Cometh the Hour

COMETH THE HOUR

Part 4/5


It’s Thursday night and the gang’s all here. Some of ‘em don’t want to be, but they’ve come. The Slayer has laid down the law on behalf of the old Sire, and here they are.

When he got back on Monday night, I thought I would be a goner for sure. There was pig’s blood and pig shit all over the mansion. Not much pig, though. Between us, we eventually got the little porker within reach of the wolf, and he fell asleep with a full belly. The Sire was definitely not amused – I guess you had to be there, really. He made me clear it all up. Now is that the way to treat your beta male, I ask you?

Dru and me made up for it afterwards, though. He’d gone up to his rooms, and I hadn’t liked the look on his face at the time, so we went to see him. He stank of slayer. I don’t like it, but I think I’m going to have to get used to it. Dru curled her lip, but didn’t say anything, so maybe she sees something that I don’t. Then again, whoever does see something that Dru sees?

He’s worried about the werewolf bite, I can tell, but he didn’t say anything, even afterwards, when we were all curled up together, just like it used to be a century ago. I think I’ve said it before. I do not want to lose this family that I’ve been given back, after all this time. I need him, just as much as I need Dru. I’ll be damned if I lose him to a werewolf!

But it seems that on Monday night, all the slayerettes were mobilised, together with Angelresoresources. The Keeper had been summoned, and he was searching the scrolls and texts in Hylek. The House of Orbath, when they found out about their pet vampire’s predicament, started scurrying around like spiders in the bath.

Since then, Wolf Boy has been let out during the day, but back here in chains for the two remaining nights of the full moon. He’s had steak to eat. The Sire has put an absolute interdict on any more livestock in the house. I argued that would mean that humans should stay away too, but he looked down that patrician nose at me and his eyes promised a very painful time indeed if I persisted.

And we’ve all been hunting through the texts, trying to find out if the Sire will need to have a basket for three nights a month. I asked whether I should get the large economy pack of flea powder, and got a backhander for my concern.

So here we are at Thursday. Apart from me and Dru, we’ve got Sire and Slayer, the redhead and Wolf Boy, the Norags, the Keeper, a young cousin of Orbath who brought with her a Hylekian who claims to be a shaman, and the Watcher, would you believe. Oh, and the Harris boy is here, too, with the cheerleader, but I reckon all they’ll be good for is snacks afterwards. Like I said, the gang’s all here.

The minions are being kept away from this. That includes the two new minions who turned up on Tuesday. I recognise them. The Sire’s been bonding, then. That’s not something I’ve known him to bother with before. I wonder why he’s doing it now?

We’ve got a ceremony going on just now, and I’m bored. Dru is fascinated. She seems to be in one of her saner moods. We’ve got blood from Wolf Boy and blood from Angelus, side by side on a crystal plate. The shaman is doing whatever it is that shamans do, and Witchy Willow is helping him. Everyone else is doing as they’re told – do this, do that, chant this, chant that, slash this, slash that. I hate rituals. I’m bored.

So I’m people-watching.

Harris wants to stake Angelus. Well, that’s a given, I suppose. The stripling is still infatuated with Buffy, and the thought of her giving herself to a demonically animated corpse is more than he can stand.

The Watcher would like to visit on Angelus every single torture he can imagine. I never realised the depths of his hatred until tonight. I wonder why he’s helping, then? You’d think he’d settle for having a werevampire he could shoot at the next full moon, just one more rabid dog. There wouldn’t even be a body to account for.

Hell’s bells, we’ve finished at last. That’s only taken a little under three hours.

The Sire is explaining it to me, ‘cos he knows I haven’t a clue, but I’d need Noddy language, and all I’m getting is physics. It’s about matter and energy. A human body osseossessed by a demon as matter, which becomes energy when it enters the body. Or perhaps it’s the other way round. Anyway, Angelus’ resident demon has somehow taken care of the werewolf possession, although the shaman is vague on how, and thinks that something else has helped. He’s not prepared just now to say what that something else is, but between them, the demon and his helper have made sure the matter has turned to energy, which has had to go somewhere. It’s simply increased his strength. Permanently. They can’t find any other effect. Lucky bastard. Oh, there will be one effect? Do I detect a future full of baskets and flea powder, after all? No such luck. Werewolves will still detect their energy in him, and will permit him to act as one of their clan. The Aurelians have always been a bit different, I know, but this?

What now? Angelus is asking about the effect if someone drinks any of his blood, even a single drop, or if he bites them. Hey now, that has definitely brightened up this boring evening. The Slayer is looking defiant. She’s drunk from him recently, I can tell. I wouldn’t mind having her on a leash three nights a month. I must look hopeful, because Angelus has raised his lip to me, exposing a fang. I don’t know whether that’s vampire or werewolf, and I’m not sure whether he knows, either. OK, shutting up now.

I do not believe it! We are all sitting back down and the ritual is starting *all over again*! It’s Wolf Boy’s blood and Slayer’s blood on the table now. Bloody Hell, don’t tell me this is going to take another three hours. Back to people-watching, then. Harris and the Watcher look as if they’ve eaten acid. Don’t like to be told what their little slayer gets up to with the Big Bad Wolf. And I don’t mean Oz.

Well, that’s all I bloody need. The shaman doesn’t have all the right words in English. Soul won’t do. Neither will demon, although he seems to think ts ths the closer of the two. What he’s trying to explain is that Angelus had already changed the matter/energy thing when she took that blood from him (I’m getting hot under the collar thinking about that!) and it was in the wrong phase to infect her. But the energy had to go somewhere. So, as I said, that’s just what I need. Like Angelus, like Dru and me, she has something, some darkness, at the core of her that can change the energy, and the super-strong Slayer is now a bit strr. r. Well, I’ll be getting me some of that energy before long, I guess. Angelus always did like some blood play in moments of passion. He didn’t offer, the other night, but he will. He’d better be careful who tastes his blood from now on, though. They are going to keep looking into it, so I’d better get me some soon, in case they find a way to control what he passes on.

The silver? Don’t worry. They’ve checked that out. It’s just an ornamental metal for him.

But this unknown factor is worrying Angelus, and the shaman too, although Dru seems unconcerned. I’ll trust her instincts. But the shaman is going to take some of Angelus’ blood, some of the Slayer’s blood, some of Dru’s and mine, and do some more work back in his home dimension. Wherever that is. As I said, the Aurelians have always been a bit different to other vampires. Looks like we might be even more different that I thought.

It’s interesting to think that the Slayer is more like us than you might have thought. She has something like a demon at her core. Not quite, but something like. I bet both the Watcher and the Keeper will start looking into that, but I think the Keeper will get more pleasure out of it than the Watcher. He looked sick at the thought. Anyway, it’ll make it easier doing business with her!

***********

I can’t describe how relieved I am. Ezrafel’s researches suggest that, just occasionally, a vampire is bitten by a werewolf. When that happens, the vampire is overcome by ungovernable rage. I can vouch for the truth of that. There is no credible record of a vampire surviving that initial period, but there is a rumour that one once did, and became almost invulnerable. It was as if he had been given the powers of the gem of Amara. Half a sentence, in one scroll. Nothing more, and it was probably not even in this dimension. But the rage was truth enough. I am a powerful alpha demon, and I have no false modesty about my own personal abilities. But how I am alive now, and how I stopped myself from mindlessly ravaging everything around me and incinerating myself in the ashes, I truly do not know.

I do not believe I have any added invulnerabilities. Sunlight and holy water still burn me – I’ve tried them. If you think I’m going to test the effects of staking or decapitation, you’re madder than Drusilla. In fact, Drusilla is the biggest comfort to me right now – she clearly does not believe anything to be seriously amiss, and she always knows. She has the sight. Her insanity may prevent her from understanding, but her powers affect her emotions. She just thinks it’s funny.

I would somehow have managed three nights a month as a werewolf if it had come to that, but I have to confess that I was terrified when Buffy took those few drops of my blood. To visit that possession on my golden girl, that would be heinous, even for a vampire as evil as me. Mind you, she would have made a beautiful werewolf…

And I could tell that Dru and Will were hurt when I didn’t offer them blood the other night, in my bed. They thought I was displeased with them. I wasn’t – well, not much. I would have loved to see the pig, although as the Master here I had to put a stern face on. No, it wasn’t that. I was afraid of what my blood might do to them. Unless I can get the right assurances, I may never make another childe again. I may never bond another vampire either. I’m going to have to be careful, until I know for certain. I cannot risk passing on that rage. At least it seems as if Buffy is safe with my blood, but I will wait for further news from Hylek before I allow her to taste it again – before I taste her, too. Well, wouldn’t you? I would be the monster you all think me if I did otherwise. They have said that there is no werewolf essence, as such, left in me to pass on in my bite, but can we be sure? Perhaps I should try with some test subjects, human and vampire. I’ll speak to Ezrafel, and when I come back from Canada we will set that up. It will make me easier in my mind. Until then, I will only bite those who are food, and they will all die.

Everyone who doesn’t live here is getting ready to leave now. Giles has proven himself to me. He hates me, and I can’t argue with that, but he will woith ith and for me if his Slayer needs him to do that. I will do the same. Orbath and Ezrafel have proved themselves again, and Ezrafel will be coming back shortly to join my court. The slayerettes are of no importance, other than Willow and Oz. Oz will spend three nights of each month here, chained to my wall, until we can sort out more permanent secure accommodation. I shall make sure that he is safe.

We’ve all said our thanks and goodbyes, but Oz and Willow are lagging behind a bit, and I walk over to them. She’s nervous, as usual, although Oz is more laid back. Also as usual.

“Angelus…erm…I, er, looked at law firms for you, and found this. They cover all sorts of law areas and they hardly ever seem to lose.”

She presses a piece of paper into my hand and turns to leave. I stop her by the simple expedient of placing my forefinger under her chin and lifting it so that she must look me in the face.

“Thank you Willow.” I look at Oz, then look back at Willow. He knows that I’m not at the moment intent on trespass.

“Willow, you need not be afraid of me. You will take no harm from me,” I tell her gently. “I am even more in your debt. You may ask of me whatever you need, whenever you need it.” I mean what I say.

She’s still terrified of me.

“No, no favours needed. You…you’re looking after Oz, that’s more than enough. Thank you.”

And she flees. Oz gives me a nod, werewolf to vampire, and we understand each other.

I look at the piece of paper Willow has pressed into my . I. It has a company name and address on it.

Wolfram and Hart, Los Angeles. I’ll look them up as soon as I get back from Canada.

Buffy has remained behind, too. It has been a difficult few days for us both. She takes my hand, and I let her. She leads me to the stairs, and up to our rooms, and I let her. I let her do everything else she wants as well. Then it’s my turn. It’s a long time before we fall into a comfortable sleep.

It’s my last full night with Buffy before I leave. She spends Friday with her mother, although I drop in for an hour or two through the window. Then, on Saturday, she moves into her college dorm room, with Willow. I visit on Saturday night, to check the place out. I need to make sure there is nothing here to threaten my mate. I don’t lihe che campus, but there is nothing that presents an obvious threat. I suppose it’s just that it will keep her away from me more than I would like. However, I’m a firm believer in education, even for women (before you fly at me, remember what it was like when I was brought up as a human, and admit that I’ve moved on). Buffy is my Consort, and it is right and proper that she should be well educated. When she has finished here I’ll take care of other things, such as introducing her to the wonders that are to be found in the rest of the world, and how to rule an empire. I have a great deal to teach her, and not just in the erotic arts, I’ll have you know.

She will visit the mansion each evening whilst I am away, and either Spike will patrol with her or a minion will shadow her. The Norags and Ezrafel will generally make themselves useful until I am back, as will the Aventis. Most of the other minions will come with me. What? You thought I was stupid enough to take on an entire cult alone? Spike, Drusilla and Buffy would have come too, but I would not permit it. I need Spike and Dru here to guard the Hellmouth and to guard Buffy, and I need Buffy here to continue with her education and keep a rein on Spike and Dru. A sort of triumvirate. The power of three.

And now I am on my way to the Canadian border with a dozen of the strongest minions. The plan is really very simple. We will allow the cult to finish gathering, then the minions will surround them, to prevent them disappearing off into the Canadian hinterland, and I’ll take it from there. Information has it that there are no more than a dozen to twenty of them. It’ll be a walk in the park.

**************

My name is Lindsey McDonald, and I’m a lawyer. I work for a firm called Wolfram and Hart out of Los Angeles. Most of my work is done in the office or in the courtroom, but this job is different. I’ve been given it because I’m bucking for promotion. There’s a saying. ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’. It means that, when circumstances at a particular time require a special sort of person, the right man will come forward and fill the gap. Wolfram and Hart need someone like me, and I intend to step right on forward. I’m going to be the man.

Thase ase involves a vampire. We aren’t the sort of law firm that won’t deal with clients just because they are demons, or dead, or some other trivial inconvenience like that. If they can pay, and if they’ll do exactly as we say, we’ll sort out their problems. Our Senior Partners are something other than human, after all.

There is some conflict of interest over thisticuticular vampire. There is a prophecy about him. It says he will be important in the forthcoming apocalypse, but it doesn’t say how, or on which side he will be fighting. The Senior Partners want him alive and demonic, and were rather distressed to learn that he was given his soul back in 1898, since when he has been carefully avoiding his demonic nature. They were naturally pleased to hear that he had lost that soul a year or so ago, and was bidding fair to redefine the word ‘demonic’, but have been less pleased to find that he has declared the current Slayer to be his mate and his Consort. They have been even more displeased to find that his demonic nature has been rather…tamed…of late, presumably by said Slayer. They don’t like that one little bit. He’s the most vicious demon that ever stalked the face of the Earth. A real power in the making. They want their boy back and hungry. They don’t need him yet – we’ve got a few years – but if we want the vicious demon back in all his glory, we need to get to work now. After all, it’s not something you can do in a day. We intend to keep the Slayer occupied with a few problems of her own while we sort him out. He’s my project.

We have clients of longstanding, though, rather powerful ones, who want a contract taken out on this vampire. They want him dusted and out of their way. The Senior Partners don’t. I don’t want the Kahlavi taking their own independent action against him in defiance of the Senior Partners’ wishes, and so I have spent several weeks in negotiations trying to broker a deal. We have it now, and I’m about to put it into practice.

He’s spent a week or so in Canada, waiting patiently for the Kahlavi cult to start opening a new Hellmouth. They are gathered now. They know where he is, the trap is set, and is about to be sprung. I have two demons with me who will do the springing. And a whole cohort coming through a portal as we speak – they will take him in the rear. I really do have a surprise for him.

**********

I’m following the group of Kahlavi towards a small cave entrance. I’m not entirely lost to all sense of personal safety so, after waiting for a while, I send one of the minions in. He reports that there is no sign of them in the first couple of hundred feet. That’s all I asked him to scout. The cave opens up considerably beyond the cramped, narrow entrance passage, which runs for about twenty feet. Once inside, I see that we have a substantial cave with two main tunnels running further back beyond this first hall. It’s dank, with water dripping all around, and is a thoroughly unpleasant place. The scent of the Kahlavi clearly continues towards the tunnels. We start to follow, and there is a commotion behind me. My mind screams ambush, and it is. Then there is no more time for thought.

The Kahlavi are pouring back out of the tunnels, with crossbows that they weren’t carrying earlier. A lot more demons are coming through the entrance behind us. We fight, but in short order, all the minions are dust, and there is only me. I’m completely surrounded by crossbows, so I stay where I am. I hope I can get out of here alive, but I must wait for my moment. How did this go so wrong?

A new demon scrambles in to the hall from outside. He chants. Shit. A magic-user. As he finishes his chant, he waves his hand negligently towards me, and I am thrown backwards into a small recess in the darkest corner of the main chamber. As I start to rise, he chants again, and I realise how much trouble I am in.

My legs and arms are broken. They will heal, certainly, but without blood – and I’m not at all sure I’m going to be getting a quick supply of that – they will only heal slowly. The healing process for such major injuries will generate a bone-deep hunger that will undoubtedly cause me some difficulties. The worst, though, is that I am cramped into this small niche, in which I couldn’t stand even if I were able, and I cannot fully lie down. And I cannot get out. There is a barrier, a magical barrier of some sort, and I cannot get out. I feel a growl of anger rising. I am helpless and impotent and trapped, sitting in a tiny cell, amid a continual runnel of icy cave water, on a floor of thick mud. A man is coming forward to speak.

“Angelus. My name is McDonald, Lindsey McDonald. I’m a lawyer with Wolfram and Hart. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

I decide to brazen it out.

“You didn’t need to go to all this trouble. I’d intended to come to your offices anyway. The firm comes highly recommended for what I want.”

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m afraid we have a prior contract – two, in fact – that would preclude us representing you in any way. My…clients…want you out of the for for a bit, so we’re going to let you stay here. In cold storage, so to speak. No-one knows you are here, no-one will find you, so you’re my prisoner really.”

I am terrified at what has come to pass, but I cannot let him see my fear. I roar my defiance at him instead, but he laughs in my face.

“Do that as much as you like, Angelus. It won’t get you out of here any quicker. The Kahlavi will keep a regular eye on you, and I’m not an unreasonable man. We’ll feed you, although not very often. I know a vampire can’t starve – quite. If you’re a good boy, you’ll get a virgin to drain, but only once a year on this day. A sort of anniversary present. It’ll keep body and demon together for another year, and you’ll be so much less trouble like that. We are going to use you, you see. You’ve got a big future with us, if we can get you into the right frame of mind. Not for a few years yet, but you’ll keep. You won’t enjoy it, but you’ll keep. You’ll see me again when I decide to release you. That won’t be until we are ready, and it might be a long time. I’ve a laa last gift for you, though.”

With that he waves me a jaunty farewell, and stands back to make room for another demon. I must try to delay, to get him to change his mind, to negotiate.

“What about the new Hellmouth?” I ask, trying to keep my voice unafraid.

He laughs. “There is no new Hellmouth. We just made the Hylekians think there was. You’ve been well and truly suckered. The mighty Angelus! It was like taking candy from a baby. You were much too concerned about the Slayer to properly analyse what was happening. I like you like this, on the floor, at my feet. Let’s get on with it.”

That last is to the demon, who starts to chant. A different chant, this time.

There is *nothing* that I can do. Recriminations are no good. This has been planned for some time. I want to rage and storm, but my broken limbs and my dignity prevent that. If they are leaving me alone here, there *has* to be a way out. If they could get me into a trap, there must be a way out. I will wait until they havne, ne, and see what I can do.

And then I understand. Pain spears through me, exploding in my gut and I feel the shackles and the cage cramping me, confining me, the darkness descending. I know that I howl in fear and pain. I think I probably cry. And then I do rage and storm, and beg and plead. My responsibilities will go unfulfilled and that hurts. But Buffy, my golden girl, my eternal love; I swore that I would never leave you, never abandon you. And I will. I am lost. Still I beg and plead, then rant and gibber, but it does no good at all. This body is curled into the smallest ball it can make, shivering and trembling in pain and memory. Buffy my love, my heart, remember me…

************

My Sire isn’t back yet. He said that he would be away for possibly two weeks, three at the most. He’s been gone for a month. Dru has gone into one of her almost catatonic states. Unless she’s feeding, she lies on our beepineping and calling for her Daddy. The Slayer is worried, although she tries hard not to show it. I can smell her, though, the scent of her fear. We have an uneasy truce, demons and humans, but no-one here would dream of going against my Sire’s expressed wishes. Demons and humans are working to maintain the balance of the Hellmouth. Between us, we are still having a hard time. Some organisation is operating around Sunnydale. It’s new, and it seems to be taking demons of all sorts, even the neutrals. We all have to be extra careful. I wish he would hurry home. I miss him.

************

Hungry. Hunger screaming through blood, clawing through belly, gnawing into bones. Hunger, making a mindless ravening animal of me.

Darkness, all around me, nothing but darkness and bonds that cramp and confine me…darkness can’t stop it, darkness won’t keep them away…

Pain. Everything is pain. My world is nothing but pain.

Buffy…..

**********

He is missing. He has been gone for two months now. She misses him. Some of the rest of us miss him, some of us do not. I cannot help but rejoice, for my part. I have never forgiven him for killing my lover, Jenny.

She says that she knows he is still alive. She has a bond with him, through their mating – I cannot contemplate such a revolting pairing, such a sickening act, without wanting to stake him, although that would be too easy a death. She is a beautiful girl, full of life, the daughter I have never had. I cannot imagine her coupling with a demon wearing the cold flesh of a corpse.

And yet she loves him. And from what I have seen, he has come to love her. They have started to build something here that may show that she is the best Slayer there has ever been. They have started something that may tame the minions of Hell on Earth. I must support her in whatever she wishes to do. She is my responsibility, but she is his. And she has this bond. It tells her that he is still alive, although she feels pain through it, and has done for weeks. But she cannot sense where he is. Is he still in Canada? Or is he somewhere else. We do not know where to start looking. And even if we did, we could not.

Matters have progressed apace here, since he left to deal with the Kahlavi cult. An organisation is capturing, and experimenting on, demons of all sorts, even harmless ones. We don’t know who or where they are.

Oz has been forced to remain in the mansion. Even outside his time of change, he has been hunted down three times, and only escaped by the merest luck on two occasions, and by Spike’s intervention on the third. Unfortunately, Spike was taken while saving Oz. He was missing for days, but has come back to us now. He is damaged. He can no longer hurt a living human being in any way. He says a chip was put in his head to control him. It is from him we know that experiments are taking place. I can’t say I mind Spike not being able to kill and maim, but I do not like the sound of experiments. That smacks of Government, and, since they are after demons, perhaps it also smacks of the military. We could all be in trouble if that is the case, because whoever is working on this is bound to be incompetent. They cannot possibly have the centuries and generations of experience that we can call on. They will be flapping around in the dark, and something will get loose. God help us then. We cannot leave Sunnydale to that, even to hunt for her lover.

And she really does miss him. Joyce tells me that she cries in her sleep on the nights when she comes home. Willow, who is her roommate, says nothing, but Willow always looks worried now, and not just for Oz. I suspect that she is trying to do magic to locate the vampire, but clearly she has had no luck. It is something I never thought to see, but demons and humans are working together to maintain the balance here. Even so, we are losing.

I hate to say it, but we could do with Angelus back.

**********

Huuunnnggerrr. Bloooooood.

BUFFY…………

Things in the darkness with me. Pain without end. NO, please, make it go away!

Huuunnnggerrr. Bloooooood.

BUFFY…………!

*************

It has been three months and I can bear it no longer. I can feel that he is alive. I can feel that he is in pain, and that is with me always, but the feelings are damped, dulled, and numb, as if they are wrapped in cotton wool. Willow thinks that he has been magically hidden from us. She has tried scrying, and cannot find him. It has been all that we can do to maintain the balance here, and for that I thank Angel’s foresight in bringing to his Court the Norags, the Aventi and the Keeper.

I thought at first that whoever is kidnapping demons must be on the side of the good guys, but I have changed my mind. Spike says little, but he is suffering in a way that is difficult to imagine. It would have been much kinder to stake him. We have found others that have been experimented on, tortured, and then released. Some were neutral demons, some not, but we have had to kill them all, out of mercy. They begged me to do it.

And I am afraid for my mate. If he were here, captive, would I know? I cannot find the peowho who are doing this here, so I will start with Canada. Ezrafel has been back to Hylek and been given the location of the new Hellmouth. That, by the way, hasn’t opened, so Angel must have succeeded. Tomorrow, Giles, Spike, Dru, Ezrafel and I will set off for Canada, and see what we can find. The rest of our people, the demons, anyway, have been taken to Hylek, to our estate. They may not be safe even in the mansion with the rest of us gone. Willow will continue to try and locate him magically. She will contact me if she has the smallest success. Mobile phones are a wonderful thing.

Our party is a strange one, but there are reasons. Giles, we need for his experience and knowledge. We are hoping that Spike and Dru anwillwill somehow, between us, be able to sense him. Ezrafel will simply not be left behind. He is strong, though and we may need that in the days to come.

It is almost Christmas. Snow has fallen where we are heading. The journey will not be easy. I wr ifr if I have waited too long.

ANGELUS…My love, my heart, I am coming. Give me a sign.

*************

Thirst. Blood. Hunger. Darkness. Pain.

Thirst blood hunger darkness pain.

Thirstbloodhungerdarknesspain.

Thirstbloodhungerdarknesspainthirstbloodhungerdarknesspainthirstbloodhungerdarknesspainthir

BUFFY……….

***********

On to chapter 5