Chapter 19 (END!!)

"There's something going on with the HSTs."

"Huh?" Riley came across the room and looked over Forrest's shoulder. "WHOA. What's up with that?"

"I don't know. They're all going insane." And they were. Pounding on walls, screaming in different languages, even the most sedate demons suddenly awake and furious.

"Professor Walsh?"

As the professor came over, the demons in their cages seemed to get louder and louder, and Forrest had to mute the sound.

"My goodness...what's all this about?"

"We don't know. It started up about two hours ago."

"Two hours..." She fell silent for a moment. "When did we bring in Ms. Summers?"

"Uhm..." Riley blinked at the schedule. "Two...hours ago. Whoa. Is that what's going on? Seriously? I mean, I know that vampire said they worshipped her..."

"Yes...it seems that somehow, they were aware of her being brought in, doesn't it? Quite the protest."

Forrest blinked, very slowly. "Wait...these demons are going nuts because they worship that girl?" He looked at his superior. "Is she evil? She's so tiny..."

"Sometimes, children, the more evil the being, the smaller the package." Her eyes were level, almost dark, as she watched the HSTs throttle their cells.

**

"So, how many people are we talking about, all together?"

Angelus glanced at Xander, then at Giles and Ethan, who were both counting in their heads. It was Anya who answered him, however.

"Around two hundred thousand, I'd say...I mean, short notice and small town and all."

Willow's eyes glazed over, and Xander just sat there, shock covering his face.

"My god..."

"Yes." Willow and Xander's heads snapped over to look at Doyle. "God."

They both swallowed.

**

"Professor Walsh!! We have a problem!!"

Walsh came over again and stared at the monitors. "Agent Finn, where are all the HSTs?!"

"We don't know."

They both stared at the empty monitor for a minute, stunned, before either thought to hit the alarm.

**

"Slayer?!"

It took Buffy a minute to pull herself out of her meditation...but once she did, and looked up, her eyes got VERY wide.

"Yes..." She stood up and came to the cage door, eyeing the demon who'd spoken, though dozens were outside her door.

"Are you alright?" Dozens of eyes watched her, worried, despite the obvious injuries each of them carried.

"Yes. I'm fine." A collective sigh of relief followed.

"Stand back, then, please."

She stood back from the door, and a demon with electrolics hanging from his tentacles stepped forward, blowing the fuse on her cage, and subsequently shorting itself and passing out.

"Oh, GOD!!" she started for the demon, but the spokesman stopped her.

"He'll be fine, Precious One. Please...just get out of here. Darla is coming."

She gave the demon and odd look...he clearly had some kind of plan...but nodded and left.

Only a few Initiative soldiers thought to get in her way, rather than check the regular holding area. Neither really got a good enough look at her face to recognize her before they were dead.

**

"Oh my god...."

Willow and Xander stood frozen in place, staring at the scene before them.

There was the entrance to the Initiative, through Lowell House.

And between the building and them was a sea of vampires. Growling, hissing, barely restrained vampires, all listening to instructions from Angelus, who stood on the steps of the frat house, speaking to the crowd.

"Do not leave a single corner of this building un searched. If I find out she was hiding in a ventilation shaft and no one thought to check there, you will answer to EVERY SINGLE Faithful vampire here!"

There was a LOUD growling of agreement, and then the entire body moved forward as one, Angelus leading the way, and began to disappear into the building.

**

They met in the middle level, just before the elevator to take you up. There she stood, fighting off four Initiative soldiers, the Faithful flock that had helped her to escape having had to stay behind to stop Darla.

As more Initiative scrambled down from their posts to stop her escape, the first wave of Faithful from above poured in from the stairwell.

Final damage count:
Faithful losses: 7
Initiative losses: 104

**

As Buffy walked out of the building into the bright moonlight, she swallowed and stared.

Thousands more had arrived since the initial onslaught, and were waiting...witches, peaceful demons, watchers, women, men, children...waiting on the lawn, bowing, Aztec around the Temple, waiting for her, praying for her safety...there they were, before her.

For her.

She broke into tears and a wave of upset drove through the crowd, driving them to their feet, rushing them forward to comfort her, afraid she was hurt, bleeding, something.

Angelus got her out of the way just in time, and Giles began to address the crowd, the Slayer's Watcher, commanding their attention and easing their minds.

Once out of sight of the crowd, Buffy was able to pull herself together.

"Are you SURE you're alright?" Now that he had her out of the way of the crowd, out of the Initiative, in front of him, his own panic began to set in. she was shaking. She'd been crying. Her hair was a mess, her clothes torn, her hands bloody. She'd clearly been fighting.

"I'm fine." She managed a weak smile and started to move away from him, the events of the day giving way in her mind finally to the rejection of the night before.

He caught her arm. "You're not fine." Staring into her eyes, he made a decision...'propriety be damned.'

His tongue entered her mouth without waiting for an invitation.

**

"Where's Buffy?"

Giles blinked for a minute at Willow. The crowd had dispersed, but would be in town for a while to pay tribute. Now standing on the empty lawn, it became incredibly apperant that Buffy and Angelus were missing.

"Good lord...Darla." In all the chaos of the Initiative raid, he'd forgotten the original threat.

"Darla's taken care of."

Heads whipped around to stare at the demon who'd spoken. His eyes were a strange color, and after a moment, Ethan shimmered into view, his electrolic tentatcles dissapearing. "I've made sure of it."

Giles stared at him a moment and then stepped forward. "What have you done?"

Ethan just smiled.

**

"NO! You don't understand! I'm not the Slayer! I'm-"

The Initiative soldiers closed the cage and cut off any further shouts.

"Are we sure?" Walsh, weary and looking twice her age, watched them shove the cage into the truck.

"Yes. This is the true Slayer. Someone had made her into a Vampire, and the community was protecting her by putting that girl in her place."

"I see." Walsh sighed. "We had her the entire time. The whole thing was a diversion to get her out?"

"Yes. They over compensated, however."

"Yes, they did." She nodded to herself. "We'll finish our experiments and work at the backup station. Close it up, please."

They closed the final soundproofed doors to the truck and what was left of the Initiative piled into carrier vehicles. In a matter of minutes, they were gone.

If you could find proof they'd been there at all.

**

"What did he do?" Anya looked at the Watcher. "Giles?"

He smiled, watching Ethan walk away...Ethan, possibly at peace with himself for the first time in his life.

"What any Faithful would have done."

Anya just frowned a bit, watching the other man go, and started to say something, but was cut off by Willow.

"Wait...if Darla's taken care of...where ARE Buffy and Angel?"

**

"Oh, my GOD..."

Angel purred, then lifted his head from between her legs, watching her, his hands smoothing over her thighs. His voice was barely a whisper.

"MY goddess, thank you very much."

She just moaned as he lowered his head again.
 

END

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