World On Fire

I didn't expect that things would be the way that they are in Los Angeles when I returned.

Literally on the very night that I return....I return to a sky littering the ground below it with smoldering ashes and shooting flames. It looked to me, strangely, like my good old buddy Angel hadn't held up his end of the bargain on the whole stopping evil thing.

I knew that he wouldn't. Of course, the Senior Partners put too much faith in him and the need for so long to turn him dark and get him on our side....

I have the feeling that they are finally starting to reject that the proposterous notion is ever going to take place. Finally. Still, this seems like an apocalypse and considering that I've been in contact with the Senior Partners for six months since they decided that they didn't want to kill me; quite the opposite in fact...and the Senior Partners didn't order this apocalypse, this seems compellingly serious.

I couldn't have picked a better time to come.

Sure, the Partners don't see it this way. This is a major threat to them and the potential coming of a big enemy. They can't be specific of course, because that would be too easy, you know, telling us who the big enemy is so that we could stop it before Angel did, which would make me about as happy as a pig in slop right now.

Still, I have a face with a smile beaming from ear to ear at the moment as I pass people on the streets in my new Dodge Nitro, the window down, listening to them whine and cry like sheep because they can't possibly comprehend what's going on. Sheep. I'm sure that Angel will personally go to all of them and tell them that everything will be fine and once he rapplies his hair gel, he'll make this all better.

I laughed at the thought. Me, we'll I'm personally on my way back to the place that I left twenty-one months ago to see Lilah. Apparently, Lilah killed Murrow and now runs the show. The Senior Partners were impressed with the way that she attempted to get Angel's son, which is another matter that I don't want to get into right now. They were also impressed with the way that she went to them and gave them everything about Murrow and his cowardice. Murrow was a bastard, but ruthless, which I respected in him; it was the only thing that I respected about him. I can already picture her spying on me, except that with me, the Senior Partners know that I'm now their most powerful instrument and the natural choice for a co-leader with Lilah.

That's right...like an old song from a couple of years ago, those in power believe that Lilah and I, together, can bring the right requisite apocalypse to fruition and grease all of the appropriate wheels to ensure that this happens. This time, however, they won't be appointing one of us after a grace period to see who's better. They know that Lilah has her strengths and with the training that I got in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Romania...that I have mine.

I just can't wait to see her face when I walk through the doors. I can't wait for her to pull a power play on me and attempt to have me thrown from the building. Yes, the Senior Partners haven't alerted her that I'm coming and I love that. They even gave me carte blanche to kill a couple guards in front of her to prove my new power and abilities to her. Like the Senior Partners care about a couple of low-level employees. Please. They respect that and I'll oblige even if Lilah doesn't call the wolves on me.

I parked in front of the massive office and quickly walked in. I rushed to the elevator, blocking my face. I didn't want some secretary to see me and report to Lilah that I'm in the building. I don't think that this would have happened, though, because everything is crazy in here right now. People were running around in the lobby and I couldn't decide if it is poor leadership from Lilah or if it's good leadership, seeing that preparations were required with this new coming apocalypse that threatened the Senior Partner's themselves.

I had a big smile on my face as I went upwards in the elevator that widened as nobody stopped the elevator by trying to get on it in my journey upwards. The elevator opened and immediately, I went for Lilah's office. Gavin Park strolled by and was so consumed with himself that he didn't pay me any mind. When I opened the door to Lilah's office, the same thing could not be said. Her face was priceless.

"Hello, Lilah," I said with a bigger ear to ear grin, my hands in my pockets like I didn't have a care in the world.

[Lilah]

The pavement came rushing towards me as if it were moving and I were stagnant in the air. I braced for the impact but regardless of how much you try to prepare for something so momentous with such extreme velocity; it's never going to be enough.

Already bleeding heavily from my neck, cold, worried about Fred and Wesley and wondering how the hell that we're going to defeat the Beast, the last thing that I needed was to crush virtually every bone in my body to go along with the blood loss.

I landed flush, my arms as a brace to prevent any further injuring. If I were a normal person, I would be dead, but if I had somehow managed to survive, first there was the obvious...paralysis, because the spinal cord would have been severed because of the shattering vertebrae. That would make the fact that all of the ribs and the bones in both the arms and legs were broken, moot, but painful nonetheless until all of the feeling was gone, which would only take seconds, as the spinal cord collapsed. The broken neck might kill the human instantly and again, if survival occurred, they would need extensive facial and dental reconstruction.

Fortunately for me, I'm a vampire and my bones don't break quite as easily. The spinal cord can be injured...I've seen it before, most recently with Spike, but my powerful arms absorbed most of the fall, including hitting my face on the ground. I definitely seperated both shoulders and would need to put them back into place, but I don't think that any bones are broken...

That's a relief, I realize, but drifting somehwere in the realm between consciousness and unconsciousness because of the blood loss, I simply sink to the ground as the blood continues to pur out of my throat. For a moment, I wondered if I was going to pass out. The blood loss wouldn't kill me and being staked by my own stake and leaving a huge mark...that mark would heal, but hurting all over, sore and certainly weakened, it's hard to recognize that there is any good about any of what had just occurred.

Briefly, I closed my eyes and tried to come to grips with the pain and more importantly, the harrowing situation that the city was in with the Beast. I lay there, content in recovering as quick as possible, knowing that a few minutes wouldn't matter, but then I started to think about the lives of Fred and Wesley...having already lost Gunn, and knew that I had to open my eyes, put my shoulders back into socket...ouch and get up and get my friends...my remaining family along with Connor and Cordy...to safety.

Before I started to pry myself off of the pavement, I heard Fred and Wesley coming towards me and felt Fred touch me. Instantaneusly, I opened my eyes and saw them, struggling to get up so I could put my shoulders in place and then cover the gaping wound on the right side of my neck.

I sensed relief from Fred, especially, that I was still alive, but when I managed to stand, which was tenous at best, I realized that the sky was ablaze and I knew that it was because of the Beast.

Putting my shoulders back into their sockets took some effort and Wesley's help, but after a gentle grunt of effort on either shoulder, I got the shoulders in their sockets again where they belonged and immediately put my right hand to my neck, my fingers pressing into the wound itself and feeling the stickiness of my own blood.

"I need some bandages and a few pints of pig's blood for starters," I said to both of them, looking at them without my normal steely determination. "Then, we have to devise some plan, consult some book to figure out what the Beast wants and how to stop him."

We walked away, wondering if the Beast would come up from behind us to finish us off, as we headed back to the Hyperion.

[Fred and Wesley]

Potential slayers bloody dying left and right to me is nearly as sodding bad as Buffy dying. Since I came back from the caves, I fought first for Buffy not to know that I had my soul...well that was bloody second to me having to deal with some demons...so to speak.

Then, had to work to let Buffy know that the night in her bathroom...that I never would have hurt her, but would I have? It wasn't because I wanted to hurt her, but simply because I wanted her...needed her, needed to feel her against me as much as I need blood to survive.

The killings of my past weren't done out of hate and bloody thusly, I felt worse about hurting Buffy...who is the strongest and most bloody compassionate person that I've ever seen. Never thought that somebody could turn me around, but she did, even before I got my soul back while the sodding chip, which was just recently removed, was still in my head.

Then, the buggerin first had control of me and I was ready for Buffy to keep me from hurtin;' somebody else, but again, she showed her heart and belief in me and didn't kill me in that basement...in that basement when I was so pathetic and wretched once more.

For all of these girls...these innocent girls to be snuffed out before they could blossom, was not only sodding wrong to me, but every little bit of torutre that they endured was like A chunk of Buffy's flesh being ripped off. Sodding eyeless ponces and the uber-vamp were doing this and while the uber vamp seems to be stronger then Buffy and likely me, doesn't mean that I'm not up for a good spot of torture with him. Knew that I could find a weakness if it came to that...just wanted to know where it was or anything else that had harmed all of those girls.

Amanda, only one of two that we knew were remaining...only knew because Giles' bloody pipeline got destroyed in a ball of spectacular flame and flash, had run away. Who could blame her? All of us had failed at stopping these attacks, though in no small measure, it was my fault. Anya and little Andrew were definitely dead because Buffy had been out trying to save me from myself.

Xander and I, not really my choice for a partner, took one side of the town, him carrying all of the weapons, me aching to sink my knuckles into some skulls, while Giles, Red and Buffy took the other side of town. Kennedy, the other of the new recruits went with them, though she didnt' seem right to me. Maybe, like Xander, she didn't seem right to me because she didn't trust me and again, couldn't wager out a way to blame them because I had earned the right to be dust by now.

Monkey bo...Xander didn't seem to want to be with me, but I was here to protect him. If he had to be out, then he was going out safely. Just pray that whatever is pushing my buttons doesn't decide to do it again. Heard screaming before Xander did and found my pact to keep Xander safe as well as Amanda and Buffy and all of the girls was put into question, as I left him behind, ready to pummel.

Saw Amanda trying to defend herself like a slayer, only one problem; she didn't have the strength that Buffy or Faith did and if this kept up, she never would. Fatal blow seemed to be comin down on her as one of the eyeless wonders held her, and I was determined to prevent that.

Hand came down, in it, sharp knife, slicing through the air...slicing towards flesh that to me represented part of Buffy...in the hands of something that was the sodding equivalent to a deaf mute with rage.

Don't bloody think so.

The shank seemed close to landing and as I hit him from behind at full speed, couldn't be sure that I had saved her. In the meantime, I intended to make sure that this eyeless idiot couldn't stab another wonderful girl.

[Open for Xander, npc The Turrekan and eventually Drusilla]

We had word that there might be another potential out on the streets of Sunnydale. I wasn’t sure what she even looked like. We had been getting tips from the council as to who the girls were that would be heading here. We all knew that these recent few tips were going to be the last. The council was gone. Completely gone, all the books, all the people. The evil that we were fighting had found a damn good way to give us a serious blow on our defense mechanism. The council and I had never really been friends, but we had understandings. At this point, we needed all the help we could get, and by destroying the council, it severed our ties with potential slayers, which was what it wanted. Giles had given us this news after he arrived from England with a few of the potentials that needed the protection of the slayer.

I had never been more happy to see him, but the news that he had brought with him made what should have been a happy time a somber one. Somber like last few weeks have been for all of us.

Harbingers were coming in from all over the place, they weren’t the hardest thing in the world to kill but when there are enough of them, it’s hard to protect yourself much less others who aren’t even used to the fighting scene. Enter Turrekan, uber! Vampire. Add harbingers, and trying to protect someone while trying to keep alive yourself is a nearly impossible task. Even for the slayer. This is how the potentials died. Most of them had been killed before I could find them and protect them. Others would slip out of the house because of cabin fever, and come face to face with a harbinger. The rest died within seconds of coming face to face with a Turrekan.

With the tips from the council, I was able to find a few of them before the harbingers did. Those were the lucky ones. One after another, we were losing them. Then came the raid in the house that took every potential that we had in the house. I remember some of the minor details, but the rest of the night was more of a blur. I was talking to Spike and Xander.

Xander and I were about to head out to pick up a potential that was 2 miles outside of town when we heard a harsh scream and the door breaking in. From there it was a blur. They had one goal, and they managed to succeed at it. They were smart about it too; They isolated us from the potentials, and by the time I had killed all of them and fought off the Turrekan enough to try and help, most of the damage was already done. After they got what they came for as fast as they broke in, they left faster. The fear I had that night of the raid could be one of the hardest times that I have been through. I had lost girls that reminded me of myself so many years ago, and Dawn had lost friends, people her own age. I didn’t think Xander would have been able to take much more death in his life after Anya.

We were left with 6 dead girls, at least 9 dead harbingers and blood from the living as well as the dead. It was a horrible mess that I hope that I never have to live through again, and yet, I know that it’ll come again. It won’t happen the same way - I’ll make damn sure of that. But I know power when I see it, and what’s behind the Turrekan and the Harbingers has a lot of power…and we’re far from over.

A few days before the raid, a few of the potentials were wondering why they had been brought to Sunnydale when they could just as easily try to drop off the face of the planet away from the radar. They came here because they needed my protection. I was supposed to protect them, and it seemed that the sooner that they had come in, the more harbingers would raid, the faster the harbingers would raid, and the easier it was to lose more and more girls that we didn‘t even get a chance to know. We were fighting an uphill battle, and there were more potentials coming in. We had a break with the council, and Giles coming with a few more potentials, but that soon changed when we learned the news of the entire council, literally, exploding. So here we are. Out searching for a girl that might be the next slayer, or might already be dead. Xander and Spike, on the other side of town hopefully had more luck than us. I could only pray that they did.

Willow and Kennedy were walking a bit behind Giles and I as we were going down the street looking for any sort of clue as to where the potential would be. Kennedy was the only potential that was left as far as we knew. We were walking the streets with baited breath, but luck not on our side. Not that it had ever been before.

I turned my head when I heard a scream, a young girl scream. I started running, clenching the axe ready for battle. Hoping for the best, but fearing I was already too late.

[Giles, Willow, npc Kennedy]

This wasn’t happening... none of this was real. That’s what I kept telling myself. It’s what I wanted to believe so desperately. It almost felt like I was trapped in a nightmare, one much worse than the one Pylea had ever been. Pylea was just a distant dream compared to this hellish dream-like place. But it was all real; everything that had happened up to this point was real no matter what I told myself.

I felt so helpless.

So much had happened in such a short period of time... so much that I was afraid to blink in fear of losing someone else that was close to me. The death of Charles had been a heavy blow- I wasn’t even able grieve for him, or come to terms with it because of everything that was happening. It was all so surreal. I kept telling myself to wake up. To just breathe and wake up, and that if I did, everything would be okay. That Charles was alive and well, that life wasn’t the nightmare I had made it out to be. That there was no Beast, and no impending apocalypse.

But this was real life. This was really happening.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, trying to regain some type of composure, but it was getting more difficult with each passing moment. I tried to hold back the tears as I thought back to everything that had brought us all to this moment. Opening my eyes, I looked around me... everything seemed to be going in slow motion, like a bad movie being played back frame by frame.

Somehow I found the strength to move. I hadn’t realized that my side hurt like hell, and I had tiny cuts all over that were starting to sting. Still... I lifted the crossbow and aimed it at the Beast’s head, without hesitation I fired. It was a bull’s eye. Or so I thought. The arrow did nothing but bounce right off. His whole body was like armor. Nothing we did seem to faze him. Nothing.

I reloaded the crossbow, taking my attention off the Beast for one brief moment. Next thing I know, I am being pushed out of the way, landing on the hard concrete floor with a loud thud. Looking up to see who had pushed me out of the way I saw Angel being tossed right across the room. From the corner of my eye I could see Wesley firing his guns at the Beast.

The guns’ blast made a deafening sound as they landed on the Beast. But the bullets didn’t even seem to him at all. He turned his attention back to Wesley, a smirk plastered on his face.

‘How could we let things get this bad?’ I thought.

There was no way we would be able to defeat the Beast with the type of fire power we had. It was damned near impossible. But we had to keep trying. We couldn’t give up. We couldn’t let the Beast win, because if it did- oh god, I didn’t even want to think about the consequences. I wasn’t ready to face those yet.

I looked around me and felt a pang of fear. Angel was nowhere in sight, and the Beast was ready to charge at Wesley at any second. The simple thought of losing someone else just made me so sick to my stomach. I quickly came back to my senses and finished reloading my crossbow. Wesley turned his head just enough to send a quick glance in my direction, his eyes surveying the scene. I couldn’t help but notice the coldness in his eyes; it was not a look of hopelessness, or the type of look you would give a friend when you know you were losing the battle. I don’t even think he was looking at me at all, more or less; he was just weighing his options. But despite that, I knew he was hurting too, maybe even felt the same way I did. I focused my attention back on the Beast and fired the crossbow again, hoping for some kind of miracle.



[Open to Angel and Wesley]

Sellin' my soul to Jenoff for a truck was the best thing that I had eva done. Sure, I neva expected to live the seven years for the debt to be collected, but that shit's beside the point now. I was badass, I killed demons and helped people and survived.

When Jenoff came lookin' for me, it wasn't because of the seven years. Naw...it was all about me givin' my soul up to Fred. Truth is, I think I already had which is why when Jenoff took my soul, when Angel, Groo, Cordy and Fred had failed to save me that night because they were too busy fightin' like lameasses..it was why I didn't die.

Shit, lookin' back, I'm glad they fought like lameasses because I didn't die, only thus far, none of my forma friends know it. My body was there for all of them to see, Angel thought he'd killed Jenoff after I was supposedly dead, but Jenoff can't die, or at least in no way that I know, so they all left sad, cryin' and beaten from that fight and especially Fred...yet I was alive...

Of course, I was up lata that night thinkin' about why I had eva thought about givin' in to a little stick figure like Fred in the first place. I rememba those times...when I was jealous of Wes ova Fred and I can't believe it. Don't get me wrong, I like havin' sex even more now then before, except now I'm not worried about committment; far from it. I'd rather have a lot of different women because there are so many of them out there that come into the casino with their slits showin' and their cleavage hangin' out and if they suck at pleasin' me or moan too much, well, I rip their heads off...break their necks, or just smash their noses into their skulls. I have Fred to thank for that and I have Angel as a guide...

I can't believe that souled freak eva wanted to get his soul back. If I were him, I'd fuck everything movin'...okay, I already do...but I would nail all of the ho's until I lost my soul...not that I will. Unlike Angel, I didn't have some lame curse put on me. I can't get my soul back as far as I know and if anyone tries, Jenoff will step in, but more importantly, I will.

Right now, I patrol the casino which is where I meet and bed most of the women that I either nail and let leave, or nail and kill. Jenoff uses me as muscle, but he's not big on me leavin' just yet because I'm a human livin' without a soul which is possibly an originality, none of us know; but because I'm not a demon, Jenoff only uses me to beat on cheata's in the casino and of course, lets me do my thing with the bitches.

Someday, though, I'll come face to face with Fred again, or Cordy and if I do, their asses are grass and let's just see Angel try to stop me.

Someday, Jenoff won't care what I do and I'll make my mark. You best believe it and just let Angel try to stop me. I'm sure that the old Angel investigations has gotten word of all these murders around LA, and might be investigatin' it, but I hope they come a callin'.

It'll be the last move that any of them eva make.