by his blood.
Faith heard Willow
screaming her incantation to be heard over the loud clanging os swords and the
screams of pain. Faith found her eyes drifting from the demon in front of her
to a space a few feet away. She screamed as she saw him get stabbed in the
stomach and fall to the ground. She ran to him easily killing anything that got
in her way. She checked his pulse and sighed of relief as she found one.
Faith picked
Xander up, not aware of how much blood he was losing. She started running to
the safety of the hotel, not caring that she was fleeing from the battle,
something she never did. Xander started to stir in her arms, his eyes
fluttering open.
“W-What’s
happening?”
“You’re hurt, but
I’m gonna get you fixed up”
“No, th-the
fight. We have to fight”
“Well right now
you’re not even a match for Andrew.”
He smiled before
falling back into unconsciousness. Faith was closing in on the hotel, hoping
she would make it there in time.
“I’m not losing
you too”
“I call you from
the shadows of night, from the depths of darkness.” Willow chanted as bolts of
orange energy erupted around her “Emerge from your hallow ground and bring
forth your penetrating light.” Putting emphasis on her last word she reached
her hands to The Immortal and Illyria. Bolts of energy erupted from her hands
and engulfed the two beings draining the power from them.
From the center
of the circle a tiny speck of light appeared, then grew bigger and floated to
into the night sky. For a heartbreaking second Willow thought that it wasn’t
going to work, but as the demons began to realize what was happening they
stopped fighting and ran for cover. They never made it. Simultaneously the
demons burst into flames and burned out of existence. Willow turned around to look at The Immortal
and Illyria and gasped.
* * *
“Help” Faith
yelled as she burst through the Hyperion doors. “Get the First Aid kit and
bandages” she said as Angel and Spike came running into the lobby. She laid
Xander on the couch and tried the stop the bleeding.
“How much?” Faith
asked looking up at Angel.
“He’s lost a lot,
but not enough to kill him . . .yet”
“It’s not just
his” Spike observed smelling the air, then looking at Faith “You’ve lost some
blood too”
Faith looked down
and saw a large gash across her thigh. She shrugged and turned her attention
back to Xander. His faced was drained of color and he lay perfectly still. If
it wasn’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Faith would have thought
he was dead. She started to feel sick and backed away from Xander, letting
Spike and Angel take over.
She looked out
the window and saw something light up the night sky. She smiled to herself
“Something’s finally going right”
* * *
“
“Where am I?”
Fred asked staring at the people in front of her.