Chapter 4: Opening the Gates
“Don’t worry little girl. It will all be over soon.” Doc smiled at a captive Dawn.
“Buffy and Spike are so going to kick your ass.” Dawn glared at him, seething in anger.
“Spike? Oh yes, the vampire. Strange fellow…the Vampire with a heart. It’s a pity I’m going to cut it out of him.” Doc said with that cold sarcasm that sent a chill up Dawn’s spine.
“Start the ritual. It’s time.” Doc commanded of the nerd trio.
That was Jonathan’s cue. He looked up nervously at Dawn’s pleading eyes. He then glanced at Doc, Warren and Andrew watching him expectantly. He gritted his teeth and started to mix the ingredients in a mortar, crushing them with the pestle.
Doc turned back to Dawn, holding up the dagger with a cold smile.
“Time to bleed little girl.” Doc said taking hold of her wrist, drawing the blade over her flesh.
“Over my dead body!!” Spike growled as he charged at Doc, knocking him to the ground.
“Spike!” Dawn shouted in relief.
The rest of the extended Scooby gang charged in, but when they saw only Doc and the three nerds in the room they all stopped mid-charged and glanced at each other.
“It’s just you four? No big nasty minion demons to fight? How lame!” Xander said in disbelief.
The blood from Dawn’s cut wrist dripped down into the Hell-mouth.
The ground started to shake as the Hell-mouth came alive.
A ‘normal’ resident of California would have shrugged off the ‘Earthquake’ as a mild 3.6, but the group gathered around the Hell-mouth knew all to well what the quake meant.
Unholy screams and shrieks pierced the silent library as giant demons started to emerge from the Hell-mouth. Lorne’s jaw dropped. He didn’t like Sunnydale anymore.
“You just *had* to say something to jinx us, didn’t you Xander?” Buffy said, clutching her double-weighted swords for the ready.
“If you don’t need me, I’ll just be waiting outside…” Lorne gestured behind himself as he turned and headed for the door, but Angel’s sudden firm grip on his shoulder stopped him. “Oh I *knew* today was going to be a bad day…” Lorne whined.
“BUFFYYY!” Dawn shrieked as a large snake/dragon looking demon focused in on Dawn just as it crawled out of the Hell-mouth.
“Dawn!!” Buffy shouted, sprinting to the demon and started hacking it to bits. The rest of the group joined the fray, attacking the various demons that the Hell-mouth spit out.
* * *
Across the room Doc and Spike were still involved in their scuffle.
“I still don’t smell a soul on you, vampire.”
“Don’t need a soddin’ soul to kick your ass. Now shut up and die you pillock.” Spike said, striking out a Doc, but he dodged far too easily.
“You’re not still holding that grudge are you? For the Lady, isn’t it? It’s always about a woman...” Doc smiled ruefully. Then his face turned cold and calculating. “You failed Vampire. A failure that ended in her death.” Doc said icily. If it was possible, this pissed Spike off even more.
* * *
“Buffy, untie me!” Dawn pleaded as her sister finished off another demon that had gotten too close to Dawn. Once Buffy assessed there were no more demons close enough, she turned to Dawn and easily cut the ropes in one swift motion.
Dawn brushed the ropes off of her-self and stood. Suddenly the relieved look on her face disappeared.
“Buffy look out!” Dawn said pointing behind her sister. Before Buffy could react Dawn grabbed one of her swords out of her grasp and with what seemed like a flick of her wrist, slashed the demon across the throat, killing it. Buffy glanced at the demon and back at Dawn.
“I *really* hate being the damsel in distress.” Dawn shrugged and flipped the blade around her hand experimentally.
“How?” Was all Buffy was able to ask.
“Spike taught me some moves.” Dawn said with a shrug, and quickly turned to stab a smaller demon nearby. She turned back to Buffy with a fiery glint in her eyes. “What do you say we kick some demon butt, sis?” Dawn smiled eagerly.
* * *
“Don’t let Jonathan complete the ritual!” Giles shouted to the group as he fought a particularly vicious Fyarl demon. The demons and hell-spawn just kept crawling out of the Hell-mouth. The room was so over crowded with demons that they began to fight each other.
“Which ones Jonathan?” Angel shouted back.
“The one reading from the spell book numb-nuts!” Spike yelled from across the library as he traded punches with Doc.
“I really hate that boy.” Angle sighed as he slammed his fist into a Hell-beast’s face, trying to make his way to the trio.
Jonathan, Andrew and Warren were situated in an alcove that used to be the entrance to Giles’ office. Blocking the way to the trio was a horde of demons that continued to crawl out of the hell-mouth. In the center of the fray, closest to the Hell-mouth, Buffy and Dawn stood practically back-to-back fighting off demons left and right. Dawn was no Slayer, but she was pretty nifty with a sword.
“We’re out numbered!” Angel shouted.
“Thank you for that keen observation!” Giles said, then gritted his teeth and grunted as he slashed another of the countless demons coming forth from the hell-mouth.
“Aaah!” Cordelia shrieked as she was thrown a few feet in the air and landed unceremoniously against a wall, sliding down.
“Cordy!” Angel tore through the remainder of the demon he was fighting and pushed his way through the demons to get to her. When he finally got to her she was just starting to regain her senses.
“Are you okay?” Angel asked her, worried.
“Other than this concussion, I’m fine.” Cordelia said as she held her hand to the side of her head. She grimaced when her hand came away bloody. She looked down at her white designer blouse and saw drops of her blood had dripped onto it.
“My favorite shirt! That’s it! Now I’m pissed!” Cordelia stood up abruptly, walked past Angel and stalked to the demon that had thrown her across the room. The demon saw her and swung its fist at her, but she somehow managed to dodge him and suddenly grabbed his head between both her hands. Her eyes started to glow, spreading to the rest of her body until it shimmered bright white.
The demon entire body tensed, then it’s eyes rolled back in its head as the white glow engulfed his body. When she released the demon it fell and touched a different demon, spreading the glow to it. Shortly after the glow had been passed on, the demon shriveled and turned to dust. The next demon fell, touching another demon, spreading the glow onto it. The domino effect cut out at least half of the demons, turning them to dust as soon as the white glow was passed on.
The Scoobies stood stunned as they had watched the demon population get cut back dramatically by Cordelia.
“Wow, puts a whole new meaning to the word ‘fashion victim’, don’t you think?” Lorne asked with raised eyebrows.
“No rest for the weary, come on then!” Giles said as he charged after another demon. The rest followed suit, taking up the battle again. This time the odds didn’t look so bad.
* * *
“This didn’t have to get so personal, you know.” Doc smiled as Spike struggled to get a land a punch in on him. “We’re both demons. We should be working towards the same goal.”
“Yeah, well, I kinda like the world how it is now.” Spike said, taking another shot at Doc, but the demon easily dodged it, yet again. “Besides, if I get to kill you, then I’m all for it.” Spike grunted.
“Arrogant boy. I’m not so easy to kill.” Doc smiled coolly as Spike’s fist came centimeters from his face.
“Then I’ll settle for beating you to a bloody pulp until I figure out how to kill you.” Spike said, finally landing a blow on Doc’s face, but the demon quickly retaliated with a punch to Spike’s nose that was stronger than his, knocking Spike to the ground.
“I’m not so easy to beat either.” Doc said, straightening the lapels of his jacket, and dusting imaginary dust off him self.
Spike gritted his teeth. This was going to be a long fight.
* * *
“Grrr!! First my blouse, and now my poor skirt! What is it with you demons and my clothes?!” Cordelia shouted as she clamped her glow-y hands on another demon, sending the domino effect through five of them.
“Makes you wish you had stayed home, doesn’t it?” Lorne shouted as he shot a bolt from his crossbow, hitting a demon in the shoulder. It shrieked loudly making everyone in the room wince and clasp their hands over their ears at the intensity of the volume. By the end of the battle, everyone’s ears were gonna be ringing, that’s for sure.
“Tell me about it! I bet Gunn and Fred are having a better time than we are.” Cordelia said frustrated, looking down at her tattered skirt and wincing at the loud noise filling the library.
* * *
Back in LA, the Hyperion hotel…
Fred and Gunn sat in the main lobby in silence. The clock ticking on the wall was the only sound in the entire room.
Gunn sighed and glanced at the door, mentally willing a customer to walk through the doors.
Fred glanced at Gunn, and gave him a small smile. He smiled back, and then went back to looking extremely bored.
Fred fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
Gunn glanced at the clock, ticking insistently. He was seriously considering ripping the clock off the wall.
“Man…we should have gone to Sunnydale with them. I bet they’re having a better time than we are.” Gunn sighed.
* * *
Back in Sunnydale, the old Sunnydale High Library…
“I doubt it sweet-cakes.” Lorne replied to Cordy, raising his voice over the battle sounds.
“Will you two stop yapping and fight?” Angel sighed.
“Hey! I took out half of them in one move! Beat that!” Cordelia glared at him, then added under her breath: “Numb-nuts.”
“Yeah Angel-cakes, not everyone has as much fun killing things as you and Connor.” Lorne said, gesturing to the young boy.
Connor was fighting tirelessly in the center of a large group of demons, with a large smile on his face.
“Gotta admit, the kid loves the fight.” Angel smiled proudly. “Just like his daddy.”
Cordelia and Lorne rolled their eyes and went back to killing things.
* * *
“Take that you slimy….thing!” Dawn said, slashing through a demon.
“Dawn, less non-witty banter and more killing!” Buffy shouted.
“They just keep coming!” Dawn said.
“Willow!” Buffy shouted. “How’s Tara doing with that spell?”
“She’s working on it!” Willow shouted back, glancing at Tara. She was situated in the twisted wreckage of the caged in area. It was damaged, but mostly intact, so it created a space for her to perform the spell away from the fight.
“Well hurry!” Buffy shouted.
* * *
Spike was getting his ass kicked… and he had hardly landed three punches on Doc.
“I’m getting bored of you. I’ve got business to attend to.” Doc smiled coolly and slammed his fist into Spike’s nose. He fell to the floor, knocked out.
Doc straightened his suit jacket and walked over to the three nerds.
“Its time. You must summon Ethos standing above the Hell-mouth. It will take all three of you.” Doc told them.
“Hey wait, you said Jonathan was gonna do the spell. Not all three of us.” Andrew said.
“That is true. It is Jonathan that must perform the spell. You two are just there to… help.” Doc said.
The trio glanced at each other nervously.
“How do we get past the demons?” Warren asked.
“And the Slayer.” Andrew reminded.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll deal with the Slayer. Just perform the ritual.”
“And then we’ll rule Sunnydale, right?” Warren asked.
“Yes…” Doc lied through his teeth with a smile on his face. “You will.”
Doc turned and walked through the crowd of demons, intent on his goal.
Jonathan and Andrew glanced up at Warren.
“I don’t like this. This isn’t how things were supposed to go.” Jonathan said.
“Well whose stupid idea was it to summon a Hell-God’s servant?” Andrew glared at Jonathan.
“It wasn’t me you moron! You suggested it!” Jonathan shot back.
“I did?” Andrew furrowed his brows.
“Yeah! You said, and I quote…” Jonathan started, but Warren cut him off.
“Will you two shut up! The way I see it we are exactly where we want to be. We’ll get to rule Sunnydale…” Warren smiled devilishly, “and take out the Slayer in one shot.”
Jonathan didn’t like this at all. He didn’t want to get rid of Buffy, that’s for sure. She was always nice to him. He didn’t know how things had gotten so out of control, but he didn’t know what he could do to stop it. Warren was pretty intent on his goals…and Andrew wanted to do whatever Warren wanted. Plus if he went against them, Warren would probably kill him, or exact some kind of weird revenge. The Slayer’s sister, Dawn had promised him protection…but he didn’t know how long the Slayer would protect him from his ‘friends’. And then there was Doc…
“Earth to Jonathan!” Warren waved his hand in front of Jonathan’s face.
“Ahh! Dude, don’t do that!” Jonathan swatted away his hand.
“Stop spacing out like a spaz. Lets do this.” Warren said, leading the trio out of their area of protection. Jonathan followed reluctantly, carrying the spell book and trying to think of a way to stop this.
* * *
“Buffy…I don’t see Spike or Doc anymore.” Dawn shouted to her sister.
“What?” Buffy turned to where she last saw the two fighting. “Where did they go?”
“TARA!!” Willow’s scream caught Buffy and Dawn’s attention.
“Wills?” Buffy shouted as she grabbed Dawn’s hand and ran to where Willow’s scream came from. “Giles, Angel, cover for me!” She shouted to them as she ran past. They both stepped forward and started fighting the demons that were surging out of the Hell-mouth.
“Willow?”
“He has her! Doc has Tara and I couldn’t stop it!” Willow cried. Buffy saw the gash on Willow’s forehead that suggested she put up a fight.
“Its not your fault, you tried. I’ll get her back, okay? I need you to finish Tara’s spell to close the Hell-mouth.”
“But I can’t! She made me promise. I can’t…”
“Willow you’ve been off magic for months now…just don’t start abusing it. I need you to finish the spell…if we don’t seal off the Hell-mouth…” Buffy trailed off, glancing at the carnage that was still taking place all around them. She took Willow by the shoulders as if to instill her trust in her long time friend. “You can do this….Willow, please.”
Willow glanced around at the mayhem that was taking place and swallowed hard.
“I’ll get her back Wills…I swear I will.” Buffy echoed Spike’s promise to her in the Alley.
Willow looked into Buffy’s eyes and nodded. “I’ll do it.” She said, confidently. Buffy nodded great-fully.
“Dawn, stay with Willow.” Buffy instructed and then fought her way through the growing numbers of demons blocking her way to the Hell-mouth entrance.
“Things just got really bad…didn’t they?” Dawn asked Willow.
Willow blinked back tears. Dawn decided that her silence was answer enough.
* * *
“Start the ritual, boy!” Doc commanded Jonathan.
Jonathan swallowed, terrified. Doc had his arm around a blonde girl’s neck, the blade of his knife dangerously close to the girl’s throat.
“What do you need her for?” Jonathan asked.
“Insurance.” Doc answered.
“Insurance?” Jonathan asked.
“YES! Now start reading!!” Doc shouted and the three nerds jumped. Doc had never raised his voice or showed anything other than passive emotions, and now he seemed really jumpy. The demons had stopped coming out of the Hell-mouth, almost as if they knew something big was about to happen.
“Uh, o-okay.” Jonathan said, taking a deep breath. He really didn’t want to do this.
(In a demonic language)
“Etheos, ramalos cht actura rtuo omenus. Cht ytukka srelo pcutia…”
“STOP!!” Buffy shouted. Jonathan looked up from the text, a relieved look on his face.
“Finish it, boy!” Doc commanded him. “Don’t take another step Slayer.” Doc said, pressing the blade closer to Tara’s throat.
“Don’t worry about me Buffy! Don’t let them complete the ritual!” Tara told her.
“Oh, the brave little Martyr…” Doc chuckled, then whispered in her ear: “I do believe you’re bluffing…but I’ll enjoy cutting you into little pieces anyway.”
“Let her go.” Buffy demanded.
“Well now, wouldn’t that just take all of the drama out of it.” Doc chuckled. He looked over at Jonathan and shouted: “Finish it, boy!”
“…Archrd cht Etheos srulte octu.” Jonathan read the last of the page. When nothing happened he was relieved, but curious. “Now what?”
“Now it’s time for the sacrifices.” Doc smiled. Before anyone could stop him he shoved Warren into the enlarged crack.
“WARREN!” Andrew shouted in shock.
“Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon.” Doc smiled, grabbed Andrew and pushed in the Hell-mouth as well. Both Warren and Andrew’s screams could be heard fading as they fell down the unknown depth. The ground rumbled beneath their feet.
“You never said anything about this!” Jonathan threw the book across the room. “I’m not finishing it!”
“You honestly thought I needed you for anything other than for a sacrifice? I can do the spell on my own, boy!” Doc grabbed him by the throat and held him over the Hell-mouth. “In fact, the spell is complete once I throw you’re worthless body into the Gates of Hell.” Doc said.
“Discete!”(Latin for “Separate”) Tara shouted, and she and Jonathan went flying about ten feet out of Doc’s grasp.
“A witch!” Doc practically growled. Jonathan quickly stood and put a much distance between himself and Doc as humanly possible in the cramped remains of the library… Which wasn’t very far.
“You got bigger problems than that, mate.” Spike said from behind him. Doc turned to face him, only to get the business end of Giles’ dropped mace to the side of the head. Doc hit the floor, hard. “Namely, me.” Spike smirked dangerously.
Spike sauntered over to where Doc had landed, a gleam in his eyes that could only be described as malice.
When Doc moved to stand up, Spike cracked his skull with the mace again.
“That’s for the nibblet, you prick.” Spike took another swing, but this time Doc caught it just inches from his head.
“Looks like I’ll get to cut out your heart after all.” Doc smiled coldly, turned his body revealing the knife in his hand and thrust it into Spike’s chest savagely.
“NOO!!!” Buffy leapt forward and kicked Doc as hard as she could, sending him crashing into a wall.
Spike winced and clenched his jaw as he pulled the long blade out of his chest, falling to his knees in pain.
“Bloody fucking hell!” He growled in pain. “That bloody bastard is going to die.”
“You’re in no shape to fight.” Buffy protested.
“I don’t give a fuck, that tosser is going to die painfully and slowly!!” Spike said, pressing his hand to the knife wound.
The others had finished off the last of the demons that hadn’t escaped the fight, and joined Buffy.
“Buffy is right Spike, you’re far too injured.” Giles said.
Spike ignored him and stood on unsteady legs. “Out of my way Watcher.” Spike growled.
“Spike.” Angel growled back in a warning voice, standing in his way.
“MOVE!” Spike shoved Angel out of the way, yelping in pain from his wound, but he ignored it.
He stalked angrily to Doc, whom was just recovering from his unscheduled flight into the wall.
“Back for more, boy?” Doc sneered.
“We haven’t even begun, mate.” Spike glared.
Doc suddenly opened his mouth and his tongue latched onto Jonathan, yanking Jonathan to him. Doc held onto the boy’s throat, and quicker than Spike anticipated, jumped over to the Hell-mouth.
“You’re right…we haven’t.” Doc said patronizingly.
* * *
Willow prayed under her breath as she resumed the ritual to close the Hell-mouth. She had taken several long minutes to work up the nerve to use powerful magic again and it wasn’t until she saw things going very badly with Doc that she gritted her teeth and worked diligently on it.
“Willow?” Dawn asked hesitantly. “Can I help?”
“I-I don’t think so Dawnie…” Willow said, not wanting to get the girl involved in magic more than she already was.
“Please…I have to do something.” Dawn pleaded.
Willow thought hard for a moment. She looked up to see what appeared to be an injured Spike in a confrontation with Doc, whom was standing over the Hell-mouth with Jonathan. Willow noticed Doc pulled something out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Spike teasingly. Her eyes widened in recognition.
“Yeah Dawnie…there is something you can do…”
* * *
“You get to choose, boy…” Doc said as he pulled the amulet of Bytanor out of his pocket and dangled it in front of Spike so he could see.
“The boy’s life, or your amulet. Either way, one of them is going into the hell-mouth.” Doc held both dangerously over the gaping pit. Jonathan was struggling helplessly against Doc’s grip. Spike glanced at both, calculating.
“Ah… he is conflicted.” Doc smirked.
“The boy, you wanker.” Spike gritted his teeth in anger. Doc raised his eyebrows in what looked like surprise.
“Oh dear. What a disappointment. A real demon would have chosen the amulet… no matter.” Doc shrugged indifferently and let go of both Jonathan and the amulet.
Spike dove for the boy, knocking him away from the Hell-mouth as the amulet dropped into the darkness of the Hell-mouth.
Suddenly the amulet floated back out of the hole and flew across the room into Dawn’s waiting hands.
“Hey, and you guys didn’t want me to learn magic.” Dawn smirked patronizingly, holding the amulet in triumph.
Spike smirked at Doc’s bewildered look.
“Game over, mate.” Spike said with a snarl and dove over the Hell-mouth, knocking Doc to the ground. Spike shouted in pain when Doc seized the opportunity to shove his hand into Spike’s chest wound.
Against Jonathan’s internal voice that screamed for him to run as far away as possible (Mexico was sounding rather tempting), he grabbed a large scrap piece of wood and knocked Doc over the head with it. Spike had chosen him over the amulet, even if Doc cheated in the end anyway.
Doc reeled back; releasing Spike’s chest wound, and nearly filleted Jonathan with his knife that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. Jonathan was suddenly grabbed from behind and pushed away by Buffy.
“Do we really need weapons for this?” Buffy raised an eyebrow at Doc’s ever-present blade.
“Hey! That’s our line Slayer.” Spike growled weakly.
“Shut up honey.”
“I bloody well will no-…did you just call me ‘honey’?” Spike grinned goofily and everyone rolled their eyes, although Doc’s was more in annoyance and disgust.
“Do I get to call you a pet name?” Spike asked absently, already trying to think of one.
“Spike shut up!” Buffy said.
“Oh now it’s just ‘Spike’. You know, I’m sittin’ here with a bloody hole in my chest, you think you could be a little nicer.”
“Spike, I’m trying to advert the apocalypse here.”
“Oh, right.”
“Less talk, more dying.” Doc said, lunging at Buffy. She dodged, swung at him with her sword and then spin-kicked him in the back, knocking him off balance. He recovered quickly and she scissor kicked him, sending him reeling once again. He swung at her, but she dropped into a false fall, drop kicking him on the way down and then sweep kicking him behind the knees. Doc fell on his back hard, smacking the back of his head on the concrete floor. Doc’s knife fell out of his hand and slid next to Spike. Spike looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
“…I implore thee, terminus!” Willow concluded the Spell. A loud popping noise and a bright flash of light startled the occupants of the Library. Everyone stopped what they were doing shook their heads to try and stop the ringing in their ears, then glanced at where Willow was performing the spell. She shyly popped her head out from behind the metal door.
“Um…sorry?” Willow winced apologetically.
“No!!” Doc shouted, realizing the Hell-mouth was closed.
“Check mate.” Spike said in a deep and angered voice as he grabbed Doc from behind and slit his throat quickly. “Send my regards to you’re Hell God, you prick” Spike whispered in his ear as Doc dropped to the floor.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the death of Doc.
“Lend me your sword, luv.”
Buffy wordlessly handed Spike the blade. Giles, realizing what Spike was doing, stepped forward to stop him, but Lorne held him back.
“Leave him be. He needs to face his failure…he needs to make amends in his mind for it.” Lorne told Giles.
Giles looked at the tortured look on the Vamp’s face, and immediately understood. If someone had murdered Buffy… He would have exacted the same revenge…only he would have done it while they were still alive.
Angel came to his own understanding of the depths of Spike’s heart. For centuries he had trained Spike, turning him into the evilest thing he could become…in the end, Spike still kept his human heart. All of that time…Angel never saw whom Spike really was. He was able to truly love, an extremely rare thing for Vampires. He was almost disappointed in Buffy when he found out she was having an affair with his Grandchilde… now he realized they were truly in love. More so than he and Buffy had been. Angel started to brood.
“Come on… I doubt any of us want to see this. Specially you, little one.” Lorne said to Dawn and the others. They all filed out, giving Spike last glances as they left the library. Seconds later as they walked down the halls aimlessly, Spike’s swearing and the sounds of the sword blade hitting bone and flesh carried throughout corridor.