Part Thirty-three
Willow fumbled with the bike, her hands shaking so much that hotwiring it again was proving difficult. The first part of the plan was to lure the demons off the hospital grounds but there was no way she could so that without having a transport ready first.
Running on foot was out of the question; especially since Angel would try to track her.
No, she had to move fast for her plan to work… But not too fast that the demons couldn’t find her.
The demons had already started moving from their position – at least some of them. They hadn’t attacked yet, no doubt thinking Angel was the biggest threat out of the two of them, they were simply watching what she was doing.
When the bike roared to life, Willow looked to where the demons were moving from, stealthily out of sight of anyone not looking for them. She knew, without a doubt, they would kill everyone here if it meant victory.
They were like the Goa’uld in some respects; willing to do – kill – anything that threatened their position of power.
The demons didn’t care about anyone here. All they cared about was hell on Earth.
Willow, however, did care about the people here.
If there was a way for her to protect them, she would… and she was going to.
The second part of Willow’s plan was a little bit more difficult than simply running. Willow was going to give them the threat they were so worried about.
It was a desperate act, just like it had been on P3X-697.
And just like on that planet, Willow was going to do something she despised…
Magic.
** ** **
“Oh for crying out loud!” Jack cursed, shooting Carter a glare for laughing at him.
Was it too much to ask to watch a damn hockey game without being disturbed? He had left strict instructions back on the base. Jack was in an informal meeting with SG-1 – NO interruptions were allowed.
None!
Especially during overtime!
“Would you like me to answer the phone, Sir?”
“No, just drink your beer and quit laughing!” he snapped, not really meaning it. The three of them, Jack, Carter, and Teal’c, were actually having an informal meeting, despite the hockey game on his television. “Next time I want a damn meeting we’re going to my cabin.”
Jack grinned inwardly at the alarmed look on Teal’c’s face and picked up the phone.
“This had better be good!”
** ** **
She had no idea what she was doing… Which was not a surprise. Willow didn’t know how to call magic traditionally, except when she was using her link. But the power Willow wanted to call on was a little more powerful than her link…
A lot more powerful.
Willow needed to lure ALL of the demons away from here, take them somewhere else and then run like hell.
It was an insane, er, simple plan.
Taking note of where the demons were to her position, she closed her eyes and focused her will. The technique she was planning to use to call on her power was so stupid it almost made her laugh.
If only Angel could see her now. He’d really be regretting asking her here to help them against the demons. She wasn’t going to whisper words of power to draw the demons near, she wasn’t going to invoke the wrath of any gods.
Nope, Willow was going to wish.
Really, really hard.
Yep, she was going to wish – will – her power to work.
Willow felt a tingling sensation build inside of her, in the pit of her stomach. It felt almost like the butterflies she felt in her stomach right before a mission. She focused on the tingling sensation, willing it to be stronger, and she felt a wind blow around her.
Her heart leapt slightly. Was she responsible for the wind? Did she do that? Or was she imagining it? Was the tingling sensation simply nerves? Fear of failure?
She couldn’t fail here… she couldn’t.
These demons might have killed Daniel… Faith… Giles… they couldn’t be allowed to hurt anyone else.
The fear inside her turned to anger as she thought of losing her loved ones. Willow grasped that anger and focused it, embraced it. She needed to keep track of the demons so she created a different type of link in her mind… A link that connected her to all of them, one that wouldn’t break unless she wanted it to.
Willow felt a thrill as she felt herself connect to the demons once again, having lost her original link to them when she had seen them. This link was made almost the same way as the other… just slightly different. She drew power from her link and the anger she was feeling seemed to come alive inside of her, it flowed through her veins and the fear disappeared completely.
She was not going to lose anyone – not again.
If these demons killed Daniel… Then she would make them suffer in ways even they couldn’t think of.
The wind around her turned to almost a gale and Willow felt the power flow through her. It was power this time… not nerves. It was almost intoxicating. The anger and the power combined and the tingling sensation exploded like a crack of thunder.
Now, she was ready.
Willow revved the bike, made sure the link was still between all of them, took off.
The demons would follow.
** ** **
“Bring him over here, Sunshine.”
Daniel had seen a lot of things in his time, the thing in front of him not as scary as most, but he couldn’t take his eyes off him. At least it took his mind off the fact that Faith was carrying him – by herself.
“It’s okay,” Faith said as she eased him on the chair. “He’s an empath demon, he owns the club. He’s a friend.”
Empath demon? Did she just say empath demon?
“Lorne, this Daniel Jackson. Daniel, this is Lorne.”
The green, ah, empath demon smiled at him, his red eyes dancing with amusement.
Daniel held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure is all mine,” Lorne greeted him. “Welcome to Caritas. The place is a little empty at the moment, I had the barman clear the place when Cordy told me you were coming.”
“Cordy? Where is she?” Mr Giles asked, looking around.
“Gone,” Lorne replied. “Seems some friends of your ran into some trouble and they needed a lift.”
Daniel’s heart lurched. “Willow?”
“Kawalsky,” Rondell answered for him, walking into the room. “They were attacked by vamps at a theatre across town.”
“But they’re okay?” Faith asked.
Rondell nodded. “The Major didn’t go into detail, he just said he needed someone to pick him and his team up.”
Only three of them? “What about Willow and Angel?”
Rondell shrugged. “They didn’t say.”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“Daniel, she’s okay,” Faith assured him, putting her hand on her shoulder. “They ran into Vamps… Angel can handle vamps. Besides, Angel would have given them the number for here. They’re okay.”
She was right, they were okay. “If anything had happened, Kawalsky would have said.”
“I’m sorry,” Mr Giles interrupted, looking confused. “But did you say Major?” The question was directed to Rondell.
A pained expressed Faith’s face. “Ah, yeah. Some of Red’s friends from the military is helping us out. Red’s team to be exact.”
Mr Giles eyes widened in shock. “Her team? From the Air Force?” He looked completely bewildered. “Her Deep Space Telemetry team?”
“Yeah, but they’re not Deep Space Telemetry,” Faith told him, sighing. “They’re a Search And Rescue team and they followed Red here from Colorado.”
Mr Giles went pale and so did Daniel.
They knew Willow’s cover was false.
** ** **
Annabelle!
Angel knelt down on he ground next to the witch, her dead eyes staring lifelessly back at him. His elation of finding Giles’ room empty of bodies had faded the second Annabelle had come into sight.
She was dead, neck broken.
Angel closed his eyes. The immediate area around them looked like a fight had taken place and, since there was only a single body, he guessed the others had gotten away. There were no demons to be seen, they probably followed them, desperate to get their hands on the rest of them.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
He reached out and closed Annabelle’s eyes with his hand then headed out of the hospital.
** ** **
Willow turned off the bike and moved to a position in the middle of the empty park less than half a mile away from the hospital.
Ideally, she would have liked to have gone somewhere a little more remote but the entire point of this was to lure the demons away from the hospital and civilians. If she went too far, they would more than likely turn back.
Which was what Willow didn’t want.
She needed them here. Where she could find them – hurt them.
The power that she had called at the hospital was still inside her, stronger than ever. Her anger was still feeding it and the intoxicating feeling of the power increased as the minutes passed.
In her mind it scared her slightly that her power felt this good and that she was calling more power from anywhere and everywhere to help her fight them. No, not just fight them, but kill them. God, she wanted to hurt them.
If she survived this, and Daniel was gone…
She would hunt them down one by one and rip the skin from their bodies then burn them with the fires of hell.
** ** **
Tara frowned.
She edged away from Faith, Mr Giles and Dr Jackson, wanting more space. Something… something was wrong. Tara didn’t know what it was or why she was feeling it, but Tara could feel a darkness growing.
It was like she was connected to it in some way, she could feel the anger growing, and dark magic in the air.
Something was very wrong.
** ** **
“They went to the hospital? On their own? I can’t believe her! God! When I get my hands on that stupid….”
Grogan winced. He actually felt sorry for Rosenberg. Since picking them up fifteen minutes ago, Cordelia had been raging.
She was one unhappy woman.
“Cordelia, I know you’re upset…” Kawalsky began, trying to placate her.
“Upset? UPSET?”
Oh no, she was not upset.
Cordelia was something far worse. “How far are we from the hospital?” she demanded for the umpteenth time.
“Five minutes, not even that.”
The brunette in the front seat calmed slightly at the news. “When we get there, Willow’s mine. I am so going to – ”
Cordelia’s threat was cut off by the sound of Kawalsky’s cell phone ringing. Christ he hoped it was Rosenberg. They had tried to get Rosenberg on her cell a few times, but whenever they tried the call just didn’t seem to connect for some reason, like something was interfering with it.
“If that’s Willow, I want to talk to her,” Cordelia informed him sternly.
Grogan grinned. Cordelia Chase was certainly one tough –
“Jack?” Kawalsky’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “What? No, I haven’t watched the news. We’re in LA now…No, she’s not with us.”
Jack? Jack as in General Jack O’Neill?
Kawalsky covered the cell. “Get to the hospital NOW.”
** ** **
Willow opened her eyes, the links with the demons seemed easier to access with her magic like this. She could feel them close by. They were only moments away from her.
Willow closed her eyes and allowed the power to build again, drawing it from everywhere she could. As the power built inside of her, a coldness washed over her. Not a numbness, but a coldness… darkness even.
The air around her began to swirl and when she opened her eyes again, it was almost as though the air shuddered in fear.
Willow wasn’t feeling any fear now, all she was feeling was anger and the thirst for revenge. Not just the revenge of Daniel… but vengeance of every single person the demons had hurt and killed.
They were going to… The thoughts fell away as a strand of hair blew across her eyes. She frowned and allowed herself to be slightly distracted by the sight of it.
It was black.
But, before she could question it, she heard a sound.
They were here.
She smiled.
** ** **
“Willow!” Angel shouted again, searching everywhere for Beth or Willow. They weren’t where he had left them. They weren’t here!
Shit! Where were they?
“Beth!” he yelled, desperation washing over him. If something happened to Willow he would never –
“Angel!”
Thank God! “Beth, where have you… Where’s Willow?”
The nurse stepped back at the look on his face. “She ran off.” She lowered her voice. “The demons, they were in the trees over there but they’re gone now. Willow ran off when she saw them.”
He went cold inside. “Willow saw the demons?”
Beth nodded. “I’m sorry, I tried to stop her.”
Shit.
Angel ran through the car park, to the spot where the bike should have been.
It was gone.
God damn –
“Angel!”
His head snapped up at the familiar voice and relief washed over him. “Cordelia!”
“We’ve got a problem.”
** ** **
“Faith…” Tara hesitated, wondering if she was doing the right thing. What she was feeling could be nothing or it could be some residual magic she felt here. She didn’t know for sure it was something or someone trying to hurt them, except…
Whatever it was was growing in strength.
“Tara, what’s up?”
“I-I, um, I’m not sure.”
Faith looked at her. “You’re not sure?”
She nodded. “I feel something.”
“What?” Mr Giles asked.
“Magic… dark magic…”
Mr Giles looked alarmed. “Dark magic.”
“And… It’s connected to me.” She closed her eyes and focused what energy she had left on it.
When she opened her eyes, they were full of fear.
“It’s drawing power from me.”
** ** **
“On the news?” Angel repeated, not sure what he was concerned about more.
“I don’t think Rosenberg being on the news is our biggest concern now,” Kawalsky said, his eyes cold with fury. “You left her out here alone… And now she’s missing.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Angel told him, not wanting to go over the explanation again. “She didn’t take what was happening here very well. When she saw the police cars and the people… She shut down.”
“Shut down?” Grogan sounded like he didn’t believe him.
“Shut down,” Angel repeated. “When I left her she was practically catatonic and I didn’t leave her alone. I left her with a nurse.”
“Then where the hell is she? My God damn CO and the CMO of our base saw her on the damn news. He wants to know what the hell is going on… And those are his exact words.”
“Willow must have seen the demons and ran.”
“Where are the demons now?”
“Gone, Beth said they followed Willow.”
Hayes cursed.
“So now supposedly catatonic Willow is out there running away from demons?”
Grogan frowned. “Didn’t you say the bike was gone?”
Angel nodded.
“Great,” Cordelia snorted. “She could be anywhere.”
“She could be anywhere,” Grogan agreed. “But she’s not catatonic. Not anymore. She’s thinking…” So was Grogan by the look on his face.
“Grogan?” Kawalsky prompted.
“We stole the bike, Sir. For Rosenberg to run, she’d have to hotwire it again. That takes time, thought. She’s thinking, Sir, she knows what she’s doing.”
Angel shook his head. “You didn’t see her… She was out of it.”
“She was out of it after the demons attacked us at the hotel,” Cordelia told him. “But she snapped out of it and then made a plan to save Faith.”
No. Willow wouldn’t have done something stupid, she wouldn’t have decided to be heroic.
She had been near catatonic… It wasn’t possible.
“She saw the demons and ran,” Hayes stated. “She didn’t run… She would have led them away from the civilians.”
Kawalsky nodded. “It makes sense. Come on, we’ll start searching the streets for her. She couldn’t be too far away.”
“She could be,” Gunn argued. “But you’re right. It might make sense if we all get out of here too.” He nodded to the police now patrolling the car park.
“What about Willow? She might come back here.”
“She’s got the bike and she’ll head straight to Caritas. She’s linked with Giles. We should give them a call, give them a heads up while we look for her.”
No! They were wrong. Willow would not go after the demons. “You’re wrong. She wouldn’t be that stupid.”
Cordelia stared at him. “She wouldn’t? Where the hell have you been?”
** ** **
The wind around her was at gale force now, the demons had moved out of the shadows and were standing around her. They hissed and growled at her but she was beyond their touch now… She no longer feared them.
She no longer feared anything.
Willow looked at each and every one of them, studying them. They were all covered in blood. It was on their faces, their mouths, their hands…
So much blood.
Rage filled Willow and she pulled power from her links again.
Then she let it explode from her.
** ** **
Tara screamed and she dropped to the floor. Giles followed a second later.
“Giles!” Faith screamed. “Giles! Are you okay? ” Kyle and Rondell rushed to Tara’s side while Faith went to her watching. Daniel watching helplessly from the chair. “What happened?”
He shook his head, struggling to catch his breath. Finally, after a minute, he spoke. “Magic.”
Magic? What the hell was he talking about?
He thought for a moment. “Something drew power out of me…”
Like Tara? “Do you know who? Or what?” God damn it! They had their hands full with the demons, now some unknown witch or warlock was… Oh… Oh no. Shit! “Tara, did you feel it too?” Obviously, but Faith had a reason for asking.
She nodded, grimacing in pain. “The power… it was…” She couldn’t form words.
Powerful. “Is Red’s power still connected to yours and Annabelle?”
Daniel gasped. “It’s Willow? Willow is drawing the power?”
She was linked to Giles and Tara’s power did combine with Willow’s… It made sense.
But Tara disagreed. “The power is dark… too dark. Unless Willow is embracing dark magic...”
Red didn’t know magic from shit. “It couldn’t be Red, she wouldn’t know how and she wouldn’t use it… Not after what happened with Tara and Annabelle.”
“Not unless she had to.” Daniel said, panicked. “She used magic to save … She used it on a mission once. As a last resort.”
Red told him about her missions? Wait! Weren’t they classified? “So you think Red –”
Giles and Tara cried out again.
** ** **
The woman pulled into the hospital car park and hastily got out of the car. She had no idea where to start looking, the number of people there now looked like it had doubled from what she had seen on the news.
But it didn’t matter.
She had to find Willow.
** ** **
“Stop!” Willow screamed and the demons froze in place.
The air crackled with power. She had no idea how she was even stopping the demons from attacking her. Mini tornadoes swirled around her and the lightening hit the ground near the demons. The power was beyond her control now, Willow didn’t know how to stop it… And she didn’t want to.
Willow wanted to make them pay.
She threw what she guessed was an energy ball at the demon directly in front of her and it screamed in agony.
Willow relished in the sound.
It was like music to her ears.
The demons somehow released themselves from the barrier she had created and tried to rush her. Willow waved her left hand and they went flying. One into a nearby building and the others hit the ground not far from her.
Lightening flashed all around her and Willow knew she had them.
They couldn’t stop her.
A sound from behind caught Willow’s attention and she spun around to see a demon within reach. All it took was a thought, a simple thought and the demon was suspended in the air.
Blood covered the demon and Willow’s eyes narrowed in on the blood. Was it Daniel’s? Giles? Or Faith’s? Or was it just some innocent person who happened to be walking in the hospital at the wrong time?
Once again rage filled her and she focused all her will and energy on the one demon.
And with a wave of the hand it’s skin was stripped from its body.
The other demons howled.
** ** **
Stop it… she had to stop it.
“If Red’s drawing the power.” Tara heard Faith say. “Then she has to be fighting the demons but it doesn’t make sense. Where the hell would she be getting dark magic from? No one here is into that kind of shit. Wait, Tara, you’re not are you?”
The blonde witch shook her head. “No, we’re… no.” She couldn’t give more of an answer than that. What or whoever was drawing her power wasn’t just drawing her power… It was draining her.
All the magic she had expelled to fight the demons had weakened her.
If this kept up, Tara wouldn’t survive.
“And Giles isn’t, where the hell would she be drawing the power from?”
“Oh God,” Daniel cried out, his hand flying to his mouth in horror. “Willow’s linked to Giles and she is connected to Tara because of the healing spell… would that make it possible for her to draw magic?”
“Yeah,” Faith replied.
“She’s linked to the demons…”
Tara’s eyes widened in terror.
Willow wasn’t just drawing magic from them… she was drawing power from the demons.
“We have to stop her!” Tara cried out. Using magic of that magnitude… that evil, it could taint her or worse. Tara wished Annabelle was here. “We have to stop her... she’ll kill us.”
But Tara didn’t know how to stop her… but the coven did!
“Call the Coven… Tell them to strip Willow’s powers!”
** ** **
God, this was a high.
Flying a Deathglider was always enough to get her adrenaline pumping but this… this… Watching the demon burn was something else.
Not that it was burning very well. Guess it was kind of hard to burn something with the fires of hell when it came from the fires of hell.
Well, guess that meant she had to try something different.
The demon let out a ghastly scream as she tore it apart with her mind.
When the demon was gone, she turned her attention to the other demons rushing towards her.
“Who’s next?” ** ** **
“How long will it take them?” Faith asked, holding onto Giles. The pain he was in was increasing.
“Not long,” Tara said, gasping for breath. “Annabelle had… She had told them to set the spell up when we were on the way to the hospital.”
“Wait!” Daniel protested. “If we strip Willow’s powers in the middle of a fight with the demons she might not make it.”
“And if she kills Giles and Tara accidentally with her magic… she won’t make it.”
** ** **
Angel sat in the back of the car Gunn had borrowed searching the streets for Willow. How were they going to find her? She could be anywhere? They had been driving around for ten minutes already and there wasn’t a sign of her anywhere.
Nothing.
** ** **
Willow threw another energy ball at the demons, slightly disappointed that they weren’t as easy to kill collectively as they were individually.
It was as though they were adapting; watching to see how she operated and then counter acting. Her magic never held them for too long and they were resilient to the her energy balls, but their time was limited none the less.
They had been playing this cat and mouse game for a while now, and they were tiring.
Willow had felt them drawing on her links. When they did, it weakened her momentarily… Until she drew on it in return.
There was no way they could win against her.
She closed her eyes, deciding this game had gone on long enough. Taunting them, making them suffer was fun, but Willow knew, somewhere in her mind, that this wouldn’t last forever.
As powerful as she felt… She knew there had to be a limit.
She wanted them dead long before she reached it.
Willow gathered all her strength, drew power from everywhere she could, and then held her hands out wide. The second she opened her eyes electricity flew from her hands into each of the demons. They howled with pain.
The wind around her became stronger and stronger, when it reached it’s peak, she released it and the demons went flying.
Willow laughed almost drunkenly as they all landed on the floor.
Weak… close to death.
Willow closed her eyes to gather her power again, to deliver one last blow. The power built inside of her… reached a peak that was higher then any time before and she…
Screamed.
She dropped to her knees as power – unknown power – surrounded her.
She screamed again as a bright white light consumed her.
** ** **
“We’re never going to find her,” Cordelia announced. “She could be miles away by now.”
Or they could have missed her, Angel silently conceded. LA was a big city, they could have missed her any number of ways. They could have gone left when she went right… or she could have gone back to the hospital.
“Maybe she went to Caritas,” Gunn suggested. “It’s where she said to meet up.”
“If Rosenberg found the demons,” Kawalsky conceded. “She her links would have been dissolved so it’s possible she went there.”
Kawalsky tossed Angel his phone. “Call them.”
** ** **
Jesus!
What the hell just happened? Willow bit her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain. The power that had been flowing through her moments ago was gone, the intoxication she had been feeling was now replaced by nausea and a pounding headache.
It was over.
Finished.
She had no power left and the links… she couldn’t even feel the links. No links to anyone, the demons, Giles… anything.
She… She didn’t just have no power left… She had nothing at all.
Willow’s snapped up when she heard movement nearby. She looked up, to see the demons stirring on the ground.
Her heart froze with fear.
Using the last of her strength, Willow made her way to the bike. With shaking hands, she started it again. Willow could barely hold the bike up as she crawled onto it. The only thing keeping her going were the demons. They were standing up now.
Willow revved the bike and drove away.
** ** **
“It’s gone… I can’t feel it anymore,” Tara slumped in relief.
“Willow’s powers are stripped?”
“Willow, what about Willow?” Daniel asked.
No one knew what to say. ** ** **
Several times as she drove through the streets she nearly lost her balance. Her eyes filled with tears as she made her way back to the hospital. Without the link to Giles, she didn’t know where she going but fortunately, she was no longer linked to the demons so they couldn’t track her either.
The demons… A wave of nausea washed over her as she thought of what she had done to that demon. Without the intoxication of the power, it felt different now.
Everything did.
Willow pulled into the hospital car park and dropped the bike on the ground. She let out a cry of pain and fear as all of the strength left her. Willow let herself fall to the ground.
It was really over.
She couldn’t move… she didn’t have the strength. The magic inside of her had taken everything out of her. She had nothing left.
She silently prayed Angel would find her, that he hadn’t left. If he had left, then there was no chance –
“Willow?”
Willow froze when she heard the voice. Her heart pounded rapidly when she heard the voice again. Slowly, she turned her head to see the owner of the voice walking towards her.
It wasn’t Angel.
The voice wasn’t even male.
It was a voice she never thought she would ever hear again.
“Mrs Summers?”