Angels and Demons ~ The Series

Angels and Demons ~ Episode 19: Ambuscade Vital, Part 2

2008-07-20T18:30:05Z

Back to part 1

Angels and Demons ~ Episode 19: Ambuscade Vital, Part 2

They were ready—as ready as they could be. Contingencies were discussed, demands settled on; all they needed now was for the phone to ring.

When it finally did, they all jumped. Spike recovered first, and because they had decided he would be better at negotiations, he grabbed the phone.

“Hello?”

“My Spike! I hoped you’d answer. You’ll never guess what happened. It’s the most delightful thing—”

He heard the sound of the phone being grabbed by someone else, and then Ethan’s accented voice reached him.

“Are you ready to trade?”

There was an edge of nervousness to his voice that Spike didn’t like, but could hardly ask about. Instead, he made his voice cool, businesslike. “We’re ready. Where and when?”

“So eager. I’m happy to hear that. Well, there’s no time like the present. How about fifteen minutes from now, at South Park? It’ll be deserted at this hour, and we can do our business in private.”

“And you’ll bring Gwen with you?” Spike asked.

“Now, I think that as a show of good faith on your part, you should turn over the witch first. Then we’ll call and tell you where you can pick up Ms. Raiden.”

“It’s not my good faith that’s in question, though,” Spike answered smoothly. “It’ll go down like this: we’ll show up with Willow, and you’ll show up with Gwen. And once the trade is made, we walk away, no surprises.”

For a moment he thought he might get away with it. But Ethan’s voice came back quickly, low and angry. “I’m not an idiot, vampire. Ms. Rosenberg is a witch of great power. If we switch the way you want, what’s to keep her from going ‘poof’ right before our eyes?”

Spike was silent, waiting for a counter-offer. Ethan didn’t make him wait long.

“This is the way it will go down. We’ll meet at the park, just the girl and one other person. She goes with us, and once she’s safely settled into our facility, that is when you’ll get the call with the instructions on where to find Ms. Raiden.”

“And what’s to keep you from killing Gwen and dumping her body in the bay? For that matter, how do I even know she’s alive at all?” Spike asked sharply. He knew it was a losing battle—that they’d probably end up acceding to Ethan’s wishes—but he wasn’t going to give up easily.

Spike saw Angel flinch at his words, but they were necessary. He needed as much information as he could get.

“You have my word as a gentleman,” Ethan replied.

“Yeah, and what’s that worth?”

“It’s all you’re going to get,” the man snarled. “Quit wasting my time. If I don’t see the witch in fifteen minutes, the deal is off.”

Spike was about to reply but Ethan had already hung up.

“What’d he say?” Fred asked. Spike looked at Angel who was silent, closed off, then back at the thin girl demanding his attention.

“Ah,” he ran his hand over his face wearily. “He says we have to meet them at South Park in fifteen minutes. No bargaining.”

Gunn looked at him strangely. “Dude, you’re joking, right?”

His fangs were getting longer as the direness of the situation got to him. “Do I look like I’m joking, mate?” Spike took a step toward him. Gunn held his ground.

“I’m just saying. South Park is a TV show. I think the real town’s in Colorado. We ain’t getting there in fifteen minutes.”

“No,” Fred interrupted. “It’s a park park, with trees and swings. It’s on South Park Street, a couple of miles down Third. We can make it there if we leave now.”

“He sure didn’t give us much time,” Willow commented.

Angel stood up from his chair of depression, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Willow… if you…you don’t have to do this.”

She shook her head hard, refusing to cry. “I do. They wouldn’t be thinking about you guys if it wasn’t for me. I’m going.”

“They said one person can go with her. I’m that person.” Spike let his eyes fall on each of them, waiting for opposition. None came. “Good. Here’s the plan. We all go together to the park. When we get close, Willow will teleport Angel and Fred to Hayward, just not inside wherever they’re holding Gwen. Fred, you’ll have to access the power that Big Blue left in you, okay?”

She nodded, glad to have a use for it finally.

“Okay, Gunn, you’ll hang back; be our ace in the hole during the exchange. Everyone know what they need to do?” He glanced around, relieved to see nods. Angel was usually the one giving the orders and he looked like he wanted to now. Spike couldn’t deal with dissension within the ranks. They could argue about it all later…after Willow and Gwen were safe.

“Right. Let’s go.”

~~~*~~~

They crossed Brannan Street without contest. The streets in the South of Market district were deserted at this time of night and would not get busy again until the sun crept up and businesses opened.

Right around the park was a small residential area, out of sync with the surrounding business section of the city. This wasn’t downtown proper, but it had the same feel.

Slowing them down, Fred peek at her watch. “The park’s two blocks up. You have two minutes. Willow, you better send me and Angel on now.”

The redhead pursed her lips, took a deep breath, then ordered them to hold hands before closing her eyes and whispering in Latin. A swirl of smoke encompassed the pair, then seemed to merge with them, whisking them away with a unnatural gust of wind.

Slack-jawed, Gunn was stunned. “Wow, you really are a witch.” He knew it of course, had seen odd things in his life as well, but to watch your friends vanish was a little unsettling even for his jaded self.

“Yeah, unfortunately I am.” Her eyes were dark and Gunn was about to comment when Spike gave a slight shake of his head.

The man hefted his crossbow. “I’ll circle around.”

Spike agreed and took Willow by the hand. “Let’s get this over with.”

~~~*~~~

Angel stared at the building in front of him, wishing that he still had the senses that he had taken for granted for over 250 years. Instead, he had to rely on others to tell him what was happening beyond the obvious.

Nostrils flared, Fred tried to understand all she smelled and saw and heard. Part of her was fearful that just allowing this would bring the Old One back. She shoved that fear way and did what was needed. “I can smell her,” she told Angel, frowning.

“Where?” Angel inquired, excitedly.

“Inside.” She stalked up to the building’s wall, sniffing it, then sniffing a bush close to it. “Around here. I think she was taken this way.”

Angel followed Fred’s lead around what was an out-of-business restaurant, until they reached a delivery bay in the back. They hopped up onto the small docking area. The door was closed and secured with thick padlocks.

“The chain’s old, but the lock is shiny and new.”

“This has to be it,” she told him, then broke the chain easily. “Wow. Still not used to that.”

They opened the door silently and Angel walked in behind her, recalling the time when he had the power and it was new and intoxicating. Fred’s hand on his forearm stopped his mental roaming. She smelled blood. Lots of it.

“This way,” she said.

~~~*~~~

The park was dark and deserted, just as Ethan had promised, but Willow still felt eyes watching her. One set, she knew, belonged to Gunn, hidden away with his trusty crossbow. But the others, she suspected, belonged to members of the Cartel, eager to reacquire their ‘prize.’ She shivered in fear, the thick jacket she wore doing nothing to warm her from the ice cold hand that clutched her heart.

Spike’s arm rested on her shoulder, protective and comforting. But soon he would be gone, and she would be alone again. Memories of how it had been the last time she’d been captured threatened to overwhelm her, but she closed her eyes and pushed them aside. Would her life ever be normal again, she wondered, or would she always be a target? That was, assuming she managed to make it out of this situation alive.

“You okay?” Spike asked softly, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

She bit back a caustic retort. Of course she wasn’t okay, and they both knew it. Instead, she pasted a tremulous smile on her face and looked up into his. “I will be,” she promised.

He stopped and pulled her into his arms. “Won’t let them hurt you. Something goes wrong and you can’t get back, just hold on and I’ll come for you. I’ll never stop looking.” He kissed her, a hot searing kiss meant to remind her of the depth of his passion for her.

“How touching,” Ethan drawled, his voice dark with sarcasm. “The vampire and his witch. You do get around, Spike. First Drusilla—who I must say is pining away for you—then the Slayer, and now the little witch. I can’t fault your taste, but I do wonder how you keep them all straight.”

Spike snarled, his human mask melting away quickly. “Where’s Gwen?”

“You’ll know soon enough,” Ethan replied smoothly. “We’ll give you a call when we’ve got your friend safe and secure. Until then, we’ll take good care of her.”

Spike could sense the man was uneasy—scents didn’t lie—but he didn’t know what to do about it. Everything was happening too fast.

Ethan held out his hand to Willow. She hesitated, giving Spike one last longing look, and then pulled away from him, eschewing Ethan’s hand and giving him an angry glare.

“Don’t forget what I said,” Spike told her.

She smiled. “I won’t.” Whether or not he’d be able to do as he promised, she didn’t know. But she knew that he’d try, down to his dusting day, and that made her feel a little better. And, conversely, a little worse.

As Spike watched, they walked across the park, past some trees, and out of his sight. A moment later he heard a car starting up. Then they were gone.

He swung around and headed back to his car, cursing.

“This is going to be okay,” Gunn assured him, as they left the parking lot and headed back home.

“Easy for you to say,” Spike muttered. “Not your girlfriend they’re planning on torturing.”

Gunn sighed, but held his tongue. Every day Annabelle was out on the streets she was at risk; one of his worst fears was that he’d get a call at three a.m., telling him she’d been murdered by some crack-head or drunk driver. But telling Spike that wouldn’t do any good right now. His problem was immediate and painful, and the only thing to do was to get through it.

~~~*~~~

They walked down a wide corridor, reaching a steel door. A bloody hand print stood out, vividly, demanding their attention. Angel reached for the latch.

“No,” Fred stopped him. “Let me go first.” Her senses told her one thing, but she couldn’t really trust them yet, everything about them was so foreign. She hauled the door open and stepped through.

It was dark, nearly black inside, but a large shape was reflecting the small amount of moonlight coming through the tiny, slat-like windows near the ceiling. Angel felt around the wall for a switch while Fred stepped slowly into the room, getting closer to the thing in the center.

“Fred,” he whispered, temporarily abandoning his search for light. “What is it?”

She didn’t answer. Just kept going, growing more certain that they were completely alone as each second passed.

“Fred?” His voice was harsher now.

Freezing, she took several breaths before turning back and walking rapidly toward Angel. “She’s not here anymore.”

He grabbed her by her thin upper arms. She was like steel underneath her skin and he knew she was letting him do this. “What? What’s wrong? Is Gwen in here?”

Fred shook her head. “No, now let’s go. Spike probably needs help with…”

“Screw Spike!” he yelled shaking her. She squealed, shocked more than hurt – he really wasn’t capable of that – and he let her go. “Sorry. I’m just…I need to know, Fred.”

She nodded and pulled away from him, stalking purposely over to the wall and flipping a switch.

Shielding his eyes from the glare, he took cautious steps deeper into the room, really seeing what was inside for the first time. A glass cage.

“It’s Plexiglas so she couldn’t get a charge,” Fred offered, feeling sick inside while she waited for him to see what she had already seen. “They must not have known she wasn’t able to…”

“Oh god,” Angel moaned, dropping to his knees.

Blood, too much of it, lined the floor, decorated by the odd shoe outline or handprint. Also on the floor sprawled on a blanket was a tiny body. His baby.

“Gwen!” he yelled. “Gweeeeeeeen!”

Fred rushed to him, trying to pick him up. He shoved her away with a growl but stood. “Oh god, oh god, oh god!” He turned in circles. “Where is she? Where is she!?” he howled toward the sky.

“We’ll find her, Angel. Come on! Pull it together! We need to call the others and stop them from letting Willow go with Ethan.”

Angel wiped roughly at his tears and pulled his cell from his pocket. “Yeah, okay.” He handed it to her, trying not to shake too badly. “You dial, okay?”

~~~*~~~

It was far too late, of course. Fred suspected it even before she dialed the number for Spike’s cell, but there was nothing else for her to do.

She felt hysteria building below the surface, a scream threatening to claw its way out of her throat. Gwen was...she couldn’t bring herself to think it. Her mind would get to the edge of it, then make a U-turn back to something safe. But Angel was losing it, far worse off than she was, and with good reason. She’d have to be the one who held it together.

“Yeah?” Spike answered on the first ring.

“Gwen’s gone. All we found was a lot of blood, and…” she bit her lip until she felt blood trickle from the hole. Angel was watching her, his face blank.

“Fuck!” Spike shouted. “I knew this was a bad idea. But no, Willow had to go off and try to save Gwen, even though we had no proof she was alive. Shit!”

He fell silent, and for a moment she wondered if he’d hung up.

“How’s he doing?”

She sighed. “Going into shock, I think.” To make matters worse, they were miles from home. It was going to take forever to get a taxi that would take them back to San Francisco. “What are we going to do?” she whispered. Whatever it was that had kept her going so far was fading, and she didn’t know if she was going to be able to get them back home before either she or Angel lost it completely.

“Call a cab. Get back here as soon as you can,” Spike said wearily. “We’ll have to decide what to do next. Hopefully Willow will be back soon, and we can figure it out from there.”

~~~*~~~

Spike wasn’t nearly as certain as he should be that Willow was going to make it back to them. Ethan had proven he was no dummy; they could only hope that he wouldn’t be expecting a scientific answer to his dampening field. He would expect Willow to try to escape using magic. But science? Hopefully that was something he hadn’t considered.

Gunn wandered in, full of nervous energy. “Who was that?”

“Fred. Gwen’s gone. Lots of blood there. Angel’s in shock. Pretty much a crap situation all the way around.” Spike wanted to hit something, to pound someone or something into a bloody pulp until they were unrecognizable. Instead, he grabbed the remote and hurled it at the television, not satisfied with the crackling and popping sounds the TV made as it went through its death throes.

“Dude,” Gunn said softly. “Control. Maybe Gwen’s not...”

Spike shook his head. “She’s dead. I see Dru’s dainty fingerprints all over this. Took her, made it bloody because she knew Daddy would approve of it.” A weary hand massaged his forehead. “Couple of days from now Gwen’ll rise; Angel will be her first priority.”

“Shit.”

“Every minute that passes, I keep hoping Willow will show.” He fell into the chair, staring at what used to be their TV. “Beginning to think they’ve outsmarted us there, too.”

“We’ll get her back,” Gunn assured him, shocked, but doing his best to sound like he believed his words. “Just need a little time to regroup, then we’ll hit them with everything we’ve got.”

Neither one of them wanted to think about how far Ethan and Dru could take Willow in the next 24 hours. She could be in San Francisco, or in Austria, or anywhere in between; without their resident witch, there’d be no way for them to know.

~~~*~~~

Willow took in her surroundings, paying close attention to ways out and possible weapons. She didn’t expect to have to use the information if things went according to plan, but she felt the girl scout in her rising up: Be prepared.

The concept kept flowing through her mind, relentless and aggravating really, giving her a sense of doom where she thought she should be feeling optimistic.

Her hands were bound by manacles that radiated a very limited dampening field of their own, stopping her from casting, but they were in front of her which was a blessing. She was also mentally prepared for what could happen and would attempt to slip away to the astroplane if the pain was too much.

The situation would not come to that, though.

She walked up a flight of stairs, Ethan first and another man taking up the rear. Once they reached the top, the hallway widened so that they could continue side by side, and she didn’t yet feel so much like a prisoner as an extra in a bad 80’s rock video.

At the end of the hall, mutable light streamed through a crack between double doors. A tall vampire opened one side for them and Willow followed Ethan inside.

The scent of burning wick and wax was strong, stinging her nose and making her eyes water. Off in a dark corner was a metal cage and she wondered if they ordered them in bulk from Torturers R Us.

The setting was the same, just in a different location.

A goofy laugh rang in her ears, surprising her because it came from her. Ethan peered at her oddly, then stepped aside, nodding at the demons waiting by the cage. As they approached, the panic set in and she spun around and ran.

Right into Drusilla.

“Oh goddess,” she gasped while stumbling backward.

The vampire’s eyes narrowed. “Something something something inside. She hides. Ready to strike.”

Ethan had looked bored up until now.

“Do you see something, Drusilla?”

She craned her neck to look at him, a pout forming. “No, I don’t. She hides too well from prying eyes.”

The demons had the redhead, each by hooking an arm through her bound ones, and were dragging her to her new and, if they had their way, last home.

~~~*~~~

Toting a corpse, even one as small as a premature baby, was difficult. Fred’s nerves were fraying at the seams as they sat in the cab. The driver turned onto Third and she had never been so glad to see their street as she was at that moment. At any second, she expected the cabbie to turn around and accuse them of killing the fetus. She pictured her reaction, the ensuing fight, the police chase, everything vividly detailed by her overactive imagination.

Fortunately, nothing close to that happened and they departed the vehicle safely. Angel paid the man in slightly less of a stupor than he had been in previously, and held the door for her to enter the office. She felt a little better since it seemed he was getting a modicum of his strength back.

Spike and Gunn were waiting in the living room. Angel stared at the blond and held out his hands to him, the blood of his burden seeping through the cloth remnants in which it was wrapped.

Spike almost took a step back, the scent of blood and death and pain that lingered on the small body invading his senses. Instead, he pulled Angel to him by the back of his neck, careful of the baby between them, and let him get it out. Crazed agonizing howls. That was how the first sobs sounded to Gunn and he quickly found something to do in the kitchen. Fred wanted to help and stood by the door awkwardly until she decided to follow Charles and fill him in on what they had discovered.

Alone, the one who knew Angel best gave him the security to let down his guard and grieve for another child that he would never see grow up. They sank to the floor and the tiny form rested in Spike’s lap while he did his best to reassure Angel that they would find Gwen and get her back. He lied like his life depended on it. In a way, Angel’s did. The man needed that bit of hope to get through this mountain of despair and Spike gave him that freely, knowing later they would all pay the price again.

In his mind, Gwen was gone. Dead at best, turned at worse. If Drusilla remained predictable, he was making a point of pulling all the welcome signs from the office. No use inviting trouble.

After a few minutes Angel calmed and pulled away, wiping his puffy red eyes with his sleeve. He stared at Spike for a beat, nodded, then took then his baby from the vampire.

“We have to call Annabelle.”

It was Gunn, standing over by the kitchen. He had no clue about how to behave when your friend’s baby was just murdered. He’d thought it was hard when Connor was taken, but at least then there’d been hope. This was just fucked.

“Gwen had prenatal care,” he went on to explain. “They have records of that. Her OBGYN could get nosy. She’ll handle things for you…if you want, I mean.”

Angel didn’t trust himself to speak. Spike stepped in for him. “Yeah, all right. Get her to come here though, then tell her.”

Gunn nodded, then walked down the hall to make the call.

~~~*~~~

Willow waited uneasily as the minutes ticked by. She was naked and freezing cold; the demons had decided it would be fun to strip her before throwing her into her cage. They left only her shoes and her earrings. At first she’d wondered why they’d left the earrings, but it became clear when one of the creatures had decided she’d look better with a nose piercing.

They’d taken one of the earrings and jammed it through the outside of her right nostril, smiling and laughing uproariously as she screamed at the pain. Even now she could feel the crusted blood that had dried on her face. But she still had the earring, the get-out-of-jail-free card that Fred had gifted to her.

Handcuffs still bound her, and the knowledge that her captors were just getting started with their “persuasion” made her even colder.

The door opened and Ethan slipped through. Two demons followed him, humanoid, but obviously not human. Their eyes glittered with gold and a set of ridges traced a line from the corner of their inhuman eyes to the end of their pointed chin. Their skin was the same translucent white of vampire skin, but their lips were a vibrant green.

Willow wasn’t familiar with this particular species, but there was no ignoring the malice on their faces. That was something that neither race nor species could disguise.

“I won’t bother asking whether you’re ready to change your mind,” one of the demons said. “Yet.”

The threat was implied, and understood, and she tried to scurry back away from the cage door as the second demon opened it.

“Dear girl, you’re only making this harder on everyone.” It was Ethan, trying to be the voice of reason.

“Your stomach not as strong as you thought, Ethan?” she taunted as she scrabbled away from a reaching hand.

“I’m working with Drusilla; what do you think?”

“That you’re in over your head, and looking to me to ease your conscience.”

He chuckled at that, and the sound didn’t make Willow feel any better. Even worse, the demon that had been trying to grab hold of her managed to snag her ankle, using it to pull her towards the door to the cage. She fought hard, trying to buy more time as well, but all too soon the demons had pulled her out of the cage. She stood between them as they led her from the room.

Down the hall they dragged her, stopping before a heavy door with a handle instead of a doorknob. Ethan pulled the door open as the two demons pushed her inside.

“This is where I say goodbye, dear lady. I wish you luck with whatever the future holds for you.” He made a courtly half-bow and then pulled the door closed behind him, leaving her alone in the room with her captors.

The room was something out of her worst nightmares; whips, knives and other implements of torture were everywhere.

She flashed back to the place where they’d tortured her the first time she’d been kidnapped; every one of those items had a memory for her. She was intimately familiar with how they worked, and just how much pain they could cause a human being.

Panic surged; the earring was forgotten in her terror, and she thrashed between the demons, trying madly to escape their hold no matter what the cost.

“Fight us all you want,” one of them told her. “It just makes it more fun when we break you.”

A hand circled her throat, cutting off her air flow. She wriggled against them, desperate for air, but she couldn’t shake the hand clenched around her throat so tightly. Before long black spots swam before her eyes, growing larger and larger until consciousness left her for good.

~~~*~~~

When Annabelle took the call from Gunn, she had been about to go home, and still wanted to, tired as she was, but his voice held this frantic edge that had her agreeing to drive over to his apartment – without Tim – as he had insisted. She was concerned the entire trip over, wondering what could shake her normally calm and collected lawyer.

She swung a u-turn to take the empty parking spot across the street, locked her vehicle and sprinted to the office door. Gunn was waiting.

“Hey,” she greeted, stepping in out of the cooler night air. “What’s got you up this late?” She was searching his eyes, more so because he seemed to be avoiding hers. “Gunn?”

He leaned in and kissed her quickly, like a thief, then took her hand, entwining their fingers. “Come on up.”

Understanding that he was working up to whatever it was he’d called her for, she remained silent and allowed him to lead her to the apartment. Inside, Spike paced, looking tired, which she found interesting since he was a vampire and shouldn’t get tired. She would have to ask Gunn later.

Spike turned his attention to them. “Did you tell her?”

Shaking his head, Gunn tugged at Annabelle’s fingers and finally looked her in the eye. “We…today someone kidnapped Gwen.”

“What?” she yelled, then lowered her voice when he took a step back. “Sorry. Did you call the police?” she asked, already knowing the answer, which raised a bunch of other questions.

“No, the police can’t deal with this,” Spike answered for him, as Fred came out of the kitchen. “They took her because they wanted Willow. It’s too complicated to explain why, but we tried to get her back, make a switch. Everything went to soddin’ hell and now they have them both,” he explained. “They killed the baby, made her miscarry, it seems.”

“Oh, Spike…” Annabelle gasped, her eyes drifting to the door leading to Angel’s bedroom. “How is he?”

Spike shrugged. “Distraught, but he could be worse. He’s hoping…we all are.”

“Yeah, of course,” she blurted out, not needing him to finish that sentence.

“Angel and Fred found the body. He brought it back…the body. Can you help us?”

She took a deep breath, thinking of what she could possibly do to make this easier for these people. The situation was nightmarish at best. She was at a loss for what to do. “What do you need?”

Gunn gave her a rundown of things that had to be handled and she agreed to do her best, and then—at his insistence—she left. He didn’t want Ethan or Drusilla to notice her like they had noticed Gwen.

Once she was gone, Fred slipped up next to Spike, silent. It was spooky how quiet she was when she wasn’t talking.

“We should try the locator spell.” They looked at her, frowning. “I saw what she used and how she did it and Angel’s done spells before. He can do it again. And I bet they don’t have the wards up. They already have Willow.”

Spike thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “Yeah, they have Willow, but there are other groups that could mount a rescue using magic. There’s that coven she belongs to, or the Watcher’s Council. They’ll keep the wards up. The stakes are too big for them not to.”

Sensing the frustration he was keeping closely reigned in, she rested a hand on his shoulder. “Then we’ll just have to come up with something else.”

~~~*~~~

Willow was jolted awake by pain that infused every part of her body—deep pain from the cuts and lashes of a whip, brought down on her naked body over and over again. She had screamed; she had cried; she had fainted maybe a dozen times over the course of several hours. But every time she lost consciousness they brought her back and hurt her some more.

Time had turned elusive; she thought that half a day had passed since her abduction, but she wasn’t sure. And she wanted to give the others at least that much time—twelve precious hours—before she tried to get free. They needed the time to get Gwen back.

She opened her eyes, hoping that the room really was as empty as it felt and sounded. The horrifically familiar dungeon surrounded her, but at least for the moment she was alone. She was lying on a wooden pallet, small slivers prickling her body everywhere her skin touched the rough surface. When she tried to shift her body pain shot though her back, her skin burning from deep inside, and she held back a scream.

I have to be quiet, she thought. She didn’t want to give them an excuse to come and check on her.

Slowly, painfully, she managed to bring her right hand up to her nose. The earring was still there, covered with dried blood, but her fingers closed in on the little gemstone and, after some fumbling, she managed to twisted it counterclockwise.

At first nothing happened, and panic swelled until it was all she could do to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest. Then, her eyes became unfocused and she saw the dampening field around her quivering. She wasn’t sure if it was going to be enough of a disruption, but she didn’t have any other options.

Gathering all the power she could, she directed it downward, pushing through the barriers and into the earth. She thought of the place she felt safest and used it as a target. As she moved through space a scream ripped its way from her throat, shattering the world around her until everything went black.

~~~*~~~

Spike was pacing. He’d rather be killing something, but the soul kept that in check—just barely, it seemed. Gunn was asleep and Fred had gone to check on Angel for the umpteenth time, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Not a good place to be.

He’d promised Willow he’d come for her, no matter how long it took. But now that he was potentially faced with that reality, he wasn’t sure how he was going to do it.

Calling Giles and the rest of the white hats was beginning to look like a necessity. They’d gotten her into this mess in the first place; it was the least they could do to get her out. But every time he reached for the phone something stopped him. Maybe it was his innate fear of the strings that would be tied to their offer of help. Or perhaps he didn’t trust them. Either way, he determined not to contact them just yet. It had only been twelve hours, after all. Twelve lonely, agonizing, heart-stopping hours.

Was that a sound? He almost dismissed it as his imagination, but then he heard it again. The merest whisper of a sound, it could have been a weak cry, or a squeaky door, but his heart and demon hoped for the former and not the latter. It was coming from one of the bedrooms. He raced to the hallway, waiting for it to happen again.

Was it her, or merely a trick played on him by his over-eager imagination? When the sound did not repeat he slumped against the wall, sliding slowly to the floor. His eyes closed as he buried his head in his hands. He was fooling himself; there was nothing there. Nothing but empty rooms, every one of them smelling like her.

His eyes opened as hope surged again. Her scent was strong. Too strong to be residual. And the sound—a heartbeat, slow and thready—came from his room. It had to be her.

He was up in a blink and through his door in the next, coming to a jolted stop when he saw the lump on his mattress.

“Willow…” he took another step, the scent of her blood and pain filling his nostrils, waking his demon. She was naked, flesh torn and abused. If he didn’t love her, a part of him might have found it pretty. “Christ, what’ve they done?”

She shifted slightly and whimpered, “Spi…”

His eyes widened. “Fred!” he yelled and approached the bed carefully. “It’s me, Willow. Spike. You’re safe.” Close to her now, he could hear how ragged her breathing was, the state of her condition becoming apparent in hard to accept stages.

They’d whipped her, cut into her, beaten her with something blunt by the look of the bruises. He suspected broken bones as well, but was reluctant to touch her for fear of hurting her more. Fred appeared behind him, making enough noise to be heard, which he appreciated.

Her eyes were curious as she observed Spike on his knees by his bed, until she saw Willow. “Oh my god, Spike. How?”

“Later,” he growled. “Help me. I need something to put her out so I can check her injuries.” Fred nodded and was gone, pushing past Angel as he came in.

“What’s…” he tried to ask, but Fred was gone so he turned to the blond. “What’s going on?”

Jaw clenching and releasing, Spike shook his head at the mess the demons had made of her. He leaned back enough for Angel to see. “The disruptor worked. She’s back.”

Angel swooped down on his knees next to him, careful not to touch the bed. “Jesus. Is she…” He trailed off as the other man moved his head up and down. Time passed, neither of them knew how much. Spike was lulled by Willow’s slow thudding heartbeat and Angel was in a stupor, wondering how many he had to lose before the Powers would decide that he had paid enough.

The Shanshu was supposed to be a reward, a starting over with a clean slate sort of deal. That was how he saw it in his mind, yet he wasn’t so sure anymore. Perhaps this was another test that he had to pass before the real forgiveness came.

Loud banging in the kitchen alerted them to Fred’s return. She was back in Spike’s room seconds later with a bottle and a syringe, a determined expression on her face.

“I broke into the Walgreens and took this.” The label said Morphine. “I don’t know how much yet.” She was reading the instructions, scanning the tissue thin paper for key words. She prepared the solution as instructed, filled the syringe and tapped the air out before indicating for Angel or Spike to move. Angel scooted over and Fred administered the shot.

The effects were almost instantaneous. Her body went limp within a few seconds.

Angel glanced at Spike. “Now for the hard part.”

“Yeah,” the vampire swallowed, then turned Willow over slowly from her side to her back. “Bloody Hell, Angel.” Her entire belly and most of her breasts were mottled with bruises. “I think her ribs are cracked.”

“I’ll run a bath. We have to get those cuts cleaned while she’s drugged up,” Angel told him, nudging his shoulder when Spike didn’t respond.

The answer came in the form a game-face and snarls.

Angel rolled his eyes. “Cut it out. Kill something later. Take care of Willow now.”

Fred marveled at how quickly Angel had taken charge. He’d been a mess since Gwen had been kidnapped, but now that Spike was falling apart in his own way, Angel was suddenly strong again.

“Fred, wake up Gunn. You’re on guard duty for now. They might not know where she went, or how, but sooner or later they’ll come knocking at our door. We need to be ready when they do.”

Nodding, Fred left.

Willow whimpered as Spike carried her to the tub, each sound like a knife through his heart. He laid her out as gently as he could, and they got to work cleaning her wounds and washing off the caked blood.

Angel catalogued her injuries as they went, keeping his voice quiet and clinical. “Three—no at least four cracked ribs. Bruising. Shoulder strain—she must have been hanging from her shoulders for a while. Lucky they weren’t dislocated. A broken finger, but that should heal fine once we get a splint on it.”

“Christ,” Spike ground out bitterly. “She held out all that time, and it was for nothing.”

His attention on Willow, he never saw the flash of pain in Angel’s eyes.

“She’ll be okay, though,” Angel said. “Just going to need some time to heal.”

Spike stopped for a moment and looked at Angel, realizing what he’d said. “Hell. I’m...sorry. Didn’t mean—”

“It’s all right,” Angel cut him off. “I know.”

They continued their bloody work until the water in the tub was red; drained it, and filled it again. Neither said another word as they labored, their attention fully on Willow.

Finally it was done; the wounds were cleaned and salve was applied. Willow had a special concoction that Spike had always thought smelled like goat dung, but he figured he would have to get used to it, since it was (a) effective; and (b) going to be saturating every inch of his room. Willow wasn’t leaving his sight until he was sure she was safe. If that meant that he—and everything he owned—smelled like goat dung, then that was just the way it would be.

They covered her back and chest with bandages, uncertain what to do about the ribs just yet. Anything that would compress her body would be too painful on the open wounds she had. Perhaps when she woke up, Willow would have an idea.

The entire endeavor took over an hour, but now Willow was sleeping in his bed. Spike looked at Angel, then back at Willow. “I’ll stake her for this,” the vampire muttered, meaning every word of it. Angel nodded his understanding, and his agreement.

Perhaps Dru hadn’t been responsible for this latest outrage—he saw no evidence of bite marks—but she was a part of the group that had done it. She and Ethan had crossed a line—both with Willow and with Gwen. Neither Spike nor Angel would rest comfortably until Drusilla, Ethan, and every member of the Cartel were dead or dust.

Angels and Demons ~ Episode 19: Ambuscade Vital

2008-07-20T18:26:12Z

By bloody_vir

Hi all! No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. We're still working on this, and we have a new episode for you! Thanks for your patience, and I hope this will leave you jonesing for more. Believe it or not, the next part is done; we just need to beta it.

Title: Angels and Demons, Episode 19: Ambuscade Vital
Authors: cafedemonde and kallie_kat. Editor: dragonydreams.
Rating: The series will be NC-17 overall. This episode is NC-17 for violence, and graphic and possibly disturbing mental imagery.
Characters: Ensemble; pairings will continue to evolve. Currently they are Angel/Gwen, Willow/Spike and Annabelle/Gunn, but just like in real life, things can change at a moment's notice.
Feedback: Yes, pretty please.
Disclaimer: These characters all belong to various other entities. We only own the story, and seek no profit from any of this.
Note: We want to thank dragonydreams for the beta. And a special thanks to bloody_vir for the amazing Angels and Demons banner.

Previously on Angels and Demons: Willow has figured out how to get Fred back into Illyria, and after a visit with her parents, the UI gang welcomed her back happily. Drusilla's and Ethan's recent visit has everyone on edge, and Willow has shared with Angel and Spike the reason that Ethan is after her. Tension is building between Angel and Spike, and neither seems to know what to do about it. The announcment about a baby on the way has the gang feeling good, although worried about what Ethan and Dru might be planning.
Want to get caught up? Previous episodes can be found here

WARNING: This episodes contains graphic and possibly disturbing mental imagery. Proceed at your own risk. Seriously.

Cast:

David Boreanaz - Angel
Alexa Davalos - Gwen
J. August Richards - Gunn
Amy Acker - Illyria / Fred
James Marsters - Spike
Alyson Hannigan - Willow

Guest Star:

Danica McKellar - Annabelle Griffin

Special Guest Stars:

Robin Sachs - Ethan Rayne

Juliet Landau - Drusilla

The TV was blaring, and Angel was in the kitchen looking for a beer. Spike drank them when there was nothing else around, and as a result Angel’s 12-pack was dwindling rapidly. Three beers left; he’d have to go to the store again tomorrow, he thought. Spike certainly wouldn’t do it.

He headed back into the living room, beer in hand. And there was Spike, sitting in his seat on the couch, holding the remote. Angel frowned. “I’m watching that.”

Spike looked over his shoulder and smirked. “You *were* watching that, you mean. Now we’re gonna watch something good.”

“No, I mean I’m still watching that. Give me that.” He moved to block Spike’s view, his hand held out for the remote.

“Ghost Hunters?” Spike laughed, eyes twinkling with amusement. “You’re watching that rot?”

“Hey, it’s not rot. Well, sometimes it’s not.” Angel had discovered the show a couple of months ago. He wasn’t an avid fan, but every once-in-a-while he’d watch. He had the silly hope that someday he’d see Dennis on the show. Now that Cordelia was gone, the ghost was probably alone again, and he wondered whether he’d gone back to scaring his tenants or trying to get along with them.

Thinking of Cordelia brought that familiar pang of regret, and he shifted his thoughts elsewhere, his attention back on Spike. “Point is, I’m watching it, and you can either sit here and watch it, too, or go...away. Wherever the hell it is you go when you’re not harassing me.”

Tired of listening to Angel, Spike tossed the remote back at him. “Not moving, though.”

Angel figured winning half the battle with Spike was better than nothing, so he sat down on the recliner and stretched out.

“What time is it?” he asked the blond.

“Little after four. Why?”

Angel frowned. “Gwen went shopping...”

“She’s been known to do that on occasion,” Spike agreed.

“Said she’d be home by four. While it was still light. I wonder where she is.”

Spike shrugged. “Don’t think she’s called, not that I know of. Try her cell phone?”

It was a good idea, so Angel fished his phone out of his pants pocket and pressed her number, waiting impatiently for her to pick up.

It rang several times before going to her voicemail.

“Hey Gwen, it’s me. It’s after four and I’m just wondering where you are. I’ll try again.” He pressed END then hit TALK again, frowning as it rang and rang.

“She’s probably deep in the mall, or in a store where the reception’s bad. Give it a few and call back,” Spike suggested, lifting the beer from Angel’s fingers smoothly while the other man was distracted. He got one sip in, before Angel snatched it back.

“Hey, I don’t know where you lips have been.” Glaring, he wiped the mouth of the bottle with his sleeve.

Spike smirked. “Oh, the problem is you know exactly where my mouth has been.”

The chirping of Angel’s cell phone cut off any answer he had for that. He glanced at the caller id, smiling when he saw his girlfriend’s number.

“Gwen, where are you?”

“Not Gwen.” It was a man’s voice and Angel’s belly twisted with a weird sense of déjà vu. “But she’s right here.”

“Who is this?” he ground out tightly. “Put her on the phone.” Sweat formed at his hairline and he felt a trickle of it starting under his pits. He was hot, panic hot. Spike was watching him closely, hearing both sides of the conversation, his own sense of dread growing rapidly.

“I would, however she’s tied up at the moment and can’t come to the phone. As soon as she’s free though…”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” He was on his feet, shaking, heart hammering. Spike stood and wrestled the phone from him.

“You have something we want. Tell us what we have to do to get it back,” he spoke calmly, eyes never leaving Angel’s tear-filled ones. He shook his head, daring him to cry, and those brown eyes blinked swiftly, coming to a determined focus.

Better, Spike thought. Angel could not fall apart now.

“Oh, it’s her vampire,” the voice announced, seemingly for someone else’s benefit. There was a shuffling and then Spike’s own heart felt like it was beating.

“Hello, my William. Isn’t the world amazing, pet? I can hear you and yet you’re so far away.”

Spike closed his eyes and shook his head. “Hello, Dru.”

Knees giving out, Angel sank back onto the recliner, trying not to vomit.

“I’m sorry I had to leave before we could finish our game, Spike. But I’m all ready now. Are you, dear?”

He sighed. “Yeah, of course. What are we playing this time, luv?”

Laughter filled his ears before she spoke again, this time in a whisper. “It’s your old favorite from the telly, remember? Let’s Make a Deal.”

~~~*~~~

Willow for Gwen.

That was the deal Drusilla laid out for him and he had to what…decide?

Dropping the phone on the cushion next to Angel, he took a few breaths before starting.

“She has her. And will trade her.”

Angel rubbed angrily at his face before looking up and asking warily, “Trade her for what?”

Spike ran his hand over his hair. “Willow. She must be working with Ethan. We know he’s after Willow for the Cartel.”

“When do we do it?”

Doing a double take, Spike’s voice squeaked out, “Beg pardon?”

“The trade.”

Spike stared at him, then away, jaw clenched, doing his best not to bite this man. “Do you hear yourself, Angel?”

Falling back against the couch, Angel hollered. “FUCK!” He peered up at the blond with red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. Me too. We need a plan.”

“How long do we have?” Angel asked.

Spike hesitated, then decided to give it to him straight. “Until midnight. They’ll call back then, and we give them our decision.”

“And if we don’t give them what they want?” His voice was harsh, the unshed tears making his eyes shimmer again.

The vampire shook his head.

“Spike?” Angel prompted.

Spike heard the desperation in his voice and cringed, wanting to give him any answer but the truth. “Not going to happen,” he said, instead. “We’re going to come up with a plan and get her back. Anyone who stands in our way ends up dead.”

The words were comforting to hear, but Angel needed more. “So, how do we come up with a plan?”

~~~*~~~

Gunn had intended to go out with Annabelle, and bitched about having to cancel the date until he heard the circumstances. Willow and Fred were already home, so it didn’t take long before they were all settled in the kitchen.

“Dru and Ethan have Gwen,” Spike said, as all eyes shifted to him. “Grabbed her sometime today. Called just a little while ago, offering to trade her for Willow.”

“Willow?” Gunn asked. “What do they want with Willow?”

Spike gave them a brief rundown on who wanted her, and why. Angel, who had always been so strong and vital when faced with adversity, seemed to have fallen into a state of shock, and the vampire was calling the shots, for now.

Willow cried without making a sound, twin tear tracks racing down her face until they melted into her shirt. Guilt hung heavy around her, and she couldn’t even muster the strength to look at Angel. “It’s my fault. They want me, they can have me.”

“Not bloody likely,” Spike snapped. His voice softened and his eyes sought hers. “I said I’d protect you, and I meant it. We just need to figure this out.”

“So this is a brainstorming session,” Fred said. “We can do this. What’s the timetable?”

“They call back at midnight for our decision. From there, they’ll give us the time and place for the trade. We’ll tell them it’s a go—not that we’re going to do it, but we need them to think we will.”

“Right,” Angel said. He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, as if trying to come back to them. “I’ll take Willow wherever the drop is. We insist that Gwen is there. Once they have Willow, she pops back here and everything’s fine.”

Willow was determined to stay silent; let them think it was that easy. She knew there would be wards up to keep her from doing any magic, but she was determined to make this easy on them. Gwen was not going to be hurt because someone else wanted Willow.

Spike was eyeing her speculatively. “They’re not idiots. First thing they’ll do is find a way to control her magic. You were with them before, right? How’d they keep you from getting away then?”

“I was in a cage,” she began, her gaze unfocused as she remembered the way it had been. The demons had watched her constantly. There was no privacy for anything; even when she had to pee or defecate, they were eyeing her…or worse. “There was a dampening field that made anything I cast sorta just bounce back at me. After a while, I got the message and stopped trying.”

Spike was frowning, Fred right along with him. “How did you get away?” she asked.

“The field had to be electro-magnetic in nature to mess with the Earth’s own field, which kept me from accessing it for power. A girl—another prisoner, but she was a slave—she used to give me food and talk to me the few moments we were alone. Anyway, she flipped the power switch one day.”

Willow started to cry then, remembering. “She just…handed me two bananas and a Capri Sun, looked in my eyes then walked over and flipped the switch.”

Spike pulled her to him and she allowed it for a few seconds before pushing him away. “They killed her before I could stop them, but I got out before they could stop me.” She was staring into blue eyes. “I killed everything I could find.”

“Humans too? Were there people there?” Gunn asked.

Turning away, Willow shook her head, the red locks hiding her face as she spoke. “I don’t know, maybe. I wasn’t…myself, not completely.”

“Hey,” Fred blurted. “How ironic is it that the one person that could maybe break through any electro-magnetic field is the one they took? I mean any of us would do. Angel, Gunn, even Spike and me. Well maybe not me, but maybe so because I’m beginning to think that whatever Drusilla did to get rid of Illyria was all leading up to this.”

They were silent, considering that. “Didn’t you say someone tried to take Gwen before?” Fred asked Spike.

“Yeah, but we thought it was about some thingy she stole. Maybe the entire job was a set up.”

Angel turned to him. “What job?”

“She’s a thief, Angel. Don’t be a bloody idiot about it. She’s actually a huge step up, morally, from the murderous fiend and psychotic lunatic you chose before.”

“Darla chose me, I didn’t choose her,” Angel said, head hung low. “As for Dru....”

Spike sighed. “Doesn’t matter now. Point is, said lunatic has your current girlfriend, and if you want to see her again we’re going to have to figure out a plan.”

“Is there any way we can disable the dampening field?” Fred asked eagerly. “I know Gwen couldn’t do a thing now, with the baby and all, but is there some spell you could cast that would allow you to maybe punch a hole through it when the time was right?”

Willow thought about that. “Maybe. I’d have to do some research. I’ll also need to make sure I’ve got all the ingredients on me when I go, which isn’t feasible since I doubt they’d let me keep stuff for casting.” She wasn’t even sure they would use the same method to keep her restrained this time. Everything they were doing was based on conjecture. Sadly, it was all they had at the moment.

“What about one of those locator spells?” Spike asked. “We could find Gwen; you could pop in, grab her, and pop back out.” They’d done it like that once before, when they were fighting that demon who was sacrificing humans. Maybe they didn’t even need to put Willow in danger.

But Willow was doubtful. “If Ethan’s involved, he probably has that angle covered. He might not have as much power as I do, but he’s got a lot more knowledge.”

The look in Angel’s eyes as he clung to that small bit of hope had her changing her mind. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to try. Give me five minutes to get the stuff put together and we can do it here.”

~~~*~~~

No dice. When a map of San Francisco yielded nothing in the way of results, they tried a larger scale: California, then a map of the world, and still nothing.

“They could be anywhere,” Willow admitted. “With the head start they have on us, they could even have flown her out of the country.”

“Can Ethan pop her away like you can?” Gunn asked.

Willow shook her head. “I don’t think so. If he could, he would have tried it already.”

“Sounds to me like our best bet is finding a way to defeat that dampening field,” Angel decided. “Why don’t we work on that?”

“I think Angel’s right,” Willow admitted. “I just don’t see any other way around it. I’ve got some books in my room. Let me grab them and we can all take turns looking.”

“I don’t know if this would work,” Fred said, “but I remember in Physics class we did experiments on ways to disrupt the electro-magnetic field, and how effective each was, stuff like that. What if I could make something that recreated one of the ways? It’d be small. You could hold it in your hand, or maybe hang it on a chain. I think as long as it’s touching your skin it would be okay. What do you think?”

Perking up, Willow leaned forward. “How long would it take to do something like that? We only have until midnight. And what sort of stuff would you need?”

Fred smiled. “It’s not really complicated. I have a lot of stuff in the things that Wesley packed. I should be able to pull it off. Which is probably good,” she added, “since they might be watching the building.”

“Whatever you need, just let me know,” Willow said. “If you realize you need something else, I can teleport and get it. If anyone’s watching the place, they won’t even know.”

Spike frowned, his eyes on Willow. “We’ll pop out and get it, pet. Not letting you out of my sight until we know you’re safe.” He hated the idea of teleporting, but he hated the alternative more.

She took comfort from his commitment to her and from his hand as he held hers. But a nagging doubt remained: would she ever be truly safe, as long as she held the power to disable the Slayer army?

~~~*~~~

Gwen’s back was aching, and more than usual. She shifted her weight, wanting to work out the pain with the stretching exercises that her obstetrician had shown her on her last visit. Raising her arms, the motion was stalled suddenly and she opened her eyes, coming fully awake as several things became apparent:

1) she wasn’t home in her warm bed
2) her hands were tied and …
3) she was fucked.

The urge to start screaming for help shot through her, a rocket cutting across the vast emptiness of space, but she kept quiet, her ears straining to pick up any sounds. Where she was could be loosely defined as a room. The walls were Plexiglas, giving her a view of the larger room in which she was imprisoned. A box within a box. She rolled her eyes and struggled to a sitting position

“Somebody’s intel is out of date,” she muttered, wincing as her head pounded. She didn’t remember getting hit, but was certain they must have knocked her out somehow. It was all fuzzy and her brain felt spongy and squishy.

The door to the outer room opened and a man stepped inside, tall, somewhat lanky, older but oddly attractive. She hated him instantly.

“I see you’re awake.”

The voice was the same as the guy from the van. She didn’t bother speaking.

“Can I get you anything to eat? Your current condition is rather delicate and I don’t want Angel to think we’ve mistreated you during your stay.”

Well, if she could believe this man, then he didn’t intend to hurt her…maybe. Or perhaps he was just playing some mind game with her. Yet the mention of food seemed to ignite the need and her stomach growled, the baby rolled, and she found herself nodding.

That brought a smile to his thin lips and he seemed pleased. “Of course, I’ll only be a moment.” He turned and stepped out the room, leaving the door partially opened with his leg serving as a doorstop. He came back into view and Gwen favored him with her back.

“Where am I?” She didn’t expect an answer, but it never hurt to ask.

She heard the rattle of metal, and a scraping sound. When she turned around, he was pushing a metal tray through a small hole in the lower wall. The thought occurred to her that she could try to grab him through the small opening, but she discarded it almost immediately. Even if she did manage to grab his arm and pull it back into her cage, what was the point? It wouldn’t gain her anything.

He snapped the small door shut, securing it with a padlock, while Gwen surveyed his offering. An apple, a cheese sandwich, and a juice box. She wondered if they were drugged. Then again, anyone with the bucks to construct this Plexiglas hell probably also had the money to put together an air system that would pump drugs into her air supply at will. Might as well eat, she decided. Her stomach rumbled again, reinforcing her decision.

Her captor remained standing, watching her eat without much interest. “You’re safe. And as long as you do what we tell you, you’ll stay safe.”

Something about the detached nature of his voice told Gwen that the implied threat was not an idle one. She shivered, pulling the blanket tighter, then picked up the apple and took a bite.

‘Pull yourself together,’ she thought. ‘You’re a smart woman; just because the power isn’t flowing doesn’t mean you’re defenseless. You’ve got a brain. Use it.’

“What do you hope to accomplish by kidnapping me?” she asked. “If you want me to do a job for you, there are better ways of hiring me.” It was a shot in the dark, but in her line of work sometimes people came up with unique ways of arranging meetings.

He laughed, and she knew she’d guessed wrong. Raising her eyebrows, she looked at him, feigning casual as she took another bite of the apple.

“You’re simply a means to an end, Ms. Raiden. As soon as Angel hands over the witch, you’ll be free to go.”

“Willow? Why? What’s your beef with her?”

He smiled smugly at her, the hint of cruelty in his eyes making her want to move to the opposite side of the room, but she held her ground.

“Ms. Rosenberg never told you about her past? How interesting.”

“Since I don’t know who you are, I can’t really say whether she’s mentioned you.”

He nodded, as if complimenting her good sense, then began pacing as he lectured. “I represent a Cartel. A large group of demons with a common interest.”

Gwen frowned. In her experience, demons didn’t play well together. “What sort of interest?”

“Survival.” He stopped and looked at her. “It doesn’t get any more basic than that, does it?”

A quick nod of her head signaled her agreement. “I still don’t get the interest in Willow.”

“Demons only have one natural enemy. I’m sure you can tell me what it is.”

She didn’t say anything; instead, she tore off a corner of the sandwich and popped it into her mouth.

“Slayers, Ms. Raiden. Slayers are the natural enemy of demons everywhere. Used to be, there was only one. A demon or a mage could fly below the radar and never fear retribution. But now? Hundreds of Slayers. They’re slaughtering the demons. Imposing their own rules and insisting the supernatural world follow their lead.”

Gwen remembered hearing about how Willow activated all the Slayers. She thought she knew now where this was headed. “So, all this is about revenge? You’ve gone to all this trouble just to get even?”

“You think we’d do all this just for revenge? Well, yes, I’m sure some of my employers will partake in that—they’re demons, after all. But first and foremost, this is about making things the way they were. Returning life to what it was. ONE Slayer. One girl in all the world. That’s the way it should be, and when we’re done with Ms. Rosenberg, that’s the way it will be again.”

“And when you’re done. What happens to me?”

He came close and leaned his hip against the glass. “You and baby Angel will live happily ever after.” With a nod, he pushed off and slipped out through the door to the rest of the world and Gwen was left with a vague sense of someone walking over her grave.

~~~*~~~

“I don’t want you to do this. You know that.”

Spike stood in her doorway, arms crossed. She waved him inside and he closed the door behind him. “I know. I’m sorry. I have to go. Even if we can’t come up with a plan, I have to. They’ll kill Gwen, do terrible things…” she stopped, her words choked off.

“What happened to you there?”

She shook her head. Talking about it wasn’t going to help her feel better, not when she was most likely about to relive it all again anyway.

“Why don’t you just do it then?” he asked, swooping down to sit next to her on the bed.

“What? I don’t even know if it’s possible, although probably it is. But I can’t, Spike. Those girls would just be normal girls again, and they wouldn’t know it.”

Spike closed his eyes, picturing the carnage, not completely turned off. “What if we warned them first?” he tried again. There had to be another way to save them both. Angel, as much as he cared about Willow, was going to be a mess if something happened to Gwen or that baby. What they needed was a break, a year of peace and quiet. Spike was sick of being caught in the crossfire of the truly fucked.

There was a quick knock on the door then it was opened, Fred bouncing in. “Sorry,” she pouted when she saw them talking then added more cheerfully, “I think it’s ready.”

Willow glanced at her clock. It was only a little after eight. “Maybe we should test it.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but I’m not sure how to do that. Technically, we don’t have a dampened field so I can’t gauge the results accurately.” She handed the device to Willow. “I put it on an earring. You just have to turn the little gem counterclockwise and that will activate it.”

Willow turned the pink stone as instructed and let her eyes fall from focus, seeing differently. The natural electro-magnetic field of the earth was quivering, disrupted to a certain degree by the waves coming from her little earring. She wasn’t certain, but it was better than nothing.

Jumping up, she shouted. “The baby!”

Spike grabbed her before she could run past him. “What’s wrong with the baby?” he growled, shaking her a little too hard.

“Nothing, nothing! Well, I don’t know, but…I tried to find Gwen. What if Ethan isn’t blocking the baby?”

She whipped out the maps.

~~~*~~~

Ethan had a meeting to attend, demons to appease. So far, they were more pleased with him than they had been when he failed to snatch Willow. He was angry about that as well. So close and no cigar.

Illyria rearing her blue head was something he hadn’t expected, although in retrospect the error was obvious. He had tapped into the subconscious of everyone with that talisman and well below Winifred Burkle’s lay the Godking. It had been a good plan, but he should have made sure the skinny little thing had been occupied elsewhere.

He glanced around the table then back to Drusilla, whose smile was more serene than a vampire had a right to be. This little adventure could not end too soon for him. Really.

She leaned over to whisper in his ear. “They don’t have the last word in this, Ethan. I do.”

He didn’t understand what that meant, but she was too close to his thoughts again so he made a real effort to keep her out.

“We give the girl back. If we don’t, the vampire will be relentless. He considers the baby…family,” Ethan sneered. “And you know how they are about their brood.” He didn’t care about the child itself, but was certain the consequences of killing the pair would be more than these demons bargained for.

“The future is already written in the stars above, dear man. There’s no need to worry.” With a long, graceful finger she tapped him on the nose and got up, heading for the door.

“Leave her alone, Drusilla. I’m serious.”

The words were a warning, his tone harsh, but the vampire was in her own world, as she often was. She turned back and gave him a smile and a finger-wave, then continued out the door.

Ethan sighed, his hand reaching up to rub his temple in order to dissipate some of the pain he felt there, like a sharp needle stabbing into his forehead. It had all seemed so simple in the beginning; she had seemed so easy to control. But as time went on she was getting more and more reckless, and he was starting to wonder whether he was going to make it out of this with his well-dressed hide intact.

Cutting his losses and slipping out was a tempting idea. If it wasn’t for the Cartel—and their very focused threats of death should he fail them—he probably would walk away. Since that wasn’t an option, he would just have to deal with Drusilla and hope for the best.

~~~*~~~

“Bingo!” Willow yelled as she watched the sparkling dust settle over the city of Hayward on the eastern side of the bay.

Angel ran over, lingering by her shoulder, and the others joined in, forming a semi-circle around the map.

Willow sounded excited, but right now all Angel could think about was Gwen, alone and scared.

He’d always been a man for action. Find the problem, diagnose it, deal with it and then move on to the next one. It was a system that had worked well in the past, but now...this was different. Now he didn’t have the power to simply rush in and fix the problem, steamrolling over everyone and everything in his path.

Now he was helpless. His humanity—his oh-so-important humanity—had left him vulnerable and useless. And he didn’t know how to fix it. He was dependent on Spike, of all people, to save the woman he loved.

He was angry, but the anger was buried down so deep inside, covered by layers of fear and insecurity, that it was unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon.

“...do you think, Angel?”

He shook his head, clearing away the unproductive thoughts. “Sorry, Willow. What did you say?”

She eyed him uncertainly, but repeated her question. “I said, do you think I should pop over to see if she’s there, or should we drive, or wait for their phone call, or...”

“You’re not popping over there,” Spike yelled from down the hall. “Could be a trap.”

“What if it isn’t?” Angel countered. “They can’t think of everything. Maybe they just forgot to screen the baby. What if Willow could teleport in, grab Gwen, and teleport back out?”

“Not gonna happen,” Spike said again. “We stick to the plan. They call at midnight, we meet, they release Gwen, and Willow goes with them. Once we’re safely away, she leaves them and we track down this cartel and wipe it off the face of the earth.”

Angel was fuming silently, the gaze he laid upon Spike filled with animosity. Their eyes met for a moment, clashing, before Angel spoke. “I don’t recall anyone putting you in charge. I say we do it my way.”

“And I say we don’t.”

Angel stood, looming over Spike in a way that used to actually make the blond want to obey. He usually didn’t obey, though, without the threat being backed by a severe beating. Now he just found it annoying. It would be vaguely amusing if the situation wasn’t perilous. “We should at least try, Spike. You go with her.” He glanced at Willow. “You can do that right?”

The pleading in Angel’s voice squeezed like a vise around Spike’s heart. The sound was foreign and unsettling. Angel was always in control, always confident. It hurt him to see him like this, weaker than he knew Angel would ever truly want to be, humanity aside.

Willow was in mothering mode, coddling Angel who allowed it stiffly, vision blurred as he looked to Spike. The vampire nodded.

“I’ll go. We’ll get her back if we can, Angel. You know I want that as much as you do.”

Holding on tight to the small witch, Angel doubted that very much.

~~~*~~~

Sitting on the floor with her back against a Plexiglas wall, Gwen planned.

Several times in her young life, she had gotten herself into and out of some sticky situations. Thinking on her feet was something she did well, and it helped keep her alive and out of jail on many occasions. A natural strategist, she always saw all the angles and played them to her advantage. For the first time, she couldn’t find the advantage.

The door to the outer room opened slowly, squeaking on its hinges. A young woman with long dark hair slipped in, blue eyes gleaming brightly in the dimmed light. She moved slowly, ethereally, soft cotton flowing gently behind her as she approached the transparent room that housed the captive.

Drusilla.

Wondering how things got so fucked so fast, Gwen peered skyward, whispering a prayer.

A thin-boned hand slamming against the glass made her jump, bumping her head against the surface behind her.

“We don’t speak to him.”

“Who?” Gwen responded, frowning.

Drusilla strolled to the left, her hand still on the wall, trailing lazily behind her. “Our Father who art in Heaven...”

“God?” she asked.

Stopping, the vampire fixed her eyes on the small thing in the cage. “No, silly. Daddy.” Her eyes dropped to Gwen’s belly as her smile spread. “You have a treat for Princess?”

That was easy enough for Gwen to decipher. Her hands fell protectively over her rounded belly. “I’m in here because one touch and I can fry your ass.”

Dru rounded the cage, coming to the spot where Gwen leaned, madness just a glint in her all-too-aware eyes. “You’ll fizzle and pop,” she whispered. “But don’t worry, pet…it’ll be our little secret.”

Gwen flinched. The one ace in the hole she’d had—her ability to defend herself—was gone. How Drusilla had figured it out she couldn’t begin to guess. But the knowledge that she had left her cold.

At a loss for what else to do, Gwen decided upon another tactic. When in doubt, appeal to a person’s sense of self-interest. Drusilla wasn’t a person, but there had to be *something* she wanted.

“Drusilla, why are you helping Ethan? What’s he giving you for this? Is it money? Because I could make you a very rich woman if you just let me go. Nobody would ever even have to know.”

The vampire’s eyes squinted as she watched her captive. “He gave me everything I asked for. I’ll get my family back. That’s all I really want, of course.” She slapped her hands together once, loudly and Gwen flinched again. “I don’t need your little pieces of paper with dead men on them. I just need my boys back.”

Gwen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She shook her head, ignoring Drusilla’s low-pitched growl. “Do you honestly think Angel is going to take up where you two left off if you hurt me or his child? He’ll probably do his best to stake you himself.”

Instead of the show of anger that Gwen expected, Drusilla stood up and spun around in a circle, head bent back as she looked upwards to the ceiling and beyond. “Princess has seen it all. The tears, the rage, but in the end it won’t matter. Do-overs. Back to the beginning.”

She stopped spinning and tilted her head in a way that reminded Gwen of Illyria. A hint of cunning darkened the edges of her eyes. “I’ve always wanted a sister. Someone to play with when Miss Edith is being bad. But you’d have to promise to always be a good girl. Bad girls get punished. Although,” she added with a sly grin, “Daddy does give the most delicious punishments.”

Gwen shivered, pulling her blanket closer around her shoulders. She’d heard hints from Spike about the kind of punishments Angelus used to mete out, and somehow she didn’t think she’d enjoy an experience like that. If she managed to live through it, of course.

She was desperate; what else could she offer this insane vampire? “What if I promised to disappear? You let me go, and you’ll never see me again. You could have your precious Daddy all to yourself. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Drusilla’s eyes narrowed as she considered the offer, then shook her head. “You’d never leave Angel. How could you? He’s left a little piece of himself inside you, and you’d never be happy without him.”

“I’d do it. For myself and the baby.” As much as she hated to admit it, that was the truth. Her sense of self-preservation had always been strong, and if that was what she had to do to make things safe for herself and her child, she’d do it, even though losing Angel would hurt so much.

“You want what you want. What he wants. What I want. What my Spike wants. None are the same. Everyone’s confused.” She shook her head at Gwen, rounding the glass to the side with the door. Easily she broke the lock and stepped inside while Gwen struggled to her feet. “I can make it all very clear.” Dark eyes stared, menacing and empty.

With nothing on her mind but escaping, Gwen rushed toward the opening, hoping her momentum was enough to get her past the slender body blocking the exit. Laughing, Drusilla grabbed her mid-stride, her hand clamping around Gwen’s neck too tightly and Gwen made a squawking sound as her feet left the ground. The next instant, the vampire shoved her and she was sailing backward, hitting the clear wall with a dull thud. She slid down, dizzy and in pain, and brought a shaky hand to her throat. A bloody trail stained the glass from where the impact of her head had broken skin.

Two booted feet appeared in her field of vision and she lifted her eyes to see Drusilla’s golden ones gleaming back.

“Now,” the vampire spoke sweetly, matter-of-factly, through jagged, sharp fangs. “Let’s see what my Angel finds so pleasing.”

~~~*~~~

Willow woke to something cold pressed against her head. The pain inside her skull was like a gong banging constantly and loudly. She wanted to scream but that would hurt too, so she settled on a long moan.

A cool hand cupped her cheek. “How do you feel?” Spike. His presence was reassuring and strange. She was used to him coddling Buffy when the slayer had allowed it. To have his attention was odd but undeniably nice. Still, her head hurt like it hadn’t in a long time.

“Feels like somebody got happy with the tap dancing on my brain,” she groaned, finally feeling brave enough to open her eyes. “How long was I out?”

Spike glanced at the phone by her bed. “Just twenty minutes. What happened, pet?” When they tried to teleport to the where the baby was, he felt like he hit a wall, but was fine. Willow, conversely, had been out cold, her nose bleeding.

“Ethan happened. Stupid ward,” she complained as she sat up. Spike leaned in and kissed her softly before pressing his forehead to hers.

“You had me worried.”

Willow smiled. “I’m okay….really.” The corners of her lips turned down as what she had been attempting and failed sunk in. “How’s Angel?”

Spike shrugged. “Worried, too. About Gwen and the baby…and you.”

“I’m fine. No need to worry about me.” But the world wobbled uncertainly before her, and she had to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself.

“Yeah, right,” he said, obviously not buying it.

There was a gentle knock at her door. “Come in,” she called, trying to smile reassuringly at Angel, Gunn and Fred as they entered the room.

“Everything all right?” Angel asked.

Willow nodded. “I’m fine. Just hit a ward, that’s all. Apparently Ethan decided not to take any chances.”

“So, what now?” Fred asked. “Back to plan A?”

Nobody wanted to admit it, but it was their only real option at this point.

“How long before they call?” Willow asked, closing her eyes and gathering her strength. The unsuccessful mission had taken a lot out of her physically and magically, but she didn’t want the others to realize that. If Spike figured it out, he’d do his best to keep her from the exchange, and there was no way she was going to let Gwen suffer further for something that had nothing to do with her.

“Two hours,” Gunn said, looking at his watch to confirm.

It seemed like it had been days since they’d received the call about Gwen; Willow was surprised to hear that only six hours had gone by. At least it would give her a chance to get more rest.

“I could use a nap,” she said. “Just so I’m at my best when midnight comes around. Could you guys wake me up at 11:30?”

The others left her room, but Spike stayed behind. When she nestled down beneath the covers, he got into bed with her, his arms holding her as she snuggled against his chest.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, as much to reassure himself as her. His hand absently stroked her hair, the gesture relaxing them both.

“I know you won’t,” she whispered sleepily.

It didn’t take long for her heartbeat to slow as she slipped into sleep.

~~~*~~~

“I don’t think you should damage her too much, Drusilla.” Ethan shifted uncomfortably, wondering how to stop her without risking his own neck.

Drusilla turned from her work to find him standing near the door to the Plexiglas cage, doing his best to appear casual. She smiled through the blood on her lips.

“Don’t worry. Angel’s going to hurt you no matter what I do. He never blames me,” she pouted, then faced Gwen, who was coming around and wiggling in her bonds.

The vampire was resourceful enough to use strips of her own jeans to tie her up, and even though she said some off the wall stuff, Gwen didn’t think she was at all crazy. She knew exactly what she was doing and how to get it done. She had her boys fooled. Gwen just prayed she got the chance to tell them.

A slap to her face brought her back.

“Shhh…no drifting away,” Drusilla warned, the threat to hit her again, harder, understood. Pushing Gwen’s knees apart wide, she glanced back at Ethan. “Do you want to play?”

He shook his head. “That’s very kind of you dear, but no.” Trussed up brunette was not something he was adverse to, but he liked them a bit more willing than the girl crying on the Plexiglas flooring.

Shrugging, Drusilla pushed her hand against the rounded belly, her lips curling up when Gwen screamed.

“Help me!” she yelled at Ethan, the agonizing pain and the gag in her mouth distorting the words.

“Ooooo!” Dru slammed her free hand on the floor, the sound reverberating sharply in the room. “I’m about to have a sister!”

~~~*~~~

A gentle hand shook her shoulder as Spike whispered in her ear. “Time to get up, luv.”

Willow stirred, lethargically, and for a moment her mind was a blank, absent of everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. She looked up at Spike, felt his arms around her, and a sense of peace filled her heart. “Hi,” she whispered, smiling sweetly.

Then everything that had happened filtered in, and sadness filled her eyes. “So soon?” she asked, frowning when Spike nodded.

Silently, she stood up and got ready. Spike watched for a moment before leaving her to finish. He needed to speak to Angel.

He found him in Gwen’s room, curled up with her pillow.

“Did you sleep?” he asked quietly, knowing the man was awake.

Angel twisted around and glanced at Spike, before shifting around and sitting up. “No, I just came in here a little while ago. I wanted to…I don’t know. Be near her, I guess.” He stood, shaking the blues off quickly, shedding it like a coat right before Spike’s eyes.

“Is she ready?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah. I feel like we’re sending her to her execution, Angel. I don’t like it at all.”

“I know. Me either.”

The door to Willow’s room opened and she appeared, wearing the earrings Fred gave her. Her stomach growled loudly enough for both males to hear it and she smiled, embarrassed.

“You should eat something. Get your strength up.” Spike hovered, all motherly and cute. She declined.

“My tummy’s all in knots. I’d probably throw up.” Off the terrified look Spike gave her, she backtracked. “I’m not gonna, I just…I can’t eat, okay?”

Angel stepped up then. “Just a little. You might need every bit of power you have to get out of there past Ethan’s wards. I don’t want this to be the reason we don’t you get back, Willow.”

She sighed, hating his logic, but knowing he was right…as usual. “Don’t you get tired of being the reasonable one?” she asked him, sullenly following the men into the kitchen.

Angel turned on his heel. “Make you a deal,” he countered, staring into her eyes. “I’ll stop being reasonable when you stop being so brave.” They shared a sad smile then Angel continued on his mission to get Willow fed.

Gunn and Fred were seated at the table. Gunn glanced at his watch. “Shit.”

“I’ll second that.” Pulling up the rear, Spike slumped into a chair next to Fred.

Part 2